Viola

Karl Pedersen joined the Columbus Symphony as Principal Viola at the start of the 2011-12 season. In the summer, Karl performs at the Chautauqua Institution in New York as a member of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. Previously, he was rotating Principal Violist of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL for three years and was Principal Viola of the Breckenridge Music Festival for two years. He has recorded and performed with the Kansas City Symphony and performed with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Cedar Rapids Symphony, and Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra. He has served as Concertmaster with the Oskaloosa and Ottumwa Symphony Orchestras.

Born in Kansas City, MO, Karl received his Bachelor of Music at the University of Iowa under Christine Rutledge. He completed his Master of Music at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as a student of Victoria Chiang and former Philadelphia Orchestra violist, Stephen Wyrczynski.

In 2016, Karl performed a Showcase Performance Recital at the American Viola Society Festival at Oberlin College. He has performed the Bartok Viola Concerto with the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the New Albany Symphony Orchestra. He previously enjoyed the role of Sancho Panza in a performance of Strauss’ Don Quixote with the Columbus Symphony.

An avid chamber musician, Karl is a former member of the Meridian String Quartet, which held residencies from 2008-2011 at the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO. Outside the United States, he has performed in France, Spain, and the Dominican Republic, and he has appeared on stage preceding speeches by Colin Powell and Oprah.

In 2005 and 2006, Karl was awarded the Peabody Career Development Grant. His chamber music performances can be heard on Performance Today on public radio. He is currently on faculty at Ohio Wesleyan University, and he has been a Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) Columbus Makes Art featured artist since 2015.

Originally from Detroit, violist Alice Risov began her musical education on the piano and violin, but fell in love with the beautiful sound of the viola during her high school years. In the past she has served as a section violist in the Flint Symphony Orchestra and as assistant and acting principal viola of the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra. She first joined the Columbus Symphony viola section in 2021 at the age of 22, and became Assistant Principal Viola in 2024.

Risov has been a part of multiple festivals and programs including the Montecito International Music Festival, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the National Orchestral Institute + Festival under the baton of renowned conductor Marin Alsop. She has also performed on multiple prestigious stages including Orchestra Hall in Detroit and Carnegie Hall.

Risov graduated in 2020 with both a Bachelor of Science degree in neuroscience and a Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance from the University of Michigan. Despite heavily considering going into research, she eventually decided to continue pursuing her musical talents as a career. She completed one year of her master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music before winning her position with the Columbus Symphony. Her primary teachers were Yitzhak Schotten and Lynne Ramsey.

Korea-born violist Ye Jin Goo moved to Canada in 2005, she participated in and won numerous awards in competitions, including the All-TV Music Competition, Kiwanis Music Festival, Burlington Rotary Music Festival, and many more. Recently, she performed the Stamitz Viola concerto with the AD Hoc Orchestra at Bloomington. She has also participated in prestigious summer festivals, including Orfrord, Tanglewood, the New York String Quartet Seminar and many others. Throughout her career, she was invited to participate in masterclasses with Roberto Diaz, Kim Kashkashian, Misha Amory, Atar Arad, James Dunham, and many others. After earning a Bachelor of Music degree at the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Carol Rodland, and a Master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music, under the tutelage of Edward Gazouleas. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Music Degree at the University of Cincinnati under the tutelage of Jan Gruning from Ariel Quartet. She has performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Milwaukee Symphony. and the Columbus Symphony. Aside from her studies, she is also an advocate teacher, she teaches numerous students from Milwaukee, Chicago, and Cincinnati area.

Spencer Ingersoll graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he received his master’s degree under the guidance of Robert Vernon. Mr. Ingersoll was also part of the Intensive String Quartet Seminar at CIM. His quartet, the Onyx String Quartet, won the senior division of the WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition at Davidson College in North Carolina.

Mr. Ingersoll has a diverse course as a performer. Orchestrally, he was a member of the New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas from 2018-2021. He is also a substitute for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he performed with his alma mater, the Las Vegas Academy Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of their twenty fifth anniversary celebration in the Smith Center. He also has performed alongside renowned artists such as Thomas Robertello, James Buswell, Kathleen Winkler, Alan Stepansky, Alon Goldstein, Tomas Varga, and members of the Cleveland and Guarneri string quartets.

In the summer, Mr. Ingersoll has attended the Heifetz International Music Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, Kneisel Hall, and was a three-time viola fellow at the Music Academy of the West. He also has participated in the String Quartet Seminar while at the Music Academy of the West under the tutelage of the Takács Quartet.

Violist and native of Japan Kenichiro Matsuda came to the United States after three-and-a-half years with the New Japan Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa. He attended Kunitachi Music College in Tokyo and Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois, where he received his B.M. and M.M. in viola performance.

Ken was a member of the Grant Park Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic (Acting Assistant Principal Violist) before joining the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in 1987. He has also played with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a regular substitute violist and has participated in touring and recording.

Besides teaching privately, he has taught viola at universities and colleges in Michigan and Ohio. Most recently, Ken taught at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) as an adjunct viola professor (2020 – 2022). He is currently an adjunct instructor at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio. Ken was on faculty at the Csehy Summer School of Music (Langhorn, Pennsylvania) and MasterWorks Festival (Spartanburg, South Carolina).

He is the violist of the Cygnus Quartet and enjoys playing chamber music with his colleagues. He toured Japan (1988) with the Columbus String Quartet as well as Estonia (1999) with the Sonus Artis Quartet. As part of a Christian mission trip, he has been visiting Karuizawa, Japan, regularly with a string ensemble since 2005. In 2018, Ken was invited to play with the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra under Junichi Hirokami to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Hiroshima, Japan.

He was formerly a part of the Nissen Duo (Viola and Piano) along with his late wife, Tanya.

For the past 30 years, he has been the conductor of “Hanamizuki no Kai,” the Japanese Women’s Chorus in Columbus, Ohio.

His teachers include Nobuko Imai, Jerry Horner, Bernard Zaslav, and Shumel Ashkenazi of the Vermeer Quartet.

Ken plays a viola made in 2020 by Tetsuo Matsuda (no relation) of Barrington, Illinois.

Jessica Pasternak Ingersoll joined the Columbus Symphony in 2023. She was previously a fellow of the New World Symphony. During her time there, she toured to Carnegie Hall and participated in a teaching exchange program in Medellin, Colombia. Jessica has performed regularly with the Cleveland Orchestra, joining them on multiple tours and recordings. She has also performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony. In 2022, Jessica won the 2nd prize at the American Viola Society Excerpt Competition.

As a chamber musician, Jessica has been praised by the South Florida Classical Review for her “dark-hued resonance” and “rich viola.” She has performed with renowned artists including Atar Arad, Martin Chalifour, Timothy Eddy, Ralph Kirshbaum, Tamás Varga, Robert Vernon, and Tabae Zimmerman at the Sarasota Music Festival, Heifetz Institute, and New World Symphony. In 2012 she was featured as a soloist with the Akron Symphony for their program “World Class Starts at Home” where she performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.

Jessica earned her Bachelor’s and Professional Studies degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music with Robert Vernon. She previously studied with Lembi Veskimets in the Young Artist Program at CIM.

Jessica lives in Pickerington with her husband and fellow Columbus Symphony violist Spencer Ingersoll and their French Bulldog, Walter. She is a member of the Cap City Quartet that performs frequently in Columbus.

Ann Schnapp has been a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra since 1975, making the current season her 52nd. A native of Dayton, Ann received a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance and a Master of Arts in string pedagogy with emphasis in performance from The Ohio State University, studying with Robert Culver, Kari Gunderson, Martin Kelly and Edward Adelson. She also currently plays with the Worthington Chamber Orchestra, the Westerville Symphony and the Springfield (Ohio) Symphony. She has also performed in the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. Ann plays each summer in the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra in Lakeside, Ohio. She has compiled the 63-year history of this orchestra in conjunction with the Lakeside Heritage Society.

She has been teaching violin and viola throughout Central Ohio for more than 45 years, coaching students in area schools, and judging at regional music competitions. She began her music studies on piano at the age of three, so she likes to accompany her own students for performances. In addition, she is a faculty member at Chamber Music Connection. In 2006, she toured with Chamber Music Connection in Europe.

Ann worships and is active at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in the music program and prayer ministry. She enjoys taking ballet classes at local dance studios, which she started doing eight years ago. Ann and her husband live in Westerville, Ohio.