2022 Musicians
Michael Geib
Dr. Michael Geib, double bassist, composer, and pedagogue, joined the faculty at the University of Central Oklahoma School of Music in 2010. He has also taught at Florida State University, Oklahoma Christian University, Edmond North High School, and the Quartz Mountain Music Festival. He is committed to teaching bassists to be versed in all types of music, with his doctoral treatise focusing on teaching improvisation to orchestral double bass players. His principal teachers have included Melanie Punter, Rodney Jordan, Ian Bracchitta, and Delbert Felix.
As a symphonic musician, Dr. Geib has performed in professional orchestras in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Currently he is the principal bassist of the Enid Symphony Orchestra and Edmond Chamber Orchestra, as well as a member of the Norman Philharmonic, the Painted Sky Opera Orchestra, and the Colorado Mahlerfest Orchestra. He has performed on multiple recordings for the Naxos Label, including Ellen Taafe Zwilich: Millennium Fantasy, Images, Peanuts Gallery in 2009, where he was principal bassist and a featured soloist. He has performed in festivals internationally, including the Ringling International Arts Festival in Sarasota, Florida and the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has also been featured on a number of radio broadcasts, including Performance Today on American Public Media and Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? on National Public Radio.
As a jazz musician, Dr. Geib has performed with Benny Golson, Dave Douglas, Kenny Garrett, Jerry Tachoir, John Fedchock, Marcus Roberts, Jason Marsalis, Marcus Printup, Walt Weiskopf, Martin Bejerano, and Paul McKee, among others. He has frequently performed at The Jazz Corner on Hilton Head Island, recognized by Downbeat Magazine as one of the “150 Great Jazz Venues of the World.” He has performed at several national festivals including Jazz in June Inc., Chamber Music Amarillo, and the Jazz Education Network Conference.
Internationally, he has performed in such clubs as The Music Village in Brussels, Belgium. Currently he performs with the 5th Street Jazz Collective, the Claire Piersol Band, the Edmond Jazz Orchestra, and various other groups in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. He is also an active jazz composer, having written original music for productions and festivals in Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
An active theatre orchestra musician, Dr. Geib has performed in the musicals Assassins, Kiss Me Kate, Anything Goes, Spring Awakening, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, The Last Five Years, Little Shop of Horrors, and Big River, among others. He has performed in multiple premieres, including Mann... and Wife in 2016, Bernice Bobs Her Hair in 2015, and Broadway Tonight’s Flipside: The Patti Page Story in 2011. He also performs regularly for the Lyric Theater of Oklahoma.
To learn more, visit michaeltgeib.com.
Ty Myers
Ty Myers, violin, is an active performer in Oklahoma. He performs orchestrally as Concertmaster of the Enid Symphony, The Oklahoma Baptist University Festival Orchestra, Principal Second of the Painted Sky Opera, a member in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and Norman Philharmonic, and Principal Second violin of the Fort Smith Symphony. As a teacher in higher education, Ty has taught at Oklahoma Baptist University, Drake University, and was Orchestra Director and Assistant Professor of Upper Strings at Central College in Iowa. He enjoys a background in chamber music, performing with faculty at Wichita State University and as violinist and leader at the Salisbury House Chamber Music Society. Ty also enjoys publishing arrangements for string quartets and school orchestra programs.
Ty Myers has roots in Pennsylvania. He grew up in Kingston, PA and attended Wyoming Seminary while studying music at the summer Wilkes University preparatory program. He has received degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and the University of Oklahoma. His teachers include Felicia Moye, Pinchas Zukerman, the Emerson String Quartet, Lucie Robert, and Brian Lewis.
Stephanie Lemoine
Stephanie Lemoine, cellist, enjoys a diverse performing career. Her orchestral experience includes performing as Principal Cellist of the Fort Smith Symphony, Enid Symphony, Painted Sky Opera, and the Oklahoma Baptist University Festival Orchestra. She has also performed as member of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the Norman Philharmonic, the St Joseph Symphony in Missouri, and continuo in the Bach’s Lunch Series in Kansas City, Missouri. Stephanie has also had the pleasure of soloing with the Fort Smith Symphony performing cello works by Tan Dun and F. J. Haydn. She is frequently sought after for her chamber music collaboration, including with music faculty at Wichita State University, The Salisbury Chamber Music Society of Des Moines, and with noted violinist Yuval Waldman. Stephanie has been on the faculty at Oklahoma Baptist University, Central College, and Oklahoma Christian University. Also a music contractor, she hires for and performs with traveling musicians such as Michael Buble, Kristin Chenoweth, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Stephanie grew up in Louisiana and Oklahoma and received degrees from the Kansas City Conservatory of Music and University of Oklahoma. She has studied with Carter Enyeart, Gregory Sauer, Timothy Eddy, Colin Carr, Zara Nelsova, and the Emerson String Quartet.
Meryl Geib
Meryl Geib, cellist and pedagogue, has maintained an active and varied career as a musician in central Oklahoma since 2009. She earned her Bachelors of Music degree with distinction from the School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with previous studies at the University of Texas-Arlington and the University of Central Oklahoma. Her primary teachers include Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher, Dr. Karen Becker, and Dr. Elizabeth Morrow.
As a performer, Mrs. Geib has played in orchestras and chamber groups in Arkansas, California, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. She is a former member of the Garland Symphony, Las Colinas Symphony, ION Trio, Red Rock Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony Arlington. Currently, she is principal of the Covenant Chamber Orchestra, a founding member the Edmond Chamber Orchestra, and also performs with the Enid Symphony Orchestra. She has performed at venues nationally and abroad, including the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City. During her career, music tour opportunities have taken her to Australia with a cello ensemble and to Nuremberg, Germany for the premiere of “Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra, op. 170” with guitarist Stefan Grasse. To further expand her understanding of music throughout time, Mrs. Geib has begun the study and performance of baroque cello and viola da gamba. She regularly performs with Trio Antiqua and at various events held in conjunction with the Brisch Center for Historical Performance.
As an educator, Mrs. Geib is committed to expanding cello and chamber music education in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. She is an active member of the American String Teachers Association, and currently maintains a large private studio. Her students have participated in various Oklahoma ensembles, including the North Central Honors Orchestra, All-OMEA, Oklahoma Youth Orchestras and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic's Society of Strings. She also co-founded the student-musician scholarship program at Covenant Presbyterian in The Village, Oklahoma in order to help young musicians learn how they can benefit the community. To further improve the education of young cellists Mrs. Geib has teamed with other local teachers to form the OKC Cello Project, a group dedicated to creating unique educational experiences for young cellists in central Oklahoma.
With an eye toward the future, Mrs. Geib hopes to inspire entrepreneurship in the field of music. She is available to mentor young musicians in how to start and manage new businesses. She has been a guest speaker for UCO music business courses and the UCO cello studio. Ultimately, Mrs. Geib hopes to help young musicians redefine the role of music in the twenty-first century and have fun doing so.
In 2019 Meryl Geib was honored by her fellow string teachers and received the American String Teachers Association-Oklahoma Chapter 2019 Teacher of the Year Award.
Theodora Morris
Theodora Morris is an adjunct instructor of violin, recorder and Chamber Music at The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and Rose State College. A native of Vienna, Austria, she completed her education at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna with diplomas in violin (1973) and recorder (1976), studying with Günter Pichler, Edith Bertschinger, Rene Clemencic and Elisabet Schaftlein. She also studied historical performance practices with Eduard Melkus. In 1984, Ms. Morris moved to Arizona, studying violin with Eugene Lombardi and string pedagogy with William Magers at Arizona State University.
Ms. Morris taught strings and recorder in the Vienna public schools for ten years and performed regularly with the Capella Academica Wien, the Stadtmusik Wien, the orchestras of the Wiener Volksoper and Theater an der Wien and the Mozart Oper Salzburg.
Since moving to the United States in 1984, she has been a member of the Sun City Symphony (in AZ), the Lawton Philharmonic, the Enid Symphony and has served as concertmaster of the Oklahoma City Community Orchestra. She is a founding member and serves as concertmaster of the Edmond Chamber Orchestra.
As a member of the UCO Faculty String Quartet, she has performed chamber music throughout Oklahoma, Southwestern United States, China, Thailand and Germany. She has been a featured soloist with the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Community Orchestra, the Jubilee Community Orchestra of Ashville, NC, the UCO Symphony, the UCO Chamber Orchestra and the Thai National Symphony in Bangkok, Thailand.
Ms. Morris is an active member of the UCO Brisch Center for Historical Performance and is a founding member of Trio Antiqua, a chamber music group founded in 2014 dedicated to the performance of early music on period instruments.
Ralph Morris
Dr. Ralph Morris joined the faculty of the University of Central Oklahoma in 1991. He is the Director of the UCO Symphony Orchestra and teaches viola and chamber music. He is the former Director of the UCO School of Music. He holds a BM from Texas Christian University and a MM and PhD in Musical Arts from Arizona State University. In addition, Dr. Morris studied violin, viola and historical performance practice with Eduard Melkus at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna. His teachers have also included William Magers and Kenneth Schanewerk.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Morris is a former member of the Fort Worth Symphony. He currently serves as principal violist of the Enid Symphony.
While living in Austria for over eight years, he specialized in the performance of Baroque and Classical music, performing with the Capella Academica Wien and the Wiener Barock Solisten in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. He also performed throughout Europe and Japan as a member of the orchestras of the Wiener Volksoper, the Theater an der Wien and the Mozart Oper Salzburg.
As a conductor, he has led the UCO Chamber Orchestra in performances at Merkin Hall in New York City, the Eroica Hall in Vienna, Austria, the Central University of Finance and Economics and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.
As a member of the UCO Faculty String Quartet, Dr. Morris has performed chamber music throughout Oklahoma, the United States, China, Thailand and Germany. He has been a featured soloist with the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oklahoma City Community Orchestra, the Jubilee Community Orchestra of Ashville, NC, the UCO Symphony, the UCO Chamber Orchestra and the Thai Symphony in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dr. Morris is an active member of the University of Central Oklahoma Center for Historical Performance and is a founding member of Trio Antiqua, a chamber music group founded in 2014 dedicated to the performance of early music on period instruments.
In 2016 Dr. Morris was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Oklahoma Chapter of the American String Teachers Association.