Simone Bodoky-van der Velde is Principal Piccolo of the Staatskapelle Berlin, a position that she has held since 2007. With the orchestra she has performed with Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Christian Thielemann, Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons and Gustavo Dudamel. 

She has also performed as a member of the orchestra of the Bayreuther Festspiele and has played as a guest with the Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden and the Deutsche Symphonie Orchester.

Simone started playing the flute at the age of 7. She studied first at the Maastricht Conservatory with Peter Rijkx and later in Frankfurt am Main with Thaddeus Watson and Sebastian Wittiber. 

Simone is a passionate chamber music player and has performed together with Daniel Barenboim, Soloists of the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Pierre Boulez Ensemble. Between 2012 and 2015 she taught at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and is a coach of the Orchestra Academie of the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Pamela Stahel grew up in a musical family in the USA. Beginning with violin lessons at the age of five, she later discovered the flute and went on the earn a BM in music performance with Bernard Z.Goldberg. Studies with William Hebert and Masterclasses with Marcel Moyse and Julius Baker furthered her education. Her first orchestral experience included engagements with various American orchestras such as the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Canton & Akron Symphonies & the Fort Wayne Philharmonic. After relocating in Switzerland, Ms. Stahel intensified her studies with André Jaunet while becoming an active freelancer. Invitations to guest with ensembles such as the Tonhalle Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra followed. 

Her engagement with the Philharmonia Zurich; Zurich Opera Orchestra, began in 1991. She has the pleasure to have worked with conductors such as Gianandrea Noseda, Fabio Luisi, Zubin Mehta & Franz-Welser Möst, among others. 

A passionate chamber musician, she performs regularly with several ensembles in projects involving premieres of contemporary and crossover works. 

Devoted to furthering young musicians; she previously taught at the Lucerne Conservatory and presently conducts a piccolo and chamber music class at the Zurich University of the Arts.

She has been invited to perform at the NFA Flute Convention, USA as well as at various festivals such as the Rheinau Summer Academy in Switzerland, Porto Flute Festival & the International Piccolo Festival in Grado, Italy. 

Ms. Stahel is a Burkart Artist, performing on a Limited Edition XXV, Deluxe Model Lillian Burkart Piccolo, as well as a Haynes Artist performing on a 10K Gold Custom Flute with Silver Engraved Keys & an Amadeus Piccolo.

Hailed for her “verve and pizazz” and the “gleaming purity” of her artistry by the Miami Herald, Ebonee Thomas is Second Flute and Piccolo of The Dallas Opera. She has previously served as Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony and the Florida Grand Opera, and spent one year as Second Flute of the Houston Symphony. In addition she has performed as Guest Principal Flute with the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and the Fort Worth Symphony. 

Ebonee has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Dallas Symphony. Ebonee completed a four-year fellowship with the prestigious New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson-Thomas. In addition to performing at Carnegie Hall, she was a featured soloist under Tilson-Thomas, performing Joan Tower’s Flute Concerto and the North American premiere of Christian Lindberg’s flute concerto, The World of Montuagretta.

Along with performing orchestral repertoire, Ebonee is an avid chamber musician, applauded as a “standout” by Theater Jones in her latest performance for the Fine Arts Chamber Players. She performs regularly with the Austin Chamber Music Society and Voices of Change, a new music ensemble in Dallas, TX. She was a finalist for the Austin Arts Awards for her performance of Valerie Coleman’s Danza de la Mariposa, for solo flute. Ebonee has been a member of the Firebird Ensemble with Seraphic Fire and can be heard on several of their released recordings including The Brandenburg Project. Ebonee had the rare opportunity to perform John Adams’ Chamber Symphony in Carnegie Hall under the composer’s baton. She also served as Principal Flute of the Star Wars in Concert! Orchestra during their U.S., Canada, and Mexico tour and was Principal Flute of the American Repertory Theater’s revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.

As a passionate pedagogue, Ebonee is the Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory.  Along with all of her musical endeavors, Ebonee serves as a member of the board of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestras and is on the National Advisory Board of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program.

Ebonee received her Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance degree from Southern Methodist University and received her Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers Jean Larson Garver, Claire Johnson, Helen Blackburn, and Fenwick Smith. Ebonee plays on a Burkart 998 with a platinum Mancke headjoint and a Burkart Elite Piccolo.

 

Marina Wiedmer completed her career as Solo-Piccolo of the Sinfonieorchester Basel
Switzerland in 2020.
She has taught at the Hochschule für Musik, Musik-Akademie Basel, for over 40 years,
successfully supporting generations of young musicians in mastering the piccolo and in their
quest to win auditions for orchestral jobs and festivals.