Dr. L. Avery Staples (Pettigrew) joined the Virginia Symphony Orchestra in 2023, initially on a one-year position as Assistant Principal/Utility Horn and is now Third/Associate Principal Horn. Prior to joining VSO, she was a freelance musician and music educator engaged throughout the Washington, DC metro area. She performed regularly with the Baltimore Symphony, the Maryland Symphony, and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony. She has been the featured soloist with several community ensembles including the Washington Sinfonietta, the Manassas Symphony, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington.

In addition to operating a large and successful private studio based in Chantilly, VA, Dr. Staples was the Adjunct Professor of Horn at Frostburg State University for five years. Her students regularly placed into their state’s honors ensembles and have earned scholarships to top music schools in the country.

As a student with Samantha La Pointe-Woolf at Tulane University in New Orleans, she earned both a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Music Performance and a Bachelors of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Dr. Staples earned both her Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the University of Maryland-College Park, where she held a performance-based graduate assistantship as a student of Gregory Miller and Phil Munds. Her additional teachers include Denise Tryon, Michael Thornton, and Shawn Hagen.