About Us
First Violins
| Donald Armstrong | Associate Concertmaster |
| Lyndon Johnston Taylor | Assistant Concertmaster |
| Yury Gezentsvey | Principal First Violin |
| Emma Barron | |
| Ursula Evans | |
| Ron Jara | |
| Haihong Liu | |
| Anne Loeser | |
| Juliana Radaich | |
| Gregory Squire | |
| Rebecca Struthers | |
| Beiyi Xue | |
| Cristina Vaszilcsin | |
| Kristina Zelinska | |
*The NZSO String Sections operate under a rotation system and are listed here alphabetically
DONALD ARMSTRONG
Associate Concertmaster
Donald Armstrong is NZSO Associate Concertmaster. Donald likes speedy high risk pursuits such as ski-ing, fast power boats, sail boats and land yachts, catching incredibly big fish (well, trying to), and sitting at the front of the NZSO keeping up with volatile conductors. He is very busy performing, teaching, conducting, playing chamber music, and continues his quest for the wild wacky and wonderful in music.
Top
LYNDON JOHNSTON TAYLOR
Assistant Concertmaster
Lyndon Johnston Taylor, Assistant Concertmaster of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, comes from a family of musical excellence. He and his siblings performed as the Taylor String Quartet throughout the United States and abroad. After preparing for a career in medical research, he recognized his passion for music and obtained a teaching position at the University of Redlands (CA). He completed the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Juilliard School of Music under the direction of Dorothy DeLay and Naoko Tanaka. There he received the Fritz Kreisler Scholarship. He has performed as a soloist and recitalist throughout the United States and abroad and has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, among them the Coleman Chamber Music Award, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago Soloist Auditions, the Joseph Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Lipizer International Competition (Italy). For 17 years, Taylor played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, serving as Principal 2nd Violin for 10 of those years. Taylor plays on a JB Guadagnini violin made in 1777. He resides in Wellington with his wife Elizabeth (director of research at Mary Potter Hospice) and daughters Rilla and Lynn.
YURY GEZENTSVEY
Principal First Violin
Born in Kiev, USSR, in 1952, Yury graduated in 1974 from the Gnessin Institute of Music in Moscow, before immigrating to the USA in 1979 where he served as Concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and then of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Caracas, Venezuela. During this time, he also formed a highly successful Chamber Ensemble with acclaimed American pianist Harriet Serr and was chairman of the panel of judges at the final examinations in Violin of the National Conservatory of Music ‘Juan Jose Landaeta’ in Caracas in 1983 and 1984.
From 1985, Yury has held the position of Principal First Violin in the NZSO, and has also led the orchestra on numerous occasions. He has taken part in many International Festivals of the Arts in Wellington, as leader of the ‘Gezentsvey Quartet’, as a member of the Massey Piano Quartet and of the New Zealand Piano Quartet, and as a soloist.
He has recorded extensively for radio and television, as well as on a number of CDs, including ‘Romantic Strings’, which was nominated for Best Album of the Year in 1995, and more recently on Alfred Hill String Quartets, Volumes 1 and 2.
Yury teaches advanced violinists. His book Scales & Arpeggios for Violin was published in Auckland in 1995.
Top
EMMA BARRON
Emma studied violin with Natalia Morozova at the Rotterdam Conservatorium of Music and with Jan Tawroszewicz at the University of Canterbury, completing a Bachelor of Music degree with first class honours in 1997. During this time Emma participated twice in the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, enjoying masterclasses with artists such as Charles Castleman, Dong-Suk Kang and Dene Olding. Emma has led the Christchurch Youth Orchestra, the University of Canterbury Chamber Orchestra and worked as a first violinist in the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. After graduating she undertook further study in Lubeck, Germany and in Italy. An Alex Lindsay Award recipient, Emma was appointed to the NZSO First Violin Section in May 2002. She is a tutor at the Queenstown Violin Summer School, and enjoys performing in chamber orchestras and smaller ensembles including the contemporary music group Stroma.
Top
URSULA EVANS
Ursula started playing the violin as an eight-year-old in Christchurch. Having a German mother, she had a special interest in Germany. In 1982 Ursula was awarded a scholarship for postgraduate study in Germany where she stayed for eight-and-a-half years, the last three years working full time in the Philharmonic Essen. In 1991 Ursula returned to New Zealand to take up a position in the NZSO. In 2003 she was a recipient of the Scottwood Trust-sponsored NZSO Study Bursary. With her husband, John, and daughter, Tessa, she lived at the William Goodenough College in London and she attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she completed a Diploma of Continuing Professional Development as well as receiving weekly violin lessons with Brien Stait. In 2007–08 she undertook a player-exchange with Agnes Bilowitzki, a first violinist in the Philharmonic Orchestra of Augsburg in Germany. Ursula and her family lived in Agnes’s city flat in Bavaria, enjoying bike rides in the surrounding countryside and tramping trips in the Alps, while experiencing the variety of repertoire in an orchestra that plays in opera and ballet productions as well as symphonic concerts.
Top
RONALD JARA
One of the most familiar faces in the violin section is Ronald Jara, who joined the NZSO in 1966. Ron studied in Santiago and played with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Chile for seven years before coming to New Zealand. With a Chilean background, it is not surprising that Ron is a passionate soccer fan, and he plays soccer year-round whenever the orchestra schedule allows.
Top
HAIHONG LIU
Chinese-born NZSO first violinist Haihong is a graduate of the prestigious Beijing Central Conservatory of Music in the People’s Republic of China, where she won the China National Chamber Music Competition in 1995 with her string quartet. After six years teaching as a violin and chamber music lecturer at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music of Guangzhou, in 2001 Haihong immigrated to New Zealand with her family, joining APO as sub-principal first violin, before she joined the NZSO in 2002. The NZSO World Tour 2005 and the London BBC Proms appearance are the highlights of Haihong’s time with the orchestra. With her chamber ensembles Aroha String Quartet and Iota String Trio, Haihong enjoys a varied and energetic musical life, as well as developing her new interests in New Zealand of hiking, skiing, golfing, and sailing. Haihong has a musical family, her husband, Zhongxian plays viola, and James, his 17-year-old son, plays violin. Her son Zishan was born in 2008.
Top
ANNE LOESER
Anne studied the violin at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt. She was a member of the Orfeo Quartet which won a scholarship from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for a year's post-graduate study in Budapest. With the Quartet she toured throughout Europe and in South America. Anne has played in the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn and Hesse State Theatre Orchestra Wiesbaden in Germany. Anne made the major decision to leave Germany and joined the NZSO in 2000. She is married to NZSO horn-player Gregory Hill. Anne also plays in the group Salut d'Amour www.salutdamour.co.nz
Top
JULIANA RADAICH
Juliana was proudly born in Auckland, beginning her musical career with the Auckland String Players and continued gaining her experience throughout all the orchestras including performing for opera and ballet production before gaining a place in the NZSO in 1975.Highlights for her are concerts conducted by Franz-Paul Decker and soloists, Dame Joan Sutherland, John Shirley-Quirke, Ashkenazy, Heinrich Shearing and Lyn Harrell. Her great loves, other than family, are dogs and shopping. Having spent 32 wonderful years with the orchestra, one of the perks on tour means that throughout NZ many shops cater to Juliana's passion for collectibles.
GREGORY SQUIRE
Gregory is one of New Zealand’s busiest and most sought-after musicians. Born in Waipukurau and educated at the Royal College of Music in London, he led a varied life as soloist, concertmaster and conductor prior to his return to New Zealand.
Gregory has conducted in the UK and is a frequent guest conductor of a number of orchestras in New Zealand. He was Music Director of the Massey Chamber Orchestra prior to the formation of the New Zealand School of Music, where he continues to be actively involved, conducting opera and works for string orchestra. He has conducted the NZSO and appeared as director and soloist with the Vector Wellington Orchestra, the Hawke’s Bay Orchestra and the Wellington Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the NZSO he instigated their education and outreach programme and this commitment to the future continues with the HBO’s ‘Orch-es-trate!’ programme.
In 2008 he was appointed as Music Director of the Wellington Youth Orchestra and Concerts Director of the Black Barn Vineyard.
In his free time he enjoys sailing, paddling, and fishing from the boats he has built.
Top
REBECCA STRUTHERS
Rebecca joined the NZSO in 1991 and remembers her first concert playing Bruckner 9 with Franz-Paul Decker as a stand-out experience of her orchestral life. Originally from Nelson, Rebecca graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1985 and went on to freelance around the UK and Europe before returning home. Among Rebecca’s other passions are mountain biking, adventuring, creative arts and crafts, and sharing fine wine and food. She is married to Malcolm Struthers, who plays bass in the orchestra.
Top
BEIYI XUE
Beiyi is originally from Shanghai and began studying the violin at the age of five. Graduating from the prestigious Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1994 she rose to Principal First Violin and soloist with the Shanghai Symphony before moving to Australia in 2000 for further study. During her time at the Griffith University Australian Institute of Music she regularly played with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.
Beiyi has been a permanent member of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra since 2003. As an experienced chamber musician, she is also a founding member of the Aroha String Quartet, formed in 2004, which has quickly become one of the most sought after chamber groups in NZ. As well as playing great works of the symphonic repertoire she likes socialising with her fellow musicians and sharing fine food and wine. Beiyi has a passion for the outdoor life.
Top
CRISTINA VASZILCSIN
Cristina began her musical career in Romania, where she performed her first solo concert with the Philharmonic of Timisoara at age 10. Cristina won the top prize in the Kocian Competition in the Czech Republic (1991), and first prize at the National Society of Arts and Letters in Washington DC (2002). Other international accomplishments include first prizes at the concerto competition at the Mozart Seminar in Romania (1997), the concerto competition at the Musicordia Summer Festival in Massachusetts (2002), and at the National Competitions in Romania (1987, 1994, 1995). Cristina has performed concertos by Bruch, Sibelius, and Mozart with orchestras in the United States and in Europe, some of which have been broadcast on Romanian and German television. She graduated with a Masters Degree in Violin Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh during which she was loaned a 1717 Antonio Stradivarius for two years. Her Bachelors Degree in Violin Performance is from the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Cristina moved to New Zealand in 2005 to play in the NZSO. She enjoys singing, painting, and playing chamber music and driving the back roads with her husband Peter Garrity.
Top
KRISTINA ZELINSKA
Kristina was born in 1978 in Lviv, Ukraine, into a family of musicians, and began to study violin at the age of six with professor Alexander Panov in Kiev. After graduating from Kiev Special Music School, Kristina continued her study at Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Kiev. While studying at the Conservatory, she played with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine and Kiev Chamber Orchestra, and toured Europe and Asia. Her family moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, in 1995 and Kristina and her husband decided to join them in 1999. In Christchurch, Kristina continued her studies at the University of Canterbury with Jan Tawroszewicz, gaining her BMHons degree as well as giving numerous solo and chamber music recitals. In 2001, she took up the position of the third chair of first violins with the Christchurch Symphony and in 2005 moved to Wellington to join the first violin section in the NZSO. Among Kristina’s other interests are travelling, exploring New Zealand, playing piano, cooking, ice skating and spending lots of time with her family, her husband, Alexander, and son, Daniel.
