Cellist Eric Kutz has captivated audiences across both North America and Europe. He has been on the Luther College faculty since 2002 as Assistant Professor of Music, where he maintains a large cello studio. He is active as a teacher, a chamber music musician, an orchestral musician, and a soloist. His diverse collaboration cut across musical styles, and have ranged from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to jazz great Ornette Coleman. Mr. Kutz is also a founding member of the Murasaki Duo, A cello and piano ensemble that is residence at Luther College.
The Murasaki Duo, which consists of Mr. Kutz and Canadian pianist Miko Kominami, toured Scandanavia last spring. Advocates for new music, the Duo actively commissions new works, in addition to performing the classics. The Duo recently released its debut compact disc on the Centaur Records label. It has performed at leading festivals, such as the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, the Icicle Creek Music Center, and Luthrean Summer Music, and it has been broadcast on public radio stations throughout the country.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Kutz summers in Chicago as a member of the Grant Park Symphony's cello section. He has also appeared in the section of the New York Philharmonic. For four Years prior to his arrival at Luther College, Mr.. Kutz was the cellist of the Chester String Quartet, in residence at Indiana University South Bend. He performed over 100 concerts during his tenure with Quartet, and with them he gave concert tours of Switzerland, England, and Canada.
In 1997 Mr. Kutz traveled to the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow as a visiting artist, performing new chamber works by American composers. he has performed over two-dozen works, and has been broadcast live on WQXR and WNYC, both of New York City, as well as nationally on PBS televisions Live from Lincoln Center. Mr. Kutz holds degrees from the Julliard School and Rice University.
Andrew Shulman
cello
Andrew Shulman, first British
winner of the 'Piatigorsky Artist Award', comes from London, England.
Shulman's careers as 'cellist and conductor have taken him all over the
world. As soloist, he has directed and performed all the major 'cello
concertos with the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields,
the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic,
the Utah Symphony, the Singapore Symphony and orchestras all over Europe, the United States and the Far East,
as well as giving recitals in such places as the Wigmore Hall, London
"Debussy's 'Cello Sonata, played with fastidious
poetry of phrase and technique" (The Times), The Royal Palace
in Stockholm, and Buckingham Palace, London (performing 'The Swan' with
the Prima Ballerina of the Bolshoi, in the presence of The Prince of Wales).
He has also performed Strauss' great tone poem 'Don Quixote' twice at
the Royal Festival Hall, London (with Sir Simon Rattle and Benjamin Zander)
"The Don Quixote was the finest I have heard"
(The Sunday Times) and the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles (with
Esa-Pekka Salonen) "Philharmonic principal 'cellist
Andrew Shulman's Quixote was always eloquent and passionate" (Los Angeles
Times). Last season he gave several performances of Barber's notorious 'cello concerto "And
making his Utah Symphony debut is Andrew Shulman, who gave a fabulously
nuanced and impassioned performance of the (Barber)
concerto...Shulman's interpretation was of the highest caliber in terms
of articulation and delivery. His technical mastery was such that he
made short work of the demands Barber placed on the soloist" (Salt Lake Tribune) He also performed Bloch's 'Schelomo' at two days notice "Cellist
Andrew Shulman joined the CRSO and Tiemeyer for an intense, spirited
performance of Ernest Bloch's "Schelomo", Hebraic rhapsody for cello
and orchestra...His flawless performance of "Schelomo" was eloquent and
passionate" (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
Born
into a family of professional musicians (his father plays Contrabass
and his mother is an opera singer) Shulman studied 'cello and
composition at the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music in
London and after winning the major 'cello prizes there, in addition to
the "Madame Suggia Gift" and the "Royal Society of Arts" prize, was
appointed solo 'cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, before being offered the first
chair position with London's Philharmonia Orchestra, at the age of 22,
by conductor Riccardo Muti. He has performed as soloist with Sir Simon
Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Semyon Bychcov, Franz Welser-Möst and
Esa-Pekka Salonen, amongst others. He has also recorded over
twenty-five CD's as 'cellist of the Britten Quartet (exclusive to EMI
Records), Vivaldi 'cello concertos for Virgin Classics "One of the high points of the disc for me is Andrew Shulman's cello playing
in the elegiac Concerto in C minor (Vivaldi RV401); and he is sensitively
supported by the (London Chamber) Orchestra" (The Gramophone Magazine),
Janacek's 'Pohadka', again for EMI, 'cello works by Delius (a world premiere
recording) and was solo 'cello on Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997',
a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, the highest selling single of all
time.
Shulman
was bestowed with an 'Honorary RCM' by The Queen Mother in 1986, and subsequently
became a professor at the historic Royal College of Music in London. He
has since given masterclasses all over the world, including Western and
Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, The Ukraine, The USA, South America,
The Far East and New Zealand. In 1990 he won the prestigious 'Piatigorsky
Artist Award' at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and returned
to the USA on numerous occasions to teach and give concerts. Since coming
to Los Angeles he has given many classes, among them those at the University
of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) and the Corwin Awards Masterclass at the Los Angeles Music Center, as well
as playing and teaching at the Aspen, Blue Mountain, Ojai, Las Vegas and San Diego's 'Mainly Mozart' festivals.
As
conductor, he has performed extensively in the UK, Germany, Ireland and
Scandinavia, directing the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner,
Haydn, Mahler, Mozart, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky "The
conductor Andrew Shulman really carried the orchestra along...like a British
Leonard Bernstein whose brilliance was still burning in Haydn's 'Philosopher'
Symphony. This was of a quality for which one may search but rarely find"
(Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung) and major orchestral works
by Bartok, Debussy, Dvorak, Elgar, Holst, Ravel, Strauss and Stravinsky.
He has given performances of Haydn's symphonies under the auspices of
H.C. Robbins Landon at the Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh, with the Britten-Pears
Orchestra, and has conducted the world premieres of several orchestral
works, including the first ever performance of a previously unpublished
work by Benjamin Britten, also with the BPO. He is a regular guest conductor
with the Haydn Chamber Orchestra (London), the Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra
(Bristol), the Saloman Orchestra (London), the Jonkoping Orchestra (Sweden),
the Ambache Chamber Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Symphony
Orchestra (London), the Royal College of Music Chamber Orchestra (London),
the RCM String Ensemble (London) and the Ulster Youth Orchestra (Ireland),
as well as directing the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the London
Chamber Orchestra in concerto performances from the solo cello chair.
In the field of opera, he has conducted Mozart's 'Marriage of Figaro'
(1998) and 'Cosi Fan Tutte' (2000) in immensely successful new productions
at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.
In
1999 he was appointed first chair cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
"The new principal 'cellist, Andrew Shulman,
whose influence on the string section is beginning to make itself heard...The
'cellos, brilliantly powerful" (Los Angeles Times) and also
resumed his activities as one of the most sought after solo 'cellists
working in the TV and Movie music industry. At the end of 2002 he left
the Philharmonic in order to expand his solo, chamber music, teaching
and conducting activities still further, having made his family's home
in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains.
Peter Longworth
Piano
"Peter Longworth is a concert pianist of such power and grace that even the crystal baubles on the chandeliers at Orchestra Hall tingle, dance and resonate when he plays." * Chicago Tribune
Pianist Peter Longworth is a well known and acclaimed solo performer, chamber musician and tea teacher in Canada and abroad. From his base in Toronto, Mr. Longworth has performed in New York, Chicago, London, Montreal, Nice and other cities in the United States, Canada and Europe. He has been soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras across Canada. In addition, he has appeared at the Caramoor Music Festival in New York, was artist-in-residence and featured soloist at the Icicle Creek Music Festival in Washington State, and plays annually at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Longworth is a founding member of the Duke Trio, which has performed in New York and Chicago as well as throughout Canada. He is heard often on CBC National Radio and his recordings include a collaboration with Amanda Forsyth and a forthcoming CD by the Duke Trio of music by Shostakovich and Copland. Mr. Longworth is a faculty member of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where he also maintains a private studio. Having given classes throughout North America, he is in demand as a chamber coach and an adjudicator at competitions and festivals. Born in England of American parents, Mr Longworth began his piano studies in Brussels and studied at Northwestern University with Arthur Tollefson and at the University of Michigan with Louis Nagel and Eckhart Sellheim. After a year at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts, he completed his studies at the Royal Conservatory with Marek Jablonski, Leon Fleisher and Marc Durand. Mr. Longworth was a finalist in the International Busoni Piano Competition in Italy. Appearances this past season include performances of Beethoven's fourth concerto in Barrie, and of Rachmaninov's third concerto in Toronto. Mr. Longworth also gave solo recitals in Toronto, Halifax, and most recently at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. In January, the Duke trio presented a complete cycle of the Beethoven piano trios in London. This summer, Mr. Longworth will be performing at festivals in Quebec, Washington State, Malibu
Hal Ott
Flute
Hal Ott is a member of the faculty at Central Washington University where he teaches flute and music history. He is currently principal flute with the Yakima Symphony, and he has been a member of the Peoria Symphony, Peoria Civic Opera Orchestra, and he has served as a faculty member in the annual Columbia Flute Society Festival. Dr. Ott holds a BME degree (summa cum laude) from Bradley University, an MM degree from the University of Illinois, and a DM from Florida State University. He has presented clinics, adjudicated, and performed on both the flute and baroque flute throughout the United States, Europe, and the Peoples' Republic of China; he has also performed on National Public Radio on numerous occasions. He was a finalist in the Erwin Bodkey Competition sponsored by the Cambridge Society for Early Music. He has performed at several National Flute Association conventions, and he has served as the NFA program chair and designed the 2001 Dallas convention. Dr. Ott has published several articles in Flute Talk Magazine and The National Flutist Quarterly. His CD, Flute for Thought, features music by American composers, and he is an author of Teaching Woodwinds, published by Schirmer.
Tarn Travers
Violin
Internationally renowned violinist, Tarn Travers, has performed to critical and audience acclaim throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2001, he was a prize-winner of the Heifetz Guarneri Audition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Palace of the Legion of Honor. This led to the honor of a performance on the exquisite historic "ex-David" Guarneri, once owned by Jascha Heifetz.
A highly sought after concert soloist, Mr. Travers has performed with the Icicle Creek Festival Orchestra, the Lake Chelan Bach Festival Orchestra, the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Conductor's Orchestra and the Ramiro Cortes Festival Orchestra in the concerti of Bach, Brahms, Vivaldi, and Maria Newman. He presented the world premiere of Maria Newman's Triple Concerto at the Ramiro Cortes Festival in 2003, and again at the Eastern Sierra Summer Fesival in 2005 to great audience acclaim.
A popular chamber music collaborator, Mr. Travers has been a member of the Chabrier and Coulston String Quartets, and has performed with mezzo soprano Juliana Gondek; cellist, John Michel; violinist\violist Maria Newman; guitarist Lawrence Farrera; guitarist\composer Dusan Bogdanovic, and in Tokyo with Manabu Suzuki (pricipal violist of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra). He has served as Concertmaster with the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra, the Icicle Creek Symphony, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Opera Orchestra; and as Principal Violinist with Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra, the Songfest Opera Orchestra, the Wenatchee Valley Symphony, and the Lake Chelan Bach Fest Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Travers was the recipient of the SFCM String Chamber Music\Orchestral Excellence Award (2004), and in 2005 was again awarded with the prestigious SFCM String Chamber Music Prize. He earned his BM with honor in 2005 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with renowned concert violinists, Camilla Wicks and Axel Strauss. Further studies were done with William Preucil and Peter Salaff, both of the Grammy Award-winning Cleveland Quartet. Mr. Travers is in his first year as a violinist with the New World Symphony in Miami.
Maia Zander
Violin
Violinist Maia Travers Zander is one of the most exciting young talents on the concert scene, and is one of the United States' most creative pedagogues. She has concertized and presented master classes throughout Western Europe and the United States, and is favorite collaborator with many of today's finest artists, including pianist Robert Merfeld (of Apple Hill fame), with whom she presented a concert at Boston University honoring the 250th birthday of Mozart.
Mrs. Zander has served as Concertmaster with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra ( on tour at Carnegie Hall and Boston's Symphony Hall), and is currently Co-Concertmaster of the Eastern Sierra Chamber Orchestra in California, as well as the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra near Los Angeles. She has been on the roster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (where she performed in the renowned "Concerts on the Square Summer Series," as well as with the Madison Symphony Orchestra).
An avid chamber musician, Mrs. Zander has been a member of eh Galena, Hunt and Cavaletta String Quartets, performing on radio, concertizing and presenting outreach programs for the underprivileged. She has collaborated in recital at Central Washington University, the University of Texas Brownsville, on the Alumni Series at the Icicle Creek Music Center in Washington, the Wenatchee Friends of Music and at the Ventfort Hall Chamber Music Series in Lenox, MA, among others.
Am innovative teacher, Mrs. Zander has served as a faculty member of the Suzuki Strings of Madison (2002-2004). She has led workshops for the Chelan Vallet Suzuki Violins and is a fully certified Suzuki teacher, a degree she earned from the prestigious program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. She is in the process of developing a new system for teaching intermediate string students.
Mrs. Zander received her BM and MM with the highest honors from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the Boston University, where she is completing studies with Bayla Keyes of the Triple Helix Trios (formerly of the Muir String Quartet).
Paula Hocchalter
Cello
Paula Hochhalter,
cellist, graduated with honors from USC, where she coached with Aaron
Copeland and was a member of the USC String Quartet. In 1977 she
became a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. She has since
gone on to perform in countless motion pictures, television shows,
radio programs, well-known concert series and music festivals around
the globe (both classical and jazz), and is truly a delight on the
concert stage. A 'cellist of great freedom and passion, she has been
likened to the late great Jaqueline du Pre, establishing herself as a
favorite among world-class chamber music collaborators and as a
soloist. A mother of four highly gifted children, Ms. Hochhalter is
married to award winning actor/screenwriter Geoffrey Lewis, who worked
closely alongside Clint Eastwood for many years.
Delores Stevens
Piano
Delores Stevens,
piano, is recognized as an internationally distinguished concert
soloist. In the United States, Ms. Stevens has performed with such
renowned ensembles as the L.A. Chamber Orchestra, the L.A.
Philharmonic, the Montagna Trio, the New Music Group, the Viklarbo
Chamber Ensemble, the Debut Orchestra, and at the popular Ojai
Festivals. She is the Fouding Director/Pianist of the famed Martha's
Vineyard Chamber Music Society (MVCMS) and the popular Chamber Music
Palisades, as well as a Trustee of the National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences (Grammy). Ms. Stevens directs chamber music for the
Yound Musicians Foundation and Mount St. Mary's College, and is the
Piano Department Chair at Cal State Dominguez Hills. Recent
performances in Queensland, Australia, were by the invitation of the
Second World Indigenous Pathways Conference, whose members included The
Honorable Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile, Premier of Afric's Eastern Cape,
and a representaative of Nelson Mandela. Ms. Stevens gave the tributary
premiere and critically hailed subsequent performances of Emma McChesney, a piano concerto compoased for her by Maria Newman (composer of the acclaimed MVCMS commissionted work Chilmark). The Delores Wunsch Stevens New Music Foundation at the University of Kansa commissioned the concerto in Steven's Honor.
Steven Zander
Violin
Violonist Steven Zander has performed to critical and audience acclaim across the U.S.. Europe, and Japan. he began his musical studied at the age of four at the nationally recognized American Suzuki Talent Education Center in Stevens Point, WI. After winning the prestigious Emerson Scholarship at the Interlochen Summer Festival, where he was a finalist in the concerto competition, Mr. Zander received a full scholarship to study with Vartan Manoogian at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Upon earning a Bachelor's Degree in violin performance, Mr. Zander went on to study with the concert and recording artist Sergiu Luca at Rice University's renowned Shepard School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree.
An active deformer, Mr. Zander has been a member of the Madison Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and performed chamber music alongside faculty members of the UW-MAdison and The Julliard School in the Bach, Dancing, & Dynamite Society, and played Ravel's String Quartet on a live broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio. Mr. Zander spent a summer at the Aspen Music Festival as a recipient of a highly competitive orchestral fellowship. Mr. Zander held the Anne and Charles Duncan Concertmaster Chair of the Sheperd School Symphony Orchestra, was a substitute violinist with the Houston Symphony, and performed on a concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Syzegy new music series with the former principle members of the Houston and Boston Symphonies.
In addition to maintaining a private teaching studio, Mr. Zander served on the violin faculty of the Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School, a Houston-area arts magnet school, and has served as a guest instructor at Chelan Valley Suzuki Violins and Boston Youth Orchestra's intensive Community Project.
Tenor, George Sterne, has sung in nearly every professional group in the Southland including Zephyr, I Cantori, Pasadena Classical Singers, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. After touring professionally with the William Hall Chorale and Roger Wagner Chorale, he began singing with the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 1982. He has been in the Los Angeles Opera Chorus since its inception, and was honored by that company last year when he became the first member of the Opera Chorus to reach 100 productions. He was a member of the Carmel Bach Fetival Chorus from 1984 to 2000, and has been a member of the Master Chorale outreach group, the Chamber Singers, since 1993. Finally, in 2007, he was pleased to receive a Grammy Award as a member of the 24-voice LA Chamber Singers Cap pella Ensemble for their recording of early Baroque Mexican polyphony. George resides in the San Gabriel Valley with his wife Nicole, a music history professor at Cal State Fullerton; and Mugsy, a very sweet 13-year-old pit bull terrier.
Guest Speakers
Elaina Archer
Distinguished Speaker
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Elaina Archer,
critically acclaimed award-winning writer, editor, director, and
producer, is currently chief producer\ director and the creative mind
behind A&F Productions. After earning a degree in Film History and
Criticism from UT, Austin, she worked for New Line Cinema, BMG,
Timeline Films and managed the Mary Pickford Library. She now has
close to a dozen historical entertainment documentary features to her
credit, having collaborated with such major actors as Charlize Theron
and Diane LAne in narrating roles. Many of these captivating
documentaries were produced for Turner Classic Movies, and all were
critically acclaimed. In conjunction with Timeline Films, her work on
the production, "Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl," won the coveted
2000 Gold Telly Award, restored a number of silent features and short
films to their original glory, having greatly contributed to the
preservation of a truly unique art form.
Michael Jordan
Distinguished Speaker
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Mike Jordan, a professor at Pepperdine University since 1991, is the authorof "Crockett's Coin," and its sequel "Freedom Song," historical novels setin the Delta lands of the Old South. During his research for the novels,Jordan drew inspiration from the poems of Louise Moss Montgomery. Jordan, aneducation activist and former Malibu school board member, teaches journalismand media law at Pepperdine. Jordan's wife, Nancy, is a first-grade teacherat Juan Cabrillo Elementary in Malibu.
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