Since 2001, Violinist Michael Shih has been Concertmaster of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) and has performed throughout North, Central and South America, Europe and Asia. He currently plays a 1710 Antonio Stradivari violin, which is generously on loan to the FWSO Association, by Mr. and Mrs. William S. Davis. An avid performer of chamber music, he has collaborated with such artists as Leon Fleisher, Sharon Isbin, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Tree, and Charles Wadsworth. He is a former graduate quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School where he earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees, and he is currently a Distinguished Guest Professor of Violin at Texas Christian University, a position he has held since 2011.

As a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts, he was a winner in the Naumburg International Violin Competition and Artists International’s Auditions, which led to his New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1992. He has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall, the Williamsburg Symphonia, the Abilene Philharmonic, the New York Youth Symphony, the San Pedro Sula Symphony in Honduras, the Taipei Symphony at Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, and with the symphony orchestras of Dallas, Fort Worth, Hartford, and New Amsterdam.

Media credits include NPR’s Performance Today, NBC’s Today Show, Japan’s NHK Television, and Taiwan’s Public Television. He has studied with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Chiu-Sen Chen, Masao Kawasaki, Shue-Tee Lee, and Margaret Pardee. He was on the violin faculty at the Lucy Moses School for Music and Dance in New York City from 1995 to 2001. In 2013, he was a Visiting Professor of Music at the East China Normal University.

Originally from San Ramon, Costa Rica, Oscar Garcia-Montoya joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as a full time musician in the trumpet section in 2008. In 2013 Oscar joins the Dallas Chamber Symphony as Principal Trumpet. Prior to coming to Texas, Mr. Garcia- Montoya held a two-year position as Principal Trumpet with the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra and Miami City Ballet Orchestra.

Mr. Garcia-Montoya completed in 2006 a prestigious three-year intensive orchestral training program with the New World Symphony Orchestra, under the charismatic artistic direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Other artistic engagements have been as guest Principal Trumpet with the Fort Worth Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Palm Beach Opera Orchestra in Florida. Oscar has made his way and performed at various Summer Music Festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Cantieri Internazionale di Musica in Italy, American Wind Symphony, and Youth Orchestra of the Americas (FOSJA) in Puerto Rico.

Mr. Garcia-Montoya has been invited in 2014 to perform, as Principal Trumpet with the New Hampshire Summer Music Festival Orchestra. As a soloist, he has been featured with the New World Symphony Orchestra and Brampton Symphony Orchestra. He has won first place at the National Trumpet Competition USA, 2006 (ensemble category) and the “Medalla de Oro” 1996, Soloist Competition in San José, Costa Rica. In addition to his orchestral work, Oscar is an avid chamber music musician and has performed with the New World Symphony Brass Quintet and the Baylor University Faculty Brass Quintet as well as his current group Iridum Brass Quintet.

He has a Master’s degree in music Performance from Rice University and a Music Performance Bachelor’s degree from Baylor University. His Trumpet teachers and mentors have included Armando Ghitalla, James Wilt, Michael Sachs and Marie Speziale. Oscar in his free time, enjoys playing league amateur Soccer.

Violist Laura Bruton is the Principal Violist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO), and has been part of the orchestra since 1985. In 1988 she won the title of Principal Viola and has performed as a featured soloist with the FWSO. A native of North Carolina, Laura received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and attended the St. Louis Conservatory of Music for graduate school on a full scholarship. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas and has her own private teaching studio.

Laura was a student of renowned violist Michael Tree of the Guarneri String Quartet, and studied chamber music with Jaime Laredo and George Silfies. In addition to her work with the Wyeth String Quartet, Laura has performed extensively with many of north Texas’ chamber music groups such as the Van Cliburn Foundation’s “Cliburn at the Bass” and “Cliburn at the Modern” series, the Fine Arts Chamber Players, Texas Christian University’s “Piano Texas” and “Faculty and Friends” series, the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, The Spectrum, the Hall Ensemble and the Basically Beethoven Festival. Laura recorded the complete piano quartets of Johannes Brahms with the Clementi Quartet on the Encore label. In 1995 Laura was invited to perform as Principal Viola for the Dallas Opera’s production of “Elektra” by Richard Strauss. She has also performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra and Chorus of St. Louis, the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, the Piedmont Chamber Players and the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Bruton served as Principal Viola of the Breckenridge Music Institute Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.

In 1987, Leda Dawn Larson joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO), and in 2006 won the position of Associate Principal Cello. Leda earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst while also studying at Boston University. She later received a Master’s degree in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. She taught cello privately and coached chamber music groups at Sam Houston State University and the University of Texas at Arlington. Leda continues to enjoy teaching privately in addition to her responsibilities with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Wyeth String Quartet.

Leda’s musical life has allowed her to participate in many music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West and Blue Hill Chamber Music Festival. Additionally her travels include performances in Heidelberg, Germany and Switzerland. Chamber music performances with the Wyeth String Quartet include the Van Cliburn Foundation’s “Cliburn at the Modern” series, the Basically Beethoven Festival, the Kimbell Art Museum, the Apex Arts League, Arborlawn United Methodist Church, and University of Texas in Arlington. Some of Leda’s former coaches and instructors include Leopold Teraspulsky, Robert Sylvester, Gabor Rejto, Leslie Parnas, Yehuda Hanani, Claus Adam, Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, and Gregor Piatigorsky. Upon graduation from Eastman, Leda performed in the Shelbourne String Quartet, in a professional residency program based in Great Falls, Montana. After moving to Texas, Leda served on the faculty of two universities.