COA String Faculty
Violist and violinist Kathleen Crabtree enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and pedagogue. While studying at the Eastman School of Music, she won the concerto competition with Margaret Brouwer’s new viola concerto and subsequently performed it at the 2012 International Viola Congress. This began a love affair with contemporary music, and she continues to perform new works on the Sounds Modern concert series in Texas and the New Music on the Bayou festival in Louisiana.
An artist of diverse musical interests, she has appeared with the Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, Renée Fleming, the Eagles, Evanescence, Josh Groban, and Michael Bublé. She traveled to Spain on musical missions trips in 2023 and 2025 with the Christian cover band Texas Mosaix, and has also performed in Argentina's Teatro Colón. Her playing can be heard on the posthumous DMX album Let Us Pray: Chapter X, Kory Reeder’s works on Kuyin Records, Full Spectrum Records, and Edition Wandelsweiser, and upcoming albums by Schoenberg and Christian violin metalcore band Drive Thru Society. She has been featured on KXT's Homegrown Music Show in DFW, Colorado Public Radio, and on CBS (KCNC in Colorado), and plays with the Abilene Philharmonic and Allen Philharmonic.
Kathleen holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM), Cleveland Institute of Music (MM), and University of North Texas (DMA). She teaches at Abilene Christian University and Hardin-Simmons University.
Jennifer Schweigert grew up in Abilene and is a proud product of AISD. She graduated from Cooper High School in 2004. While a student at Cooper, she played viola in the Cooper Orchestra and played clarinet in the Awesome Cooper Band and Honor Band. She had the honor of performing with the All-Region band and orchestra for all four years. She was also one of the original members of the elite performing group, Revolution Strings. After graduating, she attended Texas Tech University, before transferring to and finishing her degree at Hardin-Simmons University. At Texas Tech, she studied viola with Dr. Renee Skerik and was in the University Symphony Orchestra directed by Dr. Gary Lewis and the Going Band from Raiderland under the direction of Dr. Christopher Anderson. During her time at HSU, Ms. Schweigert was a member of the Collegiate Orchestra and HSU Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Peter Isaacson, and HSU Concert Band and the World-Famous Cowboy Band under the direction of Dr. Wayne Dorothy. She studied viola with Mona Wilson and Dr. Peter Neubert. She actively participated in various chamber ensembles coached by Dr. Peter Isaacson, Dr. Peter Neubert, and Dr. Kristin Isaacson. She was a camp counselor and instructor for the Abilene Summer Music Festival held every year while in college. She graduated in 2010 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. Ms. Schweigert has also been a member of FBC's Celebration Orchestra since 2006 and continues to perform in a professional capacity in many community ensembles such as the Civic Orchestra of Abilene, Abilene Community Band, and various other chamber ensembles in the Abilene Community. In the past, she has participated in collaborations with Mark O'Connor, Michael Martin Murphey, Kansas, and The Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
She also serves on the AISD Fine Arts Council, HSU School of Music Foundation Board, Cowboy Band Foundation, ACB 50th Anniversary Committee, and Abilene Community Band Board, and is a member of the following professional teaching organizations: TMEA, TODA, ASTA and TCTA.
Ms. Schweigert is currently the orchestra director at Madison Middle School for AISD and the Director of Abilene Youth Strings through the Abilene Philharmonic Education Outreach program, in which the students meet for weekly rehearsals and sectionals to supplement the music education local students receive by exposing them to challenging and fun repertoire in addition to what they play in their school orchestra. This organization also puts on a summer strings camp for which she has been the instructor. Ms. Schweigert is an Adjunct Professor at McMurry University, teaching Violin and Viola and the String Methods course to music education majors.
Originally from Chicago, Adrienne Banks began studying cello at the age of 9. She graduated with honors from Illinois State University, where she earned a B.M. in music performance and music therapy, studying cello under Dr. Adriana La Rosa Ransom. She was a member of the Symphony of Oak Park and River Forest before moving to Texas in 2016.
Adrienne has traveled around the United States and Europe to perform, including orchestral tours throughout France and Germany and as a cellist with the International Chamber Music Institute in Bulgaria. She has had the pleasure of playing for hundreds of live events, including SXSW musical festival and concert tours for major artists. She has also recorded for various artists’ albums and done live and commercial work for Amazon Prime. Adrienne has a passion for collaborating with theatre artists, having performed for numerous theatrical productions, including as the company cellist for the Illinois Shakespeare Festival.
Adrienne has been a board-certified music therapist (MT-BC) since 2014 and has worked with a wide variety of individuals and groups to bring healing through music. She is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, having served in multiple leadership positions and earning the Regional Alumnae Leadership Award for excellence in music and community service. She currently performs as a core cellist with Sienna String Quartet based in Austin, TX, as a substitute cellist with the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, and teaches cello for Abilene ISD while maintaining a private studio.
Joe Ferris is the newly named assistant orchestra director of Abilene ISD’s Cooper High School, and adjunct professor of bass at ACU and HSU. He comes to the area from Albuquerque, New Mexico as recently the principal bassist of the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mr. Ferris was raised in Tehuacana, a small town in central Texas. He was very fortunate to have gotten an early training from Dr. Christopher Buddo at Baylor University on the double bass. His side “gig” was mastering the euphonium as a rural bandsman. He played in both the Greater Dallas and the Waco Youth Orchestras. His experience and dedication to the Texas Middle School and High School TMEA brought him to Boston as a Tanglewood Fellow in 2001 and 2002 and received his undergraduate music degree as a student of Todd Seeber from Boston University. While in Boston, Mr. Ferris graduated from the New England Conservatory Graduate Diploma program, studying under Larry Wolfe, also of the Boston Symphony. Don Palma was instrumental and inspirational in his ensemble playing development.
Joe’s orchestral travels include Manchester, England, Lucerne, Switzerland and Sapporo, Japan for their summer orchestral programs. Upon graduating from NEC, he became principal bassist with the Greenville and Chattanooga Symphonies and then section bassist with the Nashville Symphony. He served as adjunct professor of double bass at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga.
While in Nashville, Mr. Ferris was part of the recording of Michael Daugherty's Metropolis Symphony and Deus Ex Machina receiving three GRAMMY® Awards in which Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero and the orchestra won in the category of Best Orchestral Performance in 2011. In 2014, Joe returned to Texas to play with the Austin, Dallas Chamber, and Fort Worth Symphonies while operating a coffee shop in his home town of Tehuacana, Texas.
Jo entered UNT in 2023 to study with Mr. Jeff Bradetich, with the goal to of attaining a masters degree in performance, received in the spring of 2025. He also performed upon invitation with the Helena Symphony and Santa Fe Symphony in their 2023 and 2024 seasons.
Joe Ferris looks forward to being part of Abilene’s Fine Arts Community, working with up and coming young musicians and peers as assisting the programs and being an adjunct teacher in the area colleges of string bass, and hopes to promote and further the interest in the culture of music of the area.