Guest Cellists

Welcome to Chamber Music with the Veronika String Quartet 2011-12 season. This season is one of the major changes that brings us challenges including an exciting search for a new cellist member. Therefore we will be inviting guest cellists to join our 2011-12 concerts including Katherine Knight and the Principal Cellist of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Jeffrey Watson. We are also expecting 2 out-of-state cellists, Andrey Tchekmazov and Scott Kluksdahl to join us. They are highly acclaimed with awards and appearances with major orchestras. This exciting experience will be possible with support from the community. We are now accepting donations to help with all expenses for bringing these musicians to perform with us.

Mr. Jeffery Watsonwho joined our1st concert in October 2, 2011, is currently the Principal Cellist of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic with a Bachelor of Music degree at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT and a master’s degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Some of Mr. Watson's other musical experiences include performing in Germany, Japan and Hong Kong. He has performed for soundtrack sessions for films such as Spy Kids and Inspector Gadget, and playing for Broadway shows. He has appeared with the NCCO as chamber musician, principal and section cellist, and as soloist. One of his recordings was nominated for a Grammy award in 2000.

Mr. Andrey Tchekmazov, who is expecting to join our 2nd concert in December 2011, is the grand prize winner of the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition and the Premio Trio di Trieste. He has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Russia and Asia, appearing at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall in Japan, New York's Alice Tully Hall, Brazil's Sala Cecilia Mereles, Sala Sao Paulo and Teatro Alfa with orchestras such as the São Paolo Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Brazil National Symphony, the Kiev Philharmonic and the Teatro Alfa Symphony. He has also been a top prize winner at the Koussevitzky Cello Competition in New York, the Schadt Competition, Artists International, Premio della Critica in Trieste and the Russian National Competition in Moscow. Ever since his critically acclaimed debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, Mr. Tchekmazov has enjoyed an active career as recitalist and chamber musician. Further information on Mr. Tchekmazov can be found on website www.andreytchekmazov.com.

Mr. Scott Kluksdahl, who is expecting to join our 3rd concert in March 2012, is a native of California, a cellist who made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony, and has been heard since as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in major metropolitan centers throughout the United States, Europe, Israel and Latin America. He possesses a special affinity for the unaccompanied cello repertory spanning many centuries. Following a daring unaccompanied program at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City, Strings magazine identified him as 'a simply superb cellist, playing with consummate technical ease, a beautiful sound, total conviction, authority and dedication to the music.' Mr. Kluksdahl is the Recipient of the Tanglewood Music Center's Leonard Bernstein Fellowship and prizes in the 1990 Walter W. Naumburg International Cello Competition and the Washington International Competition. Kluksdahl holds a BA in English and American literature from Harvard University and an MM from the Juilliard School. Further information on Mr. Kulksdahl can be found on websites http://www.parkerartists.com/NewPages/kluksdahl.html and http://music.arts.usf.edu/content/templates/?a=1188&z=314

Mr. Clayton Vaughnwho is expecting to join our 4th concert in April 22, 2012, was born in Mississippi where he began studying the cello at the age of ten. In 1998, Clayton began private studies with Paul York at the University of Southern Mississippi. During that time, he was also a section cellist in the Meridian and Tupelo Symphonies. He graduated from University of Louisville with a B.A. in Music and Humanities, and earned his Master’s at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Clayton is a section cellist in the Greeley Philharmonic and Principal Cellist of the Boulder Chamber Orchestra.