Musician Bios
Ruth Lenz
Ruth Lenz is concertmaster of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and the Reno Philharmonic. She performs as recitalist, chamber musician, soloist and concertmaster in venues throughout the United States.
She has shared the stage with such notable performers as Itzhak Perlman, Edgar Meyer, Luciano Pavarotti and Natalie Cole. In addition to the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, Ruth has participated in the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, CO; Kammermusiktage (Germany); Mayshad Festival (Morocco); La Musica, FL; Sunriver, OR; Classical Tahoe, NV; Festival Napa, CA; and Spoleto Festival USA, SC.
Ruth began her violin studies with her mother at age 2, earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno studying with Phillip Ruder, and her Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana where she studied with Sherban Lupu and Danwen Jiang.
In addition to performing, Dr. Lenz has a passion for teaching and maintains a large studio of violin and chamber music students. In her free time, she is an avid equestrian and outdoor enthusiast. Ruth Lenz plays a Simone Fernando Sacconi violin.
Dustin Budish
A native of Reno, Nevada, Dustin Budish studied at Oberlin College and the Cleveland Institute of Music with Jeffrey Irvine where he received his BM in Viola Performance and then received his MM with honors at the New England Conservatory with Martha Katz. While in college, he worked with and performed alongside members of the Cavani, Tokyo, Vermeer, and Cleveland Quartets and received the Russell Award at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in 2001. As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Ravinia, Norfolk, and Cactus Pear festivals and at the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. As a member of the Verbier Festival, Mr. Budish traveled across the globe for performances in Europe, Asia, and India and was invited to Israel to perform with Maxim Vengerov’s Mozart Project with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.
As a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, he performed in Carnegie Hall with Michael Tilson Thomas and Yo-Yo Ma and later was featured as soloist with the orchestra as a winner of the concerto competition under Maestro Alasdair Neale’s direction. Also, while in Miami, he served as the founding artistic director for the “Friends” of New World, where he catered custom innovative fusions of classical music with hip-hop, electronica, reggae, and funk for private events.
Mr. Budish is the Principal Viola of the Reno Philharmonic and the Reno Chamber Orchestra. In 2015 he was a featured soloist with the Reno Philharmonic where he performed the Walton Viola Concerto. He has also frequently substituted with the San Francisco Symphony and was a Sun Valley Summer Symphony member for ten years.
Dustin has been on the faculty of UNR for the last 5 years teaching viola and playing with the Argenta Trio and has a passion for nurturing the next generations of young musicians and has mentored many young violinists and violists in the Reno area, many of whom have received numerous awards and honors. He is also the conductor for the Reno Youth Concert Orchestra and regularly programs fun and challenging repertoire ranging from Bach to The Legend of Zelda video game music.
Scott Faulkner
Scott Faulkner is the principal double bassist of the Reno Phil and Reno Chamber Orchestra. From 2001 to 2015, he was Executive Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra.
Faulkner is also the director of the League of American Orchestra’s Essentials of Orchestra Management seminar, and was recently named director of its League Alumni Network. He regularly consults with orchestras and arts groups, and mentors young administrators, across the country.
He is the founding board president of Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit that brings music of the highest caliber to diverse audiences, focusing on elderly, homeless, hospitalized, and incarcerated populations, and sits on the advisory board of Note-Able Music Therapy Services.
As a musician, Faulkner performs around the country, and has shared the stage with the likes of The Captain and Tennille, Evanescence, Edgar Meyer, Leonard Nimoy, Luciano Pavarotti, Itzhak Perlman, Martha Reeves, Joe Williams, and Yes.
Before turning to orchestra management, he taught Double Bass, Jazz Survey, Music Appreciation, Music Fundamentals, and World Music at the University of Nevada. He authored the entry on Reno for the Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition.
Hailing from Coeur d’Alene Idaho, Faulkner holds a bachelor of music degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a master of music degree from the University of Nevada. He has a 5,000-piece recording collection, is a founding member of the Single Malt Scotch Tasters of Reno, has played basketball with Wynton Marsalis, walked Coast to Coast across England, enjoys running weakly weekly with friends in the hills above Reno, is a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and once auditioned for David Letterman’s “Stupid Human Tricks.” He is married to Nevada musical legend Andrea Lenz and has four adult stepdaughters and three grandchildren.
Peter Lenz
A native of Reno, Nevada, Peter Lenz began his musical studies at the age of 6 with a course in piano performance and musical notation. The cello became Peter’s primary instrument at the age of 10. Peter studied with Geoff Rutkowski, Louis Richmond, Bill Konney, and his brother, John Lenz, through college and graduate school.
Peter began his professional music career at the age of 13, when he became a member of the cello section of the Nevada Opera Orchestra. He joined the Reno Chamber Orchestra in 1976, and became principal cellist in 1983. He also was awarded the principal cello position with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra in 1982. In addition, Peter has performed as principal cellist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and as a soloist with the Reno Chamber Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic and other regional orchestras.
Hailing from an extensive family of musicians, Peter frequently performs as a chamber musician in public and private with family members and others. He has performed chamber music with violinists Bella Hristova, James Buswell, and Phillip Ruder, violists Molly Carr and Dustin Budish, cellist Wendy Warner, and pianist James Winn. In his lengthy orchestral career, Peter has shared the stage with Leonard Nimoy, Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, Neil Sedaka, Loretta Lynn, The Captain and Tennille, Dean Martin, Edgar Meyer, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Luciano Pavarotti, and Itzhak Perlman.
Peter performs on a Simone Fernando Sacconi cello.
In addition to his pursuit of music, Peter holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mining Engineering from the Mackay School of Mines, University of Nevada – Reno, and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Nevada. He is a senior research scientist with EP Minerals.
John Lenz
John Lenz, virtuoso performer on both cello and horn, is both soloist and regular member of a number of regional orchestras, playing both instruments as Principal.
Lenz has been principal Cellist with the Telluride Chamber Players, the Nevada Opera, and the Argenta Quartet. He is the Reno Chamber Orchestra’s Principal Hornist, and serves in that position with the Reno Philharmonic, and the Great Basin Brass as well.
Lenz holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and has been a professor of music at UNR.
Dylan Neff
Dylan joined the Reno Chamber Orchestra as Principal Bassoon in 2022. He is currently finishing his Master of Music in bassoon performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music with Professor Gabriel Beavers.
Originally from rural Idaho, Dylan started piano lessons at the age of five and bassoon lessons in sixth grade with his high school band teacher. After high school, he studied with Utah Symphony Principal Bassoonist Lori Wike at the University of Utah, graduating in 2020 with bachelor’s degrees in instrumental performance and psychology.
Following his undergraduate studies, Dylan worked for several years in developmental psychopathology research studying mental health during pregnancy and emotion response system development in babies.
During this time, Dylan relocated to New Mexico and continued playing the bassoon. He served as Acting Second Bassoon with the Boise Philharmonic and regularly played with the New Mexico Philharmonic and the Las Cruces Symphony.
Since moving to Florida in 2023, he has played with the Palm Beach Symphony and Florida Grand Opera orchestra in addition to his school ensembles and the RCO. He lives in Miami with his spouse, tenor Garrett Medlock, their cat Alanis, and several aquariums.
Noah Breneman
Noah Breneman is a freelance oboist based in Los Angeles. Originally from Reading, Pennsylvania, Noah attended The Pennsylvania State University, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelors degree in Oboe Performance. While at Penn State, Noah won the Symphonic Wind Ensemble’s Concerto Competition, performing Eric Ewazen’s Hold Fast Your Dreams concerto.
In 2018 he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a Masters degree at the University of Southern California, which he completed in Spring 2020 amidst the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. While at USC, Noah was a member of The Santa Ana Winds, a woodwind quintet that was a semifinalist in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Noah is currently Principal Oboe of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and was previously Principal Oboe of the American Youth Symphony.
Recent engagements include a one-year contract with the Britt Festival Orchestra and Guest Principal Oboe with the Reno Philharmonic. His teachers include Jill Haley, Tim Hurtz, Joel Timm, and Marion Kuszyk. In addition to his career as an oboist, Noah works in the marketing department of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Music Buyer for the LA Phil Store. In this role, he curates the physical media sections for the retail stores at both Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.
Dominic Grande
Dominic Grande is a multi-faceted percussionist with his hands in the orchestral, new music, and pop worlds. He has played with orchestras throughout the country as a percussionist, timpanist, and soloist including the South Florida Symphony, Space Coast Symphony, Boise Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, and the Reno Chamber Orchestra where he has been a member as both principal percussionist and timpanist since 2023. A couple of his career highlights include being in the premier orchestra for Pulitzer Prize winning opera Omar as a percussionist in 2022 and touring with the premier of Andy Akiho’s Ondine’s Epilogue in 2017.
Beyond orchestral percussion he has had success in chamber spaces including his project with fellow percussionist/songwriter/composer Victor Sintchak; Harduo. Together, they have performed standard works of the chamber percussion repertoire, as well as intricately written sets with a full band with Dominic playing Vibraphone. Sets often also include large scale free improvisations, sometimes including the audience. Their 2020 performance of Iannis Xenakis’s Okho in Miami was lauded by South Florida Classical Review as successfully conveying “the dynamical and dramaturgical crescendo to the audience.” The review proceeded to declare the performance as a whole qualified “to enter the category of world-class ensembles.” Outside of percussion chamber music, Dominic has been active in New Music series with academic ensembles and at the yearly Music in Time series presented at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston.
Some of Dominic’s former teachers include Svetoslav Stoyanov, Matthew Strauss, John Shaw, Aaron Serfaty, Peter Erskine, James Babor, and Joseph Pereira. He holds degrees from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (B.M) and the University of Southern California (M.M) in percussion performance and has taught frequently throughout his life, always being passionate about making sure his knowledge isn’t a secret to new percussionists looking to enjoy a musical life.
When not drumming you can probably find him cooking, working on mixology, or just generally exploring his new home base city of Los Angeles.
Catherine Baker
Catherine Baker has recently been appointed the Principal Flute of the Reno Chamber Orchestra and additionally holds the principal flute chairs of the Bakersfield Symphony and Orchestra Santa Monica. She is established in Los Angeles as a versatile artist with projects spanning orchestral performance, studio recording, chamber music, education, and graphic design. Catherine was the First Place Winner of the 2018 Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artist Competition and the Second Place Winner of the 2019 National Flute Association Orchestral Audition and Masterclass Competition. As a founding member of the Cardinal Winds Quintet/Sextet, she competed in the 2015 Plowman Chamber Music Competition Finals in Columbia, Missouri; the 2015 Coleman Chamber Competition Finals in Pasadena, California; and the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Association Competition Semi-finals in South Bend, Indiana. The group was honored to receive the Grand Prize at the 2015 Plowman Chamber Music Competition.
Mrs. Baker previously held the principal flute chairs with the American Youth Symphony and the YMF Debut Orchestra, where she received the Special Recognition Award, earning a featured solo performance with the orchestra under the direction of Roger Kalia. Catherine has performed with ensembles throughout California including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Modesto Symphony, Muse-ique, Riverside Philharmonic, San Bernardino Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and Redlands Symphony. Catherine’s artistry has also taken her nationally, performing with the New World Symphony in Florida, the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts, and the South Dakota Symphony. Equally at home in the recording studio, Catherine has performed flute, piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute for numerous recording projects, including video games, documentaries, and short films. Mrs. Baker’s primary instructors include Jim Walker, Marianne Gedigian, Jennifer Keeney, Sydney Carlson, and Sandra Benke.
Mrs. Baker is passionate about developing musicianship and confidence in young flutists. She maintains a private teaching studio, coaches for Musicians at Play, and serves as the Flute Teaching Artist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Orchestra program at the Heart of Los Angeles. Catherine’s students have consistently been given honors in regional, statewide, and national performances/competitions/auditions. Beyond performance, Catherine has fused her interest in graphic design with music by designing posters, invitations, podcast art, programs, specifically the cover art for revolutionary method books by Dr. Timothy Hagen, published by Owl Glass Music. She also enjoys baking pies, walking her poodles, and exercising on a regular basis!