MEET THE MUSICIANS | 2022 CONCERT SERIES

Anne-Marie Brown​, violin

Anne-Marie Brown, a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 2001, performs extensively as soloist and chamber musician throughout the Kansas City area. The Kansas City Star has described her performances as displaying "splendid virtuosity, with a rich impressive tone" and KCMetropolis has said her "playing was stellar, with lyricism and technique to spare." The Miami Herald has noted her work's "silky, suave tone and unaffected beauty." In recent seasons, she has been a frequent soloist with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, a guest musician with Summerfest, and a member of  the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, recording a work for piano trio on the Navona label in 2012. In addition, she serves on the faculty of the Heartland Chamber Music Festival.
Previously, she was a member of the New World Symphony, where she appeared as both concertmaster and soloist. She holds degrees from Northwestern University and Manhattan School of Music.
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Dr. Jane Carl, ​clarinet

Jane Carl, Professor of Clarinet at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, received her degrees from the University of Michigan.  She has been a member of the South Bend Symphony, the Flint Symphony, and the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra in Detroit, and performed with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.  She performs regularly with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, as acting assistant principal clarinet from 1999-2003.  She can often be heard performing with the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony.  She was the artistic chair of ClarinetFest 2008, the annual conference of the International Clarinet Association, held in Kansas City.  Dr. Carl performed at the 2007 China International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Beijing, and the 2009 ClarinetFest in Porto Portugal.  In the fall of 2009, she became the Chair of UMKC’s Instrumental Studies Division.  She has performed with Summerfest for over two decades and is a member of the Artistic Committee which selects music heard at Summerfest concerts.  ​

Maria Crosby, cello

Maria Crosby received her undergraduate degree in cello performance from Depaul University in Chicago where she studied with Stephen Balderston and Tanya Carey. She went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, under the tutelage of Peter Stumpf.
Maria joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2012. In addition to full-time orchestral playing, she is also an active chamber musician. She has performed on stages across the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Lithuania, Armenia, Greece, Russia, Japan, and Brazil, and has participated in a variety of orchestral and chamber music festivals, including the Aegean Verdi Festival, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival, the Pacific Music Festival, the Banff Chamber Music Residency, the Recontres francoaméricaines de Musique de Chambre and the Pine Mountain Music Festival. Maria first performed with Summerfest in 2014.
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Tony DeMarco, violin

Tony DeMarco has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony for 14 seasons.  His previous professional experience includes Assistant Concertmaster of both the Virginia and North Carolina Symphonies, substitute for the Pittsburgh Symphony, and a member of the Pittsburgh Opera and Ballet Orchestra.  He was raised in the South Hills of Pittsburgh then enrolled at Carnegie- Mellon University at age 16, then transferred to Oberlin Conservatory where he earned an artist’s diploma.  Having chosen his career path at age 9, Tony credits the violin, his mother Bonnie, and his teacher Albert Hirtz of the Pittsburgh Symphony for the opportunity to travel to Asia, Europe, and all around the United States, making lasting friends and playing great music.  Best among those friends is his wonderful wife, Jeannine Elashewich.  Together with sons Albert and Roman, they now reside in a “Little House in Prairie Village.”

Alexander (Alex) East, ​cello

Alexander East is the Assistant Principal Cellist of the Kansas City Symphony.  In addition to duties with the Symphony, which often include leading the section as principal for opera, ballet, and chamber orchestra performances, he is also heard frequently in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the Kansas City region and with the Sun Valley (ID) Summer Symphony every year since 1992.  Before settling in Kansas City, East spent two seasons as a member of the New World Symphony under the direction of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.  He received his training at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of music.  His teachers have included Tsuyushi, Tsutsumi, Jano Starker, Laurence Lesser, and Colin Carr.  He has performed with Summerfest since 2001 and serves on the Artistic Committee which selects the music heard in Summerfest Concerts.
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Nina Ferrigno Andrews, piano
​Nina Ferrigno, described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as "a magnificent pianist," is a collaborative artist at home in a multitude of diverse musical settings. Her playing is said to be, “...always precise with superb accentuation and warmth of feeling...”. Nina is a founding member of the Boston-based Calyx Piano Trio which has excited audiences throughout the United States with expressive ensemble playing and brilliant virtuosity. She has appeared in major concert venues throughout North America. Her ensemble appearances include those as principal keyboardist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Chicago Symphony and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP). Her recent festival appearances include those at Tanglewood, where the Calyx Piano Trio performed “Tones of Clay”, a newly commissioned work written for them by James Lee, III. She has also performed at Banff, Norfolk, and the Skaneateles Festival. She regularly appears at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Missouri Chamber Music Festival where the Calyx Piano Trio hs held residencies. Ms. Ferrigno is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music, where she received degrees with distinction. Nina is committed to bringing classical music to new audiences and expanding the repertoire by working with organizations including Chamber Music America and the Barlow Foundation to commission and perform new works in a variety of settings. The New Music Connoisseur has said of her, “pianist Nina Ferrigno [brings] out the inherent horizontal logic...all the while imparting sonic beauty from end to end.” Her chamber music recording of Lansing McLoskey’s “Tinted” was released by Albany Records in 2008 and her 2010 recording of Elliott Schwartz’s Chamber Concerto III: Another View for the BMOP Sound label was described as “wonderfully musical” by Fanfare magazine. Nina is the co-founder and Director of the Missouri Chamber Music Festival in St. Louis and is on the teaching faculty of Washington University and Webster University.

Shannon Finney, flute
Shannon Finney is Associate Principal Flutist for the Kansas City Symphony.  She has performed with Summerfest since 1996 and is a former Artistic Advisor.  Her summer work extends to Door County, WI, where performs with and is on the faculty at Birch Creek Music Center.  She was a past winner of the National Flute Association Piccolo Artist Competition and has been a fellow at Tanglewood.  Finney has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta.  Her teachers include Walfrid Kujala, Mary Stolper, and Karla Flygare, and her degrees are from Northwestern University.   Finney enjoys the culinary arts, traveling, and many outdoor activities.  An adventurer at heart, Finney spent a month in Nepal in 2014, including two weeks trekking in the Himalayas and reaching Annapurna Base Camp.  In 2017 she enjoyed whitewater rafting with her dad down the entire length of the Grand Canyon.

Evan Halloin, bass
Evan Halloin was appointed associate principal bass of the Kansas City Symphony in 2016 after having served as a member of the bass section since 2012. Prior to coming to Kansas City he was a member of the New World Symphony. He earned a master’s degree from Rice University and a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory. His primary teachers include Timothy Pitts and Donald Palma. Mr. Halloin has performed as a substitute musician with the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Houston Symphony Orchestras, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Originally from De Pere, Wisconsin, Evan currently resides in Prairie Village, Kansas, where he loves to let his dog Penny take him, his wife Margaret, and one-year-old son Graham for walks around the neighborhood.

Joshua Hood, bassoon
​Joshua Hood, bassoonist, received his bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Lewis Hugh Cooper.  He completed his master's degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University with Benjamin Kamins, former Principal Bassoonist of the Houston Symphony.  Hood has performed with a number of orchestras including the Kansas City Symphony, Houston Symphony, and the North Carolina Symphony.  He joined the Charlotte Repertory Symphony to outstanding reviews.  He has also performed with several festivals including the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, May Music Festival in Charlotte, NC, Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, NY,  the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA, and with the Ritz Chamber Players on  the Amelia Island Music Festival in Florida.  He has performed with Summerfest since 1998.
 

Rena Ishii, ​violin
​Rena Ishii joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2011. She holds bachelors and masters degrees in violin performance from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Won-Bin Yim. She continued her studies with William Preucil at Cleveland Institute of Music and received a professional studies certificate. In the Cleveland area, she became active as an orchestra player and was a member of Canton Symphony, Akron Symphony and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. Ishii has spent summers at Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto USA, and Tanglewood Music Center. Ishii has a passion for teaching as well. She has been actively teaching privately and at schools. In her free time, she enjoys jogging, cooking, and reading. 
 

Victoria Knudtson, horn
Minnesota-born horn player Victoria Knudtson joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as Assistant/Utility Horn during the 2019-2020 season. Born to a pianist mother and singer father, Knudtson found her artistic voice on the horn when she was 16 years old after a coincidental meeting with her first teacher, Wayne Lu.
Knudtson received her Bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 2017 and her Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020 under the tutelage of Jennifer Montone and Jeffery Lang of the Philadelphia Orchestra.  During her studies at IU with Canadian Brass horn player Jeffery Nelsen, she also benefited from the orchestral pedagogy of Dale Clevenger, former principal horn of the Chicago Symphony, and studied early music performance on the natural horn with Richard Seraphinoff.  She spent the Fall 2016 semester in Vienna, Austria, studying with members of the Vienna Philharmonic.  She served as principal horn of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic from 2016-2018, and held a core horn position with the ensemble Symphony in C from 2018-2019.   Knudtson has performed as a soloist with the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and the Yale New Music Ensemble and frequently performs chamber music in various cities.  She ardently enjoys collaborating with composers and performing new music.
Knudtson was a horn fellow of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center in 2019, and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan with music director Valery Gergiev in 2018. Knudtson played a leader/teacher role as a staff member at Kendall Betts Horn Camp for several years, and will be teaching at Heartland Horncamp in the summer of 2022 for its inaugural event.  
​When not on stage or in the practice room, Knudtson enjoys spending time outside, gardening, painting, and latin dancing.

Duke Lee, viola
Duke Lee is a native of Houston, Texas. He attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. He also was a fellow at the New World Symphony. Lee has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 2006. Lee is married to Kansas City Symphony violinist Rena Ishii and they have three boys, Leon, Anton, and Owen.
 

Jessica Nance, viola
Jessica Nance has been a member of the Kansas City Symphony since 1995 and Assistant Principal Viola since 1997. She has performed locally with the Boulevard String Quartet, newEar, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and on a variety of chamber music, solo, and educational projects. Before moving to Kansas City, Jessica was Principal Viola in the Michigan Opera Theater and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She attended the University of Michigan where she studied with Yizhak Schotten. Jessica is married to trumpeter Brian Rood and together they have two children. When not playing the viola, she enjoys running and triathlon training. Jessica has performed with Summerfest since 2000.
 

Melissa Peña, oboe
​Melissa Peña currently serves as Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Oregon.  Prior to joining the Oregon faculty, Peña held the positions of Associate Principal Oboe/English Horn with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra (2002-2011), 2nd Oboe with the Sarasota Orchestra (2001-2002), and Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Northern Colorado (2010-2012).  An active orchestral musician, Peña has recently performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Astoria Music Festival, and continues to hold the position of Associate Principal Oboe/Engish Horn with the New Mexico Philharmonic.  Additionally, Peña has appeared with the Seattle Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, Kansas City Symphony, Opera Colorado, Jacksonville Symphony, and the Florida Orchestra among others. 
As a chamber musician, Peña is a member of the Oregon Wind Quintet and is a core member/performer of Chatter - an innovative, weekly chamber music and spoken word series in Albuquerque, NM.  Peña has performed with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire with Ida Kavafian, and Kansas City’s Summerfest. 
She has appeared as a concerto soloist with the New Mexico Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, and the Southwest Florida Symphony. An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, Peña can be heard performing with Molly Barth and Jeffrey Ziegler on David Lang’s thorn (Cantaloupe Music 2017) and contributed performances to the albums: David Crumb: Red Desert (Bridge Records 2015), and New Millennium Music for Horn (Quadre Records 2014).  Peña holds degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and the University of Illinois studying with Barbara Bishop and Nancy Ambrose King. 
 

Melissa Rose, piano ​

Pianist Melissa Rose has collaborated with instrumentalists and singers in concerts throughout the United States and at venues in Argentina, Malta, Santorini, and Russia. She has recorded and edited arrangements for viola/piano of the Tonadillas by Granados (ViolaSound), one of which was included in the 2017 Grammy-nominated music film, The Music of Strangers. In addition to chamber music recordings on the Naxos, Centaur, Blue Griffin, Delos, Good Child Music, and Navona Records labels, Melissa has participated in numerous premieres and residencies with leading American composers and is a member of ALIAS Chamber Ensemble in Nashville. Currently a Professor of Piano and Senior Associate Dean at Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, she enjoys preparing pianists for careers in collaboration. Melissa received the M.M. in piano performance from the Yale School of Music and the D.M.A. in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan. Melissa has enjoyed performing with Summerfest since 1994.

 
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Tabitha Reist Steiner, harp
Harpist Tabitha Reist Steiner began her musical studies at age four in piano and at age eight in harp. An active freelancer throughout the Midwest, her playing was lauded as “…some of the most precise and beautifully inflected harp playing….” by the Kansas City Star. Steiner is principal harpist with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and a regular extra with the Kansas City Symphony and the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. In the past, she has held principal harp positions with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Tulsa Opera Orchestra and the Washington, D.C. Summer Opera Orchestra. In addition to the Summerfest Chamber Music Festival, she is performing with Des Moines Metro Opera this summer. Steiner earned a master of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor of music degree from Washburn University.

Marie Rubis Bauer, harpsichord
​Dr. Marie Rubis Bauer is Director of Music-Organist at the Cathedral of Saint Cecilia in Omaha, Nebraska and Director of the School of Music in the Archidocese of Omaha’s Saint Cecilia Institute-an organization dedicated to the life-long formation in Faith, Liturgy and the Arts and Service.  Her life-long work integrates teaching with the performance of modern and ancient liturgical music and improvisation in worship.  As a recitalist she has performed on significant modern and historic instruments throughout the United States and in Europe.  As a harpsichordist she has performed as a regular member of numerous ensembles including Summerfest, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, the Early Music Consort of Kansas City, and the Omaha Chamber Music Society and as organ soloist with the Omaha Symphony.  She is founding artistic director of Omaha Baroque and the Omaha Bach Festival.  She is married to and enjoys making music with her husband, Michael Bauer, of Lawrence, Kansas,  and professor of Organ and Church Music at the University of Kansas. 
 

Richard Ryan, bass
​Richard Ryan, an Arizona native, has been a Kansas City Symphony member for four seasons.  Before his tenure in Kansas City, he was Assistant Principal bass of the Louisville Orchestra.  A graduate of Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Richard has participated in music festivals such as Aspen and Artosphere, and has conducted the Louisville Youth Orchestra and Kling Chamber Orchestra.
 

Ebonee Thomas, flute

Hailed for her “verve and pizazz” and the “gleaming purity” of her artistry by the Miami Herald, Ebonee Thomas is Second Flute and Piccolo of The Dallas Opera. She will be joining the faculty of UMKC Conservatory as Assistant Professor of Flute beginning this Fall. She has previously served  as Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony and the Florida Grand Opera, and spent one year as Second Flute of the Houston Symphony. In addition she has performed as Guest Principal Flute with the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and the Fort Worth Symphony. Ebonee has also performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Detroit Symphony and Dallas Symphony.
Ebonee completed a four-year fellowship with the prestigious New World Symphony under the direction of Michael Tilson-Thomas. In addition to performing at Carnegie Hall, she was a featured soloist under Tilson-Thomas, performing Joan Tower’s Flute Concerto and the North American premiere of Christian Lindberg’s flute concerto, The World of Montuagretta.
Along with performing orchestral repertoire, Ebonee is an avid chamber musician, applauded as a “standout” by Theater Jones in her latest performance for the Fine Arts Chamber Players. She performs regularly with the Austin Chamber Music Society and Voices of Change, a new music ensemble in Dallas, TX. She was a finalist for the Austin Arts Awards for her performance of Valerie Coleman’s Danza de la Mariposa, for solo flute. Ebonee has been a member of the Firebird Ensemble with Seraphic Fire and can be heard on several of their released recordings including The Brandenburg Project. Ebonee had the rare opportunity to perform John Adams’ Chamber Symphony in Carnegie Hall under the composer’s baton. She also served as Principal Flute of the Star Wars in Concert! Orchestra during their U.S., Canada, and Mexico tour and was Principal Flute of the American Repertory Theater’s revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.
Ebonee received her Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance degree from Southern Methodist University and received her Master of Music degree from New England Conservatory of Music. She is a Burkart Piccolo Artist and her principal teachers Jean Larson Garver, Claire Johnson, Helen Blackburn, and Fenwick Smith.

Daniel (Dan) Velicer, piano

An active performer and teacher, Dan Velicer appears regularly with the Kansas City Symphony, Trio Fedele, and the Lyric Arts Trio.  He is a frequent collaborator with members of the Kansas City Symphony and the UMKC Conservatory faculty. Velicer also helps university and high school students prepare for recitals and competitions. 
Prior to arriving in Kansas City, he was an Opera Coach Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and the head staff pianist at the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music.  Along with his wife, Kristi, Velicer was on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory where he coached chamber music, led master classes, and performed with faculty. 
He received his bachelor of arts degree from Cornell University, majoring in both anthropology and music.  He received his master of music degree from Rice University. 
 

Kristi Velicer, violin
​Kristin Velicer is the Assistant Principal Second Violinist with the Kansas City Symphony.  Velicer has performed and toured internationally with numerous major orchestras including the Houston Symphony, the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.  She has appeared on National Public Radio as a featured soloist and chamber musician on Performance Today and Houston in Concerts. Velicer was an invited performer in the Carnegie Hall tribute to Alexander Schneider, founder of the New York String Orchestra Seminar. 
Velicer holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance at Overlin College Conservatory of Music where she studied with Kathleen Winkler.  While at Overlin, she received the prestigious Conservatory Dean’s Talent Award. Velicer later received a master’s degree from Rice University-Shepherd School of Music studying with Raphael Fliegel and Kathleen Winkler. Velicer served, along with her husband Dan, on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory in Steamboat Springs, CO.  
 

Jesse Yukimura,​ viola
​Violist Jesse Keone Yukimura, from Washington State, discovered at an early age the joys of ensemble music, from chamber music to orchestra. Jesse received a Bachelor of Music degree in Viola Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Peter Slowik, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Oberlin College. He then studied with Ralph Fielding at the Lynn Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree and a Professional Performance Certificate. Before moving to Kansas City, Jesse was a viola fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, an orchestral academy founded by artistic director Michael Tilson Thomas. Jesse joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2018, previously joined KC Summerfest in 2019, and is excited to play again this summer. Outside of music, Jesse maintains a variety of interests, from birdwatching to boardgames.