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FREE Courtroom Concert featuring Madeline Island Chamber Music

Thursday, November 1, 12:00PM

Landmark Center Courtroom 317

Madeline Island Chamber Music is devoted to educating and nurturing the next generation of musicians through concentrated study and performance of chamber music on verdant, historic Madeline Island in Lake Superior. Established in 1985, Madeline Island Chamber Music brings together highly-talented high school, college, and graduate school string and woodwind musicians with professional musicians for education and performance opportunities. Our focus on chamber music provides the opportunity to learn and cultivate skills that not only make artistic leaders, but also creates a new generation of young professionals exemplifying many desirable characteristics for citizenship like creativity, leadership, discipline, an ability to problem solve, a spirit of collaboration, and a sense of community.

Adam Woodward, (Recipient of the Art and Gail Edwards Fellowship) Adam Woodward has performed in venues across the U.S. and abroad, including the Liszt Academy Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary; Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. He currently studies with Monte Belknap at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and studied with Dragan Stojkovic, Erin Keefe, and Milana Reiche in Minnesota, his home state. Experienced both as an orchestral and chamber musician, Adam served as concertmaster with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies and enjoyed playing chamber music with the Augsburg String Quartet program and the Artaria Chamber Music School, as well as at summer festivals including Madeline Island Chamber Music and Bowdoin International Music Festival. From 2016-2017, he was part of the BYU Honors String Quartet, under the direction of Dr. Claudine Bigelow. Adam won the BYU Philharmonic Concerto Competition in January 2018, performing the first movement of the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2. He has participated in two BYU Chamber Orchestra tours, one to Eastern Europe, and most recently to the Philippines in May 2017. Adam enjoys a broad range of music, including contemporary classical music and jazz, and enjoys reading, writing, soccer, and studying Russian in his spare time.

Charles Andrew Dunlap, (Recipient of the Virginia K. Townley Fellowship) Andrew has received many musical honors over the years. A past finalist in the Bolz Young Artist Competition, Andrew has performed as a soloist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra. In 2014, he returned to the MSO as a featured artist to perform the world premier of Emmy award-winning composer Garth Neustadter’s Double Violin Concerto. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Andrew has performed on various student showcase concerts and served as concertmaster for both the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra and the Collegium Musicum Festival Orchestra in Germany. Andrew has studied with MSO concertmaster Carrie Kulas, Lawrence University Professor Samantha George, Eastman School of Music Professors Charles Castleman and Renée Jolles, and currently studies with Paul Kantor at Rice University where he is pursuing his Master of Music. In addition to his interest in music, Andrew enjoys reading, soccer, kayaking, and many types of games.

Austin Simmons, (Recipient of the Vicki and Chip Emery Fellowship) A three-time participant in the Madeline Island Chamber Music Fellowship program, violist Austin Simmons is very grateful to have had the chance to enjoy the excitement of musical collaboration, the beauty of the island, and the ferocity of ping-pong among peers. Austin felt compelled to learn viola at age 11, when his elementary school orchestra was simply too saturated with violinists. Austin recently completed his undergraduate studies in Viola Performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University this spring, studying under Ivo-Jan Van der Werff. As a budding health nut and worshipper of willpower, Austin has adopted several strange lifestyle habits, including but not limited to: sleeping on the floor, taking cold showers, eating a vegan diet, and fasting 23 hours a day. Besides music, Austin enjoys strategy games, communing with nature, and dream journaling.

Mario Bastea-Forte, (Recipient of a Madeline Island Chamber Music Board of Directors Fellowship) Cellist Mario Bastea-Forte recently completed his Bachelor of Music with Highest Distinction from the Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Alan Harris. Former teachers include Joel Becktell, David Schepps, and Lisa Collins. As a soloist, Mario appeared with the New Mexico Philharmonic as the string division first prize winner of the Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition. As a chamber musician, Mario has performed in master classes and worked with many of today’s preeminent quartets, such as the Ying Quartet, Jupiter Quartet, Danish Quartet, St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Shanghai Quartet. Collaborative accolades include performing Morton Feldman’s String Quartet and Orchestra (1970) with the JACK Quartet and being selected to perform on the Eastman School of Music Honors Chamber Music Recital playing Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major. In his free time, he enjoys baking and running.

View the Frequently Asked Questions about the Courtroom Concerts.

About the Host

Composer Abbie Betinis writes music called “inventive, richly melodic” (The New York Times), “superb, whirling, soaring” (Tacoma News Tribune), and “the highlight” of the program (Boston Globe).  With over 50 commissioned works for ensembles such as Cantus, the New England Philharmonic, and The Rose Ensemble, Abbie has been awarded a McKnight Composer Fellowship, grants from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and Jerome Foundation, and was recently listed in NPR Music’s Top 100 Composers Under 40.  A resident of Saint Paul, she is adjunct professor of composition at Concordia University, and was composer-in-residence with the Schubert Club from 2005-2017.