Musicians of the Midwest Chamber Players will perform for the first concert of the 2022-2023 season. The ensemble features Sean Botkin, piano; Julia Bullard, viola; and Eric Wachmann, clarinet.
Eric Wachmann is a Professor of Music at Wartburg College and principal clarinet with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He is highly regarded in our community as an educator for many aspiring musicians. Wachmann has many respected chamber performances around the world, including being the first North American musician invited to perform at the renowned Sophia Concert Hall in Polatsk, Belarus. He also shares two critically acclaimed CDs with pianist Ted Reuter. Julia Bullard is a Professor at Kennesaw State University and Interim Director of the Bailey School of Music. However, for 10 years, she served in the Cedar Valley as the Associate Director for Graduate Studies of the UNI School of Music. Bullard received her DMA degree from the University of Georgia, and since then has performed and educated internationally and domestically. Bullard is the violist of Trio 826, who has several albums and recognitions, and has performed within many other ensembles such as Bogotá Chamber Orchestra, Aspen String Trio, the Maia Quartet, and the Arianna Quartet. Additionally, Bullard has attended and taught at countless chamber music festivals. Sean Botkin began performing professionally at the staggering age of nine years old with the Honolulu Symphony. Botkin has a variety of degrees from prestigious institutions such as Stanford University, the Juilliard School, and Indiana University at South Bend. Botkin earned awards in several international piano competitions and has performed with a number of highly recognized performers in the industry. He has performed all around the world from Alice Tully Hall in New York to Asia and South America. Botkin now also utilizes his talents to also serve the musical youth as Associate Professor of Piano at the University of Northern Iowa.
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 Marian Lee made her New York City debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as winner of the Artists International Award and has appeared as soloist and with orchestras internationally in Austria, Belgium, Italy, France, Norway, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Poland, Brazil, Byelorussia, Estonia, Hong Kong, and Thailand, as well as in Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff Hall, and the Hermitage Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. In liaison with the U.S. State Department, Dr. Lee also received numerous grants in support of performances of American contemporary music abroad and is a former Fulbright and International Research and Exchange (IREX) scholar.
Notable professional activities include violin and piano duos with Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster David Kim, Milwaukee Symphony concertmaster Frank Almond, and Naha Greenholz, concertmaster of Madison and Quad City Symphony Orchestras. Marian has also held master classes in Hong Kong, Delaware, Louisiana, Alabama, Illinois and Iowa. Most recently, Dr. Lee performed a Bach and Mozart concerto with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and was the first female soloist to perform on the Steinway Café series on Iowa Public Radio. Marian made her concert debut in high school performing with the Ann Arbor Symphony and Flint Symphony Orchestras in Michigan. She entered The Juilliard School as a scholarship student receiving both a Bachelor and Master’s degree in piano performance. She was subsequently awarded the coveted Fulbright Grant to study at the Moscow Conservatory in what was then the Soviet Union. During her three-year stay, Dr. Lee witnessed the fall of the Soviet Union and toured extensively within the former USSR. Upon her return to the United States, Dr. Lee completed her doctoral degree at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Lee previously taught at the University of Iowa and the University of Delaware before moving to Davenport, Iowa where she is currently an associate professor in piano and serves as head of the keyboard area at St. Ambrose University.  Hannah Holman, cellist, joined the New York City Ballet Orchestra at the beginning of the 2012-2013 season. Her career has encompassed orchestral and chamber music, solo performances, and teaching. In a review of the second CD she recorded with pianist Réne Lecuona, Fanfare magazine declares "her tone and technique are the stuff that cello legends are made of "... Holman's cello sings with a lustrous tone that's hard to resist."
In addition to her work with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Ms. Holman is the principal cellist of the Quad City Symphony, a position she has held since 2008 and is super delighted to be named the new one year adjunct Cello Instructor at the University of Northern Iowa and Biola Univeristy for 2020-2021. She began her professional career in England playing with the English String Orchestra under Yehudi Menuhin and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle. Her previous orchestral work also includes serving as assistant principal cello with the Michigan Chamber Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony; and the American Sinfonietta. Hannah is fortunate to have a diverse career allowing much time for solo work. In 2019, Hannah performed the Korngold Cello Concerto with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, Jennifer Higdon's Soliquoy also with the QCSO, and with the Solomon Chamber Orchestra. She is in the middle of a video project highlighting the lives of women cellists from the past, and performed six pieces with the Iowa City Community Chamber Orchestra, each piece focusing on a different cellist. She performed the 4th Cello Suite of J.S. Bach in Carnegie Hall on March 3, 2020 as part of the Bach Cello Suite Festival, celebrating 300 years of the cello suites. An active chamber musician, Ms Holman helped found Trio 826, with her dear friends Susanna Klein, violin, and Julia Bullard, viola. She was a founding member of the Beaumont Piano Trio, which performed around the United States and England, and was also a founding member of Quadrivinium, a music ensemble in residence at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. From 2002-2011, she was a member of the Maia Quartet, the University of Iowa's quartet in residence, which toured China, Japan, and throughout the United States, including teaching residencies at Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Great Wall International Music Academy in China, and the Austin Chamber Music Center. She regularly performs in chamber ensembles with musicians from throughout the United States. A dedicated private teacher who finds great fulfillment in helping students of all ages grow musically, Ms. Holman was on the University of Iowa music faculty from 2002-2012, and has served on the faculties of the Worcester College (UK), Michigan State University Community School, and Virginia Union University. She has participated in numerous festivals, and has been on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival since 2001 and currently serves on the faculty of the International Cello Institute, the Five Seasons Music Festival, and Taconic Music. Ms. Holman studied at the Eastman School of Music and Michigan State University, where she completed her Bachelor of Music degree. She obtained her Master of Music Degree with Fritz Magg at the New England Conservatory. Hannah was fortunate enough to have several lessons with William Pleeth in London as postgraduate study. Her musical education began at age 5 with her grandmother, whose 1925 Becker cello she plays today. She is eternally grateful for the fine teaching of a transformative teacher, Louis Potter, during her junior high and high school years. Ms. Holman - whose hobbies include food, wine, and finding killer deals on shoes - divides her time between NYC and Iowa City, Iowa, where she lives with her son, Matisse, and their cat, Ripley. Please visit her at her website: hannahholmacello.com By Hannah Dutcher  Dr. Eric Wachmann is a Professor of Music at Wartburg College and principal clarinet with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. Along with being a vital musician to the local community, he has performed extensively with professional orchestral, chamber and jazz ensembles in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Wachmann holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ottawa, a Master of Music from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Throughout his career, he has performed with various ensembles: Yo Yo Ma, Nadia Solerno-Sonnenberg, Midori, Peter Schickele as well as with Orchestra Iowa, the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Windsor Symphony, and Toledo Symphony. In addition, he has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Ozone Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival. His chamber performances include being the first North American musician invited to perform at the renowned Sophia Concert Hall in Polatsk, Belarus. In 2013, Dr. Wachmann toured China and Japan with the Wartburg Wind Ensemble where he gave numerous performances of Scott McAllister’s “Black Dog.” Recent performances have included performances on the Castle Chamber Series in Waverly and the deBlasiis Chamber Series in Glens Falls, NY. Among his other achievements, Dr. Wachmann has recorded two critically acclaimed CD’s with pianist Ted Reuter. The first was released in 2002 and the second was released in 2006, both featuring clarinet music from world-renowned composers. Besides his work on clarinet, Dr. Wachmann is also an accomplished shakuhachi performer and is a member of the Ki-Sui-An shakuhachi dojo. He has given numerous shakuhachi performances regionally as both a soloist and as part of a mixed-media performance group. Wachmann is currently working toward his Jun-Shihan level on the shakuhachi. Eric Wachmann’s mastery of the clarinet will be featured alongside pianist Sean Botkin during a virtual event hosted by Waverly Chamber Music Series on April 11. By Kayla Boeke  Percussionist Matt Andreini is a native Iowan and currently teaches at the University of Northern Iowa. Andreini also continues to maintain an active performance career. Holding performances regularly with a wide variety of ensembles throughout Iowa.
In addition to his regular performing schedule, he is often a featured soloist with numerous ensembles and has performed multiple international tours throughout Europe, Central, and South America. As a chamber musician, Matthew has recently shared the stage with groups such as the Boston Brass and the Enso String Quartet. As an avid enthusiast of new music, Andreini co-directs a collaborative new music organization known as the “Iowa/Hungary Project” with Hungarian percussionist, Gabor Palotas. This unique duo specializes in the performance of contemporary percussion works by Iowan and Hungarian composers. Since the project’s inception, members of the duo have jointly commissioned and premiered more than 50 works, creating a unique opportunity for cultural exchange throughout the community. Matthew has previously held teaching positions at Southwestern Community College (Creston, Iowa), and Joyful Noise Drums and Percussion (West Des Moines, IA) and currently teaches at the University of Northern Iowa. As a teacher, Matthew’s students have had continued success in competitions and have gone on to lead successful careers in music. |
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