Ensemble

• Stephen Burns – conductor / trumpet
• Rex Martin – tuba
• Mary Stolper – flute
• Peggy Michel – oboe
• Wagner Campos – clarinet
• Dileep Gangolli – clarinet / saxophone
• Lewis Kirk – bassoon
• Jeremy Ruthrauff – saxophone
• Gregory Flint – french horn
• Kevin Hartman – trumpet
• David Lee Jackson – trombone
• Kuang Hao Huang – piano
• Alison Attar – harp
  
• Claudia Lasaroff-Mironoff – viola
• Mark Brandfonbrener – cello
• Mathias Tacke – violin
• Rika Seko – violin
• Kathleen Brauer – violin
• Collins Trier – bass
• Jeff Handley – percussion
• Tina Laughlin – percussion
• Jeff Stitely – drums

Guest Artists

• Timm Adams, director of Chicago Chamber Choir
• Miguel Alvarez, guest Salsero
• Tony Arnold, soprano
• Issa Boulos
• Chicago Chamber Choir
• James Gailloreto, sax
• HK Gruber, chansonnier
• Deborah Henson-Conant, author, composer and narrator
• Timothy Jones, baritone
• Christopher Laughlin, guitar
• John McLean, guitar
• Dodie Morris, soprano
• Charles Neidich, Eric Schneider and the Schneider Big Band Guests
• Sharon Quattrin, soprano
• Alba Quezada, soprano
• Angelina Reaux, soprano
• Steve Roberts, guitar
• Jeff Stitely, drums
• David Stock, composer
• Foday Musa Suso, kora
• David Taylor, bass-trombone soloist
• The University of Chicago Friends of the Gamelan
• Yang Wei, pipa
• Betti Xiang, erhu
• Julia Bentley, mezzo soprano
• Jeffrey Strauss, baritone
• CBS News Anchor, Roseanne Tellez, reader for "Frida"
• Hsin-Yun Huang, violist
• New Classic Singers, Lee Kesselman, conductor
• Lori Kaufman - pianist
• Mary Mackenzie - soprano
• Prajwal Vajrapani - Nepalese dancer
• Kalyan Pathak - drums
• Elizabeth Basta - vocals

Composers

Bruce Adolphe Anna Akhmatova Chris van Allsburg Javier Alvarez Franck Amsellem Louis Andriessen George Antheil Lera Auerbach David Baker Béla Bartók Dan Becker Bellinati Derek Bermel Christopher Berg Issa Boulos Paul Bowles Benjamin Britten Stephen Burns John Cage Carlos Chavez Luciano Chessa Charles Coleman Aaron Copland Sebastian Currier George Crumb Michael Daugherty Richard Danielpour Manuel de Falla/SV Burns Miguel del Àguila Sonam Dhargye Tan Dun David Dzubay Duke Ellington Hanns Eisler Alvin Etler Gabriela Lena Frank Stefan Freund Stacy Garrop George Gershwin/SV Burns Osvaldo Golijov Geoffrey Gordon Michael Gordon

Jonny Greenwood HK Gruber Sofia Gubaidulina John Halle Lou Harrison Ed Harsh Bernard Hermann Alan Hovhaness Charles Ives Antonio Carlos Jobim André Jolivet Daniel Kellogg Aaron J. Kernis Leon Kirchner Jerome Kitzke Hans Krasa Meyer Kupferman Fela Kuti/SV Burns Steve Lacy David Lang Tania León Peter Lieberson Hannibal Lokumbe Aenon Jia-en Loo Steven Mackey Arturo Márquez Borislav Martinu Marc Mellits Rafael Mendez/SV Burns Darius Milhaud/SV Burns Larry Miller Stephen Montague Paul Moravec Nico Muhly Jon Nelson Michael Nyman Paul Oehlers Charlie Parker/Trans. Lindberg Hilda Paredes Arvo Pärt Astor Piazzolla Frank Proto

Tomi Räisänen Jacalyn Rauch/SV Burns Behzad Ranjbaran Silvestre Revueltas Belinda Reynolds Joaquin Rodrigo Robert X. Rodriguez Poul Ruders Somei Satoh David Schiff Daniel Schnyder Paul Schoenfield Carlos Sedicias James Sellars Bright Sheng Dmitri Shostakovich Syed Sikander Jerry Smith David Stock Karlheinz Stockhausen Igor Stravinsky Foday Musa Suso Toru Takemitsu Augusta Read Thomas Liu Tianhua Joan Tower Mark Anthony Turnage Galina Ustvolskaya Reza Vali Jacob ter Veldhuis Param Vir Kurt Weill Ladrang Wilujeng Stefan Wolpe Randall Woolf Qu Xiao-Song Chen Yi Frank Zappa Frank Zappa/SV Burns Evan Ziporyn Robert Zuidam John Zorn

Ensemble bios

Stephen Burns, Trumpet / Conductor

Trumpet virtuoso and conductor Stephen Burns is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago. He has been acclaimed on four continents for his consistently and widely varied performances encompassing recitals, orchestral appearances, chamber ensemble engagements, and innovative multi-media presentations involving video, dance theatre, and sculpture. He began his studies at the age of ten and made his professional debut at the age of 14 performing Handel Aria “Let the Bright Seraphim” with coloratura soprano Elizabeth Phinney. In 1988 he won First Prize at the second Maurice Andre International Competition for Trumpet in France, which brought him numerous international engagements, including a Paris recital, national television appearances and tours of Europe, Asia and the United States.

Mr. Burns has performed in the major concert halls of New York, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Houston, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and Venice. He has been a guest at the White House and has appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His European tours have taken him to Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland for guest appearances with orchestras, as well as recitals and performances on radio and television. On tour in the Far East he won rave reviews, which singled out his remarkable tone, musicianship, and technical facility. In recent seasons he has appeared with many leading international orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony under Neeme Jarvi, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Iona Brown, The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, The Arturo Toscanini Orchestra of Parma, the Japan National Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, and a United States tour with the Leipzig Kammerorkester. His recital programs often feature his own transcriptions of Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the latter scored for trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, bass trumpet, and piano.

In 1998 Stephen Burns was invited to create innovative new music programs as the Artist in Residence with Performing Arts Chicago. He founded Fulcrum Point New Music Project whose mission is to champion classical music influenced and inspired by Pop culture, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Latin, Folk, Klezmer, World Music, literature, film, art, dance, and theatre.

A conducting student of Jorma Panula and Pinchas Zukerman, Mr. Burns often appears as both soloist and conductor with orchestras performing repertoire ranging from the Second Brandenburg Concerto and Haydn’s Eb major concerto to works by Copland, Shostakovitch and André Jolivet. He has performed this dual role with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Orquesta, the Orquesta da Camera del Tachira, the Sea Cliff Chamber Orchestra, and the American Concerto Orchestra.

He has given numerous premiers by American composers (Rorem, David Stock, Gunther Schuller, Robert Rodriguez, Philip Glass) as well as composers of international renown (Stockhausen, Franck Amsallem, Somei Satoh, Sallinen). Committed to new music, Mr. Burns has written for trumpet, electronic music, chamber music and symphony orchestra. His composition “Reflections,” a work created in collaboration with choreographer Ruby Shang, was performed around the Henry Moore reflecting pool at Lincoln Center. In 1993 he composed and performed the Inaugural Fanfare for the Kuhmon Talon Concert Hall and his most recent composition, “Variations in America” was premiered in Hyannis, MA as part if their Independence Day celebration. He is currently composing Phalanx, a multi-media work based upon American military musical themes.

Stephen Burns is a frequent guest artist at many prestigious summer festivals including Santa Fe, Kuhmo, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Spoleto, Caramoor, Lieksa, Grand Canyon, Moab, Estate Musicale St. Cecilia, and Divonne les Bains. His recordings include Telemann for Trumpet, with the American Concerto Orchestra, on Dorian, The Complete Sonatas for Brass by Paul Hindemith on Helicon, The Complete Brandenburg Concerti with Helmuth Rilling on Haenssler Classics, and Trumpet Voluntary on ASV records. He has also recorded for Kleos, Musical Heritage Society, Delos, Classical Masters, Ess.ay and Grammavision.

Originally from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, Stephen Burns studied under Armando Ghitalla, Gerard Schwarz, Pierre Thibaud, and Arnold Jacobs at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Julliard School (BM/MM 1981-82), as well as in Paris and Chicago for post-graduate studies. He has won many prestigious awards including the 1981 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, 1982 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 1983 National Endowment for the Arts Recitalist Grant, the Naumburg Scholarship at Juilliard, “Outstanding Brass Player” at Tanglewood and the aforementioned 1988 Maurice Andre Concour International de Paris. Sought after internationally for master classes, Mr. Burns is a former tenured Professor of Music at Indiana University and Visiting Lecturer at the Arturo Toscanini Foundation Corso MYTHOS in Bologna, Italy. He presently resides in Chicago with his wife, school psychologist, Kate Neisser and their twin sons Edward and Isaac. Stephen Burns is a Yamaha performing artist.

Stephen Burns Discography

• Helicon (1998)
  Complete Hindemith Sonatas-David Korevaar, pianist

• Dorian Discovery (1995)
  Telemann for Trumpet
  American Concerto Orchestra, Stephen Burns, Artistic Director

• Hänssler Classic (1994)
  Complete Brandenbrug Concerti
  Oregon Bach Festival, Helmuth Rilling, Conductor

• Gramavision (1993)
  La Monte Young: The Melodic Version of the Second Dream of the High-tension Line Step-down Transformer from the Four Dreams of China

• Essay (1993)
  Baroque Trumpetissimo!
  Concerti for Multiple Trumpets
  Philharmonia Virtuosi, Richard Kapp, Director

• Northeastern (1992)
  Taking Stock: Music of David Stock, Tekiah for Trumpet & Ensemble Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, David Stock, Director

• ASV (1990)
  Trumpet Voluntary: English & Italian Baroque music for trumpet and strings.
  Stephen Burns, Crispin Steele-Perkins and NY Chamber Orchestra

• Classical Masters (1988)
  Requiem for the Challenger, trumpet & Organ Leonard Raver, Organist
  Music Masters/Musical Heritage Society (1984)
  Music for Trumpet and Strings

• Delos (1981)
  Shostakovitch Piano Concerto #1 Carol Rosenberger, Pianist
  Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Gerard Schwarz, Conductor

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Rex Martin, Tuba

Rex Martin, professor of music at Northwestern University, has been playing the tuba since the age of nine.  He received performance degrees from Illinois State University and Northwestern University, where he studied with Arnold Jacobs and Edward Livingston. His playing can be heard on more than 100 recordings of various ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Pro Musica, Tower Brass, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Mannheim Steamroller and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  He has performed on more than 3000 television and radio commercials and has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (Osaka), Lucerne Festival Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra. His students occupy positions in orchestras and universities throughout the world, and he was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award by Illinois State University. He previously held professorships at DePaul University, Illinois State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, The University of Notre Dame and The Oberlin Conservatory. As a soloist and clinician, he has performed and taught throughout North America, the Far East and Europe.  A Swiss citizen, he also teaches at Ticino Musica in Lugano, Switzerland, and has traveled to Europe 103 times to give recitals and master classes. His solo CD "Rex Martin Live in Japan" is available on the WAKO labe

Rex's Interview:

Instrument?

Tuba

What are you listening to?

Glenn Gould’s “Goldberg Variations 1981”

Describe your work.

I’m split evenly between being a professor and a professional musician, and I find that I basically have no time between these two obligations for anything else. Despite that, I don’t think I could give up either.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Well, I’d like to think that I’m a lifelong student — I’m learning something new every day. Because I’m travelling so much, and working so much, I’ve been missing my wife more, and I wish I could spend some more time with her.

Recent dreams?

I can’t remember what it was that I was dreaming, but I woke myself up because I was laughing so loud — something in the dream was so funny that I began to laugh in my sleep, and I woke myself up… it was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced. My day was absolutely wonderful after that.

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Mary Stolper, Flute

Mary Stolper is a frequent soloist and chamber music performer who has made guest appearances throughout the United States and Europe.

Ms. Stolper toured former East Germany with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and received excellent critical reviews for her performance of the Nielsen Flute Concerto. She also traveled with the Chicago Symphony for the world-renowned tour of Russia with Maestro Solti and eight European Tours with Maestro Barenboim. Ms. Stolper performed with the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra in Vienna, Austria with a performance of Bernstein's "Halil" for solo flute and strings. Also with the Sinfonietta, she performed the United States Midwest premier of the Concerto for Flute by Joan Tower. While in Prague soloing with the Czech National Symphony, she recorded her second CD called “American Flute Concertos”. The latest concerto to her credits is Voices for Flautist and Orchestra, by Shulamit Ran.

Ms. Stolper's performance credits also include the following organizations: Chicago Chamber Musicians, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ravinia Recital Series, University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players, "Live from Studio One" WFMT radio broadcasts, American and Joffrey Ballet Orchestras, Contemporary Chamber Concerts at Orchestra Hall hosted by Shulamit Ran, Da Camera Chamber series in Houston, Texas and the Old First Church Chamber Series in San Francisco, and the music “NOW” series at Symphony Center under Maestros Boulez and Colnot. For 15 years she was assistant principal and solo piccolo of the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago, and Principal Flute of the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Orchestra.

Currently, Ms. Stolper is Principal Flute of the Grant Park Symphony and Concertanti di Chicago Chamber Orchestra. She is the solo flutist for Chicago Opera Theater and the new music ensemble Fulcrum Point. As an active studio musician she has also played for hundreds of TV and radio commercials.

Dedicated to the performance of music composed by women, Ms. Stolper invited two Chicago Women Composers/Performers to perform with her at her Carnegie Hall recital debut. Several compositions have been written for her to show her outstanding versatility on the piccolo, flute, alto flute and bass flute. Ms. Stolper has been a frequent guest recitalist and lecturer on the subject of Women Composers. She produced and recorded the flute music of Shulamit Ran, former composer in residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

In the past, Ms Stolper has served on the boards of New Music Chicago, Chicago Society of Composers, American Women Composers, Musicians Club of Women and the artistic review panel of the Illinois Arts Council. She was one of the founding members and a past president of the Chicago Flute Club and has served on the board of the National Flute Association. As part of the flute and harp duo ESPREE, she toured for five years and was the first place winner of the very first National Flute Association Chamber Music Competition.

Ms. Stolper earned her Master's Degree in flute performance from Northwestern University, where she studied under Mr. Walfrid Kujala. She has also received instruction from Geoffrey Gilbert, Jean Berkenstock and Edwin Putnik. In addition, she has participated in master classes with William Bennett and coaching from Samuel Baron.

As a singer/actor/musician, Ms. Stolper appeared in the 1999 Pocket Opera Company production of Don Quixote, with the character role of Sancho Panza. Repeated again in 2000, along with the production of “Golk” where her role was that of the President of the United States.

She is currently Chair of the Flute faculty at DePaul University in Chicago, and has been on that faculty since 1986. The latest CD, for the Cedille label, will feature duo compositions of Chicago Composers and will be released in the late spring of 2003. Her articles about various subjects relating to the flute and piccolo have appeared in journals around the world, and translated into several languages.

Mary's Interview:

Instrument?

Flute

What are you listening to?

Just "Ella”, Ella Fitzgerald

Describe your work.

Intense, difficult, rewarding.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Get back up.

Recent dreams?

None of your damn business!

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Jeff Handley, Percussion

Jeff is a highly sought after percussionist in Chicago.  He is Principal Percussionist and Education/Outreach Program Director with Chicago Sinfonietta, which includes several recordings and tours to Switzerland and the Canary Islands.  Jeff is also a member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project, serving as percussionist, Musician’s Union Contractor, and Education Director. Other ensembles Jeff performs with are: Chicago Opera Theater, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Lyric Opera, Grant Park Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  Jeff was recently heard with Andrea Bocelli, Peter Cetera, Dennis DeYoung, Charlotte Church, and productions of “Les Mizerables”, “Spamalot”, “Wicked”, “Color Purple”, and “Mary Poppins” at the Cadillac Palace Theater.  An active clinician and educator, Jeff received his Masters of Music Performance degree in 1988 from DePaul University.

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Peggy Michel, Oboe

Since moving to Chicago in 1998, oboist Peggy Michel has performed with this city’s finest ensembles including Lyric Opera, Music of the Baroque, the Grant Park Symphony, Ars Viva, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Contemporary Chamber Players. She has also performed on the Chicago Symphony’s Music Now series and is a member of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Ms. Michel can be heard on eight compact discs on the Koch International label as principal oboist of the San Diego Chamber Orchestra and founding member of the Arioso Wind Quintet. She served as acting principal oboe with the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera Orchestra and has performed at several music festivals including SummerFest La Jolla and the Peter Britt (OR) Festival. She received her Masters degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with John Mack.

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Tina Laughlin, Percussion

Tina Laughlin began her percussion training in the fourth grade, when she not only learned how to play the drums but also how to carry her snare drum for five blocks from home to Century Oaks Elementary School. She received both her bachelor's and master's degrees in percussion performance from DePaul University. Her training also includes eight years with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where she performed under the direction of Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez and Sir Georg Solti. As a free-lance artist Ms. Keitel performs with many orchestras in the Chicagoland area including the Lyric Opera Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta and the Elgin Symphony. She is a strong advocate of new music and appears regularly on the New Music DePaul concert series as well as with the Contemporary Chamber Players and Fulcrum Point. She is also a founding member of her own new music ensemble Chicago Chamber Works.

Tina's Interview:

Instrument?

Percussion

What are you listening to?

Cuban ‘Son’

Describe your work.

I like to play contemporary music the most — I think because I feel I can associate with it. I’m not living in the 1700s, so I feel more connected to the twenty-first century. My work involves a lot of choreography, many instruments.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Always remember to do what-ever it is that you want—life is too short to edit your desires.

Recent dreams?

Actually, the weirdest dream I’ve ever had was that I was a chime, like a church chime! Yeah, I don’t remember the scene very much, but I was fully aware that I was a chime, and that I felt this great resonance the whole time. I felt myself ringing!

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Wagner Campos, Clarinet

Born in Heredia, Costa Rica, Wagner Campos studied at Baylor University with Dr. Richard Shanley and at DePaul University with Larry Combs and John Yeh. 
He performs regularly with groups such as the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, CSO MusicNow, The Callisto Ensemble, and the Fulcrum Point Project.

His love for teaching has brought him to the faculties of the Costa Rican Youth Symphony, Colombian Youth Symphony, Chicago Merit Music Program, Lake Forest Academy, and the Sherwood Conservatory. He has given master classes in Bogota, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; and in San Juan, Puerto Rico.    
As a guest artist outside Chicago, Wagner has participated in concerts with The   Milwaukee, Alabama, and Charleston Symphonies. He has toured with The Chicago Symphony Orchestra in different tours, The New World Symphony, and The Galicia Symphony Orchestra. In 1998, he was invited to join the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra for a full season as Principal Clarinetist.
In addition to his own recording , Romantic Songs for Clarinet and Piano, under the Southport Label, he has also recorded with The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and St. Charles Chamber Singers. 

Currently Wagner Campos serves as Clarinet and Chamber Music Instructor at DePaul University. 

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Jeff Stitely, Drums

Jeff Stitely has been performing in Chicago since 1984 after receiving his BM in percussion performance at the U. of Illinois in Champaign. He has performed with such notable jazz musicians as: Eddie Harris, “Groove” Holmes, Chick Corea, Randy Brecker, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Lew Tabakin, Oliver Lake, Sheila Jordon, Zoot Sims, Billy Harper, Larry Coryell, Wallace Roney, Melton Mustafa and Bob Belden.

The Jeff Stitely Quartet has released three CD’s and toured Europe as well as being one of four finalists in the 1995 Hennessy Jazz competition. Jeff has played, recorded and toured around the world with the Patricia Barber Trio. He is currently a member of two contemporary chamber ensembles in Chicago: Fulcrum Point and The Revolution Ensemble.

He has received two N.E.A. study grants and has worked extensively on West African drumming with Abubakari Luna, and Gideon Foli Alorwoyie. Jeff was an Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University 1995-2001. He also was an Urban Gateways artist for four years working with K-12 teaching music fundamentals, African drumming and dance, and performing with his jazz trio.

Jeff Stitely Music Productions Inc. is a ten year old company that provides live entertainment for weddings, parties, and corporate events in the Chicagoland area.

Jeff lives in Chicago with his wife Liz and son Evan. In addition to musical activities, Jeff also leads weekend trainings for men wanting to live more from principles and vision.

Jeff's Interview:

What do you listen to?

James Taylor, YoYo Ma playing the Bach Cello Sonatas.

What inspires you?

Engaging conversations when someone is passionate about something. My 3 year old son’s energy and excitement about all the little things in life like finding a bug.

The most important lesson you've learned?

To listen and open my mind and heart to see myself in others.

Recent Dreams?

To have a relationship with my wife where we don't blame or punish each other at all and are both determined to be satisfied and go for what we want.

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Dileep Gangolli, Clarinet

Dileep Gangolli is an active music educator and performer based in Chicago.  A member of the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony Orchestra, and the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, he has also appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Ars Viva Orchestra.  He is a member of the music faculty at Near North Montessori School, Midwest Young Artists, and has taught at VanderCook College of Music and North Park University.  Prior to establishing his career in Chicago, he was a member of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and an adjunct faculty member at the University of  Puget Sound.

The founder and artistic director of the Sheridan Chamber Players, Mr. Gangolli’s other chamber music appearances include participation in the Washington Island Music Festival, the Token Creek Music Festival under the direction of John Harbison, and tours of Florida and New Brunswick as a member of the Atlantic Arts Trio.  He is a frequent guest on WFMT’s Live from Studio One broadcasts and has appeared with leading Chicago chamber music groups such as the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the New Center for Black Music Research Ensemble, and the Pilgrim Chamber Players. Mr. Gangolli has also performed at the BVI Music Festival (British Virgin Islands), the Bay Chamber Concerts, and the Da Camera Society Concerts and has been a repeat performer on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess recital series.

An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, he has participated in several national and international tours and residencies including the Interlink Festival of Contemporary Music and the Istanbul Contemporary Music Festival.  In 2006, Mr. Gangolli was invited to appear in recital at the annual convention of the International Clarinet Association held in Atlanta.

Mr. Gangolli has recorded for the Crystal, Decca, Delos, and Erato labels.  For Crystal Records, he was part of an ongoing project of the Westwood Wind Quintet to record all twenty-four woodwind quintets of Anton Reicha.  As a member of Present Music, he can be heard on recordings that feature the music of Michael Torke and Kamran Ince.  These recordings were done under the supervision of the composers.

Mr. Gangolli has earned music degrees from Northwestern University, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Washington.  His private clarinet instructors include Robert Marcellus, Anthony Gigliotti, and Ronald Phillips.  In 1986 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship for advanced study in the United Kingdom.

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Lewis Kirk, Bassoon

Lewis Kirk is a member of the orchestras of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Santa Fe Opera, playing both bassoon and contrabassoon. In addition to Fulcrum Point, he performs with the Champagne Players, Bach Week in Evanston, Symphony II and Concertante di Chicago. He has appeared as a guest with the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, CUBE, Music of the Baroque, and the Contemporary Chamber Players. Before coming to Chicago, Mr. Kirk played five seasons with the Städtischen Orchester of Bremerhaven, Germany and three seasons with the New Orleans Symphony. His formal music studies were at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and at the Manhattan School of Music. His bassoon teachers include Crawford Best, Phillip Kolker, Stephen Maxym, and Darlene Jussilla. Mr. Kirk joined the faculty of DePaul University as an Instuctor of Bassoon in 1989. He resides in Evanston with his wife Melissa and two daughters Eleanor and Cynthia.

Mr. Kirk began playing the bassoon at the age of 12 at the suggestion of Morris Sweat, his junior high school band director. Lewis was a trombone player at the time and not exactly setting the woods on fire, and Mr. Sweat was desperate to get a bassoonist into the band, so the crafty band director told him he had just the right teeth structure to take on the bassoon. So he took the instrument and a fingering chart into the storage room and when he made his debut in the band a week later he got a lot more attention from the cheerleaders than he'd ever gotten on trombone, and so was hooked. Now the bassoon has been variously described as "the clown of the orchestra" ,"a farting bedpost" or "a huge bong sort of thing". Lewis began to practice, took a few lessons and decided this is what he wanted to do with his life. He worked hard, got lucky and ended up in Chicago with a steady job, a lovely wife and family. His happiness will be complete when he masters the five ball cascade.

Lewis' Interview:

Instrument?

Bassoon

What are you listening to?

Acrock — they’re this local, male acappella doo-wop group

Describe your work.

Ultimately, I hope to produce something magical, something to move people.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Finding satisfaction really comes from doing whatever it is you do the best — giving it your all, no matter when.

Recent dreams?

Generally my dreams are pretty benign, but in this one I’m in New Mexico (I spend my summers there), and for some reason I’m concerned with water — making sure we have enough, that sort of thing. I guess that’s pretty benign, too!

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Jeremy Ruthrauff, Saxophone

Saxophonist Jeremy Ruthrauff regularly performs with numerous prominent ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Contemporary Music Ensemble (Music Now), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theatre, Contemporary Chamber Players (Contempo), and Fulcrum Point New Music Project.  He recently performed as a guest artist with the Grammy award-winning ensemble Eight Blackbird at the prestigious 2009 Ojai Music Festival.  He has commissioned and premiered numerous new works by leading composers including a sonata by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Harbison.  He has performed the Chicago and midwest premieres of many significant works including Louis Andreissen’s Hout at the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance, Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Release with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra New Music Ensemble at Orchestra Hall  (solo saxophone), and Franco Donatoni’s solo saxophone concertino Hot with Fulcrum Point New Music Project.   A prolific teacher, he has given master classes at institutions such as the New England Conservatory of Music, University of Illinois, and Depaul University among others, and currently teaches at several leading music schools in the Chicago area.   Recently, he was invited by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to participate in their program Harmonia, in which soloists introduce music to children in Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. 

Jeremy's Interview:

Instrument?

Tenor Saxophone

What are you listening to?

“Blood on the Floor” by Mark Anthony Turnage

Describe your work.

I was trained to play classical repertoire, like Milhaud, Debussy; but also contemporary composers like Berio and Stockhausen, the jazz of Coltrane and Cole Henderson, I’ve composed using methods of multiphonics and circular breathing — all of this is great to me, the breadth of music out there is inspiring.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Always follow what you feel; be driven by your creative impulse — trying to build a career based on what to do right usually ends up wrong.

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Gregory Flint, French Horn

Gregory Flint currently performs as principal horn with the Chicago Opera Theater, the Elgin Symphony, the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. Other orchestral experience includes several seasons with the Grant Park Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. As a member of the Chicago Brass Quintet, he has traveled and recorded extensively. His interest in performing a wide variety of music has led to a many artistic opportunities including tours with Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin.

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Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff, Viola

Violist Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Music degree and earned a Master of Music and a Certificate in Performance from Northwestern University. She then became the principal violist of the Cape Town Symphony in South Africa. She joined the faculty of Northwestern University in 2000-04 as the Coordinator of String Chamber Music.  Ms. Lasareff-Mironoff has performed chamber music with members of the Chicago Symphony, members of the Lyric Opera, the Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players, the Pacifica String Quartet, Mathias Tacke, Ilya Kaler, Victor Yampolsky, William Wolfram, PINOTAGE, members of Eighth Blackbird, and the Orion Ensemble.  She has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony, and has been the principal violist of the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Colorado Music Festival, and the Joffrey Ballet. During the 2007 season she performed with the Santa Fe Opera. In 2009 she joined the faculty of the InterHarmony Music Festival in San Francisco.  Currently she is principal violist of Chicago Opera Theater and Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

A champion of new music she has premiered and performed works by many composers.  She teaches viola and is the Coordinator of String Chamber Music at Wheaton College Conservatory. She is also on the chamber music faculty for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.  Guest artist recitals and master classes include appearances at Northwestern University, Bowling Green University, Cal State Sacramento, Wheaton College, DePaul University, Roosevelt University and San Francisco State University.

For an audio sample and more information visit: http://www.claudialm.com

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Kevin Hartman, Trumpet

Kevin Hartman is Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His orchestral career has included numerous concerts, recordings and tours with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and stints as principal trumpet with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra. He has also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and in 2002 was Acting Assistant Principal Trumpet with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Asbury Brass Quintet (winners of the Fischoff and Coleman chamber music competitions) and was a member of the Chicago Brass Quintet.

On the commercial side, Mr. Hartman has also had an extensive career as a theater musician, playing long runs of many musicals, including Showboat, Beauty and the Beast, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, La Cage aux Folles, Cabaret, Fosse and many others. He has performed with many popular artists including Doc Severinsen, Arturo Sandoval, Yes, Dennis DeYoung, Audra McDonald, Emmylou Harris, Nancy Griffith, Melissa Manchester, Judy Collins, Lou Rawls, and many others. He has been heard on numerous national television and radio ads, including McDonald’s, United Airlines, Kellogg’s, Moen Faucets, Black and Decker and many others.

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Mark Brandfonbrener, Cello

Mark Brandfonbrener, a native Chicagoan, studied with Frank Miller, and received a full scholarship to study with Samuel Mayes at the University of Michigan.  After being awarded the Stanley Medal as the outstanding undergraduate at the School of Music, he received a Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School with Harvey Shapiro.  Invited by Pinchas Zukerman    to join the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, he was active on that orchestra’s chamber music series.  He has performed as a member of the Chicago String Trio, The Testore Piano Trio, and in duo recital with his wife, violinist Kathleen Brauer, and has been a frequent performer on the nationally broadcast Dame Myra Hess Recital Series.  He has performed at numerous summer festivals including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen, Sarasota, Montepulciano, and Gstaad.  Active in contemporary chamber music, he has given numerous mid-west premieres as a member of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project.  He has performed with Chicago Chamber Musicians, and is frequently heard with Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, Bach Week in Evanston, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  He is currently a member of Pintele Piano Trio, and the orchestras of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Santa Fe Opera.  His cello was made by Paolo Antonio Testore in 1710.  

Mark's Interview:

Instrument?

Cello

What are you listening to?

Stephane Grappelli’s “Crazy Rhythm”

Describe your work.

I suppose I try to find the harmony between the interest I feel for the music and what is interesting to the audience as I play it.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Working very hard at practicing my craft so that when I play for an audience I don’t have to work so hard — then I can concentrate on the music, feeling it and realizing its beauty.

Recent dreams?

I really can’t remember any recent dreams — sorry!

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David Lee Jackson, Trombone

David Lee Jackson is an active soloist, teacher, chamber and orchestral musician. As an advocate of new music, he has commissioned and performed the world premieres of numerous works for the trombone. As a chamber musician, Mr. Jackson has performed with the Detroit Chamber Winds, Music of the Baroque, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and the Brass Band of Battle Creek. He has also performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, Michigan Opera Theater, the Fort Worth Symphony, the New World Symphony, the Cabrillo Music Festival Orchestra and the Spoleto, Italy Festival Orchestra. He is currently Assistant Professor of Trombone at the University of Michigan School of Music and has previously served on the faculties of Baylor University, Eastern Michigan University, The University of Toledo and the Interlochen Arts Camp All-State Division. His summers are spent teaching and performing at the Hot Springs Music Festival and the Idyllwild Arts Festival. Mr. Jackson is a Selmer/Bach artist clinician.

David's Interview:

Instrument?

Trombone

Describe your work.

Sharing music with anyone who cares to listen.

Most important lesson you’ve learned?

Let music change your life.

Recent dreams?

My worst nightmare — 75 other trombonists show up to the gig. hmmm.

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Kuang-Hao Huang, Piano

Pianist Kuang-Hao Huang enjoys an active career of performing and teaching. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in England, France, China and South Korea. As a soloist, he has performed with the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and has been heard on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series (WFMT 98.7 FM).  Mr. Huang is also an active collaborator, performing concerts and radio broadcasts with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as a regular guest of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has performed with the Vermeer and Chicago String Quartets and on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series. 

An advocate of new music, Mr. Huang gave the world premiere performances of works by Louis Andriessen and Chen Yi at Weill Hall as part of Carnegie Hall’s Millennium Piano Book Project. Other premieres include works by Stacy Garrop, Daniel Kellogg, and James Matheson. Mr. Huang is a member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Mr. Huang serves on the faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Concordia University-Chicago, and the Merit School of Music. During the summer, he coordinates the piano program at Northwestern University’s National High School Music. A native of Whitewater, Wisconsin, Mr. Huang currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wonderful wife Janice and their children Maia and Gabriel.

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Alison Attar, Harp

Harpist Dr. Alison Attar specializes in contemporary and historical music.  A champion of new music, Alison performs regularly with numerous new music groups, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contempo (formerly Contemporary Chamber Players), Pinotage and Milwaukee’s Present Music.  She is also a founding member of the new music quartet Pinotage.  Alison debuted at Carnegie’s Weil Hall in 1994 with the avant garde Marinos trio.  Other highlights of Attar’s pedal-harp career include two full productions of Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as performances with Ars Viva, Chicago Opera Theater, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Skylight Opera Theatre and the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra (FL).  She toured Taiwan with Chicago ’s Symphonic Pops Orchestra and served as Principal Harpist for Arnold Rosner’s Chicagoland Pops Orchestra.  Attar's interest in historical harps, specifically the Italian triple harp, has led to performances throughout North America and Europe.   Dr. Attar holds a B.M., M.M., and D.M. in harp performance and a B.A. in Italian culture, all from Northwestern University .  She can be heard on over a dozen recordings under the Albany , Cedille, Hungaraton and Mayapple labels, among others.

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Mathias Tacke, Violin

Mathias Tacke was the second violinist of the acclaimed Vermeer Quartet, Chicago from 1992 until 2007. He is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Northern Illinois University and Guest Lecturer for String Chamber Music at Northwestern University. With the Vermeer Quartet Mathias Tacke gave performances in practically all of the most prestigious festivals, including Tanglewood, Taos, Ravinia, South Bank, Lucerne, Berlin, Schleswig-Holstein and Edinburgh, to name a few. Three of the Vermeer Quartet recordings were nominated for the Grammy Award.

Mathias Tacke appears internationally as a soloist and chamber player, performing a wide  range of repertoire from the Baroque to music of our time.

A native of Germany, Mathias Tacke studied with Ernst Mayer-Schierning in Detmold, Germany, with Emanuel Hurwitz and David Takeno in London, and with Sandor Vegh in Prussia Cove, Cornwall. He won first prize in the German National Youth Competition and graduated from the Musikakademie Detmold, where he was later appointed to the faculty.

From 1983-1992 Mr.Tacke was a member of the Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, one of the most important professional groups specializing in the performance of contemporary music. In this capacity he gave countless first performances, including works by most of today’s leading composers. He has made numerous recordings for such labels as Sony, ECM. Harmonia Mundi, Naxos and Cedille.

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Rika Seko, Violin

Born in Tokyo in 1963, Rika Seko began her professional career in Bogotá, Colombia after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1986. By 1989, in addition to serving as guest Concertmaster of the Colombia Symphony, Rika had appeared as soloist repeatedly in subscription concerts of orchestras in Bogotá, Medellín, and Calí and had been invited in many art/music festivals of the country. In 1990 Rika accepted work for one year in Mexico City as Professor of Violin at Yuriko Kuronuma Academy and shortly thereafter was invited to serve as Assistant Concertmaster in the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra which featured her as soloist in its first international tour to Curazao. There she continued her soloist career playing 20 different concertos from Baroque to Contemporary Repertoire and giving over 20 recitals throughout Colombia and Mexico. She gave premier performances in Colombia of concertos by Igor Stravinsky and Alicia Terzian.

In 1994, Rika moved to Chicago to develop a career in the United States starting with her participation as co-concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Since then, she has appeared with many Chicago area orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra and is a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Her interest in contemporary music has resulted in several performances for “Music Now” (Chicago Symphony’s contemporary chamber music series) and the “Contemporary Chamber Players” at the University of Chicago. As soloist, she has appeared in concerts with the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra (WI) where she served as assistant concertmaster from 1997 to 2007, Northwestern University Philharmonic Orchestra and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, where she has served as concertmaster since 1995. Her first solo recital in the United States was sponsored by the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra in March 1999. In addition, she has performed for a live radio broadcast with “The Chicago Ensemble”, for a Japan tour of the contemporary mono opera “Niña de Cera,” by Keiko Fujiie, and a recital with Maestro Harold Martina at the Chicago Cultural Center as a part of Dame Myra Hess Concert Series which was broadcast live on WFMT. In spring of 2005 she had a three week concerto tour invited as a guest soloist by different symphony orchestras in three major cities of Colombia. In February 2006 Rika premiered “Serenade” by Bernstein in Colombia with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra. She lives in Evanston, Illinois with her husband Chris Hasselbring, trumpet player and instructor, and her two daughters, Momoko and Yumiko.

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Collins Trier, Bass

Collins Trier, double bass, has been a member of the Lyric Opera Orchestra since 1980 and frequently performs with the Chicago Symphony and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. He serves as Principal Bass of the Music of the Baroque, the Contemporary Chamber Players of the University of Chicago, Present Music, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Rembrandt Chamber Players, Bach Week of Evanston, Fulcrum Point New Music Ensemble and Chicago Opera Theater. He is also very active as a studio musician, performing on music for commercials and for a wide array of albums. Mr. Trier also specializes in pop and folk music and has toured with numerous Broadway productions. He has recently recorded a CD of his own music called "RAIN", on Northport Records. It features Mr. Trier playing the hammered dulcimer, and is now available at local record stores.

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Kathleen Brauer, violin

Kathleen Brauer, violinist, made her solo debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the age of fifteen. She holds degrees in music performance from the University of Michigan and Yale University. She was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at Aspen Music Festival, and has performed with numerous ensembles including the Lyric Chamber Ensemble in Detroit, and Ensemble Modern of Germany. She has often appeared with the Rembrandt Chamber Players, and is a member of Pintele piano trio, with whom she has performed several recitals on WFMT.  She has appeared at the Norfolk, Bowdoin, and Hampden-Sydney Festivals, and with Bach Week in Evanston, and is a frequent guest artist at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Brauer is a member of the orchestras of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Santa Fe Opera, and Music of the Baroque.

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