A native of St. Paul, MN, Katherine Vogele is Principal Flute with the South Dakota Symphony and a member of the Dakota Wind Quintet.  An active performer and clinician throughout the region, she has also been heard internationally with ensembles throughout the South Pacific, including performances in Australia and New Zealand.  In addition, she toured as a concerto soloist throughout Malaysia and represented the United States as Principal Flute of the American Flute Ensemble’s prestigious 2002 France Tour.  She has performed as a substitute with the Minnesota Orchestra and can be heard on the Innova label.  Currently Katherine maintains an active flute studio in Sioux Falls.

Christopher Hill is in his 20^th season as the principal clarinetist of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his tenure with the SDSO, he has performed with many other fine ensembles across the United States and Europe, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, New Sousa Band, Carousel National Tour, Evita World Tour, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Binghamton Symphony, and the Rome Festival Orchestra. He has been a soloist with the South Dakota Symphony, Sioux Falls Municipal Band, Rome Festival Orchestra, Hunterdon Symphony, Raritan Valley Symphonic Band, and the Blawenburg Band, with which he had the honor of soloing at the White House.  Mr. Hill performed the world premiere of Nathan Pawelek's Concertino in 2001. He and SDSO pianist John Walker performed at the international clarinet festival, ClarinetFest 2005, in Tokyo, Japan, and have recorded a CD due to be released in 2006. He is also featured on two recordings with the SDSO.  Mr. Hill is the conductor of the Sioux Falls Municipal Band, and has conducted the South Dakota Symphony, Hunterdon Symphony, Somerset Hills Wind Ensemble, and was a rehearsal conductor for the Carousel National Tour. He has been a clinician at Arizona State University, the University of Southern California, Northern State University, the University of South Dakota, Augustana College, and South Dakota State University.  Mr. Hill holds a Bachelor and Master of Music degree from Temple University, where he was a student of Anthony Gigliotti.  In addition, he has studied with Donald Montanaro, Burt Hara, Ronald Rueben, Karl Herman, David Peck, and George Silfies. A noted mouthpiece craftsman, Mr. Hill is a designer of the Chadash-Hill mouthpiece, which is used in many of the world's finest orchestras and music schools.  He is a Rico Grand Concert artist.

Ryan Gruber, a native of Wisconsin, was appointed Principal Horn of the South Dakota Symphony in May 2007.  Mr. Gruber returns to the U.S. from Valencia, Spain, where he was hired by Lorin Maazel to serve in the horn section of the Palau Opera House Orchestra. Previously, Mr. Gruber was a member of the New World Symphony and held positions in orchestras in Wisconsin and Iowa.  He served as guest principal horn with The Phoenix Symphony in April 2006, and has also appeared with the Kansas City Symphony.  Mr. Gruber has also held fellowships with the UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Spoleto Festival USA, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Mr. Gruber completed his undergraduate studies at Northwestern University and the University of Wisconsin – Madison and thereafter was a Fulbright Fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.  His principal teachers were Frøydis Ree Wekre, Gail Williams, and Douglas Hill.

John Tomkins has served as the Principal Bassoon in the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Dakota Wind Quintet since 2002.  He is the Bassoon instructor at Augustana College, and teaches privately as well.  John received his Bachelor's Degree Summa Cum Laude from the Ohio State University and a Master's Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.  His teachers include Joseph Hesseman, Christopher Weait, John Clouser, and Ron Phillips.  John has attended and performed at the Conductor's Retreat at Medowmak, Kent/Blossom Summer Music, the Festival-Institute at Round Top, The National Orchestral Institute, and the Tanglewood Music Center.  He has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, and has been featured as a soloist with the Sioux Falls Municipal Band, South Dakota Chamber Orchestra, and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra.  John lives in Sioux Falls with his wife Emily and son Elliott.

Jeff Paul, principal oboist with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, grew up in Southern California where he gained experience and expertise in various forms of performing arts. An aspiring concert pianist and total theory geek by the age of ten, he began to expand his musical interests by taking up the oboe in fourth grade, the saxophone in high school, and in college he started to play anything he could find that made noise, including the bagpipes, pennywhistle, guitars, and various kinds of hand percussion. His constant involvement as an actor/singer in community theater productions through his youth aided in his broad interests and since then he has become well- versed in composition, jazz/rock, improvisation, and ethnic folk musics. Jeff began his conducting career as the drum major of his elementary and junior high school marching bands, and is very pleased to have renounced the mace and plumes in favor of the baton he uses to conduct the symphony’s Philharmonia youth orchestra. When he isn’t playing long tones, Jeff enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife and three children.