2002

The Astral Trio opens the 10th Anniversary Music at Penn Alps Concert Series with joyous music making that arises from the talents of its three prize-winning members. As a student at the Juilliard School, violinist Colin Jacobsen won the Grand Prize from the New York State and National American String Teachers Association Competitions. In 2001, cellist Clancy Newman shared the coveted First Prize of the Walter W. Naumburg Competition with cellist Li-Wei Quin. A former student of Peter Serkin, pianist Anna Polonsky has since established herself as a sought-after chamber musician and duo recitalist in numerous appearances around the world.

Since his orchestral debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at age 12, cellist Kangho Lee has been an active soloist and chamber musician. The winner of several competitions, he has appeared with leading orchestras in the Unites States, Europe and Korea. He teaches cello and theory at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Accompanist Minyoung Lee has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician and collaborative artist. She is on the faculty at Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. Both musicians have appeared at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Sarasota Music Festival, and both hold Master of Music degrees from Yale University.

Former music journalists Susanne Koehler and Armin Hadamer have performed as the New Minstrels of the Rhine throughout the United States for the past seven years. Their program reflects their interest and research in traditional American music reflecting German influences, especially the songs and stories in the Mid-Atlantic region and Appalachian mountains. Just as the old Minstrels of the Rhine shared their music with Americans during the 1840s, Susanne and Armin continue this American tradition of singing and playing as a family.

The Songfellows, a quartet of male choristers originating in New York’s Metropolitan Opera, will offer a taste of the Big Apple with their post – 9/11 tribute, “New York: A Celebration in Song.” Like Music at Penn Alps, the quartet is celebrating its 10th season. Singers Ross Crolius (bass), Greg Davidson (tenor), Mukund Marathe (tenor) and Jared Stamm (baritone) have sung with some of the most highly regarded music organizations in the country, including the New York City Opera, the Gregg Smith Singers and the New York Philharmonic. As Songfellows, they perform works from every stylistic period and genre.

Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef and principal violist Daniel Foster of the National Symphony Orchestra will join pianist Audrey Andrist in an exciting evening of classical music. Violinist Bar-Josef, a Curtis Institute graduate, became concertmaster of the NSO after three seasons as assistant concertmaster of the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops. Foster’s varied career encompasses orchestral, chamber and solo work. He is the violist in the Manchester String Quartet. Andrist, active as a soloist and chamber musician, is a member of the Stern/Andrist Duo with her violinist husband James Stern, and of Strata, a trio with Stern and clarinetist Nathan Williams.

Hailed as one of America’s outstanding young ensembles, the Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Appearances include New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Tanglewood Music Theater, the Kennedy Center, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and Maeda Hall in Tokyo. The Cassett holds residencies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Syracuse University and the Henry Street Music School in New York City. Taking its name from the celebrated America impressionist painter, Mary Cassett, the Quartet consists of Muneko Otani, violin; Jennifer Leshnower, violin; Tawnya Popoff, viola and Caroline Stinson, cello.

Marissa Regni, the principal second violinist of the National Symphony Orchestra, will join pianist Kathryn Brake for an eclectic program of classical music. A member of the acclaimed Manchester String Quartet, Regni is a recipient of the Eastman School of Music’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate in Violin. Brake, who appeared at Penn Alps in summer 2000 with cellist Glenn Garlick, is active as chamber music player and recitalist and frequently performs with Musica Aperta and in the Chamber Music Series at the United States Holocaust Museum.

Oboist Vladimir Lande and his wife, pianist Irina Lande, previously appeared in the Great Hall as two-thirds of Trio Latre in June, 1999. The previous summer, Vladimir performed at Penn Alps as half of the acclaimed D’Amore Duo with guitarist William Feasley. Both graduates of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory of Music, the Landes toured separately in the former Soviet Union before marrying and immigrating to the United States. Now artist-in-residence at St. Mary’s College, Vladimir also teaches at American University and the Washington (D.C.) Conservatory of Music. He is principal oboist for the Baltimore Opera. Irina performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. She is on the faculty of the Peabody Institute.

The only group of its kind in the mid-Atlantic area, the Washington Cornett & Sackbutt Ensemble was founded in 1997 by several Washington, D.C., brass players to explore and promote the cornett and historical trombone, along with music that was composed for these instruments. The music itself ranges from 15th-century wind band music to sophisticated baroque chamber works. The ensemble has grown to more than a dozen players from six states. Musicians for this Penn Alps concert include Michael O’Connor, Flora Newberry, Ravi Rajan, Paul Arbogast, Bozena Jedrzejczak, Holly Schaff and Fred Moyes.

Since coming to the United States, pianist Min Soo Sohn of South Korea has distinguished himself as a performer. A recipient of a full scholarship from the New England Conservatory of Music, Sohn has performed extensively as a solo recitalist and concerto soloist with orchestras around the country, including the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops. He is the silver prize-winner of the 2001 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Previously, he received first prizes in four competitions in Korea, along with other prizes from competitions in Italy, Hilton Head and St. Louis.

Gerald McGee, conductor of the Garrett Community Concert Band, will join with fellow band members Gino Mauricci on clarinet, flutist Susan Peterson and Tom Simpson on trumpet to present a mixture of jazz and classical selections. McGee, a music instructor at Garrett Community College, is also the pipe major of the GCC Pipes and Drums. Mauricci, is concertmaster and principal clarinetist for the GCC Concert Band. Peterson, also a vocalist and pianist, teaches music at Southern Garrett Middle School. Simpson, a Garrett County native, earned bachelor’s degrees in music and art from West Virginia Wesleyan University.

Returning to the Great Hall for the third time, this trio from the Winchester, Virginia, area discovered their common love of Celtic music while attending Shenandoah Conservatory during the 1970’s. Since then, they have performed music reflecting the far-reaching influences of the Celtic tradition in Ireland, Scotland, the Shetland Islands, Brittany and Canada. The Rakes have appeared at numerous festivals and the occasional pub throughout the mid-Atlantic region, and toured the Midwest and South. Michael DeLalla sings and plays guitars and bodhran, Chas. Foster plays bagpipes and pennywhistle and Bruce Wilkin sings and plays fiddle and tenor banjo.

In September, Music at Penn Alps will offer a special International Piano Festival to raise money for the Alta E. Schrock Memorial Fund.