COLORADO YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS
CYSO Rehearsal Monday night OCTOBER 5th
Grande Orquesta Navarre
Grande Orquesta Navarre was recently named Denver's Best Chamber Orchestra by Westword, Arts & Entertainment, 'GON mostly performs world music pieces, but the group manages to find fascinating selections that fit its lively and versatile performance style. They take relatively obscure classical music, infuse it with tango and deliver it in a cabaret-style presentation, making it exciting again. In an era when everyone has seen and heard everything, this foursome feels fresh.' Grande Orquesta Navarre is comprised of pianist Sara Parkinson, double-bassist Susan Cahill, bandoneon player Evan Orman, and Tom Hagerman of DeVotchka on accordion and violin and guest violist Josh Ulrich.
CYSO rehearsal Monday night OCTOBER 12th
Ivalas String Quartet
Founded in Ann Arbor in 2016, the Ivalas Quartet is composed of violinists Reuben Kebede and Anita Dumar, violist Aimée McAnulty, and cellist Pedro Sánchez. Currently the quartet serves as the Graduate Quartet in residence at The University of Colorado - Boulder where they study under the renowned Takács Quartet. In January 2020 they had their Carnegie Hall debut when they participated as a young artist at the 2020 APAP conference in NYC. The quartet has also been heard on WRCJ 90.9 FM’s Classical Brunch series and appeared at the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend. Maintaining their commitment to community engagement, Ivalas has also represented the Sphinx Organization playing for students in Flint and the Metro Detroit area. The quartet has been awarded first prize in the 2019 WDAV Young Artists Chamber Music Competition as well as first prize in the 2018 Briggs Chamber Music Competition and was named a semifinalist group at both the M-Prize competition and Concert Artists Guild competition in New York. Ivalas has been a fellowship quartet at festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Crested Butte Music Festival and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. Ivalas has been coached by members of the Emerson, Pacifica, American, Escher, Calidore, Brentano, St. Lawrence, Ying, Turtle Island, and Jupiter string quartets, as well as Paul Katz, Jeffrey Zeigler, Mikhail Kopelman, Kirsten Docter, Richard Aaron, Danielle Belen, Stephen Shipps, Meta Weiss, Erika Eckert, Andrew Jennings and Kathryn Votapek.
Ivalas would like to extend a special thank you to the following organizations and individuals for their generous support of the quartet’s endeavors through travel funding and scholarships: The University of Colorado - Boulder, The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, Center Stage Strings, the Sphinx Organization, EXCEL, the Mandell Collection of Southern California, Maurice Binkow, Freyja Harris at the SMTD Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and an added thank you to the Starling foundation.
CYSO rehearsal Monday night OCTOBER 19th
LHF Jazz Trio
An active recitalist and proponent of new music, saxophonist Grant Larson has premiered works for saxophone by Paul, Hanson, Philip Wharton, Chiayu Hsu, Steven Makala, and John Drumheller at regional and national conventions. He is the soprano saxophonist with the Colorado-based Chautauqua Saxophone Quartet and has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Fargo/Moorhead Symphony Orchestra.
Equally comfortable in both classical and jazz settings, Grant has performed on stage with notable artists such as Maria Schneider, Kurt Elling, Mulgrew Miller, Art Lande, Brad Goode, Johannes Weidenmueller, Peter Erskin, Ray Charles, Ignacio Berroa, and “Slammin” Sammy K. He recently produced a collaborative album (Ascent) of original jazz compositions with fellow musicians Greg Tanner Harris, Matt Fuller, Braun Khan, and Dave Hammond. He also has released two jazz albums of original compositions under the Dazzle Recordings label (Denver, CO).
CYSO rehearsal Monday night OCTOBER 26th
Clarinet and Oboe Duo
Jason Shafer joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Clarinet at the start of the 2013/14 Season. Previously, he played for four years as a fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL. He received his Bachelor of Music with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music.
Jason has appeared in guest principal roles with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, where he has been a regular member since 2012. He is passionate about teaching and is on the faculty of the University of Northern Colorado and the International Festival-Institute at Round Top; he also taught at the Metropolitan State University of Denver from 2015 to 2016. In addition, Jason studied piano during his time at Eastman, and loves to accompany other musicians.
Ian Wisekal, a native of Dallas, TX and Stony Brook, NY, joined the faculty of the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music in 2013. He serves as Principal Oboe of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra and Crested Butte Music Festival, and previously held the position of Associate Principal Oboe with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. He can be heard playing principal oboe on that orchestra’s recording of Cofresí, which was nominated for a Latin Grammy. He has performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, the Banff Centre in Canada, the Music Masters Festival of Japan, the Casals Festival of Puerto Rico and the AIMS festival in Austria. Ian is an active performer throughout Colorado, playing frequently with the Colorado Symphony and professional ensembles across the state. Ian received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, earning full scholarships at both institutions. In 2012, he traveled to study with David Walter at the Paris Conservatory, thanks to a grant from the Pro-Symphony Association of Puerto Rico. His major teachers include Richard Killmer, Erin Hannigan, Terry Keevil and Ceci Lagarenné.
CYSO rehearsal Monday night NOVEMBER 2nd
Josh Ulrich, Violin Soloist
Joshua Ulrich joined the award-winning Altius Quartet in the spring of 2014. Joshua has performed internationally as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His growing artistic reputation is supported by having collaborated with such artists as James Tocco, Awadagin Pratt, and Sarah Sant’Ambrosio. He is currently a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Joshua completed his studies with renowned pedagogues: Won-Bin Yim, Dorothy Delay, Chin Kim, Hyo Kang, Joel Smirnoff, and Cho-Liang Lin and has performed in master classes taught by Midori, Pinchas Zuckerman, Cheeyun Kim, Igor Ozim, and attended the Julliard School of Music. He has been awarded fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival and Bowdoin International Music Festival and was a Shouse Artist at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. As an orchestral musician, Joshua was a regularly performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was an associate musician with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and the Associate Concertmaster of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Indiana.
Joshua has just completed a post-graduate degree at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where he and the Altius Quartet were the Fellowship String Quartet-in-Residence working with the Takács Quartet. There he studied privately with Ed Dusinberre, Károly Schranz, and Harumi Rhodes.
Joshua plays on a violin made by Franz Kinberg in 1966 and a bow by Émile Auguste Ouchard.
