2010 Summer Sounds Artists

Amadi Azikiwe, violist, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent seasons, Mr. Azikiwe been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Since then, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and throughout the Caribbean. He has also collaborated with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Mitsuko Uchida, Andras Schiff, Nobuko Imai, David Soyer, and Felix Galimir.

Chester Biscardi, composer-in-residence, is a recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Academy Award in Music, the Aaron Copland Award, fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation, the Djerassi Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, grants from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress. He received an M.M. in Musical Composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. He is the Director of the Music Program at Sarah Lawrence College. Visit chesterbiscardi.com for further information.

Alan Blank, composer, was born in New York in 1925. His early musical training was on the violin. He attended the High School of Music & Art where an interest in conducting and composition was fostered. Further studies were at the Juilliard School of Music (1945-1947), Washington Square College (BA, 1948), University of Minnesota (MA,1950) and the University of Iowa. He was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1950-1952) and has taught at a number of schools and universities. Currently he is a retired professor of composition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.


Flutist Mary Boodell has won acclaim not only for her orchestral playing as Principal flutist of the Richmond Symphony but also for her numerous chamber music performances. Praised for her "lovely tone, excellent technique and seamless phrasing," she is equally at home in baroque and contemporary music. Ms. Boodell has performed at festivals across the US and Europe, including at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl, the Eastern Music Festival, and the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.  She has collaborated with esteemed artists such as the Shanghai Quartet, Jaime Laredo, and Yolanda Kondanassis. Born in Chicago, Ms. Boodell received her Bachelor of Music at the Oberlin Conservatory and her Master of Music at Northwestern University. Her teachers have included Robert Willoughby, Walfrid Kujala, and Keith Underwood.

Chris Carrillo, trumpet, is a Grammy nominated performer and Bach Trumpets performing artist. He can be heard on several radio broadcasts of NPR’s Performance Today and he has performed with the symphony orchestras of Austin, Corpus Christi, Jacksonville, Laredo, Tupelo, and Victoria. As a soloist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Victoria Bach Festival. He joined the faculty of James Madison University in 2009 where he teaches studio trumpet and performs as Principal Trumpet of the Madison Brass.



As a sought-after interpreter of early music and concert repertoire, tenor Derek Chester is steadily making a name for himself in the world of classical singing.  With degrees from University of Georgia and Yale, Chester received a prestigious Fulbright Grant to study with Christoph Prégardien at the Hochschule für Musik in Köln. He is currently teaching and pursuing doctoral studies as a Toulouse Fellow at the University of North Texas with Jennifer Lane.  Recent concert credits include Handel’s Theodora with the Bach Collegium San Diego, Bach’s St. John Passion with the Dallas Bach Society, Mendelssohn's 2nd Symphony with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Richmond Symphony, Monteverdi’s Vespers with Boston Baroque and Seraphic Fire, and Bach’s Mass in B minor with the American Bach Soloists. For more information go to derekchester.com.

Chiayu was born in Banciao, Taiwan. She was the winner of music+culture 2009 International Competition for Composers, the Sorel Organization’s 2nd International Composition Competition, the 7th USA International Harp Composition Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Awards, the Maxfield Parrish Composition Contest, the Renée B. Fisher Foundation Composer Awards among others. Her work has been performed by Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Toledo Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, and Prism Quartet. She has received her Ph.D. at Duke University, Master of Music at Yale University School of Music, and Bachelor of Music at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Violinist Martin Davids founded and directs the Callipygian Players in Chicago, and is concertmaster of Reno Baroque Ensemble and Bach Collegium of Ft. Wayne.  He is a member of Baroque Band and Brandywine Baroque. He has performed with Music of the Baroque, Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Aradia, Toronto Consort. Mr. Davids received his M.M from the University of Michigan and a Performer Diploma from the Early Music Institute at Indiana University where he studied with Stanley Ritchie. He teaches violin at Loyola University Chicago and has recorded for Plectra, Cedille, Musica Omnia, and Albany records. He is known for his work on the electric violin with his electric Baroque ensemble Discontinuo, and in modern compositions.

American soprano Ilana Davidson has been internationally acclaimed for her crystalline soprano, assured musicality and interpretive insight, with a repertoire spanning the 12th to the 21st centuries. Her recording of William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience conducted by Leonard Slatkin won four Grammy Awards in 2006 including Best Classical Album. She has closely collaborated with such composers as William Bolcom, John Zorn and Bright Sheng and has been sought after for operatic roles around the world. Ms. Davidson is a graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music. She was a vocal fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and a participant in the Aston Magna Early Music Academy.

Pianist Gabriel Dobner won the special accompanist prize in the International Hans Pfitzner Lieder Competition in 1994. He has performed regularly with notable singers Cornelia Kallisch, René Kollo and Alexandra Petersamer in many European concert venues including Vienna and Zürich. He has performed in the United States, Canada and Japan. He has recorded for the Ottavo, MDG and Kannevas labels. His recording of Schubert's Die Winterreise with baritone Kevin McMillan was released in 2007. Gabriel Dobner joined the faculty at James Madison University in the fall of 2001. He earned advanced degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington, studying with James Tocco and Leonard Hokanson.

Louis Dolive has been an organbuilder for both C.B. Fisk, Inc., in Gloucester, MA and Taylor & Boody, Organbuilders, in Staunton, VA. For both firms he managed the pipe shops. For the last 18 years he has operated his own business, doing conservative restoration of fortepianos, harpsichords and other musical instruments. He has worked three summers for Colonial Williamsburg in the Instruments Lab, and has just returned from six weeks of restoring an 1831 Baltimore fortepiano by Joseph Newman. Lou has long been a proponent of hearing music the way the composer would have heard it. He is on the Board of the Staunton Music Festival and cares for the harpsichords.

Cellist Carl Donakowski was a finalist in the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. His recital performances have aired on WQXR New York and Südwestfunk Baden-Baden. As a chamber musician, he has been a member of the North Shore Pro Musica of New York, the Fontana Chamber Music Society, and the ARCOS piano trio. He has performed at the Manitou, Staunton, Tanglewood and Beethoven music festivals. In the summer he teaches and performs at the Bay View Music Festival and has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Donakowski is a graduate of Indiana University where he studied with Janos Starker and Gary Hoffman.  He is Associate Professor of Cello at James Madison University.

Charles Dotas, is Director of Jazz Studies at James Madison University. He was on the Faculty of Jazz Studies at McGill University from 1994-1998. Dotas is an active jazz educator, adjudicator and clinician. He has been Composer-in-Residence at jazz festivals and universities throughout the United States. His music has been performed and recorded by university ensembles in Germany, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the United States, and is published by UNC Jazz Press, Dorn Publications, Walrus Music, and Schirmer Music. Dotas studied with Ray Wright, Manny Albam, Bill Dobbins, Fred Sturm, and Samuel Adler. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Northern Colorado.

Simon Fink's music has recently been played by the Pacifica Quartet, eighth blackbird, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Excerpts from The Commons Berlin, his multimedia collaboration with the Brooklyn arts collective, Uniondocs, were recently shown at the MoMA (NY). Simon has won awards from organizations such as the New York Youth Symphony and the American Composers Forum. In 2009 he won an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award for his piece, Electric Pastoral. In 2008 he was awarded fellowships to both the Aspen Music Festival and the I-Park Artists’ Enclave. Simon’s pop music project, Still Lost Bird Music, released its first album in 2008 on the DashGo Records label. He is currently working under a fellowship from the Mellon Foundation and is a doctoral candidate at the University of Chicago.

Anna Gebert is currently a concertmaster of the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra (Cologne Philharmonic). She also works frequently with orchestras such as Bayerische Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, Munich and Frankfurt Opera, London Symphony Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. She has performed at festivals such as Ravinia, Sarasota, Kuhmo, Holland Music Sessions, Prussia Cove as well as the chamber music series at the Berlin and Cologne Philharmonic halls. Her teachers have included Ana Chumachenco, Igor Bezrodny, Miriam Fried and Guy Braunstein as well as Stanley Ritchie on the baroque violin. She has worked closely with early music conductors such as  Nicolaus Harnoncourt, Ton Koopman, Konrad Junghänel and William Christie.

Dr. Jonathan Gibson, concert commentator, is a faculty member in the School of Music at James Madison University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music history and historical performance practice.  He is a specialist in Baroque music, and has presented scholarly papers at conferences across the U.S. and abroad. His most recent publications appear in the Journal of Musicology and in the book Fiori musicali—the latter of which includes Gibson’s essay on an aria from J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Dr. Gibson is founder and director of two early music ensembles: the Peartree Consort and the Valley Collegium Musicum. He plays the viola da gamba, as well as Renaissance and Baroque recorders.

Composer John Hilliard is Professor of Music and Resident Composer at James Madison University. His works have had wide international performances in Austria, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Japan,the United Kingdom and in the United States at the Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall (NYC). In January 1993, he was one of two composers requested to compose music for President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. Hilliard was given a six-month residency grant to be an Artistic Fellow for the Japan Foundation in Tokyo and Nara, and he has been a Senior Fulbright Fellow. In October 2010 Hilliard’s Third Piano Concerto will be premiered at the dedication of JMU’s new Performing Arts Center. He received his doctorate in composition and conducting from Cornell University.

Ian Howell, countertenor. Praised by the New York Times for his "clear voice and attractive timbre" and San Francisco Classical Voice for his "flawless singing," Grammy Award Winner Ian Howell won First Prize in 2006 at The American Bach Soloists International Solo Competition with an acclaimed performance of Bach's Cantata BWV 170, Vergnügte Ruh, and Third Prize at the Oratorio Society of New York's Vocal Competition. Howell's début solo CD, 1685 and the Art of Ian Howell with The American Bach Soloists was released in March 2009 and features repertory by Domenico Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, and Handel.  He can also be heard with the all male chamber choir Chanticleer on one DVD and eight CDs, including the GRAMMY AWARD winning Lamentations and Praises and the GRAMMY nominated Our American Journey.

Wanchi Huang, began violin lessons with her mother at the age of six. At age 14 she made her solo debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Catherine Comet. Wanchi attended the Curtis Institute (BM), The Julliard School (MM) and the Indiana University School of Music (DMA). Her teachers included Jasha Brodsky, Jaime Laredo, Dorothy Delay, Naoko Tanaka, and Franco Gulli. She has given acclaimed performances in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Taipei, and Washington D.C., including the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Her performances have aired on Philadelphia's WFLN, as well as on WQXR in New York City. She is currently an associate professor of violin at the JMU School of Music.

Pianist Edward Janning, native of Amsterdam, performs regularly with the Erard Ensemble. Other performances have brought him to various countries such as Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Germany, the United States, and Russia. Since 2009 he directs a new yearly music festival in Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, a historic town on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Teaching piano and chamber music is also an important part of Edward's activities. Janning attended the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam, studying with Willem Brons and Jan Wijn. After completing his studies in the Netherlands, he accepted the invitation by the Russian pianist Boris Berman to further his education at the Yale University School of Music. Janning has collaborated with numerous chamber musicians such as the Mondriaan Quartet, violinist Yayoi Toda, baritone Henk Neven, and violist Esther Apituley.

Violinist Gesa Kordes performs with numerous chamber ensembles and Baroque orchestras including the Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Musical Offering, Muses’ Delight, Opera Lafayette, Ensemble Tra i Tempi, the Rheinisches Barockorchester Bonn, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.  She has toured as soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Central America, Europe, and Israel, and has recorded for NPR, harmonia mundi, FONO, Dorian, and Naxos.  Since 1998, Ms. Kordes has been in demand as a teacher and ensemble director of chamber groups and period orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. After teaching at Indiana University and UNC-Greensboro, she joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in August 2009 as the director of the newly-founded Baroque Ensemble.

Pianist Lynne Mackey performs in solo and chamber music settings in the United States and Europe, and currently tours with the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Solo performances this season include three concertos.  She holds graduate degrees from The Juilliard School and the Eastman School of Music and is director of the Virginia Baroque Performance Academy. As a member of the Gee-Mackey Duo with cellist David Gee, she has toured in Spain and Morocco, and has an upcoming CD in 2010.  She also performs with the chamber ensemble Musica Harmonia, and in addition to a residency in Brazil, traveled to present at the National conference of the College Music Society last October in Portland, Oregon.  Ms. Mackey is associate professor at Eastern Mennonite University.

The Madison Singers. Under the direction of Dr. Patrick Walders, the Madison Singers of JMU have performed locally, regionally, and abroad.  In 2006, they traveled to Germany and the Czech Republic.  In 2009, they placed 3rd in the Chamber Choirs category in the National Eisteddfod of Wales.  The Madison Singers have been choir-in-residence for the SMF for several seasons.  Their compact disc, So Longeth My Soul, was released in summer 2009 and is available for sale online and through the JMU Bookstore. Patrick Walders is the Director of Choral Activities at JMU.  He has conducted the National Philharmonic Chorale, the National Philharmonic Singers, and earned critical acclaim for his conducting of Handel’s Messiah. Dr. Walders has sung and recorded with ensembles throughout the northeastern United States and is currently a member of Orpheus and The Washington Bach Consort.  For information visit: orgs.jmu.edu/choirs.

As a sought-after chamber musician, Anthony Manzo is a regular guest with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and is on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Music. In addition, he is Solo Bassist with San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra and was for many years with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Manzo is also a frequent guest at Spoleto USA, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, and the Garth Newel Music Center. Recent collaborations include performances with Menahem Pressler, the St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Auryn Quartet.  Mr. Manzo is also an active performer on period instruments, with groups such as The Handel & Haydn Society, and Opera Lafayette in Washington, DC. 

Washington McClain, baroque oboe, recorder, obtained his Bachelor Degree from the Northeast Louisiana University. He received his Master's Degree in oboe at Northwestern University. He was the first woodwind player performing on period instrument to be featured in the specialized publication Windplayer Magazine. He has performed with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Aradia Ensemble, Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, with Ensemble Arion, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Harpsichord in Concert and Les Idées heureuses. Mr. McClain currently teaches at The Early Music Institute at Indiana University.

Baritone Kevin McMillan's career includes a Grammy award, a Gramophone award and Juno award nominations. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He has worked with Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Neeme Jarvi, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Kurt Masur, Sir Roger Norrington, Hellmuth Rilling and the late Robert Shaw and Sergiu Commissiona. After preliminary schooling at the Universities of Guelph and Western Ontario, Kevin studied at the Britten-Pears School, and attained a Master's Degree at Juilliard. He sang the title role in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' oratorio, Job; and the Canadian premiere of Songs of Milarepa by Phillip Glass. For more information visit http://www.kevinmcmillan.ca

Tenor Scott Mello has been praised for his “winningly lucid voice” (WCLV) and being “sonorous and alive to text” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). The 2009/10 season marked Mr. Mello’s debuts with Bach Sinfonia in performances of the complete Bach Motets and American Opera Theater performing the title role in Handel’s Jephtha. Additional appearances included the Philadelphia Bach Institute in a presentation of Sven-David Sandström’s Messiah under the baton of Maestro Helmuth Rilling, the American Bach Soloists Academy with conductor Jeffrey Thomas in Bach’s Mass in B minor in San Francisco and return engagements with Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland and Early Music New York. Highlights of previous seasons include performances of Brahms's Liebeslieder and Neueliebeslieder Waltzer on tour with the Mark Morris Dance Group, The Play of Daniel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Bernstein’s MASS and Ramirez’s Missa Criolla with the Camerata Exaudi Orchestra in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mr. Mello can be heard on Avie Records, Ex Cathedra, Dorian Sono Luminus, and Koch International Classics. For more information, please visit www.scott-mello.com.

Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola, composer-in-residence, has produced works for solo instruments, mixed choir, symphony and chamber orchestra. His chamber works include four string quartets, Nova for clarinet, string trio, piano and percussion, and Don Aldebarran for seven stringed instruments, piano and actor. He has also composed music for ballet, stage and screen. Mr. Mendelssohn is Professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire. He also teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. He collaborated on a prize-winning recording of Brahms Lieder. He has performed at Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaussen and Dmitry Sitkovetsky's Wasa Festival.

Clarinetist Janice L. Minor performs with the Montpelier Wind Quintet, Prestige Clarinet Quartet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Pops, Cincinnati Opera, Richmond Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, and on soundtracks for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. She has been a soloist with the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Eighteenth Century Ensemble, and was featured at the Lucca Music Festival. Her appearances as a recitalist and clinician include the Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival, Interlochen Center for the Arts, International Clarinet Association Conference, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Midwest Clinic and VMEA Conference. Her teachers include Ronald de Kant, Larry Combs, John Yeh, Clark Brody and Robert Marcellus. Dr. Minor is the clarinet professor at James Madison University and a Buffet-Crampon performing artist/clinician.

Mira, a wonderful and “…refreshingly unselfconscious…” vocal ensemble, MIRA bills themselves as a (mostly) early music ensemble, and it’s clear from the start of each performance that they love the music they sing – be it the medieval strains of a 12th century conductus or a Bobby McFerrin psalm setting.  Director Deborah Hunter, whose easy and affable manner establishes an immediate rapport with an audience, is a medievalist and longtime Renaissance period musician who has worked with a number of well-known performers and groups.  She is also a composer, teacher and speaker interested in the healing power of music. MIRA’s reputation continues to grow as they pursue their mission, part of which is to “make the music from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries accessible to people from every walk of life.” Visit: debbiehuntermusic.com

American baritone David Newman enjoys an active and varied concert career throughout North America. Hailed as “electrifying” by the Washington Post and noted by the Sacramento Bee for his “rather perfect oratorio voice,” he is in particular demand as a Baroque specialist. He has performed Messiah with Tafelmusik, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, and with Masterwork Chorus in Carnegie Hall; St. John Passion with the American Bach Soloists, Carmel Bach Festival, Chorale Delaware, and the Bach Chamber Orchestra of Honolulu; and St. Matthew Passion with the Bach Society of St. Louis, Baroque Choral Guild, San Francisco Bach Choir, and a national tour with the combined forces of Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Mr. Newman teaches voice at James Madison University.

Violinist Diane Pascal has been a member of the Lark and Rosamunde String Quartets and appeared as Concertmaster with the Camerata Salzburg and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and with the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra as Artistic Director. She has recorded for the Arabesque and ECM labels, including a recording of Amy Beach’s Sonata for Violin and Piano with the pianist, Joanne Polk. Ms. Pascal performs as soloist and chamber musician at many renowned music festivals and is an avid proponent of “new” music. She has held teaching positions at Bennington College and the University of Oklahoma. Her own studies were at the Curtis Institute of Music and the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg with Ivan Galamian and Sandor Vegh. Ms. Pascal resides in Vienna, Austria.

Minna Pensola. Since winning 3rd prize at the Nordic NordSol Competition in 1997, Minna Pensola has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist.  She is a founding member of string quartet Meta4 which is the first prize winner of the Dimitri Shostakovich String Quartet Competition (Moscow 2004) and the Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition (Vienna 2007).   Minna has studied at the Sibelius Academy, Musikhochschule Zürich and European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) and enjoyed valuable guidance of Kaija Saarikettu, Ana Chumachenko, Hatto Beyrle and Josef Rissin. She is the Artistic Director of the Sysmä Summer Sounds Festival (Finland) and has also spiced up the Helsinki night life by launching there a club for classical music in 2008. 

Pianist Lori Piitz is Professor of Piano at James Madison University. She has participated in the Bach Festival at EMU, the Contemporary Music Festival at JMU and the Richmond Chamber Music Festival and has been heard in recital at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Piitz has been a guest at the Festival of the Sound in Canada, the Schleswig-Holstein and Villa Musica Festivals in Germany, and at the Mozart Bicentennial Series at Lincoln Center. Ms. Piitz holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the University of Ottawa where she was awarded the prestigious Isobel Firestone Performance Scholarship, and has attended the Banff School of Fine Arts. She has studied with Menahem Pressler, Leonard Hokanson, Jean-Paul Sevilla and Helgi Fatovic.

David Pope is a noted saxophonist and composer, holding degrees from UMASS, Amherst and Eastman, with additional studies at the University of Miami. He has toured North America and Europe with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Sax Maniacs and Saxology. He has publications with Hal Leonard, Dorn, and Ex Tempore. Known for his unique mastery of multiphonic saxophone performance, he has recorded two masterclass CD's and authors a regular column in Saxophone Journal. David has been on the faculty at James Madison University since 2000. His former students teach and perform throughout the country. His teachers include Lynn Klock, Yusef Lateef, Fred Sturm, Gary Keller, and Ron Miller.

Roger Roe, Acting Principal Oboe of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Southern Methodist University and Arts Magnet High School in Dallas. He has held oboe and English horn positions with the orchestras of Honolulu and Charleston, South Carolina. He is Associate Professor of Oboe and English Horn at Indiana University and served on the faculty of DePauw University for six years. In addition to solo appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn, Roger acts as narrator for children’s programs. He is a winner of the Fort Worth Young Artist Competition and of a Downbeat Magazine Award as Outstanding Young Classical Instrumentalist.

SMF Artistic Director Carsten Schmidt performs a repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to new works, of which he has premiered more than 100. He has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, International Schubert Festival in Amsterdam, the German Mozart Festival, Merkin Hall in NYC, Kennedy Center, and Kaleidoscope Festival in Moscow, and he has been heard in radio broadcasts worldwide. Since 2004 he has conducted opera productions of Handel and Purcell, and a concerto program at the Kuhmo Festival in Finland. He holds Artist Diplomas from the Folkwang Institute, Indiana University, and a doctorate from Yale. He has been Professor of Music at Sarah Lawrence College in NY since 1998.

At home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano, David Schrader has performed with the Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, as well as with Chicago's Baroque Band, The Newberry Consort, The Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Chicago Baroque Ensemble. He performed as the Artist of the Year at the Oulunsalo Soi Music Festival in Oulu, Finland. He was the harpsichord soloist with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble under Yuko Mori and the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik. He is Professor of Music at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of the Performing Arts Music Conservatory, where he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses since 1986.

Jason Stell, commentator and music historian, received his Ph.D. in 2006 from Princeton University with a dissertation on the functions of chromatic pitches in Classic era music. Previous degrees in music and astronomy were from Pennsylvania State University.  He currently serves on the board of the Staunton Music Festival and writes concert notes for SMF and other local and regional musical events.  His notes have appeared at the Kennedy Center and New York’s Merkin Hall. Stell performs regularly with the early-music vocal ensemble Zephyrus and has studied piano with Robert Taub, Cecilia Dunoyer, and Carl Blake.


Carrie Stevens is highly regarded for her versatility in concert, chamber and operatic venues, spanning styles from Baroque to contemporary music. Recent performances include Handel’s  Messiah and Bach’s  St. John’s Passion at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. as well as performances with the Roanoke Symphony and Richmond’s “One Voice” at the Landmark Theater. She has also appeared with many major orchestras in the U. S., including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Cayuga N.Y. Chamber Orchestra, Santa Rosa, CA and Oakland Symphonies under the batons of Roger Norrington, Ivan Fisher, and Helmuth Rilling . Carrie holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and Boston University. She is currently Associate Professor of Voice at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Finnish violinist Antti Tikkanen spends most of his time with the string quartet Meta4. But on the side Antti enjoys playing solo, leading orchestras and performing with different kinds of chamber-groups. Ever since he started studying and playing the baroque violin new doors have opened. Lately his side-projects, such as planning chamber concerts for the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and playing contemporary music written for baroque instruments, have had more and more to do with gut strings and different kinds of bows. Antti first studied violin at a small music school in Oulainen and continued studies at the Sibelius Academy with Mi-Kyung Lee, CNSM Lyon with Pavel Vernikov and at the European Chamber Music Academy with Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl.

UVA Chamber Singers. Founded in 2005 and conducted by Michael Slon, the University of Virginia Chamber Singers is a select ensemble drawn from the UVa University Singers, and performs a wide variety of music ranging from early music to contemporary compositions. Recent performances have included the Palestrina Missa Brevis, Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia, and new music by Meredith Monk and Eric Whitacre. Conductor Michael Slon is currently on music faculty at the University of Virginia, where he also leads the University Singers and guest conducts the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra.  He has previously conducted at Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University, and Cornell University, the Ash Lawn Opera Festival, and prepared choruses for the Cleveland Orchestra.  As a writer Slon is currently at work on a Leonard Bernstein project. For more info visit: http://www.virginia.edu/music/chambersingers

Cellist James Wilson has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the City of London Festival, the Deutches Mozartfest in Bavaria, the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. He has performed with violinist Joshua Bell, flutist Eugenia Zukerman, pianist Christopher O'Riley, guitarist Eliot Fisk, actress Claire Bloom, the Tokyo String Quartet, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. He performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Dodd String Quartet, teaches cello and chamber music at Columbia University, and is currently the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia.

For her recent performance of Dumoulin's opera La Roussalka (International Roussel Festival, France), soprano Brenda Witmer was reviewed as a "charming and tempting water sprite with crystal-clear high notes." (Classique News) Ms. Witmer has studied privately with Elly Ameling, Beverly Hay, Linda Mabbs and Marianna Busching. Vocal coaches have included Kenneth Smith (Bel Canto Opera, Da Corneto Opera) and Stephen Crout (Washington Concert Opera). Recent performances include Michael Haydn's Missa sub titulo Sancti Francisci, Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah. Witmer is a familiar voice on opera and oratorio stages throughout the US and Europe. A regular teacher and performer for Operafestival di Roma in Italy, Ms. Witmer currently serves on the voice faculty of James Madison University's School of Music.

John Yannelli, composer of chamber, choral, orchestral and mixed ensemble pieces, works in both traditional and experimental styles of music. His special interests are in the development of electronic music, chamber improvisation and composing for theater, dance and film. Mr. Yannelli has written numerous scores for modern dance and has composed and designed sound for over fifty theater productions. He holds the William Schuman Chair in Music and is the Director of Electronic Music and Music Technology at Sarah Lawrence College. His music is published by Soundspells Productions and John Yannelli Music (ASCAP) and has been performed in major cities throughout the United States, Europe and Russia, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Recital Hall where he received critical acclaim for a concert devoted entirely to his music. Visit johnyannelli.com

Zhou Juan. A native of Sichuan, raised in Kelamayi, China, Zhou Juan received degrees from Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing. In 2007, she was selected as the first Edgar Snow Scholar from CCOM and began pursuing her doctoral degree at University of Missouri-Kansas City, instructed by Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, Chen Yi, and James Mobberley. As a young composer, Ms. Zhou received numerous awards including China Music Golden Bell Award and both 2008 and 2009 UMKC Chamber Composition Competition. She has received commissions and fellowships from Nieuw Ensemble, Kansas City Electronic Music & Arts Alliance, Virginia Arts Festival, Chinese Education Ministry, and Edgar Snow Foundation for her outstanding achievement on- and off-campus. Her music has been performed in Beijing, Hong Kong, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States.

Ian Zook, horn, is an active orchestral and solo performer and has appeared in concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.  He joined the faculty of James Madison University in 2009 and performs regularly with the Montpelier Wind Quintet and Madison Brass.  An active orchestral musician, he has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Harrisburg, Princeton, Delaware, Richmond and Vermont Symphonies.  Recent summer engagements have included the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Aspen, Sarasota, and AIMS/Graz Music Festivals, and the National Orchestral Institute.  Also versatile as a period instrumentalist, he has performed on natural horn with the New York Collegium and the Washington Bach Consort.


2010 Summer Sounds Young Artists

Pianist Ednaldo Borba is a graduate assistant from James Madison University. He has played as soloist with the Symphonic Orchestra from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Ribeirão Preto Symphonic Orchestra. His recitals includes performances in the USA, Brazil and Spain, and he won many prizes in Brazilian National Piano Competitions and the 1st prize in the VI Fórum Internacional de Música Barcelona Ciutat International Piano Competition.



Praised for her “warmth and composure” (Wichita Eagle), Stephanie Corwin has established herself at the forefront of up and coming bassoonists.  As a soloist, she was named the inaugural winner of the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Bassoon Competition and was a semifinalist in the Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition. With a passion for music of both the past and present, Stephanie performs extensively on baroque, classical, and modern bassoons. She has played with Opera Lafayette, The Aulos Ensemble, Cambridge Concentus, the Classical Consort, and is the co-founder of The Soul’s Delight, a period-instrument chamber group based in New York City.  Stephanie holds degrees from Yale University, a DMA from Stony Brook University, and a Performer Diploma in historical bassoons from Indiana University’s Early Music Institute.

Aleksandr Fester currently studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland with Katharina Arfken.  Since moving to Europe last year, Alek has performed with members of the Freiburger Barockorchester and Freiburger Kammerchor, the Cologne-based ensemble Das Kleine Konzert/Hermann Max, as well as several other orchestras throughout southern Germany and Switzerland.  Before moving to Basel, he studied with Washington McClain and Indiana University and received is Bachelors from Sarah Lawrence College.



Andrew Pham is a senior at James Madison University pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Music Composition. He studies piano with Gabriel Dobner and composition with John Hilliard and Jason Haney. He spent two summers at the Brevard Music Center and Bay View Music Festival, taking piano lessons from Reiko Uchida and Lori Sims, respectively. He also performed in master classes with international artists Kent Cook, Janina Fialkowska, and Ludmila Lazar. In 2009 he received the prestigious Presser Scholarship. Andrew plans to pursue graduate studies in piano and is excited to participate in the Staunton Music Festival.


Mark Shuldiner is a 2009 graduate of Oberlin Conservatory's Historical Performance program.  He has played for master classes under the guidance of keyboardists such as Emanuel Ax and Davitt Moroney.  He has had the pleasure of playing harpsichord, celeste, and organ for staged productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea under the direction of Stephen Stubbs.  While having a rigorous performance schedule, Mark has also been apprenticing with Northfield-based harpsichord maker, Paul Irvin.  Mark is thrilled to be a part of this year's Staunton Music Festival.