Paul Christopher

Paul Christopher is Assistant Professor in Low Strings and Music Theory at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He received his Bachelor of Music Education from the New England Conservatory of Music and his Master of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Memphis.

Currently Mr. Christopher is Principal Cello of the Longview Symphony Orchestra. From 1981 to 1984, Mr. Christopher was employed as a string teacher in The School District of Greenville County (South Carolina) public schools. From 1989 to 2004, he was Principal Cello of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and of the Shreveport Opera, and a member of the Premier String Quartet. Prior to this appointment, he was a member of the Memphis and Charlotte symphony orchestras. The latter included a summer tour of Poland, East Germany and the Netherlands. From 1993 to 1999, he served as Adjunct Instructor of Low Strings at Stephen F. Austin State University.

In the summer, Mr. Christopher performs as Assistant Principal Cello with the Peter Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon. For the past three seasons, he has served as Principal Cello with the Des Moines Metro Opera in Indianola, Iowa. Mr. Christopher has also appeared as soloist with orchestras in Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.

Mr. Christopher has appeared on numerous recordings as a member of the Nashville String Machine with artists such as Faith Hill, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Springsteen and George Strait. He is currently recording the cello duos of Jacques Offenbach on the Human Metronome label. These duos are available on the Offenbach page.

Josue Ramirez

"We never imagined the high level of talent and musicality that Central America had to offer until we saw your performance," said John Hood from the Peabody Conservatory of Music when he saw Mr. Ramirez performing Koussevitzky's Concerto op. 3.

Ramirez is the recipient of many honors and awards, including the 2008 Natchitoches-Northwestern Concerto Competition winner with Proto's Carmen Fantasy, 1999 third place with Variations on One String by Paganini, and 2001 first place with Koussevitzky's Concerto op. 3 at the Juan Tutto Diffent Young Artists Concerto Competition.

As a chamber musician Mr. Ramirez has collaborated with colleagues who also share a love for concertante works, especially those of Karl Dittersdorf and Giovanni Bottesini. These colleagues included Mario Gabriel Funes, Paul Christopher, Malena McLaren, and John Madere.

Mr. Ramirez is Adjunct Instructor of Double Bass at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. He is an active recruiter and has served as a presenter for the Lousiana Music Teachers Association performing lecture recitals of double bass literature at the 2007 and 2008 annual conventions.

A native of Honduras, Mr. Ramirez began double bass studies at the age of 16 at the Victoriano Lopez Music School. There he received invaluable instrumental instruction from Maestro Ernesto G. Rodriguez. In 2002 Mr. Ramirez traveled to Costa Rica to study with Maestro Carlos Vives from the Costa Rican National Symphony as well as Professor Klaus Stoll from the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2003 Mr. Ramirez was given the opportunity to continue his double bass studies on a full scholarship at the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge where he graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor's degree in Music under the instruction of Yung-Chiao Wei. The following year Mr. Ramirez continued his studies at Northwestern State University and earned the Master of Music degree in Double Bass.

Mr. Ramirez serves as Principal Bassist of the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and also performs in the Rapides Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, and Texarkana Symphony.