Stan Renard, Bohemian Quartet founder and arranger, is a virtuoso violinist, violist and active conductor. He studied violin performance with Veda Reynolds formerly of the Curtis Institute, Alexandre Brussilovsky, who was the Assistant of Leonid Kogan in Moscow and Yehudi Menuhin in London, Philip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet, Marylou Speaker Churchill, formerly the Principal Second Violinist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Theodore Arm. In addition to founding the Bohemian Quartet, Stan was a member of the Fragancia De Tango, and the Trio Nostalgia. Stan is an alumnus of the Pierre Monteux Conducting School in Hancock, Maine, and has re-established the chamber orchestra Opus 1 which is now in residency at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Stan most recently formed the Connecticut-based contemporary music group NOVA Musica. As a conductor, Stan studied with, and was the assistant of, Maestros Lanfranco Marcelletti, Harvey Sollberger, and Michael Jinbo. Stan Renard holds the following degress: Master in Music from the Conservatory of Versailles, France in Chamber music, Master in Music from UMASS Amherst in Violin and Viola, MBA from Providence College
PhD in International Business from Southern New Hampshire University, and is currently working on a
DMA in Violin performance University of Connecticut.
Nancy Richardson, violist, has enjoyed a career in both performance and music education. She has played in orchestras in Rhode Island, the US and Canada such as the RI Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony (SC) and the Winnipeg Symphony. For more than a decade, Nancy has taught as a string specialist in the Cranston Public School System. She founded the Park View Middle School Fiddle Club and began a guitar instruction program for middle school students with the support of the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. She believes deeply in the importance of quality music education and the benefits it provides in positive youth development. In addition to her work in Cranston, Nancy has taught for the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Medicine Hat College in Alberta, Canada. Nancy holds degrees in viola performance from Boston University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has a degree in education from McGill University, Montreal.
Christine Harrington, cellist with the Bohemian Quartet, has performed symphonic and chamber music, as well as Celtic and contemporary jazz. She has performed with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Ocean State Chamber Orchestra, trios and duos, as well as having the privilege of performing, premiering, and recording the music of composer, Eliane Aberdam. Christine has studied improvisation with bassist, Dave Zinno, and trombonist/composer, Hal Crook and works closely with jazz pianist and composer, Joe Parillo. She is the cellist on his CD of original jazz piano/cello compositions, “Sand Box”. In addition to performing, Christine has enjoyed a long and enriching career as a public school string teacher/orchestra director. She has presented many workshops throughout the country on new music for improvising strings as well as workshops for music educators in Rhode Island and Massachusetts on building string programs and teaching alternative strings techniques. Christine holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the Hartt School of Music, Hartford, CT and an MALS in Literature and Art from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
John DeBossu is one of the most respected upright bass players in the Rhode Island area and has been performing on various stages all over New England. Classically trained, John lived in Geneva, Switzerland and studied math and computer science. While there, he performed in France and Switzerland in various jazz groups and studied with Blaise Waelday, the former principal bassist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande based in Geneva. After moving to the Boston area, John studied with Miroslav Vitous, the founding bass player of Weather Report, and later with Paul Del Nero, a much respected jazz bassist in the Boston/Rhode Island area. While in the master’s program in computer engineering at Brown University, John played in the Brown Orchestra under the direction of Wolfgang Balzer. In addition to being a computer engineer, John performs with numerous jazz groups and big bands in the Rhode Island area, as well as with the Bohemian Quartet.
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