EDWARDLEIN
composer
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Hosting concerts at the Main Library has given me the opportunity to meet many of the finest musicians active
along Florida's First Coast.
Here are the biographical notes used for the various programs in which they performed.
Since 1985, Carolyn Adams has played an active role in the musical life of the First Coast, including singing with the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus and accompanying dance classes at Jacksonville University and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Ms. Adams is a member of the St. John's Cathedral Choir in Jacksonville, and accompanist for the Cathedral's youth choristers group. This is her first season as accompanist with The Orange Park Chorale, and, as today's concert illustrates, she can play virtually anything put before her. Formerly an elementary school teacher, Ms. Adam's compositions include a number of songs for children.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
Soprano Erin Barnes began training for the musical stage at the University of Northern Colorado, where she studied acting and appeared in theatrical productions including Cabaret and Edward Albee's Finding the Sun. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from Jacksonville University, graduating summa cum laude and earning the Dean's Choice Award for Excellence in Music, while also winning honors in musical theater and chorus. Erin, who was a singing server at Bravo! Ristorante for several years, created the role of "Cathy" in Rachel Clifton's musical adaptation of Wuthering Heights at JU, and performed in the local touring production of Gene Nordan's The Piano Bar. She appeared in Side by Side by Sondheim and He was a Stranger, an original musical by Deborah Lucas, for Players by the Sea, and has participated in several "Spring Fling" fundraisers at that theater. As "the artist formerly known as Erin Brehm," she treasures her leading roles as wife to Bella Voce cast member Matt Barnes and mother to sons Ethan and Cason. Erin spends much of her time teaching piano and voice to both children and adults, and enjoys the chance to share her love of music and performing with future generations of actors and singers.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
In addition to performing with the First Coast Clarinet Society, Paul Barnes (B-flat Clarinet, E-flat Soprano clarinet) is the President and Principal Clarinetist of the St. Augustine Community Orchestra. He has been a student of Ed Walters, Norman Heim and the late Paul Eberly. Mr. Barnes was a member of the University of Maryland Bands (1985-1990), the Statue of Liberty All-American Marching Band (1986) and the United Way Centennial Honors Orchestra (1987). He performed with the U.S. Navy Band at the U.S. Capitol (1985), also with Manhattan Transfer, Shirley MacLaine and Richard Thomas, among others, and has performed for President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Vice President George Bush, French President and Mrs. Francois Mitterrand and Itzhak Perlman. When Mr. Barnes is not playing with woodwinds, you’ll find him playing with trains at CSX Transportation as Market Manager, Woodpulp.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Kristopher Beckstrom (B-flat Clarinet, E-flat Alto Clarinet) teaches Music Appreciation and Critical Thinking at Landon Middle School, and in the seven years Kristopher has been at Landon he also has taught Band and Chorus. He is a graduate of Jacksonville University with a Bachelor of Music Education degree and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish. Since 1994, Kristopher has regularly performed with the First Coast Wind Ensemble, and he still tries to find time for work and practicing around his busy schedule of spending time with his son, Kyle.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Bella Voce Cabaret (bellavocecabaret.com) is a theatrical production company that creates and performs corporate, charitable, and private entertainment across the musical genres of opera, Broadway, Neapolitan folk song, and jazz and pop standards.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Established as a powerful performer and versatile artist, Krzysztof Biernacki trained in North America and Europe, and his professional credits include opera, oratorio, concert, and recital performances on both continents. Highlights of his operatic engagements include The Barber of Seville, La Fanciulla del West, Un Ballo in Maschera, and Der Freischutz with the Vancouver Opera, Carmen and Rigoletto with the Manitoba Opera, and, Madama Butterfly and La Boheme with Orchestra London Canada. Engagements with various other companies have included The Merry Widow, Don Pasquale, Dido and Aeneas, The Crucible, Cunning Little Vixen, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Die Fledermaus, and Gianni Schicchi. Dr. Biernacki recently appeared in the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in the City Theaters of Jablonec and Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic.
Respected as a solo recitalist, Dr. Biernacki frequently performs art song repertoire ranging from Haydn to Szymanowski, Shostakovich and Britten. In concert and oratorio he has appeared with the Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Okanagan Symphony Orchestras, and with the Vancouver Bach Choir. Dr. Biernacki holds degrees from University of Manitoba (B. Mus.), University of Western Ontario (M. Mus.), and University of British Columbia (D.M.A). This is his second year with the University of North Florida Music Department, where he heads the voice department and directs the UNF Opera Ensemble.
--September 16, 2007 (Biernacki/Smart: Love Songs and Cycles)
Aaron Brask has been a full-time member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for two decades, and has been a member of the Glimmerglass Opera since 1990. He has performed with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa and toured Europe with the American Sinfonietta, and has participated in summer festivals at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and the Interlochen Summer Music Camp in Michigan. Mr. Brask, who was educated at the Interlochen Arts Academy and Boston University, teaches privately and also has served as horn instructor at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Jacksonville University, and the University of North Florida. He has released three recordings, including two with JSO harpist Kayo Ishimaru, and is joined by pianist Rachel Clifton for a fourth recording currently in production featuring the music of Vince Guaraldi. Aaron’s CD, Can I Get You Anything?, available for check out from the Library, showcases his versatility with performances ranging from the Baroque stylings of Marin Marais to a traditional Spiritual to John Lennon's Imagine.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)
Violinist and composer Andrew Bruck has been a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1993, and favorite solo performances with the JSO have included J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 and "Autumn" from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Mr. Bruck and his wife, JSO violist Cynthia Kempf, were artists-in-residence for over a decade at the Bay View Music Festival in northern Michigan, and as members of the Westbrook String Quartet they have enjoyed the mentorship of the Tokyo, Manhattan, Juilliard and Vermeer string quartets. Prior to moving to Jacksonville Andy served as principal second violinist of the East Texas Symphony and as acting concertmaster of the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. He has served on the executive board of the Jacksonville Musicians’ Union for several years, including as Chair of the Jacksonville Symphony Players Association. An active champion of the arts, Mr. Bruck is a violin coach for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, and is on the summer faculty of Prelude Chamber Music Camp.
--April 10, 2008 (Violin Futura: Trio Duo Solo)
Violinist Christopher Chappell has been a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1990, and became the Assistant Principal Second in 2002. Originally from Rochester, New York, Chris began playing the violin in the first grade. He went on to receive a Bachelor's Degree in Applied Music from the Eastman School of Music in his hometown, and continued his studies at Indiana University, earning a Master's Degree in Violin Performance. Before moving to Jacksonville, Mr. Chappell was the Associate Concertmaster of Savannah Symphony and the acting Concertmaster for the Yamagata Symphony in Japan, and was also a featured soloist with these orchestras. Christopher Chappell finds the performance of great symphonic works to be spiritually enriching, but also has a great love of chamber music. In 2002, with JSO colleagues violinist Jean Majors and cellist Vernon Humbert, Chris founded the Prelude Chamber Music Camp to help impart this love to young musicians. Their non-profit organization offers performance instruction and mentoring to student players, and in June, 2007, some of the Camp's finest students gave a family concert at the Main Library. Mr. Chappell, who teaches violin and improvisation to the summer students, frequently participates in chamber music concerts himself with a variety of First Coast ensembles, including a September 2007 benefit concert to help combat childhood diabetes.
--October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Voices & Violin, Bach to Broadway)
A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Christine Armington Clark began piano studies with James Crosland, and continued her professional training at Oberlin Conservatory. She received a Master's degree in piano performance from the University of Illinois and studied with Leon Fleisher in the Peabody Conservatory Artist Diploma Program upon the recommendation of legendary concert pianist Lorin Hollander. Ms. Clark was national finalist in the Collegiate Artist Competition sponsored by the Music Teachers National Association, and attended the Aspen Music Festival on a piano performance and accompanying scholarship. She competed in the Maryland International Piano Competition, and won the Boca Raton Piano Competition. A versatile musician, Christine played keyboard with Trap Door, a local rock group, and toured Europe under the aegis of Proclaim! International. She taught piano at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and her chamber music performances include an appearance at the Goethe Institute in San Francisco. Well known along the First Coast, Ms. Clark has appeared with the Jacksonville Starlight Symphonette and the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. She is a frequent performer at Andy Clarke's Wednesday Happenings at Riverside Presbyterian Church, as well as at the Friday Musicale, and in 1999 she gave an all-Liszt recital for the St. Cecilia Music Society. In addition to being an accomplished pianist, Christine A. Clark has been an attorney with the Jacksonville law firm of Pajcic & Pajcic, P.A., and while working as a law clerk in Washington, D.C., she gave perhaps her most unusual recital, performing in the United States Supreme Court at the request of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
--June 1, 2008 (Juls Clark Duo: The Intermezzo Series Finale)
Andrew Clarke, a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is organist and choirmaster of Riverside Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and is active as a choral director, organ recitalist, piano accompanist, composer and teacher. He is a graduate of Yale University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and pursued advanced organ study in The Netherlands. He has taught organ improvisation at the Institute of Sacred Music at yale University and organ at Williams College, has been on the faculties of Jacksonville University and Florida Community College, and has presented master classes in improvisation for many chapters and conventions of the American Guild of Organists and at leading universities. As a recitalist Mr. Clarke has played throughout the United States and Canada, including performances at Tanglewood and at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, North Carolina. Among Andrew Clarke’s recordings is The Casavant Pipe Organ, a CD that showcases the organ in Jacoby Hall in Jacksonville’s Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, and which is available for check-out from the Library. His organ and choral compositions are published by Gemini Press.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
Clarinetist Artie Clifton is Associate Professor of Music at Jacksonville University where he teaches coursework in music education and performance. Professor Clifton maintains an active concert schedule that includes recitals and chamber music, and he is a member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He conducts the First Coast Wind Ensemble and serves as a guest conductor and adjudicator in music festivals. Mr. Clifton, who holds degrees from Stetson University and the University of Cincinnati with post-graduate study at New York University and Brooklyn College, has taught in public schools in Florida and Ohio. He was Director of Instrumental Ensembles at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he conducted a professional concert series called Music for Winds, as well as professional theatre productions. Professor Clifton was the principal clarinetist of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, and maintains membership in several professional music organizations and honorary societies.
--May 4, 2008 (JU Faculty Trio)
Composer and pianist Rachel Clifton is much sought after as an accompanist by many of the First Coast's finest musicians, and she frequently collaborates with instrumentalists from the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Clifton is the choral director and a member of the Fine Arts faculty at the San Jose campus of the Bolles School where she has been honored with the Teacher of the Year Award and the Ottenstroer Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, and she recently served as a judge for the Florida State Music Teachers Association piano competition. As at home in the musical theater as she is on the concert stage, in 2001 Rachel wrote, produced and directed an original musical based on Wuthering Heights while she was artist-in-residence at Jacksonville University, and her organ playing provides the perfect foil for Theatre Jacksonville's January 2008 production of Dearly Departed, a broad comedy about a Southern funeral.
--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)
James Coleman (B-flat Clarinet) has been playing the clarinet since 1996. He was graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in 2002, where he was a member of both the band and the orchestra. While working toward his 2006 degree in Criminal Justice at the University of North Florida, James continued to hone his performance skills playing with the UNF Wind Ensemble. He is now attending Florida Community College at Jacksonville, pursuing a Pharmacy degree.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Ralph Coleman (B-flat Clarinet & Bass Clarinet) is the string instructor at Pine Forest Elementary School of the Arts, and previously served as middle school band director in Baker, Clay and Duval Counties for 28 years. He is the music director at Terry Road Baptist Church and has been associated with the Florida Baptist Convention All-State Orchestra since 1984. A Jacksonville native, Ralph has been playing the clarinet since he was in junior high school.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Soprano Katherine Cromley moved to the First Coast in 1978, but she began childhood music training with her mother in St. Petersburg, Florida, and continued her education in flute and voice at St. Petersburg College and Florida State University, in Tallahassee. Her teachers have included the late Kathleen Curley, Ron Emory, Jacqueline Quirk, Charlotte Miller, and Mary Walkley, and she has participated in vocal workshops and master classes with Roger Miller and Ray Holcomb. Currently Ms. Cromley is coached by Sonia Lewis with RCAM Artist Management, Inc. Ms. Cromley's diverse repertoire extends from opera and oratorio to Broadway, and she has appeared in recital, at numerous charity events, and as guest soloist with church and choral groups across the southeastern United States and in Europe. Major choral works in which she has been featured include Handel's Messiah, Rutter's Magnificat and Requiem, Britten's Ceremony of Carols, Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, Mendelssohn's St. Paul, and with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for Mozart's Requiem. She has appeared on the operatic stage in La Boheme, Tosca, Carmen, Amahl and the Night Visitors, and Don Giovanni. Katherine Cromley is a member of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs, and produces award winning singers through her private voice studio and at Bolles Middle School (Bartram Campus). She is soprano soloist for Riverside Church of Christ Scientist, and, as a bedside musician with the nonprofit organization Body & Soul (The Art of Healing), Ms. Cromley provides music therapy for patients in local hospitals and Hospice. She also serves on the board of Opera Jacksonville.
--October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Voices & Violin, Bach to Broadway)
Pegge Ealum is a wedding and event music coordinator, and is a graduate of the University of Florida with a Bachelor’s degree in flute performance, and from Jacksonville University with a Master of Arts in Music Education. As an adjunct instructor in music at Jacksonville University, Pegge has helped many students develop into successful performers, and she herself performs with numerous musical groups, including the Gainesville Symphony Orchestra.
--March 9, 2008 (Arioso Flute Quartet)
The First Coast Clarinet Society (http://www.myspace.com/fccs) are music educators and nonprofessional or retired clarinetists who share a joy of making music together and making music fun, and they are always on the lookout for new members! For more information about the Society, please visit with the players at the reception following today’s concert, or contact Shannon Watson at shawatson13@yahoo.com.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Pianist Ileana Fernandez is well-known to First Coast music lovers as the principal keyboardist for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, as a noted solo recitalist, and as a frequent collaborator with some of the area's finest musicians. Since joining the JSO in 1981, she has enjoyed working closely with guest artists from the international stage, and she herself has been a featured soloist with the Symphony. Ms. Fernandez, who is also the rehearsal pianist for the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus, includes among favorite career highlights her performance with the JSO of Beethoven's Choral Fantasy for piano, vocal soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra. Cuban-born Ileana began formal piano studies at age 11 after moving to this country, and since has earned Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Arts degrees from Jacksonville University, and a Master of Music in piano performance from Florida State University. She has a Master of Arts degree in Spanish from Middlebury College in Vermont, and joined the full-time faculty of Florida Community College at Jacksonville in 1979, teaching Spanish. She is now Director of Piano Studies at FCCJ's South Campus where she teaches music theory and ear training, and she is also on the summer faculty of the North Florida Piano Camp at the University of North Florida.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Assistant conductor Anna Frederick is in her senior year at the University of North Florida where she is majoring in Piano Performance. Ms. Frederick has been studying with Dr. Tasher for the past two years, and this is her first year as Assistant Conductor. After graduation Anna hopes to remain in the Jacksonville area to pursue a career in music education.
--February 10, 2008 (UNF Chorale & UNF Chamber Singers)
The versatile singer-actor Jim Goodell is the founder and producer of Bella Voce Cabaret, and his multiple talents are in constant demand. Jim was a featured soloist for the Music for Hope benefit concert for the CHILD Cancer Fund, and in addition to recital performances, recent appearances include bass soloist for Handel's Messiah in St. Augustine; "Smuggler/Soldier" in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's production of Carmen; "Mario/Roberto" in the premier of Debra Lucas's comedic melodrama, He was a Stranger; "Raoul" in a concert performance of The Phantom of the Opera; and, "Mr. Gobineau" in Menotti's The Medium, with the Cassadaiga Opera Company. His appearances with the First Coast Opera have included the roles of "Prince Yamadori" in Madama Butterfly, "Dick Deadeye" in Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, and "King Balthazar" in Amhal and the Night Visitors, as well as numerous musical theater roles for their Lighter Side series at St. Augustine's Limelight Theatre, including "Harold Hill" in The Music Man. For a recent Friday Musicale performance of Stravinsky's A Soldier's Tale, Jim received well deserved acclaim for his rich and varied vocal characterizations of all the spoken parts, including the Narrator, the Soldier, and the Devil. Mr. Goodell, who began his professional training at Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia, and continued with private studies in New York and Florida, can be heard weekly on WFCF 88.5 FM St. Augustine hosting a radio program celebrating the classical voice. His commercial work has aired locally, and he is the telephone voice for several Jacksonville-based businesses.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Jim Hart has been the Director of Music and Arts Ministries at Grace Anglican Church in Orange Park, Florida, since 1993, and is the founding director of the Grace Academy of Fine Arts and the Voices of Grace children's choral ensembles. Additionally, he serves as the Provost of the Institute for Worship Studies, a graduate program that focuses on the study of theological, biblical and historical foundations of worship. He has performed locally with the St. Johns River City Band, the Les De Merle Orchestra, The Orange Park Chorale, and the Masterworks Chorale. Dr. Hart's degrees include a Bachelor of Music from Oral Roberts University in Sacred Music, a Master of Music from the University of Tulsa in Trumpet Performance, and the Doctor of Worship Studies from the Institute for Worship Studies. He is a published composer/arranger, songwriter and author.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
Walt Haworth (B-flat Clarinet) is a musical instrument repair specialist at Music Time on Dunn Avenue. Walt, a Jayhawk from Kansas, played in an U.S. Army Band for 20 years before moving his family to Jacksonville.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Deborah Heller plays flute and piccolo with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, is the Assistant Librarian with the Symphony, and is also a member of the Symphony's Board of Directors. She is a member of the Florida Flute Association, and maintains a private flute studio.
--March 9, 2008 (Arioso Flute Quartet)
Guitarist and composer James Hogan has been playing music professionally for nearly 20 years, and is widely admired for his seamless integration of jazz, fusion, metal, country, and blues into a harmonically dense improvisational style. He has performed and recorded with such diverse artists as Dave Brubeck, Chaka Kahn, The Manhattans, Enrique Iglesias, Tim Lefebre, Al Jorgensen, Chuck Schuldiner (of Death), and Daniel Adair (of Nickelback), and has appeared in pops concerts with the symphony orchestras of Jacksonville, Naples and Savannah, as well as in the pit orchestras for numerous musical theater productions. James, who is a senior instructor for The National Guitar Workshop at their Florida, Nashville, and Connecticut campuses, also teaches at Florida Community College at Jacksonville and Douglas Anderson School of The Arts, and when his busy schedule permits he takes on private students as well. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of North Florida.
--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)
For the past eight years Michael Hosford has been a member of the Sarasota Opera, where he is the principal trombonist and the current orchestra librarian. Michael, who is married to Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra violinist Karen Pommerich, moved to Jacksonville about six years ago. He is substitute trombonist for the JSO, and was their 2nd trombone between November 2006 and December 2007. Before moving to Florida, Mr. Hosford played with the New Haven Symphony for eight years, and the Charleston Symphony for one year. Originally from Woodbine, Maryland, he lived in New York City for eleven years, earning Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the famous Juilliard School, and freelancing with such world-class ensembles as the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Metropolitan Opera orchestra, as well as playing for the Broadway productions of The King and I, 1776, Candide, Les Miserables, The Music Man, Parade, and The Lion King. Since 2000, both Michael and his wife have spent summers in Boulder, Colorado, performing with the Colorado Music Festival.
--December, 2006 (Holiday Notes)
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Violinist Max Huls joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 1993 and was introduced to the First Coast as soloist in Bartók’s Second Rhapsody for violin and orchestra. Mr. Huls is a violin coach for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, and in addition to his core membership in the JSO he is Concertmaster of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia. He appeared variously as concertmaster, soloist and conductor with the Savannah Symphony, and was concertmaster of the Memphis Symphony and Opera Memphis. Max was on the faculty of the University of Memphis and Rhodes College, and while living in Tennessee was much sought after as a studio musician, working with the rock group The Replacements and soul legends Patti LaBelle and Al Green, among many others. He has participated in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, and the Eastern Music Festival. Among his numerous local concerts and recitals, Max has performed Paganini's demanding Twenty-four Caprices for Friday Musicale, and as a member of Duo Proto he plays violin and viola alongside his son, Victor Minke Huls. Mr. Huls frequently collaborates with award-winning pianist Christine Clark, and the Huls Clark Duo was featured in our Intermezzo concert in June 2007.
--June 24, 2007 (Huls Clark Duo)
--June 1, 2008 (Juls Clark Duo: The Intermezzo Series Finale)
Kristin Jewell has both her B.S. and M.A. degrees in voice from Pensacola Christian College. She teaches voice locally and belongs to the National Association of the Teachers of Singing. In addition to singing with the Orange Park Chorale, Ms. Jewell directs the adult choir at Harbor Baptist Church in Green Cove Springs. Her singing credits include the roles of "Giannetta" in Elixir of Love and "Yona" in OPC's Children of Eden, and ensemble roles in The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Jerome Hines' biblical opera I am the Way, The Pajama Game, And the World Goes 'Round, and most recently in Pirates of Penzance with Players-by-the-Sea, in Jacksonville Beach.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
The Musicians of the Jacksonville Symphony Players’ Association (http://www.jsomusicians.org/) hail from 18 of these United States and from 11 other countries, but all call Jacksonville home. They have come to help make Jacksonville a better place to live through the beauty of live music, serving our citizens and anchoring our city’s cultural life. They continue to “keep the music alive” for residents by performing in various venues around Jacksonville following the decision by the Symphony’s Executive Board to suspend regular Symphony concerts in the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Lynn Jacobson (B-flat Clarinet) is the Head of the Cataloging Department for the Jacksonville Public Library, and holds a music history degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and a Master's degree in library science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Lynn is a member of the First Coast Pops Orchestra and the Jacksonville Community Band, and she has been playing clarinet since she was in middle school.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Rick Kirkland, the founder and musical director of the Rick Kirkland Orchestra, was the drummer and a featured soloist with the Ray Charles Orchestra during the 1980s and has appeared with many of the world’s leading concert artists. In addition to performing with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Rick was the principal percussionist with the St. Johns River City Band for over a decade, and is in constant demand as a free-lance concert and studio musician. As an educator Rick has inspired generations of North Florida performers, serving as artist-in-residence variously at Landon, La Villa and Douglas Anderson Schools of the Arts, as well as at the University of North Florida. In addition to his appointment at UNF as an Eminent Scholar (2000-2003), Rick holds the distinction of being among the founding faculty of the UNF Jazz Studies Program. An alumnus of Jacksonville University, he maintains the Rick Kirkland Percussion Studio, is on the faculty of several camps and clinics for jazz and band students, and is an adjudicator for the Florida Bandmasters Association.
--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)
Jenny Kosar (Bass Clarinet) is a trust officer with Merrill Lynch Trust Company. After taking a 23 year hiatus from playing, the Jacksonville native took up the bass clarinet again when her children started middle school, and for the past three years she has spent three afternoons a week assisting with the Southside Middle School band. She also plays with the Jacksonville Community Band.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Edward Lein (leen, b. 1955) is the Music Librarian for the City of Jacksonville and holds Master's degrees in Music Theory and Library Science from Florida State University. As a tenor soloist (now retired) he has appeared in recitals, oratorios and dramatic works throughout his home state, and drawing on his performance experience the majority of his compositions have been vocal works. He endeavors to imbue his instrumental pieces with a similar singing lyricism and typically avoids the intentionally artificial techniques of the Modernism that dominated the “serious” music of his youth, favoring instead a more spontaneous approach. Recent performances of orchestral works, including Meditation for cello, oboe and orchestra (premiered by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in June 2006) and In the Bleak Midwinter (premiered by the Jacksonville Symphony Players in December 2007), have demonstrated this aesthetic.
Pie Jesu, the fifth movement of the composer’s Missa pro defunctis (“Mass for the Dead”), was originally performed in 1991 by the Riverside Presbyterian Chancel Choir and members of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and is dedicated to victims of terminal illness in memory of the composer’s mother, Marzell Martin Lein (1922-1980), who died of cancer. Along with three other movements from the Missa, the Pie Jesu has been reworked into a purely orchestral symphony (subtitled Lux aeterna), dedicated to victims of war and terrorism. The arrangement made especially for today’s concert [10/21/2007] combines elements from the choral and orchestral versions, and is presented in memory of those who died serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Sonatina for Violin and Piano was composed in the summer of 2007, and, as the title suggests, its direct, neoclassical style incorporates familiar formal patterns. The first movement adopts the precepts of sonata form, and the Nocturne presents a languid tune that alternates with a hymn-like chorale. The final Scherzo is an incisive transformation of the second movement theme, and its “trio” section further transforms the tune into a rather mundane parlor waltz which gains character as it progresses. Composed at the suggestion of Max Huls, this light-hearted Sonatina was written specifically with the Huls Clark Duo in mind, and more talented collaborators could not be hoped for by any composer.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
--October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Voices & Violin, Bach to Broadway)
--June 1, 2008 (Huls Clark Duo: The Intermezzo Series Finale)
Charlotte Mabrey Percussion
• B.M., M.M. University of Illinois at-Champaign
Since 1977, Professor Mabrey has been the principal
percussionist of the Jacksonville Symphony. As a result, she has performed as soloist with the JSO on several occasions,
including on Milhaud’s Concertino, Ney Rosauro’s Concerto for Marimba and Strings, and
Concerto for Percussion by Richard Rodney Bennett as a part of the JSO Master Works Series.
Professor Mabrey’s duties at UNF include applied percussion lessons, percussion techniques, the “Live Music in Jacksonville” lecture class, and conducting the UNF Percussion Ensemble, which is extremely active both on and off campus. The group’s performances include area colleges, at guest artists with the JSO, and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.
Each year Professor Mabrey presents as entertaining and eclectic recital at UNF titled, “An Evening of 20th Century Music.” These innovative programs include works for solo marimba, multiple percussion and chamber ensembles, as well as original works with fellow artist, Robert Arleigh White. In 1997, Professor Mabrey established the “Evening of 20th Century Music” Scholarship Program.
In 2001, Professor Mabrey was named Distinguished Professor at UNF.
--June 24, 2006 (UNF Percussion Quintet)
Charlie Matthiessen joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in 1979, and has performed as trumpeter with various orchestras across the Southeast, including the Atlanta Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the Savannah Symphony. While in high school and college he spent four summers at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard, North Carolina, and earned both Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Music from Northwestern University. After college he returned to the North Carolina mountains for an additional 18 summers performing as principal trumpet with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, and from 1984 to 2001 Charlie was also on the teaching faculty at Brevard.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
For over two decades baritone R. Hugh Patterson has given numerous recital and oratorio performances, and he recently appeared as soloist for the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's Holiday Pops Concert. Although he has long been noted for his powerful interpretation of Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mr. Patterson is a relative newcomer to opera, having made his operatic debut in 2004 singing the title role of Verdi's Rigoletto for Florida Concert Opera. His expanding repertoire now includes "Valentine" in Faust, "Count Almaviva" in Le nozze di Figaro, "Escamillo" in Carmen, "Tonio" in I Pagliacci, and "Germont" in La Traviata, and in February, 2007, he sang in the JSO's production of Il barbiere di Siviglia. He will again appear on stage with the Symphony for its 2008 presentation of La Traviata. Mr. Patterson, whose resonant voice has been favorably compared with legendary American baritone Sherrill Milnes, was born in North Carolina but grew up on the First Coast where he studied music in his church and the Duval County Public Schools, playing piano and trombone, and, of course, singing. A graduate of Wolfson High School, he continued his music education at Mars Hill College in North Carolina and at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and was ordained in 1991. He earned a Master of Arts in Management from the University of Phoenix and is currently pursuing the Doctor of Management degree. Hugh Patterson is represented by Sonia Lewis with RCAM Artist Management, Inc., and is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, MENC, the National Association for Music Education, American Guild of Organists, American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, The CenturyMen, Florida Vocal Association, and the Florida Music Educators' Association. He is the Worship Arts Associate Pastor at Beach United Methodist Church in Jacksonville Beach, and is an IT Business Consultant with Fidelity National Informational Services. He serves on the Board of the Hendricks Avenue Community Athletic Association, and as the Director of Operations for Opera Jacksonville.
--October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Voices & Violin, Bach to Broadway)
Jason Philbrick (B-flat Clarinet) is excited to be playing his first concert with the First Coast Clarinet Society. A native of Washington, D.C., Jason has performed in many famous venues, including the Kennedy Center, the White House, and the National Cathedral. Jason moved to Jacksonville a year and a half ago, and has played with the First Coast Wind Ensemble and the Jacksonville Community Orchestra. When not playing clarinet he can be found running BeautyFirst, a salon in Saint Johns Town Center, as well as teaching lessons at Riverside Avenue Christian Church.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Tenor Pablo Pomales-Ojeda earned his music degree from the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico. The numerous operatic roles he performed in his native Puerto Rico ranged from "Monostatos" in Mozart's Die Zauberflote to "Kaspar" in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, and performances With Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico included Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai and Domenico Zipoli's Mass in F. He also served as chorus master for Opera de Puerto Rico's productions of La Traviata and Carmen. In Shreveport, Louisiana, Pablo was guest soloist for The Times Fourth of July Celebration, and with the Shreveport Opera he demonstrated his versatility by tackling such diverse roles as "Peter" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, "Benvolio" in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, and "The Second Nazarene" in Richard Strauss's Salome. Upon arriving in Jacksonville, Mr. Pomales-Ojeda joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra's production of La Boheme as "Parpignol." In addition to commitments with Bella Voce Cabaret, Pablo is a soloist with The Palm Court Society Orchestra.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Maureen Rhodes is the organist at Palms Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and has been a professional accompanist for over 30 years. In addition to working with soloists she has performed with ensembles such as the St. Johns Art Singers, and she accompanied the University of North Florida Singers on their 1984 European concert tour. Ms. Rhodes, who received her Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, with further study at the University of North Florida, teaches privately and specializes in piano ensemble coaching. Her philosophy of teaching is to endow the next generation of musicians with excellence in all areas of the Fine Arts, and the motto Soli Deo Gloria ("Glory to God Alone") is the spiritual base she uses to impart excellence to her pupils. Among her students are prize-winners in both the ensemble and piano concerto divisions of the Florida Federation of Music Clubs competitions.
--October 21, 2007 (Cromley and Friends: Voices & Violin, Bach to Broadway)
A member of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra since 1990, violinist Marguerite Richardson began her violin studies at the age of four. Professor Richardson has performed symphonic and chamber music throughout the United States, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and Central America, and performs locally with cellist Laurie Casseday and her husband, pianist Scott Watkins, as the Florida Arts Trio. Between 1995 and 2003 she began and developed the String Program at the University of North Florida, where she maintained a studio of violin and viola students and conducted the UNF Orchestra. She is now an Assistant Professor at Jacksonville University, teaching violin and viola, directing the Orchestra, and coaching string chamber ensembles. Ms. Richardson maintains a private studio and is the Chamber Music Coordinator and Premiere Strings Orchestra conductor for the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina, and a Doctor of Music (ABD) from Florida State University.
--May 4, 2008 (JU Faculty Trio)
Alexei Romanenko, Principal Cellist with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, was born in Vladivostok, Russia. He came to the U.S. in 1998 on scholarship to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, and in the process he renewed old family ties to this country: his great-great-grandmother was an American Indian and his Granddad Pit, taken to Russia in 1914 at age 6, was born in Seattle. By the time Alexei was 12 he had won First Prize in the Far-Eastern Competition for Strings, and among his numerous subsequent awards are the Presser Music Award, First Prize at the 8th International Music Competition in Vienna, First Prize at the 2nd Web Concert Hall International Auditions, and the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra Cello Fellowship.
Mr. Romanenko performed as principal cellist with the Boston Philharmonic, and has been featured on Boston’s WGBH radio's "Classical Performances" and in national and international broadcasts from Chicago and San Francisco. He has performed solo and chamber music concerts for "Janus 21" and Chameleon Arts Ensemble in Boston, as well as "BargeMusic" in New York City, Chappaquidick Music Festival, and Bar Harbor Music Festival, among others. Local performances include an appearance on TV Channel 25, and he frequently appears in chamber music concerts with many of the First Coast's finest musicians, including an April 2007 performance of Ravel's Trio in A minor with UNF professors Simon Shaio and Gary Smart for the Library's Intermezzo Sunday Concert Series. His solo recitals may include virtuoso original works, such as his Fantasia on a theme by Handel, and Romanenko also devises astounding arrangements, such as his solo cello adaptation of J.S. Bach’s "Chaconne" from Partita No.2, originally for solo violin.
Mr. Romanenko's distinguished solo career takes him to leading cultural centers and concert halls, including a gala performance in 2000 at the Berlin Brandenburg Gates under the direction of the late Maestro Mistislav Rostropovich. Recent appearances as soloist with various orchestras include performances of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo-Variations as well as cello concertos by Dvorák, Boccherini, Schumann, and Shostakovich, and for performances of Haydn's Cello Concerto no. 1 he composed his own cadenzas. Mr. Romanenko, who joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra during the 2005-2006 season, has taught at the San Francisco Institute of Music, Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, and at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He now also serves as the organist/pianist at Grace Episcopal Church in Orange Park, Florida.
--UNF String Ensemble/Shiao-Romanenko-Smart, April 22, 2007
--Alexei Romanenko, Tuesday, September 8, 2008
Soprano and pianist Kristin Samuelson has appeared throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States in chamber music, opera, oratorio and recital, and has premiered numerous works, including Ned Rorem’s oratorio, Homer, singing the part of Helen of Troy, and John Carbon’s opera, Benjamin, appearing as Madame Brillon. Opera appearances have included roles with the National Opera Company and Duke Festival in North Carolina, the Banff Festival in Canada, and St. Luke’s Opera in New Jersey. Additional career highlights include appearances at Lincoln Center, the American Academy in Rome, the Gardner Museum in Boston, Nantucket Chamber Music Festival and Federal Hall in New York, and she was artist-in-residence at the International Composers’ Conference in Leukerbad, Switzerland.
--Hsiao-Ling Wang, Kristin Samuelson, February, 2007
William Louis Schirmer (b.1941) is professor of music theory and composition at Jacksonville University, and he must be ranked as one of history’s most prolific composers—his ever-growing catalog now numbers over 4,000 works in all genres, and includes at least 258 symphonies, 403 piano sonatas and 217 string quartets! He received his training at the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M.), the Eastman School of Music (M.M.), and Ohio State University (Ph.D.). More at http://www.ju.edu/departments/majors/music_schirmer.aspx.
--April 10, 2008 (Violin Futura: Trio Duo Solo)
Simon Shiao is the Gerson Yessin Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. A versatile performer, he holds the distinction of having performed at Carnegie Hall in three different capacities; as a recitalist, and with both string quartet and orchestra.
Dr. Shiao has appeared around the world in concert, as well as on broadcasts of CNN’s Science and Technology program and on Public Radio’s Live on WGBH Radio. Highlights of his performances include concerts at the Museum of Oceanography in Monte Carlo, the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts in Belize, the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum in Boston, and as soloist with the New World Symphony in Miami. He has also appeared at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, A Winter Festival in Jerusalem, and the Heidelberg Schloss Festspiele in Germany.
As co-concertmaster of the New World Symphony, Dr. Shiao led that orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas and John Adams. He currently performs with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Wyoming. At the University of North Florida, he teaches violin and viola and is the Director of Orchestral Studies. He has adjudicated the Music Teachers’ National Association Young Artist Competitions, and has presented lecture-recitals and master classes at numerous universities and conservatories in the U.S., Belize, and Taiwan. Dr. Shiao holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, and Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Shiao recently became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and lives in Riverside with his wife, Jacksonville Symphony violinist Anna Genest and their puppy, Ernie.
--February 26, 2006 (Shiao/Smart: The Kreutzer Project)
A unique and distinguished musician, Gary Smart is a composer and pianist whose interests include Americana, world music, and jazz, and his career encompasses a wide range of activities in these areas as well as within the Western classical music tradition. He received his education at Indiana University, the Hochschule fur Musik Köln (Germany) and Yale University, and he may be the only pianist to have studied with Yale scholar and keyboardist Ralph Kirkpatrick, the great Cuban virtuoso Jorge Bolet, and the master jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Dr. Smart has performed in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Asia and the United States as soloist, accompanist and chamber music player.
A recipient of composition awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Music Educators National Conference, and other prestigious organizations, his music has been recorded on Mastersound Records and is published by Margun Music. The Major's Letter, a CD featuring five of his song cycles with the composer at the piano, was recently released by Albany Records, and is in the Library’s collection.
Also an award-winning teacher, Dr. Smart has taught at several institutions in Japan and as a Distinguished Fulbright Professor in Indonesia, and he was chairman of the Music Department of the University of Wyoming before moving to Jacksonville. He is currently the Terry Professor of Music at the University of North Florida where he teaches composition and piano.
“The Harlequin Rag is perhaps more a rag-inspired piece than a true rag; but then so are many stride piano pieces and novelty solos from the 1920’s and 30’s. My piece begins innocently enough in a Fats Waller vein, but soon veers left into a blend of Stravinsky, Italian opera overture and piquant folk song. Though it does follow the rag form of AABBACCDD, the sections are most often altered on repetition and become longer and more developmental as the piece progresses. A dreamy coda finishes the work off.
“Harlequin was, of course, a character in the popular medieval Italian improvisational theater, the Commedia dell’arte. He was a peasant, poor and illiterate, but clever, persistent and resourceful, and always colorful. He was said to carry a baton with which he bashed other characters on the head – in the style of “Punch and Judy” puppet shows. Supposedly this led to the modern term, “slapstick” comedy. Harlequin has remained a popular figure to the present day, a type of comedic character which generations recognize and admire....the little big man.
“I hope you will enjoy this overly dramatic, sometimes bombastic, heart-on-the-sleeve work of light-classical fluff, an American’s polite bow to Italian culture.”—Gary Smart
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
--March 18, 2007 (Gary Smart, piano)
--April 22, 2007 (UNF String Ensemble/Shiao-Romanenko-Smart)
Chrystal Staples (B-flat Clarinet) received her B.A. in music education with emphasis in performance from the University of West Florida. She was formerly the band director at both Nathan B. Forrest High School and Orange Park High School. Although she now has her hands full as a full-time mom, Chrystal still has time to assist husband Kent Staples, the current music director at Forrest High. She is the band director at Jacksonville Country Day School, and is also a woodwind instructor for the First Coast Community Music School located at FCCJ's South Campus.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Polish-born violinist and composer Piotr Szewczyk (b. 1977) attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying composition with Darrel Handel, Joel Hoffman, Henry Gwiazda, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon and Michael Fiday, and violin with Kurt Sassmannshaus, Piotr Milewski and Dorothy DeLay. While earning both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees as well as his Artist Diploma, Piotr served as concert-master of several of the College-Conservatory's orchestras, including its premier orchestral ensemble, the Philharmonia Orchestra. Mr. Szewczyk recently completed a 3-year fellowship at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach where he served as rotating concertmaster under Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and in September 2007 Piotr joined the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra.
The winner of the 2006 New World Symphony Concerto competition, Mr. Szewczyk has been described by the press variously as a “mature virtuoso”, a “gifted violinist with remarkable facility” and “an excellent young violinist with a beautiful musical taste,” and his playing has been likened to that of the legendary Soviet violinist David Oistrakh by colleagues in the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with numerous ensembles, including the Lima Symphony, New World Symphony, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Queen City Virtuosi, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Piotr has given solo and chamber recitals in the United States, Poland, Germany and Austria, performing with the FAZA String Quartet, the Roggero Trio and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and he has been featured in the Spoleto Festival Music in Time series as well as in the New World Symphony's Chamber Music Series and Xchange and Musicans’ Forum concerts.
Mr. Szewczyk’s compositions have been performed by numerous orchestral and chamber ensembles, including the New World Symphony, ALIAS Ensemble, Degas Quartet, Quarteto Latinoamericano, ACCORD Quartet, INTY Contemporary Orchestra, Young Musican’s Orchestra of Miami, CCM Philharmonia Orchestra, Queen City Virtuosi, Sybarite 5, and at various music festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Colorado Music Festival, UPBEAT-Hvar Festival in Croatia, and Music X New Music Festival in Cincinnati. His work has been featured on National Public Radio and on the CBS Early Show, and his CADENZA I for solo violin became a compulsory work for the UPBEAT-Hvar Violin Competition after being awarded 1st Prize in the 2003 UPBEAT-Hvar Composition Competition. Piotr won the 2004 University of Cincinnati Orchestral Composition Competition, placed second in the 2004 ACCENT Composition Competition at the MUSIC X New Music Festival in Cincinnati, and won the 2005 Vox Novus 60x60 Project.
More information about Mr. Szewczyk is available at http://www.verynewmusic.com.
--February 5, 2008 (Piotr Szewczyk: Violin Futura)
Howard Tappan (1924-2002) grew up and had his early musical training in Binghampton, New York. He received a Bachelor's Degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master's Degree from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. from Florida State University. Dr. Tappan taught in public schools and colleges for 30 years, principally in Rochester, New York, where he became director of choral activities for the public school system with a staff of 30 music teachers. After retiring to Penny Farms with his wife Elinor, he directed two choirs, performed on piano and organ, and continued to compose and arrange music, including works for piano, duo-piano, orchestra, various chamber and vocal ensembles, and chorus. Howard was a long-time friend of The Orange Park Chorale and served on its board. Clay County's Concert on the Green named its first-place scholarship award after him, in honor of his contribution to that annual event as well as for his lifelong dedication to the arts.
--November 19, 2006 (The Orange Park Chorale: Music of Local Composers)
Versatile bassist Sean Tarleton has appeared and recorded with a long list of entertainers that includes jazz artists Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lew Tabackin, Robert Conti, Nat Adderly, Randy Brecker, Gary Starling, Phil Woods, Les DeMerle, and Bunky Green, the alternative rock trio Dear John, and actor Mickey Rooney. Sean, who graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Florida's American Music Program with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance, most often plays jazz, funk, gospel, R&B, world music and rock, but he has participated in just about every other musical genre as well. He performs on both electric and acoustic bass (and occasionally trombone) with various groups along the East Coast, including Caribbean Sound, The Rig, The Jason Anderson Group, and his own band, The Sean Tarleton Group.
--January 13, 2008 (Aaron Brask, horn)
UNF Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Voice Dr. Cara Tasher has sung and recorded under the batons of Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Daniel Barenboim, Sir George Solti, Claudio Abbado, James Levine and Christoph Eschenbach, and has appeared as soloist in such prestigious concert venues as Chicago's Grant Park, New York's Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall a nd Lincoln Center, and in Dublin's National Concert Hall. She has conducted throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, and has prepared numerous professional organizations for performance. Dr. Tasher holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the University of Texas at Austin, La Sorbonne, and Northwestern University, and received the prestigious Presser Music Award to conduct research at the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.
--February 10, 2008 (UNF Chorale & UNF Chamber Singers)
Bill Thomas recently uprooted from the Washington, D.C., area and moved to Jacksonville as the Symphony’s new trombonist. He is a graduate of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, and has performed with the New World Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the San Antonio Symphony, as well as with Kennedy Center Opera. Bill was most recently a member of the United States Navy Band in the Nation’s Capital, and was honored with a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Award-winning trumpeter Randy Tinnin is Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Director of the Brass Ensemble at the University of North Florida, and performs regularly with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. An internationally recognized authority in Baroque trumpet performance practice, Randy is collaborating this season with New Trinity Baroque, an Atlanta-based period instrument ensemble praised as one of the finest in the country, and he is a founding member of Serafini Brillanti, a trio that specializes in early to contemporary works for soprano and trumpet. Dr. Tinnin hold degrees from the University of North Texas (B.M.E.), Juilliard (M.M.), and Rutgers (D.M.A.), and has preformed around the globe and with some of the world’s most respected conductors. He has recorded for the New World and Naxos labels, and maintains an active international schedule as soloist, lecturer, clinician, and conductor. A strong advocate of the arts as an instrument of social change, Dr. Tinnin was director of the H.O.P.E School of the Arts prior to moving to Jacksonville, mentoring under-served children in New York City. He continues these efforts by working with public school children locally and throughout the state.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Because of her impressive vocal agility soprano Rhonda Nus Tinnin is often called upon to interpret florid Baroque masterworks, but she is equally at home with the sustained lyricism of an Italian opera aria and the energetic exuberance of a Broadway show tune. The diverse roles she has enjoyed range from "Lucy" in a Boston production of Menotti's The Telephone, to "Lisetta" in a staged performance of Bach's Coffee Cantata for Italy's Studio Lirico. Of her "Mimi" in Puccini's La Bohème, the Italian publication Corriere Aretino called her portrayal "... interpreted with a rare naturalness seldom associated with an operatic performance." In addition to appearances in Chicago, Boston, Providence, Seattle, Denver, Honolulu, and Cornwall, England, Ms. Tinnin has performed opera, oratorio, and musical theater revues with numerous New York City companies. She has toured with Crescendo Brass, and is a founding member of Serafini Brillanti, which specializes in works for soprano, trumpet and piano. A singer-of-choice for composers, she has premiered works by Bradley Detrick, and was invited to perform Eric Ewazen's To Cast a Shadow Again at the Juilliard School. Recent local appearances include J.S. Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (BWV 51) with the Chamber Music Society of the Church of the Good Shepherd, and Bach's Coffee Cantata (BWV 211) for Friday Musicale. She also has been a featured performer in A Musical Tribute to Breast Cancer Survivorship at the University of North Florida's Lazzara Performance Hall, and sang a benefit concert for the Raymond and Crystal Key Humanitarian Initiative. Additionally, her speaking voice is featured in story board exhibits on children's health issues, such as asthma and childhood obesity, in museums and schools throughout the United States.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Described as a "tour de force of vocal virtuosity married to a fabulous stage presence" (Captain Classics, WFCF St. Augustine), mezzo-soprano Regina Torres excels in portraying larger-than-life heroines, comedic villans and angelic souls in opera and musical theater productions, and she is a similarly commanding presence as soloist in oratorio peformances. A Jacksonville native, Ms. Torres received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, and appeared with the Gainesville Civic Chorus and the prestigious Willis Bodine Chorale as soloist in large-scale choral works including Elijah, Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. Early musical theater credits include The Secret Garden, Brigadoon, Into the Woods, and The Sound of Music. While completing graduate studies in voice at Indiana University, Regina's Mainstage operatic roles included "La Zelatrice" in Puccini's Suor Angelica, "Mrs. Gleaton" in Floyd's Susannah, and "Ludmilla" in Smetana's The Bartered Bride. She also performed music from outside the western art tradition as a soloist with IU's International Vocal Ensemble, and it was during this time that she made her European operatic debut with Music Theater Bavaria as "Donna Elvira" in Mozart's Don Giovanni. Upon returning to Northeast Florida, Ms. Torres became an easy favorite with First Coast Opera audiences as the gingerbread-gobbling, broomstick-wielding "Ogress" in Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and she brought down the house as the curses-rapping "Witch" in Sondheim's Into the Woods. Her comedic talents make her a natural for Gilbert and Sullivan, and she has delighted as "Counsel for the Plaintiff" in Trial by Jury, "Duchess of Plaza-Toro" in The Gondoliers, and as "Little Buttercup" in HMS Pinafore.
--November 18, 2007 (Bella Voce Cabaret)
Lindsey S. Tuller hails from Chelsea, Alabama, and is the director of the Cathedral Choristers at St. John's Cathedral, as well as a soloist and member of the Cathedral Choir. She was the soprano soloist in recent performances of Faure's Requiem with the Orange Park Chorale, and has sung with the Jacksonville Symphony Chorus. Prior to moving to Jacksonville, Lindsey was featured soloist with the Birmingham Concert Chorale and with The University of Alabama at Birmingham Concert Choir, and her solo performances included Mozart's Requiem and Solemn Vespers. Her stage roles have included "Peep-Bo" in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, "Mother" in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, "Monica" in Menotti's The Medium, and "Lucy" in Menotti's The Telephone. Composer K. Lee Scott selected Ms. Tuller as the soprano soloist for the world-premiere recording of his Requiem, a non-liturgical choral work composed in 2006. A recent transplant from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Lindsey is continuing her studies in vocal performance at the University of North Florida.
--July 25, 2007 (Tuller/Weinberg: Summer Serenade)
In January, 2007, Timothy Tuller became the Canon for Music at Jacksonville's St. John's Cathedral, having been selected after an international search to fill the position. In addition to his duties at St. John's, Mr. Tuller is taking an active role in the broader musical life of the First Coast. In March, 2007, he participated in the area's first Community Choral Festival, and has served as accompanist for local choral groups, including the Orange Park Chorale and the UNF Chorale. A summa cum laude graduate of Ithaca College, Mr. Tuller received the valedictory prize upon earning his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Before moving to Jacksonville, Tim was the Music Associate at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama, and prior to that he was Assistant University Organist and Music Intern at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
--July 25, 2007 (Tuller/Weinberg: Summer Serenade)
--February 10, 2008 (UNF Chorale & UNF Chamber Singers)
The UNF Chorale has been entertaining audiences since UNF opened its doors, performing in a wide variety of styles from early a cappella masterpieces to rousing spirituals. Gathering enthusiastic singers from every college across the University, the non-auditioned 60-member group has toured extensively throughout the southern United States and abroad in Portugal, Austria and the Czech Republic, and members will attend the International Federation of Choral Music's World Symposium of Choral Music in Denmark this summer. The Chorale recently gave the U.S. premieres of both Eurico Carrapatoso's Magnificat and Miguel Roig-Francoli’s Dona eis Requiem.
--February 10, 2008 (UNF Chorale & UNF Chamber Singers)
UNF PERCUSSION QUINTET
Charlote Mabrey | Simion Fabian | Will Hall | Kristen Hampton | Matt Wardell
Members of the UNF Percussion Ensemble
The UNF Percussion Ensemble is an active performing group at UNF. Members of the ensemble are both classical
and jazz majors performing percussion repertoire.
The ensemble is building a reputation for performing works of area composers as well as standard percussion
literature. Over the years the ensemble has performed at PASIC, as guests of the Jacksonville Symphony
Orchestra, and as invited performers for several functions at UNF. Often the Percussion Ensemble visits area
schools to perform concerts. The audiences include area elementary, high school and college students.
Members of the ensemble often perform as a part of " An Evening of 20th Century Music." This annual event has grown in popularity over the years until there is standing room only for this one night affair. The concert also serves as a fund raiser for UNF Scholarships
--Saturday, June 24, 2006 (UNF Percussion Quintet)
Melissa Park Voshell, a Jacksonville native, has a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor’s in Flute Performance from Jacksonville University, and she is the founder of the Arioso Flute Quartet. In addition to being an active performer she maintains a private teaching studio and is the coordinator for Masterpiece Music, a professional chamber music service that provides music for weddings and other functions. She is an adjunct professor of Music and Humanities at FCCJ South Campus and an adjunct flute professor at Jacksonville University.
--March 9, 2008 (Arioso Flute Quartet)
Soprano and pianist Hsiao-Ling Wang, a native of Taipei, Taiwan, began studying piano at age five and received her formal music education at the University of Southern California. She has appeared in a variety of opera productions, including leading roles in Cosi fan tutte, The Old Maid and The Thief, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hansel und Gretel, Madama Butterfly, and Die Fledermaus, and she recently joined Orlando Opera in their production of Salome, as the Sklava. Ms. Wang has been the featured with symphonic and choral groups in Southern California, and is well known in central Florida for her numerous concert and recital appearances in the Orlando area. This Intermezzo concert marks her Jacksonville debut.
--February, 2007 (Hsiao-Ling Wang, Kristin Samuelson)
Scott Watkins, Assistant Professor of Piano at Jacksonville University, is well known to First Coast audiences for his appearances with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, his numerous solo recitals, and his frequent collaborations with many of the areas finest singers and instrumentalists. His 1985 U.S. debut, an all-Bach recital given in Chicago, was broadcast live nationwide, and has been followed by a steady flow of solo and concerto performances in North and South America, Europe and the Caribbean. He has been heard often in the United States and Canada on National Public Radio and Television, and in South America and Europe on The Voice of America. Performances have included the world premieres of Elie Siegmeister’s From These Shores and Ned Rorem’s Song and Dance. An active chamber musician, Watkins is a founding member of the Florida Arts Trio and has appeared with the LaSalle Quartet and violinist Eugene Fodor, and a recent performance with violinist Hillary Hahn was broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today." Much in demand as an accompanist, he appeared with soprano Elizabeth Futral and baritone Steven White in a recital of Wolff's Italian Song Book in Chicago, and he has released a disc of late romantic lieder with White. Watkins has also released two solo discs, one featuring works from his New York debut at Carnegie Hall, and another, Christmas Cards, featuring music for the holiday season. Professor Watkins is the recipient of numerous awards, including the John Philip Sousa Award for Outstanding American Musicians, Rotary Club of Florida's Annual Artistic Merit Award, and France's Jeunesse Musicales. In 1985, he became the youngest winner ever of The U.S. Department of State's Artistic Ambassador Award. His degrees include a Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati, a Master of Music from University of South Carolina, and a Doctor of Musical Arts (ABD) from Florida State University
--May 4, 2008 (JU Faculty Trio)
First Coast Clarinet Society founder and former Jacksonville Public Library cataloger Shannon Watson (B-flat Clarinet, E-flat Alto Clarinet) is now the Technical Services Librarian for Hernando County Public Library in Brooksville, Florida, but she still makes regular trips back to Jacksonville for F.C.C.S. rehearsals. Originally from Cortland, Ohio, Shannon has a degree in music education from Youngstown State University and taught private music lessons in Ohio before coming to Florida. A versatile performer, she plays bassoon in the Citrus Concert Band and sings with the Hernando Hills Hi-Lites, a women’s barbershop chorus.
--December 16, 2007 (Holiday Notes)
Clinton M.H. Weinberg, a native Floridian, began his musical training learning to play brass instruments before gravitating to the flute. His potential as a singer was discovered while still a freshman in college and was nurtured by Dr. Carole Clifford, and now he holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of North Florida. Mr. Weinberg is the former director of music for children's programs at Theatre Jacksonville, has taught music in public and private schools in Duval and Nassau Counties, and maintains a private teaching studio as well. He is a frequent oratorio and concert soloist throughout Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia where he has been featured in numerous large-scale choral works, including Handel's Messiah, Schubert's Mass in G, Dubois' The Seven Last Words of Christ, Beethoven's Mass in C, and Fauré's Requiem. As an instrumentalist Mr. Weinberg has performed with the United States Army Field Band and frequently performs with members of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. He has played in pit orchestras for numerous musicals, including A Little Night Music, South Pacific, OKLAHOMA!, Once On This Island, How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying!, and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical review, A Grand Night for Singing. On the not-so-classical side Clint paid his dues as a singing waiter!
--July 25, 2007 (Tuller/Weinberg: Summer Serenade)
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