String Clinic Faculty

Violin: Helen Bohannon‡, Nicolas Fortin*‡
Viola: Meghan Casper*†‡     Cello: Jon Silpayamanant*‡
Bass: Karl Olsen*†‡

* IU Southeast Music Department faculty
† Member of the Louisville Orchestra
‡ IU Southeast Arts Institute faculty

Kathryn Burger Johnson (clinic director, violin, viola) was a founding member of the Floyd County (IN) Youth Symphony. After graduating with honors from DePauw University, she performed with the Louisville Orchestra, then served as a graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii. Ms. Johnson returned to Indiana to teach in the New Albany/Floyd County school system where she currently instructs elementary string students. She recently received a Master of Science in Music Technology degree from Indiana University-Purdue University. Ms. Johnson continues to perform professionally and enjoys arranging music for young string players.

Helen Bohannon (violin) is a 1982 graduate with a performance degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. She studied with renowned artists such as James O. Buswell IV, Miriam Fried, Greg Fulkerson, and with Stanley Ritchie for Baroque Violin. Helen has performed with the faculty of the Eastman School of Music and as a member and soloist with the Owensboro Symphony. As an auxiliary member of the Louisville Orchestra, she performed with the orchestra in their 1989 tour to Carnegie Hall. Helen has performed as concertmaster for the Southern Baptist Seminary Orchestra, the Indiana University Southeast Orchestra, and the Jewish Community Center Orchestra. She has been a member of the IU Southeast Music Department faculty since 1991 and conducted the IU Southeast Orchestra during its 1997 concert season. Helen is also the first violinist and vocalist for the Classical Choice Trio and is Music Director at Grace Lutheran Church in New Albany, and served as co-director of the Floyd County (IN) Youth Symphony during the 2004-2005 season. In 1999, the Floyd County (IN) Council for the Arts recognized Helen Bohannon as a Floyd County Artist of the Century.

Meghan Casper (viola) received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University. Her teachers have included Richard Young (Vermeer Quartet), Atar Arad (Cleveland Quartet), and Mark Jacobs (Cleveland Orchestra), among others. She has participated in the Gros Morne Music Festival (as Artist in Residence), the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival Advanced Quartet Studies, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and the Spoleto Festivals in the USA and Italy. Meghan has taught at Northern Kentucky University, the Wyoming Fine Arts Academy, was a musical outreach presenter with the Chicago Public Schools, and was a Teaching Assistant to the Colorado Quartet Soundfest. Meghan is currently a member of the Louisville Orchestra.

Nicolas Fortin (violin) born in Québec, Canada, began playing the violin at an early age. He later discovered the Baroque repertoire and the Historical Performance practice while under the great tutelage of Chantal Rémillard eventually completing his Masters in Music at McGill University. Since 2003, Nicolas has collaborated with Susie Napper, famed cellist and gambist, with the Festival Montréal Baroque, which takes place each June in Old Montreal and features the best international Early Music performers over four days. He recently moved to Louisville, and since teaches French at IU Southeast.

Karl Olsen (bass) began musical studies in Suzuki Violin, in Wausau, Wisconsin. Mr. Olsen began double bass studies in 1991 with David Dunn at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. Before earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1996, teaching at the Wausau Conservatory of Music and playing in numerous Big Bands and combos, Mr. Olsen decided to begin orchestral studies in earnest and eventually focused completely on orchestral playing, enrolling at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. While working with Bruce Bransby at IU, Mr. Olsen continued his teaching both privately and as an IU Associate Instructor. Between 1996 and 2001 Mr. Olsen completed a Master of Music degree and began Doctoral studies. During those years he performed regularly as Assistant Principal in the Evansville Philharmonic and Owensboro Symphony Orchestras, Principal Bass of the IU Philharmonic, New Music Ensemble and Baroque Orchestra, earned fellowships and titled positions in Music Festivals, studied with Gary Karr, Stuart Sankey, Paul Ellison and Edgar Meyer and freelanced in many professional groups from Charleston, South Carolina to Albuquerque, New Mexico. In September of 2001 Mr. Olsen joined the illustrious New World Symphony Orchestra, a fellowship training orchestra under the baton of Michael Tilson-Thomas, Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. On October 16th, 2001, Mr. Olsen joined the Louisville Orchestra bass section.

Jon Silpayamanant (cello)is a cellist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Born in Udon Thani, Thailand and a citizen of Thailand, he began playing the cello at the age of six and has toured or performed as a soloist and with ensembles throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Wales. He has worked with numerous ensembles including the IU Southeast Chamber Orchestra, DePauw Contemporary Music Ensemble, T.E.C. (Turntables, Electronics, and Cello), the Terre Haute Symphony and Ahel El Nagam (classical Arabic ensemble). He is one of the founding members of il Troubadore, a world music ensemble based in Indianapolis, which gives regular performances throughout the Midwest and he tours regularly with the Cherokee Cowboys, the back-up Country/Western Swing band of multi-Grammy Award winner and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Ray Price. His most recent ensemble, the duet Raks Makam, focuses on music and dance of Central Asia with dancer and musician, Taletha al Badr. Silpayamanant completed a Bachelors of Music in Cello performance at the DePauw University School of Music in 1996 and has attended numerous chamber festivals including the IU String Academy, Point Counterpoint, and the Kentuckiana Summer Music Institute. As a World Music performer Silpayamanant has appeared with Badal Roy and his World Jazz Combo, Carmine Guida, Kevin Hartnell, George Wakim and Firas Madbak, Raquy Danziger, Keni Washington and his OMniverse World Jazz Sinfonia. In 1993-1994 he was the assistant to Eric Edberg at DePauw University School of Music. Silpayamanant's cello teachers and chamber music coaches have included Eric Edberg, Rostislav Dubinsky, Lawrence Zoernig, Claude Cymermann, Julia Preston, Susanna Onwood, Megumi Ohkubo, Deborah Caruso and Nancy Snustad. He has performed in masterclasses for Janos Starker, Eleanore Shoenfeld, Steven Kates, Fritz Maag, Owen Carmen, the Borromeo String Quartet, Gary Karr, Janet Anthony, the American String Quartet, and Stephen Schumway.