Joseph Adkison, tenor

Joseph Adkison grew up in southern Georgia. He didn’t discover musical performance until after he had joined the United States Air Force. Joseph was invited to sing with a small military choir while he was in language studies at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. After discovering his love for music, Joseph studied classical voice at the Ryukyu Classical Academy in Okinawa, Japan, and has completed vocal clinics with Ward Swingle and James Bignon. Joseph has performed in several settings, from musicals (starred as Sid Sorokin in The Pajama Game) and classical (including the tenor solo work in Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem), to barbershop. Joseph even toured for a year with the USAF’s elite entertainment troupe, "Tops in blue." He moved to the area from Austin in May, 2006, and works as an Information Technology manager with the North Texas Tollway Authority. Joseph currently studies with Madeline Sanders and sings with St. Andrew United Methodist Church and the Arts District Chorale.

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Michie Akin, piano

H. Michie Akin is Organist/Choirmaster for the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Dallas Texas. He also is the founding conductor and artistic director of the Arts District Chorale in Dallas. A native Texan, he holds degrees from the School of Music, Baylor University, Waco, Texas; and the School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, awarded with distinction. He began doctoral studies in piano at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford, Connecticut in preparation for a college career in teaching. While in Hartford, he took a “temporary” position as music director at St. Bernard’s Church in Enfield, CT. This “temporary” position turned into a distinguished twenty-five year career in worship, music and the arts.

After moving back to Texas in 1985, Mr. Akin was appointed Director of Liturgical Music for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas. He also served as Assistant Director of the Office of Worship for the Diocese of Dallas and for ten years was Director of English Music for Cathedral Guadalupe in the downtown Arts District. For the cathedral, he established a not-for-profit arts organization, Cathedral Dallas, Inc., to promote artistic, cultural and educational events centrally located in the heart of the downtown Arts District. 

Originally trained as a pianist, Mr. Akin took a 16-year hiatus from playing the piano to pursue other professional interests. He returned to public performance in 1997, and in succeeding years has performed at the annual Summer Music Festival of Alta Riborgorza, Spain; in Italy at the Amalfi Coast Music Festival; and most recently, at the Seventh Festival Sauvanese in Monte San Savino. In 1999 and again in 2000, Mr. Akin was one of 100 candidates from around the world to participate in the Concours des Grands Amateurs de Piano in Paris, France. In 2004, and again in 2006, he was one of six finalists in the Rocky Mountain International Amateur Piano Competition. In the 2004 competition, he received two special awards from the panel of judges for Best Performance in Romantic and Contemporary repertoire. 

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Dwight Anderson, cello

Dwight Anderson grew up in Phoenix, Arizona where in his high school years he was a fellowship winner of The American Federation of Musicians’ Congress of Strings award. While attending The Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan he was also awarded a scholarship at The New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Lawrence Lesser and received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1981. Since then, Mr. Anderson has performed in many symphony orchestras including The Colorado Philharmonic, The Youth Orchestra of Mexico in Mexico City, The Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, The South Florida Summer Music Festival, The Utah Festival Opera, The Ashlawn Virginia Opera Festival, The Richardson Symphony Orchestra and The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

Currently, in addition to being the cellist of The Phoenix Trio Mr. Anderson is also the Principal Cellist of The Garland/Los Colinas Symphony Orchestras and The Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Anderson has performed several solos with various orchestras including the Haydn Concerto in D Major, the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 in E-flat and the Brahms Double Concerto.

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Sherna Armstrong, mezzo-soprano  

Sherna Armstrong is currently a Professor of Voice at Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. She teaches Rhetoric at Richland Community College, and has taught Rhetoric at SMU. She received degrees both in Voice Performance and Music Education from SMU, where she studied in the studio of Barbara Hill Moore. Sherna is a full-member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and maintains a private Voice and Piano studio, and conducts group Voice Classes. 

Sherna is currently directing Sleepy Hollow for Mesquite Community Theatre. Most recently Sherna performed in the role of Alice, in the Garland Civic Theater's production of Big River, and she performed in leading roles in various productions including: Three Divas, Grand Duke, Patience, and Porgy and Bess. Sherna has served as soloist, section leader, Music Director, and Stage Director.

She enjoys an extensive performance career which requires that she perform varied genres including opera, musical theater, gospel, and jazz. Her recent solo project entitled My Soul Music, reflects her unique ability to perform a diverse palette of music equally well.  

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Stacy Arnold, classical guitar

Mr. Arnold holds a Master of Music degree from Southern Methodist University where he was a scholarship student and graduate teaching assistant of Robert Guthrie. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar performance from Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN), where he studied under Dr. William Yelverton and Richard Todd. Mr. Arnold has been guided in master class instruction by David Tanenbaum, Gordon O'Brien, and Robert Guthrie (Taos, NM).

He serves as Professor of guitar at Hill College and Navarro College (Waxahachie campus), and previously Southwestern Assemblies of God University and North Central Texas College. He has also served as an alumni guitar instructor in the community education program in connection with the Meadows School of Music at Southern Methodist University. Currently he serves as Artist in Residence with Waxahachie classical (WaxaClassical.com) in Waxahachie, TX.

Mr. Arnold has been a featured performer with the West Fest Music Festival, the Arts in the Airport Series at the Nashville International Airport, the Crape Myrtle Festival in Waxahachie,Texas, and has performed for numerous venues that include the Opryland Hotel, Layland Museum, the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens, Stoneriver Mansion, The Rosemary Mansion, The Vanderbilt University Club and Thistle Hill.

Recent performances include concerts at North Central Texas College, the Waxahachie public library performance series, St. Joseph's Catholic Church, St. Athanasius Episcopal Church, Evangel University Artist Series, Fivetwelve College Tea House Concert Series, Hill College Performing Artist Series, Robson Ranch Concert Series, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Mr. Arnold's concerts showcase the guitar's heritage from Renaissance Spain through the 20^th century with an emphasis on the music of Latin America .

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Chris is organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church.

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Ruth Chang, violin

Ruth Chang is an eighth grader who is currently homeschooled. She began playing the violin at the age of four. She has been a student of Jan Mark Sloman for about a year and a half. In 2006, she won first prize in the FWYO Young Artist Competition and performed as a soloist in the Ed Landreth Hall at TCU. She also won second place in 2001 as well as 2007 in the Dallas Symphonic Festival for the Concerto Division. In the summer, she attends The Institute for Strings and the YMCA swim team. Ruth enjoys reading, figure skating, singing, dancing, and knitting. 

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Soo Hyn Cho, piano

Born in Seoul, South Korea, pianist Soo Hyun Cho began piano lessons at age 5 and first studied at the Yewon Art School. Later, she studied at the Seoul High School of Music and Art. Ms. Cho received scholarships to continue her studies at Seoul National University, where she completed her Bachelor's degree in Piano Performance. She is the prize winner of the 2005 Iowa International Piano Competition, the 2003 Elinor Bell Competition, the 1988 World Piano Competition of AMSA, the 1991 Korean Times Korea’s Youth Competition and the 1986 Chosun Newspaper Music Competition. In 2006, she also was a semi-finalist in Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition. 

She has communicated steadily with audiences by presenting solo recitals in various parts of the U.S., Seoul and London. She has also performed as soloist with the Seoul National University Orchestra as the winner of SNU Concerto Competition.

In 2001, she earned her Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, where she was a scholarship student of Menahem Pressler and Evelyne Brancart. She holds a Doctoral degree in Piano Performance at the University of Minnesota as a student of Lydia Artymiw in 2006. 

Her efforts to outreach to the community began by teaching students as a graduate teaching assistant at University of Minnesota and continued by serving as a faculty member at St. Joseph School of music in Minneapolis, Verdi Art Music Academy in New Jersey, and Manna House Music Workshop in New York. Since fall of 2006, she is a full scholarship student of Joaquin Achucarro in Artist Certificate program at Southern Methodist University.

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Joni Clay, piano

Joni Clay is a junior at Tarleton State University. She has won the Center Stage Performance scholarship award for two consecutive years and has recently given her junior solo piano recital. She won first prize in piano in June 2007 at the Lorenzo de Medici International Piano and Voice Competition in Tuscania, Italy. Joni is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, Alpha Chi, and Omicron Delta Kappa and is a student of Dr. Leslie Spotz.

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Aaron Cotton, classical guitar

Aaron Cotton, a native of Austin,Texas, was first introduced to the classical guitar at the age of 9. He started with a rudimentary study of the guitar and then changed studios to study with Carlo Pezzimenti. By the age of 12, he was already performing in public for special events and cafe concerts. Since that time, Aaron has continued to perform in various places and events on a national and international basis.

In 2004, he graduated with his B.A. in Music from Texas Woman’s University in Denton. Aaron has participated in many master classes with internationally acclaimed guitarists such as Christopher Parkening, Manuel Barrueco, Juan Carlos Laguna and Ernesto Garcia de Leon. In August 2005, he was the recipient of the 1st place award from the 2005 Eastfield College Classic Guitar Festival and Competition in Mesquite,Texas.

Performance venues have included national and international halls including the University of Evansville, Indiana, and San Fernando de los Rios Cultural Center in Madrid, Spain. In 2006, he completed a tour of Taiwan including performances at the Taiwan National University of the Arts (TNUA) and the National Tsing Hua University, in Hsinchu. He has also performed for several conferences including the SCI (Society of Composers, Inc) Region VI conference at the University of Texas in San Antonio, where he performed a new work for guitar by Andrew Walters.

In December 2005, Aaron Cotton and mentor Carlo Pezzimenti were invited to record a CD of guitar duets on the Mapleshade record label in Washington DC, which was featured on WorldSpace International Satellite Radio and on National Radio in Mexico City.

Aaron makes his home in Dallas and teaches at Texas Woman’s University in Denton and at Brookhaven College in Dallas.

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Dallas Camerata Woodwind Quintet

A sophisticated music ensemble with a unique blend of tone quality. They play musical styles from Haydn to Joplin and Sousa. "The original cast" including Jerry Brumbaugh and Kelbert Taylor performed together since 1984 in recitals, at churches, weddings, parties and at retirement homes.  

Members of current Dallas Camerata include:

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Alice Derbyshire, recorder

Alice Derbyshire is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. With a music background in piano and viola, Alice began playing recorder at age 25. In 1979, she joined the Dallas-based medieval and renaissance music band, Earthly Pleasures, which performed at festivals and in concert for 15 years. She also studied voice at TWU in Denton, and has sung with the Denton Bach Society for several years. 

Alice is currently Board President of the Texas Toot, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music, performed on period instruments. She is co-founder and owner of DFW Biodiesel, Inc., and resides in Fort Worth.

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The Dallas Doo-Wop Vocal Band (a.k.a. "The Fabulous Viagras") was organized to perform for their 40th high school reunion in 2002. These men have known each other since the second grade at Lakewood Elementary, and went on to attend J.L. Long Jr. High and Woodrow Wilson H.S. where they all performed together in various bands throughout their school years. Since their successful debut at their reunion, they have been singing together for various private parties and Woodrow Wilson functions. To learn more about the group visit their website at: www.fabulousviagras.com

Performers include: 

Jack Andrews is a graphic designer with his own advertising firm, Andrews & Associates.
Jerry Barnett is a pharmacist and the proud grandfather of two wonderful little boys, Hayden and Logan.
Ralph Hamm, when not playing golf, is CEO of Texas AGA, Insurance.
Glenn Redmond is a Construction Administrator with F&S Partners, Architects. He serves as the musical arranger for the group.

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Dallas Renaissance Ensembles

The performers in the program on November 11th are members of Dallas Recorder Society, Dallas Symphony Chorus, Dallas Bach Society, Irving Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Consort of Viols, North Dallas Trombone Choir, Courtly Love, Rio Brazos Ensemble, and Ars Nova Singers of Boulder, Colorado. They have joined forces to enjoy the music of Heinrich Schütz and his contemporaries. 

Performers include:

   continuo: Susan Poelchau, Susan Scheib
   violin: Annette Südhof
   soloists: Audrey Brown, Julie Poelchau, Howard Scheib
   recorders: Alice Derbyshire, Karen Ferrer, Laura Moynihan
   sackbuts: Gregory Barton, Harald Poelchau, Howard Scheib, and 

     Jim Smith
   violas da gamba: Judson Maynard, Hazel Mosely, Susan Poelchau,

     and Susan Scheib
   choir: Scott Bracken, Betty Plumlee, Harald Poelchau, Julie Poelchau,

     and Jack Waller

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Leslie Enlow attended Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland and St. Louis Conservatory and has studied under Aaron Shearer, Michael C. Smith and Carlo Pezzimenti. She has given concerts in the USA and Europe. Leslie enjoys playing music from the guitar repertoire that is seldom heard. She is keenly aware of the rich colors and subtle nuances of the instrument and this awareness has led to composers dedicating works in her name. She has traveled throughout the world and appreciates folk music from different cultures, an appreciation which is well suited to the guitar in that it is essentially a folk instrument. Her interest in Hispanic music led to the formation of the International Manuel Ponce Society, which promotes music from Spain and the Americas. She has recorded two compact discs, a solo recording on Rosette Records and an ensemble recording on ASV.

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Karen Ferrer, recorder

Karen Ferrer was born in Portland, Oregon but now lives in Dallas, Texas. She began piano lessons when she was seven and continued them for several years, until she was seventeen. She also played the flute in High School band. After High School, she got married and music took a back seat to family life. She started on the recorder in 1997, when her son saw a recorder in a mail-order catalogue and wanted one. She ordered one for herself and one for him. He soon got bored with it but Karen kept playing. She took lessons from Peggy Turner and has also participated in recorder workshops. She also arranges music for beginning recorder consort and for recorder trio. She is a homemaker with two sons. 

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Olivia Frederich, piano

Olivia Frederich is a freshman at Tarleton State University majoring in Piano Performance. She presently maintains a 4.0 grade point average and is a member of the Honors Degree Program. Olivia has received several scholarships including the Charles and Lucille Froh Scholarship and the Deans Academic Award. She studied for the previous five years with April Boukadoum, director of the Coppell Conservatory in Coppell, Texas. During that time, she earned several awards, including first place in the Carrollton Music Teachers Association (CMTA) Gillock Contest in 2006, and second place in the CMTA Scholarship competition in 2007.

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Charles Fry, piano

Charles Fry, a senior at Tarleton State University, performed on the Tarleton State University Fine Arts Honors Recital both in spring 2006 and 2007. He played for master classes with pianists James Dick, Davide Cabassi, and Robert McDonald. In the summer 2007, he was privileged to study in Italy and performed on a master class with Nicoletta Conti. He recently performed his junior recital at Tarleton and is now preparing his senior recital. He is a widely respected piano technician in the Waco area.

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Stephanie Hammond, piano

Stephanie Hammond is currently a junior at Tarleton State University. She earned her Associate of Arts degree in music from Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas. She won second place in piano in June 2007 at the Lorenzo de Medici International Piano and Voice Competition in Tuscania, Italy. She played violin in the Keene Camerata under the direction of Dr. Mugur Doroftei from 2005-2007, and now plays in the Tarleton State Strings under the direction of Dr. Paul Bonneau. She is presently preparing her junior recital at Tarleton.

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Linda Irwin, piano

Linda Irwin is a graduate of the University of Iowa School of Music, and has a wide range of experience with singers both as soloists and in choral groups.  She has been staff accompanist for choirs at Richland College (1974-1986), the Garland Chorale, and the University of Alaska Fine Arts Camp in Fairbanks.  Currently she is a staff accompanist for the vocal studio at Richland College and for the Arts District Chorale in downtown Dallas.  Linda teaches piano in her Lake Highlands studio, specializing in adults of all levels of ability.  She continues her own study of the piano through her work and travel as assistant to Italian pianist Fabio Bidini.  

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Sarah Jiang is 9 years old, and she is in the fourth grade at Riddle Elementary School. 

Cornell Kinderknecht, world flutes

Cornell Kinderknecht is a performer of historic and ethnic woodwind instruments from cultures around the world. He received a degree in woodwind performance from Kansas State University where he studied modern oboe, bassoon, and historic woodwinds with Sara Funkhouser. He has studied recorder in workshop and masterclass settings with some of the finest recorder teachers and performers in the world. Cornell is a member of The Wireless Consort Recorder Quartet and the Heart of the Cedar Native American Flute Circle.  Along with a regular performance schedule, he also teaches at workshops and has a studio of private flute students.

Some of the ethnic flutes that Cornell performs on are Native American flute, Bansuri flute from India, bamboo flutes, and ocarinas. In 2005, Cornell released a CD entitled Returning Home of original music for flutes from around the world. In 2006, he was a finalist for "Musician of the Year" at the Texas Music Awards.  

The group of Cornell with Cynthia Stuart and Marsha Webb will be playing their own compositions on November 4th.

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Doohi Lee began the piano at age 13 and studied with Paul Kueter, continuing with Harriet Goler at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Piano Performance. He changed his major field of study to Biomedical Engineering at the Case School of Engineering in Cleveland, while continuing his piano studies with William Appling and Andrius Kuprevicius. During the summer of 1986, he was accepted to the Fontainbleau School of Music in France, where he studied piano with Gaby Casadesus and music analysis with Narcis Bonet, as protégé of Nadia Boulanger. Lee has also coached with Carolle Anne Mochernuk, Samuel Sander, Emilio del Rosario, Jose Fegahli, and Tamas Ungar. 

As piano soloist, Lee performed with the Redford Civic Symphony Orchestra in Michigan in two separate occasions, performing the Piano Concerto Nos. 19 and 20 by Mozart. He has also presented solo recitals in Lexington, Richmond, Cleveland, Detroit, Antwerp, Montreal, and Buenos Aires. In June of 1999 and 2000, he was invited to participate in the First and Second Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs at Fort Worth, Texas. In August 2001, as part of Altamura Music Festival on the Greene (Catskills, New York), Lee performed and recorded the Piano Concerto No. 20 (K466) by Mozart with the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau, Romania, Karel Mark Chichon conducting.

A devoted chamber musician, Lee has performed with the members of The Cleveland Orchestra (June 1989, for the benefit of The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus), The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Chamber Ensemble, and the Montreal Symphony. In June of 1991, he was invited to perform the “Trout” Piano Quintet by Schubert with The Lafayette String Quartet for the benefit of The Center for Creative Studies in Detroit. In 2003, Lee founded The Phoenix Trio, with Nancy Messuri (Violin) and Dwight Anderson (Cello), and presented many concerts in the greater Dallas area.

Also a Conductor, Lee began conducting in college with the Case Men’s Glee Club as Interim Conductor. He studied orchestral conducting with David Daniels, Michael Charry, David Delta Gier, and Gustav Meier. He was Apprentice Conductor under David Daniels, and made his orchestral conducting debut in 1994 with The Pontiac-Oakland Symphony in Michigan, directing the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Liszt and the Violin Concerto by Mendelssohn. At the Altamura Music Festival, Lee also conducted the State Philharmonic Orchestra of Bacau, Romania, in a performance of the Overture to “Die Fledermaus” by R. Strauss and the Symphony No. 7 (1st Movement) by Beethoven. 

As a physician, Lee is a Surgical Radiologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries, chronic soft tissue pain, diabetic neuropathy, and vein diseases. He currently practices in Plano, Texas.

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Lois Lee, violin

Lois Lee has been playing violin for ten years. She attended the Heifetz International Summer Music Camp on a full scholarship. She was also awarded the Bayard H. Friedman Award, in which she received a thousand dollar scholarship to further enhance her violin career. As a soloist, she has performed with the Meadows Symphony as an award of Grand Prize of 2007 Dallas Symphonic Festival and the FWYO at the Bass Hall. She has also won first place at 2007 All-State Orchestra, 2006 Dallas Symphony Festival Senior Concerto Division, along with the 2004 Dallas Symphony Festival Junior Division, 2005 North Texas Young Artist Competition and the FWYO Young Artist Competition. As an orchestral player, she has been the concertmistress of the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, All-Region Orchestra, and Paschal High School Orchestra, during all of her high school years. She is a junior at the Paschal High School and the member of National Honor Society. She will compete for the National Merit Finalist next year.

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Liptonshire Chamber Players

The Liptonshire Chamber Players, composed of both amateur and professional musicians, formed in 1991 with a nucleus of players from Lake Highlands who started meeting because of longtime friendships through music. As the group evolved, it solidified into a woodwind quintet with piano and has enjoyed performing most of the standard repertoire for that instrumentation. The woodwind players have been or currently are members of various symphony orchestras in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and the pianist is a staff accompanist at Richland College and with the Arts District Chorale in downtown Dallas.

Originally because of necessity, and later because of interest, the Liptonshire players also have presented chamber music with smaller combinations of members of the group. Performing for this concert will be Woody Rowand, Oboe and English Horn; Carol St. George, Soprano and Linda Irwin, Piano.

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Laura Liu, violin

Laura Liu is 15 years old and attends Spring Creek Academy , a school for the talented and gifted. She began her study of violin at the age of 7, and is a student of Jan Mark Sloman. Laura was the Grand Prize winner in the concerto division of the Dallas Symphonic Festival in 2006 and performed as a soloist with the Meadows Symphony Orchestra. She was broadcasted on the National Public Radio show ¡°From the Top" in the fall of 2006. Laura was also the 2nd place winner of the Hubbard Chamber Music Young Artists Competition in 2007. She was the 1st place winner in the sonata division of the Dallas Symphonic Festival in 2007 as well. She also won a distinguished award for the 2008 Juanita Miller Competition. Laura was a semi-finalist in the ASTA (American String Teacher Association) in 2006 as well as the 1^st place division winner in the senior strings division of MTNA (Music Teacher National Association) in 2008. Laura plans on participating in the MTNA Nationals Competition in Denver, Colorado in March of 2008. She has regularly participated in TIFS (The Institute for Strings), a summer program run by her violin teacher. Laura attended the Heifetz International Music Institute in New Hampshire for 2 years, another summer program for dedicated musicians. She has played in a master class for Ida Kavafian, professor at the Curtis University in Philadelphia, and Ani Kavafian, professor at the "Yale University in "New Haven, CT. Laura recently won the National Soloist Award at the 2007 Texas Bluebonnet Festival. She was also invited to perform as the "Rising Star" opening artist at the Basically Beethoven Festival in the summer of 2007 Laura plans on attending the Meadowmount School of Music during the summer of 2008. Aside from her violin studies, Laura enjoys listening to indie and alternative music, playing sports, spending time with her friends, dancing, playing guitar, and art. She was enrolled in the French Club and Drill Team during 2006-2007 at Jasper High School.

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Nancy Messuri, violin

After receiving her Master of Music from Arizona State University, Ms. Messuri joined the faculty of The Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin teaching violin, viola and chamber music. While in Wisconsin, she performed often as a soloist and chamber musician and was a featured artist on Wisconsin Public Radio. She was Concertmaster and Soloist for both The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and The Fox Valley Symphony. After moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin she performed as first violinist with The Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, The Milwaukee Opera Orchestra, The Bel Canto Chorus Orchestra, The Woodstock Mozart Festival Orchestra, and performed frequently with The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Messuri is presently the Associate Concertmaster of The Richardson Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of The Phoenix Trio.  She is a first violinist with The Texas Chamber Orchestra, The Wichita Falls Symphony, The Lewisville Lake Symphony, and has also performed with The Fort Worth Symphony, The Dallas Opera Orchestra, The Dallas Summer Musicals, The Oklahoma City Philharmonic, The East Texas Symphony, and The Amarillo Symphony.  She has a private teaching studio and is active as an adjudicator for area festivals and competitions.

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North Dallas Trombone Choir

Formed in 1994, The North Dallas Trombone Choir (NDTC) is a 13-piece all volunteer group who shares a love of playing trombone and performing good music. The NDTC rehearses weekly and performs regularly. Music styles include gospel, classical, jazz & pop, and performance venues include churches, weddings, concert halls, gazebos, and the ever-popular Great American Mall. The group is led by Howard Scheib.

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Fredrica Phillips, piano  

A native of Rochester, New York, Fredrica Phillips began her piano studies at the age of 2½ with her mother, Evelyn Prior, in the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department. Ms. Phillips went on to receive both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Eastman School of Music. Her principal teachers have included Frank Glazer at the Eastman School, and Ozan Marsh, and Patricia Benkman Marsh at the Chautauqua Summer Music School. She has also coached with Alfred Mouledous and John Perry. At the Eastman School, Ms. Phillips was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, and she was a winner of Eastman’s concerto competition. As the winner of the 1975 Young Artists in Recital Piano Competition, she was heard in recital at Carnegie Recital Hall. She has given recitals and performed concertos with orchestras in Rochester, New York City, Dallas , Atlanta, Michigan, Chicago, and other cities. She has also given numerous chamber music performances. 

In December, 2000, she performed the Beethoven “Emperor” Concerto with the SMU Meadows Symphony Orchestra, and in 2001-02, she gave solo recitals at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls and at the Dallas Public Library.  

Ms. Phillips maintains a private piano studio in Plano, Texas and is an active member of the Plano Music Teachers Association, the Dallas Music Teachers Association, the Music Teachers National Association, and the National Guild of Piano Teachers. Her students have won prizes in the Dallas Solo Piano Contest, Dallas Symphonic Festival, the PMTA Trophy Competition in Plano and the TMTA Piano Performance Contests. Ms. Phillips lives in Plano with her husband, Paul, and her children, Kathryn and David.  

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The Phoenix Trio 

The Phoenix Trio was founded in 2003 as a continuation of The Phoenix Ensemble, which was founded in New York by Doohi Lee. Based on the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes, The Phoenix Trio embodies the ideals of perpetuity of fine music, in that each performance of great music symbolized a rebirth and continuity of musical thoughts that thread through the centuries. 

Since its inception, The Phoenix Trio performed at The North Central Texas College (Gainesville, Texas) in the works of Trio in E-minor, Opus 90 (“Dumky”) by Dvorak and Trio in C-minor (Op. 1, #3) by Beethoven on October, 2003. At the studios of Quin Matthews Film, on June 2004, The Phoenix Trio also gave a performance of the Trio in E-minor by Shastokovich and Trio in B-flat major by Schubert.

Through exploration and performances of both great as well as less familiar works in the chamber music repertoire, The Phoenix Trio aspires to become an integral part of the music community in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Members of the trio include Nancy Messuri, violin, Dwight Anderson, cello and Doohi Lee, piano.

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Suzanne Platt, piano

Suzanne Platt is in her freshman year at Tarleton State University where she is a member of the Marching Band and Steel Drums.  She maintains better than a 3.0 GPA and during her senior year in high school she performed at the state level of Solo and Ensemble.

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Rio Brazos Ensemble, recorders

The members of the Rio Brazos Ensemble first played together when Alice Derbyshire arranged for ONI, a mandolin orchestra from the Netherlands, to do a series of concerts in Texas in the spring of 2004. For one of the songs on their program ONI needed three recorder players. Peggy Turner, Alice Derbyshire and Karen Ferrer discovered then that they played well together. 

In 2005, they were invited to play a series of concerts with ONI in the Netherlands during June, 2006. It was while they were preparing for their trip to the Netherlands that they decided that they would like to continue playing together after the trip as the Rio Brazos Ensemble.

Leslie Enlow, guitar, will join them on several selections for this concert.

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Woody Rowand, oboe

Woody Rowand is the principal oboist with the Allen Philharmonic and performs regularly with the Liptonshire Chamber Players. He moved to the Dallas area in 1986 after earning a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida, where he also played in the orchestra and studied oboe.

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Jan Sloman, violin

Jan Mark Sloman is the Associate Principal Concertmaster for the Dallas Symphony. He will present some of his outstanding students.

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Carol St. George, soprano

Carol St. George is a writer and partner with her husband Cap Pannell in the graphic design firm of Pannell St. George. She is a graduate of the University of North Texas where she studied voice as a second minor. She is a former student of Anne Jackson and is a current student of Nancy Elledge. She is choir soloist at Grace United Methodist Church.

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Hye-Young Song, piano

Pianist Hye-Young Song, First Prize winner of The Janice K. Hodges Piano Competition, is an accomplished pianist who has appeared throughout the United States and Korea. After she got her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Ewha Woman’s University with highest honors in performance, Ms. Song moved to the United States to further her piano studies. She received an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance from Texas Christian University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin where she served as a Teaching Assistant.

Dr. Song received the top prizes in competitions including the Janice K. Hodges Contemporary Piano Competition, the Sydney Wright Accompanying Competition, International Chopin Piano Competition in Corpus Christi and Ewha University Concerto Competition. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has studied or been coached with renowned artists and pedagogues, including Gregory Allen, Elliot Antokoletz, Jose Mendez, Sophia Gilmson, Harold Martina, Tamas Ungar, Mijae Youn, Anne Schein, Aldo Parisot, Miyoko Lotto, Philippe Bianconi, Benedetto Lupo, Krassimira Jordan, Jose Fegahli, Robert Blocker and Richard Cass. 

Dr. Song is also a deeply dedicated teacher. She previously served as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin as well as piano faculty at the Central Texas College, University of Texas Piano Project, and the Orpheus Academy of Music. In 2005, Ms. Song received the Best Teaching Assistant Award at University of Texas for superior teaching as recognized by both students and professors. Her various musical interests include conducting, church music, ballet music, twentieth century music, women composers in music as well as solo and chamber music. She is an active member of Music Teachers National Association, Texas Music Teachers Association and Dallas Music Teachers Association. 

Dr. Song resides in Frisco Texas, with her husband. Currently, she is on faculty at North Central Texas College and Weatherford College.

Leslie Spotz, piano

Pianist Leslie Spotz enjoys an international solo career that has included performances in Moscow at the Tchaikovsky Hall of Moscow University, the South Bank Center of London, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the famed Academy of Music in Philadelphia, her highly acclaimed tours of Germany and most recently her performance at the inaugural opening of Philadelphia’s new performance venue, the Kimmel Center. She presently heads the piano faculty at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.

Hailed by the prestigious Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich, Spotz’ Beethoven was described thus: “Stripped of veneer, revealing all the edges and corners, Spotz earnestly confronted Beethoven’s tempi and dynamic indications, leaving mediocrity and shallow beauty behind and bringing out truth. In all, a concert of the highest critical standard, further proof of the high carat quality of this series.”

Spotz has performed extensively throughout the U.S. from coast to coast. Her appearances as soloist include the Mozart Society of Philadelphia, South Jersey Symphony, Curtis Symphony, Kinhaven Symphony in Vermont, the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra in North Carolina, the Old York Road Symphony in Abington, PA, and the Clear Lake Symphony in Texas. Concert highlights include performances of twenty Beethoven Sonatas at Rutgers University, and her recitals for the Bach Festival of Philadelphia.

Receiving a full scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music, Dr. Spotz studied with the legendary, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, who was noted for his long association with Pablo Casals. She completed her doctorate at Rutgers University in 2002. After her debut at the age of twelve at Jones Hall in Houston, Texas, she continued her studies at the North Carolina School of the Arts with pianist Irwin Freundlich and Evelyn Swarthout of American University. 

The winner of numerous honors, Spotz was finalist in the National Federation of Music Clubs Competition, and received special recognition in the performance of chamber music from Performers of Connecticut, Inc. She has collaborated with violinists, Maria Bachmann, Joseph Genualdi, and Mark Steinberg; Mark Morton, principal bass of Columbus Symphony; with David Wetherill, co-principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Frank Kaderabek, former principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Joseph Depasquale, former principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Among the notable international singers for whom Spotz has accompanied are sopranos Julianne Baird, Gwendolyn Bradley, Judith Lovat and Donna Connolly, and tenors Martin Dillon and Robert Guarino. Spotz’ work as a collaborative pianist includes her recent performances with Helix!, the new music ensemble of Rutgers University. 

An active proponent of music by women, her 1999 solo CD for Leonore Records features music of women composers. Her discography includes her performance on “Fantasias,” the critically acclaimed CD by flutist, Adeline Tomasone.

"Miss Spotz commands the resonant sound and the elegant gesture… playing of great color, boldness, and suavity… most engaging…"
Daniel Webster, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Pianist Leslie Spotz proved to be a sympathetic partner, with noteworthy skills as a colorist delineating the prickly harmonies of Ginastera's 'Zamba.' "
Charles McCardell, The Washington Post

"Highest Musical Demands Perfectly Realized. Pianist, Leslie Spotz, enraptured the audience with her technically superlative performance...impeccable technique with convincingly executed passages of feeling, and virtuoso crescendi which drew Bravos....thrilling like champagne...the Town Hall was filled for the very young American... a delicate touch and sensitive drawing of musical lines into an impressionistically tinged image in sound...elegant arpeggi and thundering double octaves."
Arno Preiser, Münchner Merkur

"In Le Tombeau Leslie Spotz excelled with flawless technique and sensitive coloring. Especially gentle she played the Menuet, especially thrilling the Toccata. There was justified applause for the sympathetic artist who had carried the audience off into a highly sophisticated world of music... the encore showed once more, how broad the musical world of Leslie Spotz is."
Reinhold Tietz, Neuer Tag – Bavaria 

"...impassioned, fluent piano playing of pianist Leslie Spotz..."
Jewish Exponent

"The extraordinary talent of pianist, Leslie Spotz, brought special brilliance to a fine orchestral program... Miss Spotz dazzled an audience that nearly filled the hall with some simply incredible playing...Her work displayed a grasp of piano technique and overall musicianship very rarely found, and the performance was so spectacular it almost eclipsed the rest of the program.... electrifying... the breath-taking finale brought the audience to its feet for a five-minute ovation, mostly for Miss Spotz."
Winston-Salem Sentinel

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Cynthia Stuart, piano

Cynthia Stuart holds a Bachelor of Piano Pedagogy degree from Baylor University and has had a successful home studio for over twenty years. She is past president of the Greater Dallas Group Music Teachers Association and a member of the Texas Music Teachers Association. Cynthia is also a specialist in Orff Schulwerk, and has taught Orff music classes for children ages 3 – 12 in private Montessori schools in Dallas and the surrounding area. She is past president for the local North Texas Orff chapter and a member of the National American Orff Society Association. As an accomplished pianist and professional accompanist, Cynthia has been the choir accompanist for the First Unitarian Church of Dallas for seventeen years. She is also a composer with thirty vocal/piano compositions to her credit.

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Peggy Turner, recorder

Peggy Turner grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin and received a BA-Music Degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and an Education Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She and her husband moved to Texas in 1981 and raised their family there. Peggy has been performing in various early music ensembles since 1970. In 1978 she became interested in Celtic music and studied Celtic Flute with Noel Rice in Chicago. She performed with two separate Celtic bands before she and her husband helped form the quartet they perform with now, Threadneedle Street, in 1992. She and her husband created and performed educational music programs for children all over the United States until 2001, when she took a full time job as a music teacher. She has continued to perform through the years both as a member of her Celtic Band and as a free-lance musician. After having known Alice Derbyshire and Karen Ferrer for several years through shared interest in the recorder, Peggy was delighted to have the opportunity to form an ensemble with them and make the association into a performing group. Peggy enjoys teaching and performing music and above all, loves to share her music with others. 

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Marsha Webb, dulcimer/piano  

Marsha Webb began her professional career in Fort Worth. She attended the University of North Texas where she studied Piano Performance and Music Composition. She has since written music in a variety of genres for piano, voice, dulcimer, flute, cello, string trio, and more. In recent years she has been focusing on a style which incorporates her classical roots with jazz and folk.  

She has garnered wide-spread praise as an accomplished performer on the piano, guitar, dulcimer, and voice. She is a two-time finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival in the New Folk Songwriting contest. She has performed at numerous festivals, universities and coffeehouses from coast to coast.  

An educator also, Marsha is a Wolftrap Teaching Artist and has been a Young Audiences music artist for the past five years. She has worked with people of all ages from pre-school to seniors. Additionally she has also worked as an Artist-in-the-Schools in Washington State and Montana.  

Marsha has four recordings to her credit: The Wild Places (1991) - solo piano with one vocal number; Seasons (1993), folk songs with guitar, piano, dulcimer, cello, and vocals; Winding Roads (1996), original solo piano and piano with cello, and most recently Whiterock (2001) original solo piano music inspired by natural places Marsha has visited. 

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Kevin Woller, piano 

Kevin Woller is a senior at Tarleton State University , where he is one of the Presidential Honors Award recipients, a full academic scholarship.  He is an engineering major, who will minor in music.  He has performed for the Tarleton Piano Festival and the Robert McDonald master class and in Tuscania, Italy for Nicoletta Conti.

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Andrew Wright is an Artistic Merit Scholar at Southern Methodist
University, where he also holds a graduate assistantship. He performs as a solo recitalist, a chamber musician, and a concerto soloist, and more than a dozen of his performances in all three capacities have been recorded and broadcast on television and radio. Critics have praised his "uncommon dramatic intensity" and written: "we were in the presence of a magnificent pianist, as musician and as performer."A recent graduate of Wichita State University (where he was the first Konrad Wolff-Ilse Bing Endowed Scholar), Andrew won the concerto competition twice, and performed on the faculty recital series. He was founder and president of the Zeitgeist Consort, a new music group, and he likes to explore pieces by living composers. 

In 2005 he performed in a concert that was part of George Crumb's 75th birthday tour, and to his credit are premieres of a piece for piano solo and orchestral accompaniment by Jason Moore (broadcast on television) and a piano quintet by John Ferritto, with La Catrina string quartet (broadcast by NPR affiliates). An avid chamber music player, three of his ensembles (Trio 21, Sundance Piano Trio, Concertino
Piano Trio) have won prizes in chamber music competitions, and he has
won a number of awards himself as a piano soloist.