Strings Masterclass

Cellist Bridget Pasker began her musical studies at the age of 4. Originally from Dubuque, IA, she studied at the Preucil School of Music before earning her Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School. She then moved to San Francisco where she earned a Master’s degree in Chamber Music and Professional Studies diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers have included Amos Yang, Jennifer Culp, Darrett Adkins, Bonnie Hampton, Hans Jensen, Charles Wendy, and David Evenchick. She is currently the Associate Principal cellist of the Phoenix Symphony.

While at SFCM, Bridget found a passion for chamber music. She was a member of the Thalea Quartet, who served as the graduate resident string quartet. As a part of the quartet, Bridget has worked with many composers and eminent artists, including the Borromeo Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Caroline Shaw, Geoff Nuttall, Paul Hersh, Jodi Levitz, and Jennifer Culp. The Thalea quartet spent summers at the Banff Center, Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival, and Cordes en Ballade.

Bridget currently lives in Phoenix with her partner, Adam, and their dog Scooter. In her free time, she loves gardening and exploring her new city!

As concerto soloist, concertmaster, and recitalist, violinist Steven Moeckel has engaged audiences and critics worldwide with his effortless virtuosity, vivid characterization and uncanny ability to capture the very essence of a work. A seasoned performer since childhood, Moeckel first appeared as concerto soloist at the age of 8. Since then, he has continued to solo with orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, interrupted only by a two year period as Principal Soprano Soloist of the renowned Vienna Boys Choir.

Moeckel’s concerto repertoire encompasses everything from the standard classical and romantic masterpieces to the visceral virtuosity of the Shostakovich Concerto and Corigliano’s Red Violin. Invited to China under the auspices of the newly formed Ling Tung Foundation, he was the first Western violinist to perform the beloved violin concerto, The Butterfly Lovers, with a Chinese orchestra. His special affinity for the British repertoire has most recently led to performances of the Elgar, Britten, and Walton Concertos.

Steven Moeckel is equally at home speaking about music. Since his first appointment as Co-Concertmaster of Germany’s Ulm Philharmonic at the age of 19, he has been involved in outreach and educational events for orchestras and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic. He has served as a frequent coach for the New World Symphony in Miami and in 2019 was invited to participate in the National Alliance for Audition Support, a group that trains minority classical musicians in audition preparation in conjunction with the Sphinx Organization, the New World Symphony and The league of American Orchestras. He has served as orchestra coach at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and has appeared as a a guest on the podcast series, ‘Behind the Screen,’ hosted by JT Kane and Matt Corey.

A graduate of both the famous Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg and Indiana Univerity in Bloominginton, Steven Moeckel has served as Concertmaster of the Ulm Philharmonic in Germany, the Tuscon Symphony Orchestra, The Phoenix Symphony, and the Santa Fe Opera. He is a board member of a non-profit focused on music awareness called The Wayback Foundation. In 2020 he was awarded a tenured violin professorship at Northern Arizona.