Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra

Williamsburg
Symphony
Orchestra
PLEASE
NOTE
The taking of photographs and the use of
recording equipment of any kind during
performances is strictly prohibited
JANNA HYMES - MUSIC DIRECTOR
JANUARY
Friday 29, 8:00pm
Earl Cameron Theatre, City Hall
Programme
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
arranged by Arnold Schoenberg
The Sea Venture: Songs of the Early Settlers of Michael Williamson
Bermuda and Jamestown Divertissement
Jacques Ibert (1890 –1962)
Intermission
Suite from Appalachian Spring Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)
The Entertainer
Ragtime Dance Maple Leaf Rag
Scott Joplin (1867/68 – 1917)
edited by Gunther Schuller
visit www.bermudafestival.org for more information
About the programme
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune
Claude Debussy
The publication in 1876 of symbolist Stéphane Mallarmé’s
subtly sensual poem, L’après-midi d’un faune, created a furor
in the cultural circles of Paris with its hints of bisexuality and
lesbianism. The figure of the youthful, erotic faun appealed
to Debussy, who in 1892 planned a three-part composition,
Prélude, Interludes et Paraphrase finale pour l’Après-midi d’un
faune, to serve as background music to readings of the poem.
In the course of the composition, however, he was, sidetracked
by his work on the opera Pelléas et Mélisande. As a result, only
the Prélude was ever written.
The poem depicts a sensuous faun – a rural deity represented
as a man with the ears, horns, tail and hind legs of a goat –
silently contemplating cavorting nymphs and other forest
creatures on a warm sunny afternoon. The suggestive music
captures the erotic atmosphere of the poem with consummate
skill and is one of the first and most evocative examples of
musical Impressionism. The Prélude was first performed in
Paris in December 1894 and was an instant triumph, the only
work of Debussy to receive an encore at its premiere. Mallarmé
himself praised the music, saying that it extended the emotion
of his poem and provided it with a warmer background.
Debussy regarded the music as “a very free illustration and in
no way as a synthesis of the poem.”
The Prélude requires a full orchestra, but with a touch as light
and evanescent as the poem; often the pauses in the music
are as dramatic as the music itself. It relies mostly on the
woodwinds and the harp to create the dreamy atmosphere
and imagery. In 1912, however, Sergey Diaghilev, the
impresario of the Ballets Russes, urged the dancer Vaclav
Nijinsky to choreograph and dance the role of the faun in
a ballet based on Mallarmé’s poem and Debussy’s music.
Nijinsky’s interpretation of the role turned out to be much
more literal than Mallarmé’s symbolist poetry. His openly erotic
interpretation of the faun became a major scandal, primarily
because of the final scene in which the faun, filled with sadness
by the inability to seduce his nymph playmates, consoles
himself by sensuously fondling a scarf that one of the nymphs
lost in her escape.
Divertissement
Jacques Ibert
Jacques Ibert was one of the most prolific and eclectic French
composers of the last century, leaving behind works in nearly
every musical genre. He considered music “The expression
of an interior adventure,” and his approach to composition
could best be summed up in his own words: “All systems
are valid, provided that one derives music from them”; he
adopted a certain style only when it suited his purpose for the
composition at hand. Consequently, he never joined any of the
movements so popular in France in the 1920s and ‘30s.
During World War I Ibert served in the French navy, a
Mediterranean cruise inspiring his most popular work, Escales
(Ports of Call). From 1937 to 1960 he served as director of the
French Academy in Rome.
The Divertissement , composed in 1928, is a suite Ibert derived
from his incidental music to the comic play and silent film
by René Clair Un chapeau de paille d’Italie (The Italian Straw
Hat). The year is 1895, and a young man is on the way to his
wedding when his horse picks up and eats a straw hat. The
owner of the hat is a married woman who, at the time, is in the
embrace of a French officer. The officer follows the young man
to his new home and demands that he find a substitute hat
so that his mistress can return home to her husband without
arousing suspicion. Fearing that the officer will wreck his new
apartment, the bridegroom hastens away to his wedding, using
every opportunity on the way to find a replacement hat. When
finally he does manage to find the elusive hat, things becomes
even more complicated, and the whole cast ends up in the
police station.
Ibert extracted the six movement suite in 1930. It is one of
his lightest and happiest works, full of gaiety, humor and
wit. It is full of humorous quotes - the Wedding March from
Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream appears in the
Cortège and the Blue Danube makes a somewhat distorted
appearance in the Valse. The Finale starts with random
piano clusters that sounds as if a boxer were pounding on
the keyboard, and closes with an Offenbach-style can-can,
complete with police whistle.
The Sea Venture: Songs of the Early
Settlers of Bermuda and Jamestown
Michael Williamson.
On June 2, 1609, a fleet of nine sailing ships set out from
Plymouth, England on a mission bringing supplies and new
colonists to Jamestown, Virginia. The new settlement at
Jamestown was under considerable duress, barely surviving
since its founding in 1607. The supply fleet, led by the flagship
the “Sea Venture”, managed to stay together until they were
within a week’s time of the Virginia coast. On the night of July
23, heavy clouds foretold a storm of great intensity.
The next morning the fleet was struck by a fierce hurricane
that scattered the ships and battered the Sea Venture with
incredible force. Passengers and seamen fought day and night
to keep the ship afloat. After four days and nights the vessel
was driven upon the shore of an island known to them as the
“Isle of Devils” or one of the “Bermudas.”
The ship was wedged between two rocks so that it did not sink.
All 150 souls onboard survived and made it ashore. They were
able to salvage much of the ship’s rigging, the supplies, and
the usable timber. They knew that they would have to build two
ships to continue their voyage. After nine months they finished
the two smaller ships and continued on to Jamestown.
The survivors of the wreck realized that Bermuda was a
wonderful place to live because there was wildlife in abundance
and temperate weather. A few years later some of the
survivors returned to set up a permanent English colony on
Bermuda.
My composition tells the story of the Sea Venture through
the music of the period. The first movement speaks of the
anticipation of the voyage through three dances taken from
Playford’s Dancing Master, a collection of dance tunes from the
period. The second movement depicts life on board during the
voyage using an old sailing song The Water is Wide, followed
by Staines Morris, a popular tune used to accompany Morris
Dancing and The Wild Rover, a drinking song. In the third
movement, Vivaldi’s Tempest – the third movement of Summer
from his masterpiece The Four Seasons - is a perfect musical
depiction of the violence of the storm. William Shakespeare
was so influenced by the account of the Sea Venture that he
used it as the basis for his play, The Tempest . Tchaikovsky
composed one of this greatest works The Tempest and I have
used a section of his music to depict the uplifted spirit of the
voyagers after the violence of the storm.
Programme note by Michael Williamson
Appalachian Spring
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland composed the original ballet Appalachian
Spring in 1944 for the great pioneer of modern dance, Martha
Graham, to be performed at an evening of modern ballet at
the Library of Congress (Other ballets on the program were by
Paul Hindemith and Darius Milhaud.) Copland originally named
it “Ballet for Martha,” but Graham gave it its final title after a
poem by Hart Crane (although the ballet bears no relation to
the text of the poem). The size limitations of the stage at the
Library dictated a small ensemble; consequently the original
version was scored for thirteen instruments only (flute,
clarinet, bassoon, piano and strings). Soon after the successful
premiere, however, Copland extracted a somewhat shortened
suite for full orchestra from the ballet, which is the version
most frequently heard today.
In the preface to the score of the Suite, Copland summarized
the story of the ballet using the words of the New York Herald
Tribune review by Eric Denby, written after the New York
premiere: “...A pioneer celebration in spring around a newly-
built farmhouse in the Pennsylvania hills in the early part of the
last century. The bride-to-be and the young farmer-husband
enact the emotions, joyful and apprehensive, their new
domestic partnership invites... A revivalist and his followers
remind the new householders of the strange and terrible
aspects of human fate. At the end the couple are left quiet and
strong in their new house.”
The sections of the suite merge into each other without
pause, but reflect distinctly different moods. The haunting
but peaceful opening gives way suddenly to an outburst of
excitement comprising several different musical motives in
the same nervous mood. After building up to a frenzied climax,
a solo clarinet interrupts plaintively with the Shaker tune
“Simple Gifts.” Copland uses the song as the theme for the set
of variations, which themselves increase in intensity as more
and more instruments are added to each new variation. And
then, with another sudden shift in mood, we are transported
back to the quiet introduction, and the Suite ends as it began.
“Simple Gifts” was composed by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett,
Jr., in 1848 for dancing during Shaker worship. Copland’s five
variations never veer far from the original melody which he
found in a 1940 collection of Shaker songs compiled by Edward
D. Andrews. While the tune was certainly perfect for Graham’s
choreography, it didn’t exactly fit the story line, as the Shakers
themselves were dedicated to a life of celibacy.
Rags
Scott Joplin
The term “ragtime” (or ragged time) was coined in the last
years of the nineteenth century for compositions that
incorporated a syncopated melodic line over a steady, regular
bass. Ragtime originated in the southern Midwest and was one
of the forerunners of jazz, maintaining its popularity well into
the twentieth century.
Little is known about the life of the acknowledged “King of
Ragtime,” Scott Joplin, but his fame as a composer, performer
and teacher of ragtime justify his title. Joplin, the son of a
former slave, was born into a poorly educated, but musical,
family. He received his first formal musical training as a youth
in Texarkana from a German musician, but the details of the
relationship are unknown.
Like so many African-American musicians of the time, Joplin
was constantly on the move. In 1899, he studied and taught
music in Sedalia, Missouri where he composed his most
famous composition, the Maple Leaf Rag , for a club of the
same name. He was clearly ambitious, expanding into the
realm of musical theatre and, finally, opera; but his larger
works met with little success until a reconstruction of his
opera Treemonisha was mounted in New York in the 1980s.
In keeping with his vision, Joplin moved to New York and
apparently spent considerable time in Europe.
Joplin’s rags were originally written for the piano, although
many band versions appeared even in the composer’s
lifetime. In form, they most resemble the Viennese waltz as
developed by the Strauss family, with three or four melodically
distinct sections. Joplin’s rags are all notated, suggesting
that they involved little improvisation. But as classic ragtime
expanded to include other syncopated forms of popular music,
composers, such as Fats Waller, Eubie Blake and Jellyroll
Morton blurred the distinction between improvisatory jazz and
“classic” rag.
The Entertainer, composed in 1903, has always been one of
Joplin’s more popular rags. But in 1973 Marvin Hamlisch used
Joplin rags as soundtrack for the film The Sting , bringing about
a revival of interest in rags in general. He used The Entertainer
as the title track and it has been so closely associated to the
film that it is often called simply “The Sting.” E. L. Doctorow’s
novel Ragtime used Joplin as a model for the protagonist
Coalhouse Walker, and Stephen Flaherty’s score of the musical
based on the novel includes numerous excellent imitations of
Joplin’s style.
Programme notes by Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
www.wordprosmusic.com Williamsburg
Symphony
Orchestra
The Williamsburg Music Association (WMA) was founded in
1984 by Carl Andersen, Elnore Andersen, Marian Harding,
Mary Selby and Rebecca Siegel for the purpose of presenting
educational programs for children featuring classical music
(Peter and the Wolf was the first). Their initial performances
were so well received that the founders planned a schedule of
concerts for the general public.
The nonprofit WMA organization has three components: The
Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, a professional orchestra;
the Williamsburg Symphonia League, a volunteer fundraising
and supporting organization; and the Williamsburg Youth
Orchestras, which give area students the opportunity to play in
a full orchestra.
Under Music Director Janna Hymes, The Williamsburg
Symphony continues to introduce young audiences to classical
music in a way they can enjoy and understand, and it presents
subscription Classical concerts, Pops concerts and special
events that attract a wide following and achieve critical
acclaim.
Violin 1
Irina Muresanu
Jeannette Jang
Violin 2
Alana Carithers
Treesa Gold
Viola
Kimberly Sparr
Jena Chenkin
Clarinet
Robert Dilutis
Bassoon
Elizabeth Roberts
Horn
David Smith
Trumpet
Brian Strawley
Cello
Schuyler Slack
Peter Greydanus
Trombone
Zachary Guiles
Bass
T. Alan Stewart
Percussion
Dan Knipple
Flute
Jennifer Debiec Lawson
Piano
Christine Niehaus
Oboe
Nathan Mills
Executive Director
Carolyn Keurajian
About the artists
Janna Hymes, Music Director
Celebrating her twelfth season as Music Director of The Williamsburg Symphony in Virginia and seventh as Music Director of Maine
Pro Musica Orchestra, Janna Hymes has established an exceptional reputation for her exciting and dynamic conducting style. Chosen out of over 100 female conductors, Ms. Hymes was picked to open the 2014-15 season of the Macon Symphony Orchestra. This
season she will be Artist in Residence at Colby College, conducting the student/faculty orchestra.A student of Leonard Bernstein,
Gustav Meier, Otto Werner-Mueller and Gunther Schuller, Ms. Hymes is the former Music Director of the Maine Grand Opera Company,
Associate Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the first woman to hold that post. Previous positions include Resident Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Columbus Women’s Orchestra, Cincinnati Composers’ Guild and I Solisti Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. She also served as Assistant Conductor of the Canton Symphony Orchestra
and the Teatro Massimo Opera House in Palermo, Italy. A native of New York City, Janna Hymes is a Fulbright Scholar, who also holds
degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A frequent guest
speaker, she was also speaker and honoree at the Women to Watch Celebration 2000, sponsored by the Indianapolis Business Journal and recipient of the Geraldine C. and Emory M. Ford Foundation Grant.
Irina Muresanu, Concertmaster
Irina Muresanu earned a B.M. from the Music Academy in Bucharest and a M.M. from the University of Illinois. She is also the recipient of the prestigious Artist Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory (NEC). Muresanu has
performed in renowned concert halls throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Her most recent engagements as soloist include
performances with the Boston Pops, Miami Symphony, The Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), Syracuse Symphony, the Transvaal Philharmonic (South Africa), the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the New
England String Ensemble and the Romanian National Radio Orchestra (Bucharest), among others. Muresanu is a member of the
Lewin-Muresanu Duo, the Boston Trio, the Walden Chamber Players and the Andover Chamber Music Society. She can often be heard
on major radio stations such as NPR, Boston’s WGBH, New York’s WQXR, Radio France Classique, Hong Kong Radio and Romanian
Radio Classical.
Jeanette Jang, Assistant Concertmaster
Jeanette has played with The Williamsburg Symphony since 2013. A native of Wisconsin, Jeannette Jang began her violin studies
at the age of 4, and received her early training as a student of Mimi Zweig and Katie Brooks. She graduated from the University of
WI-Madison (B.M. ’06), studying with David Perry, and received her graduate degree from the University of Michigan (M.M. ’09), as a
student of Andrew Jennings. For three years Jeannette was a violin fellow with the New World Symphony. She sat as concertmaster
under such conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin and James Conlon, and she soloed with multiple
orchestras, performed live on Wisconsin Public Radio, and has been the recipient of many scholarships. She currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is a section violinist with The Williamsburg Symphony and the Richmond Symphony.
Alana Carithers, Principal 2nd Violin
Alana has played with The Williamsburg Symphony since 2013 and sits Principal 2nd Violin. She graduated in 1999 from Northwestern University with a double Master of Music degree in violin performance and pedagogy. She served as Assistant Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Principal Second Violin of the Northwestern Symphony
Orchestra. She was one of the founding members of the MusiCorp program in Chicago, a grant-funded chamber music program to
take music into the inner city schools and churches of the Chicago area. She began her orchestral career as the Associate Principal
Second Violin of the Colorado Springs Symphony in 2000 and held that post until 2003. She played as a member of both the DaVinci
String Quartet and the Hausmusik String Quartet, and currently is a member of the Oberon quartet and Atlantic Chamber Ensemble
(ACE). She has appeared as a guest soloist with the Bob Jones University Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Youth Symphony Orchestra, Masterworks Festival Orchestra and on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Treesa Gold, Assistant 2nd Violin
Treesa Gold is a vibrant performer in the Richmond area, performing frequently with chamber groups as well as the The Williamsburg
Symphony, Richmond Symphony and Virginia Symphony. She also holds the position of concertmaster of the Opera On The James.
Treesa began studying violin at age two with renowned Suzuki pedagogue, Alice Joy Lewis. She remained under the tutelage of Mrs.
Lewis until she left for the Interlochen Arts Academy where she studied under Hal Grossman and received her High School Diploma. Mrs. Gold earned a Bachelor of Music and a Performer’s Diploma with Paul Biss at Indiana University, during which, she won a
national audition with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in New Orleans, where she played from 2004 to 2006. Mrs. Gold is also
a passionate teacher with a strong belief in children’s potential and the importance that plays in the betterment of the world. She
runs the Richmond Area Suzuki Strings as well as the Treesa Gold Suzuki Studio. Treesa Gold also enjoys a residency at the Omaha
Conservatory of Music Summer Institute with her rock band, Goldrush, an endeavor that melds a traditional rock band with instruments and techniques of the classical music world.
Kimberly Sparr, Viola
Violist Kimberly Sparr is currently Assistant Professor of Viola at Texas Tech University. Prior to joining the Texas Tech faculty, Dr.
Sparr was the assistant principal violist of the Richmond Symphony and instructor of viola at the College of William & Mary and
played with The Williamsburg Symphony for many years. Kimberly is a founding member of the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble (ACE).
During the summer, she is the assistant principal viola of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and also serves as mentor faculty
at the National Music Festival on Maryland’s eastern shore. Sparr has performed with the National Symphony, Washington National Opera, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Kimberly has toured Europe and Asia with both the Verbier and National Symphony
Orchestras. She previously served on the faculty of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. An advocate of contemporary
music, Kimberly is actively commissioning and collaborating with composers to expand the viola repertoire. She has worked on
commissions while in residence at the Avaloch Institute and has recently collaborated with artists in conjunction with Expressions
for Justice in the Netherlands.
Jena Chenkin, Assistant Principal Viola
Violist Jena Chenkin is accomplished on both violin and viola and performs extensively as a chamber musician and freelance artist.
Ms. Chenkin is a member of The Williamsburg Symphony and is often invited to perform with both the Virginia and Richmond Symphonies. She is actively involved in teaching violin students for the Academy of Music in Norfolk. A Wisconsin native, Ms. Chenkin
served as principal violist with both the Racine Symphony and the Waukesha Symphony and was also regularly asked to perform
with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and the Florentine Opera Company. Ms. Chenkin has appeared
on stage with Van Clyburn, Red Skelton, Frank Sinatra Jr., Harry Connick Jr., The Moody Blues, Mannheim Steamroller, Tony Bennett, Josh Groban, Toni Tennille, Monica Mancini and Mitch Miller. Ms. Chenkin has also performed with the rock band Yes, and the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, a heavy metal rock band.
Schuyler Slack, Cello
Cellist Schuyler Slack started playing with The Williamsburg Symphony in July 2015. He has performed in orchestral, chamber
music, and recital settings across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. He studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music with
Cleveland Orchestra principal cellists Stephen Geber and Mark Kosower. From 2012-2014 Schuyler served as Artist in Residence
at the University of Evansville in Indiana and played as principal cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. Today he lives and
teaches in the Washington area, where he is Associate Principal Cellist of the Maryland Symphony Orchestra frequently performs in
the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestras.
Following a firm belief that classical music is equally at home outside the concert hall as inside, Schuyler has performed chamber
music in churches, nursing homes, bars, shopping malls, museums, grocery stores, lakesides, canyons, and on mountaintops.
Peter Greydanus, Cello
An active orchestral and chamber musician, Peter Greydanus is a member of the cello sections of the Williamsburg Symphony,
Richmond Symphony and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Formerly an associate musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, he has also been a member of the Wheeling, WV, Youngstown, OH, Haddonfield, NJ, Albany, NY and Canton, OH symphonies. In
addition he has performed with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra and been a participant in the Spoleto festivals in Spoleto, Italy and
Charleston, SC as well as the Europaisches Musikfest Stuttgart and the Crested Butte Music Festival. Mr. Greydanus is a graduate
of Temple University where he was a student of Orlando Cole and studied as well with Metta Watts and William Stokking. During the
2009-2010 season Peter and his wife, Jocelyn Smith lived in Crested Butte, CO and organized a strings class at the Crested Butte
Community School. Jocelyn and Peter live in Norfolk, VA with their daughter, Mirabelle.
T. Alan Stewart, Bass
T. Alan Stewart is a freelance musician and teacher in the Washington, DC-Baltimore region. He has been the principal bass player
for The Williamsburg Symphony since the fall of 2014. He attended N.C. School of the Arts in both the High School and College divisions. He was accepted to graduate school at the Royal College of Music in London, the Juilliard School and attended Arizona State
University. He played in the bass section with the New Mexico Symphony orchestra while attending graduate school at Arizona State
University in Tempe, AZ. At ASU, he studied with S. Daniel Swaim. Alan moved to Florida to play with the New World Symphony under
the direction of Michael Tilson-Thomas. In 1990, he was awarded a post-graduate fellowship with the National Symphony Orchestra to perform, study and tour, full-time with the orchestra under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich. During the fellowship, he
coached with past Principal Bassist, Harold Robinson. Alan has been fortunate to tour with the NSO, Baltimore Symphony and New
World Symphony, and has played in some of the most spectacular concert halls in the world. He continues to perform with numerous orchestras and groups in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan region.
Jennifer Debiec Lawson, Flute
Flutist Jennifer Debiec Lawson is the principal flutist of The Williamsburg Symphony. Jennifer has also played in The Richmond
Symphony since 1995 and is currently the Assistant Principal/Second Flute and she held the position of Third Flute and Piccolo for
seven seasons prior to that. In addition, she plays Piccolo and Assistant Principal Flute with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in
Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Lawson is on the faculty at the University of Richmond and the College of William & Mary, and maintains a private studio in Richmond. She is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts where she completed high school and continued
on to receive her Bachelor of Music degree, studying with Philip Dunigan. Ms. Lawson received her Master of Music degree from The
Juilliard School in New York, where she studied with Julius Baker. Jennifer was the winner of the Flute Talk Magazine Competition in
1990.
Nathan Mills, Oboe
With orchestral solos hailed as “sterling” by the New York Times and “sensitively shaped” by the Chicago Tribune, Nathan Mills,
principal oboist of Chicago’s Grant Park Festival Orchestra and active freelancer in New York City and Chicago, is a young oboist and
concert musician on the rise in the classical music scene.
Nathan has also performed with several other notable ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra, and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, among others. He also recently performed his debut solo engagement with the Grant
Park Festival Orchestra, playing Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Winds under the baton of Thierry Fischer.
Nathan is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he received his undergraduate and graduate degrees studying with Nathan
Hughes and Elaine Douvas, with additional instruction from Pedro Diaz and Linda Strommen. Nathan was born and raised in Austin,
Texas, where his parents, one of two sisters, and black standard poodle still live.
Robert DiLutis, Clarinet
Robert DiLutis serves on the faculty of the University of Maryland, School of Music, College Park. Previously Mr. DiLutis was Professor of Clarinet at the Louisiana State University School of Music, Assistant Principal and E-flat clarinetist with the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra and Professor of Clarinet at the Eastman School of Music. Mr. DiLutis has also served on the faculties of
the St. Mary’s University in Texas, and Nazareth College in New York.
Making his Carnegie Hall Recital debut in 1989, Mr. DiLutis has also performed as featured soloist with ensembles such as the San
Antonio Symphony, Laredo Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Recently Mr. DiLutis toured with the New York Philharmonic on its historic trip to Pyongyang, North Korea. Mr. DiLutis is a graduate of the Juilliard
School where he studied with David Weber. In addition to his performance career Mr. DiLutis in the creator of the Reed Machine, a
reed making device used by top professionals around the world. Mr. DiLutis is an Artist for Buffet Group USA and plays Buffet clarinets exclusively.
Elizabeth Roberts, Bassoon
Elizabeth Roberts joined The Williamsburg Symphony during the 2014-2015 season. She has served as the Principal Bassoon and
Director of Youth Education for the Charlottesville Symphony since 2001. She joined the faculty at the University of Virginia the
same year. Ms. Roberts was the Visiting Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Missouri for the 2013-2014 academic
year. She freelances on bassoon and contrabassoon with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Richmond Symphony,
Washington National Opera, National Symphony Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony. She was a 2008 Virginia Governor’s Award for
the Arts nominee. Ms. Roberts earned a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education from the University of Illinois, a Professional Studies Diploma and a Bachelor of Music from the Harid Conservatory and a Master of Music from the University of Southern
California, where she was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda and USC Presidential Fellows. Her principal teachers were Arthur Weisberg,
Stephen Maxym and Frank Morelli.
David Smith, Horn
A freelance horn player, David Smith has been playing horn professionally since 2010. He grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina,
where he began playing horn at the age of 11. David received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute in 2009, where
he was a student of Phil Munds. He then attended the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland for his Master of Music degree. While abroad,
David was a guest soloist with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and won his first professional position as 2nd Horn of the
Scottish Ballet. He now lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where he is a guest musician with the Baltimore Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, New World Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony and the National Philharmonic.
Brian Strawley, Trumpet
Growing up the youngest of a musical family of nine, Brian first studied piano at age six with his father and trumpet at eight with
his brother Steve. He joined the Delaware County Youth Orchestra at 13, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra at 15, and then studied at
Temple University on scholarship. Upon graduation he won a position with the Media Theatre orchestra as principal trumpet. In
1997 he attended the Manhattan School of Music to pursue a master’s degree in Orchestral Performance, again on scholarship.
After a year he won a position with the Naval Academy Band; while there he performed extensively with orchestras and chamber
ensembles in the Greater D.C./Baltimore metro area, among them the Maryland Symphony, Mid-Atlantic Symphony and The Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra. In 2007 he won the assistant principal trumpet position with the Richmond Symphony. During his time
in Richmond Brian has performed with the Virginia Symphony, Washington Symphonic Brass and the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia
Brass ensemble. Most recently Brian was finalist and runner-up for the Jacksonville Symphony, Alabama Symphony and the Kansas
City Symphony and was winner for The Williamsburg Symphony, all for the position of principal trumpet. Brian is also on the faculty
of Virginia Commonwealth University.
Zachary Guiles, Trombone
Zachary Guiles joined The Williamsburg Symphony in the fall of 2015, very shortly after he joined the musical community of Richmond, Virginia as principal trombonist of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his time in Virginia, Zachary completed a
season as acting associate principal trombonist of the Utah Symphony, and has also performed with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Pops, and Boston Pops Esplanade. While earning his Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory,
Zachary held positions in the New Bedford Symphony and the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Zachary grew up in the woods of rural Vermont. Homeschooled by his father, Zachary began studying piano and trombone at an early age, eventually making biweekly
trips to Boston for trombone lessons. At age 14, Zachary entered the Interlochen Arts Academy to intensify his education and
focus on performance. Upon graduating from Interlochen, Zachary decided to further pursue his passion in Ohio, where he received
his Bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory.
Dan Knipple, Percussion
Dan Knipple has been the principal percussionist for The Williamsburg Symphony since 2001. From 1980-2010 Dan Knipple served
as the band director at Thomas Eaton Middle School in Hampton, VA. Voted twice as Teacher of the Year at Eaton Middle School,
Dan was also a recipient of the City of Hampton’s prestigious “Leaders Count Award for Extraordinary Leadership.” Over the past
25 years, Dan has performed numerous times with the Virginia Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Williamsburg Choral Guild, Virginia Choral Society and Tidewater Winds. He can frequently be seen playing in Williamsburg at the Bruton Parish and Williamsburg
United Methodist Church, as well as various other chamber/church orchestras throughout the Tidewater area. From 1986 through
1991 he was also a member of the Virginia Beach Pops Orchestra under the direction of Walter Noona. In addition to serving as
a guest conductor from time to time for peninsula honours bands, Dan has presented a number of percussion clinics and master
classes over the years for colleges, high schools, and fellow band directors throughout the state. Along with his current performance activities, Dan continues to teach private percussion lessons in his Hampton studio, and he spends much of his time doing
percussion instrument repair/maintenance work for many of the school systems in the Tidewater area.
Christine Niehaus, piano
Christine Niehaus, pianist, has performed concerts in Russia, Sweden, France, Japan, Slovenia, Hong Kong and Italy. In the United States she has performed at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Institution, the White House,
and the Kennedy Center, among many others. She performs frequently with the Virginia Symphony and is the Principal Keyboard
with The Williamsburg Symphony. Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the 28 Leading Washington Women Performers. The
Columbia Flyer called her solo recital at the Smithsonian one of the Ten Best Concerts of the Year. In 1994 Ms. Niehaus joined the
faculty at the College of William and Mary as the Tina Jordan Gravely Class of 1939 Artist-in-Residence. She holds Bachelor and
Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied piano with Walter Hautzig. Doctoral studies were with
Nelita True at the University of Maryland. Ms. Niehaus is a Steinway Artist.
visit www.bermudafestival.org for more information