Signature Quartet
The Signature Quartet performs both as a professional
performance ensemble and as the instructor ensemble for the Higher Scale
Music Education Partnership with Tulsa Public Schools.
From left to right, Signature Quartet members are Paulo
Eskitch, violin; Jeffrey Smith, viola; Eric Samuelson, violin; and Erica
Parker, cello.
Click here for
more information on
Higher Scale.
Member Bios
Eric Samuelson serves as violinist for the Signature Quartet
and as Concertmaster for the Signature Pops series. Receiving his
Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Violin Performance (with academic honors)
from Indiana University, Samuelson was with the Tulsa Philharmonic from
1987-2002. He has performed with the Yamagata Symphony in Japan. Samuelson
has also served as Concertmaster with the Fort Smith Symphony. An active
chamber musician, Samuelson is also a founding member of the Riverside Trio.
His teachers have included Silvian Iticovici, Michael Ma, Jacques
Israelievich, Yuval Yaron, and Neil Weintrob.
Paolo Eskitch
began studying the Violin in Garden City, Kansas, with Clara Frazier. He is
a graduate of the University of Kansas were he studied with Ben Sayevich,
and Eric Roseblith. Additional studies include a MM from Brooklyn College
with Naoko Tanaka, and monthly master classes with Itzhak Perlman. He is
currently a member of many ensembles in Tulsa, including the Signature
Symphony at TCC, the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, the Tulsa Opera Orchestra,
and the Signature String Quartet. Paulo is an adjunct instructor of
Violin, Viola, and Chamber music at TCC. He has performed at Chamber
music festivals including, The Yellow Barn, IMAI, California Music Festival,
and as Concertmaster of Opera in the Ozarks.
Jeffrey Smith serves as
violist of the Signature Quartet, as well as Principal Violist of
both the Signature Symphony and the Bartlesville Symphony
Orchestra. An instrumental music teacher since 1979, Smith currently
serves as Instrumental Music Director for Edison Preparatory School where he
teaches more than 200 students in three bands and three orchestras. In
addition, he has directed the TCC TulsaFest middle school string program
since its inception. Named Teacher of the Year (2002) by the Oklahoma
Chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), he is also a
past president of the Oklahoma Chapter of ASTA, and serves as contest judge,
clinician, private instructor, and participant in numerous music festivals.
In 1996, he served as Principal Violist of the 25th annual
International String Orchestra in Graz, Austria. Smith holds four
degrees in music; a Master of Music (Viola) from the Cleveland Institute of
Music, a Master of Music Education from the University of Tulsa, a Bachelor
of Music Education (with honor) from the University of Tulsa, and a Bachelor
of Music (Viola, with distinction) from the University of Kansas.
Erica
Parker.
The cellist of the Signature Quartet, Erica
received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Oklahoma, and completed
a Master’s of Music from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.
While in North Carolina, she premiered new compositions at the Southeastern
Composer’s Conference, won the UNCG concerto competition, performed the
Elgar Cello Concerto with the UNCG Symphony Orchestra, and served as the
principal cellist with the Greensboro Philharmonic. In addition, she
has participated in numerous summer music festivals.
