Ludek Wojtkowski

Ludek Wojtkowski is a violinist, composer, and guitarist from Tucson, Arizona. Before being appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony, he served as the concertmaster of the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra and was a founding member of the Aurora Borealis String Quartet. He holds degrees in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Yale University, where he earned the Broadus Erle Prize in violin.

In 2016, Ludek joined the New World Symphony in Miami Beach directed by Michael Tilson Thomas until joining Lincoln Center Stage, a classical music partnership between Lincoln Center and Holland-America Line in 2018. While aboard, he played in a piano quintet and traveled across the world with itineraries ranging from South America to Greenland. He eventually sailed to Alaska, where he relocated in 2020 and joined the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra.

Ludek has been featured as a soloist and chamber musician locally and abroad, playing on a variety of programs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York City, and others. He toured as a soloist with the Collegium Balticum Sinfonietta in Poland and Germany and his formal training included three summers studying orchestral and chamber music with members of the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 2017, Ludek joined the Atlantic Music Festival as a contemporary music artist and facilitated the premiere of over 40 chamber works by young composers.

His own chamber work for piano quintet, soprano and electronics, Utopia, was premiered at the Art Basel Contemporary Design Festival in Miami Beach in 2018 in partnership with the Pratt Institute in New York City. When not playing violin, Ludek likes to ski, hike, fish, and enjoy the great outdoors year-round. Ludek additionally holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alaska in Anchorage.

Violin

Grace Nakano

A native of Japan, Grace Nakano is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. She received her Master of Music degree in classical performance from the Manhattan School of Music with Lucie Robert and Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University with Bayla Keyes. She was a recipient of the Fine Arts Award at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Hal Grossman. She was also the First Prize Winner of the Duxbury Music Festival Chamber Competition in 2012.

Prior to joining the Tucson Symphony, Grace was the Assistant Concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra, where she soloed with Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen with the orchestra in 2015. Grace has served as concertmaster at the Spoleto Music Festival USA for 2 summers, and served as guest concertmaster at the Arizona Philharmonic.

Grace has participated and served principal positions at festivals and orchestras, including the National Orchestral Institute, Round Top Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, and Debut Orchestra.

Violin

Michael Davis

Violist Michael Davis has built a versatile career excelling as both a chamber musician and orchestral player. Michael has been a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and performs regularly with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared in diverse settings including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall with Hans Zimmer, Madison Square Garden with The Who, at the Jazz Gallery with the Pedro Giraudo Tango Septet, in the Broadway production of the French musical Notre Dame de Paris, and at prestigious chamber music series including Gather NYC, Trinity Wall Street Concerts at 1, Music for Montauk, Schneider Concerts, and others.

Internationally he has performed throughout Korea as a member of the New York in Chuncheon Festival since 2013 and has given the Korean premieres of important works by John Adams, Andrew Norman, Nathan Schram, and Caroline Shaw. In recognition of this Michael was named an Honorary Cultural Ambassador by Woljeongsa Temple. Michael has also taught and performed as a faculty member of the Alfredo Saint Malo Festival in Panama, and with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic.

As a member of the new music ensemble NOVUS NYC Michael was featured as principal violist and soloist in the world premiere performance and recording of Benedict Sheehan’s Akathist (Bright Shiny Things). He has also performed with TAK Ensemble, Ensemble Ipse, Contemporaneous, and given the world premieres of works by Gunther Schuler, Solange Knowles, Richard Danielpour, Claude Baker, Luna Pearl Woolf, Derek Bermel, and Daniel Bjarnasson among others.

Michael was a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass, where he collaborated in world premiere recordings of works by Caroline Shaw, Tarik O’Regan, and Pascal LeBoeuf, was featured as Guest Artist at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and performed at Carnegie Hall in Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, The New School for Music, Princeton Sound Kitchen at Princeton University, Interlochen School of the Arts, and the SphinxConnect Artist Showcase.

A former Tanglewood Music Center Fellow and an alumnus of the Pacific Music Festival, Michael completed his graduate studies with Karen Dreyfus and Irene Breslaw in the Manhattan School of Music Orchestral Performance Program where he was a recipient of the Charles Grossman Memorial Endowment Scholarship, and was an undergraduate student of Michael Klotz and the Amernet String Quartet at the Florida International University Wertheim School of Music in Miami, FL.

Viola

Marguerite Salajko

Cellist Marguerite Salajko joined the Tucson Symphony in 2022. A Tucson native, she began her career performing with orchestras in the Tucson and Phoenix valleys including the West Valley Symphony and as acting principal cellist of the Symphony of the Southwest. Shortly after, Ms. Salajko continued her freelancing career in Boston and throughout New England. Since returning to Tucson, Ms. Salajko formed a teaching studio where she accompanies beginning students on the piano. Along with the Tucson Symphony, Ms. Salajko can currently be seen performing with various other ensembles including the Arizona Opera, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, and the Tucson Pops Orchestra.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Salajko performs in a variety of ensembles ranging from baroque to contemporary. She has performed in venues across the US and Europe, including the Lincoln Center, and collaborations with the Phoenix Art Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Her interest in collaborative arts has led to performances alongside dancers, spoken word poetry, and visual arts. Ms. Salajko studied in residencies with the Juilliard String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Brentano String Quartet, and Tokyo String Quartet.

Ms. Salajko holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Arizona State University, studying under Thomas Landschoot, and a Master of Music degree from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee studying under Andrew Mark where she was a member of the Honors String Quartet.

Cello