Amelia Eckloff is a violist, violinist, and teacher from Northern Virginia currently based in Baltimore, Maryland. Amelia is a recent graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and has been playing the viola since the age of 9 when it was introduced to her in her elementary school music class. Most recently, Amelia performed as principal violist under the batons of Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta with the National Orchestral Institute in June 2022. Amelia regularly performs with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and has attended the Castleman Quartet Program and the Chautauqua Institution Summer Music Festival. Aside from orchestra, Amelia is an avid performer of chamber music and worked with a string quartet to present concerts and participate in competitions during her time at the Eastman School. 

Amelia also greatly enjoys teaching and working with young musicians. She has taught many private lessons over the years on both the viola and violin to students as young as age five to adult life-long learners.  As a teacher, Amelia’s goal is to cultivate a personal, but professional learning environment tailored to each student’s individual needs where the student is encouraged and inspired to think creatively, explore their instrument, and develop their own musical voice. 

Amelia is currently pursuing her Masters of Music in Viola Performance at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University under the tutelage of Victoria Chiang. She previously studied with Masumi Per Rostad at the Eastman School of Music and retired National Symphony Orchestra violist, Ramon Scavelli, and has also worked with violists such as George Taylor, Choong-Jin Chiang, Phillip Ying, David Harding, Joan DerHovsepian, and Karen Ritscher.

Cristian Contreras is a young and accomplished violist from Los Angeles, CA. He lives a life dedicated to improving the lives of others through the two musical principles he is most passionate about: performing and teaching.

Cristian just recently won a position with the Fairfax Symphony as a Section Violist and is also a substitute violist with Symphony in C. He currently attends the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and studies Viola Performance under the tutelage of Professor Choong-Jin Chang. Cristian will receive his Master’s Degree in May 2024. 

Cristian holds a Bachelor’s in Music with Emphasis in Viola Performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach in which he studied viola under Professor Jason Bonham. During his undergraduate studies, he won a three year tenure with the American Youth Symphony and a two year fellowship with the National Orchestral Institute + Festival. Cristian also sat regularly as Principal Violist with the Bob Cole Conservatory Symphony. 

In addition to his orchestral experience, Cristian managed a studio of fourteen private students at the Irvine Art and Music Center in Irvine, CA in which he trained his students to prepare for auditions and recitals. Cristian also teaches technique, solo repertoire and orchestral repertoire to his students. Cristian’s teaching style accommodates the needs of each student and aims to develop a gentle conviction within each of his students to practice enthusiastically and to improve their craft. 

In his free time, Cristian enjoys hiking, the outdoors, finding new places to eat with friends, and playing Dance Dance Revolution.

Wesley Catherine Hamilton is a violist, violinist, educator, and music theorist based in Baltimore, Maryland. Wesley is pursuing a Master's degree in Viola Performance and Pedagogy at Peabody Conservatory in Johns Hopkins University. She graduated with the class of 2020 from the University of Georgia with two undergraduate degrees in Music Performance and Music Theory, Summa Cum Laude. Wesley is currently teaching viola and violin lessons at Mike’s Music in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Wesley spent the 2020-2021 school year as an itinerate teacher in the Richmond County Orchestra Program in her hometown of Augusta, Georgia. She was responsible for orchestra programs at Goshen Elementary, McBean Elementary, Hains Elementary, Pine Hill Middle, Butler High, and Cross Creek High School. During this year, she taught both face-to-face and online instruction at each school in addition to her private studio.
An avid orchestral and chamber musician, Wesley has performed as a section viola with the Augusta Symphony, Aiken Symphony, North Georgia Chamber Symphony, and has held assistant principal positions with the UGA Symphony Orchestra and UGA Opera Orchestra. In addition to her ensemble experience, Wesley has been a finalist of both the UGA Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the UGA Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition. She has participated in masterclasses with Jordan Bak, Roberto Diaz, Ivo van der Werff, Victoria Chiang, Edward Klorman, Jenny Snyder-Kozoroz, Erika Eckert, Daphne Gerling, and Hillary Herndon.
Wesley has attended the Brevard Music Center for five summers during her high school and college careers in 2015-2017, 2019, and 2021 where she studied with Maggie Snyder and Jenny Snyder-Kozoroz. At Brevard, Wesley performed with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and the Brevard Camerata where she has held principal positions. Additionally, she attended the Montecito International Summer Music Festival in 2018 where she studied with Yizak Schotten.

Wesley is mother to Zelda, her sweet and amazing cat. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, socializing with friends, walking in nature, attempting to be funny, and napping.

Maksymilian Krzak began his viola studies at the age of fifteen. A native of Poland, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Gdansk, and was qualified for a one-year scholarship at the historic University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where he studied with Wolfgang Klos. He recently graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, where he received a master's degree as a student of Victoria Chiang.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Maksymilian Krzak has received many prizes in local and national competitions in Poland. In 2017, he won auditions for the I, CULTURE Orchestra concert tour, and, as an orchestra musician, he performed in four European countries with world-known violinist Julian Rachlin. As a member of diverse orchestras, Mr. Krzak has recorded CDs under various labels such as Naxos and DUX. In 2018, under the baton of Marin Alsop, he led the Peabody Opera Theater Orchestra viola section in the production of Leonard Berstein’s Mass. He has also performed in Vienna Musikverein and Berlin Konzerthaus under the batons of Christoph von Dohnanyi and Andrey Boreyko. Mr. Krzak is an alumnus of the National Music Festival, and in 2019, he was invited to the Atlantic Music Festival as Resident Artist Fellow. He is a recipient of a scholarship from The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York.

Maksymilian Krzak is also a chamber music instructor at the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and a violin instructor at the Bridges Program in Baltimore. 

Asa Zimmerman is a violinist and violist based in Cockeysville, Maryland. In this capacity, they perform with a number of ensembles, including The Smithsonian Chamber Players, The Washington Bach Consort,The Thirteen, Tempesta di Mare, the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Mallarmé Chamber Players, Modern Musick, Musica Spira, Burning River Baroque, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Handel Choir of Baltimore, Baltimore Choral Arts, BaRock Band, Tazzina Drammatica, the Baltimore Baroque Band, and Charm City Baroque. Asa has been teaching violin and viola for more than a decade in various capacities, including positions with the Peabody Preparatory and Musical Empowerment. Asa holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma from Peabody Conservatory. They are currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Peabody. 

Elizabeth Robbins began studying the viola at age 9 and the flute at age 10, and has experience performing and teaching strings and woodwinds. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education at Ithaca College, where she studied flute with Kelly Covert. She spent one semester at the Ithaca College London Center, taking lessons with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music. After completing her undergraduate degree, Elizabeth moved to southern Maryland, where she taught pre-k through fifth grade band, strings, chorus, and general music for four years at St. Mary’s County Public Schools. While in Maryland, she earned her Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University. In 2010 she played Griffes’s Poem for Flute and Orchestra with the Chamber Orchestra of Southern Maryland In Concert as the winner of the COSMIC Young Artist Competition.

Elizabeth earned her PhD in music education at Temple University in 2019. While at Temple, she worked as a TA in the music education department, which included serving as a graduate conductor of the Night Owls Community Band and teaching Woodwind Methods to undergraduate and graduate students. She also taught as an adjunct and supervised student teachers at West Chester University. During her doctoral studies, she was a member of the viola faculty for the Music Education Pathways program at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, PA and was a member of the flute faculty at Ferrwood Music Camp in Drums, PA. Elizabeth is happy to be back in Maryland, teaching 4^th-6^th grade band and orchestra in Prince George’s County Public Schools.