Abiquiu Chamber Music: Artist Bios
Paradisa! Piano Trio
Paradisa! is breathing new life into the standard piano trio repertoire for flute, cello and piano with their sassy, bold performances. Paradisa! tosses off the classical standards with artistic ease and aplomb, prove their mettle as crossover artists who can bring their swinging verve to jazz arrangements, as well as finding a mellow blend to the hits from pop culture and Broadway. The three young artists-- Christina Steffen on flute, Blythe Tretick on cello, and Andria Fennig at the piano—each have extensive performance experience and active careers as soloists, chamber musicians, and collaborative artists with a wide range of musicians and ensembles.
In addition to impeccable classical music backgrounds (including multiple graduate degrees through the doctorate), Paradisa! members have performed variously on national tours of Wicked, The Producers, My Fair Lady, The Color Purple, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Phantom of the Opera. They have also played as back-up musicians with such entertainment greats as Bernadette Peters, Natalie Cole, Michael Feinstein, Dionne Warwick and The Temptations, as well as being included on numerous CD projects and commercial recordings.
As solo and orchestral artists, trio members have appeared with AZ Musicfest, Red Rocks Music Festival, the Arcosanti Artist Series, with the Indianapolis, Florida, Grand Rapids, Phoenix, and Honolulu Symphonies, as well as the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Bel Canto Trio. They have been active participants of new music with the avante-garde chamber ensembles Krusta and Crossing 32nd Street. Having an established reputation in their home base of Phoenix, AZ, Paradisa! performs varied concerts at venues throughout the U.S., presents educational clinics at schools, masters classes and concerts on college campuses, as well as performing for benefit concerts, fund raisers, and private bookings. Paradisa! is represented by Dow Artists Inc.: www.dowartists.com.
Madeline Williamson, pianist
Pianist Madeline Williamson has a diverse background and wide-ranging musical interests. During her 30 year career on the Artist Faculty of the School of Music at Arizona State University in Tempe, Dr. Williamson was especially known for championing the performance and creation of new music for piano and has premiered numerous works written for and dedicated to her. She has performed widely as soloist and collaborator in many major U.S. venues as well as in Europe, Mexico, South America, and the Middle East. Madeline was also an invited Artist in Residence for a year at Escola Profissional Artistica Do Vale Do Ave Conservatory (ARTAVE) in Caldas da Saude, Portugal. Subsequently, she served as the principal American collaborator in the inaugural new music festival for piano, Percursos da Musica do Sec. XX (20th c. Music Pathways), held in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. In order to facilitate her increased interest in the performance of contemporary works written for combinations of percussion instruments with piano(s) and electronics, she formed Krustá, a new music/modern dance ensemble that performs original choreography with live music. She continues to serve as Artistic Director and pianist with the ensemble, based in Phoenix, AZ.
Throughout her professional career, Madeline was avidly involved as an arts administrator and advocate in numerous capacities, most notably as the Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities for the ASU West Campus in Phoenix. She also developed many music festivals and chamber series in Arizona. She has recently formed an artistic partnership with pianist Edwin Light, performing piano duo programs together throughout NM. She also maintains a studio of young, aspiring pianists from throughout the Valley and in Los Alamos.
Madeline's principal musical training was at Ohio Wesleyan University and Western Michigan University. Her major teachers were Robert Lawrence, Steven Hesla, Phyllis Rappeport, and Curtis Curtis-Smith.
Since discovering Abiquiu, Madeline’s long held dream was to inaugurate the Abiquiu Chamber Music Series at her studio overlooking the beautiful Rio Chama. With deep appreciation to architects Mark and Peter Anderson, that dream finally became a reality.
Pamela Unger, soprano
Coloratura Pam Unger relocated to Santa Fe in May, 2008 where she is now affiliated with the Santa Fe Opera throughout the summer. A native New Yorker, she graduated from the famed LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and has performed with the Holy Trinity Concert Choir (Buffalo, NY), the Richmond Choral Society, Canticum Novum Choir, NY'S Yuletide Singers, and the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. Pam completed her Master's Degree in Vocal Performance at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where she studied with noted baritone Elem Eley. Pam also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Musical Theatre from SUNY Fredonia in Western NY where she studied with soprano Julie Newell. Pam recently performed as soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic. Her recent musical theatre roles have been Johanna in *Sweeney Todd, *Casilda in *The Gondeliers,* and ensemble in *Evita *and* Die Fledermaus.* While living in New York City, Pam worked at Roundabout Theatre, New York's leading not-for-profit theatre company. Pam especially enjoys working with children and is an advocate for the benefits of music and theater in their lives.
Michael Zenge, pianist
Michael Zenge has appeared as soloist and accompanist throughout the U.S., in New York's Weill and Merkin Recital Halls,
Washington's National Gallery, in Berlin, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, over the
Bavarian and Austrian radio networks, and in southeast Asia. In 1999 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and again in 2003 in Albuquerque, NM, he performed the complete solo piano sonatas of Mozart in a
series of four monthly recitals.
Now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was formerly Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he taught piano as well as courses in the history of keyboard and art song
literatures and master classes in German art song. He held a Bowman and Gordon Grey Professorship in recognition of outstanding undergraduate teaching, the first awarded to a member of the University Fine Arts Division.
From 1981 to 1997 he spent the summer months as Artist-in-Residence at the Franz-Schubert-Institut, Baden-bei-Wien, Austria, teaching Lieder accompanying and interpretation. He has been a Senior Fulbright Lecturer in both piano and Lieder interpretation at the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei, Taiwan, and in 1993 was an NEH Fellow at the Aston Magna
Academy in Schubert studies.
Zenge received his musical education at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Illinois, Salzburg's Akademie Mozarteum, and as a Fulbright grantee, at the Hochschule für Musik, Munich, Germany. His principal teachers were Emil Danenberg, Howard Karp, Erik Werba, and
Edna Golandsky.
Ellen Chavez de Leitner, violinist
Ellen Chavez de Leitner has performed with many orchestras, chamber ensembles, and as soloist. In Austria she was a member of the Albertschweizerhaus Chamber Orchestra, Jeunesse Wien, Huebner’s Kursalon Orchestra, the Innsbruck Symphony Orchestra, and the Graz Philarmonic. In New Mexico, she has played with the Santa Fe Symphony, the Taos Chamber Orchestra and Chorus, and numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles.
Her performances as soloist have included many works written for her by Catalonian composer Father José María Blanch, which was released in 2006. Ms. Leitner has also been working with guitarist, Roberto Capocchi since January 2000, and they have a CD, “Duo Guadalupe, Music for Violin and Guitar”.
Ms. Leitner studied at the Conservatory of Vienna, Saint John's College, the University of New Mexico, the College of Santa Fe, and with her most influential mentor, Renata Armani Mencik Skoberne.
Edwin Light, pianist
Pianist Edwin Light has served on the faculties of McNeese State University (LA), Western Illinois University, and Fitchburg (MA) State College. As a collaborative pianist he has performed with professional singers in Austria and Switzerland. He has toured in the United States with violinist Almita Vamos (Faculty, Oberlin Conservatory). His professional studies were all taken at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory.
While working in the Boston area, Dr. Light was actively involved in the New England Piano Teachers Association, for which he presented in 2007 a multi-media program regarding Bach’s Anna Magdalena Notebook.
Besides his musical pursuits Edwin has held arts development posts at Western Illinois University, Ballet Arts Theatre in W. Palm Beach, FL, and, in the Boston area, at Youth Pro Musica, the All Newton Music School and the Belmont Music School. Edwin also has over twenty years experience as organist-choirmaster in churches in the Cincinnati and Boston areas.
He is presently performing piano duo programs with Madeline Williamson, and a duo program with violinist Ellen Leitner. He will be performing next season in the Santa Fe-based chamber music series, Music on Barcelona and with Williamson on the NM State Music Teachers Association in November, 2008.