(PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Westminster Conservatory Faculty Recital Series continues with a program titled “Music from the British Isles” on Saturday, March 2 at 7:30pm. in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton. The program will focus on chamber works of Charles Villiers Stanford and his pupils: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gordon Jacob, Gustav Holst, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Admission is free.
The performers will be Ken Ellison, clarinet; Urška Haule Feguš, violin; Kaarin Record Leach, piano; Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, piano; Suzanne Lehrer, piano; Chika Mimura, violin; Chase Morrison, cello; Emily Muller, viola; Dezheng Ping, violin; Sam Sapienza, doublebass and Barbara Highton Williams, flute.
Kenneth Ellison, clarinet, has performed internationally with ensembles including the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Riverside Symphonia, the Greenville Symphony and the American Fine Arts Festival. He has played under conductors Andrea Quinn, John Rutter, Frederick Fennell and Rossen Milanov at venues including Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, NJPAC and the Liszt School of Music.
Urska Haule Fegus, violin, received a Master of Music in violin performance and pedagogy from University of Ljubljana. She has played in the Academy Chamber Orchestra, in the Slovene Symphony Orchestra, and has toured in Italy, Austria and Switzerland. In 2000 she was awarded a first violin position in the Slovene National Theatre-Opera and Ballet, Ljubljana, where she performed for six years, until moving to the US.
Kaarin Record Leach, piano, received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Westminster Choir College, with additional studies at Princeton University. She has been on stage under the direction of such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and Zubin Mehta at halls including Juilliard, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, and with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia and Juilliard Orchestras.
Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, piano, is internationally known as a performer, teacher, clinician, author and adjudicator, she has given master classes, workshops and enjoyed an active concert career as soloist and collaborative artist in the US, Canada, Central America, Asia and Europe. Recent lectures, master classes and performances were presented in Scotland, Colorado, New York, and at NJMTA, the Diller Quaile School, Third Street Music School, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Steinway Society.
Suzanne Lehrer, piano, has been a Westminster Conservatory faculty member since 1998. A graduate of Westminster Choir College with an M.M. in Piano Performance, where she studied with Jose Ramos-Santana, she also received a B.A. in Music (piano) from University of Rochester. She is an active member of MTNA, and NJMTA where she is on the board, as well as being a board member of the Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts.
Chika Mimura, violin, received a Diploma of Suzuki Violin Instructor from The Talent Education Research Institute in Japan. Her teaching experience includes Suzuki instruction for 10 years in Japan, for 1 year at The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential in PA, and has been a Conservatory faculty member from 2004-07 and from 2009 to present day.
Chase Morrison, cello, attended Wellesley College, where she studied theory and composition with Arlene Zallman and received a B.A. in Music. At age 22, she was appointed principal cellist of the Tasmanian Symphony, followed by a co-principal position with the Melbourne Symphony. She is currently Director of Orchestras at Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA where she is also a cello instructor and chamber music coach.
Emily Muller, viola, received a B.M. from the New School of Music. She has been a member of the Delaware Symphony, the Philly Pops, Concerto Soloists, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Opera Company of Delaware, Reading Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Orchestra 2001, Kennett Square Symphony, Trenton Symphony, Riverside Symphony and is currently a member of the Princeton Symphony.
Dezheng Ping, violin, received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Beijing Central Conservatory of Music in China, and his Master of Arts degree from Minnesota State University Moorhead. His professional experiences include Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and Beijing Central Philharmonic of China; principal positions in Manalapan Battleground Symphony; Augusta Symphony, Delaware Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, and Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra.
Sam Sapienza, doublebass, was inspired to begin his musical journey later in life. Today he enjoys playing with the Westminster Community Orchestra, the Hopewell Community Orchestra, the Tim Keyes Consort, and various pickup bands, such as the Princeton Country Dance Band.
Barbara Highton Williams, flute, is a founding member of the Volanti Flute Quartet, former principal flutist of the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and former member of the San Jose Wind Symphony and Blawenburg Band. She is also co-founder of AEOLUS, a duo devoted to dialogue between poetry and music for solo flute.
Learn more about this performance at www.rider.edu/arts.
