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.
Jeffrey Barker joined the Seattle Symphony as Associate Principal Flute in 2015. Previously, he played as Principal Flute of the Boise Philharmonic starting in 2009. He has also performed with top orchestras around the country and the world, including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony. Jeffrey is passionate about using music to connect with his community. He is a recipient of the 2018 Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service for his work with people in Seattle experiencing homelessness through the Seattle Symphony’s Simple Gifts Initiative. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music under the instruction of Bonita Boyd, and his Master of Music degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where his teachers were Jeanne Baxtresser and Alberto Almarza.
Jeffrey Barker
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.
Travis Gore
Travis Gore, orchestral musician and recording artist, has held a bass position with the multiple Grammy Award winning Seattle Symphony since 2007. He has performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Verbier Festival Orchestra and chamber series, and before Seattle-held a position with the San Diego Symphony. Remaining an active studio musician, he can be heard on major film and game soundtracks such as Men Who Stare at Goats, Valkyrie, Halo, Dragon Age and more. He has appeared with some of today's highly sought after chamber musicians: the Grammy award winning Parker Quartet, St. Petersburg Quartet, and more, and on live concerts and indie albums as an upright and electric bassist with recording artists such as Bryan John Appleby, Hey Marseilles, Alice Sandahl of La Luz, Wall of Ears, and as a lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for his own music as Feeds On Majesty.
Performances by Clarinetist Andy Hudson have been praised for “an uncommon singularity of purpose, technical virtuosity, youthful vigor and a mature sensitivity.” An “inspiring” and “fearless” artist, he has performed widely across North America, Europe, and Africa in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings in some of the world’s great venues. Praised for his "measured sophistication and expansive phrasing," Andy has won prizes in numerous competitions and was appointed Bass/3rd Clarinetist of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in 2020; other festival appearances include the Lucerne, Bang on a Can, Hot Air, Sound Atlas, and Great Lakes Chamber Music festivals. He is clarinetist with Miami’s Nu Deco Ensemble and the international sextet Latitude 49, and has recorded widely for the Sony Masterworks, Naxos, and New Amsterdam record labels. His two books on modern pedagogy, “Elements of Contemporary Clarinet Technique” and “SPACE BASS: Advanced Explorations for Bass Clarinet” are co-authored with composer Roger Zare for Conway Publications. Andy is currently Associate Professor of Clarinet at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, WI, where he empowers a visionary studio of undergraduate artists toward authentic, fearless performance, and he has given guest masterclasses for many of the world’s great conservatories. Andy is a performing artist for Buffet Crampon and Vandoren, and an ambassador for Rovner Products; he holds degrees from Northwestern University (DMA, MMus) and the Schwob School of Music (BMus). When he’s not practicing, you will likely find him cycling, trail running, cooking, reading, or listening to baseball on the radio.
Andy Hudson
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
Harrison Linsey is Principal Oboe of the Oregon Symphony, and was previously a member of the National Symphony Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony. He has also performed guest principal with the Seattle, Detroit, and Pittsburgh symphonies. He also recorded the world premiere of Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Bass Oboe Concerto, released on Avie Records. Each summer, Harrison returns to his home region of Washington state, where he serves as Principal Oboist of the Bellingham Festival of Music and performs chamber music with the Archipelago Collective on San Juan Island. A committed educator, he works with students of all ages, both privately and as a faculty member at the Hidden Valley Music Seminars Oboe Masterclass in California.
Harrison Linsey
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.
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.
Dan Williams
Oboist Dan Williams is one of the Seattle areas most sought after soloist, orchestral musician and teacher. He is currently Principal Oboe with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and previously held the same position with the Honolulu Symphony. He is also frequently seen with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera orchestras and in addition, teaches at both the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington.
Dan received his musical training at the Juilliard School and Western Washington University, where he was voted most Outstanding Graduate by the Faculty.
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.
