The Virginia Symphony, based in Norfolk, has appointed MICHAEL LAUBACH principal timpani and MATTHEW ERNST principal trumpet. Also joining the orchestra this season as members of the core string section are violinists ANDREW BERGEVIN and ROSS WINTER.
Michael Laubach succeeds JOHN LINDBERG, who recently retired as principal timpani after 46 years with the Virginia Symphony. Laubach has played percussion and timpani with the Toledo and West Virginia symphonies and the Fort Wayne, Dayton, Erie, and Buffalo philharmonics. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and received further training at Cleveland State University. Matthew Ernst has received a one-year appointment as principal trumpet and succeeds DAVID VONDERHEIDE, who was recently named principal trumpet at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ernst was formerly associate principal trumpet with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in trumpet from the University of Michigan and Dallas’s Southern Methodist University, respectively; earned a second master’s degree from SMU in conducting; and pursued additional training at Tanglewood Music Center, the Pacific Music Festival, and North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center. While in Texas he served as principal trumpet in the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Wind Symphony.
Posted September 7, 2012
