Our People
Music Director and Musicians
Ramona Pansegrau
Music Director & Conductor
Ramona Pansegrau has been music director for Kansas City Ballet for 17 years. She came to Kansas City via the Boston and Tulsa ballet companies, where she held the positions of principal pianist, solo pianist, music director and conductor.
She has been called one of the best ballet pianists in the world. Robert Joffrey said of her ballet class, “The perfect music for every combination.” She was principal pianist/solo pianist for 10 years at Boston Ballet and tenured keyboard for the Boston Ballet Orchestra for 15 years. Ms. Pansegrau was on the faculty at Aspen/Snowmass Dance Festival for 11 years and was music director for the ballet school at Jacob’s Pillow for 16 years. She was music director for Tulsa Ballet for nine years, and conductor of the Tulsa Symphony orchestra for ballet performances before coming to Kansas City Ballet.
Kansas City Symphony
First Violins
Jun Iwasaki, Concertmaster,
Miller Nichols Chair
Stirling Trent, Associate Concertmaster
Sunho Kim‡, Assistant Concertmaster
Anne-Marie Brown
Michael Brown
Betty Chen
Anthony DeMarco
Susan Goldenberg*
Tomoko Iguchi
Dorris Dai Janssen
Chiafei Lin
Filip Lazovski ∆
Vladimir Rykov
Alex Shum*
Second Violins
Tamamo Someya Gibbs, Principal
Kristin Velicer, Acting Associate Principal
Minhye Helena Choi, Acting Assistant Principal
Arianna Brusubardis^
Mary Garcia Grant
Kazato Inouye
Rena Ishii
Paul Kim^
Stephanie Larsen
Jinyou Lee^
Sodam Lim
James Zabawa-Martinez ∆
Violas
MingYu Hsu, Principal
Duncan Steele^, Associate Principal
Jessica Nance, Assistant Principal
Kent Brauninger
Sean Brumble
Marvin Gruenbaum
Jenifer Houck
Duke Lee
Jesse Yukimura
Cellos
Mark Gibbs, Principal
Robert A. Kipp Chair
Susie Yang, Associate Principal
Richard Hill Chair
Alexander East, Assistant Principal
Matt Beckmann ∆
Maria Crosby
John Eadie
Lawrence Figg
Meredith McCook
Allen Probus
Double Basses
Evan Halloin, Acting Principal
Richard Ryan, Acting Associate Principal
Nils Aardahl
Lena Goodson ∆
Joseph Nunez
Keith Wymer ∆
Caleb Quillen‡
Flutes
Michael Gordon, Principal
Marylou and John Dodds Turner Chair
Shannon Finney, Associate Principal
Kayla Burggraf
Piccolo
Kayla Burggraf
Oboes
Kristina Fulton, Principal
Shirley Bush Helzberg Chair
Alison Chung, Associate Principal
Matthew Lengas
ENGLISH HORN
Matthew Lengas
Clarinets
Raymond Santos, Principal
Bill and Peggy Lyons Chair
Silvio Guitian, Associate Principal
John Klinghammer
E-Flat Clarinet
Silvio Guitian
Bass Clarinet
John Klinghammer
Bassoons
Ann Bilderback, Principal
Barton P. and Mary D. Cohen Chair
Thomas DeWitt, Associate Principal
Maxwell Pipinich
Contrabassoon
Thomas DeWitt
Horns
David Sullivan, Acting Principal
Landon and Sarah Rowland Chair
Alberto Suarez‡, Principal
Elizabeth Gray, Acting Associate Principal
David Gamble
Stephen Multer, Associate Principal Emeritus
Benjamin Bacni ∆
Trumpets
Julian Kaplan, Principal
James B. and Annabel Nutter Chair
George Goad, Acting Associate Principal
Steven Franklin‡, Associate Principal
Shea Kelsay ∆
Trombones
Evelyn Carlson^, Principal
Porter Wyatt Henderson, Associate Principal
Jahleel Smith ∆
Bass Trombone
Jahleel Smith ∆
Tuba
Joe LeFevre, Principal
Frank Byrne Chair
Timpani
Timothy Jepson, Principal
Michael and Susan Newburger Chair
Percussion
David Yoon, Acting Principal
Justin Ochoa ∆, Acting Associate Principal
Harp
Katie Ventura ∆, Acting Principal
Librarians
Elena Lence Talley, Principal
Fabrice Curtis
Justin White, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Kirsten Loynachan, Assistant Personnel Manager
Tyler Miller, Stage Manager
* Non-Rotating Musician
^ New Member
‡ On Leave of Absence
Δ One-Year Member
Music Moves
With Ramona Pansegrau
Listen to this series of podcasts from Kansas City Ballet Musical Director Ramona Pansegrau who takes us through her favorite ballets. Topics will explore Russian, Danish, and English ballet music as well as an in-depth examination of specific works and how they are used for dance.
Listen to the episodes below.