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About Our Musicians
Alison Zdunich
Violin I
Alison Zdunich received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in violin performance as well as her Performer Diploma from Indiana University, where she studied with Mauricio Fuks and Kevork Mardirossian. There she also studied violin and viola pedagogy with renowned pedagogue Mimi Zweig.
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Alison has played with numerous orchestras throughout North America; she has served as guest Principal Second Violin with the Regina Symphony, acting Associate-Concertmaster with Tulsa Opera, and Assistant Principal Second with Tulsa Symphony and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas. She has played at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago and the Berlin Philharmonie Hall as a member of festival orchestras. She is currently a member of the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, the Red Deer Symphony, and a regular player with the Edmonton Symphony.
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As well as her private teaching studio, Alison has taught for many programs catering to underserved communities, including Edmonton Symphony’s YONA Sistema program, Tulsa Symphony’s String program, Tulsa Symphony’s Fiddle Camp, and Porterville Summer Strings.
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Besides "classical" violin playing, Alison is an adept Irish fiddler and was a frequent guest violinist with the Tulsa Rock Quartet. She has been broadcast as a member of ensembles on CBC in Canada and on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor in the USA.
Louise Stuppard
Violin II
Alberta native Louise Stuppard received a Master of Music in Violin Performance from Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently Principal Second Violin of the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Stuppard has a wealth of performing experience both in Canada and the United States as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Louise has a strong interest in historical performance practice and has been involved in early music projects with the Red Deer Symphony, Early Music Voices, Spiritus Choir and Early Music Alberta. She is also a member of the early music chamber orchestra, Rosa Barocca and is a founding Artist Director and baroque violinist of Calgary’s historical performance ensemble, String Theory Music Collective.
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In addition to being a performing freelance violinist, Louise maintains a busy private teaching studio. From 2007-2016, she was the Music Director for the Red Deer Community and Youth Orchestra and was honoured to be chosen as a recipient of the 2018 Red Deer Women of Excellence Awards in Arts, Culture and Heritage.
Ronelle Schaufele
Viola
Canadian violist Ronelle Schaufele is an active solo, chamber, and orchestral musician who performs frequently throughout Western Canada as well as performances in Cuba, Brazil, United States, New Zealand, and Europe. In 2018, Ms. Schaufele had the opportunity to perform throughout Colombia as a member of the ConCuerta String Quartet, which was part of a program that supports youth and children’s orchestras in Colombia with instrument repairs as well as training the young musicians, including masterclasses and coachings that the quartet provided. As an avid lover of new music Ms. Schaufele has been delighted to play works composed for her and looks forward to upcoming collaborations. As a soloist she performed Horizons with pianist Luciance Cardassi, a concert tour which featured female Canadian composers. In addition to performing music being created today, Ronelle greatly enjoys performing on period instruments and exploring the rich baroque tradition. She has recently performed with Early Music Alberta and is a member of the Baroque ensemble, Rosa Barocca. Other solo performances include concerts at the Arts & Letters Club of Toronto, Euro Festival in Leipzig Germany, and the Music by the Sea Festival. As a chamber musician Ms. Schaufele’s performances include the Musaeus String Quartet, the Fort Macleod International Festival, which was recorded for CBC. She performed with Neworks Calgary, Ensemble Resonance, Rubbing Stone Ensemble, the Millennium Music Foundation Series and was a founding member of the Sage String Quartet. In addition she has served as principal violist of the Urban Village Chamber Orchestra, and is currently assistant principal violist in the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra.
Her education includes a Music Performance Diploma from Mount Royal College with William van der Sloot, a Bachelor of Music with distinction from the University of Calgary, with Nicholas Pulos and an Artist Diploma at The Glenn Gould School studying with Steven Dann. Ms. Schaufele also completed an Artist in Residency program at The Banff Centre. An active instructor, Ronelle is currently on faculty at the Amici String Program. Ronelle also enjoys working with talented young chamber musicians and was recently the Artistic Advisor for the Youth Quartet Program in cooperation with the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In the Fall of 2012 Ms. Schaufele founded the Banff String Academy of Music which offers gifted young students in the Banff area advanced musical training and is on faculty at the Amici String Program.
Ronelle loves living in the mountains in Banff, Alberta with her husband Nigel, children Theodore and Frederica and dog Molly!
Nigel Boehm
Cello
Nigel Boehm has been recognized as an accomplished Canadian cellist through his recordings for Radio-Canada and National Public Radio (USA), dedication to musical education, and many performances as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician throughout Canada, United States and abroad.
Committed to the education of young aspiring musicians, Nigel Boehm is a faculty member at Mount Royal University Academy and Conservatory of Music (Calgary Alberta) and the Valhalla Summer Music Festival (British Columbia), where he is an instructor of cello and chamber music and is a frequent clinician and performer at the internationally renowned Banff Centre for the Arts.
Aside from his musical endeavors, Mr. Boehm travels throughout North America and Asia as a consultant, dealer and bow maker for Wilder & Davis Luthiers, one of Canada’s largest stringed instrument workshops based in Montreal Quebec and Banff Alberta.
Mr. Boehm holds a Performance Diploma completed at Mount Royal University, a Bachelor of Music in solo performance with a minor in Musicology and Music History, and a Masters of Music both completed at McGill University.
Nigel lives the dream in beautiful Banff Alberta with his beloved wife Ronelle, his children Theodore and Frederica and faithful Chesapeake Retriever, Molly.