​Stars & Stripes: America250
September 12th, 2026
7:30 PM

Christ United Methodist Church
Featuring

Horacio Nuguid, pianist
Yanjue Lin, pianist
Curtis Baum, pianist
Mark Scheitel, pianist
Robert S P. Gardner, bassist
David Townsend, clarinetist
Tomohiko Yamada, violist
Robert S. P. Gardner, bassist

Steve Cole, saxophonist
David Knapp, violinist
Sheryl Frey, violinist
Rachel Graves, violinist
Sarah Wright, violinist
Ute Zahn, cellist


Program

To Be Announced
A special concert featuring music by American composers, performed by our own board members and friends! This fireworks-filled program will delight audiences with beloved tunes by Gershwin, Barber, Bernstein, Copland, Joplin, Sousa, and more!

Horacio Nuguid
Filipino-American pianist Horacio Nuguid holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Santo Tomas (Manila), the University of Northern Iowa, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In addition to presenting solo recitals, Dr. Nuguid has performed with orchestras in the Philippines, Mexico, and the United States. He also collaborates regularly with distinguished singers and instrumentalists as founder, pianist, and artistic director of the Rochester Chamber Music Society.

Yanjue Lin

Yanjue Lin is a classically trained pianist with an artist diploma from University of Miami, a DMA from Shenandoah University, and an MM from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. She has performed as a soloist and orchestral keyboardist, including with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and the Frost Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Gerard Schwarz. She currently works as a principal and substitute orchestral keyboardist with ensembles including the New World Symphony, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, and Rochester Symphony Orchestra.

Curtis Baum

Curtis Baum grew up in Rochester and studied with Dr. Horacio Nuguid before earning his bachelor’s degree in piano performance at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul and his master of music degree from Western Illinois University. He has performed with the UNWSP Orchestra, the WIU Symphony Orchestra and WIU Symphonic Band, the Heartland Festival
Orchestra of Peoria, IL, as well as the Rochester Big Band. His interests include jazz, organ, and especially chamber music, often collaborating with tenor Alfonzo Cooper Jr. and violinist Rachel Graves. Curtis is currently a J.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota Law School.

David Townsend

Clarinetist David Townsend is co-founder of RCMS. He has degrees from Indiana University, Michigan State University, and the University of Arizona. Also, a performance diploma from the Mozarteum Hochschule, Salzberg, Austria. He was principal clarinetist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale from 1983-2015. He has also performed 16 world premieres, including two of his own compositions. He is retired from restoration of woodwind instruments, which he did for 38 years. Now he continues as a freelance performer, and still teaches a few students.

Tomohiko Yamada

Tomohiko Yamada is a violinist and violist who has served as a faculty optometrist and assistant professor of ophthalmology at Mayo Clinic since 2008, where he cares for patients in pediatrics and glaucoma clinics. A passionate chamber musician, he has performed in numerous recitals in cities across the United States. Deeply committed to fostering local arts, he has served on the board of directors for the Rochester Chamber Music Society since 2010.

Robert S.P. 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. 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. Mr. Gardner currently serves as Chair of Fine Arts at Rochester Lourdes High School.

Steve Cole

​Saxophonist Steve Cole is one of the most celebrated players in contemporary jazz. He has performed at the Hollywood Bowl, Benaroya Symphony Hall, Bass Performance Hall, Chicago Symphony Center and has been a featured performer at the JVC, Playboy and Blue Note Jazz festivals, as well as performing arts centers and jazz clubs around the world. He is head of music
industry studies and recording arts at the University of St. Thomas and has degrees from that college as well as University of Chicago and Northwestern University.

David Knapp

​David Knapp is an avid violinist and chamber musician. A long-time participant in the Chamber  Music Conference of the East at Colgate University, and the organizer of the Whitewater Chamboree held at Whitewater State Park, David is passionate about building community through chamber music. David has been a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Elmhurst
Symphony, Kenwood Orchestra, Allegro Sinfonia, Symphony of the Lakes, and the Borderline Philharmonic. A lifelong learner, he is currently a student of Eunice Kim and has previously studied with Eunae Koh, Leslie Shank, Ken Freed, and Linda Hanley. 

Cheryl Frey

Rachel Graves

​Rachel Graves, violin, is an occupational therapist and hand therapist at Mayo Clinic. During her undergraduate time at Rice University, she double majored in music, with a focus in violin performance, and kinesiology sports medicine. She completed her doctorate in occupational therapy at Washington University in St. Louis and started practicing four years ago in outpatient
rehabilitation with a passion for hand therapy, injury prevention, and treatment for musicians. She has competed and soloed with multiple orchestras and continues to enjoy performing violin to share the joy and enhance healing through music.

Sarah Wright

Violinist Sarah Wright joined the Rochester Symphony in 2025 and also performs with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. Prior to that, she was concertmaster of the Exultate Chamber Orchestra and performed with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, serving as associate concertmaster of the MSO for three of those seasons. She was a frequent soloist with both ensembles during that time, and has also appeared as a soloist with the Kenwood Symphony and as guest concertmaster with the Dakota Valley Symphony.

Ute Zahn

​Ute Zahn grew up in Germany and started playing the cello at age ten. She studied lutherie (the making of stringed musical instruments) at the Newark School of Violin Making and worked as a luthier and freelance cellist in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Vancouver, B.C. before settling in Minneapolis. She has worked as a violin maker and restorer in several Minneapolis
violin shops, taught violin making at Minnesota State College Southeast in Red Wing, and started the United States chapter of the non-profit “Luthiers without Borders”. Ute currently has her own studio in South Minneapolis and plays as a freelancer all over the Twin Cities.
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