Chamber Coaches
DAAYO’s Chamber Coaches are national-level musicians with extensive experience as performers and educators. They are passionate about chamber music and working with young musicians. The exhilaration and joys of playing chamber music comprise some of the most memorable experiences for our coaches, and they would like to impart their knowledge to the next generation of strings students.
Image credit: Sil Azevedo
Master Chamber Coach: Nathan Olson
A native of Berkeley, California, violinist Nathan Olson began his appointment as Co-Concertmaster with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in September 2011. He has served as Adjunct Faculty at Southern Methodist University and the University of North Texas. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s prestigious Concertmaster Academy, Nathan studied with William Preucil and Paul Kantor. Currently Concertmaster of the Breckenridge Music Festival, he has participated in the Mainly Mozart Festival, the Bravo Vail Music Festival and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.
An enthusiastic chamber musician, Nathan is a member of the Baumer String Quartet, whose debut recording will be coming out in the next year. The BSQ serves on faculty at the Crowden Chamber Music Workshop and the Monterey Chamber Music Workshop, and has held residencies at several institutions, including Southern Methodist University, the University of North Texas, the University of South Florida, and the University of South Dakota. read more
A winner of the Joseph and Elsie Scharff prize in violin at CIM, Nathan has performed as soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, CityMusic Cleveland, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony, the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Nathan has appeared as Guest Concertmaster with the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Toronto, Omaha, and Tucson, and as Principal Second Violin with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. While completing his Bachelors degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Nathan earned minors in both Mathematics and Music Theory.
Chamber coach: Jenna Barghouti
Palestinian-American violinist Jenna Barghouti is a passionate musician and educator who has dedicated her life to advancing music in its many forms. She is currently a member of the first violin section in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Barghouti earned her undergraduate degree studying with Professor Mimi Zweig at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She continued her graduate studies at Indiana with Professor Jorja Fleezanis before moving to Houston, Texas to join the Houston Symphony in 2015.
Barghouti served as concertmaster of the Indiana University Philharmonic, Chamber, and University orchestras. She was also an associate instructor at Indiana University’s Pre-College String Academy, teaching students of all ages. Additionally, she served as concertmaster of the Palestine National Orchestra.
In her first year with the Houston Symphony, Barghouti served as a community-embedded musician (CEM) in a newly founded program that aimed to better serve the musical needs of the diverse Houston community. As a CEM, Barghouti split her time between performing on stage with the Houston Symphony and visiting schools, neighborhoods, community centers, early education centers, and healthcare setting, interacting with hundreds of students and patients. For the following three years, she played in the symphony full-time. After four years in Houston, she moved to Dallas in the fall of 2019 to join the first violin section of the Dallas Symphony. read more
Upon moving to Dallas in 2019, Barghouti established a private studio and currently teaches many students from different backgrounds and age groups. She is an avid educator and has spent the last ten years expanding her understanding of violin pedagogy. In 2019, she coached the first violin section of the Palestine Youth Orchestra. Barghouti also formed a new string quartet with her Dallas Symphony colleagues and friends. The quartet has performed throughout the COVID19 pandemic and has recorded several pieces that were featured in online events by the Dallas Symphony in the past year.