Valerie Sly
Horn (2021-2025)
Valerie Sly currently serves as Principal Horn of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. She previously held positions as Principal Horn with the West Virginia Symphony, and as acting Third Horn with the Des Moines Metro Opera. She has performed as Guest Principal Horn with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco, Detroit, and Atlanta Symphonies, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand. In the summer of 2024, she joined the Dallas Symphony on their European tour.
In addition to performing, Valerie serves on the faculties of Samford University and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. In summer 2025 she joined the faculty of Boston University Tanglewood Institute as Co-director of the Horn Intensive. She has also written the program notes for the Alabama Symphony’s Masterworks and Carver series since 2024.
Valerie holds a Doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder where she studied with Michael Thornton. She received a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, under William Purvis, and a Bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Roland Pandolfi.
As a soloist, she has performed Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with the Alabama Symphony, as well as Mozart’s Horn Concertos No. 2 and No. 4 at the Vermont Mozart Festival. Her summer festival experience includes fellowships at Spoleto Festival USA, Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland), Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. In September 2021, she returned to Lucerne as a member of the festival’s alumni ensemble.
Nathan Watts
Cello
Originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Nathan Watts currently lives in Frankfurt am Main. As a cellist, he is always searching for ways to keep contemporary music and improvisation current and accessible through diverse programming and collaboration. In February 2024, he joined the Mivos String Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to close collaboration with composers and commissioning, premiering, and growing the repertoire of new music. Nathan is also an active member of the Broken Frames Syndicate (BFS) based in Frankfurt am Main. Winners of the 2024 Siemens Ensemble Prize, BFS questions the norm through thematic programming and exploring alternative concert formats. The ensemble recently made its USA debut with a residency at Harvard University and concerts in NYC with Jalalu Kalvert Nelson at Roulette Intermedium and the Zurcher Gallery. A member of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Leaders, Nathan is a co-curator for the Forward Festival, performs in the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and coaches at the Lucerne Festival Academy. Most recent solo projects include recording the solo cello preludes of Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, and a self-produced improvisation album inspired by meditations from the bedroom window called “The Invention of Listening”. Deep Listening is a practice that shapes the way he exists as a musician, and creates musical situations that meet the time and place they exist in. Nathan holds a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Stephen Geber, a Master of Music at Rice University with Desmond Hoebig, and a Masters from the International Ensemble Modern Academy at the HfMDK Frankfurt.
Greta Feeney
Soprano (2024)
Greta Feeney is an American opera singer and recitalist celebrated for her vibrant vocal timbre, impeccable musicianship, and dynamic stage presence. Her international concert debut came at age 21 with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (Haydn’s The Creation), and she made her professional operatic debut at 24 with the San Francisco Opera (Jano in Jenůfa). During her time with The Juilliard Opera Center, Ms. Feeney took on leading roles such as Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites, earning praise from The New York Times for her "artless sweetness of tone" and "top notes like a golden bell."
As a young professional, Ms. Feeney trained with the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and was awarded the Adler Fellowship, performing in over 20 productions with the company. Her standout roles included Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Marzelline in Fidelio, Despina in Così fan tutte, Amanda in Le Grand Macabre, and Marguerite in the world premiere of Louis Spratlan’s Earthrise. On tour, she shone as Adele in Die Fledermaus with Western Opera Theatre. Additional credits include performances at the Spoleto Festival USA (Diana in Iphigénie en Tauride and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte) and six productions with the Ohio Light Opera, where she recorded Wiener Blut and Der Tapfere Soldat for Newport Classics.
A specialist in baroque repertoire, Ms. Feeney has performed in renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Herbst Theatre. Collaborating with ensembles like St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the Mannes Camerata, her roles have included Agrippina in Handel’s Agrippina and Eliogabalo in Cavalli’s Eliogabalo. She is a current soloist with Boston Baroque and The Rossini Club, Nantucket’s premier chamber music festival, and serves as an advisor to the Cambridge Chamber Ensemble and the Nantucket Arts Council.
In addition to her artistic achievements, Ms. Feeney is a passionate advocate for charitable causes. She has performed at events for The Edward M. Kennedy Institute, The Newport Opera House, and The Sarasota Film Festival, and regularly headlines with The Boston Pops at Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s annual fundraising gala. During the pandemic, she joined Joshua Bell and Jimmy Buffett in the Musicians for Mount Sinai virtual fundraiser and more recently collaborated with Ukrainian tenor Alexei Kuznietsov for Nantucket Cares, supporting war relief efforts in Ukraine. As Director of Music Ministries at St. Mary Our Lady of the Isle, she has prepared and performed music for mass attended by the sitting President of the United States for three consecutive years.
Ivy Ringel
Bassoon
Ivy Ringel is the the Principal Bassoon of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to joining the Indianapolis Symphony and IU, she served as Principal Bassoon of the Atlanta Opera Orchestra and the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra. Ms. Ringel has held previous academic appointments at Butler University and Morehouse College. She holds degrees from Rice University (M.M) and the Eastman School of Music (B.M.).
Ms. Ringel is a sought-after bassoonist and teacher. She has served as guest Principal Bassoon with the Atlanta Symphony, and has joined the orchestras of Houston, Buffalo, Rochester, Louisiana, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, and Syracuse. Ms. Ringel has taught masterclasses at the International Double Reed Society, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium and Columbus State University. Ivy is a prize winner of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition. She has spent summers with the Grand Teton Music Festival, Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival, Nantucket Rossini Club, National Repertory Orchestra, Round Top Music Festival and Chautauqua Music Festival.
Ivy is passionate about chamber music and commissioning new works. Ms. Ringel has collaborated with the Indianapolis-based Ronen Chamber Ensemble and Rock E Bassoon, and New York-based Slee Sinfonetta and Ensemble Signal. Ms. Ringel has commissioned works by Derek David, Nick Davies, Sarah Gibson and Theo Chandler. Originally from Hillsborough, North Carolina, Ivy grew up in a musical family, starting the violin before switching to the bassoon. With her family, she is a founding member of threeplustwo, an unlikely cross-genre band that blends classical, jazz and folk to create a lively and intimate sound. When she is not playing the bassoon or making reeds, Ivy enjoys traveling, live music, and hiking.
