2008
Festival
Season
2008
Concert Schedule
2008 Artists
2008 Artists
Tom Artin, trombone, has played throughout the U.S. and Europe with a number of world-renowned jazz groups, including the Smithsonian Jazz Repertory Ensemble and the Louis Armstrong Alumni All-Stars. He played lead trombone in Mel Tormé's big band and was also the house trombonist at Eddie Condon's jazz club in New York for nearly a decade. He currently leads his own sixteen-piece swing band, a traditional jazz band, and Standard Brass, an adventurous seven-piece jazz ensemble.
Acclaimed by critics in the United States and abroad for performances of stunning virtuosity, refinement and communicative power, pianist Ya-Fei Chuang has performed throughout the world, including appearances at major festivals (Beethoven Festival, Warsaw; European Music Festival, Stuttgart; Brahms-Tage and Bach Festival, Leipzig; Ravinia, Tanglewood, and many more). Her mastery of the most challenging solo repertoire is complemented by extensive activity as a chamber musician and duo partner, and by her commitment to contemporary music. She teaches at the New England Conservatory.
Madison native Ross Gilliland, bass, performs with the Madison Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber orchestras. An active chamber musician, he appears with Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Con Vivo!, Madison Bach Musicians, Oakwood Chamber Players, the Token Creek Festival, and as a fellow at the Colorado College Summer Music Festival. He is also electric bassist of his own ska band. Mr. Gilliland holds degrees in both music and physics from the University of Wisconsin, and is an entering graduate student at the University of Washington in Environmental Policy and Management.
Composer John Harbison, piano and co-artistic director of the Token Creek Festival, is one of the nation's most distinguished artistic figures. Recipient of numerous awards and prizes--including the Pulitzer, MacArthur, and Heinz awards--his recent works include Symphony No. 5 (Boston Symphony Orchestra), Milosz Songs (New York Philharmonic and soprano Dawn Upshaw), But Mary Stood (The Cantata Singers, Boston), and Concerto for Bass Viol (for a consortium of fifteen orchestras). Mr. Harbison is Institute Professor at MIT, president of the Copland Fund, and acting artistic director of Emmanuel Music. He teaches regularly at Tanglewood and Aspen.
Rose Mary Harbison, violin, is co-artistic director of the Token Creek Festival. She has recorded for DDG, CRI, Koch, Northeastern, and New World. She has worked directly with many composers, including Copland and Sessions, and has been guest artist with the Santa Fe, Aspen, Tanglewood, and Berlin festivals. With Rudolph Kolisch she founded the Kolisch Ensemble, and she is a founding member of Emmanuel Music Boston. Ms. Harbison taught at Brandeis and MIT, and was a Scholar at the Radcliffe Institute and winner of an Ingram-Merrill Award.
Soprano Emily Hindrichs is an alumna of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program and a doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory. Her numerous opera and concert performances include the role of Angel in Handel's Jephtha with the International Bachakademie (Helmuth Rilling), and the first performance of John Harbison's Milosz Songs in its chamber version. She makes her debut with the English National Opera as the Queen of the Night in 2009, and will reprise the role with Seattle Opera.
Pianist Brett Hodgdon is a versatile collaborative artist and coach, and currently a doctoral candidate at New England Conservatory. An avid recitalist, he has performed at venues throughout the U.S., including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Mr. Hodgdon is vocal director and music advisor for Guerilla Opera (Boston), and has served as assistant music director for the Boston Opera and as music coach for NEC's Undergraduate Opera Seminar. He is rehearsal pianist for Emmanuel Music, where he was recently named a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow.
Eli Kalman, piano, has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Romania, Israel, Germany, Hungary, the U.S. and Canada. Appearances include the Banff Music Festival, Emmanuel Music (Boston), the Connoisseur Series (Wichita), Music in the Mountains (Colorado), and the Token Creek Festival. Dr. Kalman currently serves as assistant professor of piano at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and is a piano faculty member of Maestro, a non-profit organization in Israel that provides a home base for accomplished Israeli musicians living abroad.
Parry Karp, 'cello, is professor of music, artist-in-residence, and director of the string chamber music program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He became a member of the Pro Arte Quartet in 1976, with whom he has concertized throughout the world and recorded prolifically, most recently works of Sessions, Rhodes, Mays, Mendelssohn and Dvorak. As a solo artist he has recorded works of Bloch, Bridge, Britten, Clarke, Chausson, Fauré, Ireland, Magnard, Martinu, Pierné, Rachmaninoff, and Strauss. Several new albums are anticipated this year.
Pianist Robert Levin has performed on the Steinway with the major orchestras of the world, and on period pianos with every important baroque and classical orchestra. A noted Mozart scholar, Mr. Levin is renowned for his improvised cadenzas in classical-period repertoire, and his completions of Mozart's Requiem, C minor Mass and other unfinished works have been recorded and performed throughout the world. A passionate advocate of new music, Mr. Levin has commissioned and premiered a large number of works, and he has recorded extensively. He is artistic director of the Sarasota Music Festival, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Akademie für Mozartforschung, and president of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (Leipzig).
Avedis Manoogian, piano, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and currently works as both pianist and music director in Minneapolis and Cincinnati. He has collaborated with numerous theaters, including Theatre de la Jeune Lune, Xperimental, TCTC, Nautilus, Crisis Point, Bedlam, and Flaneur Productions. This past season his recital appearances included performances with violinists Sascha Mandl and Gerry Itzkoff, and this summer he serves as music director for the Children’s Theater Company of Minneapolis.
Jennifer Clare Paulson, viola, earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in viola performance and jazz studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is currently on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater, teaching studio viola and violin, and is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. In addition to regional work in chamber music and orchestral settings, Ms. Paulson is a member of several new music ensembles based in Chicago, including PPK, Kyle Bruckman's WRACK, and Guillermo Gregorio's Madi Ensemble.
Vocalist Annette Sanders has had a long and distinguished career in New York night clubs and as an oftengaged studio singer. In 1966 Benny Goodman chose her as featured vocalist for his prestigious Rainbow Grill engagement; since then she has been heard on literally thousands of jingles, movie soundtracks, and CDs. During the late '80s Annette co-founded the jazz-tinged vocal quintet Group Five. She also has four solo albums to her credit.
John Schaffer, jazz bass, is director of the School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An active freelancer, he performs regularly with the Jim Erickson Trio, the Michael B.B. Quintet, the Peter Lundberg Quartet, and the Bill Evans Repertory Trio. He also makes frequent guest appearances with artists such as Jan Wheaton, Michelle DuVall, Doug Brown, Paul Hastil, and Michael Hanson.
Cellist Sara Sitzer recently received the Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin, where she was a Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellow. She has been a fellowship recipient at numerous music festivals, including Tanglewood, Aspen and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan. She is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Camerata Chamber Orchestra, a substitute player for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the HeartStrings quartet. In September, Ms. Sitzer will join the New World Symphony.
Todd Steward, drums, performs regularly in the Madison area with such groups as the Michael B.B. Quartet, the Madison Jazz Orchestra, CTM Theater Orchestra, Doc DeHaven's Jazz Band, Kelly DeHaven's Misbehavin' Band, Brad Pregeant's New Orleans Low-Down, the Ed Anders Quartet, Five-by-Design, the Dry Martinis, and folk singer Ken Lonnquist. He has also toured the world performing in the orchestra of ten cruise ships.