Cafe String Quartet

 Monique Pinelli earned her Bachelor of Music from University of Iowa and her Master of Music from UNC-Greensboro. Monique also studied with Rob Zimansky in Switzerland where she also has a large family in the canton de Valais. She has performed with the Tri-Cities Iowa, Salt Lake City, Greensboro, Hendersonville and Asheville Symphonies,

 Monique Pinelli earned her Bachelor of Music from University of Iowa and her Master of Music from UNC-Greensboro. Monique also studied with Rob Zimansky in Switzerland where she also has a large family in the canton de Valais. She has performed with the Tri-Cities Iowa, Salt Lake City, Greensboro, Hendersonville and Asheville Symphonies, Brevard Philharmonic, and Asheville Lyric Opera. While living in Utah, she worked at Suite Sound Recording Studios and honed her wedding music skills playing for numerous ceremonies and receptions in the Salt Lake City area including Deer Valley, Snowbird and Park City. Monique has also toured China and Inner Mongolia with the South Shore Orchestra. In addition to having a large teaching studio, Monique continues to freelance throughout the WNC region. 

 Paula Sisson Akbar, a native of Dee Flat, Oregon, attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and received her Master of Violin Performance degree from the Yale Graduate School of Music. Prior to joining the National Symphony Orchestra in 1991, she was a first violinist in the Oregon, New Haven, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

 Paula Sisson Akbar, a native of Dee Flat, Oregon, attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and received her Master of Violin Performance degree from the Yale Graduate School of Music. Prior to joining the National Symphony Orchestra in 1991, she was a first violinist in the Oregon, New Haven, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Ms. Akbar has since performed with the 20th/21st Century Consort, the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Players, the Sunrise String Quartet, the National Chamber Players, and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra in Washington DC. She has performed with Mexican musicians in San Miguel de Allende’s Angela Peralta Theatre, toured to Costa Rica and Buenos Aires (and recorded a CD entitled “To Buenos Aires With Love”) with the WAMMIE award-winning group QuinTango, in 2010 completed a two week cruise to the Caribbean as a member of the Symphonic Voyages Orchestra, and, with her Viva Violins/Fiddle Sessions NSO colleagues, participated in almost every NSO United States Residency since 1992. Ms. Akbar is the creator of Madame Mavis Pugh’s School of the Violin/Viva Violins Kinderkonzert, and Bears, Bears, Everywhere, NSO Teddy Bear programs which have been presented in the KC Family Theater for three seasons. Locally, Ms. Akbar is current Concertmaster of the Blue Ridge Orchestra and is a member of the Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra. Her violin is crafted by Black Mountain luthier Kate Rickenbacker. 

 Vivian Torres, violist, is a classically trained musician, experienced educator and Alexander Technique teacher. Vivian has a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Artist Diploma in Music Performance from Florida International University and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Vivian has performed with the Miami Symphony, South Florida S

 Vivian Torres, violist, is a classically trained musician, experienced educator and Alexander Technique teacher. Vivian has a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Artist Diploma in Music Performance from Florida International University and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Vivian has performed with the Miami Symphony, South Florida Symphony, Dominican Republic Sinfonia, the Latin billboard awards and has performed alongside well-known artists such as Bjork, Usher and Pitbull. She is a founding member of the ensemble Musical Fairytales that is a mashup of popular classical repertoire performed alongside a narration of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. She is currently performing with the Blue Ridge Orchestra. She is also a certified Alexander Technique teacher from the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique where she learned how to help performers relieve chronic pain and performance anxiety. 

 Eric Scheider is the director of the Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra in Hendersonville, NC and has served interim appointments as Music Director of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Converse University Symphony Orchestra. He has also led Echo Early Music Festival in Asheville and the Hendersonville Symphony Youth O

 Eric Scheider is the director of the Four Seasons Chamber Orchestra in Hendersonville, NC and has served interim appointments as Music Director of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Converse University Symphony Orchestra. He has also led Echo Early Music Festival in Asheville and the Hendersonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, has conducted ensembles at all levels, including Symphony Tacoma, San Francisco Philharmonic, Spartanburg Philharmonic, and the Greenville County Youth Orchestras. As a cellist, he has performed with orchestras including those in Hendersonville, Spartanburg, Asheville, Brevard, Johnson City, and Greenville, theaters including the Flat Rock Playhouse and Asheville Lyric Opera, and has toured to Italy and China. He also performs and records for a variety of film, folk, and rock projects, including for MTV Films, NPR Music, WNCW radio, the National Parks Service, the Lake Eden Arts Festival, and Echo Mountain Studios. An active arranger and award-winning composer, Scheider has performed dozens of original works for large and chamber ensembles and has commissioned new work from the likes of Dan Forrest, Hwaen Chu-qui, Anthony Moore, Chappell Kingsland, and Graham Sharp. He was a national finalist for the 2022 American Prize in Orchestral Programming and is the upper grades performing arts teacher at FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher, NC.