First Concert of the 2017-18 Season!

Our first concert of the 2017-18 Season will take place on Sunday, October 22nd at 3:00 pm in the Narthex of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Waverly. 

Our performers will be Julia Bullard (viola), Ross Monroe Winter (violin), Hannah Holman (cello), and Sean Botkin (piano). 

Julia and Hannah, along with their colleague Susanna Klein, are part of Trio 826, a chamber ensemble created to explore ideas for innovation in the performance of classical music new and old. The members of the trio have vast experience as orchestral and chamber musicians, soloists, and educators. The mission of Trio 826 is to reach new audiences and explore ways to bring classical music to life, through performing new and standard repertoire works in a variety of venues, from formal concerts to performances in intimate, informal, and unusual settings.

Pianist Sean Botkin began studying the piano at age five with his mother, making his first orchestral appearance four years later with the Honolulu Symphony. He went on to study privately with Neal O’Doan at the University of Washington and, under his direction, performed with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, and Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. Sean has garnered prizes in an impressive list of international piano competitions: William Kapell International Piano Competition, Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, Busoni International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition, World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, Dong-A International Music Competition of Korea, International Music Competition of Japan and the Washington D.C. International Competition. A graduate of Stanford University, the Juilliard School, and Indiana University at South Bend, Sean has studied with eminent artists Adolph Baller, Martin Canin, and Alexander Toradze.

Violinist Ross Monroe Winter is Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Northern Iowa. His career spans multiple genres in the orchestral, chamber music, and solo fields as well as work in film and television. Currently a member of the Richmond Symphony in Virginia and the IRIS Orchestra in Tennessee, in January of 2016 he was appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (IA/IL). He has previously been a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Boston Philharmonic, and has performed with the National, Baltimore, New Jersey, and Alabama Symphony Orchestras.

Devoted to chamber music, he is a founding member of the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble, which is ensemble-in-residence at WCVE Public Radio and formerly at the Lake George Music Festival. He has performed at the festivals of Aspen, Santo Domingo, Todi, Maastricht, Virginia Arts, and Music at Penn's Woods.

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We are so excited to welcome the artists for our first concert.  Remember, WCMS concerts are free and open to the public. If you'd like to support our work of providing high-quality, free chamber music concerts for the community, click here to donate or contribute to our free-will offering at our concert on Oct. 22nd. We hope to see you there!