Walter Steffens at his home in Marienmünster, Germany with his son. Photo: Achim Kaufmann

 

 

 

Walter Steffens

Born in Aachen, Germany, Walter studied in Hamburg with Ernst-Gernot Klußmann, Wilhelm Maler, and Philipp Jarnach (Busoni’s pupil, and the teacher of Kurt Weill and Bernd Alois Zimmermann). He is prolific in all genres, from solo and chamber works to grand opera. Five of his operas were brought to stage in Germany: “Eli” inspired by Nelly Sachs and “Die Judenbuche / The Jew’s Beech” after the novella by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff were performed in Dortmund. “Unter dem Milchwald / Under Milk Wood” was written after the play by Dylan Thomas and was performed in Hamburg and Kassel. “Grabbes Leben / Life of Grabbe” and “Der  Philosoph / The Philosopher” were performed in Detmold.

 

No other composer has transposed more paintings into music than Walter Steffens, with compositions inspired by Bosch, Rembrandt, Chagall, Picasso, Paul Klee, Emil Schumacher, Gerhard Richter, and many others (laborrecords.com/lab7084.html). He stayed at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, twice as guest of honour at the Villa Massimo in Rome, and at the Villa Romana in Florence. Walter Steffens is professor emeritus for composition, Hochschule für Musik, Detmold, Germany, and a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg.

 

www.walter-steffens.de

 

 

Marec Béla Steffens

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Marec Béla Steffens lived in Houston Texas in 2005 and from 2012 to 2016. He has written six books of original, often absurd fairy-tales, published in German, English, and Hungarian. They were illustrated by his wife Krystyna, a native of Warsaw Poland.

 

Scenes from Marec’s original libretti (“The Tramway Conductor of Venice” and “Kater, erzähl’ mir ein Märchen! / Tomcat, Tell Me a Fairy-Tale”) with music composed by Mario Wiegand were performed in the final rounds of opera competitions in London UK at Sadler’s Wells by the Genesis Opera Project, and at Rheinsberg Castle near Berlin Germany. Marec also developed a children’s opera after the Grimm Brothers (with music by Mario Wiegand) produced in Kassel, Germany. He has written an original libretto for Mary Carol Warwick about Bernardo de Gálvez, the namesake of Galveston and a crucial figure in the American War for Independence; the first two scenes were world premiered at Houston’s Rice University in April 2017. At the same place the first part of his song cycle “Gallery Talks” for Clare Glackin was premiered in April 2016. He holds a PhD in economics.

 

www.maerchenkater.de

 

 

PERFORMERS

 

 

Born and raised in Germany, Sonja Bruzauskas (Cook) was trained on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Besides her expansive stage career in musical theater, opera and operetta, Sonja is a well-established concert singer and recitalist, focusing on German Art Song and contemporary music.

 

Appearances include the Staatsoperette Dresden, where Sonja was under full contract for several years before moving to the United States, the Santa Fe Opera, Volkstheater Rostock, Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater, Babelsberger Filmorchester, Bochumer Symphoniker, Baton Rouge Symphony, Da Camera, the Bach Society Houston, Mercury, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Chamber Choir, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and Ars Lyrica.

 

Sonja has sung and lectured at institutions such as Cal Arts, Vanderbilt, LSU, Rice University, the University of Houston, the Philosophical Society of Houston as well as numerous health institutions. http://sonjabruzauskas.com/

 

 

Tenor Todd Randall Miller (Don Miguel) has a broad range of performance experience with the Houston Symphony, Houston Choral Society, San Antonio Symphony and Opera, Opera in the Heights, The Woodlands Symphony, Da Camera Society and Des Moines Metro Opera. Solo performance highlights include Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Houston Symphony and Stravinsky's Les Noces with Da Camera Society/Houston Chamber Choir. He has also sung and conducted in Carnegie Hall with various ensembles, and recently released a crossover album entitled Bring Him Home that is widely available online.

 

A proponent of new American music, Todd has collaborated with several living composers, including Carlisle Floyd, Richard Faith, Henry Mollicone, Robert Nelson and John Cornelius. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance and conducting from the University of Houston, and holds vocal performance degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Arizona. Todd is Professor of Music and Lead Faculty at Lone Star College-Kingwood, where he conducts the choral ensembles. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Kingwood Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.  http://www.toddmillermusician.com/

 

 

 

Octavio Moreno (Brother Gabriel), originally from Mexico, sang Laurentino in the world premiere of Cruzar la cara de la luna in 2010, then at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera. At Houston’s Opera in the Heights he sang Germont in La traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto (which he had sung at HGO before, stepping in). He returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago, HGO and San Diego Opera as Xihuitl in the world premiere of the mariachi Opera El pasado nunca se termina. At the University of Houston’s Moores Opera Center, he sang Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Vronsky in Anna Karenina and John Proctor in The Crucible, then reprises Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna for his Fort Worth Opera debut and appears as Figaro in The Barber of Seville with HGOco.

 

Octavio received degrees at the Universidad de Sonora and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, followed by the Houston Grand Opera Studio, and the University of Houston. He currently studies with Hugo Vera. Octavio won third places in the 2008 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and in the Carlo Morelli Competition. On his album Amar a esa mujer he performs his own compositions. http://bergerartists.com/octaviomoreno/

 

 

Benjamin LeClair (Servant), 6 ft. 8 inches tall, has towered over his colleagues on stages in Chicago, Santa Fe, Houston, and in Germany where he has given over 150 performances as lead bass soloist at the Oldenburg State Theater, including King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Laurence in Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.

His first professional engagement was at the Pine Mountain Music Festival. During his studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, he performed with local opera companies and also with Central City Opera in Colorado. Subsequently he sang in five productions at Opera in the Heights in Houston, including the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann where his performance was described as “an unmitigated triumph”.  He was accepted into the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco two times and sang successfully in productions of Così fan tutte and Albert Herring.  He helped launch the Haymarket Opera in Chicago, a company dedicated to baroque works, singing the role of Polifemo in Händel’s Acis, Galatea and Polifemo.  He has also sung with the Santa Fe Opera, Reis National Opera in Holland, Austin Lyric Opera, Birmingham Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florentine Opera, St. Petersburg Opera (Florida).  https://benjaminleclair.weebly.com/

 

 

 

Anne Leek, Associate Principal Oboist of the Houston Symphony, was educated at Juilliard where she received her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. During her time in New York, she performed on a recital in Carnegie Hall sponsored by the Artists International Contest, which she won. During the 1980s, Anne was Solo Principal Oboe of the Mannheim Orchestra in Germany.

 

Before joining the Houston Symphony, she played a two year position as principal oboe in the Pittsburgh Symphony, under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Along with her career as an orchestral musician, Anne has taught at Indiana University, Arizona State University and is currently teaching at the University of Houston. As a recital soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in numerous major cities across the world. Anne is the leader of Houston’s Greenbriar Consortium, see below. https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/anne-leek/

 

 

Alexander Potiomkin joined the Houston Symphony as Bass Clarinet/Utility in October 2012. A native of Ukraine, he moved with his family to Israel in 1991, where he attended the Rubin Jerusalem Academy of Music, while appearing as a regular substitute clarinetist with Israel Philharmonic. Sasha came to Houston in 1995 to study at Rice University, where he earned his Master of Music Degree in 1997.

 

Most recently, Sasha has appeared as substitute Principal Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony on their Carnegie Hall tour in Spring 2012. He has also performed as guest principal clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony and as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Sasha has participated in the Mozart, Bellingham, Blossom and Tanglewood music festivals.

 

Equally committed to teaching, Sasha maintains a large, private studio. His main teachers include David Peck and David Weber, with additional studies with Michael Wayne and Mark Nuccio on clarinet and Chester Rowell and Ben Freimuth on bass clarinet.

https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/alexander-potiomkin/

 

 

Masahito Sugihara is the assistant professor of saxophone at Sam Houston State University. He earned the Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University as a student of Dr. Frederick L. Hemke. Previous studies include with Marshall Taylor at Temple University.  Mas has appeared as recitalist and clinician in Brazil, Canada, England, France, Luxembourg, Norway, Japan, Scotland, and United States. He is a member of Awea Duo and Amethyst Saxophone Quartet, and has performed in the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, Grant Park Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Network for New Music, New York City Ballet, and Reading Symphony.

An advocate of contemporary music, he has worked with notable composers including Lee Hyla, Christian Lauba, Lei Liang, Zhou Long, Alvin Lucier, François Rossé, Mari Takano, Hans Tomalla, and Marc-Anthony Turnage. As an avid arranger, Mas has transcribed a wide range of compositions for flute/sax duo, reed quartet, saxophone quartet, and larger saxophone ensembles.

 
Previously, he was the assistant professor of saxophone at Morehead State University and has taught saxophone and chamber music in the Chicago area at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University and Trinity Christian College. https://www.masahitosugihara.com/

 

 

 

A native Houstonian, Erika Johnson is the Acting Assistant Principal Cellist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra which she joined in 2001. She performs regularly with Mercury, Ars Lyrica, Houston Ballet Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. She is an accomplished chamber musician, having won the Schaad Award at the Carmel Chamber Music competition with the Moores Piano Trio and recorded with guitarist Mark McCain in the guitar-cello duo, Touch the Strings. She also writes worship music and records regularly with various Christian artists. Erika is a graduate of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where she studied with Laszlo Varga. http://www.hgoorchestra.org/staff-members/erika-johnson/

 

 

Paul Boyd is professor of piano at College of the Mainland, Texas City TX, where he also teaches music literature and chamber ensemble. He is artistic and executive director of the Foundation for Modern Music (FMM). Under his direction since 2008, FMM’s annual Avalon International Competition for Composers has been engaging judges such as William Bolcom, Carlisle Floyd, and Tania León. Paul has to date premiered over 35 works by Ofer Ben-Amots, Mohammed Fairouz, Arthur Gottschalk, John Kiefer, Christopher Theofanidis, Mary Carol Warwick and others. Besides FMM concerts, he has been heard regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium, Latin music and dance organization Flamárt, and in broadcasts.

 

His piano studies were with Anne Dean Turk, Carol Houston, Ruth Tomfohrde and Abbey Simon; his composition studies were with David Ashley White. He holds D.M.A. and M.M. degrees from the University of Houston. Paul joined the piano and theory faculty of the American Festival for the Arts Conservatory for several years. Recent performance highlights include the premiere of Warwick’s song cycle The Gathering at New York’s LaMama Theatre Center, the premiere of his work Water Sketches in San Antonio, and the creation of a new chamber music series at Galveston’s Moody Mansion. http://www.com.edu/directory/biography/paul-boyd

 

 

David Kirk, conductor, is Principal Tubist of the Houston Symphony, and an Associate Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He enjoys an international reputation for effective teaching of musicianship and the physical aspects of wind playing, and has presented master classes throughout North America and in Japan. During his undergraduate years at the Juilliard School, he studied with Don Harry. His other teachers include David Waters, Chester Schmitz, Warren Deck, and Neal Tidwell.

As a guest performer, Dave appears with ensembles throughout North America. Locally, he maintains an active leadership role in concert presentations of Houston’s Foundation for Modern Music, and is an active recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and spokesman for the musical arts. He may be heard on Houston Symphony recordings under conductors Sergiu Comissiona, Newton Wayland, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Krajewski, Hans Graf, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

 

As a conductor, Dave is increasingly in demand at professional and academic concerts. He lead members of the Houston Symphony in a September 2017 performance for the Hurricane Harvey benefit Houston Strong: A Theater District Benefit Honoring Local Heroes. His solo playing is featured on Mark Custom Recordings’ The Music of Leroy Osmon, Volume 1. https://music.rice.edu/faculty/david-kirk

 

 

Israeli-American pianist Tali Morgulis, a "pianistic firecracker," has appeared as soloist with the Thüringen Philharmonic, Malaga Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic, Kaoshung Symphony, Haifa Symphony and the Orquestra da Camera Theatro Sao Pedro.

She played with Schlomo Mintz, Vadim Gluzman, and Uri Pianka and with numerous chamber ensembles, including the Jupiter Chamber Players, the Firebird Contemporary Ensemble and the Borromeo String Quartet. A regular performer with Houston's Musiqa, her advocacy of new music has including commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Marcus Karl Maroney, Lei Liang and Lior Navok.

Ukraine native Tali received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, then her doctoral degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She studied with Esther Balasha, Michael Boguslawsky, Wha Kyung Byun, Lev Natochenny and Patricia Zander.

Tali won First Prize at the Stanislav Stancic International Piano Competition in Zagreb, Second Prize at the Pinerolo and Third Prize at the Jaen International Piano Competitions in Italy and Spain, respectively. She is Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music. Tali can be heard on an IPA recording featuring music by Rachmaninov, Lutosławski, Janáček and Shostakovich, and on a Delos CD highlighting Brazilian and Argentinean composers. http://tali.morgulis.net/

 

 

Located in historic Round Top, Texas, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts and its sole project, Round Top Festival Institute, were founded in 1971 by world-renowned concert pianist James Dick. Begun with a handful of gifted young pianists in rented space on the town square, the project is now an internationally acclaimed music institute for aspiring young musicians and distinguished faculty.

Since 1971, with the help of its patrons and friends, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts has developed superb year round education and performance programs. It has also created a unique 210-acre campus Festival Hill containing major performance facilities, historic houses, extensive gardens, parks and nature preserves. Through its singular collection of rare books, manuscripts, archival material, music and historic recordings, photographs and objects, Round Top Festival Institute is also known as an important center for research and scholarly study. http://festivalhill.org/

 

 

 

On the first weekend in November, Festival Hill hosts the Round Top Theatre Forum, founded and 1998-2017 produced by Kate Emery Pogue, the eminent Shakespeare expert, playwright, librettist, book author, festival founder, stage director and lecturer at the University of Houston, the Houston Community College and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota. www.amazon.com/Kate-Emery-Pogue/e/B002ZY516C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Greenbriar Consortium is a chamber music group in Houston TX dedicated to presenting theme programs of classical, modern, pop and folk music. They are comprised of Houston Symphony players and the best chamber singers and pianists in the Houston area. Their concerts, usually at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, are a gift to the greater Houston public. And you can rest assured: if it ain't fun, they won't do it! http://www.greenbriarconsortium.com/

 

 

Brad Sayles (recording engineer and producer) is a composer, too. He wrote the music for the independent films Echoes of Invention and The Bracelet of Bordeaux; his energetic score for the Houston Public Television special Art is All Around Us was nominated for an Emmy in 2006. Brad is the 2003 & 2006 first laureate of the Louisa Stude Sarofim Composition Competition for his chamber suite New England Journey and The Lilly, respectively. He did a sound installation for sculptor Jo Ann Fleischhauer's Parasol Project and wrote The Buffalo Bayou Suite, performed by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and heard on NPR.

For NPR affiliate Houston Public Radio, Brad has created the music for three Engines of Our Ingenuity CDs with host and author John Lienhard which led to a concert version of these pieces entitled Echoes of Invention for narrator and orchestra. He composed the original theme music for both U of H Moments and Texas Originals radio programs.  Brad also served as Senior Recording Engineer and Producer/Host of Music from the Movies for Classical 91.7 FM. In Jan. 2018, Houston Symphony won its first-ever Grammy for its recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for which Brad was recording engineer and co-producer. http://www.bradsayles.com/

 

 

Walter Steffens at his home in Marienmünster, Germany with his son. Photo: Achim Kaufmann

 

 

 

Walter Steffens

Born in Aachen, Germany, Walter studied in Hamburg with Ernst-Gernot Klußmann, Wilhelm Maler, and Philipp Jarnach (Busoni’s pupil, and the teacher of Kurt Weill and Bernd Alois Zimmermann). He is prolific in all genres, from solo and chamber works to grand opera. Five of his operas were brought to stage in Germany: “Eli” inspired by Nelly Sachs and “Die Judenbuche / The Jew’s Beech” after the novella by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff were performed in Dortmund. “Unter dem Milchwald / Under Milk Wood” was written after the play by Dylan Thomas and was performed in Hamburg and Kassel. “Grabbes Leben / Life of Grabbe” and “Der  Philosoph / The Philosopher” were performed in Detmold.

 

No other composer has transposed more paintings into music than Walter Steffens, with compositions inspired by Bosch, Rembrandt, Chagall, Picasso, Paul Klee, Emil Schumacher, Gerhard Richter, and many others (laborrecords.com/lab7084.html). He stayed at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, twice as guest of honour at the Villa Massimo in Rome, and at the Villa Romana in Florence. Walter Steffens is professor emeritus for composition, Hochschule für Musik, Detmold, Germany, and a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg.

 

www.walter-steffens.de

 

 

Marec Béla Steffens

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Marec Béla Steffens lived in Houston Texas in 2005 and from 2012 to 2016. He has written six books of original, often absurd fairy-tales, published in German, English, and Hungarian. They were illustrated by his wife Krystyna, a native of Warsaw Poland.

 

Scenes from Marec’s original libretti (“The Tramway Conductor of Venice” and “Kater, erzähl’ mir ein Märchen! / Tomcat, Tell Me a Fairy-Tale”) with music composed by Mario Wiegand were performed in the final rounds of opera competitions in London UK at Sadler’s Wells by the Genesis Opera Project, and at Rheinsberg Castle near Berlin Germany. Marec also developed a children’s opera after the Grimm Brothers (with music by Mario Wiegand) produced in Kassel, Germany. He has written an original libretto for Mary Carol Warwick about Bernardo de Gálvez, the namesake of Galveston and a crucial figure in the American War for Independence; the first two scenes were world premiered at Houston’s Rice University in April 2017. At the same place the first part of his song cycle “Gallery Talks” for Clare Glackin was premiered in April 2016. He holds a PhD in economics.

 

www.maerchenkater.de

 

 

PERFORMERS

 

 

Born and raised in Germany, Sonja Bruzauskas (Cook) was trained on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Besides her expansive stage career in musical theater, opera and operetta, Sonja is a well-established concert singer and recitalist, focusing on German Art Song and contemporary music.

 

Appearances include the Staatsoperette Dresden, where Sonja was under full contract for several years before moving to the United States, the Santa Fe Opera, Volkstheater Rostock, Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater, Babelsberger Filmorchester, Bochumer Symphoniker, Baton Rouge Symphony, Da Camera, the Bach Society Houston, Mercury, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Chamber Choir, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and Ars Lyrica.

 

Sonja has sung and lectured at institutions such as Cal Arts, Vanderbilt, LSU, Rice University, the University of Houston, the Philosophical Society of Houston as well as numerous health institutions. http://sonjabruzauskas.com/

 

 

Tenor Todd Randall Miller (Don Miguel) has a broad range of performance experience with the Houston Symphony, Houston Choral Society, San Antonio Symphony and Opera, Opera in the Heights, The Woodlands Symphony, Da Camera Society and Des Moines Metro Opera. Solo performance highlights include Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Houston Symphony and Stravinsky's Les Noces with Da Camera Society/Houston Chamber Choir. He has also sung and conducted in Carnegie Hall with various ensembles, and recently released a crossover album entitled Bring Him Home that is widely available online.

 

A proponent of new American music, Todd has collaborated with several living composers, including Carlisle Floyd, Richard Faith, Henry Mollicone, Robert Nelson and John Cornelius. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance and conducting from the University of Houston, and holds vocal performance degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Arizona. Todd is Professor of Music and Lead Faculty at Lone Star College-Kingwood, where he conducts the choral ensembles. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Kingwood Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.  http://www.toddmillermusician.com/

 

 

 

Octavio Moreno (Brother Gabriel), originally from Mexico, sang Laurentino in the world premiere of Cruzar la cara de la luna in 2010, then at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera. At Houston’s Opera in the Heights he sang Germont in La traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto (which he had sung at HGO before, stepping in). He returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago, HGO and San Diego Opera as Xihuitl in the world premiere of the mariachi Opera El pasado nunca se termina. At the University of Houston’s Moores Opera Center, he sang Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Vronsky in Anna Karenina and John Proctor in The Crucible, then reprises Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna for his Fort Worth Opera debut and appears as Figaro in The Barber of Seville with HGOco.

 

Octavio received degrees at the Universidad de Sonora and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, followed by the Houston Grand Opera Studio, and the University of Houston. He currently studies with Hugo Vera. Octavio won third places in the 2008 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and in the Carlo Morelli Competition. On his album Amar a esa mujer he performs his own compositions. http://bergerartists.com/octaviomoreno/

 

 

Benjamin LeClair (Servant), 6 ft. 8 inches tall, has towered over his colleagues on stages in Chicago, Santa Fe, Houston, and in Germany where he has given over 150 performances as lead bass soloist at the Oldenburg State Theater, including King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Laurence in Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.

His first professional engagement was at the Pine Mountain Music Festival. During his studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, he performed with local opera companies and also with Central City Opera in Colorado. Subsequently he sang in five productions at Opera in the Heights in Houston, including the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann where his performance was described as “an unmitigated triumph”.  He was accepted into the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco two times and sang successfully in productions of Così fan tutte and Albert Herring.  He helped launch the Haymarket Opera in Chicago, a company dedicated to baroque works, singing the role of Polifemo in Händel’s Acis, Galatea and Polifemo.  He has also sung with the Santa Fe Opera, Reis National Opera in Holland, Austin Lyric Opera, Birmingham Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florentine Opera, St. Petersburg Opera (Florida).  https://benjaminleclair.weebly.com/

 

 

 

Anne Leek, Associate Principal Oboist of the Houston Symphony, was educated at Juilliard where she received her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. During her time in New York, she performed on a recital in Carnegie Hall sponsored by the Artists International Contest, which she won. During the 1980s, Anne was Solo Principal Oboe of the Mannheim Orchestra in Germany.

 

Before joining the Houston Symphony, she played a two year position as principal oboe in the Pittsburgh Symphony, under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Along with her career as an orchestral musician, Anne has taught at Indiana University, Arizona State University and is currently teaching at the University of Houston. As a recital soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in numerous major cities across the world. Anne is the leader of Houston’s Greenbriar Consortium, see below. https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/anne-leek/

 

 

Alexander Potiomkin joined the Houston Symphony as Bass Clarinet/Utility in October 2012. A native of Ukraine, he moved with his family to Israel in 1991, where he attended the Rubin Jerusalem Academy of Music, while appearing as a regular substitute clarinetist with Israel Philharmonic. Sasha came to Houston in 1995 to study at Rice University, where he earned his Master of Music Degree in 1997.

 

Most recently, Sasha has appeared as substitute Principal Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony on their Carnegie Hall tour in Spring 2012. He has also performed as guest principal clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony and as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Sasha has participated in the Mozart, Bellingham, Blossom and Tanglewood music festivals.

 

Equally committed to teaching, Sasha maintains a large, private studio. His main teachers include David Peck and David Weber, with additional studies with Michael Wayne and Mark Nuccio on clarinet and Chester Rowell and Ben Freimuth on bass clarinet.

https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/alexander-potiomkin/

 

 

Masahito Sugihara is the assistant professor of saxophone at Sam Houston State University. He earned the Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University as a student of Dr. Frederick L. Hemke. Previous studies include with Marshall Taylor at Temple University.  Mas has appeared as recitalist and clinician in Brazil, Canada, England, France, Luxembourg, Norway, Japan, Scotland, and United States. He is a member of Awea Duo and Amethyst Saxophone Quartet, and has performed in the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, Grant Park Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Network for New Music, New York City Ballet, and Reading Symphony.

An advocate of contemporary music, he has worked with notable composers including Lee Hyla, Christian Lauba, Lei Liang, Zhou Long, Alvin Lucier, François Rossé, Mari Takano, Hans Tomalla, and Marc-Anthony Turnage. As an avid arranger, Mas has transcribed a wide range of compositions for flute/sax duo, reed quartet, saxophone quartet, and larger saxophone ensembles.

 
Previously, he was the assistant professor of saxophone at Morehead State University and has taught saxophone and chamber music in the Chicago area at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University and Trinity Christian College. https://www.masahitosugihara.com/

 

 

 

A native Houstonian, Erika Johnson is the Acting Assistant Principal Cellist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra which she joined in 2001. She performs regularly with Mercury, Ars Lyrica, Houston Ballet Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. She is an accomplished chamber musician, having won the Schaad Award at the Carmel Chamber Music competition with the Moores Piano Trio and recorded with guitarist Mark McCain in the guitar-cello duo, Touch the Strings. She also writes worship music and records regularly with various Christian artists. Erika is a graduate of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where she studied with Laszlo Varga. http://www.hgoorchestra.org/staff-members/erika-johnson/

 

 

Paul Boyd is professor of piano at College of the Mainland, Texas City TX, where he also teaches music literature and chamber ensemble. He is artistic and executive director of the Foundation for Modern Music (FMM). Under his direction since 2008, FMM’s annual Avalon International Competition for Composers has been engaging judges such as William Bolcom, Carlisle Floyd, and Tania León. Paul has to date premiered over 35 works by Ofer Ben-Amots, Mohammed Fairouz, Arthur Gottschalk, John Kiefer, Christopher Theofanidis, Mary Carol Warwick and others. Besides FMM concerts, he has been heard regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium, Latin music and dance organization Flamárt, and in broadcasts.

 

His piano studies were with Anne Dean Turk, Carol Houston, Ruth Tomfohrde and Abbey Simon; his composition studies were with David Ashley White. He holds D.M.A. and M.M. degrees from the University of Houston. Paul joined the piano and theory faculty of the American Festival for the Arts Conservatory for several years. Recent performance highlights include the premiere of Warwick’s song cycle The Gathering at New York’s LaMama Theatre Center, the premiere of his work Water Sketches in San Antonio, and the creation of a new chamber music series at Galveston’s Moody Mansion. http://www.com.edu/directory/biography/paul-boyd

 

 

David Kirk, conductor, is Principal Tubist of the Houston Symphony, and an Associate Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He enjoys an international reputation for effective teaching of musicianship and the physical aspects of wind playing, and has presented master classes throughout North America and in Japan. During his undergraduate years at the Juilliard School, he studied with Don Harry. His other teachers include David Waters, Chester Schmitz, Warren Deck, and Neal Tidwell.

As a guest performer, Dave appears with ensembles throughout North America. Locally, he maintains an active leadership role in concert presentations of Houston’s Foundation for Modern Music, and is an active recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and spokesman for the musical arts. He may be heard on Houston Symphony recordings under conductors Sergiu Comissiona, Newton Wayland, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Krajewski, Hans Graf, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

 

As a conductor, Dave is increasingly in demand at professional and academic concerts. He lead members of the Houston Symphony in a September 2017 performance for the Hurricane Harvey benefit Houston Strong: A Theater District Benefit Honoring Local Heroes. His solo playing is featured on Mark Custom Recordings’ The Music of Leroy Osmon, Volume 1. https://music.rice.edu/faculty/david-kirk

 

 

Israeli-American pianist Tali Morgulis, a "pianistic firecracker," has appeared as soloist with the Thüringen Philharmonic, Malaga Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic, Kaoshung Symphony, Haifa Symphony and the Orquestra da Camera Theatro Sao Pedro.

She played with Schlomo Mintz, Vadim Gluzman, and Uri Pianka and with numerous chamber ensembles, including the Jupiter Chamber Players, the Firebird Contemporary Ensemble and the Borromeo String Quartet. A regular performer with Houston's Musiqa, her advocacy of new music has including commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Marcus Karl Maroney, Lei Liang and Lior Navok.

Ukraine native Tali received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, then her doctoral degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She studied with Esther Balasha, Michael Boguslawsky, Wha Kyung Byun, Lev Natochenny and Patricia Zander.

Tali won First Prize at the Stanislav Stancic International Piano Competition in Zagreb, Second Prize at the Pinerolo and Third Prize at the Jaen International Piano Competitions in Italy and Spain, respectively. She is Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music. Tali can be heard on an IPA recording featuring music by Rachmaninov, Lutosławski, Janáček and Shostakovich, and on a Delos CD highlighting Brazilian and Argentinean composers. http://tali.morgulis.net/

 

 

Located in historic Round Top, Texas, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts and its sole project, Round Top Festival Institute, were founded in 1971 by world-renowned concert pianist James Dick. Begun with a handful of gifted young pianists in rented space on the town square, the project is now an internationally acclaimed music institute for aspiring young musicians and distinguished faculty.

Since 1971, with the help of its patrons and friends, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts has developed superb year round education and performance programs. It has also created a unique 210-acre campus Festival Hill containing major performance facilities, historic houses, extensive gardens, parks and nature preserves. Through its singular collection of rare books, manuscripts, archival material, music and historic recordings, photographs and objects, Round Top Festival Institute is also known as an important center for research and scholarly study. http://festivalhill.org/

 

 

 

On the first weekend in November, Festival Hill hosts the Round Top Theatre Forum, founded and 1998-2017 produced by Kate Emery Pogue, the eminent Shakespeare expert, playwright, librettist, book author, festival founder, stage director and lecturer at the University of Houston, the Houston Community College and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota. www.amazon.com/Kate-Emery-Pogue/e/B002ZY516C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Greenbriar Consortium is a chamber music group in Houston TX dedicated to presenting theme programs of classical, modern, pop and folk music. They are comprised of Houston Symphony players and the best chamber singers and pianists in the Houston area. Their concerts, usually at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, are a gift to the greater Houston public. And you can rest assured: if it ain't fun, they won't do it! http://www.greenbriarconsortium.com/

 

 

Brad Sayles (recording engineer and producer) is a composer, too. He wrote the music for the independent films Echoes of Invention and The Bracelet of Bordeaux; his energetic score for the Houston Public Television special Art is All Around Us was nominated for an Emmy in 2006. Brad is the 2003 & 2006 first laureate of the Louisa Stude Sarofim Composition Competition for his chamber suite New England Journey and The Lilly, respectively. He did a sound installation for sculptor Jo Ann Fleischhauer's Parasol Project and wrote The Buffalo Bayou Suite, performed by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and heard on NPR.

For NPR affiliate Houston Public Radio, Brad has created the music for three Engines of Our Ingenuity CDs with host and author John Lienhard which led to a concert version of these pieces entitled Echoes of Invention for narrator and orchestra. He composed the original theme music for both U of H Moments and Texas Originals radio programs.  Brad also served as Senior Recording Engineer and Producer/Host of Music from the Movies for Classical 91.7 FM. In Jan. 2018, Houston Symphony won its first-ever Grammy for its recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for which Brad was recording engineer and co-producer. http://www.bradsayles.com/

 

 

Walter Steffens at his home in Marienmünster, Germany with his son. Photo: Achim Kaufmann

 

 

 

Walter Steffens

Born in Aachen, Germany, Walter studied in Hamburg with Ernst-Gernot Klußmann, Wilhelm Maler, and Philipp Jarnach (Busoni’s pupil, and the teacher of Kurt Weill and Bernd Alois Zimmermann). He is prolific in all genres, from solo and chamber works to grand opera. Five of his operas were brought to stage in Germany: “Eli” inspired by Nelly Sachs and “Die Judenbuche / The Jew’s Beech” after the novella by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff were performed in Dortmund. “Unter dem Milchwald / Under Milk Wood” was written after the play by Dylan Thomas and was performed in Hamburg and Kassel. “Grabbes Leben / Life of Grabbe” and “Der  Philosoph / The Philosopher” were performed in Detmold.

 

No other composer has transposed more paintings into music than Walter Steffens, with compositions inspired by Bosch, Rembrandt, Chagall, Picasso, Paul Klee, Emil Schumacher, Gerhard Richter, and many others (laborrecords.com/lab7084.html). He stayed at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris, twice as guest of honour at the Villa Massimo in Rome, and at the Villa Romana in Florence. Walter Steffens is professor emeritus for composition, Hochschule für Musik, Detmold, Germany, and a member of the Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg.

 

www.walter-steffens.de

 

 

Marec Béla Steffens

Born in Hamburg, Germany, Marec Béla Steffens lived in Houston Texas in 2005 and from 2012 to 2016. He has written six books of original, often absurd fairy-tales, published in German, English, and Hungarian. They were illustrated by his wife Krystyna, a native of Warsaw Poland.

 

Scenes from Marec’s original libretti (“The Tramway Conductor of Venice” and “Kater, erzähl’ mir ein Märchen! / Tomcat, Tell Me a Fairy-Tale”) with music composed by Mario Wiegand were performed in the final rounds of opera competitions in London UK at Sadler’s Wells by the Genesis Opera Project, and at Rheinsberg Castle near Berlin Germany. Marec also developed a children’s opera after the Grimm Brothers (with music by Mario Wiegand) produced in Kassel, Germany. He has written an original libretto for Mary Carol Warwick about Bernardo de Gálvez, the namesake of Galveston and a crucial figure in the American War for Independence; the first two scenes were world premiered at Houston’s Rice University in April 2017. At the same place the first part of his song cycle “Gallery Talks” for Clare Glackin was premiered in April 2016. He holds a PhD in economics.

 

www.maerchenkater.de

 

 

PERFORMERS

 

 

Born and raised in Germany, Sonja Bruzauskas (Cook) was trained on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Besides her expansive stage career in musical theater, opera and operetta, Sonja is a well-established concert singer and recitalist, focusing on German Art Song and contemporary music.

 

Appearances include the Staatsoperette Dresden, where Sonja was under full contract for several years before moving to the United States, the Santa Fe Opera, Volkstheater Rostock, Nordharzer Staedtebundtheater, Babelsberger Filmorchester, Bochumer Symphoniker, Baton Rouge Symphony, Da Camera, the Bach Society Houston, Mercury, the Houston Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Chamber Choir, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and Ars Lyrica.

 

Sonja has sung and lectured at institutions such as Cal Arts, Vanderbilt, LSU, Rice University, the University of Houston, the Philosophical Society of Houston as well as numerous health institutions. http://sonjabruzauskas.com/

 

 

Tenor Todd Randall Miller (Don Miguel) has a broad range of performance experience with the Houston Symphony, Houston Choral Society, San Antonio Symphony and Opera, Opera in the Heights, The Woodlands Symphony, Da Camera Society and Des Moines Metro Opera. Solo performance highlights include Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Beethoven's Choral Fantasy and Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Houston Symphony and Stravinsky's Les Noces with Da Camera Society/Houston Chamber Choir. He has also sung and conducted in Carnegie Hall with various ensembles, and recently released a crossover album entitled Bring Him Home that is widely available online.

 

A proponent of new American music, Todd has collaborated with several living composers, including Carlisle Floyd, Richard Faith, Henry Mollicone, Robert Nelson and John Cornelius. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in voice performance and conducting from the University of Houston, and holds vocal performance degrees from the University of Louisville and the University of Arizona. Todd is Professor of Music and Lead Faculty at Lone Star College-Kingwood, where he conducts the choral ensembles. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Kingwood Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.  http://www.toddmillermusician.com/

 

 

 

Octavio Moreno (Brother Gabriel), originally from Mexico, sang Laurentino in the world premiere of Cruzar la cara de la luna in 2010, then at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, San Diego Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arizona Opera. At Houston’s Opera in the Heights he sang Germont in La traviata, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto (which he had sung at HGO before, stepping in). He returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago, HGO and San Diego Opera as Xihuitl in the world premiere of the mariachi Opera El pasado nunca se termina. At the University of Houston’s Moores Opera Center, he sang Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Vronsky in Anna Karenina and John Proctor in The Crucible, then reprises Laurentino in Cruzar la cara de la luna for his Fort Worth Opera debut and appears as Figaro in The Barber of Seville with HGOco.

 

Octavio received degrees at the Universidad de Sonora and at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, followed by the Houston Grand Opera Studio, and the University of Houston. He currently studies with Hugo Vera. Octavio won third places in the 2008 Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers and in the Carlo Morelli Competition. On his album Amar a esa mujer he performs his own compositions. http://bergerartists.com/octaviomoreno/

 

 

Benjamin LeClair (Servant), 6 ft. 8 inches tall, has towered over his colleagues on stages in Chicago, Santa Fe, Houston, and in Germany where he has given over 150 performances as lead bass soloist at the Oldenburg State Theater, including King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Laurence in Berlioz’s Romeo et Juliette, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte.

His first professional engagement was at the Pine Mountain Music Festival. During his studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, he performed with local opera companies and also with Central City Opera in Colorado. Subsequently he sang in five productions at Opera in the Heights in Houston, including the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro and the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann where his performance was described as “an unmitigated triumph”.  He was accepted into the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco two times and sang successfully in productions of Così fan tutte and Albert Herring.  He helped launch the Haymarket Opera in Chicago, a company dedicated to baroque works, singing the role of Polifemo in Händel’s Acis, Galatea and Polifemo.  He has also sung with the Santa Fe Opera, Reis National Opera in Holland, Austin Lyric Opera, Birmingham Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florentine Opera, St. Petersburg Opera (Florida).  https://benjaminleclair.weebly.com/

 

 

 

Anne Leek, Associate Principal Oboist of the Houston Symphony, was educated at Juilliard where she received her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. During her time in New York, she performed on a recital in Carnegie Hall sponsored by the Artists International Contest, which she won. During the 1980s, Anne was Solo Principal Oboe of the Mannheim Orchestra in Germany.

 

Before joining the Houston Symphony, she played a two year position as principal oboe in the Pittsburgh Symphony, under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Along with her career as an orchestral musician, Anne has taught at Indiana University, Arizona State University and is currently teaching at the University of Houston. As a recital soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared in numerous major cities across the world. Anne is the leader of Houston’s Greenbriar Consortium, see below. https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/anne-leek/

 

 

Alexander Potiomkin joined the Houston Symphony as Bass Clarinet/Utility in October 2012. A native of Ukraine, he moved with his family to Israel in 1991, where he attended the Rubin Jerusalem Academy of Music, while appearing as a regular substitute clarinetist with Israel Philharmonic. Sasha came to Houston in 1995 to study at Rice University, where he earned his Master of Music Degree in 1997.

 

Most recently, Sasha has appeared as substitute Principal Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony on their Carnegie Hall tour in Spring 2012. He has also performed as guest principal clarinet with the Kansas City Symphony and as a soloist with the Tel Aviv Symphony and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Sasha has participated in the Mozart, Bellingham, Blossom and Tanglewood music festivals.

 

Equally committed to teaching, Sasha maintains a large, private studio. His main teachers include David Peck and David Weber, with additional studies with Michael Wayne and Mark Nuccio on clarinet and Chester Rowell and Ben Freimuth on bass clarinet.

https://www.houstonsymphony.org/about-us/musicians/alexander-potiomkin/

 

 

Masahito Sugihara is the assistant professor of saxophone at Sam Houston State University. He earned the Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University as a student of Dr. Frederick L. Hemke. Previous studies include with Marshall Taylor at Temple University.  Mas has appeared as recitalist and clinician in Brazil, Canada, England, France, Luxembourg, Norway, Japan, Scotland, and United States. He is a member of Awea Duo and Amethyst Saxophone Quartet, and has performed in the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Lyric Opera, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, Grant Park Orchestra, Houston Ballet, Houston Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Network for New Music, New York City Ballet, and Reading Symphony.

An advocate of contemporary music, he has worked with notable composers including Lee Hyla, Christian Lauba, Lei Liang, Zhou Long, Alvin Lucier, François Rossé, Mari Takano, Hans Tomalla, and Marc-Anthony Turnage. As an avid arranger, Mas has transcribed a wide range of compositions for flute/sax duo, reed quartet, saxophone quartet, and larger saxophone ensembles.

 
Previously, he was the assistant professor of saxophone at Morehead State University and has taught saxophone and chamber music in the Chicago area at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University and Trinity Christian College. https://www.masahitosugihara.com/

 

 

 

A native Houstonian, Erika Johnson is the Acting Assistant Principal Cellist of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra which she joined in 2001. She performs regularly with Mercury, Ars Lyrica, Houston Ballet Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra. She is an accomplished chamber musician, having won the Schaad Award at the Carmel Chamber Music competition with the Moores Piano Trio and recorded with guitarist Mark McCain in the guitar-cello duo, Touch the Strings. She also writes worship music and records regularly with various Christian artists. Erika is a graduate of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, where she studied with Laszlo Varga. http://www.hgoorchestra.org/staff-members/erika-johnson/

 

 

Paul Boyd is professor of piano at College of the Mainland, Texas City TX, where he also teaches music literature and chamber ensemble. He is artistic and executive director of the Foundation for Modern Music (FMM). Under his direction since 2008, FMM’s annual Avalon International Competition for Composers has been engaging judges such as William Bolcom, Carlisle Floyd, and Tania León. Paul has to date premiered over 35 works by Ofer Ben-Amots, Mohammed Fairouz, Arthur Gottschalk, John Kiefer, Christopher Theofanidis, Mary Carol Warwick and others. Besides FMM concerts, he has been heard regularly with the Greenbriar Consortium, Latin music and dance organization Flamárt, and in broadcasts.

 

His piano studies were with Anne Dean Turk, Carol Houston, Ruth Tomfohrde and Abbey Simon; his composition studies were with David Ashley White. He holds D.M.A. and M.M. degrees from the University of Houston. Paul joined the piano and theory faculty of the American Festival for the Arts Conservatory for several years. Recent performance highlights include the premiere of Warwick’s song cycle The Gathering at New York’s LaMama Theatre Center, the premiere of his work Water Sketches in San Antonio, and the creation of a new chamber music series at Galveston’s Moody Mansion. http://www.com.edu/directory/biography/paul-boyd

 

 

David Kirk, conductor, is Principal Tubist of the Houston Symphony, and an Associate Professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He enjoys an international reputation for effective teaching of musicianship and the physical aspects of wind playing, and has presented master classes throughout North America and in Japan. During his undergraduate years at the Juilliard School, he studied with Don Harry. His other teachers include David Waters, Chester Schmitz, Warren Deck, and Neal Tidwell.

As a guest performer, Dave appears with ensembles throughout North America. Locally, he maintains an active leadership role in concert presentations of Houston’s Foundation for Modern Music, and is an active recitalist, chamber music collaborator, and spokesman for the musical arts. He may be heard on Houston Symphony recordings under conductors Sergiu Comissiona, Newton Wayland, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Krajewski, Hans Graf, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.

 

As a conductor, Dave is increasingly in demand at professional and academic concerts. He lead members of the Houston Symphony in a September 2017 performance for the Hurricane Harvey benefit Houston Strong: A Theater District Benefit Honoring Local Heroes. His solo playing is featured on Mark Custom Recordings’ The Music of Leroy Osmon, Volume 1. https://music.rice.edu/faculty/david-kirk

 

 

Israeli-American pianist Tali Morgulis, a "pianistic firecracker," has appeared as soloist with the Thüringen Philharmonic, Malaga Symphony, Zagreb Philharmonic, Kaoshung Symphony, Haifa Symphony and the Orquestra da Camera Theatro Sao Pedro.

She played with Schlomo Mintz, Vadim Gluzman, and Uri Pianka and with numerous chamber ensembles, including the Jupiter Chamber Players, the Firebird Contemporary Ensemble and the Borromeo String Quartet. A regular performer with Houston's Musiqa, her advocacy of new music has including commissions and premieres of works by composers such as Marcus Karl Maroney, Lei Liang and Lior Navok.

Ukraine native Tali received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, then her doctoral degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She studied with Esther Balasha, Michael Boguslawsky, Wha Kyung Byun, Lev Natochenny and Patricia Zander.

Tali won First Prize at the Stanislav Stancic International Piano Competition in Zagreb, Second Prize at the Pinerolo and Third Prize at the Jaen International Piano Competitions in Italy and Spain, respectively. She is Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Houston's Moores School of Music. Tali can be heard on an IPA recording featuring music by Rachmaninov, Lutosławski, Janáček and Shostakovich, and on a Delos CD highlighting Brazilian and Argentinean composers. http://tali.morgulis.net/

 

 

Located in historic Round Top, Texas, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts and its sole project, Round Top Festival Institute, were founded in 1971 by world-renowned concert pianist James Dick. Begun with a handful of gifted young pianists in rented space on the town square, the project is now an internationally acclaimed music institute for aspiring young musicians and distinguished faculty.

Since 1971, with the help of its patrons and friends, The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts has developed superb year round education and performance programs. It has also created a unique 210-acre campus Festival Hill containing major performance facilities, historic houses, extensive gardens, parks and nature preserves. Through its singular collection of rare books, manuscripts, archival material, music and historic recordings, photographs and objects, Round Top Festival Institute is also known as an important center for research and scholarly study. http://festivalhill.org/

 

 

 

On the first weekend in November, Festival Hill hosts the Round Top Theatre Forum, founded and 1998-2017 produced by Kate Emery Pogue, the eminent Shakespeare expert, playwright, librettist, book author, festival founder, stage director and lecturer at the University of Houston, the Houston Community College and elsewhere. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Minnesota. www.amazon.com/Kate-Emery-Pogue/e/B002ZY516C

 

 

The Greenbriar Consortium is a chamber music group in Houston TX dedicated to presenting theme programs of classical, modern, pop and folk music. They are comprised of Houston Symphony players and the best chamber singers and pianists in the Houston area. Their concerts, usually at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, are a gift to the greater Houston public. And you can rest assured: if it ain't fun, they won't do it! http://www.greenbriarconsortium.com/

 

 

Brad Sayles (recording engineer and producer) is a composer, too. He wrote the music for the independent films Echoes of Invention and The Bracelet of Bordeaux; his energetic score for the Houston Public Television special Art is All Around Us was nominated for an Emmy in 2006. Brad is the 2003 & 2006 first laureate of the Louisa Stude Sarofim Composition Competition for his chamber suite New England Journey and The Lilly, respectively. He did a sound installation for sculptor Jo Ann Fleischhauer's Parasol Project and wrote The Buffalo Bayou Suite, performed by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and heard on NPR.

For NPR affiliate Houston Public Radio, Brad has created the music for three Engines of Our Ingenuity CDs with host and author John Lienhard which led to a concert version of these pieces entitled Echoes of Invention for narrator and orchestra. He composed the original theme music for both U of H Moments and Texas Originals radio programs.  Brad also served as Senior Recording Engineer and Producer/Host of Music from the Movies for Classical 91.7 FM. In Jan. 2018, Houston Symphony won its first-ever Grammy for its recording of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for which Brad was recording engineer and co-producer. http://www.bradsayles.com/