About Us
Learn more about Chamber Pops, our history, and our awesome team below!
Who We Are
Chamber Pops was envisioned in the Summer of 2023 by Davis Baker as an event where young musicians could create their own chamber ensembles and play pop music. This festival was created to bring musicians together and to raise awareness of Chamber music in general, making it more accessible to all audiences.
In addition, Chamber Pops is a fundraiser! All proceeds from the concert go toward a music related charity. We support a different musical charity every year. In 2024 we raised $580 for the Raleigh Music Collective, and we hope to greatly expand that in the future!
The main Chamber Pops concert is hosted at the Rialto Theater, a historic building in Raleigh. The Theater has been around since the 1930s, and has been an integral part of the Raleigh music scene for almost that long.
Our Mission
To create events where middle school and high school students can come together, forming chamber ensembles, in order to play music that they love while also raising money for music education!
Bios
Read about the amazing 2025 Chamber Pops leadership team! We consist entirely of dedicated middle and high school musicians, and are excited to put on an awesome event for other young musicians, giving them an opportunity to showcase their talent while playing music they love!
Davis Baker - President
Davis is a sophomore at Enloe High School. Davis founded Chamber Pops in 2023 after attending the ECDBA Solo and Ensemble festival at Ravenscroft School. He organized Chamber Pops’ first concert, and is looking forward to running more, this time with help from a team.
As a musician, Davis plays the bassoon in the Enloe Wind Ensemble, Enloe Symphony Orchestra, Triangle Youth Symphony, and the Frozen Finger Quintet, of which he is a founder. Davis also studies piano privately with Dr. Margaret Evans at Meredith College. Some of the musical honors Davis has been distinguished with include First Chair All-State Bassoon in 2022 and 2023, Principal Bassoonist in Triangle Youth Symphony and Triangle Youth Orchestra 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, Associate Principal Bassoonist in Enloe Wind Ensemble and Enloe Symphony Orchestra 2023-2024, and Second Chair Bassoonist at the Carolina Band Festival 2024.
Davis was ranked the second highest pianist according to his adjudicator at the Young Artists Auditions Piano Competition with a Superior Rating in 2024, and received Highest Honors at NCMTA Piano Competition in 2024. Davis is looking forward to performing a 27 piece program for National Guild Auditions this year, and has fond memories of performing 15 piece programs most years before this one.
In his free time Davis enjoys reading, hiking, and as unpopular as it may be, practicing. He truly loves making music and communicating with others through this wonderful medium. Davis also has aspirations of someday writing a book.
Davis is looking forward to expanding Chamber Pops this year, and making it bigger and better than ever. He looks forward to involving as many schools as possible, and making the concert as fun of an event as it can be. Davis is extremely grateful to those who have graciously agreed to help him along this journey, and can’t wait to see what they can do together.
Abby Gerding - Secretary
Abby is a freshman at Leesville Road High School and is member of the Leesville Symphonic band, which also serves as the schools marching band.
For her 8th grade year of middle school she was first chair clarinet in the Ligon Wind Ensemble (LWE), which received straight superior ratings at MPA in March. She has also participated in many other ensembles at Ligon, like the Ligon Symphony Orchestra and Pit Orchestra for Beauty and the Beast in January of 2024. This past year Abby made First Chair in both the All-County and All-District bands, and participated in the NC All-State band clinic in April. She also made both All-County and All-District during the 2022-23 school year. Abby recently competed at Festival Disney recently with LWE, one of her favorite band experiences so far, and also participated in the Music for All Southeastern Regional Festival in Maryland in the spring 2023.
Outside of band, Abby also plays a little piano, is an avid reader, and an expert of all things Disney! She is also a former year round swimmer, and is a junior coach for her summer league swim team. After participating in Chamber Pops last year as a performer, Abby is excited to get more involved this year and hopes to help make it an amazing experience for everyone!
Andrew Hirsch - Treasurer
Andrew is a sophomore at Enloe HS and is performing on clarinet in Enloe Wind Ensemble. He has been playing with the Frozen Fingers since their debut performing outside the Rialto Theater, and has been with Chamber Pops since performing at the first concert. Andrew has proudly been accepted into many honors bands including all county and all district ensembles. He is also a proud member of the Enloe Marching Band, with whom he has performed their shows “WolfGANG” and “Monet’s Garden”. He takes private lessons from his old student teacher, Mr. Ryan Wing, who now teaches at Lufkin Road Middle School.
Outside of music, Andrew loves reading, swimming, and spending time with his family. His favorite genre is fantasy, though certain science fiction books are close behind. Andrew is currently considering a career in ecology due to his love of nature and ecosystems. He enjoys swimming with Abby and Nora on the New Wave swim team along with their other friends. He also loves Odyssey of the Mind, a creative competition that he has been participating in since kindergarten, and he and his team have placed top ten in the world 2 years in a row at the World Finals. His dream for Chamber Pops is for it to be an all inclusive and fun festival where people can share the music they love to listen with other people in concert.
Nora Snowden- Outreach Director
Nora is a freshman at Enloe High School, and she plays the flute in Enloe’s Wind Ensemble. Last year, she was first chair in the Ligon Middle School Wind Ensemble, who received all Superior ratings at the East Central District MPA and competed in Festival Disney; receiving a Superior rating, Best In Class, and the Concert Band Gold Award. Nora participated in the All-County and All-District bands in the 23-24 school year, as well as the Ligon Symphony Orchestra and the Ligon Pit Orchestra (for their performance of Beauty and the Beast). She also takes private lessons with Mary Boone, and received an honorable mention in the Raleigh Area Flute Association (RAFA) 2023 Review and Contest.
When she isn’t playing (or listening to) music, Nora also enjoys rowing, reading, and spending time with her peers and friends. She is also a big fan of bad reality shows, Taylor Swift, and traveling to lots of cool places. She participated in Chamber Pops last year with her quartet The Roomies, and she’s super excited to continue to grow the event this year with her amazing fellow leadership members! 🙂
Jonas Hutchinson - Logistics Director
Jonas is a sophomore at Enloe high school. He plays Tenor Saxophone in the Enloe Wind Ensemble, Enloe Jazz Ambassadors, the Triangle Youth Jazz Orchestra, and the Frozen Fingers Quintet. He also plays around with Clarinet, Piano, Irish whistle, Low D whistle, Flute, and the Alto Saxophone. He’s been with Chamber pops as a performer since the beginning.
If he wished to flex he could say he has been honored to be a part of the All County band, 2-Time Second-Chair All District band, Second-Chair All-Region Jazz band, First-Chair All-State band, and Second-Chair All-State Jazz band. He has been a part of many bands who received Superiors in MPA for concert and jazz and received a Superior on his solo for the Solo MPA. He will also attend the UNC-Jazz camp and attend the next Solo/Ensemble MPA. But you don’t really need to know all that, he just plays the saxophone for fun.
Other than playing music, Jonas enjoys all things Paleontology and Wildlife Biology, plus reading, drawing, cooking, and biking. He aspires to travel the world to research life and the wild while moonlighting as a mysterious saxophone player in the worlds places of jazz and the stages of the band world.
Jonas hopes to further the fun of Chamber Pops while giving all people a stage to play music of their choice with their friends and have fun playing in a more professional gig environment.
Max LeBouef - Leadership Advisor
Max is a sophomore at Enloe high school. He plays clarinet in the Enloe symphonic band and takes lessons from Jimmy Gilmore. He also doubles on vibraphone in the Enloe marching band who placed first in their class and second overall at Cary band day for percussion and in the Enloe indoor percussion ensemble who made finals at the WGI regional in Richmond and placed 3rd at the AIA finals in Fayetteville. He has made all district band for 3 years in a row and he is also part of the Frozen Fingers quintet.
Besides clarinet and vibraphone he also dabbles in guitar and saxophone.
Other than music Max also enjoys spending time on the beach, playing video games, running, and he is a huge Taylor Swift fan. He also someday hopes to travel the world (for the food).
Evelyn Baucom - Leadership Advisor
Evelyn is a sophomore at Enloe High School, and plays flute in Enloe Symphonic Band and the Enloe Eagle Marching Band, as well as flute and piccolo in the Frozen Fingers Quintet. They also occasionally play other instruments on the side, such as piano, clarinet, and bassoon, and aspire to play as many instruments as possible in their lifetime.
Evelyn also enjoys composing their own music, usually for chamber ensembles, and sometimes playing their own music. They also enjoy other things in their free time like reading, practicing, and playing video games.
Evelyn really looks forward to expanding Chamber Pops to something much larger than anyone has imagined, and also looks forward to reading Davis’ book, as well as writing at least one of their own.
Owen Beal - Leadership Advisor
Owen is a junior at Leesville Road High School. He plays violin in, and serves as the concertmaster of, the Leesville Road High School Orchestra, which recently earned a Superior rating at Music Performance Adjudication (MPA). Owen has participated in the Junior Eastern Regional Orchestra (JERO), Eastern Regional Orchestra (ERO), and the North Carolina All-State Honors Orchestra. He currently participates in the North Carolina Chamber Music Institute (NCCMI), an organization where student instrumentalists perform in different small ensembles. Owen is currently in the NCCMI’s Beach String Quartet.
Owen takes private lessons with Alexa Rose Johnson at the Raleigh Music Collective (RMC), where he is in the studio’s High School Resident Quartet, the Haydn Seekers, a Chamber Pops veteran. He won a chair in the Raleigh Camerata’s High School Baroque Residency Competition along with three other students, where he performed in their orchestra on a baroque violin.
Owen enjoys playing video games, watching all things Star Trek, and practicing. He also looks forward to reading Davis’s book.
