Sue Temple

STRINGS | Program Director

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.

Heidi Mausbach

STRINGS

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

STRINGS

Violist Margaret Miller enjoys a varied career as a teacher and performer.  She is currently on the faculty of the School of Music at Colorado State University, a position she has held since 2004.  In the years since joining the faculty at CSU, the viola studio has grown to include students from throughout the US, as well as Mexico and China.

A native of Detroit, Ms. Miller received her Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University and a Master of Music degree with a Certificate from the Institute for Chamber Music at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Prior to joining the faculty at Colorado State University, Ms. Miller was the violist of the Colorado-based Da Vinci Quartet for eighteen years.  During that time, the Quartet toured throughout the United States and was in residence at Colorado College and the University of Denver.  Known for its adventurous programming, the Quartet created Heartstrings, an outreach program that visited many underserved communities and was featured on a segment of the PBS NewsHour.

As a performer and master class clinician, Ms. Miller has appeared at Kansas State University, the University of New Mexico, Montana State University, the University of Missouri, Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Nevada Reno.  She has also presented at the Colorado Music Educators Conference, the Colorado Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and the Wyoming Music Educators Association.  She has been on the faculty of the LEAP Institute for the Arts at CSU.

Katarina M. Pliego

STRINGS

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.

Zo Manfredi

STRINGS

Zo Manfredi currently maintains an active 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 with the Fort Collins Symphony, 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 serves on the faculty of the Just Chamber Music Festival in Fort Collins, Colorado and has served on the faculties of the Red Lodge Music Festival, the David Adler Center for the Arts Chamber Music Camp and as guest artist with the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival.

In August 2015, Dr. Manfredi received her Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas under the direction of Julia Bushkova, where she was awarded both 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. She also studied violin and viola in Vienna, Austria through the IES Music Program with Barbara Gorzynska and Matthius Maurer.

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

Jubal Fulks

STRINGS

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.

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.