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
Tubist Jacob Cameron has taught at universities throughout the United States and has led an active and interesting performing career. 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 solo 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 Blue Ash Symphony, Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Lebanon Symphony, Orchestra X, Richmond Symphony (IN), Saginaw Bay Symphony, Springfield Symphony (OH), West Shore Symphony and the Wilmington Symphony. An active chamber musician, he has recently performed with the Buerkle Brass, Canterbury Brass, Michigan Chamber Brass, Pamlico Sound , TodayâÂÂs Brass Quintet, the Queen City Brass and is a current member of the Motor City Brass Quintet and the Spectrum Brass Quintet.
Mr. Cameron received his M.M. in Tuba Performance from Rice University âÂÂs Shepherd School of Music and his B.M. in Tuba Performance from Michigan State University , where he is currently pursing his DMA. His primary teachers are David E. Kirk and Phil Sinder.
Jacob Cameron is currently Instructor of Tuba and Euphonium at Grand Valley State University , and Artist/Faculty at the Bay View Music Festival in Bay View, Michigan . He has held teaching positions at Wright State University , East Carolina University , Calvin College and Cornerstone University.
back to top
Steven Parker, Trombone
Trombonist Steve Parker is an active soloist, chamber musician, and arts educator in Philadelphia. An advocate of new music, he has commissioned or premiered over a hundred works in the US and Europe. He was named a Fulbright Scholar to perform contemporary music in Germany and awarded an ENCORE grant by the American ComposerÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Forum to solo in the American premiere of MEN by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang.
As a soloist, Parker has been featured at the Spoleto Festival, BACKFABRIK in Berlin, Bowerbird in Philadelphia, and Roulette in New York. He has performed guest solo recitals at the Oberlin Conservatory, the College Music Society at Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin ÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂàMilwaukee.
In the orchestral realm, Parker has worked with Pierre Boulez and Ensemble InterContemporain at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and has received fellowships with the Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Festival, and National Repertory Orchestra. He has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony, New World Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Sarasota Opera.
In the field of chamber music, Parker is a member of duo In Freundschaft, a collaboration with cellist Jason Calloway of the Biava Quartet. He is a member of the NYC-based ensemble Second Instrumental Unit and has performed with members of the Bang on a Can All-Stars in concerts featured on Jim LehrÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs PBS NewsHour.
As an educator, Parker is a Lead Teaching Artist for the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the Director of Education for the Philadelphia Classical Symphony. He has been a guest speaker at The Curtis Institute of Music and has given masterclasses at several colleges and universities. Parker received a MM from Rice University and a BA/BM from Oberlin College in Applied Mathematics and Music.
back to top
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
back to top
Sean Vore, Horn
Sean Vore is currently Assistant Principal Horn in the Dayton Philharmonic and the horn instructor at Wright State University. In addition, he maintains an active free lance career in southwest Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Mr. Vore has been on the faculty of the Bay View Music Festival since 2008.
As an orchestral musician he has performed in orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He performs regularly with the Cincinnati Pops, Dayton Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Richmond (IN) Symphony.
As a chamber musician, he performs regularly on recitals with both the woodwind and brass quintets from Wright State University, the Cincinnati Brass Quintet and the Skyline Woodwind Quintet, of which he is a founding member.
Prior to his summer engagement with the Bay View Music Festival, he spent two summers as principal horn of the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. He has also participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the Mancini Institute.
Mr. Vore received his Masters of Music in Horn Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelors of Music from Mannes College of Music in New York. His primary teachers include Randy Gardner, Ranier DeIntinis, Erik Ralske and Larry Johnson.
back to top
CONDUCTING/COACHING FACULTY
Tim Cheek, Opera Conductor
Timothy Cheek has performed recitals as a collaborative pianist in fourteen countries on three continents. He has been heard on National Public Television, Austrian television, and in 1998 on three world-wide broadcasts from Vatican City Radio with soprano Terese Cullen. The Grand Rapids Press cited him as "a knowing and musically gifted accompanist," and Mr. Cheek has worked as a pianist at the Steans Institute for Young Artists, part of the Chicago Ravinia Festival; the Michigan Opera Theatre; the Israel Vocal Arts Institute/New Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv; Santa Fe Opera, Mozart Opera Studies Institute, Austria; and the International Institute for Chamber Music, Munich, Germany where he performed for five years as master class pianist for Elly Ameling, Walter Berry and others.
Cheek holds a Doctorate in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Martin Katz. He also holds degrees in Piano Performance from Oberlin and the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, Dr. Cheek was the recipient of a Fulbright Award to study in 1990-1 as an Opera Coach Apprentice at the Teatro Comunale in Florence, under conductors Bruno Bartoletti, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, and Zubin Mehta. After working at Albion College for several years as Instructor and Accompanist, Mr. Cheek joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1994 where he is currently Associate Professor of Performing Arts. There he teaches Diction for Singers, serves as Music Director of Opera Workshop, and coaches diction for opera productions. Besides his love of Art Song, Italian Opera and chamber music, Mr. Cheek has a strong interest in Czech vocal music, founded on an internship at the National Theatre in Prague under the great Janacek conductor Bohumil Gregor. Timothy Cheek's book Singing in Czech: A Guide to Czech Lyric Diction and Vocal Repertoire, with a foreword by Sir Charles Mackerras, was published in 2001 by Scarecrow Press and his landmark recording of the songs of Czeck female composer Vitezslava Kapralova was released by Supraphon records in 2003. Dr. Cheek joined the Bay View Festival in 2000.
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.
back to top back to top
Chris Ludwa, Conducting/Coaching
Named Artistic Director of Bay View Music Festival in 2007, 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. Currently 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. He is pursuing doctoral studies at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in conducting, music education, and group dynamics.
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. Chris and Melissa are new parents as of December, 2008, when they were joined by Alexandre.
back to top
Casey Robards, Coach
Casey Jo Ahn Robards recently joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as Visiting Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano/Voice, where she coaches singers and is involved with various art song projects. Ms. Robards regularly accompanies singers and instrumentalists in recital across the country. Upcoming performances include recitals with baritone, Alexander Hurd, professor of Voice at the University of Buffalo; and soprano, Courtney Huffman Frye, winner of the 2008 NATS competition.
As a pianist, chamber musician and vocal coach, Ms. Robards has worked for Young Musicians Inc. (Evanston, WY); the Weathersfield Music Festival, (Castleton, VT); the Plymouth Music Festival, (Plymouth, MA); the StudiO Vocal Arts Institute, (Monticello, IL), the International Women's Brass Competition, the Met Opera District Auditions, Illinois Opera Theatre (Urbana, Illinois) and Y.O.P.E. (Youth Opera Performance Education). Casey is at home in styles ranging from lieder to gospel music, having served as principal musician/asst. conductor of the University of Illinois Black Chorus from 1997-2008.
As a Tanglewood Fellow in 2004 and 2005, Casey was rehearsal pianist for projects conducted by James Levine, Robert Spano, and Kurt Masur. Casey has accompanied for numerous masterclasses with artists including the Bach Aria Group, William Bolcom and Joan Morris, Phyllis Curtin, James Levine, Malcolm Martineau, Sherrill Milnes, George Shirley, Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, Alan Vizzuti and Brian Zeger. She has recorded a CD of spirituals with soprano, Ollie Watts Davis, and has appeared on WILL-TV, a PBS affiliate, with Courtney Huffman.
Casey completed the B.M. (Piano Performance) and M.M. (Piano Pedagogy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently completing a D.M.A. in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying. Her teachers include Kenneth Drake, Joel Shapiro, William Heiles, Gustavo Romero, Richard Syracuse, Tony Patterson, Dennis Helmrich, Eric Dalheim, John Wustman, and Nathan and Julie Gunn. 2009 will be her ninth summer in Bay View.
Access Casey's website back to top
DANCE/MOVEMENT FACULTY
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 Movement 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.
back to top
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"ÃÂÃÂ to explore twelve-tone writing techniques, and his original "Rocket Science" shows off his ability to navigate complex harmonies.
back to top
KEYBOARD
Kelly Hale, Collaborative Piano/Organ
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.
back to topMatt McFarlane, Piano
A musician of diverse abilities and interests, Matt McFarlane has been a part of the Bay View Music Festival since 1998. McFarlane studied Music Education at Graceland University in Lamoni, IA and dual majored in Piano and Trombone. After teaching instrumental music at the Lamoni School District, he pursued a Master of Music degree in Piano Accompanying and Coaching from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. New York performances have included choral performances in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center as a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir. As a member of the Minnesota Chorale, McFarlane has performed with the Minnesota Chorale at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis and The Ordway in Saint Paul. His teachers have included Dalton Baldwin and JJ Penna. Conductors have included Osmo Vanska, Joseph Flummerfelt, Kurt Masur, and Colin Davis. Matt has accompanied in many voice studios, including those of Martha J. Hart and Sharon Sweet. Master Classes have included Diana Soviero, Virgina Zeani, George Shirley, William Preucil, and the Scholars of London. When not at Bay View, he spends time as the co-director of music with his wife Molly at Discovery Methodist Church in Chanhassen and spends his school year at the Main Street School of Performing Arts wrangling high school musicians.
back to top
Anthony Patterson, Piano
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.
back to top
Casey Robards, Collaborative Piano
Casey Jo Ahn Robards recently joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as Visiting Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano/Voice, where she coaches singers and is involved with various art song projects. Ms. Robards regularly accompanies singers and instrumentalists in recital across the country. Upcoming performances include recitals with baritone, Alexander Hurd, professor of Voice at the University of Buffalo; and soprano, Courtney Huffman Frye, winner of the 2008 NATS competition.
As a pianist, chamber musician and vocal coach, Ms. Robards has worked for Young Musicians Inc. (Evanston, WY); the Weathersfield Music Festival, (Castleton, VT); the Plymouth Music Festival, (Plymouth, MA); the StudiO Vocal Arts Institute, (Monticello, IL), the International Women's Brass Competition, the Met Opera District Auditions, Illinois Opera Theatre (Urbana, Illinois) and Y.O.P.E. (Youth Opera Performance Education). Casey is at home in styles ranging from lieder to gospel music, having served as principal musician/asst. conductor of the University of Illinois Black Chorus from 1997-2008.
As a Tanglewood Fellow in 2004 and 2005, Casey was rehearsal pianist for projects conducted by James Levine, Robert Spano, and Kurt Masur. Casey has accompanied for numerous masterclasses with artists including the Bach Aria Group, William Bolcom and Joan Morris, Phyllis Curtin, James Levine, Malcolm Martineau, Sherrill Milnes, George Shirley, Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, Alan Vizzuti and Brian Zeger. She has recorded a CD of spirituals with soprano, Ollie Watts Davis, and has appeared on WILL-TV, a PBS affiliate, with Courtney Huffman.
Casey completed the B.M. (Piano Performance) and M.M. (Piano Pedagogy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently completing a D.M.A. in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying. Her teachers include Kenneth Drake, Joel Shapiro, William Heiles, Gustavo Romero, Richard Syracuse, Tony Patterson, Dennis Helmrich, Eric Dalheim, John Wustman, and Nathan and Julie Gunn. 2009 will be her ninth summer in Bay View.
Access Casey's website back to top
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.
back to top
OPERA/THEATRE
Marcello Cormio, Opera Conductor/Collaborative Pianist
Marcello Cormio, a native of Trani, South Italy, has been performing for many years both as a conductor and as a pianist, in USA, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, France. In the operatic field he has developed a remarkable professional experience, working as assistant conductor, coach and accompanist. His most recent engagement is with Sarasota Opera for the season 2010 as First Assistant Conductor and Cover Conductor for productions of Cavalleria Rusticana, I Pagliacci and Verdi’s Giovanna d’Arco. He has served for two years as Assistant Conductor, Musical Coach, Diction Coach and Accompanist at the Indiana University Opera Theatre, in Bloomington, IN. La Traviata, The Love for Three Oranges, and Giulio Cesare are among the most recent IU productions he has collaborated on. His repertoire as a conductor is equally considerable in the symphonic and operatic field, ranging from the 18th century to the most contemporary works. Prior to his experience in the US, in Europe he was seen at the head of different professional orchestras and collaborating with distinguished soloists, among them pianist Aldo Ciccolini. In 2005 he has been the conductor and music director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble “Makrokosmos” in Italy. Cormio earned an MM in Instrumental Conducting at the Jacob School of Music of Indiana University, studying with Professors David Effron and Arthur Fagen. His previous musical studies in Italy had earned him diplomas in Piano, Instrumental Conducting, Composition, as well as a Master’s degree and a Doctoral Research degree in History and Critique of the Musical Heritage.
back to topPaul 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.
back to topNatalia Rivera, Opera Coach/Pianist
Pursuing a career that embraces song recitals, chamber music, and opera, Natalia Rivera achieved early success at the age of fourteen when she won the Jesus Maria San Roma Concerto Competition in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and performed as soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony. She had previously spent five years studying in Naples, Italy with the Director of the Piano Department of the Conservatory of Naples, Nunzio Zappulla. She completed successfully the fifth year placement examinations in piano and solfeggio at the age of thirteen.
Ms. Rivera earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the New England Conservatory and the Master of Collaborative Arts degree from the University of Minnesota. She continued her studies in the Professional Studies program at the Juilliard School of Music where she accompanied in the studios of Marlena Malas, Edward Zambara and Dorothy Delay. Ms. Rivera's teachers include Jeffery Kahane, Veronica Jochum, Brian Zeger, Margo Garrett, and Samuel Sanders. She has also served as an accompanist in the masterclasses of John Wussman, Graham Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma, Regine Crespin, Craig Ruttenberg, Michael Eliason, Robert Merrill, Thomas Hampson, Simon Estes, Denyce Graves, Phyllis Curtain, Anna Moffo, and Pamel Frank.
In the summer of 1992 Ms. Rivera received a full scholarship to study with Martin Katz at the Music Academy of the West summer festival. She was also one of four vocal coaches chosen to participate in the Merola Opera Program of San Francisco Opera. During her two summers as an apprentice opera coach she was awarded the Jan Popper Memorial Award and the Otto Guth Memorial Vocal Coach Award.
As a vocal coach and pianist, Ms. Rivera has collaborated at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, with the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, and members of the Vienna Philharmonic; with the San Francisco Opera; the Santiago Opera in Chile; and the Bellas Artes Opera of San Juan, Puerto Rico. She has performed recitals throughout the United States including duo piano performances with pianist, Maria Rivera. She has also performed recitals in Italy, Austria, Japan, and at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall in New York.
Ms. Rivera was Instructor of Piano and Music Director of the Opera Workshop at Vassar College; Assistant Opera Coach at the Mannes Conservatory of Music; Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching and Accompanying at Florida State University and Assistant Professor of Vocal Coaching at the Ohio University School of Music. She has also served on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.
back to topCasey Robards, Vocal Coach
Casey Jo Ahn Robards recently joined the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as Visiting Assistant Professor in Collaborative Piano/Voice, where she coaches singers and is involved with various art song projects. Ms. Robards regularly accompanies singers and instrumentalists in recital across the country. Upcoming performances include recitals with baritone, Alexander Hurd, professor of Voice at the University of Buffalo; and soprano, Courtney Huffman Frye, winner of the 2008 NATS competition.
As a pianist, chamber musician and vocal coach, Ms. Robards has worked for Young Musicians Inc. (Evanston, WY); the Weathersfield Music Festival, (Castleton, VT); the Plymouth Music Festival, (Plymouth, MA); the StudiO Vocal Arts Institute, (Monticello, IL), the International Women's Brass Competition, the Met Opera District Auditions, Illinois Opera Theatre (Urbana, Illinois) and Y.O.P.E. (Youth Opera Performance Education). Casey is at home in styles ranging from lieder to gospel music, having served as principal musician/asst. conductor of the University of Illinois Black Chorus from 1997-2008.
As a Tanglewood Fellow in 2004 and 2005, Casey was rehearsal pianist for projects conducted by James Levine, Robert Spano, and Kurt Masur. Casey has accompanied for numerous masterclasses with artists including the Bach Aria Group, William Bolcom and Joan Morris, Phyllis Curtin, James Levine, Malcolm Martineau, Sherrill Milnes, George Shirley, Dawn Upshaw, Roger Vignoles, Alan Vizzuti and Brian Zeger. She has recorded a CD of spirituals with soprano, Ollie Watts Davis, and has appeared on WILL-TV, a PBS affiliate, with Courtney Huffman.
Casey completed the B.M. (Piano Performance) and M.M. (Piano Pedagogy) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently completing a D.M.A. in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying. Her teachers include Kenneth Drake, Joel Shapiro, William Heiles, Gustavo Romero, Richard Syracuse, Tony Patterson, Dennis Helmrich, Eric Dalheim, John Wustman, and Nathan and Julie Gunn. 2009 will be her ninth summer in Bay View.
Access Casey's website back to topAJ Wester, Opera Stage Director
Currently the Resident Assistant Director at San Diego Opera, Ms. Wester's most recently directing credit comes from St. Petersburg, Florida where she led their Spring production of La Traviata and the fall production of Into the Woods to rave reviews from both audiences and critics alike. Ms. Wester has also led productions for Intimate Opera (La Traviata and Cosà fan Tutte) and Opera Company Brooklyn (Roméo et Juliette). Ms. Wester just complete her fourth year as the Stage Director/Vocal Coach for Chicago Opera Theaterâs highly successful âChicago Opera Theater for Teensâ' â a paid apprenticeship program sponsored by the City of Chicago with Chicago Opera Theater and her fourth season as the Director of the Summer Musical Theater Workshop with Light Opera Works. She has also taught acting for the operatic stage at Roosevelt University and directed the Musical Theater Workshop for DePaul Universityâs Community Music program. She is also an active assistant director. She has also assisted at Indianapolis Opera (La Bohème 2009), Utah Opera (Regina 2009) and Chicago Opera Theater (Orlando 2008). As a classical singer, Ms. Wester was a Studio Artist with Utah Opera. She has also appeared as a featured soloist in the Welcome Yule Christmas concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dabeeb in the North American Premiere of Marriages between Zones 3, 4 and 5 by Phillip Glass as well as productions with Chicago Opera Theater, Court Theater, DePaul Opera Theater, Intermezzo Opera in Hartford, CT, American Opera Group, Elgin Opera and multiple productions with Light Opera Works in Evanston, IL. Ms. Wester holds a B.Mus. from Roosevelt University and an M.Mus from DePaul University.
back to top
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 Fred's 30th summer at Bay View.
back to top
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.
back to topWanchi 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.
back to topChristine 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 Reykjavik, 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.
back to topI-Fu WangViolin
I-Fu Wang is associate professor of violin at the Michigan State University College of Music.
He began his musical training at the age of 4 in his native country, Taiwan. Upon receiving a scholarship to the Interlochen Arts Academy, he came to the United States at the age of 13 to continue his secondary education, and later enrolled as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His former teachers include Ivan Galamian, Paul Makanowitzky, Jaime Laredo, and Felix Galimir.
Wang was a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with which he performed throughout the United States and internationally. As a chamber musician, he has performed regularly with Music From Marlboro, the Kennedy Center Theater Chamber Players, the Fontana Festival of Music and Art, and as a guest artist with various chamber music series throughout the nation.
For many years Wang was the music director of the Renaud Chamber Orchestra and concertmaster of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra. His violin students can be found in major orchestras and/or teaching in universities here and abroad.
VOICE
Buffy Baggott, Mezzo Soprano
California native Buffy Baggott is quickly gaining recognition around the United States as an accomplished and highly versatile lyric mezzo soprano. She began her music education by winning music scholarships to UCLA and San Francisco State University for vocal performance. She then went on to complete two apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and is an alumnus of the prestigious Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, now known as the Ryan Opera Center. Opera Center performances include: Angelina in La Cenerentola, Soloist in WTTW's Opera Philes concert at Ravinia and Carmen at the Grant Park Music Festival for which she received rave reviews. Early performances at the Lyric Opera Chicago include most notably: Stephano in Romeo et Juliette, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos, and title role in the matinees of Carmen, a Flower Maiden in Parsifal, Second Lady in Magic Flute , Siegrune in Die Walkure and Mrs. Hayes in Susannah.
Hailed as a "phenomenon of vocal and dramatic intensity"ÃÂÃÂ by the San Francisco Chronicle in 2006, Ms. Baggott is making her mark in twentieth-century music. The mezzo created the role of Hennakh in the world premiere of Shulamit Ran's opera Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk) with the Lyric Opera Center. With the Santa Fe Opera she appeared in Tobias Picker's Emmeline, seen on PBS in April of 1997, and previewed the role of Triraksha in their workshop of Ashoka's Dream. She was a primary soloist for the San Francisco Stockhausen Festival, Concertante di Chicago (in Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles), Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Berlin touring production of Moses und Aron, was named "best actress in a musical" for her work as Mrs Lovett in Spokane Opera's production of Sweeney Todd, played Noye's wife in Noyes Fludde and created the role of the moustachioed Baroness von Botzenheim in The Good Soldier Schweik, both for Chicago Opera Theater. Recently, she garnered glowing reviews for her performance in Chrysalis, a modern opera commissioned by Berkeley Opera. In 2008 she will perform and record various works by Chicago composer Stacy Garrop for the Cedille label, and can be heard on their recording of The Good Soldier Schweik.
The role of Carmen is Ms. Baggott's signature role. She has performed it with LOCAA, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Arizona Opera, Pamiro Opera, France's Festival Lyrique de Belle Ile en Mer and with Festival Opera, Spokane and Manitoba Opera companies. Reviewers have compared her performances of this character to an "animal stalking it's kill" "a lithe siren" and "Cleopatra spiced with nearly every role Dietrich ever played"ÃÂÃÂ. Not one to be typecast, she has also sang the comedic roles of: Tisbe (the ugly stepsister) in Cenerentola at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the Los Angelos Opera, Beatrice in Berlioz's Beatrice et Benedict for Berkeley Opera, Helen in The Beautiful Helen of Troy for Light Opera Works, Diana Devereaux in Of Thee I Sing for the Chicago Humanities Festival and Charlotte in Festival Opera's production of Werther for which the company won Best Operatic Production by a small company"ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ from the San Francisco press.
Between 2000-2005 Ms. Baggott made her debut with Tulsa Opera singing Maddalena in Rigoletto, Carmen with Manitoba Opera and Spokane Opera, made returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing in Susannah, Die Walkure, Wagner's Ring Cycle and Antonia in the premiere of A Wedding. She also made her debuts with Portland Opera as Nicklausse in Tales of Hoffman, Maddalena in Rigoletto with Opera Grand Rapids and Orlovsky in Michigan Opera Theatre's Die Fledermaus. In addition she performed a highly acclaimed Mrs. Lovett in Arizona Opera's production of Sweeney Todd, a return to Canadian Opera Company for Maddalena in Rigoletto and Siegrune in Die Walkure. Concerts include Mozart's Coronation Mass with the Illinois Symphony, and Anita in West Side Story with Grant Park Music Festival. Her 2005-2006 performances include Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus with Sacramento Opera, the world premiere of Chrysalis with Berkley Opera, and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Carmen and Die Zauberfloete and brought in the New Years with a Gala at Opera Naples. The summer of 2006 found her performing Schwertleite, and convered Flosshilde and First Norn in Canadian Operas Wagner's Ring Cycle. In 2006-7 she sang with the Lyric Opera of Chicago in Salome and Il Trovatore, performed Sonyetka in Shostakovich's Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk and Flora in La Traviata with the Canadian Opera Company. Upcoming performances include Flora In La Traviata with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and covers of Olga in Eugene Onegon and Meg in Falstaff, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana with the Skokie Valley Symphony and Flosshilde in Das Rheingold with the San Francisco Opera.
Buffy's Website & Video back to topRaymond Feener, Baritone
A native of Bremen, Ohio, Raymond has performed throughout the United States, Holland, Austria, and Italy. Raymond made his professional stage debut in 1995 with the Columbus Light Opera as Giuseppe in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers. His International debut was with the Opera Theatre of Lucca in Lucca Italy in 1998 in the title role of Giuseppe Gazzaniga's version of Don Giovanni. Since that time he has made a home in the operatic, oratorio, concert and art song repertoire, and is known for his beautiful lyric voice and outstanding acting ability.
An example of his operatic repertoire ranges from Figaro in Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Marcello in Puccini's La Boheme to the Man with a Shoe Sample Kit in Argento's Postcard from Morroco and Strephon in G & S's Iolanthe.
In 2000 Raymond was accepted into the Sarasota Opera Studio Artist Program where he sang the role of Fiorello in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and covered the role of Zurga in Les Pecheurs de Perles. That same year, Raymond was also accepted into the Lake George Opera Festival Apprentice Program where he had the opportunity to work with Maestro Daniel Beckwith, stage director Mark Verzatt, and Metropolitan Opera coach Craig Ruttenburg, as well as perform several operatic scenes with fellow apprentice artists, cover the role of Guglielmo in Cosi Fan Tutti, and perform the role of Prince Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
His solo, concert, and recital work has taken him across the country to Florida, Texas, Georgia, South Dakota, Missouri, Ohio, Hawaii, and in July 2007 to The Netherlands to perform for the 40th Anniversary of N.A.T.O. in Brunssum, Holland. His lecture recital entitled, The Evolution of Everyman, is his own multi-media semi-staged production of Frank Martin's work, Sechs Monologue aus Jedermann, using his own English translation as well as text from Hugo von Homannstahl's play, Jedermann.
From 2001 to 2005 Raymond served as Assistant Professor of Voice at Ohio University where he taught applied voice, Opera Workshop, and directed the 80 voice male ensemble, The Singing Men of Ohio. The ensemble toured throughout the United States and was invited to perform for the 2002 MTNA National Conference Opening Session in Cincinnati, Ohio and the 2004 Ohio Music Education Association Professional Conference in Columbus Ohio.
In 2002 Raymond served on faculty at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria where he was a stage director for the AIMS Festival. In 2003 Dr. Feener was selected as an intern for the prestigious NATS Internship which was held in Fredonia, New York, where he had the opportunity to work with several Master Teachers including Jerrold Pope and Judith Nicosia. He recently had the privilege of hosting the 2006 Internship at the UMKC Conservatory of Music where he currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice.
Raymond received his Bachelors degree in Choral Education and Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from Ohio University where he performed such roles as Baron Duphol in La Traviata, Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow, and Papageno in The Magic Flute. Raymond also placed first in the Advanced Men Category in 1996 at the State and Regional NATS Competition as well as a winner of the 1996 NATSAA State Competition. He earned his doctoral degree from the Florida State University School of Music in Vocal Performance/Opera Emphasis. While attending FSU, he was awarded the Gallagher Memorial Award for outstanding performance and academic achievement as well as reaching the finals of the McAllister Award Competition.
He has had the opportunity to work with such vocal coaches as, Lorenzo Malfatti, Douglas Fisher, Timothy Hoeckman, and Natalia Rivera, as well as in Master Classes with Stanford Olsen, Phyllis Curtin, and Marilyn Horne.
back to topRisa 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.
back to topJeffrey Picon, Tenor
Tenor Jeffrey Picon has proven his versatility as a concert and opera singer in a diverse selection of repertoire. Highlights of recent seasons include his New York City Opera debut in performances of Carmen, Cendrillon, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca. Debuts with The Rochester Philharmonic, Long Island Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and The United States tour of Bernstein On Broadway with The Israel Philharmonic conducted by Michael Barrett and featuring Leonard's daughter, Jamie Bernstein. His Arizona Opera debut in Zemire et Azor, Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Opera Company of North Carolina; both Ramiro in La Cenerentola, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Paolino in Il Matrimonio Segreto with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Trouble in Tahiti with the Caramoor Festival; Fenton in Falstaff with Mississippi Opera; and Tony in West Side Story with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival. Mr. Picon began his professional career as one of the youngest members to participate in the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program, and impressed audiences there with performances in Cosi fan tutte and Don Giovanni. Other engagements for the native Texan have included Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, L'Orfeo, and Arianna with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Dallas Opera; and roles in Lucia di Lammermoor and Il barbiere di Siviglia with Portland Opera Repertory Theatre; Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and Wolf Trap Opera; Les Contes d'Hoffmann with the Opera Company of Philadelphia; The Rape of Lucretia for Opera Festival of New Jersey; Il barbiere di Siviglia and Semele for Anchorage Opera; Falstaff and Salome with Pittsburgh Opera; and the national touring production of Don Giovanni with Western Opera Theatre. Equally accomplished on the recital stage, Mr. Picon made his Schwabacher Debut Recital in Latin Lovers: Music from South America and Cuba presented by the San Francisco Opera with pianist Steven Blier. Recent concert appearances include Teatro Espanoles and Songs of War and Peace with New York Festival of Song, Janacek's From the House of the Dead with the American Symphony Orchestra; Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes with Moab Music Festival, Ned Rorem's Evidence of Things Not Seen with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and his solo recital debut in Marquette, MI. He has appeared with New York Festival of Song at the Moab Music Festival, the Performing Arts Society in Washington, D.C., Wolf Trap Opera and at Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Picon can be heard as Mike on the recording of William Bolcom's A View from the Bridge, which marked his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is featured on The Music Teacher, an off-broadway play/opera by Wallace Shawn and Allen Shawn for The New Group, which ran at the Minetta Lane Theater for seven weeks. His television broadcast debut was in December 2003 in the PBS production of Fiesta at the Philharmonic with the Naples Philharmonic, led by Erich Kunzel. Recently Mr. Picon was part of the Emmy Award winning production of Madama Butterfly for New York City Opera's Live from Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of The University of North Texas and The Curtis Institute of Music and is an adjunct professor of voice at Oklahoma City University.
back to top
WOODWIND
Wallis Williams Vore, Clarinet
Wallis Williams Vore is a teacher and freelance musician in the Dayton, Cincinnati, and Northern Kentucky areas. She performs regularly with The Dayton Philharmonic, The Richmond Symphony (IN), The Springfield Symphony, The Blue Ash Symphony, and The Kentucky Symphony. Formerly the second clarinet of The Ashlawn Highland Opera Festival, she is well versed in both symphonic and operatic repertoire. She is a founding member of the Skyline Woodwind Quintet and was a semi-finalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Dedicated to education, Wallis has given masterclasses throughout Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and Illinois on performance preparation, being a freelance musician, and building your own private studio. She has been invited to be a guest artist with groups such as the Camerata Woodwind Quintet.
She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she is currently a D.M.A candidate. Her teachers include Richie Hawley, Steve Cohen, Ron deKant, and Dr. Charles West.
back to topCeleste Johnson, Oboe
Oboist Celeste Johnson joins the Bay View Music Festival as an artist and faculty member in the summer of 2009. She enjoys a career that combines teaching with solo, chamber music and orchestral performing.
A dedicated pedagogue, Ms. Johnson is currently serving as the Assistant Professor of Oboe at Oklahoma State University. She regularly performs with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Tulsa Opera, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. Previous orchestral engagements include positions with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony and Sinfonia da Camera. She has also performed as guest principal oboist with the Russian String Orchestra and served as Principal Oboe for the New York String Orchestra with performances in Carnegie Hall.
Ms. Johnson regularly plays solo recitals, and presented a program entitled "Spotlight on Villa Lobos"ÃÂÃÂ at the International Double Reed Society Conference at Ithaca College in 2007. Named a Semi-Finalist in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in 2005, she has also twice been named a finalist in the Fernand Gillet/Hugo Fox International Oboe Competition, competing at International Double Reed Society conferences at both the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and the University of West Virginia. In 2004, she performed as one of three finalists in the Barnett Foundation Oboe Competition in Chicago, Illinois. While pursuing her bachelor's degree, she won the University of Illinois Concerto Competition, where she was consequently featured as a soloist with the University Orchestra. She has also performed as a concerto soloist with the Oklahoma State University Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra.
In 2005, Ms. Johnson spent the summer performing exclusively contemporary music under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland. Previous summers have been spent performing at various music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Kent/Blossom, Opera in the Ozarks, the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, and as a fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center. While pursuing her Master's degree, she toured and performed extensively as a member of the Eastman Chamber Music Society.
An avid clinician, Ms. Johnson has presented master classes at numerous high schools and universities across the country including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Vanderbilt University, Illinois State University, and the University of Virginia, among others.
Ms. Johnson holds a Master of Music degree in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her primary teachers have included Richard Killmer, Nancy Ambrose-King, Dan Stolper and Phil Koch.
back to topJill Marderness, Bassoon
From childhood as an Iowa farm girl, Jill's musical talents led her to the University of Michigan where she completed the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Wind Instruments. After teaching at Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota and winning the Silver Medal of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, she was founding bassoonist of Quintessence Chamber Ensemble which toured from Alaska to the Panama Canal and California to the Caribbean, performing to nearly half a million people in an amazing array of concert and educational settings.
Ms. Marderness represented Quintessence on panels addressing "The Performer as Educator" at the Chamber Music America National Conference, the Music Educators National Conference and ÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂOutreach Within ResidenciesÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂàfor the Western Arts Alliance Conference. Her extensive performance experience includes concerto soloist with orchestras across the country, chamber musician with the Sedona Chamber Music Festival and for the children of the Matsumoto Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan.
Jill now pops up frequently as a worker bassoonist bee in the musical hive of Arizona where she is currently contracted with the Arizona Opera Orchestra, frequently called by The Phoenix Symphony and Tucson Symphony as substitute/extra bassoonist and contrabassoonist, and is Bassoonist/Outreach Coordinator/Grant Writer with the Red Rocks Music Festival. As Educational Recording Artist for Carl Fischer Publishing Company, she performs with Trade Winds in Tampa, Florida. Jill is also a board and programming committee member of the Ocotillo Center for Creativity in Scottsdale, Arizona.
As resident artist at the Bay View Music Festival since 1979, Jill has performed all musical genres on bassoon and saxophone, coached chamber music, taught courses including Thriving in the Arts and Income from Outreach, accompanied Choristers, designed ChildrenÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Concerts, served as Music Librarian, and began duties in 2008 as the Youth/Family Program Coordinator.
Jill resides in Scottsdale, AZ with her husband Fred Marderness, percussionist with The Phoenix Symphony, daughter Emily born in 1996 and Sparky, a Chihuahua mix.
back to topDonna 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.
back to topSean Vore, Horn
Sean Vore is currently Assistant Principal Horn in the Dayton Philharmonic and the horn instructor at Wright State University. In addition, he maintains an active free lance career in southwest Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Mr. Vore has been on the faculty of the Bay View Music Festival since 2008.
As an orchestral musician he has performed in orchestras throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He performs regularly with the Cincinnati Pops, Dayton Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, and the Richmond (IN) Symphony.
As a chamber musician, he performs regularly on recitals with both the woodwind and brass quintets from Wright State University, the Cincinnati Brass Quintet and the Skyline Woodwind Quintet, of which he is a founding member.
Prior to his summer engagement with the Bay View Music Festival, he spent two summers as principal horn of the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. He has also participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the Mancini Institute.
Mr. Vore received his Masters of Music in Horn Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a Bachelors of Music from Mannes College of Music in New York. His primary teachers include Randy Gardner, Ranier DeIntinis, Erik Ralske and Larry Johnson.
back to top