What about the music?
An inside look with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra
VSO Up Close: Beethoven’s Septet & Mozart’s Oboe Quartet
Sunday, March 8, 2026 | 2:30PM | Music & Arts Center Concert Hall, William & Mary – Get Tickets
Grace Park, violin
Celia Daggy, viola
Chris White, bass
Alex Mayer, oboe
Michael Byerly, clarinet
Jacob Wilder, horn
Laura Leisring, bassoon
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F Major, K. 370
Ludwig van Beethoven: Septet in E-Flat Major, op. 20
By Stella Feliberti
The Performers
violin
Grace Park
Grace Park is a violinist celebrated for her artistry, passion, and virtuosity. Praised by the San Francisco Chronicleas “fresh, different and exhilarating” and by Strings Magazine for her “intensely wrought and burnished” sound, she captivates audiences worldwide. A winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition, Ms. Park is recognized both as a dynamic soloist and a devoted chamber musician.
Ms. Park’s most recent solo debuts include the Colorado Music Festival, Bard Festival under the baton of Leon Botstein, Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony, The Rudolfinum/ Dvorak Hall in Prague with Prague Philharmonia, and recital debuts at Krannert Center, Beethoven Minnesota Festival and Merkin Hall.
Future collaborations include her solo debuts at Seoul Arts Center with Les Musiciens du Louvre with Marc Minkowski, Sarasota Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, Orlando Philharmonic with Eric Jacobsen, along with chamber music debuts at the Savannah Music Festival and Camerata Pacifica.
Ms. Park recorded her debut solo album with the Prague Philharmonia and their music director, Emmanuel Villaume, which will include concertos and solo works of Mozart and Dvorak. It is set to be released in the spring of 2025.
A devoted and passionate educator, Ms. Park is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and has taught masterclasses and coached at Conservatorio de Musica de Cartagena, Mannes School of Music, University of North Carolina, University of Mississippi, Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, Skidmore College, among others. She currently teaches as adjunct professor at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.
As a native to Los Angeles, California, Ms. Park began violin at the age of 5 where she trained at the Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Principal teachers are Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Robert Lipsett. She now resides in New York City.
She performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.
violia
Celia Daggy
Hailed as “glittering, beautiful and memorable”, Celia Daggy joined the VSO as Principal
Viola in 2022 at the age of 24, making her one of the youngest principal violists in an American orchestra.
Raised in a musical family in sunny Santa Monica, California, she studied piano and violin, eventually picking up the viola as a teenager. In high school, Ms. Daggy performed for John Williams with conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the American Youth Symphony, competed in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and toured China with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA.
She completed her undergraduate in 2020 summa cum laude from Boston University, where she studied with Boston Symphony principal Steven Ansell. She was a Tanglewood Music Center fellow for three years, during which she won their annual mock-audition, and was a guest of the Boston Symphony in the Leonard Bernstein Centennial Gala Concert. She also attended the New York String Orchestra Seminar and Spoleto Festival USA. Throughout her college years, she was a guest of numerous New England chamber music societies, performing from Rhode Island up to Maine. In 2018, she gave the world premiere of Stephen Baillargeon’s viola concerto, written for her, as a benefit for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Frequently traveling around the United States, Ms. Daggy has performed with the Boston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina Symphonies. She has toured New England with the Boston Pops, and also joined the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles for a PBS broadcasted event celebrating Henri Mancini’s 100th Birthday. She can be heard around Hampton Roads in the internationally-renowned Candlelight quartet series. In the summer, she is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra, and participates in the Wintergreen Music Festival in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Prior to joining the Virginia Symphony, she was an acting member of the North Carolina Symphony during the ‘21-’22 season. She was also a principal fellow of The Orchestra Now at Bard College, where she can be heard on an album released by Bridge Records playing extensive solos in George Bristow’s Symphony No. 4 “Arcadian”.
She plays on a 2016 viola made by Andranik Gaybaryan in Northampton, Massachusetts. Outside of the musical world she enjoys running, learning about fine wines, and is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan. She currently lives in Chesapeake.
cello
Sebastian Stoger
Native New Yorker and cellist, Sebastian Stoger, is a virtuosic passionate soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician who has performed at prestigious concerts, festivals, competitions throughout the world. Sebastian enjoys being an avid player of violin classical repertoire, jazz music, and a wide range of contemporary music. As one who grew up with intense musical training, he is committed to be an advocate for aspiring young artists through his performances and collaborations with educational programs. In April 2025, Sebastian won the Principal Cello position of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Supporting young emerging artists Sebastian has been a member of Omega Ensemble, playing sonatas and chamber music works throughout the New York City/Metropolitan area. He is also a Dacamera Young Artist Fellow in Houston, Texas, where he performs a variety of classical and contemporary repertoire, and serves as a teaching artist in the Houston Public Schools.
On the East Coast, Sebastian has performed in David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, playing works by Mozart. In the summer of 2024, he served as principal cellist of the League of Composers Orchestra in New York City.
In Summer of 2024, Sebastian became a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, collaborating with soloists Alisa Weilerstein and Yunchan Lim, and
performing under conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Klaus Makela, Antonio Pappano, and Vasily Petrenko. Other festival credits include the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, where he performed with members of the Vienna Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine.
Sebastian Stoger grew up in Manhattan, NYC. He began his cello studies starting at the age of 5 at the Special Music School, a public elementary, middle, and high school at the Kaufman Music Center, dedicated to providing young talents with serious musical training. At the age of 9, Sebastian won his first concerto competition. In May 2022, Sebastian was a semifinalist at the 2022 Washington International String Competition. In Spring 2017 he was named a National YoungArts Winner. Sebastian was also featured at the NPR Radio From The Top Show, where he received a Jack Kent Cooke Artist Award.
Sebastian currently plays on a Gaetano Sgarabotto cello, generously loaned to him by Curtis Bryant Fine Cellos.
Bass
Chris White
A Rhode Island native, Christopher White has been a member of the Virginia Symphony since 1998, and was appointed as the symphony’s principal bassist in 2014. He attended the University of Rhode Island where he studied with David Cobb, and then went on to major in Orchestral performance at the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Timothy Cobb, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic. In 1993, he was appointed as principal bass of the New Bedford Symphony in Massachusetts, and section bass in the Vermont Symphony. In 1996, Mr. White earned a spot in the prestigious New World Symphony in Miami under Michael Tilson Thomas where he served as co-principal bass until he joined the Virginia Symphony as assistant principal bass. In 2000, Mr. White won the double bass audition for the Grant Park orchestra in Chicago where he continues to perform for 10 weeks each Summer in Millennium Park.
Mr. White also enjoys an active solo and chamber career as well, most notably as a soloist with the Virginia Symphony, performing Bottesini’s Grand Duo Concertante with violinist Pavel Ilyashov, and more recently Stravinsky’s “A Soldiers Tale” under JoAnn Falletta. Working under the Symphony’s Community Engagement Program, he has enjoyed performing for thousands of children. He currently teaches double bass at Old Dominion University and the Governor’s School for the Arts as well as teaching privately. He resides in Norfolk with his wife, Joanne Meyer White, second flute of the Virginia Symphony and their 2 children.
Oboe
Alex Mayer
Oboist Alexander Mayer has appeared in concert halls around the world and joins the Virginia Symphony as Principal Oboe in January 2024. A passionate orchestral player, he served as an acting member of the Minnesota Orchestra in Fall 2023, and has freelanced with orchestras such as The Metropolitan Opera, Richmond Symphony, and The Florida Orchestra. In 2023, Mayer was a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra as well as Spoleto Festival USA, and was previously a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. In recent years he has also been a part of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Sarasota Music Festival, and le Domaine Forget International Music Festival. In 2018 he participated as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, touring across Asia under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.
Mayer received his Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School studying with Nathan Hughes, and is currently working towards a Master’s degree, also at Juilliard. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Mayer previously studied with Martin Schuring and Nikolaus Flickinger, and has been supported over the years by the Arizona Musicfest Scholarship. Outside of music, he can be found hiking and exploring outdoors or enjoying strategy/puzzle games.
Clarinet
Michael Byerly
Principal clarinetist Michael Byerly joined the Virginia Symphony at the start of its 2014-2015 season. Originally from Oregon, he studied clarinet with William McColl and Yehuda Gilad, completing degrees at the University of Washington and the University of Southern California and earning an Artist Diploma at The Colburn School. While in Los Angeles, he gained formative orchestral experience as a substitute player with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As a soloist, he won First Prize at the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition and the Pasadena Showcase House Competition. He spent three years in Nishinomiya, Japan, as a member of the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, and he served for two seasons as Principal Clarinetist with the Tucson Symphony. He resides in Virginia Beach with his wife, Christina Havens, who is Director of Orchestral Activities for the Virginia Symphony.
Horn
Jacob Wilder
Jacob Wilder completed both a Bachelor’s degree and an Artist Diploma in French Horn performance at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in downtown Los Angeles. During his time in Los Angeles, Jacob played substitute French horn with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Santa Barbara Symphony. Jacob has also served as a full time section member in the Colburn Orchestra, American Youth Symphony, the Industry Opera Company, Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, and Colorado College Music Festival. Beyond making music, Jacob enjoys being outdoors biking, hiking, or playing basketball.
Bassoon
Laura Leisring
Laura Leisring, Principal Bassoon of the Virginia Symphony since 2007, can be heard on more than 35 CD recordings on labels such as Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, and Auvidis Valois as Principal with the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Canary Islands, Spain 1989-2003, and as Acting Principal of the Milwaukee Symphony 2003/2004. Highly praised for her work by critics in Spain, she has performed with more than 100 world-class artists, and has been a soloist under conductors Yoel Levi, Antoni Wit, Leopold Hager, and Anne Manson, with whom she performed the European Premiere of the Concerto for Bassoon by Pulitzer-Prize-Winning Composer, Ellen Taaffe-Zwilich. She has served as Principal with the Music in the Mountains Festival, Durango, CO. since 2002, where she was a featured soloist in 2007.
The Creators
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Fast Facts:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756 in Salzburg. He was the youngest of 7 children. He wrote his first composition at 4 years old.
- Mozart was known as a jokester, both in and outside of his compositions. His Divertimento from two horns and string quartet is thought to be intentionally humorous as it is clumsy, mechanical, and over-repetitive at times.
- Mozart composed a plethora of pieces. By the time of his death, he composed over 600 works, including symphonies, concerti, operas, chamber music, and choral works.
- Mozart was fluent in many languages, including German, Italian, French, and Latin. He learned all these languages to be able to compose and perform across Europe with diverse audiences.
- Mozart has the unique ability to compose complete works in his head before writing them down. It is said that he would envision complete scores with multiple instruments and unique harmonies, without the need for extensive revisions.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Fast Facts:
- Beethoven started composing around age 9 and published his first compositions in 1783.
- Beethoven learned how to play violin, viola, and piano from a very young age. He got his first job as a musician as the court’s organist under Christian Gottlob Neefe.
- Beethoven started to study under Franz Joseph Haydn in 1792 where he took counterpoint lessons and studied violin. Though he studied with the great Haydn, Beethoven aspired to meet and study with Mozart. However, the two never met despite their efforts to connect.
- Beethoven is known for writing masterwork Symphonies but is also highly regarded for his chamber music, especially his string quartets.
- Beethoven is known for leading the transition from the Classical Era into the Romantic Period, leading to his high regard as one of the most famous composers of all time.
The Pieces
Mozart
Oboe Quartet in F major,
K. 370
Listen to Mozart’s Oboe Quartet in F major from Heinz Holliger and the Keller Quartet:
- Mozart’s Oboe Quartet was written in early 1781, scored for oboe, violin, viola, and cello. It was originally written for virtuoso oboist Friedrich Ramm to show off his talents and improvements made to the oboe.
- This quartet is one of many that Mozart wrote for strings and a featured instrument. Thus, most of the work is focused around oboe virtuosity with string accompaniment as it is written idiomatically for the oboe’s personality.
Beethoven
Septet in E-Flat Major,
op. 20
Listen to Beethoven’s Septet in E-Flat major from Janine Jensen and Friends:
- Beethoven wrote his Septet in E-Flat in 1799 and is dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa. It was one of his most popular works during his life, yet Beethoven despised this as he “wished it were burned!”
- The piece was premiered in 1800 with his first symphony at a benefit concert (a concert hosted by a composer to premiere new works and generate income. Composers would rent halls, hire musicians, sell tickets, and perform new works to generate income. Any money left after paying everyone involved would directly go to the composer for their benefit). The piece was dedicated to the Archduke Rudolph’s sister-in-law, Empress Maria Theresa (second wife of Franz II) — a political move to allow the young composer to gain a solid relationship with the elite of the musical capital of Vienna.
- Despite Beethoven’s disdain for this piece, his septet inspired many other composers’ septets such as Spohr, Schubert, and Liszt.
- The septet begins with a stately Adagio, highlighting the violin and clarinet, which shifts into a brilliant Allegro that speaks to the Mozartian elegance. This movement is filled with colorful and rich dialogues between instruments that underscores Beethoven’s skillful motive development sections. The following Adagio’s graceful character is created with lilting and serene melodies, exchanged between the violin and clarinet. Next is a Viennese-style Menuetto with an animated character, paired by a comedic trio. The septet’s fourth movement is variations of a Rhenish folk tune, portrayed with a wide range of instrumental color and texture with various instrumental combinations such as a string trio and bassoon-clarinet duet. Then comes a playful Scherzo-Trio, led first by the horn but then highlights the cello in the Trio. The septet closes with at first, a dark introduction, yet soon turns into a high-spirited sonata-rondo (a musical form that features a recurring refrain, A, the alternated with contrasting episodes (B, C, etc.) while including a development and recapitulation section as seen in sonata-allegro form) that returns to the cheerful energy of the entire septet.