Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Appoints New String Players

Announced by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's (PSO) music director Manfred Honeck, the orchestra’s new members are bassist Nicholas Myers, and violinists Dylan Naroff and Yingchen Zhang. 

Myers will begin as PSO principal bass in August 2022. A native of Michigan, he has been a member of the bass section of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2018. Having attended several renowned festival academies, he studied at The Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory (NEC).

Naroff will also join PSO in August 2022 as a first violinist. Naroff is currently a member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and has performed previously with the Pittsburgh, Dallas, and San Diego symphonies, plus Deutsche Oper Berlin. The winner of several competitions, he studied at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Zhang will join PSO as a second violinist in September 2022. An NEC graduate and current doctoral student of musical arts at Boston University, she was previously the first violin in the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Her accolades include the grand prize of the Bach string competition at Boston University. 

The two Paul J. Ross Fellowship participants are cellist Denielle Wilson and trombonist Cooper Cromwell-Whitley. The fellowship is a paid two-year pre-professional program for musicians identifying as Black or African American looking to pursue a career in orchestral music. The program is named for the first Black musician to receive tenure in PSO in 1965, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The Paul J. Ross Fellows will work alongside PSO musicians to prepare for professional auditions and opportunities. The almost 15-year program was renamed in December 2021 with new funding secured for the program’s expansion. The new members will stay on for PSO’s 2022 to 2024 seasons.

Wilson is currently a section cellist for the 2021-2022 season with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and previously completed fellowships with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She studied at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University.

Cromwell-Whitley is studying a Bachelor of Music at the University of Michigan. A winner of the Peabody Wind Orchestra concerto competition in 2017, he has performed in summer orchestras, including the Brevard Music Center, Black Excellent Trombone Choir, NYO-USA Orchestra, and World Youth Symphony Orchestra.

“We are delighted to welcome the [new PSO members] who will bring their passion and excellence to the Heinz Hall stage for many years to come,” said Melia Tourangeau, PSO’s president and CEO in the press release. “As part of the orchestra’s expanded commitment to diversifying our industry, we are also thrilled to welcome [the new] Paul J. Ross Fellows. Their auditions demonstrated the promise of outstanding futures, and we look forward to working with them.”