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Symphony Instrumentalists
 

Jay B. Dunnahoo, Conductor and Artistic Director

Margie Schwartz, Orchestra Manager and Administrative Assistant

Of the approximately 50 Hill Country musicians involved in the SOH there are attorneys,  educators, medical doctors, professors, university-level music students, high school students and retirees (many of whom are very musically proficient.)

A few of the players deserve mention as exemplary local musicians:

            Jim Abbatiello, principal trombonist (our Musician of the Month)

            Jan Schmidt, principal bassoon

            George Eychner, principal trumpet

            Don Gilbert, tympani

            Pat Lee, principal second violinist

            Tom Terrell, principal clarinet

            Ed Wallace, violin, local attorney, Board member and Past President

Violin I

Long Zhou, concertmaster            San Antonio

Connie Crappell                          San Antonio

Andrew Corral                            Austin

Kevin Garcia-Hettinger                San Antonio

Jennifer Garcia-Hettinger            San Antonio

Sonja Gary                                San Antonio

*Elizabeth Hitzfeld                      Spring

Phil Johnson                               San Antonio

Molly Nixon                                San Antonio

Nancy Reyes                              San Antonio

Nancy Zhou                               San Antonio

 

Violin II

Patricia Lee, principal                  Kerrville

Amy Boyd                                  San Antonio

Celita DeArmond                        San Antonio

Danielle Dillon                            San Antonio

Nancy Grimes                            Fredericksburg

Adrian Holmes                           San Antonio

Angela Johnson                          San Antonio

Katie Beth Lane                          Kerrville

Tim McMillian                             Converse

Gerry Payne                              Bandera

Bethany Prislovsky                     Kerrville

Phil Schmitz                               San Antonio

Ed Wallace                                 Kerrville

 

Viola

Karen Billingsley, principal          Kerrville

Eric Bowser                               Center Point

David Byrne                              Boerne

Mary Hatchette                           Fredericksburg

David Jarrott                              Austin

Clare McMillian                           Converse

John Thornton                            San Antonio

 

Cello

Basel Sarweh, principal               San Antonio

*Sovreyne Chadwick                  San Antonio

Cindy Foster                              San Antonio

Mark Nugent                              Kerrville

Becca Shudak                            San Antonio

Patricia Ruiloba                          San Marcos

Audri Vernier                             Fredericksburg

Michael Werst                            Buda

 

Bass

Chris DeArmond, principal           San Antonio

Taylor Hopper                            San Antonio

Darrell Jalowiec                          Bandera

David Sloan                               Austin

 

 

Flute

Michelle Adam, principal              New Braunfels

Susan Love                                Kerrville

Katy Jones                                 Kerrville

Piccolo

Katy Jones                                 Kerrville

 

Oboe

Deana Johnson, principal            San Antonio

Kerri Truelock                            Kerrville

 

English Horn

Kerri Truelock                            Kerrville

 

Bassoon

Jan Schmidt, principal                 Kerrville

Sandy Fusilier                            Kerrville

 

Clarinet

Tom Terrell, principal                  Kerrville

Margie Schwartz                         Kerrville

*Ellen Hernandez                                   Kerrville

Bass Clarinet

Tamara Raatz                            Kerrville

French Horn

Monica Martinez, principal           Austin

Jay Joiner                                  Boerne

Caiti Beth McKinney                    Kerrville

Bonnie Rockey                           Kerrville

*Bret Rozek                               Lake Jackson

Trumpet

George Eychner, principal                       Kerrville

Will Becker                                Bulverde

Jonathan Rickman                      Boerne

 

Trombone

Jim Abbatiello, principal              Kerrville

Ted Conerly                               Kerrville

 

Bass Trombone

Joseph Allen                              Harper

Tuba

Charles Sander, principal            Harper

 

Timpani

Don Gilbert                                Boerne

 

Percussion

Jeff Miller, principal                    Kerrville

David Evans                              Spring Branch

*Mike Flis                                  San Antonio

Richie Miller                               Kerrville

*Valerie Smith                           Premont

*Cody Welch                              Georgetown

 

Piano

Donald Crandall                         Kerrville

 

Harp

Shanna Norton                           Austin

 

*designates Schreiner University students

Musician of the Month
 Jim Abbatiello, Third Generation Trombonist

Jim Abbatiello, principal trombonist in the Symphony of Hills, was born in Las Vegas, Nevada late one night.  His father was playing trombone for the Milton Berle show in a Las Vegas casino when he received word from the hospital of Jim’s impending birth.  When Jim’s dad rushed to the hospital between shows, the doors of the hospital were locked due the lateness of the hour.  A window was opened and someone shouted, “It’s a boy!”  Thus began life for a third generation trombonist.

Jim’s paternal grandfather was a dance band leader in Saint Louis, Missouri who had been sent to the USA as a youth to live with relatives.  Some Italian families did this for the religious freedom offered in America and so the young men could escape conscripted service in the Italian army.  He was a baritone horn player and trombonist who found work quickly, eventually becoming a band leader in the Big Band Era.  In Saint Louis he met and married Jim’s grandmother who was a violinist on the Orpheus Theater circuit. 

Jim attended school briefly in Las Vegas and then moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Ojai where he began playing percussion instruments in the fifth grade.  In the eighth grade Jim heard a recording of a trombone piece played by a master musician.  This recording had a lasting effect on Jim as it spoke to his soul just as earlier trombone music must have spoken to his father and grandfather before him.  Jim thrived as a trombonist in high school; however, he became even more invigorated and disciplined about practice when he attended Santa Barbara City College, majoring in music. 

Jim met and married his wife, Brenda, in a church in Santa Barbara where he played and Brenda sang for services.  They have a son, Jimmy, who is now an accomplished pianist and a fourth generation trombonist.

Reflecting on his musical experiences in California, Jim said, “I had some wonderful trombone teachers and great music experiences and opportunities and met some famous trombonists.”  However, the young Abbatiello family’s journey from life in California to becoming transplanted Texans was truly a departure for them set in motion when they joined Jim’s mother on a trip to the Texas Hill Country in 1992.  His mother decided immediately that she was moving to Kerrville and did so the following year.  After visiting her on holidays, it seemed as though the hills of Kerrville were also calling them from the crowded, ever-more-hectic life in California. 

Another omen:  When visiting Kerrville in 1992, Jim vividly remembers stopping at the Point Theater on the river and wondering if he could ever be able to play in the pit.  Two weeks after the family moved here in 1995, Jim went to the Point Theater and introduced himself to theater director Doug Ballentine, who hired him immediately to play in the pit orchestra for the current play.

Jim and Brenda own a commercial cleaning business in Kerrville.  His avocation has always been and will continue to be his involvement in musical activities.  In addition to being the principal trombonist in the Symphony of the Hills, Jim is the bell choir director at Zion Lutheran Church, director of the Schreiner University Pep Band, and trombonist in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra.

Speaking of his experience playing in the Symphony of the Hills, Abbatiello states, “Where in the world would I get to play all the great music that I play but in Kerrville and in this symphony orchestra?”  Regarding the musicians he works with in the Hill Country, Jim says, “Music is a great equalizer.  We have doctors, lawyers, bankers, and former music professors in the orchestra.  Not many people get to do what I do.  I know what a great thing I have here in Kerrville.”

See and hear Musician of the Month Jim Abbatiello at the upcoming concerts of the Symphony of the Hills.  The concert will be initially presented 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 30 and repeated the following Thursday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m.  Both concerts are in the Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater, 910 Main St. in Kerrville.  For tickets and more information please call the theater box office, (830) 896-9393.

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