Madeline Beery (Feb 21), M.Ed., was a music major, and worked as a Music Therapist for several years before pursuing public health professionally. Since moving to Seattle in 1985, she has studied with Zart Dambourian-Eby, SSO, Wendy Wilhelmi, Vancouver Symphony and Pam Mooney, SSO. She has played in the Dubuque, Alexandria, and Kuala Lumpur Symphonies, and now plays in the Rain City Symphony. She was the co-founder and President of AIDS Impact for 20 years that educated health professionals on AIDS, prevention, and infection control in over 42 countries. Her final public health project for WA State was to lead the planning for a pandemic.
A student of Bernard Shapiro and Dan Williams, Rosemary Bell (Feb 21) played in the Seattle Youth Symphony under Vilem Sokol and later studied at the Cornish school. Rosemary has freelanced throughout the Seattle area for 30 years and has played in local orchestras including Thalia Symphony and Broadway Chamber Orchestra. She has been a soloist for many local churches.
Jane Hoyt Buckner (Feb 21), M.D., studied clarinet under Joseph Longo, principal Clarinetist at the Minnesota Orchestra and was a member of the Minnesota Youth Symphony during her middle and high school years. She attended Carleton College, where she was principal clarinetist in the Carleton Orchestra, studied voice and was a member of the Carleton Choir. While attending the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine she was a member of the JHU Chamber Music Society, she continued to play chamber music throughout her Residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Jane moved to Seattle 30 years ago and has been a member of Rain City Symphony for over 15 years. She is a practicing rheumatologist at Virginia Mason and the President of the Benaroya Research Institute. As a physician and immunologist, she works to understand and treat autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. She is a scientific co-founder of Gentibio, a company developing cell-based therapies to treat autoimmunity.
Lin Chen (Feb 6) is a freelance vocalist, violinist, and music educator in the Greater Seattle area. Growing up in Australia, she was fortunate to study music with esteemed teachers from the Griffith Conservatorium in Brisbane and the Sydney conservatorium. Her experience in vocal performance spans multiple genres including Classical, Musical theatre, and Jazz. She currently studies voice with Dr Kari Ragan. Lin is also a violin coach for the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra (BYSO) and performs with a number of local ensembles including her own string quartet—Quartet Evolution. Her career highlights include performing at the Sydney Opera House, Westminster Abbey, and Cologne Cathedral. She enjoys giving regular recitals in Seattle with the Ladies Musical Club.
Lawrence Chu (Feb 17, 21) is a native of the Seattle area, and currently resides in Bellevue with his family. His former instructors include Phyllis Allport, Frances Walton and Eva Heinitz. After completing 34 years of practice in Emergency Medicine locally, he has begun to reexplore the cello under the guidance of Nathan Chan. He is delighted to have been accepted as an official member of the Ladies Musical Club.
Selina Chu (Feb 17, 21) has been a part of the music community in the Pacific Northwest for over 40 years, as a master teacher and performer. She has served as an adjudicator and visiting artist as well as Board member for such organizations as Washington State Music Teachers Association, National Federation of Music Clubs, and LMC’s Frances Walton Competition. Selina holds advanced degrees in piano performance, from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Washington, as well as national certification as a teacher of music through MTNA. Thirteen years of experience as Alaska Dance Theatre’s Principal Accompanist taught her to play well with others, and she has a special place in her heart for all types of ensembles.
Ute Freund (Feb 17, 26), lyric mezzo soprano, received her undergraduate and graduate training in classical voice, opera, and voice pedagogy at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Her career as a soloist started with Hamburg State Opera and continued with German and American opera companies. Ute equally sang oratorio and solo recitals, organized concert series (“Christmas with the Classics,” Benefit Concerts) and founded “Trio Encore.” She teaches voice out of her private studio in Edmonds after spending 10 years at the University of the Arts in Berlin, Germany, as a voice instructor. She loves foreign languages and extensive travel, hiking with her dog, bicycling, and playing pickleball.
Diana Gao (Feb 25) is a concert pianist, music advocate, and former corporate marketing leader. After a successful career managing product marketing strategies at Microsoft and Dell EMC, she has fully embraced her passion for music, dedicating herself to performance and artistic advocacy. She earned her MBA from the University of Washington (UW) and continues to refine her piano skills under the tutelage of Dr. Robin McCabe from UW. She has won numerous accolades, including a Gold Medal of the Seattle International Piano Competition, and First Prize in the “Golden Classical Music Awards” International Competition. She also serves as a Board Member of Classical KING, and is a frequent guest of its Northwest Focus Live program. Since 2020, she has presented annual fundraising recitals at Microsoft, raising tens of thousands of dollars to support local non-profit organizations—reinforcing her deep belief that music has the power to inspire change and make the world a better place.
Emiko Hori (Feb 3, 9), a native of Japan, graduated from the renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Piano Performance. She studied with Shigeo Neriki, and performed at numerous places including Banff Centre, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Germany. Emiko became fascinated with and continued her study in Computer Science at Boston University. Busy working in technology companies such as CommerceHub and Microsoft, Emiko thought she would never play the piano again. She was wrong; Emiko is now actively performing piano at numerous concert venues. Emiko enjoys dividing her time between performing concerts, teaching piano, and working at Starbucks HQ’s Digital Commerce team.
Dr. Mia HyeYeon Kim (Feb 26) is a Seattle-based pianist originally from Seoul, South Korea. She has won top prizes in the Frances Walton, Metropolitan International, and Texas State International Piano Competitions, among others. Recent highlights include performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the UW Wind Ensemble in Seattle and South Korea, and Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the UW Symphony Orchestra. She has also been featured on Classical KING FM 98.1. A passionate collaborator, Kim has performed extensively with vocalists, instrumentalists, choirs, and opera companies. She currently serves as adjunct faculty at Wesleyan College and as a staff pianist at the University of Washington. She holds degrees from Yonsei University (BM), New England Conservatory (MM), Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (AD), and the University of Washington (DMA), studying under Victor Rosenbaum, Soyeon Kate Lee, and Craig Sheppard. A certified yoga instructor, she incorporates wellness into her musical work through workshops and outreach.
Peter Klein (Feb 21) grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. He earned a BFA in Theater and Music from Emerson College in Boston, also studying at the Longy School of Music. His bassoon teachers include Louise Cavalieri Goni, Dan Welcher and Francine Peterson. He currently plays in the Rain City Symphony and in several informal chamber groups. Peter has composed several chamber and choral pieces, incidental music for theatrical productions, and musicals for children. Now retired from a career in information technology, he also announced classical music at public radio stations and wrote about music for newspapers and magazines.
Rhonda Kline (Feb 9) is Artist in Residence and Director of Collaborative Piano at the University of Washington School of Music. An accomplished and versatile pianist, Rhonda’s passion is collaborating with others in sharing music. Early professional experience was at Wichita State University in Kansas, where she was a staff pianist. International highlights include a weeklong residency at the American University of Sharjah near Dubai in partnership with baritone Victor Benedetti and soprano Juliana Rambaldi and a European recital tour with Metropolitan Opera soprano Joyce Guyer. Seattle projects include music direction for several children’s operas by local composer Sterling Tinsley, and an upcoming recital of American art songs in April with Ladies Musical Club members Susan Payne O’Brien and Clarice Alfonso. Rhonda serves as general director and music director for Northwest Opera In Schools, Etc. (N.O.I.S.E., www.noiseforkids.org), an opera education program serving elementary schools and retirement communities in Washington.
Stasia Kulsa (Feb 6), flutist, has a Master of Arts in Music from Washington State University that she completed under the guidance of Dr. Sophia Tegart. In addition, she has undergraduate degrees in Music Performance and Mechanical Engineering from WSU. While at WSU, she performed with the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, the Latin Jazz Ensemble, and the Crimson Flute Choir. Since graduating, she has been performing with the Bremerton WestSound Symphony and working as an Acoustics Engineer at Blue Origin.
Joan Lundquist (Feb 6, 17, 25, 26) has served as a collaborative pianist for Seattle area musicians and organizations for 30 years. Since moving to the area from Humboldt State University in northern California, where she was staff accompanist, Joan has worked with the Northwest Boychoir, Seattle Choral Company, has taught at Seattle University and Northwest University, and has worked with several area private music teachers. Ms. Lundquist is the retired Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and currently is the rehearsal accompanist for the Seattle Choral Company.
Karin McCullough (Feb 6) is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in Piano who gives private lessons in her Ballard studio and performs frequently in Greater Seattle. She co-led two music history tours in Vienna in the early 2000s, is an active volunteer and acting librarian for Seattle Music Teachers Association, and has often performed on KING FM radio on Sean Maclean’s program, Northwest Focus Live. Her most recent performance there—accompanying Brandi Birdsong in songs by H. Leslie Adams—is available on NPR (https://livesessions.npr.org/videos).
Mara Mihali (Feb 3) is a Romanian soprano and a senior in Computer Science at the University of Washington. She began her musical training as a violinist, which fostered a deep passion for classical music and led her to pursue classical singing under the guidance of Pamela Casella. Her performance experience includes singing with the UW Opera Workshop as Maggie in A Chorus Line and performing with the UW Recital Choir. Most recently, she appeared as the soprano soloist in selections from Handel’s Messiah for a Bellevue Opera Christmas concert.
Ann Rackl (Feb 17, 21), violinist, has retired from a career as an English as a second language teacher at South Seattle College. She is the former assistant concertmaster of Philharmonia Northwest chamber orchestra, where she has been a member since 1976. She holds a Master of Music Education degree from the University of Montana and has studied violin with Emanuel Zetlin and Martin Friedmann in Seattle. Formerly a private violin instructor, these days she especially enjoys playing chamber and orchestral music.
Emily Riesser‘s (Feb 25) diverse experience encompasses opera, oratorio, theatre, and new works. She recently portrayed Elle in a staging of Poulenc’s one-voice opera, The Human Voice (Ladies Musical Club), sang Frasquita in Carmen (Kitsap Opera), and played a nun in Sister Act (Tacoma Musical Playhouse). In concert, Emily is known for her interpretation of Bach cantatas, including Wedding Cantata, which she sang recently in several venues. Favorite experiences include singing Iphigenie in Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride (Seattle Opera Guild), Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata (Kitsap Opera), Tamiri in Mozart’s Il re pastore (Off-Center Opera), and soprano chorus at Seattle Opera. Emily is a graduate of Goshen College (Goshen, IN) and past participant in Bel Canto Northwest (Portland State University).
Jonathan Shih (Feb 6) began his piano studies with various Chicago-area teachers (most notably Emilio del Rosario), and continued briefly at Northwestern University under James Giles before a minor hand injury and recession-induced career introspection led him to forgo piano for an engineering degree. After a decade-long hiatus due to work travel, he resumed playing and now studies with Peter Mack. Jonathan has performed live on 98.7 WFMT (Chicago) and won first prize in the 2025 Oberlin International Adult Amateur Piano Competition. He was also a finalist in the 2024 Washington International Piano Artists Competition, where he received special awards for “Best Classical Performance” and “Most Imaginative Programming.” When not at the piano, Jonathan works as a product designer at a small startup and enjoys cooking, traveling, and collecting other hobbies.
An outstanding member of the Northwest musical community for over 20 years, Regina Thomas (Feb 6, 9) has performed with a variety of companies including Kitsap Opera, Willamette Concert Opera, Bellevue Opera, Puget Sound Concert Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Seattle Opera Guild. Currently Artistic Director of Puget Sound Concert Opera, Regina has served as Seattle Opera Guild’s VP of Education and is a past President and trustee of concerts for LMC. Favorite operatic roles include Adriana Lecouvreur, Suor Angelica, Tosca, and Judith (Bluebeard’s Castle). Concert work includes Schumann’s Frauenleibe und-leben, Elgar’s Sea Pictures, and Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder; soprano solos in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Fauré Requiem, and Berio’s Folk Songs for voice and chamber ensemble.
Colin Ward (Feb 6) is an alumnus of Western Washington University, having performed with the WWU Concert Choir and appearing in many opera productions, including as Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. Colin has also appeared in many productions with Puget Sound Concert Opera and with the Seattle Opera Chorus, and is a regular soloist at Christian Science churches in the Seattle area.