Editor’s Note: The following information was provided by the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s College of Arts and Communication, Department of Music.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Department of Music presents the next concert of the Music Mosaics series with the Vent Faculty Woodwind Trio on Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Light Recital Hall. Ticket prices are $14 for the general public, $12 for over 65, $7 for individuals under 18 and free for all UW-Whitewater students. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at tickets.uww.edu or by calling (262) 472-2222. Masks are strongly suggested for anyone attending events in the Greenhill Center of the Arts and each performance in the Light Recital Hall will have a social distance seating option. Do not come to campus if you are ill. For the most up to date campus safety information, visit the Warhawks are Back webpage at: www.uww.edu/warhawks-are-back.
The Vent Faculty Woodwind Trio (flute, clarinet, and saxophone) will perform a wide variety of music from J.S. Bach to Chinese-born American composer, Lei Liang. The program includes a premiere of a new work by Christian Ellenwood as well as MyungHee Chung, piano.
Works performed include Eclectic Trio by Catherine McMichael; Concert piece No.2 by Felix Mendelssohn; Zakotne Pesmi by Milko Lazar; Perennials for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano by Daniel Dorff; Lake by Lei Liang; Fluorescent Despair by Professor Ellenwood.
Cristina Ballatori has performed across the United States, Europe, England, and Latin America as a recitalist, soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Recent performance highlights include a featured recital at the World Flutes Festival in Mendoza, Argentina, concerts in venues such as the Atelier Concert Series in Paris, France, “Live from Hochstein” Series public radio WXXI in Rochester, New York, and artist residencies in Spain, Costa Rica, and Mexico. As a chamber musician, Ballatori is a member of the Semplice Duo with pianist Kevin Chance and the Whitewater Chamber Players. Ballatori regularly appears as a guest artist and has been a featured performer, clinician, and adjudicator at many festivals, universities, and conferences including those of the National Flute Association, Music Teachers National Association, Texas Music Educators Association, and Mid-South Flute Society among others. Ballatori is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the University of Texas System’s Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Ballatori is the Artist Teacher/Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Director of the UW-W Summer Flute Week. She previously served as Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Visit www.cristinaballatori.com
Clarinetist Christian Ellenwood is a passionate recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral clarinetist, and composer. Dr. Ellenwood has composed many works for clarinet, as well as works for chamber ensembles, choir, wind ensemble, and strings. His compositions have been performed worldwide at prestigious festivals and concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, the World Saxophone Congress, National Flute Association, ClarinetFest, and the Chamber Music National Festival/Music for All. Recent commissions include a new quintet for clarinet and strings, commissioned by Vandoren for the winner of the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, and a new chamber work to be premiered in June 2022, commissioned by the Willa Cather Archive and Nebraska Chamber Players. His compositions have also been broadcast over several classical networks, including Chicago’s WFMT, the Wisconsin and Nebraska Public Radio networks, and WXXI in western New York.
Dr. Ellenwood is committed to the musical and intellectual growth of his students, and the quality of his teaching has earned significant recognition from his students and colleagues, including the W. P. Roseman Award, UW-Whitewater’s highest honor for excellence in teaching, as well as multiple inclusions in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Dr. Ellenwood has also received UW-Whitewater’s Outstanding Research Award and the University Faculty/Staff Academic Advising Award. He has held teaching positions at the University of North Carolina–Greensboro, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and New England Music Camp. Ellenwood studied at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (DMA), Indiana University (MM), and the Eastman School of Music (BM). For more information, please visit www.christianellenwood.com
An avid supporter of contemporary music, saxophonist Matthew Sintchak has commissioned and premiered over 100 new works for the instrument. Sintchak enjoys challenging traditional notions of music performance by pushing boundaries of genre, instrumentation, medium, and style. In the genre-stretching, multimedia Visions of America project, Sintchak worked with trombonist Mark Hetzler and photographer Katrin Talbot to combine the live performance of saxophone, trombone, piano, bass and percussion, in an amalgamation of jazz, classical, and contemporary styles with original video and photographic material created and edited by Hetzler and Talbot. Sintchak formed the Sonict Duo (www.sonictensemble.com), an experimental group that combines saxophone, video, and live electronics with the noted electronic audio-visual performer and composer Jeff Herriott. Sintchak has also been a member of other new music groups including Present Music (Milwaukee) and the Intergalactic Contemporary Ensemble (formerly the Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble), which performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall for the London Jazz Festival. In more traditional settings, Sintchak is an active solo and chamber recitalist and clinician in demand around the world. Sintchak performed and taught masterclasses at several venues throughout China’s Yantai province as part of the prestigious International Clarinet-Saxophone Festival. In the quartet setting, Sintchak has performed with the Ancia Saxophone Quartet (www.anciaquartet.com) for more than 20 years. As the featured ensemble-in-residence at the Da-ism New Music Festival in Daegu, Korea, Ancia premiered nine new works written expressly for them by emerging Korean composers. Sintchak studied at the Eastman School of Music (DMA with Performer’s Certificate and MM), the Paris Conservatory (auditor on a grant from the Beebe Foundation), and the New England Conservatory of Music (BM). He is a Conn-Selmer and Vandoren artist and has recorded for Naxos, Albany, Innova, the University of Iowa Composers’ and Zimbel labels. Sintchak is Professor of Saxophone at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Korean born pianist Dr. MyungHee Chung has received numerous national and international awards, including first prize at the 1977 William Kapell Maryland International Piano Competition; the 1976 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Performer’s Competition, the 1978 Portland Symphony Orchestra Competition and the 1980 Juilliard Concerto Competition. She was a prizewinner in the 1980 Gina Bachauer International Competition and a finalist in the 1981 Busoni International Competition. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the Far East and she has performed with many major orchestras including the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Baltimore, Portland, New Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic.. Dr. Chung received Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from The Juilliard School studying with Martin Canin. She continued her studies with Gary Graffman at the Manhattan School of Music where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Her teachers include Andre Watts, Tong-Il Han, Chung-Choo Oh and Kisun Yun. Dr. Chung taught at the Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri and at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Wisconsin where she is a Professor and keyboard coordinator.
The Music Mosaics series will continue with the Vent Faculty Woodwind Trio on Thursday, March 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the Light Recital Hall. Ticket prices are $14 for the general public, $12 for over 65, $7 for individuals under 18 and free for all UW-Whitewater students. All proceeds from the Music Mosaic series go directly towards scholarships for Department of Music students. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at tickets.uww.edu or by calling (262) 472-2222. Masks are required for anyone entering a campus building and each performance in the Light Recital Hall will have a social distance seating option. Do not come to campus if you are ill. For the most up to date campus safety information, visit the Warhawks are Back webpage at the link below. uww.edu/warhawks-are-back.
