Phyllis Saunders
Violin
Phyllis Mazza Saunders has been a member of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra since 1985, the longest continuous engagement in her career as a professional violinist. After completing the Master of Music degree at Boston University, where she was a student of the late Joseph Silverstein, Ms. Saunders joined the San Diego Symphony. Her diverse career includes years spent in Nashville, Tennessee as Principal Second violin of the Nashville Symphony and as a session musician in the recording studios. Ms. Saunders has also been a member of the Albany (NY) Symphony, the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra, the Cleveland Opera orchestra and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. Currently Ms. Saunders lives in Boise, Idaho, where she is a member of the Boise Philharmonic, the Boise Baroque Orchestra, and the Opera Idaho orchestra. In Boise, Ms. Saunders found increased enrichment and creativity in her musical life by becoming a high school orchestra director, bringing the love of making music to young people, learning conducting skills, and building a program that boasted award winning ensembles. Through all these moves, the New Hampshire Music Festival has remained a constant in her life. In 1987 Ms. Saunders met David Saunders, who was then the Principal Horn of the NHMF, and their ensuing partnership ensured a shared and continuing commitment to the festival.