Svend Rønning, Artistic Director ~ Jerry Kracht, Artistic Director Emeritus


Home

Current Season

Directors & Artists

Masterpiece Series

Concerts in the Garden

Spotlight Concerts

Young Chamber Players

Special Event

Tickets

Venues & Directions

Support SCCS

Gift Shop

Art and Archives

Contact Us

Artistic Directors

SVEND RØNNING, Artistic Director,
is one of the most active musicians in the Puget Sound, serving as Chair of the Faculty of Stringed Instruments at Pacific Lutheran University and Concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. As soloist, he has appeared with various orchestras, including the Charlottesville Symphony, the Prague Radio Symphony and Orchestra Seattle and has served as Concertmaster for several orchestras around the country, including the Charlottesville Symphony, the San Jose Symphony, and the Tacoma Opera.  Dr. Rønning has an extensive experience in chamber music, having founded the Rivanna String Quartet at the University of Virginia and currently serving as violinist with the Regency String Quartet at PLU. His performances at Second City number over a dozen. Dr. Rønning graduated from Pacific Lutheran University where he was mentored by violinist Ann Tremaine and SCCS Artistic Director Emeritus Jerry Kracht, and has worked with a number of other distinguished teachers including Syoko Aki, Sidney Harth, Jaap Schröder and members of the Tokyo String Quartet. He is a former faculty member of the University of Virginia and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. This is Svend Rønning's third year as Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series.

JERRY KRACHT, Artistic Director Emeritus, served as Second City Chamber Series artistic director for twenty-five years--from 1982 to 2007--and as frequent clarinetist on the Series from it inception in 1977 through the close of the 2006-2007 season. During that time he oversaw the programming and production of nearly 150 concerts, performing on some 80 of them himself.

Under his leadership, Series offerings were more than doubled over the years, with venues added at Lakewold Gardens and First Lutheran Church in addition to the original Annie Wright School--all of which are still home to the Series.  He also led the Series to awards for artistic excellence by both the Tacoma Arts Commission and the Pierce County Arts Commission and established an educational adjunct for young musicians, the Young Chamber Players.

Dr. Kracht taught clarinet and conducted the University Symphony Orchestra at Pacific Lutheran University for over thirty years.  He is now emeritus professor of music there, where he was also a founding member of the Camas Wind Quintet and the Regency Concert Series.  In addition to his many performances in the Northwest--both for Second City Chamber Series and Pacific Lutheran University--he has performed in Canada, Japan, The Peoples Republic of China, Hong Kong, Australia, Norway and Germany.  He begins his new advisory role as artistic director emeritus at Second City Chamber Series in 2007. 

  Back to top

Artist Biographies
SECOND CITY CHAMBER SERIES
2009-2010: THE THIRTY-THIRD SEASON
"STYLE AND IDEA"

Lakewold I: Impressionism
Thursday, June 18, 2009; 7:30 pm

CECILIA ARCHULETA

JENNIER CAINE, violinist, was the first prize winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition in 2004 and recipient of several awards including the Isolde Menges Prize, Polonsky Foundation Grant and Frank Huntington Beebe Grant for Musicians. She has performed in concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe, and at music festivals including the Olympic Music Festival, Soesterberg International Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and Norfolk, Yellow Barn and Sarasota Music Festivals. In the U.K., she performed extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician, and co-founded the Knox Piano Trio, which toured England and Northern Ireland. As an orchestral musician, she has appeared in concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Philomusica, and Seattle Symphony. Ms. Caine is Resident Violinist at Icicle Creek Music Center and violinist of the Icicle Creek Piano Trio. Her recent collaborations in the Seattle area have included the odeonquartet, Seattle Chamber Players, and Sanssouci Chamber Ensemble, and she regularly performs on the Simple Measures and Second City Chamber Series. Jennifer is a graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and holds Master of Music Degrees from the Royal College of Music and Oxford University. Her teachers and coaches have included Grigori Zhislin, Zinaida Gilels, Olga Yanovich, Robert Lipsett, Elisabeth Adkins, Robert Levin and Daniel Stepner.

LAURA RENZ

PAGE SMITH

  Back to top

Lakewold II: Love and Obsession
Thursday, July 16, 2009; 7:30 pm

LEE HANCOCK

SARAH HANCOCK

  Back to top

Masterpiece I: Happy Birthday
Friday, October 16, 2009; 7:30 pm

The ICICLE CREEK PIANO TRIO is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the Icicle Creek Music Center, a non-profit organization in Leavenworth, Washington. Current members of the ensemble are:

JENNIER CAINE, violinist, was the first prize winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition in 2004 and recipient of several awards including the Isolde Menges Prize, Polonsky Foundation Grant and Frank Huntington Beebe Grant for Musicians. She has performed in concerts throughout the U.S. and Europe, and at music festivals including the Olympic Music Festival, Soesterberg International Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and Norfolk, Yellow Barn and Sarasota Music Festivals. In the U.K., she performed extensively as a recitalist and chamber musician, and co-founded the Knox Piano Trio, which toured England and Northern Ireland. As an orchestral musician, she has appeared in concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Philomusica, and Seattle Symphony. Ms. Caine is Resident Violinist at Icicle Creek Music Center and violinist of the Icicle Creek Piano Trio. Her recent collaborations in the Seattle area have included the odeonquartet, Seattle Chamber Players, and Sanssouci Chamber Ensemble, and she regularly performs on the Simple Measures and Second City Chamber Series. Jennifer is a graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and holds Master of Music Degrees from the Royal College of Music and Oxford University. Her teachers and coaches have included Grigori Zhislin, Zinaida Gilels, Olga Yanovich, Robert Lipsett, Elisabeth Adkins, Robert Levin and Daniel Stepner. Ms. Caine makes her fourth appearance with the Second City Chamber Series this season.

OKSANA EZHOKINA, pianist, is a native of Ryazan, Russia. The winner of piano competitions in Russia and the United States, Ms. Ezhokina has given numerous solo and chamber performances in both countries. Her collaborations have included concerts with such ensembles as the Seattle Chamber Players, Klimt Piano Trio and the Contemporary Chamber Players. A dedicated performer of works by contemporary composers, she has premiered music by Laura Kaminsky and Paul Drescher, among others. Ms. Ezhokina was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2004. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Ryazan School of Music in Russia, a Master of Music degree in piano from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Music degree from Walla Walla College. Her principal teachers were Christina Dahl, Donald Walker, Leonard Richter and Eleanor Oragyoff, and she has coached chamber music with pianists Gilbert Kalish and Seymour Lipkin as well as members of the Juilliard, Emerson, Orion and Vermeer String Quartets. Ms. Ezhokina is Resident Pianist at Icicle Creek Music Center, is Co-Artistic Director and teaches a full piano studio at the Music Center. This is her third appearance on the Second City Chamber Series.

SALLY SINGER, cellist from the United Kingdom, has an extensive background in solo and chamber music performance. She has toured in Britain, France, Italy, Austria and Germany with ensembles and has played in the major concert halls of London, New York and Vienna. As a soloist, Sally has appeared recently with the Danbury Symphony Orchestra, CT, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra and the Pleven Philharmonic, Bulgaria, where the Polemics of Art Journal review referred to her interpretation of Elgar's cello concerto as "a performance of the highest caliber, which will leave life-long memories for every person in the audience." Ms. Singer was a top prizewinner in the Corpus Christi International Young Artists competition, won the John Ireland Chamber Music Competition and received two fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA, as well as many awards and scholarships from her institutions of study. She has appeared on British National Television several times and has performed and interviewed live for National Public Radio, Seattle, King FM, Koho Radio and KUT. Ms. Singer was awarded First Class honors at the Royal Northern College of Music, has a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the State University of New York, Stony Brook, where she studied cello performance with Timothy Eddy. She has given master classes in New York, Texas, Washington and Australia, and has a flourishing private studio. Ms. Singer is a former member of the Vovka Ashkenazy and Klimt Piano Trios and makes her fourth appearance on the Second City Chamber Series this season.

  Back to top

Spotlight I: Styles and Ideas
Sunday, November 15, 2009; 4:00 pm

MIRIAM SHAMES

TONYA SIERIUS

  Back to top

Masterpiece II: Leider und Kammermusik
Friday, January 15, 2010; 7:30 pm

TIM CHRISTIE

ALAN DAMERON

CHARLES JACOT

MELISSA PLAGEMANN

MARIA SAMPEN

STEVEN SCHERMER

  Back to top

Masterpiece III: Urban Legends
Friday, April 9, 2010; 7:30 pm

JAIRO GERONYMO, pianist, holds a doctorate from the University of Washington and taught for eleven years at Pacific Lutheran University, Western Washington University and Ithaca College, New York. An engaging teacher and lecturer, the Brazilian-American musician has enjoyed an active career both as performer and teacher. Dr. Geronymo resides in Nurnberg and teaches at the Franconian International School in Erlangen and Leo Kestenberg Musikschule in Berlin.

SVEND RØNNING, violinist, is Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series, Chair of the Faculty of Stringed Instruments at Pacific Lutheran University, and Concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Rønning graduated from Pacific Lutheran University where he was mentored by violinist Ann Tremaine and SCCS Artistic Director Emeritus Jerry Kracht. He is a former faculty member of the University of Virginia and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. This is Svend Rønning's seventeenth appearance on the Series.

RICHARD TREAT, cellist, joined the Regency String Quartet and the string faculty of Pacific Lutheran University in September, 2006. A native of Los Angeles, Richard earned both Bachelors and Masters Degrees from California State University at Los Angeles, where he studied with Stephen De'ak, Eleonore Schoenfeld, and Lucien LaPorte. Mr. Treat has worked with several orchestras in greater Los Angeles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Pasadena, Long Beach, and Glendale Symphonies. In addition, Richard has been principal cellist of the Santa Barbara and South Coast Symphonies, the Mozart Camerata, and the Pasadena Chamber Orchestra and played for many years with the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra and the Deodara String Quartet. He is now a member of the Max Aronoff Institute faculty in Kenmore, and is regularly featured in performances of solo and chamber music in the Northwest. This is Mr. Treat's third performance on the Second City Chamber Series.

  Back to top

Spotlight II: The Goldberg Project
Sunday, March 7, 2010; 4:00 pm

AMY GRINSTEINER

SVEND RØNNING, violinist, is Artistic Director of the Second City Chamber Series, Chair of the Faculty of Stringed Instruments at Pacific Lutheran University, and Concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Rønning graduated from Pacific Lutheran University where he was mentored by violinist Ann Tremaine and SCCS Artistic Director Emeritus Jerry Kracht. He is a former faculty member of the University of Virginia and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. This is Svend Rønning's seventeenth appearance on the Series.

SHANNON SPICCIATI

  Back to top

Masterpiece IV: Let's Party! The Music of the Soiree
Friday, May 14, 2010; 7:30 pm

MARK IVISTER

ANNA JENSEN

MARY JENSEN

DAVID JOYNER

GWENDOLYN TAYLOR, violinist, is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory where she studied modern and baroque performance on violin and viola. Currently she is Assistant Concertmaster of the Tacoma Symphony and a member of the Northwest Sinfonietta. In addition to a busy freelance and teaching schedule in the classical world Gwen is also active in the Celtic music scene. She has been a faculty member of the Irish Music Academy of Cleveland and the Ohio Scottish Arts School as teacher and performer. Her teachers have included Almita and Roland Vamos, Greg Fulkerson, Marilyn McDonald and Walter Schwede. A native of the Pacific Northwest she lives in Bremerton with her two collies, Claudius and Fergus. Ms. Taylor makes her second appearance on the Second City Chamber Series this season.

  Back to top

home | current season | directors & artists | masterpiece series | concerts in the garden | spotlight concerts
 young chamber players | special event | tickets | venues & directions | support sccs | gift shop | art & archives | contact us