Bass

Double bassist Rudy Albach joined the CSO in 2016 as Principal Bass. Prior to joining the CSO, Rudy spent two seasons with the Houston Ballet Orchestra as a co-principal. As a substitute musician, he has also performed with the National, Houston, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and San Antonio Symphonies. A two-time member of the Schleswig-Holsten Musik Festival, Rudy has performed internationally on stages in Germany, Denmark, and China. Rudy earned his Master’s Degree in music performance from Rice University and his Bachelor’s from the Peabody Institute. His primary teachers include Paul Ellison, Paul Johnson, and Linda McKnight. A native of New Jersey, Rudy was born into a very musical family with both of his parents being professional musicians in New York City.

In addition to performing in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (CSO), John Mark Pellegrino performs regularly in the Grand Teton Music Festival and serves as Principal Bass of the Peninsula Music Festival and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. Calls from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra have allowed him to play, tour, and record with those ensembles. Other orchestral appearances have included concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, New York Virtuosi, and Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York. Before moving to Ohio in 1989, John was a section member of the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Pellegrino earned degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School, and he has served on the faculties of Ohio Wesleyan University, Eastern Music Festival (NC), Warwick Music Festival (RI), Kinhaven Music School (VT), and Chamber Music Connection in Worthington, OH. Currently, he is on the faculty at Capital University in Bexley, OH. In 2008, John was the recipient of the Ohio Private/Studio Teacher of the Year award given by the Ohio String Teachers’ Association. His students have won competitions held by the International Society of Bassists, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Ohio String Teachers’ Association, Interlochen Arts Camp, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Since 2007, John has been the Artistic Director of www.musiconthehillri.org. Additional chamber music performance appearances have included concerts at the Roycroft, Sarasota, Aspen, Waterloo, and Grand Teton music festivals as well as at Ohio State University’s Contemporary Music Festival, Sunday at Central recital series in Columbus, and the OWU•//•NOW Festival of Contemporary Music in Delaware, OH. John was born and raised in Warwick, RI and owes much to his family of music educators/performers, private teachers, public school music program in Warwick, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra program under the direction of Nedo Pandolfi.

Double bassist Russell Gill earned his Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music and played for the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra immediately upon graduation. He has been a member of the Columbus Symphony since 1978, and he teaches private lessons in both bass and piano.

Russell is a marathon runner, having run in 43 consecutive Boston Marathons and more than 127 marathons in total. Since 1982, he has personally raised over $579,000 for the Arthritis Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, Leukemia/Lymphoma Society, and Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He also has struggled up over 1.09 million stairs for charity!

Double bassist Jena Huebner, the daughter of a music educator mother and a physics professor father, was born in Southern California but grew up in Jacksonville, FL. She did her undergraduate studies with the renowned pedagogue Lawrence Hurst at Indiana University, where she also pursued her interests in ballet and early music. Jena’s graduate degree was done at the Peabody Institute with Harold Robinson, Principal Bassist of The Philadelphia Orchestra. While in Baltimore, MD, she had the privilege of playing in the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Peabody Early Music Ensemble, National Repertory Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra, among others.

Jena served as Assistant Principal Bassist for the Knoxville Chamber and Symphony Orchestras in Tennessee for three years. After relocating to Louisville, KY, she performed regularly with the Louisville Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, and Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, while also making appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and in her hometown with the Jacksonville Symphony. In 2000, Jena became a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra double bass section. Here in Columbus, she also has had the opportunity to perform with ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the New Albany Symphony Orchestra and has been a featured soloist with the Otterbein University Symphony Orchestra.

When not engaged in musical pursuits, Jena enjoys vegetarian cooking, sewing, fitness, seeking beautiful natural settings, the wide variety of activities involved in parenting her two sons, and her pets. She also has developed a passion for home renovation, which has led her to pursue getting a real estate license.