Bridger Quartet
Trevor Ostenson is a co-founder and string instructor at the Bridger String Conservatory in Bozeman where he teaches private violin & viola, coaches small ensembles, performs regularly with the Bridger String Quartet, and manages the violin shop at Bridger Strings. His earliest formal musical training came at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota, followed by years of private study in North Dakota. Trevor received the opportunity to be a guest soloist as a teenager with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony and has since been a violinist with the Billings Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, Intermountain Opera, Concertmaster of the Helena Symphony, and appeared in theater productions including Damn Yankees!, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Carol, and the title role as “the fiddler” in The Fiddler on the Roof. Trevor earned a Business degree at Montana State University and is currently completing a second degree at Montana State in Music Technology. Recent accomplishments include premieres of new works including one experimental film with music, one film score, and two original electronic music compositions.
Michael Certalic is the Director of the award winning orchestra program of the Bozeman Public Schools where he directs four high school orchestras, a middle school Honor Orchestra, and an innovative chamber music program. Michael holds a Masters in Education and studied as a teenager at Osnabruck Conservatory in Germany. As a performer Michael has extensive experience as a soloist, studio musician, chamber musician, section leader, Concertmaster, and in recital. His principal teachers have been Creech and Patti Reynolds, and Johan Jonsson. In addition to being a member of the String Orchestra of the Rockies, he is a co-founder of the Bridger String Quartet and the Bridger String Conservatory where he teaches 15 violin and viola students. He continues to be a coach and teacher at Summer chamber music camps. He lives in Bozeman, Montana with his wife Kimberly and their son Noah.
Violist Emily Muller Callender holds a Masters in Vocal Performance from Eastern Washington University and a Bachelors in Music from Eastern Oregon University, and is working on a Masters in Education at Montana State University. She is currently co-principal viola of the Oregon East Symphony and plays with the Helena, Billings, and Mid-Columbia symphonies periodically as well. An accompanist and vocalist as well as violist, Ms. Muller Callender performs opera and oratorio throughout the northwest, performing recently with the Willamette Concert Opera and Spokane Symphony Opera. She studied voice with Patricia Blankenship-Mortier, Dr. Randel Wagner, and Dr. Peter Wordleman, violin/viola with Drs. Lisa Robertson and Phil Baldwin, and piano Dr. Matthew Cooper and Kendall Feeney. In addition to her classical background, Emily plays with the bluegrass band Blue Pass, featured on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and various festivals, and is the current state president of the Montana Old-Time Fiddlers. She maintains a studio in Bozeman and Livingston of approximately 35 students, and is a regular instructor for several fiddle and chamber music camps, as well music director for the Firehouse 5 theatre’s Winter Young Actor’s Workshop and a frequent performer in their productions.
At the age of 10, Jesse discovered the cello when the school district in Port Angeles, WA offered a string program to students. Jesse holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Montana State University in Bozeman and a music teaching license for students K-12 in both the states of Washington and Montana. Continuing his education with private cello instructors until the age of 22 allowed Jesse to progress as a professional cellist and afforded him the privilege of playing in many different venues and countries such as: Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, NPR’s “All Things Considered”, Japan, Bulgaria, Italy, Czech Republic and Germany. Currently, Jesse lives in Bozeman, Montana and is involved with the Montana Mandolin Society, various Symphonies, and the Bridger String Quartet.
