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Linus Lerner, DMA A native of Brazil, Linus Lerner has conducted orchestras, operas, choruses and instrumental groups at home, in the United States, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Spain and Mexico.He is music director of SASO in Tucson and artistic director of the Bayou City Performing Arts in Houston. He’s previously served as associate conductor for Opera in the Ozarks, the Tallahassee Youth Symphony Orchestra and University of Arizona Philharmonic. He also was assistant conductor for the Arizona Opera.International guest conducting engagements include the Orchestra Nacional de Valles in Spain, the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras of Porto Alegre in Brazil, the International Opera Workshop in the Czech Republic, the International Opera Workshop in Bulgaria and the Solistas Ensamble of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico. He's also guest conducted The Brooklyn Opera Company and the University of Colorado at Boulder opera.
He holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Florida State University, where he was assistant conductor of the FSU Orchestra and led the group in the American premier of the opera Procedura Penale. Linus also holds a master’s degree in voice performance from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a bachelor’s degree in choral conducting at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Linus has 20 years of experience as a choral conductor, working with more than 40 groups and participating in numerous tours, festivals and competitions. He provides services as a chorus clinician, voice teacher and voice coach in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. He also has sung in many operas and concerts, and received awards in voice competitions.
Dauphinais joined the voice faculty of The University of Arizona in 2004. She has her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre Performance from Western Michigan University, and her Masters in Vocal performance and Pedagogy and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Arizona State University. She is an avid performer as well as an enthusiastic instructor. Prior to joining the faculty of The University of Arizona she served on the faculties of Glendale Community College and Scottsdale Community College and served as the head of the music department at The Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix. As a performer Dauphinais has worked in a variety of mediums and venues. In musical theatre she as worked with such names as Dick Van Patten (Eight is Enough), Estelle Harris (Seinfeld), and Tony award-winning actress Pamela Meyers. As an oratorio soloist she has performed in the United States as well as internationally with such orchestras as the Orchestra Sinfonica Nova Amadeus in Rome and Florence, the Orchestra Accademia Vivaldiana in Venice, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic (Australia), and the Canberra Choral Society (Australia). As an operatic performer Dauphinais has received accolades for a wide variety of roles including Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Maurya in Riders to the Sea, Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Maman and Libellule in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte, Mrs. McLean in Susannah, and the title role in Handel’s Xerxes.
Recognized as one of the truly important pianists of his generation, internationally renowned concert pianist and Steinway artist James Dick brings keyboard sonorities of captivation, opulence and brilliance to performances that radiate intellectual insight and emotional authenticity. Raised in Hutchinson Kansas, his talent moved him from the farm to the University of Texas Music Building and out to the world's great concert halls. He received a scholarship to the University of Texas in Austin, studying with Dalies Frantz. Later, he was a Fulbright Scholar and studied with Sir Clifford Curzon in England. Dick's early triumphs as a major prizewinner in the Tchaikovsky, Busoni and Leventritt International Competitions were a mere prelude to an eminent career highlighted by acclaimed recitals and concerto performances in the world's premier concert halls. Dick has performed with the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the National Symphony and many major orchestras, with such conductors as Ormandy, Barbirolli, Levin, Maazel, Kondrashin, Spano, Oue, Sanderling, Hogwood, de Preist and Verrot. In chamber music, he has been guest soloist with the Cleveland, Tokyo, Parisii, Ravel, Debussy and Cassatt quartets and the Dorian and Moragues wind quintets, concertizing as well with Yo-Yo Ma, Regis Pasquier, Young Uck Kim, Raphael Hillyer, Rostislav Dubinsky, Martin Lovett, Andrew Marriner, Guy Deplus and Carol Wincenc. James Dick has received numerous honors and commendations, including the Texas Medal of Arts, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture, and Honorary Associate of London's Royal Academy of Music. In addition to his schedule as a world-renowned guest artist, James Dick in 1971 established the Round Top Festival Institute in Round Top, Texas to nurture and incubate aspiring young musicians. The institute (today operated under The James Dick Foundation for the Performing Arts) has grown from a handful of gifted young pianists in rented space on the town square of Round Top to a 210-acre European-styled campus where distinguished faculty each year teach nearly 100 young artists and the Festival Institute provides year-round education and performance programs for audiences. Today James Dick is well-known to music lovers as a man of great talent, vision and class.
Selected by Musical America as a Young Artist of the Year 1990, Francisca Mendoza has distinguished herself internationally as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She has performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel, Latin America and The Far East, receiving rave reviews Born in Chile, Mendoza began her studies at the age of four at the Conservatorio Nacional de Santiago, Chile. Later she was awarded scholarships by the Organization of American States and American Universities to study in the United States, where she received a Diploma in Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Master in Performance and Literature from The Eastman School of Music. She has also participated in the Summer festivals of Aspen, Santa Barbara and Sarasota. Her teachers include Donald Weilerstein, Angel Reyes, Aaron Rosand, Paul Statsky, David Cerone, Dorothy DeLay and Kurt Saasmanshaus. Winner of several competitions and awards, Mendoza has performed at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with The New Chamber Orchestra of New York in a special Gala Concert. Her performances have been broadcasted on American radio and television and she has been a guest with Robert Sherman at WQXR, New York. She has also taught extensively both in music conservatories and privately.
Orhan Salliel was born in Adana in 1968. After graduating from the Bassoon Department of the State Conservatory at Mimar Sinan University, he worked as a bassoon player in the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra for 6 years. In the same time, he learned composition from Ilhan Usmanbas¸ and Erçivan Saydam and conducting from Orhan Tanrikulu, Renato Palumbo and Robert Wagner. He continued his education at Rotterdam Conservatory in Holland where he studied conducting and composition. Salliel received a diploma of orchestra conducting after 3 years. During his study in Holland, he received a fellowship to Helsinki Sibelius Academy and studied with famous conductors such as Jorma Panula, Eri Klas, Atso Almila and Colin Metters. Salliel also participated in conducting classes in Austria and Italy, and served as an assistant art director in the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. After returning to Turkey in 1996, Salliel started working at the Istanbul State Orchestra and conducted not only in Istanbul but also in all state orchestras in Turkey. Between 1998 and 2009, he served as a conductor and director in the Bursa Regional Symphony Orchestra. He also served as a conductor in CRR Symphony Orchestra and Ballet for 5 years. Since April 2009, Salliel has served as a conductor and art director in the Antalya State Symphony Orchestra. He has also conducted symphony concerts, ballets, and operas in Holland, Finland, Austria, Poland, Germany, China, Japan, Hungary, Uzbekistan, Denmark, Mexico and Cyprus. He has conducted over 100 operas such as Salome, Aida, Turandot, La Boheme, and Nabucco. Salliel has conducted his own compositions in Turkey and abroad. He has prepared many TV programs as well.
"Un grand bravo! An authentic Latin representative of the French School of Flute playing" said Jean Pierre Rampal. Those fortunate enough to hear Brazilian flutist James Strauss immediately agree with the French Master appreciation; it´s an extraordinary display of erudite musicianship allied with an innate sense of communication through Art. Strauss is a musician with an equal flair for sweetness, elegance and whatever extremes possible inside the concept of dramatic intimacy all filtered through an honest and sincere skill to properly conceptualize a work. His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary Masters in addition to endeavors in Brazilian and South American folk that perfectly reflects the many facets of his abilities in solo, chamber or concerto performances. James Strauss is the first brazilian flautist to ever be conceded a Diplomme de Concertiste by the École Normale de Musique de Paris. He was one of very few last disciples of Jean-Pierre Rampal. Strauss was laureate with a scholarship by the French government for the Conservatoire de Paris and for the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cort de Paris. He is regularly featured in the international press, as guest on NPR's Performance Today, Bowed Radio, WGUC FM and Cultura FM and he were host and performer on the Musical TV show Musicas que elevam at the REDE MUNDIAL. The Falls House Press/Theodore Presser Company published James Strauss's discovery and reconstruction of the Concertstuck for flute by Tchaikovsky. Strauss has been guest soloist with orchestras including: Capriccioso Chamber Ensemble (Finland), Orchestre Symphonique de Creteil (France), Israeli Virtuosi (Israel), Orchestre Philharmonic de Sibiu (Romania), Oxford Chamber Orchestra (USA), Ensemble 3 Elephants (Japan), Orquestra Sinfonica do Recife, Orquestra Sinfonica de São José dos Campos, Bachiana Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Florianópolis, Orquestra de Camara UNISINOS, Orquestra de Camara do Theatro SãPedro, and many others. Respected for his inspiring teaching, Strauss has taught masterclasses and performed recitals for universities and flute societies.
Hong-Mei Xiao is the first-prize winner of the Geneva International Music Competition. Her musical integrity and her virtuoso technique have gained accolades from reviewers around the world. A recipient of the coveted Patek Philippe Grand Prize, Ms. Xiao has performed in major concert halls throughout Europe, North America, and the Far East. She appeared as soloist with North German Radio Orchestra, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, European Union Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic and Japan Philharmonic among others. As an United States Artistic Ambassador she toured extensively in Eastern Europe. Her performances and featured interviews were broadcast on television and radio internationally, and her concert recording of Frank Martin's Ballade for Viola and Orchestra was heard on over five hundred radio stations worldwide. Ms. Xiao is the first violist to record both the original and newly revised versions of the Bartok Viola Concerto. This recording with the Budapest Philharmonic has won high international critical acclaim since its release by Naxos and Marco-polo. As an active chamber music performer, she has collaborated with renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Joseph Silverstein and Cho-Liang Lin. Xiao, who graduated with highest honors from the Shanghai Conservatory, earned a Master of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Previously, she served as principal violist of the Minnesota Orchestra, as a faculty member at the University of Michigan and as a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. |
Kristin Dauphinais, mezzo soprano
James Dick, piano
Francisca Mendoza, violin
Orhan Salliel, conductor
James Strauss, flute
Hong-Mei Xiao, viola