Local Musicians for Hire Near Cincinnati

Mari is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where she was awarded a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma in Violin Performance. Mari studied with Kurt Sassmannshaus and the legendary Dorothy Delay. While at CCM she played with the Ensemble for the 18th Century Music conducted by Mr. Eiji Hashimoto, several years as leader and soloist. Mari taught in the Starling Preparatory String Project at the U of C, CCM which caters to gifted secondary students. Her awards include successes in the Young Musicians’ Foundation in Los Angeles, the Santa Barbara Young Artists and Pasadena Instrumental Competitions, and the Starling and Werner Scholarships.

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Mari has performed with the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestras and has made many concerto appearances. In 1986, she was awarded a five-year contract with the Young Artist Guild for recitals throughout California, was a guest artist in the Aspen Winter Chamber Music Series, and has broadcast on a regular basis.

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Mari has taught and performed around the world, including three years as a violin instructor at the University of Canberra in Australia. While there, she served as concertmaster of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, and she also appeared with that ensemble as a soloist. Upon her return to Cincinnati Mari served as concertmaster and frequent soloist with the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra for seven years.

Starting at age 7, Kaylie has been enthusiastic about the cello.  She earned her BM in music from Butler University in 2003, her MM degree in cello in 2005, and was a doctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego, focusing on contemporary musical studies.  Kaylie is active in the greater Cincinnati music community, performing with groups such as the Kentucky Symphony, the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Middletown Symphony, and summer appearances with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.  She has also played with musical wonders such as Josh Groban, Vanessa Williams, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  She is on faculty at the Center for the Arts (Wyoming), and also has a private studio for teaching.  Kaylie has been playing weddings and social events for more than 10 years and enjoys chamber music settings.

Jacquie Fennell is a member of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and also plays regularly with the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra,  Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra, Ohio Valley Symphony, and String Orchestra of the Rockies. She also performs as a substitute violinist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, and Sinfonia Gulf Coast.  Jacquie's also enjoyed playing for touring artists such as Pavarotti, Julie Andrews, Harry Connick Jr, Rod Stewart, Mannheim Steamroller, Igudesman and Joo, Celtic Woman, Johnny Mathis, and others. Also active as a teacher, Jacquie holds an adjunct teaching position at Cincinnati Christian University and maintains a private violin studio.  She received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet, and her Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, studying with Walter Levine of the LaSalle Quartet.

A musician of remarkable versatility, Isaac Selya has extensive experience as a conductor, pianist, vocal coach, cellist and entrepreneur. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Queen City Opera, where he has led acclaimed performances that combine high-caliber opera with contemporary relevance, including the world premiere of the critical edition of Weber’s Der Freischütz with a focus on evidence-based approaches to gun violence prevention, a production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni that featured workshops on sexual assault and consent, and the Ohio premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta in collaboration with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. He is one of the few conductors in the world who has conducted all of Mozart’s German-language operas. His performance of Wagner’s Siegfried was the first production of the work in Ohio in over a century. In recognition of his talent and entrepreneurialism, Musical America featured him as a Spotlight Artist. Committed to ensuring that music education is accessible to everyone, Isaac serves as a Cello Teaching Artist and conductor at the MYCincinnati Youth Orchestra, an El Sistema-inspired program in Cincinnati.

Equally at home in the symphonic repertoire, Isaac made his German debut conducting the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in the fall of 2018. He has conducted the Xiamen Philharmonic, the Dayton Philharmonic, the National Symphony of Guatemala, the Chelsea Symphony, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, where he serves as Resident Conductor. He has served as Assistant Conductor for Cincinnati Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival, where he conducted the first-ever reading of the revised version of Philip Glass’s Appomattox, with the composer present. He was recently named an inaugural Conducting Associate at the Defiant Requiem Foundation, which presents performances of Verdi’s Requiem in commemoration of artists interned at the Terezin Ghetto, who performed Verdi’s Requiem in defiance of the Nazis.Isaac’s work can also be heard on the soundtrack to the award-winning video game, Masquerada: Songs and Shadows. He started his professional music career at the age of 18 singing in the chorus of the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem.

He holds a BA from Yale College, where he was principal cellist of the Yale Symphony and sang in Yale’s Schola Cantorum.He completed an MM in conducting at Mannes College, where he won a competitive grant from the New School Green Fund to present a concert dealing with environmental advocacy. And he holds a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where his research focused on Mozart’s use of the baritone voice.Isaac maintains a catalogue of parallel fifths and other voice leading irregularities he finds in the works of common-practice composers. You can see them, as well as his commentary on counterpoint at his blog, http://illicitfifths.tumblr.com/He has two cats, named Tosca and Aida.