Thursday, June 2, 2022

Performer Bios for Uplifting Ukraine Concerts

We look forward to sharing this special program with you in support of Ukraine!

June 3 - Libby Gardner Concert Hall, SLC, UT - 7:30pm

June 4 - Waterford School Concert Hall, Sandy, UT - 7:30pm

Read on to learn about the fabulous performers who have generously shared their time and their music. You are in for a real treat!

DONNA STOERING, PIANO

Donna Stoering is an award-winning recording artist, concert pianist, educator, composer, vocal soloist, TEDx presenter, keynote speaker, radio and television host/producer, and social entrepreneur. Founder of the award-winning nonprofit ListenForLife.org and a protégé of the late Sir Georg Solti, she has been the subject of special one-hour programs on the BBC, Hong Kong Radio & TV, NPR and PBS stations, and the national networks of many other countries. While a Marshall Scholar in the UK, Donna was appointed head of the piano department at the University of York, and later served as Artist in Residence at Oxford University. Alongside this work, she continued to perform solo and chamber music recitals and piano concerti with orchestras, throughout all of Europe, North and South America, Philippines, India, China, Taiwan, Bosnia, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Georgia. She continues to enjoy performing as a soloist and collaborative pianist with instrumentalists and major opera stars of La Scala, Munich Opera, the Royal Opera, the Bolshoi, and the Met. Donna has given numerous premieres of both piano and vocal works, she has adjudicated for national and international competitions, and she enjoys private teaching, performance coaching, and giving masterclasses or pedagogy workshops at universities, music conservatories, and local Piano Teachers’ Associations. She has created acclaimed radio, television, and media content about music and musicians from all cultures of the globe, and has won multiple awards for her Travels With Music series, shown on the BBC and now online (TravelsWithMusic.com). In response to the pandemic, Donna recently launched the Music for Medicine program within Listen For Life (ListenForLife.org/MFM). Donna Stoering and her husband Andy Anderson moved to Utah in 2021 and she is extremely grateful for the warm community of musicians, music listeners, and friends that they have already encountered here in their new "forever" home! http://www.DonnaStoering.com

LUCA DE LA FLORIN - OBOE

Luca de la Florin is an active freelance oboist in Salt Lake City, Utah and is on faculty with Utah Valley University and Snow College. Florin has performed with orchestras across the United States including the Utah, Detroit, and Toledo Symphonies, Ogden Chamber Orchestra, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Battle Creek, Jackson, and Timpanogos Symphonies, and he holds principal positions with Salt Lake Sinfonia and The Missouri Symphony. Florin has performed under the baton of many leading conductors including JoAnn Falletta, Courtney Lewis, Leonard Slatkin, Thierry Fischer, Rossen Millanov, Hans Graf, Donato Cabrera, and many more. In addition to orchestral playing, Florin is an active chamber musician appearing with Aspen Winds, NOVA Chamber Music Series, and Utah Chamber Artists. He has appeared as soloist with the Utah Philharmonia, Sewanee Festival Orchestra, Albion Symphony Orchestra, Utah Wind Symphony, and the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra. Florin has recorded multiple times with the Naxos and Bridge labels. http://www.aspenwinds.org/luca

JESSICA WILEY, BASSOON

Jessica Wiley is passionate about community outreach through music, and has performed in small assorted instrumental groups in venues varying from school gyms to the Chateau Brandýs nad Labem in the Czech Republic. With a love for creating intimate connections with a wide range of audiences, she has created concerts ranging in repertoire from Ravel's Mother Goose Suite to Mozart’s B-flat Concerto for Bassoon. Known for instilling passion for bassoon and a love of learning in her students, Wiley runs a bassoon studio in Salt Lake City, is Adjunct Professor of Bassoon at Snow College, and serves in the Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City. As a soloist, Wiley has won several competitions including the Utah Valley University, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Utah concerto competitions. She currently serves as Principal Bassoon of the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra and as the primary substitute bassoonist for the Ballet West Orchestra. She received her undergraduate degree studying with Brian Hicks at Utah Valley University, where she graduated Cum Laude, her Master of Music degree from the University of Utah under Lori Wike, a Performance Studies Certificate from Manhattan School of Music with tutelage from Dr. Frank Morelli, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Utah under Dr. Jennifer Rhodes. https://www.wileybassoon.com/

PHILIP BREZINA, VIOLIN

Philip Brezina is an amazingly versatile violinist performing internationally in venues from classical concert halls to alt music clubs. From Kennedy Center to the 9:30 Club, Philip expresses his love for classical, bluegrass, and world music in such varied ensembles as Musical Arts Quintet, Santa Cruz Chamber Players, one found sound, and The Brothers Comatose. His television credits include the VH1 Storytellers series. Having performed for a time with the Sinfonia Galicia (Spain), Philip currently serves as principle second in the San José Chamber Orchestra. He earned his Master of Music degree at the San Francisco Conservatory with Ian Swensen and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Maryland with David Salness. A chamber musician at heart, Philip looks for inspiration in all musical settings and around campfires as he believes these experiences are essential to understanding music beyond the practice room. Philip and his young family now live in a coastal town of Mexico, but he happened to be in Utah this weekend, while on tour performing with his cross-cultural band, The Brothers Comatose! https://www.thebrotherscomatose.com/ You can catch their fun gypsy flair at the Ogden Music Festival on June 4th and 5th. www.philipbrezina.com

DR. LAUREN POSEY, CELLO

Dr. Lauren Posey is the Faculty and Artistic Director for the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, a member of the Rosco String Quartet and Ballet West Orchestra in Salt Lake City, UT, and she also directs a thriving private cello studio and teaches at Westminster College. Posey completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Colin Carr in 2017. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California, as a student of Alexander Suleiman, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Utah, where she studied with John Eckstein and Elliott Cheney. In 2012, she won the T. Gordon Parks Memorial Collegiate Concerto Competition and was a quarterfinalist in the 2016 and 2017 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with Trio Mondial. In her free time, Lauren enjoys spending time with her five dogs Riggins, Taylor, Lyla, Garrity, and Kora. Posey’s cello was made in 2006 by local SLC maker Carrie Scoggins. http://www.laurenposey.com/

CAMILLE COLE, VIOLA

Camille Cole is 18 years old and recently graduated with high honors from Alta High School in Sandy, Utah. She has achieved fluency in Mandarin Chinese through her participation in the Dual Language Immersion program since the first grade. Camille is the principal violist and a full scholarship student in the Conservatory at the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City. She studies viola virtually with Professor Ivo van der Werff of Rice University, where she will begin her university studies in the fall. Camille was recently selected to join the 2022 National Youth Orchestra of the United States and will perform with them in Carnegie Hall before embarking on a European tour next month. Prior to studying viola, Camille was an accomplished violinist and was a student of Kathryn Eberle, the Associate Concertmaster of the Utah Symphony and Concertmaster of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Camille is a former student of Melissa Draper and has participated in summer music festivals and masterclasses across the country with Midori, Danielle Belen, Simon James, Ian Swensen, Dimitri Murrath, Carolyn Huebl, Alan de Veritch, and Vesna Gruppman. Camille loves music of all kinds and, in addition to the viola, enjoys playing the piano and studying voice.

We especially want to thank our two wonderful Ukrainian friends for performing a traditional Ukrainian song to open each concert:

Friday, June 3 - Anya Beus 

Saturday, June 4 - Yulia Hiekel

Join us for this special event!

No comments:

Post a Comment