Bringing a touch of elegance to your wedding, event or private party
Avonlea Strings performs extensively as a string duo, but can easily form a string trio or quartet. Erin and Victoria have over 30 combined years performing at weddings and other special events. We play with professional and highly trained classical musicians all across San Diego and Orange County.
Musical Team
Erin and Victoria first met while playing a San Diego wedding in 2006, and have been great friends ever since. Together we have played in many groups such as San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nova, California Chamber Orchestra, Classics for Kids, and Opera Pacific. Music has been part of each our lives from an early age, with Erin playing the cello at age two and Victoria when she turned five. We look forward to sharing our lifelong musical passion and talents with you on your special day.
Victoria, violin
Victoria Bietz studied with Mark Kaplan at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her B.A. in Violin Performance. She then went to The Boston Conservatory where she received her Masters in Music. After two years in the cold, Victoria moved back to San Diego as a freelance violinist. She has played with San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Luscious Noise, Classics for Kids, Orchestra Nova, California Chamber Orchestra, Opera Pacific, Starlight Theatre, and San Diego Repertory Theatre, among many others.
Victoria has a violin studio with 17 private violin students ranging in age from 5 to 50 years old. She teaches at The Violin Shop in Sorrento Valley and from her home in University Heights.
Erin, cello
Erin Breene is in great demand as both a chamber and orchestral musician. Ms Breene currently holds the position of Assistant Principal Cellist of the Music Center Dance series in Los Angeles and is also a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. She has served as Principal Cellist of Orchestra Nova, Associate Principal Cellist with the Opera Pacific Orchestra, and currently she frequently performs with the Pacific Symphony. With the Andros String Quartet, Ms Breene was named a Finalist in the 2003 Concert Artist’s Guild auditions, Grand Prize winner at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and Second Prize winner at the 1999 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
Since moving to Southern California, she has performed chamber works with the San Diego-based Camarada, Art of Elan, High Desert Chamber Music series, and La Jolla’s Athenaeum series. In November 2009, she performed the Haydn C-major Concerto as Orchestra Nova’s featured soloist. Ms Breene has served as Principal Cellist the Juilliard Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Sinfonia, and Rice University’s Shepherd School symphony where she received her BM degree under Paul Katz. Ms Breene attended the Juilliard School where she received her MM degree as a student of Timothy Eddy.
Erica, cello
Erica Erenyi received a Master’s degree in cello performance from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a student of Anne Martindale Williams, and was also selected for the Performance Residency Program. She completed a Bachelor of Music at Biola University in La Mirada, California, as a student of Marlin Owen. More recently, she undertook a course of intensive study with Peter Thiemann in Barcelona, Spain.
Erica has performed with International Opera Theater in Italy, Academia Internacional de Música de Solsona, Spain, and the Henry Mancini Institute in Los Angeles. She is active as a freelance musician in San Diego, playing frequently in productions at The Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse, as well as chamber music performances at such venues as the Athenaeum and Lyceum, and frequent recording projects.