Our
Musicians
Catherine Beeson
President and Artistic Director, Viola
Catherine Beeson (President and Artistic Director, Viola) has served as a Teaching Artist and as a performer with Colorado Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Friends of Chamber Music - Denver, Lenape Chamber Ensemble (PA), Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Pro Music Chamber Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra (CA) and Loon Lake Live. In addition to her artistic administrator role with Loon Lake Live, Catherine has served in administrative roles as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Colorado Symphony, Artistic Director of Ensemble Faucheux, Executive Director of the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, and as a speaker, workshop facilitator, and consultant to education, chamber music, and symphonic organizations. Catherine is a proud advocate for inclusion practices in the musical arts, lately focusing on concert and performance opportunities for the neurodiverse community. She enjoys connecting diverse groups of people through community and school residency programs that encourage music composition and performance. In service to this, Catherine has designed and published teachers' guides and lesson plans to support the education and outreach endeavors of the New York Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Up Close and Musical orchestra (Denver) and Friends of Chamber Music (Denver). Catherine has also been a facilitator for adult lectures through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, led workshops at the Colorado Music Educators' Association conference, and presented as a panelist at the League of American Orchestras conferences and at Denver Comic Con. Catherine serves on the board of The Primavera Fund, a Philadelphia based organization offering support to develop young musicians into agents of change in communities as future performers, teachers, leaders, and role models. Catherine also completed a year of study and growth in the inaugural cohort of the Anne Parsons Leadership Program, a mentorship and training program led by the League of American Orchestras. Beeson has a new podcast - The Pants Quandary - which is neither about music nor about pants. Check it out if you’re into hearing from ordinary people who do extraordinary things with their time as they navigate life with curiosity and creativity. Yay! Adulting! :) Believe it or not, Catherine has spare time during which she enjoys playing board games, reading, being outside, and having random adventures. This summer, just like all the rest of the summers previous and hence, you can find Catherine on Saturday mornings at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market shopping for the yummiest possible things even if it's pouring rain.
Elizabeth Brown
Composer/Theremin
Elizabeth Brown combines a composing career with a diverse performing life, playing flute, shakuhachi, and theremin. Her music is performed around the world and includes prize-winning compositions for traditional Japanese instruments and numerous collaborations with artist Lothar Osterburg. She has played theremin with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, American Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and American Composers Orchestra. A Juilliard graduate and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Brown has been a Fellow at the MacDowell Colony and at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center in Italy. She was Artist-in-Residence at the Hanoi National Conservatory and in Grand Canyon National Park. Brown has received grants, awards and commissions from Orpheus, St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Momenta Quartet, Sylvan Winds, Castle of Our Skins, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Barlow Foundation, NewMusicUSA, NYSCA, and NYFA, among many others. Until recently, she taught shakuhachi at Columbia University and both shakuhachi and theremin at Bard College. Elizabeth Brown: Mirage is available from New World Records. http://www.ElizabethBrownComposer.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Brown_(musician) Director’s Note: Loon Lake Live presented the premiere of Elizabeth Brown’s trio for flute, harp, and viola “Gently Through the Night” on our 2022 season. We are thrilled to be able to work closely with Elizabeth on her multi media piece “Piranesi” and to present her collaborative work “A Bookmobile for Dreamers” with artist Lothar Osterburg on our 30th Anniversary season.
Morgan Davison
Bassoon
Bassoonist Morgan Davison is an innovative performer and educator who embraces the unique opportunities offered by both historical and modern bassoon playing. Based in New York and a graduate of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance program, Morgan also holds a Master’s in Music from Juilliard and a Bachelor’s of Music from Manhattan School of Music. Morgan has performed with renowned orchestras, including The Colorado Symphony, The Boston Symphony, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society, and has traveled worldwide for her craft. This past summer, she toured with Juilliard415 and Yale Schola Cantorum across the UK, and completed a residency in France with In Nomine Ensemble, a group she co-founded, hosted by the legendary French baroque orchestra Les Art Florissants. Dubbed the first “Bassoonfluencer” by The New Yorker, Morgan connects bassoonists around the globe through her popular Instagram page, morganpracticesbassoon. She is dedicated to inspiring young musicians and elevating the presence of the bassoon in both casual and professional settings. As an educator, Morgan finds great joy in sharing the gift of music with the next generations. Along with teaching privately, she recently began teaching with S’Cool Sounds, an organization bringing high-quality music education to underprivileged children. Through this program, she teaches recorder to students in the Bronx and Harlem, fostering a love of music and providing creative opportunities to kids who otherwise might not have access. Her time with these children has deepened her belief in the transformative power of music education. Her accolades include being a semifinalist for the 2019 Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition, a two-time National YoungArts Foundation winner, and a three-time winner of Colorado’s Young Musician’s Foundation. Morgan has honed her skills at summer festivals like Tanglewood, Aspen, and Sarasota, and remains a vibrant voice in the bassoon world through her performances and innovative online presence.
Sara Fierer
Cello
Sara Fierer is glad that she enthusiastically began cello lessons with her school music teacher in second grade. Growing up she enjoyed playing in her Youth Orchestra and has always liked meeting new friends by playing music with them. Sara graduated from Oberlin with a double degree in Environmental Studies and Cello Performance. During her time at Oberlin, she helped start a music program in Panama and it was there that she discovered that she loved to teach. She then continued her exploration of cello performance and teaching at the University of Texas in Austin where she received her Master of Music. Sara was a co-founder of Loon Lake Live and has extended her commitment to community based chamber music performances through her group Highland Square Ensemble (H2E) in the Denver area. She loves all the different aspects of being a musician: playing in the Boulder Philharmonic; getting to teach group viola and cello classes, orchestra and private lessons at the Denver Waldorf School; and playing chamber music. In her free time she likes to read, make carrot cake and go for walks with her dogs.
Jon Garland
Horn
Jon Garland was a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and is now principal horn with The Syracuse Orchestra. In addition to performing with the orchestra in Syracuse, he has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, as well as many other orchestras and chamber music engagements around the United States. He served on the faculty of Syracuse University for 20 years and continues to serve on the faculty of Hamilton College. In addition to performing, Jon has been active as an arts advocate and manager. He is currently the Director of Operations for The Syracuse Orchestra, having previously served in multiple roles since its founding in 2012. He has served on multiple non-profit boards, been a grant panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts and CNY Arts, and is the Treasurer Emeritus of The Professional Musicians of Central New York. Jon’s work as an advocate and manager has been recognized with awards from the Syracuse Society for New Music, The Syracuse Sounds of Music Association, and LeMoyne College. Jon studied at The Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music where his teachers included David Wakefield, Ranier DeIntinis and Philip Myers. He was also a Fellowship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival, where he studied with John Cerminaro. In his free time, Jon enjoys thinking up new big projects, plotting travel to new destinations, and continually learning new things.
Jordan Gunn
Cello
Cellist Jordan Gunn, is a prize-winning Eastman trained musician, currently in fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami, FL. This past season she held the position of principal cello under Maestros Stéphan Denève, Manfred Honeck, and Andrew Grams, with soloists Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Augustin Hadelich, Lauren Snouffer, and the Marcus Roberts Trio. Jordan is very passionate about telling stories through music, which led her to create, direct, and perform in The Yellow Wallpaper; a multimedia concert depicting the short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilmann, produced by and performed at the New World Symphony in April 2026. Jordan has joined many ensembles and projects to reflect her interest in music outside of the traditional classical repertoire, including Beth Morrison Projects and SEM Ensemble in NYC, the Eastman Jazz Faculty series, The Clock Strikes 2:32pm by Eloïse Fares, The Mandy and Nathan Show, and Bradley Cooper's film MAESTRO on Netflix. She has consistently participated in world premieres, this year alone including works by Carlos Simon, Sarah Kirkland Snyder, Jennifer Higdon, Kevin Puts, and Michael Abels. Jordan is married to Ben Dettelback, trombonist, with whom she co-created the podcast Class Half Full to help introduce new listeners to classical music. Outside of music she loves learning new languages, tea tasting, going to her colleague's concerts, and spending time with her family.
James Hall
Flute
Flutist James Hall has enjoyed a varied and impressive career as an international soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and teacher. He has performed with Joshua Roman, Eileen Eivers, Jennifer Koh, Paquito D’Rivera, Benny Kim, Carol Wincenc, Allan Vogel, Robert Weirich, Jim Walker, Art Garfunkel, Pink Martini, Carter Enyeart, Catalyst Quartet, Boulder Bach Festival, and the Colorado Symphony. The Kansas City Star called him “red-hot” and the Denver Musical Weekly called his performance “...the best flute performance I have witnessed in my life.” As a concerto soloist, James has played with the Orquesta Nacional del Paraguay, Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Greeley Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de Panamá, Orquesta del Congresso Nacional del Paraguay, and the Southeast Kansas Symphony. After giving his Carnegie Hall debut recital as a winner of Artists International in 2004, James began to receive invitations to perform as a recitalist, and has since played across North, Central, and South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. He is half of duo970, with pianist Susie Maddocks, and the two tour the world performing flute and piano works from the baroque to the contemporary. Hall was founder, flutist, and artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Kansas City, which opened its debut season to critical acclaim. This group brought together musicians with international profiles, living and working in Kansas City, to give world-class performances of chamber music repertoire for mixed instrumentation. Performing in non-standard concert spaces, such as art galleries, design firms, and patrons' homes, the CMSKC brought a much needed musical art form to Kansas City audiences, and the concerts were received with great enthusiasm in sold-out performances. James has been invited to play for chamber music concerts with Loon Lake Live!, the New York based Vail International Dance Festival, the Colorado Symphony's Beethoven and Brews series, the Pittsburg Solo and Chamber Series, and the Dordt Artist Series. He has also performed and taught at music festivals in the U.S. and in Central and South America. James has been invited to perform as a guest principal flutist with the Boulder Philharmonic, Greeley Philharmonic, Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and Southeast Kansas Symphony, and has held principal flute positions with the Topeka Symphony and the Missouri Symphony. As an educator, Hall has been invited to give master classes at national conservatories and music schools throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, South Africa, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Thailand, and Switzerland. Since 2009, he has been the professor of flute at the University of Northern Colorado where he has had the great fortune to work with many talented young musicians. James is a performing artist for Burkart Flutes and performs exclusively on his handmade 10k gold Burkart Elite flute with platinum head joint.
John Hilton
Violin
John Hilton is an accomplished violinist with a strong and varied background in classical chamber music. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree cum laude from Lawrence University, as well as Doctorate of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and was Associate Concertmaster of the Louisiana Philharmonic before joining the Colorado Symphony where he has worked since 2011. This will be John’s third time performing on the Loon Lake Live series over the course of the past dozen or so years, this time bringing his ‘mini-me’ son with him to experience the wonders of the North Country woods, lakes, and selection of fine insect varietals.
Heidi Hoffman
Cello
Cellist Heidi Hoffman has made her debut as soloist with the Seattle Symphony at the age of 17. She received her Bachelors of Music and Performers Certificate at the Eastman School of Music, and an MM and DMA from Stony Brook University. As a fellowship student at the Tanglewood Music Center, Heidi performed under conductors Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. She has performed in North and South America, Europe, and Japan with such diverse groups as the American Symphony, Jupiter Symphony, Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the new music group Ensemble X, as well as rock bands Paige and Plant, and Heart. Ms. Hoffman is principal cellist of Symphoria (formerly the Syracuse Symphony) and was a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra in Chicago from 1997 to 2005. She has served on the faculties of Ithaca College, Wells College, and Cornell University. Heidi has recorded for the Albany and Fleur de Son labels. Her teachers have included Alan Harris, Timothy Eddy, and Julius Levine. Heidi is an avid equestrienne and is the dressage instructor and trainer at If Only Farm in Freeville, NY where she has her two horses, Manny and Freddy. She lives in Freeville with her husband Rick Faria, and dog Ziggy.
Susanna Klein
Violin
Susanna Klein currently serves as an Associate Professor of Violin and Coordinator of Strings at Virginia Commonwealth University. A visionary in the field of practice psychology and musician training, violinist Susanna Klein has been researching solutions to the “practice problem” for more than a decade. A pioneer in the technology in the practice room, her groundbreaking research has been grant-funded and multidisciplinary. Prof. Klein is the author of the workbook Practizma Practice Journal and is currently working on a book on the psychology of practice, tentatively titled "Practice Makes Crazy: A Musician's Guide to Empowerment." Prof. Klein been invited to lead workshops at music schools and festivals throughout the country on the topics summarized in my proposed book, among them at Peabody Conservatory, ASTA conferences, University of North Texas, MidEast Flute Conference, Francis Marion University, Vanderbilt University, Wintergreen Music Festival, Online String Insiders, Digital Clarinet Academy, Eastern Carolina University, and Maestra Music. She has written articles on the psychology of practice for Strings Magazine, ASTA Journal, College Music Society, Classical Singer Magazine, The Instrumentalist, The Strad Online, and Violinist.com. Recent Podcast appearances include Mind Over Finger, Contrabass Conversations, MusicianCentric, The Happy Musician, Violin Podcast, Clarineat, Music Studio, and the Creative Baggage Podcast. As an orchestral musician, she served as principal second violin of the Richmond Symphony for five years. Other orchestral appointments have been with the Colorado Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and Rhode Island Philharmonic. Prof. Klein has played under the baton of notable conductors such as Marin Alsop, Seiji Ozawa, Yoel Levi, and Lorin Maazel and has appeared at music festivals such as Tanglewood, Spoleto Italy, Shira, Kneisel Hall, and the Nova Scotia Festival. In the summer, she performs regularly at the Wintergreen Performing Arts Festival, Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival, and Loon Lake Live. Recording credits include One Ring Zero, Modern Groove Syndicate, Trio 826, Richmond Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Loon Lake Live, and the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble. Prof. Klein holds a BM degree from VCU and a Master of Music degree from Boston University, where she was an assistant to the legendary violinist Roman Totenberg.
Jessica Mays
Composer, pianist and songwriter
Jessica Mays is a composer, pianist and songwriter. Her music pulls inspiration from the worlds of jazz, pop, contemporary classical and avant-garde, evoking a blended sound that is both visceral and distantly familiar. Mays’s music has been performed both locally and abroad, by a wide variety of soloists, ensembles and orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, Abeo String Quartet, the Playground Ensemble, Ensemble Paramirabo, Ensemble Lunatik, Blackbox Ensemble, Thin Edge New Music Collective, The Labo de musique contemporaine de Montréal and many others. She has been featured by a variety of festivals as composer and performer including the Chelsea Music Festival, Loon Lake Live, and the Cluster Music Festival. She has composed and arranged for a variety of projects with premieres by the Colorado Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall. Director’s Note: Loon Lake Live commissioned her quintet for bass clarinet and string quartet “On Shapes and Figures” which premiered in the 2016 season. It is an honor to present Jessica Mays’ recent string quartet “Shoreline Willow” in our 2026 season with the composer in attendance.
Lothar Osterburg
Film, Video
Lothar Osterburg's work encompasses printmaking, photography, sculpture and film/video. He creates images of lost or imagined worlds by building models from memory using readily available, found material. Books and language, obsolete transportation devices, and other traces of civilization are recurring themes throughout his alternative histories. Cabinet of Wonders, his long-running solo show at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in his home town of Braunschweig, Germany, is currently on view. His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fine Arts Museum in Houston, and the New York Public Library. Osterburg holds a diploma from the Hochschule fur bildende Kunst in Braunschweig, Germany. He received his training as master printer at Crown Point Press in San Francisco in the early 1990’s, and has operated his own printshop in New York since 1994. Trained as a musician from an early age, he often collaborates with composer Elizabeth Brown. Numerous artists residencies include the MacDowell Colony, the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy, the Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center in Maui, and the Cill Rialaig Arts Centre in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry, Ireland. Awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Academy Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two New York Foundations for the Arts Fellowships, and the Jordan Schnitzer Award for Excellence in Printmaking. Osterburg is one of the foremost practitioners and teachers of photogravure, a now rare 19th century photographic etching process. He has taught at Columbia University and Cooper Union and is Artist-in-Residence at Bard College. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_Osterburg
Aaron Packard
Violin
Aaron Packard maintains a varied career as a violinist, performing music of many genres and periods. He is an avid improviser and proponent of new music, having worked closely with composers such as Ellen Lindquist, Elizabeth Adams, Ted Hearne, Henryk Strindberg, and John Luther Adams to find and experiment with new sound ideas. He currently teaches at the Joy of Music Program in Worcester, MA, and at the Groton School in Groton, MA. Performance collaborators include Orfeo Duo, Avery Ensemble, Mantra Percussion, rapper Self Suffice, harpsichordist Gabe Shuford, violinist Vita Wallace, violist David Yang, and bassist Nick Walker. He is a founding member of the Hartford-based Cuatro Puntos Ensemble (cuatropuntos.org), with whom he can be heard on many recordings on the Arkadash and Métier labels. He is also a member of the New England Repertory Orchestra, the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, and the Worcester Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007 Aaron has been honored to perform in and around Saranac Lake, NY as a part of the Loon Lake Live concert series. Major violin teachers include Greg Fulkerson, Mark Steinberg, and the late Mitchell Stern, but he is proud to say he was really started on the path toward becoming a listener by the incomparable pianist Gil Kalish, and cellist Tim Eddy of the Orion String Quartet. When he’s not teaching or performing, you can probably find Aaron chopping wood, reading a book (mostly sci-fi, etymology, and history!) or doing a crossword puzzle.
Jason Shafer
Clarinet
Jason Shafer joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Clarinet at the start of the 2013-2014 season. Previously, he performed for four years as a fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL. He received his Bachelor of Music with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he studied with Kenneth Grant. His other major musical influences include Mark Nuccio, Burt Hara, and Dr. Kyle Coughlin. Jason has appeared in guest principal roles with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony; he is also Principal Clarinet at the Sun Valley Music Festival, where he has been a regular member since 2012. Abroad, he has performed in Thailand, Austria, Mexico, Estonia, and Russia. Jason has collaborated in chamber music performances with many distinguished musicians, including Yefim Bronfman, Jessye Norman, Michelle DeYoung, Jeremy Denk, and Paquito D’Rivera. As a concerto soloist, he has performed with the Colorado Symphony, the Sun Valley Music Festival, the New World Symphony, and the Eastman Philharmonia, among many others. He is passionate about teaching and is on the faculty of the University of Northern Colorado and the International Festival-Institute at Round Top. Jason is also passionate about helping performing artists in his role as a performance psychology expert. He is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC), a national certification earned from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) through a rigorous process and a master’s degree in performance psychology. In addition to working with performing artist clients, Jason teaches Performance Psychology classes at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and the University of Northern Colorado’s School of Music. He has led many performance psychology masterclasses and workshops, including at Juilliard, and regularly works one-on-one as a performance consultant for musicians around the globe. In addition, Jason studied piano during his time at Eastman and loves to accompany other musicians. He can be contacted at JShafer@coloradosymphony.org.
Deborah Sherrill
French Horn
Debra Sherrill-Ward, is Principal Horn with Chamber Music Charleston and the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, Third Horn of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, the Savannah Philharmonic and the Coastal Symphony of Georgia. Debra was honored to be the featured Guest Artist for the 2018 Western Illinois University Horn Festival. She is the director of the Charleston Horn Camp, a camp she started in 2010 for middle school through college age horn students. Debra promotes contemporary composers and has commissioned new works, including: “Moonflower” for solo horn by Kate Caliendo, “Sacred Secrets” for horn and piano by James Naigus, “Pastime” for horn and piano by Carrado Maria Saglietti, “Hyperion in the Red Forest” for Soprano and Horn and “Angels Nine” for 3 Horns and Piano” by Karen Walwyn. Debra has been a featured soloist with the North Charleston Pops Orchestra, the North Charleston Brass Band and soloed with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra horn section, performing the Schumann Konzertstück for 4 horns. During the summers, she has played for the St. Augustine Music Festival, Loon Lake Live, Musica en Segura Festival, the Endless Mountains Music Festival, and the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. Debra was a member of the Barcelona Symphony, the South Dakota Symphony, and the Charleston Symphony. She studied under Froydis Werke in Oslo, Norway, Jerome Ashby at the Juilliard School, Erik Ralske at Manhattan School of Music and Roger Collins at Western Illinois University. Her other notable teachers include John Cerminaro and Randall Faust.
Lynette Wardle
Harp
Lynette Wardle is an orchestra harpist, chamber musician, recording artist, and soloist. She has been recognized for her “refined tone production & spot-on rhythmic sense.” In addition to being the principal harpist of both the Richmond and Albany Symphonies, she performs regularly with the New Jersey Symphony and the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center. Lynette has held several Broadway orchestra chairs including The Notebook and the revival of Camelot at Lincoln Center Theatre. She was also the harpist for both the national tour of the Tony award-winning musical Light in the Piazza, and the City Center Encores! production. For the holiday seasons, she has been in the orchestra for A Christmas Story, the Musical, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Lynette holds a Masters in Orchestral Performance from Manhattan School of Music.
Sonya Stith Williams
Violin
Sonya Stith Williams has been playing the violin since the age of five. Many practice years later she earned a BM in performance and an MM in performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music where her primary teachers were Zvi Zeitlin and Ilya Kaler. Sonya is the Associate Concertmaster of Symphoria where she has also served as Acting Concertmaster. She has had the privilege of soloing with Symphoria on multiple occasions. Prior to her current orchestral position, she was a member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for ten years and has performed in many orchestras in the area including the Buffalo Philharmonic. While at the Eastman School of Music, Sonya participated in two string quartet rural residencies in Kentucky. This experience of connecting with a small community was a memorable one and something that has proven to always be relevant, no matter the size of the town. In Syracuse, besides playing chamber music with many of her Symphoria colleagues in concerts and educational settings, other chamber experiences have been with the Skaneateles Festival, the Society for New Music, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, and many other excellent organizations. She is also a member of the Finger Lakes Piano Trio which have performed many concerts in the region together. Sonya teaches at LeMoyne College and SUN Oswego. When Sonya is not playing her violin, and possibly sometimes when she is, she is raising her three young children Makenna, Caden, and Rowen with her husband Matt. They have revived an old farmhouse together, which is a process that is always “nearly” completed, in a location where they have ample space for their dogs, cats, chickens, and a large vegetable garden.
Ian Wisekal
Oboe
Ian Wisekal, a native of Stony Brook, NY, joined the faculty of the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music in 2013. He serves as Principal Oboe of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Greeley Philharmonic and plays oboe, oboe d'amore, and English horn in the Colorado Bach Ensemble. He previously held the positions of Principal Oboe with the Crested Butte Music Festival and Associate Principal Oboe with the Puerto Rico Symphony. Prof. Wisekal is a sought-after performer throughout the US and beyond, appearing at festivals and conferences in Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Austria, Japan, and Thailand. Ian has made recordings with, among others, the Puerto Rico Symphony (nominated for a Latin Grammy), Colorado Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic, and Boise Philharmonic; as soloist with the Lamont Symphony Orchestra; and in the performance studios of Colorado Public Radio. He performed on Judy Collins's concert album "A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim," which was broadcast nationwide on PBS. Wisekal received his bachelor’s degree with high distinction from the Eastman School of Music and his master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, earning full scholarships at both institutions. In 2012, he traveled to study with David Walter at the Paris Conservatory. His major teachers include Richard Killmer, Erin Hannigan, Terry Keevil, and Ceci Lagarenné. Ian is in frequent demand as a teacher. He most recently gave masterclasses at the Universities of Michigan, Iowa, and North Texas; Luther College; and the Autonomous University of Mexico. He is often recognized for his YouTube videos, which have garnered hundreds of thousands of views.
John Winn
Clarinet/Saxophone
John Winn is a musician and composer hailing from Richmond, VA. He can be heard performing regularly at jazz clubs, concert venues, in musical theater pits and at occasional wedding receptions around the Mid-Atlantic. John was featured as a singer with his jazz quartet, Neighborliness, when they were selected to tour parts of Asia, Russia and Mexico under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s Jazz Ambassadors program in the early 2000s. As a clarinetist/saxophonist he performed more than two dozen times at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC while a member of The Great American Music Ensemble, the resident jazz orchestra there for seven years. John has also appeared onstage with music luminaries such as Lou Rawls, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett, Bernadette Peters, Natalie Cole, Doc Severinsen, Idina Menzel, Johnny Mathis, Chita Rivera, Marie Osmond and many others. As a composer, John’s music is no stranger to Loon Lake concertgoers. His Adirondack Suite for strings, harp and clarinet as well as his song cycle, Songs For Modern Times for string quartet and voice were recorded and released by Loon Lake Live! on their 2005 CD Around the Campfire. Those pieces, as well as his string quartet, The More Things Change… have been performed here several times over the years. John is super happy to be back with a brand new piece for string trio this year! Director’s Note: John Winn is practically a fixture at Loon Lake Live not only as a performer but also as a composer. He has composed multiple new works specifically for performance and/or premiere on the Loon Lake Live series and we have recorded two albums of his works - the first more than 20 years ago and the most recent just last summer. It has been a real pleasure to work toward Loon Lake Live’s stewardship mission with John through what has become a long term relationship between composer, artist, and audience here in the North Country - making our 30th Anniversary Season even more meaningful.
Asher Wulfman
Violin
Violinist Asher Wulfman is a performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral works for violin currently based in Ithaca NY. He is a first violinist in Symphoria and performs regularly with Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and as concertmaster of Opera Ithaca. As a soloist, Asher has performed with the Livingston Symphony Orchestra and the Oberlin Sinfonietta. He has performed in summer music festivals including Spoleto Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival YAP, Round Top Festival Institute, and Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival. Asher is a frequent interpreter of new music, and has enjoyed collaborating with and premiering works by young composers such as Seare Farhat, Ashlin Hunter, Uri Kochavi, Aliya Ultan, and Tara Valkonen. He is regularly featured in Cornell University’s contemporary music concert series, Ensemble X, and has also enjoyed collaborations with DMA composers in the Cornell music department. In 2022, Asher was invited to participate in Creative Dialogues, an international composer-performer workshop sponsored by the Sibelius Academy. In 2018, Asher was a featured artist with the Oberlin Sinfonietta, playing Four Portraits for Solo Violin by Grammy-winning composer Billy Childs. Asher also enjoys studying and performing early music. As a member of the Thornton Early Music Ensemble, he performed many chamber and solo works on the baroque violin. He now performs regularly as a bass with his early music vocal chamber ensemble. Asher holds a Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and Bachelor’s Degrees in Violin Performance and English from Oberlin College and Conservatory. His former teachers include Lina Bahn, Marilyn McDonald, and Richard Amoroso.
