About the author

Julie Ayer
Julie Ayer

Julie Ayer is Assistant Principal second violinist with the Minnesota Orchestra. She was a member of the Houston Symphony for a brief period before coming to Minneapolis. She is a founding member of the Hill House Chamber Players, based in St. Paul, now in its 20th season.

In 1999 she arranged a three-month exchange with retired Sydney Symphony principal second violinist Gary Andrews. She has organized numerous Twin Cities benefit concerts, most notably Symphony for Survival in 1984, which featured members of the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras and other Twin Cities musicians. Speaker Garrison Keiller, conductor Neville Marriner and pianist Emanuel Ax also participated. Ms Ayer was active in the Minnesota Orchestra Adopt-A-School program for many years. She performed with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra in the summer of 2000, in numerous Sommerfest chamber concerts, and is a former ICSOM representative.

In June of 2005 she and pianist Edie Orloff presented their second annual concert in San Clemente, California at the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens.

Her immediate family includes her husband, Carl Nashan, retired violinist of 34 years with the Minnesota Orchestra, stepchildren Erica and Jeffrey Nashan, and five grandchildren, Andrew, Eolyne and Rosie Arnold, Keegan and Cole Nashan.

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  • Well, Julie, I certainly enjoyed reading these excerpts from your book Good work! As I am now in my 91st year, I have been retired from the TSO for many years. You may or may not know, that OCSM was hatched at my dining room table in the early seventies and that I was invited to speak at the annual conference two summers ago. There are still some people, there whom I have known for a long time — for some unknown reason several Bass players are very active as table officers!.
    I am still very active musically though I have downsized to a mandola which i play in quite a good orchestra and run several programs including a choir in the seniors’ residence where I live. Thanks for writing the book.
    Ruth Budd

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