Hampton Roads native Beverly Kane Baker has been a member of the Virginia Symphony since 1983. In 1987 she was appointed assistant principal viola. She won the principal viola position in 1994 and currently holds that position with the symphony as well as Virginia Opera. Ms. Baker performs regularly with the Virginia Chamber Players and Norfolk Chamber Consort. She performs with the Gateways Music Festival, a festival featuring African-American artists. She is a featured artist with the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival. Ms. Baker has performed chamber music with the Miami String Quartet and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Several of these performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today. She performed the Mozart Duo with Nadja-Salerno-Sonnenberg. She has also been soloist with the Richmond Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony Orchestras. Ms. Baker attended the Juilliard School of Music's pre-college division and received a Bachelor of Music in performance from University of Missouri-Columbia having studied with Carolyn Kenneson. She performed in master classes with the Tokyo String Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio and Lillian Fuchs. Ms. Baker is featured in the book by D. Antoinette Handy, Black Women in American Orchestras.

Michael Daniels is currently the principal cellist of the Virginia Symphony. He began playing cello at age 12 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and continued further studies at the Brevard Music Center, in Brevard, North Carolina. He later received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. While in Cincinnati, Mr. Daniels was a member of the Dayton Philharmonic and performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, the Cincinnati Ballet Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Pops. He has been a member of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival, a faculty member at the Brevard Music Center, and a participant in the Grand Teton Summer Music Festival.  He is also a founding member of the Adagio Trio (harp, flute, and cello), which has produced three successful CDs: Stillpoint, Sanctuary, and Winter Gift.   Mr. Daniels has performed as soloist regularly with the Virginia Symphony.

F. Gerard Errante is a clarinetist of international stature whose performances in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Africa, Cuba, and the South Pacific, have received critical acclaim. A native of New York City, he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Michigan. Errante has published two books, A Selective Clarinet Bibliography, Contemporary Clarinet Repertoire, composed nine works for clarinet, and has contributed numerous articles to a wide variety of journals. He has recorded for CRI, Capstone Records, Drimala Records, Telarc, Centaur Records, Mark Recordings, AIR Records, Inc. (Japan), Apollo Records (The Netherlands), Tall Poppies (Australia), and for national radio stations throughout the world. His three compact discs, Electric Clarinet, Shadows of Ancient Dreams, and Beyond Noend with Errante, contain his own works, as well as compositions for clarinet and electronics that have been composed for him. These CDs, as well as several earlier LPs, have received high praise from reviews worldwide, citing their originality, exceptional performances, and excellent recorded sound. A specialist in new music, Errante has performed at many international festivals and was a second prizewinner in the International Gaudeamus Competition for Interpreters of Contemporary Music.

Errante is an active participant in the international clarinet community and has served as President of both ClariNetwork International and the International Clarinet Association. In addition, he has performed at many of their Festivals held in the United States, Canada, and Europe. At ClarinetFest 2005 to be held in Tokyo, the International Clarinet Association will present Errante with an Honorary Membership Award for Lifetime Achievement. Of his four previous tours of Japan, one was under the auspices of the Asian Cultural Council. On two occasions Errante served as Artist-in-Residence at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, Australia and has completed five Australian tours.

After 30 years of service, Dr. Errante retired from Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Virginia where he was Professor of Music, and twice received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award. He is currently the Co-Director of the Norfolk Chamber Consort, a position he has held since 1972, a member of the duo Clarion Synthesis, and a member of the new music ensemble, Creo based at Old Dominion University where he is serving as Adjunct Professor of Music. F. Gerard Errante is a Yamaha performing artist and performs on a Custom SE-V clarinet. He also performs exclusively using Clark Fobes mouthpieces, Vintage reeds by Reeds Australia, and BG ligatures.

Oksana Lutsyshyn was born in the city of Lviv, Ukraine. She began studying music at the age of eight. When she was twelve, she entered the Special Music School in Lviv, Ukraine from which she graduated in 1982. The same year she moved to Moscow, Russia and entered the Moscow State Conservatory, graduating with a Masters Degree in 1987 and a Doctoral Degree in 1991. After moving to the United States, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington.                                              

 

Ms. Lutsyshyn has appeared in concerts as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the former Soviet Union, Germany, the United States, and South Africa. She gave her New York debut in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in September 1990 and her Chicago de but in the Preston Bradley Hall at Chicago Cultural Center in August 1995.

 

As a chamber musician, Ms. Lutsyshyn has played in ensembles with prominent musicians, such as violinist Joshua Bell, tubist Harvey Phillips, and tenor James King. She has made a recording for the BBC with Joshua Bell. She has also recorded for the Vienna Modern Masters and Contemporary Record Society labels.

 

Ms. Lutsyshyn won the Second Prize at the Vienna Modern Masters Third International Performers' Recording Awards Competition. She has also been a prizewinner at the William Kapell International Piano Competition in College Park, Maryland.

 

In addition to her performing activity, Ms. Lutsyshyn is an active teacher. She has taught master classes in many American universities, including Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, and University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. Currently she is a piano instructor at the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia.

"A highly gifted musician who is intensely serious about her art"

The Whindham Journal

“A fine chamber music player and excellent teacher”

Harvey G. Phillips, Distinguished Professor of Music, Indiana University School Of Music

“A concert pianist of extraordinary ability, sustained international acclaim”

American Federation of Musicians

“A pianist of outstanding quality”

American Symphony Orchestra League

Pianist Charles Woodward has collaborated in recital with many of Hampton Roads’ finest vocalists and instrumentalists. He has performed with the Virginia Arts Festival, Virginia Symphony, Virginia Symphony Chorus, Virginia Opera, Virginia Chorale, Virginia Chamber Players, and Norfolk Chamber Consort. Mr. Woodward performed the world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork’s Sanctum with violist Beverly Baker during the 1997 Virginia Arts Festival. His performances have been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today.

Mr. Woodward served as Competition Pianist for the 1999 Marian Anderson International Vocal Arts Competition. He has appeared with Competition winner soprano Barbara Quintiliani in recital at Jordan Hall (Boston), The Phillips Collection (Washington DC), the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Virginia Arts Festival, and Art Song of Williamsburg.

A graduate of Northwestern University, Charles Woodward has served on the faculties of The College of William and Mary, Christopher Newport University and Old Dominion University. Mr. Woodward is Music Director of Norfolk’s Ohef Sholom Temple and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Violinist Yun Zhang was born into a musical family in China, and began violin study under the tutelage of his father at age three. He entered the Primary School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age nine and completed its Middle School with highest honors. In 1995, he entered Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and served as concertmaster of the Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Zhang has performed as concertmaster and toured South Asia with the Asian Youth Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Sergiu Comissiona. He came to the United States in 1998 to further his musical studies at Indiana University where he was a member of the Festival Orchestra, and earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Ohio University, where he had several solo appearances with the Symphony Orchestra. An active performer, he has been a member of the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Ohio Valley Symphony Orchestra and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, as well as concertmaster for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago in the 2001-2002 season under the direction of conductors Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, David Robertson, Anne Manson, William Eddins, Cliff Colnot, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Duain Wolfe. Recent engagements have included a solo performance with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra with Maestro JoAnn Falletta as part of the Virginia Symphony’s seventh annual Beethoven Festival. As a founding member of the Ambrosia String Quartet, Zhang and his quartet made their debut concert recently in the prestigious Feldman Chamber Music Society Concert. Zhang is currently Associate Concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, member of the Norfolk Chamber Consort, and faculty member of the Chamber Ensemble Program at the Academy of Music in Norfolk, Virginia. During the summer, Zhang performs at the Breckenridge Music Festival.