As a toddler, Patrice was entertained by her mother Joyce’s practicing (Wieniaski, Paganini, Chausson, Saint-Saens) during afternoon naps and late at night while her Dad was at school. An advantage of being the first child was her mother’s undivided attention in those first years, which focused on singing and piano playing. At age eight, while living in the Central Valley, she began studying the violin with Alexander Vdovoin, and then Severin Saphir in Berkeley. In high school and at Mills College, Nathan Rubin guided her violinistic efforts, while Colin Hanpton nurtured her love of chamber music. A year in London at the Guildhall School of Music and two years at Brigham Young in Provo, Utah rounded out her education. Professionally, Patrice freelanced for a year in northern Germany, joined the Phoenix Symphony for a year, and then returned to the Bay Area to become a member of the Oakland Symphony and various chamber orchestras and smaller ensembles. She played the long-running Phantom of the Opera for almost five years, and since then, concurrently with the birth and growth of her and her husband Robin’s twins, has turned her enthusiasm to teaching, joining the staff of the Villa Sinfonia Foundation and building her own private studio in Berkeley. She credits her involvement in music, and the joy and satisfaction that this involvement brings, to her parents, who had the foresight and the willingness to sacrifice all the time, energy, and money necessary to provide a musical home environment and, of course, all those lessons!

Carol Rice, Cello
Carol Rice grew up in Morro Bay, just the other side of the hill from Kent Nagano, and both of them studied music with Mr. Korishelu, who started her on flute and him on clarinet. The cello quickly replaced the flute as Carol’s main instrument, and then she went to UC Santa Cruz, and studied cello with Laszlo Varga and Irene Sharp, and chamber music with Helichiro Ohyama. Ohyama, who subsequently became principal viola of the Los Angels Philharmonic, was a particularly strong influence on Carol, and through his friendship with Yo-Yo Ma, she had the opportunity to play chamber music with Ma and to study with him for one summer.
Carol did her graduate work at Hale University, where she met her husband, David Wishnia, also a cellist. When the moved to the Bay Area in 1983, she auditioned for principal cello in the Berkeley Symphony and a section position with the San Jose Symphony and won both auditions. She continues to play in both of these orchestras and to freelance in other groups. Carol enjoys working with kids, teaching in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Preparatory Division, is active in the Berkeley Symphony’s Music Education Program, and has many private students, from age 5 through adult.


David Ryther, Violin and Viola
Violinist David Ryther is a ubiquitous performer in the San Francisco contemporary music scene. He has recently appeared with such innovative ensembles as Earplay, the San Francisco Contemporary Players, and is a regular member of the intrepid S. F. Sound Group. Fueled by a passion for new music, David is completing his doctorate in contemporary violin performance at the University of California at San Diego, a world-renowned music department for contemporary music. His dissertation includes the original composition of violin etudes which explore contemporary violin techniques. While in San Diego, David performed with the UCSD faculty new music ensemble, Sonor, alongside such musicians as Harvey Sollberger, Steven Shick and George Lewis. He was also concertmaster of the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Harvey Sollberger, where he received the Thomas Nee Award for Excellence. David has brought his interpretive power to Darmstadt (200) and the Banff Centre (2002) as a resident performer and soloist. David has been a featured soloist up and down the Califonia coast in such festivals as the Green Umbrella Series in Los Angeles, the Ojai Festival, the “New Music for a New Century” festival in Santa Barbara and “April in Santa Cruz”. As an undergraduate at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he was first violinist in the University of California new music ensemble Octagon, which performed extensively at all UC campuses, and at Merkin Hall, New York City. A dedicated teacher, David has taught violinists and musician through the undergraduate level and has received the “Teaching Assistant of the Year” award from UCSD. Currently he is an affiliated teacher, member, and occasional conductor with the Villa Sinfonia and has coached chamber music at the Zephyr Point music camp. His association with the Villa Sinfonia goes back many years to his formative years as a young student in the program. David’s principal violin teachers have included Roy Oakley, Roy Malan, Henriek Kowalski and Janos Negyesy. Reflecting his diverse musical interests, David has also worked closely with such eminent musicians as Pauline Oliveros and Ravi Shankar.

Daryl Schilling, Violin

After playing violin for special concerts with the Villa Sinfonia for several years, Daryl Schilling began teaching with the organization in the Fall of 1999. Her previous violin teaching experience includes working with the Suzuki program at San Francisco State University and private teaching.
Ms. Schilling has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton College in Studio Art and a Master of Music degree in Violin from the University of the Pacific. She has done further study in violin and chamber music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Indiana University and San Francisco State University. Her private teachers include Ralph Matesky, Irving Ilmer, Andor Toth and Leonard Austria.
Before settling in the Bay Area, Ms. Schilling was a member of the Milwaukee and the Indianapolis Symphonies. Her Bay Area professional experience includes the Golden Gate, Orpheum, and Curran Theatre Orchestras; the Midsummer Mozart Festival Orchestra; and the Western Opera Theatre. She often plays with the Lamplighters Music Theatre, Pocket Opera, and the Berkeley and Modesto Symphonies.

Julie Smolin, Violin
Julie Smolin grew up in Rochester, MN, and began playing the violin when she was eight. At the age of fourteen, she joined her mother to become a member of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from high school, she was awarded a full scholarship to participate in the Congress of Strings in Cincinnati. There, she was concertmistress under the direction of Morton Gould. After receiving a B.A. in Music Education from Luther College in Decorah, IA, she taught junior high and elementary orchestra in Red Wing, MN. During that time, she also studied the Suzuki Method of teaching violin. After two years of teaching, Julie continued her violin studies with Eduard Melkus at the Hochsschule fur Musick und Kunst in Vienna, becoming a member of the Maurice Ravel Chamber Orchestra and performing throughout Europe. Now living in San Francisco, she is teaching Suzuki violin at the Villa Sinfonia Foundation.

Gordon Thrupp, Viola