Thursday Morning Artist Series
Complimentary Coffee and Donuts at 10:00 am
Tickets $15, $10 (groups of 8+), $6 student, sold at the door, general seating
Program
Henri Vieuxtemps: Rondino, Op. 32, No. 2
Katia Tesarczyk, violin
Claudia Chen, piano
William Grant Still: Mother and Child
(Transcribed by Josephine Gandolfi from the original violin/piano duo)
Undine Smith Moore: Afro-American Suite for Flute, Cello and Piano
Triple Play Trio
Claudia Schnitker, flute
Robert Murphy, piano
Timothy Perry, cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Christian Gottlob Neefe: Six Easy Pieces Based on Tunes from the “Magic Flute” for Piano four-hands
Helen and Paul Baumgartner, piano duettists
Franz Schubert: Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804, Op. 29 (The Rosamunde Quartet)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 34
Meadowlark String Quartet
Bacco Liu, violin
Cindy Min, violin
Kirsti Petraborg, viola
Lindsay Schlemmer, cello
Performer Information
Katia Tesarczyk, 15, is a student of Sally O’Reilly. In 2016, she was the 1st prize winner of the Schubert Club Competition, Thursday Musical Competition, and the Dakota Valley Symphony Young Artist Competition. She was also the winner of the MTNA West Central Division Junior Strings Competition, and went on to win 2nd prize in the National MTNA Competition. She has performed as soloist with MN Sinfonia and Dakota Valley Orchestras.
Claudia Chen enjoys an active career as performer, coach and teacher. Making her solo debut with the Denver Symphony Orchestra at age 14, Ms. Chen has gone on to perform as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Eastern Europe and Chile. Equally at home in contemporary works as in standard repertoire, Ms. Chen has given numerous premieres of solo and chamber works by several American and Canadian composers. She has been a guest on the Chamber Music Series of the Grand Teton Music Festival, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra’s series at MacPhail. Her performances have been aired nationally in Canada on CBC Radio; Polish Radio and Television; and in the USA on National Public Radio. Currently, she teaches at Macalester College in St. Paul, as well as privately in her home. She has received degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, under Julian Martin and University of Minnesota, under Margo Garrett’s direction.
Triple Play Trio
Claudia Schnitker, flute, studied flute and piano at the Oberlin Conservatory. She has played for Thursday Musical, Mu Phi Epsilon music fraternity and Upper Midwest Flute Association. An educator as well, she founded and directed the Edina Community Education flute choir program. She has maintained a private teaching studio for over twenty years, and her students have appeared at the National Flute Association annual convention. She has also lectured on flute acoustics at George Washington University. She is Principal Flute for the Linden Hills Chamber Orchestra.
Robert Murphy, piano, is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. Robert hold music degrees from Pacific Union College, Angwin, CA (B. Mus. in Education) and Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ (Masters in Sacred Music). Robert was program director at Radio Stations KANG and KPRN and was music director at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Napa, CA. He was music director for 30 years at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in North St. Paul. In addition, Robert was Director of Music for the Woodbury Chorus and Orchestra, Music Director at St. Olaf Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, and accompanist for South St. Paul and Henry Sibley High Schools. Robert recently moved to Jamestown, ND where he is the Director of Music Ministries for Trinity Lutheran Church, Choir director for St. John's Lutheran Church, and accompanist for the Choralaires, a community-based Men's Chorus that will be making an appearance in Carnegie Hall in February 2017 to perform Randall Thompson's "Testament of Freedom."
Timothy Perry, cello, is Principal Cello for the Saint Paul Civic Symphony. Mr. Perry is a founding member of the Triple Play flute trio, Nicollet Quartet, the Minnesota Philharmonic and the St. Mark's by the Freeway Chamber Orchestra. He studied with Sister Mary St. John Van Horst at Ottumwa Heights College, Donald McCall of the Lenox Quartet, and Judith Glyde of the Manhattan Quartet. He is an Artist Member of Thursday Musical.
Helen Bilhorn Baumgartner graduated in piano and violin from the Preparatory Department of Eastman School of Music. She holds a B.A. magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College, M.M. from Eastman and D.M.A. in piano performance from the University of Minnesota. She taught at Gustavus Adolphus College from 1966-2004. She also taught at Doshisha Women's University in Kyoto and has appeared as piano soloist with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler, Rochester Philharmonic, and Sendai City Symphony.
Paul Baumgartner earned a B.A. from Heidelberg (Ohio), M.M. from Eastman, did graduate study at Indiana University and was awarded the A. Mus. D. in piano performance from the University of Arizona. He taught in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and in North Carolina before coming to Gustavus in 1964, retiring in 1991. The Baumgartner’s started their careers as short-term missionary teachers at Miyagi Women’s College in Sendai and have concertized together in Japan and throughout this country.
Meadowlark String Quartet
The Meadowlark String Quartet was founded as the resident quartet of Southwest Minnesota State University in the spring of 2014. The quartet is unique as they not only perform chamber music, but also lead the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra as section leaders.
The Meadowlarks create a musical bridge between their work in Southwest Minnesota and the Minneapolis and St. Paul Metro area. Both of these musical communities came together at the first annual Southwest Minnesota String Festival in August. String students from the Marshall area, the metro, and even South Dakota came together at SMSU for a string camp and festival. The Meadowlark served as faculty and facilitated chamber coaching, private lessons, and musicianship classes throughout the festival. The festival culminated with a chamber music concert show casing the hard work and accomplishments of all of the student trios and quartets for families, and the community.
Te-Chiang (Bacco) Liu, violin, is a native of Taiwan. Mr. Liu started the violin at age of six, and was awarded the top prize at the Taiwan National Violin Competition in the Youth Division in 1996. Te-Chiang has been the Concertmaster at numerous orchestra and chamber concerts at the Boston Conservatory and has participated in a collaborative performance with renowned artists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang.
Te-Chiang has been a soloist with various orchestras in Taiwan, Australia and the United States. He was also invited to perform in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Germany and U.S. He was invited to attend Tanglewood Music Festival in 2009 to work closely and perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Te-Chiang is currently the Concertmaster of the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Minnesota Symphony, and also a substitute musician for both Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra. He also teaches violin and viola at MacPhail Center for Music and Southwest Minnesota State University.
Hsin-Yin (Cindy) Min, violin, is a native of Taipei, Taiwan. Miss Min started to play the violin at age of seven, and was awarded the 1st prize in the Taipei City Violin Competition in Youth Division 1993. Miss Min received Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Taipei Municipal University of Education, and was a regular performing violinist of several broadcast television shows. In 2007, Hsin-Yin was awarded scholarships to attend the Boston Conservatory where she received her Master's Degree in Violin Performance to study with Professor Lynn Chang. Miss Min was offered fellowships to study with Professor Young-Nam Kim at University of Minnesota for Doctoral of Musical Arts in Violin Performance in 2011. Min has been a regular substitute musician to perform with Boston Civic Symphony, Quad Cities Symphony orchestra, Duluth Superior Symphony orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra. Hsin-Yin is currently the principal second violin of Southwest Minnesota Orchestra and the violin instructor of Yinghua Academy Conservatory of Music.
Kirsti Petraborg, viola, is a keen chamber musician and an ardent teacher. Founding member of the Meadowlark String Quartet, Kirsti is an avid chamber musician and performs throughout the Twin Cities and southwest Minnesota. She also performs with the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra, where the Meadowlarks are principal string players and the resident quartet at Southwest Minnesota State University. She maintains teaching studios in the Twin Cities area, where her students hone their technique as well as learn the art of making music. Kirsti is principal violist of the Exultate Chamber Orchestra, and also performs with the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. She has also played with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra and the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra. Kirsti diversifies her playing opportunities by performing with the Latin group Charanga Tropical. She received her doctoral degree in Viola Performance at the University of Minnesota, where she also earned her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees. She has studied with Korey Konkol, Sabina Thatcher and Dr. Andrea Een.
Lindsay Schlemmer, is an active freelance cellist and teacher in the Minneapolis Metro Area. As Principal cellist of the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra, she enjoys supporting their mission of educational outreach and building community along with performing great orchestral works. Lindsay is one of the founding members of the Meadowlark String Quartet. In addition to teaching out of her home studio in South Minneapolis, Lindsay is also the Adjunct Cello Professor at Southwest Minnesota State University.
Lindsay began her doctoral studies in the fall of 2015 with the Berneking Fellowship at the University of Minnesota. Lindsay earned her Master's in cello performance at the University of Minnesota. At Illinois Wesleyan University, she earned her Bachelor of Music while studying with Dr. Nina Gordon. During her time at Wesleyan, she spent a semester studying music in Vienna, Austria where she took lessons from cellist Joseph Luitz. Lindsay also had the privilege to perform in a chamber music festival and tour in Bulgaria.