Originally from Los Angeles, California, Evan De Long has been playing the violin since the age of eight, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Jorja Fleezanis and Grigory Kalinovsky. He recently finished his masters degree at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, where he studied with Linda Wang and was a Graduate Teaching Assistant. After graduating, Evan has continued living in Colorado and is currently based in Denver. Evan has performed in a variety of solo, chamber, and orchestral settings. As an orchestral musician in the Denver area, Evan was assistant principal 1st violin with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2022, and currently holds section violin positions with the Fort Collins Symphony and the Boulder Philharmonic. Most recently, Evan won the principal 2nd violin position with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. He also plays as a substitute regularly with the Colorado Symphony, Opera Colorado, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. As chamber musician, Evan has been a part of a variety of ensembles, and in 2019, he completed a contract with Lincoln Center Stage and Holland America Line, performing nightly chamber music concerts on a cruise ship in Northern Europe. Evan is also an accomplished pianist, having studied the piano from an early age with Edward Francis, and also taking secondary lessons during college. He currently works as a collaborative pianist with students at the University of Denver, as well as pre-college students around the Denver metro area. Evan is also passionate about teaching, and maintains a large private studio of both violin and piano students.

Monica Ding grew up in a musical family. She performed and grew up with world class conductors such as Sir George Solti, Leondard Slatkin, Zubin Mehta, John Paynter and many more. With this foundation, it inspired her to attend the Peabody Institute at the Johns Hopkins University on a full president’s scholarship, followed by a Master of Music at Northwestern University. Her teachers have included Ray Still, Sara Watkins, Carl Sonic, and Thomas Indermuhler. She has held the principal and co-principal oboe position with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Guanajuato and was the professor of oboe at the University of Zacatecas. She has performed with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, International Chamber Music Festival in Prague, and has soloed all over Asia and North America. Currently she plays with the USAF Academy Band and teaches oboe at Colorado College.

Karine Garibova was born and raised in Moscow and started playing violin at the age six studying with Irina Svetlova, Yelena Mazor and Khalida Akhtyamova. Ms. Garibova earned a DMA in String Quartet performance from the Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, Russia. Ms. Garibova is a founding member of the Veronika String Quartet, which launched itself onto the international arena early, taking top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and Shostakovich International String Quartet Competition among others. Since then, this foursome has appeared in important halls in Moscow, London, Madrid, Jerusalem, New York and Chicago. Noteworthy collaborations have included those with members of the Amadeus, American and Fine Arts quartets, and with guest artists Ruth Laredo, Richard Stolzman, and Lawrence Leighton Smith. Performances of the complete canon of the quartet repertory, coupled with its devotion to the modernist idiom, have resulted in a discography of nine recordings on Carlton Classics and Vienna Modern Masters, featuring an impressive array of works ranging from W.A. Mozart to Augusta Read Thomas. The Veronika String Quartet has held artistic posts at Colorado State University - Pueblo and at Ohio’s Lancaster Music Festival, where it currently performs as quartet-in-residence. Since 2000 Ms. Garibova has also been playing with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, where she became Associate Principal Second Violin in 2004. She teaches privately in Colorado Springs and coaches the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony. Ms. Garibova is also enjoying collaborating in chamber music performances with musicians from Colorado Springs, CO to Moscow, Russia.

Martha Muehleisen has performed throughout the US and Europe as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician. In 2010 and 2011 she was selected as a participant in the Lucerne Festival Academy in Lucerne, Switzerland where she was able to work with Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. Martha frequently performs as part of the Peak Frequency Festival at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. In the summer of 2017, she was a guest artist with mezzosoprano Megan Ihnen performing György Kurtág’s Kafka Fragmente at the University of Missouri Kansas City Composition Workshop. In 2019, she performed a lecture recital titled The Art of the Duo featuring works for violin and electronics at the VU Symposium in Park City, Utah, and in 2020 presented a solo violin work at the virtual New Music Gathering. Martha has been fortunate to play under conductors Marin Alsop, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, David Robertson, and James DePreist. She has also worked with many different composers on chamber and orchestral music including Pierre Boulez, Louis Andriessen, and George Lewis. She completed her Masters Degree at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 2007, studying primarily with Herbert Greenberg, and has also completed a Certificate of Contemporary Music Performance at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, studying with Airi Yoshioka. Martha currently serves as a Lecturer in Violin/Viola at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. She performs on a French violin made in 1880 by Nestor Audinot, student of Sébastian Vuillaume.

A native of Huntsville, AL, cellist Erin Patterson joined the internationally acclaimed Altius Quartet in May of 2019. She began playing the cello at age three, and made her solo debut at age 17 performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Erin has performed in masterclasses for world renowned cellists such as Rafael Rosenfeld, Alisa Weilerstein, Pieter Wispelwey, Paul Watkins, Alan Harris, Tamas Varga, Fred Sherry, and Richard Aaron. During her summers she has been a participant of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, the Brevard Music Festival, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, the Vermont Mozart Festival and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Institute. Erin is a previous member of the Grammy nominated all cello ensemble, Uccello. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in cello performance from the University of Cincinnati College - Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Alan Rafferty, and a Master’s Degree in cello performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music, where she studied with Matt Haimovitz. Erin plays on a cello made in 2002 by Michael Stürzenhofecker and a bow by François Malo.

A native of Rochester, New York, Michael Sabatka resides in Colorado Springs where he serves as the Associate Principal Violist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and performs with in the chamber series Colorado Hausmusik. Before relocating to Colorado in the fall of 2018, Mr. Sabatka called Alabama home, where he performed regularly with the Huntsville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, and as a substitute with the Alabama Symphony. He also had the privilege to play two seasons with the Boise Philharmonic before relocating to the Southeast. An avid chamber musician and teacher, he has served as a faculty member of the Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, Chautauqua Music Camp, as a guest artist at Mississippi State University, in addition to the many summers he has been a staff member at the Credo Chamber Music Festival. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and his master’s degree from Boise State University where he served as a graduate teaching assistant and fellowship string quartet member. Pending the completion of his dissertation project, he will earn his DMA from the University of Alabama, where he was awarded a position in the Capstone graduate string quartet, and in addition served as a graduate teaching assistant. His primary mentors are Peter Slowik and Alice Kanack, and he has also grown both musically and as a teacher from the tutelage of Linda Kline, Wendy Richman, and Jacob Adams. In addition to his life in music, Mr. Sabatka loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking the trails and peaks in Colorado with his wife Erica and their Corgi mix, Bartok.