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.
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.
Daniel Kuester is from Boulder, CO, USA. He received B.S. and B.M. Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Music Performance in 2007 and an M.S. degree in 2010 from the University of Colorado in Boulder, where he remains as a Ph.D. student. Since 2007, he has worked at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under a research fellowship.
He began playing the trombone at the age of 10, and played in several local youth orchestras through high school. His orchestral experience as an undergraduate included performances with the with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in a concert for families, and with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra in performances conducted by Akira Endo and Marin Alsop. During the summers he participated in the Rafael Mendez brass institute and the yearly conducting symposium held at the University of Colorado.
In addition to the BSO, he currently plays with the Denver-area
chamber pop group Ukelele Loki’s Gadabout Orchestra.
Justina Repking has appeared in concert throughout the United States, Europe, and Russia. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2005 with the American Youth Symphony as principal second violinist of the prestigious youth orchestra. She made her solo debut with the Long Beach Mozart Festival Orchestra at the age of twelve after winning the Long Beach Mozart Festival Concerto Competition. Other notable solo appearances include performances with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Saint Petersburg (Russia) University Orchestra, and Rome (Italy) Orchestra.
A native of Long Beach, California, Justina is a proud graduate of California State University Long Beach. She was a scholarship student of Linda Rose and Dr. Chan Ho Yun, earning her Bachelor of Music degree with a concentration in violin performance in the spring of 2007.
Justina was awarded Grand Prize in South Bend, Indiana’s “America’s Youth on Parade” international talent competition. She has also captured top prizes at the Long Beach Bach Festival, the Southwestern Youth Festival, Young Artists Guild of California, as well as being a seven-time prize winner of the Music Teacher’s Association of California music competition for both violin and piano.
In the fall of 2007, Justina recorded the second violin part to the Jewish documentary film “Swimming in Auswitch”. This documentary won numerous film festival awards, including the Santa Monica Film Festival award.
Justina has collaborated with renowned artists Josh Groban, Sarah Chang, John Williams, Laura Hall, Michael Kamen, Yundi Li, and Charice Pempengco. She has also had the honor and privilege to participate in master classes conducted by Adele Anthony, Elmar Oliveira, Corey Cerosek, Mark Robertson, and the Alexander String Quartet.
Orchestral performances have always been a strong passion for Justina. She has held principal second violin positions with American Youth Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic Youth Symphony, and Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. With the Long Beach Symphony and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, she has held substitute positions. Section first violin positions held were with Golden State Pops Orchestra, Southern California Philharmonic Orchestra, Southeast Symphony Orchestra, and Bellflower Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, she was concertmaster for Filipino American Symphony Orchestra and California State University Long Beach Orchestra among numerous other orchestras she has had the privilege to concertmaster in the south lands of California. Most recently, she has captured a section violin position with Fort Collins Symphony Orchestra and just begun as Concertmaster with Boulder Symphony Orchestra.
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Tyler Rusco (Double Bass) is a student of Dr. Paul Erhard at the University of Colorado at Boulder, currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in double bass performance. He is a prolific performer who has played in master classes for such great bass pedagogues as Albert Lazslo, teacher at the Julliard School, and Ira Gold of the Catholic University of America. In addition to being bass section principal in the Boulder Symphony, he holds the principal position in the University of Colorado Campus Orchestra and is a section player in the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra. He has also been the associate principal of the University of Colorado Opera Orchestra. Tyler is active in several genres of music, playing electric bass with local artist Daniel Luthjohn, and upright bass with the Jake Simpson Band, who were part of the main stage lineup at the National Old Time Country and Bluegrass Festival in Le Mars, Iowa in 2009.
Tyler has also seen success as a composer, winning 1st place in the MMEA Composition Contest in the high school choral division in 2006, and 3rd place in the instrumental division. In addition, he has directed ensembles, leading the St. Thomas Aquinas Schola for the 2008-2009 school year. Tyler lives in Boulder, and in addition to being an active performer, composer, and songwriter, teaches double bass and electric bass in the Boulder/Longmont area.
Lessons and Contact: tyler@tylerrusco.com
Website: http://www.tylerrusco.com
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Elizabeth earned her Bachelors in Music Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. While there, she performed with the Dolce Strings Quartet, the University Symphony, and served as concertmaster of the Colorado Campus Orchestra from 2007-2009. She also played with the Colorado Light Opera for the 2007 and 2008 seasons, serving as concertmaster for the 2008 season. In addition, Elizabeth has played locally with multiple quartets and chamber ensembles including the Loveland Chamber Orchestra and the Loveland Choral Society, and has performed at Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver under the direction of Marin Alsop, previous conductor of the Colorado Symphony. Currently, Elizabeth teaches 7th and 8th grade orchestra and band at Webber Middle School in Fort Collins Colorado, performs with the Vail Valley String Quartet in Vail Colorado, and teaches students in a private violin studio. For fun, Elizabeth plays with a folk rock band, “Sauni’s Big Jump,” and has recorded two albums with them, performing regularly at Northern Colorado venues. In addition to teaching and performing, Elizabeth is also a professional photographer and owns her own photography business, Kirk Price Photography.
Paul Rowinski has returned to the BSO after taking a 2-year sabbatical to conduct one of the ensembles of the Boulder Youth Symphony. Mr. Rowinski has been teaching children in the Boulder area to play violin for 30 years and is the founder and director of Woodsong Suzuki Violins. In addition to teaching a full schedule of private violin students, he is the conductor of Sinfonia, one of the ensembles of the Greater Boulder Youth Orchestras. Mr. Rowinski holds a Bachelor degree in Political Science from American University and a Bachelor degree in music from the University Of Colorado School Of Music, where he studied violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy with William Starr. In addition to his career as a violin teacher, he has been a regular performer with local community ensembles, including the Longmont Symphony, the Boulder Philharmonic, and the Timberline Symphony. When he isn’t teaching or practicing the violin, Mr. Rowinski enjoys bicycle touring, archery, and spending time in the mountains with his wife, Carolyn, and daughter, Hannah.
Dan has performed with the Boulder Symphony/Timberline Symphony since 1997. In high school, Dan competed with the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. He received his Bachelors in Arts in Music from the University of Colorado. As a member of the Tonic Brass Quintet, he performed in the Denver metro area and was invited to play at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, CA. Besides playing in the Boulder Symphony, Dan is also a member of the Boulder Sing-a-Long Messiah Ensemble. Dan works as an Electrical Engineer designing processor subsystems for Marvell Semiconductor in Longmont.
Matt Leder is currently a Doctoral candidate at the University of Northern Colorado. He holds a MM in Jazz Studies from the University of New Orleans (former “ Louis Armstrong Quintet” member) and a BM in Jazz Performance from East Carolina University. Mr. Leder served 8.5 years as an Active Duty Navy Musician and is currently a member of the ANG Music Program. He has studied with such greats as Ellis Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Irvin Mayfield, Clyde Kerr, and many others. His performance experience ranges from professional big bands to various brass quintets, concert bands, rock bands, jazz combos, and dixieland groups. An avid educator, he has appeared as a guest artist and clinician throughout the United States. Mr. Leder has held Adjunct Faculty positions at Brown University, CCRI, UC Denver, SPCC, and St. George’s School. He is also an active member of the Jazz Educator’s Network, College Music Society, MENC, and the International Trumpet Guild.
Justin Doute’s musical ambition has always been to pursue every single kind of genre in order to perform in any given situation from Orchestral Performance to Jazz to Ancient Drumming to Rock/Pop to Broadway Performance. He is a native Coloradoan who attended Denver School of the Arts awarded with “Outstanding Musicianship Award” in 2007. Justin attended The Boston Conservatory and now attends The Manhattan School of Music with scholarship as a potential Bachelor of Music with expected graduation 2013.
Justin is interested in single kind of music especially music related to marimba peformance. His awards include: Recent winner of the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition at MSM, First Prize winner in The Denver Concert Band Youth Concerto Competition, winner of The Aspen School of Music Solo Percussion Competition, 2nd Prize of Aurora Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Finalist in The Denver Young Artist Orchestra Concerto Competition and Placement in Philharmonic Society of Arlington Competition in Boston. Along with the competitive world, Justin continues to expand and promote percussion literature. He strives to keep preserving and continuing the art of marimba performance with many collaborative projects with composers and fellow chamber musicians. Justin has many compositions for solo marimba, chamber music with marimba along a marimba concerto.
Other than marimba performance Justin has attended: Zeltsman Festival, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Julliard Percussion Seminar, The National Wind Ensemble performing in Carnegie Hall and Aspen Music Festival and School. He has performed with groups of professional and regional status such as: Kenny Werner Project, Denver Young Artist Orchestra, Various Church band and Orchestras in NYC, Joshua Feldman Chamber Orchestra NYC, and the New York City Chamber Players. Justin has also upheld jazz and rock music as being a huge inspiration. He performs jazz vibraphone in a group founded by him called “Juxtaposition” and spent time performing in street fairs as xylophone soloist and manager to a mallet percussion ragtime band called “Augmented Fifth”.
Justin is currently training to enter a series of marimba competitions around the world. He is currently studying Classical and Jazz music under the direction of: Eric Charlston, Chris Lamb, Claire Heldrich, Duncan Patton, She-e Wu and Nancy Zeltsman.
(303) 305-8958
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As a highly regarded bassoonist, Brian Jack has performed with ensembles such as the Colorado Ballet, Colorado Music Festival, MahlerFest Symphony Orchestra, Wyoming Symphony, and the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. He is an avid chamber musician, having formed the Boulder Bassoon Quartet and played with the award-winning Antero Wind Quintet.
Since her 1992 recording debut with new age composer Kitaro and singer Jon Anderson of Yes on Grammy nominated Dream, Kristin Stordahl Kanda has been featured on a number of albums, including Grammy nominated albums Gaia Onbashira, An Ancient Journey, and Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai. Of her work on Gaia, Chicago Sun-Times music critic Celeste Busk writes: “Of special merit is Kristin Stordahl Kanda’s transverse flute, which lends eerie and spiritual undertones to the album.” Her performance with Kitaro was also featured as the theme music for NHK’s (Japan National Television) documentary series Shikoku Hachijuhachi Kasho.
Kristin spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festival prompting her move to Colorado. After her graduation from the University of Colorado with a Bachelor of Music in performance, she took up post graduate studies with world renowned teacher, Geoffrey Gilbert (London). Ms. Stordahl traveled to Japan to observe Shinichi Suzuki and study flute pedagogy with Toshio Takahashi at the Talent Education Institute (Suzuki Method) in Matsumoto. She has been principal flutist with the Boulder Symphony (formerly Timberline Symphony) since its inception.
Kristin lives near Niwot with her husband, Nao, and their sons, Kai and Amuro.
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Ginger Hedrick plays flute with the Boulder Symphony, Musica Sacra Chamber Orchestra, the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, and the Second Winds woodwind quintet. In addition, she has performed with the Jefferson Symphony and Boulder Philharmonic. Ginger graduated from the School of Music at the University of Illinois, and has studied with Charles Delaney, Maralyn Prestia, and Alexa Still. She has performed in masterclasses with William Bennett in London and Jeanne Baxtresser at the Juilliard School in NYC. Ginger and her husband Bill have three adult sons, and live in the mountains northwest of Boulder with their two dogs. When she’s not playing flute, Ginger likes to hike, read, travel and spend time with family and friends.
Erin Christensen, cellist, is in the Master of Music program at the University of Denver, where she is currently studying with Richard Slavich. Erin has a Bachelor’s of Music degree from Gonzaga University where she studied with Kevin Hekmatpanah. She has also studied with cellists Psyche Dunkhase, Hamilton Cheifetz and Margaret Ferry. She has performed cello with various groups of the Boulder Chorale, Lamont Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Cello Choir (under the direction of Kimberlee Hanto), Spokane Civic Theatre, Gonzaga Symphony Orchestra, Whitworth Orchestra, Gonzaga Choir, and with many smaller ensembles. Erin currently is the studio cellist for San Luis Sound.
Jim Roecker, PhD is a violin player in the Boulder Symphony. In high school he was concertmaster of the Peoria High Orchestra, concertmaster of the Illinois Wesleyan University Summer Music Camp Orchestra, participated in the Central Illinois Youth Symphony and earned a spot in the Illinois All State Orchestra. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and is now an algorithm developer working for Northrop-Grumman. Dr. Roecker is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Niwot Timberline Symphony.
Diane Rakoczy-Smith is a graduate of DePaul University, Chicago, IL with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. She taught piano for over 35 years in the Chicagoland area and has done much work in the field of accompanying middle school and high school instrumentalists and vocalists.
She has also extensive accompaniment experience for Suzuki violin students and has played a variety of styles on piano and keyboard for private parties and social venues including the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. She was a member of the Oakton Community College Six Piano Ensemble for several years and has just joined the Boulder Symphony Orchestra in 2010.
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For the 2011-12 season Devin Patrick Hughes begins his fourth year as Music Director of the Boulder Symphony. He was also recently appointed Music Director of the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association and has held posts as Music Director of the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players, Resident Conductor of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, Assistant Conductor for the Denver Young Artists Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Lamont Symphony Orchestra. Devin was the only American selected with eleven other young conductors worldwide to participate in the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition in Italy and also conducted at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen this summer under the mentorship of Robert Spano, Hugh Wolf, and Larry Rachleff.
An avid performer and promoter of the music of our time, Devin initiated a composer-in-residence program with the Boulder Symphony and began an annual Latin American Festival, celebrating the shared cultural traditions of North, Central and Latin America through music and dance. Under his baton, the Boulder Symphony has become a centralized hub for community-wide initiatives, major collaborations and premieres of exciting new music throughout the West.
As founder and Music Director of the Denver Contemporary Chamber Players, a group dedicated to highlighting local composers and exploring the interplay of music, theatre, art and dance, Devin commissioned and performed multiple musical responses to exhibitions in the Museum of Contemporary Art during Denver Arts Week. He also staged a very rare performance and Colorado premiere of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale with the controversial libretto by Kurt Vonnegut. With Kulmusik and the Ithaca Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in New York, he premiered many works, such as Jesse Clark’s Cello Concerto and Free Weight Fantastique written for small ensemble and weightlifter and In the Garden of Eden, a ballet by Naomi Williams. He has also performed many works by composers such as Jennifer Higdon, John Harbison, Christopher Theofanidis, Witold Lutoslawski, Avro Pärt, Keiko Abe, Gregory T.S. Walker, Austin Wintory and Thomas Osborne.
Equally active in the choral and operatic repertoire, Devin presented Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Golden Concert Choir in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. He also premiered Ozie Cargile’s Song for Humanity and led a rousing performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Boulder Chorale. Upcoming choral performances include Brahms’s German Requiem with the Cherry Creek Chorale. During the 2009/2010 season he led the Colorado Choral Arts Society in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and selected cantatas and oratorios of Bach and Handel and was formerly the conductor of Ball State Opera for Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge. He also has served as assistant conductor for productions ofCarmen, The Merry Widow and Cosi fan tutte.
As an advocate of music serving a greater societal purpose and proponent of music education, Devin has held benefit concerts raising money for organizations such as the Red Cross, Oxfam International, Cultures in Harmony, the Colorado Haiti Project and has served as an AmeriCorps tutor, mentor and coach for Nothing but Achievers and the Sangamon Valley Youth Symphony, where he arranged African-American spirituals for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. March. He has also served as clinician for the Saint Vrain Valley All-District Orchestra Festival, adjudicator for the Colorado State Music Teachers Association’s annual Concerto Competition, and has taught courses at the Denver Academy for Lifelong Learning and the Music Schools of the University of Denver and Ithaca College in New York.
Devin has conducted many orchestras across the United States, Canada and Europe including the Colorado Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Green Bay Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Muncie Symphony, American Academy of Conducting at Aspen Orchestra, Idaho Falls Symphony, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini (Italy), Oradea Philharmonic (Romania) and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic (Czech Republic). He has been featured during Colorado Spotlight with Charley Samson on Colorado Public Radio and at the Lamont School of Music he was the recipient of the Leon Guide Conducting Award, the Harry Albertson Scholarship and was granted the Jeff Bradley Musical Development Award numerous times. He is originally from Springfield, Illinois and currently splits his time between Santa Fe and Boulder.
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