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Concert master Steven Moeckel, left, acting principal flute Alexander "Sasha" Lipay, and acting principal horn Johanna Lundy.
greg bryan / Arizona Daily Star
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Johanna Lundy, principal horn
Age: 24
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Education: Undergrad, Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, Ohio; master's, New England Conservatory in Boston.
Family: Boyfriend is a conductor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. Younger sister is studying Japanese in college.
Interest in music stems from: "I started piano a long time ago, and I started playing the horn in the band in middle school (age 12), and that's when I started getting interested in classical music."
First professional job: This is it. While studying in Boston, she freelanced throughout New England with orchestras, including the New Hampshire Symphony Orchestra.
Musical aspirations: "I just really hope to play in a great orchestra and be involved in chamber music. Being in Tucson, that pretty much covers that; doing exactly what I'm doing this year."
What I like most about my job: "I really enjoy reaching out to an audience. What we have the chance to do is really special, to bring joy, bring emotion to audience members. I think that's pretty unique. I think it's an honor to get to do this for a living."
My favorite musician, dead and alive? "Wow, that's a really tough question. My most recent teachers, John Zirbel of Montreal, Jamie Sommerville of Boston Symphony, have been really important influences in my life. Dead, Richard Strauss."
Something about me musically that would surprise a TSO fan: "I like popular music, everything from country to bad popular music. I like Christina Aguilera."
If you found me in the rehearsal hall alone, I would likely be playing: "I would probably be playing Mahler Five to get ready for the season."
Right now on my iPod (or in my CD player or on my MP3 player), I'm listening to: "It's a pop mix. It's got some '80s stuff, Maroon Five."
Steven Moeckel, concertmaster
Age: 28
Hometown: Born in Germany, grew up in Florida.
Education: Salzburg Mozarteum Conservatory in Austria; Indiana University with Miriam Fried.
Family: Dad is a retired principal violist, Mom is a retired principal violinist/concertmaster; 27-year-old sister is principal violist in Essen, Germany.
Interest in music stems from: "My parents. I would be listening to them playing chamber music. I started when I was 4."
First professional job: Associate concertmaster in Ulm, Germany. He took the job in Tucson four years ago.
Musical aspirations: "Most of the time I don't know what I want until I see it. I want to perform as much as possible, and that is basically it. I want to see myself perform as a soloist with orchestras around the world."
What I like most about my job: "There's a freedom. I get to do a lot of great stuff with the orchestra. When I perform, I get a choice of what I perform. Plus, it's a great community. I love walking out there on stage and playing for the people. I love being concertmaster and I love making music."
My favorite musician, dead and alive? "Dead would be Jacqueline Dupree, the cellist. Marvelous, marvelous cellist. Alive, that's a tough one. I think when it comes down to it, it would be Itzhak Perlman. The legacy he's left behind is fantastic. One of the most inspiring violinists of all time."
Something about me musically that would surprise a TSO fan: "I'd be interested in playing bluegrass. I like country music, so I think that would be something that I would have fun doing."
If you found me in the rehearsal hall alone, I would likely be playing: "Elgar's Violin Concerto. It's the greatest violin concerto ever — in my opinion, of course. It's fun to play in a big room."
Right now on my iPod (or in my CD player or on my MP3 player), I'm listening to: "Beethoven's Triple Concerto."
Alexander "Sasha" Lipay, principal flute
Age: 24
Hometown: Grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia; when he was 12, the family moved first to New Jersey, then to Seattle.
Education: Undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Now working on his master's at the University of Southern California. Hopes to finish by next fall.
Family: Parents and younger brother still live in Seattle.
Interest in music stems from: "My parents are both pianists, and my mom was a piano teacher for a long time, so it was a natural thing. I started playing piano when I was 5. When I was 10, 11, I started playing flute. Basically, music was always in the family."
First professional job: "This is it. I'm very excited."
Musical aspirations: "I like playing in the orchestra, and hopefully I will be playing in it for a long time. Right now, I'm just real happy that I got this job and I can't wait."
What I will like most about my job: "I think I will like playing the good music. I looked at the program this year and there's lots and lots of really great pieces. I think I'm really going to enjoy it."
My favorite musician, dead and alive? "Alive, I would say James Galway. He's the greatest flutist right now. Dead, I like (Vladimir) Horowitz. I listened to him when he played piano and I saw him on TV many times. He was unique, a great pianist."
Something about me musically that would surprise a TSO fan: "I don't know how to answer this question."
If you found me in the rehearsal hall alone, I would likely be playing: "Bach Partita (in A minor). I like this piece."
Right now on my iPod (or in my CD player or on my MP3 player), I'm listening to: "Beethoven's First Symphony."
Viviana Cumplido, principal flute (on leave for the season)
Age: 26
Hometown: Miami, Fla.
Education: Undergrad at New England Conservatory in Boston, master's at USC.
Family: Younger sister and mom live in Miami.
Interest in music stems from: "I suppose that would be from my grandmother, who introduced me to music when I was really young. I was probably 3 years old and she sat me down and we listened to opera. And I really liked it."
First professional job: "Tucson Symphony. I started in 2003."
Musical aspirations: "I just want to be able to keep performing. I definitely love orchestra, but I want to do more solo, especially in chamber music."
What I like most about my job: "I love performing, so ultimately I love being on the stage and having this great group together around me."
My favorite musician, dead and alive? "For dead, Ella Fitzgerald because she was a great singer, and you can actually learn a lot about performing by listening to her singing. For living, I love Madonna. She's alive and still going strong, and her career is one to be admired, no matter what music you play."
Something about me musically that would surprise a TSO fan: "I really like hip-hop. I can safely say I will definitely be listening to that when I'm working out. Lately my favorite new song is that Justin Timberlake song . . . 'SexyBack.'"
If you found me in the rehearsal hall alone, I would likely be playing: "Probably the (Astor) Piazzolla 'Etudes tanguistiques.'"
Right now on my iPod (or in my CD player or on my MP3 player), I'm listening to: "Pink Martini."

Accent

Young and principal

TSO's whippersnappers
By Cathalena E. Burch
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.22.2006
The Tucson Symphony Orchestra gains two principals, loses two and adds to its youthful ranks as it opens its 78th season Thursday.
The two newcomers — horn player Johanna Lundy, who replaces longtime principal horn Jacquelyn Sellers; and flutist Alexander "Sasha" Lipay, who is keeping the seat warm for principal flutist Viviana Cumplido — are both 24 years old, making them not only among the youngest members of the orchestra but the youngest principals.
They join a principals roster that includes 28-year-old concertmaster Steven Moeckel, who was 24 when he assumed his seat in 2002; and 26-year-old Cumplido, who puts her three-year TSO career on hold this year while she joins the Phoenix Symphony as its principal flutist.
The quartet is among about a dozen TSO players under 30 years old, and they account for four of the orchestra's 17 principals.
"An orchestra like ours is perfect for someone who is just getting his first or second job. That's really our bread and butter," said Conductor and Music Director George Hanson.
"Very often these people will find a great deal of artistic and personal satisfaction here and stay for a while. Others will find opportunities just too good to resist because if they're as talented as we obviously think they are, then it's not very long before they go on to the next step."
Like Cumplido, who is on leave this season while she sits principal chair in the Phoenix Symphony. Cumplido will return to the TSO Jan. 27-28 to perform Jacques Ibert's Flute Concerto in her concerto debut.
It's up in the air if Cumplido, the lone American standing in the second round of last spring's prestigious Carl Nielsen International Flute Competition, will return. In the interim, the TSO has named Russian native Lipay to keep her seat warm.
This is Lipay's first professional job. He will commute part of the season between Tucson and Los Angeles, where he is in the midst of earning his master's degree from the University of Southern California.
Lundy comes to Tucson from New England, where she freelanced for a number of orchestras while earning her master's degree from the New England Conservatory. She has spent the past five summers at the Aspen Music Festival, where she was a "New Horizons" fellowship recipient. In 2005, she performed Reinhold Glière's Horn Concerto with the Aspen Sinfonia, as winner of the 2005 Brass Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.
Hanson said the orchestra is taking baby steps at capitalizing on its youthfulness, targeting younger audiences with posters hung in Downtown nightclubs and other venues.
● Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@azstarnet.com or 573-4642.● The TSO kicks off its 78th season next Thursday. For related story, see Page E5.
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