THREE RIVERS
STRING QUARTET
About Us
Patrick Forsyth - Violin
Patrick received his Bachelor and Masters Degree in violin performance from the esteemed Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Patrick began violin studies at the age of three, and began performing professionally with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra at 16, becoming the youngest musician ever to occupy a position in the orchestra. Patrick studied with renowned world-class performers Oleh Krysa and Cyrus Forough, former pupils of the legendary Russian violinist David Oistrakh.
Patrick now lives in Pittsburgh, PA, serving as assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra and the assistant director and 1st Violin Coach with the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Patrick teaches a large studio of violin students both locally and internationally. Patrick actively performs with chamber groups, new music ensembles, and orchestras across the United States. In addition to his classical music training, Patrick is also an accomplished performer in jazz, pop, and fiddle music, and frequently arranges music from various genres for special events and weddings. His arrangements have been performed internationally in Australia, Great Britain, Sweden, Brazil, New Zealand, and the United States.
Christina Crivelli - Violin
Christina Crivelli received her Bachelors and Masters degree in Music Education with a concentration in Violin from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where she studied with violinist Dr. Stanley Chepaitis, former concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony, and Alejandra Urrutia, concertmaster of the Concepcion Symphony Orchestra in Chile. She is currently working on her Doctorate degree. Christina has performed with the Pittsburgh Philharmonic Orchestra, serving as assistant concertmaster for a season, as well as the Johnstown Symphony and Washington Symphony Orchestras. Her performances have taken her overseas where she has performed at numerous concert halls in Germany, Austria and Prague. She has recorded with several local artists and has performed on stage with country singer LeAnn Rimes. She is the founding member of the Three Rivers String Quartet.
Christina currently serves as the PYPO Overture strings director, as a conductor with the PYPO Prelude Strings Ensemble and a violin coach with the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Crivelli is the Intermediate School strings teacher in the South Fayette School District. She maintains an extensive studio of violin and viola students in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and has worked with orchestras in the Beaver Area, East Allegheny, Moon Area, Seneca Valley, Bethel Park and Chartier's Valley School Districts. During the summers she coaches at the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic strings summer camp. She enjoys composing and arranging modern pieces for string quartet and her hobbies include finding old violins and violas in need of repair and bringing them back to life.
Erika Pierce - Viola
Erika Pierce attended Oberlin conservatory as a viola performance major and holds two Masters Degrees from Chatham College. She is currently working towards her Doctorate in Music Education. Erika's past teachers include prominent violists Thomas Dumm, former principal violist of the St. Louis Symphony, and Chatauqua Symphony Orchestra, as well as Jeffrey Irvine, former violists in the New World String Quartet and the principal violist in the Wichita Symphony. Erika has also played under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, David Lobel, and Kirk Muspratt. Erika was a National Solo Competition Semi-Finalist on viola in 1992 and has soloed with the Pittsburgh Philharmonic orchestra several times. She has held positions as the principal violist with the Pittsburgh Philharmonic and has performed with the Washington Symphony Orchestra, Butler Symphony, Chautauqua Choir, St. Louis Opera and the St. Louis Philharmonic. She has performed on viola for the Berkman Festival, the Surreal Ethereal Realists, Drywall Macbeth and was a featured performing artist on Tony Buba's recent film Playing to an Empty House.
Erika is the founder and conductor of the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra's Prelude Strings Ensemble and is the viola coach for the Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. She was formerly on the music faculty of the Oberlin Community Music School, Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Seton Center School of Music, and is currently on the music faculty at the Glen Montessori School as a string, piano, and music and movement teacher. Erika also enjoys working with her extensive studio of private Violin and Viola students.
Steve Ehrlich - Cello
Steve Ehrlich is a graduate of Duquesne Unversity where he received his Masters in Cello Performance as well as degrees in Music Education. Steve has been performing as a freelance musician in Pittsburgh for the past 20 years performing with groups such as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Vincent Chamber Orchestra and as principal cello of the Pittsburgh Philharmonic, performing various solos and concertos. Steve has performed with many artists including Josh Groban.
He is a private studio instructor on all stringed instruments. As a conductor, Steve has lead the Edgewood Symphony, Opus II String Sinfonietta, the Musik Innovations Chamber Orchestra, the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras Sinfoniette; and is currently the conductor of the Young Artists Orchestra at Carnegie Mellon University. Steve is also the Orchestra Director and Musical Conductor for the East Allegheny School District and District 1 Immediate Past President of the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association.
Our Other Musicians
Adam Janssen - Violin/Viola
Adam M. Janssen earned his degree in music from Carnegie Mellon University. He began his musical studies on the violin at the age of eight. Mr. Janssen’s musical career has taken him all over the continental United States, notably attending the Pierre Monteux and Eastern Music Festivals in Hancock, ME and Greensboro, NC, respectively, and the 2010 National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute in Washington, D.C. Adam has also performed with the Altoona, Washington and Westmoreland Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Pittsburgh Festival Orchestra and productions with Microscopic Opera and ResonanceWorks. In addition to his orchestral career, Mr. Janssen maintains an active freelancing career as a violinist, violist and trombonist in the Pittsburgh area. In addition to his performance career, Adam is also a music educator. His teaching engagements have included Sewickley Academy and the districts of Moon, Pine-Richland and Fox Chapel. He additionally maintains a small private studio of young musicians.
Younga Reitz - Cello
Cellist Younga Reitz began her musical training at an early age with piano, violin, then onto cello, and graduated from Sunhwa Arts School in Seoul, Korea. She holds a Bachelor’s degree Cum Laude (1995) and Master’s degree (1997) from Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music. Mrs. Reitz was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society in 1997. She earned an Artist Diploma in 2001 from the same institute. As the first prize winner of the Korean Music Education Association Younga Reitz has made a solo appearance with Les Arts de Baroque Orchestra at Hoahm Arts Hall for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Korea in 1994. Also, her solo and chamber music performance was heard in Switzerland, Holland, and the U.S. Her performances include the winner’s recital of Pittsburgh Young Artist Series in 1999. Younga Reitz has studied with Misha Quint, Anne Martindale Williams, Jennifer Langham, Sung Yon Lee, Lauren Mallory, and has participated in numerous international music festivals in the U.S., Europe and South Korea.
Mrs. Reitz Conducts Pittsburgh Youth Concert Orchestra Chamber Strings and has been on the faculty at the Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA 6-12), Center for Musically Talented at CAPA, the cello coach for the Pittsburgh Youth Concert Orchestra and Pittsburgh Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the String Coach at the Quaker Valley High School, Waldorf School of Pittsburgh, City Music Center and Pittsburgh Jewish Community Center. She has maintained an extensive private cello, violin and viola studio throughout the Tri-state area and has taught solo repertoires, orchestral studies, chamber music, in Westminster College, Geneva College, Seton Hill College, Quaker Valley High School, Fox Chapel Area High School and Beaver Area High School.
During summer months, she has coached at Pittsburgh Chamber Music Festival (1997 & 1998), Musik Innovations Chamber Music Camp (2001- 2007), Pine Richland School District Summer Strings Camp (2002-2016) and Pittsburgh Youth Concert Orchestra Summer Camp (2014-2016). She has played in the orchestras including the Pittsburgh Philharmonic (principal cellist), Wheeling Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, Altoona Symphony, Johnstown Symphony and Butler Symphony.
Jennifer Sternick - Violin
Jennifer is an active and enthusiastic freelance musician in Pittsburgh, PA. Jennifer holds the concertmaster position of Berks Sinfonietta in Eastern Pennsylvania and the concertmaster position of Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra in Western Pennsylvania. In 2015 she was featured as soloist with both groups performing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. During the upcoming 2016-2017 season, she will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Romance for Violin and Orchestra No. 1 with the Pittsburgh Civic Orchestra.
Jennifer performs professionally with symphony orchestras including Butler County Symphony Orchestra, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, Washington Symphony Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Adding to her versatility, Jennifer regularly performs with chamber groups and new music ensembles.
Hailing from the farmlands of Mohnton, Pennsylvania, Jennifer grew up studying violin with Barbara Lanza. She earned her bachelors in music and philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, summa cum laude, while studying with Roger Zahab. After university, she studied intensely with Huei-Sheng Kao of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer maintains a private violin and viola studio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and she is the advanced instructor of violin and viola at I AM Music Academy in Irwin, Pennsylvania. When Jennifer is not making music, she is an avid runner, rock climber, and is rediscovering her fondness for Ultimate Frisbee.
Dawn Paulus - Cello
Regina Ketter - Violin/Viola
Regina Ketter, violin and viola, an active performer in the Pittsburgh area for more than 20 years, has a diverse musical background that ranges from baroque ensembles to contemporary music and rock & roll. She is a graduate of CMU where she received BFA and MFA degrees. Her teachers include Yitzak Schotten, a protégé of William Primrose, and Atar Arad, a former member of the Cleveland String Quartet. Active in electronic string music, she was a founding member of the electrified string quartet EQ, and has performed and recorded with several rock and alternative musical groups. She currently leads King Fez, a rock-tinged belly dance group. Her contemporary musical studies have included study in France at the Ecole D’Art de Fontainbleau in 2000 & 2001 and the Arabic Music Retreat in 2014 through 2016.
Ms. Ketter began studying baroque viola at Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute in the late 1980s and shortly after joined the University of Pittsburgh’s Bach and the Baroque Ensemble. She currently is a member of the Pittsburgh Baroque Ensemble and frequently performs with Chatham Baroque and the Calvary Episcopal Church baroque concerts. Since 2012 she has been on the faculty of the Cello Fury Rock String Camp. Ms. Ketter is a full time string specialist in the Mt. Lebanon School District where she has taught since 1991.
Sarah Garin - Violin
Sarah Albani - Viola
Ms. Albani graduated with her degree in music from the University of Pittsburgh and received her Masters of Arts in Education from Georgetown College. Ms. Albani's prinicpal viola teachers include Roger Zahab of Pitt University and John Wilcox at Youngstown State.
Sarah has performed as a featured soloist with the Pitt University Orchestra performing the Bruch Romance and Walton Viola Concerto. She has held principal viola positions with the Lexington Community Orchestra and the Pitt University Orchestra and performed with the Kentucky Bach Choir, Center College, and Eastern Kentucky Unversity Orchestras. You can find Sarah performing in various chamble ensembles and orchestras throughout the Pittsburgh area. When Sarah is not performing on Viola she is busy attending Dental School.
Katya Janpoladyan - Cello
Ms. Janpoladyan is a native of Armenia, where she completed a Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yerevan State Conservatory under the direction of Zareh Sargissyan and Medea Abramian. Ms. Janpoladyan continued her studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree. She is currently a doctoral candidate as a student of Yehuda Hanani.
An active performer, Ms. Janpoladyan is a former member of the State Piano Trio “Shell” of Armenia and a former member of the Baur Quartet with whom she was the 2001 winner of the Pierre Lantiere International Chamber Music Competition. Ms. Janpoladyan has collaborated with artists such as Cyrus Forough, James Dunham, Yehuda Hanani, Ross Harbaugh, Awadagin Pratt, Piotr Milewsky and the Montclair Quartet. She has been featured as a soloist performing with the Yerevan Chamber Orchestra, the Camerata San Marco (NY), and the Mary Miller Dance Company. With the Freya String Quartet, Ms. Janpoladyan has been a featured performer with the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, was a cellist in residence with the Charlotte New Music Festival Ms. Janpoladyan has also collaborated with numerous living composers and is an avid proponent of new music.
With a dual passion for performing and educating, Ms. Janpoladyan has served on the faculties of the University of Cincinnati, Wyoming Fine Arts Center, the Cincinnati Starling Project, the Great Wall Music Festival, and the Bacchannalia Festival. She has taught masterclasses throughout the US, China, and Chile. Ms. Janpoladyan currently resides in Pittsburgh where she maintains a private cello studio and performs regularly.
Maija Anstine - Viola
Violist Maija Anstine is equally passionate about both contemporary and classical repertoire, and is deeply committed to both genres with enthusiasm. She has performed with contemporary ensembles such as Alia Musica, OvreArts, Brevard Music Center's itch ensemble, the Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Music Ensemble, and is a core member of Pittsburgh-based new music ensemble NAT 28. She has performed with classical ensembles such as the Wheeling, Westmoreland, Oshkosh, Green Bay, Fox Valley and Manitowoc Symphonies, and the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.
Maija holds degrees in Viola Performance and English Literature magna cum laude from Lawrence University in Wisconsin, a Master of Music from Carnegie Mellon University and has spent summers at the Brevard Music Center, the Berkshire Opera Festival, the Pierre Monteux School, the Manchester Music Festival, the North American Viola Institute in Québec, and as a featured artist with the South Beach Up North Chamber Music Festival.
Maija is also passionate about connecting to the next generation of musicians, and has taught private violin and viola studios in the Midwest and the Pittsburgh area. She is currently Instructor of Violin & Viola at the Carnegie Mellon University Preparatory School, the Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School, and at the El Sistema-inspired Orchestra on the Hill program in Pittsburgh's Hill District.
Stefanie Schore - Violin
Violinist, Stefanie Schore, a native of Northern California, attended the Interlochen Academy for the Arts before going on to completing her Undergraduate Degrees in Violin Methodology and Violin Performance at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik, Germany. During her studies she also taught and performed with the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and served as Concertmaster of the Konzerthaus Orchester Trossingen. Before beginning her final year of study, Stefanie won a one-year contract with the Frankfurter Opern und Museums Orchester where she had the opportunity to collaborate with acclaimed conductors and artists, including Daniel Barenboim, Christian Tezlaff, Kirill Petrenko, Bertrand de Billy and Nicola Luisoti.
Stefanie returned to the States to pursue her Masters in Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with both William Preucil and Ivan Zenaty. In the summer of 2014 Stefanie attended the Brevard Music Festival, serving as Concertmaster of the Sinfonia Orchestra and as assistant concertmaster to both William Preucil and Noah Bendix-Balgley in the Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Stefanie is now a violinist in the Akron, Youngstown and Firelands Symphonies, City Music Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and holds the position of principal 2nd violin for the Cleveland Opera Theater Company.