Violinist Mia Detwiler has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in numerous venues throughout the U.S. and abroad. While comfortable and well-versed in traditional violin repertoire, Detwiler is an enthusiastic advocate for contemporary music who especially enjoys collaborating with living composers.
An avid chamber musician, Detwiler has performed with Duo Chromatica, NOVA Ensemble, ensemble75, Sounds Modern, NuAtmospheres, and the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has performed in numerous contemporary music festivals and concert series including ICMC, the ASU Microtonal Music Festival, June in Buffalo, the ASU John Cage Festival, New Music Gathering, Days of New Music, and the UNT Spectrum Concert Series. She has also led as concertmaster of the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra, the University of North Texas Festival Orchestra, the Unity Orchestra, and the Arizona State University Orchestra.
Recent performance highlights include a guest artist recital in Kaleidoscope MusArt’s 2021 season, Olivier Messiaen’s historic Quatour pour la fin du temps, Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIII, the consortium premiere of Robert Xavier Rodriguez’ Xochiquetzal Concerto for violin & percussion sextet, a recreation of Philip Glass’ debut concert, and a recital at the 40th Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez, the largest contemporary music festival in the Americas.
Detwiler served as Violin Teaching Fellow at the University of North Texas where she maintained a studio of undergraduate violin students and coached chamber music ensembles. Currently, she is Adjunct Professor of Violin at Dallas College and Tarrant County College. She has also taught at Tarleton State University, the Coppell Conservatory, Arizona State University String Project, and the Tallahassee Youth Orchestra. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance with a related field in Contemporary Music from the University of North Texas, a Master of Music from Arizona State University, and A Bachelor of Music from Florida State University.
As a passionate violist and enthusiastic teacher, Michael Capone has performed with orchestras and small ensembles in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions of New York and also in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area in Texas. A graduate of Ithaca College, Mr. Capone received his Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance and Music Education in 2011, studying with Debra Moree. Upon graduation, he won positions with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and the Binghamton Philharmonic, performing also with Symphoria, Ash Lawn Opera, and the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic. In May 2016, Mr. Capone received his Master of Music at the University of North Texas under the guidance of Susan Dubois. He is currently located in Austin, TX, and performs regularly with the Waco Symphony Orchestra.
An advocate of new music, Mr. Capone is a founding member of the Amorsima String Trio, bringing the lesser-known but equally exciting repertoire of contemporary string trios to the concert stage. He has also performed with a number of new music ensembles, including the Ithaca College Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble X at Cornell University, and NOVA, at the University of North Texas. He has recently commissioned and premiered new works for viola by Seth Shafer, Michael Sterling Smith, and Marco Schirripa, and is committed to expanding the repertoire for the viola.
Kourtney Newton is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in cello performance at UNT where she studies with Professor Nikola Ruzevic. As a fervent supporter of new music, she has been a featured performer at several prestigious festivals and conferences, such as New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival 2018, NY PHIL biennial at National Sawdust in Brooklyn 2016, SEAMUS 2016, International Computer Music Conference 2015, Electric LaTex 2014, New Music on the Point 2015, Sounds Modern Recital Series 2015-present, and Aquilla Contemporary Music Recital Series 2012-2013. Kourtney has also performed with orchestras internationally at venues in Thailand, Austria, Germany and England. She is particularly passionate about improvisation and is a founding member of the Colorado Soundpainting improvisation ensemble. She also enjoys performing as a member of the Amorsima String Trio and UNT’s contemporary music ensemble NOVA.
