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Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble
2011/2012 Performers

Mary Bohnag - soprano (not pictured)

Mary Bonhag, soprano made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2009 singing in David T. Little's new chamber opera Dog Days. She is an avid supporter of new music and has worked closely with numerous composers to premier new works, most recently and frequently with Michigan-based composer Curtis Curtis-Smith. In 2007, she created the role of "Eve" for the Pine Mountain Music Festival premiere of The Diaries of Adam and Eve, a new chamber opera by Evan Premo. The festival reprised the opera in 2010.

Mary has a deep-rooted love of chamber music and recital repertoire and has performed as part of the Fontana Chamber Arts Festival of Kalamazoo, MI, the Maui Classical Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains, Cactus Pear Music Festival, the Lancaster Music Festival, Yellow Barn, and SongFest as a full-scholarship Stern Fellow, among others. She is equally at home on the concert and operatic stages, having sung in Italy, Germany, South Africa, Hawai'i, and much of the continental U.S. She has soloed with the American Symphony Orchestra, Berkshire Bach Society, Lehigh University Orchestra, Superior Chamber Orchestra, and Keewenaw Symphony Orchestra.

Mary is a member of Duo Borealis with her husband, double bassist/composer Evan Premo. Both are artistic directors of Scrag Mountain Music, a chamber music series in central Vermont. After studying at the University of Michigan, she earned her Master's degree at Dawn Upshaw's graduate vocal program at Bard College, winning concerto competitions at both institutions. She currently lives in Vermont where she teaches as Johnson State College. www.marybonhag.com

Ethan Bowen - Acting director/actor (not pictured)

Ethan is a professional actor, director and theater arts teacher working mostly in Vermont and Washington DC. He is a sixteen year Artistic Associate with Vermont Stage Company, appearing there recently in Opus, Shipwrecked! and Oliver Twist. His recent directing credits include Ransom with the White River Valley Players and Lettice and Lovage for Waterbury Festival Players. He is ½ of the performing duo Piano Stories with Larry Hamberlin, and received his MFA in Acting from New York University. He lives in central Vermont with his wife Courtney.

Jane Boxall - percussion (not pictured)

Born in the UK, Jane completed bachelor's and master's degrees in music at the University of York, before relocating to the USA in 2004. She studied with renowned percussionist William Moersch at the University of Illinois, earning a doctorate in percussion performance. Jane has performed and toured in the US, UK, Italy, Belgium, France and Ireland. Currently living in Vermont (USA), Jane is an enthusiastic music educator, working with students from pre-school to University level -- during Spring 2011 she is an Associate Artist of Percussion at the University of Vermont. Jane keeps a busy schedule as a solo marimbist, playing new music and vintage ragtime. She is one half of piano-marimba ensemble Ricochet Duo, one third of Drumshtick percussion group, one third of riot-grrrl punk band Doll Fight! and an in-demand session drummer and percussionist. Jane plays and endorses Coe Percussion marimbas and Vic Firth sticks and mallets. http://www.janeboxall.com/

Rachael Elliott - bassoon

Rachael Elliott is a bassoonist based in Durham, North Carolina. Born and raised in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, she continues teaching and performing in Vermont, and beyond. In addition to her work with VCME, she is a founding member of Clogs, Heliand Trio and Tuple.

An active freelance musician, she has toured throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia, including concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, London Jazz Festival and Sydney Festival. She has performed in rock/pop settings with The National, My Brightest Diamond and Sufjan Stevens. In the past decade, Rachael has premiered new works for bassoon by Padma Newsome, Bryce Dessner, Thomas L. Read, Beth Wiemann, Pamela Layman Quist, Paul Lansky, Ingram Marshall and others.

Rachael teaches bassoon at the University of Vermont, Middlebury College and Kinhaven Music School. http://www.bassoonproject.org/

Paula Ennis - piano (not pictured)

Paula Ennis, pianist, holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University where she was a graduate teaching assistant to Menahem Pressler. A very active performer in Vermont, she has performed solo and chamber music throughout Europe and the U.S. After study in Koln, Germany, on a Fulbright Grant, she taught on the music faculties of SUNY at Albany, NY; Williams College, MA; Lawrenceville School, NJ; and Johnson State College, VT. Her recordings of solo and chamber music appear on Grand Prix, Musical Heritage Society, and Coronet Recording labels. The New York Times has characterized her playing as "versatile and highly communicative."

David Feurzeig - composer & piano (not pictured)

The music of David Feurzeig has been performed throughout the United States as well as in New Zealand, Asia, and Europe. He was twice a featured guest (2005/2006) at the International Composer’s Festival in Bangkok. His Songs of Love and Protest were selected by the Dresden Chamber Chorus for the city’s 800th jubilee in 2006 and premiered in the fabled Semper Opera House. His work has been awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Arts (London), the Hugh MacColl and Thomas Hoopes prizes from Harvard University, a Beebe fellowship, and a John James Blackmore prize.

A pianist as well, he specializes in eclectic lecture-recitals featuring music from the classics to stride piano, jazz, and new music. He is the silver medalist of the 2001 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and recipient of the 2003 “Best New Rag” award of the Old-Time Music Preservation Association (OMPA). His research interests range from the playing of James P. Johnson and Thelonious Monk to the music of György Ligeti.

Feurzeig received the Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition from Cornell University, where his teachers included Karel Husa and Steven Stucky, and the AB from Harvard College.

At the University of Vermont, Feurzeig teaches composition, orchestration, and theory. Before coming to UVM he held teaching positions at Illinois State University and Centre College. His students have received numerous accolades for their music, including the Toru Takemitsu and the Alexander Zemlinsky Prizes, awards from ASCAP and from the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music (SEAMUS), and numerous commissions and performances by groups such as the Tokyo Philharmonic and the New York New Music Ensemble.

Berta Frank - flutes

Berta Frank is a professional flutist and a native of New York City. A graduate of Performing Arts High School and Juilliard Pre-College she was a soloist in Alice Tully and Carnegie Recital Halls before she was 25 years old. Upon moving to Vermont in 1992 she became very active in the local music scene as a performer and educator. Berta has been a performing member of VCME for over fifteen years, being involved in world and local premieres in addition to meeting composers from throughout the northeast. She has enjoyed working closely with the many members of the ensemble over the years and meeting the challenges of contemporary music. As an orchestral player she is currently principal flute with the Burlington Chamber Orchestra and The Middlebury Opera Orchestra. As a soloist she appears regularly as a soloist with The Burlington Ensemble (BE).
As a music educator, Berta Frank has played a vigorous role for youth as a staff member with the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, where she directs and coaches the Vermont Youth Chamber Winds Program and teaches flute at their Annual Music Day Camp. She is also an adjunct music faculty member at Johnson State College, participates annually in the VT MIDI Festival for young composers, and teaches flute in the Burlington schools. Ms. Frank currently resides in Jericho where she has an active teaching studio.

Dan Gordon

Daniel Gordon, chair of the music faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh, is an active performer on the saxophone both in this region and abroad. Regionally, he performs frequently as baritone saxophonist in the Frontier Saxophone Quartet, which he founded with performers from the Plattsburgh region and Montreal. Gordon also performs regularly as director of the SUNY Plattsburgh saxophone ensemble, which he founded in connection with his responsibilities as saxophone instructor at SUNY. Abroad, Gordon was a part of the saxophone teaching corps at the Domaine Forget International Music Festival in northern Quebec for summer residencies from 1997-99, and has taught and performed in residency at the Suomen Työväen Musiikkiliitto International Summer Music Festival in Teisko, Finland annually since 2005.

Gordon's performing credits include appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Bruno Walter Auditorium at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the American Embassy in Paris, the Circle of Fine Arts in Madrid, Tampere-Talo and Kuhmo's Lentua Sali (Finland), Pollack and Redpath Halls in Montreal, and several smaller venues in Canada, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, and the U.S.

Gordon has also authored a book entitled Sax on the Streets: Confessions of an American Street Musician in Europe, which chronicles his (mis)adventures performing saxophone duets with a friend across thirteen European countries in the late 1980s. Published by SynergEbooks, it is available online at http://synergebooks.com/ebook_saxonthestreets.html in electronic and CD-ROM formats.

Jordan Gullikson - actor

Jordan Gullikson is a playwright and actor based in Vermont. In addition to working in New York and regionally, he has toured throughout the US, Europe and Asia. Locally, he has worked with Icefire Theatre, Green Candle Theatre Company, Firefly Productions, One Take Productions, Catalyst Theater Company, Vermont Stage Company, Saint and Poets and Lost Nation Theater, among others. Jordan attended the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York, studying with Ron Stetson, Richard Pinter and Sanford Meisner

Brian Johnson

Percussionist/Composer BRIAN JOHNSON (b.1953. New York) has appeared as soloist and ensemble musician in many of the major venues for new and experimental music in the US and Europe, and has made frequent appearances in New Music America festivals. As a soloist he has premiered works by leading figures of the American avant-garde including John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Joseph CeIli, and Stuart Saunders Smith.

Johnson is a composer of solo and ensemble music as well as a composer/performer for dance and theater projects. He was a featured lecturer/composer at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Anaheim, CA where he discussed his music, presented a new solo percussion work, "All Fall Down", and conducted a performance of one of his earliest ensemble works, "Screams" for percussion and voice. Work with dance includes "Power Living" and "Kiss Your Mama Good-bye" with Miami choreographer Mary Luft , "Anti-Gravity" with NYC performance artist/dancer Celeste Miller, percussionist with Korean Choreographer Sun Ok Lee, and six years as musician/composer with the All Star Moving Company of Hartford, CT.

Johnson was the resident composer for the Protean Theater of Hartford, and created music performed by the Brian Johnson Small Band for many Protean indoor and outdoor productions. He made music for and was the onstage performer of that music for a Vermont Stage Company production of 'King Lear'. He has been a percussionist with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra for 18 years, and has performed as percussionist with the VCME for about 15 years.

Brian Johnson currently lives in Cambridge, Vermont and is the manager of the FlynnSpace in Burlington.

Rebecca Kauffman

Rebecca Kauffman has been the principal harpist of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra since 1979 and has performed extensively both as an orchestral and chamber musician. She is also the second harpist with the Reading Symphony Orchestra and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and is the former principal harpist with the Lancaster and York Symphonies.

Ms. Kauffman has appeared as the featured soloist with the Harrisburg and York Symphony Orchestras, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra in Ithaca, NY, the Millersville University-Community Orchestra, and the Hershey Symphony. In February 2013, Ms. Kauffman will appear as the featured soloist with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra performing Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro and Debussy’s Danses sacree et profane. She has also performed both second harp and principal harp with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and principal harp with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, the Binghamton Philharmonic of Binghamton, NY, the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, and a variety of orchestral groups throughout Massachusetts and Vermont.

Ms. Kauffman has appeared in concert with a wide variety of concert artists, including Itzhak Pearlman, Gil Shaham, Lynn Harrell, Yanni, Roberta Peters, Shirley Jones, Maureen McGovern, Bernadette Peters, and the Lettermen. She has performed under the direction of many acclaimed conductors, including Alan Gilbert, Yuri Temirkanov, Stuart Malina, Jamie Laredo, Anthony Princiotti, Richard Westerfield, Andrew Constantine and Sidney Rothstein. In addition to her orchestral performances, Ms. Kauffman has performed many solo and duo recitals, including a performance at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA, various recitals with esprit! duo partner, flutist Mary Hannigan of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, and harp duos with her sister, Jane Kauffman Brye.

In 1979, Ms. Kauffman received her Bachelor of Science in Music Education, cum laude, from Millersville University, while studying with harpist Molly Hahn. In 1985, she earned her Master of Music in Harp Performance from Temple University as a student of Marilyn Costello, former principal harpist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. For many years, Ms. Kauffman pursued additional harp studies at the Salzedo Harp Colony in Camden, Maine, with Alice Chalifoux, former principal harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra, and Jeanne Chalifoux, former harp instructor at Peabody Conservatory.

While pursuing her performance career, Ms. Kauffman also taught music in the Pennsylvania Public Schools for 29 years. She developed a Suzuki string program and expanded the orchestra program in the Conestoga Valley School District in Lancaster, PA. In addition, she implemented a harp program in the school district, and several of her students were accepted into the PMEA State Orchestra Festival. Ms. Kauffman was the 2001 recipient of The Pennsylvania-Delaware String Teachers Association’s (PADESTA) Outstanding String Teacher Award.

Bonnie Thurber Klimowski - cello

Bonnie Thurber Klimowski, cellist, is a graduate of the University of Vermont and also holds a Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from Kent State University in Ohio. She performed with the Mexican State Orchestra for three years and is presently a member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Polacca String Trio, the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Klimowski Chamber Music Ensemble. Bonnie enjoys folk music and is featured on three of Jon Gailmor's albums. She also tours with the VSO string trio, "Fiddlesticks", presenting programs for children.

Steven Klimowski - clarinetist/founder and artistic director

Steven Klimowski played for three years with the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra and continues to concertize in a solo and chamber music capacity, premiering several works for solo clarinet. In addition to his solo career, he is a member of Raising Cane, the woodwind trio of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. He is founder and director of the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble and teaches clarinet and saxophone at the University of Vermont and St. Michael's College. In 1987 and again in 1990 Mr. Klimowski was honored with an individual artist's fellowship and in 2002 he was awarded a citation of merit from the Vermont Arts Council.

Taryn Noelle - actor, dancer

Taryn is thrilled to once again be working with STG! Taryn works locally as dance teacher, choreograher, actor and jazz vocalist. She attended Circle in the Square Theatre School in Manhattan, and is also the new House Manager for the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center here in Stowe. Some favorite recent roles have been, Sally Bowles in UVM's "Cabaret", Dominique in the Skinner Barn's production of "Lucky Stiff", and as Grace in Vermont Stage Company's production of "Opus". This summer Taryn can be seen on local stages: at Saint Michael's Playhouse in July, in "I'll Be Back Before Midnight", and at: The Skinner Barn in Waitsfield in August in "A Little Night Music". Much thanks to Jack, Carol and the cast, for this fun and rewarding opportunity. http://www.tarynnoelle.com/

Evan Premo - double bass (not pictured)

Evan Premo, upon graduating from the University of Michigan School of Music, received its highest honor awarded to a graduating senior, the Stanley Metal. Evan is now a fellow of "The Academy" a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute. As part of this program, Evan performs chamber music regularly at Carnegie Hall and does outreach in public schools in NYC. Evan is an active chamber musician and has performed concerti with numerous orchestras. He has collaborated with such artists as Andrés Cárdenes, Yizhak Schotten, Katherine Collier, and the Formosa String Quartet, in addition to performing his own arrangements for piano and double bass at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A graduate of the University of Michigan where he earned degrees in double bass performance and composition, Evan was a winner of the school's concerto competition in 2006 and, that same year, premiered his own Concertino for Bass Fiddle and Winds with the University of Michigan's Symphony Band. Evan's double bass teachers include virtuosos Diana Gannett and Gary Karr, and he has studied composition with Michael Daugherty, Susan Botti, and Evan Chambers. He is also a member of Duo Borealis with soprano Mary Bonhag. http://www.evanpremo.com/

Thomas L. Read – Composer & Violinist

Thomas L. Read, composer and violinist, is Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont. He has composed music for a variety of media and almost entirely on commission- music for small ensembles, full orchestra, solo voice, chorus and musical theater, including several pieces for Social Band. He has been a recipient of several Arts Council and University Stipends, and has been awarded fellowships from organizations such as the McDowell Colony, the Charles Ives Institute, and the Johnson Composers Conference. Recent premieres include, Third String Quartet (2008, Kiev, Ukraine), and Octet for Strings (2009, Ann Arbor), What Story Awaits Its End?, Beneficent Shadow (2010, Burlington), Lullaby for Guitar (Salem MA, 2010), First String Quartet (2011, Harvard Univ.). C.F.Peters, American composers Edition, Tunbridge Music, Tuba Euphonium Press and Yelton Rhodes publish his work. Listen to his music on Zimbel Records, VCME Records, Socialband.org, ERM Media Masterworks, Vol.2, and on You Tube. A complete repertoire and recording list is at ThomasLRead.com.

Lori Salimando-Porter - Trombone

Lori returned home, with her husband Joe, to Chazy, NY on Lake Champlain after retiring from the United States Military in 2005. She served as Principal Trombonist with the US Military Academy Band at West Point, NY for ten years, the US Marine Band in El Toro, CA for three years, and the US Naval Academy Band in Annapolis, MD for seven years. During that time Lori had the opportunity to perform with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore Opera and the Colorado Springs Symphony. She was also Principal Trombonist with the Maryland Symphony for five years, substitute Principal Trombone, Second Trombone, and Euphonium with the Hudson Valley Symphony, and substitute Lead Trombone with the Miss Saigon Orchestra on Broadway, NY for two years.

Currently Lori performs with Fanfare, the Vermont Symphony Brass Trio, substitutes with the Vermont Symphony, VT Chorale Society Orchestra, and the VT Jazz Festival Orchestra. She has also performed as Principal Trombonist with the VT Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Destino Brass Quintet, the Constitution Brass Quintet, and teaches low brass privately in Northern NY. Lori received her B.M. in 1983 from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and M.M. in 1987 from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Ruth Wallman - actress

Ruth Wallman received an MFA from Yale Drama School, appeared off-Broadway, and has performed in northern Vermont for twenty years. At Lost Nation Theater: A Little Night Music, Collected Stories, Mousetrap, Lost in Yonkers; at Vermont Stage Company: True West, Inspecting Carol, Prelude to a Kiss; at Lyric: Oklahoma!, Pippin; at Vermont Shakespeare: A Comedy of Errors; at Champlain Theater Productions: All My Sons, Cripple of Inishmaan, Trojan Women, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Antigone. Ruth is the Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Islands Chamber.

Jason Whitcomb - Trumpet

Jason graduated from South Burlington High School in June 2001, The Crane School of Music (B.M. Music Education) where he studied Trumpet under Dr. John Ellis in 2005 and The College Conservatory of Music in 2007 (M.M. Trumpet Performance) in Cincinnati, Ohio, studying with former Principal Trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony, Philip Collins. He has played with: Ottawa Symphony in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Orchestra of Northern New York, Lima Symphony in Lima, Ohio, CCM Graduate Brass Quintet, as well as the West Virginia Symphony in Charleston, West Virginia.

Currently, he works with Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, teaches 30+ private trumpet students a week and performs with: Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Theater, as well as his newly formed brass quintet "4 Seasons 5", among others.