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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 second year as Artistic
Director of the Second City Chamber Series.
JERRY KRACHT, artistic
director emeritis, 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.
The Artists
(listed alphabetically) BETTY AGENT is instructor of viola at Pacific Lutheran University
and
serves as violist of the Regency String Quartet. She has been a
member
of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and served as viola coach for the
Seattle Youth Symphony. An active recitalist, chamber player and
free-lance musician, Ms. Agent has performed in the Arts West
Chamber
Music Series and the Governor's Chamber Music Festival. She is
currently
Assistant Principal Violist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet
Orchestra
and Principal Violist of the Auburn Symphony. She is also a faculty
member of the Max Aronoff Viola Institute and a regular on the
Aronoff
Chamber Music Series. Ms. Agent is a graduate of the University of
Colorado at Boulder and Eastern Washington University.
ELIZABETH BROWN is head of the Guitar and Lute Program at Pacific
Lutheran University and is active throughout the Pacific Northwest
as a solo and ensemble performer. Known for her musically passionate
performances, she has given solo recitals and performed concertos
throughout the West Coast from Vancouver to Southern California, and
has been a featured soloist for the Seattle Bach Choir, Fresno
Pacific University's Musica Pacifica Baroque, the Northwest
Chamber Chorus and St. Mark's Cathedral Associates. An
enthusiastic advocate for the guitar and lute, Ms. Brown has given
numerous outreach performances at schools, senior centers, and
community centers for the Seattle Classic Guitar Society and the
Early Music Guild. Also active as a chamber musician, Ms. Brown is
a member of Baroque Northwest, and has appeared with ArtsWest,
Seattle ProMusica and the City Cantábile Choir. Ms. Brown is a
founding member of the early music group Le Nuove Musiche, which
has released the recording "Dolce Desio: The Birth of the Baroque in
Italy, France and England". Ms. Brown's first solo recording,
"La Folía de España: Dances for Guitar," features works for baroque,
19th century and modern guitars, and was released in March 2005 on
the Rosewood Recordings label.
RONN FULLERTON is quickly joining the ranks of Seattle’s elite
multi-talented early musicians. Ronn performs on a variety of
instruments (viola da gamba, baroque and modern violin, medieval
fiddle,
rebab, oud, and psaltery) and also sings. He is active as a
performer
and teacher in Western Washington. Mr. Fullerton is a member of Le Nuove
Musiche, the Benevolent Order of Music of the Baroque (B.O.M.B.), Contrafacta, the Fisher Ensemble, the Tacoma Symphony, and the Fullerton String Quartet. He has performed in concert with viola da
gamba virtuosa Margriet Tindemans and Mary Springfels. Mr. Fullerton studied
viola da gamba with Margriet Tindemans and baroque violin with
Ingrid
Matthews and has participated in master classes with Jordi Savall and
David Douglass.
MARY MANNING currently plays baroque violin with the Puget
Sound
Consort and modern violin with the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Tacoma Opera Orchestra. She was also a member of the Seattle
Baroque
Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Pacific Baroque
Orchestra (Vancouver B.C.) for ten years, doubling on baroque
violin and viola. She has also performed with the Philharmonia Baroque
Orchestra, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Brandenburg Colleguim
of
New York, and the Carmel Bach Festival. An active chamber
musician, Ms. Manning co-founded the Tomasini String Quartet, the
Northwest’s
only period instrument quartet, and has toured around the world with
chamber ensembles. Ms. Manning makes her home in Gig Harbor where
she
has a private teaching studio. She received her training at the
Oberlin
Conservatory of Music.
MARCIA OTT is serving as Chair
of Strings at Pacific Lutheran University
and First Violinist of the Regency String Quartet during the 2006-07
academic year. She attended Oberlin Conservatory, New England
Conservatory, and has her Masters of Music degree from Pacific
Lutheran
University. She has performed as recitalist and soloist throughout
the
United States and Europe. While living on the east coast, Ms. Ott
co-founded
the Showcase String Quartet which was active in and around the
greater
New York City area. She is a member of the Aronoff Trio which
performs
throughout the Northwest, and is founding member and first violinist
of
the Tacoma Musical Arts Ensemble. She is a member of the Pacific
Northwest Ballet Orchestra, the Northwest Sinfonietta, the Auburn
Symphony, and a regular member of the string faculty of Pacific
Lutheran
University.
JOHN SCANLON moved to the Northwest in 2005, thus fulfilling his
desire to have resided in all four corners of the continental United
States. He was born in Boston, educated at the Eastman School, the
University of Michigan, and the University of California at Santa
Barbara. He was a member of the Florida Philharmonic, the Pacific
Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera
Orchestra and played regularly with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and
Los
Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Scanlon is on the faculty of the Max
Aronoff Viola Institute in Kenmore and is a former member of the
Deodara
String Quartet.
RICHARD TREAT joined the Regency String Quartet and the string
faculty
of Pacific Lutheran University in September, 2006. A native of Los
Angeles, he 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, he
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. Mr. Treat 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.
Artists subject to
change
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