Table of Contents
Location & Address
Dear Audience,
Our 2024 concert series will be held at the the beautiful West Parish Church in Andover, MA. It has become our venue of choice for its phenomenal acoustics. Each concert has a unique program with different soloists.
Address: 129 Reservation Road, Andover, MA
We are delighted to have you join us.
Sincerely,
Sempre Musick
A Warm Welcome from Mila Filatova, Artistic Director
Dear Audience,
Welcome to Sempre Musick’s 2024 Concert Series!
I fondly recall organizing my first orchestra event in 2013; witnessing the excitement on the faces of our young soloists made all of the logistical challenges worthwhile. What began as a passion project in 2013 blossomed into Sempre Musick in 2016, and since then, we’ve been proud to host annual concerts, save for a brief hiatus in 2020.
Sempre Musick’s mission is simple, yet profound: to make performance opportunities accessible to all. Performing with an orchestra is a dream come true for many musicians. Sempre Musick does not have sponsors or endowments. Both despite and because of this, we are able to help young artists reach their dream. This year, we welcome 79 musicians from fourteen states (from as far as Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, Washington, and California) to experience the joy of playing with the Sempre Musick Orchestra.
We continue to expand our repertoire offerings through commissions from talented composers. In the 2023 season, we commissioned two composers to write special arrangements for particular solo repertoire, including the debut performance of J. S. Bach’s Italian Concerto with orchestra. This season, we are proud to continue with newly-written ensemble repertoire for the fifteen J. S. Bach Two-Part Inventions. Nineteen pianists will debut these masterpieces with the Sempre Musick Baroque Ensemble on May 27.
In fall of 2023, our newly launched Composition Competition received an overwhelming response, with 200+ participants from 18 countries. Seven outstanding compositions will be showcased by Sempre Musick musicians on May 25 and May 26.
Through our events, aspiring musicians find their unique voices, develop their concert performance skills, and gain invaluable experience. We hope you will be uplifted by their wonderful performances!
Sincerely,
Mila Filatova
Saturday, May 25, 3:00 pm
Winston Schneider - Bio and Program Notes for Salt Creek Tiger Beetle Quintet
Salt Creek Tiger Beetle Quintet was inspired by the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle, an endangered species that is one of the rarest insects in the world. They’re only found on the sandy banks of the Salt Creek in my home state of Nebraska. These brown and green insects are about a half-inch long, and are some of the fastest insects in the world.
I’ve always been fascinated by Insects, Arachnids, and other crawling Arthropods. I’ve caught, studied, and released over 100 different species of these creatures. They’ve been the inspiration behind a substantial amount of my pieces. One of the first pieces I composed, when I was 5, was called “Cicada named Fada.”
For several years, the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, where I live, has been breeding, hatching and releasing Salt Creek Tiger Beetles into their native habitat to help their species survive. In 2016, when I was 8, I toured the zoo’s labs. It was fascinating to see the work they were doing to help the Salt Creek Tiger Beetle.
I hope you enjoy Salt Creek Tiger Beetle Quintet.
Winston F. Schneider (b. 2007) is an international award-winning young American composer. He’s received an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and now has 35 composition wins to his name across the U.S. and Europe, including MTNA, NAfME, NFMC, and Sempre Musick. He was a MATA Jr. composer, which the New Yorker calls “the most exciting showcase for outstanding young composers from around the world.” He had his debut of an 11-minute full orchestra work with a professional orchestra when he was 11, a work he wrote at age 10. He was the youngest composer ever to be in Curtis Institute of Music’s summer program.
A prolific composer, Schneider has written over 90 pieces. His works span a broad range: a 60- minute symphony, a septet with spoken voice about the summer of Covid-19 from the perspective of a 17-year-old girl, an orchestra piece involving scent envelopes for the audience to mimic the stink of a threatened stinkbug, a chamber piece reflecting the dire urgency of saving children from child abuse situations, and “Arachnida,” a 21-minute tone poem for orchestra, featuring six types of Arachnids.
He’s written music that’s been premiered in NYC, Dallas, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Omaha and more. He’s had commissions and premieres by the Grammy-nominated Omaha Symphony, the Grammy Award-winning New York Youth Symphony, the Steamboat Symphony Orchestra, Face the Music (NYC’s premiere youth ensemble), Ars Futura (Cleveland based contemporary music ensemble), Orchestra Omaha, SoundWaves String Orchestra, Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory ensemble, numerous chamber ensembles, as well as solo performances on a variety of different instruments, including by virtuosic flutist, Mimi Stillman. His orchestra works have been conducted by Maestros Ernest Richardson, Ankush Kumar Bahl, Alejandro Gómez Guillén, Na’Zir McFadden, and David Bloom. He made his Masterworks debut with the Omaha Symphony in 2022.
With early abilities of perfect pitch, transposing in his head, and sometimes, for fun, simultaneously playing piano with each hand in a different key with his eyes closed, Schneider began composing at age 5. He’s been featured on PBS’s News Hour’s “Arts Canvas,” as well as two Nebraska Public Media feature stories, one which won a “Heartland Emmy.”
He’s a three-time MTNA Nebraska Piano Performance winner. He studies with Dr. Ken Meints at the Omaha Conservatory of Music, piano with Anne Madison (OCoM) and cello with Micah Fusselman.
With a firm belief that all kids should have access to music education, Schneider won the Lowell Mason House national competition for Music Education Advocacy, with a video submission about the importance of a musical education. Schneider continues to speak as an advocate for music education access, and is a co-founder of Music Marathon for Music Education, which raises money for programs that provide instruments and lessons for kids at little to no cost to families.
He’s a home-schooled sophomore and also enjoys competitive debate, cheering on the Green Bay Packers, eating hamburgers, playing football with friends, fantasy football, swimming, and his two cats, Meowth and Glamour.
Taige Wang - Program Notes, Chopin vs. Chopin 2.0 Piano Trio
Taige Wang’s piano trio Chopin vs Chopin 2.0 was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He performed its debut at Alice Tully Hall on April 16th 2023.
Chopin 2.0 is on his voyage through space for a mission to conquer aliens’ lands with their music.The ship is accelerating… BOOM! His spaceship crashes to Earth, right in front of Chopin’s house (Agitato).
Chopin sneaks out to check. A weird noise appears, sounds like his Nocturne Op.9 No.3 (Allegretto-Andante).
2.0 starts with his own way to solo the nocturne, but Chopin doesn’t like it and interrupts, they argue, argue and argue (Allegretto+Andante, mm.29-54)…
Unintentionally, they somehow collaborate together naturally (mm. 54-58).
Suddenly, they realize they are collaborating, they are shocked and freeze, but they like it (mm.59-60). And again, they come together (mm.61-104).
A big noise interrupts, the spaceship is going to explode! They panic, cry and rush to flee (Animato).
Time is running out, with only their bodies, they run mad, fall down and scramble up away from the explosion. Noise is getting louder and louder, the atmosphere is becoming more and more tense… BOOM!!! Explosion (Presto)!
The two Chopins are now stuck together, helplessly staring at each other, sighing! They have to deal with each other for some time (Andante)…
Saturday, May 25, 5:30 pm
Sunday, May 26, 4:30 pm
W. A. Mozart
W. A. Mozart
F. Mendelssohn
A. Peskanov
L. Beethoven
Zoey Feng
Mona Mod
Yiming Wu & Emily Chen
W. A. Mozart
C. Saint-Saens
Zoey Feng - Bio and Program Notes for Lost in Thunder
Zoey Feng is a 10-year-old girl currently living in Seattle, Washington, United States. She began learning to compose in 2021 and is now studying with Dr. Meng Wang.
She plays both the violin and piano and enjoys channeling her creativity into music writing. Zoey was recognized as an emerging composer in the 2021 and 2022 Tribeca Young Composer Competitions. Her piece received an Honorable Mention at the Washington State MTNA Composition Competition in 2022 and 2023, and she won 2nd place in the Washington State NFMC Junior Composer Contest. In addition to music, Zoey enjoys writing, drawing, animations, and Harry Potter.
This is a 45 measured, D minor violin solo piece that Zoey Feng wrote named “Lost in Thunder”. It is inspired by herself picturing about what happens under the thunder, lighting and heavy rain during a heavily raining day.
Measure 1-12 is the first part of the piece is twelve measures long. This piece starts out with the Tonic chord and a mezzo-forte dynamic, creating a bold and rich entrance on the piece. It expresses the beginning of a thunder storm with big, sudden sounds and lights. At measure nine, there are multiple chords added, intensifying the first part of the piece and focusing on the intensity of the notes, which connects to a more severe weather condition.
Measure 13-28, the second part of the piece is sixteen measures long. The second part of the piece is faster and focusing more on the upper part of the fingerboard. It is emphasizing the middle part of the story as a tense piece with multiple eight notes and sixteenth notes, sometimes even thirty-second notes! The rain is coming!
When the second part of the piece is over, Measure 29-40 then repeats the first part of the piece one more time. It indicates that another round of thunder and lighting come.
The Coda starts at Measure 41 which finishes off starting with parts from the second part, mezzo-forte, then turns to mezzo-piano, finally turns to a beautiful seventh tonic chord, forte. That is the end of the violin solo.
Mona Mod - Bio and Program Notes for "Gretchen" (Faust)
My biography is simple.
I was born in Riga. This is the capital of Latvia. When asked where is it? I answer, by plane to Berlin 1:20 to the west, and to Moscow 1:20 to the east! This is by longitude. And three and a half hours down south to Athens! This is how we live, missing the warmth…
In addition to adults and children, our house is inhabited by books and interesting conversations. Oh, I completely forgot, turntables and records! Everything comes into motion on its own! From a short remark or joke, real ideas emerge! And of course, questions. What is the world? What is a human? What is art?
This is how we live, in search of answers.
Mona Mod
2023
Goethe’s immortal tragedy Faust inspired me to write this solo for three short episodes.
Why Faust? The Gretchen episode blew my mind. This is a triumph of morality!
The conscience of the unfortunate girl surpassed love and even life itself.
First I wrote the libretto and then voiced the characters. It’s easier this way!
The libretto contains bar numbers to make it easier to relate the musical idea with its text.
I am a future violinist, multi-instrumentalist, I compose on piano, violin, and viola.
That’s the whole story of the creation of this work.
I am nourished by European culture, especially music and philosophy.
My idols are Rousseau, Schiller, Goethe, Dostoevsky. With them I know where to go in life.
Little Suite in Three Episodes “Gretchen” (Faust) for Violin Solo.
Libretto
Episode 1
Field. It’s a nasty day [1-20].
Mephistopheles tries to convince Faust to leave thoughts of Gretchen [21-52].
Faust demands the release of his beloved [53-70].
Mephistopheles is indignant but gives in to the doctor [71-89].
Night. Magic horses are flying in the sky above the field. Faust and Mephistopheles fly towards her [90-107].
Episode 2
Dungeon. Faust meets his beloved [108-115].
She is depressed and groans with grief [116-131].
The doctor begs her to run away! Gretchen refuses, realizing the outcome of her choice. Faust leaves the unfortunate woman and disappears with the devil in the darkness [132-148].
Episode 3
It’s getting light. The calling sounds of court can be heard from the city square. The city is waiting for drama. Gretchen humbly accepts the punishment [149-165].
In heaven, meeting with God [166-173].
Great forgiveness of the Lord Creator [174-181].
Adrian Schleich – Illustration to Faust (1899)
Sunday, May 26, 6:30 pm
J. S. Bach
A. Vivaldi
T. Brown
G. J. Vogler
F. Chopin
J. S. Bach, realized for orchestra by L. Rosen
E. Bloch
F. Chopin
Yiheng Li
Miho Ikeda
Noam Faingold
J. S. Bach
Yiheng Li - Bio and Program Notes for Album Leaf
Introduction:
Album Leaf is a two-movement work for solo piano, with each movement being short standalone preludes. This work functions as a window that introduces my compositional language.
The first movement is a rapid Etudé on polyrhythms, voicing, and finger agility, where the piece revolves around the various transformations of the main falling triplet ideé fixe introduced in the first bar.
The slower second movement is titled Reflection. It mirrors the episodic nature of the reflections one may experience throughout the day, as represented by the fragmentation of the initial E-B-E-A motif, as well as its free form.
Miho Ikeda - Bio and Program Notes for Temptation of That Jade Vine
Miho Ikeda is a Japanese composer. Born in Niigata, Japan, in 1999, and based in Tokyo. She began playing the piano at 5. After she studied classical piano performance at the Showa University of Music, She graduated from the Music Media Course(former Composition/Film and Broadcasting Music Course) at Tokyo College of Music. She learned media music composition and classical composition.
Currently, Miho Ikeda is working as an assistant to a composer, Kosuke Yamashita. Miho Ikeda is arranging music for various genre concerts in Japan.
Also, she is active as a composer-pianist named Mishu.
A jade vine is a climbing plant in the Republic of the Philippines. The petal’s color is jade. It is so fascinating and attractive to us.
When I visited the botanical garden tropical plants, I saw it for the first time. Because a jade vine doesn’t grow naturally in Japan.
I felt I’d seemed tempted when I stood in front of the jade vine’s shelf. It has a unique color and a flower form, and it is a look blown by the wind…
It was fascinating, more than I could express in words.
“Temptation of That Jade Vine” is made with a simple motif and mixes sharp or natural in one measure from the music’s beginning. It affects the mysterious impression.
This music frequently changes the time signature. It can look like the drooping of a jade vine. Also, the time signature’s change gives us an emotional wave.
Expanding a range and changing strength in the middle part expresses brightly blooming a jade vine.
As goes to the end part, this music decreases notes and becomes minor. It expresses a beautiful fragility after a jade vine was blooming. The language of a jade vine is “Don’t forget me.”
I want you to feel a jade vine’s fascinative stimulation and fragility through this music.
Noam Faingold - Bio and Program Notes for Open WIde the Doors for All
The music of Washington, D.C. based composer/educator/performer Noam Faingold has been described as “…lyrical…”, “…exhilarating…”, and “…a tour-de-force of Jazz melded with Classical…” by sources as varied as The New York Times, The BBC, and Downbeat Magazine, among others.
Faingold is passionate about composing for traditional instruments and multi-disciplinary and cross-genre projects. Highlights include works for cello soloist Inbal Segev (Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center) and oboist Rob Botti (New York Philharmonic), an ongoing open work violin suite for Dennis Kim (Concertmaster, Pacific Symphony), Domenic Salerni (Attacca Quartet), Jesse Mills (Horszowski Trio), Itamar Zorman (Lysander Trio) and others, collaborating with 20th century poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s family composing an orchestral elegy in his memory (Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, Navona Records), composing a piece for DC’s Charles Sumner School Museum and Archive 150th anniversary, and co-composing a work for the US Navy Band with 9 of his high school students. He is currently Composer-in-Residence with Washington Musica Viva and the Oklahoma State University Community Music School and Cellofest.
As an educator, Faingold is excited about providing composition mentorship and generating enthusiasm for new music. Besides his collaboration with the Navy Band, he recently mentored DCPS student composers’ works for the 2023 DCPS Honor Ensemble and the Thalea String Quartet through Washington Performing Arts. He has also taught as Visiting Artist in Composition at The University of Tulsa and founder of the composition programs at Tulsa Community College and The bART Center for Music. He has given masterclasses for young composers through the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Kaufman Music Center Special Music School (NYC), University of Oklahoma, OSU Cellofest, and The University of Arkansas. Other current activities include advocating for young artist opportunities on the Board of Directors of Chamber Music Tulsa, serving as an artist peer facilitator through the Mid-America Arts Alliance, and serving as a frequent composition competition judge for several state and regional chapters of the Music Teachers National Association.
Faingold holds composition degrees from King’s College London (PhD) and New York University (MM) as a Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Fellow, with additional fellowships through the Salzburg Global Seminar, The Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Atlantic Music Festival’s double bass fellowship.
“Open Wide the Doors for All” was commissioned for Sumner School’s 150th anniversary and written for its commemorative event on September 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. The piece was commissioned under the leadership of Kimberly Springle, Executive Director of Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives. The work’s title comes from a quote by William Henry Ashburton Wormley, Chairman of the Building Committee for the Sumner School upon its dedication on September 2, 1872. In his remarks, Mr. Wormley Stated:
“May it never be said, dear Governor, that those entrusted with the care of this building have turned away any who seek for wisdom; and may the time come during your administration when the trustees of the public schools in the District of Columbia shall be instructed to open wide the doors for all, irrespective of color or previous condition (20).”
This excerpt is found in the Charles Sumner School commemorative book for the 1986 rehabilitation and rededication of the school. The full description of the original dedication of the Charles Sumner School is contained in the Annual Report of the Superintendent of Colored Schools of Washington and Georgetown, 1871-1872.
The musical work was created to commemorate the brightness of the 150th anniversary event, hopefully capturing and conveying a wide array of positive and meaningful feelings associated with the present celebratory moment coupled with what the building has meant to the community and countless individuals over the past century and a half. It is not the purpose of this note to provide an analysis of the work, but it is worth mentioning that the composition’s main melodic theme, introduced in full in measure 5 begins with the notes F#, E, D, and A. The school’s original bell played these notes at various intervals through the students’ school day.
– Noam Faingold
Monday, May 27, 1:30 pm
Monday, May 27, 3:30 pm
A. Peskanov
A. Peskanov
A. Peskanov
A. Peskanov
A. Vivaldi; Arr. T. Nachéz
A. Peskanov
A. Peskanov
A. Peskanov
A. Vivaldi
J. S. Bach, realized for orchestra by L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, realized for orchestra by L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, realized for orchestra by L. Rosen
Monday, May 27, 7:00 pm
Created exclusively for Sempre Musick, we premiere a series of new compositions built around the Two-Part Inventions by J. S. Bach.
Each Invention has an ensemble constructed around the original solo part:
- Solo Piano part: the unchanged (urtext) Two-Part Invention, as originally written by Bach.
- An additional instrument: Oboe or Violin, complementing the pianist’s unchanged solo part.
- Continuo part: Cello part, providing the harmonic foundation and rhythmic stability.
- A fully realized Harpsichord part, for additional harmonic depth, counterpoint, and ornamentation.
The original Invention is untouched, while the Solo instrument, Continuo, and Harpsichord are newly composed, drawn from, or suggested by Bach’s thematic, structural, and compositional techniques in the original Invention.
The Sempre Musick Baroque Ensemble:
Dorothy Braker, cello
Mary O’Keefe, oboe
Ana-Maria LaPointe, violin
AnnaLotte Smith, harpsichord
J. S. Bach inventions realized for Sempre Musick by
Lawrence Rosen
F. Chopin
F. Chopin
H. Wieniawski
N. Draper
J. S. Bach
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
J. S. Bach, arr. L. Rosen
L. Beethoven
S. Prokofiev
Saturday, June 8, 1:30 pm
Saturday, June 8, 4:00 pm
M. Clementi
A. Vivaldi
Traditional
J. Offenbach
A. Peskanov
E. Grieg
F. Kuhlau
A. Peskanov
A. Vivaldi
A. Peskanov
S. Heller
R. Newman
J. S. Bach
T. Brown
T. Brown
T. Brown
F. Chopin
F. Seitz
J. S. Bach
Mila Filatova, Artistic Director
One of the most sought-after piano teachers in New England, MILA FILATOVA is a student of Prof. Albert Tarakanov, a pupil of legendary Henryk Neuhaus. From an early age, Mila was considered a child prodigy in her native city of Saratov, and was a frequently featured soloist on live radio and television. At the age of 16, composer Dmitry Kabalevsky awarded her as the best performer of his compositions.
After her arrival to the US in 1999, she collaborated in a series of Piano Duet Recitals with the renowned American pianist Frank Glazer, performed with the Metropolitan Wind Ensemble, and established her Piano Academy in Manchester, NH. In 2016, Mila founded Sempre Musick, an organization which provides young musicians with opportunities to perform onstage, including with the Sempre Musick orchestra.
Mila’s students have received awards in many competitions across the USA, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, and Russia, including the MTNA National Competitions. Her students have participated in the Van Cliburn Junior Festival, and have been selected as finalists for the Kaufman Music Center International Piano Competition and the Ettlingen International Piano Competition. Her students have also been featured as soloists on the NPR-broadcasted From the Top.
For many years, Mila Filatova served the New Hampshire Music Teachers Association as a Vice President, and was recognized with the NHMTA’s Sister Anita Marchesseault Award for her contributions. She has been recognized as a “Top Piano Teacher” by Steinway & Sons. Mila Filatova has been honored with a Citation by the Governor of New Hampshire in recognition of her outstanding contributions to music education.
Mark Latham, Conductor
Born in Tanzania and educated in the United Kingdom and the US, MARK LATHAM has been active as a violinist, violist, composer, conductor, chamber musician and teacher in the UK, Canada and the US.
Latham received his musical training at the Guildhall School (London), the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the University of Michigan, where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting. Mark was privileged to have studied with some of the great musicians and pedagogues of the past century: violin with Masao Kawasaki, Dorothy DeLay and Itzhak Perlman; chamber music with the Juilliard, Emerson and American Quartets, with Eugene Lehner of the Kolisch Quartet; and conducting with Kenneth Kiesler, Helmut Rilling, Marin Alsop and Gustav Meier.
As a violinist, Mark was a member of the Atlantic String Quartet for 6 years in St. John’s, Canada, with whom he made many broadcasts with CBC Radio. He has been a regular with Emmanuel Music in Boston and the New England Bach Festival, and previously was a member of the New Hampshire, Delaware and New Haven Symphonies. He is a founding member of the Aryaloka String Quartet.
Mark Latham has conducted the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in Santa Cruz, CA, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the MIT Symphony Orchestra, and has directed several orchestras in Canada, New England and Michigan, where he was director of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Each summer he conducts and coaches amateur musicians at CAMMAC in Quebec, and directs the orchestra and gives master classes at the Iceberg Chamber Music Institute in Newfoundland. A firm believer in exploring new music, he has commissioned and conducted many world premieres of orchestral pieces.
Mark holds a deep belief that music is transformational and can be a broad and powerful educational and social medium for both children and adults. Now in his tenth season as Music Director of the New Hampshire Philharmonic, he continues to lead the University Orchestra at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he teaches as adjunct professor of conducting, violin and viola, and chamber music. He and his wife Theresa live in Somerville, where they enjoy gardening, tennis, their cats, and reading their too many books.
David Feltner, Conductor
Conductor DAVID FELTNER has been acclaimed by The Boston Globe for leading performances of “profound expressivity” and praised for his “fervent advocacy” by The Boston Phoenix. Equally at home in the symphonic and operatic worlds, he has served as Associate Conductor and Chorus Master for Boston Lyric Opera and Cover Conductor for Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops.
He is in his twenty-fourth season as Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Boston, a group that has won accolades from audiences and critics alike for its polished performances and innovative programs. As Steven Ledbetter wrote in The Boston Music Intelligencer: “David Feltner put together a truly captivating program …one of the most completely satisfying concerts that I have heard this season.” As Michael Rocha wrote in The Boston Music Intelligencer: “All told, an immensely satisfying experience that left both heart and mind sated.” And as Geoffrey Wieting wrote in The Boston Music Intelligencer: “This performance will surely resound in many memories for a long time.”
Mr. Feltner has also been thrilling audiences in New Hampshire for the past eighteen seasons as Music Director of the Nashua Chamber Orchestra, where his leadership caused music critic Jeff Rapsis to write: “Conductor David Feltner brought the Nashua Chamber Orchestra to new places.” In 2022 he was appointed Music Director of the Merrimack Valley Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has been a guest conductor for several orchestras, including the Boston Civic Symphony, Brockton Symphony Orchestra, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Narragansett Bay Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic Community Orchestra and Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series.
An enthusiastic advocate for music of our time, Mr. Feltner has conducted numerous premieres and works by dozens of living composers, from Anaís Azul to Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Mr. Feltner is also an accomplished violist and composer. As a violist, he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Yamagata (Japan) Symphony, New York City Opera and Palm Beach Opera. His recent orchestral compositions include Dreams and Awakenings for trumpet and strings, Piccolo Concerto (The Night Sky and Wind in the Trees) and From the Depths for viola and orchestra, which he premiered in June 2023.
The Sempre Musick Orchestra Musicians
Violin 1
Elliott Markow
Yumi Okada
Ana-Maria LaPointe
Aniko Geladze
Violin 2
Paul Pinard
Michelle Cloutier
Nicholas So
Viola
Theresa Jaques
Keigan Iwanicki
Cello
Dorothy Braker
Kari Jukka-Pekka Vainio
Kurt Villiard
Gary Hodges
Edward Cho
Bass
Joe Annicchiaricco
Flute
Aubrie Dionne
Oboe
Mary O’Keefe
Amy Dinsmore
Kenda Corcoran
Clarinet
John Ferraro
Bassoon
Justin Wright
Trumpet
John Cardin
Horn
Sarah Gagnon
Timpani
Gregg Cunningham
Piano
Mathilde Handelsman
AnnaLotte Smith
Erin Tellier
Taige Wang, Rising Artist Award Recipient
TAIGE WANG, 13, studies piano at The Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He is a young scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.
In 2023, as the youngest competitor, Taige made the quarterfinals at The Cliburn Junior Competition, and was one of the three finalists at Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition, where he performed with the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra.
Taige appeared on the show From the Top in 2021 and at From The Top’s 2022 Gala, in which he was the youngest of three nationally-selected musicians. He has played at various prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Nixon Presidential Library Museum, Lincoln Center, Severance Hall, and Henan Grand Theater (China).
Taige studies composition with Bruce Adolphe. As a prize-winning composer, his piano trio Chopin vs Chopin 2.0 was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he performed its debut at Alice Tully Hall on April 16, 2023.
Taige received the President’s Volunteer Service Gold Award in 2022.
Thank You to All of Our Teachers
Bruce Adolphe
Bonnie Anderson
Arpineh Arakelian
Jasmin Atabekyan
Anna Avetisyan
Olga Berkovich
Milos Bjelica
Clarke Bonten
Timothy Brown
Edward Cho
Jeff Deegan
Aubrie Dionne
Tigran Dolukhanyan
Irina Dvoynoy
Alla Eliseeva
Mila Filatova
Aniko Geladze
Nina Grimaldi
Mathilde Handelsman
Sandra Hebert
Alla Iovel
Yoheved Kaplinsky
Mark Latham
Jay Latulippe
Anna Lebedeva
Isabella Li
Elliott Markow
Alia Mavroforos
Eleanor McLaughlin
Bevin McRoberts
Nino Merabishvili
Shamil Nevretdinov
Daniel Neyman
Minji Noh
Yumi Okada
Anna Ouspenskaya
Petra Pacaric
Gregg Pauley
Angel Ramon Rivera
Lydia Reed-Guertin
Olga Rudnik
Tanya Schwartzman
Liubomyr Senyshyn
Ivan Shaposhnikov
Jia Shi
Silvana Sokolov-Grubb
Erin Tellier
Yu Wang
Camden Ward
Yiming Wu
Peter Zazofsky
Nancy Zhou
Competitors, Participants and Families from these Participating States
California
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Special Thank You
The West Parish Church of Andover and
Rev. Katrina Wuensch
for hosting this year’s Concert Series
***
The Omni Mount Washington Resort
of Bretton Woods, NH,
for sponsoring a Special Prize for Outstanding Performance
***
Mark Latham, Conductor and Judge
David Feltner, Conductor and Judge
Adam Golka, Judge
Larry Rosen, Composer and Judge
Yiming Wu, Composer and Judge
***
Aniko Geladze, Orchestra Director
Ethan Cheng, Librarian
Paul Panek, Piano Technician
Announcing Upcoming Sempre Musick Events
Winter Serenade Competition
Perform solo and with chamber orchestra in the beautiful Methuen Memorial Music Hall, featuring a Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano.
- Open to all instruments and voice.
- Applications will open September 2024
- Deadline: October 15, 2024
- Performance Date: Saturday, November 16, 2024
- Additional information will be posted on our website by August.
Sempre Musick Composition Competition
Winning compositions will be performed live by Sempre Musick musicians in the 2025 Season.
- Applications will open August 2024
- Deadline: October 1, 2024
- Link to 2023 Composition Competition Results
- Updated event information will be posted on our website by August.
Sempre Musick 2025 Events
- ❖ Concerto Competition
- ❖ Bach Two-Part Invention Competition
- ❖ Solo & Duet Performance Competition
- ❖ Judged Festival
- ❖ Music of Alexander Peskanov Competition and Festival (coming soon)
- Applications will open in March 2025
- Deadline: April 1, 2025
- Performance Dates: May 25-27 and June 7-8, 2025