Best Local Musicians for Hire in Houston

Caroline Ewan enjoys an eclectic and versatile career as an orchestral musician and pedagogue with extensive experience in orchestra management. Ms. Ewan has performed with orchestras and chamber music groups across the United States and Canada and has had the opportunity to perform with acclaimed artists such as Midori and Art Garfunkel.

Ms. Ewan's dedication to working with young musicians has led many of her students to win top prizes in local and regional competitions.  Her students have performed across the globe in venues such as the Paris Conservatory, Carnegie Hall, the Houston Symphony, and Detroit Symphony. Additionally, several of her students were invited to perform before Congress at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Members of her studio have been accepted into the Michael P. Hammond Preparatory Academy at Rice University and the International Conducting Workshop and Festival under the late Larry Rachleff, conductor of orchestras at Rice University. Her students have been featured as soloists with collegiate and regional orchestras, and on various radio broadcasts. She has also coached for the Houston Youth Symphony and served on the panel for the Gold Cup Competition of the National Federation of Music Clubs.

Ms. Ewan is currently a substitute violinist of the Pacific Symphony and holds a position with the Symphony of Southeast Texas. She was formerly co-concertmaster of the acclaimed Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles. Ms. Ewan has trained with David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra along with members of the National Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and Pittsburgh Symphony at the David Kim Orchestral Institute. In addition, she has studied orchestral repertoire extensively with Nathan Cole, assistant concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2019, Ms. Ewan was one of a handful of students from the United States invited to study in China at the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy under Kathleen Winkler and Herbert Greenberg, former concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony. In addition, she has recorded in Hollywood for motion picture soundtracks. 

Violinist, Zachary Montasser, earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in 2011 from University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, and then went on to receive a Performance Certificate with a focus on violin performance in 2013 from DePaul University in Chicago studying with renowned American violinist, Janet Sung.

​

Zachary has been a founding member of two classical string quartets, the Clark Street Quartet and the Fuzion String Quartet, which was featured in the prestigious Hot Spring Music Festival, the House of Blues, and toured throughout the US.  Currently, he is second violin in the Westheimer String Quartet, which continues to perform all across Houston and was the resident String Quartet at Taneycomo Festival Orchestra in Branson Missouri. 

​

Zachary was a featured violinist in the Tikvah Company of Artists, where he accompanied live contemporary dance.  He has performed with the Oistrakh Symphony Orchestra, South Florida Symphony, Terra Nostra Ensemble, Opera in the Heights, Stages Theater (formerly Stages Repertory Theater), Theater Under the Stars, A.D. Players, and is currently a core First Violin of The Symphony of Southeast Texas.

Colombian violinist Mauricio Oliveros, is an active recitalist, chamber musician, arranger, freelance musician and educator. He is currently the Associate Concertmaster of the Symphony of Southeast Texas and is on the Adjunct Faculty at Houston Baptist University, The Kinkaid School, and Tallowood Academy of Fine Arts.  He performs regularly throughout the American Continent, and has also appeared as soloist with the Symphony of Southeast Texas, the University of Houston Concerto Orchestra, the Magnolia Chamber Orchestra and the Valle Symphony Orchestra in Colombia.  He has attended important music festivals, including the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), the Texas Music Festival, and the Mimir Chamber Music Festival.  He has been a member of the Valle Symphony Orchestra (Colombia), San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, Irving Symphony Orchestra, Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Vista.  Dr. Oliveros is a former member and mentor of the prestigious YOA Global Leaders Program and has given violin and chamber music masterclasses in the USA, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Cuba and Mexico. An avid lover of chamber music, Dr. Oliveros is a co-founder of the Houston-based Terra Nostra Ensemble, which performs music written by composers from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.

Omeed Manshouri is a violist who enjoys a varied career as performer and teacher. A native of Houston, he attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Since then he has performed with various professional ensembles in New York, Hartford and Houston. Collaborations with ensembles have included Brazos Valley Symphony, Brazosport Symphony Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, International Chamber Orchestra of America and Manhattan Symphonie. Omeed has performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Bushnell Performing Arts Center and Jones Hall. He has also been featured as a guest artist for the Terra Nostra Ensemble as well as the Westheimer String Quartet. Omeed has spent his summers performing at various music festivals throughout the United States, Germany and Italy. 

​

He holds a Master Degree from Mannes College in New York under the tutelage of Daniel Panner, violist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, a Graduate Professional Diploma from the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut with soloist – Rita Porfiris, and a Bachelor Degree from the Moores School of Music studying with principal violist of the Houston Symphony - Wayne Brooks.

​