Guest Artists

David Colwell, violin

Since his solo debut with the Edmonton Symphony at the age of 14, violinist David Colwell has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, Canada and the United States, and has been recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

A native of Alberta, Canada, David received his first violin lessons from Dr. Elfreda Gleam and William van der Sloot. After further studies with Ranald Shean and Edmond Agopian, he began his undergraduate education in 1997 at the University of Alberta where he studied with Dr. Martin Riseley. In September of 2001, he entered the studio of Peter Oundjian and Ani Kavafian at Yale University School of Music and was awarded the Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts degrees in 2003 and 2005 respectively. In 2009 he was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. David is grateful to the Winspear Fund for its generous support of his studies from 2001-2005.

As a winner of a Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship in both 1998 and 1999, David studied at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria with Igor Oistrakh, Michael Frischenschlager, Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Igor Ozim. In the summers of 2004 and 2005, he studied and performed at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. In June of 2005, David made his formal Ravinia Festival debut at the Martin Theater. As a member of the Mondrian Piano Quartet, David participated in the Banff Centre's Chamber Music Residency in the summer of 2007. In 2011, he performed and gave a masterclass at the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival and Academy.  Other memorable performances have included chamber music collaborations with Edgar Meyer, Timothy Eddy, Paul Katz, Barry Shiffman, Henk Guittart, Pekka Kuusisto, Ismo Eskelinen and Ralf Gothóni.

Since 2006, David was a member of the performance faculty at the University of Virginia's McIntire Department of Music where he served as Concertmaster of the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra and first violinist of the Rivanna String Quartet. In the Fall of 2011, he joined the faculty at SUNY Fredonia School of Music as Assistant Professor of Violin.

Photo credit:  Cramer Photo




Adam Carter, cello

Cellist Adam Carter joined the faculty of U.Va's McIntire Department of Music in 2008.  He currently teaches cello and chamber music at U.Va and is Principal Cello of the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra.  Previously, he played with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin.  He has also won positions with the Akron Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic and Cedar Rapids Symphony, and performed with the Erie Philharmonic, Fairfax Symphony and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.  An active teacher, Mr. Carter was adjunct professor of cello and bass at Ripon College (Wisconsin) and taught with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras in Madison.

As a founding member of the Tarab Cello Ensemble, Adam travels the country playing new works for cello octet. The Ensemble was awarded a grant from the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music for its accomplishments in the creation and performance of contemporary music, a grant from the Foreman Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. The Ensemble has recorded on Bridge Records and Albany Records. Mr. Carter is also a top prizewinner at the 1998 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Adam grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees with distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and received his doctoral degree from the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison. His principle teachers include Steven Doane, Rosemary Elliot, Robert Marsh, and Uri Vardi.

Photo credit:  Cramer Photo

 

University Singers & Michael Slon, conductor

Active as a conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic repertoire, Michael Slon is currently Conductor of the University Singers and Chamber Singers, and Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Virginia where he was named a member of the Mead Honored Faculty for 2006-2007. Recent repertoire with the choruses has included Orff's Carmina Burana, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Mozart's Mass in C minor, the Palestrina Missa Brevis, Bach's Cantata 150, Britten's Hymn to St. Cecelia and a range of shorter a cappella and accompanied works. After substituting on one hour's notice for a January 2005 performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, Mr. Slon also served for a year as Interim Director of the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra, leading performances of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2, Mahler's Symphony No. 4, Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 and Copland's Appalachian Spring. Together with former Symphony Executive Director Bill Martin, he also launched the University Singers-CUSO Family Holiday Concerts.

Opera and musical theatre engagements have included a production of Stephen Paulus's The Three Hermits with Buffalo's Opera Sacra, regional premieres of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George and Guettel's The Light in The Piazza with the Heritage Theater Festival, South Pacific and The Magic Flute with the Ash Lawn Opera Festival and Into the Woods and Bernstein's Mass at Indiana University. In addition, he is active as a guest conductor of honors choirs and orchestras.

Prior to UVA, Mr. Slon served as visiting conducting faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory, and as assistant conductor of Cincinnati's May Festival Chorus, in which roles he prepared and co-prepared choruses for concerts with the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. His ensembles have worked with artists including Moses Hogan, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, and Franz Welser-Möst. Mr. Slon holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music and Cornell University, where he was named a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a pianist and writer--his first book, Songs from the Hill, came out in 1998, and he is currently at work on a Leonard Bernstein project. 

The University Singers is the University of Virginia’s premier choral ensemble, performing a cappella and accompanied choral literature including major works with orchestra. Founded in 1957, the group became a primarily student ensemble soon after U.Va began admitting women in 1970, and celebrated its 50th anniversary with the 2007-2008 season. Recent repertoire has included Bach's Mass in B minor, Orff’s Carmina Burana, the Duruflé Requiem and Mozart's Mass in C minor, as well as a range of shorter a cappella works. Recent trips have taken the group to Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Charleston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Virginia Beach and the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., as well as the campuses of other American universities for collaborative concerts. The group has also been heard on European tours in England, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Recordings include a CD of Mozart's Coronation Mass and Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, as well as the newest release, My Spirit Sang All Day. In past years highlights have included concerts and workshops with Bobby McFerrin and Meredith Monk, a performance for Hillary Clinton, commissioning projects with Stephen Paulus and Eric Whitacre, a performance for the 2010 VMEA Conference and frequent collaborations with the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra. The 2011-2012 season includes the popular Family Holiday and Family Weekend Concerts and performances of Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.   

Students in the University Singers come from U.Va's six undergraduate schools, including Arts and Sciences, Education and Engineering, as well as several of the University's graduate and professional schools. While approximately 25-30% are music majors, the ensemble is open to any student by audition, and is a for-credit curricular class. Together, members enjoy an esprit de corps that arises from the pursuit of musical excellence and the camaraderie the singers develop offstage. 

For more info visit: www.virginia.edu/music/usingers

Jennifer Lynn Waters, soprano

American soprano Jennifer Lynn Waters is a graduate of the Washington National Opera's Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program (2008-2011).  Last summer, Ms. Waters made her debut with Palau de Les Artes Reina Sofia as the title role of Amelia al ballo under the baton of Plácido Domingo.  At Washington National Opera, she has sung Ció-Ció-San (Young Artist Production) and Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, Diana in the Iphigénie en Tauride,  Frasquita in Carmen, Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, Woglinde in Götterdämmerung, Contessa Almaviva (Young Artist Production) in Le nozze di Figaro and Alice in the LookIn performances of Falstaff.  Other operatic appearances include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Konstanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail and the title role in Suor Angelica.

Her recent concert work includes a debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as Geraldine in Barber's A Hand of Bridge, appearances with the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Teatro alla Scala and the Reignwood Theatre in Beijing, and the Washington, DC première of Halim El-Dabh's Clytemnestra with the Martha Graham Dance Company.  She has been a soloist with the Caramoor Music Festival, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Maryland Concert Opera, Frederick Symphony Orchestra, The Bach Concert Series, Cathedral Choral Society and the Harford Choral Society.

She is a graduate of George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington.  For more details, visit www.JenniferLynnWaters.com.





Michael Mizrahi, piano

Pianist Michael Mizrahi has won acclaim for his compelling performances of a wide-ranging repertoire and his ability to connect with audiences of all ages. He has appeared as concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and teaching artist across the United States and abroad.

Mr. Mizrahi has performed in the world’s leading concert halls including Carnegie Hall, Toyko’s Suntory Hall, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Jordan Hall and the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Chicago Cultural Center and Houston’s Jones Hall. He has performed as soloist with major orchestras including the Houston Symphony, National Symphony, Haddonfield Symphony, Sioux City Symphony, and Prince Georges Philharmonic. He has given solo recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC and has made repeated appearances on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago. His chamber music festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Verbier, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.  Mr. Mizrahi won First Prize and the Audience Choice Award in the Ima Hogg International Competition, as well as first prizes in the International Bartók-Kabalevsky Competition and the Iowa International Piano Competition. He won third prize in the San Antonio International Piano Competition in 2006.  Mr. Mizrahi appeared for many years on the active roster of Astral Artists.

An enthusiastic promoter of music education, Mizrahi has presented lecture-recitals and master classes at The American School in Switzerland (TASIS), the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and the University of Nebraska at Omaha.  As a member of Carnegie Hall’s prestigious Academy program and Teaching Artists Collaborative, Mr. Mizrahi spent several hours a week as a teaching artist in New York City public schools.

Dedicated to the music of our time, Mr. Mizrahi has commissioned and given world premieres of several new works for piano and frequently collaborates with composers and instrumentalists in the performance of 21st-century music.  He is a founding member of NOW Ensemble, a chamber group devoted to the commissioning and performing of new music by emerging composers. NOW Ensemble released its second album, Awake, to critical acclaim in 2011.  Mr. Mizrahi will release an album of newly commissioned works for solo piano on the New Amsterdam Records label in Spring 2012. 

Mr. Mizrahi is a also founding member of the Moët Trio, which is quickly establishing itself as one of today’s most exciting young piano trios.  The Moët Trio recently completed a residency at the New England Conservatory. 

Michael Mizrahi received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, where his concentrations were in music, religion and physics.  He holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank.  After his Philadelphia debut recital, the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that “…the performance had transparency, revealing a forward-moving logic and chord voices you didn’t previously realize were there…textures were sumptuous.”

He is currently Assistant Professor of Piano at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin.
 

Ben Elliott, treble, and the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir

Ben Elliott, 13, showed an early interest in music and first sang for an audience at the age of four.  A member of the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir for six years, he has served as a soloist and section leader and has been named “Outstanding Chorister” for three years. He has studied piano for nine years with Dr. Eloise Kornicke and has rated double superior for six consecutive years at the Harrisonburg Music Teachers Association Piano Festival.  He also performed in the Virginia State MTNA Junior Piano Competition the past two years.

An eighth grader from Fishersville, Virginia, Ben accompanies the worship team at his church and performs as a contemporary Christian soloist. His other interests include soccer, reading, hiking, and geocaching. 

Now in its twentieth year, the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir (SVCC) of Harrisonburg, Virginia has grown to include nearly 200 in two classes, three choirs, and a staff of five under the direction of Julia J. White, Artistic Director and Founder.  The SVCC has performed at the American Choral Directors Association Southern Division conferences (’00, ’02, ’06, upcoming ’12), the Virginia Music Educators Association conferences (’96, ’98, ’04, ’08), and at the  Organization of Kodaly Educators national conference (’01 as headline choir, ’09).  Collaborations include six performances with The American Boychoir and three with The Washington Symphonic Brass Quintet (’03, ’06, ’09, upcoming Christmas ’11).

The Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir has sung with the Carnegie Hall Children’s Choir Festival (’98, ’07, upcoming ’12), the Tuscany International Children’s Choir Festival (’01) in Italy and the Pacific Rim Children’s Chorus Festival (’05, ’09) in Hawaii. It performed for the Gandhi Awards Ceremony at James Madison University for Archbishop Desmond Tutu (’07) and former President Jimmy Carter (’09) and released its fifteenth CD, Twenty Years of Song in October.   For more information see www.emu.edu/svcc.



Gerard Powers, tenor

Tenor Gerard Powers has enjoyed enthusiastic acclaim for his fresh and innovative perspective in a wide variety of operatic roles.  He has been praised for being "a tenor that was especially clear and clean," as well as for possessing "strong acting skills."  Recent engagements include Prunier in Puccini's La Rondine for his debut with San Francisco Opera, the title role in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with Boston Lyric Opera, Rodolfo in La Boheme with the Gothenburg Opera, Don Jose in Carmen for his debut with The Bolshoi Opera, Cavaradossi in Tosca with Arizona Opera, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Fresno Grand Opera.  Additional engagements include leading roles with New York City Opera, Baltimore Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Central City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Cincinnati Opera.