Violin

Andrew has established himself as an extraordinary chamber musician, soloist, and teacher throughout America. As a former member of the critically acclaimed Fifth House Ensemble, he has performed at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre on their Composer Portrait series, on Rush Hour’s yearly summer music series, and participated in many master classes at institutions such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison and New Music on the Point.

As a soloist, he specializes in performing great contemporary solo violin pieces. At Ravinia's Bennet Gordon Hall (summer of 2012) he performed David Rakowski’s, When the Bow Breaks, a sonata for solo violin, for which the composer praised ‘Now I like the whole piece, for the very first time!’ In November of 2011 he performed Kevin Puts’ epic solo piece, Arches on a Rush Hour Encore which was broadcast live on Chicago’s WFMT.

Considered a champion of new music, Williams has commissioned a number of works for the violin. He has also given seminars on composing for the violin at Roosevelt University and the Fresh Inc. festival.

As a teacher, Williams has been on faculty at the Merit School of Music, teaching violin, viola, and served as string department chair. He was a co-founder of Merit’s Solo String Workshop, which hosted world class artists such as Helen Callus and Rachel Barton Pine.

Master Class Instructor

Born thirty miles from the Canadian border in Halma, Minnesota, Dian D’Avanzo began studying the piano at age three, violin at age ten, and harp at age twelve. Eventually choosing to concentrate on the violin, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota and Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston.

In 1990 D’Avanzo won a position with the New World Symphony (Miami Beach, FL) with Michael Tilson Thomas but was only there two weeks: when the orchestra tour to Spain was cancelled due to rain, she took advantage of her unexpected free time to fly to Arizona to audition for the Assistant Principal Second Violin opening in the Phoenix Symphony. She was awarded the position and joined the orchestra immediately. When the opportunity arose, she auditioned for and was awarded the position of Assistant Concertmaster.

Other credits include engagements with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, The Arizona Opera Ring Cycle in Flagstaff, the Utah Opera Festival and a live performance on Prairie Home Companion.

D’Avanzo plays a fine violin made by her brother, David Folland, one of America’s finest young luthiers. She lives in Ahwatukee with her husband Michael, a TPS cellist, and their two young daughters Amelia and Elena