Players | Nebraska Chamber Players

The Nebraska Chamber Players

Donna Carnes, violin
Clark Potter, viola
Tracy Sands, cello
Rebecca Van de Bogart, flute
Ed Love, clarinet/saxophone
Joyce Besch, bassoon
Jeff Campbell, bassoon
Graham House, horn
Bob Jenkins, oboe/English horn
Sheri Ericksen, piano/harpsichord
Joseph Holmquist, percussion
Kathleen Wychulis, harp

Joyce Besch, bassoon

Joyce Besch teaches bassoon at Nebraska Wesleyan University and is currently third bassoon/contrabassoon in Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. Joyce also performs with Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra and Lincoln Municipal Band and is a member of Great Plains Chamber Winds.

Before coming to Lincoln, Joyce was an active freelance bassoonist in Toronto, Ontario, where she played with the Niagara Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Windsor Symphony and Oshawa-Durham Symphony. Among her more notable bassoon performances includes playing “Happy Trails” on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.

Joyce has studied bassoon with Laine Bryce and Carole Mason-Smith in St. Paul, MN; Yoshi Tominaga in Salzburg, Austria; and Linda Harwell in Baltimore, MD. She has received degrees from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota (B.A. Music Ed.), and from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (M.M. Performance). While at the College of St. Catherine, Joyce was a two-time winner of the CSC Concerto competition, allowing her to perform as a soloist with members of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Jefferson Campbell, bassoon

Jeff Campbell enjoys performing with Nebraska Chamber Players whenever he can, even though these days it's a long commute from Duluth, where he is Assistant Professor of Bassoon and Music History at the University of Minnesota.

Jeff has appeared as a soloist in North Carolina, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, South Carolina, and in a tour of Germany. He has held positions with orchestras in Kentucky, North Carolina, Illinois, Oregon, Washington and Nebraska, and has had solo appearances with the Bowling Green/Western Symphony Orchestra and the Winston-Salem Festival Orchestra. He has taught master classes at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional Boulogne-Billancourt in France and the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China, where he served as guest principal bassoon of the Chengdu Philharmonic Orchestra. The recently-released CD Nostalgia, on the Innova label, features Dr. Campbell in music for bassoon composed by colleague Justin Henry Rubin.

Jefferson Campbell holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Western Kentucky University, a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance and Chamber Music from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has been published in the Journal of the International Double Reed Society and presented and performed at their national conference in 2003, 2006 and 2007.

Donna Carnes, violin

Lincoln native Donna Carnes enjoys teaching violinists and violists of all ages. She currently maintains a large studio and also teaches at Union College, Prairie Hill Learning Center and Child's View Montessori. For the past 20 years Donna has been on the faculty of SAIL music camp. She has been a clinician at numerous workshops in Nebraska and Iowa.

Donna can frequently be heard in performances with the Nebraska Chamber Players, the Summit String Quartet and the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra (in the position of principal second violinist). She is a former member of the Classic Quartet and the Omaha Symphony.

Ms. Carnes earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied with Robert Emile. She also studied with Bernhard Goldschmidt at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Donna and her husband, Dave Hughes, are kept busy with four (!) boys—Dylan, Evan, Liam and Rhys. Dave spins records and the boys provide live cello and violin music. Look for them on the soccer field, basketball court, tennis court, baseball diamond...

Sheri Ericksen, piano

Sheri Ericksen learned her first piano piece at age 3, taught by her grandmother. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Nebraska Wesleyan University and a master’s from Michigan State University, where she studied with Ralph Votapek. She has performed with the Lincoln Symphony and the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and frequently serves as accompanist for touring artists and local performers. Sheri also loves playing harpsichord and organ, and taught private piano students for over 10 years.

In addition to her musical endeavors, Sheri maintains a career as a graphic designer and prepress consultant. She served for several years as editor and art director of the quarterly magazine of Mu Phi Epsilon, international professional music fraternity.

Joseph Holmquist, percussion

Joe Holmquist is a performer, music educator, and composer living in Lincoln since 2000. As a generalist in percussion, he plays everything from timpani and drumset to cymbals and xylophone. He received his Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied with master teacher Vic Firth, timpanist of the Boston Symphony. Joe’s compositions have been played all over the U.S. and Europe, released on various CDs, and have received many public radio broadcasts. As an educator, Mr. Holmquist is known most broadly for his drumset and snare drum etude books published by Neil A. Kjos Music Co., a leading company in the field. Joe works in Lincoln as a freelance player for a number of music organizations. His career as a performer has included touring across the country and throughout western Europe. His favorite musical activity is playing in small groups.

Graham House, horn

Graham House currently serves as principal horn in the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. A native of Overland Park, Kansas, Graham received his Bachelor of Music from The Wichita State University and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Prior to moving to Nebraska he performed with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and as principal horn with Opera Kansas. Graham has played horn with the Nebraska Chamber Players since their founding in 1997.

In 2008 Graham performed in New York’s Carnegie Hall with the UNL Philharmonia and University Singers. That same year he traveled to Mexico as a member of the ensemble Campo Aperto. The ensemble traveled to Morelia, Mexico, where they gave a series of performances and master classes at La Universidad de las Rosas and El Centro Músico para la Musica y las Artes Sonaras (CMMAS). In 2010, Graham was principal horn soloist with the UNL Symphony performance of Robert Schumann’s Konzertstück for Four Horns and Orchestra.

An active freelance player across the Midwest, Graham performs regularly with the Lincoln Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Nebraska Brass, Legacy Brass, and Palladium Brass, to name but a few. He has performed in such diverse venues as the O.K. Mozart Festival, The American Wind Symphony, Rod Stewart: Seated and Unplugged Tour, The Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, The World Choral Festival in Vienna, Austria, and as soloist with the Hastings Symphony Orchestra and the Lincoln Municipal Band.

While a graduate teaching assistant, Graham taught The Music Experience, a popular music appreciation course at the University of Nebraska. Dr. House has held a number of teaching positions including at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Concordia University in Seward. In addition to playing horn and teaching, he is also in demand as a piano accompanist. Graham lives in Lincoln with his beautiful wife, Jennifer.

Bob Jenkins, oboe & English horn

Bob graduated from Lincoln High School and received a B.M.E. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After Army basic training, he attended Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston for an M.M.E. and taught for one year in Bannockburn, Ill.—K through 8, "Mr. Music."

Returning to Omaha to teach in District 66, Bob was hired by the Omaha Symphony and played principal oboe both there and in the 43rd Army Band of the Nebraska National Guard. His teaching positions in the Westside Community Schools ranged from K-6 general music, elementary instrumental, 8 years as Director of Bands at Westside High School, and 27 years teaching junior high/middle school (concert and jazz bands).

Although still performing with the Omaha Symphony and with Mannheim Steamroller, Bob retired from District 66 and the National Guard in 2010. He’s now a volunteer, working with kindergarteners and first-graders in reading at Florence Elementary.

Ed Love, clarinet & saxophone

Ed Love is a graduate of Omaha Central High School and of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, having earned a Bachelors degree in 1970 and a Master of Music degree in 1972. While at UN-L he studied clarinet with Wesley Reist. He also studied with George Silfies, Principal clarinet of the Saint Louis Orchestra. Although clarinet was his major instrument in college, Ed's first instrument was the alto saxophone. In 1972 he was selected to the All-Star Band at the American Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. He has performed with many of the greats in jazz, including Clark Terry, Henry Mancini, Don Menza, Victor Lewis, John Fedchock, Bobby Watson and Jay McShann. Ed played clarinet in the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, with the Omaha Symphony for 12 years, and was Principal clarinet in the Opera/Omaha orchestra for 6 years.

A saxophonist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra since 1978 and its Music Director since 1979, Ed has been a part of the music scene in Lincoln and Omaha for over 30 years. He recently retired from teaching instrumental music in the Lincoln Public Schools and coaching the Lincoln Youth Symphony's woodwind section.

Ed currently plays clarinet with the Lincoln Municipal Band and the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and he plays flute and piccolo in Son del Llano, a Lincoln-based band that plays Cuban music. He is also one-fourth of Group Sax, a jazz sax quartet.

Clark Potter, viola

Clark Potter is professor of viola at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and principal viola of Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra. Clark is especially noted for his interest in new works, having premiered dozens of pieces over the years. He has appeared as soloist or chamber musician in nearly half the states in the union. While primarily a normal human being, he doesn't mind the bizarre or the humorous every once in a while—some lucky people have witnessed his portrayals of Janet Jackson and Napoleon Dynamite in the annual faculty April Fool's Recital.

Clark is also director of the Lincoln Youth Symphony. His primary non-musical hobby is running, and as he gets older the age group races are kinder to him! He loves keeping up with his kids' activities, and as a native of the Great Pacific Northwest, he enjoys traveling with his family back to that area each summer, where he plays in the Oregon Coast Music Festival and teaches at the Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop.

Tracy Sands, cello

Tracy Sands is a frequent chamber player in the Lincoln area. She is a member of the Summit String Quartet, the Bachman Trio, and Nebraska Chamber Players. Sands has been a member of the Lincoln Symphony for many years and currently serves as Assistant Principal. An active teacher, she started the first Suzuki cello studio in Nebraska. She has worked as a clinician throughout Nebraska, Iowa and Texas. A Lincoln native, Sands has been on the faculty of Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where she studied with Dudley Powers, and her graduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Rebecca Van de Bogart, flute, Artistic Director

Rebecca Van de Bogart, Artistic Director for Nebraska Chamber Players, was a founding member of Third Chair Chamber Players and has served as Artistic Director since 2001. Chamber music has been a passion all of her life, and Nebraska Chamber Players was the natural vehicle to feed this passion. In the late ’70s she was a founding member of the Bachman Trio, a flute, cello and piano ensemble. The trio stayed together for 20 years and then expanded to become TCCP. Becky is also piccolo chair with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra, and flutist with the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra and Lincoln Municipal Band. Previously she played with Opera Omaha, the Omaha Symphony, and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra.

Being involved in music education and advocacy is another passion. A private studio teacher for 30 years, Becky also taught in the Arts Are Basic program. She created and presented educational children's concerts for the Lincoln Symphony's In-School Concert series, performing concerts up to 30 times each year. TCCP continued this passion with their two educational programs, Music in Your Space and Music Mentors. In 1991, Becky received a Woods Charitable Fund Grant to travel with an artistic delegation to Khujand, Tajikistan. She worked there in an NGO capacity until 1996. In 1989 she was awarded "Woman Artist of the Year" by the Lincoln-Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women for her work in the musical community. In 2008 she received the Artistic Achievement Award for Performing Arts as part of the 30th annual Mayor's Arts Awards. [Third Chair Chamber Players was a co-recipient of a second Mayors Arts Award for the collaborative project with The Angels Theatre Company “The Train.”]

Kathleen Wychulis, harp

Kathleen Wychulis, principal harp of the Lincoln Symphony and Boulder Philharmonic, is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated cum laude from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Alice Chalifoux and Yolanda Kondonassis, and received her Master of Music degree from Rice University as a student of Paula Page. A Fulbright grant recipient in 2001, Ms. Wychulis traveled to Australia where she studied with Alice Giles at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Katie has performed nationwide as an orchestral soloist and harpist, chamber musician, and recitalist. Active as a supporter of arts nonprofits, Kathleen has served on the board of the Omaha Chamber Music Society and the Great Plains Harp Chapter. She has given numerous master classes and teaches at the University of Nebraska-Omaha as well as maintaining a private studio in Omaha.

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