Thursday Musical Artist Series
This concert has been cancelled, please see our home page for details.
Program
To be announced
Please note Elizabeth Longhurst, soprano has cancelled.
Performer Information
Beth Blackledge, flutist, originally from Iowa, graduated from Drake University. She is the principal flutist for St. Paul Civic Symphony. She has appeared as soloist for Thursday Musical, Upper Midwest Flute Association, the Des Moines Symphony and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. She is a private flute teacher in the Twin City Area.
Carol Margolis is a freelance violinist in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area. An active chamber musician, she studied performance with Delmar Pettys of the Lenox String Quartet Bonnie Hampton of the Francesco Trio, and Shirley Santoro at the University of Minnesota. She has been a member of Thursday Musical since 1980 and is concertmaster with the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis. Carol has been a member of the Lake String Quartet since 1982. Regularly giving public and private performance, their list of clients includes Target Corporation, Veteran’s Administration Hospital and Vice President Walter Mondale. The quartet regularly performs for Thursday Musical.
Carol is a performing artist member of the Thursday Musical Organization. When not performing, Carol teaches English as a second language to adult immigrants at the MORE School in Saint Paul, and is an adjunct teacher with Hamline University.
Ingrid Koller is a freelance violist and violin/viola teacher in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. She has played in numerous ensembles and orchestras and has been a member of the Lake String Quartet for over 25 years. Nationally recognized artists for whom Ingrid has played include Roy Clark and contemporary Christian recording artists Michael Card and Fernando Ortega. Ingrid is a member of the contemporary Christian rock group EDGE and is a founder and co-director of the Early Bird String Academy. Inspired by her students, Ingrid writes fun and imaginative pieces for string orchestra and small ensembles. She studied with John Tartaglia at the University of Minnesota where she obtained a BM in Viola Performance. Other teachers include Rennie Regher of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Milton Thomas at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California.
Daryl Carlson is a Minneapolis native and began cello studies with Paul Thomas and Ruth Fischer. He went on to studies with Tanya Remenikova at the University of Minnesota and with Sachiya Isomura and Mina Fisher. He is the founder of the Lake String Quartet, which has performed continually in and around the Twin City area since 1981. He is an active teacher and maintains a studio of cello students. When not performing or teaching, he pursues a strong interest in the making and restoration of stringed instruments of all kinds. He currently has a viola da gamba under way.
Mitchell Blatt, clarinet
Mitchell Blatt grew up in the Washington, D.C. area where he studied clarinet with Sidney Forrest. He then attended the University of Michigan school of music in Ann Arbor on a music scholarship where he studied with David Shifrin and received a bachelor of musical arts degree. He especially appreciates the opportunity to play chamber music that Thursday Musical provides, and also enjoys his day job as an ophthalmologist.
Elizabeth Longhurst, soprano
Soprano Elizabeth Longhurst performs regularly with the Minnesota Opera Chorus, most recently appearing in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, and Moravec’s The Shining. She has been a soloist with Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Bloomington Symphony, the Oregon Bach Festival, and several other orchestras, and was a section leader in the Minnesota Chorale for several years. Elizabeth co-developed and presented Thursday Musical’s “Introduction to Opera” program hundreds of times at Twin Cities elementary schools. Collaborating with other performers is a favorite musical undertaking; most recently she completed a recording of Canteloube’s “Chants d’Auvergne” arranged for soprano, clarinet and piano with two Thursday Musical performing friends. When she is not singing, Elizabeth works as a graphic designer. She holds degrees in vocal music and art from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.
Katherine Willow, harp
Katherine Willow holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University, as well as degrees in harp performance and music education from The Boston Conservatory. She has performed with the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Ludovico Ensemble, Lucie Arnaz’s Babalu Band, and as a solo artist for Boston’s New Music Festival and for the Historical Harp Society. She has world-premiered works by composers Marti Epstein, Mohammed Fairouz, Armand Qualliotine, Rudolph Rojahn, Lachlan Fife, and Joseph Hollings. Dr. Willow’s research interests include social justice in and through music education and adolescent identity development in the music classroom. She has presented on these topics at regional and international conferences, and her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and academic texts. Dr. Willow is a 2018 NAMM Foundation Award recipient. She is co-founder of GentleMUSES, the therapeutic music program at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Catherine Ramirez, flute
Raised in the desert Southwest border town of El Paso, Texas, flutist Catherine Ramirez is a winner of three international competition prizes in Europe and First Prize in the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition. Noted for her sensitive musicianship and compelling artistry, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at such venues as the Teatro del Giglio (Italy), Beijing Concert Hall (China), the Universidad National Conservatorio de Música (Colombia), The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Chicago Cultural Center, Salt Lake City’s Temple Square, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. A versatile musician praised as “an astonishing artist,” whose “conviction and communication are incredibly powerful,” her core repertoire spans from the Baroque era to today. Also recognized as an engaging teacher, she is currently Artist-in-Residence at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Recent activities include masterclasses at universities in the Midwest, as well as performances at the National Flute Association Convention in Orlando, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, the Kentucky Flute Festival, and a guest artist residency with the Montana Flute Association. Other recent activities include recording music videos in Berlin, Germany, with guitarist Eva Beneke, and orchestral performances with the Houston Ballet and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. For more information, please visit www.catherineramirez.com.