Ellen dePasquale, currently associate concertmaster, will step down at the end of August; she reportedly decided to leave "on principle" after music director Franz Welser-M‹st announced the creation of the first associate concertmaster post, which would supersede hers. No-one has yet been appointed to replace her.
Otto joined the first violin section in St. Louis in 2001 and was promoted to assistant concertmaster in 2005. He holds a bachelor of music degree from the Hochschule f‹r Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany, and a master of music degree from the Juilliard School.
He has studied violin with Igor Ozim and Christiane Hutcap in Cologne, Lewis Kaplan in New York and Vera Kramarowa in Mannheim and chamber music with Felix Galimir and Samuel Sanders. He has participated in master classes led by Anne-Sophie Mutter and Ruggiero Ricci.
