Award-winning composer Jay Reise wrote both the music and libretto for his opera Rasputin which was commissioned by the late Beverly Sills and premiered by the New York City Opera in 1988. The work was described in The Washington Times as “a spellbinding, challenging and profoundly beautiful creation.” Rasputin was given its Russian premiere in in 2008 by the […]
Kellan Toohey is an avid performer whose varied career includes recitals and solo appearances, chamber music, teaching, and orchestral playing. He holds a DMA from the University of Colorado and his teachers include Daniel Silver, Bil Jackson, Jon Manasse, and Yehuda Gilad. An active orchestral player, Dr. Toohey currently holds the positions of Principal clarinetist […]
Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “rich tone and deft technique,” Hannah Porter Occeña is Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Northern Iowa and Principal Flutist of the Topeka Symphony Orchestra (Topeka, KS). Previous positions include Principal Flute of the Midwest Chamber Ensemble (Prairie Village, KS) and Associate Principal Flute of […]
Michael Tetreault holds a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and a Master of Music Degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK. Michael is currently a member of four professional orchestras in the Rocky Mountain region and is also part of the percussion faculty at the […]
David Alexander Rahbee is currently Senior Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, where he is director of orchestral activities and chair of orchestral conducting. He is recipient of the American-Austrian Foundation’s 2003 Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, the 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, a fellowship from the […]
Oboist Jordan Pyle’s love of music came at an early age when she fell in love with Mozart operas—dancing, singing, and acting out scenes from The Magic Flute. This passion for musical storytelling is the foundation of her oboe playing. Jordan Pyle is 2nd oboe/English horn with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra. She has previously held the […]
MahlerFest Fellow Andrew Brown has served as the principal cellist of Aspen Music Festival’s Opera and the Longmont Symphony, and has collaborated with The Playground Ensemble and Takács Quartet’s Geraldine Walther. Dr. Brown is the first prize winner of the 2016 Ekstrand Competition at CU Boulder and has previously been awarded first place in the […]
Hailed “a violinist like no other” (The New York Times) and “a master of the Khachaturian violin concerto” (Austin Chronicle), Jessica Mathaes enjoys an international career as a soloist, recording artist, educator and concertmaster. As a guest concertmaster, Mathaes has lead the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. She has also been engaged […]
Festival Artist Lucas Borges is an Assistant Professor of Trombone at Ohio University (OU) and is a Conn-Selmer Performing Artist. He holds a Doctoral degree from the University of North Texas (UNT), Master’s degree from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s degree from Universidade de Brasilia (Brazil). Before his appointment at OU, Dr. Borges served as a teaching […]
Festival Artist Daniel Kelly, a native of Charleston, SC, is associate professor of trumpet at Texas A&M University-Commerce. He joined the A&M-Commerce faculty in the fall of 2010 after serving on the faculty of Indiana State University and the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Kelly is a member of the Dallas Winds (formerly the Dallas […]
Philip Sawyers’s works have been performed and broadcast in many countries worldwide including USA, Canada, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic, France and UK. Music-web International described the Nimbus Alliance CD of Sawyers’s orchestral work as “music of instant appeal and enduring quality”. Robert Matthew-Walker writing in Classical Source described the premiere of the second symphony by […]
Dr. Lauren Spaulding, under the alias of @MonochromeViola, has established herself as a rising genre-defying soloist and chamber musician through her “anonymous practice blog” on Instagram. As a lover of learning, Spaulding has sought a variety of mentorship and has worked intensively under the tutelage of Professor Peter Slowik at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, […]
Winner of the Audience Prize at the Leeds Conductors’ Competition for his “electric conducting”, MahlerFest Fellow and Assistant Conductor Michael Karcher-Young combines an innate musicianship with a visceral presence on the podium, and is a passionate advocate for classical music in today’s world. Michael is Artistic Director and co-founder of the Beethoven Orchestra for Humanity, […]
Festival Artist Karen Bentley Pollick joined the Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Ensemble in 1999 and champions a wide range of solo repertoire and styles on violin, viola, piano and Norwegian hardangerfele. A native of Palo Alto, California, she studied with Camilla Wicks in San Francisco, and with Yuval Yaron, Josef Gingold and Rostislav Dubinsky at Indiana […]
Violinist and Festival Artist Suzanne Casey studied as a young musician at the Hereford Cathedral School, and while there was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and was also involved in the Three Choirs Festival. After leaving school she attended London’s Royal Academy of Music, where she received the Waley Violin Prize, […]