Highest Artistic Honor= Serving Communities
Link to website of my community concert organization discussed in video: www.MusicUnboxed.org
From Year to Year — Band Camp!
Elaine Li
Elaine Li is the current Bands Collection Librarian at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Her position centers around serving all performing groups, conductors, and conducting GTAs with their music needs including acquisition, research, creation of part folders for student performers, creating edited parts, assembling scores, preparing materials for band related classes, and maintaining one of the world's largest performance collections of band repertoire. She also manages certain responsibilities centered around performances and touring including program copy and concert PR support.
Ms. Li received her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. She also holds a master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Miami and bachelor's degrees in music performance and English from the University of Florida. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois Bands, she was Orchestra Librarian for Sinfonia da Camera, a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois Archives, and an Ensemble Library Intern in the Frederick and Elizabeth Ludwig Fennell Library at the 2012 Interlochen Arts Camp. She was a library fellow at the 2011 Tanglewood Music Center in the Ozawa Library, working closely with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard School, and was a librarian during the Aspen Music Festival 2010 season, working as Aspen Opera Theatre Company librarian and assistant librarian for the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Li was the Head Librarian of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. She continues to perform violin locally with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, and other ensembles around Central Illinois.
All posts from Elaine Li
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Back to school week
Sarah gets up early to visit Hamilton County teacher in-services and reflects on the important work that teachers do during this back to school week.
Sarah Marczynski
Sarah joined the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera in 2010 working part time with the Marketing and Development staffs and recently began working full time as the Community and Patron Engagement Manager. In this role, Sarah creates opportunities for CSO Ensembles and musicians to perform in community spaces, manages CSO volunteers, manages CSO social media and websites, and coordinates opportunities for patron engagement including Play Along with the CSO.
She holds a Master's of Public Administration focusing in Nonprofit Arts Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where her capstone and other work under Dr. Christopher Horne examined attendance patterns in high-art cultural institutions and network relationships between local arts agencies and cultural partners. She also holds a Bachelor's of Vocal Music Education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she studied under Dr. Kevin Ford and Ron Ulen.
Sarah has been active in the Chattanooga arts community, working with the Chattanooga Boys Choir, the Choral Arts Society, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Chattanooga Bach Choir, and the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute.
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Écouter – “Listen Tour” ’14
Natalie Spehar
"Yet another wonderful example of the tremendous versatility of the cello in the right hands, which Natalie Spehar’s clearly are." - Susan Scheid, Prufrock's Dilemma
An accomplished classical, rock, and folk cellist, Natalie has performed as a member of several ensembles, including most recently the Great Noise Ensemble, Écouter, the Low End String Quartet and the Washington, D.C. based cello rock ensemble, Primitivity. With a strong interest in contemporary music, Natalie has enjoyed mastering and premiering new and experimental works for cello, including several recent projects with live electronics and tape.
Natalie has performed as a soloist with Graham Reynolds in The Kennedy Center’s presentation of The Difference Engine, with the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and University of Maryland Percussion Ensembles, and with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and has presented world premiere performances in venues including Ravinia, Severance Hall, and the National Gallery of Art. She has also been awarded several scholarships, among them a USA Projects grant, the Canton MacDowell Club Scholarship and the Howard Hanson Scholarship toward her studies at the Eastman School of Music. In the summer of 2009, Natalie was one of five American performers selected to participate in Northeastern University’s Fusion Arts Exchange, a program and concert tour funded by the U.S. Department of State that featured young musicians from six countries, and in 2011-12 she participated in the inaugural New Music on the Point contemporary music festival as well as the inaugural Fresh Inc. Festival led by Chicago’s esteemed Fifth House Ensemble. An enthusiastic presenter of new music, Natalie has premiered new cello works by composers Tomek Regulski, Finola Merivale, Orie Sato, Keane Southard, Andrew Watts, famed Syrian recording artist Malek Jandali, and her 2011-12 season featured her in premieres of works by renowned composers Zoe Keating, Sarah Lipstate, Cornelius Dufallo and Hannah Lash. Natalie also recorded an original soundtrack for the television documentary Through the Eye of the Needle, as well as composed and recorded the solo cello original soundtrack for the award-winning animated film Test Anxiety.
Natalie holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance as well as a Certificate in Arts Leadership from Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Alan Harris. An avid supporter of music outreach, Natalie has recently served as an Arts & Learning Intern for Young Audiences, Inc., an educator with Music For Life, and a performing member of the MacDowell Music Club, all national organizations dedicated to encouraging and providing community music education. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and looks forward to the upcoming season, in which she will present several solo cello premieres in the Washington, D.C., Ohio, and New York City areas, as well as record her solo debut CD.
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Outside in Music
nickfinzer
Award winning musician Nick Finzer is a jazz trombonist and composer whose musical prowess is firmly planted with one foot in the past and another leading to the future. In January of 2013 Nick released his recording debut as a bandleader “Exposition” on his new label Outside in Music. “Exposition” presents Finzer’s unique musical lens, featuring ten original compositions that draw on the multifaceted influences that have shaped his musical development.
The onset of Nick’s love for jazz came through an exploration of Duke Ellington’s music during his high school years. Tunes like “Harlem Airshaft” and “In a Sentimental Mood” started him on an irreversible musical journey. These experiences culminated in a performance of Elllington’s music as part of the Essentially Ellington Festival hosted by Jazz at Lincoln Center, which ignited Nick’s ambition to move to New York City to play music.
During this time Finzer also came under the tutelage of former Jazz at Lincoln Center Trombonist, Wycliffe Gordon. This relationship developed into a four year commission project in which Gordon wrote four pieces to feature Nick during his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. While studying at Eastman, Nick was able to play with many musicians who came through Rochester, New York including engagements with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Walt Weiskopf, John Clayton and Slide Hampton.
Since moving to New York City in 2010, Finzer has completed a Masters Degree from The Juilliard School, shared the stage with the likes of Frank Wess at Dizzy’s Club, Lew Tabackin and Terrell Stafford at The Blue Note, and continues to lead his own bands both around the city and across the country. While at Juilliard Nick had the opportunity to work with many mentors including Frank Kimbrough, Carl Allen, Ray Drummond, and studied under jazz trombone innovator, Steve Turre.
Nick was selected as a finalist in the 2010 International Trombone Association’s Carl Fontana Jazz Trombone Competition and in 2011 was the winner of the Eastern Trombone Workshop National Jazz Trombone Competition, where he performed alongside Jim Pugh, Bill Reichenbach, and Steve Wiest.
Finzer is also a committed educator. In 2012 Nick’s new Non Profit, the Institute for Creative Music won a “Great Classrooms” grant award from the Plum Creek Foundation. Nick currently serves as Co-Artistic Director for the Institute for Creative Music, which is dedicated to the education and dissemination of jazz and creative music across the nation. Since IfCM’s founding in 2011 Nick has lead workshops, masterclasses, and residencies spanning from coast to coast.
Independently, Nick has worked with students from the Eastman School of Music, Penn State, Ithaca College, Gonzaga University, and Eastern Washington University, to name a few. He has also served on the faculty of the Eastman Summer Jazz Camp, and Juilliard Jazz Summer Camps in West Palm Beach, Florida and Ephraim, Utah.
Nick continues to perform, compose, and teach around New York City while maintaining an active touring schedule, and formulating new projects. Finzer is determined to continually develop his artistry from the lineage of the music, while being honest to his musical voice and personality.
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What to do when the music looks impossible
Dana Huyge
Mr. Huyge is an accomplished musician as a violist, violinist, and singer. He holds a bachelors degree in music performance from the University of Michigan where he studied viola with Yizhak Schotten, and voice with Carmen Pelton and Stephen West. Further studies ensued at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied viola with George Taylor and Peter Slowik, and voice with David O’Donnell, and received a masters degree in performance and literature in the spring of 2011.
Mr. Huyge holds position with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Glens Falls Symphony, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, where he is the Principal Violist. He is constantly engaged in chamber and solo recitals, including his one year appointment as violist of the Rochester based string quintet Gibbs & Main. He has sung with the University of Rochester YellowJackets, and small ensembles at various venues, and has played in masterclasses and coachings with such artists as Simon Carrington, Susan Dubois, Edward Parmentier, Carol Rodland, Andrew Jennings, the Takacs Quartet, members of the Ying Quartet, 8th Blackbird, and Time for Three.
An enthusiast of education, Mr. Huyge maintained a private teaching studio since 2008. Additionally, he has been involved with the Eastman Community School, and Eastman’s Public School #17 after-school lesson program. He has received his Suzuki certification for violin and viola through Book One from the Ithaca College Teacher Training Institute, and is currently employed as an Artist-in-Residence at Hartwick College.
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Giving Details vs. “Shouldn’t They Know That”
Nicole Camacho
New York based Flutist, composer, and improviser, Nicole Camacho is creating a name for herself as an eclectic musician via vibrant premieres of composers’ works, performing in the world of popular music, involving an element of multi-media in her solo performances, and composing new flute works with a language all her own. She is a member of the folk band KK Group led by Norwegian Singer/ Songwriter, Kjersti Kveli and a founding member of Cochlea Freedom Ensemble a free improvisation group. As a result of her deep love for community, Nicole directs a community concert production organization by the name of Music Unboxed and writes a blog dedicated to featuring what's new in the flute community called Future of Flute. :0)
All posts from Nicole Camacho
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Athletic Bands
Elaine Li
Elaine Li is the current Bands Collection Librarian at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Her position centers around serving all performing groups, conductors, and conducting GTAs with their music needs including acquisition, research, creation of part folders for student performers, creating edited parts, assembling scores, preparing materials for band related classes, and maintaining one of the world's largest performance collections of band repertoire. She also manages certain responsibilities centered around performances and touring including program copy and concert PR support.
Ms. Li received her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. She also holds a master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Miami and bachelor's degrees in music performance and English from the University of Florida. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois Bands, she was Orchestra Librarian for Sinfonia da Camera, a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois Archives, and an Ensemble Library Intern in the Frederick and Elizabeth Ludwig Fennell Library at the 2012 Interlochen Arts Camp. She was a library fellow at the 2011 Tanglewood Music Center in the Ozawa Library, working closely with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard School, and was a librarian during the Aspen Music Festival 2010 season, working as Aspen Opera Theatre Company librarian and assistant librarian for the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Li was the Head Librarian of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. She continues to perform violin locally with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, and other ensembles around Central Illinois.
All posts from Elaine Li
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Engaging Hobbies to Get Away from Work
I meant to say something like “church work” or “church volunteering” :0) as one of my hobbies. It may sound like i said “work” separate. haha. I guess you can say I am still working on pulling myself away from thinking about work, because it sounds like its on my list some how. too funny!
Wishing you all the best!
Nicole Camacho
New York based Flutist, composer, and improviser, Nicole Camacho is creating a name for herself as an eclectic musician via vibrant premieres of composers’ works, performing in the world of popular music, involving an element of multi-media in her solo performances, and composing new flute works with a language all her own. She is a member of the folk band KK Group led by Norwegian Singer/ Songwriter, Kjersti Kveli and a founding member of Cochlea Freedom Ensemble a free improvisation group. As a result of her deep love for community, Nicole directs a community concert production organization by the name of Music Unboxed and writes a blog dedicated to featuring what's new in the flute community called Future of Flute. :0)
All posts from Nicole Camacho
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Tasting Notes
Wine pairings:
F. Fiorillo Duet in C Major, Op. 31, No. 1
Mvmt 1
Broglia “La Meirana” Gavi di Gavi, 2013, Piedmont, Italy
Ravel Sonate for violin & cello
I. Allegro
Clos Cibonne Tibouren Rosé, 2012, Cotes de Provence, France
II. Trés vif
Torremilanos “Los Cantos”, 2010, Ribera del Duero, Spain
III. Lent
Masciarelli “Marina Cvectic”, 2009, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
IV. Vif, avec entrain
Domaine du Gour de Chaulé Gigondas “Cuvée Tradition”, 2010, Rhone Valley, France
Natalie Spehar
"Yet another wonderful example of the tremendous versatility of the cello in the right hands, which Natalie Spehar’s clearly are." - Susan Scheid, Prufrock's Dilemma
An accomplished classical, rock, and folk cellist, Natalie has performed as a member of several ensembles, including most recently the Great Noise Ensemble, Écouter, the Low End String Quartet and the Washington, D.C. based cello rock ensemble, Primitivity. With a strong interest in contemporary music, Natalie has enjoyed mastering and premiering new and experimental works for cello, including several recent projects with live electronics and tape.
Natalie has performed as a soloist with Graham Reynolds in The Kennedy Center’s presentation of The Difference Engine, with the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and University of Maryland Percussion Ensembles, and with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and has presented world premiere performances in venues including Ravinia, Severance Hall, and the National Gallery of Art. She has also been awarded several scholarships, among them a USA Projects grant, the Canton MacDowell Club Scholarship and the Howard Hanson Scholarship toward her studies at the Eastman School of Music. In the summer of 2009, Natalie was one of five American performers selected to participate in Northeastern University’s Fusion Arts Exchange, a program and concert tour funded by the U.S. Department of State that featured young musicians from six countries, and in 2011-12 she participated in the inaugural New Music on the Point contemporary music festival as well as the inaugural Fresh Inc. Festival led by Chicago’s esteemed Fifth House Ensemble. An enthusiastic presenter of new music, Natalie has premiered new cello works by composers Tomek Regulski, Finola Merivale, Orie Sato, Keane Southard, Andrew Watts, famed Syrian recording artist Malek Jandali, and her 2011-12 season featured her in premieres of works by renowned composers Zoe Keating, Sarah Lipstate, Cornelius Dufallo and Hannah Lash. Natalie also recorded an original soundtrack for the television documentary Through the Eye of the Needle, as well as composed and recorded the solo cello original soundtrack for the award-winning animated film Test Anxiety.
Natalie holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance as well as a Certificate in Arts Leadership from Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Alan Harris. An avid supporter of music outreach, Natalie has recently served as an Arts & Learning Intern for Young Audiences, Inc., an educator with Music For Life, and a performing member of the MacDowell Music Club, all national organizations dedicated to encouraging and providing community music education. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and looks forward to the upcoming season, in which she will present several solo cello premieres in the Washington, D.C., Ohio, and New York City areas, as well as record her solo debut CD.
Posted in
1
Highest Artistic Honor= Serving Communities
2
From Year to Year — Band Camp!
3
Back to school week
4
Écouter – “Listen Tour” ’14
5
Outside in Music
6
What to do when the music looks impossible
7
Giving Details vs. “Shouldn’t They Know That”
8
Athletic Bands
9
Engaging Hobbies to Get Away from Work
10
Tasting Notes