Coaches

HRCP faculty are members of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, professional musicians from the Hampton Roads area, and guest artists from Europe, Asia and other regions of the United States. We provide our students with rich learning and performing experiences in a supportive and inspiring atmosphere, transforming lives through excellence in music training.

Violin

Allison Kim began playing the violin after receiving a quarter size violin as a gift from her grandfather for her eighth birthday. She grew up in Asunción, Paraguay and Busan, South Korea before moving to Colorado, where she began her formal training under the tutelage of Jesse Ceci, former concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra.

She received her Bachelor of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Master of Music at Indiana University, and Advanced Music Studies certificate at Carnegie Mellon University. During the summers, she attended numerous festivals including Aspen Music Festival as an Orchestral String fellow, National Repertory Orchestra, Brevard Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Garth Newel Music Center, Encore School for Strings, and Madeline Island Music Camp. She is a substitute of the Colorado Symphony and New World Symphony and has been a member of various regional orchestras in Indiana and Colorado. In addition to Jesse, her teachers have included Lina Bahn, Ik-Hwan Bae, Yumi Hwang-Williams, and Andrés Cárdenes.

During her free time Allison loves playing with dogs and cheering on Denver sports teams.

Recognized by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as a “virtuoso from head to toe” and the Miami Herald as a “performer of dazzling virtuosity and rhapsodic expression”, violinist Pavel Ilyashov is acclaimed as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and passionate educator.

A graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pavel enjoys an unusually varied career. Recent solo performance engagements include concertos with the Virginia Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, the National Philharmonic of Honduras, as well as chamber collaborations with Yo Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Paquito D’rivera, and members of the Emerson string quartet. Pavel has regularly been featured at the Caramoor festival, Bargemusic, and on
the popular radio program Performance Today. Several solo recordings for the Albany and Naxos labels have been released to critical praise.

An experienced orchestral musician, Pavel played a distinguished 16 year, full time tenure with the Virginia Symphony, during which he also appeared as a substitute violinist with ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra.

A dedicated teacher, Pavel was honored with a special award as outstanding music educator of the year in 2019. His private students have earned top honors at a multitude of solo competitions. In addition, they have gone on to careers in major professional orchestras, and been accepted to study at top music schools including the Peabody Conservatory, Indiana University, and Juilliard. Pavel has given masterclasses throughout the Americas and spends his summers performing and teaching at festivals in New York, Colorado, Virginia, Missouri, and Lima Peru. Pavel is a global ambassador for the Orchestra of the Americas, which has
enabled him to bring educational outreach to places in the world where it is not otherwise readily available.

A native of Illinois, Megan Van Gomple joined the violin section of the Virginia Symphony in 2013. Ms. Van Gomple has appeared as a soloist here in Hampton Roads and in Indiana and continues to serve her community as concertmaster of Symphonicity, the Symphony Orchestra of Virginia Beach. She is a dedicated teacher and has been a member of the faculty of the Academy of Music of Virginia since 2008. She maintains a large Suzuki studio and her students perform throughout the area including solo performances with local orchestras. She also is an active coach for Hampton Roads Chamber Players and Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia.

Megan began her violin studies at the age of nine. She went on to pursue her Bachelor of Music Education from Valparaiso University in Indiana and then spent her early career in Milwaukee as a public school strings teacher and regular performer with the Concord Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Van Gomple then went on to receive a Masters Degree in Violin Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy from the Hartt School of Music as a student of violinist Anton Miller and pedagogue Teri Einfeldt. She performed regularly with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra and taught on the Suzuki faculties at the University of Connecticut and the Suzuki School of Westport.

She lives in Norfolk with her husband Ryan and her son Silas. In her free time she enjoys reading, cheering on the Brewers, and traveling with her family whenever possible.

Cello

Michael Daniels is currently the principal cellist of the Virginia Symphony. He began playing cello at age 11 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and continued further studies at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard, North Carolina. He later received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

While in Cincinnati, Mr. Daniels was a member of the Dayton Philharmonic and performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Pops. He has been a member of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, a faculty member at Eastern Music Festival and the Brevard Music Center, and a participant in the Grand Teton Summer Music Festival.

He is also a founding member of the Adagio Trio (harp, flute, and cello), which has produced five successful CDs: Stillpoint, Sanctuary, Winter Gift, Evensong, and Celtic Heart.

Mr. Daniels has performed as soloist regularly with the Virginia Symphony. His solo appearances include Saint-Saens Concerto in A minor, Haydn Cello Concerto in C, Beethoven Triple Concerto, Brahms Double Concerto, Elgar Concerto, and a duo performance with Bobby McFerrin of the Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto.

Hailing from Colombia, Diego Garcia is a globally sought-after conductor, cellist, and educator who works with the most respected conservatories and universities such as Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and Eastman School of Music. Diego is thrilled to be starting two new positions this fall: Music Director of APEX Youth Orchestra and Cello Faculty/Guest Conductor at the Steinhardt School of Music at NYU.

Diego’s approach to music-making is full of dynamic passion, humor, and a strong sense of collaboration. As a conductor, he has shared the stage with prominent artists such as Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Anthony McGill, Philippe Quint, Julian Schwartz, Steven Masi, and Naomi O’Connell. He has conducted and performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum, and Vienna’s Rathauseplatz Concert Series.

Diego has made appearances with contemporary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Harry Connick Jr, and Jennifer Lopez. His first album as cellist and arranger was praised by All About Jazz: “… Diego perform[s] intricate counterpoint that enhances the overall beauty of the whole without being obtrusive, also playing arresting lead parts.”

A strong advocate for the transformative powers of music, Diego strives to help students tap into their creative potential as young artists and professionals. Diego is Music Director of Orchestras at the Dwight-Englewood School and the Thurnauer School of Music.

He was most recently Lead String Director for Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in Geneva, Switzerland. In the spring of 2019, Diego joined the conducting faculty of the Mannes School of Music Pre-College Division, and was previously the Music Director of the Eastman Youth Chamber Soloists. Diego is a frequent guest conductor at different festivals and workshops in the United States, South America, and Europe, including Parnu Symphony Orchestra (Estonia), Flanders Music Festival (Belgium), Hampton Roads Chamber Players, Traveling Notes Orchestra, Bard College Symphony Orchestra and the Greece Symphony.

Diego has also served as Music Director of the Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra (New York) for several seasons, where he organized ongoing collaborations with the Ithaca Ballet.

An avid chamber musician, Diego was a founding member of a new music ensemble called “Gibbs & Main,” a group that regularly commissioned works from new composers and presented interactive children’s concerts in formal and community venues.

Diego’s performances as soloist and chamber musician have been featured on NPR’s “Live from Hochstein”, WXXI-FM 91.5’s Backstage Pass, as well as broadcasts for Music for Montauk, the Eastman School of Music’s Washington Square Concert Series, and at the Spotlight Series, Keuka on the Lake.

New Orleans-based cellist Jacob Fowler is the Founding Director of the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Series (Outer Banks, North Carolina) which will celebrate its 8th season in August 2022.

Mr. Fowler is a former tenured member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and former Principal Cellist of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra, with which he traveled throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Mr. Fowler has also toured throughout China as a Principal Cellist of the Manhattan Symphonie and performed with Houston and San Antonio Symphonies, as well as the Louisiana Philharmonic. Along with these appointments, he was an adjunct cello professor at Virginia Wesleyan College, the Fei Tian Academy, and Fei Tian College, and served as a coach for Hampton Roads Chamber players for 5 years.

As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Harlem Quartet and the Manhattan Chamber Players and is also a Festival Artist at the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans, where he has performed with members of Dover and Escher Quartets and the Lysander Trio. He performs regularly with Fever’s Candlelight Concert Series in venues throughout New Orleans. Mr. Fowler was also a regular performer with the Norfolk Chamber Consort and the Hampton Roads Chamber Players, and a founding member of the New Commonwealth String Quartet while in Virginia. He has performed at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and has been a Festival Artist at the Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico in addition to Grand Canyon Music Festival in Arizona. In March of 2019, Mr. Fowler was a featured artist at the SXSW Festival performing in the HBO/Games of Thrones and American Red Cross production Bleed for the Throne, which received national coverage. Mr. Fowler can also be heard on the 2019 soundtrack recording of the Alley Theater production Constellations.

Mr. Fowler collaborated with Todd Rosenlieb Dance Company to perform the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassadó with choreography by Ricardo Melendez, which opened with great success and was hailed by M.D. Ridge of Norfolk’s WHRO as “the pièce de résistance. [Mr. Fowler] sang sweetly, and the result was spectacular”

Viola

Anastasia, or Stacey, as her friends call her is originally from New York. She received her Bachelor’s degree from The Julliard School and her Master’s degree from Rice University, Shepherd School of Music.

Stacy has played viola with the Virginia Symphony and many other area arts organizations since 1990. She also teaches violin and viola at the Governor’s School for the Arts, Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University and maintains a private lesson studio. Prior to coming to Virginia, Stacey played with the Houston Ballet Orchestra and Sinfonica D’ell Emigliz Romagne; Parma, Italy.

Stacey lives in Norfolk with her daughter and her neurotic whippet. In her spare time, she is an avid knitter, and loves being a member of the Harbor Quartet.

Mentors

Our HRCP mentors are college aged students, usually HRCP alums themselves that are donating their time to help support the current students and serve as role models 

Violin

Maia is a rising sophomore music education major at Virginia Commonwealth University studying under Susanna Klein. a Chesapeake native, Maia has been apart of HRCP as both a student and a member of the administrative staff for the last 5 years. She served as the concertmaster of the Grassfield High School Chamber Orchestra her senior year when they competed in a national competition. The group was awarded the Grand Prize, with Maia being awarded an outstanding soloist award. She also served the Concert and Freshman orchestras as a student director, teaching and conducting both groups and mentoring individual students. Additionally, she won the concerto competition held by her school and performed the first movemet of Lalo’s Violin Concerto last spring as well as being awarded the Director’s award and the peer-selected student of the year award. Maia studied under Jorge Aguirre during high school and inherited his love for supporting the younger generation.