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Featuring Sandra Sheih, flute, Brian De Young, piano & Grace Heatherington-Tilka, cello*; Kristine West Denton, piano with Elizabeth Mollison Allison, piano*; and Aja Majkrzak, violin with Amos Lucidi, piano. Compositions by Mozart, Hadyn, Copland, Trimble, and Holst will be featured.
Click the photo on the left for artist and program information.
For everyone’s safety, Thursday Musical strongly recommends all audience members to wear a non-cloth mask such as a N95, KN95, KF94, or surgical mask inside of the recital hall.
Aja has been playing the violin since she was 4 years old. She received her Bachelor’s of Music from the University of Minnesota in 2011 under the tutelage of Mark Bjork, and her Master’s of Music from Louisiana State University in 2013 studying with Espen Lilleslatten. Since then she has performed with many regional orchestras and has served as section leader for various community orchestras. Her orchestral experiences have given her the opportunity to share the stage with performers like Leila Josefowicz, Audra McDonald, and Gil Shaham.
Orchestral playing is the focus of her career but Aja has also performed with 2 Cellos, Foreigner, Harry Connick, Jr., Kygo, the Transiberian Orchestra and the Latin jazz group Charanga Tropical. In June 2015 she traveled to Havana, Cuba with the group to become the first band from the United States to participate in the International Danzon Festival.
If she is not making music you can find Aja with her two cats, Dexter and Cindy Lou Who, cooking vegetarian and vegan meals, and attempting to keep her plants alive.
Amos is studying a Doctor of Musical Arts program in Piano Performance at the University of Minnesota under the guidance of the Professor Alexander Braginsky. Regarded as one of the most outstanding young Mexican musicians, Amos Lucidi has performed extensively as a soloist and in chamber groups in Mexico, Italy, France and the United Kingdom, participating in important festivals such as the International Festival of Mayan Culture and Merida Fest. He has been soloist on several occasions with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Yucatan. More recent appearances include recitals in venues such as St. James’s Piccadilly and the Old Royal Naval College in London, l’Eglise de Saint-Merry in Paris and Teatro Clitunno in Trevi, Italy.
Amos’ solo repertoire comprises a wide range of authors from the Baroque to the 20th-century music, especially focusing on late Russian composers as Scriabin, Rachmaninov, and Prokofiev. He frequently includes music from the Mexican composers, Manuel M. Ponce and José Rolón, in his recitals.
Sandra Sheih made her performance debut at the age of 14 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. She went on to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Flute Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying with Alexander Murray. Next, she was invited to study privately and intensively with Joshua Smith (Cleveland Orchestra, Principal Flute) for two years, and then continued her study of the flute under Adam Kuenzel (Minnesota Orchestra, Principal Flute) for five years. She has participated as a performer in intensive international masterclasses with Marina Piccini both in 1999 and 2024. She was recently a finalist in an International Concerto Competition in Switzerland.
Ms. Sheih has performed in a variety of settings throughout her career including operas, Broadway shows, symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and as a concerto soloist. Opera and Broadway experience has included: Ohio Light Opera, Des Moines Opera and Broadway Shows in Des Moines (including a special write up in the Des Moines Register about her “incredibly delightful” piccolo playing in a Best of Andrew Lloyd Weber show).
Her symphony orchestra experience has included regular principal flute and piccolo positions with Exultate Chamber Orchestra and Choir (15 years), Ames Symphony (9 years), Oskaloosa Symphony (9 years), Des Moines Municipal Band (9 years), and Symphony of the Lakes (5 years). Sandra has substituted multiple times with Des Moines Symphony, Duluth Symphony, Mankato Symphony, Rochester Symphony, St. Cloud Symphony and for numerous community orchestras.
Ms. Sheih has been a concerto soloist numerous times and her repertoire has included: Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Bach Suite in b minor, Briccaldi Carnival of Venice, Borne Carmen Fantasie, Chaminade Concertino, Doppler Andante et Rondo, Hue Fantasie, Mozart Concerto in D, Mozart Concerto in G, Vivaldi Piccolo Concerto in C Major.
Ms. Sheih has been teaching private flute lessons since she was given her teacher’s “wait list” at the age of 14. She currently teaches a private studio and is the Flute Professor at Bethel University.
Currently, she is the Principal Flutist of Exultate Chamber Orchestra and Choir, a founding member of FluteSpiration Quartet, and a regular soloist with Summit Music. She also just launched her “Enhancing Emotional Intelligence through Music” project.
A previous cello student of renowned pedagogues Peter Stumpf and Peter Howard, Grace Heatherington-Tilka has performed in diverse settings throughout her career; from classical chamber and orchestral music to Latin and new music.
Graduating from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with degrees in Cello Performance and Recording Arts Technology, Grace has performed as principal cellist in the Latin American Popular Music Ensemble and section cellist in the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Lakeview Orchestra.
Developing her interest in new music, Grace worked with the Chicago-based new music ensemble Dal Niente, which included composers and musicians Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, George Lewis, Murat Colak, Ah Young Hong and many others. Notable productions include “Piece Her Together” a staged performance of “The Body of the State” by Eliza Brown and “When Stranger Things Happen” by Katherine Young: “On the Threshold of Winter” by Michael Hersch presented at The Corcoran New Music
Organist and pianist Brian De Young is a musician of broad skills and interests ranging from Renaissance and Baroque to musical theatre and new classical music. He is a Professor of Music at Augsburg University in Minneapolis where he teaches organ and collaborative piano and serves as Campus Ministry musician. An active freelance chamber musician, he has performed in numerous festivals around the country with members of the Chicago Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Grand Rapids (Michigan) Symphony, and others.
Also a skilled bass-baritone, Brian has sung with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, Minnesota Renaissance Choir, Kantorei, The Summer Singers, and the Italian Baroque ensemble Consortium Carissimi. He has conducted church and community choirs in Iowa, Michigan, and Minnesota, and is currently the music director at Trinity Lutheran Congregation on the campus of Augsburg.
Brian studied organ performance at Dordt University in Iowa, church music at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Ohio, and piano pedagogy at Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Prior to Augsburg, he served on the piano faculties at Grand Valley and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
One of the best things about duo piano music is the opportunity for a pianist, who is by nature accustomed to a solitary musical path, to have the opportunity to collaborate with another pianist. Today’s pianists are not only collaborating but have been good friends for over four decades and share much of their musical history and training.
Elizabeth Mollison Allison and Kristine West Denton met in the 80s while piano students of Jim Johnson in Minneapolis. Subsequently, they both studied with Margaret Baxtresser at Kent State University in Ohio and with Kenneth Amada at the University of Iowa. After holding teaching positions throughout Iowa, Elizabeth is currently the Director of Keyboard Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul; Kristine retired from Edinboro University. of Pennsylvania and now freelances in the metro area. They both have performed concerti and enjoyed extensive chamber music and collaborative experiences with singers. After moving back to the metro area, they are delighted to have the opportunity to perform together today.
