Community Concerts
This concert is free and open to the public.
Performer Information
Incidental Trio
Karen Hansen, clarinet; Steve Staruch, viola; Sue Ruby, piano
Karen Hansen is the clarinetist with Dolce Wind Quintet, which has again been hired by Classical MPR as Class Notes Artists to give concerts in schools, and has performed for many MPR on-stage and on-air programs. She is also principal clarinetist of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Mississippi Valley Orchestra and clarinetist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. Her additional freelance work includes the Schubert Club Courtroom Concerts and other artist series, the Moody Blues backing orchestra, OCEAN with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and The Ladysmith Story opera premieres. She teaches clarinet and saxophone at Cadenza Music and is a substitute instrumental music teacher at Saint Paul Academy. During vacations, Karen gives music enrichment presentations on board cruise ships. Karen earned her B.A. from St. Olaf College and her M.A. from University of Wisconsin-Madison and studied music and theater in London.
Steve Staruch can be heard on Classical Minnesota Public Radio from 3 to 7 p.m. weekdays, including hosting the Regional Spotlight and the popular Friday Favorites. Prior to working at MPR, Steve presented a variety of radio programs at WCAL in Northfield, MN. He began his radio career at WXXI in Rochester, NY. A graduate of Oberlin College and the Eastman School of Music, Steve is an active freelance singer and violist. As a former member of the Dale Warland Singers, he can be heard as a soloist on a number of the ensemble’s recordings. Steve is a certified yoga instructor having recently completed a 230-hour teacher training. He and his wife, Naomi, enjoy traveling, gardening and hosting dinner parties.
Sue Ruby, NCTM, received her MM in piano pedagogy emphasis from Columbus State University (GA) where she studied with John O'Brien. Additionally, she graduated summa cum laude with a BME, piano pedagogy from the University of MN-Duluth. Ms. Ruby has been on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music since 2001 where she teaches private and group piano, and co-teaches singer-actor performance labs. She is an active member of Phi Beta Kappa and MMTA, and also the co-founder of the Association of Professional Piano Instructors (APPI). In 2011, Ms. Ruby co-created Fridays in the Valley, a chamber music series that raises money for charity.
Jim Reilly, tenor and Beatrice Giere, piano
Jim Reilly is both a tenor and pianist. He has performed locally Thursday Musical, the Alliance Française, The International Leif Eriksson Festival, The Schubert Club Courtroom Series, The Danish American Cultural Center, The Nordvendt Concert Series, the American Swedish Institute and many other venues, as well as in twenty other states, Norway, and Holland. He is Music Director Emeritus at Mindekirken, our area's only Norwegian-language church. Composing has taken a back seat to performing for years, but he is now producing more music, and many new pieces will receive their first performances this season.
Beatrice Giere has appeared on many of these programs as a soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist, since joining Thursday Musical in 1975. She has performed throughout the Twin Cities, including the Ordway McKnight Theatre, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, and several times on Minnesota Public Radio. With tenor Jim Reilly she has performed at the Nordvendt Series, the American Swedish Institute and the Landmark Noon Series among others. They have frequently given concerts in Madison, WI, and in have performed together at the Nordland Musikkfestuke, a music festival in Bodø, Norway. Ms. Giere, a former piano instructor at Macalester, maintains an active teaching studio in St. Louis Park.