Hot Springs Music Festival Mentors

Our Mentors

WESLEY BALDWIN (violoncello <wbaldwin@utk.edu>) performs throughout the United States and Europe as cello soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist with orchestra he has appeared with orchestras including the Laredo Philharmonic, the Oregon Mozart Players, the Symphony of the Mountains, the Oak Ridge Symphony, and the Wintergreen and Hot Springs Festival Orchestras. Upcoming concerto performances include the Saint Saens Concerto with the Wintergreen Festival Orchestra and conductor Adrian McDonnell, and the North American premiere of the Jacob ter Veldhuis Rainbow Concerto in November with the Bryan Symphony and Dan Allcott. He has performed chamber music at the Aspen, Cazenovia, Ojai, Sandpoint, Mainly Mozart, May in Miami, Skaneateles, and Subtropics Music Festivals, and internationally in Italy, France, Monte Carlo, Spain, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and Costa Rica. Wesley has recorded CDs for on the Naxos, Zyode, and Centaur labels. Formerly the founding cellist of the Plymouth String Quartet, Wesley is now cellist of the James Piano Quartet, the resident ensemble at Sweet Briar College, with whom he performs throughout the United States. Dr. Baldwin serves as associate professor of cello at the University of Tennessee. In the summers he performs and teaches at the Hot Springs Music Festival, the Michigan City Chamber Music Festival, and at the Wintergreen Festival, where he serves as principal cellist and faculty member of the Wintergreen Academy. Wesley Baldwin is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hot Springs Music Festival

SAMUEL COMPTON (horn <samcompton@gmail.com>) has been principal horn of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra since 1998. He has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Opera, the Colorado Music Festival, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Chamber Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney Australia.Mr. Compton has performed as soloist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Washington Chamber Symphony. He earned degrees from Temple University and Tennessee Technological University, and studied with Randall Gardner, Brice Andrus, Peter Landgren, Sylvia Alimena and Arthur T. LaBar. Prior to Mr. Compton's orchestral career he was a member of the United States Air Force Band in Washington D.C.. Among his many performances with the Air Force Band was the HBO presentation of President Bill Clinton's inauguration. Samuel lives in Memphis with his wife Jenny and two sons Zephyr and Tasman.

TODD CRANSON (tuba/ensembles coordinator <Todd@TubaNewsl.com>) is Director of the University of Illinois at Springfield Band and Chamber Orchestra, and works in a number of other capacities to help build UIS' young music department. In addition to these duties, Todd is Band Master of the 10th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry Band, a civil war period brass band. Todd Cranson received his bachelor of music and bachelor of music education degrees with honors in 1997 from Louisiana State University where he studied tuba with Larry Campbell. In 1999 he received his master of music degree in instrumental conducting from the University of Arkansas and was a tuba student of Kabin Thomas. In 2005, he received his Post Graduate Diploma with distinction in performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England where he was a student of Roger Bobo and James Gourlay. From 1999 to 2004 Todd worked as Director of Bands at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, LA. Todd has participated in a number of music festivals and courses. He was selected to perform in Italy with the Rome Festival Orchestra and participated in courses held in Kalavrita, Greece and Le Domaine Forget, in Quebec, Canada. Todd also works as Co-Editor of the internationally successful web magazine, TubaNews.com. Mr. Cranson was previously an apprentice at the Hot Springs Music Festival, and the subject of the award-winning documentary, The Sound of Dreams. He is married to tuba player Rose Schweikhart.

DELEEN DAVIDSON (voice <deleendavidson@yahoo.com>), a native New Orleanean, performs throughout the United States, with an emphasis on maintaining her Southern artistic roots. She made her professional opera debut with the Gulf Coast Opera as Zerlina in Pergolesi’s La Serva Padrona, followed by mainstage roles with the New Orleans Opera as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. Her New York debut followed in 2005, when she sang Susanna in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro with Martina Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance series. Passionately devoted to bringing opera to everyone, Ms. Davidson has traveled the South with the Metropelican Opera Young Audience’s production of Opera a la Carte, and with the new Death by Opera, which she co-wrote and directed. She regularly “crosses over” into musical theatre territory as well, singing featured parts in Pippin, Barnum, Evita, Scrooge, Man of La Mancha and, most recently, the role of Irene Molloy in Le Petit Theatre’s production of Hello, Dolly! in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Recipient of a Fulbright Grant to pursue advanced music study at the Feldkirch Musik Hochschule in Germany, Ms. Davidson followed her studies there with an internship at the Karlsruhe Opera House. She also holds an honors degree in history, music, fine arts and German from the University of New Orleans, and received specialty voice coaching from Dr. Lori Bade at Louisiana State University and from Ruth Falcon in New York City. Bringing unusual perspective to her music is the fact that Ms. Davidson also is a talented visual artist. Trained in Europe on a Rotary Foundation Scholarship, she is a licensed interior decorator. Ms. Davidson relocated to Hot Springs, Arkansas after Hurricane Katrina rearranged her life. She sang the lead role of the Princess in the Hot Springs Music Festival’s world premiere live performance of Cole Porter’s final musical, Aladdin, and returned the following season as Yum-Yum in The Mikado. She also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Garvan Woodland Gardens and holds a faculty position at National Park Community College. In October 2007, Ms. Davidson became the founding director of “The Muses,” a non-profit organization that offers a regular series of concerts, art shows, creativity seminars and other projects to further augment the cultural life of Hot Springs. Deleen Davidson’s compact disc recordings, Sapphire Sky and Deep Peace, along with more information about her work, are available through her website: www.deleendavidson.com.

MICHAEL GURT (collaborative piano <mugurt@lsu.edu>) is Paula Garvey Manship Distinguished Professor of Piano at Louisiana State University. Professor Gurt is also the head of the piano department at the Sewanee Summer Music Center. He has served as Piano Chair of the Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and he has taught at two summer music seminars held at Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan. Professor Gurt holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School. In 1982 he won First Prize in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, and he was also a prize winner in international competitions held in Pretoria, South Africa, and Sydney, Australia. Prof. Gurt has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Capetown Symphony, the China National Symphony Orchestra, and the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in Durban, South Africa. He has made solo appearances in Alice Tully Hall in New York, Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles, Orchestra Hall in Detroit, City Hall in Hong Kong, the Victorian Arts Center in Melbourne, Australia, Baxter Hall in Capetown, South Africa, and the Attaturk Cultural Center in Istanbul, Turkey. Gurt has collaborated with the Takacs String Quartet, and he recently performed at the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, Queensland. He has served on the juries of both the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition and the New Orleans International Piano Competition, and he has recorded on the Naxos, Centaur, and Redwood labels.

JARED HAUSER (oboe <Jared.Hauser@Vanderbilt.edu>) Described as a “sensitive, elegant soloist” with a “subtle refined style” by the Gramaphone Magazine, and as a “meditative and thoughtful” player by the American Record Guide, Jared Hauser has performed internationally as soloist and chamber musician. Recently appointed to the faculty of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, he previously served as principal oboist of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and as artist faculty at the Lynn Conservatory of Music. Jared has appeared as soloist with such diverse groups as the Bournemouth Symphonette, Bella Baroque, the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra of Northern New York among others. Jared’s other orchestral credits include appearances as guest principal with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra Camerata Ducale (Turin, Italy); as well as performing with the Florida Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, and the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra. A recipient of numerous awards, Jared has received top prizes at the 2001 Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition and the 2000 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Bradlin Competition. His performances have been broadcast on NPR’s “Performance Today”, CBC/Radio Canada and BBC Radio 3, and has recorded for Koch International, Naxos, AUR and received critical acclaim for his recordings with Blue Griffin Records. Each summer, In addition to the Hot Springs Music Festival, Jared performs and instructs the Interlochen Center for the Arts. Jared holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, Rice University and University of Michigan, where his principal teachers were James Caldwell, Alex Klein, Robert Atherholt, Dan Stolper, and Harry Sargous.

ANDREW IRVIN (violin <drewirvin@gmail.com>) has a broad range of experience in concert and recital across America and in Europe. Solo appearances include works by Paganini, Bruch, Vivaldi, Korngold, Bach, Mozart, and Dvorak. This upcoming season concerto appearances include performances of Ravel's Tzigane, Beethoven's Triple Concerto and Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy. Mr. Irvin has been heard in recital in New York, North Carolina, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, California, Texas, & Arizona. He can be heard in recording on the Naxos label. In the Rochester, New York based orchestra "Air de Cour" he served as concertmaster, leader, and soloist. His ensembles have received grants from New York's State Legislature, and The New York Council for the Arts. Highlights of his chamber music career include performances with the Ying Quartet, the Audubon Quartet, and New York City premiere of composer Steve Mackey's Troubadour Songs. Mr. Irvin's European Debut was made at the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele where he was principal violin in the festival orchestra and was featured on the chamber concert series. Before moving to Arkansas, he was Principal Violin in the Arizona Opera Orchestra. Currently, Mr. Irvin is living in Little Rock, Arkansas where he is Co-Concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony. Andrew also enjoys training for his other obsession, endurance sports. In 2007 he ran his second marathon in March and completed his first Ironman Triathlon in August. (Ask him how it went!) He plays a 1765 Gagliano violin. (photo credit: ©www.Shields-MarleyPhoto.com)

DAVID LEE JACKSON (trombone <Posaune97@aol.com>) was recently a featured soloist at several engagements, including performances at Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Music at Gretna in Mt. Gretna, PA, and with the Ann Arbor Concert Band. Mr. Jackson was also guest soloist with Los Angeles Symphonic Winds both in Los Angeles and at the MidEurope Festival in Schladming, Austria. Other recent solo performances were with the Interlochen World Youth Wind Symphony and with the Idyllwild Festival Wind Ensemble at Disney Hall in Los Angeles. In addition to those performances, Mr. Jackson has performed recitals and masterclasses at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, the University of Minnesota, UCLA, California State University-Northridge and Pepperdine University. An advocate of contemporary music, Prof. Jackson has commissioned and performed the world premieres of numerous works for trombone. His orchestral experience includes performances with the Detroit Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, the Michigan Opera Theater, the Fort Worth Symphony, the New World Symphony, the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy. A respected chamber musician, he has performed with the Galliard Brass, the Music of the Baroque and the Brass Band of Battle Creek. Mr. Jackson is Associate Professor of Trombone at the University of Michigan. He also has been a faculty member at Baylor University, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Toledo. He is currently a member of the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and of Chicago's Fulcrum Point New Music Project. Mr. Jackson, a Conn-Selmer artist and clinician, also teaches and performs at the Idyllwild Arts Festival. This season marks Prof. Jackson's ninth season as a Mentor with the Hot Springs Music Festival.

SEAN KELLY (production management <SEKELLY@tceq.state.tx.us>) has been an Air Force pilot, wellhead geologist, waiter, cook, bartender, bouncer, environmental consultant, and presently serves as an Emergency Response Coordinator for the State of Texas. Raised in a military family, he has lived from Virginia to California to Michigan to Texas. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans. A resident of Austin, Texas, Mr. Kelly has been a member of the Hot Springs Music Festival Board of Directors and has served as the Festival's Production Manager since 1997. In addition to having co-written the Hot Springs Music Festival's new American-idiomatic English translation of the Mozarts The Magic Flute, Mr. Kelly was also the Production Designer for the opera, and appeared convincingly onstage as a tree. He has also been Production designer for Brundibár and Cio Cio San. Sean is married to Festival Harp Mentor Shana Norton, and affectionatly addressed by the Festival production assistants as the "Lord of Light."

JESSICA MATHAES (violin) [pronounced MAH-tes] was praised by Jaime Laredo as “a superb violinist,” and by Philippe Entremont as “a born player… a wonderful violinist!” Recently hailed by critics as “a master of the Khachaturian Concerto for Violin” (Austin Chronicle), Ms. Mathaes has appeared in concert throughout the United States and Europe, and has been featured on numerous radio stations and ARTE, the French-German cultural television channel. Her debut solo album, Suites and Sweets, was released in May of 2009 on the Centaur label to critical acclaim. Her appearances in the upcoming 2009-10 season will include performances with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and recitals at Texas Christian University, Northwestern College and the Fredericksburg Music Club. The first-ever winner of the Classical Artists Development Foundation fellowship, Ms. Mathaes has given masterclasses at numerous universities including Baylor University and the University of Houston, and has been on the faculty of the International Festival-Institute at Round Top. Ms. Mathaes holds degrees in both violin and viola performance from Rice University, where she graduated magna cum laude and studied with Kenneth Goldsmith, Karen Ritscher, and Raphael Fliegel. She currently resides in Texas, where she balances her solo career with being the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Austin Symphony, a position she won in 2005. Ms. Mathaes performs on a violin crafted in 1807 by Johannes Cuypers, “the Dutch Stradivarius.” For more information, please visit her website.

KEVIN MAULDIN (double bass <kgm60@aol.com>), principal bass wth the Naples Philharmonic, earned a Bachelors of Music degree from Memphis State University and a Masters of Music degree from University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. His teachers have included Frank Proto, John Chiego, Herman Burkhardt, and Peter Rofe. Mr. Mauldin, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, has played concerti with the Chattanooga Symphony and the Southern College of Seventh Day Adventists, where he was on the faculty. His experience includes engagements with the Richmond (IN) Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Memphis Symphony and as principal bass with the Chattanooga Symphony. Mauldin spends the remainder of his summers at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina as part of the artist-faculty and as the assistant principal bass player in the Brevard Music Symphony. Kevin Mauldin is a member of the artist faculty at the University of Miami.

MATTHEW McCLUNG (percussion <matthew.mcclung@tamucc.edu>) Equally at home with orchestral, solo, and chamber music, Dr. Matthew McClung has appeared with a wide variety of prestigious ensembles throughout the United States. He has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, the Hawaii Opera Theater, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Houston, Lexington, San Antonio, Kentucky, Austin, Arkansas, Maui, and Honolulu. As a chamber musician, he has performed with renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein, the Percussion Group Cincinnati, the So Percussion Group, Strike 3 Percussion, Musiqa, the Houston Composers Alliance, the San Antonio Chamber Music Society, and others. As a soloist, he has been featured on the ChamberX concert series in Houston, with the Shepherd School Percussion Ensemble, and in solo performances across the state of Texas. Recently the Houston Chronicle raved about his concerto performance with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, saying “McClung played stylishly and smartly … The performance sang with a distinctive joie de vivre.” Dr. McClung is currently the principal percussionist of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and Assistant Professor of Percussion at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi.

SCOTT MOORE (trumpet <memphistrumpet@gmail.com>) is Principal Trumpet of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, and the Toronto Symphony. He has recorded and performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and with I Fiamminghi, the Orchestra of Flanders. As a soloist, Mr. Moore has appeared with the San Antonio Symphony, the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, the Tennessee Summer Symphony, the Chattanooga Symphony, and on numerous occasions with the Memphis Symphony. Mr. Moore was a featured guest artist at the 1994 International Trumpet Guild Conference. A review of that recital in the International Trumpet Guild Journal praised his "superbly fluid and beautiful trumpet playing". The Nashville Chamber Orchestra's 2002 Naxos recording of Aaron Copland's music featured Mr. Moore in Quiet City for solo trumpet, English horn, and strings. Classicstoday.comlauded his "smooth-as-silk trumpeting" on that recording. Scott Moore has a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from McNeese State University. His teachers have included Charles Schlueter, Arnold Jacobs, and Michael Ewald. This marks Mr. Moore's third season with the Hot Springs Music Festival.

SHANA NORTON (harp <Shana.Norton@ci.austin.tx.us>) plays principal harp with the Mid-Texas Symphony and performs frequently with the Arkansas, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Abilene, Temple and the San Antonio Symphonies. She is a founding member of Chaski, an Andeam music ensemble that performs and records Latin American folk music that features traditional instruments, colorful costumes, cultural insight, Andean dances, often with audience participation. Based in Austin, Texas, Chaski has toured the U.S., Europe, and Central and South America enthralling audiences since 1985. Ms. Norton graduated with highest honors earning a Bachelor of Music Education from Abilene Christian University and attended the Eastman School of Music, studying with Julia Hermann Edwards and Eileen Malone. In 1995 she graduated from The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs with a Master of Public Affairs degree. In addition to her musical activities and her work for the City of Austin, she is a member of the Hot Springs Music Festival Board of Directors. Ms. Norton is married to Hot Springs Music Festival Production Manager Sean Kelly.

ANN MARIE ROESKE (viola <amroeske@swbell.net>) Associate Principal Viola of the Dallas Symphony since 1999, Ann Marie Roeske has performed in solo and chamber music recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Aspen Music Festival, Library of Congress, Sarasota Music Festival, Severance Hall, Rockport Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Rockport Music Festival, Alice Tully Hall, Merken Hall, Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Dallas Museum of Art. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Roeske’s performances with the Amernet String Quartet were praised by the New York Times as “an accomplished and intelligent ensemble. Their fine performances were most notable for the quality of unjaded discovery that came through so vividly.” She has coached and performed in residencies for Chamber Music America with the Cavani String Quartet, has twice been a fellow at the Aspen Center for Advanced Quartet Studies and was invited by Isaac Stern to participate in his Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall. First-prize winner in both the Nakamichi Foundation Concerto competition at the Aspen Music festival and the Darius Milhaud Performance Prize Auditions, she has also won the Florence Allan Award at the Carmel Chamber Music Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony, Aspen Sinfonia, World Youth Symphony, and the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra and has played principal viola with the Spoleto Festival USA and Italy, Juilliard, Cleveland Institute of Music, Interlochen Arts Academy and the Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra. First introduced to the viola at the age of ten in a public school strings class, Ann Marie became one of the youngest members of the Pensacola Symphony, performing in the viola section while a freshman in high school. She later enrolled at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she was a featured soloist with the World Youth Symphony, received a Fine Arts Award and graduated with high honors. Ann Marie received her Bachelor of Music with academic honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music and was awarded the Jim Hall prize for achievement and leadership in music. She received her Master of Music from the Juilliard School where she was awarded the prestigious William Schuman Prize, the single graduate prize given at commencement exercises. Her principal teachers were Karen Tuttle, Heidi Castleman and David Holland, and her chamber music mentors include the Cleveland, Orion, Cavani, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets. Ms. Roeske has served on the faculties of Baylor University, Interlochen Arts Camp, Hot Springs Music Festival, Music in the Mountains Conservatory, Dallas Symphony Young Strings and The Institute for Strings at Southern Methodist University. When not playing the viola, Ann Marie can be found in the kitchen or at the pool. A US Master's swimmer since 2000, Ann Marie has twice completed the 10-mile Maui Channel Swim, the only inter-island relay race in the world. A frequent traveler to Europe, she has studied and performed traditional Irish music in County Kerry, Ireland, has taken numerous classes at the Apicius Culinary Institute in Florence, Italy, and is a part-owner of two cheese shops in Dallas named Molto Formaggio. Ann Marie lives in Dallas with her husband Rodney and their three miniature dachshunds, George, Annabell, and Flash. Ann Marie plays a Lorenzo & Tommaso Carcassi viola made in Florence, Italy c. 1765.

GWENDOLYNN (Wendy) ROSE (bassoon <wendy.rose@wmich.edu>) Rose has performed nationally and internationally as a guest in major orchestras including the Detroit Symphony, the Toronto Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Utah Chamber Orchestra and the Grand Rapids Symphony. A former member of The National Ballet Orchestra of Canada and principal bassoonist with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (Canada) from 1991-2002, she appeared frequently as a soloist with the orchestra and was heard on CBC Radio in national broadcasts, including a recording from the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has performed at Stratford Summer Music (Canada), the Spoleto Festival (Charleston, S.C. and Spoleto, Italy), the Banff Festival of the Arts (Canada) and was selected to be a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. She is a member of RAD with hornist Paul Austin of the Grand Rapids Symphony, and Lake Winds Octet; an exciting new wind octet featuring Canadian musicians from major orchestras in the Great Lakes region. Rose is Associate Professor of Music at Western Michigan University where she teaches bassoon, chamber music, and music theory and is a member of the Western Wind Quintet. She is on the faculty at The Interlochen Center for the Arts, and has taught at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, the University of Windsor and National Music Camp (Parry Sound, Canada) and the Hot Springs Music Festival. Ms. Rose received degrees in bassoon performance from the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan where her principal teachers were David Carroll, Hugh Cooper, Christopher Millard, and Richard Beene. She also holds a diploma in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Prof. Rose plays a Heckel bassoon. Wendy Rose resides in Kalamazoo, Michigan with her husband oboist, Brad Smith and their son Alexander.

LAURA ROSENBERG (executive director, arts administration & chorus director <laura@hotmusic.org>) has served as Director of Concert Activities for Northwestern University, Director of Production for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Artistic Advisor and Director of Special Projects for the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor, and Concert Director of San Francisco's Old First Concerts series. As a festival administrator, she produced the international performance/scholarship event Michigan MozartFest and the Festival of Contemporary American Dance. Trained as a choral conductor at Temple University, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Ms. Rosenberg was Chorus Director for the Ann Arbor May Festival's Brahms Requiem performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Music Director of the Berkeley Chorus Pro Musica in California. In addition to her work with the Hot Springs Music Festival, Ms. Rosenberg has served as president of the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce Arts & Business Committee, as executive committee member of the National Park Arts Council and as an adjunct faculty member of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences & the Arts. She was recently appointed to the steering committee of the Garland County Juvenile Drug Court, and is an honorary Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary International Foundation.

RICHARD ROSENBERG (artistic director/conductor <rr@hotmusic.org>)
See 'Artistic Director' page.

PIERRE SIMARD (guest conductor <psimard@vancouverislandsymphony.com>) was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Vancouver Island Symphony in 2008 and Associate Conductor with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, he is also Artistic Director with the Orchestre Symphonique de Drummondville (QC). As guest conductor, he performed with major orchestras in Milwaukee, Toronto, Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Hamilton, Okanagan, Québec’s Les Violons du Roy and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain. This season, he makes an appearance with the Victoria Symphony. Recipient of many honours, Pierre Simard was awarded the Canada Council’s Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Conducting, recognizing his work on a national scale. He is also grantee of the Québec Music Council, the Québec Arts Council and the Montreal Mayor’s Foundation. A passionate defender of orchestral repertoire, Pierre Simard devotes himself to reinventing the concert form, combining his fresh ideas, fantasy and humour with music. His outstanding creativity and engagement with youth audiences inspire him to write and perform original symphonic shows, featured all across Canada. Holder of a Master’s Degree in Conducting from the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins University) and five Conservatory Prizes from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Pierre Simard studied with Raffi Armenian, Frederik Prausnitz and JoAnn Falletta.

JANET SUNG (violin <jsung_1600@yahoo.com>) has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Aspen Chamber Symphony, the Pusan Philharmonic in South Korea, the Omsk Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, as well as the orchestras of Hartford, Delaware, Boise, Corpus Christi, Adrian, Dubuque, Fargo-Moorhead, Owensboro, Wheeling and Wyoming. Her performances have been aired on radio and TV across the U.S. and abroad, including multiple broadcasts on NPR’s “Performance Today” of her performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto with the Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra. Ms. Sung is also a frequently heard artist at distinguished music festivals such as Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. She has been presented in recital in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Louisville, New York City and Pittsburgh, and internationally in Odense, Denmark, Lausanne, Switzerland and Queenstown, New Zealand. A virtuoso of diverse talents, she also tours regularly as the featured classical soloist with Mark ’Connor’s American String Celebration and recently released a Live recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons available on CD. Among numerous prizes, she has won the Passamaneck Award (chosen by Leonard Slatkin), for which she performed at Carnegie Music Hall, and the Nakamichi Violin Competition of the Aspen Festival. She was also a Clifton Visiting Artist at Harvard University. Ms. Sung serves as assistant faculty at the Juilliard School, initially as the Starling/Delay Institute Fellow, and was recently appointed violin professor at the SUNY-Fredonia School of Music. Born in New York City, Ms. Sung began violin studies at the age of seven, made her public debut the following year, and orchestral debut at age nine, performing with the Pittsburgh Symphony. At age ten, she began a decade of private studies with renowned pedagogue Josef Gingold, a period that overlapped with her attendance at Harvard University, from which she graduated with honors with a double degree in anthropology and music. She was later invited to study with esteemed teacher, Dorothy DeLay, at the Juilliard School on a full scholarship. Ms. Sung also studied extensively with Masao Kawasaki, David Cerone, and the Juilliard String Quartet. She plays a c.1600 Maggini violin.

D. JAMES TAGG (recording engineering <jamietagg@gmail.com>) has been working as an audio and recording engineer since 1998. Skilled with both musical as well as technical aspects of recording music, James Tagg (Jamie) has worked as a recording, sound, and post-production engineer for the following organizations: The Banff Center for the Arts; Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University (Visiting Senior Recording Engineer); The Boston, Imperial, Canadian, and Dallas Brass Ensembles; Hugh Fraser; David Leibman; The Cassatt String Quartet; The Bergonzi String Quartet; the Gregg Smith Singers; The University of Miami; and Miami's professional vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire directed by Patrick Dupré Quigley. Mr. Tagg holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Engineering Technology from the University of Miami (under the direction of Ken Pohlmann), with a principal in Jazz Guitar, a concentration in Auxiliary Percussion (under the teaching of Ney Rosaro) and a minor in Electrical Engineering. His technical awards include a first place prize in the internationally competitive Audio Engineer Society (AES) collegiate recording competition in the jazz category. As an Audio Associate work/study at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada, Jamie worked as a recording, mixing, mastering, post-production, and film-set engineer. His life as a young musician began with the study of piano at age five, and branched out at age eight when he was accepted as a chorister in the Syracuse Children's Chorus under the direction of Dr. Barbara M. Tagg. He then went on to sing with numerous choirs including a vocal jazz ensemble, Swing Set. As a student, Jamie started the Jazz Band at Camillus Middle School, which to this day is an active ensemble. He later performed as an instrumentalist with the Syracuse Children's Chorus; the Children in Harmony Choral Festival in Orlando, FL; and has accompanied and soloed with the Gregg Smith Singers while in residence at the Adirondack Festival of American Music on guitar and saxophone. Mr. Tagg continues to freelance in the audio field, and enjoys sharing his frequent and relevant experiences with students, giving a constantly up-to-date perspective on technology, recording, mixing, and mastering techniques.

ANTHONY TAYLOR (clarinet <anthotaylo@mac.com>) joined the University of North Carolina at Greensboro School of Music faculty in 2007. A former Hot Springs Music Festival Apprentice, he is an active performer in solo, chamber, orchestral and jazz. This fall, he presented a paper on his research into John Adams’s clarinet concerto Gnarly Buttons in Bangor, Wales at the International Conference on Music and Minimalism. Recent performance highlights include the world premiere of Seattle composer Gail Gross’s Bossa Velha at the Washington State Music Teacher’s Association convention, solo performances with jazz piano master Dick Hyman, and the world premiere recording of Gregory Yasinitsky’s solo clarinet work For All That Has Been Given. He has been a member of the Spokane Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, Spokane Opera and professional contemporary music ensemble Zephyr. He has been on the faculties of Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, Whitman College and Gonzaga University. Each August, Taylor also teaches at the Midsummer Musical Retreat, a band camp for adult amateur musicians. He will complete his doctorate this summer at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and also holds degrees from The Florida State University and Washington State University.

CAEN THOMASON-REDUS (flute <caentr@uwm.edu) is the Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and enjoys traveling the country performing and presenting master classes. At UWM, Caen is particularly active in the performance and coaching of chamber music through the faculty artist series Chamber Music Milwaukee, the Leonard Sorkin International Institute of Chamber Music, and his own series of flute recitals. Other recent performances include solos with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and UWM’s major ensembles, African American repertoire recitals at the National Flute Association Convention and Madison Flute Festival, and numerous guest appearances around the country. Baroque music is always a major part of Caen’s performing as represented by recent collaborations with Milwaukee’s own Bach Babes, Milwaukee Symphony Concertmaster Frank Almond’s Frankly Music series, and UWM’s Bach and Before concerts.Prior to arriving in Milwaukee, Caen spent two years performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as their Minority Fellow and now performs often with professional orchestras including the St. Louis, Milwaukee and Kansas City symphonies. Caen began playing Muramatsu flutes in 2003 and is a Muramatsu Artist. You can hear Caen on The Flute Collection, three new recordings and annotated anthologies of graded flute solos published this year by Schirmer. Active musically from an early age, Caen began playing the flute in public school, studied privately at the San Francisco Conservatory, sang in San Francisco Opera productions with the San Francisco Boys Chorus, and studied saxophone with former Duke Ellington band member Ben Miller. His activities later expanded to include performance on Baroque and Renaissance flutes and the research and performance of African-American classical music. Caen has worked with many contemporary composers including Philip Glass, Gunther Schuller, Chinary Ung, Mario Davidofsky, Barbara Kolb, David Maslanka and Robert Beaser, and always makes it a point to perform and premiere the works of younger composers. Caen received performance degrees from Rice University (MM) and the University of Redlands (BM), and did additional studies at the University of Michigan and the Mozarteum Akademie in Salzburg, Austria. His primary instructors were Leone Buyse, Candice Palmberg and Yaada Weber. Through his participation in festivals and master classes such as Aspen, Spoleto USA, Sion Academy (Switzerland), Domaine Forget (Canada) and the San Francisco Early Music Society Baroque Workshop, Caen also worked with Mark Sparks, Martha Aarons, Trevor Wye and Doriot Anthony Dwyer. As the Detroit Symphony fellow, Caen studied with Jeff Zook and the other members of the DSO flute section. Caen ’s previous teaching activities include faculty positions at Wayne State University and the Sphinx Preparatory Academy, both located in downtown Detroit. Caen and his wife, hornist Kristi Crago, served as principals in the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and as faculty at the University of Evansville in Indiana. Dedicated to education and musical outreach, Caen and Kristi spend much of their personal time creating and taking part in programs that bring music closer to people of all backgrounds and ages.

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