The North Shore Quartet was formed in 2005 by Laura Kenney Henckel and Paul Lundin. The quartet is now comprised of Yuliya Smead and Yuri Segawa, violinists, violist Matthew Michelic and cellist Laura Kenney Henckel. All are busy musicians working in eastern Wisconsin playing in orchestras and teaching privately, for college preparatory programs and at Lawrence University. All are members of the Green Bay Symphony, where they met. The quartet has performed for several music series.
    They have also performed as part of the Manitowoc Symphony’s Chamber Series. The quartet played the Sibelius “Voces Intimae” in their inaugural concert together in 2005 and also joined in with the Finn Grand Fest Orchestra as part of the International Finn Fest that was going on in Marquette, MI at the time. Repertoire has included Mozart, Dvorak, Sibelius, Shostakovitch, Gershwin and others. Members of the group have in previous concerts broken into smaller groups to perform duos and trios including Gliere Duos for Violin and Cello, Ravel Duo for Violin and Cello, Mozart duo for Violin and Viola, and the very challenging Dohnanyi “Serenade” for String Trio.
    The North Shore Quartet has performed on the Three Lakes Concert Series where they performed music by three Russian composers. The great Quartet #8 by Dmitri Shostakovich which bears the subtitle “dedicated to the victims of fascism and war”, the tuneful Quartet #2 by Alexander Borodin and two short movements from Alexander Glazunov’s “Novellettes”.
    As members of The Green Bay Symphony, the quartet also is a featured ensemble since 2009 on the Green Bay Symphony Chamber Concert entitled “Strings and Stain Glass”.

Yuliya Smead, violin
Yuliya holds a Doctorate, Masters and Bachelor Degrees in Violin Performance and pedagogy from Lviv State University in Ukraine. While in Ukraine, she performed as concertmaster of the Leopolis Symphony Orchestra, Trembita State Capella Chamber Orchestra, and first violin of the Modern Chamber Music Ensemble Cluster. She performed in Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Poland, Hungary and Ukraine. She has been a featured soloist with the Lviv Philharmonic and the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestras. She is a two time winner of the Young Talents State Competition, where she received 2nd prize in the Gitaralia Competition in Poland. She currently serves as concertmaster of the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, and is assistant concertmaster of both the Green Bay and Fox Valley Symphonies. Yuliya also teaches full-time at the Lawrence Academy of Music, where she maintains a studio of 50 students.

Yuri Segawa, violin
Native of Osaka, Japan, Yuri studied at Kobe Yamate Music School and Osaka College of Music. She received BM in Violin Performance from Rowan University in New Jersey, and continued her education at the City University of New York at Queens College. She has won prizes in many National competitions in her native Japan, including the Kyoto Music Competition, the All-Japan Competition, and the Takatsuki Music Competition. Here in the United States, Yuri was the New Jersey, Eastern Regional winner and a National Finalist of MTNA Young Artist National Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Rowan University Orchestra, Osaka Symphony, and performed as a recitalist and chamber musician in the U.S., Canada and Japan. Yuri serves as a member of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, and second principle violinist in the Water City Chamber Orchestra, she also frequently performs with the Madison Symphony. She was a former member of the Symphony in C, Garden State and Bravura Philharmonic in New Jersey, and AAC Symphony Orchestra in New York.Yuri teaches at the Wausau Conservatory of Music.

Melissa Gurholt, viola
Melissa is a violinist with the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra, assistant principal second violin with the Oshkosh Symphony and regularly performs with the Green Bay Symphony. She is also a violist and performs with Fox Valley String Quartet. Ms. Gurholt has also performed with many touring Broadway shows at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center including The Producers, My Fair Lady, Little House on the Prairie, White Christmas, to name a few. She regularly performs with Vic Ferrari and its “Symphony on the Rocks” concerts in addition to shows with Anne Murray, Vince Gill, Smokey Robinson and Wayne Newton. Ms. Gurholt attended the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire where she received her music degree and was concertmaster of the orchestra for two years. She also was first violinist of a string quartet and piano trio while studying music. She currently is the Director of Youth & Education for the Fox Valley Symphony.


Laura Kenney Henckel, violoncello
Laura has Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in cello performance from the University of Michigan. She has been featured as soloist with the Manitowoc Symphony, the Green Bay Civic Symphony, and the Fox Valley Symphony in Appleton, Wisconsin. She is also currently Principal Cellist of the Green Bay, Fox Valley, and Manitowoc  Symphony Orchestras. She performs regularly with professional productions at the Weidner Center for the Performing Arts and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center involving such notables as Judy Collins, Bernadette Peters, Cathy Rigby, Anne Murray and Robert Goulet. She has held posts as Principal Cellist with the Oshkosh Water City Chamber Orchestra, Adrian Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, the Green Bay Civic Symphony, and numerous chamber ensembles. She is also on the faculty of the Lawrence Academy of Music as String Specialist in Cello, and is the Orchestra Director at St. Joseph Middle school and Xavier High School. She performs in duo with her mother, Carol Leybourn, as her pianist. The mother-daughter duo has performed in concerts throughout the United States and has given frequent benefit concerts for charitable organizations. These have included the Lake County Youth Orchestras in Grayslake, Illinois, the Adler Cultural Center in Libertyville, Illinois and the Kobe Earthquake Relief Fund in Portland, Oregon, as well as performances in British Columbia and Indianapolis, Indiana.