Here is the cast of Messiaen Mélange Musique 2016:
Jeanie Lee Baldwin is a Portland-based collaborative pianist and private teacher. Jeanie earned a performance degree with honors from the Eastman School of Music, and in 1981 took first prize in the Clara Wells National Biennial Piano Competition. Among her other awards is a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and among her most influential teachers, Aiko Onishi and Cécile Genhart. Jeanie is tickled pink to return to the Marzena stage for a third time.
Elizabeth Blachly-Dyson is a molecular biologist turned composer. She has played cello in the Marylhurst Symphony and the Pacific Crest Youth Sinfonietta, both having performed her compositions. Several of her chamber works have been performed at Cascadia Composers concerts, and she is a member of the Crazy Jane Composers.
Elizabeth teaches music theory at the Music and Arts Academy in Camas, Washington and she has adjudicated Composition Celebrations for the Oregon Music Teachers association. She volunteers with the BRAVO Youth Orchestra, which has also performed her music. She has studied composition with Dr. Robert Priest, Tomas Svoboda and Jonathan Newman, and is currently studying with Kenji Bunch.
Antonio Celaya: I was born and raised in Southern Arizona, and it is in my roots there that I have found the nub of my best musical compositions. Yaqui deer dance music, Tohono O’odham Waila, or chicken scratch, mariachi music, the mambos of Beny Moré and Pérez Prado to which my parents danced during the 1950s, and the cowboy songs often inappropriately come into my head when composing. My music frequently reflects dance and bodily movement. I’ve often used rhythms from Cuban guaguancó, tango and the jarocho music of Vera Cruz. I strive to compose music that engages the body and the emotions.
Diane Chaplin is a solo artist and chamber music cellist, conductor and music educator. She is the Director and Conductor of Rose City Youth Orchestras, is on the faculty at Lewis and Clark and Linfield Colleges and is Program Coordinator for the Chamber Music Camp of Portland. She tours the U.S. with the Portland Cello Project and is often heard in solo and chamber music performances in the Portland area.
Diane holds a Master of Music degree from Juilliard. She has published two volumes of student cello music, Cello Champs and the ebook, How to Improve Your Chops Without Playing a Note.
Maria Choban: A thoughtful rabble-rouser. That’s what I hope I am. I believe art is entertainment and entertainment is art. I believe that keeping our mouths shut in the name of getting along only destroys our culture. I believe that performers working our ASSES off and turning down a bunch of other gigs because we love projects like Bob Priest’s MMM — believing we can collaboratively make magic — is better than apologizing for not practicing or rehearsing enough because we have too many irons in the fire. I believe this manifesto is more interesting than my personal bio.
Jonathan DeBruyn is a conductor and violinist from Lake Oswego, Oregon. He currently is the conductor of the MYS Camerata, and has been active in Portland for a number of years as an orchestral player and soloist. Most recently Jonathan appeared as a chamber musician at the Astoria Music Festival. He studied the violin with Carol Sindell at Portland State University, where he completed a BM in violin performance. As a conductor, Jonathan has appeared with numerous local orchestras and has also conducted in Canada, Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic. He is the son of composer Randall DeBruyn.
Stuart Dempster is best known for creative beautiful, rich acoustic drones in reverberant natural spaces. A Professor Emeritus at University of Washington, Dempster is originally from Berkeley, CA. He played in the world premiere of Terry Riley’s minimalist masterpiece “In C” and the US premiere of Cornelius Cardew’s “Treatise”. He has worked with artists as diverse as Merce Cunningham, Luciano Berio, Folke Rabe, Jani Christou, The Nihilist Spasm Band, Yuji Takahashi, William O. Smith, David Tudor, John Cage, and Wu Man. Most important of his musical collaborators is Pauline Oliveros, with whom he founded Deep Listening Band.
Free Marz String Trio: Since our 2006 PDX debut, FMST has presented 11 concerts featuring works by scads of composers including Benjamin, Corigliano, Górecki, Hendrix, Korngold, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Morricone, Penderecki, Priest, Salonen, Schnittke, Stockhausen, Tabakova & Xenakis. We have also commissioned 33 short pieces from Austrian, Canadian, English, Portland & Seattle composers. FMST is named after a now-defunct Seattle cafe (ca. 1986) by the name of Free Mars.
James Harley is a Canadian composer teaching at the University of Guelph. He obtained his doctorate at McGill University after spending six years composing and studying in Europe (London, Paris, Warsaw). His music has been awarded prizes in Canada, USA, UK, France, Austria, Poland, Japan, and has been performed and broadcast around the world. Recordings include: Neue Bilder and ~spin~: Like a ragged flock.
As a researcher, Harley has written extensively on contemporary music. His books include: Xenakis: His Life in Music and Iannis Xenakis: Kraanerg. As a performer, Harley has a background in jazz, and has most recently worked as an interactive computer musician.
Fred Hauptman: Born in the Bronx, I taught all kinds of music at CCNY for 33 years. On a sabbatical in 1988, I met Bob Priest at a concert that included music by Messiaen (I was interviewing Bob for Seattle Weekly), and became fast friends (although we’re slowing down). In Seattle, I’ve had some interesting jobs: Music Director at Town Hall and program manager for the Early Music Guild, as well as organizing and performing in concerts.
Andrew Hosch: A musician and composer who has been experimenting with electroacoustics since the 1970s. Originally from Chicago; Portland resident since 1973; one of the hosts for KBOO Community Radio’s “A Different Nature” and Africa O-Yé; owned and operated the now defunct world music shop Timbuktunes.
Nancy Ives is Principal Cello of the Oregon Symphony. She received a DMA from the Manhattan School of Music. She is a member of fEARnoMUSIC and has been featured soloist with the Oregon Symphony as well as other orchestras. Nancy is Instructor of Chamber Music at Lewis & Clark College and is active as a teacher and recording artist. She is a frequent guest of groups such as Chamber Music Northwest, 45th Parallel, Portland Piano International, Third Angle, Pink Martini and Portland Cello Project, and her composition Shard is featured on a recent PCP album, to e.s.
Violinist Hae-Jin Kim received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded a Prestigious Performer’s Certificate and the Starling Foundation Award. As a chamber musician, she has performed with the Free Marz String Trio, NW New Music, Artesan String Quartet, Asiana String Quartet, and Pacifica Trio.
Hae-Jin is a member of the Portland Opera Orchestra, and freelances with the Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. She has a private teaching studio in NW Portland and is a faculty member of the Chamber Music Camp of Portland.
Born in Rye, New York, Ronni Lacroute grew up in New York, Washington, D.C., and Europe. She enjoyed a career as a professor and high school teacher of French. In 1991, Ronnie bought 420 acres of rolling hills on sedimentary soils in Yamhill, Oregon and planted a vineyard, later building a winery and a wine business called Willakenzie Estate.
Ronni’s true passion is for the performing arts, so she recites poetry around the house and attends both theatre and chamber music concerts several times a week in the Portland area or wherever she might be traveling.
A diverse musician, Dr. Catherine Lee has performed as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician on oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn in a wide range of settings, including classical, contemporary, and free improvisation. She has performed locally in the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, the Portland Cello Project, and others.
Catherine’s recordings include Five Shapes: Improvisations for Oboe d’amore and Percussion (Lee + Hannafin Duo) and social sounds (solo). She is on faculty at Willamette University, Western Oregon University, and George Fox University. Catherine holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University.
Patrick Jiro Lee studied advertising at the University of Oregon. He believes in the power of art to illuminate, elucidate, and edify. Patrick has been doing the MMM brochures for several years now under the nom de graphique Atelier des Etoiles.
Flutist Amelia Lukas is the Director of Community Engagement at All Classical Portland, and performs locally with Chamber Music Northwest, Fear No Music, the Astoria Music Festival, 45th Parallel, and Music in the Woods.
As the Founder and Director of Ear Heart Music, Amelia produced over 80 unique multi-media concerts which included over 60 world premieres. Her writing has been published by the Dance USA ejournal, and speaking engagements include both the Chamber Music America and Dance USA conferences, as well as the MATA Festival. She holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Robert McBride is the senior announcer at All Classical Portland. Also founder and president of Club Mod, a weekly radio program that’s been celebrating modern music on Saturday nights for the past nine years. He’s been at the station since 2000 and has been in the radio business since the late 1970s. Robert is also a recovering percussionist and occasional composer, whose had the honor of having his works presented at MMM four times now! He be grateful.
Cellist Valdine Ritchie Mishkin performs with the Delphinium Quartet on the All-Classical FM Classical Pub series, and has played in the cello sections of the Oregon Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, and on period instruments with the Mercury Ensemble.
Dr. Mishkin serves as adjunct faculty at Willamette University and teaches at her home studio in West Linn. She coaches chamber music and orchestral repertoire with the Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Youth Symphonies, judges competitions for regional and national organizations, and is a clinician for Chamber Music Camp of Portland. Valdine holds a Doctorate and Masters in Music from Rice University.
ValdineMishkin.com
Born in France, Kim Mai Nguyen is a Juilliard-trained violist, music educator, and arts advocate. She is a dynamic and charismatic musician who plays everything from Baroque to contemporary; she also explores music from cultures around the world, and has performed and taught in Afghanistan, Belize, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Iraq, Jamaica, Lebanon, Prague, Vietnam, and the US.
Kim Mai brings her love of education, community activism, and cultural diplomacy to numerous projects worldwide. She has co-directed orchestra workshops in Lebanon and Iraq with American Music Abroad, an organization providing cultural exchanges through the arts.
Kim Mai plays with the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony.
Monica Ohuchi enjoys an active career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. She is the pianist and Executive Director of Fear No Music, a founding member of the piano quartet Thunder Egg Consort, and performs locally with 45th Parallel, Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, and a frequent guest on Portland’s All-Classical radio station. Her solo album released on Helicon records label, “Monica’s Notebook”, is a series of piano Études written expressly for her by Kenji Bunch. Monica holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School and has been teaching at Reed College since 2014. monicaohuchi.com
Pianist Jeff Payne has performed on WGBH in Boston (NPR), KING radio in Seattle, All-Classical Radio and KOPB radio in Portland, at the Seattle Spring Festival, at Eugene’s Music Today Festival, the Ernest Bloch Festival, the Oregon Bach Festival, the Yellow Barn and Sandpoint Chamber Music Festivals. He has also performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony and as accompanist for the Portland Opera Chorus.
Jeff co-founded Fear No Music in 1992, and has performed with the group across the United States. In 1997 he founded the Young Composers Workshop and continues as its Director, overseeing the development of aspiring young creative minds around the country.
Hannah Penn, mezzo-soprano, enjoys a diverse career as a performer of opera, oratorio, and recital literature. She has sung more than twenty operatic roles with Glimmerglass Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Portland Opera, Tacoma Opera, and other companies. Ms. Penn frequently performs with Portland Opera,
Ms. Penn also enjoys a full concert schedule, having been featured with orchestras around the country, including several appearances with the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Baroque, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Sunriver Music Festival, and the Florida Philharmonic. Ms. Penn is also a dedicated and passionate teacher, on faculty at Portland State University and Linfield College.
Bob Priest is founder & artistic director of Marzena (Seattle-Victoria-Portland), MMM, Free Marz String Trio & Ear Trumpet.
After meeting Willie Mays & playing in sundry LA blues/rock bands as a kid, Bob went on to receive his Ph.D. @ the University of Victoria, where he taught the world’s first college course on the music of Jimi Hendrix. He studied classical guitar with Pepe Romero & composition with Olivier Messiaen (Paris Conservatoire), Robert Ward (North Carolina School of the Arts) & Witold Lutoslawski (Warsaw as a 2-year Fulbright scholar during Martial Law).
Cindy Scheel: After twenty years experience in event planning, Cindy created Exuberance Catering to highlight making organic and locally sourced ingredients in beautiful presentations. Committed to the community, a portion of all profits is given to non-profit organizations and arts organizations receive a 25% discount. “I love the arts but I’m a fan, not a performer. My art is food. This is my way of supporting the music I love. I’m a native Portlander, and the food scene in Portland is as vibrant as the arts scene — getting to work at the crossroads between these two is really exciting and fun.”
Ken Selden is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Portland State University. He has appeared as guest conductor of the Oregon Symphony, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Salem Chamber Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, and Newport Symphony. His two CD recordings of Mahler and Debussy arrangements with the Martingale Ensemble recently were released on MSR Classics. An advocate for new music, Selden has worked with composers Pierre Boulez, John Cage and Tan Dun, and has conducted world premieres of music by Peter Lieberson, Michael Nyman and Stephen Paulus.
Mr. Selden is a graduate of New England Conservatory, Indiana University, and Peabody Conservatory.
Tom Stiles is a recording engineer and instructor at Jack Straw Cultural Center, the Northwest’s non-profit audio arts center. He does live sound and video work for the Seattle Center Sound Department. He has recorded hundreds of artists in studio and remote locations around the Pacific Rim as well as in Florence, Italy. Tom’s stage management credits include Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, the Bumbershoot Festival, the Northwest Folklife Festival, Marzena, Seattle Spring and March Music Moderne. He knows where the bodies are buried.
Jeff Winslow, a fourth-generation Oregonian, seeks the musical heart of natural and psychological landscapes. A late bloomer, his music was rarely heard until Gary Noland brought Seventh Species to Portland and invited him to join in, and David Bernstein asked him to be one of the eight founders of Cascadia Composers. His works have had dozens of performances since then, sometimes with the composer at the piano.
composerswatch.proscenia.net/Winslow_Jeff
Linda Woody is a lifelong musician with an eclectic musical career. She enjoys writing accessible music in a variety of styles and forms for chamber groups and other ensembles including middle school band, handbell choir, vocal groups and mixed instrumental ensembles. Her works have been performed by members of the Oregon Chamber Players, Big Horn Brass, the Oregon and Vancouver Symphonies and by the Raphael Spiro string quartet, the Madrone Viola Duo, Marylhurst Chamber Choir and bands at Rosemont Ridge and Athey Creek Middle School.
Linda has degrees in music and composition from Marylhurst University and is board member of Cascadia Composers.