Photo: © 2005 Charles Fine Art Portraits

Director/Flute/Saxophone: Susan Nelsen

Flutist, saxophonist, and director of Collage Music, Susan was primarily a visual artist before she began studying music and the flute at age 24. In less than three years she was performing professionally in the Astoria Festival Orchestra; Mozart's Opera "The Marriage of Figaro" among the repertoire, perhaps an indication of the many wedding music performances that would follow! Susan holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Portland State University, where she studied with GeorgeAnne Ries and Marilyn Shotola. She has also participated in masterclasses with Keith Underwood, Robert Dick, and Matthias Ziegler.

Susan performed with all of the Portland State University ensembles as principal flute, including the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Symphony, and Opera Orchestra. She has also doubled on saxophone as well as piccolo in various bands and musical productions. She also plays baritone saxophone in a local 17-piece big band, and can ocassionally be caught in clubs expressing her first musical love: singing jazz standards. She also shows her paintings. Click here for updates and a few examples of her work.
Susan is the flutist on all our sample mp3's except "Tenderly" in which John Savage plays.

Photo: © 2007 Charles Fine Art Portraits

Vocals/alto saxophone: Lesley Kernochan

Our resident vocalist Lesley Kernochan has been bursting into song since she was born, and professionally for the past five years. She is the consummate wedding singer, with an extremely versatile voice that gives her the ability to execute songs from any musical style with brilliance and skill.

Lesley has studied singing opera for the past three years from Barbara Skipworth, and alto saxophone for 14 years. She moved up from Los Angeles in 1999 to get a Music Composition degree at Lewis & Clark College. She has performed with many prominent Portland musical projects including The Everyone Orchestra, The March Fourth Marching Band, and The Jamie Stillway Trio and is currently the female operatic cabaret diva for Vagabond Opera (www.vagabondopera.com). She also has her own CD of original a capella songs (http://cdbaby.com/cd/kernochan).

Elizabeth Peyton, Violin

Violinist Elizabeth Peyton has performed with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra, Portland Opera, and several other professional ensembles in Oregon and SW Washington. She recently relocated from Los Angeles, where she worked as a concert violinist and session recording artist, including an appearance in the Oscar-winning motion picture "Ray." After completing her musical training at Indiana University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Elizabeth toured internationally with the "Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber" Broadway Tour.

Elizabeth’s eclectic musical interests allow her to play in almost any style, including Celtic, traditional folk, popular, world music, New Age, and jazz styles. She has performed for more than a thousand weddings and corporate functions, and brings a polished and personal flair to special events.

Liz can be heard on all our string quartet and flute/string quartet samples. You can hear her live with the Portland Opera Orchestra or Oregon Ballet Theater Orchestra.

Guitar: David Langenes

Guitarist David Langenes nurtured an ear for music from the age of five, exploring the violin, guitar, mandolin, and electric bass. He learned jazz, classical and fingerstyle guitar before studying jazz composition at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

David is an extremely versatile player who adds beautiful texture to a variety of musical projects. As of late, he spends much of his time teaching and performing around the Northwest with a variety of groups, including the 1930's vocal jazz sextet the Stolen Sweets, the incomparable Karaoke from Hell band, the Pete Krebs Gypsy Trio, the W Guitar Duo, and Collage Music.

David can be heard on all the Collage Music samples involving guitar. His frequent appearances make him an easy target if you'd like to see him perform live. Check his calendar for upcoming shows: www.myspace.com/gitfiddledavid.

Skip vonKuske, Cellist

Skip vonKuske started playing cello at age 8 and quickly proved himself to be a very talented musician and a dynamic performer. He's attended The Performing Arts School of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, and Michigan State University. His primary teachers included principal cellists of both The Philadelphia Orchestra (William Stokking), and the New York Philharmonic (Lorne Munroe), as well as Owen Carmen of Michigan State.

At nineteen, Skip played with numerous symphonies in Michigan. In 2001, Skip was placed on the sub list for the Oregon Symphony. He's recognized as one of the busiest musicians in Portland, highly in demand for studio and band work on both electric and acoustic cello. In the spring of 2005 he released his first solo album, "Intuit," which has led to extensive work composing and performing electronic music

Skip can be seen performing with the band Vagabond Opera, and at McMenamin's Edgefield every Monday night for his own "Diva Series," a long-running showcase of local singer-songwriters. He can be heard on all our classical flute, violin, cello trio sample mp3 tracks, the flute/guitar/cello samples, and in the flute/cello duo.

Photo: © 2005 Charles Fine Art Portraits

Mandolin: Tim Connell

A graduate of the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist with over twenty years professional performance experience, Tim has been immersed in a variety of musical styles since he first began classical piano lessons at age seven.

While working as a pianist and bassist in Boston, Tim delved deeply into the traditional Irish music of his youth, studying with renowned composer Michael O’Suilleabhain and master flutist Meabh Ni Fhuarthain. This work led him to the mandolin, and also to New England Conservatory, where he studied classical mandolin with Robert Sullivan, Jewish traditional music with Klezmer guru Hankus Netsky, and modern improvisation with Ran Blake, receiving his Masters degree in 1997. While at NEC, Tim first heard recordings of the great Brazilian choro mandolinist, Jacob do Bandolim, which led him to study this music with Brazilian choro masters Paulo Sa and Hamilton de Holanda, and with the legendary American mandolinist Mike Marshall.

Tim currently lives in Portland, Oregon and performs gypsy jazz and Brazilian music with Clambake and Desvairada, Irish music with The Old Yellers, and original compositions with Ben Blechman and Jason Flores. His intensive study of Brazilian and Irish music on the mandolin, combined with his years as a professional bassist and pianist have helped Tim synthesize a personal style which is harmonically advanced, rhythmically intense and brimming over with sparkling ornamentation and romantic intensity. He can be heard on all our Toscana samples.

Justin Durrie, Bassist

Justin Durrie has been earning his reputation in recent years as an in-demand bassist in Portland, Oregon's acclaimed jazz, latin, and creative music scenes. Born and raised in New York City, Justin moved to Washington, D.C. and cut his teeth playing with bands in DC's iconic early 90s music scene. Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, he has worked as a sideman with many of the region's best musicians playing jazz, blues, soul, rockabilly, funk, reggae, second line, bluegrass, gospel, Cuban and Brazilian music, pop, rock, hip hop, klezmer, ballroom, theatrical productions, symphonic works, opera, and free music.

Justin is the bassist for all the Collage Music sample recordings involving the bass. Catch him live with any number of bands, including but not limited to Pepe and the Bottleblondes, Cubaneo, and the Dusty York Trio.