Leelanau Summer Music Festival
World class music in
“America’s most beautiful place”
2011 Concert Series
The Arcos Trio
Saturday, July 9, 8pm
Back by popular demand, three international concert artists-- Seunghee Lee, violin; Carl Donakowski, cello; and Anthony Padilla at the restored Everett grand piano, blend the classics with music of our own time, emphasizing works by American and Latin American composers. Arcos Trio members have been performing together in the United States and abroad since 1994. In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Anton Arensky's birth, the trio will perform his Trio in D minor, along with a variety of compositions of Latin American composers.
Seunghee Lee, Violin
A native of Seoul, Korea, is professor of Violin at Central Michigan University. As a soloist and a chamber musician, she has performed throughout the United States, Korea, Ukraine, Brazil, Italy, Austria, Portugal, Russia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, and China. Currently she is the concertmaster of the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and she has served as the concertmaster of the Midland Symphony Orchestra and the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra. Also, she was a faculty member of the Bay View Music Festival and the Interlochen International Summer Camp.
Anthony Padilla , Piano
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Mr. Padilla studied with Nelita True, Jeffrey Kahane, Natalya Antonova, Béla Síki, the late Jorge Bolet and Donald Walker. Awarded the prestigious Beethoven Fellowship by the American Pianists Association in 1991, Mr. Padilla was also a prizewinner in the Gina Bachauer, Cleveland, William Kapell, and Walter Naumburg International Piano Competitions. In addition, he has won top honors from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Society of American Musicians, the Music Teachers National Association, the National Chopin-Koszciuszko Foundation, the Harvard Musical Association and the Theodore Presser Foundation. Mr. Padilla was appointed professor of piano and chamber music at the Lawrence Conservatory in 1997 and Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival since 1995.
Carl Donakowski, Cello
Mr. Donakowski was a prizewinner at the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. His recital performances have been heard on WQRS Detroit, WQXR New York, and Sudwestfunk Radio Baden-Baden. As a chamber musician he has been a member of the North Shore Pro Musica, the Fontana Chamber Music Society and the Orpheus Piano Trio. As a member of the West End Chamber Ensemble he participated in the National Endowment for the Arts/Chamber Music America Rural Residency Chamber Music Initiative. Dr. Donakowski holds degrees from Indiana University, the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an Artist Diploma from the Musikhochschule Freiburg. He is Assistant Professor of Cello at James Madison University, and was on the faculty of the Central Michigan University School of Music and Alma College.
Saturday, July 23, 8 pm
"MUSIC FROM
CELTIC TO COLORATURA"
Monica Donakowska Duffy, presents an evening of song and story. Up close and personal in a gem of a venue, her masterful vocal interpretations please every taste.
With matchless diversity, Monica moves from Baroque to Broadway and beyond. Handel and Mendelssohn, as well as Mozart and Menotti, join Irish and Great Lakes folk songs in a charming combination that blends operatic splendor with popular appeal.
Monica Duffy, Vocalist, Piano
Critically acclaimed as “a moment of grace” by the Philadelphia Inquirer in a program of music by Mozart, Monica earned both bachelors and masters degrees in music performance at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she won the Karl Haas graduate scholarship. She is included in the professional roster for the Philadelphia Singers and also in the Schola of the distinguished sacred music program at historic Old St Joseph’s church, Philadelphia, the oldest continuously functioning Roman Catholic parish in the United States. Recently hired as a team member for preparing Philadelphia Archdiocesan clergy for the New Roman Missal, she assisted by leading the Hours, the traditional sung prayers of the Church.
Recent oratorio performances include, soprano solos for the OSJ Schola presentation of Handel’s Messiah. Performing roles with Clarion Music, NYC/ Pennsylvania ProMusica, Philadelphia / Michigan Opera Theatre, she has also sung with Opera de Lille, France. As a composer and soloist, she presents recital programs of her own compositions. Discography includes solo CD My Love is True, and Knotwork with the Irish band, Separate Reality.
Both as a member of Martha’s House Music ministry and as a solo cantor, Monica is sought after as a liturgical musician and music leader for prayer groups, meditations, and church services.
Steve Larson, Piano
Steve is an accompanist at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He holds a bachelor of music degree from the University of Minnesota and a master of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has played in recitals and chamber music festivals throughout the Midwest including the Absolutely Amadeus Festival in Milwaukee, the Manitou Music Festival and Chamber Music North. Mr. Larson served as company pianist for the Milwaukee Ballet Company, has played for many dance companies including Minnesota Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Ballet Hispanico, and others. He has performed in the pit and onstage for Milwaukee Ballet Company and composed music for several dance productions including Elsa, Milkmaid of Tangier (Milwaukee Ballet School), Stages, Camille, and Song of Flight (Interlochen Dance Ensemble). In 2010, he was named a semi-finalist in the Dayton Ballet New Music/New Dance competition.
In addition to writing music for dancers, he has also composed music for choir, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. His works have been performed by violinist Hal Grossman, the Concord Chamber Orchestra, the Interlochen Arts Academy Choir and the Backyard Recorder Consort. His original music for use in the ballet studio appear on a number of CDs from Brio Recordings and Auarian Sound. His latest recording, Ecole Francaise will be available in August of 2011. Mr. Larson has appeared on radio broadcasts of “Live from Studio A” and “A Prairie Home Companion.”
Judith Wharton Donakowski, Soprano
Judith is at home in many genres from Blues and Broadway to the operatic stage. A masterful music educator of young children, she has also conducted or sung solos with ensembles in America and Europe. Assisted by MSU American Studies professor emeritus, Jeremy Mattson, she delights audiences with “Love’s Old Sweet Songs,” a collage of turn-of-the-twentieth century parlor songs—including an appearance filled with laughter and tears on last year’s inaugural season of this Holy Rosary Center for the Arts, Sala Koncertowa.
Conrad Donakowski, Piano
Dr. Donakowski is MSU Professor Emeritus of Musicology
Saturday, August 13, 8 pm
"A POET OF THE CELLO"
Carl Donakowski, repeats his highly successful concert of last Spring at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, accompanied by Zhihua Tang from Hong Kong & CMU, winner of the Chicago Chopin competition.
Carl is a member of the Arcos Trio who have just finished their second near sellout concert in our venue. We are pleased and honored to have him share his gift of music with us yet again.
Carl Donakowski, Cello
Cellist Carl Donakowski was a finalist in the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. His recital performances have aired on WQRS Detroit, WQXR New York, and Südwestfunk Baden-Baden. As a chamber musician, he has been a member of the North Shore Pro Musica of New York and of the Fontana Chamber Music Society. He has performed at the Bartók, Manitou, Staunton, Tanglewood and Beethoven music festivals. In the summer he teaches and performs at the Bay View Music Festival, the longest-running music festival in the United States. As a member of the West End Chamber Ensemble, he won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to be artist-in-residence with the Chamber Music America Rural Residency Chamber Music Initiative. Mr. Donakowski is a member of the ARCOS piano trio whose CD Big Sky featuring works by Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwillich and Amy Beach was released in 2008.
Mr. Donakowski is a graduate of Indiana University where he studied with Janos Starker and GaryHoffman. He has also studied with Timothy Eddy, and William Pleeth.
Mr. Donakowski is Associate Professor of Cello at James Madison University. He previously served on the faculties of Central Michigan University School of Music and Alma College.
Zhihua Tang, Pianist
Zhihua Tang was born in Shanghai, China and studied at Shanghai conservatory, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and Michigan State University. Her teachers include Menahem Pressler, Martin Katz, Deborah Moriarty and Dady Mehta. In addition, she has been a frequent performer in master classes conducted by distinguished pianists such as Joseph Kalichstein, Mark Durrand, Anton Querti, John Perry, Russell Sherman and Paul Badura Skoda.
Her activities as a concerto soloist include performances with Detroit Civic Orchestra, Alma Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Ballet Orchestra and Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, Tang has collaborated with violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, Yuval Yaron, Emmanuelle Boisvert, Hai Xin Wu, Cellist Robert deMaine, Hai Ye Ni, violist James VanValkenberg, flutist Jeff Zook, Maxim Rubtsov, hornist Karl Pituch, bassoonist Robert Williams, oboist Dwight Parry, Soprano Molly Fillmore and Arianna String Quartet, among others. Tang has been a participant in numerous festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Gilmore Festival and Banff International Keyboard Festival.
Tang was top prize winner of the Beethoven Sonata Competition in Memphis, Tennessee (2005), the Central Division of the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition (1995), Chopin Competition in Chicago (1994). She has also received honorable mention at XII International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland (1990).
Tang has been on faculty of Eastern Michigan University, Alma College, University of North Dakota. She currently teaches at Central Michigan University, School of Music.