Susan Klotzbach, OrganThe opening concert of this year’s festival will feature Dr. Susan Klotzbach, professor of organ at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, organist of the Kennilworth Union Church in Kennilworth, Illinois, and organist and harpsichordist of the Peoria Bach Festival for many years. This year we highlight her prodigious talent in the opening recital of the festival. Susan Klotzbach received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Masters of Music in Organ Performance degrees from the Eastman School in Rochester, NY. Prior to that she received a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the University of Iowa. She worked as a tenured music faculty member teaching applied organ, harpsichord and church music courses at Houghton College and Carthage College before joining the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan. Come and enjoy music of J.S. Bach on an organ especially made for the interpretation of his music!
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Kevin Hildebrand, organ
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Kevin Hildebrand has served in the Music Department at Concordia Theological Seminary since 2002, and currently serves as Kantor. He directs the Seminary Kantorei and Schola Cantorum, plays the organ for daily chapel, and instructs students in liturgics and church music courses. His service to the Church also includes teaching the annual organist workshops at the seminary and serving as the co-director of The Good Shepherd Institute. Hildebrand is also Kantor at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, where he directs the Youth Choir. Hildebrand is a graduate of Concordia University Chicago and also holds master’s degrees in music and theology from the University of Michigan and Concordia Theological Seminary, respectively. He has studied organ with Steven Wente and Marilyn Mason, and composition with Richard Hillert, Robert Lind and James Aikman. Kantor Hildebrand is an active composer and has numerous compositions for organ and choir published with Concordia Publishing House and MorningStar Music Publishers. His hymn tune “Lord of Life” (used with the text, “O Christ, Who Shared Our Mortal Life”) as well as other hymn harmonizations are represented in the Lutheran Service Book (2006). He has also been a workshop leader and instructor for the LCMS Commission on Worship, as well as frequent organ recitalist and hymn festival presenter across the United States and Canada.
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Lisette Kielson, RecorderA specialist in renaissance and baroque music, Lisette Kielson is the Director of the Collegium Musicum, Bradley’s own Early Music Consort. Lisette has performed to acclaim as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in France, New York, Chicago, and throughout the Midwest. Enthralling audiences with her innovative programming and distinctive musicianship, she has been described by the media as “sparkling with life” and with “dazzling natural technique and brilliant interpretation…performing with true character and style”.
Artistic Director of L’Ensemble Portique, Lisette has released recordings of Bach and Boismortier with Centaur Records as well as three CDs under her own LEP Records. Her recordings are played nationally and have received enthusiastic reviews from American Recorder, American Record Guide, and Audio Video Club of Atlanta. President of the American Recorder Society from 2008-2012, Lisette currently is on the faculty of the Whitewater Early Music Festival (WI), serves as Music Director of the Chicago Recorder Chapter and Associate Director of the Recorder Orchestra of the Midwest, and leads recorder workshops and master classes throughout the country. She holds Bachelor and Master Degrees in flute performance from Indiana University and a post-master’s Diploma in recorder performance from The Royal Conservatory of The Hague, The Netherlands. |
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Kyle Dzapo, Flute
Dr. Kyle Dzapo’s passion for music extends beyond her performances, even though she has achieved national and international acclaim as a flutist. In addition to serving as principal flutist of the Peoria Symphony, Dr. Dzapo has played at regional and national venues as well as twice at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, and at Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium. Her CD,Joachim Andersen: Etudes and Salon Music, was released by Naxos in March 2010. Reviewers have praised her “elegant” performances, her “full, lovely tone and her expressive, masterful phrasing,” and the way “she executed dazzlingly complex lines with seeming ease.”
Dr. Dzapo combines her love of playing with her love of music history. In 1999, Greenwood Press published her Bio-Bibliography on Danish flutist/composer Joachim Andersen. She followed with seven articles in professional journals including The Flutist Quarterly (USA), Huilisti(Finland) and Pan (UK). These, along with her many lecture-recitals, have earned her distinction as international expert on the prominent musician. As such, she had edited and annotated two reissues of Andersen’s music by his original publisher, Zimmermann of Frankfurt, Germany, and was selected to write the article on Andersen for the Lexikon der Flöte (Laaber, 2009).
Dr. Dzapo’s expertise extends to the nation’s top orchestras, serving as a pre-concert lecturer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In 2005, she served as Program Chair for the National Flute Association convention in San Diego; she previously held positions as Secretary of the Association and Chair of the Research Committee. She is co-founder of the Illinois Flute Society.
After developing an interest in the flute in high school, the Ohio native graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She then earned a master’s degree in flute performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University. Dr. Dzapo has been a member of Bradley’s faculty since 1993. She has since been honored with the Samuel Rothberg Award for Professional Excellence and the Caterpillar New Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching. In 2010, she was named a Caterpillar Professor of Music.
Dr. Dzapo combines her love of playing with her love of music history. In 1999, Greenwood Press published her Bio-Bibliography on Danish flutist/composer Joachim Andersen. She followed with seven articles in professional journals including The Flutist Quarterly (USA), Huilisti(Finland) and Pan (UK). These, along with her many lecture-recitals, have earned her distinction as international expert on the prominent musician. As such, she had edited and annotated two reissues of Andersen’s music by his original publisher, Zimmermann of Frankfurt, Germany, and was selected to write the article on Andersen for the Lexikon der Flöte (Laaber, 2009).
Dr. Dzapo’s expertise extends to the nation’s top orchestras, serving as a pre-concert lecturer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. In 2005, she served as Program Chair for the National Flute Association convention in San Diego; she previously held positions as Secretary of the Association and Chair of the Research Committee. She is co-founder of the Illinois Flute Society.
After developing an interest in the flute in high school, the Ohio native graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in music education. She then earned a master’s degree in flute performance from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University. Dr. Dzapo has been a member of Bradley’s faculty since 1993. She has since been honored with the Samuel Rothberg Award for Professional Excellence and the Caterpillar New Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching. In 2010, she was named a Caterpillar Professor of Music.
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EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, ViolinEmmaLee Holmes-Hicks received her doctoral degree from SUNY Stony Brook, studying violin with Phil Setzer, Soovin Kim and Philippe Graffin. She completed her undergraduate work with honors at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Stephen Rose and Annie Fullard. As a chamber player, she has enjoyed the fine coaching of both the Emerson and Cavani String Quartets. She is on faculty at the University of Massachussetts, Dartmouth and the Birch Creek Summer Performance Center and she serves as co-director, resident musician and teacher at the Newport String Project in Newport, Rhode Island.
When not playing classical violin, Emmy is well-versed in old-time fiddle music. She has played lead fiddle with the Rusty Pickup String Band since she was ten years old, and she won the Illinois State Fair fiddle championship as a teenager. |
Adriana La Rosa Ransom, CelloAdriana La Rosa Ransom is Associate Professor of Cello and Director of String Project and the Community School for the Arts at Illinois State University. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Missouri where she studied with Nina Gordon. She earned Master and Doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota where she studied cello with Tanya Remenikova and chamber music with Jorja Fleezanis and Lydia Artymiw. As a soloist, Ms. Ransom has recently appeared with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois State Wind Symphony, and the Illinois State Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a guest artist on notable solo and chamber music recital series, including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, Chicago Cello Society concerts, Trinity Lutheran Recitals, and at universities throughout the Midwest. Currently Principal Cellist of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, she formerly was a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, the St. Cloud Symphony, the European Musical Festival Orchestra, and Sinfonia da Camera. Ms. Ransom has served on the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Cloud State University, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and the Grumo (Italy) Music Festival.
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Trevor Magness, piano
Trevor Magness has competed and placed in a number of piano competitions including first place finishes at the Nebraska Music Teachers Association Competition in 2011 and the UNL Undergraduate Concerto Competition in 2012 and 2014. He has given solo performances in many locations, including Fort Worth, Tulsa, Lincoln, St. Louis, Chicago, and Italy. Trevor was the recipient of the 2014 Glenn Korff Distinguished Undergraduate Artist/Scholar Award and is a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Piano at Texas Christian University, where he is a student of Dr. Tamás Ungár. He recently presented the first book of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in its entirety, and will be reprising this performance for the 2017 Peoria Bach Festival.
Josefine Stoppelenburg, Soprano
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Called “ an astonishing singer’” by the Chicago Tribune, soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg, has performed as a soloist in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America and the Arab Emirates. She has appeared as a soloist with the Boulder Bach Festival, International Schools of Choral Music in Shanghai, Rembrandt Chamber Players, Camerata Amsterdam, Barqoue Artists of Champaign Urbana and performed live on WFMT Chicago. From 2005 to 2007, she was part of the Young Opera Ensemble of Cologne. She and her sister, Charlotte, make up the vocal duo Charlotte and Josefien Stoppelenburg. They perform with piano duo and brothers Martijn and Stefan Blaak as ensemble Brothers and Sisters. The quartet performed in the Netherlands, The United States, Italy and recently made theri debut in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Being a specialist in the Baroque style, Josefien was the featured soloist in many Baroque ensembles in the US: Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana, Peoria Bach Festival, Cincinatti Bach Festival, Arizona Bach Festival, Boulder Bach Festival,Handel Week Festival, Baroque Band, Newberry Consort.
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Jill Phillips, Mezzo SopranoJill Phillips, mezzo-soprano, is a guest alumni lecturer of voice at Luther College, where she earned a bachelor of arts degree in music. She earned her master of music degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where she sang the roles of Marcellina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, the Old Prioress in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, and participated in the Opera Fusion: New Works project with CCM and Cincinnati Opera. She has been a Young Artist at Opera Saratoga, an Apprentice Artist with the Des Moines Metro Opera, has sung with Kentucky Opera, NANOWorks Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Opera, and Dayton Opera, and was a Studio Artist with the Wolf Trap Opera. Last fall she sang the mezzo-soprano solos in the Bradley Community Chorus performance of the Verdi Requiem.
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Trevor Mitchell, TenorTrevor Mitchell is best known for his work in oratorio and early music, Trevor Mitchell sings a wide range of classical music. Recently a critic wrote, "Simply the most uniquely beautiful and easily produced tenor instrument most people will ever hear. Known for his superb musicianship and interpretive skills, Mitchell, though concentrated in early music, is equally at ease in other musical periods. His singing engagements, both as a soloist and an ensemble member, have taken him virtually all over the USA as well as Italy, England, Austria, Ukraine and other places in Europe. He is a regular soloist at St. John Cantius in Chicago, a member of the professional nine-voice singing ensemble, Chicago a cappella and divides his time between it and solo engagements.
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Gerard Sundberg, BaritoneGerard Sundberg’s compelling baritone voice is celebrated internationally for its beauty and clarity. For the past eight seasons, he has captivated audiences with his performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Mr. Sundberg has distinguished himself as a concert artist with his mastery of bass/baritone repertoire. Recent performances include the St. John Passion conducted by John Nelson in Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral. Maestro Nelson lauds Mr. Sundberg for his “command of diction and remarkable involvement in the text”. He has appeared as soloist with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, and with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Robert Shaw. He maintains an impressive presence in the Chicago area, frequently appearing as soloist with the West Suburban Choral Union, recently for a performance of Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. He also has sung extensively with the Oregon Bach Festival under the artistic leadership of Helmuth Rilling. Rilling praises Mr. Sundberg for his “exceptionally stunning high range” and “perfect command of the German language and high musicality”. Dr. Sundberg is a graduate of Bethel College (St. Paul, MN), and holds both Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Minnesota where he studied voice with Clifton Ware and Roy Schuessler. He is presently Professor of Voice at Wheaton Conservatory of Music (Wheaton, IL). His two recordings are “Singer on a Journey”, including four sacred song cycles by Brahms, Beethoven, Vaughan Williams and Carlisle Floyd, and “Songs for the Journey” including arrangements by Edwin Childs of 16 Hymns and Gospel songs. |
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