Junior Music Program

Catherine Peterson

JAS Faculty, JMP Faculty

Catherine Peterson is second/assistant principal flutist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. A regular substitute flutist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2010, she has performed Afternoon of a Faun at Myerhoff Symphony Hall under the direction of Louis Langree, and toured Carnegie Hall with the BSO under the direction of Marin Alsop. She has also performed with the Detroit Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony. An active chamber musician and educator, she performs with the nationally recognized Ivy Street Ensemble throughout Colorado on various concert series and most importantly, at schools across the Front Range, bringing music to the next generation.

Her previous musical engagements include Principal Flutist with the Central City Opera, Principal Flutist with Emerald City Opera, and co-Principal flutist of the Strings Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Cathy is a regular performer at the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival in Corvallis, Oregon, and Front Range Chamber Players in Fort Collins, Colorado.

If you tune in to Colorado Public Radio, you will often hear Cathy broadcast with solo recordings as well as performances with the Ivy Street Ensemble.

She has a private studio of fantastic flute students of all ability levels, and is the flute coach for the Denver School of the Arts.  She received a Master of Music from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  Her teachers include Jeff Zook, Leone Buyse, Tim Day, and Walfrid Kujala.

You can learn more about Catherine at milehighflutist.com.

David Rife

JAS & JMP Faculty

David Rife received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Violin Performance from the Eastman School of
Music and a Master of Music Degree in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory of
Music. David moved to Tucson in 1983 to join the Tucson Symphony Orchestra where he has held the
positions of Associate Concertmaster, Assistant Concertmaster, Principal Second Violin, and Assistant
Principal Second Violin. David is a dedicated violin teacher, and first violinist of the Southwest String
Quartet. He was the first violinist of the TSO String Quartet for over 30 years. In 2005 he was the
recipient of the Outstanding Private String Teacher Award in Arizona by the American String Teachers
Association. His students have won local and statewide competitions, soloed with local orchestras and
many have attended music schools and conservatories throughout the country. David was inducted into
the Tucson Musicians Museum in 2012.

Wynne Wong-Rife

JAS & JMP Faculty

Wynne Wong-Rife has a multi-faceted career as a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, The TSO String Quartet and the Southwest String Quartet. In addition, she teaches a large class of violin students, several of whom have placed in competitions and soloed with local orchestras. After studying with John Ferrell at The University of Arizona for one year, she transferred to the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet, and was awarded a B.M. with Distinction in Violin Performance. At Eastman she met and became engaged to David Rife, and in 1981, both decided to attend New England Conservatory of Music. Wynne graduated from the New England Conservatory in 1983 with a M.M. in Violin Performance, and then returned to Tucson with David to marry and start a family. Wynne and David have two daughters, Melissa and Molly (both ‘cellists) and four cats. In addition to teaching and performing, Wynne also enjoys photography, knitting and Starbucks (not necessarily in that order).

Mary Beth Tyndall

Junior Program Director

Mary Beth Tyndall is a cellist in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and performs in the symphony’s string quartet. She is also on the Arizona Commission on the Arts roster as a member of the Southwest String Quartet. As a chamber musician she has performed a wide variety of string quartet works from the classical to contemporary periods. She is also actively involved in educational programming and performances for young people. She is known for her portrayals of the more outrageous characters in the children’s books of Susan Lowell (such as Josefina Javelina), which the quartet dramatizes annually as soloists in the Tucson Symphony Kinderkoncerts series. The chamber music festival created by the Southwest String Quartet is a two week workshop in Tucson for middle and high school students. Mary Beth is one of the original founders of this festival and is the primary cello coach and orchestra conductor. She has also taught at the Chamber Music in the Mountains camp on Mt. Lemmon, Arizona, the Northern Arizona University Summer Music Camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, the Tucson Cello Congress, the Valley of the Sun Suzuki Workshop in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra Summer Festival in Alaska. She is frequently a sectional coach for Tucson adult amateur orchestras and youth orchestras. In 2016, she was named Outstanding Studio Teacher by the American String Teachers Association.

Mary Beth has a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and Music Education from Ball State University and a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Arizona. She has studied with Joseph Saunders, Gordon Epperson, Claus Adam, Martha Gerschefski and Hans Jorgen Jensen. She maintains a large studio of cello students of all ages and levels! Many of her students have performed as soloists with local orchestras and are continuing their studies in music conservatories around the country.  As a performer and teacher her philosophy is one of joy, self-expression and personal growth through music.

Maggie Polk Olivo

Junior Program Composition and Music Theory

Maggie Polk-Olivo wears multiple hats as a musical collaborator, composer, educator and performer. Passionate about music education and new music, she is the creator and director of the BloomingSongs project- a music collection of works by renowned artists from all over the world. She teaches and co-directs the Fairview Artful Learning Violin Project alongside Brenda Brenner while coordinating the school’s performing arts program. Awarded the IU Freshman Composition Competition, she studied music composition with P.Q.Phan, Sven-David Sandstrom, Don Freund, Claude Baker, and Marilyn Shrude at IU Jacobs School of Music. Recognized by the Music Educators National Conference and a National Young Composer Award semi-finalist in her youth, Olivo has since had music performed and commissioned by the Southwest String Quartet, Vera String Quartet, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Kim Carballo, Alejandra Martinez, and Sara Fraker.

In addition to composing, Olivo directs the IU JSOM’s Musical Beginnings and co-directs the Musical Arts Youth Organization’s Bridges, teaching music composition and chamber music. She is certified in the methodologies of John Feierabend, Musikgärten, Orff-Keetman Schulwerk, and Kodály Methodology. Maggie presents teacher-training workshops throughout the year and has been the recipient of Smithville, Puffin, and BUEA Foundation grants. She lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband and two children. In addition to creating music with and for others, she loves gardening and putting on shows with her kids.