100 Years of Rhapsody in Blue
September 14th, 2024
7:30 PM

Christ United Methodist Church
Featuring
Rie Tanaka, piano

Lux String Quartet
Stephanie Skor, violin
Ellen Hacker, violin
Kirsti Petraborg, viola
Rosa Thompson-Vieira, cello

Bill Simenson, trumpet
Peter Enblom, trombone
Scott Ollhoff, percussion
David Milne, saxophone
Robert S. P. Gardner, bass/arranger
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Program
William Grant Still (1895-1978) - Summerland
George Gershwin (1898-1937), arr. S. Manz - Promenade
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), arr. rspgardner - Les Biches, Movement I & II
Lennon (1940-1980) & McCartney (b. 1942), arr. Hiromi - Blackbird

Intermission

Nicolai Kapustin (1937-2020) - Variations, Op. 41
George Gershwin (1898-1937), arr. rspgardner - Rhapsody in Blue
Our September concert celebrates the 100th year of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue scored for a small chamber ensemble of strings, winds, and rhythm section to support the piano soloist. The program will also include Gershwin's Promenade and Variations Op. 41 by Kapustin, among other works. Making her first appearance in Rochester is our guest pianist Rie Tanaka.
Lux String Quartet is a Twin-Cities based ensemble that brings a dynamic edge to performance and education. Since 2013, Lux has maintained an active presence in a wide array of musical spheres, from concert halls and churches to coffee shops and podcasts. The group is committed to performing 20th and 21st-century repertoire, as well as works by living composers, including Twin Cities' own David Evan Thomas and the Dean of Music at The Juilliard School, David Ludwig. Lux performs in several concert series including the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series, the Waverly Chamber Music Series, the Lakes Chamber Music Society, Music Among Friends Series at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, and the Music @ Lynnhurst in Minneapolis. Dedicated to music education and instilling a love for art in the next generation, Lux regularly presents recitals and workshops at elementary schools, early music education programs, and middle and high school orchestra programs in partnership with Schmitt Music. The quartet has served as MPR Class Notes Artist for four seasons and is currently quartet-in- residence at the Colorado Chamber Music Institute.

Rie Tanaka

Dr. Rie Tanaka, a native of Osaka, Japan, has been praised for her "brilliant performance" ('Chunichi Shimbun ' Central Japan News) and "lovely sensitivity" (Pioneer Press). She is a prize winner of international and national competitions in Japan and the U.S., winning the MTNA Young Artist Competition in the West Central Division, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, Schubert Club Competition (1st), Chautauqua Piano Competition (Finalist, Commissioned Piece Award), Rosenstock International Piano Competition (Special Judge's Award), to name a few. She has been featured in Minnesota Public Radio's Your Classical, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51, Fox9 Minneapolis, and Star Tribune's The Week's Best in the Twin Cities several times.

Tanaka maintains a full concert schedule for solo and chamber performances. She has performed in venues such as NHK Osaka Hall, Phoenix Hall in Osaka Japan, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, Landmark Center in St. Paul, and Thrasher Opera House in Wisconsin. As an active collaborator, she has performed with members of the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Phoenix Symphony, Minnesota Opera, and many other notable musicians. Her extensive collaboration with an award-winning choreographer Ms. Yuki Tokuda has led to co-directing over 10 original ballet productions, many of which were funded and presented by the Minnesota State Arts Board, Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, St. Louis Park Arts & Culture Grant, Japan America Society of Minnesota, and MacPhail Center for Music.

Tanaka currently serves as a faculty member at the University of Arizona, teaching applied piano, group piano, and chamber music. Prior to that, she taught at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point, the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, MacPhail Center for Music, and Saint Paul Conservatory of Music. She has given masterclasses and lectures at the University of Minnesota Duluth, the University of North Carolina Asheville, Green Lake Chamber Music Camp, and Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival.

Tanaka received her MM and DMA in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota, studying under Professor Alexander Braginsky, and her Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, studying with Dr. Raffi Besalyan.

​Stephanie Skor

After spending 15 years as a performing artist in Boston, violinist and St. Paul native Stephanie Skor returned to her hometown. She joined Lux String Quartet in 2018.

Stephanie is an honors graduate of the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Nicholas Kitchen, a founding member and first violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet. While studying at NEC she attended Madeline Island Chamber Music, the Mannes Beethoven Institute, and Bowdoin International Music Festival. Stephanie began playing string quartets at the age of 14, and ever since has loved to explore chamber music in all it forms.

In demand for her diversity as a violinist, Stephanie has enjoyed an eclectic performing career – from a U.S. tour with Jethro Tull to concertmaster at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. For six seasons she was a violinist in the critically acclaimed Boston-based chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble, founded and conducted by Courtney Lewis. Stephanie has performed with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Paula Robison, Jorja Fleezanis, and the Pacifica Quartet. She was a member of the Gardner Chamber Orchestra and has worked with inspiring conductors including Osmo Vänskä, Michael Stern, Douglas Boyd, Joshua Weilerstein, James Ross, and Larry Rachleff. Stephanie has appeared in performances on WGBH, MPR, TPT, and Newstalk, a national radio station in Ireland.

Stephanie maintains a busy and exciting freelance career in the Twin Cities. She performs with many musical organizations including the Twin Cities' Gay Men's Chorus, the South Dakota Symphony, the National Lutheran Choir, VocalEssence, House of Hope, the Minnesota Oratorio Society, and MPR concert events. Stephanie particularly loves ballet and has performed with the Loyce Holton Nutcracker Fantasy at the State Theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Georgia State Ballet.

​Passionate about 20th century and contemporary music, Stephanie has premiered over 25 new works. She has enjoyed working with composers Georg Friedrich Haas, Vinko Globokar, Christian Wolff, and Nicholas Vines, and has played works by John Cage, György Ligeti, Cornelius Cardew, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Lei Liang, Thomas Adès, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In Boston Stephanie was a member of the Composers' Series in Jordan Hall, the NEC Contemporary Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Ensemble. She played in the Callithumpian Consort and with that Boston-based ensemble in the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, México.

​Ellen Hacker

Ellen Hacker, violin, is a freelance musician and educator in the Twin Cities. Her musical career includes performances with Artistry Theater, Theater Latté Da, Illusion Theater, Yellow Tree Theater, Lux String Quartet, and Michael Bublé. She is a founding member and manager of The Watercress Trio, a women-owned string collective that regularly performs throughout Minnesota and surrounding states, and she currently serves as organist/accompanist at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in St. Paul.

Ellen maintains a private violin and viola studio in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood of Saint Paul, and she guides her students to become independent and reflective young musicians. Many of her students participate and have been confident section leaders in local music organizations including the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies (GTCYS), Minnesota Youth Symphonies (MYS), and the Stringwood Summer Music Camp.

Ellen holds a Bachelor of Music in instrumental music education from St. Olaf College and a Master of Music in violin performance & string pedagogy from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. While studying at UWM, Ellen was Darcy Drexler's graduate assistant and worked as a faculty member at the String Academy of Wisconsin. She has a rich understanding of violin technique that draws influence from the Suzuki method and other violin pedagogues, including Dorothy Delay, Ivan Galamian, and Mimi Zweig. Her previous teachers include Dr. Andrea Een, Nancy Shows of the Artaria Quartet, and Dr. Bernard Zinck.
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Aside from music, Ellen enjoys cooking and baking with her husband, Jonah. She is also an avid animal lover and likes spending afternoons at the Minnehaha Dog Park with her sheltie, Leo.

​Kirsti Petraborg

Violist Kirsti Petraborg is a versatile chamber musician and a passionate teacher. As a member of Lux String Quartet, Kirsti has performed on concert series throughout the Midwest as well as teaching and performing in Colorado. Kirsti began her chamber music career as a founding member of the Meadowlark Quartet. She currently performs with the Clear Water Chamber Players. Not only a classical musician, Kirsti is a member of Charanga Tropical, one the few Cuban-style charanga groups in the United States.

As a soloist, Kirsti has performed with Exultate Chamber Orchestra, the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra and the Oskaloosa Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. Her orchestral experience includes playing with the La Crosse and Sioux City Symphony Orchestras. Kirsti has been an adjunct faculty member at Southwest Minnesota State University as well as Luther College. At her teaching studios in the Twin Cities area, her students hone their technique as well as learn the art of making music. She teaches at the Colorado Chamber Music Institute in the summers and has spent several summers at Lutheran Summer Music Festival and the Southwest Minnesota String Festival.
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Energetic about sharing her love of the viola with others, Kirsti is currently on the board of the Minnesota Viola Society in the capacity of past president. She received her doctoral degree in viola performance at the University of Minnesota, where she also earned her master's and bachelor's degrees. She has studied with Korey Konkol, Sabina Thatcher, and Dr. Andrea Een.

​Rosa Thompson-Vieira

Rosa Thompson-Vieira, a native of Minneapolis, enjoys a dynamic and ever evolving career as a professional cellist and teacher in the Twin Cities. She serves as the new cellist of the Lux String Quartet, is on call as a substitute cellist for the Minnesota Opera and South Dakota Symphony, and was formerly the assistant principal cellist, (often filling in as principal) of the Rochester Symphony. To name a few, Thompson-Vieira has appeared with touring professionals such as Michael Bublé and 2Cellos, and with Broadway's Tony and Grammy-winning Best Musical Hadestown.

Thompson-Vieira thrives in a broad range of musical avenues, which does not exclude her passion for chamber music. She has served as cellist in Roma Duo since 2014, cellist of Quartet Du Nord since 2019 and as a member of the Delphia Cello Quartet since 2018, participating as a Class Notes Artist for Minnesota Public Radio in both the 2018/2019 and 2022/2023 seasons. Thompson-Vieira finds great joy in sharing music through performance as well as education. In 2021 she became a cello instructor for the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies Harmony program, focusing on breaking down barriers in music education and creating a more accessible pathway for underrepresented students. She received her Suzuki book 1 Certification in 2015 and uses a combination of traditional and Suzuki teaching methods. In addition to being on faculty at MacPhail, Thompson-Vieira has taught at the University of Minnesota - Morris, and is currently managing a private home studio.
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Thompson-Vieira received both her undergraduate degree and master's degree from the University of Minnesota studying under Tanya Remenikova, a former student of the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. Previously she studied with Allison Wells at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. In her spare time she enjoys doing yoga, cooking meals with her partner and spending time with her son Guthrie, dog Lewis and cat Iggy.

​Bill Simenson

Bill Simenson has been playing trumpet professionally in the Twin Cities for over thirty years. He has performed regularly with such groups as the Wolverines Classic Jazz Orchestra, Latin Sounds Orchestra, the Cedar Avenue Big Band (founding member), the Jazz Composers' Art Ensemble, the Jerry O'Hagan Orchestra, Salsa Blanca, and Seven Steps to Havana. He worked with David Byrne of Talking Heads on the Robert Wilson production of The Knee Plays at the Walker Art Center and has also performed at Mixed Blood, Guthrie, Cricket, and Children's Theaters; with groups and artists such as the JazzMn Big Band, Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, the Ordway Big Band, the American Classic Jazz Orchestra, the big band for the Minnesota Vikings, and Jack McDuff; as well as with his own ensembles. He also led the band for the Minnesota North Stars hockey team and has backed such artists as Cab Calloway, Steve Allen, Tony Sandler, Maureen McGovern, Joan Rivers, Mitzi Gaynor, the Temptations, and the Four Tops. He remains active as a freelance performer and has played in styles ranging from classical to rock and R&B to polka. In June of 2012 he launched the Bill Simenson Orchestra, which performs his original music for big band the first Tuesday of every month at Jazz Central Studios in Minneapolis.

He has studied trumpet with Laurie Frink (NYC), Michael Hesse (Norwegian Opera, Oslo, Norway), Reidar Bye (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Norway), Dag Tunaal (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Norway), Michael Brand (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra), Greg Lewis, (Minneapolis Jazz/Studio Trumpeter), and Ron Hasselmann (Minnesota Orchestra). In addition, he has taken lessons with Peter Bond (Metropolitan Opera, NYC), Dominic Derasse (NYC), Charley Davis (Los Angeles), Lew Soloff (NYC), John Ridgeon (Leicester, England), Robert Baca (University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire), Bobby Shew (Los Angeles), Harry Kvebæk (Oslo, Norway), Steve Wright (Minneapolis), and Kenny Wheeler (London).

​He teaches trumpet privately in a variety of locations in the Twin Cities. His awards include Bush Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition (1999) and Jerome Foundation Travel and Study Grant (1990).

Peter Enblom

Peter Enblom is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he studied trombone with Steven Zellmer and Ron Ricketts of the Minnesota Orchestra. He later did post graduate studies with Phil Wilson and John Coffey. Peter has been a professional trombonist for more than forty years, playing in almost every musical style from rock to jazz and classical to Latin music. He was lead trombonist for the Buddy Rich Band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and the Artie Shaw Orchestra and is currently lead trombonist with the Brian Setzer Orchestra. He has played for many music legends including Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin and Harry Connick Jr.

Currently, Peter performs with the JazzMN Orchestra, Explosion Big Band, Bill Simenson Orchestra as well as at the Ordway Theater, Children's Theater and with numerous jazz, rock and Latin groups.

He is also a music educator and has taught instrumental music at the elementary, middle school and high school levels. He enjoys working with students of all ages and skill levels and especially likes teaching jazz improvisation and jazz styles.

​Scott Ollhoff

Scott Ollhoff, percussion, holds a bachelor's and two master's degrees in music. He has performed with the Alaska-Anchorage Symphony, Rochester Orchestra and Chorale, and was principal percussion/tympanist for the Rochester Pops Orchestra. He has also been the percussion/drumline instructor at Century High School since its opening in 1997. Before that he taught drumline and percussion at Madison East High School and worked with the Madison Scouts in Madison, Wisconsin. He teaches social studies full time at Lourdes High School, and gives private percussion lessons.

​David Milne

David Milne is an accomplished and versatile saxophonist and multi-woodwind performer and teacher in musical settings ranging from creative improvised jazz, modern big band, and progressive popular styles to chamber music, classical orchestra, and contemporary classical styles. David is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he taught applied saxophone, woodwinds, jazz improvisation, jazz history, and music business, directed the UWRF Jazz Ensemble/RADD Jazz Series, and served as chair of the Music & Stage & Screen Arts Department. Based in the Twin Cities, David has performed in a diverse range of professional settings, including Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, JazzMN Big Band, national tour Broadway productions, touring jazz musicians, and a diverse range of musical ensembles in the region. David actively performs with jazz pianist and composer Laura Caviani in "Tableaux," a hybrid jazz/classical saxophone & piano duo that features jazz interpretations of "Impressionist" works, including music by Debussy, Faure, Ravel, and Satie. As emeritus member of the ANCIA Saxophone Quartet, David performed for many years as a chamber musician, including commissions, premieres, concerts, recordings, grants, and broadcasts on Minnesota Public Radio and National Public Radio's Performance Today. Originally from Rochester, New York, he earned a DMA in Saxophone Performance at the Eastman School of Music, a MM in Woodwind Performance from Indiana University, and a BA in Music and Communications from Indiana University. David serves internationally as a soloist, guest artist, and educator/clinician and has toured Asia, Europe, and the United States. David is an Artist-Clinician for Selmer Saxophones and Vandoren Woodwind Products.

Robert Gardner​

Robert S.P. Gardner has studied music theory, composition, and bass playing at Augsburg College, jazz arranging at Indiana University, and band arranging and bass pedagogy at Northwestern University.

Further studies include composition and arranging with Frederic Douglas Norman, staff arranger for Mercury Records and the NBC Orchestra, and Danny Holgate of the Manhattan School of Music.
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He holds an M.A. in Fine Arts/Integrated Arts Education from University of Montana's Creative Pulse program, and an M.A. in Religious Studies, Philosophy and Literature from Indiana University. In 2010 Mr. Gardner was chosen as an inaugural member of the Composer Teaching Artist Training Program with the American Composers Forum. Since arriving in Rochester in 1991, he has been active as a full-time educator as well as a freelance bassist, composer, and arranger. His works have been performed locally by Rochester Chamber Music Society, Choral Arts Ensemble, Children's Dance Theatre, SEMYO, Sonata Singers, and St. Paul City Ballet. Mr. Gardner currently serves as Chair of Fine Arts at Rochester Lourdes High School.
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