The 2022-2023 season marks violinist Stephen Cepeda‘s 17th year as a concertmaster of the Helena Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the HSO on several occasions including performances of Sibelius, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Korngold, Britten, and Beethoven . This season he played Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy for opening night in Helena and with the SouthEastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared as soloist with the Montana State Orchestra and University of Denver’s Lamont Symphony. In the summer of 2009 he completed a tour throughout Southeast Asia performing Mendelssohn‘s violin concerto including a recital at the United States Embassy in Hanoi Vietnam. Mr. Cepeda was a founding member of the Meritage string Quartet which was featured on Emmy award winning television series 11th and Grant on PBS. The Meritage also participated in the Deer Valley and Centrum music festivals studying with the Muir and Tokyo string quartets. An advocate for new music, Mr. Cepeda has recorded the works of Montana composers Eric Funk and Stefan Stern. Beginning his studies at the age of five with Daniel Reinker ,Mr. Cepeda has studied with some of the nations finest violinists, including Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio and Julius Schulman.  While  attending the University of Houston’s Moores Schoolof Music he studied with the renowned violinist Andrzej Grabiec.