Professional Development

Robert Levine has been the Principal Violist of the Milwaukee Symphony since September 1987. Before coming to Milwaukee Mr. Levine had been a member of the Orford String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Toronto, with whom he toured extensively throughout Canada, the United States, and South America. Prior to joining the Orford Quartet, Mr. Levine had served as Principal Violist of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for six years. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony of Canada, and the Oklahoma City Symphony, as well as serving as guest principal with the orchestras of Indianapolis and Hong Kong.

He has performed as soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Symphony, the London Symphony of Canada, the Midsummer Mozart Festival (San Francisco), and numerous community orchestras in Northern California and Minnesota. He has also been featured on American Public Radio's nationally broadcast show "St. Paul Sunday Morning" on several occasions.

Mr. Levine has been an active chamber musician, having performed at the Festival Rolandseck in Germany, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Palm Beach Festival, the "Strings in the Mountains" Festival in Colorado, and numerous concerts in the Twin Cities and Milwaukee. He has also been active in the field of new music, having commissioned and premiered works for viola and orchestra from Minnesota composers Janika Vandervelde and Libby Larsen.

Mr. Levine was chairman of the International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians from 1996 to 2002 and currently serves as President of the Milwaukee Musicians Association, Local 8 of the American Federation of Musicians, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestras. He has written extensively about issues concerning orchestra musicians for publications of ICSOM, the AFM, the Symphony Orchestra Institute, and the League of American Orchestras.

Mr. Levine attended Stanford University and the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Switzerland. His primary teachers were Aaron Sten and Pamela Goldsmith. He also studied with Paul Doctor, Walter Trampler, Bruno Giuranna, and David Abel.

He lives with his wife Emily and his son Sam in Glendale.

Bill Hunt has been a professional tax accountant since 1993. His tax preparation career began with H&R Block, where he prepared individual tax returns for ten years. He now manages his own tax practice, preparing individual as well as corporate tax returns, and specializing in tax returns for musicians. He is an Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service, allowing him to represent clients before the IRS. Bill holds a Master of Business Administration degree with concentrations in Finance and Corporate Accounting from the Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.

In addition to his tax career, Mr. Hunt has been a member of the First Violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1975, and also serves as Concertmaster for the Penfield Symphony. He has been guest soloist with the Penfield Symphony, Fredonia Chamber Players, Cincinnati Community Orchestra, and The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan.

A hornist, Michael spent his early years touring with “Miss Saigon," “Les Miserables," and The New York City Opera National Company..His service as a union steward sparked an interest in labor and representation, which led him to working at The American Federation of Musicians, where he headed the AFM's Touring, Theatre, and Immigration Services Division.

Michael was a 2006/2007 Fellow in the League of American Orchestras' Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, and was the League's Director of Artistic Programs following the Fellowship. He enjoyed working with many talented conductors, musicians and composers across the field.

Michael left the League to return to performing, and enjoyed a nearly three-year run with "Disney's The Lion King" in Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, he served as a para-professional in the Clark County School District, working with young brass players in middle and high school.

Michael currently lives in Los Angeles, CA where he has recently re-joined the American Federation of Musicians, in the Electronic Media Services Division.

Michael has written about arts and labor for for the AFM’s International Musician, Symphony magazine, and Polyphonic.org.

Michael co-wrote, with Angela Chan, the one-act musical "Legacy of the Tiger Mother." It is the first musical to be set at a piano recital, and has enjoyed productions in Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and Adelaide, Australia. www.tigermotherthemusical.com

Christian Woehr was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1951 into a large and unwieldy family of musicians. Five days into life, he split for Pittsburgh, where his dad had a new gig playing horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony. At the age of 7 his cellist mother asked him if he wanted to play the viola. Eager to please, he said “Sure! What is it?”, thus setting the pattern for a lifetime of clueless commitments. Within a year or two, already struck with the pathetic nature of the viola repertoire, he was attempting to write his own music. Possibly his first completed work, a Gavotte for solo viola, received actual monetary payments of 25 cents per copy from his teacher Albert Hirtz, a Pittsburgh Symphony musician who understood the motivational force of cash. The $1.50 earned from this project remained Christian’s largest compositional fee for the next 20 years.

Surviving the excruciating self-taught compositional efforts of Christian’s childhood, his family string ensemble (a full string sextet with additional horns) was quite happy to see him off to college. After the Eastman School of Music, where his principal teachers were Francis Tursi in viola and Warren Benson in composition, Christian came face to face with career/cash realities, and put away the pencil and paper for a while to learn the viola parts to Don Juan and the Mendellsohn Scherzo (for orchestra auditions). After a miserable year in the Columbus Symphony, he returned to Rochester, his marriage over and his bow arm still stinking.

Attacking the latter through the teaching skills of Heidi Castleman, he eventually landed the Principal Viola job in the Rochester Philharmonic. Forced to play slightly above his physical talent level, Woehr again learned that his true love lay in composing. He began writing works for viola and multiple violas, and more importantly, organizing concerts with the combined viola resources of the Eastman School and the Rochester Philharmonic. In 1984, ERVE (the Eastman Rochester Viola Ensemble) made its triumphant way to the World Viola Congress in Boston, playing all-Woehr. The crowd adulation (unrealistic though it may have been from an audience of several hundred violists) sealed Christian’s compositional fate.

In 1986, during a downsizing period of the Rochester Philharmonic (no more chips and beer on runout buses, plus the abandonment of Carnegie Hall concerts) Woehr got a call from St. Louis. He went, and won the audition for Assistant Principal Viola of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, a job which has left him with somewhat more time and energy for composing (all part of his long-range plan). No doubt due to life-lessons learned, Woehr continues to hesitate to give up his orchestral day job for composing. But his opus grows in quantity, scope, and quality, with performances by orchestras, chamber music festivals, and colleagues who commission him for his uniquely fun style of writing. He isn’t getting rich off composing, but the few bucks he gets from ASCAP every 3 months does keep up the faith.

Nathan Kahn is a Negotiator for the Symphonic Services Division of the American Federation of Musicians. He has been with the AFM since 1988. In that position, he negotiates, advises and assists in the administration and negotiation of symphony orchestra contracts in the United States, and occasionally in foreign countries. He has negotiated hundreds of collective bargaining agreements on behalf of Locals of the AFM, including 6 comprehensive first-time collective bargaining agreements, and provided varying levels of assistance in the administrations of collective bargaining agreements to over 250 different bargaining units, nationwide and abroad. Nathan gives lectures to students at colleges and conservatories across the US on the subjects of symphony orchestra career preparation, and the role of the American Federations in those future careers. He also administrates the American Federation of Musicians Symphony Audition Complaint Hotline, assisting musicians internationally with difficulties they encounter in symphony orchestra auditions.

Nathan has been a member of the string bass section of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic (formerly the Colorado Springs Symphony) since 1991. Previously he was the Principal Bassist of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and an active recording musician in Nashville, recording for such artists as Charlie Daniels, Roger Whittaker, Roy Clark, Sandi Patti, Dan Fogelberg, and many other recording, television and film productions. He was a faculty member of Tennessee Technological University and for 15 years at the Sewanee Summer Music Center. Prior to coming to Nashville, he was Principal Bassist with the Tulsa Philharmonic Orchestra, and also served on the faculties of the University of Arkansas, the University of Tulsa, and Oral Roberts University. He has, among others also performed with the Memphis Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Prior to coming to the American Federation of Musicians, he was Founder and is President Emeritus of Regional Orchestra Players’ Association (ROPA).

He has written numerous articles for the International Musician and other national publications on musician and symphony orchestra related issues, and participated in national panels addressing a variety of problems related to these areas.

Nathan is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, with a degree in Music Education.

In his limited spare time Nathan enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, bicycling, cooking and collecting pop music from foreign countries.

Pianist, arranger, author, and educator, Christopher Azzara has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of creativity and improvisation in the music learning process. An innovator in the area of music teaching and learning, Dr. Azzara is Professor & Chair of Music Education and Affiliate Faculty of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. Teaching and performing internationally, he is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, including Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation, Creativity In Improvisation, and Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (GIA). His arrangements for instrumental and vocal ensembles include A la nanita nana for choir and chamber orchestra or piano (Oxford), and Concert Selections for Winds and Percussion (GIA). His research and publications are concerned with meaningful relationships among listening, creating, improvising, reading, composing, and analyzing music in vocal and instrumental settings. Dr. Azzara's work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, Early Childhood Connections, and in The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning (MENC/Oxford). He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles, including the Chris Azzara Quartet, and has played on and produced many studio and educational recordings. In Rochester, he performs with free-lance musicians, members of the Eastman School of Music Faculty, and members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. An active teacher and clinician, he has presented and performed extensively throughout the United States, and in Canada, Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland, and Japan. He has presented clinics and workshops in a variety of settings, including TEDxRochester, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and leading music schools in this country and abroad. Christopher Azzara is a native of Virginia and attended public schools in Fairfax County. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University, he taught instrumental music in the Fairfax County Public Schools and performed as a pianist in the Washington D.C. area. He later received a Master of Music and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Dr. Azzara was a professor at The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre of the University of Hartford, CT.

Bill Hunt has been a professional tax accountant since 1993. His tax preparation career began with H&R Block, where he prepared individual tax returns for ten years. He now manages his own tax practice, preparing individual as well as corporate tax returns, and specializing in tax returns for musicians. He is an Enrolled Agent with the Internal Revenue Service, allowing him to represent clients before the IRS. Bill holds a Master of Business Administration degree with concentrations in Finance and Corporate Accounting from the Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.

In addition to his tax career, Mr. Hunt has been a member of the First Violin section of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra since 1975, and also serves as Concertmaster for the Penfield Symphony. He has been guest soloist with the Penfield Symphony, Fredonia Chamber Players, Cincinnati Community Orchestra, and The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan.

Roger Oyster, Principal Trombonist in the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Music Director, has performed as Principal Trombonist, as member or guest musician, for the St. Louis Symphony, the National Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Prior to his career as an orchestral musician, he was the Principal Euphonium and Euphonium Soloist with the United States Marine Band, the "President's Own," where he was a featured soloist on two national tours and over 80 concerts. On euphonium and bass trumpet, he has peformed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. He was a featured soloist on trombone with the St. Louis Symphony and on euphonium with both the St. Louis Symphony and the Kansas City Symphony. As a member of the St. Louis Symphony, he appeared on over 40 commercially released recordings, including several Grammy nominated recordings and one Grammy winner, and has also recorded with the Atlanta, Detroit, and Kansas City Symphonies. He has performed as Principal Trombonist at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Donald Runnicles, Music Director, since 1988. His reviews of classical music CDs have appeared in Audiophile Voice and Listener magazines, and writes a regular column in the Kansas City Symphony program magazine, entitled, "...For the Record", recommending recordings for the repertoire performed. He lives in Independence, MO, with his remarkable wife Susan, their professional baby girl Erin, and they see his three older children, Reeves, David, and Zachary, as often as possible.

Roger Oyster, Principal Trombonist in the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Music Director, has performed as Principal Trombonist, as member or guest musician, for the St. Louis Symphony, the National Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Prior to his career as an orchestral musician, he was the Principal Euphonium and Euphonium Soloist with the United States Marine Band, the "President's Own," where he was a featured soloist on two national tours and over 80 concerts. On euphonium and bass trumpet, he has peformed with the St. Louis Symphony, the Kansas City Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Virginia Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony. He was a featured soloist on trombone with the St. Louis Symphony and on euphonium with both the St. Louis Symphony and the Kansas City Symphony. As a member of the St. Louis Symphony, he appeared on over 40 commercially released recordings, including several Grammy nominated recordings and one Grammy winner, and has also recorded with the Atlanta, Detroit, and Kansas City Symphonies. He has performed as Principal Trombonist at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Donald Runnicles, Music Director, since 1988. His reviews of classical music CDs have appeared in Audiophile Voice and Listener magazines, and writes a regular column in the Kansas City Symphony program magazine, entitled, "...For the Record", recommending recordings for the repertoire performed. He lives in Independence, MO, with his remarkable wife Susan, their professional baby girl Erin, and they see his three older children, Reeves, David, and Zachary, as often as possible.