Thursday, Feb 4, 2010
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the Westminster Conservatory Faculty Recital Series when it presents a recital entitled Passionate Notes on Sunday, February 14, at 7:30 p.m. Passionate Notes will be presented in Bristol Chapel on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton.
Performing will be cellist Melissa Burton Anderson, mezzo-soprano Linda Mindlin, flutist Kevin Willois, clarinet Kenneth Ellison, and pianist Patricia Landy. Their program will feature Acht Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103 by Johannes Brahms; Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14 by Sergei Rachmaninoff; Libertango by Astor Piazzolla; and Song of Perfect Propriety by Seymour Barab. Works by Marcos Granados and Paquito D’Rivera will also be performed.
Cellist Melissa Burton Anderson pursues a varied career as a chamber musician, orchestral performer, and teacher. In 2006 she moved to New Jersey from Rochester, N.Y., where she performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, served as the principal cellist of the Rochester Oratorio Society and taught as a member of the string faculty at the Community Music School of Eastman School of Music. She is a former member of the cello section of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and she was associate principal cellist of the Honolulu Symphony.
She has participated in the Anchorage Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival and the Utah Festival Opera. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, her major teachers have included Richard Kapuscinski, Bonnie Hampton, William Pleeth and Burton Kaplan. Ms. Anderson currently performs with the Princeton Symphony and other New Jersey ensemble, and she teaches at Westminster Conservatory of Music and Rutgers Preparatory School.
Linda Mindlin performs as a soloist in oratorio and concert with area orchestras and choral ensembles. She has performed with the Westminster Community Orchestra, The Princeton University Orchestra and The Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs, among others. She has appeared in opera, operetta and music theater productions, including roles as The Third Lady in The Magic Flute, Tessa in The Gondoliers, and Pitti Sing in The Mikado, as well as roles in Carousel and Guys & Dolls.
Singing repertoire of all styles including premiere works by contemporary composers, Ms. Mindlin performs annually in Westminster Conservatory's Concert and Recital Series. A choral vocal coach, she has directed children's choirs and has been a voice clinician for the Middlesex County Teen Arts Festival. Ms. Mindlin is a graduate of Westminster Choir College, and she was recipient of a first place award from the New Jersey Regional National Association of Teachers of Singing (NJNATS). She has been a member of the Westminster Conservatory voice faculty for 11 years.
Kevin Willois received a Bachelor of Music in Education and Performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts of Rutgers University, where he has also completed a master’s degree. At Rutgers he was a student of Bart Feller and served as the principal flutist of the Rutgers Orchestra and Summerfest Orchestra. Mr. Willois is the principal flutist of Chelsea Opera and the Martina Arroyo festival orchestra, and he is a member of Sonora Winds. He teaches summer chamber music workshops in New Brunswick and at Westminster Conservatory.
He is involved with the Westchester Philharmonic outreach program, Visiting Artist, which brings the experience of music to children in public schools, day care centers and various therapeutic centers. For several years he performed and recorded with rhythm and blues groups. He is a regular reed player at the Actors’ NET, and he has recorded an album of Brazilian music with Trio Vento.
Kenneth Ellison has performed with many ensembles, including the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Riverside Symphonia and the Greenville Symphony, and he has played under conductors Andrea Quinn, John Rutter, Frederick Fennell and Rossen Milanov at venues including Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and NJPAC. He performs regularly with the Chelsea Opera Company, Trio21, Princeton Symphony woodwind trio for the BRAVO! Program, Ionization and Tripleplay Winds. He can be heard on Laurie Altman’s CD On Course. A doctoral candidate at Rutgers University, he holds degrees from Furman University and Arizona State University.