Nancy
Beckmann studied violin with Sergiu Luca and Paul Rolland
at the University of Illinois at Urbana where she received her Bachelor
of Music degree in violin performance. She was a member of the Houston
Ballet Orchestra and the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra from 1985-89 and
performed in the Houston Symphony during that time. Nancy has been a violinist
in the Kansas City Symphony since 1989. She has performed with Summerfest
since 1991 and is currently one of its Artistic Advisors.
Susan
Hicks Brashier earned a B.M. degree in Oboe Performance
from Oberlin College-Conservatory and continued her musical studies at
Yale University, earning an M.M. degree in Oboe Performance. Teaching
experience includes the University of Missouri-Columbia, Appalachian State
University, the University of Kansas, and Rutgers University. Ms. Brashier
is an active solo and chamber music recitalist and has performed throughout
the United States and in Europe. She has performed with the St. Louis,
North Carolina, Roanoke and Kansas City symphonies and as principal oboist
with the Kansas City Camerata and Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Brashier
also performs extensively as a baroque oboist and is currently playing
with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. In the fall of 1998 she moved to Valdosta,
Georgia, where her husband is Director of Bands at Valdosta State University.
Ms. Brashier performs as principal oboist with the Albany (GA) Symphony,
and maintains a private studio of junior high and high school oboists.
Ms. Brashier is on sabbatical from Summerfest this season.
Jane
Carl is a native of Michigan and received her bachelor's, master's,
and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. She was formerly
a member of the South Bend, Flint, and Michigan Opera Theater Orchestras,
and on the faculty of Notre Dame University, Hillsdale College, and Andrews
University, and taught at the University of Michigan. She is currently
Associate Professor of Clarinet at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Conservatory of Music. She performs regularly with the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra including a sabbatical replacement position in 1997-1998, the
1998-1999 European tour, several recordings, and from 1999-2003, she was
Acting Assistant Principal Clarinet. She has also performed with the St.
Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas
City Chamber Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Carl has
performed with Summerfest since 1991 and is currently one of its Artistic
Advisors.
Deborah
Wells Clark, harpist, received her Bachelor of Music degree from the
Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied harp with Alice Chalifoux.
She completed her doctorate in Harp Performance after studying with Eileen
Dishinger-Mason and Jeanne Chalifoux. She is presently Principal Harpist
and Assistant Personnel Manager with the Kansas City Symphony. She also
will be teaching in the fall at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Mrs. Clark has twice appeared as soloist with the Kansas City Symphony
and is a founding member of Summerfest. Mrs. Clark has also been the harpist
for the Utah Festival Opera Company, the Lake George Opera Festival and
the Crested Butte Music Festival. In addition, she has performed throughout
the Midwest, East Coast, Europe, and in Singapore. She is married to trumpeter
Philip Clark and has two children, Dawn and Matthew.
Alexander
East recently completed his tenth season as Assistant Principal Cellist
of the Kansas City Symphony. In addition to duties with the symphony,
which often include leading the section as principal for opera, ballet
and chamber orchestra performances, Alex is also heard frequently in recitals
and chamber music concerts throughout the Kansas City region and beyond.
Before settling in Kansas City, Alex spent two seasons as a member of
the New World Symphony under the direction of conductor Michael Tilson
Thomas. As a member of that ensemble, he toured internationally and participated
in several major recording projects. Alex has been featured as soloist
with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, the Sedalia Symphony, the Erie
(PA) Chamber Orchestra and the Fredonia Chamber Players. During the summer,
he has participated in the Banff and Sarasota music festivals and continues
to perform annually with the Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony. Alex received
his training at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of
Music. His teachers have included Tsuyushi Tsutsumi, Janos Starker, Laurence
Lesser and Colin Carr. Alex has performed with Summerfest since 2001.
Shannon
Finney has served as Associate Principal Flutist of the Kansas City
Symphony since 1994 and has been a member of Summerfest since 1996. She
was the winner of the first National Flute Association Piccolo Artist
Competition in 1993 and a fellow at Tanglewood in 1994. Shannon has served
as substitute Piccolo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and has
traveled to Germany and the Canary Islands with the Chicago Sinfonietta.
She has also performed piccolo concerti with the South Dakota Symphony
and the Fort Collins Symphony. Her teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Mary
Stolper, and Karla Flygare, and she received her training at Northwestern
University.
Mary
Grant received her undergraduate degree in violin performance
from Rice University, where she studied with Raphael Fliegel. She received
a master’s degree from Queens College-City University of New York,
where she studied with Ruth Waterman and Ani Kavafian. While in New York
City, she played with the National Orchestral Association, a training
orchestra for young musicians. She also studied baroque violin with Nancy
Wilson. She has played with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in
Europe and the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado. Mary has been
a violinist with the Kansas City Symphony since 1989 and is a founding
member of Summerfest. She is currently one of Summerfest’s Artistic
Advisors. She, her husband, and two cats live in Stilwell, Kansas.
Joshua
Hood, bassoonist, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University
of Michigan, where he studied with Lewis Hugh Cooper. Mr. Hood then completed
his Master's degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University
with Benjamin Kamins, former Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Symphony.
Other teachers have included Stephen Maxym, Principal Bassoonist of the
Metropolitan Opera, Dennis Michel of the Chicago Symphony and John Clouser,
Principal Bassoonist of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hood made
his orchestral debut with the Flint Symphony (Michigan) in 1986. Since
then he has performed with a variety of symphonies, including the Kansas
City Symphony, Houston Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. He joined
the Charlotte Symphony in 1995 and since then has been featured as a soloist
with both the symphony and the Charlotte Repertory Symphony to outstanding
reviews. He was the recipient of the Houston Symphony Internship, Brenda
Harris and the Herb Alpert Scholarship. He has held the Transamerica Life
Companies Chair with the Charlotte Symphony. He has also played with several
festivals, including the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, May Music Festival,
Gateways Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara,
California and with Ritz Chamber Players on the Amelia Island Music Festival
in Florida. He has performed with Summerfest since 1998.
Dr.
Michael Kimber has performed with Summerfest since 1995. His
career has included concerts throughout North America, Australia, and
Europe as violist of the Kronos Quartet, the Alexandria Quartet, and the
Atlanta Virtuosi; twelve seasons as principal violist of the Kansas City
Chamber Orchestra; and numerous solo recitals and solo performances with
orchestra. As a viola soloist he has been heard on Australian Broadcasting
Commission radio and National Public Radio’s “Performance
Today.” In 2002 he received the music composition award of the Mississippi
Institute of Arts and Letters; that same year three of his compositions
received international premieres. He has achieved recognition throughout
the U.S. and in 26 countries on five continents as a performer, teacher,
composer, and inventor of the poly-pad violin/viola shoulder rest. Formerly
viola professor at the University of Kansas and the University of Southern
Mississippi, he now lives in Iowa City, plays in the Cedar Rapids and
Quad City Symphony Orchestras, and teaches at Coe College.
Jessica
Nance has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 1995
and Assistant Principal Viola since 1997. She is a founding member of
the Boulevard String Quartet of Kansas City and a member of the Grand
Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Previously Jessica was Principal Viola
in the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Windsor (Ontario) Symphony. She
received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan,
where she studied with Yizhak Schotten Jessica has performed with Summerfest
since 2000.
Melissa
Rose has performed as a collaborative pianist in Russia, Argentina,
and throughout the United States. Melissa co-chairs the piano department
and teaches chamber music and accompanying at Vanderbilt University's
Blair School of Music. She has performed in the Middle Tennessee area
with the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Alias Chamber Players,
and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra's Historic Franklin Chamber Music
Festival. She continues to be involved in performances of contemporary
music, including residencies with BMI composers Joan Tower and Robert
Beaser and the Centaur recording of J. Mark Scearce's Magritte Variations.
She received degrees in solo piano performance from Yale University and
West Chester University of Pennsylvania and the Doctor of Musical Arts
degree in piano chamber music and accompanying from the University of
Michigan. Melissa lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Daniel
Schafer, and sons, Jacob and Vova. She has performed with Summerfest since
1994.
Program
annotator Marian Wilson Kimber is Associate Professor
of Musicology at the University of Iowa. She holds a Ph.D. in musicology
from Florida State University, and has taught for the past fifteen years
at various universities in the south and midwest. Her research centers
on Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and explores issues
surrounding biography, gender, compositional process, and musical reception.
Wilson Kimber is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, most
recently in The Mendelssohns: Their Music in History, 19th-Century Piano
Music, The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn, and Musical Biography:
Towards New Paradigms. This past year she spoke at the International Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel conference in honor of the composer's two-hundredth
birthday. Marian is married to Summerfest violist Michael Kimber, and
they are the parents of a seven-year old budding cellist.
Nancy
Beckmann studied violin with Sergiu Luca and Paul Rolland
at the University of Illinois at Urbana where she received her Bachelor
of Music degree in violin performance. She was a member of the Houston
Ballet Orchestra and the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra from 1985-89 and
performed in the Houston Symphony during that time. Nancy has been a violinist
in the Kansas City Symphony since 1989. She has performed with Summerfest
since 1991 and is currently one of its Artistic Advisors.
Susan
Hicks Brashier earned a B.M. degree in Oboe Performance
from Oberlin College-Conservatory and continued her musical studies at
Yale University, earning an M.M. degree in Oboe Performance. Teaching
experience includes the University of Missouri-Columbia, Appalachian State
University, the University of Kansas, and Rutgers University. Ms. Brashier
is an active solo and chamber music recitalist and has performed throughout
the United States and in Europe. She has performed with the St. Louis,
North Carolina, Roanoke and Kansas City symphonies and as principal oboist
with the Kansas City Camerata and Kansas City Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Brashier
also performs extensively as a baroque oboist and is currently playing
with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. In the fall of 1998 she moved to Valdosta,
Georgia, where her husband is Director of Bands at Valdosta State University.
Ms. Brashier performs as principal oboist with the Albany (GA) Symphony,
and maintains a private studio of junior high and high school oboists.
Ms. Brashier is on sabbatical from Summerfest this season.
Jane
Carl is a native of Michigan and received her bachelor's, master's,
and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. She was formerly
a member of the South Bend, Flint, and Michigan Opera Theater Orchestras,
and on the faculty of Notre Dame University, Hillsdale College, and Andrews
University, and taught at the University of Michigan. She is currently
Associate Professor of Clarinet at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
Conservatory of Music. She performs regularly with the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra including a sabbatical replacement position in 1997-1998, the
1998-1999 European tour, several recordings, and from 1999-2003, she was
Acting Assistant Principal Clarinet. She has also performed with the St.
Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra, the Kansas
City Chamber Orchestra, and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Carl has
performed with Summerfest since 1991 and is currently one of its Artistic
Advisors.
Deborah
Wells Clark, harpist, received her Bachelor of Music degree from the
Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied harp with Alice Chalifoux.
She completed her doctorate in Harp Performance after studying with Eileen
Dishinger-Mason and Jeanne Chalifoux. She is presently Principal Harpist
and Assistant Personnel Manager with the Kansas City Symphony. She also
will be teaching in the fall at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Mrs. Clark has twice appeared as soloist with the Kansas City Symphony
and is a founding member of Summerfest. Mrs. Clark has also been the harpist
for the Utah Festival Opera Company, the Lake George Opera Festival and
the Crested Butte Music Festival. In addition, she has performed throughout
the Midwest, East Coast, Europe, and in Singapore. She is married to trumpeter
Philip Clark and has two children, Dawn and Matthew. 
Alexander
East recently completed his tenth season as Assistant Principal Cellist
of the Kansas City Symphony. In addition to duties with the symphony,
which often include leading the section as principal for opera, ballet
and chamber orchestra performances, Alex is also heard frequently in recitals
and chamber music concerts throughout the Kansas City region and beyond.
Before settling in Kansas City, Alex spent two seasons as a member of
the New World Symphony under the direction of conductor Michael Tilson
Thomas. As a member of that ensemble, he toured internationally and participated
in several major recording projects. Alex has been featured as soloist
with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, the Sedalia Symphony, the Erie
(PA) Chamber Orchestra and the Fredonia Chamber Players. During the summer,
he has participated in the Banff and Sarasota music festivals and continues
to perform annually with the Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony. Alex received
his training at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of
Music. His teachers have included Tsuyushi Tsutsumi, Janos Starker, Laurence
Lesser and Colin Carr. Alex has performed with Summerfest since 2001.
Shannon
Finney has served as Associate Principal Flutist of the Kansas City
Symphony since 1994 and has been a member of Summerfest since 1996. She
was the winner of the first National Flute Association Piccolo Artist
Competition in 1993 and a fellow at Tanglewood in 1994. Shannon has served
as substitute Piccolo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra and the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and has
traveled to Germany and the Canary Islands with the Chicago Sinfonietta.
She has also performed piccolo concerti with the South Dakota Symphony
and the Fort Collins Symphony. Her teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Mary
Stolper, and Karla Flygare, and she received her training at Northwestern
University. 
Mary
Grant received her undergraduate degree in violin performance
from Rice University, where she studied with Raphael Fliegel. She received
a master’s degree from Queens College-City University of New York,
where she studied with Ruth Waterman and Ani Kavafian. While in New York
City, she played with the National Orchestral Association, a training
orchestra for young musicians. She also studied baroque violin with Nancy
Wilson. She has played with the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra in
Europe and the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado. Mary has been
a violinist with the Kansas City Symphony since 1989 and is a founding
member of Summerfest. She is currently one of Summerfest’s Artistic
Advisors. She, her husband, and two cats live in Stilwell, Kansas.
Joshua
Hood, bassoonist, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University
of Michigan, where he studied with Lewis Hugh Cooper. Mr. Hood then completed
his Master's degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University
with Benjamin Kamins, former Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Symphony.
Other teachers have included Stephen Maxym, Principal Bassoonist of the
Metropolitan Opera, Dennis Michel of the Chicago Symphony and John Clouser,
Principal Bassoonist of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hood made
his orchestral debut with the Flint Symphony (Michigan) in 1986. Since
then he has performed with a variety of symphonies, including the Kansas
City Symphony, Houston Symphony and the North Carolina Symphony. He joined
the Charlotte Symphony in 1995 and since then has been featured as a soloist
with both the symphony and the Charlotte Repertory Symphony to outstanding
reviews. He was the recipient of the Houston Symphony Internship, Brenda
Harris and the Herb Alpert Scholarship. He has held the Transamerica Life
Companies Chair with the Charlotte Symphony. He has also played with several
festivals, including the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, May Music Festival,
Gateways Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara,
California and with Ritz Chamber Players on the Amelia Island Music Festival
in Florida. He has performed with Summerfest since 1998.
Dr.
Michael Kimber has performed with Summerfest since 1995. His
career has included concerts throughout North America, Australia, and
Europe as violist of the Kronos Quartet, the Alexandria Quartet, and the
Atlanta Virtuosi; twelve seasons as principal violist of the Kansas City
Chamber Orchestra; and numerous solo recitals and solo performances with
orchestra. As a viola soloist he has been heard on Australian Broadcasting
Commission radio and National Public Radio’s “Performance
Today.” In 2002 he received the music composition award of the Mississippi
Institute of Arts and Letters; that same year three of his compositions
received international premieres. He has achieved recognition throughout
the U.S. and in 26 countries on five continents as a performer, teacher,
composer, and inventor of the poly-pad violin/viola shoulder rest. Formerly
viola professor at the University of Kansas and the University of Southern
Mississippi, he now lives in Iowa City, plays in the Cedar Rapids and
Quad City Symphony Orchestras, and teaches at Coe College.
Jessica
Nance has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 1995
and Assistant Principal Viola since 1997. She is a founding member of
the Boulevard String Quartet of Kansas City and a member of the Grand
Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Previously Jessica was Principal Viola
in the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Windsor (Ontario) Symphony. She
received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan,
where she studied with Yizhak Schotten Jessica has performed with Summerfest
since 2000.
Melissa
Rose has performed as a collaborative pianist in Russia, Argentina,
and throughout the United States. Melissa co-chairs the piano department
and teaches chamber music and accompanying at Vanderbilt University's
Blair School of Music. She has performed in the Middle Tennessee area
with the Nashville Symphony, Nashville Ballet, Alias Chamber Players,
and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra's Historic Franklin Chamber Music
Festival. She continues to be involved in performances of contemporary
music, including residencies with BMI composers Joan Tower and Robert
Beaser and the Centaur recording of J. Mark Scearce's Magritte Variations.
She received degrees in solo piano performance from Yale University and
West Chester University of Pennsylvania and the Doctor of Musical Arts
degree in piano chamber music and accompanying from the University of
Michigan. Melissa lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband, Daniel
Schafer, and sons, Jacob and Vova. She has performed with Summerfest since
1994.
Program
annotator Marian Wilson Kimber is Associate Professor
of Musicology at the University of Iowa. She holds a Ph.D. in musicology
from Florida State University, and has taught for the past fifteen years
at various universities in the south and midwest. Her research centers
on Felix Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, and explores issues
surrounding biography, gender, compositional process, and musical reception.
Wilson Kimber is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, most
recently in The Mendelssohns: Their Music in History, 19th-Century Piano
Music, The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn, and Musical Biography:
Towards New Paradigms. This past year she spoke at the International Fanny
Mendelssohn Hensel conference in honor of the composer's two-hundredth
birthday. Marian is married to Summerfest violist Michael Kimber, and
they are the parents of a seven-year old budding cellist.