French hornist Cara V. Sawyer grew up with the belief that everyone learns to harmonize by singing spirituals with family members during long car trips. Her desire to engage audiences on all levels stems largely from this early music lesson. Cara can be seen regularly performing with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the MusiCorps Brass [...]
Violinist Maria Storm made her solo début at the age of fourteen with the Odessa Symphony Orchestra in Ukraine. A year later her recording of sixteenth Paganini Caprice was regularly broadcasted on the Second Channel of Ukrainian Radio. Two years after that she won second price at the 1st Baltic Competition for Young Violinists in [...]
Sara is a new resident to Chicago and is thrilled to be playing music in this vibrant and musically progressive city. She is a graduate of Indiana University with her degree in Violin Performance. While attending IU, she had the pleasure of studying with the esteemed pedagogue, Mimi Zweig. Currenty, Sara can be found teaching [...]
Nils Higdon is one of the Chicago Percussion Community’s fastest rising young talents, having played to standing ovations at the Taste of Chicago, the 2007 IAJE Conference, and three appearances at the Chicago Jazz Festival. As a drum set artist, Nils has beat time for premier Chicago musicians such as Willie Pickens, Eric Schneider, Tracy [...]
Paul Von Hoff is a Chicago trombonist who performs extensively on both historic and modern trombones. He is a founding member of the Gaudete Brass Quintet, a brass quintet founded in 2004 that has toured extensively, given masterclasses at schools such as Juilliard and Eastman, recorded three albums, and commissioned and premiered over a dozen [...]
Having graduated with honors from McGill University, Ms. Chazin went on to study with Shmuel Ashkenasi at Roosevelt University where she earned a Masters Degree in Violin Performance. Sara has been the concertmaster of the McGill Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago under Leo McFall, and was a principal at the New York String [...]
The CCO will feature Joby Burgess as Bass Drum soloist for the midwestern premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Concerto for Bass Drum and Orchestra on the Winter Concert on Tuesday February 21, 2012. One of Britain’s most diverse percussionists, Joby is best known for his virtuosic, often lissom performances, daring collaborations, extensive education work, and regularly [...]
Elizabeth LaPorte graduated from Macalester College in Saint Paul, MN in 2008 with a B.A. in Sociology and Music. She is currently completing the three-year program at the Chicago School of Violin Making and plans to continue her quest for violin omniscience.
Erica Carpenedo was born in San Dona’ di Piave (Venezia) in 1985 and began playing the violin at 6 years old. Since she was 9, Erica has been invited to take part in the International Violin Courses in Portogruaro, organized by the “S. Cecilia” Association, as a student of Caterina Carlini and Igor Volochine. She [...]
Alex Monroe is a percussionist from St. Louis, MO and holds a B.M. Performance from Truman State University. Currently, Alex is completing his master’s degree at Northwestern University and performs with the institutions premier large ensembles as well as its new music groups. His teachers include Dr. Michael Bump and She-e Wu, as well as [...]