a collaboration with the
Friday, February 17, 7:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church, Boulder
-Beethoven Symphony no. 3
-Shostakovich Piano Concerto no. 2
featuring winners of the CSMTA Concerto Competition
-Chip Michael* Invisible Heros (world premiere)
-Handel Ch’io mai vi possa from Siroe
-Gabrieli Sonata pian e forte
*2010-11 Boulder Symphony composer-in-residence
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The Boulder Symphony plays a vital role throughout the community in the realms of education and outreach. To schedule visits from composers, conductors or musicians or to arrange a concert outing for your students, please contact us at
Ricardo Iznaola has pursued a multi-faceted musical career for over four decades as concert and recording artist, composer, teacher, lecturer, and writer. An American citizen, he was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949, lived and studied in Venezuela, where his musical roots began to grow and develop, and Spain, where he was mentored by the great Spanish master Regino Sainz de la Maza, with whom he developed a deep professional and personal relationship. He has won nine prizes as performer and composer in Venezuela, Spain, England, Germany and the United States. Critics, colleagues and audiences in four continents have being unanimous in highlighting the importance of his re-discovery and promotion of the monumental Sonata by Antonio José, which he has edited and published with Bèrben in Italy, his interpretations of music by the Spanish composers of the so-called Generation of 1927, and his unique transcriptions of piano and orchestral masterpieces such as Chopin’s Waltzes, Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso, or Manuel de Falla’s Ritual Fire Dance.
Ricardo Iznaola’s didactic works have become standard texts for the training of guitar professionals, and are used as required materials in many prestigious conservatories and universities in the U.S. and Europe. These include Kitharologus – The Path to Virtuosity, a technical handbook; On Practicing, an essay on practicing approaches; and The Physiology of Guitar Playing, a treatise on the physiomechanics of guitar playing. Mr. Iznaola’s comprehensive treatise on the art of guitar playing, Summa Kitharologica, is in progress.
Worthy of mention among his orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo works are the symphonic suite In the Eyes, a Silver Dagger – Four Symphonic Tableaux after Lorca’s Blood Wedding, the guitar concerto Tiempo Muerto , Musique de Salon (in versions for solo guitar, guitar duo, various mixed ensembles, guitar and string orchestra. etc.), Gran Guaguancó for cello and guitar, Beethovenspiel for violin and guitar, Tríptico Criollo for flute or violin and guitar, Corinna’s Songbook for mezzo-soprano and piano, Danzas de la Abuela for flute, cello and guitar, Trio Classico for flute, viola and guitar, and, among the solo guitar works, the Sonata Daedalus, the Ten Etudes-Homages, Death of Icarus (in memoriam Regino Sainz de la Maza,) Music for Blood Wedding, among many others.
Since 1970, when his debut recording with the world-premiere of Antonio Lauro’s legendary Sonata was released by the Promus label in South America and Belter in Spain, Ricardo Iznaola has produced 15 recordings for the Promus, Columbia and Luthier labels. In 1991 he founded his own recording and publishing company, IGW (Iznaola Guitar Works), through which his most recent and critically acclaimed CD’s have been issued. IGW has recently released a double CD set, Heritage – The Guitar in Venezuela, an anthology of music by Venezuelan composers and a double CD set with Mr. Iznaola’s guitar arrangement of Franz Schubert’s lieder cycle Die Winterreise (Winter’s Journey), with acclaimed American basso Kenneth Cox.
Ricardo Iznaola is Artist-in-residence, Director of the Conservatory Program and Chair of the Guitar and Harp Department at the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver, where he has been honored with the Distinguished Faculty Artist Award in 1990 and the 1999 University Lecturer Award. In 2004, he was awarded the John Evans Distinguished Professorship, the highest distinction bestowed by the University of Denver. Since 2001 he has been a faculty-artist at the prestigious Bowdoin International Music Festival, in Maine, USA.
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This is Scott O’Neil’s sixth season with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He most recently served as associate conductor for the Utah Symphony, which he joined in August 2000. O’Neil has guest conducted the Houston Symphony, Houston Youth Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, Florida Philharmonic, Tulsa Philharmonic, Portland Symphony (Maine), the Lubbock Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, the Salt Lake Symphony and the Columbus Symphony in Ohio. O’Neil studied piano performance at the Oberlin College Conservatory, served as the assistant conductor of the Eastman School Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras at the Eastman School of Music, and earned a master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Rice University, where he was the director of the Campanile Orchestra, a community/university orchestra. In 1999 he served as director of orchestras at the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. In the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by the League of American Orchestras (LAO) to conduct an orchestra comprised of members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and advanced students from the University of Southern California in Synergy, a program created to promote young, contemporary composers. Also in the spring of 2003, O’Neil was selected by LAO to appear on the Conductor Preview with the Jacksonville Symphony.
O’Neil leads the Colorado Symphony in every series this season, including educational concerts and appearances on each of the Colorado Symphony’s Masterworks, Family Series and Pops Series. In addition to his work with the Colorado Symphony, Mr. O’Neil is the founder and music director of the Rosetta Music Society, a group of chamber players that present interactive concerts at the Englewood Arts Center. This is Mr. O’Neil’s first appearance with the Boulder Symphony in concert.
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Martha Sandford-Heyns, DMA is the organist/pianist, director of small ensembles for the Presbyterian Church of Boulder. She holds a BM in Organ Performance from Syracuse University, a MM and a DMA from the University of Colorado, Organ Performance, Early Music and Choral Conducting. Her organ teachers have included Arthur Poister, Everett Hilty and Don Vollstedt, Sandra Souderland, harpsichord, Lynn Whitten Choral Conducting, and Gordon Sandford, Early Music Performance.
Dr. Sandford is a well known recitalist having performed on the United States Air Force Academy Artists’ Series, University of Denver, University of Colorado, Syracuse University Artist’s Series, and many large church artist’s series. Her most recent teaching position was as Adjunct Professor of Organ and Harpsichord, University of Denver.
Dr. Sandford-Heyns lives in Lafayette with husband, Garrett and musically inclined Wheaton Terrier, Teddy.
The Playground Ensemble, Artists-in-Residence at DU’s Lamont School of Music, is a force for new music in the Rocky Mountain region. We are a group of professional musicians and composers dedicated to presenting classical music as a living art form.
In addition to an annual concert season that features the work of recognized composers, we cultivate a thriving local composition community and we conduct dynamic educational programs with youth and people of all ages. With exciting outreach programs like “Living Music, Living Composer” and “American Made” the Playground is working to show young people that classical music is not a museum piece. It is vibrant, adventurous and relevant to the world they live in.
Now in its 6th year, our Colorado Composers Concert (CoCoCo), has featured 49 works by 39 different Colorado-based composers including a number of K-12 composers. Be watching our web site for the next deadline and be sure to alert any composers you know to this opportunity.
The Playground has performed at many notable venues and festivals including the Arvada Center, the Denver Art Museum, the International Society of Improvised Music Annual Conference, the National Performing Arts Convention, the Mile High Voltage Festival, and the Denver Music Summit. We have performed with, or shared a bill with a number of new music luminaries including So Percussion, Evan Ziporyn, Tatsuya Nakatani and Ron Miles. Our efforts have been recognized with awards and funding from the American Music Center, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, as well as numerous regional foundations and individuals.
In the Spring of 2011 The Playground released its debut CD, Dreams Go Through Me. This project features a number of Colorado based composers and is supported by the American Music Center’s CAP Recording Program, made possible by endowment funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and with funds from The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, along with the Newman Center, and Colorado Public Radio.
The Playground’s mission is to provide stimulating performances, expand common perceptions of both contemporary music and the chamber ensemble, and nurture a community around this music that we love.
If you want to get involved, please write us at playground@du.edu or visit www.PlaygroundEnsemble.org.
Artistic Director and Conductor Brian Patrick Leatherman, now in his 17th year with the Chorale, leads a multi-faceted life as conductor, teacher, singer, and clinician. A fully certified Orff-Schulwerk teacher, Mr. Leatherman is a vocal/general music specialist in the Douglas County Colorado schools. His students have performed at the National Conference of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association and the Colorado Music Educator’s Association annual Clinic/Conference. He is active as a choral clinician and adjudicator. Mr. Leatherman has appeared as tenor and counter-tenor soloist with the San Juan Symphony, National Repertoire Orchestra, Colorado Springs Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, Aurora Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Breckenridge Music Institute Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Chorale, Columbine Chorale, Repertoire Singers of Colorado, Larimer Chorale, Pueblo Chorale, Desert Chorale of Santa Fe, the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, and the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus.
Bitten by the conducting bug in high school, he was the first junior to conduct the pep band, as well as the first student to conduct both the Concert Chorale and the Symphonic Band in concert. Prior posts include directorship of the Pueblo Choral Society and the Douglas County Children’s Chorus. He has been guest conductor for the Greeley Chorale, the Colorado Springs Chorale, the Arapahoe Philharmonic and the Pueblo Symphony. He has conducted opera and ballet with Opera Fort Collins, the Colorado Opera Troupe, and the Colorado Ballet.
Mr. Leatherman has served on the Board of Directors of the Colorado Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Orff Schulwerk Association. He holds the BME and the MM degree, with emphasis in choral conducting, from Colorado State University, and cites as his two greatest influences Barbara Grenoble in pedagogy and Robert Shaw in choral work.
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Sarah Fish is a bassoonist with the Boulder Symphony Orchestra and the Boulder Concert Band. An Ohio native, Sarah earned a Bachelor of Music from Ohio Wesleyan University. During her time there, she was a member of the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra and a featured soloist, performing Carl Maria von Weber’s Andante e Rondo Ongarese, Op. 35 for Bassoon and Orchestra. The Delaware Gazette music critic Paul Schwartz described her performance as having “…a sweet tone and astounding technical facility…”. Sarah went on to earn her Master of Music from the University of Minnesota, where she was a fellow with the graduate woodwind quintet and bassoonist with many of the University ensembles. She can be heard as one of the bassoonists performing Elliott Schwartz’s Reflections for 5 bassoons and contrabassoon on the recording Blue Dawn Into White Heat (Innova Recordings, 1998), featuring performances by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble, U of MN faculty, and the Bergen Woodwind Quintet.
Sarah has performed with the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Her teachers include John Miller, Jr. of the Minnesota Orchestra, Nancy Gamso of Ohio Wesleyan University, and Robert Moore of Bowling Green State University. She has also participated in master classes with Per Hannevold, Kim Walker, and Christopher Weait. Sarah enjoys playing chamber music and teaching bassoon to area middle school and high school students. A Suzuki-trained pianist, she also enjoys working as a piano accompanist.
When not playing bassoon, Sarah can be found running on the roads and trails of the greater Boulder area and she has completed numerous 5k – marathon races. She also enjoys hiking, snowboarding and gardening. Sarah works as a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer at CA Technologies, and lives in Louisville, CO with her husband Ben Johnson, a tuba player and middle school band, orchestra and choir teacher at Manhattan Middle School in Boulder.
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As an active performer in comprehensive musical genres, Michelle has been featured in diverse performances throughout the country. Currently the second violinist of the Tesla Quartet, she holds a graduate fellowship at University of Colorado at Boulder. She was a founding member of the Iannis String Quartet, which received the Special Recognition award from the Plowman Chamber Music Competition in 2008. She has performed as first violinist with Aeolus String Quartet during its residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in the summer of 2010. Her other chamber music festival appearances include two fellowships at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Her particular interest in chamber music was greatly influences by such world-renowned ensembles as the Tackács Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Miró Quartet, and Borromeo String Quartet.
Although her musical education in violin started at the age of 14 from the influence of her vocalist father, she was quickly recognized through various performances and awards. Michelle received 1st prize from the 250th Anniversary of J.S. Bach Violin Competition in Seoul and was featured as a soloist with various orchestras in South Korea and the United States. Recently Michelle received the Mrs. Hong Pham recognition award from Indiana University to celebrate her active role in premiering new works. Known for her in-depth musical projects, Michelle performed a complete Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle in Kansas City in June, 2011. She also was featured at the Society of Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) conference at the University of Florida in 2011 as well as the Schumann Society in Indiana in 2010. As an orchestral performer, she has appeared as a substitute with the Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall and on tour in Carnegie Hall. She has held concertmaster positions at various orchestras in Indiana and Ohio and was recently appointed as concertmaster of the Boulder Symphony Orchestra.
Michelle received her Bachelor’s Degree from Dankook University, where she studied with Deashik Kang, and her Master’s Degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Eric Rosenblith. She also holds a Professional Studies certificate from the Cleveland Institute of Music with William Preucil. While currently living and working with the Tesla Quartet in Boulder, Colorado, Michelle is also pursuing her Doctor of Music Degree with Mark Kaplan at Indiana University, where she was an Associate Violin Performance Instructor for undergraduate and graduate music and non-music majors from 2008-11.
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Jane Stout is currently a postdoctoral research associate at The University of Colorado Boulder in the Department of Psychology. She obtained her Ph.D. in Social Psychology at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2011. Her research focuses on decreasing gender bias in the workplace. Outside of academia, she enjoys playing the violin and practices yoga.
