Chamber Music Society of Lexington

Chamber Music Society of Lexington Lexington, Virginia

The mission the Chamber Music Society of Lexington is to bring quality chamber music to the areas of Lexington, Rockbridge County, and Southwestern Virginia. Plans for future performances are being finalized to feature international, national, and local artists in a variety of chamber music settings and encompassing a several musicals and genres. CMSL is also planning an educational component to teach and feature student musicians through a series of camps, masterclasses, and performances.

2024 - 2025 Season

Saturday, October 5th, 7:00 p.m.

An Evening of Piano Trios

Spring Finale - Sunday, May 4th, 5:00 p.m.

A Celebration of Women Composers

Program

Variations on an Original Theme for Organ by Margaret Sandresky
Trio in Eb Major, Op. 44 for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano by Louise Farrenc
Sonata for Saxophone and Piano by Fernande Decruck
Night Bird for Saxophone and Electronics by Karen Tanaka
Piano Quartet in D Minor, Op. 25 by Dora Pejačević

________________________________________________________________

Past Performances

An Evening of Piano Trios

Saturday, October 5, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Jakob Hofer, violin
Lauren Posey, cello
Jay DeWire, piano

PROGRAM

---------------------------------------------

Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 67 (1944) -- Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1921) -- Rebecca Clarke
Clarinet Trio in A Minor, Op. 114 (1891) -- Johannes Brahms

Season Finale

Saturday, April 13, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Martha Burford, organ
James DeWire, piano
Christine Fairfield, soprano
Scott Williamson, tenor
Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart, flute
Mark Gallagher, clarinet

PROGRAM
----------------------------------------------------

Selections from Twenty-Nine Short Preludes, Op. 51 for Organ (1929) -- Carl Nielsen
Six German Songs for Soprano, Clarinet, and Piano, Op. 103 (1837) -- Louis Spohr
Duos for Flute and Clarinet, Op. 24 (1974) -- Robert Muczynski
Sonate pour Flute et Piano (2003) -- Yuko Uebayashi
Ten Blake Songs for Tenor and Clarinet (1957) -- Ralph Vaughan Williams
Prelude in A Minor, Op. 32, No. 8 (1910) -- Sergei Rachmaninoff
Prelude in A Major, Op. 32, No. 9
Prelude in Db Major, Op. 32, No. 13

"Beloved of my being: the Music of Composer Gerald Cohen"

Monday, February 12, 2024
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Jakob Hofer, violin
Marka Gustavsson, viola
James DeWire, piano
Vocal Ensemble - Origins

Program
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I Felt My Legs Were Praying", for Chorus
Variously Blue, for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano
Three Hebrew Songs, for Violin and Piano
Yedid Nefesh, for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano

Gerald Cohen

Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his “linguistic fluidity and melodic gift,” creating music that “reveals a very personal modernism that…offers great emotional rewards” (Gramophone Magazine). His deeply affecting compositions have been recognized with numerous awards and critical accolades. The music on his 2014 album Sea of Reeds (Navona), “is filled with vibrant melody, rhythmic clarity, drive and compositional construction…a sheer delight to hear” (Gapplegate Music Review).

His opera, Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true concentration camp love story, had its world premiere production by Opera Colorado in January 2018; excerpts were featured at Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers Festival in 2016. Lucid Culture’s review of the opera noted the effectiveness of Cohen’s “…mesmerizingly hypnotic, intricately contrapuntal” music, with moments of “…Bernard Herrmann-esque, shivery terror…”. Cohen’s operas Sarah and Hagar, based on the story from the book of Genesis, and Seed, a one-act opera about love and choices for a post-apocalyptic couple, have been performed in concert form. Cohen is a noted synagogue cantor and baritone; his experience as a singer informs his dramatic, lyrical compositions. Cohen’s best-known work, his “shimmering setting” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) of Psalm 23, has received thousands of performances from Carnegie Hall to synagogues and churches around the world. Recent instrumental compositions include Voyagers, a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Voyager spacecraft, which had its premiere at New York’s Hayden Planetarium; and Playing for our lives, a tribute to the music and musicians of the WWII Terezin concentration camp near Prague. These two compositions, composed for the Cassatt String Quartet, are the centerpieces of the album Voyagers, (innova Recordings, 2023). Steal a Pencil for Me has been recorded by Opera Colorado, with much of the cast from the 2018 production; this recording will be released in 2024 on the Sono Luminus label.

Recognition of Cohen’s body of work includes the Copland House Borromeo String Quartet Award and Hoff-Barthelson/Copland House commission, Westchester Prize for New Work, American Composers Forum Faith Partners residency, Zamir Choral Foundation’s Hallel V’Zimrah award, and Cantors Assembly’s Max Wohlberg Award for distinguished achievement in the field of Jewish composition. Cohen received the Yale University’s Sudler Prize for outstanding achievement in the creative arts, and has been awarded commissioning grants from Meet the Composer, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and Westchester Arts Council.

Throughout his career, he has been selected for residencies including those at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Copland House, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and American Lyric Theater. Cohen’s music has been commissioned by chamber ensembles including the Cassatt String Quartet, Verdehr Trio, Franciscan String Quartet, Chesapeake Chamber Music, Grneta Ensemble, Wave Hill Trio, Bronx Arts Ensemble, and Brooklyn Philharmonic Brass Quintet; by choruses including the New York Virtuoso Singers, Canticum Novum Singers, Western Wind, HaZamir, Syracuse Children’s Chorus, St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City, Zamir Chorale of Boston, and Usdan Center Chorus; and by the Cantors Assembly of America and Westchester Youth Symphony. Cohen’s music has been performed by the Borromeo String Quartet, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Riverside Symphony, Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, New York Concert Singers, Princeton Pro Musica, and many other ensembles and soloists.

Gerald Cohen received a BA in music from Yale University and a DMA in composition from Columbia University. He is cantor at Shaarei Tikvah, Scarsdale, NY, and is on the faculties of The Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College. Cohen’s compositions are available by contacting him at [email protected]; he also has works published by Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer/AMP and Transcontinental Music Publications.

__________________________________________________

Deutsch-Amerikanisches Klarinettentrio

Saturday, November 4, 2023
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Jeffery Boehmer, clarinet and bass clarinet
Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Hendrik Wüster, clarinet

Doug Nash, guest clarinet

Program

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alfred Uhl: Divertimento for Clarinet Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach: 4 Sinfonias
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Divertimento No. 2 in Bb Major, K. 439b
Jacques Jules Bouffil: Fifth Trio for Clarinet, Op. 8, No. 2
Béle Kovács:  Paganiniana, Variations on the Theme/Caprice/XXIV/ by N. Paganini
Javier Zalba:  Divertimento No. 2, a la pianista Marita Rodriguez

Music of Latin America

Saturday, October 28, 2023
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Program

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sierra: Cinco Bocetos for solo clarinet
del Aguila: Disagree! for clarinet, violin, and piano
Villa Lobos: Distribution of Flowers for flute and guitar
Villa Lobos: Mazurka Choro for solo guitar
Villa Lobos: Prelude No. 3 for solo guitar
Brouwer: Afro-Cuban Lullaby for flute and guitar
Fragoso: Three Songs for voice, flute, and piano
Blake: 12 Note Tango

Music of Olivier Messiaen

Friday, March 24, 2023
7:00 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church

Concert is free and open to the public - reception to follow

Le Banquet céleste
Martha Burford, organ

Quartet for the End of Time
Mark Gallagher, clarinet
Jakob Hofer, violin
Lauren Posey, cello
James DeWire, piano

Artist's Biographies

Sue Barber

Sue Barber is an active music educator and performer as a bassoonist. During the summer season she performs and teaches at the Brevard Music Festival. She is an active freelance bassoonist, performing as principal bassoon with CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and the North Charleston Pops! Orchestra. She has performed with many regional organizations including Opera on The James, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, and the Williamsburg Sinfonia. She has also performed and presented master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Brazil, and China. She has also served as visiting professor at The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, teaching applied bassoon and presenting master classes.

An active solo, chamber musician, orchestral musician Sue has performed with many of the leading artists of our time in noted venues such as The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center. Previous positions include assistant principal bassoon of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, principal bassoon of the Natchez Opera, and principal bassoon of the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, and principal bassoonist of The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, The Connecticut Opera, and The Sarasota Opera. Internationally, she served as assistant principal bassoon of Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia (Spain). She has appeared with the New Haven Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra (Sarasota), Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra, and participated in the National Repertory Orchestra Festival, and the Banff and Sarasota Chamber Music Festivals. She has also presented at International Double Reed Society Conventions, Virginia Music Educator’s Annual Conferences, The Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic, International Alliance for Women in Music's Annual Concert of Chamber Music by Women at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, and The National Flute Association Conventions in Washington, DC and New York, New York.

Mark Gallagher

Clarinetist, Mark Gallagher, is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance and studied with Lawrence McDonald.  He also holds a Masters of Music in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music having studied with D. Stanley Hasty and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Other major teachers included Robert Marcellus and Alfred Zezter, both of the Cleveland Orchestra and Dr. Linda Bartley who is the clarinet professor at University of Wisconsin.  Dr. Gallagher has performed with the Washington Contemporary Music Forum, New York's Symphony Space, United States Navy Band, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Washington Opera, Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Bronx Symphony, New York City Ballet Orchestra, and the Skylight Opera Theatre Orchestra.

He made his New York recital debut performing with violinist Sylvia Rosenberg at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and is also a winner of the Artist International Competition in New York City, being award a solo recital in Weill Hall.  An active chamber musician and co-founder of I Venti Semplice, Dr. Gallagher has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including a recent concert tour of the Netherlands and a live national radio broadcast from the Concertgebouw. Other performances include appearances in Washington, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Portland (OR), Wisconsin Public Radio, as well as concert tours of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, and China.  Dr. Gallagher has recorded with the Albany Records label and can be heard on the Eastman “American Music” Series and The United States Navy Band.

In addition to a busy performance schedule, Dr. Gallagher is an active teacher and clinician. He lectures on occupational health issues for musicians and the Alexander Technique.  He has done lectures and masterclasses at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School. He has held faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carroll College, Cardinal Stritch University, and Frostburg State University. During the summers Dr. Gallagher has served as director of faculty at the Semplice Harbor Music Settlement on Washington Island, Wisconsin, and director of the Savage Mountain Summer Arts Academy in Maryland.

Brent Weber

Saxophonist Brent Weber has enjoyed a diverse musical journey as performer and educator. After earning degrees in saxophone performance from Southern Oregon University (BA) and University of Georgia (MM) Dr. Weber joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in the capitol of China’s Sichuan province, Chengdu. After two incredible years teaching and freelancing in Southwest China, Dr. Weber returned to the U.S. to pursue his Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Georgia. From 2009-2012 he had the opportunity to study with teachers Kenneth Fischer, Eugene Rousseau, Joseph Wytko, and Connie Frigo. These experiences have uniquely shaped Dr. Weber into the artist and pedagogue he is today.
Experienced in multiple genres of music from classical to jazz, rock ‘n’ roll and beyond, Dr. Weber advocates versatility. His work with the contemporary jazz group Jake Mowrer Quartet, featured him performing and recording throughout Northern Georgia. As a concert saxophonist, he is active with the North American Saxophone Alliance performing in conferences in Minnesota, Louisiana, Florida, Oregon, and Georgia. In 2007 he presented the European premiere of Todd Barton’s Diastems II at the World Saxophone Congress XIV in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As winner of the UGA Concerto Competition in 2009, he performed Ingolf Dahl’s Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble. Most recently Dr. Weber was part of the 2012 Naxos release Street Song featuring the University of Georgia Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. John Lynch. He currently is on the Faculty at Frostburg State University.

James DeWire

Jay DeWire, a frequent solo performer and member of the West Shore Trio, has appeared up and down the eastern seaboard and is becoming known for both his dynamic interpretations of 20th Century works and his "old world flair". Recent concerts include solo recitals in Pealer Recital Hall at Frostburg State University; Guildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland in furtherance of a Doctoral Degree, which was completed in 2007; performances of the West Shore Trio across the country including Boston, Los Angeles, New Mexico, and Texas; a collaborative performance in Auer Hall of Indiana University with John Tafoya, then principal timpanist of the National Symphony Orchestra; featured soloist at the First National Convention of the MusicLink Organization (Washington, DC), a solo performance for the National Society of Arts and Letter at the Jefferson Library (University of Virginia), and performances at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory (Boston, MA). Dr. DeWire has also performed in Deer Isle, ME; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Aspen, CO; Kalamazoo, MI; and Washington, DC. Recent highlights include concertos by Brahms and Rachmanioff with Charles Ellis and the Prince George's Philharmonic, The Kirchner Project, a tribute to Leon Kirchner and his music, the National Orchestral Institute, the Maryland Percussion Ensemble under the direction of John Tafoya, and the Aspen Music Festival. Dr. DeWire has recorded three live performance solo CD's, including an all 20th Century concert that includes works by Ravel, Debussy, Bartok, Rzewski, and Messiaen. In April 2008, he recorded an all Brahms concert featuring the recently discovered Gavottes, which he arranged and completed for concert performance.

Dr. DeWire began playing piano at the age of four and gave his first solo recital at age 12. He received a B.A. with High Distinction and a Master of Arts in piano performance from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. In December of 2007 he received a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland School of Music (College Park). He has studied with such distinguished pianists as Joanne Haroutounian, Mimi Tung, Gabriel Chodos, Bradford Gowen, Steve Drury, John Moriarty, and Larissa Dedova. He has performed in master classes for Claude Frank, Andre Watts, Ruth Laredo, and Tigran Alikhanov, the Director of the Moscow Conservatory, and appeared in several competitions including: The National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, National Symphony Orchestra Competition, Baldwin Competition, Washington, DC Beethoven Competition (Honorable Mention), and was a finalist in the American Musicological Society (Mid-Atlantic Chapter) Writing Competition. Dr. DeWire has also received numerous prizes including the Brander Wyatt Morrison Prize, and a Dean of Faculty Fellowship (UVa), as well as scholarships at the University of Maryland, New England Conservatory and University of Virginia. He currently is on the Faculty at Frostburg State University and maintains his own private studio in Washington, DC area.

Jakob Hofer

Jakob Hofer is an Assistant Professor of Music and the violin instructor and orchestra director at Southern Virginia University. As a founding member of the Rosco String Quartet in Salt Lake City he has won several competitions including First Place in MTNA’s National Chamber Music Competition and Finalist in the American Prize Competition. He has received instruction from the world’s most renowned chamber musicians including members of the Takacs, Juilliard, Emerson, Tokyo, and Muir String Quartets, and studied many years with the acclaimed chamber musician Violaine Melançon. Most recently, Dr. Hofer was invited as a participant to the Conductor’s Retreat at Medomak to work with world-renowned conductor Kenneth Kiesler.

As an orchestral musician, Dr. Hofer has performed as concertmaster of the Loudoun Symphony, the Utah Philharmonia, and the Peabody Concert Orchestra. He has also performed with the York Symphony, Sinfonia Salt Lake, Ballet West Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony. He has performed in venues ranging from Lincoln Center in New York to the Mendelssohn Haus in Leipzig, Germany. Dr. Hofer has performed and premiered many new compositions, and also has specialized training in Baroque performance practice.
Dr. Hofer holds performance degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Utah. He has participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, the Robert Mann Quartet Institute, the Round Top Music Festival, the Garth Newel Music Festival, and the Juilliard Summer Music Academy.

Previous faculty appointments for Dr. Hofer include Utah Valley University and the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City. Several of his students have won competitions and have been accepted as performance majors in prestigious university music programs around the country. Jakob Hofer currently resides in Lexington, Virginia with his wife Laurel Elizabeth Hofer, who is an accomplished vocalist and teacher, and their 3-year-old daughter.

Megan Mason

Megan Mason is Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Fine and Performing Arts at Southern Virginia University. She is also adjunct faculty at Washington & Lee University. Previously, she was on faculty at the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City, Utah. While there, she co-founded Viola Band, an interactive, improvisatory performance group for young violists, and was the director of Summer Kids Camps, fostering creativity and a love of playful learning through the arts. Ms. Mason currently holds the position of Orchestra Coordinator for the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute.
A sought-after violist, she has been Principal Violist of the Ballet West Orchestra, a member of the Orchestra at Temple Square, a composer and arranger, a busy recording artist, and Founding Violist of the internationally-renowned Tesla Quartet, with whom she won the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and prizes from the 2012 London and 2013 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions. Ms. Mason has been a guest performer and/or educator at festivals in Virginia, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan, Montreal, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, France, England, and Germany. She holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School and completed a three-year professional residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder, studying under the world-renowned Takacs Quartet.

Julia Goudinova

Cellist, Julia Goudimova was born in Moscow. She began studying piano at the age of five and cello at the age of seven. She studied cello with Prof. G. Balykbaev in Tiraspol College of Music and with Prof. O. Studnitsky and Prof. Ksaveriev in Belarus Academy of Music. During her student years, Julia played with several International Student summer orchestras and chamber music workshops (Germany and France), participated in International Cello competition in Minsk. After graduating from Belarus Academy of Music, Julia performed with various groups in Belarus, Moldova, South Korea, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Since moving to the United States, Julia has been actively participating in the musical life of Western Virginia and is involved in symphony orchestras and chamber music performances in Southwestern Virginia, as well as Washington D. C. and West Virginia. Currently Julia is playing with Roanoke, Lynchburg and Waynesboro Symphony orchestras. She is also a cello instructor at Washington and Lee, Southern Virginia, and Hollins Universities. She is an active member of Saturn string quartet, Marlbrook chamber players, and duo “Anima e Grazia".

William McCorkle
William McCorkle is well known to areas audiences for decades of keyboard performances on organ, piano, and harpsichord. His repertoire includes music of many styles and periods, and encompasses solo, chamber, and concerto literature. A graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Amherst College, he holds graduate degrees from Yale University. As recipient of the Edward Poole Lay Fellowship, he spent two years of study, research, and performance in France, working with Nadia Boulanger and William Christie. At Washington and Lee University, he was a staff accompanist for many years, and has taught organ and piano for more than a decade.
William McCorkle has directed the Rockbridge Chorus for more than forty seasons. As longtime organist and director of music at Lexington Presbyterian Church, he has continued and enhanced the church’s rich tradition of music in worship and in concert.
In recent decades he has turned his attention to keyboard improvisation, and to composition, particularly for liturgical use. William McCorkle was inducted into honorary membership in Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership fraternity, at Washington and Lee University in 2001.

Marka Gustavsson

A dedicated chamber musician, violist, Marka Gustavsson has performed in major halls across Europe, Canada, the United States, as well as China, the Philippines, Japan and Israel. She has given master classes and concerts at Yale, Eastman, Indiana University, Northwestern, the Banff Centre, and Cleveland Institute., and as guest-artist, she has been invited to festivals including Skaneateles, Portland, Bard, Mostly Mozart, Bennington, Vancouver, and Newport. In the New York area, Marka has appeared as guest of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Robert Sherman’s WQXR’s Showcase, on ABC Sports in the documentary ‘Passion to Play,’ and with the Symphony Space All-Stars. Marka’s interest in new music has led her to work closely with many composers including John Halle, Joan Tower, Kyle Gann, George Tsontakis, David Del Tredici, Martin Bresnick, Harold Farberman, and Tan Dun.
From 1999 until 2014, Marka performed as violist of the Colorado Quartet, touring traditional programs, including cycles of Schubert, Beethoven, and Bartok. The quartet actively commissioned and performed new works of Keith Fitch, Laura Kaminsky, Rob Maggio, and Tamar Muskal, as well as the recording works of veteran American composers Irving Fine, Henry Cowell, Richard Wernick, and Katherine Hoover. Before their retirement in 2014, the Colorado Quartet released the entire Beethoven cycle on Parnassus Records.

Currently Ms Gustavsson holds a faculty position at Bard College where she performs in the Blithewood and Bardian Ensembles, coordinates the chamber music program and serves as Associate Director of the Conservatory. She has spent the past several summers teaching in Yellow Barn’s Young Artists’ Program, in Putney, VT.

A native of Indiana, Marka earned degrees from Indiana University, Mannes College, and CUNY where her formative teachers included Mimi Zweig, Joseph Gingold, Felix Galimir, Daniel Phillips, and Julius Levine. Since 2006, Marka has lived in Red Hook, NY, hiking and gardening, with her husband, pianist-composer John Halle, her son Benjamin, and dog Russell.

Lauren Posey

Dr. Lauren Posey is the Executive Director of the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute and performs as principal cellist of the Ballet West Orchestra. She is also on faculty at Westminster University, directs the Alaska Cello Intensive, and runs a successful private cello studio.

She was most recently honored as one of Utah’s 2024 Forty Under 40 by Utah Business Magazine for her work with the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute. Along with bringing some of the finest music education to Utah, Dr. Posey regularly performs with the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series and the Park City Beethoven Festival. Recently, she was also delighted to be the keynote speaker for the 2023 Utah ASTA Midwinter Workshop.
Dr. Posey’s extensive chamber music experience includes the 2013 Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, 2014 Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, and the 2014 Deer Valley Music Festival Emerging String Quartet Program. In 2014, she won the 2014 MTNA National String Chamber Music Competition as well as the 2014 University of Utah Chamber Music Competition with the Rosco String Quartet. In 2016 and 2017 she was a quarterfinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, attended the 2016 Banff Chamber Music Residency, and performed in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Masterclass Series for Wu Han with Trio Mondial.

In 2017, Dr. Posey completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Colin Carr and was a recipient of the Staller Scholar Award. She began her music training in Salt Lake City with teachers Carey and Elliott Cheney. In 2012 she won the T. Gordon Parks Memorial Collegiate Concerto Competition and the following year also won the 2013 University of Utah Concerto Competition.
She graduated in 2011 with her Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Alexander Suleiman, and received a Master of Music degree from the University of Utah in 2014, where she studied with John Eckstein and Elliott Cheney.
In her spare time, Dr. Posey enjoys taking road trips with her five dogs Riggins, Taylor, Lyla, Garrity, and Kora. She also volunteers with Arctic Rescue, a Utah-based rescue that places an emphasis in finding homes for huskies and malamutes.

Christine Fairfield

Christine Fairfield is a frequent soloist with various ensembles throughout the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her repertoire ranges from the Baroque masters, Händel and Bach, to 20th c. works by Poulenc, Barber, and Rutter. As an opera singer, she’s performed roles with the Operafestival di Roma (2. Knabe, Die Zauberflöte), the Saluzzo Opera Academy (Marcellina, Le Nozze di Figaro), and the Lyric Opera Studio Weimar (Rosalinde, Die Fledermaus) as well as roles during graduate school (Rose, Street Scene). As an educator, Christine has served on the faculty at Bridgewater College and now teaches at Washington & Lee University. Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a concentration in voice from Eastern Mennonite University and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Ohio University’s School of Music. She continued her postgraduate vocal studies with teachers Timothy Noble (IU Jacobs School of Music) , Christine Schadeberg, Stellario Faggone (Bayerische Staatsoper), Byron Jones (Shenandoah Conservatory) and Andres Morena Garcia (Deutsche Oper). As a lifetime musician and music educator, Christine believes in the role that music-making plays in building relationships and engaging communities’ creative passions to bring people together. In 2022 she joined the administrative staff as Executive Director for The Oratorio Society of Virginia. Christine is available for concert, wedding, funeral, and opera performance gigs as well as private vocal instruction and coaching.

Scott Williamson

An internationally recognized tenor, the Times of London called Scott Williamson’s debut at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, “brilliant.” His work has been praised in The New York Times and New York Sun, Opera News and The Washington Post. His performances of Mendelssohn and Dallapiccola with the American Symphony Orchestra are available on iTunes. Scott's repertoire spans over a millennium of western music, and he has participated in more than 100 premieres.

Known for his “innovative collaborations,” “visionary programming,” and “intelligent, passionate” stage presence, Scott has impacted thousands of lives across six generations of students, artists, and audiences in the United States and around the world. In 2019 he founded Collective Euphonia, a self-governing interdisciplinary ensemble of artists.

General and Artistic Director of Opera Roanoke from 2010-2018, he created the company's premiere Young Artist program and directed notable regional premieres. Guest Curator in Music at the Taubman Museum of Art, Scott curates and performs the semiannual series Listening to Paintings and teaches in the Museum Studies program. Scott’s art is featured in The Mountain Lake Symposium and Workshop: Art in Locale. His poetry has appeared in Atlanta Review and Tupelo Quarterly.

A Fulbright Scholar, Scott served on the faculty of West University in Romania. He began his career teaching at W&L in Lexington and continues to teach in the music department. He has served as Music and Program Director of Temple Emmanuel in Roanoke, and is thrilled to be making chamber music with Mark Gallagher.

Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart

Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart, D.M.A.. is a dedicated teacher, chamber musician and an enthusiastic advocate for contemporary music. She is the director and founder of The Flute Academy, located in Bergen County, New Jersey. She is passionate about working with aspiring young musicians, helping them shape their love of music.
Dr. Bacchiocchi-Stewart currently teaches applied flute lessons at Ramapo College. She has also served on the faculties of Union College, Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, Frostburg State University, Ithaca College and Schenectady County Community College. She was an instructor and administrator for the Marina Piccinini International Master Classes for 10 years, served on the flute faculty for the Savage Mountain Summer Chamber Music Summer Series and was a guest artist at Flauto Musicale.
She was a prize winner at the 2002 National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, a participant in the First Beijing Nicolet International Flute Competition and has appeared as a semi-finalist in the Myrna Brown and Ducrest Young Artist Competitions.
Dr. Bacchiocchi-Stewart is principal flute with The New Jersey Wind Symphony and The Adelphi Chamber Orchestra. She is a founding member of the Lyra Ensemble (Flute Quartet) and Classic V Winds (Woodwind Quintet). She has performed with TRITONIS (flute, cello, and guitar), guitarist Joel Brown, Chromium 2.0 with percussionist Michael Weinfield-Zell, I Venti Semplice, the Evolution Contemporary Music Series, and the After Now: Nothing You’ve Heard Before music series, among others. She has given concerts, lectures, workshops and master classes throughout the United States and has also performed in several groups throughout Europe and Japan.
She has maintained large flute studios for over 25 years both privately and in the college setting. She has taught levels ranging from beginner, intermediate, adult amateur, advanced, college and professionals. Her students have been among the flute sections of several youth orchestras and admitted into prestigious schools such as The Eastman School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon, New England Conservatory, The Peabody Institute, Indiana University and Ithaca College.
Her academic achievements include a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Music Degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Degree from Ithaca College. She has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, the Colorado College Music Festival, and the Zurich Masterclass series. Her main teachers have been Marina Piccinini, Bradley Garner, Wendy Mehne, Claudia Anderson and Selma Moore.