Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra
BURDICK-THORNE String Quartet

The KSO’s first full-time, salaried musicians. These artists serve as ambassadors for the KSO and perform hundreds of outreach and educational services in schools and non-traditional venues. Their salaries are endowed in perpetuity by the KSO.

JULIA NECKERMANN serves the KSO Associate Concertmaster, and comes to Kalamazoo from Louisville , Kentucky , where she was Principal Second Violin in the Louisville Orchestra. While in Louisville , Ms. Neckermann was active in the Louisville Orchestra Educational Chamber Program, played with the Louisville Piano Trio, and held a one-year position as the Assistant Concertmaster in the Louisville Orchestra. She has held past orchestral positions with the Bach Society, National Repertory, Houston Grand Opera, Galveston , and Heidelberg Opera Festival Orchestras. Solo appearances include performances with the Louisville Orchestra and National Repertory Orchestra. Ms. Neckermann holds degrees from Eastman School of Music and Rice University / Sheperd School of Music.

LISA A. WILLIAMS is currently Principal Second Violin in the KSO. As a dedicated chamber musician, Ms. Williams has performed throughout the United States , Canada , and the United Kingdom . Her performances include numerous recitals at the Garth Newel Music Center, Hot Springs, Virginia; International-Festival Institute of Chamber Music at Round Top, Texas; and Fontana Festival of Music and Art, Shelbyville, Michigan; as well as New York City’s Lincoln Center. Ms. Williams has also performed with many symphony and chamber orchestras throughout the US . She currently serves as Principal Second Violin in the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, as well as Concertmaster of the Kalamazoo College and Community Orchestra.

GRACE E. BYRD earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with George Taylor and also taught secondary violin from 1994-96. She studied with Kim Kashkashian at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” -- Berlin and was violinist-in-residence with the Rogue Valley Chamber Players of Southern Oregon. She has performed with the Eastman Virtuosi, Kilbourn Concert Series “Bright Lights and Rising Stars,” the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele Orchestra and chamber ensemble and the Ohio Light Opera Company.

DAVID PESHLAKAI is Principal Cellist with the Kalamazoo Symphony. He has performed as a section cellist with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and as principal cellist of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. He also has performed with many orchestras across the state of Michigan including as principal cellist of Lansing , Flint , and Battle Creek Symphonies. In October and November, 2001, he toured with the American Sinfonietta in Germany . He has also been a soloist with the Jackson , Battle Creek , and Michigan State University Symphony Orchestras, the Hillsdale College/Community Orchestra, the Albion College Orchestra and the University of Wisconsin – LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra. He will be a soloist in the Central Iowa Symphony in 2006.

Currently David teaches at Hillsdale College . He also has taught at Albion and Alma Colleges and Grand Valley State University . Mr. Peshlakai received his Bachelor of Music degree from Michigan State University in 1990 and his Master of Music from the University of Michigan in 1993.