| Biographies of the Mousai Quartet Members |
| Jennifer Kozbial, violin Sonja Harasim, violin Hana Morford, viola Erin Ellis, cello |
| Jennifer Kozbial, age twenty-two, of London, Ontario, Canada began playing the violin at the age of five. She has been the recipient of numerous scholarships, trophies and awards from the Kiwanis Music Festivals and the Canadian Music Competitions. Jennifer was twice the Ontario Music Festivals Association Provincial winner in 1994 and 1996. In June of 1999, she competed in Edmonton, Alberta at the National Finals of the Canadian Music Competitions where she received a first place mark. Jennifer was a semi-finalist in the 1998 American String Teacher Association’s Solo Competition, competed as a semi-finalist in the Corpus Christ Young Artists Competition held in Texas in February 2000, and was a winner in the WAMSO Young Artist Competition held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in January 2001. In May, 2000 Jennifer was the winner of the LeCaine Prize from the National Arts Centre Orchestra Bursary Competition and in May of 2001 was the winner of Vic Pomer Award. In November 2000, Jennifer was awarded the Silver Medal from the Royal Conservatory of Music for the highest Grade 10 Violin Examination mark in Ontario. Jennifer has appeared as soloist with Orchestra London (1997), Woodstock Strings (1995), and twice with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra (1997 and 1999) after winning their Concerto Competition. Jennifer is the first person to win the Concerto Competition twice, and is the youngest winner of the open competition. In July 2000 and 2001 Jennifer was invited to perform in a two week Young Artists Program with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman as part of a select group of young musicians from around the world. Jennifer has been featured numerous times in the London Free Press, The Kitchener -Waterloo Record, The Ottawa Citizen and on CHRO Television in Ottawa. She performed for The Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Toronto at a CMC fund-raiser, in a CBC Radio Recital at the National Gallery in Ottawa as part of the Classical Encounters Series and most recently at a recital for the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society. Upcoming performances include a return engagement with the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society and a recital for the Stratford Chamber Music Series. Jennifer toured Europe with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra this summer and will return in December 2001 with performances in Germany, Spain and Greece. Jennifer performed at Carnegie Hall in December 2000 as part of the New York String Orchestra Seminar conducted by Jaime Laredo. She has participated in masterclasses and worked with such musicians as Patinka Kopec, Pierre Amoyal, Regis Pasquier, Michael Tree, Sylvia Rosenberg and Martin Chalifour. Jennifer has studied with Elaine Klimasko of the National Arts Centre Orchestra for the past six years and currently studies with William Preucil at The Cleveland Institute of Music. |
| Sonja Harasim, a native of Houston, Texas, began playing the violin at the age of five. She attended the Grammy Award winning High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) in Houston, where she served as concertmaster for two years of the HSPVA Symphony. She also was concertmaster of the Virtuosi of Houston in their 1999 and 2000 seasons, concertmaster of the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra from 1998-2001, and concertmaster of the Transylvania Youth Symphony at the Brevard Music Festival. As well, she participated in the Texas Region and All-State Orchestras throughout junior high and high school. Since the age of eight, Sonja has been attending summer music festivals to further her studies in music. She attended Interlochen Arts Camp from 1991-1997, Brevard Music Festival in 1998, Aspen Music Festival in 1999 and 2000, and last summer attended Festival-Institute at Round Top. She has had the opportunity to study with concertmasters of major orchestras, such as: Herbert Greenberg of the Baltimore Symphony and Jorja Fleezanis of the Minnesota Orchestra. In the summer of 2000, Sonja took a ten day performance tour in China, where she played in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen with the HSPVA Chamber Symphony. She has also performed on a cruise to the Bahamas, Disney World, and in Phoenix, Arizona. Sonja has won several awards in her years as a violinist. She has won concerto competitions in the HSPVA and Virtuosi of Houston Concerto Competitions, giving her the opportunity to perform Brahms Violin Concerto at the Wortham Center and Moores Opera House in Houston. She has also won prizes in the MusicFest Competition, the Houston Young Artist Competition, Greater Houston Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the Arts Recognition and Talent Search (ARTS). With several orchestras she has also been featured playing Mozart’s Concerto in G Major, Mozart’s Haffner Serenade, and Correlli’s Christmas Concerto. She has also been 1st violinist of the Sapphire and Concordia String Quartets, frequently performing throughout Houston. Sonja was previously a student of Albert Muenzer, former Concertmaster of the Houston Grand Opera and Associate Concertmaster of the Houston Symphony, and is now a student of David Updegraff at the Cleveland Institute of Music. |
| After attending a concert at the age of four, Erin Ellis decided she wanted to play “that big violin.” Within a few weeks, Erin began cello studies in Birmingham, AL, and continued after a move to Atlanta in 1998. She has been principal cello of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and has toured internationally with the University Cello Choir, an ensemble of 21 cellists coached by her private teacher of four years, Martha Gerschefski. She was also the featured performer on National Public Radio’s popular broadcast From the Top, once as a soloist and once as a member of the ASYO at the Sarasota Youth Orchestra Festival. Erin has spent her summers studying at the Meadowmount School of Music , the ENCORE School for Strings, the Quartet Program at Bucknell University, and Music Academy in Santa Barbara. Now age twenty, Erin is an upcoming senior at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studies with Richard Aaron. |