Erica Erenyi
Elizabeth Brown
Jacob Thompson
Monday, September 22, 2025
12 PM
Erica Erenyi completed a Master’s degree and Performance Residency Program in cello performance at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a student of Anne Martindale Williams. She received her Bachelor of Music from Biola University in La Mirada, California, as a student of Marlin Owen. More recently, she undertook a course of intensive study with Peter Thiemann in Barcelona, Spain. Erica has performed with International Opera Theater in Italy, Academia Internacional de Música de Solsona, Spain, and the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles. She is active as a freelance musician in San Diego, playing in a variety of genres including theatre productions (with The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, and Broadway San Diego), California Chamber Orchestra, recording projects, and with jazz pianist Danny Green.
Cellist Elizabeth Brown, a native of San Diego, enjoys a diverse musical life of performing and teaching. She began her musical studies at the age of four and in high school won first prize in the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Young Artists Competition and was a concerto winner at Interlochen Center for the Arts. Having served as the principal cellist of the Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes in Sinaloa, Mexico, until 2014, Elizabeth has performed throughout Mexico, the U.S. and Europe. Inspired by musical collaborations, she has worked with opera and ballet companies, mariachi bands, theater companies, folkloric dance troupes, film and modern composers, recording artists, and educational institutions around the world. Elizabeth has appeared at festivals including Ojai, Aspen, Cervantino, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, and AIMS Festival in Austria, among others.
Locally, Elizabeth is the cellist of San Diego-based Quartet Nouveau. She performs with the California Chamber Orchestra and The Classics Philharmonic, San Diego New Music, Art of Elan, The Hutchins Consort, as well as playing shows at the La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe Theater, and the Civic Theater. Elizabeth works with the non-profit concert presenter, Art of Elan, as their Accounting and Donor Relations Coordinator.The cello professor at The University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University, she also maintains a private studio. Elizabeth earned both her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Cello Performance from the Eastman School of Music.
Since his solo debut at age 16 with the Owensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra, Jacob Thompson has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious venues, including the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, Chicago Symphony Center, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center in Detroit, and the Harris Theater in Chicago.
An active orchestral player, Jacob has held positions with several orchestras across the country, including the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic, Sinfonia da Camera in Urbana, IL, Illinois Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has also performed with the San Diego Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and served as a substitute for the New World Symphony in Miami, FL.
Jacob also passionately enjoys teaching and is a faculty member of the San Diego Suzuki School of Music. He is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and received his Suzuki training from Dr. Tanya Carey of Roosevelt University and Trina Carey Hodgson of Pasadena Conservatory.
Jacob attended Interlochen Arts Camp and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy with Honors, studying with Crispin Campbell. Subsequently, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory Music studying with Darrett Adkins. He also holds a Masters in Cello Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studying with Daniel McDonough of the Jupiter String Quartet. He most recently completed a Performance Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music studying with Brandon Vamos of the Grammy Award winning Pacifica Quartet.
Free concerts at noon every Monday year-round . . . no wonder the Mini-Concerts are the longest-running and one of the most popular classical music series at the library! This series was founded by Glenna Hazleton in 1970 at the Athenaeum, and has been going strong ever since. The concerts feature both local and touring musicians, prize-winning students, university music faculty members, local chamber ensembles. . . and the repertoire also includes jazz, folk, and world music. There are no reservations, no tickets . . . just line up at the side door of the Athenaeum before noon. (Donations are always welcome!) Mini-Concerts take place every Monday at noon and last about an hour.
The concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library. There are no physical tickets for these events. Doors open at 11:40 a.m. Last entry is at 12:10 p.m. or once capacity is reached. Seating is first-come; first-served. Reservations are not necessary, but seating is limited.