The Seattle Symphony has announced four additions to its musician roster, effective this fall: BENJAMIN LULICH, principal clarinet; MARY LYNCH, principal oboe; JOY PAYTON-STEVENS, cello; and JAMES ROSS, assistant principal trumpet. Also announced was the appointment of WESLEY SCHULTZ as conducting fellow.
Benjamin Lulich, principal clarinet, was most recently principal clarinet in the Pacific Symphony in California’s Orange County. He has performed regularly with such orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, and Cleveland Orchestra, and has played in the Kansas City Symphony, Hollywood Studio Orchestras, and Tennessee’s IRIS Chamber Orchestra. Lulich earned a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, with further studies at Yale University School of Music.
Mary Lynch, principal oboe, has spent the last two seasons as second oboe in the Cleveland Orchestra, and has toured internationally with that orchestra as well as with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has spent recent summers at Marlboro Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, and Music Academy of the West. Lynch holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School and a bachelor’s degree from New England Conservatory.
Joy Payton-Stevens, cello, is a former member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach and the Charlotte (N.C.) Symphony. A native of Cleveland, she attended Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy and continued her studies at the University of Southern California.
James Ross, assistant principal trumpet, goes to Seattle following nineteen years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. A native of Vancouver, Canada, Ross has performed and recorded with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Brass, the MET Chamber Ensemble, and the All-Star Orchestra led by Gerard Schwarz. His trumpet teachers included Thomas Parriott at the Vancouver Symphony, Susan Slaughter at the St. Louis Symphony, and Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University
Wesley Schultz, the orchestra’s new conducting fellow, is music director of the Bainbridge Island (Wash.) Youth Orchestra, the Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra, and the Seattle Festival Orchestra. At the Seattle Symphony he will serve as cover conductor for Music Director Ludovic Morlot and guest conductors during parts of the 2014-15 season.
Posted September 19, 2014
Mary Lynch photo courtesy Seattle Symphony
