Chintimi Chamber Music Festival: Remembrances

• Linda Larson, mezzo-soprano
• Sunghee Kim, piano
• Erik Peterson, violin
• Sarah Knutson, violin
• Lisa Zweben, viola
• Noah Seitz, cello

About Chintimi Chamber Music Festival

The Chintimi Chamber Music Festival, founded in 2001, is built around performers who grew up in Willamette Valley and are now pursuing concert careers in classical music. There are at least 26 such artists living in the US and Europe, playing in symphonies, operas, chamber orchestras, and touring ensembles, and auditioning for new opportunities.

About Linda Larson, mezzo-soprano

Corvallis native Linda Larson is delighted to be returning for this year's Chintimini Chamber Music Festival. Linda has sung leading operatic roles throughout the United States with companies including New York City Opera National Company, Opera Illinois, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Indianapolis Opera, and Opera Memphis.

Recognized for her commitment to new American music, Linda performed many pieces of microtonalist composer John Eaton, including the world premieres of his operas Pumped Fiction, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Rerouted. Linda premiered chamber music of Cynthia Lee Wong at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. She has sung with Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, Ensemble X, Brooklyn New Music Collective, Encompass New Opera Theatre, Voices of Change, and Bowdoin International Chamber Music Festival.

Linda has been featured in concert and recital at the Chautauqua Institute, with the Syracuse Symphony, New Texas Festival, Umpqua Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, Finger Lakes Chamber Ensemble, and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and as part of Symphony Space's Wall-to-Wall Stravinsky Festival. She has taught at Cornell University, New York University, Ithaca College, and Appalachian State University.

While growing up in Corvallis, Linda studied voice with Gwen Leonard and Karen Knutson, and piano with Becky Jeffers and Bea Miller. She also played harpsichord with Figs and Thistles, a local chamber music group, while attending Corvallis High School. Linda now splits her time between Boone, North Carolina and Missoula, Montana. She and her husband Bill Pelto (who also has Corvallis roots) are avid travelers, hikers, and skiers, and play piano duets almost every day. Linda has recently taken up the ukulele.

About Sunghee Kim, piano

Sunghee Kim is a professional pianist and accompanist. She received the artistic education diploma in piano under Ilja Scheps at the Köln Conservatory of Music, Aachen and has performed in numerous recitals in Korea and Europe. She coached vocal as well as wind and string instruments as a staff accompanist. After completing her education in Germany, Kim was a member of the Piano Research Association in Korea, frequently performing as a recitalist throughout the country.

She was awarded New Artist of the Year at the 2006 Korea Piano Society Competition, and also performed a Liszt piano concerto with the Daegu Symphony Orchestra. Before coming to the United States, Kim taught at the Kyungpook National University and Daegu National University of Education.

Sunghee currently resides in Corvallis, where she is an active soloist and chamber musician. She has been featured on OSU’s Music à la Carte series since 2013 and performed in the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival regularly. She was featured as a soloist with Salem Philharmonia Orchestra in 2016 and 2017 and performed as a soloist with Willamette Valley Symphony in 2019.

She is currently teaching students privately and her students have succeeded in OMTA competitions.

About Erik Peterson, violin

Erik Peterson, Founder and Artistic Director of Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, enjoys sharing great music with broad and diverse audiences. Erik reaches thousands of chamber music devotees and novices throughout the United States and Europe performing with Chintimini Chamber Music, Mendelssohn Trio, Ivy Street Ensemble, Candlelight Concerts and Front Range Chamber Players. As Artistic Director of Chintimini Chamber Music Festival and Front Range Chamber Players Erik engages in imaginative, diverse, and innovative programming.

Collaborations to create new works and showcase living composers are passions for Erik. Working with composers such as Obo Addy, Ofer Ben-Amots, Jacob Avshalomov, Kenji Bunch, David Crumb, Maria Grenfell, David Mullikin, and Loretta Notareschi continue to bring new and invigorating works into the classical repertoire. Continually striving to bring chamber music to a wide array of communities with his ensembles, Erik collaborates with universities, schools, retirement homes, and other organizations to engage students and adults in the art of chamber music. His performances are often heard on Colorado Public Radio, Oregon Public Radio and National Public Radio.

Sharing the art of violin performance and pedagogy is a driving force for Erik. He enjoys working with many talented students while maintaining a private teaching studio and teaching for prestigious institutions such as University of Denver, Colorado State University, Rocky Ridge Music Center, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and Denver School of the Arts. Many of these students succeed in local and national competitions, attend prestigious summer festivals, and are accepted to renowned collegiate music schools and conservatories.

As Principal Second Violinist of The American Sinfonietta, Erik performed in the great concert halls of Europe on numerous international tours. He also served as Concertmaster of Great Falls Symphony, Up Close and Musical, and Opera Steamboat. After 28 years in the Colorado Symphony, having performed as Concertmaster, Assistant Concertmaster, titled chair of Fixed Fourth Chair, and a section player, in order to further pursue his passion for chamber music and teaching, Erik changed course and now limits his time in orchestral performance. He currently serves as Concertmaster of Canto Deo and performs with the Colorado Bach Ensemble.

When not performing, teaching, or creating concert opportunities for audiences of all ages, Erik enjoys spending time with his family, skiing, and hiking.

About Sarah Knutson, violin

Based in San Francisco as a freelance artist, Sarah Knutson plays with several orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony as first violinist. She also also records in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, and performs throughout Japan and Europe.

Sarah has been a member of the small, conductorless New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco and of Santa Fe Pro Musica, and has performed with a San Diego chamber ensemble.

She was formerly principal second violin of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and of The American Sinfonietta.

Sarah helped to develop the concept of the Chintimini Festival and has been an essential part since it began in 2001.

About Lisa Zweben, viola

A native of Washington D.C., Lisa is a professional violinist and violist, teacher and conductor. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Violin Performance from SUNY College at Purchase, and earned an MM in Violin Performance and Doctor of Musical Arts in Viola Performance from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Following studies with principal teachers Charles and Heidi Castleman, Carol Sindell, and Thomas Moore, Lisa has been a member of many orchestras including the Royal Opera of Ghent, Belgium, the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida, and the Miami City Ballet. Prior to moving back to Portland, Oregon, Lisa lived in Virginia for fifteen years and was active both as a performer and teacher, working with a full studio of violin students and coaching chamber music at Washington and Lee University, serving as an instructor on the faculty of Virginia Tech in Women's Studies, performing as Assistant Principal Viola of the Roanoke Symphony and Principal Viola of Opera Roanoke.

In addition to maintaining a studio of private violin and viola students, she is currently the principal viola of the Corvallis-OSU Symphony, concertmaster of the Corvallis Repertory Singers orchestra, conducts an amateur string orchestra, and serves as President of the Oregon chapter of the American Strings Teachers Association. Lisa's passion for chamber music began when she spent many summers at the Castleman Quartet Program and now serves on the faculty.

About Noah Seitz, cello

Noah Seitz, a Corvallis native, completed his Bachelors Degree in Cello Performance at the UMKC Conservatory of Music in 2001. He then returned to Oregon as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Oregon. He is a member of the Eugene Symphony and the Oregon Mozart Players, and regularly performs with the OSU Symphony, Camerata Musica Chamber Music Series in Salem, Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, and various Oregon ensembles.

Noah is adjunct professor of cello and chamber music at Pacific University. He has performed as featured soloist with Willamette Valley Symphony, Salem Philharmonia, Pacific University Philharmonic, and the U of O Symphony. Beyond music, Noah holds a Private Pilot license, and loves anything to do with aviation.