Faculty & Staff

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Grammy-nominated pianist Andrius Žlabys has received international acclaim for his appearances with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Rotterdam Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires. Born in Lithuania and trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, Andrius was 18 years old when the Chicago Tribune wrote: “Pianist-composer Andrius Žlabys is one of the most gifted young keyboard artists to emerge in years.” 

Since then, Andrius has enjoyed collaborations with several esteemed musicians, including violist Yuri Bashmet, violinist Hilary Hahn, and an enduring collaboration with violinist Gidon Kremer with whom Žlabys has toured extensively in Europe, Japan, South America, and the US. In 2003, Žlabys received a Grammy nomination for his recording of Enescu’s Piano Quintet with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, and is featured soloist in "Between two Waves" by Victor Kissine released on ECM in 2013 in collaboration with the same ensemble. A multifaceted musician of wide-ranging repertoire, Andrius Žlabys holds a special reverence for J. S. Bach, while remaining a strong advocate for the contemporary stage with numerous works commissioned by and written for him. 

 Er-Gene Kahng is a violinist, researcher, and educator whose work came to the fore through her advocacy of black composer Florence Price. Her recording of Florence Price’s Violin Concertos (Albany Records, 2018) has been cited and praised as an important contribution to American classical music, and has aired on programs like NPR’s Songs we Love, and APM’s Performance Today.  

Er-Gene serves as concertmaster with the Fort Smith Symphony. Er-Gene is also a member of Chineke!, the first majority BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) orchestra in Europe, whose motto is “championing change 

and celebrating diversity in classical music.” 

Previously, Er-Gene held title positions with the North Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, SoNA, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and section positions with the Lancaster Symphony, and New Haven Symphony. Other collaborations include co-curating a new music series “Fuse” (at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art), Texas Ballet Theater, the Hong Kong Arts Academy, performances with Norfolk Symphony (UK), Portland-Columbia Symphony, and Camellia Symphony.

Er-Gene is the Professor of Violin, and the Director of Graduate Studies at the UA-Fayetteville. She was a Visiting Wolfson Fellow at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK, and received degrees from UCLA, Yale and Northwestern.

Charlotte Crosmer began her violin studies when she was four years old.  A few years later, she was performing in a string quartet with her siblings and experimenting with old-time fiddling as well. She went on to become the Arkansas State Old-time Fiddling Champion at the age of twelve and was a featured solo performer on NPR’s "A Prairie Home Companion."

After receiving masters degrees in chamber music and violin performance from the University of Michigan (studying with Aaron Berofsky), Charlotte accepted a position with the dynamic crossover string ensemble Barrage 8.  While she was in the group, they toured in Europe, Canada, and 23 U.S. states. In the summer of 2017, she toured Japan as a member of the New York Symphonic Ensemble.

Currently, she lives in Little Rock Arkansas where she is a full-time member of the Arkansas Symphony and the Quapaw String Quartet.  She can also be heard fiddling with bluegrass/folk groups Big Still River and Runaway Planet. 

A Central Arkansas native, Jeremy Crosmer is a remarkable young artist — both as a cellist and a composer. Between 2012 and 2017, he served as the Assistant Principal cellist in the Grand Rapids Symphony and joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Jeremy is a founding member of the modern music ensemble Latitude 49. He is also a current member of the band ESME, a duo that broadens the education of classical music by bringing crossovers and mashups of pop and classical music to schools throughout Michigan. ESME released its first CD in 2016.

Jeremy completed graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in cello, composition and theory pedagogy, and received his D.M.A. in 2012 at age 24. While still in school, Jeremy was awarded the prestigious Theodore Presser Graduate Music Award to publish, record and perform his Crosmer-Popper duets. He recorded the duets with Julie Albers; both sheet music and CD recordings are available online.

Jeremy has taught music theory, pre-calculus and cello at universities across Michigan. He draws mazes, writes science fiction and plays good old country fiddle in his spare time. www.jeremycrosmer.com 

 Violist Timothy MacDuff joined the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Quapaw String Quartet in 2019. He is originally from upstate New York where he started his studies at the Crane School of Music before continuing graduate studies at Rice University and the University of Maryland. 

Tim has spent summers with the Round Top Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Loon Lake Live. He has performed with the New World Symphony as a semifinalist. 

As an educator, Tim serves on the faculty of the ASO’s Sturgis Academy. He has spent summers coaching chamber music at the Manitou Springs Chamber Music Festival and Crane Youth Music Camp. 

Violinist Katherine Williamson has been an arts partner of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Rockefeller String Quartet since October of 2013. A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Williamson is also currently a substitute violinist for the Minnesota Orchestra and spent the summer of 2015 playing in Minneapolis as part of the Mill City Summer Opera Orchestra. Music has taken Ms. Williamson from the rolling hills of the Meadowmount School of Music in New York, to the mountains of Breckenridge, to the stage of the Konzerthaus in Berlin. She has served as associate concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra, section violin of the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, and section violin of the Lakes Area Music Festival. She has also been an associate member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra and has played as a semifinalist with the New World Symphony. Katherine graduated from Indiana University in December of 2012 where she received a Bachelor of Music with Distinction under the instruction of Professor Mark Kaplan. While at IU, she also studied pedagogy under Dr. Brenda Brenner and Mimi Zweig.