SCOTT CHRISTIAN, percussion

Scott Christian has a diverse career as Principal Timpanist with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra and as founder, Artistic Director, and a performer with Fresh Ink; a Charlotte based new music chamber series.

Other recent chamber music and solo performances have included concerts with Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Charlotte Chamber Music, UNC Charlotte Percussion Ensemble, Kanawha Forum, Bechtler Ensemble, Tyler-Tallman concerts at Davidson College, and at West Virginia and Frostburg State Universities. Upcoming Summer performance include concerts with Charleston Chamber Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, and Joseph Schwantner’s new trio Taking Charge for flute, piano, and percussion at Baylor University.

As a concert designer, Scott enjoys working with other artists to create interdisciplinary concert experiences. He worked with a videographer to transform Xenakis’ unique graphic notation score to the solo percussion work psappha into a scrolling video that the audience could read during the performance. In another recent collaboration he worked with digital artists for a performance of Morton Feldman’s Crippled Symmetry where concertgoers were reclined on lounge chairs viewing abstract images that were projected on the ceiling and interacting with the music in real time.

Before working in West Virginia, Scott held timpani posts with the Huntsville and Charlotte Symphony Orchestras. He has appeared as a substitute Principal Timpanist with Cleveland, Atlanta Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber, San Diego Symphony, Malaysian Philharmonic, and Charleston Symphony Orchestras. He is passionate about making room for the timpani to be used in chamber music and has recently commissioned and premiered 4 works scored for wind quintet, piano, and timpani.

 

 

LINDSAY KESSELMAN, soprano

Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as "simply gorgeous...with a fully loaded palette of tone color" Lindsay Kesselman is a soprano quickly becoming known for her soulful singing, broad versatility, and her exemplary musicianship. She passionately advocates for contemporary music, actively commissioning and collaborating with a diverse array of composers to create unique, groundbreaking, and dramatically-inspired works for the voice.
During the 2015-16 season, Kesselman will make her debut with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dutch National Opera in a leading role of a new opera by composer Louis Andriessen entitled Theatre of the World. 
Recently, she has worked with such composers as Louis Andriessen, John Corigliano, Philip Glass, David Lang, Steve Reich, Amy Beth Kirsten, Abbie Betinis, and Hannah Lash and has just released her debut album of American contemporary music, entitled If this world could stop, on the Bad Wolf Music label, a joint venture with composer Amy Beth Kirsten. A track from this album was featured on the I CARE IF YOU LISTEN Spring 2015 mixtape. 

In 2012-2015 she sings with the Philip Glass Ensemble on an international tour of Philip Glass' ground-breaking opera Einstein on the Beach, which includes 15 cities and the Latin American premiere of the piece. In 2013 this production won the prestigious Laurence Olivier award for Best New Opera Production. 
Kesselman is also the resident soprano with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and in that capacity has performed music by Joseph Schwantner, Louis Andriessen, Amy Beth Kirsten, Chris Cerrone, Dan Visconti, David Stock, the premiere of Falling by Mathew Rosenblum, a staged production of Kieren MacMillan's Drunken Moon and Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire as well as a new evening-length work entitled The Gray Cat and the Flounder (16 Bits About Bernadette) by MacMillan. 

 

 

 

MIRA FRISCH, cello

Dr. Mira Frisch, Associate Professor of Cello and Director of String Chamber Music at UNC Charlotte, previously taught cello and chamber music at Truman State University in Missouri and at the summer festival Musicale della Toscana in Italy. She has performed as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States and in Bermuda, Italy, and France. Her recording as a member of Duo XXI, with violinist Anna Cromwell, was released on the Albany Records label in 2010. The ensemble’s performance was called “beautifully played” by American Record Guide and their “precise ensemble playing” was noted by Fanfare Magazine. Dr. Frisch can also be heard as a guest artist on the album There Lies the Home, produced by CANTUS and is featured on Dark Dances, an Albany recording of the chamber music of John Allemeier. She has presented at national conferences of the American String Teachers Association, College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, and the Society of Composers. In the Carolinas, Dr. Frisch has performed as guest principal cellist with the Charleston Symphony, as a section cellist with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, and with the Madison Park String Quartet. She is currently the president of the North Carolina Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. Dr. Frisch received the Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and Mathematics from Saint Olaf College, the Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Cello Performance from the University of Minnesota.

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Jessica Lindsey clarinet

Dr. Lindsey has taught clarinet, saxophone, and music related courses as Visiting Music Faculty at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and as an adjunct instructor at Doane College, Concordia University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Southeast Community College. Active in her local music communities, Dr. Lindsey has performed with the Fairbanks Symphony, Opera Fairbanks, ProMusica Colorado, the Lincoln Symphony, the Omaha Symphony, the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra, and the New Music Agency. Since 2012, Dr. Lindsey has been a member of Andover Educators, the organization that grants licensure in Body Mapping. She maintains an active outreach schedule, presenting at clinics, recitals, and chamber music concerts throughout the US, including the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest®.

Dr. Lindsey completed a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Master of Music from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her primary clarinet teachers include Daniel Silver, Diane Barger, and John Klinghammer; she has studied saxophone with Tom Myer.

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Jenny Topilow, violin

Born into an artistic family, Jenny began violin lessons at the age of three. Continuing her love for the violin, she studied under former Cleveland Orchestra member Stephen Majeske throughout high school and received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2002. Afterward, Jenny earned her Master of Music degree from Carnegie Mellon University. While in Pennsylvania, she studied with Andres Cardenes, the concertmaster of the Pittsburg Symphony. After graduating in 2004, Jenny came to North Carolina and joined the Charlotte Symphony in September of that year. When she is not playing the violin, Jenny enjoys spending time with her husband and dog, shopping, running, yoga, hiking, watching football, and having fun with friends and family.