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.

Stephanie Mientka

VIOLA

Dr. Stephanie Mientka has cultivated a diverse career in music, encompassing orchestral and chamber performances, teaching, and concert presenting. An active orchestral musician, she performs with the Boulder Philharmonic and the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, and regularly serves as a substitute musician for Central City Opera the Colorado Symphony.

Dr. Mientka has performed an extensive range of chamber music and has collaborated with distinguished musicians from the L.A. Opera, Colorado Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. A dedicated advocate for contemporary music, she is the founding violist of the Deciduous Trio, an ensemble committed to commissioning and premiering new works.

Dr. Mientka is deeply passionate about music education and has over fifteen years of experience teaching violin and viola. She is trained in the internationally acclaimed Suzuki Method, emphasizing a nurturing and effective approach to learning. In addition to her private teaching, she serves as the adjunct viola professor at the University of Northern Colorado. Dr. Mientka holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado Boulder, a master’s degree from Rice University, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from CU Boulder.

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.

Zo Manfredi

VIOLIN | 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

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.

Jesse Pierson

PIANO

Dr. Jesse Pierson is a professor of music theory and piano at the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado State University. He also serves as a chamber music coach for various Summer festivals in Northern Colorado and maintains a private piano studio where his students are regularly recognized in local and state-level competitions and festivals. He is heavily involved in community music in Northern Colorado as the president of the Fort Collins Music Teachers Association, faculty advisor for the Northern Colorado Collegiate Chapters of MTNA, 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.

In addition to performing, Jesse is an active researcher in Piano Pedagogy and Music Theory. He has given formal presentations of his research at the local, state, and national levels on topics ranging from technology in the piano studio to unique piano practicing logs modeled after sports science. In addition, his reviews of pedagogical materials can be seen in the American Music Teacher Magazine, and his most recent article, “Indexed Piano Repertoire in Support of Music Theory and Aural Skills Reinforcement,” was published in the MTNA eJournal (February 2025). In his recent article, Jesse proposes a piano curriculum for teachers to help them select piano repertoire that enhances the reinforcement of music theory and aural skills concepts. Within the article is a compendium of nearly 200 pieces of elementary to intermediate-level piano repertoire that is indexed for its level of difficulty and the various music theory concepts that are present therein. The curriculum includes recommendations for implementation, especially the inclusion of repertoire written by underrepresented women composers. Cross-curricular collaboration like this is a common theme in Jesse’s formal work.

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.