Faculty Bios

The BVMF Faculty Artists are key elements of the BVMF experience. The world-class faculty is comprised of experienced teachers and performers from throughout the United States. During the Festival, students will have opportunities to study and perform with Faculty Artists.

BRASS FACULTY

Jacob Cameron, Tuba

Jacob Cameron received his M.M. in Tuba Performance from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and his B.M. in Tuba Performance from Michigan State University. His primary teachers are David E. Kirk and Phil Sinder.

Mr. Cameron is currently Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at Wright State University in Dayton OH where he also teaches Music in Western Culture, Music Technology and Analytical Listening.

As a soloist, Cameron was the artist division winner of the 1996 Leonard Falcone International Tuba competition, a second place winner of the Lansing Matinee Musical Orchestral Brass competition and a national finalist for both the high school and collegiate brass divisions of the MTNA solo competition. He has also performed numerous recitals including guest recitals at Indiana State University, Michigan State University, UNC Greensboro, and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Large ensemble experience includes performances with the Buerkle Brass, Cincinnati Pops, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Michigan Chamber Brass, Richmond Symphony, Springfield Symphony, West Shore Symphony and the Wilmington Symphony. An active chamber musician, he has recently performed with the Canterbury Brass, Motor City Brass, Pamlico Sound, and the Queen City Brass.

Cameron has held teaching positions at East Carolina University, Grand Valley State University, Calvin College and Cornerstone University.

Todd Schendel, Trombone

Todd Schendel is currently the Second Trombonist with the Dubuque Symphony, a regular musician with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and founding member of the Contrapunctus Brass Trio. His varied performance experience includes the Harvey Phillips Tuba Company, Spoleto Festival Orchestra U.S.A., Bones Band, and playing with various performers such as Doc Severinsen, Art Garfunkel, John McDermott, Bobby Vinton, Riders in the Sky, and Wayne Newton. Mr. Schendel has also been an extra musician and substitute for the National Repertory Orchestra, Madison Symphony, and the Minnesota Orchestra. Mr. Schendel received a Fulbright Fellowship in 2003-2004 where he studied in Munich, Germany, with Wolfram Arndt. While in Germany, Mr. Schendel performed numerous solo and chamber music concerts in Berlin, Munich, Dachau, and Augsburg. He has also appeared in concert with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet and has performed on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio. Mr. Schendel is currently on faculty at Illinois State University. For more information, contact www.brasstrio.com.

Scott Thornburg, Trumpet

Trumpeter Scott Thornburg has performed as a soloist and chamber musician around the world. Following undergraduate and graduate study at the University of Miami and the Juilliard School, Mr. Thornburg lived in New York City where he was principal trumpet with the New York City Symphony, the Summerfare Opera Orchestra, Philharmonica Virtuosi, the Stamford Symphony, Musica Sacra, and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He performed at the Caramoor Festival as principal trumpet with the Orchestra of St. Lukes, and toured South America, Europe, and the U.S. with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Thornburg is a member of the New York Trumpet Ensemble and has performed with the Canadian Brass, Parnassus, and the New York Brass. He was invited to fill in for one of the regular members of the American Brass Quintet who was on leave during the fall 1997 season. Mr. Thornburg spent two months performing around the country with the group and conducting masterclasses and chamber music coachings at the Juilliard School where the American Brass Quintet is in residence. For four years he toured the U.S. and Canada for Columbia Artists with the trumpet and organ duo Toccatas and Flourishes. He has also appeared as soloist with the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble, the Juilliard Symphony, the Brass Band of Battle Creek and, most recently, on U.S., European, and South American tours with the New York Chamber Soloists. 1996 held performance and master class tours in Spain and Russia and in the Spring of 2000, a tour with the Summit Brass.

Mr. Thornburgs recording with pianist Silvia Roederer was released in 2001 and he has recorded with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the New York Trumpet Ensemble, and with the organist Richard Morris.

Since the fall of 1989, Mr. Thornburg, his wife Sue Larsen and their three children, Laura, Lee and Eric, have lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he is a Professor at Western Michigan University as well as a member of the acclaimed Western Brass Quintet and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. In the summer he teaches and performs at the Bay View Music Festival in Bay View, Michigan

Sean Vore, Horn

M.M., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. B.M., Mannes College of Music. Primary studies with Randy Gardner, Ranier DeIntinis, Erik Ralske, and Larry Johnson. In addition to a very active chamber music and free lance schedule, Mr. Vore is currently serving as Assistant Principal Horn of the Dayton Philharmonic.

CONDUCTING/COACHING FACULTY

Kelly Hale, Organ/Piano/Coaching

Professor-Emeritus of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Hale retired in 2008, following a 32 year career with the opera department at CCM. He remains an active coach, conductor, accompanist, organist and composer of church music. An Oklahoman by birth, he studied at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas at Austin, New York and Italy. His performances have taken him to sixteen different countries from Austria to New Zealand. Dr. Hale will accompany festival artists and serve as Assembly Organist. He also teaches Yoga classes through the adult education seminars. Artist-in-Residence with the Bay View Festival since 1979.

Emily Leather, Opera Conductor

Emily Leather is currently Music Director for the Kentucky Opera Studio Program and also serves as Assistant Chorus Master and mainstage accompanist. Originally from Chester, England she is establishing herself as a coach and accompanist in much demand to professional singers and advanced students, both in the US and the UK.

After graduating with degrees from Bretton Hall, University of Leeds and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Ms. Leather left England to complete an Artist Diploma in Opera Coaching at the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. There she worked on numerous operas as coach and conductor, a new studio version of Carmen, which she co-created and re-orchestrated. She was Music Director of the Massenet opera Therese, which won the National Opera Association Competition for best studio production in the US in 2006.

Previous work in the UK includes productions for British Youth Opera, Clonter Opera and Glyndebourne Touring Opera. In 2006 she served as Assistant Chorus Master and rehearsal pianist for Cincinnati Opera and recently toured Oregon and Washington as Music Director of the Portland Opera production of Hansel and Gretel. Ms. Leather has taught at the Musical Arts Center in Cincinnati and Eastern Oregon University, working with young singers to prepare them for roles, recitals and auditions. She has also served as accompanist and choir director for several choirs and has performed numerous recitals in both the US and Europe.

Chris Ludwa, Conducting/Coaching

Recently named Artistic Director of Bay View Music Festival, Chris Ludwa has proven himself to be an effective leader, both on stage and off. In addition to overseeing the intensive eight-week summer concert series and conservatory program in northern Michigan, he is Artistic Director of Encore Vocal Arts, a 36 member, professional caliber vocal ensemble in Indianapolis where he and his wife live. Conductor of the Bloomington Pops Orchestra, Ludwa enjoys joining his passion for great music with his love for teaching and collaboration in having served as a conductor for Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and several churches. He maintains an active freelance schedule while continuing his work as a consultant on various arts-in-education initiatives.

Since receiving his Master's Degree in Conducting from Indiana University, the Cincinnati native worked for Indianapolis Opera as Apprentice Conductor/Outreach Administrator and served as guest conductor for many different organizations including Webster University, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indiana Repertory Theatre, and various others. In February 2004, he organized a massive clean-up with over 80 volunteers to re-open a 700-seat auditorium in downtown Indianapolis to rave reviews after having been dormant for 40 years. The hall is in use today by several Indianapolis arts organizations and continues to work toward a full renovation.

Ludwa is becoming well-known for innovative, stimulating programming in his work with various musical organizations and hopes to continue to be a visionary force in ways of helping the general public to appreciate an ever-increasing array of musical styles.

After witnessing the power of the arts to motivate and create community, Ludwa is convinced that the wave of the future is to integrate aesthetic process into education, business, government, and daily life. He has gained experience in this area through the educational world as a partner artist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, a consultant/trainer for the Leonard Bernstein-inspired Artful Learning School Reform Model, and at the International School of Indiana as Director of Arts. He has participated in the Thought Leader Forum at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, a leading institution in the application of aesthetic process to leadership and has since begun writing a book exploring the same topics.

As a devotee of the learning process, Ludwa has taught at the Bay View Association, Butler University, and Indiana University, and is a recipient of the Lilly Endowment-funded Creative Renewal Fellowship Grant, which he used to explore drumming, communication, and values in Ghana, West Africa.

An avid pilot, Ludwa is married to his best friend, Melissa, who is a constant source of inspiration, fun, and intellectual conversation. She is a counselor for Zionsville High School and provides a wealth of perspective on psychological and social dynamics in play within the human mind.

Casey Robards, Coach

A sensitive and imaginative pianist, Casey Jo Ahn Robards maintains a very active musical life as an accompanist, coach, chamber musician, and arranger/transcriber. She has accompanied Ollie Watts Davis, (soprano), Laurien Laufman (cello), Elliot Chasanov (trombone), Paul Merkelo, (trumpet), Nancy Clauter, (oboe), as well as many singers in regional companies.

In 2004 and 2005, Casey was a Vocal Piano Fellow at Tanglewood where she was rehearsal pianist for projects conducted by James Levine, Robert Spano, and Kurt Masur. She has toured with Y.O.P.E. (Youth Opera Performance Education), and served as musical staff for Illinois Opera Theatre (Urbana, Illinois); Young Musicians Inc. (Evanston, WY); Weathersfield Music Festival, (Castleton, VT); Plymouth Music Festival, (Plymouth, MA); StudiO Vocal Arts Institute, (Monticello, IL) and the Illinois Summer Youth Music Camps (Urbana, IL). Ms. Robards accompanies for numerous competitions and auditions, including the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, the International Women's Brass Competition and the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship. In January 2006, she accompanied soprano, Ollie Watts Davis in recital at the American Church in Paris, France and has recorded a CD of spirituals with Ms. Davis. Ms. Robards is currently assistant conductor and principal musician of the University of Illinois Black Chorus, which performs a wide range of music from the African-American tradition.

Ms. Robards completed the B.M. (Piano Performance) and M.M. (Piano Pedagogy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently finishing a doctorate in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying. Her awards include the Henri Kohn Memorial Award from the Tanglewood Music Center (2004), the Nancy J. Kennedy Wustman Memorial Accompanying Award (2004), the Fern and John Armstrong Award (1996), and the National Society of Arts and Letters Regional Winner (2002). Casey is a two-time winner of the Bay View Music Festival Concerto Competition. This will be her eighth summer in Bay View and first season as a faculty artist.

Toby Yatso, Theatre Arts Piano/Conductor

Bio Pending...

DANCE/MOVEMENT FACULTY

Becca Hale, Dance Instructor and Choreographer

Rebecca Hale recently graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a B.A. in English, and is happily returning to Bay View for the twenty-first time. Rebecca has participated in a number of Bay View productions over the years, most recently in Carousel, The Secret Garden, Die Fledermaus, The Fourposter, and Fiddler On The Roof. Rebecca is thrilled to be offering ballet and belly dancing classes in Bay View this summer. She has studied American Tribal Style belly dancing, her newest passion, with the Cincinnati-based tribal dance ensemble, Gaiananda, since 2007. She previously studied both Cecchetti and Vaganova ballet techniques at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music under Michael Tevlin and Jonnie Lynn Jacobs-Percer, and at the Cincinnati Dance Academy under Kirov Ballet Academy graduate Tatyana Makarova. Next on Rebecca's horizon is a backpacking trip to Scotland and graduate studies at a location as yet unknown.

Nancy-Laurel Pettersen, Feldenkrais Instructor

Nancy-Laurel Pettersen, Ph.D., has taught the Feldenkrais Method to students and faculty at Bay View Music Conservatory, Queensborough Community College, and Graceland University. Through Feldenkrais Awareness Through MovementÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ® lessons, Pettersen guides musicians in enhancing technique, expressiveness, and comfort through refined use of breath, hands, and arms. Pettersen earned her doctorate at the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory University and trained in the Feldenkrais Method with David Zemach-Bersin.

JAZZ STUDIES FACULTY

Alex Graham, Director of Jazz Studies/Saxophone

Alto saxophonist Alex Graham (www.alexander-graham.com) has performed with several of today’s top jazz artists including Rodney Whitaker, Jim Rotondi, Sam Yahel, Nnenna Freelon, Louis Smith, Diane Schuur, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Mark Levine, Peter Bernstein, Steve Davis, Joe Magnarelli, Michael Wilner, Michael Weiss, Carl Allen, David Hazeltine, Aaron Goldberg, Wessell Anderson, and Dena Derose. He has performed at festivals and clubs in the United States, Europe and Japan and has appeared on several recordings. In addition to having arrangements performed by vocalists like Diane Schuur and John Boutte, he has also composed and arranged for small group, big band and studio orchestra. He has taught and lectured at the college level, including a “Jazz Performance Workshop” course at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where he is completing his Doctorate in Jazz Studies. A resident of New York City for 10 years, Alex moved to Mackinac Island, Michigan after becoming the music director at Grand Hotel in 2001. Under his leadership, USA Today has praised Grand Hotel’s music as its best amenity. Graham’s latest recording for Origin Records, Brand New (www.origin-arts.com) consists of an all-star combination of the group One For All (Jim Rotondi, Steve Davis and David Hazeltine) and Allen & Whitaker (Carl Allen and Rodney Whitaker). It features a fresh combination of originals, standards and contemporary popular music evocatively arranged for sextet and quartet. On the recording, Graham uses vehicles like “All The Things You Are” to explore twelve-tone writing techniques, and his original “Rocket Science” shows off his ability to navigate complex harmonies.

KEYBOARD

Kelly Hale, Piano/Organ

Anthony Patterson, Piano/Computer Notation

Anthony Patterson began to study the piano at the age of three. At the age of eight he made his debut with the Lima Symphony and at age 12 he was chosen one of seven finalists in the American Federation of Musicians Young Artist Competition. In 1989, he was a finalist in the American Federation of Music Clubs national competition while winning the state and regional competitions. His teachers have included Richard Syracuse, Andre Watts, Jerome Rose and Earl Wild. He has served on the faculty of the University of Charleston, West Virginia; Capital University and Alma College, Alma, Michigan. Mr. Patterson joined the Bay View faculty in 1986.

Casey Robards, Collaborative Piano

Lori Sims, Collaborative Piano

Internationally known pianist Lori Sims received the Gold Medal at the 1998 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, where she also won the prize for the best performance of a work by Brahms. Ms. Sims's other awards include first prize co-winner of the 1994 Felix Bartholdy-Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin, Germany, winner of the 1993 American Pianists' Association Competition with outstanding distinction from the jury, and the silver medal winner in the 1987 Kosciuszcko Foundation Chopin Competition. While a student, Ms. Sims was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dean's Prize for Most Outstanding Graduating Student at the Yale School of Music, and a Deutsche Akedemische Austauschdienst two-year fellowship from the Federal Republic of Germany.

She has performed throughout North America, Europe, and China including engagements with the NordDeutscheRadio Orchester in Hannover, the Israel Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Spokane Chamber Orchestra, the Denver Chamber Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony Chamber Orchestra, the Rockford Symphony and the Kalamazoo Symphony. Her 2000 Alice Tully Hall recital debut in New York received critical acclaim from Bernard Holland in the New York Times. In 2006, she will be making her fourth appearance at the prestigious Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, where she has been featured as solo-recitalist, masterclass artist, and chamber musician.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Sims has been featured at the El Paso Chamber Music Festival, for several summers with the Fontana Chamber Players in Kalamazoo, and with Opus 21, a chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of more current compositions. As well, she has recorded a CD with cellist Natalia Khoma, and will be recording the four Sonatas of William Bolcom with violinist Renata Artman Knific.

Ms. Sims was recently named the John T. Bernhard Professor of Music at Western Michigan University, one of thirteen named chairs at the University. The masterclasses that she is called upon to give in connection with performances have garnered much positive feedback and attention. As an artist-teacher, she has appeared two summers at the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, for seven summer sessions at the Internationale Konzertarbeitswochen in Goslar, Germany, for three summers at Western Michigan University's SEMINAR for high school students, and as the convention artist for the Michigan Music Teachers and the Colorado Music Teachers annual conventions. She has been at Western Michigan University since 1997; prior to that position, she was a visiting Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana/ Champaign.

A native of Colorado, Lori Sims began her studies with her parents, and as a teen studied with Larry Graham at the University of Colorado. She received her Bachelor's Degree from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of Leon Fleisher, her Master's Degree from the Yale School of Music as a student of Daniel Pollack and Claude Frank, and a Solistendiplom, or artist diploma, from the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany, as a student of Arie Vardi.

OPERA/THEATRE

Emily Leather, Opera Conductor

Paul Nelson, Director of Theatre Arts

Paul hails from Pawling, NY where he is Director of Performing Arts at the Trinity-Pawling School, an Episcopal preparatory school for boys. Located just north of New York City, Paul also works both with producers and agents in the theater business in New York. In the position of Director of Theater Arts, Paul hopes to merge his two loves: Bay View and theater. Paul grew up in Petoskey and spent summers participating in both recreation and arts in Bay View. Paul and his wife, Elizabeth, bought their first cottage in Bay View in 1989. They consider themselves fortunate to be able to spend all summer in Bay View with their two children, Parker and Ellen. Paul began his involvement with the Bay View theater program nearly thirty years ago where he was in several shows with the illustrious Willard Pierce. While at the University of Michigan, Paul continued his work appearing in both university and professional productions. Paul's professional career began by doing commercials, trade films and voice-over work in Detroit. Equally at home on the concert stage as well as the theater, Paul has appeared in musical theater, operetta and opera including Michigan Opera Theater, Cincinnati Opera (five years) and many regional houses. His last year in Cincinnati he was Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Cincinnati Opera. He counts it a real privilege to have worked with some of the best in the business including the late great Robert Altman. Concert credits include many regional orchestras plus the Detroit Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops. European venues include St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster, and York Minster and extensive work in Eastern Europe. Some of his favorites to have worked with are Robert Shaw, James Conlon and Keith Lockhart.

Casey Robards, Vocal Coach

Joanie Schultz, Opera Stage Director

Joanie Schultz is a freelance theater and opera director based out of Chicago. Her most recent opera work was on The American Dream Songbook at the Next Theatre, which included Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and newly commissioned musical theatre songs. Joanie has and continues to work as an assistant director for Chicago Opera Theater, where she has previously worked on the double bill of Duke Bluebeard's Castle/Ewartung and Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses.

As a theater director, Joanie recently had her New York Off-Broadway debut with the world premiere of Autophagy by Sean Graney as part of the Drama League's Directorfest. She has directed theater throughout Chicago, including the world premieres of Sean Graney's En Mortem and Michael John Garces' Acts of Mercy as Artistic Director of Flush Puppy Productions. Most recently she directed the Midwest Premiere of Adam Rapp's Faster at The Side Project, the Chicago Premiere of Adam Rapp's Stone Cold Dead Serious at Circle Theatre, and Betty's Summer Vacation by Christopher Durang with Infamous Commonwealth Theatre.

Joanie is also the Co-Artistic Director of Chicago's Estrogen Fest, promoting women in the arts. She holds her M.F.A. in theater directing from Northwestern University, and her B.A. in theater directing from Columbia College Chicago. Joanie has assistant directed extensively for Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she also directed and taught for the Steppenwolf Ensemble Training Program. Joanie has taught acting and directing at Northwestern University and Columbia College. She was a Drama League Directing Fellow in the fall of 2007.ÃÂ www.joanieschultz.com

Toby Yatso, Music Director/Conductor/Choreographer

Toby Yatso recently finished graduate work in music theatre, music theory, and bassoon at Arizona State University, where he received his master's degree and the Herberger College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award for his work teaching music theory classes in the School of Music.Â Professionally, he is active as an actor, performer, music director, teacher, arts administrator, and choreographer throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area and beyond.Â Favorite recent stage credits include Malcolm (The Full Monty â Phoenix Theatre), Mr. Mayor / Wickersham Brother (Seussical â Childsplay), Orin et al (Little Shop of Horrors â Arizona Broadway Theatre), Herman (The Most Happy Fella â Quisisana), and Rusty Charlie (Guys and Dolls â Phoenix Theatre); recent music direction credits include The Oldest Profession for Algonquin Theatre Company, The Christmas Schooner for Theater Works, for which he received the People's Choice Award for best music director, and The World Goes 'Round for Lyric Opera Theatre, which he also choreographed and starred in as a featured alumnus performer. Toby also teaches triple threat classes and music directs for the Arizona School for the Arts and for Childsplay Academy. As a graduate student, Toby was seen in Lyric Opera Theatre productions as Maximillian (Candide), the Proprietor (Assassins), John the Baptist / Judas (Godspell), Marvin (March of the Falsettos), and Slim (Oklahoma!); he served as graduate teaching assistant in bassoon, played second bassoon for the West Valley Symphony (Sun City, AZ) and was an active chamber, orchestral, and theatre musician. Â Originally from Wisconsin, he received a Bachelor of Music degree in music performance with honors from the University of Wisconsin â Eau Claire, where he received the Outstanding Senior in Music Award, the Phi Kappa Phi National Excellence Award, and was a principal choreographer, director, and M.C. for UWEC's annual Cabaret! musical revue / variety show for four years. After living happily and successfully in Phoenix for six years, Toby is looking forward to relocating to New York City in fall 2008, along with fellow Bay View faculty member and partner, Richard Leigh.

PERCUSSION

Fred Marderness , Timpani/Percussion

Fred Marderness has been a member of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra since 1980. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he received both Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Percussion Performance. Fred has a history rich in Band performances including solo appearances with the last band conducted by John Philip Sousa, The Ringgold Band of Reading, Pa. He has also been invited to perform on a number of occasions with Keith Brion's New Sousa Band. Orchestras with which Fred has performed include Colorado Philharmonic, Flint Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has also served on the faculties of Saint Cloud State University, College of Saint Benedict, Grand Canyon University, and Interlochen's National Music Camp. This is FredÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂs 29th summer at Bay View.

STRINGS

Carl Donakowski, Cello

Mr. Donakowski was a prizewinner at the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. His recital performances have been heard on WQRS Detroit, WQXR New York, and Sudwestfunk Radio Baden-Baden. As a chamber musician he has been a member of the North Shore Pro Musica, the Fontana Chamber Music Society and the Orpheus Piano Trio. As a member of the West End Chamber Ensemble he participated in the National Endowment for the Arts/Chamber Music America Rural Residency Chamber Music Initiative. Dr. Donakowski holds degrees from Indiana University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an Artist Diploma from the Musikhochschule Freiburg. His major teachers were Timothy Eddy, Janos Starker, Gary Hoffman and Christoph Henkel. Prior to his appointment as Assistant Professor of Cello at James Madison University in 1999, Dr. Donakowski was on the faculty of the Central Michigan University School of Music and Alma College.

Wanchi Huang, Violin

Wanchi, born in 1970, began violin lessons with her mother in her native country Taiwan at the age of six after initially studying a year and a half of piano. Before the age of 13, she had won numerous Taiwan-wide competitions in both violin and piano including the Taiwan National Violin Competition at age 12. At age 13, she made a decision to concentrate on violin and came to the United States to study with Daniel Heifetz and Shirley Givens at the Peabody Conservatory Preparatory Division, later doing so while concurrently attending the Baltimore School for the Arts. At age 14, she made her solo debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Catherine Comet, and was proclaimed by the National Review, Inc., as having 'performed with extraordinary self possession and command..." (COPYRIGHT 1986 National Review, Inc.) Wanchi has received her Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1990, her Masters of Music from The Julliard School in 1992, and her Doctor of Music from the Indiana University School of Music in 1996. Her teachers included Jasha Brodsky, Jaime Laredo, Dorothy Delay, Naoko Tanaka, and Franco Gulli. She has appeared in the master classes of Isaac Stern, Joseph Gingold, Lorand Fenyves, and Camilla Wicks. She was twice a recipient of a fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival and once of a full scholarship at the Banff Center of the Arts in Alberta, Canada. She has given highly acclaimed recitals and chamber music performances in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Minnesota, Taipei Taiwan, and Washington D.C., the most recent one being a solo recital in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater in Washington D.C. in September of 2005. Her performances have been aired numerous times on WFLN, the classical radio station in Philadelphia, as well as on WQXR in New York City. She has also taught full-time for a year at Tunghai University in Taichung Taiwan before accepting her current teaching position at the James Madison University School of Music in 1998, where she is currently an associate professor of violin.

Christine Rutledge, Viola

Violist Christine Rutledge has appeared as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician throughout the United States and abroad. Her performances and recordings have been praised in such publications as The Strad, Fanfare, The New York Times, and The New York Concert Review. Recent solo performances and master classes have taken her to locales as diverse as ReykjavÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂk, Iceland to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She performs many of her original transcriptions of Baroque compositions on both modern and Baroque viola, including the Bach Cello Suites and Sonatas for viola da gamba. As a champion of new works she has commissioned many new compositions including Chimera for Viola and Harpsichord by C.P. First, Nudged Along on Time's Notched Stick for Flute, Viola, and Guitar by Zae Munn, Hamadryad for alto flute, viola, and guitar by Jeremy Dale Roberts, and a duo for viola and percussion by Claude Baker. Currently Rutledge holds the position of Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Iowa. She has served on the executive board of the American Viola Society, and is president of the Iowa Viola Society. Rutledge is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Karen Tuttle and Michael Tree, and the University of Iowa with William Preucil, Sr. She is also a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied with David Holland. Rutledge's most recent CD, The Blissful Viola, works by Bridge, Bliss, and Clarke, is released on the Centaur Label. Rutledge is founder and editor of Linnet Press Editions, which is dedicated to publishing high-quality performance editions of Baroque music for viola and works written for the late English viola virtuoso Lionel Tertis.

VOICE

Risa Renae Harman , Soprano

American soprano Risa Renae Harman has been acclaimed for her technical virtuosity and communication skills as an artist. Among Miss Harman's recent recital engagements was a solo recital for the Trinity Church Concert Series in downtown New York. The New York Times proclaimed, "But she is that rare creature among singers, a really good recitalist...she seemed to have something to say in all five languages she was singing in." She also collaborates regularly with the prestigious New York Festival of Song, appearing in their 10th Anniversary Gala at the 92nd Street Y and at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in a concert featuring her performance in the original version of Zerbinetta's aria from Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. For her debut with the Cathedral Choral Society in an all-Baroque program at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. the The Washington Post described her voice as "luminous" and "outstanding' while The Cincinnati Enquirer observed that she "was a playful Zerbinetta with a big coloratura" in her debut in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos with the Sorg Opera in Ohio. Her debut as Adele in Die Fledermaus with Lyric Opera Cleveland prompted The Cleveland Plain Dealer to remark that she "sparked the action with her vivid portrayal of Adele." For Miss Harman's recent engagement as the Queen of the Night in Fargo-Moorhead Opera's The Magic Flute, the press lauded her performance as Queen: "The real payoff comes in the vocal pyrotechnics of Risa Renae Harman. She nails them." She has been on the roster of New York City Opera and toured with the National Company's production of Carmen. Miss Harman has several operatic world premieres to her credit, including creating the role of Louise in William Schuman's A Question of Taste for Glimmerlgass Opera, a portrayal The Wall Street Journal called "exciting." Her international credits include the Italian Festivals Da Bach a Bartok and Musica nei Chiostri. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has appeared as soloist at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, with the Beethoven Society of New York, Orchestra New England, among others and most recently, Philadelphia's Verizon Hall for Beethoven's Missa Solemnis with The Philadelphia Singers. Her programs vary from baroque to pops concerts, opera galas to oratorios with Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana, Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate chief among them. An Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan for the past several seasons, her performances have included Broadway and Opera favorites, and recitals that boasted such diverse repertoire as Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, Andre Previn's Four Songs for soprano, cello and piano and Chausson's Chanson Perpetuelle. In recital, Miss Harman has concertized throughout the Northeastern United States, Sweden and Austria where she earned a Diploma with Distinction from the Franz Schubert Institute. As a winner of the American Jenny Lind Competition, she made a concert tour of Sweden and appeared with Elisabeth Sandstrom in a gala benefit concert honoring Jenny Lind's birthday. Miss Harman is the recipient of numerous awards and career grants, including the Lee Schaenen Foundation, the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, Shoshana Foundation, Palm Beach Opera, Lola Hayes Foundation, Liederkranz Foundation, YWCA Studio Club, Washington International and the D'Angelo Vocal Competition, where she was awarded the prize for best performance of a commissioned work.

Martha Hart , Mezzo Soprano

Known for her stylistic interpretation of music spanning the Baroque to contemporary, mezzo-soprano Martha J. Hart has sung to critical acclaim throughout North America and France. Highly regarded for her performances of oratorio, art song and chamber music, Martha has sung with the symphony orchestras of Montreal, Atlanta, Lansing, Phoenix, Grand Rapids, Omaha and St. Louis, the Florida Orchestra, the Orchestra at Temple Square and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. The clarity of her voice and connection with the audience has made her especially sought after for performances of the major works of J. S. Bach. Conductors with whom Ms. Hart has worked include Helmuth Rilling, Simon Preston, Craig Jessop, and the late Robert Shaw. With Mr. Shaw Ms. Hart performed Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Mozart's Requiem, Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ, and Copland's In the Beginning. She recorded solos of the Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and is a featured soloist on Schubert Songs for Male Chorus with the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, both on the Telarc label. Other recordings include music of Charles Ives with the St. Olaf Choir, Linn Records, and a solo CD with pianist J.J. Penna titled Summer Journey: Songs of Darius Milhaud, available at www.marthajhart.com. In March of 2005, she made her debut performance at New York's Carnegie Hall singing the Durufle Requiem. As a recitalist, Ms. Hart is known for her imaginative programs combining poetry reading and art song around a central theme. As one critic writes: "The program was charming, touching, and engaging, both in content and presentation." A versatile singer, Martha is part of the ensemble Three for the Road, a trio dedicated to the performance of American popular music from the 1930s and '40s. In addition to her performance credits, Martha is a respected vocal pedagogue and is invited to present master classes at colleges and universities. Currently she serves as Artist-in-Residence and holds the Dwight and Ruth Vredenburg Chair in Music at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, Martha has been Artist/Faculty with the Bay View Music Festival since the summer of 1993.

Richard Kennedy , Tenor

Richard Kennedy has sung with the Boston Symphony, the American Chamber Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and the Utah, Charlotte, Richmond, Green Bay, La Crosse, and Wheeling symphonies. He has appeared as soloist in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington with premier choral organizations, and with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, the Bach Festival Choir in Rochester, New York, the Detroit Oratorio Society, the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, and with the Los Angeles Master Chorale as aria soloist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion. He has given solo recitals in Germany, Austria, Canada, in New York City at Carnegie Recital Hall and the National Arts Club, in Washington at the British Embassy, in Charleston, South Carolina at the Spoleto Festival USA, and at many colleges and universities throughout the United States. He has toured as vocal soloist with the Mantovani Orchestra performing in concerts from coast to coast in the United States, as well as in Canada, Japan, and Taiwan. The concerts of music from Viennese operetta and American musical theatre afforded performances in major performing halls, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Mr. Kennedy has been a winner of the Franz Schubert Prize for Singers awarded in Austria, a second-place winner of the 1981 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards, an international finalist in the Opera Company of Philadelphia/Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition, and a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council New England Regional Auditions. Voice study was accomplished at Indiana University and at Boston University where he was a student of Phyllis Curtin. Advanced study was accomplished at the Franz Schubert Institute in Austria where he studied with Ernst Haefliger, Walter Berry, and Hans Hotter, and at the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada where he studied with Gerard Souzay and Dalton Baldwin. He has also coached repertoire with Elly Ameling, Carol Webber, Richard Miller, Jorg Demus, and John Wustman. Notable performances include recitals in Germany, Austria, and Chicago, and appearances as the Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion in Los Angeles and Providence, Rhode Island. Acclaimed oratorio performances include those of Mendelssohn's Elijah in North Carolina, Bach's Mass in B Minor with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, Mozart's Mass in C Minor with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, and Handel's Messiah with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, with the Handel Oratorio Society in Rock Island, Illinois, and with the Rochester Oratorio Society in New York. Mr. Kennedy has been a member of the Bay View Festival since 2005.

Carl Ratner, Baritone

He serves as Director of Opera and Associate Professor of Voice for the School of Music at Western Michigan University. His career includes over two decades as an opera stage director, including 15 years as Artistic Director of Chicago Opera Theater and Chamber Opera Chicago during which he presented performances of the repertoire's major works as well as premieres of new productions.

He has assisted directors at major opera houses including Covent Garden (London), the Metropolitan Opera, Munich Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and the Spoleto Festival in Italy, where he worked with eminent composer Gian Carlo Menotti.

He has been an educator at Northwestern and Northeastern Illinois, Program Director for the apprentice program of the Sarasota Opera, and Stage Director for the apprentice program of Des Moines Metro Opera.

A baritone, he has appeared in both opera and recital. Opera Canada reviewer Richard Covello wrote, "His performance as Puccini's [Gianni Schicchi] was a delight...charming, indeed lovable, and nicely sung, too! "

In 2005, he completed his Doctor of Music degree in vocal performance at Northwestern University. His education also includes an internship in opera production at The Juilliard School

WOODWIND

Nancy Clauter , Oboe

Oboist, Nancy Clauter has taught at the University of Kentucky since 1997 and is renowned for her performance in solo and chamber music concert venues. Prior to her arrival in Kentucky, Nancy was a founding member of the wind quintet Quintessence. She has performed as the resident oboist at the Bay View Music Festival since 1990. Nancy is concurrently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Solo Oboe Performance at Arizona State University where she also received the 1996 Outstanding Graduate Student in Performance award and was one of winners of the 1996 Concerto Competition. She has also earned degrees from Arizona State and the University of Arizona. Nancy's teachers include Martin Schuring, and William Criss, as well as Master Classes with Elaine Douvas, Basil Reeves, and Ray Still. Nancy's performances have taken her from Honolulu to Carnegie Hall. She also recently performed a solo, multi-media recital at the Latina Conservatory in Italy outside of Rome. She also was the Principal Oboe with the Classical Music Festival (Eisenstadt, Austria). As an active orchestral player, she currently performs with the Louisville, Knoxville, and Richmond (IN) Symphony Orchestras, and is the principal oboist with the Lexington Philharmonic, with whom she has also performed as a featured soloist. An active educator as well as performer, Nancy is the principal oboist with the Trade Winds Ensemble with whom she has released four CDs on the Carl Fischer Performance Series label which is internationally released. She also served as the only outside editor of the book: The Yamaha Advantage-Book One for Beginning Oboe, published in 2001. She is also an active performer/lecturer at national convention venues for MENC, NACWPI, ACDA and IDRS.

Richard MacDowell, Clarinet

Richard MacDowell, Assistant Professor of Clarinet, studied with Leon Russianoff, Stanley Hasty, Rudolf Kolisch, Peter Hadock, and Robert Marcellus and has performed in chamber, orchestral and solo settings. As principal clarinetist and soloist, he has performed with the Traverse Symphony in Michigan, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra in New York and the Utica, Binghampton, and Catskill Symphony Orchestras. He toured the Canary Islands with the American Opera Orchestra and has performed as a chamber musician throughout the U.S., Hawaii, and Taiwan under the auspices of the Pacific Cultural Foundation. BM, New England Conservatory; MM, Northwestern.

Jill Marderness, Bassoon

Ms. Marderness is founding bassoonist of Quintessence Chamber Ensemble, recognized for its long and distinguished history of innovative programming in musical performance and education. With Quintessence, Ms. Marderness has toured from Alaska to the Panama Canal and California to the Caribbean, performing as artist and educator to nearly half a million people since 1980. She was selected for panels addressing "The Performer as Educator" at the Chamber Music America (CMA) National Conference, the Music Educators National Conference, and the CMA Institute of the 2002 Western Alliance of Arts Administrators Conference. As a promoter of the arts in the community, Ms. Marderness has also served as President for Valley Chamber Musicians, a consortium of nine professional chamber music ensembles in the Phoenix area, and as Director of Central Community School for the Arts in Phoenix. In addition to being Bay View's resident bassoonist since 1979, Ms. Marderness taught summers at Interlochen National Music Camp and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Prior to moving to Arizona in 1980, Ms. Marderness was on the faculty of Saint Cloud State University as Instructor of Bassoon and Saxophone. She received the degrees Bachelor and Master of Music in Woodwind Performance at the University of Michigan with further studies as Doctoral Candidate in Bassoon Performance at Arizona State University. Her extensive performance career includes Silver Medalist of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, concerto soloist with orchestras in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, Iowa and Michigan, chamber musician with the Sedona Chamber Music Festival, performing for the children of the Matsumoto Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan and orchestral playing on bassoon/contrabassoon with the Flint Symphony, Duluth Symphony, Colorado Philharmonic and West Valley Symphony. Ms. Marderness is currently contracted Second Bassoon of the Arizona Opera Orchestra, a regularly engaged extra with the Phoenix and Tucson Symphony Orchestras, private teacher of bassoon, saxophone and piano, and Outreach Coordinator/Grant Writer with the Red Rocks Music Festival. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona with percussionist Fred Marderness, daughter Emily Rose, born in 1996 and Sparky, the nearly Chihuahua. She has been a faculty artist since 1979.

Donna Shin, Flute

Flutist Donna Shin has been praised for her beautifully-spun phrases, seductive sound, sterling technique, and charismatic exchanges with the audience. Described as "dazzling" by the Boston Globe, Shin has built an enviable reputation as a versatile performer of solo, chamber, orchestral, jazz and ancient Asian repertoire. Performing in concert halls across the country, Europe and Asia, she is admired for her adventurous programming and expressive flair.

Devoted to the role of artist-teacher, she comes to the University of Washington School of Music after holding faculty posts at the University of South Carolina School of Music and Oklahoma State University. She frequently appears as artist-performer and master class clinician at universities and flute clubs throughout the country, modeling the artist-teacher path for young flutists.

Shin has been featured in solo performances with the Korean National Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonia, New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble, University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble, and the Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble. In February 2008, she will perform as soloist with the University of Washington Wind Ensemble at the Pacific Northwest Band Festival.

Shin performed for two seasons as principal flute with the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele Orchester in Germany. In Boston, she performed with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Bedford Symphony, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Chamber Orchestras. She has also performed with the South Carolina Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Tulsa Signature Symphony, Lake Placid Sinfonietta, Tanglewood Music Center, National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.

Shin has won prizes in competitions held by the National Flute Association, April Spring Friendship Arts Festival in Korea, Performers of Connecticut, James Pappoutsakis Society, and Seattle Flute Society, to name a few. As a founding member of Paragon Winds woodwind quintet, she was awarded fellowships from the New England Conservatory and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and won the Grand Prize at the 2000 Coleman National Chamber Ensemble Competition in Pasadena, California.

Committed to developing young flutists and reaching out to audiences, Shin has introduced new music programs for a variety of communities, including Italian study abroad programs in music, Oklahoma Wind Day Festival, Oklahoma Flute Society Fair, Edmon Low Library Brown Bag It Chamber Music Series.

Shin earned degrees with the highest honors from the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory, including the esteemed Performer's Certificate at the Eastman School. As instructor of chamber music and flute at the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music, she was awarded the Eastman School of Music "Excellence in Teaching" prize. During her doctoral studies at Eastman, she became the first woodwind player in the school's history to be nominated for the highly coveted Artist's Certificate.

During the summer months, Shin performs as artist-teacher at the Bay View Music Festival in Michigan and as course director for an Italian study abroad program in music.

Faculty

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Faculty Bios

Jacob Cameron, Tuba

Todd Schendel, Trombone

Scott Thornburg, Trumpet

Sean Vore, Horn

Kelly Hale, Organ/Piano/Coaching

Emily Leather, Opera Conductor

Chris Ludwa, Conducting/Coaching

Casey Robards, Coach

Toby Yatso, Theatre Arts Piano/Conductor

Becca Hale, Dance Instructor and Choreographer

Nancy-Laurel Pettersen, Feldenkrais Instructor

Alex Graham, Director of Jazz Studies/Saxophone

Kelly Hale, Piano/Organ

Anthony Patterson, Piano/Computer Notation

Casey Robards, Collaborative Piano

Lori Sims, Collaborative Piano

Emily Leather, Opera Conductor

Paul Nelson, Director of Theatre Arts

Casey Robards, Vocal Coach

Joanie Schultz, Opera Stage Director

Toby Yatso, Music Director/Conductor/Choreographer

Fred Marderness , Timpani/Percussion

Carl Donakowski, Cello

Wanchi Huang, Violin

Christine Rutledge, Viola

Risa Renae Harman , Soprano

Martha Hart , Mezzo Soprano

Richard Kennedy , Tenor

Carl Ratner, Baritone

Nancy Clauter , Oboe

Richard MacDowell, Clarinet

Jill Marderness, Bassoon

Donna Shin, Flute

Sean Vore, Horn