Sue Temple

VIOLA | Founder and Director Emeritus

Sue Temple is the Founder and Artistic Director of Just Chamber Music and violist with the String Quartet Con Brio.  Performing in the Front Range area since 1976, she has played extensively with the Ft. Collins Symphony and Greeley Philharmonic Orchestras and continues to perform as a freelance musician throughout Colorado.  As an advocate for the viola, Mrs. Temple has maintained an active private viola studio for over 40 years. Her students have won top prizes in various Concerto Competitions and have been selected to perform in the master classes of violists and acclaimed chamber musicians, including Victoria Chiang, Roger Chase, Jesse Levine, Simon Rowland-Jones, Carol Rodland, Dr. Juliet White-Smith, James Holland, Felicia Moye, and the Borromeo, Cavani, Alexander, and Miami String Quartets.

Outside of private teaching, Mrs. Temple is a sought-after clinician and coach for middle schools, high schools, Solo and Ensemble Competitions, and various Viola Day Events (most recently at Ohio State University).

Originally from the New England area, Sue received her bachelor’s degree in Music with an emphasis in Performance from Bennington College in Vermont and a second Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Therapy from Colorado State University.

Zo Manfredi

VIOLIN | Program Director

Zo Manfredi currently maintains a teaching and performing career in Northern Colorado. She runs her private studio, ZHM Violin Studio, in Loveland, CO, has served as Visiting Instructor of Violin and Chamber Music at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, and formerly held the positions of Teaching Artist of Violin and Viola at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Assistant Music Associate of Violin at Grinnell College, and Instructor of Violin and Viola at Richland Community College in Dallas, Texas. Locally in Colorado, Dr. Manfredi enjoys playing as a substitute with the Fort Collins Symphony, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Front Range Chamber Players, Quartet Con Brio, and a variety of chamber ensembles along the Front Range. She has previously held positions within the violin sections of the Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, and has been a substitute player with the Des Moines Symphony.

During the summers, Dr. Manfredi is director and faculty member of the Just Chamber Music Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado and has served on the faculties of the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana, the David Adler Center for the Arts Chamber Music Camp in Illinois and as guest artist with the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival in Iowa.

Dr. Manfredi received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas under the direction of Julia Bushkova, where she was awarded a Teaching Fellowship and Teaching Assistantship. She earned her M.M. at Arizona State University and her B.M. from the University of Puget Sound. Dr. Manfredi is a certified Till Approach teacher and player, an approach to playing that uses physiological logic as the foundation for all movements on the violin. More information on this pedagogical approach to string playing may be found here.

Dr. Manfredi is originally from Billings, Montana and currently resides in Loveland, Colorado with her husband Matt, their daughter Louisa, and their son Jack. In addition to teaching and making music, she enjoys spending time outdoors and in the mountains with friends and family hiking, biking and running.

For more information, visit her website www.zomanfredi.com

Heidi Mausbach

CELLO

Cellist, Heidi Mausbach, a graduate of the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, has enjoyed a fulfilling and diverse orchestral career throughout the US. She has played with the Naples Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, and the Minnesota Opera before moving to Fort Collins in 2000. Currently, she is assistant principal of the Fort Collins Symphony and the Cheyenne Symphony and instructor of cello at Front Range Community College.

Heidi performs chamber music frequently playing in Denver and surrounding areas with Pro Musica Colorado, the Front Range Chamber Players and Ensemble Faucheux. She offers music lessons at her private studio and coaches chamber music at Just Chamber Music summer festival for young aspiring music students. Heidi frequently collaborates with pianist Ryan Marvel and can be heard on his Winter and Winter II albums. In her free time, you might find Heidi on the Spring Creek Trail or hiking around the many beautiful places in Colorado.

Margaret Miller

VIOLA

Violist Margaret Miller has enjoyed a varied career as chamber musician, performer and teacher.  She retired from CSU in the spring of 2025 after
a 21 year career as viola professor, chamber music coach and academic teacher, following an 18-year career as violist of the Da Vinci Quartet
which had residencies at the University of Denver and Colorado College. Ms. Miller is currently teaching privately in Fort Collins and is a substitute member of the Fort Collins Symphony.

Highlights of her professional career include performing all of the Beethoven Quartets in a 6 concert season, collaborations with the Borromeo Quartet and 3 recordings for the Naxos American Classics label
while with the Da Vinci Quartet.  She has given recitals and
masterclasses at the University of Denver, Fort Lewis College, the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, Wichita State University, Arizona State University, the University of South Dakota, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona. Ms. Miller has also
presented at Tri-M Day at CMEA, the Michigan Music Educators Conference, the American String Teachers Association Virtual Conference, the Colorado Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and the
Wyoming Music Educators Conference.  Her professional interests include coaching, advancing arts education, and careers for musicians.

A native of Detroit, Ms. Miller began playing chamber music in high school.  She holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she studied with the Fine Arts Quartet.

Jubal Fulks

VIOLIN

JUBAL FULKS, Professor of Violin at the University of Northern Colorado, is an award-winning and critically acclaimed artist and teacher who performs music from every historical era through the works of today. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras across the United States and has been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” As recitalist and chamber musician he has appeared at numerous summer festivals and concert series, and has toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia. Fulks is violinist of the Colorado Piano Trio, which has performed both nationally and internationally, including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. The trio’s new recording “Transatlantic” will be released on streaming platforms by the Centaur label in March 2025. Fulks’ orchestral experience includes GRAMMY-nominated performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in the San Francisco Bay Area and in New York City at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Alice Tully Hall, the Jazz at Lincoln Center series, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. He is concertmaster of Sacramento-based baroque chamber orchestra “Sinfonia Spirituoso,” and has performed regularly with Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado and Boulder Bach Festival. Dr. Fulks has held teaching positions at the University of Alabama, Luther College (Iowa), Stony Brook University (NY), and Michigan Technological University, and he continues to conduct master classes at schools and universities throughout the country. During the summer months he has been on the summer faculties at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and Kinhaven Music School in Vermont, Montecito International Music Festival in California, and Lutheran Summer Music Festival in Iowa. Dr. Fulks was named the 2022 UNC College of Performing and Visual Arts Scholar of the Year. He lives in Greeley, Colorado with his wife, hornist Lauren Varley, and their children Patrick, Finnian, Oliver, and Flannery.

Katarina M. Pliego

CELLO

Katarina holds a doctorate in Cello performance from the University of Northern Colorado, where she studied with Dr. Gal Faganel. She received her MM in Cello performance from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (UK), where she studied with Rudi de Groote. At RCS she was the recipient of a generous scholarship for most talented MM instrumentalist, received a distinction for her final recital and performed Brahms' Sextet with Ilya Gringolts all around Scotland. She completed her BA in Music from Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge (UK), where her teacher was Caroline Bosanquet. She has participated in various masterclasses given by Natalia Gutman, Karine Georgian, Daniel Rothmuller, Peter Stumpf, Silver Ainomae, Barbara Thiem, Greg Sauer, Alexander Buzlov, David Grigorian, Heidi Litchauer, and members of the Brodsky and Chilingirian Quartets.

Dr. Pliego has performed in several competitions and was the winner of the Downbeat Music Award, Arts Innovation Award, Rocky Mountain Concerto Competition and Southard Competition at UNC, received honorable mention at UNC Concerto Competition and BBC SSO Concerto Competition at RCS, won third prize at Competition for Young Slovenian Cellists and gave solo recitals with pianist Nafis Umerkulova as the winner of Jeunesses Musicales Concert Series. She also received a fellowship for the Stamford International Chamber Music Festival (UK) and for the Wagner Orchestra in Bayreuth (Germany). 

As a soloist she has performed with UNC Wind Ensemble, Anglia Ruskin University Orchestra, K239 Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Music School Žalec, and Nottingham Youth Orchestra. As an orchestral player she has performed as an assistant principal cellist in the Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra at the London Music Festival and around Cambridge. As a principal cellist in Orion Orchestra she took part in Women of the World Festival at the Royal Festival Hall and performed to the British Royal Family in Cadogan Hall. In years 2013 and 2014 she toured the world as principal cellist in the Shen Yun Performing Arts and played in music halls such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Kennedy Center, Renee and Henry Segerstrom Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Place des Arts, and Sony Centre.

Dr. Pliego is an enthusiastic teacher and has been teaching all levels, from beginners to college, since 2012. Her young students in London have received distinctions for their ABRSM (board of the Royal Schools of Music) exams, and have won principal seats in their high school orchestras. In Colorado, several of her students have performed in Western States Honor Orchestra (Chamber and Symphony) and All State Orchestra, and received generous scholarships for the BM Cello Performance degrees. Dr. Pliego was Dr. Faganel’s teaching assistant for three years, while at UNC, and taught cello and chamber music to music education majors. She was also Dr. Faganel’s sabbatical replacement in Spring 2017, while also maintaining a position as an adjunct professor of music history at the Front Range Community College in Fort Collins and Columbia College in Denver.

Dr. Pliego lives in Berthoud with her husband, their two little daughters, and their dog Tosca (named after Puccini’s opera!). In her spare time, she likes to train in Muay Thai (currently a blue belt), run, hike, and most importantly, spend time with her family.

Sarah Arnone

CELLO

Sarah Arnone first picked up a cello in her hometown of Cincinnati as a member of a 5th grade string orchestra at a public middle school. She has since performed for audiences around the world. Dr. Arnone is on the music faculty at Bradley University, where she has taught since 2015. She also performs with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Iowa, and she has been a featured soloist with the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, the Civic Symphony of Green Bay, and the Bradley University Symphony Orchestra. Having cultivated a love for chamber music, Dr. Arnone was previously a founding member of the SomArté Piano Trio, the Silverwood Ensemble, and the Douglas Cello Quartet. In the summers, she teaches at Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in beautiful Twin Lake, Michigan.

Although she prefers to let her cello do most of the talking, Dr. Arnone also enjoys a career in public speaking and writing. She has been a featured speaker at George Mason University, with the Montgomery Arts Council, Illinois Symphony Guild, The Rtisan Podcast, and the Peoria Music Teachers Association. She has presented her research on religious identity and music at the MGMC annual conference and Iowa Musicology Day, and her writing on mindful practice habits and performance health has been published in various music education forums, magazines, and blogs. Dr. Arnone also enjoyed several years of working with students, faculty, and staff on their writing projects at The Writing University, also known as the University of Iowa.

Dr. Arnone completed her DMA at the University of Iowa, and she received her Master of Music degree from the DePaul University School of Music and her Bachelor of Music degree from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Her instrument, D'Artagnan, is a 1750 French cello  with an unnamed maker. Dr. Arnone lives in Iowa City with her husband and step-son, who are also accomplished cellists. When not playing or teaching, she enjoys swimming, putzing in her garden, and taking far too many pictures of the family dog, Carver.

Fritz Gearhart

VIOLIN

Fritz Gearhart has performed extensively as a violinist throughout his career including appearances internationally as recitalist and chamber musician. He has appeared in major halls including Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and the Kennedy Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie and internationally in South Korea, Austria, Croatia, Spain and Germany. His recordings are heard frequently on National Public Radio, including past live broadcasts on WFMT Chicago, WQXR in New York and most recently KQAC in Portland Oregon. He has recorded numerous compact discs for Albany, Koch Entertainment, Centaur Records and Bridge Records, as well as several online releases on his own label, Serayna Records. He also has several live discs available on Spotify. Gearhart taught many years at the university level, including appointments at East Carolina University, Indiana University at South Bend, University of Oregon and University of Colorado Boulder. Gearhart has been a featured clinician at music conventions and workshops for National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Conference, American String Teachers Association (ASTA), and National School Orchestra Association (NSOA), and has presented master classes at music schools all around the country, including Texas Christian University, Boise State University, Ithaca College, UNC Greensboro, University of Oklahoma, Eastman School of Music, and the Hartt School, among many others. In 2008 he was a judge for the National Fischoff Competition. Gearhart has been a featured clinician at several national conventions including ASTA in Detroit, Kansas City and Santa Clara, CA where he was also the featured chamber music coach. In addition to his many performing and teaching activities, Gearhart has also appeared as guest conductor of several string festivals around the country, including South Carolina All-State String Orchestra, Northern Virginia Honors Orchestra, Wyoming String Clinic, and All-City Strings in Salem, OR. Throughout the years, Gearhart has been on the faculty of many different summer festivals across the country, but recently launched his own -- the new Redfish Music Festival on the southern Oregon coast.

Jesse Pierson

PIANO

Dr. Jesse Pierson (piano) is an instructor of Music Theory at the University of Northern Colorado as well as a private piano instructor, and collaborative coach.  He is heavily involved in community music in Northern Colorado as the president elect with the Fort Collins Music Teachers Association and treasurer for the Health and Wellness Community Orchestra. Jesse received his Doctorate of Arts from the University of Northern Colorado in 2020 with a focus in Piano Performance and a secondary emphasis in Music Theory. Now, he resides in Fort Collins, CO with his family where, in addition to teaching, he is an active chamber and solo performer.     

Jesse is passionate about teaching and writing curriculum for students so they can obtain a robust understanding of all aspects of music.  In a recent publication, Jesse focused on collecting and analyzing hundreds of pre-college pieces from the solo piano repertoire so that students of all ages could experience some of the most important features of music theory classes in their everyday practice.  Jesse is most alive in the classroom where he guides students and teachers to stand on the shoulders of those before them to continue creating art in their community. 

Tim Burns

PIANO

Pianist Timothy Burns is a versatile performer and collaborator, with significant instrumental, vocal, and choral accompanying experience. He holds degrees in piano performance, music theory pedagogy, and collaborative piano from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, studying with Carol Schanely-Cahn, David Allen Wehr, and Jean Barr.  Currently, Dr. Burns serves as Supervisor of Piano Accompanying at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where he frequently collaborates with faculty, guest artists, and students.

Dr. Burns has performed throughout the United States and Canada.  He has served as staff accompanist for the 2010 King Award Competition, the 2012 International Viola Congress, the 2013 International Society of Bassists Competition and Conference, and the 2017 International Horn Competition of America.  Additionally, Dr. Burns has worked with renowned choral conductors Brady R. Allred, Daniel Bara, Scott Tucker, and Amanda Quist, among others, with performances at such venues as New York City’s Riverside Church and Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall.  Past performances include the Frick Collection’s “Salon Evening” concert series in New York City, and the 2016 ClarinetFest International Conference at the University of Kansas.

As an avid supporter for new and current music, Dr. Burns has performed works by current composers such as Mari Esabel Valverde, Margaret Brouwer, Mathjis van Dijk, Baljinder Sekhon, and James M. David.  Past summer residences have included the New York State Summer School of the Arts Choral Studies Program in Fredonia, NY, the Performing Arts Institute at the Wyoming Seminary near Wilkes-Barre, PA, and the Eastman School of Music’s “Summer@Eastman” program.  For the Summer of 2018, Dr. Burns will be in residence with The Lift Clarinet Academy and the Just Chamber Music program, both held in Fort Collins, and he will perform with violinist Michael Davis as part of the Chapel Series at the YMCA of the Rockies.