ABOUT US
Tahoe Music Alive is the premier provider of small music ensembles in the North Tahoe area, including outreach to schools and community groups, offering a variety of programming to diverse audiences. Through concerts in small venues and community outreach, Tahoe Music Alive seeks to inspire, educate and celebrate excellence in diverse musical expression and interpretation in the North Tahoe area. Tahoe Music Alive operates on the unceded territories of the Washoe people.
“Music is the medicine of the soul. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, joy to sadness, and life to everything.” Plato
Martha G. Russell – President
Martha Russell is Emerita at Stanford University, where she led the University’s visionary MediaX institute, forging business alliances and interdisciplinary research focused on the intersection of human interests and the development of new information technologies. In her professional endeavors, Martha’s guiding North star has always been an unswerving dedication to the power of shared vision. On nonprofit boards and in leadership roles with local, orchestral, and festival music organizations, Martha’s interests in interdisciplinary approaches and penchant for “always learning” have stimulated discovery and novel solutions. Drawing on her doctoral degree in Policy Analysis from the University of Minnesota, her systems perspective has informed planning/evaluation systems for local, regional, national, and international joint ventures that have sought to optimize the influence of innovation, collaborations and ecosystems. Martha moved to Truckee in 2021, following her daughter and family’s move to Olympic Valley. Martha plays ensemble and solo flute and piano (not at the same time) and is an advocate for environmental stewardship of planet Earth.
Charlene Simmons - Secretary
Initially from the Bay Area and Davis, now full-time in Truckee, she has applied her Ph.D. degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis, as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California, at the Universidad Anáhuac in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, and as Assistant Director of the nonpartisan California Research Bureau in the California State Library. As Senior Consultant to the Assembly Select Committee on Ethics, she was instrumental in a major legislative ethics reform (enacted by voters as Proposition 112). She also served as a Senior Consultant in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and as Federal Liaison for the California Employment Development Department. In Truckee Charlene has been active in the Tahoe Donner Trails and Open Space Committee, the Tahoe Donner Hiking Club and Elections Committee, the Truckee Donner Land Trust, and Soroptimist International. She and her husband Dan are avid skiers and hikers and enjoy and appreciate excellent music. Charlene Simmons is past chair of the California Council for the Humanities, the Yolo Family Service Agency, and Friends Outside.
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Martin G. Anderson - Treasurer
Marty Anderson, who recently retired from 38 years in Financial Planning and Investment Management, including 34 years with Merrill Lynch, moved to Truckee 6 years ago. He served on the Tahoe Donner Finance Committee for 4 years and earlier has served on several Boards including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the International Society for the Arts, Science and Technology. His love of music is long, deep and covers many styles. He currently serves on the Board of the Tahoe Truckee School of Music and plays guitar in the TreeTones, a local jazz band.
Scott Fitzgerrell - Board Member
Scott Fitzgerrell, who for some years was associate editor at Sunset Books, has enjoyed a varied career that has included stints as a schoolteacher, photographer, editor, art director, and general creative person. As a graphic designer he has created logos and IDs for clients ranging from the City of Piedmont to a custom guitar builder, as well as endless marcomm pieces for companies high-tech and low. Prior to retiring he worked with his wife, Debi, designing kitchens and baths and other remodels for her Piedmont real estate clients and his own. He has actively pursued photography since sixth grade and is still at it today. He paddles sea kayaks he has built himself and plays guitar for fun. He and Debi live in Incline Village and are active supporters of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Sierra Watch, Earth Justice, and other environmental organizations. Scott is only too pleased to be working with Tahoe Music Alive. After all, what is life without music?
Barbara Klencke - Board Member
Barbara Klencke, an Incline Village resident, is a physician and accomplished oncology drug developer, who recently retired as Chief Medical Officer of Sierra Oncology. Formerly a practicing oncologist whose career included academic clinical research, teaching, and patient care, Barb later moved into biotech, where she made substantial contributions to the development and approval of numerous cancer medications. In 2022, she was named to PharmaVoice’s list of the top 100 trailblazers in the life sciences, which saluted her as an innovator and noted her reputation for combining compassion for patients with business savvy acumen. Barb currently serves on the Boards of several biotech/pharma companies. She is a lifelong competitive swimmer and hiker, and since moving to Tahoe in 2017 has been an active kayaker and supporter of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center and other environmental organizations..
Barton Tretheway - Board Member
Barton Tretheway has had a passion for all things Lake Tahoe since he first visited in 1946. Though Chicago, Illinois is his primary residency, he and his wife Jennifer enjoy several months, winter and summer, at their home in Rubicon Bay. In addition to having been an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Barton is founder and managing partner of Rubicon Solutions Group and is a nationally recognized expert in strategy, governance, and new product/service development. He serves on several nonprofit boards and is past chair of the Medic Alert Foundation International. For the past thirty years, Barton has helped non-profit organizations in strategic planning, management and development. Barton currently serves as Director of the Sierra Parks Foundation and was the Foundation’s immediate past Treasurer.
David Kirkpatrick - Advisor
David Kirkpatrick is an attorney in Walnut Creek, specializing in nonprofit legal issues. He holds a law degree from Harvard University and has practiced law in California for over 50 years.
Ernest Grossman - Advisor
Active in community events in the Tahoe/Truckee community for over 40 years, Mr. Grossman, an attorney, is a founding Board member of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. For 25 years he took an active role in the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival, much of that time as CEO and/or President.
Lesley Robertson - Advisor
Founding member of the internationally celebrated St. Lawrence String Quartet (1989-) Lesley Robertson (viola) is proud to make her life at Stanford University where she teaches viola and along with her SL colleagues, directs the chamber music program, and coaches. At Stanford, Lesley also spearheads the St Lawrence Emerging String Quartet Program and the annual Chamber Music Seminar. A graduate of the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, Ms. Robertson also holds a degree from the University of British Columbia where she studied with mentor, Gerald Stanick. Ms. Robertson toured internationally for more than three decades, performing 100+ concerts worldwide per season while performing. She has served on the jury of several international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Recent festival engagements include performances at Spoleto Festival USA, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Banff Festival, Festival of the Sound, Santa Fe Chamber Music, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Bravo Vail, Music@Menlo, Summer Music Vancouver and more. Robertson plays on a viola (1992) made by fellow Canadian John Newton and a bow (2016) by Francois Malo.
Marcelyn Cohune - Advisor
As a member of the Truckee community for over 30 years, Marcelyn Cohune’s passion for theatrical and musical production has led her to be active in acting and directing theater productions for Plumas Players and Truckee Actors Guild, along with producing her brainchild, the ever popular Tahoe Donner Concert on the Green. That experience opened the door to her most passionate next 5 years as Executive Director of the Lake Tahoe Music Festival. Following a background as legal assistant to both
large and small law firms, from San Francisco to Tahoe, she used her skills to assist the General Manager and Board of Directors in the opening of the first gated, luxury private community and golf club in the area, Lahontan. While at Lahontan she attained her Community Association Certification but switched gears to join Chase International Real Estate as a California Associate Broker and Nevada Real Estate licensee. She says she is thrilled to work with this most passionate and talented group at Tahoe Music
Alive.