2009 Artists
2009 Artist Biographies
Strings
Whitney Allen, native of Natchitoches, Louisiana, has been a freelancing cellist in the Chicagoland area since 2006. She received her BM from the University of Louisville, where she studied with Paul York, and her MM from DePaul University, where she studied with Stephen Balderston. She has played with numerous ensembles in the area, as well as the Alpine Theatre Project in Whitefish, Montana, and Britt Music Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. Ms. Allen has also been a teaching assistant at Birch Creek Music Festival since 2006 and teaches privately at both the Suzuki School of Elgin and the Music Connection in Orland Park, IL.
…back to artist roster.
Stephen Balderston joined the DePaul School of Music faculty as String Coordinator and Professor of Cello after
twenty successful years as an orchestra and chamber musician. Balderston was Assistant Principal Cello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for ten years after ten years with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He performed as soloist with both orchestras and was an artist-in-residence at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Balderston began his studies on the cello with Gabor Rejto in his native southern California, and earned both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Lynn Harrell.
Known internationally as a soloist, chamber musician and coach, Balderston regularly participates in clinics, chamber music concerts and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. In recent years, Balderston has performed solo works and chamber music with Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Christoph Eschenbach, Lynn Harrell, Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, Gil Shaham, Joseph Silverstein and Pinchas Zukerman. He debuted as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2000. He has been a featured artist at the Ravinia Festival in Illinois, Bargemusic in New York City and the Affinis Music Festival in Japan. Additionally, he has participated in the OK Mozart International Festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, the Santa Barbara Chamber Music Festival and the International Music Festival in Shanghai, China.
Balderston’s summers have been spent performing and working with students at a variety of venues. Balderston was the cello coach for Daniel Barenboim’s “West-Eastern Divan” workshops in 1999 and 2000 in Weimar, Germany, the 2001 Workshop held in Chicago, and the 2004 Workshop in Seville, Spain. In 2002 he accompanied a group of colleagues to Shanghai, China for that city’s international music festival. In August of 2004 Balderston was featured as lecturer, soloist and coach at the International String Music Festival in Taipei, Taiwan. Since 2002, he has been a teacher, coach and soloist at a number of prestigious summer venues, including the Marrowstone Music Festival, the International Festival – Institute at Round Top, the Midwest Young Artists Festival, the ARIA International Festival and the Northwestern University High School Institute.
…back to artist roster.
Mark Brandfonbrener, a native Chicagoan, studied with Frank Miller, and received a full scholarship to study with Samuel Mayes at the University of Michigan. After being awarded the Stanley Medal as the outstanding undergraduate at the School of Music, he received a Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro. Invited by Pinchas Zukerman to join the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, he was active on that orchestra’s chamber music series. He has performed as a member of the Chicago String Trio, The Testore Piano Trio, and in duo recital with his wife, violinist Kathleen Brauer, and has been a frequent performer on the nationally broadcast Dame Myra Hess Recital Series. He has performed at numerous summer festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen, Sarasota, Montepulciano, and Gstaad. Active in contemporary chamber music, he has given numerous mid-west premieres as a member of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project. He has performed with Chicago Chamber Musicians, and is frequently heard with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Bach Week in Evanston, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He is currently a member of Pintele Piano Trio, and the orchestras of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Santa Fe Opera. His cello was made by Paolo Antonio Testore in 1710.
…back to artist roster.
British violinist and conductor Garry Clarke has recently come to notice as one of the finest of the new generation 
of interpreters of baroque music. Time Out Chicago magazine music critic called him “an outstanding violinist…[Clarke] plays with real style and panache,” while the Washington Post praised his playing as “a riveting, cut-to-the-bone performance, every note crackling with purpose and electricity.”
As director of Baroque Band, Chicago’s period-instrument orchestra, Clarke has assembled a “stylish and exciting period-instrument group,” which gave “a tremendous debut” in May 2007 with “an abundance of style, a crisp esprit de corps, and a palpable affection for its repertoire.” (Chicago Tribune)
In the UK, as Artistic Director of The 18th Century Concert Orchestra (2001 – 2006), Clarke was praised by the Oxford Times as “one of the finest exponents of baroque music in the country.” Clarke has performed, recorded, and broadcast with The Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The King’s Consort, The Hanover Band, and the Scholars, working with musicians including Christopher Hogwood, John Elliot Gardener, Harry Christophers, Andrew Manze, Sir Charles Mackaras, Rene Jacobs, Anthony Halstead, and Robert King. Clarke was also a member of the European Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Ton Koopman, and has performed, recorded, and toured with William Christie and the French ensemble Les Arts Florissants.
Since moving to the United States in 2004, Clarke has concentrated on conducting, chamber music, and solo engagements. Clarke is a member of the early music faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago where he directs the school’s new baroque orchestra and coaches individuals and ensembles. In 2005 and 2006 he served as principal conductor of the Garth Newel Music Festival in Virginia. Other American ensembles with which Clarke has performed include the Washington Bach Consort, Opera Lafayette, The National Cathedral Baroque Orchestra, and The Orchestra of the 17th Century in Washington, D.C.; Ars Antigua and the Callipygian Players in Chicago, and New Trinty Baroque in Atlanta. Clarke moved to the U.S. as an international recipient of the prestigious Arts Management Fellowship Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Clarke graduated from the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with Catherine Mackintosh, concertmaster and soloist of the Academy of Ancient Music and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and founding member of the Purcell Quartet. He also studied with Michela Comberti of the English Concert among others.
…back to artist roster.
Richard Hirschl is a native of Washington, Missouri, where he grew up in a musical family. He began early music lessons with his mother, a piano teacher, but, by the age of ten, he had become interested in his father’s hobby, the cello. Although his father is an amateur cellist, Richard says he is a natural player and an excellent teacher.
As his cello studies progressed, he began lessons with Saint Louis Symphony member Savely Schuster, who encouraged Richard to pursue music professionally by sending him to the eminent soloist and pedagogue Leonard Rose. When a junior in high school, Richard moved to a boarding school in New York to facilitate his studies with Rose and Channing Robbins at the Juilliard School. The recipient of an honorary scholarship, he received both bachelor’s (1987) and master’s (1988) degrees from Juilliard. After graduation, he served as an assistant teacher to Robbins for one year. In 1989 he was appointed to the cello section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Sir Georg Solti.
In 1988, Richard made his New York debut at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center playing Barber’s Concerto with Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and the Juilliard Orchestra. Since then, he has played Milhaud’s Concerto with Jens Nygaard and the Jupiter Symphony in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. In addition to these and other appearances with orchestras, he performs extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician.
Richard teaches on the faculty of the Chicago Conservatory for the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and plays a cello made by Matteo Goffriller of Venice in 1710. He lives with his wife, Nancy, in a downtown high-rise.
…back to artist roster.
Qing Hou has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1997. A native of China, Hou studied at the
Central Conservatory in Beijing before coming to the U.S. in 1988 to continue her studies. She holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the New England Conservatory. Prior to her tenure in Chicago she was a member of the San Francisco Symphony.
An avid chamber musician, Hou has performed for the Andover Chamber Music Society and at festivals in Madison, Napa, El Paso, and Sun Valley as well as in Europe. She has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and performs regularly in the Chicago area in various ensembles. She and her husband, violist Lawrence Neuman, are founding members of the Chicago-based Lincoln String Quartet.
As a soloist, Qing Hou has appeared with orchestras in Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, and China. In the fall of 2003 she made her first appearance as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
…back to artist roster.
Katinka Kleijn has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1995. Her list of solo credits includes appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at youth concerts; The Hague Philharmonic Orchestra; the Chicago Sinfonietta; the symphony orchestras of Elmhurst, Sheboygan, DuPage and Indian Hill; the Highland Park Strings; the New Millennium Orchestra; and the Illinois Philharmonic. Kleijn also appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, on the Ravinia Festival’s Rising Star Series, and on Dutch National Radio.
An avid chamber musician, she has partnered with pianist Richard Goode and cellist Lynn Harrell, joined the Chicago Chamber Musicians in 2006, and was invited to join the Kronos Quartet earlier in her career. As a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), she recently toured to Poland and Mexico, and she performed the American premiere of Zona for solo cello and 7 instruments by Magnus Lindberg at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center. She regularly performs on the CSO’s MusicNOW series, most recently in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Kai for solo cello and ensemble with Cliff Colnot conducting. Her May 2007 American premiere of Eternal Escape by Dai Fujikura was described by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune as “a five-minute tour de force, played with wonderfully incisive bravado.”
Her 2003 recording of the David Baker Cello Concerto, with the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, won rave reviews: The Strad magazine writes that “Kleijn gives infectious energy to the performance;” Fanfare comments that “Kleijn brings plenty of temperament and gorgeous tone to her solo part.” She also recorded the Dello Joio Trio for Boston Records.
Kleijn has been a member of the DePaul University School of Music faculty since 2000. In the summer, she teaches at the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP) in British Columbia, Canada.
To seek support for her younger colleagues, Kleijn founded the Holland-America Music Society in 1999, and in 2000, launched the annual HAMS Competition for strings, distinguished by its first prize award-the full-time use of a fine contemporary Dutch instrument.
Katinka Kleijn won first prize in the Dutch National Princess Christina Competition at age 16. She received a scholarship from the Dutch Government for studies with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California, and Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory of Music. Following graduation, she joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
…back to artist roster.
Paula Kosower is an active performer and teacher currently residing in Chicago. She has performed in recent 
seasons with the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, with contemporary music ensemble CUBE, and for various contemporary music series at the Music Institute of Chicago. She has also performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and for the Bach Festival week in Evanston. Performances in the summer season have included chamber music concerts at the Ravinia Festival, as well as performances for Midsummer’s Music in the Door Peninsula and for the Kansas City String Quartet Program. Some of her past solo and chamber music performances have included concerts abroad in Belgium, Italy, China and North Korea. Ms. Kosower teaches cello pedagogy at Northwestern University, private lessons at the Northwestern University Academy and chamber music at the Merit School of Music where she is also a member of the faculty piano trio. She received her B.M. and M.M. degree at Indiana University where she was a scholarship student of Janos Starker. She recently completed her doctoral degree at Northwestern University.
…back to artist roster.
A native of Philadelphia, Peter Lloyd is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music and The Settlement Music School, having studied with Roger Scott and Eligio Rossi. Upon graduation from Curtis he immediately joined The Philadelphia Orchestra, remaining there for more than eight seasons before accepting the position of Principal Bass of The Minnesota Orchestra, a title he held from 1986 to 2007.
During that time he has worked with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Klaus Tennstedt, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Yuri Temirkanov, Eugene Ormandy, and James Levine.
Having dedicated much of his career to the chamber music repertoire, Mr. Lloyd has performed with the Guarneri String Quartet, Jamie Laredo, members of the Budapest, Emerson, Juilliard and Orion string quartets as well as the Beaux Arts Trio, the Penderecki, Miami, Miro, Brentano, Borromeo and Biava quartets. He has been a regular participant at The Marlboro School of Music, Chamber Music at the 92nd Street Y, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Music Northwest, Music From Angel Fire, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, The Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Boston Chamber Music Society, The Brandenburg Ensemble, BargeMusic in New York City and La Musica. His concerts with these groups have taken him throughout North America, Europe and the Far East.
Over the past three decades Mr. Lloyd has worked with many of the major recording labels, having participated in dozens of recordings with RCA, EMI, Sony, Telarc, Virgin Classical, BIS, and Reference Recordings.
In addition to his concert schedule, Mr. Lloyd maintains an active teaching career. He is a regular visitor to many of the leading music schools in the United States, giving master classes, lectures and recitals at The Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, The Tanglewood Music Festival, The Manhattan School of Music, The Mannes School, Indiana University, The Peabody Conservatory, The Chautauqua Institute, Youth Orchestra of the Americas and many others. He serves as an annual coach at The New York String Orchestra Seminar held at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Jamie Laredo, is a regular visiting teacher at The New World Symphony, and has been invited to teach and perform in China at The Guangzhou International Music Academy under the direction of Charles Dutoit and The Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
Mr. Lloyd is a member of the faculty at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and is a past member of the board of directors for The International Society of Bassists.
Mr. Lloyd performs on a world-renowned bass violin made by Daniel Hachez, graciously provided by Robertson Violins of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
…back to artist roster.
Kenneth Olsen joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Cello in 2005.
Mr. Olsen is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and a winner of the Institutes prestigious Concerto Competition. Other awards received by the 24-year-old cellist include first prize in the Nakamichi Cello Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and second prize at the 2002 Holland-America Music Society competition. Mr. Olsens teachers have included Richard Aaron, Cleveland Institute of Music; Joel Krosnick, Juilliard School of Music; and Luis Garcia Renart, Bard College. He has also been a participant at The Steans Institute for Young Artists, the Ravinia Festivals professional studies program for young musicians, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.
A native of New York, Mr. Olsen is a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a group of talented young musicians from orchestras and ensembles all over the county.
…back to artist roster.
Born and raised in Idaho, Patrick Smith began cello studies at the age of 10. While growing up he studied with
Sam Smith at the College of Idaho and performed in a number of local and regional orchestras. Smith attended the DePaul University School of Music from 2005 through 2009 where he studied with Stephen Balderston. During his training in Chicago Smith took part in numerous performances as a soloist and chamber musician. In recent years he has had the pleasure of collaborating and performing with a number of DePaul’s string faculty. Smith played in the DePaul Symphony Orchestra during his time at the school and served as Principal Cellist from 2008 to 2009.
Smith’s love for music has taken him overseas on multiple occasions. In 2007 he attended the Zephyr Chamber Music Festival in Courmayeur, Italy. The following year he spent the summer months in Ghana studying West African musical traditions. Currently Smith is exploring non-Western musical genres and their potential application to cello playing. In the future he hopes to pursue a graduate degree in Ethnomusicology while continuing study of the cello.
…back to artist roster.
Gary Stucka has been a member of the Chicago Symphony since 1986. Prior to joining the CSO he was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra (1981-1986), Principal Cellist of the Winnipeg Symphony (1977-1981), and Assistant Principal Cellist of the Grant Park Symphony during the last six of his nine years with that organization (1973-1981). He has been Principal Cellist of the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and he currently serves as Principal Cellist of the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra.
A Chicago area native, Gary received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Cello Performance from the Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University where he was a full scholarship student of Karl Fruh.
Extremely active as soloist and chamber musician, Gary has been a member of the Pressenda Trio since 1989 and has also performed with the Chicago Symphony String Quartet and numerous other ensembles. He has also participated in concerts at the Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival in Maine. A finalist in the First Emanuel Feuermann Memorial International Cello Competition in 1988, he has been soloist with numerous orchestras around the USA and in Canada. He has also appeared in recital on WFMT and over the CBC. In 2001, he became the first cellist in over 60 years to perform the Cello Concerto written by former CSO Music Director, Frederick Stock.
…back to artist roster.
Born in New York, Brant Taylor began cello studies at the age of 8. His varied career includes solo appearances 
and collaborations with leading chamber musicians throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as orchestral, pedagogical, and popular music activities.
After one year as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Taylor was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim in 1998. In Chicago, Mr. Taylor has performed recitals for the Dame Myra Hess Concerts (live radio broadcasts), the First Monday concerts, Rush Hour Concerts at St. James, and the Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars recital series. He has also performed regularly with the renowned Chicago Chamber Musicians and appeared on the CSO’s contemporary music series, MusicNOW. Mr. Taylor performs frequently as a member of the Lincoln Quartet, a group formed 10 years ago with colleagues from the CSO. The Chicago Tribune wrote of one recent performance: “the lush expanses of melody seemed to have been written for Taylor, who brought a throbbing lyricism, incisive attack and idiomatic characterization to the cello part.”
From 1992-97, Mr. Taylor was cellist of the award-winning Everest Quartet, prizewinners at the 1995 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The Quartet performed and taught extensively in North America and the Caribbean, and gave the world premiere performance of a work by Israeli-American composer Paul Schoenfield. Mr. Taylor has also been a member of the Whitney Trio since 1994, an ensemble dedicated to bringing chamber music to audiences of all ages in rural areas across the U.S.
In 1997, Mr. Taylor was a member of the New World Symphony. He has returned to appear as soloist with that orchestra under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan, as well as to teach and participate in audition training seminars. Other solo appearances with orchestra include the San Antonio Symphony, Raleigh Symphony, Midland-Odessa Symphony, and Racine Symphony, and Lafayette Symphony.
At home in the world of pop music, Mr. Taylor performs with the band Pink Martini. With this eclectic 11-member ensemble, he has appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, “The Late Show with David Letterman”, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and across the country in venues ranging from nightclubs to concert halls.
Mr. Taylor is a frequent performer and teacher at music festivals, including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival Santo Domingo, Michigan’s Village Bach Festival, and Music at Gretna in Pennsylvania, where he has made repeated appearances as a concerto soloist.
Active as a teacher of both cello and chamber music, Mr. Taylor serves on the faculty of DePaul University’s School of Music. He has also taught at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, Northwestern University’s National High School Music Institute, and has led classes on pedagogy and orchestral repertoire at the University of Michigan. Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the school’s Concerto Competition and performed as soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia. His Master of Music degree is from Indiana University. Mr. Taylor’s primary teachers have been János Starker and Paul Katz.
…back to artist roster.
Craig Trompeter, baroque cellist and violist da gamba, performs and teaches throughout the United States. He is principle cellist with Baroque Band, Chicago’s period instrument orchestra which was recently named Ensemble in Residence on WFMT Chicago. He performs regularly with the Newberry Consort, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque, Third Coast Viols, Cal Players, and the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society. He has also performed with the Central City Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago, Musica Maris, The Catacoustic Consort, Parthenia, and the Oberlin Consort of Viols. He has recorded for Harmonia Mundi USA, Cedille, Clarion, and Centaur discs of Elizabethan music, Marais, Mozart, Handel, and Biber. He is on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago and has taught at numerous early music workshops in the USA and Great Britain. In 2003 he founded the FeldenkraisÒ Center of Chicago where he teaches Awareness Through Movement and Functional Integration. He has taught the Feldenkrais Method as guest lecturer at Columbia College, Northwestern University, Valparaiso University, Northeastern University, DePaul University, and the Longy School of Music
….back to artist roster.
Voice, Poetry, & Conductor
Kevin Coval is the author of everyday people (EM Press, Nov.’08) and slingshots (a hip-hop poetica) (EM Press,
Nov. ‘05), named Book of the Year-finalist by The American Library Association. Coval’s poems have appeared in The Spoken Word Revolution and The Spoken Word Revolution: Redux (Source Books), Total Chaos (Basic Civitas), I Speak of the City: New York City Poems (Columbia University Press), The Bandana Republic (Soft Skull Press), Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reporter, Cross Currents, Crab Orchard Review, Rattle, 2nd Ave Poetry, The Drunken Boat, and many other periodicals and journals. Coval writes for The Huffington Post and can be heard regularly on National Public Radio in Chicago.
Coval has performed on four continents in seven countries including; The Parliament of the World’s Religions in Capetown, South Africa, The African Hip-Hop Festival: Battle Cry, Poetry Society of London, University of the West Indies in Jamaica, St. Xavier’s College in Bombay, India, and four seasons of Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry Jam, for which he also served as artistic consultant. From Jan. 2006 to May 2007, Coval visited 26 states and more than 50 cities during the promotional tour for his first book, performing at over 150 high schools, universities, book stores, theaters, community centers and Union Halls around the country.
Founder of Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival, the largest youth poetry festival in the world, Coval is poet-in-residence at The Jane Addams’ Hull House Museum at The University of Illinois-Chicago and poet-in-residence at The University of Chicago’s Newberger Hillel Center, and teaches at The School of the Art Institute in Chicago.
…back to artist roster.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra trombonist Michael Mulcahy has appeared as soloist and teacher in the United States, Canada, Europe, Russia, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia; and as soloist with the CSO and Pierre Boulez in music of Elliott Carter and with Daniel Barenboim in Leopold Mozart’s Concerto for Alto Trombone, which was broadcast widely on public television. Other appearances include the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Hilversum Radio Symphony, and the Melbourne Symphony.
Michael is the winner of several international competitions, among them the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Instrumental Competition, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Viotti International Competition in Italy, and the International Instrumental Competition in the former East German city of Markneukirchen.
Active as a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, his work also includes collaborations with Barenboim, Boulez, Joseph Silverstein, Christoph Eschenbach, William Bolcom, and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as appearances at Chamber Music Northwest and the Grand Teton Music Festival, where he has been a conductor for sixteen years. He has worked with the world’s most prominent composers, including Elliott Carter, Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis, Olivier Messian, Krzysztof Penderecki, and as a member of Karl-Heinz Stockhausen’s performance ensemble.
Sir Georg Solti appointed Michael Mulcahy to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1989. He also is principal trombone of Chicago’s Music of the Baroque and the Grand Teton Music Festival. His orchestral career began in 1976 as principal trombone of the Tasmanian Symphony. A year later, he attained the same chair with the Melbourne Symphony. He left Australia in 1981 to pursue a career in Europe, where he became solo trombone with the Cologne Radio Symphony.
He was named senior lecturer of the Canberra School of Music at Australian National University in 1987. In 1999, he was appointed professor of music at Northwestern University. He also has been an artist-in-residence at Indiana University and Wiley Housewright Scholar at Florida State University, and he regularly appears at universities worldwide. Mulcahy has taught at Barenboim’s West-Eastern Divan Workshop for young Arab and Israeli musicians in Seville, Spain.
Michael Mulcahy’s interest in conducting was sparked by an invitation from West German Radio in 1987. Since then, he has been active in conducting a wide variety of works with an emphasis on the twentieth century. In 1988, he formed the Canberra School of Music Chamber Players and the Orchestral Repertoire Ensemble at Australian National University. Shortly thereafter he was appointed assistant conductor of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. He toured Japan as guest conductor at the International Youth Musicale in Shizouka and Denmark for the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen. He also has worked as an assistant for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has conducted for Music of the Millennium and composer-perspective festivals at the Museum of Contemporary Art, served as music director for National Music Camp in Australia, and he regularly leads the Chicago Chamber Musicians.
Michael Mulcahy was born in Sydney, Australia. He began studying trombone with his father Jack Mulcahy, and completed his studies with Baden McCarron of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and with Geoffrey Bailey at the State Conservatorium of New South Wales.
The Mulcahys are a family of musicians. Michael’s wife Gabrielle Webster is a freelance horn player in Chicago; daughter Lauren studied violin through high school and currently is pursuing a degree in education at Northern Illinois University. His son, bassist Patrick Mulcahy is a recent graduate in jazz from Roosevelt University and appears frequently in Chicago, most notably with the quartet Information Superhighway.
…back to artist roster.
Dublin-born soprano Máire O’Brien recently returned to the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg performing the 
lead role of the Duchess in Thomas Adès’ Powder Her Face, as part of the White Nights Festival. She was first heard at the Mariinsky Theater in this role as part of the inaugural New Horizons Festival at the Mariinsky Concert Hall. In her New York City Opera debut, the New York Times hailed her performance of Miss Jessel in Britten’s Turn of the Screw as “vivid and well sung”. Her powerful performance as the Duchess in Powder Her Face, was originally heard at the Aspen Music Festival conducted by the composer, in its American stage premiere, and at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra under Robert Spano. Other performances in twentieth century repertoire include Augusta Read Thomas’ Ligeia at the Aspen Music Festival, Barena (Jenufa) at Spoleto USA, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti as a Young Artist at the prestigious Juilliard Opera Center and Jenny Diver in Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera.
Ms O’Brien’s vocal expressiveness and agility have made her an acclaimed Violetta in La traviata: at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico, at Baltimore Opera, Aspen Music Festival and CoOpera, Ireland. Máire O’Brien’s operatic career has taken her to Spain, Italy, Mexico and her native Ireland, and the USA to New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera, the Caramoor Festival, Aspen Music Festival and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, in such roles as the Marchesa (Verdi’s Un giorno di regno), Desdemona (Rossini’s Otello), Adalgisa (Norma), Alice Ford (Falstaff – conducted by Julius Rudel), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Hanna Glawari (The Merry Widow).
Her voice “was fresh and sweet in the soprano arias, and she has both the stratospheric high notes and the raw courage to take on the solo “Dulcissimme,!” stated the Washington Post about Ms O’Brien’s performance in Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chorus. Also at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chorus, she has performed in Mozart’s Requiem and A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams, and Ms O’Brien was the soprano soloist on the Chorus’ tour in Austria and Germany. An experienced concert artist, she has performed with the American Composer’s Orchestra in Whitman & Song and with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3, Other concert performances include Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Mozart’s Ch’io mi scordi di te, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915, Respighi’s Lauda per la Natività del Signore and the First Fairy in Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In addition to recitals in her native Ireland, she has performed at the Meet the Virtuoso Series at the 92nd St Y and the Tenri Cultural Institute, New York City, and at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has sung recitals at the Port Washington Library series, the Masterworks Series at Shenanadoah Conservatory, VA and at Music at Penn Alps in MD.
On CD, Ms O’Brien is to be heard in Handel’s Deidamia as Nerea, James Adler’s Memento Mori: An Aids Requiem and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 on the Naxos Label.
Awards include prizes at the Premio Sanremo Musica Classic and Iris Adami Corradetti International Voice Competition (Italy), the Olga Koussevitsky Competition, the Genevieve B. Gauemann Award (New York) and the New Jersey State Opera Competition. She received a Gerda Lissner Foundation career grant, and was the only two-time winner of the E. Nakamichi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.
A native of Dublin, Ireland, Ms O’Brien trained at the Juilliard Opera Center and holds a Bachelors Degree from Trinity College Dublin, and a Masters of Music from the Juilliard School.
…back to artist roster.
Winds & Brass
Bassoonist Collin Anderson attended the Eastman School of Music earning a Bachelor of Music Degree in bassoon performance in 1989 under the tutelage of David Van Hoesen. He completed a Master’s Degree in performance in 1991 at Kent State University where he studied with David DeBolt and was awarded a graduate assistantship. He is a founding member of Quintet Attacca, the 2002 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, only the second wind quintet in the competition’s history to take the top honor. Collin has performed on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Collin performs regularly with both the Elgin and Lake Forest Symphonies. He has also appeared with the Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Grant Park Orchestra. On recording, Collin can be heard on Chandos and Equilibrium Records.
Also a composer, Mr. Anderson earned a Master of Music degree in composition in 1996 from DePaul University and a Doctoral degree in composition from Northwestern University. His works have been performed by Quintet Attacca and at the Aspen Music Festival, New Music DePaul contemporary concerts, the International Double Reed Society Annual Conference and on WFMT Radio.
…back to artist roster.
Born in Switzerland in 1957, Sam Burckhardt started playing the drums when he was ten years old. He played his
first gig with noted Blues pianist Eddie Boyd at the age of fourteen. Several years later, he picked-up the saxophone in order to play in his brother’s band. In April of 1975, he met Sunnyland Slim, the legendary Chicago Blues musician, and had the chance to accompany him at two concerts. Fifteen years later, Sam and Sunnyland produced a CD of a tape of their first meeting, which is available on Airway Records (4757), entitled “Sunnyland Slim, Live in Europe, 1975.”
In 1982, Sam came to Chicago at Sunnyland’s invitation and has played in his band until Sunnyland’s death in March, 1995. He recorded and produced an album with Sunnyland and his band (available on Evidence Records “The Sunnyland Slim Blues Band – Chicago Jump”) in 1985. Over the years, he has performed or recorded with some of Chicago’s finest musicians, such as Hubert Sumlin, Johnny Littlejohn, Steve Freund, Robert Stroger, Robert Covington, Pinetop Perkins, Erwin Helfer, Floyd McDaniel, Jimmy Rogers, Louis and Dave Myers, Fred Below, Smokey Smothers, Zora Young and Big Time Sarah. Sunnyland and his band have performed at the Chicago Blues and the Chicago Jazz Festival, and other major festivals in the United States. In 1992, Sunnyland’s band, Steve Freund, Robert Stroger, the late Robert Covington, and Sam, started performing under the name “The Big Four” and toured Europe on a regular basis. They recorded a CD in Germany, which was released in 1994.
While on tour in Germany with “The Big Four”, a newspaper critic said of Sam’s playing: “His warm earthy tone and rich intonation set the highlights of the evening. With his rendition of the old Ellington standard “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be” he proved that he would have fit perfectly well into Duke’s band.”
At the end of 1994, Sam went on tour in Japan with the late Floyd McDaniel, Yoko Noge, and Clark Dean. The same year, Sam helped start “The Mighty Blue Kings,” a group of seven musicians that quickly gained popularity. Through their regular performance at the Green Mill on Tuesday nights, they established a large following. Over 3,000 people attended the release party for their debut CD in 1996, “Meet Me In Uptown.” Over 60,000 copies of their CD have been sold. In September of 1996, he left “The Mighty Blue Kings.” At the end of that year, he helped form a ten-piece Jump-Swing band, “The Big Swing.” He performed with this band regularly in the Chicago land area. In spring of 1997, he toured Switzerland. In fall of 1998, he organized a successful tour with “The Big Swing,” which took the band to Germany, Switzerland and Belgium. In 1999, he organized his own band, the Sam Burckhardt Combo. Sam is regularly playing with his combo at many of the best-known Chicago Jazz Clubs (see website for current listings). In the last years, he has toured Europe twice a year.
His critically acclaimed CD “Chicago Swing” on Airway Records (4758), containing all original compositions, was released in September 1999. Lloyd Sachs in the Chicago Sun-Times called it “the best neo-swing album to reach these ears,” and ranked it number 5 of his top ten Chicago albums of 1999. Kevin Toelle in the Illinois Entertainer wrote: “Skillfully produced and creatively arranged, “Chicago Swing” might just be the best local effort (in any genre) to appear this year.” His second CD, “A Walk In Time,” was released in spring of 2002 and received three out of four stars from the Chicago Sun-Times. In 2003, he recorded a CD with Dan Nimmer, piano (presently with Wynton Marsalis) and Jake Vinsel.
In 2002, he started cooperating with Swiss organist Stephan Grieder, in what has become a yearly concert that includes music from the Baroque, to original compositions, as well as freely improvised pieces of music. In 2005, Sam had the opportunity to play in the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. with organist Erik Suter. A CD with Stephan Grieder, entitled “Nachtwandler,” was released in 2007 (Airway Records 4764).
Another on-going project for Sam is a Teaching Artist’s position with the Chicago Public Schools. He introduces children from kindergarten to grade school levels to various forms of music, and gets a chance to talk about and demonstrate his instrument.
2006 has brought about a reunion of Bob Stroger, Steve Freund, and Sam in the recording of a new CD under Bob Stroger’s name, “Bob Is Back In Town” Airway Records 4762. The album features many original songs by Bob and horn arrangements by Sam. A CD entitled “Sunnyland” with Zora Young and Hubert Sumlin, and another CD of all original compositions by Sam with his current band are scheduled for release in 2009. Sam is the recipient of the 2008 Swiss Blues Award.
“Burckhardt demonstrates impressive technique, musical imagination, arranging ability, and a relentless sense of swing on this top-notch outing.” Kevin Toelle wrote in the Illinois Entertainer about Sam Burckhardt’s latest CD, “A Walk In Time.”
…back to artist roster.
Born in Heredia, Costa Rica, Wagner Campos studied at Baylor University with Dr. Richard Shanley and at DePaul University with Larry Combs and John Yeh.
He performs regularly with groups such as the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, CSO MusicNow, The Callisto Ensemble, and Fulcrum Point New Music Project.
His love for teaching has brought him to the faculties of the Costa Rican Youth Symphony, Colombian Youth Symphony, Chicago Merit Music Program, Lake Forest Academy, and the Sherwood Conservatory. He has given master classes in Bogota, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
As a guest artist outside Chicago, Wagner has participated in concerts with The Milwaukee, Alabama, and Charleston Symphonies. He has toured with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The New World Symphony, and The Galicia Symphony Orchestra. In 1998, he was invited to join the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for a full season as Principal Clarinetist.
In addition to his own recording, Romantic Songs for Clarinet and Piano, under the Southport Label, he has also recorded with The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and St. Charles Chamber Singers.
Currently Wagner Campos serves as a Clarinet and Chamber Music Instructor at DePaul University.
…back to artist roster.
Larry Combs, having been previously a member of the orchestras of New Orleans and Montreal and of the Santa 
Fe Opera, joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1974 and was appointed Principal Clarinet by Sir Georg Solti in 1978. He has since appeared as soloist with the Orchestra on numerous occasions in works by Copland, Mozart, Brahms, Berio, Corigliano and Rouse. He also has been featured many times on CSO tour concerts performing Morton Gould’s adaptation of Chicago for clarinet and orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Chamber Ensemble. In addition, he has recorded as soloist and chamber musician on the Erato, Sony, Cedille, Crystal, and Summit labels. Some of his recent chamber music experiences have included joining CSO Music Director Daniel Barenboim and cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Brahms’s Trio in A minor, Op. 114, at Orchestra Hall, and performances with Ravinia Music Director Christoph Eschenbach at the Ravinia Festival.
In addition to orchestral playing and chamber music, Larry has had a lifelong interest in jazz. He appeared with Chicago pianist Larry Novak at the 1999 Chicago Jazz Festival and joined the Chicago Jazz Orchestra in its Tribute to Benny Goodman concert in September 1999. He also has performed and recorded with Bill Russo’s Chicago Jazz Ensemble and participated in the Tribute to Duke Ellington CD on the Teldec label with Daniel Barenboim.
In 2002, Larry was awarded his second Grammy Award for his recording of Richard Strauss’ Duett-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon, strings and harp, with David McGill and Maestro Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
…back to artist roster.
Julie DeRoche received her degree in Clarinet Performance at Northwestern University where she was a student of Robert Marcellus and Clark Brody. After graduation she remained in Chicago to develop a significant career as a clarinetist and educator, performing and touring regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Chamber Musicians as well as many other organizations, and recording numerous commercial jingles. Julie currently is Associate Professor of Clarinet and Chair of Performance Studies at the DePaul University School of Music in Chicago. In addition, she continues as an artist/clinician for the Leblanc Division of Conn-Selmer Corp., has served as Conference Director, Treasurer, and President of the International Clarinet Association, and has performed and given master classes throughout Europe and the United States.
…back to artist roster.
Clarinetist Barbara Drapcho holds both Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Northwestern University where she
studied with Russell Dagon and Charlene Zimmerman. She is a member of Quintet Attacca, grand prize winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and ensemble-in-residence with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Music Institute of Chicago, and Lake Forest College. As a member of Quintet Attacca, she has performed on the Schneider Concert Series in New York City, the Cranbrook Series in Michigan, and has enjoyed numerous live performances on radio station WFMT. Her chamber music experience outside of Quintet Attacca includes performances with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Pacifica Quartet. Barbara currently is on faculty at the Merit School of Music, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Lake Forest College. She is a member of the New Philharmonic and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2000-2002. As a freelance clarinetist, she has performed with the Illinois Symphony, Elgin Symphony, and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestras.
…back to artist roster.
Hornist Jeremiah Frederick is currently a freelance horn player in Chicago. He holds the positions of Second horn with the Green Bay Symphony and Associate Principal Horn with the South Bend Symphony. During the Summer and Fall of 2008, he was acting utility horn for the Grant Park Orchestra and for Lyric Opera of Chicago. In addition, Jeremiah has played with other fine ensembles including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Lake Forest, Northwest Indiana, Elgin, and Ars Viva Symphonies, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Philly Pops Orchestra in Philadelphia. He enjoys new music performance and to this end has played with contempo at the University of Chicago and on the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW series. As a soloist, Jeremiah was awarded third place in the American Horn Competition in 2001. Recent solo engagements have included performances of Schumann’s Concertpiece for Four Horns with the Fox Valley Symphony and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Frederick is a member of the Stonegate Brass, Third Coast Brass and the Millar Brass Ensemble. He is also a founding member of Quintet Attacca, a wind quintet and winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition’s Grand Prize in 2002. Following this great honor, Quintet Attacca has toured extensively in the Midwest, been an ensemble-in-residence at Italy’s Emiglia Romagna Festival and made their New York debut at the Schneider Concert series at New School University. Quintet Attacca is currently in residence at Lake Forest College and the Music Institute of Chicago.
Jeremiah graduated from Northwestern University in 2000 with a Masters’ Degree in horn performance and received his Bachelor’s in performance from Lawrence University. His teachers have included Gail Williams, Bill Barnewitz, Dale Clevenger, and James DeCorsey.
…back to artist roster.
In 2005 Eugene Izotov was appointed to the position of Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim, becoming the first Russian-born oboist to 
achieve this title in any major American symphony orchestra. Mr. Izotov has previously served as the Principal Oboist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Associate Principal Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony and as Principal Oboist of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and has also performed as Guest Principal Oboist with the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the New World Symphony Orchestra. Izotov is the First Prize Winner of the 2001 Fernand Gillet International Solo Oboe Competition, a Laureate of the 1995 New York International Competition for Solo Oboe Players, the 1991 Russia Wind Players Competition, and the 1991 New Names International Competition.
Mr. Izotov is a frequent soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has also been a featured soloist with Boston Pops, Kansas City Symphony, United States Army Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony performing works by Mozart, Strauss, Marcello, Krommer, Hummel and Bach. From 2002 to 2006, Mr. Izotov performed regularly with the MET Chamber Ensemble throughout its annual concert series at Carnegie Hall under the direction of James Levine.
Born in Russia in 1973, Izotov began his musical career at the age of six at the Gnesin School of Music in Moscow, and performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, and North America appearing at Sarasota, Hampden-Sydney, Bowdoin, and Tanglewood Music Festivals where he received the 1995 “Outstanding Wind Player” Award. Izotov is the recipient of the 2001 Distinguished Alumni Award at Boston University where he studied with Ralph Gomberg.
Mr. Izotov teaches at DePaul and Roosevelt Universities and has previously taught at the Juilliard School and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Additionally, he continues to present regular masterclasses at conservatories across the nation and abroad at New World Symphony, Boston University, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, Mannes College, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. In 2003 at the invitation of Maestro James Levine, Mr. Izotov joined the woodwind faculty of the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. Since 2005 he continues to serve on the International Principals faculty of the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
…back to artist roster.
Lewis Kirk is a member of the orchestras of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Santa Fe Opera, playing both bassoon and contrabassoon. He performs with Bach Week in Evanston, Fulcrum Point, Music of the Baroque, Chicago Philharmonic and Chicago Opera Theater. He has appeared as a guest with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Chicago Symphony. His music studies were at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and at the Manhattan School of Music where his bassoon teachers include Crawford Best, Phillip Kolker, Stephen Maxym, and Darlene Jussilla. Mr. Kirk played five seasons with the Städtischen Orchester of Bremerhaven, Germany and three seasons with the New Orleans Symphony. He is a Lecturer in Bassoon at Northwestern University and resides in Evanston with his wife Melissa and daughters Eleanor and Cynthia.
…back to artist roster.
Judith Kulb, oboe, serves as Principal Oboe with the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago. Prior to her present position, she served as Co-principal oboe/English horn with the Kansas
City Philharmonic where she performed numerous times as a soloist on both oboe and English horn. Additional solo performances have included Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Chicago String Ensemble, and Bach Week Festival in Evanston, as well as various chamber music groups in the city. She has also participated in the International Bach Festival of Madeira and The Pine Mountain Music Festival. Her music education includes Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Indiana University with further study in New Haven, Boston, and Chicago.
…back to artist roster.
Judith Zunamon Lewis is a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago. She has performed with the Chicago, Boston, Honolulu, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Music of the Baroque, Grant Park Music Festival, Chicago Philharmonic, and Bach Week Festival. In addition, she has appeared with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Vermeer Quartet, Bay Chamber Music Festival in Maine, and every summer, the Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County. She earned her B.A. and M.A. music degrees from Northwestern University, was named a Tanglewood Fellow, won the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in 1982, and was a finalist for the Third Lucarelli International Oboe Competition. Life is complete with husband, renowned horn maker, Steven, daughter, Marion, and Siberian cats, Tootsie, and Rosi.
…back to artist roster.
Born and raised in Royal Oak, MI, Matthew Oliphant began musical studies on the piano at age 6. He began studying horn a few years later with Susan Mutter, then the Principal 
Horn of the Michigan Opera Theater. He received his BM from Northwestern where he studied with Gail Williams and Bill Barnewitz. Now an active freelancer in the Chicago area, he is a versatile musician who can be seen playing with such diverse groups as new music ensemble dal niente, and jazz/rock/improv group the Tomorrow Music Orchestra. He has played with the Milwaukee, New World, Elgin, South Bend, and Northwest Indiana Symphonies, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. Also an avid performer of chamber music, he is a member of the Axiom Brass, which has taught and played at schools and venues across the country and the New Millennium Woodwind Quintet. During the summer of 2006, he performed with the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and studied at the Tanglewood Music Center as a fellow in 2008. An accomplished solo musician, he received first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Biennial Student Competition in 2005. He has performed solos with the Northshore Chamber Orchestra and with the Northshore Concert Band, under the direction of Mallory Thompson.
…back to artist roster.
Valerie Whitney is an active freelance artist in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. A Civic Orchestra alumna, she performs frequently with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Ars Viva! Orchestra. In addition, she has been the recipient of a full scholarship to study at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Ms. Whitney completed her undergraduate degree at Wheaton College in 2007 under the instruction of Melanie Cottle, and will complete her graduate study at Northwestern University this year under the tutelage of Gail Williams and William Barnewitz.
…back to artist roster.
Gail Williams is an internationally recognized hornist and brass pedagogue. She has presented concerts, master classes, recitals, and lectures throughout North America, as well as 
in Europe and Asia. After 20 years with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Williams is in demand as a soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. She is currently Principal Horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and has recently performed on a number of prestigious chamber music series. She is a founding member of The Chicago Chamber Musicians as well as the Summit Brass, an ensemble with whom she has made eight recordings.
In addition to her recordings with Summit Brass, Ms. Williams can be heard on her three solo recordings, two of which are available on Summit Records, including the recently-released Mozart recording with CCM. The solo recordings feature compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, John McCabe, Jan Koetsier, Dana Wilson, and also works for horn and percussion by Alec Wilder and Charles Taylor. Ms. Williams has commissioned many works for horn by composers Dana Wilson, Anthony Plog, Douglas Hill and Augusta Read Thomas.
Ms. Williams is the Professor of Horn at Northwestern University, where she has been on the faculty since 1989. In May 2004, Ms. Williams was recognized with Northwestern University’s Charles Deering McCormick Professorship of Teaching Excellence award. Her other awards include Ithaca College’s Young Distinguished Alumni Award and an honorary Doctorate of Music, also from Ithaca College. In 2004, she traveled to Japan to perform as Principal Horn with the Saito Kenin Orchestra under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, and in 2005, 2007 and 2008 she performed as Principal Horn with the World Orchestra for Peace with Maestro Valery Gergiev.
…back to artist roster.
Piano, Harpsichord, & Organ
Bruce J. Barber II was appointed Director of Cathedral Music in January 2004. Prior to joining the staff of St. James, he served as Canon Precentor & Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral Church of St. John, the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for 10 years. At the Cathedral Church of St. John he developed a highly respected and internationally known music program consisting of a large choral program for both children and adults, various multi-faceted concert series and an organ recital series.As an orchestral musician, Mr. Barber has performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and since moving to the Midwest, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of such notable maestros as James Conlon, David Zinman, Helmuth Rilling, Semyon Byshkov, Kent Nagano and Duane Wolfe. An avid conductor, he has conducted a wide range of sacred music, orchestral literature and concerto repertoire ranging from Bach to Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, Brahms to Duruflé, Bernstein and Stravinsky. He has made two CD recordings with the Musicians of St. Johns Cathedral, To the Creator of Light: Choral Music from the Cathedral Church of St. John and All This Time: Music for Advent and Christmas, both of which have been critically acclaimed. While in New Mexico, the St. John’s Cathedral Choir was directed by such notable Anglican choral directors as Dr. Gerre Hancock, Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville, and Bruce Neswick. Trained as a choral and orchestral conductor, an organist and cellist, Mr. Barber holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, and a Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. With Bernard Zinck, Professor of Violin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he performs concerts for organ and violin both in the United States and Europe each year.
His professional affiliations are as a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians for which he is the Region V Coordinator, and as a member and Past Dean of the American Guild of Organists.
…back to artist roster.
James Giles regularly performs to acclaim in important musical centers in America and Europe. He recently
completed a tour of China and played at Warsaw’s Chopin Academy of Music. Last season he appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Bangor, Boise, Evanston, and Fresno. He performed Gershwin’s Concerto in F and Rhapsody in Blue with the Fresno Philharmonic on five days notice, replacing the indisposed soloist. This season, in addition to performances in France, Italy, and Bosnia, he collaborates with the Cassatt, Chicago and Pacifica Quartets, with tenor Anthony Dean Griffey, with violinist Gerardo Ribiero, and with the Chicago Chamber Musicians.
In an eclectic repertoire encompassing the solo and chamber music literatures, Giles is equally at home in the standard repertoire as in the music of our time. He has commissioned and premiered works by William Bolcom, C. Curtis-Smith, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Ned Rorem, Augusta Read Thomas, Earl Wild, and James Wintle. Most of these new works are featured on Giles’s new Albany Records release entitled “American Virtuoso.”
His Paris recital in 2004 was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” The critic for Helsinki’s main newspaper wrote that “Giles is a technically polished, elegant pianist.” And a London critic called his recent Wigmore Hall recital “one of the most sheerly inspired piano recitals I can remember hearing for some time” and added that “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he played, it was the kind of recital you never really forget.”
He has performed with New York’s Jupiter Symphony; the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in Queen Elizabeth Hall; the Kharkiv Philharmonic in Ukraine; and with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Alice Tully Hall. After his Tully Hall solo recital debut, critic Harris Goldsmith wrote: “Giles has a truly distinctive interpretive persona. This was beautiful pianism – direct and unmannered.” Other tours have included concerts in Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Series, Salt Lake City’s Assembly Hall Concert Series, and in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Musikhalle in Hamburg, and the Purcell Room at London’s South Bank Centre. He has given live recitals over the public radio stations of New York, Boston, Chicago, and Indianapolis. His compact disc of works by Schumann and Prokofiev is available on England’s Master Musicians label and a recording of new American music can be found on the Albany label. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the National and Chicago Symphonies and with members of the Pacifica, Cassatt, Chicago, Ying, Chester, St. Lawrence, Essex, Lincoln, and Miami Quartets, as well as singers Aprile Millo and Anthony Dean Griffey.
A native of North Carolina, Dr. Giles studied with Byron Janis at the Manhattan School of Music, Jerome Lowenthal at the Juilliard School, Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, and Robert Shannon at Oberlin College.
The pianist received early career assistance from the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Florence with the legendary pianist Lazar Berman. He was the recipient of a fellowship grant and the Christel Award from the American Pianists Association and now serves on the APA’s National Advisory Board. He won first prizes at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and the Music Teachers National Association Competition. As a student he was awarded the prestigious William Petschek Scholarship at the Juilliard School and the Rudolf Serkin Award for outstanding graduate at the Oberlin College Conservatory. He has written for Piano and Keyboard magazine and has presented lecture-recitals at the national conventions of the Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society, and Pi Kappa Lambda. He has served on the juries of several international piano competitions.
Dr. Giles is on the piano faculty at Northwestern University. He has recently been a guest professor at the Sibelius Academy in Finland and at Indiana University, where he taught the students of Menahem Pressler. He has formerly served on the faculties of the University of North Texas and the Interlochen Arts Academy. He is the founder of the Las Vegas Piano Institute, an educational summer program for young pianists, and is the chair of the piano department at the Eastern Music Festival during the summers.
…back to artist roster.
Born in Basel, Switzerland in 1958, Stephan Grieder received ten years of piano instruction at the Musikakademie Basel (1969 – 1979). After graduating from high school Grieder studied with organist Felix Pachlatko (Principal Organist at Basel Cathedral). Grieder gained important experience as music teacher and therapist at Arxhof (Youth Correctional Facility Baselland) until 1989, as well as instructor of a course for personnel working with the mentally handicapped.
Since October 1991, Stephan Grieder has taught piano lessons at Musikwerkstatt Basel. He is a member of the board of managers.
In recent years, Stephan Grieder gained attention through his work as an organist and composer. He performed with percussionist Fritz Hauser, saxophonist Peter Landis, and saxophonist Sam Burckhardt, respectively, in Switzerland and Germany. His composition “Die Himmelsleiter” was honored with Werkbeitrag ‘90, a prize by the city of Basel.
The composition “Enterprise Zones” for forty percussionists, premiered at Schlagzeugspektakel ‘86 in Basel. Composition stipend for “Waldspaziergänge netto,” premiered in Binningen, Switzerland, in 1991 (with Pauline Oliveiros, Fritz Hauser, and others). “Passage für Schlagzeug solo,” premiered and was recorded by Fritz Hauser. “Der brennende Busch [The Burning Bush],” an organ solo, premiered on Christmas 1994 in Basel.
Stephan Grieder experiments as a pianist, as well as a drummer, with several different rock and jazz formations, such as The Saltbee (with Matthias Erb), The Crooks, Werkstattorchester, and Rondeau.
…back to artist roster.
Pianist Kuang-Hao Huang enjoys an active career of performing and teaching. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in England, France, China and South Korea. As a soloist, he has performed with the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and has been heard on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series (WFMT 98.7 FM). Mr. Huang is also an active collaborator, performing concerts and radio broadcasts with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as a regular guest of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has performed with the Vermeer and Chicago String Quartets and on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series.
An advocate of new music, Mr. Huang gave the world premiere performances of works by Louis Andriessen and Chen Yi at Weill Hall as part of Carnegie Hall’s Millennium Piano Book Project. Other premieres include works by Stacy Garrop, Daniel Kellogg, and James Matheson. Mr. Huang is a member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project.
Mr. Huang serves on the faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Concordia University-Chicago, and the Merit School of Music. During the summer, he coordinates the piano program at Northwestern University’s National High School Music. A native of Whitewater, Wisconsin, Mr. Huang currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wonderful wife Janice and their children Maia and Gabriel.
…back to artist roster.
Equally at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano, David Schrader is “truly an extraordinary 
musician … (who) brings not only the unfailing right technical approach to each of these different instruments, but always an imaginative, fascinating musicality to all of them” (Norman Pellegrini, WFMT, Chicago). A performer of wide-ranging interests and accomplishments, Mr. Schrader has performed at the American Guild of Organists’ national convention on four occasions performing as a featured artist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Schrader has appeared as a soloist on organ and on harpsichord with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra having performed under the direction of Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, and Pierre Boulez. He has also appeared with the and Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony under Carlos Kalmar, and with many other orchestras throughout the United States and Canada.
In addition, Mr. Schrader has appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as the repetiteur and principal harpsichordist in Chicago Opera Theater’s highly acclaimed production of “Orfeo” under Jane Glover. He was the featured performer at the prestigious Irving Gilmore Keyboard Festival, performing concerts on organ, harpsichord and clavichord. And, Mr. Schrader appeared as a soloist at the Ravinia Festival under the direction of Nicholas McGegan performing all six of the Bach Brandenberg Concertos.
Mr. Schrader has appeared at numerous music festivals throughout the United States and Europe. He performed as the Artist of the Year at the Oulunsalo Soi Music Festival in Oulu, Finland. He was the harpsichord soloist with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble in a tour of Japan under Yuko Mori and the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik in a European tour. He has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the Michigan Mozartfest with Roger Norrington, the Connecticut Early Music Festival, the Manitou Music Festival, and the Woodstock Mozart Festival where he performed as soloist and conductor.
A resident of Chicago, Mr. Schrader leads an active musical life at home. He performs with Baroque Band (Chicago’s period instrument orchestra), Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, and Bach Week in Evanston. Mr. Schrader has appeared with Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contemporary Chamber Players, Chicago Baroque Ensemble, and The City Musick. He is a frequent guest on WFMT radio (Chicago) on recordings and in live broadcasts as part of WFMT’s “Live From Studio One” programming.
Mr. Schrader’s recording with Grant Park Symphony of music for organ and orchestra by American composers is the first recording of the Casavant Frères organ in Chicago’s Symphony Center which was described by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune as a “rich palette of sounds and deft rhythmic interplay … Schrader’s 17th recording for the Chicago-based indie label may be his best yet. Go for it.”
Mr. Schrader’s other recordings include concerti of J. S. Bach with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and continuo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for both recordings of Sir Georg Solti’s “Creation”, and the “St. Matthew Passion” and “Messiah”. Mr. Schrader has many releases of solo repertoire on the Cedille label, including the music of J.S. Bach, Soler, Franck, Vivaldi, Dupre and Domenico Scarlatti. His recording of Soler “Fandango & Sonatas” was described thus “We have never heard more beautiful, natural, realistic harpsichord sound … The playing? Excellent … There is no better recording on CD” (American Record Guide). “The popular ‘Fandango’ has perhaps never received so exhilarating a reading” (Chicago Tribune). “His recording of J. S. Bach “Fantasies & Fugues” “captures the sense of improvisatory, virtuosic energy that is to be found so plentifully in this music.” (Continuo) Mr. Schrader has also recorded for the Centaur and CRI labels.
Mr. Schrader is on the faculty of Roosevelt University, Chicago College of Performing Arts – Music Conservatory for performance and academic studies, where he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses since 1986. From 1993 through 1995 he also directed the Collegium Musicum at Northwestern University. He has also taught at the Music Institute of Chicago (formerly know as The Music Center of the North Shore.) Since 1980, he has been the organist of the Church of the Ascension, whose liturgies command a national reputation for musical integrity.
Mr. Schrader received a Doctor of Music degree in organ from Indiana University as well as the coveted Performer’s Certificate. He received a Bachelor of Music in piano and a Bachelor of Music in organ from the University of Colorado. His principal teachers have been Storm Bull, Abbey Simon, Oswald Ragatz, Anthony Newman and Everett Jay Hilty.
…back to artist roster.
CINCO, a Chicago-based brass quintet, was founded in 1998 at Northwestern University. In addition to receiving their undergraduate degrees from Northwestern, CINCO members hold degrees from Rice University, the San Francisco Conservatory and Roosevelt University. As active participants in summer festivals and competitions, the group has received fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival (2002) and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (2000, 2001). They have also been semi-finalists in the Fischoff, Carmel and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions.
In the Fall of 2003, after spending two years performing in the Houston area, CINCO relocated to Chicago and subsequently became the first ensemble to participate in the Chicago Chamber Musicians’ (CCM) Professional Development Pilot Program. This residency has partnered CINCO with members of CCM on several subscription concerts as well as on live radio broadcasts on WFMT (98.7).
CINCO’s relationship with CCM put the ensemble in contact with many other Chicago-based arts groups. In 2006 CINCO joined the roster of the International Music Foundation, an organization committed to bringing the arts to Chicago public schools. CINCO has also partnered with the Jane Addams Hull House, and in 2007 completed a grant from Chamber Music America to perform concerts and music classes in underserved communities and schools affiliated with the Jane Addams Hull House.
In 2006 CINCO was invited to Indiana for a “mini-residency” through the Fischoff Chamber Music Association. This week-long residency focused on music education and entertainment by setting a children’s book to music. The project was very successful, and in 2007 CINCO was invited back to create another program using a different book.
While based primarily in Chicago, CINCO’s members teach and perform throughout the country. Members hold positions in the Syracuse Symphony, New World Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony, and Northeastern Illinois University.
CINCO has performed all over Chicago, most notably on the main stage at Millennium Park, the Shakespeare Theater at Navy Pier, the Rush Hour Concert Series, and the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center. CINCO is the resident brass quintet at St. James Cathedral.
…back to artist roster.
Michael Sapienza just finished a three year fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida 
under the direction of Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas. He traveled to Paris, France; Granada, Spain; and Caen, France during the summer of 2008 to perform Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as a member of the New World Symphony. In January, Michael started performing extensively with the Syracuse Symphony as their fourth trumpet player. During the summer, he is a faculty member of the North Carolina Governors School in Raleigh. Michael has been performing with CINCO brass quintet for nearly eleven years and is a founding member. CINCO performs extensively in the Chicago area and has performed live on WFMT on numerous occasions. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, and his Master of Music degree from Rice University. His main teachers include Barbara Butler, Charles Geyer, Armando Ghitalla, and Marie Speziale. In his free time, Michael is an avid runner and has recently started a foundation on behalf of his mother to raise money for colon cancer research and awareness.
…back to artist roster.
Trumpeter Ryan Barwise is originally from El Paso, TX and is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Ryan recently completed his third season as Second Trumpet with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. Before moving to Syracuse, Ryan was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In 2004 Mr. Barwise played with the New World Symphony on their tour to Rome and performed with the same orchestra in 2007 at Carnegie Hall. Ryan was a two time fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where he received the Voisin Trumpet Award. Other festival appearances include the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Skaneateles Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto USA, National Orchestral Institute, Aspen, and Norfolk.
…back to artist roster.
Anna Mayne, horn, is originally from El Paso, Texas. She holds the 4th Horn position in the South Bend and Illinois symphonies. Anna currently freelances throughout the tri-state area and has played with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Green Bay Symphony, Northwest Indiana Symphony, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Marin Symphony, El Paso Symphony, El Paso Opera, Southwest Symphony (NM), Chicago Arts Orchestra and the Oistrach Orchestra. She has degrees from Northwestern University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts. Anna’s principal teachers include William Barnewitz, Dale Clevenger, Robert Ward and Gail Williams. Her playing has been described as “beautiful” (South Bend Tribune) and “impressive” (Marin Independent Journal). In addition to her busy performance schedule, she maintains private horn studios in Palos Hills, Northbrook and Arlington Heights.
…back to artist roster.
Brian Risinger, trombone, earned his Master of Music degree from Rice University and his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University. His teachers include Frank Crissafulli, Mark Lawrence, Michael Mulcahy, and David Waters. Brian has participated in various summer festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He spent a year on the North American tour of the Broadway hit, Forty-Second Street. He has been a member of the CINCO brass quintet, which performs regularly around Chicago, since 1998. Brian currently resides in Houston, Texas, where he is an active freelance musician and teacher. He teaches at several high schools and junior highs in the Houston area, and just finished his first year on the faculty of Kingwood College.
…back to artist roster.
Jared Bulmer, tuba, holds a Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where he graduated with honors. His teachers include Rex Martin, Dave Kirk, and Warren Deck. He has played with orchestras all over the world such as the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony, Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, and the Charleston Symphony. In addition to his orchestral experience, Jared has participated in several summer music festivals including a three appointment as the principal tuba fellow of the Aspen Festival Orchestra. Jared has been a member of several brass quintets in Texas and Illinois, and his own brass quintet, CINCO, performs regularly throughout Chicago. An active teacher as well as performer, Jared maintains a teaching studio of over 50 students at six Chicagoland high schools and has been on the faculty of Northeastern Illinois University since 2007.
…back to artist roster.
Praised by Time Out Chicago for their “chops, polish, and youthful joy in performing,” Third Coast Percussion uses a staggering array of percussion instruments to create a performance experience like no other. The driving intensity of drums, the beautiful warmth of marimbas and the surprisingly exotic sounds of everyday objects are fused with dedicated artistry to make music that is profound, memorable and fun. In performances around the country, this Chicago-based ensemble has swiftly gained national attention for effortlessly combining the energy of a rock concert with the finesse of classical chamber music.
Passionately dedicated to modern music, Third Coast Percussion has established a reputation for their commitment to the highest standards in the performance of new works, having commissioned, premiered and performed pieces by many of today’s preeminent up-and-coming composers.
In 2008-09, in addition to concerts in Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, Third Coast inaugurated their Chicago Concert Season, the first full season of percussion music ever to be presented in Chicago, with world-renowned guest artists and ambitious new programs, including premieres of works by Chicago composers.
Members of Third Coast Percussion hold degrees in music performance from Northwestern University, the Yale School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Rutgers University.
For more information, visit thirdcoastpercussion.com.
…back to artist roster.
Owen Clayton Condon made his solo debut in 1996 with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra after winning the orchestra’s Young Artist Competition. In 2000 he won the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, and performed with the Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra in Jordan Hall. Most recently he was a finalist in the 2003 PASIC Solo Marimba Competition. He has performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the University of Chicago’s Contempo series, and as a guest artist with the Eighth Blackbird contemporary music group. Recently, he performed on behalf of Northwestern University at the Kennedy enter in Washington D.C. He holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Frank Epstein and Will Hudgins. Owen is completing his Doctorate of Music at Northwestern, where he studied with Michael Burritt and James Ross. He is currently the Director of Percussion Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.
…back to artist roster.
Robert Dillon is a founding member of the Third Coast Percussion Quartet and an active performer and teacher in the Chicago area. He has performed as a substitute with the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, and has performed numerous times on the Chicago Symphony’s contemporary music series, Music- NOW. From 2004 to 2006, Robert was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony. He has also performed with the Madison Symphony, Rockford Symphony, Chicago Arts Orchestra, Lira Ensemble, Gardner Chamber Orchestra and Hingham Symphony. He was a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, in Lucerne, Switzerland, led by Pierre Boulez and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, from the Academy’s creation in 2003 through 2005. He has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and a member of the Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra, Chautauqua Summer Music Festival and Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. Robert holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from New England Conservatory, where he received the John Cage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Music Performance for his work in organizing and coaching a complete performance of Steve Reich’s “Drumming.” His teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross and Will Hudgins.
…back to artist roster.
Peter Martin has concertized as a percussion soloist and chamber musician across the globe. He has been a featured artist at the Jeju Summer Music Festival of Korea, the Leigh Howard Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the CJYPE Concert Series, the Long Island Day of Percussion, and the Kansas Day of Percussion. Peter is also on high demand as a guest clinician and performer at music schools worldwide. Recent appearances have included those at Seoul National University, Bryn Mawr University, St. Cloud State University, Colorado State University, and Iowa State University. Peter Martin has enjoyed competition success as the first prize winner at the 2003 Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition.
Since 2004, Peter has been an artist/ endorser for Kp3/Malletech Co., making him the youngest artist on their roster. As an ensemble musician, Peter has performed with the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, the Longmount Symphony Orchestra, the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, the Stampede Group Inc., the Summitt Theatre Group, and the Exit 9 percussion group and is an active freelance performer and educator in the Chicago area. Peter Martin holds a Masters in Percussion Performance from Northwestern University where he is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Music Degree. His teachers include world renowned percussion soloist Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, and marimba virtuoso Leigh Howard Stevens.
For more information on Peter, please visit newmarimba.com.
…back to artist roster.
David Skidmore is active as both a performer and composer of music for percussion. David is a member of the Ensemble ACJW, Third Coast Percussion, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Ensemble XII, and Collide. He is a dedicated advocate for the music of our time, having commissioned, premiered, and performed dozens of new works by many of the great composers of the 20th and 21st century. David has been featured as a soloist with the Royal Academy of Music Orchestra in London, the Pacific Soundings series in Sapporo, Japan, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra LaSalle Bank Chamber Music Series. As a chamber musician, David has performed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Music on the Edge series in Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Art Museum Concert Series, June in Buffalo, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Philharmonie Essen, the Ojai Music Festival, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the Bang On a Can Marathon, the Princeton Composers’ Ensemble, and at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. He has performed with So Percussion, the Signal Contemporary Ensemble, and Contempo (the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players). David has played under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, Peter Eötvös, and Michael Tilson Thomas. David has also performed as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Pacific Music Festival, the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and the National Repertory Orchestra.
David’s compositions are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country. Two of David’s pieces were performed in November 2007 at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, including the premiere of a new work for the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble. In May of 2007 his latest piece, “Unknown Kind”, was premiered at Carnegie Hall. He has received commissions from Michael Burritt, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Mark Ford, Dr. John Parks, the Spindrift Percussion Quartet, and Peter Martin. He was awarded 1st prize in the 2005 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest and 2nd prize in the 2004 contest. His piece “Whispers – for 9 Percussionists” was a finalist for an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2005, and has been recorded by the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble. David’s music for percussion is published by Keyboard Percussion Publications.
David received the Bachelor of Music degree from the Northwestern University School of Music and the Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. His teachers have included Robert Van Sice, Michael Burritt, James Ross, Paul Wertico, and Michael Hernandez.
For more information on David, please visit his website at davidskidmorepercussion.com.
…back to artist roster.
“WIRED” is the flute section of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Claire Chase and Eric Lamb. They
have been playing together for ten years, both as members of ICE and as a duo, and have commissioned an exciting new body of acoustic and electro-acoustic repertoire for the entire family of flutes. Claire Chase is the 2008 First Prize Winner of the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and is a sought-after soloist, chamber musician and recording artist. Eric Lamb is one of the most exciting young artists on the scene in both Europe and the US, and in addition to his performances with ICE, he has played frequently with Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche and Klangforum Wien. WIRED will tour Germany, Austria and France in the 2008-09 season.
Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most adventurous and accomplished groups in new music,” the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) was founded in Chicago in 2001, and has rapidly established itself as one of the leading ensembles of its generation, performing over fifty concerts a year in the US and abroad. ICE is a uniquely structured chamber music ensemble comprised of thirty dynamic and versatile young performers who are dedicated to advancing the music of our time. Through innovative programming, inter-disciplinary collaborations, and the creation of genre-defying new presentation and production models, ICE brings together new music and new audiences. Read more at www.iceorg.org.
…back to artist roster.
Claire Chase, flutist, is active as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, cultural producer and experimental arts entrepreneur. A passionate advocate for new music, Claire has given the world premieres of over 100 new works for the flute, and performs and produces events in venues ranging from the stages of Lincoln Center to warehouses, galleries, clubs and public spaces. Her self-released solo album, “aliento,” featuring world premiere recordings by Jason Eckardt, Du Yun, Nathan Davis, Marcelo Toledo and Dai Fujikura, will be out in March 2009. Other upcoming releases include collaborations on the Bridge, Naxos, New Focus and Tzadik labels. Claire has been recognized for her work with awards from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, ASCAP, Chamber Music America, the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, and the National Young Artist Competition, among others.
Highlights of the current season include over fifty chamber music performances in venues such as the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Composer Portraits and Pocket Concertos at Miller Theatre, and appearances at international festivals in Mexico, Finland, Poland and France.
Claire co-founded the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) in 2001, with whom she has performed, recorded and toured internationally. Currently the Executive Director of ICE, Claire manages both the New York and Chicago ICE offices, and is working on establishing a West Coast arm of the organization.
Claire received her B.M. from the Oberlin Conservatory in 2001 in the studio of Michel Debost and Kathleen Chastain, where she was a recipient of the Presser Music Award. She splits her time between Brooklyn and Chicago.
…back to artist roster.
Belonging to a new generation of young international soloists, flutist Eric Lamb is making a name for himself as an
artist who defies definition. He is a soloist, orchestral musician, passionate chamber musician and much sought after lecturer and teacher. Lamb is known for dynamic performances of works of the avant-garde and riveting interpretations of the classical and baroque repertoire.
He has collaborated in recent years as soloist with ensembles such as the Oberlin Orchestra, the DePauw Chamber Orchestra, Cologne Chamber Ensemble, Chamber Orchestra of Poland and the Giessen City Opera Orchestra. Deeply committed to new music, Eric has performed with many of Europe’s most celebrated ensembles including Ensemble Recherche (Freiburg, Germany), Klangforum Wien (Vienna), Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt, Germany). He has recorded world premier performances with Hessischer Rundfunk (Frankfurt Radio), the German Music Society, Radio Bremen and NAXOS.
Mr. Lamb is co-solo flutist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).
A seasoned orchestral player, Eric performs regularly with orchestras in the US and Europe. He is Principal Substitute Flutist with the Radio Orchestra of Frankfurt and has accompanied them on tours of Austria and Germany. He has also performed as solo flutist in the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, the Chamber Opera Orchestra of Frankfurt and the Deutsche Philharmoniker. In 2008 he will perform with England’s City Birmingham Orchestra for an extensive tour of Germany, Holland, Italy and Switzerland.
Eric is a recipient of the Millennium Young Artists’ Award from the James Tatum Foundation of the Arts and the National John Philip Sousa Award. In 2003, he was a finalist at the International Music Competition “Pacem in Terris” (Bayreuth, Germany), in 2004 he won first prize in the Polytechnische Gesellschaft Chamber Music Competition, 2006 first prize in the Lenzewski Music Competition followed later that year with first prize in the German Academic Exchange Performing Arts Competition, where he was also awarded the Goethe Prize. Eric holds degrees and diplomas from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Hochschule für Musik Frankfurt am Main and the Sculoa di Musica di Fiesole. His teachers include Michel Debost, Thaddeus Watson and Chiara Tonelli. He has played in masterclasses with James Galway, Robert Longevein and Vicens Prats and has studied chamber music with Irena Grafenauer and Veronika Hagen at the Salzburg Mozarteum.
…back to artist roster.
The Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble is a versatile and dynamic group whose performances have been praised by critics as “a little slice of nobility” and “simply fun to hear.” Fifth House’s innovative programs engage audiences through their connective programming and unexpected performance venues.
Continuing the tradition inaugurated in 2007, Fifth House presented its yearly subscription series, based on the tradition of Commedia dell’Arte for 2008-2009. A groundbreaking movement responding to elitism in theatre, it captures the ensemble’s ethos of providing dramatic and exciting performances for audiences of all types. The season featured a dramatic through line, character development, and raucous fun. Fifth House made silent film-inspired photo projection and staging an integral part of performances to illuminate the music and focus the dramatic progression.
Other public performances this season included an early music program at Byron Colby Barn, the Nineteenth Century Club, the University Club of Chicago, DePaul University, PianoForte Chicago, the Hideout, the Chicago Composers Forum’s New Music in the Gallery Series, Mostly Music Series, Arts and Ideas Series at Lewis University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Live from the Morse on WFMT.
Having established itself as a regular on the Chicago chamber music scene, Fifth House has performed on some of the city’s most well-regarded series and venues including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Mostly Music Series, Waukegan Chamber Music Society, Pritzker Pavilion, Sunday Salon Series at the Chicago Cultural Center and the Rush Hour Concerts at St. James, where their 2008 performance was named as one of the year’s most memorable by TimeOut magazine. Through a generous program grant, Fifth House was the first chamber ensemble to train and present a program on the Recital Theater Series of New Triad for Collaborative Arts in New York in June of 2007, and will return to NYC for a performance on the Miller Theatre’s Composer Portraits Series in November. In addition to public performances, Fifth House Ensemble reaches out to those unable to make it to the concert stage through its MusiCare series, presenting concerts at the Self Help Center and Children’s Memorial Hospital.
A member of the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-in-Education Roster, Fifth House’s innovative educational endeavors have resulted in performances and residencies at Chicago public schools and the Chicago Cultural Center in partnership with the International Music Foundation, as well as performances at the Woodstock Opera House, Fremd Schaumburg and Stevenson High Schools. Programs are customized to the curriculum of each school, with the goals of promoting active listening skills and connecting music to a wide variety of subjects. This season’s residencies were conducted at Chicago’s Mather High School, Burley Elementary School and Perez Elementary School, and explored subjects including geology, poetry and multicultural influences in Western music. Fifth House also frequently performs for college audiences, including residencies and performances at Millikin University, Manchester College, Carthage College, University of Illinois-Chicago and the University of Northern Iowa.
Members of Fifth House Ensemble are also active as orchestral musicians, having performed with ensembles including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also active as educators, members of Fifth House serve on the faculties of Carthage College, the Merit School of Music and Trinity University.
…back to artist roster.
Flutist Melissa Ngan Snoza, mother of two robust Chihuahuas, Jax and Lukas, currently performs with the 
Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Peninsula Music Festival. Also and active educator, Melissa currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Flute at Carthage College and teaches privately throughout the Chicago suburbs. Previous award credits include First Prize at the National Flute Association’s Orchestral Audition Competition, as well as being selected as a winner of Northwestern University’s Concerto Competition. She has been a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, has performed with the New World Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the Aspen Music Festival, and was the only American flutist invited to the first Music Master’s Course in Kazusa, Japan. Melissa is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and Northwestern University, with principal teachers including Bonita Boyd and Walfrid Kujala. Melissa is not only a well-known flutist and teacher in Chicago – she also makes a mean spread of Brazilian food and a mouth-watering chocolate pecan bourbon pie.
…back to artist roster.
Originally from St. Paul, MN, Crystal Stohr Hall currently resides in Chicago, IL, where she is an active freelance musician, playing with many area orchestras, including the South Bend (IN) Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Illinois Philharmonic. She also holds the second/English horn position with the Rockford Symphony, and she was principal oboe of the Illinois Symphony from 2006-2009. Other guest appearances have included the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Florida West Coast Symphony. She earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin. Her teachers include James Caldwell, Rebecca Henderson, Richard Killmer, and Basil Reeve.
Crystal is the oboist and Director of Educational Programming for Fifth House Ensemble, a unique Chicago-based chamber ensemble. In addition to playing with the group, she works to create and implement both stand-alone educational outreach concerts and long-term classroom residencies in Chicago-area schools that integrate music into the academic curriculum.
Recent summer appearances have included the Midsummer’s Music Festival in Door County, WI, the Marrowstone Music Festival in Bellingham, WA (as faculty, 2005 and 2008) and the Banff Centre for the Arts (festival orchestra 2006). From 2004-2006 she was a regular member of the oboe section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a Musicorps fellow, which allowed her to bring music to audiences in underserved communities around Chicago.
In addition to playing, Crystal maintains a large private teaching studio and sells professional oboe reeds on her website, ReedMonster.com.
…back to artist roster.
Jennifer Woodrum, born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, maintains a busy schedule playing and teaching 
clarinet throughout Illinois . Jennifer holds a bachelors and masters degree from Northwestern University , where she studied with Russell Dagon. Her other principal teachers have included Aris Chavez and Leslie Grimm. Ms. Woodrum holds many awards from local competitions including the Evanston Music Club, the Farwell award from the Chicago Musicians’ Club of Women, the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, and the American Opera Society, and performs several solo recitals a year. Jennifer has been a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Rockford Symphony. She has performed with the Elgin Symphony, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the South Bend Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony. Jennifer is the proud parent of a pit bull pointer mix, named after one of her favorite vocalists, Miss Peggy Lee. When not involved in clarinet activites, you’ll probably find Jennifer at the Evanston Pooch Park or singing karaoke at the nearest karaoke bar.
…back to artist roster.
A native of Manchester, NH, Karl Rzasa holds a Bachelors Degree from Oberlin College and a Masters Degree from University of Massachussetts Amherst. Karl was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2004-2006. Aside from the Civic Orchestra, Karl has become a professional substitute of sorts, appearing with the Vermont, Albany (NY), Chicago, and Elgin Symphonies. Karl has also recently played with MusicNOW and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Karl serves as bassoon faculty at the Vermont Youth Orchestra Reveille! festival in Burlington, VT every summer and attended the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta, Canada as a member of the Hara Quintet in the summer of 2006. Karl’s principal teachers include Janet Polk, George Sakakeeny, Stephen Walt, and Bill Buchman.
…back to artist roster.
In sixth grade, DeAunn Davis chose to play the French horn. When asked why she will say, “because it made me 
dizzy!” DeAunn has since studied at Interlochen Arts Academy, Northwestern University , and is currently earning a masters degree at DePaul University. She has studied with Dorrie Nutt, Julie Schleif, Gail Williams, Bill Barnewitz, Gregory Flint, Oto Carillo, and Jon Boen. While attending Northwestern, DeAunn was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and participated the in the LaSalle Bank MusicCorps Program, geared toward the engagement of audiences not regularly exposed to classical chamber music. DeAunn spent two years managing the Northwestern University Music Library Circulation Desk, during which time she performed regularly with the Illinois Symphony based in Springfield and Bloomington . She also performs with the Chicago Arts Orchestra and teaches in the Chicagoland area. When not playing her horn, you may find DeAunn doing origami while listening to the Beatles.
…back to artist roster.
Pianist and lecturer Adam Marks is best known for his innovative and impassioned performances of contemporary works including numerous premieres. A laureate of the 2008 Orleans International Piano Competition, he has performed throughout the United States, as well as in France and The Netherlands, including being a featured soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, and the Brandeis-Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. Also an active educator, Adam taught at New York University, and has led masterclasses and workshops at The Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New York University and Yale University . Adam currently serves as a Core Consultant for New Triad for Collaborative Arts, where he teaches audience engagement, public speaking, and coaches musicians as they craft theatrical recitals. Adam holds degrees from Brandeis University and the Manhattan School of Music. A former EMT and professional puppeteer, he is currently a candidate for the Ph.D in piano performance at New York University.
…back to artist roster.
Trio Voce is a spectacular new piano trio that thrills audiences with their passion, enthusiasm and ability to make the written music come alive. The three individuals of Trio Voce communicate as one voice (“voce” in Italian), whether they are performing the repertoire of Haydn or that of the present day. All three members, Jasmine Lin, Marina Hoover and Patricia Tao, are established musicians, who have studied with some of the great masters at schools such as Curtis, Yale and Harvard, have a demonstrated depth of experience as collaborators and as performers on the international stages throughout the world, and have championed recent music through commissions, premieres and recordings of works by living composers. Their collaboration in this Trio has resulted in a new and outstanding synergy, apparent with every performance they give, and bringing verve and excitement to audiences of all ages. Highlights of the 2008-2009 season include performances for the Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud, the Music Guild of Los Angeles, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and a live broadcast performance on Chicago’s classical music radio station, WFMT.
…back to artist roster.
Jasmine Lin began violin studies at age four. Since then she has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the 
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Symphony Orchestra of Uruguay, and Summer Serenade, and in recital in Chicago, New York, Nova Scotia, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo. She was a prizewinner in the International Paganini Competition and took second prize in the International Naumburg Competition. The New York Times describes her as an “unusually individualistic player” with “electrifying assertiveness” and “virtuosic abandon”.
As a chamber musician, Ms. Lin has been a participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia, and has toured in New York, Maine, Delaware, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, and the British Virgin Islands as part of the Chicago String Quartet, in China as part of the Overseas Musicians, and in Taiwan as a member of Taiwan Connection Music Festival. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University and DePaul University and was a faculty member of the Taos School of Music in New Mexico. She is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, which won first prize in the London International String Quartet Competition in 2006. The Formosa’s debut cd on EMI Classics Debut Series was released in January.
Ms. Lin is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She gave her New York debut in Merkin Hall, where the program included her poetry set to music. Her poem “The night of h’s” received Editor’s Choice Award from the International Poetry Foundation, and her poetry/music presentations have been featured in Chicago and on radio in Taipei. During the 1999-2000 season, she served as second assistant concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, whose Composer Perspectives series won the ASCAP award for adventuresome programming, and the violinist of Trio Voce. She is heard regularly on WFMT in Chicago.
…back to artist roster.
Two-time Grammy nominee Marina Hoover was founding cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which rocketed to international prominence after winning both the Young Concert Artists auditions and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In her 13 years with the St. Lawrence, Ms. Hoover performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street “Y,” The Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), and Theatre De Ville (Paris). In addition, the quartet made regular appearances at Tanglewood, the Newport Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, as well as over 1000 other appearances throughout North and South America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Viet Nam. The St. Lawrence has been the resident quartet at Spoleto USA since 1996.
The Quartet’s major recording label debut, Schumann String Quartets 1 and 3, won the Juno award for Best Classical recording (1999), and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik (2001). It was voted one of the most important classical recordings of the 1990s by Opus Magazine. In 2002, the St. Lawrence’s third cd, Yiddishbbuk: The Chamber Works of Osvaldo Golijov was nominated for two Grammy awards, including Best Classical Chamber Music Recording and Best Composer, as well as a Juno Award for Best Classical Recording. Ms. Hoover’s most recent cd with pianist Patricia Tao includes works by Chopin, Strauss and Liszt on the Centaur label.
Ms. Hoover’s solo career has included concertos with Toronto Symphony, Red Deer Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Belo Horizonte Symphony (Brazil), Edmonton Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Yale Chamber Orchestra, and the Curtis Orchestra. She has performed recitals throughout North America and most recently at Northwestern University’s Lutkin Hall. She appeared in the movie “Illuminata,” directed by John Turturo. A decade after winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition, she returned to Banff to serve as a juror for the competition in 2002.
Ms. Hoover studied cello under David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music, and obtained a Masters at Yale under Aldo Parisot. Ms. Hoover was Artist-in-residence at Stanford University, where she co-directed the string program and designed and ran a summer institute for chamber musicians. She has been visiting artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto, and participated in numerous community outreach programs with the St. Lawrence in Kansas City, Washington D.C., Palo Alto, and other cities. In 2002-03 she was visiting Professor of Cello at the University of Toronto and has also been an artist-in-residence at the Banff School of Fine Arts and Distinguished Artist at the University of Alberta. She has also taught chamber music as part of the Chicago String Quartet at Northwestern University and currently coaches chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston Campus.
Ms. Hoover maintains an active performing schedule of both solo and chamber music. Recent performances include appearances with the Chicago String Quartet, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, faculty members from Northwestern University and the Music Institute of Chicago, her duo partner Patricia Tao, and Trio Voce.
…back to artist roster.
Pianist Patricia Tao, founding member of the Guild Trio from 1988-1998, leads an active life as performer, teacher 
and concert organizer. As pianist of the Guild Trio, she performed throughout the United States and Europe, with appearances in major North American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C. With the Guild Trio, she won the prestigious USIA Artistic Ambassador competition, resulting in a seven-country European tour. The following year, her trio was awarded the position of Trio-in-Residence at the Tanglewood Music Center, where they were lauded by the Boston Globe as a “beautiful new landmark” on the concert stage.
As soloist, Dr. Tao toured the United States for Columbia Artist’s Community Concerts series and as an “Artistic Ambassador” for the USIA, with recitals in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. Winner of numerous awards, she was the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein scholarship and the David McCord Arts Award upon graduation from Harvard University. Summer festival credits include the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England, Rutgers Summerfest, the Cape May Music Festival, Apple Hill Music Festival, the Summer Serenades at the Staller Center, Niederstotzingen Festival in Germany, and the International Arts Festival in France. Recent solo performances have included recitals on the University of Alberta’s MACH series, Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 414 with string quartet at the Winspear Centre, the Yellow River Piano Concerto with the HKJYCC Orchestra in Hong Kong, and a recital at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Tao’s live performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” WNYC’s “Around New York,” WQXR’s “The Listening Room, the public television series “Premiere Performances” out of St. Louis, Chicago’s WFMT and “Our Music” on CBC. Dedicated to the performance of new works, Dr. Tao (with the Guild Trio) commissioned and premiered numerous works, including William Bolcom’s “Spring Trio,” Sheila Silver’s “To the Spirit Unconquered,” Harvey Sollberger’s “From Winter’s Frozen Stillness,” and works by Bradley Lubman, Daniel Weymouth, Peter Winkler, and Perry Goldstein. Previous recordings include Sheila Silver’s “To the Spirit Unconquered” on the CRI label, a solo CD on the Arktos label featuring works of Schubert, Liszt and Corigliano, and most recently, cello and piano sonatas with cellist Marina Hoover on the Centaur label.
An avid chamber musician, Dr. Tao performs frequently with Ms. Hoover and Trio Voce, with most recent performances in Edmonton, New York, Vancouver, Minnesota, and Chicago. Dr. Tao received her undergraduate education at Harvard University, a masters degree with distinction from Indiana University and her doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where her principal teachers were Leonard Shure, Gyorgy Sebok and Gilbert Kalish. She has given master classes at numerous schools, including the University of Ottawa, Ithaca College, and the Conservatories of Barcelona, Prague, Bratislava and Wuhan, and has held performance residencies at the Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York, the medical school of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the University of Virginia. She taught at Western Washington University and is now Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alberta.
…back to artist roster.
Explore More Online