William Pu, First Violin
A Chinese--American violinist, William was accepted by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1978 at age 11. In 1987, William came to the USA to study with Fredell Lack and become her teaching assistant. William won the audition for the Houston Symphony Orchestra in 1990 and was named by Christopher Eschenbach as Assistant Concertmaster. He became the youngest Assistant Concertmaster in the history of Houston Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, William was invited by Music Director Robert Spano as Associate Concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and holds the prestigious Charles McKenzie Taylor Chair. Since 2002, William has performed the duty as Concertmaster for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Revinia tour in Chicago and other important tours and recordings. He has been featured as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland, and other orchestras around USA and Europe. William is also an active chamber music performer. He had performed with artists like Arnold Steinhardt, Cho-Liang Lin, James Dunham, and Lynn Harrell. He has taught many master classes at a number of Universities in the USA.
Sandy Salzinger, Second Violinist
Sandy Salzinger was selected in 1985 by Robert Shaw to join the violin section of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Salzinger studied at a young age at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Salzinger holds Bachelors and Masters of Music from Indiana University, where he studied with the noted violin instructor Josef Gingold. Before joining the Atlanta Symphony, Mr. Salzinger performed for two seasons in the violin section of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared throughout Atlanta as chamber musician and performed as violin soloist in Mozart’s Violin Concerto #4 with the Gwinnett Philharmonic in 1998. He has also performed at many major music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Summer Festival. At Tanglewood he was selected to perform the Brahms violin concerto for Pinchas Zuckerman. He has performed throughout the United States with the Atlanta Symphony, including at Carnegie Hall, as well as in many of the major European concert halls. Mr. Salzinger is also the founder and first violinist of Allegro Strings (www.allegrostrings.com), a classical ensemble which provides music for special events. Mr. Salzinger resides in the Morningside neighborhood in Atlanta with his wife Stephanie and their two young children, Meredith and Phillip.
Reid Harris, Violist
Since joining the Atlanta Symphony as Principal Violist in 1979, Reid Harris has maintained an active solo and chamber music performance schedule. Holder of the endowed Edus H. and Harriet H. Warren Chair, he appeared twice in 2004 as soloist with the ASO in works by Gubiadalina and Strauss. He has also made solo appearances with the ASO in works by Walton, Hindemith, Berlioz, Mozart, Bartok, Telemann, and Bach. Mr. Harris is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where his principal mentor was Abraham Skernick. He undertook additional studies with William Primrose and Joseph de Pasquale. While at the Music Academy of the West in 1970, he was chosen by Primrose to receive the Outstanding Achievement Award for a violist. Prior to his ASO appointment, he served as Assistant Principal with the Baltimore Symphony from 1975 to 1979. He is a founding member of the Georgian Chamber Players. During the 2001-02 season, he performed with the ensemble at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall with the newest member of the GCP, pianist Valentina Lisitsa. In the same season, he performed with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble in their Symphony Hall performance. He has also taken part in recording projects by REM and Stone Temple Pilots. In recent summer seasons, he has participated in the Amelia Island and Grand Teton music festivals. As the first member of the orchestra to be appointed to the ASO Board of Directors, Mr. Harris participated in a study trip to performance facilities in Sapporo, Kuala Lumpur, and Tokyo in the summer of 2001 as part of the Symphony Center project.
Karen Freer, Cellist
Cellist Karen Freer has been teaching at Emory University and playing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for eight years. Previously she has held positions with the Savannah Symphony as principal cello, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Originally from San Diego, Freer began piano lessons at age 5 and cello lessons at age 8. When she was 11, she began commuting to lessons in Los Angeles with Eleonore Schoenfeld, and won the concerto competition with the San Diego Symphony at age seventeen. She then attended Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music, and a performer’s certificate. Her principal professors were Janos Starker and Paul Katz, and Freer played in master classes for many artists including Zara Nelsova and Paul Tortelier. Freer has attended several summer festivals, including two years with the New York String Orchestra and four years at the Aspen Music Festival, and she plays annually with the Teton Music Festival. Music has taken her all over the world, and she has played in such diverse places as Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall in London, and Finlandia Hall in Helsinki, Finland. Freer also teaches privately, and she resides in the Candler Park neighborhood in Atlanta.