About Us
Catamount String Quartet
6
Jane Kittredge
Violin
Violinist, teacher and curator Jane Kittredge can be seen and heard performing with numerous ensembles across the northeast. A graduate of the Mannes College of Music
(BM, MM, PSD) she performs with the Vermont Symphony, Springfield Symphony, the Skylark string quartet, Opera North, Opera Company of Middlebury, Middlebury Bach Festival and the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble among others. Her festival appearances and ensemble tours have brought her across the country and throughout
Europe, Mexico and China. An active chamber musician, Jane curates an annual summer string quartet series based in Chittenden County, Vermont. Her primary teachers include Sally Thomas, Lucie Robert, Laurie Smukler, Garrett Fischbach and Evelyn Read. Jane’s classical training enables her to perform in multiple styles ranging from baroque
to folk, jazz to pop, and everything in between. Jane has performed and collaborated with Guster, Sarah MacLachlan, Trey Anastasio, Dionne Warwick, Celtic Woman, Byron Stripling, Henry Jamison and can be heard on a number of albums by Vermont singer-songwriters. Jane has been an Affiliate Artist faculty member at the University of Vermont since 2020, and maintains a small private studio in Shelburne. She serves on the Board of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival and is the contractor for the Burlington Choral Society, Aurora Chamber Singers and Bella Voce ensemble. In her spare time, Jane loves to run, hike, sing, dance and talk about European soccer to anyone who will listen.
Brooke Quiggins Saulnier
Violin
Born in Nashville, TN, Brooke Quiggins Saulnier began her violin studies at age 5. She has performed in recitals and concerts throughout the United States and Europe and has won top honors in numerous solo and chamber music competitions. She previously held the Principal Second Violin positions with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, Ridgefield Symphony, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and the Reading Symphony Orchestra. She is currently the Assistant Principal Second Violinist in the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her orchestral work, Brooke is a member of the VSO’s Jukebox Quartet and performs regularly with new music ensemble TURNMusic. Brooke can be heard on the Sony Classical, Naxos, Columbia Records, Blue Note, and Universal record labels and has performed with Gloria Estefan, John Legend, My Brightest Diamond (Shara Nova), Sufjan Stevens, Young the Giant, Alexi Murdoch, Francesca Blanchard, Moira Smiley, and Aretha Franklin to name a few. Brooke received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music under the private direction of Sylvia Rosenberg and Lucie Robert.
Stefanie Taylor
Viola
Stefanie Taylor is the assistant principal violist of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and violist for the orchestra’s Juke Box Quartet.. She has performed regionally with the Craftsbury Chamber Players, Taconic Chamber Players, Vermont Virtuosi, Williams Chamber Players, the Manchester Music Festival, and Capital City Concerts. She has been principal violist of both Middlebury Opera and Green Mountain Opera. During twenty years in New York, Stefanie performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic, as guest principal violist of the American Symphony, in ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and was assistant principal violist of the Long Island Philharmonic. She premiered several chamber works in venues including Merkin Hall, Roulette, Miller Theater, and performed live on WQXR . Stefanie is an Affiliate Artist in Viola at Middlebury College, and teaches violin and viola at the Middlebury Community Music Center. She is Artistic Director of the Manchester and the Mountains Chamber Music Workshop, and is on the faculty of Berkshire Summer Music. Stefanie completed Suzuki teacher training at the School for Strings in New York . A graduate of Indiana University and Stony Brook University, Stefanie studied violin with Miriam Fried, viola with Caroline Levine, and chamber music with Julius Levine, Leonard Hokanson, and Timothy Eddy. She held fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Villa Musica (Germany), and Stony Brook University, where she was a member of the graduate string quartet.
John Dunlop
Cello
John Dunlop has been playing and teaching cello in Vermont for over 30 years. Raised in Burlington, John received degrees from Oberlin College and the San Francisco Conservatory before returning to join the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, where he has played as principal cellist for over twenty years. This past season saw him premiering a new concerto written for him by SyrianCanadian composer Suad Bushnaq. As a founding member of both the VSO Jukebox Quartet, the Eclectica Quartet,Skylark Quartet and the TURN ensemble, John has been an advocate for new music and performs both classical and contemporary music in unconventional venues, reaching out to both veteran music lovers and younger audiences. He has performed with such popular entertainers as Bernadette Peters, Lyle Lovett, Trey Anastasio, Dionne Warwick and Lucius. In addition, he has scored and performed several award winning short films, performing on cello, guitar and bouzouki. Dunlop has also performed extensively as principal cellist and soloist with the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, Eleva Chamber Players, Opera North, Opera Company of Middlebury, and the Green Mountain Opera. John maintains a private studio in Richmond Vermont, where he has trained several generations of conservatory-bound students.