Violinist Kristin Mortenson is the Outreach Coordinator for the Department of Music at Kansas State University where she teaches music theory in the core curriculum for music majors, and music fundamentals for non-majors. She maintains a private violin studio in Manhattan, and has been on the string faculty of Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan since 1986. Mortenson is currently the Assistant Editor/Principal Proofreader of the International Trumpet Guild Journal. 

Mortenson attended the University of Texas at Austin as a violin student of Leonard Posner, and received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in violin from Louisiana State University where she studied with Sally O’Reilly. She performs as Associate Concertmaster of the Topeka Symphony  and was previously a first violinist in the Austin, Baton Rouge, Wichita, and Des Moines Symphonies. She has been a featured soloist with the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra and the Flint Hills Chamber Orchestra, and served as Concertmaster of the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra for nearly twenty years.

Kristin has performed in concert with popular entertainers Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, Bob Hope, Doc Severinsen, Shirley Jones, and the rock band, KANSAS. She is a Life Member of Sigma Alpha Iota and has been listed in Who’s Who in America. Kristin enjoys biking and running in her free time, completing the 2003 Chicago Marathon as well as a number of shorter distance races.

Clarinetist Susan Gartner is the newest member of the Tallgrass Trio, joining the ensemble in June, 2009. She received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Butler University in Indianapolis and teaches band at Wamego Middle School and Wamego High School in Wamego, KS.

Susan's playing career has included membership in the Lafayette (IN) Symphony and more than 12 years in the Kokomo Park Band, a highly select community ensemble in Indiana. She also has played in the pit for many shows at the Indianapolic Civic Theater.

Susan has taught at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan, teaching middle-and high-school students from across the United States. She also has performed with the Blue Lake Festival Band, Festival Orchestra, and Faculty Woodwind Quintet, as well as on Faculty Solo and Divisional Recitals.

An active member of the Kansas Music Educators Association, Susan was honored twice as KMEA's Middle Level Teacher of the Year for the North Central District, in 2004-2005 and 2008-2009. She is an alumnae member of Sigma Alpha Iota and Tau Beta Sigma, and enjoys hiking, camping, and riding motorcycles in her free time.

Bassoonist Susan Maxwell has dedicated her career to three dimensions of musicianship; she is a teacher, performer, and reed maker. Currently, she teaches bassoon, music history, and in the school of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University and performs with the KSU Woodwind Quintet. She is very proud of her students' accomplishments, which are noted on the KSU Bassoon Studio Website, www.k-state.edu/music/bassoon.

Maxwell completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts in bassoon performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Conservatory of Music. A portion of her dissertation was dedicated to bassoon reed-making and the formation of the first High Note Study for the Bassoon, which has been published by Prairie Dawg Press. She is also the creator of the "Susie Bassoon Reed" and has made reeds for a major retailer. 

Susan is in her sixth season as Principal Bassoon of the Northwest Arkansas Symphony (currently on financial hiatus). Some of Dr. Maxwellʼs other performance engagements have included substitute positions with The Kansas City Symphony, The Kansas City Lyric Opera, The Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, The Tulsa Philharmonic, The Lake Shore Symphony in Chicago, Illinois, Orquestra Sinfonica de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico and a two year position with the Wichita Symphony, in Wichita, Kansas.