Summer Solstice Festival 2010 Children's Concert
Guest Artists
MELVIN CHEN Piano
The multi-talented Melvin Chen holds a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University but studies in music prevailed in the end. After completing a double master’s degree in piano and violin at The Juilliard School, he embarked upon a performing and teaching career that has taken him from his home in New York State, where he is Associate Director of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, to Canada, Asia and much of the U.S. Allen Kozinn of the New York Times hailed Melvin Chen as “a pianist whose playing is powerful and driven.”
JONATHAN CROW Violin
A graduate of McGill University, Jonathan Crow achieved success early in his career when, at the age of 25, he was appointed Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony, a position he held from 2002 to 2006. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras across North America and as a chamber musician, has appeared at major festivals in Europe and North and South America. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Violin at McGill University.
“Crow’s playing was impeccable and sincere, every arc of violin melody well carved.…”
–La Scena Musicale
JACQUES DESPRÉS Piano
Widely-acclaimed pianist Jacques Despréshas dazzled audiences for over two decades in his native Canada and the U.S. with his sensitive, yet powerful style and sympathetic interpretations of a broad range of composers. Since his debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1978, he has performed throughout North America as a soloist and recitalist.
A member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Alberta since 2000, he is also a noted scholar and teacher. An authority on piano performance and repertoire, he has been a frequent guest lecturer at music festivals and academic institutions. His term as Music Director for Stony Brook’s Summer Serenades helped draw a large and enthusiastic audience to that very successful lecture-concert series.
His recordings include a widely praised release, on Naxos, of the complete keyboard works by Joseph Martin Kraus, as well as Kraus’ complete works for violin and piano with violinist Walter Schwede, a world premiere recording of The New Goldberg Variations with cellist Tanya Prochazka, solo piano works of Jean-Paul Liardet on VDE/Gallo, and Ballades and The Children’s World of Debussy and Bartók on the Arktos label.
BILL DIMMER Narrator
Bill Dimmer, Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, has performed with the ESO since 1971. He is a graduate of the University of Calgary and has studied in Denmark with members of the Royal Danish Orchestra and in Chicago with members of the Chicago Symphony. He has performed with the Tommy Banks Band and with several other performing organizations as player and conductor, including the Plumbers Union (a recorder group which gave a Command Performance for the Queen during the 1978 Summer Commonwealth Games).
Bill is host/narrator of the ESO’s Educational Concert Series, former Director of MusiCamrose (a residential summer music workshop) and has been on Faculty at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan College/Alberta College Conservatory and Concordia College.
MARINA HOOVER Cello
Founding member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and current member of Trio Voce, Marina Hoover has performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and many other famous concert halls around the world. She has made over 1000 appearances, in tours to Europe, Japan, Australia, Viet Nam, and throughout the Americas. She now coaches chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago while continuing to perform as a soloist and chamber musician.
“…her musical insights reflect her pedigree.” –Toronto Star
BRIAN JONES Percussion
Brian Jones has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 1968. A graduate of the University of Alberta, Brian studied with Forrest Clark and Earl Hatch in Los Angeles. He has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Capetown Symphony Orchestra in South Africa, and won first prize at the Percussion Arts Society Timpani Competition for Southern California.
Brian is on the staff of the University of Alberta and the Cosmopolitan Music Society.
LIDIA KHANER Oboe
Lidia Khaner has performed as Principal Oboe with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 1996. She studied oboe in her native Poland at the Warsaw Academy of Music and graduated With Distinction in 1987. As a member of the Sinfonia Varsovia and the Polish Chamber Orchestra, she toured around the world playing both orchestral parts and solo concerts. Lidia played Principal Oboe with the Sinfonia Helvetica from 1992 to 1997. She has recorded works for the KOS label, the Polish radio and television network, CBC and Arktos Recordings.
JASMINE LIN Violin
Prize-winning soloist at the Paganini and Naumberg International Competitions, member of the Formosa Quartet, the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Trio Voce, Jasmine Lin has performed throughout North and South America and Asia. The New York Times praised the “electrifying assertiveness” and “virtuosic abandon” of her playing.
JANICE QUINN Double bass
A native of Edmonton, Janice Quinn has been a member of the ESO since 1995. She began her studies at the early age of three on the violin and at four attempted the cello. At six years of age she saw the light and began playing the bass with instruction from her mum – Paddy Brine. Janice continued with the bass as well a playing viola in the Edmonton Public String Program.
Janice attended Interlochen Arts Academy and the summertime National Music Camp in northern Michigan for three years during her high school years. After Interlochen she studied in New York at the Juilliard School of Music where she obtained both Bachelor and Master's degrees of Music studying under John Schaeffer and Homer Mensch. While in New York, Janice freelanced with several groups. Her playing opportunities included chamber recitals, touring with a Light Opera Company as well as work on and Off-Broadway. She taught throughout her college years and continues to teach in Edmonton.
JULIANNE SCOTT Clarinet
A native of Calgary, Julianne Scott is the new Principal Clarinet of the Edmonton Symphony. This follows her tenure (2007-2009) as Principal Clarinet with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic. Ms. Scott graduated from the University of Southern California with her Master's degree where she studied with Yehuda Gilad. She attained her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto in 2006 under Joaquin Valdenpenas.
Julianne Scott has spent summers participating in festivals including the Sunflower Music Festival, the Aspen Festival, the Spoleto Festival, touring with the Canadian Youth Orchestra, and the Music Academy of the West. She has appeared as a soloist with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic.
SCOTT ST. JOHN Violin/viola
A compelling, virtuosic performer, Canadian-born Scott St. John was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2003. A member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet since 2006, he combines performance and teaching as a Lecturer and Artist in Residence at Stanford University.
“[Scott St. John] is a musician of impeccable taste and natural instincts. He lets the music do the talking.” –Pittsburgh Press
PATRICIA TAO Piano
Founding member of the Guild Trio, current member of Trio Voce, Director of the Hear’s to your Health concert series and Music Director of the ECMS Summer Solstice Festival, Patricia Tao won many honours and accolades as a soloist and chamber musician in the years before she joined the Department of Music at the University of Alberta, where she is now Associate Professor of Music. She continues to maintain a busy performance and recording schedule. Her latest project, with Trio Voce colleagues Marina Hoover and Jasmine Lin, is a recording of the Shostakovich trios.
“Her performance was so precise that it can be compared with filigree work.” –Vecer, Skopje
SHARON WEI Viola
The recipient of many awards and scholarships as a student of music at the Curtis Institute and Yale University, Sharon Wei continues to win acclaim as a recitalist and chamber musician. She is a founding member of the piano quartet, Made in Canada, which Chatelaine magazine listed among the “80 Amazing Canadian Women to Watch” in its 2008 anniversary issue. She currently teaches at Stanford University.
“The performance by Sharon Wei and … Scott St. John was marked by an intense concentration on detail and moments where a relaxed pleasure flared.”
–Stanley Feffernan, ShowTimeMagazine.ca
SHELLEY YOUNGE Flute
Shelley has held the position of Assistant Principal Flute of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra since 1978 and has been a featured soloist on many occasions. Other orchestral duties have included the Banff Festival Orchestra, Banff Opera, Banff Ballet Orchestra, the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Pro Coro Canada and the Edmonton Chamber Players Orchestra. She has been featured soloist with the Alberta Baroque Ensemble, Saskatoon Symphony and the Edmonton Symphony.
A frequent performer of chamber music on CBC radio and television, Shelley has appeared in recital with such notable performers as Celtic harpist Mary O’Hara and the late Lois Marshall. She is very active as a chamber musician with harpist Nora Bumanis and pianist Sylvia Shadick Taylor and can be heard on CD with the St. Crispin’s Chamber Ensemble. Shelley has taught for many years at MusiCamrose and the Banff International Music School and is presently teaching at the University of Alberta, where she was recently the recipient of the Francis Winspear Visiting Professor position.
