Allen Chang (Apr 12) is a pianist originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He graduated from Yale University in 2019, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics and was co-president of the Yale Undergraduate Piano Collective. Allen has studied piano with Logan Skelton, Elizabeth Parisot, Donald Morelock, Sonoko Kambara, and Chao-Li Tsai. He also plays the clarinet and is currently the principal clarinetist of the Seattle Philharmonic. Outside of music, Allen enjoys traveling, eating, skiing, playing tennis, playing chess, and petting dogs.
Sophia Chou (Apr 1) grew up in New Taipei, Taiwan, and began playing the piano at around age five. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in Computer Science. Sophia has extensive experience in music, including choral and chamber music collaborations. She sees herself as a science-minded individual with an artistic soul.
Joan Catoni Conlon (Apr 12) retired in 2009 as Director of Graduate Choral Research and Professor of Music at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Before moving to Colorado, she taught at the University of Washington, and conducted the Northwest Chamber Chorus in Seattle. Her choirs have toured Europe and China, and in June, 2001, she taught at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2015, she led the choir tour “Via Monteverdi” to Monteverdi sites in Italy—Mantua, Cremona, Venice, and Rome. In March, 2001, Hinshaw published her book, Performing Monteverdi: A Conductor’s Guide, which focused on the composer’s multi-voiced vocal works. In March, 2009, GIA published Wisdom, Wit and Will: Women Choral Conductors On Their Art, a book she commissioned, contributed to, and edited. Her editions and arrangements are published by Augsburg and Alliance. During two sabbatical leaves, she studied Hindustani classical vocal music in India. Joan has been a member of LMC since 1962.
Janice Gockel (Apr 4) holds degrees in viola performance from Augustana College and Wichita State University, with additional study at the Music Academy of the West, including private lessons with Sally Peck and William Primrose, chamber music with Gabor Rejto, and orchestra and opera under Maurice Abravanel. She is serving as principal violist in Philharmonia Northwest and plays violin in Allspice, an international folkdance band. Janice is the founder and Director Emeritus at Music Center of the Northwest, where she taught violin and viola and Music Together, an early childhood music curriculum. She was founder of the Puget Sound Chamber Music Workshop and was its Director for 30 years. She was conductor of Hildman Strings throughout its 28-year history. Janice continues to enjoy weekly quartet sessions with Kathryn Zufall, Ann Rackl, and long-time LMC member and mentor, Frances Walton.
Brittany Harrington (Apr 1) is a dynamic bassoonist, educator, and performer, celebrated for her expressive artistry and innovative contributions to the classical music world. The Dallas Morning News lauded her playing, stating, “Special praise goes to Brittany Harrington’s gorgeously intoned, eloquently shaped bassoon solos.” She currently serves as Affiliate Artist/Faculty at the University of Puget Sound, and is an active freelancer in the Seattle area – performing with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Seattle Music recording orchestra, among others in the area. As a founding member of The Breaking Winds Bassoon Quartet, she blends classical training with creativity and humor, bringing engaging and genre-defying performances to audiences worldwide. A Fox Sponsored Artist, Brittany is committed to expanding the reach of classical music, championing underrepresented composers, and making music accessible, engaging, and transformative.
Katie Hochman (Apr 9), soprano, can be heard regularly giving recitals with Ladies Musical Club of Seattle. She has also enjoyed singing opera and oratorio with Puget Sound Concert Opera (PSCO), Opera Theater Oregon, Portland Opera, Utah Opera, Columbia Chorale and Southwest Washington Symphony (SWS). Highlights include the title role of Massenet’s Cendrillon and Héro in Berlioz’s Beatrice et Bénédict performed with PSCO and Exultate, jubilate performed with SWS.
Inspired by his grandmother and singing “The Sound of Music” in middle school choir, Michael Housley (Apr 9) began teaching himself piano before studying with Dr. David Brunell at the University of Tennessee. Since moving to Seattle to pursue a career in Architecture, Michael collaborates regularly with Melet Whinston (cellist), accompanies the Seattle University Chapel of St. Ignatius Choir and has participated in several Chamber Music Madness retreats with various chamber ensembles.
A native of Taiwan, pianist Michelle Huang (Apr 9) has a rewarding career as a dynamic soloist and chamber musician. She is equally at home performing music ranging from the esteemed masters to the novel voices. A devoted educator, she held teaching positions at Lincoln Memorial University, Edward Waters College, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Huang received a Doctor of Music in Piano Performance from Florida State University. Currently she resides in Seattle, WA with her husband and maintains a vibrant private teaching studio, where she works with a group of piano students with immense talent.
Karin McCullough (Apr 9) 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).
Erika Pierson (Apr 4) earned her bachelor’s in Cello Performance from Indiana University and her master’s in Performance from the University of Michigan. Between her degrees, Erika studied in Berlin, at the Hochschule der Kunste, and in London under Eileen Croxford, FRCM. Her other teachers included Richard Aaron, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Markus Nyikos, and Erling Blondal Bengtsson. Erika has given solo recitals in England, Germany, Spain, and in the United States, and has soloed with orchestras in Berlin, Ann Arbor, and Everett, WA. On the less classical side of things, she has also performed with Mannheim Steamroller, Rod Stewart, The Walkmen, and Deltron 3030. Currently Erika performs regularly as the cellist in NOCCO Chamber Orchestra, and freelances and teaches in the Seattle area.
Ann Rackl (Apr 4), 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.
Jon Shih (Apr 1) began his early piano studies with various Chicago-area teachers including the renowned Emilio del Rosario. He continued his studies briefly at Northwestern University, where Jon studied under James Giles before a minor hand injury and recession-induced career introspection led him to forgo music for an engineering degree instead. A demanding early-career travel schedule put Jon’s piano journey on hiatus for a decade before relative geographic stability allowed him to resume in recent years. Jon has performed on 98.7 WFMT (Chicago’s classical music radio station) and was a finalist in the 2024 Washington International Piano Artists Competition, earning special awards for “Best Classical Performance” and “Most Imaginative Programming”. Jon currently studies piano with Peter Mack, and works as a product designer at a small startup.
Kathryn Vinson (Apr 12) is a mezzo-soprano known for the warmth and richness of her voice. She appears frequently in recital in Seattle in venues ranging from Town Hall to Saint Mark’s cathedral. She has an extensive repertoire of German Lieder and has appeared internationally in operas in Europe and the Middle East. Ms. Vinson is equally at home with oratorio and has been a soloist with Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Orchestra Seattle/Seattle Chamber Singers. Her voice can also be heard on the soundtracks of a number of major motion pictures. Ms. Vinson has been a featured singer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, performing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the annual Christmas production of The Nutcracker.
Melet Whinston (Apr 9) studied under Maria DeRungs, and was first chair in the Portland Junior Symphony and Princeton University Orchestra. She has presented school performances as a member of the Leschi Trio and as a duo with Michael Housley, pianist. She is a performing member of the Ladies Musical Club, the Music Performance Group, and the Performers Only Night—Everyone Welcome! monthly musical nights. She has many years of experience as a chamber musician and solo performer, gives recitals regularly, and performs weekly at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.
Carolyn Wyman (Apr 12) studied viola at the Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and finally in Oxford, England where she received her diploma L.G.S.M. (Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music) in London. She has performed internationally in Europe and Canada as well as locally. She plays professionally with the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra as well as being secretary of the board of directors. She performs with the Ambrosia String Quartet and other ensembles. Before becoming the director of the Beaux Arts Suzuki Academy of Music, she was a faculty member of the University of Puget Sound Community Music Program and conductor of the Everett Young Strings Youth Symphony. She currently is an active performing member of the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle and participates regularly in her church worship music ministries.
Kathryn Zufall (Apr 4) grew up in New Jersey playing string quartets with her sisters. She graduated from Barnard College in mathematics, and then received her MD from Harvard Medical School. After moving to the Northwest, she studied violin with Emanuel Zetlin and Martin Friedmann while still practicing internal medicine and raising 3 sons. She plays chamber music with friends in the Seattle area, and hosts chamber music weekends at her summer home near Snohomish.
Featured Composers
Janet Anderson (composer, Apr 9) grew up in Kent, Ohio, and studied music and philosophy at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Since moving to Seattle in 1992, she has been active as both a pianist and composer. Her compositions have been featured locally on the Ladies Musical Club series and on Classical KING FM. Janet is the music director at Wedgwood Presbyterian Church, and teaches piano students of all ages at her home in north Seattle, where she lives with her husband, the painter Jeffrey Simmons, and their daughter Mary. Please visit her website, www.janetandersonpiano.com
Colleen Fraser (composer, Apr 14) is a singer and has a BA in Music from University of Puget Sound. After college, she started writing music for her folk/rock band and played around Seattle for about 12 years at various clubs. Since turning her interest toward classical composition, she has composed mostly for strings and piano, but is also starting to compose short choral pieces. She lives in Seattle with her husband and 5-year-old.
Eldon Leuning (composer, Apr 9) has lived his entire life in Washington, growing up on a fruit orchard east of Yakima near Zillah. He earned a BA in English from Whitworth College in Spokane where he also studied music. He subsequently became a high school English teacher before eventually turning to teaching music in the Lake Washington School District. It is the combination of these two interests and studies, poetry and music, that led to and define his current work composing Art Song. His training and passion for both of these are apparent in his musical settings, combining the two into a singular statement of meaning. Music is a passion Eldon shares with his son, Mark, who is a trained tenor and French teacher. Art and artistic expression are central to his life, and are infused with the rigor learned on the end of a shovel, making sure that the irrigation water got all the way to the end of every row of pear trees. He has most recently studied with Jesse Myers and John Muehleisen.
Kam Morrill (composer, Apr 9) studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute. His music shows its American roots in its emphatic rhythmic drive and its melding of vernacular idioms with the contrapuntal discipline of art music, drawing on models ranging from hymnody and blues to jazz fusion and the minimalist school. Primarily a vocal and operatic composer, he brings his feeling for the singable line to instrumental music as well.
Patrick O’Keefe (composer, Apr 14) retired from a decidedly non-musical career (computer programmer/analyst) in 2010, providing time to pursue his life-long interest in classical music. Since 2011 he has been studying music theory and composition with instructor, composer, and bass player Brian Cobb, D.M.A. His compositional style tends to be modal with somewhat nontraditional harmonies. Most of his works are for small chamber ensembles but he occasionally writes for orchestra. In addition to classical music, he also has a deep interest in Balkan folk music and recreational Balkan folkdance.
Steve White (composer, Apr 14) is from the UK originally, and his career has been in the software industry. In 1992, Penguin Books published his novel in paperback, and he toured the UK giving readings, and signing books. That was exciting for him; but he didn’t go on to become a novelist (despite writing another two). In the U.S., part of one of his songs was played on a late-night talk radio show (during the bumper between segments). It’s the most listened-to program in its time slot, so that was also a thrill. Steve has recorded a good amount of his music, and given a few amateur live performances. He took piano performance lessons for over two years, and is currently taking composition lessons. He attends LMC’s Piano Group and Composers’ Group every month, and as many shows as he can get to. He’s also privileged to be a board-member for the SCO.