More information: www.kent.edu/blossom | Tickets: www.kent.edu/blossom/ticket-information, 330-672-2787
Meet the incredible 2018 Kent Blossom Music Festival faculty. This dynamic and inspiring group of performing artists will work with the students of the festival teaching lessons, coaching chamber music and in masterclasses. The year's faculty is made up of members of The Cleveland Orchestra, Miami String Quartet, Kent State University School of Music, and renowned guest artists from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Cleveland Institute of Music and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Many will also perform on the Faculty Concert Series.
KATHERINE BORMANN joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2011. She completed degrees at Rice University and the Juilliard School, studying with Kathleen Winkler, Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes.
IVAN CHAN was the bronze medalist of the 1990 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis and the first violinist of the acclaimed Miami String Quartet from 1995-2011. In 2003, he was appointed chairman of the string division at the KBMF. Currently, Chan serves as associate professor in string chamber music at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
WESLEY COLLINS joined The Cleveland Orchestra as principal viola with the start of the 2016-17 season. He previously served as a member of the viola section of the Boston Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2012 and was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra 2008-2012. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music in May 2007, where he was a student of Robert Vernon.
ALAN DEMATTIA (Alumnus, '77 & '78) joined the horn section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 1984. DeMattia earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree as a horn major at Kent State University and a Master of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
STEPHEN GEBER joined The Cleveland Orchestra as principal cellist at the beginning of the 1973-74 season and retired in 2003. He is a faculty member and head of the cello department at the Cleveland Institute of Music and KBMF.
MARGARET GRIEBLING-HAIGH is a self-taught composer who is proud to be a member of a family that includes three generations of composers. She has won many awards for her compositions and has received numerous commissions throughout the United States.
SCOTT HAIGH served as principal bassist of La Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico and spent one season with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra before joining The Cleveland Orchestra in 1978. This is Haigh’s 22nd year with KBMF.
DAVID ALAN HARRELL (Alumnus '91 & '92) , cello, has been a member of The Cleveland Orchestra since 1995. He was a scholarship student at KBMF in 1991 and 1992.
RICHARD HAWKINS is the associate clarinet professor at Oberlin Conservatory. Hawkins earned his B.M. and M.M. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
JOELA JONES (Alumna, '68 & '69) has been principal keyboard of The Cleveland Orchestra since 1972. In addition to serving on the faculty of KBMF since 1989, Jones is chair of the keyboard division and was a KBMF scholarship student in 1968 and 1969.
BENNY KIM is an internationally known and acclaimed violinist. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in 1986. Kim is a member of the Miami String Quartet.
STANLEY KONOPKA has been a member of The Cleveland Orchestra viola section since 1991 and was appointed assistant principal viola in 1993. This will be his 16th season at KBMF.
MARK KOSOWER was named principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra by Franz Welser-Möst and as teacher of cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2009. Kosower studied with Janos Starker at Indiana University and Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School.
JUNG-MIN AMY LEE joined The Cleveland Orchestra as associate concertmaster in March 2008. Lee has been affiliated with KBMF since 2009 and is Artist-in-Residence at Kent State University.
SCOTT LEE is one of the most exciting and unique violists to emerge in recent years. He studied with Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Juilliard School with Paul Newbauer. Lee is a member of the Miami String Quartet.
DANIEL MCKELWAY is assistant principal clarinetist of The Cleveland Orchestra. He has been a member of the KBMF faculty since 1996 and was named chair of the clarinet studio in 2007. He also has served as principal clarinetist of the Grand Rapids Symphony.
SPENCER MYER is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of today. This will be his 10th visit to KBMF.
PETER OTTO currently holds the position of first associate concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra. Previous to his engagement in Cleveland, he served as assistant concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony.
VINAY PARAMESWARAN joined The Cleveland Orchestra as assistant conductor with the 2017-18 season. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Parameswaran holds degrees from Brown University and the Curtis Institute of Music.
JEFF RATHBUN (Alumnus, '85 & '86) serves as assistant principal oboe of The Cleveland Orchestra. This season will be his 16th on the faculty of KBMF. Rathbun was a scholarship student at KBMF in 1985 and 1986.
CATHY MENG ROBINSON is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet. She received her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Ivan Galamian and David Cerone. She received her master’s from the San Francisco Conservatory where she studied with Isadore Tinkleman.
KEITH ROBINSON is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet and has been active as a chamber musician, recitalist and soloist since his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music.
STEPHEN ROSE begins his 17th season as a member of the KBMF faculty. He was appointed principal second violin of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2001 and has been a member of the section since 1997.
FRANK ROSENWEIN (Alumnus, '99) joined The Cleveland Orchestra as principal oboe at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. He was a scholarship student at KBMF in 1999.
MARISELA SAGER is currently the assistant principal flutist with The Cleveland Orchestra and in her ninth season at KBMF.
RICARDO SEPULVEDA is the director of the Kent Blossom Music Festival. He holds two degrees from Kent State University where he studied chamber music and performance under the tutelage of the Miro and Miami String quartets. His primary teachers include Sandy Yamamoto, Cathy Meng Robinson and Ivan Chan.
BARRICK STEES has been assistant principal bassoon of The Cleveland Orchestra since 2001. Stees teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has taught at Michigan State University and the Interlochen Center for the Arts.
DANNA SUNDET is associate professor of oboe at Kent State University and is the director of the John Mack Oboe Camp. Sundet serves as artistic coordinator of KBMF and is principal oboe of The Erie Philharmonic.
RICHARD WEISS (Alumnus, '72) is first assistant principal cellist of The Cleveland Orchestra. Weiss was a KBMF scholarship student in 1972 and has been a member of its faculty since 1985.
JERRY WONG performs as soloist and chamber musician in the United States and abroad. He is professor of piano at Kent State University.
ROBERT WOOLFREY joined the clarinet section of The Cleveland Orchestra in November 2008. Woolfrey studied with David Shifrin at Yale University where he received a master’s degree in music. This will be his fifth season at KBMF.
The Kent Blossom Music Festival was co-founded in 1968 by George Szell, long-time Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra and Louis Lane, Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra, along with John A. Flower, Dean of the College of Fine and Professional Arts and Lindsey Merrill, Director of the School of Music at Kent State University. For over 50 years, the festival has been a training ground for many of the world’s best young musicians. Alumni teach at some of the worlds premiere institutions and perform in many of the worlds finest ensembles. It has also hosted an incredible roster of guest teaching artists, including Aaron Copland, Pierre Boulez and Josef Gingold, among many others. The 2018 season, running July 1 – Aug. 5, will celebrate the legacy and usher in the future of the program by bringing back a number of alumni for the Faculty Concert Series and welcoming a diverse group of over 40 highly skilled young artists.