Jean and Jim Berkenstock are the musical instigators of Midsummer’s Music. They are Principal Flute, and Principal Bassoon at Lyric Opera of Chicago, positions each has held for over thirty years. They both served on the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. Jim is also a Professor Emeritus at Northern Illinois University. They are principal players with the Chicago Philharmonic and for over thirty years, each served as principals in the summers at the Grant Park Music Festival on Chicago’s lakefront.
Jean is a former member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and has performed extensively as a soloist with orchestras and in chamber music performances throughout the Chicago area. She is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, and received additional training in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago while studying with Donald Peck. Jean has performed on numerous occasions with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Contemporary Chamber Players at the University of Chicago, and many ballet orchestras. She particularly enjoys opportunities to spend time in her home near Gills Rock with Jim, sewing, cooking, hiking, and reading.
Jim graduated from Northwestern University with a Ph.D. in music history and is co-author of Joseph Haydn in Literature: A Bibliography, published by the Haydn Institute. His undergraduate degree is from George Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. Jim has made numerous solo appearances with Chicago area orchestras and has extensive experience in radio and television commercials. In 2002, Jim received the Presidential Scholars’ Teacher Recognition Award from the Department of Education. His hobbies are stone masonry, exploring the woods, juggling, and finding lost chamber music masterpieces. Jim and Jean have three children and six grandchildren, all of whom enjoy Door County.
Sally Chisholm, violist of the Pro Arte Quartet and Professor of Viola at UW-Madison, is a founding member of the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and a permanent violist of the Festival Der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland. She has appeared as guest artist with the Harrington, Lindsayan, and Kronos String Quartets, and as a member of the Thouvenel Quartet toured China and Tibet, appeared on NBC's /Today Show/, and co-commissioned Elliott Carter's Fourth Quartet.
Since joining the Pro Arte Quartet, Ms. Chisholm has served as a juror in the Wronski Solo Violin Competition in Warsaw, performed annually in Switzerland, performed the Bartok Viola Concerto in Hungary, Prague, and Brno, and premiered Yehuda Yannay's Viola Sonata, John Harbison's The Violist's Notebooks, the Imbrie Sonatina for Viola and Piano, and the revised version of Paul Schoenfield's Viola Concerto. In 2004, sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee of Philadelphia, she was a member of an American piano quintet that performed four concerts in Pyang Yang, North Korea.
In addition to her life in music, Ms. Chisholm has a degree in philosophy, recently spent one month in Tibet, and continues to be avid fan of professional basketball, tennis, and great cars.
Violinist David Perry enjoys an international career as chamber musician, soloist, concertmaster, and teacher. As first violinist of the Pro Arte Quartet, he performs live broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio and has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Japan. Mr. Perry is on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival, where he collaborates with world-renowned artists, and is a founding member of the Aspen Ensemble. Concertmaster of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and Symphony II of Chicago, Perry has served as guest concertmaster with such groups as the China National Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and the American Sinfonietta.
Active with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since the late 1980s, he can be heard on over 10 Deutsche Grammophon recordings of that orchestra. Mr. Perry has also performed (often as concertmaster) in Carnegie Hall and most of the major cultural centers of North and South America, Europe, and the Far East. First place winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition and the International D’Angelo Competition, Perry has made over a hundred concerto appearances in the U.S. and abroad, including many with orchestras in Chicago and St. Louis.
A native of Illinois, David’s early training was with John Kendall, followed by studies with Dorothy DeLay and Paul Kantor at the Juilliard School. He currently resides in Madison, where he is Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at the University of Wisconsin.
Walter Preucil is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded a performer’s certificate. His principle teachers have been Janos Starker and Paul Katz. The press has described Walter’s playing as “beautifully expressive” (New York Concert Review) and having “authoritative technique” (Door County Advocate).
A member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestra since 1988, he also enjoys a career as a chamber musician, having performed in every Midsummer’s Music concert since its opening week in 1991. Along with his wife Stephanie and William Koehler, he performs in the Classic Arts Trio, which has raised more than $20,000 for church missions.
Walter teaches at the Interlochen Arts Camp and has formerly served on the faculty of Lawrence University’s community music department as well as the Preucil School of Music in Iowa City. He plays a cello made by Giovanni Fiorillo in 1781 and is a member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas and the American Federation of Musicians. His hobbies include astronomy, juggling, and cross-country skiing. He has three sons – Zachary, Anthony, and James.
Stephanie Preucil has been teaching violin privately for thirty years and currently has a studio of forty students. In January 2006 Stephanie was the recipient of the Illinois ASTA Most Outstanding Studio Teacher Award. She enjoys coaching chamber music and teaching theory and history classes to her students. Previously, she was an active faculty member of the Music Center of the North Shore (now Music Institute of Chicago) for ten years. Prior to living in Illinois, she taught in Rochester, New York, Detroit, Michigan, and at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. In the summer, she is on the faculty of the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. She enjoys giving sectionals for the Schaumburg Youth Symphony Orchestra and she is a member of the American String Teachers Association and the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Stephanie is a member of the Classic Arts Trio along with cellist and husband Walter Preucil (Lyric Opera of Chicago) and pianist William Koehler (Northern Illinois University). She is also a member of the Champagne Players and a violinist with Midsummer’s Music Festival, which performs a chamber music series throughout the month of June in Door County, Wisconsin. She is the former principal second violin of the Illinois Chamber Symphony. Prior to living in Illinois, Stephanie was principal second violin of the New American Chamber Orchestra in Detroit, Michigan, which traveled throughout Europe, Scandinavia, and the Middle East. She also has performed in Chamber Works of Detroit, directed by Baroque specialist Thomas Kuras, the Oklahoma Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Heidelberg Castle Festival, and as an extra musician in the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Stephanie received her Bachelors in Music Performance from the Eastman School of Music under Charles Castleman and went on to pursue graduate studies at Indiana University under Josef Gingold. Early education included studies with Carol Glenn and Oliver Steiner in New York. Additional education included working with Georgy Sebok in Ernen, Switzerland and Norman Caroll and William DePasquale (of the Philadelphia Orchestra) at Saratoga Arts Festival.
Stephanie’s hobbies include swimming, biking, hiking, running, skiing, and racing triathlons. Stephanie and her husband, Walter, have three children: Zachary, (cellist and composer); Anthony, (violinist and pianist); and James, (violinist).
John Fairfield has been professor of horn and chamber music at Northern Illinois University since 1985. A native of New York State, he received his training as a student at Northwestern University (MM, 1977) and Ithaca College (BM, 1975). He serves as principal horn of the Chicago Sinfonietta (since 1987) and the Illinois Philharmonic (since 1990). He also performs regularly with many other groups, including the Chicago Symphony and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. John has also performed with the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Mr. Jack Daniel's Original Cornet Band, and others. John is married to Laura, also a hornist, and they are the parents of Elizabeth (born 1992), a budding violinist.
A native of South Dakota, Jason Heath began playing with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and Sioux City Symphony Orchestra at the age of fifteen. A member of the Elgin Symphony, he served for eight years as co-principal bass of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra and assistant principal bass of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. Jason has also performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. Jason teaches bass at DePaul University and Northwestern University's National High School Music, and he is the assistant orchestra director for Libertyville High School in north suburban Chicago.
Jason also actively writes about the classical music world and the double bass. His work has recently been featured in Double Bassist magazine, and his articles and observations about the classical music business can be found on his blog at doublebassblog.org.
William Koehler has taught piano at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb since 1985. He studied with Moreland Roller, Adele Marcus, and William Race, and his competition awards include first prizes in the 1984 San Antonio International Keyboard Competition and the 1989 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Koehler received his doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1986.
A recipient of a 2001 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award from NIU, he was named a Presidential Teaching Professor in 2005. He is an active performer of chamber music throughout the Midwest and has recorded for Cedille Records, Canti Classics, and Centaur Records as a collaborative pianist. Koehler is a past president of the Waubonsee Valley chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and is the pianist for DeKalb's First United Methodist Church.
Violinist Isabella Lippi, whose playing has been described as "flawlessly shimmering and captivating with warmth and urgent skill" (The Washington Post), began performing in public at the age of 10 when she made her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1989 Isabella Lippi won the St. Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, so impressing Maestro Leonard Slatkin, that she became the first winner in 55 years invited to perform with the symphony in subscription concerts. Of those concerts under Maestro Slatkin, the St. Louis Dispatch declared, "Lippi is a standout, even among virtuosos." In addition to the Chicago Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony, Isabella Lippi has performed with numerous orchestras around the country and the world. In January 1993, Isabella Lippi made her New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y’s Tisch Center for the Arts. Born in Chicago, Isabella Lippi’s teachers have included Robert Lipsett in Los Angeles, Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School, and Almita and Roland Vamos in Chicago. Ms. Lippi is currently concertmaster of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and performs often with Midsummer’s Music Festival.
Allyson Fleck, received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Viola Performance with a minor in instrumental conducting at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently living in Atlanta, Allyson is on the faculty at Kennesaw State University and performs with the Lyra String Quartet. Allyson performs with the Cobb Symphony Orchestra and subs for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Opera.
Pianist William Billingham has served as an Assistant Conductor at the Lyric Opera of Chicago since 1995. Also a recital accompanist and chamber musician, Dr. Billingham holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, the Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Southern California, where he studied accompanying with Gwendolyn Koldofsky and Brooks Smith. He has worked as an instrumental accompanist at the Music Academy of the West, and spent five years as a repetitor in the opera houses of Heidelberg and Dusseldorf, Germany. He has also been a pianist/coach for the Florentine Opera (Milwaukee, WI), the Pine Mountain Music Festival (Upper Peninsula, MI), and the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Bill resides with his wife and three children in Wheaton, Illinois.
Paula Kosower is an active performer and teacher currently residing in Chicago. Performances include concerts with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, with the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, for the contemporary music series at the Music Institute of Chicago, and for the Bach Festival week in Evanston. Some of her past solo and chamber music performances have included concerts abroad in Belgium, Italy, China and North Korea. Ms. Kosower teaches cello pedagogy at Northwestern University, private lessons at the Northwestern University Academy and chamber music at the Merit School of Music where she is also a member of the faculty piano trio. She received her B.M. and M.M. degree at Indiana University where she was a scholarship student of Janos Starker. She recently completed her doctoral degree at Northwestern University.
This program was supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
MIDSUMMER'S MUSIC FESTIVAL 2010
Oboist Tim Sawyier graduated from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music in 2008. There, he was a student of Richard Woodhams, and played principal oboe in the Curtis Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. During his time at Curtis, Tim was twice a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, and appeared as a guest artist at New Mexico’s “Music from Angel Fire.” In 2006, he was named one of five of the Chicago Tribune’s “Overture Achievers: Rising Stars in Classical Music.”
As a chamber musician, Tim has appeared on NPR’S “From the Top,” the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series,” and won 3rd prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (junior division). In 2004 he won one of two $25,000 awards given annually by New York’s “Music for Youth” Foundation, and was a semi-finalist to be a Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
Tim currently serves as principal oboe of the Dubuque Symphony and as the oboist for Chicago’s “Anaphora” Ensemble. His former teachers include Elaine Douvas, Scott Hostetler, John Mack, and Ricardo Castañeda. He lives in his native Chicago, and in his spare time enjoys playing chess and collecting marine fish.
Artist Profiles - 2010
Midsummer's Music Festival ~ Door County, Wisconsin
Todd Cope joined the clarinet section of the New World Symphony in September, 2007. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the New World Symphony, the Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra and the Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, among others. His solo performances have been featured on NPR's Performance Today and From the Top. Todd graduated from the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati where he studied with Richie Hawley. Other teachers include Carmine Campione, Gregory Raden, and Deborah Ungaro Fabian. In the United States, he has performed at the Aspen and Eastern music festivals, the National Repertory Orchestra and the Music Academy of the West. Todd has performed abroad on several occasions – most recently for the New World Symphony’s month-long residency in Paris, France, and as a fellow at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. He is currently on trial for the position of Sub-Principal Clarinet with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and will perform with the orchestra and Charles Mackerras at the Edinburgh Festival in August.
