Bienen School to Host Spring Faculty Recitals

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Chicago Symphony Orchestra flutist Jennifer Gunn, soprano and Cedille recording artist Patrice Michaels, and cellist Anthony Elliott, a frequent guest soloist with major orchestras, are among the guest artists who will be joining Northwestern University music faculty recitalists on stage this spring.

Presented by Northwestern’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, featured faculty performers will include pianist Toni-Marie Montgomery, dean of the Bienen School of Music; horn player Gail Williams; flutist John Thorne; oboist Michael Henoch; bassoonist David McGill; trumpeter Robert Sullivan; and trombonists Michael Mulcahy, Randall Hawes, Christopher P. Davis, Timothy Higgins and Douglas Wright.

All of the recitals will take place on the University’s Evanston campus at the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts’ Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive.

Tickets to each recital are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

(Northwestern faculty and staff with a valid Wildcard ID receive a 15 percent discount off the general public ticket price.)

For more information on the following events, call the Bienen School of Music Concert Management Office at 847-491-5441 or visit concertsatbienen.org or Northwestern’s new Arts Circle website at www.artscircle.northwestern.edu. To order tickets, call the Bienen School Ticket Office at 847-467-4000 or visit concertsatbienen.org.

Spring 2016 Bienen School Faculty Recitals

• Gail Williams, Bienen School professor of horn, will perform works by Beethoven, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Hindemith and others at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29. Principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Williams was previously a member of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestras. She has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony and the New World Symphony Orchestra, among others. Her chamber music appearances include collaborations with the Vermeer Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Williams will be accompanied by guest pianist Kay Kim and guest horn player and Bienen School master’s student Russell Rybicki. 

• Bienen School of Music Dean and pianist Toni-Marie Montgomery will perform with colleague and cellist Anthony Elliott at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 11. Montgomery was a founding member of the Black Music Repertory Ensemble of Columbia College Chicago and has performed throughout the United States, Australia, Brazil, Hawaii, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Elliott, a professor at the University of Michigan and protégé of Janos Starker and Frank Miller, has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Vancouver Symphony and CBC Toronto Orchestra. Their program includes works by Barber, Debussy and Strauss.

• Flutists John Thorne and Jennifer Gunn, oboist Michael Henoch, bassoonist David McGill, soprano Patrice Michaels and pianist Kuang-Hao Huang will perform a program titled “Swing into Spring with Madeleine Dring” at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17. The performance celebrates little-known gems by English composer-actress Madeleine Dring, as well as music by her compositional influences. Dring (1923-1977) was a student of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Herbert Howells and Gordon Jacob and wrote many works for the stage. In addition to Dring’s pieces, the program will include works by Gershwin and Poulenc. John Thorne, associate professor of flute; Michael Henoch, adjunct associate professor of oboe; and David McGill, professor of bassoon are members of the Bienen School’s woodwind faculty. Kuang-Hao Huang is a Bienen School alumnus.

• Bienen trumpet professor Robert Sullivan’s 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19 recital is titled “The Singing Trumpet.” Formerly principal trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras, Sullivan also has been a member of the New York Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony Orchestra and United States Air Force Band. He has recorded soundtracks for several major motion pictures and released two solo albums with pianist James Rensink on the Summit Records label. The program of music for solo trumpet and brass ensemble features aria transcriptions and original works in a lyrical style.

• Michael Mulcahy, Randall Hawes, Christopher P. Davis, Timothy Higgins and R. Douglas Wright will combine their talents in a trombone faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2. Active as solo, chamber and orchestral performers around the world, the Bienen School trombone faculty will perform together in a rousing program of music by Gabrieli, Bach, Bruckner, Bozza and McKimm. More information on trombone professor Mulcahy and faculty members Hawes, Davis, Higgins and Wright is available online. 

• Bienen School flute professor John Thorne’s recital program at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 8, will include works by Franck, Blavet and Debussy. Thorne, former associate principal flute of the Houston, San Antonio, Florida West Coast and New World symphonies, appears regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and is principal flutist of the Chicago Philharmonic. He is a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival and collaborates regularly with the Chicago Symphony and Chicago Chamber Musicians. Thorne will be joined onstage by CSO piccolo player Jennifer Gunn and pianist Kay Kim, a regular CSO and Chicago Chamber Musicians collaborator.