guest artist biographies 2016-2017 season artist biographies 2016-2017 season photos: please contact...

Guest Artist Biographies

2016-2017 Season

Photos: Please contact Teri Venker at [email protected] if you need photos.

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MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA SEASON 2016-2017 ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

PAGE 2

GUEST ARTIST INDEX

Artist Page

Naha Greenholtz, Violin 3

Henning Kraggerud, Violin 4

Christina and Michelle Naughton, Piano Duo

5

Sylvia McNair, Soprano 6

James and Brenda DeVita, Actors 7

Stephen Hough, Piano 8

Carl St. Clair, Guest Conductor 9

Tine Thing Helseth, Trumpet 10

Philippe Bianconi, Piano 11

Nathan Laube, Organ 12

Devon Gunthrie, Soprano 13

Timothy Jones, Bass-Baritone 14


PAGE 3

Naha Greenholtz, Violin

John Corigliano

Chaconne from The Red Violin

Sept. 23, 24, 25, 2016

Acclaim

"Naha Greenholtz brought off her concerto-like violin assignments as a

true virtuoso." – Isthmus

Biography

Canadian violinist Naha Greenholtz was born in Kyoto, Japan, where she began her violin studies at age

three. Since her solo debut at 14, concerto appearances include engagements with the Vancouver,

Madison, Quad City, Burnaby, Kelowna, and National Repertory Orchestras in works ranging from Bach

to Stravinsky.

Ms. Greenholtz has also had an active career as an orchestra musician. In addition to her duties as

Concertmaster of both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra,

performance highlights include guest concertmaster appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Calgary

Philharmonic, National Ballet of Canada, Omaha Symphony, and Memphis Symphony, among many

others.

Ms. Greenholtz has participated in prominent music festivals throughout the US and Europe including

Kneisel Hall (Maine), Taos (New Mexico), Spoleto (Italy), Lucerne (Switzerland), and the New York String

Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall. In June and July she will rejoin the National Ballet of Canada as

guest concertmaster for their summer season, including a one week residency at The Saratoga

Performing Arts Center in New York. She will also perform in June at Madison's own Bach Dancing &

Dynamite Society.


PAGE 4

Henning Kraggerud, Violin

Bruch

Violin Concerto No. 1

Kraggerud

Three Postludes from Equinox

Oct. 21, 22, 23, 2016

Acclaim

“Kraggerud took advantage of every possibility the music offered,

from soaring, high harmonic melodies to…rich interaction with the

orchestra.” -- The International Review of Music

Biography

Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud is co-Artistic Director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music and

Artistic Director of the Arctic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra.

Henning’s esteemed position as an artist originates from his intelligent expression and impressive

virtuosity combined with an unusually colorful tone. A natural and instinctive artist, he consistently

draws audiences and critics towards the genuine quality of his playing.

In the spirit of the old masters such as Fritz Kreisler and Eugène Ysaÿe, Henning composes his own

music, performing many of his own works, arrangements and cadenzas in concert. Henning is also an

accomplished improviser, a skill which led him to a recording entitled “Last Spring”. The disc was the

result of a collaboration with Norwegian jazz pianist Bugge Wesseltoft.

Henning is a recipient of Norway's prestigious Grieg Prize and in 2007 was awarded the Sibelius Prize for

his interpretations and recording of Sibelius’ music around the world. Henning is a Professor at the

Barratt Due Institute of Music in Oslo, where he plays/directs the Oslo Camerata. Since September 2015,

he has been the International Chair in Violin at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester,

England.


PAGE 5

Christina and Michelle

Naughton, Piano Duo

Mozart

Concerto for Two Pianos

Nov. 11, 12, 13, 2016

Acclaim

“Joining two hearts and four hands at two grand pianos, the Naughton sisters created an electrifying and

moving musical performance.” --Sing Tao Daily (Hong Kong)

Biography

The Naughton sisters have captivated audiences throughout the world with the unity created by their

mystical musical communication, and as featured by the Wall Street Journal in their own words, “there

are times I forget we are two people playing together”. The sisters recently signed an exclusive

recording contract with Warner Classics which will release their second album, Visions, in March 2016.

Orchestral engagements include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston, Milwaukee,

New Jersey, North Carolina, Nashville, Virginia, Hawaii, El Paso, Napa Valley, and Madison Symphonies.

Christina and Michelle’s recitals include venues in America such as the Kennedy Center’s Terrace

Theater, New York City’s Naumburg Orchestral Concert Series at the Historic Naumberg Bandshell

(Central Park) and many others.

Born in Princeton, New Jersey to parents of European and Chinese descent, they spent most of their

early childhood in Madison, Wisconsin. They began playing the piano at age four, tutored by their

mother. Christina and Michelle are graduates of The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music,

where they were each awarded the Festorazzi Prize. They are Steinway Artists and currently reside in

New York City.


PAGE 6

Sylvia McNair, Soprano

A Madison Symphony Christmas

Dec. 2, 3, 4, 2016

Acclaim

“Sylvia McNair was a great addition… so warm and clear on her

songs.” --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Biography

Two-time Grammy Award winner and regional Emmy Award winner, Sylvia McNair lays claim to a three-

decade, stellar career in the musical realms of opera, oratorio, cabaret, and musical theater. Her journey

has taken her from the Metropolitan Opera to the Salzburg Festival, from the New York Philharmonic to

the Rainbow Room, from the Ravinia Festival to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, from the pages of the

New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to the London Times and the cover of Cabaret Scenes. She’s

appeared as a soloist multiple times with nearly every major opera company and symphony orchestra in

the world, and is retracing her star route now with Gershwin, Porter, Bernstein and Sondheim. It would

be difficult to top Sylvia’s invitations to sing the Bach B-minor Mass with the Vienna Philharmonic for

Pope John Paul II at The Vatican (2000) and a recital for the US Supreme Court by special request of

Justice Sandra Day O’Conner (1998).

A proud Buckeye from Mansfield, Ohio, Sylvia earned a Master’s Degree with Distinction from the

Indiana University School of Music where she now serves on the faculty. She’s received honorary

doctorates from Westminster College (1997) and Indiana University (1998), the Ohio Governor’s Award

for Outstanding Achievement in Arts and Entertainment (1999), and the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award

(2011).


PAGE 7

James DeVita, Actor

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Beyond the Score®: Scheherazade

Jan. 15, 2017

Biography

A Long Island native, James DeVita has an esteemed career as an

author, actor, and theater director. Mr. DeVita is a core company

member and the literary manager at American Players Theater, a classical repertory theater in

Wisconsin, and has just finished his 21st season with the company. He’s worked as an actor in Japan,

Germany, Australia, Ireland, and around the United States.

Brenda DeVita, Actor

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

Beyond the Score®: Scheherazade

Jan. 15, 2017

Biography

Brenda DeVita studied theater at the University of Northern Iowa and the Professional Theatre Training

Program at the University of Delaware. She trained with Tadashi Suzuki in Japan and worked many years

as a professional actress. DeVita is currently the Artistic Director for the American Players Theater and

just finished her 21st season with the company. Her directing credits include Shakespeare’s Will, Les

Liaisons Dangereuses, A Year of Magical Thinking, and The Other Place. She lives in beautiful Spring

Green with her husband, James DeVita, and their two children, Gale and Sophia.


PAGE 8

Stephen Hough, Piano

Saint- Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5

(The Egyptian)

Feb. 17, 18, 19, 2017

Acclaim

“The most perfect piano playing conceivable.” -- The Guardian

“A virtuoso who begins where others leave off.” -- Washington Post

Biography

Named by The Economist as one of 20 Living Polymaths, British pianist Stephen Hough is a rare

Renaissance man of our time. Over the course of a long and distinguished career as one of the world’s

leading concert pianists, he has also excelled as a writer and composer.

In 2001 Mr. Hough became the first classical performing artist to win a MacArthur Foundation

Fellowship. He was awarded the 2008 Northwestern University’s Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano and

went on to win the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award in 2010. In addition, Mr. Hough is

an avid writer. He has written for London’s The Guardian and The Times, and was invited by the

Telegraph Media Group in December 2008 to write a cultural blog that receives ten to 15 thousand hits

every week.

Currently a resident of London, Mr. Hough is a visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in

London, holds the International Chair of Piano Studies at his alma mater, the Royal Northern College in

Manchester, England, and is on the faculty of The Julliard School in New York. He was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2014 New Year’s Honours List.


PAGE 9

Carl St. Clair, Guest Conductor

Ludwig Van Beethoven

Egmont Overture

Johann Hummel

Trumpet Concerto

Richard Strauss

An Alpine Symphony

Mar. 10, 11, 12, 2017

Biography

Music Director of the Pacific Symphony for more than two decades, Carl St. Clair has become widely

recognized for his musically distinguished performances, innovative approaches to programming, and

commitment to outstanding educational programs. The largest ensemble formed in the United States

during the last forty years, the Pacific Symphony owes its rapid artistic growth to Mr. St. Clair’s astute

leadership. Influenced by his close association with Leonard Bernstein, his commitment to the

development and performance of new works by American composers is evident in the wealth of

commissions and recordings by the Symphony. During the orchestra’s first European tour several years

ago, they consistently played to packed houses with rave reviews.

Most recently, Mr. St. Clair has been named Music Director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa

Rica. Now in its 73rd season, the orchestra is a well-established regional and national orchestra serving

the entire country.

Mr. St. Clair has also been general music director and chief conductor of the German National Theater

and Staatskapelle in Weimar, Germany (the first non-European to hold this position), general music

director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, and principal guest conductor of the Radio Sinfonieorchester

Stuttgart, where he successfully completed a three-year recording project of the complete Villa-Lobos

symphonies.


PAGE 10

Tine Thing Helseth, Trumpet

Johann Hummel

Trumpet Concerto

Mar. 10, 11, 12, 2017

Acclaim

“[Helseth’s] ability to transform the brassy trumpet sound into

something soft, supple, lyrical and delectable needs to be heard to

be believed.” -- The Evening Standard

Biography

Tine Thing Helseth started to play the trumpet at the age of 7, and is one of today’s leading trumpet

soloists.

Recent engagements include her BBC Proms concerto debut at the Royal Albert Hall in the London

premiere of Matthias Pintscher’s Chute d’Étoiles for two trumpets and orchestra with the BBC Scottish

Symphony Orchestra, her acclaimed debut at London’s Wigmore Hall, the world premiere of Bent

Sørensen’s Trumpet Concerto with the Bergen Philharmonic, and further performances with the

Gothenburg Symphony and Copenhagen Philharmonic orchestras.

In addition to concert appearances, Tine also curates her own festival, Tine@Munch, which was

launched in June 2013 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of fellow Norwegian, Edvard

Munch. The three-day event is in Oslo’s Edvard Munch Museum.

In recognition of her outstanding performing abilities, Tine has received various awards including

“Newcomer of the Year” at the 2013 Echo Klassik Awards, the 2009 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship,

“Newcomer of the Year” at the 2007 Norwegian Grammy Awards (the first classical artist ever to be

nominated), and second prize in the 2006 Eurovision Young Musicians Competition.


PAGE 11

Philippe Bianconi, Piano

Rachmaninoff

Piano Concerto No. 3

Apr. 7, 8, 9, 2017

Acclaim

“Bianconi is a true aristocrat of the piano. Classically

poised, Romantically ardent… with effortless grace and

unforced power.” -- BBC Music Magazine

“An extraordinary exhibition of musicianship, technical control and good taste which lent the music a

freshness, immediacy and conviction one all too seldom encounters” ----The London Times

Biography

French pianist Philippe Bianconi attended the Conservatory in Nice where he studied with Simone

Delbert-Fevrier. In Paris he studied with Gaby Casadesus and in Freiburg-in-Breisgau with Vitalij

Margulis. He was the first prize winner of both the Casadesus International Competition in Cleveland

and the “Jeunesse Musicales” International Competition in Belgrade, as well as the Silver Medal of the

Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth.

Philippe Bianconi is the new director of the American Conservatory, located in the Palais de

Fontainebleau. Founded in 1921 to introduce the best American music students to the French musical

tradition of teaching, composing and performing, it has included on its faculty the most prestigious

names: Maurice Ravel, Marcel Dupré, and Leonard Bernstein. This will be his sixth performance with the

Madison Symphony Orchestra.

http://www.cliburn.org/cliburn-competition/about-the-competition/

http://www.fontainebleauschools.org/index.html


PAGE 12

Nathan Laube, Organ

Brahms

A German Requiem

May 5, 6, 7, 2017

Biography

A star among young classical musicians, concert

organist Nathan Laube has quickly earned a place among the

organ world's elite performers. In addition to his busy concert

schedule, Mr. Laube serves as Assistant Professor of Organ at

The Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he teaches with distinguished professors

David Higgs and Edoardo Bellotti.

Highlights of Mr. Laube’s recent festival appearances around the world include the 2014 Naumburg

Orgelsommer (Germany), the 2015 Smarano Organ Academy (Italy), the Max Reger Foundation of

America's 2015 Max Reger Festival (USA), the WFMT Bach Project for which he performed the complete

Clavierübung III (Chicago, USA), and for several EROI Festivals at the Eastman School of Music (USA).

Mr. Laube holds a Master’s Degree in Organ from the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany, where he

was a student of Ludger Lohmann, and recipient of a German DAAD Fellowship Study Scholarship for his

studies there. As a recipient of a William Fulbright Grant, Nathan spent the 2010-2011 academic year

studying with Michel Bouvard and Jan Willem Jansen at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de

Toulouse, where he earned the Prix de Spécialisé, in addition to the Prix François Vidal from the city of

Toulouse.

###


PAGE 13

Devon Guthrie, Soprano

Brahms

A German Requiem

May 5, 6, 7, 2017

Acclaim

“Devon Guthrie..was a class act, able to

transform her mood…in a flash. Her voice was

a rich delight.” -- Arts Desk

Biography

Guthrie has won several awards and prizes in competitions such as the Gerda Lissner Competition,

Houston Grand Opera Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers, Licia Albanese Competition and

Liederkranz. She was also an apprentice at the Santa Fe Opera and Tanglewood Music Festival, where

she worked with James Levine.

Recent operatic roles include Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby at the New England Conservatory,

Erste Dame in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Philadelphia, Chocholka in The Cunning Little Vixen for the

New York Philharmonic, Bubikopf in Der Kaiser von Atlantis with the Central City Opera, and Donna

Elvira in Don Giovanni at the Tanglewood Music Festival. At Juilliard her roles included: Sidonie in

Armide, Drusilla in L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Laurie in The Tender Land.

A dedicated recitalist and contemporary music interpreter, she has appeared several times at the Opera

America Salon and has performed pieces such as Lonely Child by Claude Vivier, 13 Ways of Looking at a

Blackbird by Lukas Foss, and Orpheus and Euridice by Ricky Ian Gordon.


PAGE 14

Timothy Jones,

Bass-Baritone

Brahms

A German Requiem

May 5, 6, 7, 2017

Acclaim

"Everyone bowed to baritone Timothy Jones' utter inhabiting

of the role. Jones' voice -- flowing, flexible, but always with a

gorgeous timbre -- sought for and found the nuances..." --

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Biography

American Bass-Baritone Timothy Jones enjoys a reputation as an exciting presence on operatic and

concert stages throughout the United States, Europe and South America. His eagerly anticipated

performances combine intelligent musicianship, commanding vocal technique, and a unique ability to

connect with audiences.

Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, Mr. Jones made his New York debut with the Chamber Music Society of

Lincoln Center in Feb. 2000. An enthusiastic champion of new and contemporary music, Mr. Jones has

commissioned and premiered numerous compositions.

Mr. Jones’ annual appearances with Kevin Noe and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble are a highpoint

of the season. His performance of Pulitzer Prize Winning Composer Kevin Puts’ Einstein on Mercer

Street is featured on PNME’s recent recording “Against the Emptiness”. Among the composers he has

worked with are: Derek Bermel, Robert Avalon, John Vasconcelos Costa, Kevin Fuchs, Jeffrey Goldberg,

David Heuser, and Jeffrey Nytch.

guest artist biographies 2016-2017 season artist biographies 2016-2017 season photos: please contact...

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