Allegria Ensemble provides live music for weddings and receptions in State College, Centre County, and Central Pennsylvania.  Our core chamber music ensemble is flute, violin, and cello.  We also offer duo and trio combinations of flute, violin, cello, oboe, and piano.  See more details at wedding music and FAQs.  Contact us for more details or a custom quote.  Our repertoire includes all the wedding standards.

We perform in concert and enjoy a variety of repertoire from early music to contemporary music including collaborations with living composers, commissions, and our own arrangements. We have appeared in concert at Music at Penn’s Woods, the Penn State University Palmer Museum for the Moments of Change series, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, The Bellefonte Historical Society, Juniata College, the First Thursday Series at Schlow Library, and First Night State College.



In May we participate in National Chamber Music month by offering guided programs supported by Music at Penn's Woods and the American Federation of Musicians Music Performance Trust Fund.  The program is called "How to Listen to Classical Music: What to Know to Enjoy the Show" for audiences of any age who are new to classical chamber music.  Contact us for more information if you'd like to host the program at your school or venue.  The program can easily be adapted for a variety of ages and stages.




PERFORMER BIOS

  Cathy Collinge Herrera, Flute, holds both a D.M. degree in Performance and World Music Certificate from Florida State University. She has performed solo, chamber and symphonic repertoire in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England, Central and South America. A Fulbright scholar to Peru, she was principal flutist with the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional and founder of the Festivales Internacionales de Flautistas.  As artistic ambassador for the U.S. Embassy, she performed in Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, and Venezuela. She taught at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts Conservatorium in Perth, Australia and at Valparaiso University, IN.  Now in central PA, she teaches at Juniata College and privately in her home studio.  She is a Rostered Artist for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts with Galaxy Arts in Education. She performs also with the Nittany Valley and Altoona Symphonies, Music at Penns Woods, Camerata Amistad, and From the Heart duo.


Debbie Trudeau, Violin, performs regularly with the Altoona Symphony (where she is one of the Concertmasters), Music at Penn's Woods, the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra, and the Nittany Valley Symphony.  She received her M.M. Performance from New England Conservatory after studies with Dorothy DeLay and Dan Stepner. Prior to arriving in Pennsylvania, she was Associate Concertmaster with the Glimmerglass Opera and a member of the Syracuse Symphony.  An enthusiastic teacher, she was the Director of Sinfonia and Violin/Viola instructor at Juniata College. She currently teaches private students age 8 to 88. A trained Teaching Artist in New York and for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, she enjoys the opportunity to explore the intersections of music with other arts and social topics. She is part of the creative team for the series Music at McCann featuring professional chamber ensembles in concert.


  Jonathan Dexter, Cello, received performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, and University of Texas at Austin.  Although classically trained, his professional work runs the gamut of styles and activities.  As a recording artist, Jonathan has been featured on a number of soundtracks such as Bernie (2012) starring Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine,  the television show Smash (2011), Nobelity (2006), and A Scanner Darkly (2006) starring Keanu Reeves and Robert Downy Jr.  Jon composed an original score to the short film Recess which showed at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

  Diane Gold Toulson, Piano and Flute, is well known to Central Pennsylvania audiences as principal flute of the Nittany Valley, York, and Altoona Symphonies.  A graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Columbia University, Ms. Toulson has performed in recitals and given master classes throughout the U.S. and Europe.  She is a frequent performer at the National Flute Associations' national conventions. As a pianist, she has performed at the Cullowee Music Festival in North Carolina and with the Huntingdon Trio in Philadelphia, with whom she was involved in over 40 commissions.  She is currently active in the Flute/Clarinet Duos Consortium commissioning new works for flute, clarinet and piano. Formerly on the faculty at Bucknell University and Juniata College, she currently teaches both flute and piano at The Music Academy in State College, PA.


  Robyn Dixon Costa, Oboe and English Horn, plays with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, a position she has held since 2001. She is also an associate musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and second oboist with the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra and the Music at Penn’s Woods Festival Orchestra. Currently, she teaches in the music departments of Penn State University, Bloomsburg University, and Juniata College. Robyn holds a B.M. from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, an M.M. from Temple University and a D.M.A. from The Ohio State University. In addition to her musical endeavors, she is a teacher trainee at the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique. Robyn lives in State College, PA, with her husband, clarinetist Anthony Costa.