Omni Quartet

The Omni Quartet, comprised of Amy Lee and Alicia Koelz, violins, Joanna Zakany, viola, and Tanya Ell, cello, are all members of The Cleveland Orchestra. Formed in 2009, they have toured the world's greatest venues as members of the orchestra, including Carnegie Hall, the Edinburgh Festival, Vienna's Musikverein, The Kennedy Center, and the Salzburg Festival. Each member of the group brings a seasoned career to the mix, striving to give concert goers a more personal experience of what individual musicians in the Cleveland Orchestra are all about: getting to the heart of the music and communicating it to the listener with a legacy of precision that has been handed down for generations. This versatile group plays concerts regularly in the greater Cleveland area, as well as branching off to do innovative concerts in alternative venues, from playing at Cleveland's Happy Dog to playing in the Hall of Mirrors at the Primate's Palace for the Ambassador of Bratislava.

Amy Lee

Violinist Amy Lee enjoys a varied performing and teaching career, equally at home in both orchestral and chamber music settings. Currently, Ms. Lee is the associate concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, a post she has held since 2008. She is also an Artist-in-Residence at Kent State University in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. Ms. Lee spends her summers as a faculty member at the Kent Blossom Music Festival in Kent, Ohio and performs at various festivals, including the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

An active chamber musician, Amy Lee is a member of several ensembles including the Omni Quartet, Ensemble HD and Kent State’s Verve Chamber Players. Founded with fellow members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Alicia Koelz, Joanna Patterson Zakany, and Tanya Ell, the Omni Quartet performs regularly throughout Northeast Ohio with their Philadelphia Chamber Music Society debut during the 2018-19 season. Innovative and forward-thinking, Ensemble HD seeks to connect with a broad audience by performing at bars around the region and in concert halls. Their recently released album is entitled “Live at the Happy Dog.” Members include Ms. Lee, Joshua Smith, Frank Rosenwein, Tina Dahl, Joanna Patterson Zakany, and Charles Bernard. Ms. Lee was formerly a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program, participating in tours, a digital concert series and recordings, and educational outreach.

As a soloist, Ms. Lee has appeared with orchestra’s world-wide, making her debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra at 15 with a reappearance in 2000. During her tenure with The Cleveland Orchestra, she performed as soloist three times in Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto, Luigi Dallapiccola’s “Tartiniana” and Franz Waxman’s “Carmen Fantasy.” She has also performed with the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, the National Gallery Orchestra, and Germany’s Baden-Baden Philharmonic, among others.

Amy Lee holds a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and a master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Ms. Lee is a former first prize winner of San Francisco’s Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Corpus Christi International Competition for piano and strings.

Alicia Koelz

Alicia Koelz joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. She has appeared as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining The Cleveland Orchestra, Alicia spent two years as concertmaster of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and was a substitute player with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Alicia graduated with honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M.) and Northwestern University (M.M.) Her most influential teachers have included Almita and Roland Vamos, William Preucil, Sally O'Reilly, and Mary West.

Chamber music and spending time with good friends are great passions of hers, and she is lucky enough to be able to combine the two as a member of the Omni Quartet. Alicia lives in Cleveland Heights with her husband and three beautiful children.

Joanna P. Zakany

Hailed for “stunning, expressive, remarkable” playing and “exemplar of grace and technical skill”, Joanna Patterson Zakany is a member of The Cleveland Orchestra and enjoys an active orchestral, chamber music and teaching career in the United States and abroad.

Born in the Principality of Monaco, Joanna began her studies with her parents, Ronald and Roxanna Patterson. She continued her studies at the Academie de Musique Rainier III, where she was the youngest recipient of the “Prix Prince Rainer III , medaille d’Or” (gold medal), Monaco’s most prestigious prize for aspiring musicians. She also studied in Paris with Michel Mikkalakakos of the Conservatoire National Superieure de Paris. After moving back to the United States, she began her studies with Robert Vernon, principal violist of The Cleveland Orchestra, at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2001. She graduated with honors from CIM under full scholarship, receiving the “Robert Vernon prize”. Shortly after graduation, she joined The Cleveland Orchestra at 21 years old. She has enjoyed traveling the world and performing in the world’s best concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Festspielhaus, KKL and Musikverein. In addition to TCO, Joanna has been Guest Principal with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, guest member with All-Star Orchestra and Principal of the Canton Symphony.

As a soloist, Joanna has performed with The Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, the Federal Way Symphony and Marrowstone Music Festival Orchestra, the Canton Symphony, Cleveland Philharmonic, KSU Orchestra and CSU Orchestra, amongst others. She has an active chamber music career as a founding member of the Omni String Quartet, comprised of four members of The Cleveland Orchestra. She is also a member of Ensemble HD, a chamber group started by Cleveland Orchestra Principal Flute Joshua Smith. Together they perform in various eclectic venues which culminated in recording “Live from the Happy Dog”, recorded in Cleveland’s famous hot dog bar. The album garnered national and international press, which brought them to perform at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Joanna will return to perform at PCMS in 2019 with Omni Quartet, Smith and Principal Oboe of TCO, Frank Rosenwein.

Zakany is Assistant Professor at Kent State University, where she enjoys teaching and performing with the Verve Chamber Players, a group made up of fellow Omni member Amy Lee and members of the Miami String Quartet, Cathy and Robby Robinson.

Tanya Ell

Cellist Tanya Ell, enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, soloist, and member of The Cleveland Orchestra. Since winning the position in 2006, she has been privileged to tour the world's greatest concert halls with the orchestra, including Carnegie Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Royal Albert Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall. With TCO, she has also taken part in many prestigious festivals, including the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, and the Edinburgh Festival.

Tanya is a founding member of the Omni String Quartet, which has been featured in concert by the Cleveland Orchestra at the United States Consulate in Bratislava, on WCLV Radio at Cleveland State University, and at Kent State University. She has collaborated with such notable musicians as William Preucil, Donald and Vivienne Weilerstein, Edgar Meyer, members of the Cavani String Quartet, and with her husband, Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist, Robert Woolfrey. In recent years she has soloed with the Cleveland Philharmonic, the Suburban Symphony, the Cleveland State University Symphony, and the Lansing Symphony.

Tanya received her Bachelor of Music at the Juilliard School under Aldo Parisot. While finishing her Master's Degree with Richard Aaron at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Tanya won a position with the Milwaukee Symphony, and was appointed Acting Assistant Principal a year later. She was invited to solo with the MSO twice during her tenure there.

Tanya grew up in Okemos MI, and studied in the Suzuki program with Marilyn Kesler, and later with Louis Potter Jr. from age 8-18. Her musician parents, Frank and Eva Ell have also been very important musical influences throughout her life. She won her first competition at the age of 12, and continued to win top prizes at competitions across the country that often resulted in concerto performances and scholarships to summer music festivals.

Tanya plays a David Burgess cello from 1992, as well as a Tyrolean Cello from 1864. She resides in Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, son and daughter.