Individual Biographies
Amy Tori, flutist, is an active performer in New York where she is a member of the New York Ballet Theater Chamber Orchestra. Amy has served as principal flute with the Debut Orchestra in Los Angeles and was invited to tour with the Eastman Wind Ensemble through Japan, Macau and Taiwan. She was the recipient of the Howard Hanson Scholarship, the Lucille McKinstry Scholarship, the Henry Mancini Memorial Scholarship and was a fellow for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Fund for Excellence in Diversity. She has attended Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, and Lake Placid Institute. Amy received her Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and her Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her principal teachers include Linda Chesis, Bonita Boyd and Anne Diener Zentner. She currently teaches flute privately and at the Bronx Charter School for the Arts.
Oboist Tessa Gross, originally from Los Angeles, attended the Manhattan School of Music where she received both her Bachelors Degree and her Masters Degree in Orchestral Performance. Her principal teachers have included David Weiss, Joseph Robinson and Robert Botti. As a freelance artist, Tessa has appeared with numerous orchestral and chamber ensembles including the New York City Opera, Lyric Chamber Society, Barge Music, Dicapo Opera Theatre and the New York Theatre Ballet. She has also worked with many prominent conductors including Kurt Masur, Lukas Foss, and Gunther Schuller. Tessa has had the opportunity to perform at The Music Festival of the Hamptons, Brevard Music Festival, and the Bang on a Can Marathon. As well as performing in prestigious venues such as the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, Tessa enjoys performing outreach and educational concerts in the community.
Clarinetist Heather Thon grew up in a musical family and knew at an early age that she wanted to pursue music. She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy then went on to receive her Bachelors Degree from the University of Michigan and her Masters Degree in Orchestral Performance at the Manhattan School of Music. Before coming to New York, she played with the Chicago Civic Orchestra working with musicians such as Daniel Barenboim, Roberto Abaddo and Larry Combs and spent a semester in Japan playing with the Toho Orchestra Academy. In 2003 Heather was the grand-prize winner of the International Clarinet Association Orchestral Excerpt Competition. As a freelance clarinetist in the New York City area, Heather is active as an orchestral and chamber musician as well as an educator. She has taught and given master classes throughout the country and is currently a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music Summer Camp. Her principal teachers have included Mark Nuccio, Fred Ormand and Richard Hawkins.
Having a wide range of musical interests, Bassoonist Laura Vincent has had the opportunity to perform with an eclectic mix of musicians. This has included BBC Proms Concerts with Rostropovich and Sir Colin Davis, a world premiere of Avro Pärt with the London Sinfonietta, the Salzburg festival with Ricardo Muti and touring the United Kingdom and New York with Elton John. Laura is also a recent addition to The Philadelphia Orchestra Substitute pool. Deeply committed to Arts education, Laura is on the Teaching Artist faculty of The New York Philharmonic and as a member of the Aeros Quintet, on the artist’s roster of Young Audiences New York. With the generous support of The Countess of Munster Musical Trust she completed her Master’s degree in Orchestral Performance at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Frank Morelli and also holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Royal Academy of Music graduating with the Florence Woodbridge Prize. Her additional musical training has included the London Symphony Orchestra Wind Scheme, International Orchestral Institute Attergau, and the National Orchestral Institute.
Hornist Michelle Haim is an active orchestral and chamber musician in New York. She performs regularly with the Hora Decima Brass Ensemble and Axiom Brass. As a freelance musician she has played in the Florida West Coast Symphony, Hawthorne Symphony, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic and Hannover Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed in many of the country’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Broadway, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Symphony Hall and Meyerson Symphony in Dallas as well as major venues in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Cuba. Michelle received her Bachelors and Masters degrees from The Juilliard School where she studied with Jerome Ashby and Julie Landsman. She also worked with the American Brass Quintet and was invited to perform with them at their 45th Anniversary Concert. Michelle performs and organizes outreach and educational concerts across New York and maintains a private studio of horn and piano students. Michelle currently resides in Long Island with her husband Daniel, Director of Sales at Innovation Ads.