2025 Credo Colorado Faculty
About Credo Colorado | Faculty | Audition Requirements
*Additional faculty will be posted soon
Peter Slowik, profiled by The Strad Magazine as “a man of limitless enthusiasm and purpose” is one of the world’s leading artist-teachers of viola. An active chamber musician, Mr. Slowik has performed with cellists Anner Bylsma and Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Saint Petersburg Quartet, the Vermeer Quartet, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford and Smithson Quartets. He has been a featured performer at six International Viola Congresses, and recent Master Class trips have taken him to Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, and China. Orchestral experiences include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and service as Principal Viola of the American Sinfonietta and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Slowik has served on the faculty of Northwestern University, the Cleveland Institute of Music and Eastman School of Music. Mr. Slowik has been named to the highest teaching award honors of Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory. He has served as President of the American Viola Society and currently is Professor of Viola and String Division Director at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. His students may be found in virtually every significant professional orchestra in the US (many serving in titled positions) and in university appointments throughout the country.
Michael Davis served as concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra for 30 years where he collaborated with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Midori, and Isaac Stern. He has performed throughout the world, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Coors Field (where he played the national anthem for a sold-out Rockies game!) A longtime Credo faculty member, Mr. Davis has also served on the faculties of Grand Teton Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, and the University of Louisville and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Isaac Kay is a violinist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, on faculty at MSU Denver, a visiting artist at Westmont College, and the director of Primavera Place, a pre-college program for string players. He has performed with the Omaha Symphony, Opera Colorado, New World Symphony, served as guest concertmaster for Santa Barbara Master Chorale, among others. He has performed concertos with the Roanoque Baroque Orchestra (VA), St. Cloud Symphony (MN), and the Westmont College Orchestra. Isaac is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music‘s Preparatory College, Westmont College, University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has received fellowships from the Aspen Music Festival and School and Credo Oberlin.
Michael Sabatka is Associate Principal Violist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Past orchestral associations include Alabama Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Chattanooga Symphony, and Huntsville Symphony. Michael is a founding member of the Plein Aire Chamber Ensemble, has performed with Colorado Hausmusik and the Veronika String Quartet, and has been featured on NPR’s “From the Top.”
Since her debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic at age nine, Linda Wang has performed concerti with over eighty orchestras, including Sir Georg Solti and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra, Jorge Mester and the Pasadena Symphony, and JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony. International concerto performances include the Robert Schumann Philharmonie, Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, Harbin Symphony, Philippines Philharmonic, and the Southern Bohemian Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist in Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Beurs van Berlage and the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Ms. Wang is String Chair and Professor of Violin at Lamont School of Music, where she was the recipient of University of Denver’s Teacher-Scholar of the Year Award.
Matthew Zalkind is the Associate Professor of Cello at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and performs regularly as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. Mr. Zalkind won first prize in the Washington International Competition, and top prizes in the Beijing International Cello Competition and the Isang Yun Competition. He has performed concerti with the Utah Symphony, Moscow Chamber Players, Albany Symphony, Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and numerous North American orchestras. He has given solo recitals at the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Tongyeong Arts Center, Moscow Conservatory, and Beijing Concert Hall. Mr. Zalkind is the Co-Artistic Director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival and performs regularly at Marlboro/Musicians from Marlboro tours.
Michael Hanson has been Concertmaster of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic since 1992. He has performed more than 25 concertos with orchestras throughout the west, and recently appeared as a soloist with the Hunan Symphony in Changsha, China. Additional orchestral appointments include the Oregon Symphony, Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, and Concertmaster of the West Coast Chamber Orchestra. He has performed under the batons of Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Slatkin, and James dePriest. Significant chamber music partners include the Colorado College Piano Trio and principal players of the Montreal Symphony. A dedicated teacher, he co-founded the Hanson Music Academy and the Bristol Suzuki Strings program. Hanson’s private students have gone on to study at the finest U.S. music schools and conservatories.