Program and Artist Biography

Since the enthusiastic public reception to its first concert in 1995, the National Gallery of Art Wind Quintet has become a regular feature of the gallery’s popular Sunday evening concerts. Founded by former National Gallery of Art Music Director George Manos, the ensemble explores and presents masterpieces of chamber music which are rarely heard, as well as the standard classics for wind quintet. In 2007 the quintet was a featured resident ensemble at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Vietri sul Mare, Italy.

Sara Nichols, currently appearing with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, was the principal flute of the Baltimore Opera for 21 seasons and acting assistant principal flute of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for two seasons. In addition to frequent appearances with the National Gallery of Art Orchestra, she performs at Wolf Trap, most recently in the premiere of John Musto’s opera Volpone. In 2010 she was a member of the chamber orchestra for the world premiere performance at the gallery of Gisle Kverndokk’s opera Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks. A member of the music faculty of the Baltimore School of the Arts, Nichols performs with Quintigre, the wind quintet at Towson University, and Pro Musica Rara, with which she performed at the National Gallery in 2009.

Ronald Sipes studied with Marc Lifschey and received bachelor and master of music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has played principal oboe in the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castille y León (Valladolid, Spain), the New World Symphony, and the Orquesta del Estado de Mexico. Since moving to northern Virginia in 1994, Sipes has played with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the National Gallery Orchestra, the Washington Opera, and the Theater Chamber Players.

Christopher Hite was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in a musical family. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Capital University, where he studied with his father, clarinetist David L. Hite. He continued his clarinet studies with Robert Marcellus, Earl Bates, Anthony Gigliottim, and Loren Kitt, receiving a master of music degree from the Catholic University of America. As a member of the United States Air Force Band from 1974 to 1997, he was a featured soloist in more than 50 performances worldwide. Hite has performed regularly with many Washington area orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the National Gallery of Art Orchestra. He serves as music director of the Dominion Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble that he and his wife, flutist Angela Uperti-Hite, founded in 1999. He has been the music director of the Manassas Ballet Theatre since 1997.

Eric Dircksen studied saxophone and bassoon at Indiana University in Bloomington and at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He played utility bassoon and saxophone with the Jerusalem Symphony.  He has participated in summer festivals in Aspen, Los Angeles, Dallas, Spoleto, Jerusalem, Graz (Austria), and the Amalfi coast. In the Washington area he enjoys an active freelance career playing principal bassoon with the Washington Concert Opera, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, and the Washington Ballet, and extra bassoon/contrabassoon with the Washington Opera, the Alexandria Symphony, and the Baltimore Opera, among others. He is a member of Eastwind Consort, a woodwind chamber group that plays throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

Theodore Peters, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, studied horn with Mason Jones and chamber music with John deLancie. He continued his studies as a member of the New World Symphony, under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. He has served as principal French horn player of the Baltimore Opera Company, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and L’Orchestra Communale di Firenze. Peters is currently performing with many ensembles in the Washington, D.C., area, including the National Gallery of Art Orchestra, the National Theatre Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, the Post-Classical Ensemble, and the Wolf Trap Opera Company.