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Meet your hosts in Virginia...
  Bryan Wright was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. Bryan's love of music began when he was given his first record player at the age of 18 months. He began studying piano with Sandra Horwege when he was five years old. Bryan began violin lessons in second grade, and switched to viola in sixth grade. Through middle and high school, he performed with the Judith Creek String Quartet and the Heartstrings Quartet. Bryan currently plays fiddle in the College of William and Mary Appalachian Music Class taught by Chris Scales and studies piano at the college with Professor Christine Niehaus. Outside of school and playing ragtime piano, Bryan enjoys reading, contradancing, playing tennis, playing on the William and Mary croquet team, and taking walks. In addition to hosting Elite Syncopations, Bryan is host of another program, Soundstage, heard world-wide on the internet at www.bostonpete.com. In June 2004, Bryan released his first full-length CD of classic ragtime music titled Syncopated Musings: Classic Piano Rags and Ragtime Waltzes featuring pieces by Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, May Aufderheide, Arthur Marshall, and many others. Click on the CD cover at left for more information or to hear samples (you can also hear complete selections in the ES Radio stream!).
 Rob Schwieger was born in Eugene, Oregon. He began playing piano at age nine with teacher Cathy Barnes, and a few years later, with Carrie Baker. His introduction to ragtime came late in elementary school when he played a simplified version of "The
Entertainer" for a piano recital. Now he plays ragtime as originally written and over the past three years, Rob has learned to play, with respectable accuracy, over forty rags, including twenty by Scott Joplin and eight by Joseph F. Lamb. He is currently studying piano with Professor Judith Zwelling at the College of William and Mary. In addition to playing piano, Rob is an active member and current treasurer of the Classics Club at the college and is a Classical Studies concentrator in the Latin track. In his spare time, he enjoys reading history, backpacking, and collecting.
Rob and I met each other in the piano practice rooms here at the College of William and Mary in the first month of our freshman year. I had assumed I was the only ragtime pianist on campus until one day, Rob happened to take the practice room next to mine. After playing through "Maple Leaf Rag," I took a pause before continuing with another piece. Imagine my surprise when I heard "Maple Leaf" still sounding after I had finished. It took a moment to realize that it was coming from the room next door. I went to the other room, knocked on the door and introduced myself to Rob. We soon became good friends, and have shared our ragtime discoveries and new pieces with each other ever since. Every February since 2003, Rob and I have presented a ragtime piano recital together here at the College, and for the past two years, Rob and I have attended the Annual World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, IL (although Rob couldn't make it in 2004). Through Elite Syncopations Radio, we look forward to sharing the joy of ragtime on the internet. Thanks for tuning in! ---Bryan
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