News Release
The Cleveland Orchestra appoints four new members
Jacob Nissly to become principal percussionist
Katherine Bormann, Ying Fu, and Jeffrey Zehngut join violin section
Release date: May 5, 2011
CLEVELAND – Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra today announced the appointment of four new Orchestra members. Jacob Nissly has been appointed principal percussion of the Orchestra. He will join The Cleveland Orchestra at the beginning of the 2011-12 season, and will hold the Margaret Allen Ireland Endowed Chair. Mr. Nissly will succeed Richard Weiner in the post. Mr. Weiner joined the Orchestra in 1963 and has served as principal percussion since 1968.
Violinist Katherine Bormann joined the Orchestra’s first violin section in March 2011. Ying Fu and Jeffrey Zehngut have been appointed to the Orchestra’s first and second violin sections, respectively. Mr. Fu will join the Orchestra at the beginning of the 2011-12 season. Mr. Zehngut will join the Orchestra in August 2011, during the Blossom Festival.
Percussionist Jacob Nissly became principal percussionist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra during the 2009-10 season and has served in that post for the 2010-11 season. Previously, he was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach for two seasons (2008-2010), performing under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. Mr. Nissly was born in Beatrice, Nebraska, and grew up in Grimes, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. He has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Des Moines Metro Opera, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. He also spent two summers playing with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Verbier, Switzerland, and two summers with the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. In addition, he has performed at the Chautauqua Institute and at the Spoleto USA Festival.
Mr. Nissly holds a bachelor of music and jazz studies degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with Michael Burritt, James Ross, Paul Wertico, and Joel Spencer. He received his master of music degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Greg Zuber and Dan Druckman. While at Juilliard, Mr. Nissly co-premiered Roberto Sierra’s percussion concerto “Bongo +” with the New Juilliard Ensemble. He began his percussion studies with Woody Smith in Iowa and has also worked extensively with percussionist Michael Werner, principal percussionist of the Seattle Symphony. Mr. Nissly was recently appointed to the faculty of the Eastman School of Music as an adjunct professor of percussion.
Katherine Bormann joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in March 2011. Prior to her appointment, she was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, where she performed as soloist and concertmaster. A native of Bismarck, North Dakota, Ms. Bormann holds a bachelor of music degree from Rice University and a master of music degree from the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers were Kathleen Winkler, Joel Smirnoff, and Ronald Copes.
Ms. Bormann has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival, where she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize. She has appeared on the Wednesdays at One concert series in Alice Tully Hall, and performed in the American premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’s The Soul is Light, for oboe, violin, and harpsichord. For two summers, Ms. Bormann was a member of Tanglewood’s New Fromm Players, a contemporary music chamber ensemble.
Ying Fu has performed as a substitute violinist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra since 2007, while pursuing his studies at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. During the 2005-06 season, he was a substitute violinist with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Fu has won prizes in competitions in Europe, China, and the United States. At the Young Texas Artists Music Competition in March 2011, he won the Grand Prize for all divisions, the First Prize in the strings division, and the Audience Prize. In January 2011, he won first prize in the Schmidbauer International Competition. Mr. Fu has performed as soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and the DePaul Symphony Orchestra. He served as concertmaster of the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra in Germany in 2004, and has also participated in the 2008 Taos Chamber Music Festival and the 2010 Marlboro Music Festival. A native of Shanghai, China, Mr. Fu holds a bachelor of music degree from the Shanghai Conservatory, where he studied with Xin-Zhi Chen, and a master of music degree from Rice University, where he studied with Sergiu Luca. He is currently a doctor of musical arts degree candidate at Rice University, studying with Cho-Liang Lin and Sergiu Luca.
Jeffrey Zehngut has been associate principal second violin with the San Diego Symphony since 2005. He has also served as principal second violin of the California Chamber Orchestra, La Jolla Summerfest, and the Canton (OH) Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, Mr. Zehngut received his bachelor of music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he studied with Cleveland Orchestra Concertmaster William Preucil. From 2003 to 2005, he did graduate work at CIM, studying with Paul Kantor. Mr. Zehngut, who was born in Warren, Ohio, and grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, also studied with James Lyon of Penn State University and was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. He is the fourth former member of the Youth Orchestra to be appointed to The Cleveland Orchestra.
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