Northwest Oboe Seminar Evening Concert
$15 at the door
- Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
- Rebecca Towers, flute
- Victoria Racz, oboe
- Dagny Rask Regan, bassoon
- Jill McClelland, clarinet
- Elizabeth Uzelac, French horn
- Brent Hages, oboe
- Michael Liu, piano
Bert Ligon — Tres Palos Negros
Valerie Coleman — Umoja
Reena Esmail — Pranayam
Come to a performance featuring the participants and staff of the Northwest Oboe Seminar! Program will include music by Scott Joplin, Bert Ligon, Valerie Coleman, and others. Our special guest, Toyin Spellman-Diaz (Imani Winds original member) will perform with seminar staff Brent Hages and Victoria Racz, as well as members of the Con Grazia Wind Quintet. Ms. Spellman-Diaz will also perform movements from Reena Esmail's Pranayam for oboe and piano, with pianist Michael Liu.
Oboe accessories and some general supplies will be for sale at the reception courtesy of seminar sponsors RDG Woodwinds, and MCW Woodwinds. Also sponsored by Jones Double Reed Products. (Bring a reed to test play oboes for sale!)
About Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz earned her Bachelors of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master's and Professional Studies degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Hailed by the Washington Post for her "smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique," Toyin has performed concertos with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and with the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra.
An original member of Imani Winds, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has built her career as a champion of contemporary chamber music.
Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble, and Camerata Pacifica. She is on faculty at New York University and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is on the Board of Directors of American Composer's Orchestra.
https://www.curtis.edu/person/toyin-spellman-diaz/About Rebecca Towers, flute
Rebecca Olson Towers is a freelance flutist and a current member of the Con Grazia Wind Quintet, the Oregon Chamber Players Quartet, and the Sirens Trio. Rebecca received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in flute performance and pedagogy from Central Washington University.
About Victoria Racz, oboe
Victoria Racz, B.M., M.M., was the principal oboist, featured soloist, and General Manager of the Oregon Chamber Players for the complete existence of the ensemble (1995-2014). She played principal oboe and was a soloist twice with the Newport Symphony (from 1995-2011), and has played oboe and English horn with Columbia Symphony, American Metropole Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, 45th Parallel, and other groups in the region, including the Oregon Chorale. She is principal oboist with the Portland Festival Symphony, Portland Summerfest Opera, Portland Phoenix Choral Union, and is also the oboist with the Con Grazia Wind Quintet, the OCP Quartet, Sirens Trio, Double Reed Divas, and Trio Adrato. She has performed with a diverse range of artists including performers such as Jane Siberry, Roberta Flack, Martha Reeves, Kurt Elling, and Jessye Norman.
She is the Co-founder, General Manager, and primary wind coach for the Junior Symphony of Vancouver, and is in demand throughout the Northwest as a teacher and adjudicator. She has written program notes and/or presented concert talks with organizations such as the Oregon Chamber Players, Junior Symphony of Vancouver, Portland’s Columbia Symphony, and Newport Symphony.
Through her annual Seminar, the Northwest Oboe Seminar, she has worked and performed with several world-renowned artists including Humbert Lucarelli, Allan Vogel, Dan Stolper, Nancy Rumbel, Alex Klein, and John Mack, among others.
Several compositions have been written or arranged specifically for her by such composers/musicians as Dr. Matt Doran, Norman Leyden, Ray Pizzi, Jean Chatillon, and Timoteus Racz.
About Dagny Rask Regan, bassoon
About Brent Hages, oboe
Seattle based oboist Brent Hages received his formal training at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Temple University, studying with James B. Caldwell, Alfred Genovese, and Louis Rosenblatt.
Brent performs with most of the professional orchestras in the Pacific Northwest, including appearances with Mimi Hines, Idina Menzel, Il Divo, Celtic Woman, Andrea Bocelli, Johnny Mathis, and Evanescence. Past national tours of Wicked, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Porgy and Bess. He regularly records with the Northwest Sinfonia orchestra for movie and television scores – the most recent release of The Lumber Baron; video games (Diablo III, Destiny, Planetary Annihilation, World of Warcraft series), and with the Seattle Film Institute.
Brent is formerly affiliated with Central Washington University, Cornish College of the Arts, and Seattle Pacific University as Adjunct Instructor of Oboe.
Aside from performing, he spends his time with his Whippet dogs, collecting vintage recordings, and has collected and restored the instruments of his former teachers that were used throughout their careers.
About Michael Liu, piano
Michael was born in the Chicago area and started piano at the age of 4. He was fortunate to have won several prizes and awards in his youth that allowed him the opportunity to perform in the U.S. and abroad. His primary teachers included the late George Banhalmi and English pianist Ian Hobson. He attended Tanglewood and Meadowmount summer music programs where he developed his love of chamber music. In his youth, he was featured as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei City Symphony, the Sinfonia Orchestra of Chicago, Wheaton Symphony, and others. He was later able to perform as soloist with the Rochester Symphony, Guam Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony (VSO) here in Washington.
Dr. Liu received both degrees in chemistry and music prior to attending the Mayo Medical School and Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, MN. He worked on the island of Guam for 4 years helping to care for an underserved population prior to moving to Vancouver. He is a faculty/professor for the Family Medicine of SW Washington Residency Program at the PeaceHealth Medical Center enjoys the teaching of medicine in addition to the caring of patients.
Dr. Liu has been a long-time orchestra member and board member for the VSO. He and his wife Nien-Wei have been tireless supports and advocates for the VSO and the arts in SW Washington. He is a member of several smaller music ensembles including the Lohr Trio, a violin-piano duo with Dr. Thomas Hwang, and also a doctor jazz band called the MED Trio Plus.