|

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
|