Viola
Jason Bonham’s playing has been heard throughout the US and Europe. As a recitalist, Jason has been deemed “an extraordinary, first-class viola virtuoso” by the St. George Spectrum and his playing has been described as possessing a “full, rich sound, a solid technique with mature musicality” by eminent violin and viola pedagogue,Roland Vamos. Currently, Jason is the Principal Violist with Las Vegas Philharmonic and has been a performer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra. In education, Jason is the Director of Instrumental Music at Tuacahn High School for the Performing Arts as well as the founder and artistic director of music programs at the Tuacahn Summer Arts institute. He has been a board member of the American Viola Society, Kayenta Arts Foundation and the Chamber Music Society of Southern Utah. His articles (both music and non-music related) have been published and discussed in the Journal of the American Viola Society, Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, and many others. His viola teachers include Helen Callus, Roland Vamos, Albert Igolnikov, Charles Pikler, David Dalton and Claudine Bigelow. He currently is pursuing is Doctoral degree in Orchestra Conducting with Taras Krysa at UNLV. Currently Jason resides in the St. George, Utah area with his wife, artist Aimee Bonham and 3 children: Billy, Fiona and Kortney.
Tiantian Lan is the Principal Viola of Oakland Symphony, Berkeley Symphony and Assistant Principal Viola of Las Vegas Philharmonic, Boise Philharmonic and Reno Philharmonic.
Born in Beijing, China, Tiantian began studying violin at age four and viola at age nine. He received his B.M. degree from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing studying under Wing Ho and then earning his M.M. degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music learning under Jodi Levitz in 2009. He has performed with orchestras around the U.S. including Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony, Reno Chamber Orchestra, and at music festivals including Tanglewood Music Festival and Lancaster Music Festival in Ohio. During the most recent season of 2019-2020, Tiantian was offered a viola position with the Rochester Philharmonic following their national auditions and also started performing regularly with the Atlanta Symphony.
Tiantian lives in Reno, Nevada, with his wife, Hui, and his cat son, Snowbear.
Hope Bowden began her musical journey at the age of five, on the violin. She was the concertmaster of her school orchestras from sixth grade until her fourth year of college, when she switched to viola. As a teenager, Hope played with the Burbank-San Fernando Valley Youth Orchestras in California. During this time, she studied with Mrs. Bonita Coodley and then Mr. Joachim Chassman of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also studied in France for one year with Mademoiselle Robin of the Tours Conservatory of Music. Most of Hope’s summers were spent at music camps such as the Utah State Summer Music Festival, Snowbird Summer Music Festival, and the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan.
Full music scholarships paid Hope’s way to a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Utah. On the way, she performed violin solos as the concertmaster at Los Angeles Valley College in CA and then Southern Utah State College in Cedar City. She switched to viola while at the University of Utah and was the violist for the University Honors String Quartet and a member of the Mormon Youth Symphony. During this era, Hope studied with Mr. Varujan Kojian, then conductor of the Utah Symphony followed by Mr. Mikhail Boguslavsky of the Utah Symphony. She and her friends formed the Zephyr String Quartet and officially became professional musicians. Hope then performed with the Promised Valley Playhouse, Pioneer Memorial Theater, Triad Theater, City Rep Orchestra, Utah Chamber Orchestra, Ballet West, Boise Philharmonic Orchestra, and Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra.
Upon moving to Las Vegas in 1990, Hope began playing with the Nevada Symphony Orchestra, the Nevada Chamber Symphony, the Nevada Opera Theater Orchestra, weddings & conventions, and for shows & performers on the strip. She earned her Masters Degree from UNLV in Educational Psychology and has been a school counselor at Rancho High School since 2002, after teaching orchestra for a year at Bridger Middle School.
Hope is the proud mother of four daughters, three of whom played violin and one who played cello until high school. They studied with Shakeh Ghoukasiann, Robin Reinarz and Sharon Street-Caldwell of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, as well as with Shelley Burger. The youngest switched to flute in middle school and now plays in the University of Utah bands. Hope also has a grandson who loves to play…except his instrument of choice is the PlayStation or iPhone games. When Hope has time to relax, she loves to curl up with a good book, or go camping, or watch movies.
Omar was born and raised in Las Vegas, NV and began playing the viola through a middle school orchestra program at age 11. After graduating from the Las Vegas Academy of Performing and Visual Arts he attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to pursue his undergraduate studies with Jodi Levitz and then the University of Michigan for his masters degree with Yizhak Schotten. In 2014, he won a section position with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, but before permanently moving back to the Las Vegas area was offered to join a training orchestra program at Bard College, New York. As a founding member of The Orchestra Now, he performed in venues all over the New York City area including several times at Carnegie Hall, Bard College’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Omar returned to Las Vegas in 2018, and has been performing and teaching in the area ever since, working frequently with local arts institutions like the Young Artists Orchestra of Las Vegas, the Nevada School of the Arts and the Las Vegas Youth Orchestras program.
