190 Sunset Ave
Edmonds
WA 98020
Come watch 2025 Solo Silver Medalists Dr. Alex Agate and Robbie Darling perform a ticketed concert at Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds
In partnership, Ladies Musical Club and Cascadia Art Museum
present
Dr. Alexander Agate, Piano
Robbie Darling, marimba
Cascadia Art Museum, Edmonds, WA Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 6:00 PM
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Dr. Alexander Agate began studying piano at 11 years old under Mona Wu DeCesare in his hometown of Moorpark, CA. While he participated in child acting, practiced Tae Kwon Do, writing, and violin and viola, at 16 he decided to pursue classical piano performance and studied with Robert Thies before beginning his collegiate journey at California State University, Northridge under Dmitry Rachmanov. Following CSUN, Alexander received a full-tuition scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music under Andre-Michel Schub, where he completed his Master’s and Doctorate Degrees (for which he was awarded the Helen Cohn award for an Outstanding DMA graduate). He frequents international competitions, having most recently won the recording prize at the 2024 Sicily International Piano Festival and Competition and silver medal at the 2025 Frances Walton Competition, as well as top prizes at the American International Paderewski Competition, and Dallas International Piano Competition. Currently, he balances a private teaching studio, competitions, concertizing, and writing.
Robbie Darling is a multi-instrumentalist performer and educator based in Los Angeles, California. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Percussion Performance from Indiana University Bloomington and is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree at the University of California, Los Angeles. As a performer, Darling’s artistic practice centers on expanding the technical and expressive potential of the marimba, aiming to eliminate physical and musical limitations through innovative performance approaches and a forward-thinking engagement with the instrument’s evolving literature. In recognition of this work, he has received multiple first-place awards at the California Competitive Percussion Festival as both a soloist and chamber ensemble member. He also maintains an active performance schedule with the Music in the Mountains Summer Festival and is committed to community engagement through regular participation in benefit concerts.
The Frances Walton Competition and LMC are generously supported by:
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This project is supported in part by Creative West which receives support in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.