Masterful Musicians

Live music for events in Colorado

Rebekah

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Rebekah began playing violin at age four in her hometown of Midland, Texas. Primarily a classical violinist growing up, she studied Violin Performance and holds a Bachelor of Music degree (B.M. 2008) and an Artist Diploma (A.D. 2009) from University of Denver as well as a Master of Music degree (M.M. 2011) from The Juilliard School in New York City.

Upon completion of graduate school, she began playing and performing more nonclassical music in New York. In 2013, Rebekah joined San Fermin, an indie band from Brooklyn. With them she toured the U.S. and Canada extensively as well as several tours through Ireland, UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Latvia, and Iceland. San Fermin toured with many well-known performers including Alt-J, The
Head and the Heart, Courtney Barnett, Son Lux, and Sam Amidon. In 2016, after living in New York City for seven years, Rebekah moved back to Colorado

In 2017, she left San Fermin and turned her focus to more local performance. Rebekah has enjoyed the variety of opportunities that freelancing has brought over the last several years. She plays violin, viola, 5-string fiddle, mandolin, and guitar at more than 100 weddings and private events each year. She also teaches violin students, plays with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra as a substitute violinist, and enjoys playing fiddle and singing in her bluegrass band, Ragged Union.

Rebekah on Violin – Halo by Beyoncé

Rebekah on Violin – You Are the Reason by Calum Scott

Scott

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Scott has performed professionally in a wide variety of musical styles and roles. As a studio musician in New York City with Carly Simon, he sang background vocals, arranged and played synthesizers on the hit, Coming Around Again, the theme song to the movie Heartburn, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. He worked with Mariah Carey on her first recording session and her first album, as well as with singers Philip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire and Robert Lamm of Chicago. He co-wrote and produced the title track to the album, Magnetic, by the jazz group Steps Ahead, featuring vocalist Dianne Reeves and saxophonist Michael Brecker. As a jazz pianist, he has played with Mike Stern, Bill Watrous, Miroslav Vitous, Billy Hart, Mike Mainieri, Joe Lovano, Victor Lewis, Javon Jackson, Harry Allen, Ron Miles, Carl Fontana, Pete Condoli, Red Holloway, Hiram Bullock, Tia Fuller, and many others. He has performed two national tours with the Broadway hit musical Jersey Boys. He currently runs the record label Liberian Handshake Records which donates a significant percentage of proceeds to African education outreach and other charitable causes.

Performances by Scott

Steve

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Steve is formally trained in classical and jazz styles, with a degree in Guitar Performance.  In addition to playing classical guitar, he plays in rock, dance and top-40, soul and r&b, country, blues, and jazz bands. He has played with everyone from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra to shows such as Disney’s “The Lion King” during its entire Denver run.

Steve is a veteran of 1000’s of weddings, parties, and corporate events both with his ensemble and as a soloist.

Aria

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Classical violist/violinist and North Carolina native, Aria Cheregosha made her debut in Carnegie Hall at the age of 13 and was the youngest semi-finalist in the 2012 Viola Congress Competition. Aria continued her musical studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston under world-renowned violist and pedagogue Kim Kashkashian and under Roger Tapping at The Juilliard School. She has also worked with acclaimed artists such as Misha Armory, Atar Arad, Carol Rodland, Lawrence Lesser, Martha Katz, and Michael Tree.

Aria’s playing has been heavily influenced by her passion for collaboration and while at the New England Conservatory she studied chamber music, as a member of the former Ivani Quartet, under the guidance of Paul Katz and the Cleveland Quartet. The Ivani Quartet was awarded 1st prize at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, was the fellowship quartet at Bowdoin Music Festival in 2017, and won 3rd prize at the prestigious Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In addition to Aria’s extensive work with The Cleveland Quartet, she has also studied chamber music under The Shanghai, Ying, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, and Jupiter Quartets. Professionally, Aria has performed with the North Carolina Symphony, The Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and members of A Far Cry. 

Nina

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Originally from southeastern Wisconsin, Nina enjoys a versatile career as a violinist and violin instructor in the Denver metro area. With over ten years’ experience performing and teaching, she is dedicated to providing warm, engaging musical experiences to students, audiences, and special events.

‍As a performing artist, Nina has appeared with such artists as Josh Groban, Sarah McLachlan, Father John Misty, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, and Gregory Alan Isakov. She is active as an orchestral and chamber musician, as well as in recording studio sessions. She performs regularly as Assistant Concertmaster of the Fort Collins Symphony and in the violin sections of Central City Opera, Boulder Philharmonic, Opera Colorado, Sphere Ensemble, and Orquesta Tipica Natural Tango.

Nina began her musical training at age 6, and holds a Masters of Music in violin performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she served as a graduate teaching assistant, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Having studied string pedagogy extensively, she is a registered Suzuki instructor and is experienced in the engaging, interactive teaching methods of notable pedagogues Mimi Zweig and Paul Rolland. She teaches violinists of all ages and levels, and is very invested in the musical growth of her students. When she is not playing the violin, she is likely rock climbing or gardening.

Don

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A Colorado native, Don has performed professionally for over 30 years. Although he prefers jazz and blues today, he took a tour of the west coast in the early 70’s long enough to perform with The Doobie Brothers (’70-’71) and record with Six Penny Opera (’72-’73).

Don has also successfully ventured into the field of musical composition – his score for the movie “Let There Be Rain” helped make it a Cannes Film Festival winner in 1971.

Sought after by the best, Don has worked with a long list of top professionals including Clark Terry, Herb Alpert, Spike Robinson, Richie Cole, Rob Mullins, Harry Allen, Frank Tate, Rickey Woodard, Carl Fontana, Keeter Betts, Plaz Johnson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Warren Vache Jr., Rebecca Kilgore, Barbara Morrison, and many others.

Ron

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Ron has been a professional musician for over 40 years, playing virtually all styles of music in every setting from concert hall to theater to the recording studio. At home performing on both the electric and double basses, Ron also has a particular fondness for teaching, which he does at the University of Colorado at Denver, Colorado Christian University, and Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Being a big softie when it comes to kids, Ron has been part of Inside the Orchestra’s & “Tiny Tots” program for decades and plays “side by side” concerts with students and the Colorado Chamber Orchestra.

Ron has performed with many jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Eddie Daniels, Billy Taylor, Kurt Elling, Lawrence Hobgood, Shelly Berg, Michael Wolff, Bill Watrous, Tom Scott, Bobby McFerrin, Red Rodney, Phil Wilson, Byron Stripling, Clare Fischer, Diane Schuur and Doc Severinson. He has appeared with the Colorado Symphony and Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestras as well as numerous festival orchestras. Broadway show work includes the national companies of “Chorus Line”, “The Color Purple” and “Legally Blonde” at Denver’s Buell Theatre. Ron has played concert performances with Pavarotti, Bocelli, Earth, Wind and Fire, Yes, Marvin Hamlisch, Linda Ronstadt, Maureen McGovern, Rosemary Clooney, Billy Crystal, Pete Barbutti and many others.

Ron played the U.S. Presidential Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. in 2001 and has played corporate and private social events all over the United States, Mexico, Canada and Europe. With this Jazz Quartet he played the Queenstown Jazz Festival in New Zealand. As part of the Park Hill Brass and the Rocky Mountain Trio Ron played for several summers in the “Jazz in the Vercors” festival in the Alps of southern France. He was also part of the workshop associated with the festival.

Doug

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Doug has over 40 years of experience as a professional freelance pianist, specializing in jazz. He studied with pianists Bobby Timmons and Herbie Hancock in high school, joined the Navy Show Band (’71-’75), and then majored in jazz studies at NorthTexas State. International tours followed with The Lettermen (’78-’81).

Coming to Denver in the mid-80’s, he played the exclusive Moulin Rouge room at the Denver Fairmont Hotel backing such national acts as Kenny Rankin, The Mills Brothers, The Modernaires, Lanie Kazan, Johnny Otis, Carol Lawrence and Red Skelton. In the San Francisco Bay area (’88-’90), he performed with the Full Faith and Credit Big Band.

Since making Denver his permanent home in 1990, Doug has performed with a cavalcade of jazz icons, including Buddy De Franco, Joe Farrell, Nick Brignola, Teddy Edwards, Terry Gibbs, Red Holloway, Eddie Harris, Richie Cole, Lew Tabakin, and Bobby Shew to name a few. 1993 and 1996 found him backing Roseanna Vitro and Giacamo Gates, respectively, at the Telluride Jazz Celebration (broadcast on NPR). Also in 1996, Doug served as pianist and assistant musical director for “It Ain’t Nothin’ But the
Blues” at the Cleveland Playhouse in conjunction with the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Currently, Doug teaches jazz piano privately and does recording projects at his home studio “Studio By the Lake”. He can be heard performing at many different venues around Denver such as the Brown Palace and others.