Dr. Philip Baldwin is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Spokane Youth Symphony and Violin Professor and conductor of the Whitworth University Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Baldwin earned a D.M.A. at The Ohio State University, where he received the Distinguished Dissertation Award for his work on the violin sonatas of William Bolcom. As a fellowship recipient, Dr. Baldwin attended the Conductor’s Institute of South Carolina and studied under distinguished teachers Paul Vermel, Kate Tamarkin, and Donald Portnoy and trained with Wayne Toews at the Saito International Conducting School.
Dr. Baldwin serves as the concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony and has performed with the Tacoma, Canton, and Columbus symphonies and played on several movie soundtrack recordings. As a guest conductor, Dr. Baldwin has appeared with the members of the Spokane Symphony, conducted the WMEA Junior All-State Orchestra, and twice directed the Hong Kong Youth Music Camp.
Dr. Baldwin has served on the boards of the Maryland and Utah American String Teachers Association state chapters and has chaired the ASTA state solo competition and certificate-program examinations. Dr. Baldwin has presented lectures at eight ASTA National conventions and has also been invited to present at the Texas Music Educators Association convention and the Arkansas Music Educators Association.
Spokane Youth Philharmonic Conductor, Dr. Roberta Bottelli, is well respected across the northwest as a cellist, arts administrator, and teacher. Dr. Bottelli teaches cello and chamber music at Whitworth University, cello and music theory at Holy Names Music Center, and is a coach in the Spokane Symphony’s Young Musician Education Program (YMEP). Dr. Bottelli completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in 2013 and often adjudicates for the Washington State Music Educators’ Association, coaching and critiquing cellists, chamber music groups, and high school and middle school orchestras, and was the Marketing and Development Director for the Spokane Chamber Music Association.
Dr. Bottelli has been the third chair cellist in the Spokane Sym- phony since 2006. As a performer, Dr. Bottelli has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the northwest, including the Lake Chelan Bach Fest orchestra, the Pacific Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Mid-Columbia Symphony. Roberta was the principal cellist of the Lake Chelan Bach Fest orchestra and the Mid-Columbia Sym- phony and has performed with Vancouver New Music and Victoria’s Aventa ensemble. As the Director of Strings at Whitworth University (2001-2005), Dr. Bottelli conducted the String Orchestra, eventually building the program to include the performance of full symphonic works. Dr. Bottelli enjoys collaborating as a chamber musician; she is currently the cellist for the Riverside String Trio and was the founding cellist of Trio sTREga and the Cerberus Trio.
Sinfonietta conductor, Jerilynn Harris, has built a career as a public-school string teacher on both sides of Washington state, first in the Bethel School District in Spanaway, WA for eight years teaching grades 4-12 and now in Spokane Public Schools since 2016 teaching grades K-8. Jerilynn graduated with honors from Pacific Lutheran University in 2008 and credits much of the early success of this career as a teacher to the excellent experiences provided by the faculty at PLU.
Jerilynn is the orchestra director for the Odyssey program, which serves highly capable learners, and teaches developmental music for the Spokane Public Language Immersion program in Spanish. Jerilynn currently serves as the Orchestra Curriculum Officer on the board of the Washington Music Educators Association and has previously served on the board of the Washington Chapter of the American String Teachers Association.
Jerilynn has a wonderful ability to connect with young musicians, providing positive, meaningful, and entertaining feedback in the music-making process, and is often hired as an adjudicator, clinician, and coach. After beginning cello as a main instrument in school orchestra in 5th grade, Jerilynn also now plays piano, guitar, mandocello, and other stringed instruments.
Spokane Youth Strings conductor, Dr. John Marshall, is the Director of Orchestra/Professor of Cello at Eastern Washington University. In addition to teaching at EWU, Dr. Marshall performs over 60 concerts a year as principal cellist with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra. During the summer, Dr. Marshall teaches cello and chamber music at the Interlochen Arts Camp.
Dr. Marshall holds degrees from three of the most prestigious music schools in the country: a BM from Indiana University, an MM from Yale University, and a DM from Northwestern University. At these schools, Dr. Marshall studied with some of the most distinguished cellists in the world: Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, and Hans Jensen. Dr. Marshall strives to combine the varying strengths of these three pedagogues into his own teaching methods. Dr. Marshall’s doctoral dissertation focused on compositions for two cellos and orchestra.
In 2001, Dr. Marshall initiated the CELLObration Spokane festival. Now an annual event at EWU, CELLObration brings together over 50 student and professional cellists from all over the Northwest for a day of learning and performing music for cello ensemble.