John Lane
John Lane is a performer and private teacher of flute. He has lived in central New Jersey since 2002 with his wife Christianne. He earned his bachelor’s and his master’s degrees in music performance from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were Thomas Robertello and Jacques Zoon. Originally from Memphis, TN, he previously studied with Ruth Ann McClain. John’s final degree recital at Indiana earned the Performer’s Certificate, the School of Music’s highest non-degree honor. In 2003, John participated in the Sarasota Music Festival and received the rare honor of being selected to perform four times during the three-week event. In 2008 and again in 2010, he served as a recorded round judge for the National Flute Association’s High School Soloist Competition, and he served as the coordinator for the same competition’s final round in 2009 at the New York City convention.
John has played principal flute as a substitute for the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil, and for another orchestra in Monterrey, Mexico. He now performs regularly with Sinfonietta Nova, the Garden State Symphonic Band, and The Fifes and Drums of the Old Barracks, and as a freelancer.
As a teacher, John maintains a private studio at his home in Hamilton, NJ. He also teaches at the Princeton Academy extension of Westminster Conservatory, Music and Arts, The Lawrenceville School, and The Hun School. His students have achieved frequent success at the regional and state levels and at the national level with The National Flute Association’s High School Flute Choir.
Ruotao Mao
Violinist Ruotao Mao is an active soloist, chamber musician while holding numerous concertmaster posts in the tri-state area. His playing was described by The Classical New Jersey as "… virtuoso display of world-class magnitude." and "…the level of playing has reached far beyond mere technical competence." A native of Beijing, China, Mr. Mao graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with “distinction in performance” award. He earned his Master Degree in Music from the Mason Gross School of the Arts where he studied under violinist Arnold Sternhardt of the Guarneri String Quartet. He also studied with Dorothy Delay, Paul Kantor and Masuko Ushioda. As a chamber musician, he is one of the founding members of the former Beijing Piano Quartet, winner of “Artists International Chamber Music Series” with appearances in Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center and also the highly acclaimed Amabile String Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at Rutgers University(2000 and 2001). As a soloist, he appeared with orchestras such as the Jupiter Symphony, NEC Symphony, Corelliard Chamber Orchestra, the Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, Edison Symphony, the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Bay-Atlantic Symphony, Arcadian Symphony Orchestra and Rutgers University Orchestra among many others. In 2004, Mr. Mao premiered a violin concerto by Ernie Stires in Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall. He had performance tours in Korea and Colombia, South America. He performed on WNYC, WETS and WDVR-FM broadcasts and is a recording artist for the CRI and Beijing Broadcast Labels. Mr. Mao also serves as the concertmaster of the Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, Riverside Symphonia, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony and most recently, the Glimmerglass Opera Orchestra. Mr. Mao teaches violin and chamber music at The College of New Jersey.
Mark Sloss
Mark Sloss has had a wide ranging career at the crossroads of fine arts and business, seeking opportunities to integrate the fundamentals of sustainable business and philanthropy with music and the public interest. In addition to more than twenty years in financial services, Mr. Sloss has been a woodwind performer, teacher, composer, recording engineer and producer, business owner and active participant in a number of not-for-profit efforts including Sinfonietta Nova. Mr. Sloss received his Bachelors of Music from the Northwestern University School of Music, where he studied clarinet performance, composition, and advanced technologies in music. His teachers include Donald Ambler, Bass Clarinetist, Denver Symphony Orchestra; Clark Brody, Principal Clarinet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Russell Dagon, Principal Clarinet, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in master classes and taken instruction with Anthony Gigliotti, Principal Clarinet, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Robert Marcellus, Principal Clarinet, Cleveland Orchestra. His music specialties include single-reed instruments, composition, recording and MIDI technology. He serves as faculty and a trustee at the Eastern Conservatory of Music & Arts, jointly founded the Camerata Atlantica with conductor David Hattner, and is a founding member of the Daniel Bonade Clarinet Quartet.
