The Bergonzi String Quartet, named for the famous violin maker, Carlo Bergonzi, has been Quartet-in-Residence at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami, since 1992, where all four performers are faculty members. In their first three years they performed the Beethoven Quartet cycle in a series of six concerts at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach. Since then, they have developed a repertoire that includes many Latin works and a large number of original arrangements created by the members of the quartet, including Neil Hefti’s What is this thing called Love?, Schubert’s Erlkonig and Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals for String Quartet and 12 Instruments.

Hailed by the critics as “electrifying” and “masterful”, the Quartet has become one of Florida’s and America’s most important cultural assets. Reflecting South Florida’s diverse cultural community, the Bergonzi often explores the marvelous quartet repertoire of Villa-Lobos, Ginastera, Surinach, Piazzolla, and others.

The Bergonzi String Quartet consists of Scott Flavin, Evija Ozolins, Chauncey Patterson and Ross Harbaugh. Prior to joining the Bergonzi Quartet, the four members were part of the New World, Pro Arte, Miami, and Ellis String Quartets, and have extensive collective performing experience, appearing in virtually every major center in the world, with concerts throughout Europe, U.K., North and South America, New Zealand, and Asia. They have released seven recordings, including Bergonzi: By Arrangement Only, For Bergonzi Four, Mendelssohn Quartets, Bergonzi Live, and Wild, for labels including Naxos, Centaur, and Fleur de Son. In the summer, they are in residence at the Pine Mountain Music Festival.

Scott Flavin, Violin

Scott Flavin maintains a busy and versatile career as violinist, educator, conductor, and arranger. He is Professor of Violin at the Frost School of Music, where he is also Resident Conductor and Artistic Coordinator for The Henry Mancini Institute.

Since 2002 he has been concertmaster of Florida Grand Opera, as well as for the Miami Bach Society. In addition, he performs nationally and internationally on violin and viola with PULSE Trio. Previous positions include concertmaster of Miami City Ballet from 1997-2003, and violinist in the Rochester Philharmonic. He is the Music Director of Miami Mozarteum, and has appeared on the podium with such diverse artists as soprano Denyce Graves, the Beach Boys, Chick Corea, and Dave Grusin, among many others.

Scott was born and raised in Boston, where he received his early musical training, and then attended the Eastman School of Music.  He has conducted in summer festivals including the Pine Mountain Music Festival and the University of New Hampshire’s Summer Youth Music School, as well as guest appearances with the Alhambra Orchestra and on the JazzRoots concert series. The HMI Chamber Orchestra, under his direction, received the 2013 Downbeat Magazine award for outstanding classical group. His nationally-broadcast conducting debut, for the PBS television special, “Jazz and the Philharmonic”, aired in January of 2014.  He has also been heard on over a dozen Grammy Award-winning albums, has recorded for labels including Naxos, Centaur, and M&W, and has released two solo recordings.  In addition, he is active as a composer and arranger, his works having been heard often on American Public Media’s Performance Today, and in concert across the country.

For more information, see www.scottflavin.com

Evija Ozolins, Violin

Evija Ozolins is currently the concertmaster for the Palm Beach Symphony orchestra and assistant concertmaster of Florida Grand Opera. Born in Riga, Latvia, Evija is a third generation musician in a family of professional musicians.

She began playing the piano at the age of three and the violin at the age of five, and was educated in Riga at the Emils Darzins Academy of Music. In 1991, she was accepted as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music in New York City, where she studied with renowned violinists Aaron Rosand and David Nadien, and received a Bachelor of Music degree and a professional studies certificate. In addition, she was awarded a career grant from the American Latvian Association and a Bill Starr Scholarship, as well as a Canadian Latvian Association Career Grant. Ms. Ozolins was also the winner of the Mannes Orchestra Concerto Competition.

She has given solo recitals in many U.S. cities, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, as well as Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. She has recorded as a soloist with Maureen McGovern, Lee Leesack, Brian Lane Green, and her name appears on many commercial recordings and soundtracks. She also performs on numerous broadway shows, most recently Motown and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in NYC. Evija plays on a 1782 Antonio Gragnani violin.

Chauncey Patterson, Viola

Chauncey Patterson has garnered an impressive career as chamber musician, teacher, soloist, and orchestral player. He began his professional career at the age of 23 as Assistant Principal Viola of the Denver Symphony, and was eventually appointed Principal Viola by  Music Director Phillipe Entremont.  His next post was Principal Viola of the Buffalo Philharmonic under the direction of Seymon Bychkov.

During his stay in Buffalo, Mr. Patterson was offered and accepted the viola position in the award-winning Miami String Quartet.  During his 15 year tenure, the MSQ garnered awards in the quartet competitions of London and Evian, in addition to being the first string quartet to win the Concert Artist Guild New York Competition. The Quartet toured the U.S. extensively playing virtually every high profile venue including performances at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Hollywood Bowl.

Foreign travels (both with and without the MSQ) have taken Mr. Patterson to  Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Panama, Brazil, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, England, and the Netherlands.  He has shared the chamber music stage with such distinguished artists as:  Gil Shaham, Garrick Ohlsson, Cho liang Lin, Robert Chen, Jamie Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Paul Neubauer, Cindy Phelps, Nadja Salerno Sonennberg, the Orion String Quartet, Franco Gulli, Aaron Rosand, Menachem Pressler, Peter Wiley, Andre Michel Schub, Bill Pruecil, Ida Kavafian, Lynn Harrell, Arto Noras, Mark Johnson, Gene Druckman,  and Robert Vernon. Following his tenure with the MSQ, Mr. Patterson served as interim violist of the world renowned Fine Arts Quartet.  He currently resides in Miami, Florida where he serves as Solo Viola of the Florida Grand Opera and interim professor of viola at the Frost School of Music, as well as violist in the Bergonzi String Quartet.

Educaton has been a major component of Chauncey’s career; his faculty affiliations  include: The Cleveland Institute of Music, Blossom School of Music, Kent State University, Hartt School of Music, Encore School for Strings, Eastern Music Festival, University of Charleston (W.V.), University of Denver, New World School of the Arts, Florida International University, and The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.

Chauncey started playing the viola at the age of 8 in the Burlington, North Carolina Public School System.  He attended The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The Cleveland Institute of Music and holds a Certificate from The Curtis Institute of Music.  His major teachers were  Ann Woodward, Robert Vernon,  Karen Tuttle and Michael Tree.

Ross Harbaugh, Cello

Ross Harbaugh is Professor of Cello and Chair of the Department of Instrumental Performance at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.  His distinguished teachers include Janos Starker, Leonard Rose, and Peter Howard in the United States and Andre Navarra at the Paris Conservatory, as well as chamber music study with the Juilliard Quartet.

As a founding member of the New World Quartet he won the Naumburg Prize, a Prix du Disque, and recorded 14 records and CD’s for Vox, MCI Classic and IMP Masters, CRI, Centaur, Fleur de Son, and Musical Heritage labels. Performing throughout Europe and the United States, he has appeared in concerts at the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Wigmore Hall in London, and has concertized with such artists as Leonard Rose, Bill Preucil, Richard Goode, Jeffrey Kahane, Raphael Hillyer, Joel Krosnick, Jerome Rose, Gil Kalish, and the Guarneri Quartet.

Mr. Harbaugh has served as a judge for the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, the Stulberg Competition, and the Fulbright Competition for Graduate Music Study Abroad.

For more information, see www.rossharbaugh.com.