Katherine Ardoin, mezzo-soprano - North Carolina School of the Arts

Katherine Ardoin is a native to both Greensboro, North Carolina, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ms. Ardoin received her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, Magna Cum Laude, from Lee University. She is currently a pursuing her Masters of Music at the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute, where she is studying with Dr Marilyn Taylor.

This past summer Ms. Ardoin was the Mezzo-Soprano soloist for the Magnolia Baroque Festival, including works of Friedrich Peter that were featured on NPR’s Performance Today. In the summer of 2009 she was a young artist at Chautauqua Opera.

Operatic highlights include Dorabella in Cosí fan Tutte, Nancy in Albert Herring, Hannah Kennedy in Maria Stuarda, Lisetta in Il Mondo della Luna, Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, and the Third Lady in Die Zaubeflöte.
Ms Ardoin has also been seen in other forms of the dramatic stage including plays and musicals. Credits include Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Nettie Fowler in Carousel.

 

Cynthia Burton, violin - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

Cynthia Burton 21, grew up in Banner Elk, North Carolina and began studying the violin at the age of 3. In high school, she studied with Dr. Nancy Bargerstock of Appalachian State University and played both violin and viola in the Appalachian Symphony Orchestra. Cynthia also performed with the Appalachian Chamber Orchestra in Austria and the Czech Republic in the summer of 2006. In 2007, she was awarded one of four Kenan Music Scholarships, a four-year full scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill supported by the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust. She was appointed principal second violin as a freshman and has served as concertmaster of the UNC Symphony Orchestra since 2008. She also participates in UNC’s New Music and Baroque Ensembles, and has acted as first violinist of her quartet for the past four years. In the summers of 2008, 2009, and 2010 she attended the International Music Academy Pilsen and studied with Stephen Shipps, David Updegraff, and Jiři Fišer. She has additionally studied with Fabian Lopez at the 2009 and 2010 UNC Violin Symposiums. In 2009 she won the UNC Concerto Competition and the senior division of the North Carolina American String Teachers Association Young Artist Competition, and was the runner-up for the Greensboro Music Teachers Association Young Artists Scholarship Competition. She currently studies with Dr. Richard Luby and will receive her Bachelor of Music degree in May, 2011.

 

 

Julia Byrd, piano - Lenoir-Rhyne University
 

Julia Byrd began receiving piano lessons at the age of 10 and has studied with pianists Kathryn Starnes, Jonathan Beal, and Amy Smith. Julia received a superior rating from the Piano Guild at the age of 15 and began receiving lessons from Dr. John Cheek at 16. She is currently a senior at Lenoir Rhyne University and is pursuing a degree in piano performance under the instruc@on of Dr. Cheek. In the summer of ’08 Julia received a summer music study scholarship from Lenoir Rhyne, and this scholarship enabled her to spend a week at Orford Academy in Quebec studying under performer Maneli Pirzadeh.

Julia has been the recipient of several other scholarships while at Lenoir Rhyne, including the Charles and Marie Rast Music Scholarship and the Hickory Music Club Scholarship. In the spring of ’09 she had the opportunity to perform Hindemith’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4, with violist Jorge Mar@nez, a member of the La Catrina Quartet. Julia studied at Valor Summer Conservatory, a Chris@an music conservatory, during the summers of ’09 and ’10. During her Junior year Julia performed as a featured soloist with the Lenoir‐Rhyne University concert band, playing Dohnanyi’s Varia@ons on a Nursery Theme. Julia enjoys composing, arranging and improvising as well as performing classical music.
 

---

Katherine Edahl, soprano - Appalachian State University

Ms. Katherine Edahl, 22 of Charlotte, began studying voice under the direction of Dr. Joseph Amaya of Appalachian State University in 2006. She has received her bachelors degree from Appalachian, and is continuing to seek her masters at the same institution. She has performed an array of roles, including Anna Maurrant from Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Despina from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, Fiordiligi from Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte, the Mother from Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Adina from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, and Suor Angelica from Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

In 2009 and 2010 she was asked to attend American Singers’ Opera Project (ASOP) under the direction of Ms. Nancy Milnes and Mrs. Barbara Caprilli. In 2010 she also travelled to Graz, Austria to perform with orchestra under the direction of Signore Eduardo Mueller and Herr Michael Dixon. She attended the AIMS program in Graz, and was a semi‐finalist in the famed Meistersinger competition. She has placed first place in the NATS competition and third at the regional level.

---

 

Louise Grevin, cello - North Carolina School of the Arts

French cellist Louise Grévin has studied in Paris, Strasbourg and Toulouse. Most recently, she has played with l’Orchestre de Chambre de Toulouse, and has appeared as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Toulouse Music Academy. She is currently a graduate student at the UNC School of the Arts.

 




 

Henry Michaels, trombone - Lenoir-Rhyne University

 

Henry Michaels is a native of Morganton, NC and is currently a music performance major at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Michaels has performed with the Lenoir-Rhyne University Concert Band, Harper Youth Wind Ensemble, Lenoir-Rhyne Brass Ensemble, Western Piedmont Youth Symphony, and in the pit for several shows at the Hickory Community Theatre. In January of 2010 he was a part-time participant in Haim Avitsur’s Winter-Summer Trombone Workshop and in the summer of 2010 he was accepted as a full participant in the Summer Trombone Workshop. In these workshops Michaels had the privilege to work with trombonists Haim Avitsur, Nitzan Haroz, and David Taylor during nine days of intensive study. In the spring of 2010 he performed Ferdinand David’s Concertino for Trombone with the Western Piedmont Youth Symphony. Michaels was also honored as one of two recipients of the Lenoir-Rhyne University Friends of Music Summer Study Award for 2010 – a competitive scholarship which allows students the opportunity for addition study during the summer break. Michaels’ principal teachers are Christopher Nigrelli and Thomas Burge.
 

 

Bradley Plesz, percussion - Appalachian State University

Mr. Plesz is currently a Percussion Performance major at Appalachian State University. While studying percussion for eleven years he has encountered various ensembles, each requiring a different genre of study. His passion has led to numerous opportunities that will be useful in applying his skills to virtually any style of music. Mr. Plesz is an alumni of the Boston Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps with his last season celebrating their 70th anniversary. He plans to attend graduate school to study jazz drum set with the aspirations in becoming a studio musician. He is a member of the New Paradigm Percussion Quartet at Appalachian State and is also associated with other various ensembles throughout the Hayes School of Music including the Jazz I Ensemble. Recently, he performed his junior recital with some solo works including Percussion Quartet no. 2 by Dave Hollinden, Noble Endeavor by Michael LaRosa, and Toshiro Mayazumiʼs Concertino for Xylophone and Orchestra. Other repertoire include: Dave Hollindenʼs Cold Pressed, Tambourin Chinois by Fritz Kreisler, and the 2010 Concerto-Aria winning Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble by Karel Husa.

 

 

Ben Robinette, saxophone - North Carolina School of the Arts

Ben Robinette is currently in his second year of graduate studies in Saxophone Performance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he serves as the teaching assistant to Professor Taimur Sullivan. He began his studies in 1999 with Dr. Timothy Roberts, principal saxophonist of the United States Navy Band, and continued his studies at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville under Dr. Connie Frigo. He graduated from UT in 2009 with a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance.

At The University of Tennessee, he twice won the university’s concerto competition, received the School of Music's award for woodwind performance excellence three times in a row, and was awarded several outside performance scholarships. Cultivating performer/composer relationships at UT also resulted in a large-scale soprano saxophone concerto being written for him by one of the school’s most talented student composers. Robinette was also a founding member and the soprano saxophonist of the award-winning (and locally popular!) Four-T-Tude Saxophone Quartet, which represented the UT School of Music as one of their ambassadorial chamber ensembles. His performance interests varied widely during his last two years in Knoxville, with performances of Romanian brass band music and transcriptions of late Romantic and early 20th century clarinet music weaving their way into his repertory.

In January of 2009, Robinette auditioned for the United States Navy Band, and was selected as one of six national finalists. His final performance at UT involved collaboration with the dance department in a new work for dancers, solo saxophone, and boombox. At UNCSA he has established a strong chamber music presence, collaborating with his peers to form a saxophone quartet while also making use of a long-standing love of the music of English composer Sir Arnold Bax to start a regularly performing trio of saxophone, violin, and piano—the Bax Trio. During his first year at UNCSA, Robinette also won the North Carolina state division of the MTNA Young Artists’ solo competition as well as the UNCSA Concerto Competition. With a particular interest in the art of the transcription, he has adapted several works for saxophone that were originally written for violin, clarinet, viola, oboe, and other instruments. Other recent undertakings of his include a joint recital program with Connie Frigo and former UT colleagues highlighting antiphonal arrangements of Dutch composer Jacob ter Veldhuis's popular “boombox” music for saxophones, and study of the Zimbabwean matepe mbira courtesy of an instrument made for him by Chaka Chawasarira.