Faculty

June Huang, Director (Violin)
June Huang is the Director of Strings and Associate Professor of Violin at George Mason University’s Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music. She holds a Master of Arts in Music from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she was a member of the Young Artist String Quartet. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory and also attended the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music as an undergraduate. Her training includes studies at the Meadowmount School of Music, Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, Round Top Festival Institute, and Kneisel Hall. In 2023, she completed a Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Dispute Resolution through the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

A former member of the Cascade String Quartet, Ms. Huang has performed with chamber ensembles at the Kennedy Center, Staunton Music Festival, Red Lodge Music Festival, Virginia Virtuosi, and the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia. As a baroque violin specialist, she has performed and recorded with ensembles including Opera Lafayette, Four Nations, Bach Sinfonia, Modern Musick, REBEL Baroque Orchestra, and the Vivaldi Project. Her leadership roles include serving as concertmaster of the Washington Bach Consort and the Washington National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra.

Chamber music remains at the heart of Ms. Huang’s artistic and academic work. Over the past thirty years, she has created and directed summer chamber music camps for the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C., and the Mason Community Arts Academy. She believes chamber music provides an unparalleled opportunity to foster human connection and empathy. This belief, combined with her exploration of citizenship and musicianship, inspired The Spheres Project—a collaborative ensemble that brings together faculty, students, and community members.

Robert Battey (Cello)
B.M., Cleveland Institute of Music; M.M., S.U.N.Y.- Stony Brook; also studied at Indiana University. Pupil of Bernard Greenhouse and Janos Starker. Cellist of professional quartets in Florida and Missouri; also played with the National Symphony, the Royal Ballet, and the New York City Opera Orchestra. Former faculty, S.U.N.Y.- Potsdam, University of Missouri-Kansas City, and the Levine School (Washington, DC). Hundreds of music reviews and articles in the Washington Post, STRINGS magazine, and at abeastinajungle.com. Blogger and clinician at CelloBello.com.

Nancy Baun (Cello)
Nancy Baun is the rare synthesis of concert cellist, committed educator and arts consultant. She has performed over 1,000 concerts throughout the U.S. including appearances at Carnegie’s Weil Hall, and France, Italy, Iceland, and Canada with the Grammy nominated Eaken Piano Trio. She also toured Switzerland with the Ravel Trio during the early 2000’s. She appears on nine recordings, including the Naxos International label’s “Home for the Holidays” a favorite of Public Radio audiences. Her personal highlights include fellowships to the Bach Aria Institute (Stoney Brook, NY) and the Aspen Music Festival. Locally, she has performed as soloist with the Harrisburg Symphony, Shippensburg Festival Orchestra, Gettysburg University Orchestra, West Shore Symphony, Loudon Symphony and at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.

Nancy has served on the faculties of Dickinson College, Messiah College and as guest faculty at SUNY Fredonia (NY). She has a particular passion for working with adult musicians and was a faculty member at the Chamber Music Conference, a summer workshop formerly held in Bennington, Vermont. She is a coach with ACMP, and presents 10 annual workshops for adult cellists in North Carolina, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington State, and New York. She tours with the Tapestry Cello Ensemble, and the Kalnas Ensemble, (kalnasensemble.com) group specializing in Lithuanian folk music combined with an American jazz twist. She is married to saxophonist and film maker Steve Rosenthal and lives in Amherst (NY) where they run a home-based Airbnb. 2025 is Nancy’s 10th year here!

Carl Iba (Violin)
Music is such an amazing thing to experience, whether we are listening to it or creating it. Part of what makes it so special for me is the collaborative nature, whether in a chamber group or in larger ensembles. Chamber music has always been my greatest love musically – the sharing of ideas, the give and take, being willing to make compromises, playing some simply gorgeous pieces!! It’s such a wonderful way to experience music with other people as we learn and grow together. Which is why we all love this workshop so much!

My love of music began as a small child. There was always a lot of music in our house. In fourth grade I started violin lessons in our public school program. Later, I graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree in Violin Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. I will be forever grateful to all of my teachers and coaches throughout my life.

For many years I was part of numerous string quartets and took part in many workshops and festivals as both a participant and coach. I hope that anyone who joins us in Gettysburg will find a great deal of enjoyment in the experience while at the same time gaining more insight and continued development of their skills.

Patrick LeStrange (Viola)
Dr. Patrick LeStrange, Adjunct Applied Faculty in Viola at the Dewberry School of Music at George Mason University, earned the Doctor of Music Interpretation and Master of Music from l’Université de Montréal, as well as a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. His primary teachers included Roberta Crawford, Victoria Chiang, Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot, as well as string pedagogy studies with Rebecca Henry.

An advocate of the viola and string pedagogy, he is in high demand as a masterclass and strings clinician. Dr. LeStrange serves as strings department chair at Levine Music, Washington DC, where he oversees a thriving music program consisting of private lessons and group offerings. Many of his viola students have gone on to study at prestigious conservatories and universities throughout the country. Dr. Patrick LeStrange was formerly a viola teaching artist at Ithaca College Summer Music Academy, the NY ASTA String Institute- Ithaca College, and guest professor of viola at Binghamton University. At George Mason University, he directed the Summer Viola Bootcamp and has served as a viola teaching artist for many summer programs, including Ovations, Strings Camp, and the Strings Intensive.

Dr. LeStrange is a member of the Georgetown Chamber Players Orchestra, and former violist with the Binghamton Philharmonic. He frequently appears in chamber music concerts throughout the Washington DC area and has performed throughout the United States and Canada. He resides in the Northern Virginia area.

Degrees:

• DMA, l’Université de Montréal

• MM, l’Université de Montréal

• BM, Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University

Julius Wirth Fuentes (Viola)
Violist Julius Wirth Fuentes enjoys an exciting and varied performance career. Presently Principal violist of both the National Philharmonic and the Harrisburg Symphony, he also served as principal violist of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra for nearly 20 years and was the first Principal Violist of the renowned New World Symphony Under Michael Tilson Thomas in its premier season. In the early 2000s he worked on Broadway in several shows including the revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. His chamber music experiences have taken him to Italy, Germany, Austria, China, and many places across the United States. He holds a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied viola with Francis Tursi, Marcus Thompson and Jeffery Irvine, and chamber music with the Cleveland Quartet and Abram Loft of the New Arts Quartet. He continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory where he earned a Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Karen Tuttle. As solo performer and advocate of new music, his accomplishments include giving the premier performances of Capriccio for solo Viola by Denis Atadan and Sonata for Viola and Piano by Romeo Melloni, the Maryland premier of Concierto para Viola y orquesta de cuerdas by Eduardo Alonso-Crespo and the American premier of the the Viola Concerto by Zdenek Lukas as well as multiple chamber works. He is also a member of the new music group “Third Millennium Ensemble”. In other genres he was a member of the Umoja String Quartet, specializing in early African American folk music, blues and swing, for over 15 years and for the past 3 years, a member of the Pop-a-Billy band, Dana and the 408. He is currently working on a recording project that includes two previously unknown and unrecorded sonatas for viola and piano. During the summer he enjoys a faculty position with the American Institute of Music Studies in Graz Austria and keeps a private teaching studio in Maryland throughout the year.