|
|
|
|
|
|
Concerts > Details > Soloists
Soloists Andrew Armstrong, Piano
During Armstrong’s 2006/07 season, he performs Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the the Charleston Symphony, Saint-Saëns’ 5th Piano Concerto with the Monterey Symphony in a return engagement, Prokofiev No. 3 with the Bridgeport Symphony, and Mozart’s A-major Concerto K. 488 in his debut with the Columbus Symphony under the baton of Günther Herbig in May 2007. He is also scheduled to play two concertos at the Peninsula Music Festival (the Chopin F minor Concerto and Prokofiev No. 3 under V. Yampolsky) and Rachmaninov’s massive Concerto No. 3 with the Brevard Symphony, Florida. Next season, he is scheduled to appear with Bellevue Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony and Ridgefield Symphony. Earlier in 2006 he was the featured soloist with Naumburg Concerts at New York City’s Central Park (Mozart’s Concerto K. 491). In 2004 he performed the World Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s The Right Weather for piano solo and chamber orchestra with the American Composers Orchestra at the sold-out Carnegie Zankel Hall. Having performed over 35 concertos, Mr. Armstrong has impressed his international audiences with a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Babbit and beyond. Before beginning his career as a concert pianist, Mr. Armstrong received over 25 national and international First Prizes. In 1996, he was named Gilmore Young Artist. At the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition, where he was the youngest pianist entered, he received the Jury Discretionary Award. The New York Times wrote, "Armstrong may have been the most talented player in the competition....He's a real musician. We'll hear more from him." As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, Van Cliburn himself, "in a rare showing of enthusiasm for an individual competitor," called Mr. Armstrong "Fabulous! Fabulous!" Mr. Armstrong’s debut CD, featuring Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was released in 2004 to critical acclaim. The critic Bradley Bolen opined: "I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence" (American Record Guide, Nov/Dec, 2004). Andrew Armstrong is devoted to outreach programs and playing for children. In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio and WQXR, New York City's premier classical music station. Holly Boaz, Soprano
Recent performances include her debut with Connecticut Opera as the High Priestess in Verdi's Aïda, Konstanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Aspen Music Festival, Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony with the New Haven Chorale, and an appearance as the Sparrow in Hans Krasa’s children’s opera, Brundibar, with Music of Remembrance and conductor Gerard Schwarz. A cast recording of this production will be released on the NAXOS later this year. Ms. Boaz has appeared on the operatic stage with Aspen Opera Theater, Connecticut Opera, Taconic Opera, Hudson Opera Theater of New Jersey, the Center City Opera Theater of Philadelphia, Quad Cities Opera in Iowa, Music of Remembrance in Seattle, and the Bardavon Opera House in upstate New York. Her roles include the Mozart heroines Donna Anna and Konstanze, the bel canto roles of Lucia, Adina, and Violetta, favorites Musetta and Mimì, and contemporary roles such as the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw. Ms. Boaz has been a featured soloist in concert with the Hartford Symphony, the New Haven Chorale, the SUNY New Paltz Chamber Orchestra, and in Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Magnificat with Cappella Festiva in their 25th anniversary season in upstate New York. She is also a frequent recitalist, having performed under the auspices of the Art Song Festival at Baldwin Wallace College, the Midland Symphony Showcase Series in Michigan, the Saugerties Pro Musica Concert Series in New York, and the University of Puget Sound. Numerous organizations have honored her with awards including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the Schubert Club, the Richardson Awards, and the Society of American Musicians. Ms. Boaz is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin School of Music, where she was the recipient of the Hilldale Fellowship Award for her research on nineteenth-century French women composers. She also holds an M.M. from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where she was the recipient of the Berkowitz Opera Scholarship. She was offered a fellowship to study and perform at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival where she worked for two summers with mentors Edward Berkeley, Vinson Cole, and Carol Vaness. Upcoming engagements include an appearance as the Comtesse Folleville in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims at Marilyn Horne’s Music Academy of the West. She will then travel to the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme in England for a rare opportunity to study and perform Russian Song with baritone Sergei Lieferkus. In the fall, she will join the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, where she will be featured as Alice Ford in Falstaff. Brian Box, Baritone
Ross Hauck, Tenor
Highlights of opera work include originating and recording roles in new operas by American composers Libby Larsen and John Musto. Recent work includes singing Almaviva in Barber of Seville with Sacramento Opera, and Belmonte in Abduction from the Seraglio with Tacoma Opera. Ross was a member of Wolf Trap Opera Company for two seasons, where he was awarded the Wolf Trap Foundation Grant from the National Park for the performing arts. Upcoming engagements include lead roles with Opera Idaho, the Early Music Guild, as well as Skagit Opera, and Black Box Opera Theatre here in Seattle. Upcoming recitals in Dallas, Cincinnati, Richland, and being featured in several concert series in the Northwest, including appearances with Orchestra Seattle, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and the Mid-Columbia symphony. He was recently featured on a recording for the Naxos label with Gerald Schwarz of the Seattle Symphony. A distinguished alumnus of DePauw University (B.M.), and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music(M.M. and Artist Diploma), Ross is happily married to his beautiful wife, Laura, a soprano and voice teacher. Ross maintains a private teaching studio out of their home in Issaquah, WA. Ross is also an endorsed artist through Christian Music Presenters, and he enjoys programming and performing innovative concerts and sacred programs for churches, universities, and other presenting organizations. Ross is also a cellist and pianist, and in his spare time is involved in ministry. He is an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast. Janeanne Houston, Soprano
Ms. Houston has recorded many of North Carolina composer Dan Locklair’s songs and vocal works, and in the fall of 2006 she recorded a work for orchestra and soprano with the Slovak Radio Orchestra that will be released on Naxos in 2007. In 2006 she commissioned a song cycle from the composer titled Cummings’ Suite, settings of poetry by the beloved poet E.E. Cummings. She will premiere the cycle in New York in October of 2007. A recording of world premieres by living composers titled The Shining Place was also released in 2006, as was a recording for Zimbel Records titled Songs of the Cotton Grass that features the music of Welsh composer Hilary Tann. In October of 2007, she will perform the New York premiere of that cycle at Union College. Other recordings include So Great a Joy, (2001), Living Mysteries, (2002), The Chamber Music of Dan Locklair, (Albany 2004), and So Much Beauty, (2004). The Seattle Times has called her performances "radiant-voiced" and Gramophone, "unfailingly responsive and dedicated." The managing and founding member of Northwest Artists and the recording label Elmgrove Productions; she has also been a member of the voice faculty at Pacific Lutheran University since 1989. Kyung Sun Lee, Violin
A laureate in numerous international competitions, Lee captured first prizes in the Washington and D’Angelo International Competitions; bronze medals in the Tchaikovsky Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition and third prize in the Montreal International Competition, where she also won the Audience Favorite and the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work prizes. Her career has taken her to many of the fifty states, as well as to Europe and the Far East. In North America, her concerto performances include those with the Montreal Symphony and the Jupiter Symphony; the Erie Philharmonic; the Missouri, Tuscaloosa, and Chautauqua Symphony Orchestras; and the Baltimore and Gainesville Chamber Orchestras. Overseas she has performed with the Munich Radio Orchestra under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin, the Belgian National Orchestra, the Moscow National Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony. In Asia, Lee has been guest artist with the Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Orchestra, Pu-Chun Philharmonic and the Taipei City Symphony. In April 2000, she traveled to North Korea to perform the Sibelius Concerto with the Pyong Yang National Orchestra and returned for an encore engagement in 2005. Her appearances in the United States include performances in such significant venues as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Bargemusic in New York City; and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection. As a chamber musician she has participated in the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Cape & Islands Festivals in the United States, and the Prussia Cove Festival in England. In the fall of 2001, Lee joined the distinguished string faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She will continue at Oberlin while also serving as an Associate Professor at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. She also teaches at both the Aspen Music Festival and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Lee received her Bachelor’s Degree from Seoul National University, and her Master’s Degree and Artist’s Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory. She also attended the Juilliard School in the professional studies program. Her teachers have included Nam Yun Kim, Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann, Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. Her discography includes a CD recorded with pianist/husband Brian Suits of sonatas by Prokofiev, Debussy and Bartók released on the Sung-Eum label, which received outstanding reviews from Fanfare and Strad magazines. Their second CD includes works of Saint-Saëns, Godard, Chausson, Gershwin, Achron, and Suits himself. Lee has also recorded with pianist HaeSun Paik on EMI, with German pianist Peter Schindler and guitarist Sung-Ho Chang on Good International, and with German cellist Tillman Wick on the Audite label. Kyung Sun Lee plays a Joseph Guarneri violin made in 1723. Erich Parce, Baritone
His oratorio credits include Messiah with the Seattle Symphony under the baton of Gerard Schwarz, Judas Macabbaeus with the New York Chamber Symphony, also with Maestro Schwarz, and Carmina Burana with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Choral Company. He is praised for his performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and both the Brahms and Faure Requiems. Mr. Parce has performed on the musical theater stage as well in a number of roles including Curly in Oklahoma, Billy Bigelow in Carousel, and Fred/Petrucchio in Kiss Me Kate. Mr. Parce resides in Bellevue, Washington with his wife Melissa and sons Jesse and Anthony, where he maintains an active teaching studio when not performing. Peter Soave, Accordion
Returning to Europe, Soave swept first place in the four major international competitions in England, Germany, Italy, and East Germany, an unheard of feat for a virtuoso of any instrument. Deeply inspired by the music of Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla, Soave began including the characteristic tango accordion, the bandoneón, in his performances. Mr. Soave tours extensively in both Europe and the United States. His recent performance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic under Robert Spano was a critical success. His orchestral engagements this season include the Grand Rapids, Phoenix, Napa Valley, and Detroit Symphonies, and the Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Ohio Chamber Orchestras. Internationally, Mr. Soave appeared this season with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Puerto Rico, the San Salvador Philharmonic, the Zagreb Soloists, the Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Romanian State Orchestra. Some of the conductors with whom Soave has worked are Duilio Dobrin, Guillermo Figueroa, Neeme Jarvi, Eri Klas, James Levine, Leone Magiera, Hermann Michael, Leo Najar, and Robert Spano. His most recent solo recital was at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. For the only North American appearance, in 1999, of the "Three Tenors" (Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras), Soave performed as the featured bandoneónist. His latest appearance with Mr. Pavarotti was in September 2003. Since June of 2001, Mr. Soave has been touring with saxophonist James Carter. Their appearances have included the North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Library of Congress (May 2003) in Washington D.C. On a creative level, Mr. Soave has collaborated with Aldermaro Romero, the foremost composer of Venezuela (senator as well), premiering many of his works. In 2001, Soave performed Romero's Piazzollana-Homàge à Piazzolla (written for Soave) at l'Accademia de Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 2003, Romero dedicated his latest compositions "Tango Furioso" and "Soavecito" for Accordion and Orchestra to Peter Soave. In 2001, Peter Soave received the Detroit Music Award for Best Classical Recording (performing Carmine Coppola's Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra with the Emerald Sinfonietta) and in 2003 he received the Detroit Music Award for Best Classical Instrumentalist. Peter Soave has been a Guest Faculty Member of the Conservatoire National de Marseille in France and is Adjunct Associate Professor of Bandoneón and Bayan at Detroit's Wayne State University. Lori Summers, Mezzo-soprano
She has sung with Tacoma Opera as Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and also as Giovanna in their production of Rigoletto. As a guest artist for the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program she again appeared in the role of Marcellina. In the Seattle Symphony concert version of Deems Taylor's opera, Peter Ibbetson, she sang the role of Mrs. Deane. Most recently Ms. Summers sang with the Bremerton Symphony in their Beethoven’s 9th Symphony concert. She has enjoyed singing Beethoven’s Ninth and Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Seattle Choral Company as well as being featured in their Benaroya Hall Concert singing Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky. With the Northwest Sinfonietta she sang Mozart’s Requiem, and was part of the Max Aronoff Viola Institute recital series. She has performed with the Yakima Symphony in Beethoven's Ninth, and sung with the Bainbridge Island Chorale in Bach's Magnificat. Lori has performed Messiah with the Spokane Symphony, the Bainbridge Island Chorale, and with the Bellevue Philharmonic and enjoys it each and every time. Allison Swensen-Mitchell, Mezzo-Soprano
Ms. Swensen-Mitchell has been a frequent guest artist with Syracuse Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Opera and the Syracuse Opera. She has performed with Seattle Symphony, Tacoma Symphony, Yakima Symphony, Walla Walla Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Portland Opera, The Boston Opera and Marin Opera. Achievements include earning first place in the Metropolitan Opera's Portland District Competition and third place in the Seattle Regional Finals. Other honors include placing as a finalist in the Concert Artist Guild Competition in New York and as third place in the Ellen Faull Gordon Competition in Oregon. Ms. Swensen-Mitchell trained at the University of Southern California, where she earned her Bachelor of Music Degree and was named outstanding Graduate. She holds a Master of Music degree from Binghamton University in New York. Currently, Allison serves on the voice faculty of Willamette University. Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Cellist
Audiences have since heard Mr. Tsutsumi’s solo appearances with the ORTF in Paris, the Berlin Radio Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra; the Austrian Broadcast Symphony, the Academy of Santa Cecilia under Sinopoli, the Chicago, Indianapolis, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphonies and Haifa symphonies; the Czech Philharmonic (with which he recorded the Dvořák Cello Concerto for CBS-Sony), and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, with which he toured Japan in 1985. He has appeared with Seiji Ozawa and the Toho Gakuen Orchestra at the United Nations, a concert that was telecast worldwide, the New Japan Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall and in London, and in Paris with the Tokyo Philharmonic, and at Avery Fisher Hall with the NHK Symphony. He has also appeared with Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony. In 1994 he made his South American debut with the Orquesta Sinfonica Venezuela performing the Dvořák concerto to great acclaim. In 1995 he performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Lorin Maazel in Tokyo. He appered in Berlin in 1996 to play the Lalo concerto with the Berlin Symphony, and also performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Pinchas Zukerman and Hiroko Nakamura with the Tokyo Symphony under Akiyama in Tokyo. In 1999 he played the Cello Concerto of Krzystztof Penderecki with the composer conducting the Japan Philharmonic. Mr. Tsutsumi’s world premieres of Japanese and Canadian works include the Miyoshi Cello Concerto with the Tokyo Yomiuri Orchestra and Takemitsu’s "Orion and Pleiades" with the Tokyo Philharmonic. In October 1990 he performed the latter with the Boston Symphony for the composer’s 60th birthday. He is regualry invited to the prestigious music festivals such as Ravinia (U.S.A.), Stratford (Canada), Bratislava (Slovakia), Manchester Internationsl (England), Festival of the Sound (Canada), World Cello Congress (Russia and U.S.A.), Canberra Chamber Music (Australia), Rhijnanen (The Netherlands), Bowdoin (U.S.A.), Kuhmo (Finland), Kirishima International (Japan), and Kronberg Cello festival (Germany). Dan Williams, Oboe
He served as principal oboist of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra in its 1992-93 season and previously held the same positions in the Harrisburg (PA) and Binghamton (NY) Symphonies. Mr. Williams currently teaches oboe at the University of Puget Sound, and has served on the faculties of Western Washington University and the University of Washington School of Music. A native of Seattle, Dan Williams received his musical training at the Juilliard School and at Western Washington University, where he was voted most Outstanding Graduate by the music faculty.
|
||
Praised
by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist
Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences around the world. He has
performed solo recitals and appeared with orchestras in Asia, Europe,
Latin America, and the United States, including performances at Alice
Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Hall of the
Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. He has
performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, and
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and in chamber music with the Alexander,
American, and Manhattan String Quartets, as a member of the Caramoor
Virtuosi at the Caramoor International Music Festival, and as a member
of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City.
Soprano Holly
Boaz is hailed by critics as "…an ebullient presence…", "…in
total command of her rich soprano…", and "…singing with control and
warmth." Davenport's River City Reader wrote of her recent
performance of Musetta: "Holly Boaz stole the show in a masterful
performance as the spoiled, coquettish Musetta. This accomplished
soprano sang seductively, and her character was irresistibly gleeful."
A native of Washington, baritone Brian Box received
his Master's degree in vocal performance from Western Washington
University in 1985. Mr. Box performs frequently with many Northwest
ensembles, including OSSCS, Seattle Choral Company, Seattle Pro Musica,
Bellevue Chamber Chorus and Choir of the Sound, and has performed with
Rudolf Nureyev, singing Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer to Mr.
Nureyev's dance. He has collaborated with OSSCS in such works as Bach's
St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and Christmas
Oratorio, the world premieres of Huntley Beyer's St. Mark Passion
and The Mass of Life and Death, and is featured on the OSSCS
recording of Handel's Messiah. The regional winner of San
Francisco Opera's 1988 Merola Opera Program, he made his Seattle Opera
debut as the Corporal in Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment.
For Tacoma Opera, Mr. Box created the role of Franz in Carol Sams'
The Pied Piper of Hamelin. He has also performed extensively with
Seattle Opera's Education Program and Northwest Operas in the Schools.
Last season Mr. Box joined OSSCS for performances of Francis Poulenc's
Le bal masqué, Stravinsky's Pulcinella, Handel's
Messiah, Robert Kechley's Frail Deeds, Handel's Israel in
Egypt and Beethoven's Missa solemnis.
A Seattle resident, lyric tenor Ross
Hauck is known for his distinguished artistry, musicality, and
versatility of expression. As a very active concert artist, has appeared
with the National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, the
Tanglewood symphony and others. A consummate performer on the recital
stage, he has appeared with the New York Festival of Song, the
Southeastern Festival of Song, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and the
Schubert Club in Minneapolis. A recipient of awards from the
Macallister Opera Competition, the New York Singing Teachers
Association, the NATSAA competition, the Florida Grand Opera
competition, and other national
organizations, he has received rave reviews in many publications
including Opera News, the Washington Post, New York Times, and the
Chicago Tribune.
American soprano Janeanne Houston is a
versatile performer, and one of the Northwest region’s busiest artists.
Her extensive repertoire spans the Baroque era to the present, and she
has been privileged to champion the work of living composers. She has
worked under the batons of many fine conductors including Gerard
Schwarz, James DePreist, Sidney Harth, Dean Williamson, Richard Sparks,
Christophe Chagnard, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya. An active recitalist, she
is often the featured guest artist on concert series programs and music
festivals across the nation. Concert works she has performed many times
include Carmina Burana, Messiah, Requiems of
Brahms, Verdi, and Mozart, and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor. Also at
home on the opera stage, she has sung the roles of Konstanze in Die
Entführung aus dem Serail, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro,
Violetta in La Traviata, Blanche in Dialogues of the
Carmelites and Micaela in Carmen.
Violinist Kyung
Sun Lee is seen frequently on concert stages around the world. During
the last few seasons she performed the concerti of Tchaikovsky,
Mendelssohn, Sibelius, and Bartók (No. 2), the double concerti of both
Bach and Mendelssohn and the Four Seasons of Vivaldi. Lee also
champions the rarely-performed concertos of French Romantic Composers
such as Theodore Dubois and Benjamin Godard, whose works she performed
with the critically-acclaimed Jupiter Symphony under the direction of
the late Jens Nygaard. In October 2004 she performed a violin concerto
of Jean-Marie LeClair in France with the Orchestre de Chambre Français,
with whom she toured the United States in March 2007.
Erich Parce has been a frequent guest of opera
companies throughout North America and Europe, including the
Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Seattle Opera,
Greater Miami Opera, L’Opera d’Nice, and L’Opera de Montreal. His roles
include Figaro in Il Barbeire di Siviglia, the Count in
Le Nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, Jonathan
Wade in The Passion of Jonathan Wade by Carlisle Floyd, Zurga in
Les Pecheurs des Perles, Valentin in Faust, and the Father
in Hansel and Gretel. He has sung with Alfredo Kraus, Carol
Vaness, and Placido Domingo among others, and worked with such
conductors as Carlos Kleiber and Trevor Pinnock.
Of Italian descent, Pietro Antonio Soave's (Peter
Soave) earliest memories are of music played on an accordion, and he
insists that by age three, he was certain of his life's work. At age
sixteen, Soave began to enter international accordion competitions and
quickly learned the limitations of the piano accordion. This instrument
had been superceded by the chromatic button accordion developed in
Russia for classical music, the bayan. This was the instrument used by
most competitors. Recognizing that his piano accordion was not
competitive in this arena, Soave returned to America and began a period
of intense study to master the more complex bayan. 
Mezzo-soprano Lori Summers has sung with
many prominent groups throughout the Northwest to critical acclaim.
Mezzo-Soprano Allison Swensen-Mitchell is an active singer throughout
the United States. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in the world
premiere of Taneyev's Upon Reading a Psalm and sang the title
role in Bizet's Carmen with Syracuse Opera. In May, Ms. Swensen-Mitchell
returned to Carneige Hall to sing Haydn's In Time of War, and
sang two roles with the Portalnd Opera last season: Olga Olsen in Kurt
Weil's Street Scene, and the role of Bianca in Britten's Rape of
Lucretia. She has performed many works of Gustav Mahler including:
Songs of the Wayfarer with Columbia Symphony and Astoria Music
Festival, Mahler's Second Symphony with Eugene Symphony and
Spokane Symphony, Mahler's Third Symphony with Syracuse Symphony
and Eugene Symphony, The Ruckert Lieder with the Tanglewood Music
Festival and the Kindertoten Lieder with The Salem Chamber
Orchestra. In addition, she recorded 'The Voice" in Robert Caldwell's
latest edition of The Singer's Voice educational video series.
When Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi won the International
Casals Competition in Budapest in 1963, the press called him a musician
"whose discovery is comparable to that of David Oistrakh in the Brussels
Competition in the 1930's." Born in Tokyo, Mr. Tsutsumi’s early
training with Hideo Saito (Japan’s great master teacher and founder of
the Toho Conservatory) led him to his debut at the age of 12 with the
Tokyo Philharmonic, performing the Saint-Saëns Concerto. Appearances
with Japan’s leading orchestras followed, as did several major prizes,
including Japan’s most prestigious: the Mainichi Music Competition. At
18 he made his first international tour as soloist with the NHK Symphony
Orchestra to India, Russia, and Europe. Following his Tokyo recital
debut, a special Fulbright Foundation grant brought him to the United
States to study with Janos Starker at Indiana University
Dan
Williams is one of Seattle's most sought-after performers, as soloist,
orchestral musician, teacher and recording artist. He is currently
principal oboist with the Northwest Sinfonietta , and has also played
principal oboe with the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Opera, and the
Pacific Northwest Ballet. Of his 1996 performance of Bach's Double
Concerto with Joseph Silverstein and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra,
the Seattle Times reported that "oboist Dan Williams poured out waves of
beautiful tone with considerable musicality". In a 1999 review of the
Vaughan-Williams Oboe concerto, the Bellingham Herald described Williams
as " a consummate player, in easy command of those subtle shades of
color and phrase that can let the oboe approach the expressive range of
the human voice. It was a performance to melt your heart".