Jonathan Mueller
Jonathan Mueller, Viola, has been a member of the Louisville Orchestra since the 2006-2007 season. Mr. Mueller completed a Master of Music in Viola Performance at Rice University's Shepherd School in May of 2006 under the instruction of former Cleveland Quartet Violist, James Dunham.
While at the Shepherd School, Mr. Mueller performed in master classes for the Tokyo, American, and Mendelssohn Quartets. During his time at Rice, Mr. Mueller's orchestral experience was with the Austin Symphony and the Symphony of Southeast Texas in Beaumont.
Before attending Rice University, Mr. Mueller received his Bachelor of Music from Indiana University where he studied with former L.A. Philharmonic Principal Violist, Alan DeVeritch. While at IU, Mr. Mueller performed with the Evansville Philharmonic for two seasons. Mr. Mueller currently teaches Violin and Viola at Bellarmine University and lives in the Highlands with his wife, Krista, son, Everett and daughter, Coral.
Laura De St. Croix Vicic
Praised for her warm and beautiful sound, Laura brings enthusiasm and energy to her performances. She has enjoyed performing with acclaimed ensembles such as Chattanooga Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic, Quad City Symphony, Mankato Symphony, and is a tenured member of the Duluth-Superior Symphony. Currently, Laura holds a position with the Paducah Symphony and regularly performs with Orchestra Kentucky in Bowling Green. Laura has performed with Roberto Diaz, Leon Fleischer, Sharon Isbin, Jennifer Koh, Itzhak Perlman, Christopher O’Reilly, and The Joffrey Ballet. As a soloist, she has performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante at the University of Minnesota with conductor, Dr. Jeffrey Specht.
As a chamber musician who has performed across the United States and Canada, she has been a participant in chamber music festivals such as The Castleman Quartet Program, Lyricafest, North American Viola Institute, Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, Bravo!, Madeline Island Music Camp, Chamber Music Midwest, and Northern Lights Chamber Music Festival. In 2014, Laura was the Assistant Dean for The Castleman Quartet Program and has served as junior faculty and counselor at Stringwood Chamber Music Festival and Green Lake Chamber Music Festival. Laura has participated in readings with Natasha Brofsky, Charles Castleman, Norm Fisher and Roger Tapping. She has played in masterclasses for members of Arianna, Artaria, Concord, Emerson, Julliard, Pacifica, Parker and Takács String Quartets, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Since moving to Louisville in March 2015, Laura has kept up a busy schedule including performances with Stevie Wonder at the Yum! Center while on his Tour in the Key of Life, Louisville Ballet, and Louisville Master Chorale. As an educator, she maintains a private studio at Suzuki Stars Music Academy in addition to teaching strings at Montessori School of Louisville.
Laura holds viola performance degrees from Texas Tech University (BM) and the University of Minnesota (MM). She is nearly complete with a Doctorate of Musical Arts also from the U of M. Her most influential teachers and mentors include violists, Alice Preves, Renee Skerik, Korey Konkol; violinist Laura Bossert; and cellist Terry King.
Michael Klotz
Born in 1978 in Rochester, NY, Michael Klotz made his solo debut with the Rochester Philharmonic at the age of 17 and has since then appeared as soloist with orchestra, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the world. Of a recent performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 with violist Roberto Diaz, the Portland Press-Herald proclaimed, “this concert squelched all viola jokes, now and forever, due to the talents of Diaz and Klotz”. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently proclaimed Michael Klotz to be “a superb violist, impressive, with an exceptionally attractive sound,” and the Miami Herald has consistently lauded his “burnished, glowing tone and nuanced presence.”
Michael Klotz joined the Amernet String Quartet in 2002 and has toured and recorded with the ensemble throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Romania, Colombia, Belgium, and Spain with the ensemble. Klotz has performed at some of New York’s most important venues, such as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, MoMA, Bargemusic, and the Kosciuzsko Foundation. His festival appearances have included Seattle, Newport, Caramoor, ChamberFest Cleveland, Festival Mozaic, Great Lakes, Cervantino, Sunflower, Martha’s Vineyard, Skaneateles, Virginia Tech Vocal Arts and Music Festival, San Miguel de Allende, Beverly Hills, Music Mountain, Bowdoin, Madeline Island, Sarasota, Music Academy of the West, and Miami Mainly Mozart.
Passionately dedicated to chamber music, Klotz regularly performs with many of today’s most esteemed artists, having appeared as guest violist with the Shanghai, Ying, and Borromeo String Quartets, and collaborated with artists such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, James Ehnes, Vadim Gluzman, Gary Hoffman, Carter Brey, Michael Tree, Robert DeMaine, Andres Diaz, Roberto Diaz, Joseph Kalichstein, and Franklin Cohen, as well as with many principal players from major U.S. orchestras. In 2015 he was named a Charter Member of the Ensemble with the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth. In 2002 and 2009, he was was invited by Maestro Jaime Laredo to perform with distinguished alumni at anniversary concerts of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in Carnegie Hall.
Michael Klotz is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the Performer’s Certificate. In 2002 he became one of the few individuals to be awarded a double Master’s Degree in violin and viola from the Juilliard School. At Juilliard, he was the recipient of the Tokyo Foundation and Gluck Fellowships. His principle teachers and influences include Zvi Zeitlin, Lynn Blakeslee, Lewis Kaplan, Toby Appel, Peter Kamnitzer, and Shmuel Ashkenasi. A dedicated teacher, Klotz is Senior Instructor and Artist-in-Residence at Florida International University in Miami, where he teaches viola and chamber music.
Klotz has recently presented highly acclaimed master classes at the Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Michigan, Penn State University, University of Nevada – Las Vegas, Ithaca College, Texas Christian University, and West Virginia University. Since 2015 he serves as Director of Chamber Music and Viola Instructor for the Miami Summer Music Festival where he curates a highly successful series of chamber music concerts featuring artist faculty of the festival and students at The Betsy Hotel in Miami Beach and Barry University. He has also been a member of the artist faculty of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Beverly Hills International Music Festival, and the Killington Music Festival. His former students currently attend and are graduates of prestigious conservatories, including the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Indiana University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music and are already achieving leading roles in the music world. Michael was featured in the November 2013 issue of the “Alumni Spotlight” in the Juilliard Journal and as the subject of Strad Magazine’s “Ask the Teacher” column in the November 2013 issue. Michael Klotz resides in Hallandale Beach, FL with his wife Kelly and sons Jacob and Natan, as well as two dogs and a cat.
Milena
Pajaro-van de Stadt
Praised by The Strad magazine for having “a silky tone” and a “lyricism that stood out” and for creating “beautiful, supple lines,” violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearances as a soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she’s performed in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which The Strad described as “fleet and energetic . . . powerful and focused.”
Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, which she performed with from 2008 to 2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the first-prize winner and recipient of every special award at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition and the winner of the gold medal and grand prize at the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include first prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Tokyo International Viola Competition and Sphinx Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculties of the Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and she was a part of the quartet-in-residence at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She’s now a member of the newly formed piano quartet Espressivo! along with acclaimed artists Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.
A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, Pajaro-van de Stadt began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. She graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Díaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale, and then received her master’s degree in string quartet performance with the Dover Quartet at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a student of James Dunham.
