SHARING THE SPOTLIGHT

MAUREEN NELSON, Violin (guest)

EMILY NEBEL, Violin

JAMES DUNHAM, Viola

COLEMAN ITZKOFF, Cello

TIMOTHY PITTS, Double Bass

RICHIE HAWLEY, Clarinet

TOMMY MORRISON, Bassoon

EVERETT BURNS, Horn

Friday, October 11, 2013 8:00 p.m. Lillian H. Duncan Recital Hall PROGRAM

Octet in F Major, D. 803 Franz Schubert Adagio – Allegro – Più allegro (1797-1828) Adagio Allegro vivace – Trio – Allegro vivace Andante – variations. Un poco più mosso – Più lento Menuetto. Allegretto – Trio – Menuetto – Coda Andante molto – Allegro – Andante molto – Allegro molto.

The reverberative acoustics of Duncan Recital Hall magnify the slightest sound made by the audience. Your care and courtesy will be appreciated. The taking of photographs and use of recording equipment are prohibited. BIOGRAPHIES

EVERETT BURNS is a horn player from Richardson, Texas. He has won two competitions through the International Horn Society: the Doro- thy Frizelle Orchestral Audition Contest in 2008 and the Premier Soloist Competition in 2009. In 2011 and 2013 he was a semifinalist in the Univer- sity Division of the International Horn Competition of America. Everett has played a number of times with the Houston Symphony as a substitute or extra musician. He has served as both the second horn and principal horn of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. He was member of the pit orchestra for the tour of Shrek the Musical, which—in addition to the United States and Canada—had performances in Malaysia and China. He holds a Bach- elor of Music Degree from Indiana University, where he studied with Jeff Nelsen, Dale Clevenger, and Richard Seraphinoff. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music Degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he is a student of William VerMeulen.

Violist JAMES DUNHAM’s rich background includes having been found- ing member of the Naumburg Award winning Sequoia String Quartet and sub- sequently violist of the Grammy Award winning Cleveland Quartet. An impas- sioned advocate of new music, he has premiered and recorded works written for him by composer Libby Larsen and in April 2013 he joined the members of the Diotima String Quartet of France for the premiere of a viola quintet by composer Richard Lavenda. In addition to guest appearances, Mr. Dunham is violist of the Axelrod String Quartet, in residence at the Smithsonian Insti- tute in , D.C. where the ensemble performs on their collection of Nicolò Amati and Stradivari instruments. Formerly on the faculty of Califor- nia Institute of the Arts, the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory (where he chaired the string department and received the Louis & Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excellence Award) Mr. Dunham is Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Mu- sic where he also co-directs its Master of Music in String Quartet program. He is featured regularly in concerts, master classes and competition juries throughout the U.S. and abroad, recently as guest at the Lübeck Hochschule für Musik in Germany, the Manhattan School of Music, return participation in the Festival International Turina in Seville, Spain and in mini-residency at the University of Ottawa through their Astral Young Artists Mentorship Pro- gram. Highlights of his 2013/2014 season include string quartet performances as part of the Kumho Asiana Cultural Foundation in Seoul, Korea and a re- turn to Japan as jury member of the 8th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in May 2014. Mr. Dunham has collaborated on contemporary and standard repertoire with such renowned artists as Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Cho-Liang Lin and members of the American, Brentano, Guarneri, Juilliard, Takács, Tokyo and Ying Quartets. His recording with the Ying Quartet and cellist Paul Katz of Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence was nominated for a 2008 Grammy. Summer activities include yearly participation in the Aspen, Sarasota and Amelia Island (FL) music festivals as well as frequent appearances at the Tex- as Music Festival, le Domaine Forget (Quebec), Garth Newel Center, Heifetz International Music Institute and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest. His recordings can be found on labels including Telarc, Nonesuch, Delos, Naxos and Crystal. Mr. Dunham performs on a Gaspar da Salo viola, ca. 1585. www.JamesDunham.com RICHIE HAWLEY is a versatile and critically acclaimed artist who ranks among the most distinguished clarinetists of his generation. Mr. Hawley was ap- pointed Principal Clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1994 at the age of 23. He has since enjoyed a rewarding and multifaceted career as an or- chestral clarinetist, recitalist, chamber musician, teacher and clinician, making appearances throughout the United States and abroad. As a teacher, Mr. Haw- ley is highly sought after and has recently been appointed as Professor of Clari- net at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. Mr. Hawley also performs and serves on the summer festival faculty at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Originally from Los Angeles, Mr. Hawley began his clarinet studies with Yehuda Gilad. He made his orchestral solo debut at age 13 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at age 14 he performed with the New York Philharmonic. While a student of Donald Montanaro at the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Hawley also soloed with the . A Buffet- Crampon artist, Mr. Hawley performs on the Tosca model of clarinet. He is also a Rico Performing Artist and serves as an Artistic Advisor for Rico’s reed and mouthpiece development. He plays exclusively on the Reserve Classic reeds and Reserve mouthpieces.

20 year-old cellist COLEMAN ITZKOFF is currently earning his Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where he is a student of Desmond Hoebig. An increasingly busy chamber music and recital schedule has brought him to the country’s major music festivals and compe- titions, among them Bowdoin, Music@Menlo, Sarasota Music Festival, and Aspen Music Festival & School. As a student of Indiana University Professor Eric Kim, he was Principal Cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, and won that group’s Concerto Competition in both 2007 and 2009, appearing at Music Hall with the CSYO and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in concerti by Tchaikovsky and Haydn. Coleman has been a prize-winner at the Fischoff, Johansen, and Blount Slawson Competitions. Coleman has twice been soloist with the Middletown Symphony, playing concerti of Brahms and Saint-Saens, has been guest soloist of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and made his debut with the Dayton Philharmonic at the gala opening of their 2009-2010 season, playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. Since enrolling in Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Coleman has enjoyed many successes and performances. In the Summer of 2011, Cole- man performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor with the Aspen Concert Orchestra after winning the Aspen Music Festival & School’s low-strings com- petition. In 2012, Coleman represented the Shepherd School at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., performing Kodaly’s solo Cello Sonata. Later that year Coleman took home both the Gold Medal in the String Division as well as the overall Entergy Grand Prize at Young Texas Artists Competition. Most re- cently, Coleman took a weeklong artist residency with NPR’s Performance To- day with host Fred Child, recording interviews and a full recital program. The performances aired in February and can be found online for free download at: http://performancetoday.publicradio.org/

A native of Fair Lawn, New Jersey, TOMMY MORRISON is an undergrad- uate at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, where he studies with Benjamin Kamins. Also a graduate of Juilliard Pre-College, he has performed throughout the United States and with various ensembles. He has been a substitute with the Louisiana Philharmonic, and is the student director of the Shepherd School’s educational outreach program, JUMP!. As a founding member of the Noctua Wind Quintet, Tommy has been a prize-winner at the Fischoff, Chamber Music Yellow Springs and Coleman chamber music competitions. Tommy has performed at such prestigious festivals as the BBC Proms, Young Euro Classic, and Tanglewood. He has attended the Britten- Pears Young Artiste Programme, the Music Academy of the West, Moritzburg Festival Akademie, Kinhaven Summer Music School, and the Boston Univer- sity Tanglewood Institute.

EMILY NEBEL, violinist, has established herself as an innovative young artist and collaborator in both the United States and Europe. She has been fortunate enough to take advantage of several solo opportunities, including performances with the and Phoenix Symphony. Most nota- bly, she performed Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra in Severance Hall as a result of winning the school’s concerto competition. In a review of the concert by Cleveland Classical, it was written that “Ms. Nebel is a tall and statuesque young lady exuding confidence, poise and maturity…[she] navigated Stravinsky’s quirky writing with absolute cer- tainty while taking immediate command of the ever changing tempos and metric complexities.” Emily has enjoyed participating in a myriad of music festivals over the years, including Master Classes at the Banff Centre, International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and Aspen Music Festival & School. As a founding member of the internationally diverse Alondra Quartet, Emily has performed in venues in Montréal, Toronto, and Cornwall (UK) with her colleagues Sheila Jaffé, Fernando Arias, and Guillaume Artus. It is through this unique collaboration and its larger counterpart, the Cultura Animi Ensemble, that Emily wishes to further her musical career. She is currently pursuing a Master’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

MAUREEN NELSON is a founding member and first violinist of the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet, which formed while she was earn- ing her Master’s degree at Yale University. She keeps a busy touring sched- ule with engagements both across the US and abroad and has led the quartet to claim victories at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competi- tion, 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Chamber Music Yellow Springs. As a two-time winner of the Greenfield Competition, violinist Maureen Nelson appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra both in 1990 and 1991, and has since enjoyed international success as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestral player. She has been awarded top prizes in numerous competitions and was an NFAA/Arts awardee and Presidential Scholar final- ist in the Arts. A native of Pennsylvania, Maureen was enrolled in Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians at the age of twelve and began attend- ing the Curtis Institute of Music while still in high school. She holds degrees from Yale University and the Curtis Institute of Music. Her major teachers include Shmuel Ashkenasi, Jascha Brodsky, and Yumi Ninomiya Scott. Maureen has participated in music festivals around the world including Evian, Sarasota, SummerFest La Jolla, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Great Lakes Chamber Music, Pacific Music (Japan), Schleswig-Holstein (Ger- many), and St. Bart’s Music Festivals. She has been on the faculty of Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and adjunct faculty at Shepherd School of Music, Rice University and is currently faculty at Interlochen Arts Academy for the Adult Chamber Music Camp. While studying at the Musikhochschule Detmold in Germany, Maureen was concertmaster of the Detmolder Kammerorchester led by conductors in- cluding Christoph Poppen and Tibor Varga. She has collaborated on projects with the Jose Limon Dance Company and appears frequently for Musiqa, the Houston based new music series, premiering many new works. Recently, she premiered Joan Tower’s Piano Quintet with the composer at the keyboard at the legendary Dumbarton Estate. She has performed live on numerous radio stations including Australia’s ABC, Canada’s CBC, Houston’s KUHF, Chicago’s WFMT, New York’s WQXR, and for NPR's Performance Today and MPR’s Saint Paul Sunday. Maureen is married to clarinetist Richie Hawley and together they enjoy the company of their superdog, Gidget.

TIMOTHY PITTS has distinguished himself as one of the most versatile double bassists of his generation. As a soloist, chamber and orchestral musi- cian, he has been heard in many of the world’s greatest concert halls. Mr. Pitts’ orchestral career began as a member of the Cleveland Orches- tra after which he was appointed principal bass of the Houston Symphony, a position he held for seventeen years. Mr. Pitts also served as principal double bass of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of . An active chamber musician, Mr. Pitts has appeared as a guest artist with Bay Chamber Concerts, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Boston Musica Viva, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Skaneateles Festival in New York as well as with the Los Angles Piano Quartet and the St. Lawrence, Jupiter, and Vermeer Quartets. He has collaborated with such artists as Menahem Pressler, Arnold Steinhardt, Christoph Eschenbach, Heinz Holliger, Robert McDuffie, and Roberto Diaz. As a member of the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, Mr. Pitts toured Germany and Japan, and appeared at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival. Mr. Pitts has appeared as soloist with the Houston, Greenville, Savan- nah, Albany, and Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestras. In April of 2006, Mr. Pitts gave the United States premiere of John Harbison’s Concerto for Bass Viol with Hans Graf conducting the Houston Symphony. A dedicated educator, Mr. Pitts has presented master classes at the National Orchestral Institute, the New World Symphony, Boston University, Indiana University, the Glen Gould School, and the Pacific Music Festival. His students can be found among the ranks of the world’s finest ensembles. Formerly on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory, Mr. Pitts is cur- rently a Professor of Double Bass at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. For three weeks each summer he teaches and performs at the Mon- tecito Music Festival in Montecito, California. During the summer, he is on the artist faculty of the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, in residence at China’s Central Conservatory of Music. Mr. Pitts lives in Hous- ton, Texas with his wife, violinist Kathleen Winkler, and two daughters, Nina and Kiri, both aspiring cellists.