Wistaria Quartet Member Bios

Sarah Briggs, violin
Sarah Briggs teaches at Amherst and Smith colleges, and performs regularly with the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Eastman School, and received a MM at the University of Texas at Austin. She was a fellow for two summers at Tanglewood, participated in the Heidelberg Opera Festival, the Bach Aria Festival, and Tafelmusik seminar, and has been coached by members of the Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets.

Sarah began her career in the Charlotte Symphony, and was next tenured with the Colorado Symphony in Denver. She moved to Chicago in 1994 and performed with the Chicago and Milwaukee Symphonies, Concertanti di Chicago, and toured Japan with the Chicago String Ensemble. Before moving to Massachusetts, she lived in Ketchikan, Alaska, where her son was born, and then lived in Germany for two years. Sarah is an avid yogini and Zen meditator. She lives in Northampton, MA.
Kaila Graef, violin
Kaila Graef has performed with a diverse range of groups, including a swing band in Baltimore, the Springfield Symphony, and Washington D.C.'s Inscape Chamber Music Project. Kaila holds a Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Peabody Conservatory, where she was a student of Shirley Givens and studied chamber music with Earl Carlyss of the Juilliard Quartet. She completed her masters at UMass Amherst, where she was a member of the Graduate String Quartet and studied with Marylou Speaker Churchill.

A dedicated teacher, Kaila has served on the faculty of the Vermont Youth Orchestra’s summer music festival, Strings at Amherst, and the Northampton Community Music Center. Kaila currently teaches at her private studio in Amherst, MA.
Delores Thayer, viola
Delores (Loree) Thayer performs with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Violist and plays regularly with the Hartford Symphony, various Boston groups, and at many other venues throughout the New England area as both violist and Baroque violist. Currently on the viola faculty at Amherst College and the Northfield Mount Herman School, she has headed the chamber music department at Deerfield Academy and served as guest instructor of viola at Mount Holyoke College.

Delores has performed in summer music festivals in Manchester, VT; Ayamonte and Santander, Spain; Spoleto, Italy; Tanglewood; and the Yale Norfolk Music Festival. She has also performed at Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, and in numerous premiers and recordings. Delores is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Yale School of Music and resides in Northampton, MA.
Wayne Smith, cello
A highly sought-after chamber musician, cellist Wayne Smith has appeared with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Ritz Chamber Players, the Manhattan Chamber Players, among others. He has performed with the National Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic of New Jersey, the Princeton Chamber Symphony, and the Heidelberg Castle Festival Orchestra in Heidelberg, Germany, and was a featured soloist on the PBS Series “Musical Encounters."

Wayne gave his recital debut at the Kennedy Center in 1996 to critical acclaim and made his concerto debut at the age of 20 with the Philharmonic of New Jersey. He has recorded and performed with such artists as the Moody Blues, Joe, Richard Smallwood, Anthony Krizan of the Spin Doctors, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Wayne completed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music with Steven Doane and pursued his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with Astrid Schween.