Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival | Romanticarctica
Free (registration required)
- Yura Lee, violin
- Nathan Hughes, oboe
- Daniel Ching, violin
- William Fedkenheuer, violin
- Aloysia Friedmann, viola
- John Largess, viola
- Joshua Gindele, cello
- Annamarie Wellems, cello
- Chad Wesselkamper, double bass
- Sandy Hughes, flute
- Jon Kimura Parker, piano & harpsichord
Johann Sebastian Bach — Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 ("I. Sinfonia" for oboe & strings)
Johann Sebastian Bach — Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe ("I am standing with one foot in the grave"), BWV 156
Johann Sebastian Bach — Oster-Oratorium ("Easter Oratorio"), BWV 249 ("II. Adagio" for oboe & strings)
Henning Kraggerud — Romantarctica (for flute, viola, & strings)
César Franck — Piano Quintet in F minor
The August 2023 Festival is here, along with some long-anticipated warm weather! Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann is putting the finishing touches on a brilliant series of concerts for this season's Festival featuring a lineup of renowned musicians and composers. We heartily welcome back OICMF Artistic Advisor and pianist Jon Kimura Parker, the Miró Quartet, violinist Nikki Chooi, oboists Nathan Hughes and Alecia Lawyer, cellists Bion Tsang and Oliver Aldort, and bassist Chad Wesselkamper, and we are excited to get to know several Festival newcomers, including violinists Yura Lee and Karolina Mikolajczyk, flutist Sandy Hughes, oboists Ann Lemke and Mary Lynch VanderKolk, and accordionist Iwo Jedynecki!
This program will receive 2 in-person performances: Friday, August 18 at 7:30pm, and Saturday, August 19 at 5:30pm. The August 19 performance will also be accessible online via free livestream.
About Yura Lee, violin
About Nathan Hughes, oboe
About William Fedkenheuer, violin
About Aloysia Friedmann, viola
About John Largess, viola
Violist John Largess began his studies in Boston at age 12 in the public schools, studying with Michael Zaretsky of the Boston Symphony, and later as a student of Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1995, he graduated from Yale University to join the Colorado String Quartet as interim violist with whom he toured the United States and Canada teaching and concertizing. The following year he was appointed principal violist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, a position he held until joining the Miro Quartet in 1997. Also an active speaker and writer about all things chamber?musical, in 2004 Mr. Largess was invited to give a week?long audience lecture series as a part of the Eighth International String Quartet Competition at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada; he repeated this series in 2007, and will do so again in 2010. With his training in Greek and Latin Literature and his Bachelor's degree in Archeology from Yale University, as well as studies at the Hebrew University in Israel, he has participated in excavations in Greece, Israel, and Jordan. John loves to cook gourmet cuisine, particularly French pastry and fine desserts; luckily, he also enjoys exercising. John is a trained yoga instructor, having studied Vinyasa Power Yoga with Baron Baptiste. He also practices Kundalini, Bikram, and Astanga styles, and teaches yoga at 24 Hour Fitness and the Bodhi Yoga studio in Austin, Texas where he lives. When not standing on his head, he enjoys making his Tibetan Singing Bowl sing. John serves as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of String Chamber Music at the University of Texas at Austin School of Music.
https://music.utexas.edu/about/people/john-largessAbout Annamarie Wellems, cello
Cellist Annamarie Wellems is a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where she has performed as principal under Milwaukee Symphony conductor Ken-David Masur. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as a substitute cellist, the Chicago Fringe Opera, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, and was principal of the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra. In recent summers, she was a fellow at Festival Napa Valley and the Sarasota Music Festival. Annamarie was twice awarded an orchestral fellowship to attend the Aspen Music Festival to study with Richard Aaron and Darrett Adkins, and sat assistant principal of the Aspen Chamber Symphony. A dedicated chamber musician, her ensembles have won the Gold Medal at the M-Prize, St. Paul, and ENKOR international chamber competitions and the junior division Silver Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Annamarie appears on the PBS television show Now Hear This as a Colorado College Music Festival fellow, performing the chamber rendition of Copland's Appalachian Spring with members of the Cleveland Orchestra. She has collaborated with pianist Jon Kimura Parker, and participated in masterclasses for artists including Clive Greensmith, Timothy Eddy, Laurence Lesser, and Menahem Pressler.
Annamarie earned her Bachelor of Music in Houston, Texas at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music with former Houston Symphony principal Desmond Hoebig. She received her pre-college training at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, where she studied with Tanya Carey and Hans Jørgen Jensen. Mentors include Brant Taylor of the Chicago Symphony.