Meet Our Ensemble Members:

Hannah Shute

Hannah Shute is a Phoenix-based cellist from Atlanta, Georgia. She is a chamber musician, cello instructor, studio musician, and is the founder of Firebird Music. Hannah has over 15 years of musical experience and regularly performs in small and large ensembles with the Symphony of the Southwest and the Southwest Shakespeare Company. She is a cello instructor at the Prestige Music Academy and a current member of the SOL Chamber Orchestra, who perform a range of classical and pop music at various venues in the Tempe and Phoenix area. Hannah enjoys improvising and playing cello in the classical, pop, rock, and contemporary genres. She received her bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance at the University of North Florida and completed her master’s at Arizona State University. In her free time, Hannah enjoys yoga, visiting thrift stores, and perusing coffee shops around Phoenix.

Paula Lastra Cancela

Paula Lastra Cancela is a Puertorrican violinist who began playing violin at the age of three. Paula has performed with the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Ricoas and performed as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico on several occasions. Paula is a current member of the Herberger string quartet, a music teacher for the Harmony Project in Phoenix, and a private violin instructor. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University where she studies with Professor Danwen Jiang. In her free time, Paula enjoys cooking both complex dishes as well as Puertorrican comfort foods like rice and beans. She loves to bake chocolate chip cookies on the weekends and read novels by Latin-American writers.

Nicole Allen

Nicole Allen is a native of Olathe, Kansas, and is a violinist and violist with a passion for performing and teaching. She has played the violin for over two decades and viola for 10 years. Nicole enjoys playing violin and viola in many genres, including classical, opera, jazz, bluegrass, contemporary, and musical theater. Nicole also has a love of chamber music and is a current member of the Herberger string quartet, who perform regularly in the greater Phoenix area. She was a finalist in the Iowa Center for the Arts Competition in 2018, performing Mozart's Violin Concerto in D Major, a favorite piece of hers.

Grace Wills

Grace Wills is an accomplished Phoenix-based violinist and violist. With over 19 years of performance experience, Grace enjoys performing in a variety of musical genres such as classical, pop, rock, jazz, folk, and musical theater. She is currently Principal Second Violin in the West Valley Symphony and regularly performs in many ensembles throughout the state, including The Phoenix Theatre Company, Arizona Broadway Theatre, MusicaNova Orchestra, and Arizona Philharmonic. Grace received bachelor’s degrees in Violin Performance with Dr. Katherine McLin and in Economics with a minor in Health Care Compliance and Regulations at Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. When not performing, Grace works for the Arizona Auditor General as a performance auditor and enjoys hiking, reading, and crocheting.

Bella Ward

Bella Ward is a violinist, songwriter, and teacher based in Arizona. Raised in a big family, Bella values community and draws from her background in classical, bluegrass, celtic, javanese, and musical theater music to cultivate dynamic concert experiences that bring people together. A nature enthusiast, she also draws inspiration from the landscape surrounding her. Her music is currently steeped in the sounds and colors of the desert while she pursues a Masters of Music in Violin Performance and a Music Entrepreneurship Certificate at Arizona State University. Alongside her degree program, Bella is currently working on her second album of original music with her band “Water The Band”, with plans to release the music in the spring of 2024.

Zeyu Chen

Zeyu Chen is a violin solo, chamber, and orchestral performer from Taiyuan, China. He has played violin for 20 years and is a current member of the Tuscon Symphony. Zeyu received his bachelor's degree in Violin Performance at the Renmin University of China in Beijing. After coming to the United States, Zeyu earned his master's degree at the University of Oklahoma. Zeyu is a previous member of the Herberger String Quartet and is currently completing his Doctorate degree in Violin Performance with a teachers' assistantship at Arizona State University under Dr. Jonathan Swartz.

Julian Nguyen

Julian Nguyen is a Phoenix-based violinist and violin instructor. Since 2021, Julian has served as Concertmaster for Musica Nova Orchestra, and began his tenure as Teaching Artist at SOUNDS Academy in the spring of 2022. In his time at ASU, Julian was one of four winners of the 2019-2020 ASU Concerto Competition and won the Concertmaster position of the ASU Symphony Orchestra for three cycles in the 2019-2020 concert season. Julian continues experimenting with creating aesthetically tailored performances designed to engage and excite new audiences. You can keep up with him here.

In 2015, Julian Nguyen earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance at Rice University, where he studied with Kenneth Goldsmith. In 2020 and 2023, he earned his Master of Music in Violin Performance and DMA in Violin Performance at ASU, where he studied with Dr. Jonathan Swartz. Julian devotes his time to his students and his ensembles, giving back to his community through mentorship and performance.

Stephen Putnam

Stephen is a mediocre musician who was once mistaken for someone with actual talent and has spent the rest of his life trying to live up to it. Lunar rainbows appear in Victoria, BC whenever his mortal form rises 11,624 ft. above sea level. The Manhattan (Kansas) Times-Union-Tribune-Tribute-Press Association labeled his unique performance style as “Something we’d rather not talk about.” In addition to winning many awards for his plain toast recipe, Stephen’s reflection is an accomplished candy-corn collector and his shadow once scrambled petrified dodo bird eggs for the Queen of Macedonia. On his 3rd birthday, Stephen turned 4. When he isn’t attempting to play piano or guitar, Stephen can often be found chasing geese in the park, crying into a bucket and drinking his own tears, and complaining about aerodynamic regulations in Formula 1.