Cathy Zack started playing French horn in 6th grade. She attended Oberlin College as an English major, but was able to take horn lessons at the conservatory and play in the band and wind ensemble. She joined the Civic Orchestra right out of college in the fall of 1981, and has played third horn in the orchestra ever since then except for 5 years when she attended medical school in New Hampshire. She has enjoyed the music and the lifelong friendships that the orchestra has brought to her life—she  actually met her future husband, John, in the orchestra when he joined as a trumpet player in 1988. They have 2 teenage children, Dave and Arianna,  who play in their school bands. Cathy is a family physician, after 25 years in primary care she now works as a night hospitalist at Middlesex Hospital.

Dani has been playing with CONH since 2010.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in horn performance from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School and master’s in public policy from SCSU. Because Dani doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up, she's again continuing her education -this time in data analysis, at SNHU. An active freelancer across the state, Dani has played with various groups such as the Connecticut Symphonic Winds, Beth el Symphony, NHCO, and the American Chamber Orchestra.  In 2013, Dani appeared on America’s Got Talent with the 3 Penny Chorus and Orchestra. Originally from Long Island, Dani works at Yale University and lives in Hamden with her husband Dominick, their three rabbits: Bwub von Boopwafel, Vienna & Brexit Höppendorf, and a gecko.

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Laurie Ongley has played viola in the Civic Orchestra of New Haven since 2016 and has been a board member since 2017. She works in concert production at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where she manages the Yale Camerata and the ISM’s choral library, and performs multitudinous other tasks to help make concerts happen. Ongley earned a Ph.D. in musicology and a B.A. in music, both from Yale, and has variously worked as a music teacher, an editor, and a publications manager.