A professional violinist and teacher, Rebecca Mayer Torres was born into a musical family. Both her parents were long time members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Torres studied violin with Pamela Gearhart,  Donald Weilerstein and played in the Community Music School Orchestra, which was the predecessor of the GBYO.  She graduated cum laude from SUNY at Buffalo and holds a Master of Music degree from SUNY at Stony Brook.  Ms. Torres was a freelance musician in NYC for eight years. During that time, she played several concerts with the Opera Orchestra of NY in Carnegie Hall and made four national tours with the Goldovsky Grand Opera Company. Ms. Torres moved to California in 1981 and returned to Buffalo in July of 2004.  While in California she had a private studio for twenty-two years and taught violin and string techniques for music education majors at the California State University, Chico.  Ms. Torres played in numerous orchestras in northern California and was the first violinist of the Valley Oak String Quartet. Although mostly involved with classical music, Ms. Torres has toured with Bobby Vinton, Ray Charles, Wayne Newton, the Three Irish Tenors and Anne Murray. Since returning to Buffalo, she has played with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Clarence Summer Orchestra, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Ars Nova, the Chapel at Crosspoint Orchestra and the Southern Tier Symphony. Ms. Torres is on the BPO  recording of the works of Richard Strauss to be released in 2009 on the Naxos label.  Ms. Torres has two grown sons who are also musicians.