Category: Public Concerts

LMC Celebrates National Poetry Month with original works by Member Composers

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Join LMC with a concert celebrating National Poetry Month with LMC members performing original works this Wednesday, April 11 at 12:00 at the Seattle Public Library-Central Branch.

National Poetry Month each April is the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K-12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, bloggers, and, of course, poets marking poetry’s important place in our culture and our lives. Read more about National Poetry Month at the poets.org website.

Click for details about the program.

About the performers at this Wednesday’s concert:

Janet Anderson 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, focusing on art song and chamber music. Her compositions have been featured locally on the Ladies Musical Club series, on Classical KING FM 98.1, and at various other venues in Washington State. She teaches piano students of all ages at her home in north Seattle.

Matthew Briggs (guest artist) received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition from Indiana University Jacobs School of music where he studied composition with Sven-David Sandström and percussion with Anthony Cirone. Matthew has performed original compositions at LMC concerts with his wife and LMC member Candice Chin. Matthew is currently studying composition with John Muehleisen.

Jill Carlsen, recorder, has performed with LMC as a soprano soloist, and for the past couple of years has been migrating back to her roots as an instrumentalist. She studies recorder with Vicki Boeckman and plays as a soloist and in ensembles such as the New Baroque Orchestra, Recorder Orchestra of Puget Sound, and Trillium recorder trio. Jill received a degree in piano performance from UW Madison. For her day job, Jill has worked for many years in the software industry, currently as a technical writer and content strategist.

Hilary Field is a past winner of the Northwest Young Artist Series Competition and was the first guitarist to win the Ladies Musical Club (Frances Walton) Competition. She has held faculty positions as the head of the Guitar department atSeattle Pacific University and Pacific Lutheran University. Hilary was recently sponsored by the US Embassy to performand tour in South America, and has been a featured performer in international guitar festivals in Perú, Chile, Québec, and New York. Her latest CD, “Premieres,” features new works for guitar that were composed and dedicated to her. www.hilaryfield.com

Joan Lundquist 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. Currently, Ms. Lundquist is the Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and rehearsal accompanist for the Seattle Choral Company.

Dawn Padula, mezzo-soprano, (http://dawnpadula.com) is a versatile performer of opera, oratorio, musical theatre, jazz and classical concert repertoire. Opera roles include Carmen, Azucena (Il Trovatore), Ruth (Pirates of Penzance), Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Meg (Falstaff), The Third Lady (Magic Flute), the Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Maddalena (Rigoletto), Isabella (Italian Girl in Algiers), Erika (Vanessa), and the Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas.) In the Pacific Northwest, she has performed with Tacoma Opera, Kitsap Opera, Concert Opera of Seattle, PLU’s Jazz Under the Stars, Puget Sound Concert Opera, the Tacoma Concert Band, the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Symphonic Choir, the Seattle Bach Choir, the Second City Chamber Series, Classical Tuesdays in Old Town Tacoma Concert Series, Lakewood Playhouse, and Opera Pacifica. With Seattle Opera, she is a Teaching Artist and a member of the Supplementary Chorus. In June 2017, she toured to Varna and Sofia, Bulgaria as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Pazardzhik Symphony. In August 2017, she released her debut classical solo album, Gracious Moonlight, featuring Dominick Argento’s Pulitzer Prize winning song cycle, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. Dr. Padula is currently the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Puget Sound School of Music.

Finnish born soprano, Tiina Ritalahti, has performed throughout Washington with Northwest Opera in Schools Etcetera, Puget Sound Opera, Ladies Musical Club and Puget Sound Concert Opera. She has sung such roles as the First Spirit and Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Despina in Così fan tutte, Lisa in Bellini’s La sonnambula, Lucy in The Telephone, Monica in The Medium, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, Ännchen in Der Freischütz by Weber, and Cis in Britten’s Albert Herring. Further, she played Belisa in local composer Kam Morrill’s Love’s Fool. Recently, Tiina sang Olympia in Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman. Her passion for singing also extends to art song repertoire, which she performs regularly in recitals and festivals around western Washington.

Kathryn Zufall 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 violinwith 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. This season at Seattle Public Library, Central Branch: Wednesdays at noon May 9, 2018German song and Appalachian Spring for solo piano (C. Menschner and McCullough, piano) For the most current information on all our concerts and/or to sign up for the mailing list, go to our website: www.lmcseattle.org

Pianist Bethany Pho makes LMC debut at the Frye on April 7

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A concert of piano music by Mozart and Chopin as well as a Brahms viola sonata will be featured at the April 7 concert at the Frye Art Museum beginning at 2pm.

Bethany Pho, pianist, performed for recitals, weddings, special events and department stores throughout her school years. She holds a B.A. in Music and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado, and a Masters in Design Methods from Illinois Institute of Technology. After graduating college, she worked as an engineer/design researcher and played for special events when possible. Piano performance is her true passion and she continually seeks out opportunities to share her music skills. While working as an engineer at The Boeing Company she was inspired by the opportunity to compose music for trade show displays and provide guidance for advertising music. She is now a mother of two boys, revitalizing her music career after realizing how the pursuit of music adds a depth of understanding to every aspect of life.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Grace Huang began studying the piano at age five. She earned a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at the University of Washington School of Music, where she studied with Dr. Robin McCabe. As a winner of prestigious Brechemin Scholarship and Elizabeth Goldmann Award, she also had the privilege of working with Seattle Symphony musicians and working in masterclasses with internationally acclaimed pianists. She hopes to share her enthusiasm for music as a solo and collaborative pianist with the community.

Violist Yi Zhou is pursuing a diverse career as a violin/viola teacher, chamber musicianand soloist. She has appeared in many music venues across North America, Europe and China. Yi has been featured at Benaroya Hall, Nordstrom Recital Hall, Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, Chinese Embassy in France and Université de Poitiers etc. She has played the principal viola in a number of orchestras including the UW Symphony. She has also performed at a number of master classes, including those given by Garth Knox, Yizhak Schotten, Manchin Zhang, among others. Yi received her Master’s degree on Viola Performance from University of Washington, supervised by Professor Melia Watras. She has another Master’s degree in Violin Performance from Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Before coming to the US, she was Assistant Professor of the School of Music in Nanchang University.

Click for more details about the concert and location.

 

LMC showcases music of Spain and South America in its debut concert in Burien on March 4

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LMC member performers and guests artists perform music of Spain and South America at Merrill Gardens in Burien on Sunday, March 4, 2018 @ 3:00 pm at Merrill Gardens. This is LMC’s first concert in Burien which is co-sponsored by the City of Burien. Click to view the entire program and for directions.

About the performers

Diane Althaus has explored many arenas of music, classical to sacred, Bach to Dvorak to Gershwin. She has organized opera ensembles, sung in a concert series titled Classy to Sassy, sung leading roles with the Fat Chance Opera company for several seasons and performed Rachmaninov songs at the Russian Community Center. She thoroughly enjoys her musical adventures and tries to entice a younger generation who may not have heard live classical vocal music into wanting to hear more.

Equally at home with viola and piano, Annie Center enjoys an international career as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has performed as piano soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. As violist, she has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Olympic, Utah, Prague, Red Rocks, and Music In The Mountains Festivals. She has also performed with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Emerson, Cleveland, Philadelphia string quartets. Annie holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory. Her major teachers include Robert Schultz, Paul Hersh, Isadore Tinkelman, Robert Weirich, and Paul Coletti. While she lived in Arizona, she was the pianist of the Concorda Trio with her cellist husband, Michael Center and violinist Dana Pasley.

Joyce Gibb was born in Sri Lanka and started her early piano studies with the admired, but feared music critic Elmer DeHaan. After surviving his rigorous training, she moved to London for further studies with Swiss pianist Albert Ferber whose teachers included Rachmaninoff. Studying both piano and cello, she was awarded a gold medal for performance by the Royal Schools of Music. Now a Seattle resident, Joyce teaches and performs regularly and has been the concerto soloist with the Cascade Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, Rainier Symphony, Port Angeles, Thalia, and Philharmonia Northwest Orchestras. Her performances have included concertos by Beethoven, Poulenc, Grieg, Addinsell, and Chopin and the 1st and 2nd piano concertos by Rachmaninoff.

Joan Lundquist 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. Currently, Ms. Lundquist is the Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and rehearsal accompanist for the Seattle Choral Company.

Erika Pierson grew up in the Seattle area, beginning cello at age 7. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Cello from Indiana University and her Master’s Degree in Performance from University of Michigan. Between her degrees Erika studied in Berlin, at the Hochschule der Kunste, and privately in London, England under Eileen Croxford. Erika has given solo recitals in England, including a solo performance at St Martin in the Fields, London, in Germany, Spain, and in the United States. She has performed as featured soloist with orchestras in Berlin, Ann Arbor, and Everett, WA. Currently, Erika performs regularly as the cellist in Bella Sala String Quartet, NOCCO Chamber Orchestra, and freelances and teaches in the Seattle area.

Eric Shankland (guest artist) has been playing bassoon since age 15. He played in the NCR band and the Youth Philharmonic in Dayton, Ohio. He studied with Arthur Grossman and played in the University Symphony at the University of Washington, and currently studies with Paul Rafanelli of the Seattle Symphony. He was principal bassoon in the Eastside Symphony (Redmond) for fifteen years. Eric is a research scientist at the University of Washington.

Julie Shankland has played clarinet since marching band in the Ohio snow. Since moving to Washington, Julie has played in the UW Concert Band, Eastside Symphony, West Seattle Community Orchestras, Rain City Symphony, and various chamber music camps. Julie is an adult student of Jennifer Nelson and recently learned to play bass clarinet. Julie works in the Office of General Counsel at the Washington State Bar Association.

Gwen Trussler, mezzo-soprano, holds Performance degrees from Florida State University (BM/MM) as well as ARRT Certification in Radiography, Computed Tomography, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. She has appeared with Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Heavier Than Air Theatre, Evergreen Performers, TMP Family Theater, Amici Opera, Operesque, South Georgia Opera, and Florida State Opera. A Wagner enthusiast, she was chosen to perform in the inaugural year of the Baldwin-Wallace Wagner Intensive where she coached with Jane Eaglen, Timothy Mussard, and Nancy Maultsby. Gwen works with MultiCare and Franciscan Health as an MRI Technologist and is also a Voice Over artist specializing in audiobook narration.

Lucas Victor (guest artist) is a guitarist who has been praised for his musicality, unique phrasing and inspiring playing. He studies in the studio of guitarist Michael Partington at the University of Washington. In 2017, Lucas was a finalist in the Adult Solo Guitar Competition at the Northwest Guitar Festival in Portland, Oregon, which is a competition open to the Northwestern U.S. and Western Canada. At the UW, he has been honored to be a recipient of the John Tripp Endowed Fund for Student Support, and the Helen A. Reynolds Endowed Scholarship in Music. Lucas also performs with the UW Guitar Ensemble. As a youth, Lucas studied several years with Jason Williams at the Rosewood Guitar studio in Seattle. During that time, he was a finalist twice in the Youth Solo Guitar Competition of the Northwest Guitar Festivals held in Idaho, and in Washington. Before studying with Jason Williams, he also had instruction from guitarists Mary Lord, Ken Elia, and others. Lucas also performed and recorded with Mark Wilson’s Guitar Orchestra of Seattle. Lucas has been fortunate to have the opportunity to perform in guitar master classes for acclaimed musicians David Russell, Ana Vidovic, Stephen Stubbs, Jorge Caballero, Marc Teicholz, Martha Masters, and others. Lucas Victor can be found online at www.domopod.com/guitar

A recent transplant from Chicago, Il, soprano Clarice Warrick received her master’s degree in voice performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Past feats this season have included her Orchestra Hall debut as the soloist in the North American premiere of Jacob TV’s Mountaintop, First Lady in Die Zauberflöte with Chicago Chamber Opera, and Julia Jellicoe in The Grand Duke. Clarice has sung with the Grant Park Chorus and Chicago Symphony Chorus, is a part of the VOX3 Ensemble, and often gives concerts featuring musical theater, jazz, and opera.

New LMC member YeonSoo Lee performs in her LMC debut concert February 18 at Mirabella

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Mezzo-soprano YeonSoo Lee makes her LMC debut joining fellow LMC member performers on Sunday, February 18 at 3pm in a concert at Mirabella in Seattle. They will perform songs by Obradors, Italian and French Opera, and Korean composers for soprano and mezzo-soprano

A graduate of Kyung Hee University (Seoul), mezzo-soprano YeonSoo Lee also participated in stage director HoKeun Moon’s Opera Workshop Program (Seoul). She made several appearances on “Today’s Art Song” (KBS-TV, Seoul) and received the “Best Voice Award” from MBC-TV’s Korean Art Song Competition. South Korean roles include Rosette (Manon) with Kim-Cha-Kyung Opera, Dangeville (Adriana Lecouvreur) with Seoul Metropolitan Opera and Flora (La Traviata) with International Opera. Concert work includes Alto solos in Mozart’s Coronation Mass with Seoul Metropolitan Chorus and Beethoven’s C Major Mass with Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. YeonSoo Lee has been a regular chorister with Seattle Opera since 2001, having performed in sixty-one productions. Solo appearances include Second Bridesmaid (Le Nozze di Figaro) with Seattle Opera and Alto soloist (Elijah) with Masterworks Choral Ensemble, WA. She is a favored performer within Seattle’s Korean American Community and has been a guest journalist for the Eumak Journal, a monthly classical music magazine in South Korea since 2014.

Joining YeonSoo will be soprano Ki-Jung Jun who completed her Master’s degree at New York University and was in the emerging artist program at Pacific Opera in New York City. Her operatic roles there included Nora (Riders to the Sea), First Knitter (A Game of Chance), Princess (L’enfant et les sortileges) and the role of Hyangdan in Chun-Hyang-Jeon, an opera celebrating the 100th anniversary of Korean immigration in America. In the Northwest, her most recent opera role is Giulietta (Cover) in Bellini’s I Capuletti ed i Montecchi and Caterina in Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz with Puget Sound Concert Opera.

Also performing will be Joan Lundquist who 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. Currently, Ms. Lundquist is the Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and rehearsal accompanist for the Seattle Choral Company.

Click for concert program details.

LMC free concert to debut in Kirkland on Friday, February 9 preceded by Kirkland Art Walk

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Come and see LMC members and guest artist perform Spanish vocal and piano music, Korean songs, and a Mendelssohn trio in d minor at starting at 7:30pm at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a new venue as part of LMC’s annual free concert series throughout the Seattle metropolitan area. Click for directions and concert details.

Come early and check out Kirkland’s Art Walk where you can visit downtown Kirkland galleries and businesses and meet with local Kirkland artists.

Karin McCullough (karinmcculloughpiano.com) took the less-traveled road: a serious pianist while growing up, she reluctantly suppressed her aspirations and instead became a paralegal. One day she was asked to accompany opera singers every Friday night at a bistro (a gig which lasted five years). By then her popularity as accompanist, soloist, and teacher allowed her to trade her full-time law career for one in music. Karin maintains a flourishing piano studio in Ballard and performs frequently in the Seattle area. Karin serves on the Board of Directors of Bach in the Subways Inc. and is Program Director for Haller Lake Music Series.

Soprano Ki-Jung Jun completed her Master’s degree at New York University and was in the emerging artist program at Pacific Opera in New York City. Her operatic roles there included Nora (Riders to the Sea), First Knitter (A Game of Chance), Princess (L’enfant et les sortileges) and the role of Hyangdan in Chun-Hyang-Jeon, an opera celebrating the 100th anniversary of Korean immigration in America. In the Northwest, her most recent opera role is Giulietta (Cover) in Bellini’s I Capuletti ed i Montecchi and Caterina in Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz with Puget Sound Concert Opera.

Joan Lundquist 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. Currently, Ms. Lundquist is the Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle and rehearsal accompanist for the Seattle Choral Company.

Ann Rackl, violinist, 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 music.

Lawrence Chu, cellist, is a native of the Seattle area, and currently resides in Bellevue with his wife and two children. His former instructors include Phyllis Allport, Frances Walton and Eva Heinitz. He has been practicing Emergency medicine locally for the past 26 years. He would like to thank Ann and Selina for this opportunity to make music together.

Selina Chu has a special place in her heart for all types of ensemble playing, from duo-piano recitals to dance collaboration. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington, and her Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A nationally certified member of Music Teachers National Association, Selina has maintained an independent piano studio in Issaquah since 1998.