About Us
5280 String Quartet
6
About Us
Chris Menter
Violin
Syracuse native Chris Menter began playing violin at age 8 in her public school’s orchestra program. By high school she was a proud “orch dork” and chose to spend many free periods (and perhaps some math classes) practicing alone on stage in the auditorium. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Ithaca College and a Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Chris is principal second violin of the Fort Collins Symphony and Boulder Chamber Orchestra, and performs with Opera Colorado, Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, and Pro Musica Colorado, and is a violinist with 5280 String Quartet. Chris has built a multi-faceted career as a musician in Denver. In addition to teaching private violin and viola students, she is personnel manager and librarian for Boulder Chamber Orchestra and Director of Live Music for dj Maestro. Although she has resided in the Denver-Boulder area since 2003, Chris still experiences “wait, I live in Colorado?!” moments thanks to the natural beauty of our state. She enjoys hiking and wishes she could spend more time exploring the mountains.
Mary Evans
Violin
Mary Malizia Evans is a musician, administrator and educator based in Colorado Springs, CO. A violinist since age 8, Mary holds a Bachelor’s Degree from University of Oregon and a Master’s from the CU Boulder, where she studied with Harumi Rhodes of the Takács Quartet. Since graduating, she has set to work building a career out of the many aspects of music she loves, making sure to follow her passion for theater, opera and ballet as well as symphonic and chamber music. She is a member of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Colorado Ballet Orchestra as well as Sphere Ensemble in Denver, and has performed with Opera Colorado, Colorado Symphony, Opera Theater of the Rockies, and other ensembles all over the Front Range. During the summers she spends most of her time performing as a member of Listeso’s 5280 String Quartet. She also teaches privately and coaches chamber ensembles, which allows her to share her love of music with students of all ages. When she is not working you can usually find her in the kitchen making far too much food for friends, lost in a good book, or curled up on the couch with her knitting watching movies or TV.
Allyson Stibbards
Viola
Allyson Stibbards joined the Altius Quartet in June of 2020, and is a member of the 5280 String Quartet. A native to Colorado, she began playing the violin at the age of five and viola at
the age of ten. She has been a soloist with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Longmont Symphony Orchestra, and Greater Boulder Youth Orchestra. Allyson received her Bachelors degree from the University of Colorado in 2018. She continued her studies at the New England Conservatory and received her Masters in Music Performance
in the spring of 2020. Allyson had the opportunity to study with incredible violists such as Geraldine Walther, Erika Eckert, Cathy Basrak, Stephen Wyrczynski, and Jeff Irvine. She has spent her summers at the Aspen Music Festival, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Tanglewood. She has also been a substitute at the New World Symphony and a participant at
the New York String Orchestra Seminar. Community engagement has been an important part of Allyson’s work over the past few years. At NEC, she was a storytelling fellow and an ensemble fellow in the Community Programs and Partnerships program. The concerts she performed as part of this program were geared towards children of diverse backgrounds and took place in schools and libraries across Boston. In addition to music, Allyson enjoys camping, yoga, and hiking with her dog Ryder.
Erin Patterson
Cello
A native of Huntsville, AL, cellist Erin Patterson joined the internationally acclaimed Altius Quartet in May of 2019. She began playing the cello at age three, and made her solo debut at age 17 performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra. Erin has performed in masterclasses for world renowned cellists such as Rafael Rosenfeld, Alisa
Weilerstein, Pieter Wispelwey, Paul Watkins, Alan Harris, Tamas Varga, Fred Sherry, and Richard Aaron. During her summers she has been a participant of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, the Brevard Music Festival, the Meadowmount School of Music, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, the Vermont Mozart Festival and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Institute. Erin is a previous member of the Grammy nominated all-cello ensemble, Uccello. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in cello performance from the University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Alan Rafferty, and a Master’s Degree in cello performance from McGill
University’s Schulich School of Music, where she studied with Matt Haimovitz. Erin plays on acello made in 2002 by Michael Stürzenhofecker and a bow by François Malo.