The Scottsdale Philharmonic Symphony Staff
The staff of the Scottsdale Philharmonic volunteer their time to work collaboratively to manage the responsibilities and provide the services necessary for the seamless operation of a high quality orchestra comprised of volunteer professionally trained musicians.
Joy Partridge, CPA
President of the Board and CEO
As the co-founder of the Scottsdale Philharmonic, Joy has realized her dream of creating a symphony orchestra in Scottsdale comprised of professional musicians who provide the highest quality of classical symphony music. As all concerts are free, everyone, young and old, can enjoy the beauty of classical music.
Ms. Partridge’s expertise owning a Certified Public Accounting firm and serving over 25 years actively on Valley symphony boards provides her with a solid foundation for the establishment, organization and operation of the Scottsdale Philharmonic. Joy is the primary publicity contact, fundraiser, community liaison, and donor connection for the Philharmonic. She works with many civic organizations promoting the mission and vision of the orchestra. She oversees and coordinates the activities of key staff members to ensure all aspects of orchestra operations are well managed.
For over 30 years Joy has performed as a violist in various valley orchestras and continues her performing tradition with the Scottsdale Philharmonic.
Carl R. Reiter
Music Director and Trustee
Carl Reiter is the co-founder of the Scottsdale Philharmonic and brings his broad experience and expertise to the organization both as a musician and an entrepreneur. His doctoral studies were done at Northern Arizona University. As our Director of Music, Carl is responsible for all the behind the scenes musical preparations for the concert seasons, auditions for musicians and establishing the program of music for each season, identifying and negotiating with concert soloists, obtaining music and managing all licensing commitments.
Carl also performs in the first violin section in our symphony. His experience as a violinist and violist began with his first professional engagement at the age of 11. While Carl is currently playing 1st violin with the Scottsdale Philharmonic, he has been a performing member of the Phoenix Symphony, Tempe Symphony, Phoenix String Quartet, Tucson Symphony, Flagstaff Symphony, Mesa Symphony, Scottsdale Symphony, and is the concert master, Phoenix First Assembly.
Four summers were spent working with Hidden Valley Music Seminars in Carmel Valley under the Assistant Director of the New York Philharmonic. His business experience was sharpened while performing public relations and instrument repair at the Reiter String Shop, a family owned business for 30 years in Phoenix. He also served as the Executive Director for the Arizona School of Fine Arts and Science, and taught music on the faculty of Grand Canyon University.
Ajay R. Patel
Conductor, Scottsdale Philharmonic
Ajay R. Patel has been a music educator in Arizona since 2001. His first three years were as the Director of Orchestras at Mountain Pointe High School, and then Basha High School in the Chandler district from 2006-2016. From 2016 to the present, he serves as the Orchestra Director at Desert Ridge High School in the Gilbert district. Mr. Patel earned his Bachelor of Music Education from Arizona State University (ASU), and a Master of Music in Cello Performance from Arizona State University.
Mr. Patel is an active member of organizations that support Arizona music education. He has served positions for the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association as Southwest Region Orchestra Chair, and Southwest Region Governor. He is also a current member of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA).
Mr. Patel served as the Symphony Orchestra conductor for the East Valley Youth Symphony since its inaugural year in 2006. He also established the Chandler Academy for the Performing Arts (CAPA) in 2009, a three week summer music program for orchestra, band, choir and theatre serving the students of the Chandler Unified School District and the local southeast valley community.
An accomplished cellist, Mr. Patel has performed with many of the community and professional orchestras in Arizona. He has served as a substitute section cellist for the Arizona Opera, Guest Principal cellist for the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, and the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Arizona Pro Arte Orchestra. He has also performed with the Symphony of the Southwest, MusicaNova Orchestra, as well as the Scottsdale Philharmonic. In the winter of 2011, Mr. Patel was the principal cellist of the American Festival Orchestra under the direction of Lawrence Golan. The American Festival Orchestra toured 14 cities in China over a span of two weeks as part of an international cultural exchange.
Mr. Patel studied cello with Takayori Atsumi and Thomas Landschoot, at Arizona State University. His conducting studies were guided by Dr. Timothy Russell and Dr. Gary Hill at Arizona State University.
Mr. Patel lives in Gilbert with his wife Rochel, and their children Olivia and Alexander.
Vickie Thai
Concertmaster, Scottsdale Philharmonic
Originally from Chicago, Vickie Thai holds degrees in Church Music from the Moody Bible Institute, violin performance from the American Conservatory of Music, and music education from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. For five seasons, as a member, principal second, and assistant concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training program of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Vickie had the honor of performing under the direction of Sir Georg Solti, Sir Neville Marriner, Leonard Slatkin, Claudio Abbado, Margaret Hillis and Gordon Peters. Here in the valley, Vickie played with the Mesa Symphony for 20 years, serving as concertmaster for the 2004-2005 season. She was the assistant concertmaster of the Scottsdale Musical Arts Symphony and also played in the West Valley Symphony, the Phoenix Praise Orchestra, and the Palmcroft Church orchestra.
Since she was 18 years old, Vickie has had the privilege of teaching music in public schools and home school groups. Currently, Vickie maintains a private studio at Harmony House Music Academy. For 8 years Vickie was a member of String Sounds, an organization providing inter-disciplinary arts programs in public schools. As a partner of the Allegro Quartet, Vickie helps brides plan the perfect music for their wedding, and leads the quartet performing for their special day. A member and an associate concertmaster of the Scottsdale Philharmonic since its inception, Vickie is thrilled to be a part of this fine organization.
Bob Herzog
Professional Musician and Trustee
Bob Herzog began the viola in 3rd grade. During college, he performed in the Arizona State University Symphony and attended the Taos School of Chamber Music (in NM) during the summers. He then joined the military and was accepted into the Air Force Academy Strolling Strings. Upon his return to Phoenix, he worked at Salt River Project, (SRP) until he retired as Senior Project Leader, Water Engineering Department.Bob performed in the Phoenix Symphony for 11 years, the Colorado Springs Symphony, The Tempe Symphony, the Mesa Symphony, the Mesa College Community Orchestra, the Scottsdale Musical Arts Orchestra, the Fine Arts String Orchestra, and currently performs in and is a Director/Trustee of the Scottsdale Philharmonic. He performed in the Chandler Symphony Orchestra for 8 seasons, where he held the positions of Principal Violist, Board Member, and President.
Mary Kelly
Music Librarian
As the Music Librarian, Mary’s first responsibility is to assure every musician has a complete folder of music for every concert. She maintains the organization and cataloging of the orchestra library. For music rentals, Mary assures all music is returned in its received condition in a timely manner according to the rental agreement.Mary has been playing string bass since she was 11 years old. She played in Arizona orchestras since 1972 and is proud to play bass with the Scottsdale Philharmonic. Mary lives in Sun City and is a retired Special Education teacher.
Charlie Bullen
Advisory Board
Database Coordinator
Charlie handles data collection and integration into the orchestra’s database used for emailing and analysis of its audience and donors. In his day to day life, he is a Systems Analyst for a hotel property management software company, where he is responsible for maintaining, upgrading and repairing both the physical computing and networking infrastructure of hotels as well as the software and databases they utilize. Charlie is also a cellist with the Scottsdale Philharmonic.