VIOLIN, Concertmaster

Paula Sisson Akbar attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and received her Master of Violin Performance degree from the Yale Graduate School of Music. She has played in the Oregon, New Haven, and Baltimore Symphonies and the Kennedy Center Opera/Ballet Orchestra. In 2016 Ms. Akbar retired from the National Symphony Orchestra first violin section after 24 years. A proponent of world and ethnic music, Ms. Akbar collects music from all around the world. She has played with mariachi, 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, and played a two-week cruise to the Caribbean as a member of the Symphonic Voyages Orchestra. 

Locally, Ms. Akbar plays with the Cafe String Quartet and the Carolina Primrose String Quartet, and is concertmaster of the 4 Seasons Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Akbar’s violin is crafted by luthier Kate Rickenbacker, whose studio is located in Black Mountain.

VIOLIN

Recently relocated from Bloomington, Indiana, where she studied violin performance at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Susan Anderson is a singer, songwriter and violin player freelance multi-genre musician residing in Asheville, NC. Susan has performed across the country as a classical, jazz, punk, bluegrass, children’s-music, sacred-ritual, folk, and country artist. Equally at home in a concert hall as an intimate jazz club or DIY basement space, Susan has always embraced the expansive creativity and endless possibilities that music has allowed her to explore. In addition to performing, Susan teaches private music lessons and specializes in teaching the youngest of musicians.

CELLO

Rachel Hahn moonlights as a cellist outside of her main gig as an emergency medicine physician assistant; offstage, she can be found hustling around the ER in bright scrubs, music-themed socks, and her favorite KISS hat. Most patients have no clue that she has a BM-Music Performance degree from

UNC-Chapel Hill and over 25 years of ensemble playing experience. Besides leading the BRO cello section, she also enjoys running, crossfitting, coaching Special Olympics, drinking tons of coffee, cheering on her husband’s Haywood Lumberjacks team, and chasing after her 1-year-old son.

HARPSICHORD

Sarah Trent is an Asheville native and a senior at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a focus in classical piano. She began studying piano at the age of fourteen, quickly developing a deep passion for performance and musical expression. Throughout her teen years, she participated in local music camps and piano competitions, further honing her technique and artistry. At UNCA, she has performed with both the UNCA Chamber Ensemble and the Asheville Singers, gaining valuable experience in solo and collaborative performance. Through her studies and musical engagements, Sarah continues to refine her craft and deepen her commitment to classical music.