Thursday Musical Artist Series
**on Zoom
Tickets $15
Link will be provided to the Zoom event 24 hours before.
Full program can be found here
Robin Griffeath, tenor, holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (D.M. in vocal performance), the University of Arizona (M.M. in vocal performance), and Lawrence University (B.M. in vocal performance).
On stage Mr. Griffeath has performed roles including Nemorino in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Ferrando in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff, and Nanki Poo in Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. In recital, Dr. Griffeath has recently performed Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch, selections from the composizioni da camera of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi, Benjamin Britten's Michelangelo Sonnets, and Ben Moore's song cycle, Dear Theo.
He has sung with the Arizona Opera Chorus, North Star Opera Chorus, and the Arizona Choir. Mr. Griffeath's students have attended Luther College, the Tisch School of the Arts, and the University of North Texas. Robin currently serves as Assistant Professor of Voice at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
Kristin Griffeath, soprano, holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance (D.M.A. in Voice Performance, M.M. in Musicology), the University of Arizona (M.M. in Voice Performance), and the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music (B.M. in Music Education with Voice as Primary Instrument, and Piano Performance). Favorite roles include "The Lady with a Hand Mirror" from Argento's Postcard from Morocco, "Dorine" from Mechem's Tartuffe, and "Miss Wordsworth" from Britten's Albert Herring. She has performed with the Tucson Masterworks Chorale, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and the Tucson Chamber Artists. Originally from Plymouth, Minnesota, Dr. Griffeath currently teaches as an associate professor for Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Her continuing research into popular music of World War I prompted a collaboration on an exhibit for the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and she currently serves on the museum's Academic Advisory Board.
Violinist Rolf Haas is ‘fearless’ (Minneapolis Star Tribune). As a musician who is not ashamed to take risks, Rolf combines virtuosity and an expansive sound palette playing impactful performances to audiences all across the globe. A Minneapolis native, He has won numerous prizes at competitions in the USA, including prizes in MTNA, ASTA, etc, and has been featured in concerts at festivals such as Meadowmount (NY), The International Summer String Academy (Czech Republic), The Sommer-Akademie at the Mozarteum, (Salzburg, Austria), and many others. He His primary studies took place with Professor Yair Kless in Graz, Austria (Postgraduate 2010-2013) and with Professor Sally O'Reilly at the University of Minnesota (Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance received 2010). He has played concerts all over the world in various capacities, notable past performances are: soloist with the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra, Featured Soloist for the Georgian Ballet playing Stravinsky Duo Concertante, and a European tour as soloist playing the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg. Recently, Rolf organized and performed recitals in Berlin (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Chicago (USA), Ibiza (Spain) as well as making his London Debut with Pianist Miki Aoki. He has worked with and performed works by World Renowned Composer Kaija Saariaho in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Rolf's mother is an artist, and Rolf has frequently been involved in performances with visual artists, helping to show a unity between the disciplines. Mr. Haas plays on his grandfather's Gagliano. The world premier of the Violin Concerto by Alban Berg was played by his grandfather's teacher Louis Krasner on this instrument. He currently plays regularly as part of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Rolf is also a respected hip-hop artist (emcee/producer). He is one of the founding members of the group Nocturnal Unit. The group has released 1 full length album, an E.P. and a set of 7 singles which combines to make their second full length. They have been featured on the Current 89.3, undergroundhiphop.com, and undergroundhiphopradio.com and has been in regular rotation on 98.2 The Beat (Los Angeles). Currently, he is working on music for his new project titled ‘Midnight Armada’. In some of his hip-hop songs, Rolf plays his violin, and occasionally samples classical works. Through this, Rolf hopes to introduce people to classical music in a new way that will promote appreciation of the art amongst those who might never have or wanted to listen to classical music before.
Sara Wandrei Langmead holds DMA and MM degrees from the Peabody Conservatory where she studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky for seven years. As a full-tuition Strelow Scholar, she received her BM degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sara made her orchestral debut at age 16, won first prizes in the Schubert Club and UW-Madison Concerto competitions at the collegiate level, and was awarded full scholarship to study with Gyorgy Sebok for two summers at the Banff Centre. In 1997, she won first prize at the international Sigma Alpha Iota Competition.
Dr. Langmead held piano faculty positions at St. Mary’s College-MD, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia College-MO, and at Mercyhurst University-PA, where she was Assistant Professor of Piano. After the birth of her second daughter, Dr. Langmead left her tenure-track position in academia in 2004. Over the next fourteen years, she raised four daughters and built a successful private piano studio in Minnesota. In 2018, Dr. Langmead returned to the concert stage in New Jersey, Texas, and Minnesota as a soloist and in partnership with Dr. Rossitza Goza, concertmaster of the Tulsa Symphony.
Dr. Jonathan Tauscheck was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he began his training at MacPhail Center for Music. He later earned his Bachelor's and Master's of Music at the University of Minnesota and his Doctorate at the University of Iowa in Piano Performance. Jonathan is an active composer and has written many works for solo piano, which have been performed at liturgical services, weddings, and as commissions for dance performances. He has given composition recitals throughout the Midwest, including a recent four-hand, two-piano arrangement of his Piano Concerto in Antonello Hall at MacPhail Center. His original song set to Sir Thomas Wyatt's poem, "What Should I Say?", was awarded a monetary prize at the 2019 SongSLAM event intended to promote art songs from local composers, and four of his works were performed at Westminster Hall in Minneapolis at the 2019 Source Song Festival. Jonathan's first CD, A Collection of Original Piano Works, was released in 2017 and included on the MNSpin Collection, a streamlining platform through the Hennepin County Library Collection. His second CD, A Collection of Original Vocal Works, has had public performances in venues throughout the Midwest. Dr. Tauscheck holds positions at MacPhail Center, Century College (White Bear Lake), First Presbyterian Church (Maple Plain), and Von Maur (Eden Prairie).