Musicians

Violin
· Brian Lewis, Concertmaster
· Brinna Brinkerhoff
· Aloysia Friedmann
· Jonathan Godfrey
· Andrés González
· Rachel Jordan
· Rasa Kalesnykaite
· Kana Kimura
· Maxine Kuo
· Tammy Linn
· Deborah Tien Price
· Oleg Sulyga
· Amy Thiaville

Viola
· Matt Dane
· Suzanne LeFevre
· Tawnya Popoff
· Lorento Golofeev

Cello
· Richard Belcher
· Julia Cleworth
· Erika Johnson
· Shino Hayashi

Bass
· Sandor Ostlund
· Erik Gronfor

Harp
· Mollie Marcuson

Flute/Piccolo
· Christina Jennings
· Jennifer Keeney

Oboe
· Alecia Lawyer

Clarinet
· Nathan Williams
· Maiko Sasaki

Bassoon
· Kristin Wolfe Jensen
· Daniel Chrisman

Horn
· Danielle Kuhlmann
· Gavin Reed

Trumpet
· Jens Lindemann
· Dan Shipman
· George Chase

Trombone
· Brian Logan

Percussion
· Matthew McClung

Piano
· Kimi Kawashima
· Rodney Waters

Tawnya Popoff Instrument: Viola Originally from: Calgary, Canada Now reside in: NY, NY and Vancouver, BC Age: 30s Birthday: June 16 How did you get started? Piano at 3; Violin at 6½; Viola at 14.

What do you do when you’re not playing with ROCO? Principal Viola of Vancouver Opera, Freelancing in NYC, Biking, Backpacking, Kayaking.

What are you listening to on your iPod? Don't own an iPod! Call me old-fashioned, but I still enjoy putting a CD in the ol' CD player (anything from Jazz to Indian Classical) and I love listening to NPR at home.

Personal info: Single, one cat, one bicycle, 2 violas, 1 violin and 5 viola cases!

Question you're asked most often: Why is there a "W" in your name?! Answer: I am named for my great grandmother Tatyana, and my parents wanted the diminutive for my given name. Having traditionally been spelled Tanya, the Canadian pronunciation gave it a twang with a short 'a' and they thought the phonetically linked version with a "W" (lawn, dawn, fawn) would solve the problem...and provide me with an everlasting adventure in spellings!

Interests outside music: Biking, kayaking, hiking, backpacking, museums, travelling to non-tourist destinations, knitting, origami, designing my own version of anything (food, picture frames, mittens), baking, cooking, discovering fabulous food and wines.

Education: Perfomance Diploma, Mount Royal College, Calgary, AB; BMus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC; MMus, Rice University, Houston, TX

Bio: Canadian violist Tawnya Popoff enjoys a versatile international career. In addition to being principal violist with the Vancouver Opera (Canada), she is a founding member of the Athabasca String Trio, and performs regularly with VisionIntoArt (VIA) (NY), the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (TX). She was a prizewinner in the 2000 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and has served on the faculties of the Perlman Music Program, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, SUNY Buffalo, American Composers Orchestra and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Ms. Popoff has a keen interest in inter-disciplinary collaborations and has ongoing collaborations with various dance companies (currently Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet and Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance in NYC) in addition to the multi-media group VIA. She is also devoted to developing and performing music by living composers and as a member of the Cassatt Quartet, she was vitally involved in commissioning, premiering and recording works from leading American composers. Tawnya Popoff’s viola was played by Boris Kroyt of the Budapest Quartet, generously loaned to her by courtesy of his grandson.