Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra

With a contribution to the FSO Endowment Fund, future generations are assured that the sound of live symphonic music will resound in our community.

Financial contributions, as well as gifts of stock, other marketable securities and/or real estate may be made to this fund. To learn more about giving options through the FSO Endowment Fund, please call the Symphony Office at 910-433-4690 or the Cumberland Community Foundation at 910-483-4449.

Seasonal underwriting of chairs is another option for honoring both living and deceased individuals. To learn more about our Chair Underwriting program, call 910-433-4690.

The Will Gillis Military Appreciation Endowed FSO Chair
Concertmaster
Gift of Will Gillis

Guillermo Ayerbe is originally from Jersey City, NJ. He began studying the violin at the age of 13 under his father who had studied himself at a young age. At the age of 6, he began studying with Rafael Wenke of the Ukranian Music Institute of America, New York Branch. During his younger years, Guillermo won various solo competitions in and around the New York area, performing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. He was not involved in orchestral playing until the age of 17 when he auditioned and became concertmaster of the New Jersey Youth Symphony. Later that year of 1985, the symphony performed at Barbican Hall in London, and won the International Orchestral Competition in Neerpelt, Belgium.Upon graduation from the Ukrainian Music Institute, Guillermo decided to pursue law at New York University instead of music, but continued his studies with Robert Kella of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Nancy Lederer formally of the Julliard School. After transferring to Creighton University in 1986, Guillermo received his Bachelors Degree in Political Science in 1989.

Upon his return to New York, Guillermo focused mainly on popular music, blending the violin into whatever genre he could including rock, pop, jazz, and country. He was brought to Fayetteville in 1991 after joining the military and was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne until 1995. After completing his commitment he joined the Fayetteville Symphony in 1995 and became concertmaster in 1997. Guillermo has appeared twice as a soloist with the Symphony, performing Saint-Saens Rondo Capriccioso, Thais Meditation, and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. He has performed with numerous orchestras in the region and is also a member of the Avolonte String Quartet. In 1997, he formed a partnership with local singer songwriter Paddy Gibney. For the last 11 years they have been a staple in popular and Irish music as a duo throughout North and South Carolina. Guillermo has been an avid recording musician as well and has 7 CD's to his credit, including an Ecuadorian Classical CD recorded with the late Harlan Duenow. He currenly resides in Fayetteville with his two sons, and has been teaching privately for 12 years.

The Berte Dean Carter & A.A. Howell Chair
Assistant Concertmaster
Gift of Berte Howell

Gayane Grigoryan began playing violin at the age of seven. She studied at the Arno
Babajanian Music College and the Komitas State Conservatory of Music where she worked with Ara Bogdanyan, a former student of David Oistrakh, and Armen Haroutunian. Ms. Grigoryan performed in several recitals, including solo appearances and recordings with the Yerevan Youth Symphony Orchestra,the Arno Babajanyan Symphony and Chamber Orchestras,the Alan Hovhannes Chamber Orchestra and the Armenian TV and Radio National Symphony Orchestra where she was the concertmaster. She also participated in two competitions: the Aslamazyan and Gabrielyan National String Competition where she received a Diploma, and the J.S. Bach National Competition where she received the First Prize. Ms. Grigoryan recorded with the Gloria string quartet in Yerevan, Armenia and was a member of the Hrachya piano trio in Beirut, Lebanon. She also served as a faculty member at the Arno Babajanyan Music College and was a member of the Saloniki Opera and Ballet Symphony Orchestra in Saloniki, Greece. In December 2007 she performed as a soloist with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, and in Summer 2008 with the Espirito Santo Philharmonic Orchestra in Vitoria, Brazil and Alan Hovhannes Chamber Orchestra in Yerevan, Armenia.

The Phoebe Edna Williams Curl Chair
Principal Tuba
Gift in Memory of Edna Curl

Joanna Ross Hersey is Assistant Professor of Low Brass at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she teaches trombone, euphonium and tuba and conducts the Low Brass Ensemble. Joanna studied with Dan Perantoni at Arizona State University, received a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Chester Schmitz, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance from the Hartt School.

As Principal Tubist with the United States Coast Guard Band, Joanna performed throughout the country as a soloist and clinician after winning the position at the age of nineteen. Joanna has played for three U.S. Presidents, performed at numerous state functions for visiting dignitaries, and has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America. In her freelance career she has performed with artists including Placido Domingo, Roberta Flack, Marilyn Horne, Arlo Guthrie, Michael Bolton, Lee Greenwood, Arturo Sandoval and Jack Nicholson.

Joanna is a founding member of the Athena Brass Band, a group first created for the 2003 International Women�s Brass Conference which has since performed at the 2006 IWBC, and has been featured at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. As a member of the Alchemy Tuba-Euphonium Quartet, Joanna performs throughout North America and Europe and can be heard on the group�s compact disc recording Village Dances. Alchemy is in residence each February at the Horn-Tuba Workshop in Jever, Germany where the group performs recitals, gives master-classes and conducts ensembles. Joanna is currently recording her first solo album, entitled O quam mirabilis, featuring music by Hildegard von Bingen, Libby Larson, and more!

Deanne Renshaw (BM, MM - Northwestern University) A former student of oboe legend Ray Still and world-renown oboe soloist Alex Klein, Deanne currently holds the endowed principal oboe chair in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra (FSO) where she was featured as a soloist in 2007. Having gained additional influence from oboists Carl Sonik (St. Louis Symphony), Richard Killmer (Eastman School of Music) and Bernard Shapiro (Seattle Symphony), Deanne has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the South Bend (IN) Symphony Orchestra, the Kenosha (WI) Symphony Orchestra, the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra (IL), the Long Bay Symphony (SC), the Raleigh Civic Symphony (NC), Opera Carolina (NC), the Amman Symphony Orchestra in Amman, Jordan, and the International and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras in Israel. Having performed with the FSO since her move from Chicago to the Sandhills in 2000, she has enjoyed holding the FSO Orchestra Manager position since the 2007-2008 season. Outside of the FSO, Deanne teaches oboe at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, and at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke after several years on the music faculty at Olivet Nazarene University in Kankakee, IL. In September 2007, she was one of two English Horn players chosen to perform on the �Ray Still and Friends� Chamber Music recital following Mr. Still�s International Oboe Masterclass in Annapolis, Maryland. She has collaborated with local guitarist Danny Infantino on an instrumental Christmas album entitled, "Of Blessed Beasts and Children" and performs regularly as a freelance musician both locally and in surrounding counties. Deanne resides in Pinehurst, North Carolina, with her husband, Scott, and two young children.

Jessica Dixon Leeth (M.M., B.M., East Carolina University) is in her fourth season with the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, and is also a member of the Long Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, SC, as well as Triptychos, a chamber ensemble of flute, oboe and cello. She has performed with the North Carolina Symphony, Greenville (NC) Pops Orchestra, Greenville Choral Society and appeared as a soloist at the 2006 NC Computer Music Festival. The Classical Voice of North Carolina has described her playing as �on the mark with meaningful phrasing and comfortable technique,� and she has received awards including First Place in the North Carolina MTNA Young Artist Woodwind Competition and Second Prize in the Hampton Roads (VA) Flute Faire Competition. Jessica teaches flute at Presbyterian College and is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina.