Dr. Andrew Bluhm has been involved with the LSO for over 15 years in many capacities. He began his involvement with the orchestra as a trumpet player and continues in that role currently. Andrew has been a member of the LSO Artistic Committee for many years, chairing that group during times that the orchestra was without a music director. He has also served on two Music Director selection committees. During all this time, he regularly attended board meetings, and has served as an at large board member for the past year.  Andrew also founded the Saturday Morning Brass Project, a group of professional and accomplished amateur brass musicians in Northern VA who perform at various venues in the area.

Andrew is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon by profession. He and his two business partners have run a successful private practice, Loudoun Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, for the past 30 years. In addition, he has been co-director of the Greater Loudoun Study Club, an organization providing continuing education to area dentists for the past 20 years.

For Andrew, music is a true passion, and he is very grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Loudoun Symphony Association. He will do all in his power to support the further growth of the organization, so that everyone in Loudoun County can experience the joy of the music we make.

Michelle Rippey studied flute performance through high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, during her summers at the Brevard Music Center and holds a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance and a Master of Education.

Ms. Rippey performs regularly with the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, the Pro Art Chamber Orchestra (PACO) of Greater Washington D.C., and as a freelance musician throughout the Potomac region. She is the flute instructor and director of the Flute Ensemble at Frederick Community College, maintains a private flute studio, and enjoys assisting youth programs as an adjudicator for youth contests, a mentor for youth orchestra, and by providing sectional coaching, clinics, and master classes for young flutists for schools throughout the Potomac region.

In her spare time Ms. Rippey enjoys hiking and biking with her husband, and spending time with their 5 daughters, their parents, and their two German Shepherd dogs.

Brett’s day job is working with scientific nonprofits on both their administration and meetings.  As a member of several boards of directors, he is hopeful that his experience can be useful to the Loudoun Symphony.  Brett is also a volunteer board member for several community based nonprofits with the goals of growing community through sports and the arts.

Brett’s appreciation for the arts increased when his then-young daughter began ballet classes at three years old.  She danced through her childhood and eventually became a professional ballerina.  This experience resulted in a long-standing appreciation for the arts and how it can bring people together and be a positive force in the community.

Flutist Ashley Bowen-Sanchez is an active freelance musician in the D.C. Metropolitan area.  Currently, Ashley is a member of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington (PACO). She began her flute studies with Wendy Webb Kumer, then continued with George Pope, Mary Kay Robinson, and Walfrid Kujala. Ashley holds degrees in flute performance from the University of Akron (B.M.) and Northwestern University (M.M.).

Rick’s involvement and admiration for LSO and LSYO began when his youngest son joined the LSYO as a cellist nearly 20 years ago, the LSYO was significantly smaller then! Growth of the arts and engaging the community that the LSO/LSYO serves inspired Rick to join the Board. 

Rick works to expand and increase corporate partnerships with LSO/LSYO and enjoys introducing the symphony to new audience members. 

Thomas Gardner is a Northern Virginia native who began playing the violin at the age of ten in

the Manassas City Public Schools. He quickly knew that making music and playing the violin

was what he wanted to do for his future. In high school, Thomas was a member of the Northern

Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra (now known as the American Youth Philharmonic) and was

a member of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship Program. He has attended

Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas; Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia; and

George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music

Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religion. He is currently pursuing his Master of

Divinity degree from Reformed Theological Seminary. In addition to playing with several local

orchestras, Thomas has been the first violinist of the Haase String Quartet, the Associate

Concertmaster of the Tysons McLean Orchestra, and is now enjoying serving as the Principal

Second Violinist of the Loudoun Symphony. Thomas has been a full time strings teacher at both

the middle school and high school level since 2002. He currently teaches strings at Mercer

Middle School. Thomas serves as a Ruling Elder at Potomac Hills Presbyterian Church where he

is also the Music Director. Thomas enjoys spending time with his wife Claire and their four

children, riding his motorcycle, and reading.

Catherine Palusci has been a violist with the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra since 1999, with a five-year hiatus to Texas. She has served as a Board member for the last two years.

Loving every minute of her beginner orchestra in the public school system in Plano, Texas, she eventually moved on to viola to fill its need, for the last 35 years. While in Texas, she performed in the Allen Philharmonic for six seasons. In addition to performing with the LSO, she also plays viola in the ProArte Chamber Orchestra (PACO) of Greater Washington DC, and the DC Strings Workshop.

Catherine happily calls Ashburn her home, where she maintains a private viola and violin studio. She also enjoys providing sectional instruction for young string players of various levels throughout Loudoun County schools.

Among her favorite company is her husband JP, son Gabriel, daughter Daniela, and their cat Leo.

Mary Riddell has been the Principal Oboist of the LSO since 2021 after becoming a regular substitute musician in 2019. She has been serving the local musical community as an oboe teacher for 11 years and has been a resident of Loudoun County for 3 years. Beyond the LSO, she has been the second oboist of the Washington Chamber Orchestra for 10 years and freelances with many orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, widely regarded as one of the top orchestras in the world.  She holds a BM from Northwestern University and a MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with members of the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestras, respectively. Mary also has 6 years of experience in the service industry, as well as 3 years of management experience, during which her team consistently outperformed other teams in her region in productivity and sales. She now uses these skills to run her own business and hopes to make a positive impact on the legacy of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra.

Mitra Setayesh has more than twenty-five years’ experience in various business leadership positions in the US and Europe.  Ms. Setayesh and her husband Luiz Taifas planned and founded Ion International Training Center. Up until recently, Mitra owned and headed MS Consulting Group, a full-service marketing and advertising agency. MS Consulting Group’s over 50 clients ranged from small businesses to big corporations such as Pepco, Giant Food, PAHO (Pan American Health Organization), etc., all attesting to her track record of increasing revenue and efficiency, while solving team conflicts and improving overall financial health of the organization. Prior to that, she served in many leadership roles in various industries, training sales teams coast to coast, turning companies around, and preparing and facilitating many for mergers and/or acquisitions. She has helped start and run 27 companies, 3 of which were her own.

Mitra brings a wealth of experience and expertise to any team she joins, and has a knack for spotting talent and potential, within the team members. She is a good mentor and strongly believes in gratitude, humility and giving back.

She received her graduate degrees from University of Lausanne, Switzerland and did her Ph.D. work in Psycho-Linguistics at The Sorbonne University in Paris, France.

Raelene Wagoner has been a First Violinist of the LSO for over 20 years and has served as a Board member of the Loudoun Symphony for the past four years.

Wagoner is Vice President, Talent Management at Unison. She has over 25 years of experience in technology firms as an HR executive, consulting delivery leader, and engineer. She has led the HR components of several mergers and acquisitions, as well as international experience in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Before joining CVP, Raelene spent 7 years as the HR executive in Mantas, a software company, and over 12 years at SRA International as a consulting delivery leader.

Raelene holds a BS in Computer Science and a Music minor from the College of William and Mary. Raelene is a Trustee on the William and Mary Foundation and former Board member of the William and Mary Career Center Employer Advisory Board.

Michelle Khalili Yuhas is a Managing Director in PNC’s Financial Institutions Group (“FIG”) specializing in asset managers, wealth managers and other diversified financial institutions. Michelle joined PNC in 2017.  Prior to joining PNC, Michelle spent a number of years at Capital One, where she was a Senior Vice President focusing on growing various aspects of their Commercial Banking business – specifically in the areas of Loan Syndications, FX and Interest Rate Derivatives, as well as in their Middle Market Banking division.  She also spent a few years managing Capital One’s Treasury Operations group.  Prior to that, Michelle spent several years at Credit Suisse in Fixed Income Derivatives, Structured Debt Capital Markets, and Investment Banking covering a number of FIG clients. Michelle started her career at Prudential Investments as a member of their Fixed Income Mutual Fund Management team. Michelle graduated with honors from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Economics.. 

At the age of 10, she began studying piano and also won several national titles in pointe.  Michelle has continued to pursue her passion of both music and dance throughout the years, playing in several orchestras, playing for or performing in musicals and theatre shows, singing for her church, and also instructing, performing and competing in dance.

She has three school-aged boys who all play music.  Michelle graduated with honors from Wellesley College with a BA in Economics and a minor in Studio Art.