Past — Orca Concerts - Chamber Music for All

Past Orca Artists

Jeffrey Barker joined the Seattle Symphony as Associate Principal Flute in 2015. Previously, he played as Principal Flute of the Boise Philharmonic starting in 2009. He has also performed with top orchestras around the country and the world, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony. Jeffrey is passionate about using music to connect with his community. He is a recipient of the 2018 Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service for his work with people in Seattle experiencing homelessness through the Seattle Symphony’s Simple Gifts Initiative. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music under the instruction of Bonita Boyd, and his Master of Music degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where his teachers were Jeanne Baxtresser and Alberto Almarza.

Gregory Barrett, Professor of Clarinet at Northern Illinois University, Buffet/USA Artist, and Editor of Book and Music Reviews for The Clarinet, has performed and taught throughout the U.S., Europe, and in Australia, Canada, China, Israel and Japan. With the Lahti Sinfonia Chamber Ensemble he performed as a soloist in Vienna's Musikverein. Barrett has had a long association with music from Finland. His recordings The Finnish Clarinet and Eliangelis are on Alba CDs. Esa-Pekka Salonen approved for publication his chamber ensemble arrangement of Salonen’s Nachtlieder.

Barrett takes pride in the achievements of his students in the teaching profession from elementary schools to Soochow University, China, and those who perform in groups such as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the China Philharmonic Orchestra. Students have gone on to advanced study at the Curtis Institute of Music, the universities of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri–Kansas City, and Yale.

Composer, flutist, and educator Sarah Bassingthwaighte is an acclaimed member of the contemporary classical music scene, a music lecturer and clinician, and an award-winning composer who has taught, performed, and had her pieces performed in England, Iceland, Russia, Canada, Mexico, and the US. Her compositions have twice been awarded the NFA Newly Published Music Award, in 2013 and 2018. This coming March, she will be Composer-in-Residence in Sweden, at the Visby International Centre for Composers (VICC). The British journal Pan Magazine acclaims her “hypnotic and rich sound” and goes on to say “The tone quality is full of depth and power. Bassingthwaighte seems to have a particular talent for communicating the message of contemporary pieces,” which are “performed with polish and virtuosity.” Her solo CDs include Songs from the Caucasus, Stalks in the Breeze and Flute Meets Machine, and she and Mark Wilson recorded Around the World and Through Time as the ensemble Sirocco. She is the author of the full-length book Flute Meets Machine, and has been awarded the Stan Chu Essay award. www.sarahbassingthwaighte.org

Violinist Jennifer Caine Provine was a first prize winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition and recipient of several awards and grants including the Royal College of Music’s Isolde Menges Prize for solo Bach. She has concertized throughout the U.S. and Europe in venues including the Phillips Collection, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the Glinka Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Jennifer is Associate Concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and violinist of the Volta Piano Trio (formerly Icicle Creek Piano Trio), with whom she has performed extensively throughout the Northwest and abroad, been heard on national radio stations, and recorded two discs on the Con Brio label to critical acclaim. She was assistant director and resident violinist at the Icicle Creek Music Center from 2007-2010.

Jennifer regularly appears on several Northwest chamber music series, and performs frequently with the Seattle Symphony. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. in Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and holds Masters Degrees from the Royal College of Music (London) and Oxford University.

Violinist and violist Timothy Christie enjoys a multifaceted career as performer, teacher, public speaker and recording artist. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival (WWCMF), a nonprofit organization in southeastern Washington presenting more than 40 public chamber music events annually. He serves on the faculty of the Community Music Department at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA, and is a member of IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, TN.

In demand as a recitalist and chamber musician, Christie regularly collaborates with some of the most exciting artists and ensembles in the industry, including Third Coast Percussion, Spektral Quartet, PRISM Quartet, PROJECT Trio, Sybarite5, Turtle Island Quartet, the Harlem Quartet, and The Westerlies. The solo violist of new music ensemble, Brave New Works, since the group’s inception in 1997, Christie can be heard on recordings of William Bolcom’s Piano Quintet and William Albright’s Clarinet Quintet on AMP Records.

Praised by the New York Times as “elegant and spectacular” pianist Angela Drăghicescu has established an international reputation as a much sought-after pianist and chamber musician. She has performed in major concert halls across North America, and throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Recent engagements have included performances at Carnegie, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kaufmann Center, Konserthus (Stockholm), Oslo Philharmonic, Rudolfinium in Prague, and the George Enescu Philharmonic. Her collaborations include many of today’s leading artists such as James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Doc Severinsen, Frank Huang, and has collaborated in concerts with Maxim Vengerov, René Felming, and Joyce di Donato. She is regularly invited to perform with members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago, New York, and London Symphonies. Previous performances included among esteemed guests, members of the Royal Families of Sweden, Norway, and England. Her festival appearances include Aspen, Music at Menlo, Interlochen Arts Academy; Si Piano (Switzerland) and Seattle Chamber Music Society; and live on BBC 5, Classical King FM Seattle, WQXR New York, WFMT Chicago, Romanian National Radio, and Ruv Ras 1 Iceland.

Oxana Ejokina

Russian-born pianist Oxana Ejokina appears frequently as guest recitalist and chamber musician on concert series across the United States and abroad. She has soloed with the Seattle Symphony, St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic and Tacoma Symphony, and performed in venues such as the Phillips Collection in Washington DC, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Governor’s Mansion in Olympia, Davies Orchestra Hall in San Francisco, and Klassik Keyifler Festival in Turkey. A dedicated performer of new music, she has premiered works by Marilyn Shrude, Wayne Horvitz, Bern Herbolsheimer, and Laura Kaminsky, among others. She has been featured on multiple live radio broadcasts on such stations as WFMT-Chicago, KUOW and KING FM in Seattle, and Maine Public Radio. Her collaborations include concerts with the Seattle Chamber Players, Avalon String Quartet, pianist Christina Dahl, violinists Ian Swensen, Paul Kantor and Andrew Jennings, and cellists Johannes Moser and Anthony Elliott, among others.

Jeffrey Fair has been Principal Horn of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra since 2013 and a member of the Orchestra since 2003. His playing has most recently been described as having a “stunning presence and power.” He also performs as Principal Horn of the Seattle Opera and has served as guest Principal of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Music festival appearances as Principal Horn include the Aspen Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Arizona Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, and Festival Mozaic. Mr. Fair is a former faculty member at the University of Washington, and he appears throughout the country as a soloist, chamber musician, clinician, and teacher. Prior to moving to Seattle, he was Principal Horn of the San Antonio Symphony for three seasons, appearing as soloist on several occasions. Mr. Fair holds degrees from The Juilliard School and the University of Oklahoma.

Luke Fieweger is the new Associate Principal Bassoon of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Opera. Prior to his appointment in Seattle, Luke completed the joint A.B./M.M. program between Harvard University and New England Conservatory, earning a degree from Harvard in neurobiology and studying at NEC with Richard Svoboda and Richard Ranti. He then pursued further studies as an Artist Diploma candidate at the Colburn School studying with Richard Beene. His chamber music experience includes performances with members of the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Boston Symphony, as well as appearances with an ongoing Bach cantata series in Boston, and concerts with the improvisation-based ensemble Survivor’s Breakfast. His festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center, the Music Academy of the West, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar.

Prior to joining the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Tom Fleming performed in North and South America, the Caribbean, Asia and Europe. Having earned degrees from Yale University and the Manhattan School of Music, he was also a fellow at the New World Symphony. He has performed as concerto soloist in various venues, most notably Alice Tully Hall in New York City. His orchestral career has included engagements with the Seattle Symphony, Oregon Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Fleming has participated in numerous summer festivals, such as the Bellingham Festival of Music, Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland and the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival. As an alumnus of the high school conservatory at the North Carolina School of the Arts, he studied with the late Mark Popkin. During his college years, Fleming continued bassoon studies with Patricia Rogers, Frank Morelli and Sue Heineman.

Travis Gore, orchestral musician and recording artist, has held a bass position with the multiple Grammy Award winning Seattle Symphony since 2007. He has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra and chamber series, and before Seattle-held a position with the San Diego Symphony. Remaining an active studio musician, he can be heard on major film and game soundtracks such as Men Who Stare at Goats, Valkyrie, Halo, Dragon Age and more. He has appeared with some of today's highly sought after chamber musicians: the Grammy award winning Parker Quartet, St. Petersburg Quartet, and more, and on live concerts and indie albums as an upright and electric bassist with recording artists such as Bryan John Appleby, Hey Marseilles, Alice Sandahl of La Luz, Wall of Ears, and as a lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for his own music as Feeds On Majesty.

Ben Hausmann is Associate Principal Oboe of the Seattle Symphony. He has previously held the position of tenured Principal Oboe with the Seattle Symphony, l’Orchestre symphonique de Quebéc, the Hollywod Bowl Orchestra and Savannah Symphony. He has also appeared as guest Principal Oboe with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony and been a frequent guest of the Metropolitan Opera.

Hausmann’s summer festivals include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival, where his performance of Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto from memory was broadcast on NPR. Notably, he jogged 21 miles uphill to the highest paved pass in the United States to prepare his concerto performance with Aspen Music Festival Sinfonia from memory.

Mary Kantor received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington and graduated from the Academy of Music in Vienna with Honors in clarinet performance, class of Rudolf Jettel. She is currently principal clarinetist and Board President of the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. She also prerforms regularly with the Shalom Ensemble and the Sound Ensemble. As a soloist, she has performed the Mozart Concerto and Richard Strauss' Duet-Concertino with Philharmonia Northwest. Most recently, she taught at InterHarmony in Italy, July 2022, giving Masterclasses and performing on the faculty recitals.As an educator, she coaches the Seattle Youth Symphony, Cascade Youth Symphony and Bellevue Youth Symphony clarinet sections, and is Professor of Clarinet at Seattle Pacific University, as well as maintaining a private studio.

In 2012, five musicians from diverse backgrounds formed Kokopelli to explore a classic repertoire that is new to most audiences. From Brahms to the Beatles, Mozart to modern, Kokopelli has music for everyone.

Having performed with such diverse ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Symphony, Volta Piano Trio, Pacific Northwest Ballet and other fine groups, these five musicians each bring a special skill set to this quintet.

Juilliard graduate and Fulbright Fellow Rajan Krishnaswami has toured nationally and internationally as recitalist and soloist with orchestra. He has also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and Seattle Opera.

Chamber music being his first love, in 2005 he founded Simple Measures, an innovative Chamber Music Series in the Puget Sound, WA area. His CD of new music for cello and piano, American Interweave, on the Ambassador label with his long time duo collaborator Mark Salman, includes two works that he commissioned.

Equally devoted to the arts of teaching and performing, he is well established as an important learning resource for serious cellists, both student and professional. He has been on the cello faculty of the University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts. Mr. Krishnaswami plays on a magnificent and historically important cello by J.B. Guadagnini, the ex-Davidoff, made in 1780

Michael Lowenstern, has performed, recorded and toured as a soloist and with ensembles of every variety. He is widely recognized as one of the most innovative bass clarinetists in the world. Career highlights include long tenures with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and John Zorn, and touring with ensembles as diverse as the Steve Reich Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Klezmatics. To date, he can be heard on over sixty recordings, two of which have won Grammy awards. Michael has released eight solo albums of his own, none of which have won Grammy awards. Michael also currently serves as Principal Creative Director for Amazon Advertising’s Brand Innovation Lab, and in 2021 received his first patent for a piece of mobile technology that you wouldn’t understand, because he barely understands it. Prior to Amazon, Michael worked on Madison Avenue, and received dozens of awards for his advertising work on E*Trade, Verizon, Pepsi, and many others. Using skills from both pursuits, he is currently in his eleventh year creating content for his YouTube channel, to the delight (and consternation) of millions of viewers across the globe. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Pianist Bathsheba Marcus has performed throughout the United States in chamber music and solo recitals. A versatile pianist Ms. Marcus is at home in a wide array of repertoire and is an ardent supporter of music of our time. A graduate of LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in NYC, Ms. Marcus holds a B.A. in Music from New York University and Master of Music and Doctoral of Musical Arts degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Previously based in New York City, Ms. Marcus now lives and performs in the Seattle area. Recent engagements include performances with Seattle Modern Orchestra, soloist with Seattle Festival Orchestra, pianist with the UW Chamber Dance Company and The Sound Ensemble. More about Ms. Marcus can be found on www.bathshebamarcus.com

Pianist Jamie Namkung has achieved public recognition through concert appearances in distinguished summer festivals, including the Aria International Summer Academy and Banff International Piano Festival. An avid chamber musician and a collaborative pianist in high demand, Jamie has appeared live on King FM 98.1 and American Public Media’s Performance Today, and frequently collaborated with former and current members of the Chicago and Seattle Symphony Orchestras, Seattle Opera, and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. In 2015-2016, as a recipient of the Pigott Family Endowment for the Arts she served as Collaborative Artist in Residence at Seattle University. Jamie has also built a successful teaching career at such institutions as Peabody Preparatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Harper College, and Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago as Visiting Assistant Professor of Piano. She currently maintains a private studio in Seattle, and serves as adjunct faculty and staff pianist at Seattle Pacific University.

Jennifer Nelson is currently Principal Clarinet with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony Orchestras. She also has a very active freelance career, including playing Broadway-style shows at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theaters, occasional extra with the Seattle Symphony and Opera Orchestras, and records for various television, video game, and motion picture scores. Jennifer is the clarinet teacher at the University of Puget Sound, and has had a private studio in north Seattle for many years. She has traveled throughout the United States with the national touring companies of Phantom of the Opera and New York City Opera, and her orchestral and recital performances have taken her to Mexico, Japan, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Honduras, and most recently, India.

A member of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera Orchestra since 1992,
bassoonist Paul Rafanelli has performed frequently on the orchestra’s
Chamber Music Series; he has also performed with the Walla Walla
Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Seattle
Chamber Players. Before joining the Seattle Symphony in 1992, Mr. Rafanelli
was a member of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra, and played at
the Festival dei Due Mondi in Italy and the Spoleto Festival USA. For 16
years he served on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, where he was
the Affiliate Artist in bassoon. In October of 2021 he joined the faculty of the
University of Washington as Artist in Residence. Mr. Rafanelli was born in
Seattle in 1963 and received his training at the University of Washington,
Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is fluent in Italian
and also speaks some German. His bassoon was custom made by the
Wilhelm Heckel Co. in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1986.

Violist Laura Renz is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet orchestra, and also performs regularly with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. Before moving to Seattle, Ms. Renz has held positions in the San Antonio Symphony, the Austin Symphony, and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Renz is an avid chamber musician, participating in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, a residency in Lake Wales, FL, and the Focus Festival as a member of the Vaux String Quartet.

She has also performed at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival and with Simple Measures, among other groups. Ms. Renz participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.

She is a graduate, summa cum laude, of the University of Michigan, and the Juilliard School, where she studied with Samuel Rhodes.

Dr. Florie Rothenberg enjoys an active performing career, playing with several Seattle area concert and pit orchestras, including NOCCO, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Auburn Symphony, Symphony Tacoma and Tacoma Opera. She has worked in film scoring in Seattle, and has her own CD, “Voices of Trees, Modern Works by Women Composers for Clarinet and Piano”, available on Origin Classical Records. Splitting her time between performing and teaching, Dr. Rothenberg works with clarinetists of all ages and levels, drawing students from around the Puget Sound region. She has taught at Central Washington University and the University of Arizona, and is currently on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound Community Music. Dr. Rothenberg earned a D.M.A. from the University of Arizona, a M.M. from the University of Michigan and a B.M. from the University of the Pacific. Her teachers include Jerry Kirkbride, David Shifrin and William Dominik.

Shannon Spicciati, oboe, is an Affiliate Artist and Lecturer at Pacific Lutheran University, and principal oboist with the Northwest Sinfonietta. Ms. Spicciati enjoys an active performance and teaching career in the Seattle metropolitan area. She has played extensively with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera on oboe and English horn, and has been featured as soloist with SSO on two occasions, performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #2 and William Bergsma’s “In Campo Aperto”. She has performed with the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre orchestra, Tacoma Symphony and numerous other ensembles. She has participated in many festivals, including the Icicle Creek Music Festival in Leavenworth, WA, the Marrowstone Music Festival and the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany. Ms. Spicciati holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Washington.

Shannon Spicciati

Cellist Sally Singer Tuttle, born in the UK, has given numerous performances of solo and chamber works in Europe and throughout the United States. She has performed as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Russia (Beethoven’s Triple Concerto), the Pleven Philharmonic, Bulgaria, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, New York, the Danbury Symphony, Connecticut and the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. Sally has toured in Britain, Italy, France and Austria, and chamber performance highlights include the Tanglewood Music Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alice Tully Hall, first prize in the John Ireland Chamber Music Competition, British National Television appearances and the Governor's Mansion, WA. A former member of the Vovka Ashkenazy Piano Trio, Sally has enjoyed performing chamber music with leading artists Ian Swensen, Nathaniel Rosen, Steven Doane, Anthony Elliott and Rachel Barton Pine. World premier performances include the works of composers Laura Kaminsky, Wayne Horvitz, Bern Herbolsheimer, Thomas Flaherty and Marilyn Shrude.

Icelandic-American cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir enjoys a varied career as a performer, collaborator and teaching artist. She has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony, among others, and her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the US, Europe and Asia. Sæunn has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Barbican Center and Disney Hall and the Los Angeles Times praised her performances for their “emotional intensity”.

In the 2018-2019 season, Sæunn made her debut with the BBC and Seattle Symphonies performing the award-winning cello concerto, Quake, written for her by Páll Ragnar Pálsson. Chamber music appearances took her to Carnegie Hall in New York City, Glasgow, and Los Angeles, as well as recitals in Reykjavík, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago following the Spring 2019 release of “Vernacular”, her recording of Icelandic solo cello music on the Sono Luminus label. www.saeunn.com

Hailed by Gramophone magazine for its "warmly considered playing" and "shadings of exquisite sheen and vibrancy", the Volta Piano Trio, formerly known as the Icicle Creek Piano Trio, has established itself as one of the Pacific Northwest's premier chamber ensembles. The members of the Volta Piano Trio originate from the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia. Together or as individuals, Jennifer Caine Provine, Sally Singer Tuttle, and Oxana Ejokina have performed in venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alice Tully Hall, the Phillips Collection, and the Royal Albert Hall, and have toured in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and the U.K. Regionally and on the West Coast, they have performed solo or as a trio at Pacific Lutheran University, the University of Puget Sound, Cornish College of the Arts, the Seattle Sherman Clay Recital Hall, the Governor's Mansion in Olympia, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Seattle Town Hall, the University of Santa Barbara, and Davies Hall in San Francisco, among others. In 2015, the Volta Piano Trio was selected as a finalist for The American Prize in Chamber Music Performance. The Trio has appeared on several Northwest chamber music series, and at chamber music festivals in Las Vegas, NV, Sag Harbor, NY, and Leavenworth and Walla Walla, WA. Recent highlights have included performances of Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia and with the Washington Idaho Symphony.

Seattle-based cellist Eli Weinberger cultivates an enterprising career as one of the Pacific Northwest’s most versatile performing and recording artists. Working regularly out of Seattle’s infamous recording venues as well as his home studio, C Monster Music, Eli has recorded on the soundtracks for film scores, television shows, video games, music videos, commercials and music albums in a wide array of genres from classical to country. He has performed with ensembles and as a soloist across the United States, Canada and Europe, including appearances on NBC’s Tonight Show and ABC’s drama Station 19.
Eli has a deep passion for creating opportunities where audiences and musicians can come together to experience the unique connectivity of live music. In this spirit, he was a founding member and is currently the principal cellist of Seattle’s acclaimed conductorless ensemble North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO). While living in Montreal, he established the non-profit, professional training orchestra Pronto Musica, the first of its kind in Canada. Eli has a passion for improving equal access to both traditional and innovative musical experiences, often performing in underserved communities around the Puget Sound.

Violinist Liza Zurlinden, a native of San Francisco, enjoys a career rich with chamber music, orchestral playing and teaching. Ms. Zurlinden has been a longtime member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco, and is a former member of the grammy-nominated chamber orchestra, A Far Cry, in Boston. She has performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Symphony, and has enjoyed local collaborations with Byron Schenkman and Friends, Prison Concerts with Seattle Symphony musicians.

Ms. Zurlinden holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Rice University and SUNY Purchase.