Violist  Lauren Burns Hodges enjoys a varied career as a teacher and performer throughout the United States and abroad.  Recent orchestral, chamber and solo performances have taken her to South Tyrol (Italy), Périgueux (France), Graz and Bad Leonfelden (Austria), Havana (Cuba), and seventeen cities in China.  Dr. Hodges is currently Assistant Professor of Viola and Music Appreciation at the University of Florida.  For six years prior to this appointment, she was Lecturer in Viola at Valdosta State University, Principal Viola of the Valdosta Symphony, violist of the Azalea String Quartet, and Director of the South Georgia String Project, winner of the 2011 NSPC String Project of the Year.  During the summers, she has been a faculty artist at the GIYO camp in Brunswick, GA, the Premier Orchestral Institute in Jackson, MS and the Schlern International Music Festival in South Tyrol, Italy. 

Dr. Hodges was a founding member of the Hausmann Quartet, completing two years as a young artist-in-residence on the Lyrica Boston Chamber Music Series and two years at Kent State University in Ohio as a teaching assistant to the Miami String Quartet.  She was a fellow at Norfolk and Kent/Blossom summer music festivals, coaching with Claude Frank and members of the Keller, Tokyo, and Vermeer quartets. 

As an orchestral player, Dr. Hodges has been Principal Viola in the Valdosta Symphony, Ohio Valley Symphony, Lyrica Chamber Orchestra (Boston and NJ) and in the Manchester Chamber Music (VT) and Texas Music Festival orchestras.  She has also performed as section or substitute viola in the Jacksonville, Savannah Philharmonic, Coastal Georgia, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Mansfield, Lancaster, New Hampshire, Augusta, and South Carolina Philharmonic symphony orchestras and in the Eastern Music Festival Faculty Orchestra, AIMS - Graz, Aspen and Brevard Music Festival orchestras. 

Dr. Hodges has given masterclasses, clinics, and performances at universities and festivals throughout the country, including Florida State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Governor’s Honors Program (GA).  She has been a guest artist at Violapalooza events in Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA and she hosted three regional Viola Day events at Valdosta State University.  In 2015 she premiered a bass quintet by Frank Proto at the ISB Convention in Fort Collins, CO.

Winner of the Narramore Fellowship, Dr. Hodges received her doctoral degree from the University of Alabama upon completion of her document entitled Coordinated Action in String Playing: A Comparative Study of the Teachings of Paul Rolland and Karen Tuttle.  She earned a master’s degree at Peabody Conservatory as a winner of the prestigious Jacob K. Javits national fellowship and her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from the University of South Carolina.  Primary viola teachers include Daniel Sweaney, Victoria Chiang, and Frits DeJonge.  Her pedagogy training is from Rebecca Henry (Peabody Preparatory Division) and Suzuki certification from teacher trainer Mary Cay Neal. 

Dr. Hodges plays on a copy of the Primrose Amati viola made for her by Gabrielle Kundert.  When not teaching or performing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and infant son.

Steven Thomas was appointed to the University of Florida's School of Music in 2007, following a 13-year tenure at the Hartt School, where he had chaired both the String and Chamber Music departments.

Dr. Thomas brings to the University of Florida an unusually vast wealth of performing experience, having appeared as soloist and recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician and conductor on four continents. His repertoire includes classical and non-classical music from Baroque to newly-commissioned works, as well as Broadway shows and popular music. Whether playing a Bach suite, conducting a Beethoven symphony, or narrating his own version of Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale, his performances are consistently described as having “…everything to do with art.” (The Birmingham News)

A top prize-winner in the Villa-Lobos (Rio) and Bach (Washington) International Cello Competitions, as well as the Hudson Valley and Charleston Competitions, Dr. Thomas has appeared as soloist with orchestras in North and South America and throughout Europe. As a member of the Cantilena Piano Quartet, he toured and performed in most of the major concert halls of Europe and the U.S. He has performed as recitalist and chamber musician at festivals such as Windsor (England), Gstaad (Switzerland), the Israel Festival (Jerusalem), Prague, Tivoli (Denmark), Itu and Fortaleza (Brazil). As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with such renowned artists as Yehudi Menuhin, Erick Friedman, Donald MacInnes, Jesse Levine, Joseph Robinson, David Shifrin, Peter Frankl, Boris Berman and the Miami String Quartet.

Steven Thomas has served as the Principal Cellist of several symphony and chamber orchestras, including the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra New England, and has given over 1,500 concerts in that role in the last 25 years. He is also the Music Director and conductor of the Saybrook Orchestra at Yale University.

Having received his early training at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in England, Dr. Thomas was a student of Maurice Gendron and William Pleeth. He holds degrees from Cambridge and Yale Universities, including a Doctorate from the latter, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. He also earned a Performer\'s Diploma from the Royal College of Music (London) at the age of 17.

As a result of his extensive solo, chamber music and orchestral background, Steven Thomas is widely regarded as one of the foremost teacher-pedagogues and chamber music coaches of his generation, and is regularly sought-after for classes in orchestral audition preparation. He has also enjoyed a long relationship with underpriviledged students in many parts of Brazil.

He has recorded for the MVL, Point, Delos, Koch International and MMO labels.

“Steven Thomas’ […] command of the score was admirable in every way […] painting sound-pictures in delicious detail…" (New Haven Advocate)

"...sensational..." (Jornal do Brasil)

Slovenian-born concert pianist Rok Palčič is active as a soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and competition juror. As an artistic director, he successfully combines this broad range of experiences with his passion for organizing cultural events.

He started his musical education at the age of five and only a few years into his studies, Russian professor and pianist Sijavush Gadjiev invited him to join his exceptional studio. Gadjiev later introduced him to renowned pianist, pedagogue, and International Chopin Competition laureate Pavel Gililov, with whom he continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, Germany. After graduating in 2009, he decided to broaden his interests by choosing to pursue a graduate degree in chamber music performance. He moved to Graz, Austria, to study with Chia Chou, pianist and co-founder of the Trio Parnassus. After completing his second master’s degree, he briefly occupied a teaching position in his home country. He further used this time to obtain a degree in pedagogy and andragogy. During his studies he also took part in several master classes with pedagogues and pianists Aldo Ciccolini, Deniz Galenbe, Ronald Pröll, Kolja Lessing, and others.

In 2003 he was awarded the Škerjanc prize for exceptional musical achievements. In 2007 he performed at the Ruhr Klavier-Festival in Germany and was also awarded the YEHUDI MENUHIN Live Music Now foundation scholarship. His performances at prestigious festivals, as well as prizes from national and international competitions, have taken Palčič to venues across Slovenia, Italy, France, Croatia, Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He performed with renowned artists, such as Ida Bieler, Dudu Carmel, Ofer Canetti, Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Steven Thomas, Benjamin Ziervogel, Andrej Žust, and others. Several of these concerts were either recorded or broadcasted live by the German WDR, Austrian ORF and Slovenian RTV radio and television stations.

In addition to his concert activity, Rok Palčič is founder and president of the Cultural Arts Society Ars Haliaeti, focused on organizing educational and artistic events, with a strong emphasis on international collaboration. The Masterclasses Haliaeti Summer Academy, which is held every summer in Slovenia, is recommended by the University of Florida School of Music, where Rok Palčič is currently appointed as Visiting Assistant Professor of piano.