“Ms. Oguntola was able to get an immense array of textures in a small ensemble setting. Her use of extended techniques aides in painting the picture of the movements, without overtaxing the performers. It was beautiful to hear the tribute to musical styles from many countries. I enjoyed most the calmness that preceded the fires and the violin solo that perfectly captures the isolation of quarantine.”

Edgar Tumajyan is a native of Yerevan, Armenia. He began his violin study at age 8, at the Tchaikovsky Specialized Music School.

His Bachelor's Degree is from the Yerevan State Conservatory; his Master's Degree from Syracuse University, where he worked with Symphoria Concertmaster Peter Rovit. He attended the Aspen Festival as a festival fellowship awardee. His past symphonic experience has been with the orchestras of Cheyenne, Fort Collins, Tuscaloosa, and Mobile. Mr. Tumajyan has served as Associate Concertmaster of the Armenian National theater of Opera and Ballet for three years. His solo and chamber music touring ensemble travels have taken him to Russia, Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, and to Bolivia as winner of the University of Wyoming concerto Competition. He currently is a member of the Allentown Symphony and Symphoria violin sections, also frequently performs with Rochester Philharmonic.

“As a composer and musician, Ms. Oguntola has a clear vision for her compositions. Her ability to transmit her intentions clearly to the musicians enabled us to play in unity, while apart. A moment in the piece that I really connected with was the end of the first movement, Australian Bonfires. The melody tries to find it’s path back to normalcy, but like our world, finds that it has been permanently altered.”

Jessica Kline Tumajyan is the orchestra director at Christian Brothers Academy where she teaches string lessons, music theory, and conducts the CBA orchestras. She holds a bachelor of music in Viola Performance from Syracuse University and participated in post graduate work in Suzuki Pedagogy in Ithaca NY. As a former full time violist with Symphoria, Ms. Tumajyan still performs actively on violin and viola. In addition to Symphoria, Ms. Tumajyan performs with Syracuse Opera, Syracuse Vocal Ensemble, Schola Cantorum, Binghamton Philharmonic, Tri- Cities Opera, and various chamber ensembles. She has also performed on stage with the Trans Siberian Orchestra and Josh Groban.

Ms. Tumajyan is a member of the Suzuki Association of Americas, and currently serves on the Symphoria Education and Outreach committee. She is also a member of the Central New York Association of Music Teachers where she formerly served on the board of directors.

“I have know Ebun Oguntola for over a year now…I have been so impressed with her talent, work ethic, intelligence and musicianship. Ebun, asked me to be part of her Virtual Concert this summer, a project that spoke about major global events of 2019. It was an inspiring brilliant work of Ebun, just a 15-16 year old young girl, with so much passion and imagination. I am amazed by her maturity and her commitment to the art of music, and see a bright future ahead of her.”

Tili-Trebicka serves on the board of directors for CNYAMT, CMM, and Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music. She received graduate degrees in piano performance from University of Arts in Albania and Syracuse University and went on to study toward a Ph.D. degree in music and humanities at the Maxwell School at SU. She has studied under tutelage of the distinguished pedagogues Nora Cashku, Margarita Kristidhi, Robert Weirich, and others. She was an assistant professor of piano at the University of Arts and Music in Tirana, Albania, and currently is an associate professor of teaching at the Setnor School of Music.

“Playing alongside other musicians was the one thing I missed most when I was sent home for the semester. So, when Ebun reached out to me for this project, I immediately said yes. The amount of maturity and professionalism I was met with in both the coordination of the project and the music itself was astounding. Ebun is a talented young composer and I am immensely grateful I got the opportunity to work with her!”

Katherine Wynn, a musician from the time she took her first steps, is an accomplished cellist based in Central New York. She has attended music festivals around the world - notably Brancaleoni International Music Festival, and Sewanee Virtual Summer Music Festival. Notable accomplishments include performing at Conference All State Symphony Orchestra, being principal cellist of Symphoria Youth Orchestra in 2019, and performing with superstar Josh Groban. Katherine currently studies at SUNY Fredonia under the instruction of Dr. Natasha Farny.

“This was definitely a challenging, but very rewarding experience. In the end I was really happy with the results. It was a great piece to play, and I was honored to be a part of the performance.”

Jonah Suave is a senior at Chittenango High School who has been playing percussion for 7 years and specializes in marimba and timpani. In addition to playing percussion, he also plays piano and loves to learn new instruments. Most recently, the saxophone.