Sean Osborn
Orca Concert Series Director Sean Osborn has traveled the world as soloist and chamber musician, and during his eleven years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has also appeared as guest principal clarinet with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra. The New York Times dubbed him “…an excellent clarinetist,” the Boston Globe called him “…a miracle,” and Gramophone “…a master.”
With over forty concertos in his repertoire, Sean has also recorded dozens of CDs for London, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Albany, and others, as well as premiering works by Philip Glass, John Adams, John Corigliano, Chen Yi, and Jennifer Higdon to name a few. He has performed at many festivals including Marlboro, Seattle Chamber Music, Aspen, Zagreb Bienalle, Pacific Rims, and Colorado.
Sean has received grants from many organizations, including the NEA and the Aaron Copland Fund. He is also an award-winning composer whose works have been played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and members of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Marlboro Music Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic among others. As an educator, he has presented over 100 master classes around the world, developed many multi-media educational series, and served on the faculty of the University of Washington and the Cornish College of the Arts.
Clarinetist Chad Burrow has a multifaceted career as an educator, solo artist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. The European press has said that Chad performs with “brilliant technique and tonal beauty mixed with an expressive ferocity.” Danish critic Henrik Svane described a performance as filled with “virtuosity, energy, and power without compromise.” The New York Times recently called a Carnegie Hall appearance in Poulenc’s Sonata as giving a “strong impression” and being a “bright and genial account.”
In 2009, Burrow was appointed to the clarinet faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches clarinet and chamber music and has served as the director for the Michigan Chamber Players. Burrow is the current principal clarinetist with the Ann Arbor Symphony and regularly performs with the Detroit Symphony
Burrow is the winner of prizes and awards from the 2001 Young Concert Artist International Competition in New York City, the 2000 Woolsey Hall Competition, the 2000 Artist International Competition, and the 1997 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Chad Burrow
Jennifer Caine-Provine
Violinist Jennifer Caine Provine was a first prize winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition and recipient of several awards and grants including the Royal College of Music’s Isolde Menges Prize for solo Bach. She has concertized throughout the U.S. and Europe in venues including the Phillips Collection, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the Glinka Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Jennifer is Associate Concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and violinist of the Volta Piano Trio (formerly Icicle Creek Piano Trio), with whom she has performed extensively throughout the Northwest and abroad, been heard on national radio stations, and recorded two discs on the Con Brio label to critical acclaim. She was assistant director and resident violinist at the Icicle Creek Music Center from 2007-2010.
Jennifer regularly appears on several Northwest chamber music series, and performs frequently with the Seattle Symphony. She is a graduate of Harvard University with a B.A. in Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and holds Masters Degrees from the Royal College of Music (London) and Oxford University.
Eric Han
coming soon
Li-Tan Hsu is currently a Collaborative Artist in Residence at Music Division in Seattle University, and attended the University of Maryland for a DMA in Collaborative Piano. She also received a MM and BM at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Hsu was on the faculty at Peabody Institute for 7 years before moving to Seattle in 2015. She was the official accompanist for Seattle Symphony Piano Competition, 2015, the official accompanist for Washington International Competition, 2012, and staff accompanist for Aspen Music Festival in 2007.
Li-Tan Hsu
Mary Kantor
Mary Kantor received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Washington and graduated from the Academy of Music in Vienna with Honors in clarinet performance, class of Rudolf Jettel. She is currently principal clarinetist and Board President of the Lake Washington Symphony Orchestra. She also prerforms regularly with the Shalom Ensemble and the Sound Ensemble. As a soloist, she has performed the Mozart Concerto and Richard Strauss' Duet-Concertino with Philharmonia Northwest. Most recently, she taught at InterHarmony in Italy, July 2022, giving Masterclasses and performing on the faculty recitals.As an educator, she coaches the Seattle Youth Symphony, Cascade Youth Symphony and Bellevue Youth Symphony clarinet sections, and is Professor of Clarinet at Seattle Pacific University, as well as maintaining a private studio.
In 2012, five musicians from diverse backgrounds formed Kokopelli to explore a classic repertoire that is new to most audiences. From Brahms to the Beatles, Mozart to modern, Kokopelli has music for everyone.
Having performed with such diverse ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Symphony, Volta Piano Trio, Pacific Northwest Ballet and other fine groups, these five musicians each bring a special skill set to this quintet.
Kokopelli
Rajan Krishnaswami
Juilliard graduate and Fulbright Fellow Rajan Krishnaswami has toured nationally and internationally as recitalist and soloist with orchestra. He has also performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, and Seattle Opera.
Chamber music being his first love, in 2005 he founded Simple Measures, an innovative Chamber Music Series in the Puget Sound, WA area. His CD of new music for cello and piano, American Interweave, on the Ambassador label with his long time duo collaborator Mark Salman, includes two works that he commissioned.
Equally devoted to the arts of teaching and performing, he is well established as an important learning resource for serious cellists, both student and professional. He has been on the cello faculty of the University of Washington, and Cornish College of the Arts. Mr. Krishnaswami plays on a magnificent and historically important cello by J.B. Guadagnini, the ex-Davidoff, made in 1780
Violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim has been praised for his “showmanship to spare,” “terrific swagger” and “delicious abandon” by Gramophone, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “conspicuously accomplished champion of contemporary music,” and described as “a tour de force” and “bewitching” by the Seattle Times. Concertmaster and solo violinist for the internationally-acclaimed Pacific Northwest Ballet, Lim’s solo appearances with the company include performances in Paris, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Seattle, in concertos by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach, Max Richter and others. Lim was co-founder of the award-winning Corigliano Quartet, with whom he toured and recorded for twenty years and appeared on over a dozen albums, including the groups’s Naxos label CD which was honored as one of The New Yorker’s Ten Best Classical Recordings of the Year. His discography can be found on Naxos, Planet M, Sono Luminus, DreamWorks, Albany, Bridge, CRI, Bayer Records, RIAX and New Focus. His recent solo album Kinetic has been highly acclaimed by the press. Gramophone said “This intelligently assembled recital of contemporary solo violin music provides a vivid portrait of Michael Jinsoo Lim’s first-class musicianship and technical finesse,” while noting that “Lim’s reading is thrilling in its virtuosity yet offers charm and a sense of fun as well.” The WholeNote called it a “remarkable solo album” and “a fascinating recital of quite brilliant playing by Lim.” Lim has served on the faculty of the Banff Centre, taught at Indiana University as a guest professor, and currently serves on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts.
Michael Jinsoo Lim
Emerson Millar joined the Seattle Symphony in 2022 as the Second Assistant Concertmaster. From 2018-2022 she served as the Co-Concertmaster of the Naples Philharmonic in Naples, Florida. Millar attended the New World Symphony and is a graduate of the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where she studied with Robert Lipsett. As an orchestral musician, Millar has appeared as guest Concertmaster with the Nashville Symphony and served as the Concertmaster of the New World Symphony, the Debut Orchestra of the Young Musicians Foundation and as the Associate Concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony. A recipient of the New Horizons Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, she performed as the Assistant Concertmaster of the Aspen Festival Orchestra in the summer of 2015. She has been a participant at the Verbier Festival and the Tanglewood Music Center. In March 2018, as a winner of the New World Symphony concerto competition, she performed the Barber Violin Concerto with conductor Edwin Outwater.
Emerson Millar
Jennifer Nelson
Jennifer Nelson is currently Principal Clarinet with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony Orchestras. She also has a very active freelance career, including playing Broadway-style shows at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theaters, occasional extra with the Seattle Symphony and Opera Orchestras, and records for various television, video game, and motion picture scores. Jennifer is the clarinet teacher at the University of Puget Sound, and has had a private studio in north Seattle for many years. She has traveled throughout the United States with the national touring companies of Phantom of the Opera and New York City Opera, and her orchestral and recital performances have taken her to Mexico, Japan, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Honduras, and most recently, India.
Paul Rafanelli
A member of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera Orchestra since 1992,
bassoonist Paul Rafanelli has performed frequently on the orchestra’s
Chamber Music Series; he has also performed with the Walla Walla
Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Seattle
Chamber Players. Before joining the Seattle Symphony in 1992, Mr. Rafanelli
was a member of the Charleston (SC) Symphony Orchestra, and played at
the Festival dei Due Mondi in Italy and the Spoleto Festival USA. For 16
years he served on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound, where he was
the Affiliate Artist in bassoon. In October of 2021 he joined the faculty of the
University of Washington as Artist in Residence. Mr. Rafanelli was born in
Seattle in 1963 and received his training at the University of Washington,
Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is fluent in Italian
and also speaks some German. His bassoon was custom made by the
Wilhelm Heckel Co. in Wiesbaden, Germany, in 1986.
Laura Renz
Violist Laura Renz is a member of the Pacific Northwest Ballet orchestra, and also performs regularly with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera. Before moving to Seattle, Ms. Renz has held positions in the San Antonio Symphony, the Austin Symphony, and the IRIS Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Renz is an avid chamber musician, participating in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, a residency in Lake Wales, FL, and the Focus Festival as a member of the Vaux String Quartet.
She has also performed at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival and with Simple Measures, among other groups. Ms. Renz participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.
She is a graduate, summa cum laude, of the University of Michigan, and the Juilliard School, where she studied with Samuel Rhodes.
Florie Rothenberg
Dr. Florie Rothenberg enjoys an active performing career, playing with several Seattle area concert and pit orchestras, including NOCCO, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Auburn Symphony, Symphony Tacoma and Tacoma Opera. She has worked in film scoring in Seattle, and has her own CD, “Voices of Trees, Modern Works by Women Composers for Clarinet and Piano”, available on Origin Classical Records. Splitting her time between performing and teaching, Dr. Rothenberg works with clarinetists of all ages and levels, drawing students from around the Puget Sound region. She has taught at Central Washington University and the University of Arizona, and is currently on the faculty of the University of Puget Sound Community Music. Dr. Rothenberg earned a D.M.A. from the University of Arizona, a M.M. from the University of Michigan and a B.M. from the University of the Pacific. Her teachers include Jerry Kirkbride, David Shifrin and William Dominik.
Philadelphia native Christopher Stingle is currently Second trumpet with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Before joining the Seattle Symphony, he held the position of Principal trumpet with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, and Assistant Principal trumpet with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. He has performed as guest Principal trumpet with the Fort Worth Symphony and as Principal trumpet with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. Stingle has also performed on a regular basis with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Rochester Philharmonic. Stingle is a Yamaha Artist.
Christopher Stingle
Rob Tucker
Percussionist Rob Tucker performs regularly with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. He enjoys playing chamber music in various settings, and is excited to be involved in Orca Concerts for the first time. Rob has recorded hundreds of video game and film soundtracks, and taught percussion for 10 years at Western Washington University. He'll probably have a peanut butter and pickle sandwich after he gets home tonight.
Cristina Valdes
Recently hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “excellent” and “clearly sensitive”, Cuban-American pianist Cristina Valdés is known for presenting innovative concerts with repertoire spanning over 300 years. She has performed across four continents and in venues such as Lincoln Center, Benaroya Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Jordan Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Ms. Valdés has appeared both as a soloist and chamber musician at festivals worldwide including New Music in Miami, the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva in Mexico City, Brisbane Arts Festival, Havana Contemporary Music Festival, and the Singapore Arts Festival. An avid chamber musician and collaborator, Ms. Valdés has toured extensively with the Bang On a Can “All Stars”, and has performed with the Philip Glass Ensemble, the Mabou Mines Theater Company, the Parsons Dance Company, and Antares. Cristina has appeared as concerto soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Philharmonic, the Binghamton Philharmonic, NOCCO, and Philharmonia Northwest, amongst others. Cristina is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the University of Washington, where she teaches piano and is the Director of the UW Modern Music Ensemble.
Violinist Liza Zurlinden, a native of San Francisco, enjoys a career rich with chamber music, orchestral playing and teaching. Ms. Zurlinden has been a longtime member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco, and is a former member of the grammy-nominated chamber orchestra, A Far Cry, in Boston. She has performed with Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Symphony, and has enjoyed local collaborations with Byron Schenkman and Friends, Prison Concerts with Seattle Symphony musicians.
Ms. Zurlinden holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Rice University and SUNY Purchase.
