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Andrew Campbell
Andrew Campbell has established himself as one of the most versatile collaborative pianists in the United States with a performing career that has taken him to six continents. Recent appearances include a South African concert tour, highlighted by a recital at the Johannesburg International Mozart Festival; a performance of Bach’s keyboard concerto in d minor with the Chintimini Festival Chamber Orchestra; performances at the Miklin Festival Internacional in Bogotá, Columbia; and the world premier of Damian Montano’s Disappearing Moon at the 2017 International Double Reed Society Conference. He has collaborated in recitals with such diverse artists as violinist Chee-Yun, double bassist Catalin Rotaru, flutist Thomas Robertello, bassoonist Judith LeClair, trombonist Charles Vernon, saxophonist Timothy McAllister, composer Bright Sheng, and tenor Anthony Dean Griffey. He served as opera rehearsal pianist for distinguished conductors André Previn, Plácido Domingo and Heinz Fricke, and worked closely with the composer Carlisle Floyd on several productions of his operas. Chamber music performances have taken him to important venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, where The Strad and Strings magazines both hailed his performance as “excellent.” His partnership with violinist Katherine McLin in the McLin/Campbell Duo has led to performances on numerous recital series throughout the United States and Europe. He has recorded several CDs on the Summit and Centaur labels, and his performance of the Rachmaninoff cello sonata with bassist Catalin Rotaru was cited for special praise by Bass World and XBass, two leading international journals. He has appeared as collaborative pianist at numerous international conferences, including the National Flute Association Convention, MTNA, the Society for American Music, the International Viola Congress, and multiple appearances at the International Double Reed Society, for which he has served as official pianist. Dr. Campbell received the Doctorate in Piano Chamber Music and Accompanying from the University of Michigan where he studied with the renowned collaborative artist Martin Katz.
Dr. Campbell is currently Director of the Collaborative Piano Program and Associate Director for Graduate Studies at the Arizona State University School of Music. He recently completed his 8th season as Assistant Director and Director of Chamber Music for the Saarburg Serenaden Music Festival (Germany) and the Vianden International Music Festival (Luxembourg), performing annually on their faculty recitals in collaboration with colleagues from the United States, Europe and the Asia. Previous positions include Director of the Collaborative Piano Program at the Brevard Music Center, music staff for both the Washington National Opera and San Diego Opera, and Music Director and Pianist for the San Diego Opera Ensemble.
Claudia Anderson
M.M., University of Massachusetts;
B.M. University of Michigan
CLAUDIA ANDERSON is known for her originality and brilliance as a solo and chamber music performer across the U.S. She is a founding member of the innovative flute duo ZAWA! (with Jill Felber) and the summer flute intensive Passion Flute: Foundations for Creative Performing. Principal flute with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls (IA) Symphony and on the faculty of Grinnell College, Anderson has taught at the Universities of Iowa and Northern Iowa, Ithaca College, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. An active member of the National Flute Association, she recently completed a 4-year term on the NFA’s New Music Advisory Committee.
Claudia’s solo album – with pianist SoYoung Lee – In This World (released in 2014 on cdbaby) includes her debut as a composer, Weather Conversations for flute and electronics. ALRY Publications released Weather Conversations in August 2017, the company’s first flute and fixed media publication. In 2019, ALRY released the latest in a series of ZAWA! arrangements and original compositions for the duo, Snap! for two flutes and fixed electronic media by John Rommereim. ZAWA! commissioned flutist-composer Cynthia Folio to write Z3 for two flutes and piano (2008) and recorded it on Cynthia’s chamber music CD Inverno Azul in 2014 (BCM&D Records). In 2014 ZAWA! commissioned and premiered Cynthia’s double flute concerto, Winds for Change, a musical meditation on the environment. Winds for Change tours nationally and internationally in its latest version – and all-flute chamber orchestra – with Angeleita Floyd conducting. Most recently, ZAWA! released their album ZAWA! RemiX in December 2023, on cdbaby, to all major streaming services. Claudia’s newest project, Glass Ceilings, commissioned several high-profile women composers and flutists to write pieces for flute(s) solo and electronic media, with its originating theme of gender inequality expanded to embrace the effects of Covid-19 and racial tensions of 2020. The program of works by Eve Belgarian, Lisa Bost-Sandberg, Allison Loggins-Hull, Ali Ryerson, and Anderson began touring nationally in early 2022 and continues to tour into 2024. As of September 2022, all the commissioned works are published: Eve Belgarian’s music at evbvd.com, Lisa Bost-Sandberg’s with Chromaworks at listabost.com and justflutes.com, Allison Loggins-Hull at Flutronix.com, Ali Ryerson’s at Theodore Presser Music, and Claudia Anderson’s at alrypublications.com. Anderson’s Glass Ceilings won the NFA’s Newly Published Music Competition in 2023.
David Shea
David Shea currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Texas Tech University, and is also principal clarinet in the Abilene Philharmonic and Lubbock Symphony Orchestras. He has earned degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM), the University of Illinois (MM) and Indiana University (DM). His teachers have been Howard Klug, Lawrence McDonald, Eli Eban, James Campbell and Ronald Phillips. Shea has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Brazil and Chile. As a member of Trio Montecino, he recently toured in Belgium, Germany, and the United States to promote the release of their second CD, Nuevo Sonido: Latin- American Trios, which is available on the Eroica Classical Recordings label. Shea has performed at the International Clarinet Association Clarinetfests in Chicago, Columbus, Salt Lake City, Atlanta and Kansas City, as well as the OU Clarinet Symposium, University of Montevallo Clarinet Symposium and most recently, at Klarinetstage, Belgium.
Shea was a finalist in the Boosey and Hawkes North American Clarinet Competition and was a concerto competition winner at the Oberlin Conservatory and the Colorado Springs Summer Music Festival. In addition to his solo and chamber music performances, Shea has performed as an orchestral musician with the Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Symphony, Columbus Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony and the Sinfonia de Camera. He has also been involved in numerous CD recording projects for Crystal, Naxos, Delos, Opus One, Indiana University Recordings and Hal Leonard Productions where he worked with such artists as Eugene Rousseau and the Indiana Clarinet Trio. As a teacher, Shea has given master classes throughout the US and South America. He has been invited twice to teach as a sabbatical replacement at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He has also participated in a Big 12 Fellowship grant with Dan Silver at CU-Boulder, where innovative teaching pedagogies were discussed and demonstrated during week-long residencies at both campuses. In 2005, Shea was awarded the Texas Tech University President’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and most recently, was inducted into the Texas Tech University Teaching Academy. David Shea is a Buffet-Crampon USA Performing Artist and is the Texas State Chair for the International Clarinet Association.
Evan Jay Williams
A.M.S. Certificate in Composition, Carnegie Mellon University
M.M., Carnegie Mellon University
B.A., Franklin Pierce University
Grant Larson
An active recitalist and proponent of new music, saxophonist Grant Larson has premiered works for saxophone by Paul, Hanson, Philip Wharton, Chiayu Hsu, Steven Makala, and John Drumheller at regional and national conventions. He is the soprano saxophonist with the Colorado-based Chautauqua Saxophone Quartet and has performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Chippewa Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Fargo/Moorhead Symphony Orchestra. Grant currently serves as the Saxophone Practicing Artist at Denver School of the Arts, is the wind ensemble conductor for the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestras, and serves on the faculty at Rocky Ridge Music Center.
Equally comfortable in both classical and jazz settings, Grant has performed on stage with notable artists such as Maria Schneider, Kurt Elling, Mulgrew Miller, Art Lande, Brad Goode, Johannes Weidenmueller, Peter Erskin, Ray Charles, Ignacio Berroa, and “Slammin” Sammy K. He recently produced a collaborative album (Ascent) of original jazz compositions with fellow musicians Greg Tanner Harris, Matt Fuller, Braun Khan, and Dave Hammond. He also has released two jazz albums of original compositions under the Dazzle Recordings label (Denver, CO). Grant holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Saxophone Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder; a Master of Music from the University of Colorado; and a Bachelor of Music from Concordia College. Previously, he served on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Concordia College, and the Boulder Arts Academy.
John Dilts
B.A., University of Colorado
As Director of Strategic Initiatives, John works to develop programs and partnerships that take Rocky Ridge in exciting new directions and help build long-term sustainability. Prior to joining RRMC, he spent over fifteen years as a researcher at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, where he worked on projects partnering with federal, state, and local government to improve social services through data-driven decision-making. During this period, he studied classical guitar at DePaul University and music theory at the Sherwood Conservatory. Deeply interested in the development of human potential through the arts, John also worked as program director at the Children’s Center for Arts and Learning in Denver, managing arts enrichment and academic tutoring services for elementary school students.
Lorenzo Trujillo
Lorenzo A. Trujillo grew up in Denver and spent many summers in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico (eight miles outside of Taos) with his extended family. He was highly influenced by his aunt, Eva Nuánez, as a vocalist, guitarist, and violinist. He also engaged his energies in ethnic dance and collaborated with his mother, Marie Orália Durán Trujillo, in the formation of the Southwest Dancers in the early 1970’s. He taught Mexican Folkdance and Flamenco at the Sangre De Cristo Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Denver, and at San Francisco State University. He is the Director of the Mariachi Program at Metropolitan State University in Denver (see Facebook page and webpage LorenzoTrujillo.com).
For over two decades, he was a member of the Mariachi Alegre de San Cayetano where he played violin and sang. As a musician, dancer, and culture bearer, Lorenzo was awarded the Colorado Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. He was inducted into the Colorado Chicano Music Hall of Fame and has served on the National Endowment for the Arts as a performing artist, grants panelist, and arts program evaluator. He was also named a Colorado Folk Artist and Master Teacher by the Colorado Council on the Arts through the Master/Apprentice Program and in 2012 was awarded the Tesoro de Oro by the Tesoro Cultural Center.
Lorenzo formed the Southwest Musicians in the late 1980’s, recording several musical standards that are part of a vast repertoire of regional social dances and popular Mexican music of the early and mid-twentieth century. Among his recordings are: Musical Traditions of Colorado and New Mexico (Southwest Musicians); Con Cariño (Mariachi Alegre); A Musical Banquet: From Santa Fe to Denver (with E.J. Rodriguez), and, The Golden Age of the Southwest: From 1840 to Hollywood. He has toured in Ireland, Peru and Italy, presenting traditional music, liturgical and classical repertoire.
In his noted publication, Music of Colorado and New Mexico’s Río Grande, in Enduring Legacies: Ethnic Histories and Culture of Colorado, University of Colorado Press, Lorenzo highlights the history of the Casorio and Entriega wedding traditions celebrated throughout the Upper Río Grande Region of Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico of the 1840’s. He holds a Doctorate in Education and Juris Doctorate Degrees (Ed.D., J.D.) and served as Assistant Dean and Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law.
Currently, he is the Director of the Mariachi Program at Metropolitan State University in Denver, the President of Hilos Culturales, a non-profit organization that preserves, promotes, and presents Hispanic traditions from the 1840’s of Colorado and New Mexico. He serves as the Vice Chairman, Tesoro Cultural Center, Director, Viva Southwest Mariachi Festival Workshop & Showcase, Director, Latino Cultural Arts Center Mariachi Program, Director, Southwest Musicians, and Trustee, Colorado Symphony.
Madison Casey
Mary Beth Tyndall
B.M., B.M.E., Ball State University
Mary Beth Tyndall has a large, private cello studio in Tucson, Arizona. Her students range in age from 4 to 74 years of age. From the youngest Suzuki families to the mature beginners they are held together by their love for music, the amazing voice of the cello and the sense of community she tries to foster in her studio.
Recently retired from a 38-year career in the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Mary Beth still is an active member of the Southwest String Quartet, teaches each summer at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado, and regularly coaches for local youth and community orchestras. She is co-chair of the annual Tucson Cello Congress at the University of Arizona, and in 2016 she was named Outstanding Studio Teacher by the Arizona Chapter of the American String Teachers Association.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and cello performance from Ball State University and a master’s degree in cello performance from the University of Arizona. She began her Suzuki teacher training in 1983 with Yvonne Tait in Tucson and completed the series at many summer institutes.
Her students have performed solos with local orchestras and a few have gone on to conservatory level study and national awards. She feels privileged to work with wonderful individuals and families and to help them express themselves and grow emotionally and intellectually.
Si-Yan Darren Li
B.M., The Juilliard School
Cellist Si-Yan Darren Li made his professional debut at the age of 9 and has since gone on to an international career as a recitalist, chamber musician and teacher. He has appeared in solo and chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Izumi Hall in Osaka, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and National Concert Hall in Taipei. Li has also performed in many renowned music festivals, including the Ravinia Festival, Kronberg Academy Cello Festival and Verbier Festival. An active chamber musician, he has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Emanuel Ax, Miriam Fried, Ilya Kaler, Lang Lang, Cho-Liang Lin, Thomas Quasthoff, Alexander Toradze and members of the Juilliard, Takács, Cleveland, Casals and Ébène quartets. His recording of the Bartók string quartets with the Euclid Quartet was highly praised by Gramophone magazine and American Recording Guide.
Having previously taught at Indiana University and University of Central Florida, Li joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2017. As a dedicated pedagogue, his student ensembles have won top prizes in major international and national competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and Coltman Chamber Music Competition.
Li holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute. In addition to Orlando Cole, his principal teachers include Fred Sherry, Harvey Shapiro, Alan Stepansky and David Hardy. Li is a prizewinner in numerous prestigious competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow and Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. He is also a recipient of the American Masterpieces grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Li plays a 1773 cello by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.
SoYoung Lee
M.M., University of Southern California
SoYoung Lee, Executive/Music Director at Rocky Ridge Music Center, received her Doctorate in Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has held director positions at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory Adult Education & Preparatory Department, Millikin University Preparatory Division, and the Boulder Arts Academy & Boulder Ballet. A strong believer in the concept of artist as entrepreneur, she cofounded two organizations: Colorado-based AirTurn, a company dedicated to empowering musicians through technology; and Notes at 9,000 at Winter Park, a multi-genre music competition that launches emerging musicians by providing concert opportunities, funding, and mentoring. She is passionate about building community through the arts, and serves currently as a trustee on the board of Boulder County Arts Alliance and as a member of the Estes Arts Presents Task Force.
An award-winning pianist and a Regents scholar, SoYoung is a recipient of the Ernő Dohnányi Piano Prize and the Gwendolyn Koldofsky Accompanying Fellowship at University of Southern California. She recently released a CD, In This World, with flutist Claudia Anderson. Equally at home as a teacher, she served on the music faculty at Millikin University and State University of New York, Fredonia, and was a visiting Piano Pedagogy faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder. SoYoung enjoys her multi-faceted career as a performing artist, administrator, teacher, producer, and arts advocate.
Dawn Kramer
Dawn Kramer is a full time freelance trumpet player in the Denver area, specializing in a variety of styles including classical, jazz, pop and salsa. She is a member of the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Darren Kramer Organization, ElektroHornz, Boulder Brass, Colorado Jazz Repertory Orchestra and the salsa band Conjunto Colores. She plays many of the shows at the Denver Performing Arts Complex and the Arvada Center. Dawn has subbed with the Colorado Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic, Colorado Music Festival, and many other regional orchestras and chamber ensembles. She attended the University of Colorado and received a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance. She has toured as lead trumpet aboard several cruise lines, a Miami-based salsa band, as well as the internationally acclaimed rock band Matchbox Twenty. These travels took her across the US, Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, and Mexico. She has appeared on the Tonight Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, the Rosie O’Donnell show, and VH1 Storytellers. She has performed at the International Trumpet Guild, the International Association of Jazz Educators, Jazz Education Network and the Colorado Music Educators Association conventions. Dawn contracts for several local groups and also maintains a small private teaching studio. When Dawn isn’t working, she loves to cook, bake, read and spend time with her perfect puppy, Oliver!
Robert Fant
MM, CCM
Diploma, NEC
DMA, University of Wisconsin
Dr. Robert Fant is a versatile pedagogue, performer, and composer who brings a world perspective to his work. He brings a passion for classical music and a dedication to excellence through his successful career as a performer and educator. He has taught and performed across the world as a principal horn in Orchestras, Opera, Film Studios, TV, Radio, and more. His passion is to help students achieve their goals and dreams. He is currently the Visiting Professor of Horn at the Tennessee Tech School of Music, horn faculty of Rocky Ridge Music Center, member of the Cumberland Quintet, principal horn of the Bryan Symphony, North State Symphony, Jackson Symphony, XO artist, and XO education clinician. Previous positions include Assistant Professor of Horn at University of Memphis, Assistant Professor of Horn at SWOSU, Professor of Horn at MWSU in Texas, and scholar, teaching, guest, or assistant positions at the University of North Texas, Trinity College London (guest), Royal Northern College of Music (ABRSM Scholar), University of Wisconsin, and the College Conservatory of Music. He is a frequent judge at IHS and other competitions.
Dr. Fant’s former students can be found in nearly all areas of music. In addition to honing their studies in the studio his students can be found regularly in festivals, workshops, and attending high level programs around the world. Recent student accomplishments include winning MTNA Young Artist Award, IHS competitions, Charleston International, Harmony International, and the first horn group to ever place at the IWBC competition. In addition to several educators in schools and private studios, students have appointments at the collegiate level. Many others have gone on to orchestral positions, service band positions, and various creative freelance endeavors in recording and producing. Robert strives to always inspire students to reach for their goals and enjoy their lives in music. He has regularly maintained a studio of private students during his performance career and these students have excelled at All State and in earning scholarships for further study. Robert is often involved in outreach and charity organizations. He has worked extensively with organizations in India, South America, China, Eastern Russia, and throughout the United States. This work involved bring music and aid to underrepresented communities and abused peoples of the world.
Robert’s performance in the USA, Asia, South America, and Europe has led to positions in orchestras, recordings, and solo work. Previously he has held the position of principal horn with the London Mozart Chamber Orchestra, ACO, Teatro Municipal de Santiago, Guiyang Symphony, London Oratorio Society Orchestra, and section positions with the Philharmonie der Nationes (Berlin), Auckland Philharmonia, Verbier Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of India. This work has been in conjunction with playing as guest or extra with orchestras such as The Halle, BBC Philharmonic, National Center for the Performing Arts (Beijing), Taiwan National Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Thuringer Symponiker, Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, Staatstheater Hannover, Boston Pops, San Antonio Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Dallas Wind Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Portland Symphony, LSO (London), Royal Ballet (UK), Opera North (UK), BBC Wales, RSNO (Scotland), BBC Symphony, Bavarian Orchestra (Germany), and an apprenticeship with the Vienna Philharmonic under Wolfgang Tombock. These experiences have led to collaborations with great conductors, soloists, artists, and an admiration of how music can change the world.
During this orchestral work Robert has maintained a regular schedule as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. As a former finalist (and the only hornist to that point) for the Gold Medal Competition, Robert has been fortunate to perform as a soloist / recitalist with increased frequency. He is also a past finalist of the Haverhill International Soloist Competition, Carnegie Hall ACJW Fellowship,
WAMSO, and ASTRAL competition. Recent recital engagements include the Steinway Artist series, Wigmore Hall series, North State Symphony, and the Aspen Recital series. He has premiered and/or commissioned many works by young composers from various backgrounds in multiple countries. He can be found on recordings with Dallas Winds, Atlantic Records, Deutsche Grammophone, NAXOS, BBC Radio, BBC TV, REAL TV, Medici Records, University of Michigan Records, Reference Recordings, Klavier Records, and NPR Radio. He has been a part of winning a GRAMMY, Lesser Foundation Award, and a Royal Philharmonic Society award. He is also the only horn on the SONY Film “The Tattooist” and was multi tracked to create the score. Additional film work includes Netflix and Apple film. He has performed as a soloist and premiered many works. Highlights include solo performances with Denton Orchestra, National Orchestra, North England Institute Orchestra, and chamber premieres at Wigmore and with Eric Ewazen in the USA. He has performed with Amy Grant, Roberta Flack, Andre Bocelli, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Cody Fry, and others to broaden the exposure of the horn in less traditional genres of music.
Robert’s BM is from the University of Michigan, MM from CCM, Diploma from NEC, and DMA from University of Wisconsin. While he has had the privilege to study and seek out many mentors and pedagogues in his past, his primary teachers are Froydis Ree Wekre, Randy Gardner, Michael Hatfield, Jerome Ashby, Kendall Betts, Myron Bloom, Chris Leuba, and Louis Stout.