Tickets are $15 for non-members & $10 per ticket for groups of 8+. Students are now free.
Going to miss a concert? Purchase a Youtube replay for $8 or get access to the full Thursday Musical library of concerts by becoming a member. Get a preview of our replays by watching this year’s opening concert: https://youtu.be/Hw57S8OACuU.
Featuring Thursday Musical Members Elizabeth Woolner, mezzo soprano & Jim Reilly, piano; Grace Heatherington-Tilka, cello* & Brian De Young, piano; Tara Priolo, soprano & Kristine West Denton, piano; and Deanne Mohr, piano.
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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.
Winona State University faculty member Deanne Mohr performs extensively as a soloist and collaborative artist in the Midwestern United States and Canada. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Mohr completed her doctorate in piano performance at Université de Montréal under the tutelage of Marc Durand. A laureate in several national competitions, she has been recorded in recital for CBC Saskatchewan and Radio-Canada and was a featured artist in the Montréal Début Series and the Banff Centre of the Arts’ Summer Festival. Recent performances include concerto appearances with the Winona Symphony Orchestra (Chopin’s Concerto in f minor, Saint-Saëns’ Carnaval des animaux with Eric Brisson, duo pianist) and recitals with baritone Alan Dunbar and soprano Liz Pearse. Dr. Mohr is also active as a pedagogue and clinician, presenting masterclasses and adjudicating throughout the region.
Elizabeth Woolner has enjoyed a long association with Thursday Musical beginning in 1980. She received early vocal training at the University of Toronto and Peabody Conservatory. She has performed as a soprano soloist with Minnetonka Choral Society (1980-1984). She has sung as soprano section leader with churches in Minneapolis and St. Paul (1978-2008).
She sang as section leader with the Minnesota Chorale from 1998-2008. She is an active member with the Mpls.-St. Paul Alumni Chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon. Since 2010, she has resided in Rochester, Minnesota where she is a substitute teacher with the Rochester Public Schools.
Jim Reilly is a pianist, tenor, composer and poet; he is the Music Director Emeritus at Mindekirken, our area’s only Norwegian language church. Recent performances have been for Leif Eriksson International Festival (singing a program of Icelandic songs with the Icelandic-American pianist Kristín Jonína Taylor). The Alliance Française (as a composer, poet, and pianist in a performance of his song cycle “What’s Inside Makes No Sense to a Bird” with tenor Ben Cooper), Mu Phi Epsilon (as a singer and pianist), and, of course, Thursday Musical, where he will perform as a solo pianist in a later program this year.
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.
Tara Priolo is known to most as ‘your resident white-facing biracial multi-passionate musician.’ She is, among other things: a soprano, brand coach, voice teacher, activist/diversity counselor, and arts administrator. In all spaces, she brings a commitment to vulnerability, equality & equity, and a penchant for starting and facilitating hard conversations. She has performed with many local organizations including Minnesota Opera, An Opera Theater, & Journey North Opera Company. She is also the owner/operator of Tara Priolo Studio, which includes teaching voice, piano, social media/online presence & DEI-B. She also sits on many local boards and is the operations manager of Thursday Musical. Tara successfully juggles all the obligations above in addition to raising two dogs, Millie and Moose, with her husband, Ross & baby Piper. She holds a MM in Vocal Performance from University of Minnesota – Duluth (2015) and a BA in Vocal Performance from Luther College (2013). Currently, she studies with soprano Debra Gilroy.
Kristine West Denton has performed across the country, in Canada, and Germany as a soloist and collaborative pianist. She recently retired from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she taught at Grinnell College, Coe College and Fort Hays State University.
She was a frequent soloist with the Erie Philharmonic and played keyboards for the Erie Philharmonic, Erie Chamber Orchestra and the Bemus Bay Pops. She performed on live broadcasts from WKSU (Kent, OH), WCLV (Cleveland) and WQLN (Erie) in collaborative performances. She administered and performed in a free concert series at the Erie County Public Library and served on the Arts Council of Erie.
A concert review from the Badische Zeitung (Freiburg, Germany) called her “an excellent soloist and an intelligent and sensitive accompanist” while a recipient of a Collaborative Fulbright Grant.
She attended the vocal accompanying program at the Music Academy of the West and the vocal and instrumental programs of the Blossom Festival School, studying with Martin Katz, Warren Jones and Cleveland Orchestra members.
A native of Minnesota, Kristine received degrees from the University of Iowa (DMA), Kent State University, and Augsburg College (Mpls). Her principal teachers were Kenneth Amada, Margaret Baxtresser and Jim Johnson.