Program Overview

Quantum Winds and Friends present an evening of American Music. Included in the program are two world premieres; one by TFO Principal Bassist, Dee Moses, featuring dancer- choreographer, Elsa Valbuena, and a new Sextet by TFO Principal Bassoonist, Mark Sforzini.

Martin Hebert (Oboe) is principal oboist of the Florida Orchestra. He has held that same position with the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic, and the Mineria Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Honolulu Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, and orchestras in Charleston, South Carolina, Canton and Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to orchestral work, his experience includes performance with many ballet, opera, chamber and wind ensembles. He is Adjunct Instructor of Oboe at the University of South Florida, and has held similar positions at Emory University, Georgia Southern University, and Armstrong Atlantic State University. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with John Mack, principal oboist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Mr. Hebert has been a featured soloist with the Florida Orchestra, and with orchestras in Savannah, Mexico, Hilton Head, and Beau! fort, South Carolina. He is active as a teacher, adjudicator, and clinician in the Tampa Bay area.

J. Brian Moorhead (Clarinet) has been the Principal Clarinet with the Florida Orchestra for the past 30 years. He also serves as Associate Professor on the faculty of University of South Florida, where he has taught applied clarinet performance and woodwind technique courses since 1985. Professor Moorhead holds a BA from USF, where he studied with Drs. Vance Jennings and Noel Stevens. He earned a Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University, studying with Larry Combs and Clark Brody. His solo, chamber, and orchestral activities have taken him to Pennsylvania, New York and North Carolina where he was a returning guest artist at the Highlands/Cashiers Chamber Music Festival from 1989-2000. At that festival he collaborated with the Cavani, Alexander, Audubon, and Lark String Quartets. Internationally, he has performed by invitation in Taipei, Taiwan and Le Havre, France. In Florida he is a frequent rehearsal consultant, adjudicator, clinician, and performer, working wit! h public and private schools and youth orchestra programs.

Mark Sforzini came to the Tampa Bay Area in 1992 when he was appointed Principal Bassoon of the Florida Orchestra. While performing the past 13 seasons with the Florida Orchestra, Mr. Sforzini has done extensive work in the community as an educator, composer and conductor. In addition to maintaining a private teaching studio, Sforzini was Music Director/Senior Orchestra Conductor of the Pinellas Youth Symphony (PYS) from 1999 – 2002. After three artistically successful seasons with the PYS, Sforzini founded FloriMezzo with Jessica Calandra and has served as FloriMezzo’s Artistic Director/Conductor for the past 3 years which included Sforzini conducting the Palladium Theater’s first fully staged opera production, Madame Butterfly. As a composer, Sforzini has been commissioned by several organizations and individuals including the Florida Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Hillsborough Arts Council, City of Tampa Water Department, Bay Area Sax Quartet, Jack & Judy Guggino, Marian!  Moorhead, and Ray & Nancy Murray. His Symphony for Seven, commissioned by the Palladium Theater’s Encore Series, was recently premiered and hailed as a success by the St. Petersburg Times: “The Symphony for Seven…is complex and intellectually satisfying yet retains the innate sweetness that makes his music so listenable.” Sforzini has been a recipient of ASCAP’s Awards Plus program for the past eight years and was the Composer-in-Residence at the Crested Butte Music Festival 2003. He is a native of Auburn, Alabama where he began his musical studies on the saxophone and piano.

Catherine Wendtland-Landmeyer (Flute) was Principal Flute of the Florida Orchestra from 1988-2000. She studied with Bonita Boyd at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in New York where she received a bachelor’s degree and the coveted Performer’s Certificate. She went on to study with Julius Baker at the Juilliard School, working toward a Master’s Degree in Performance. While at Juilliard she received first prize at the New York Arts Club Solo Competition. She has also been soloist with several orchestras including the Milwaukee Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Tampa Bay Symphony and the Eastman Philharmonia. She has performed at many of the nations most prestigious summer festivals, including the Blossom Festival, two summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado, the American Sinfonietta in Bellingham, Washington, and the Swannannoa Chamber Festival in Ashville, North Carolina. Ms. Wendtland-Landm! eyer is a founding member of both the Phoenix Chamber Music Society of Tampa Bay, and Quantum Winds. She is an active chamber musician, recitalist and private instructor in the Bay area, and directs the Tampa Bay Youth Orchestra Flute Choir. She also performs frequently with Sarasota’s West Coast Symphony and the Sarasota Opera. Her newest endeavor is Trio Dolce Vita, comprised of Flute, Harp and Piano.

James F. Wilson (Horn) attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and received BA and MA degrees from Northwestern and Rice Universities, respectively. He has been Principal Horn of the Florida Orchestra since 1992, and has appeared as soloist for Strauss Concerto No. 1, the Schumann Konzertstück, and most recently Mozart Concerto No. 3. In addition to his orchestral duties, he performs regularly with TFO Chamber Players, and served for eight years as Union Steward for the Musicians. Mr. Wilson was appointed Instructor of Horn at the University of South Florida in 2000, where he is active as a teacher, recitalist and chamber musician. He has also been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra since 1995. Dee Moses (Double Bass) is best known in the Bay area as the Principal Double-bass of the Florida Orchestra. He also serves as adjunct instructor of double-bass at the University of South Florida. Moses was educated at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Cleveland Institute of Music, receiving both a bachelor and masters degree in Cleveland as a student of Lawrence Angell. In 1996 he became the first American bassist to perform at La Musica International Chamber Music Festival, and continues to perform with that festival each April in Sarasota. In 1997 Mr. Moses premiered his composition for Marbleized Memories, a collaboration with choreographer Elsa Valbuena, for her company Gaudere Danza. In 1999 he performed the Koussevitsky Double-bass Concerto in the Masterworks series of the Florida Orchestra.

John Shaw is the Principal Percussionist with the Florida Orchestra, a position he has held for nine years. He had previously served as a section percussionist with the Florida Orchestra since 1992, and as an extra with many others, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Naples Philharmonic. A native of Milton (FL), Shaw earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University, where he studied with Gary Werdesheim, and a Master of Music degree from Temple University as a student of Alan Abel. He received additional training at the Aspen Music Festival and Grand Tetons Orchestral Seminar. In addition to his duties with the Florida Orchestra, Shaw is the head of the percussion studio at St. Petersburg College, where he teaches lessons, percussion ensemble, and steel drum band. In March of 2000, Shaw made his first appearance as a soloist with the Florida Orchestra, performing the Concerto for Percussion by Joseph Schwantner. His seven-member!  steel drum band, the Tampa Bay Steel Orchestra, was featured with the Florida Orchestra this past March (2005) in a program entitled “Music of the Islands” as part of the orchestra’s Pops series. The steel drum band has also recently released its first cd. Shaw lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Florida Orchestra principal harpist Anna Kate Mackle, and their two children, Avery and Audrey.

Elsa Valbuena founded Gaudere Danza in 1982 in Cali, Colombia, where she was born. Since her arrival eleven years ago to the Tampa Bay area she has reestablished herself as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Elsa’s work has been presented in numerous national and international dance venues and festivals in Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Venezuela and the United States. The continued collaboration with artists both in her field and in other mediums is essential in her work. Elsa has created collaborative works with Ernest Gusella, Tomiyo Sasaki, Dee Moses, Alvaro Tobon, German Arrieta, Eduardo Pradilla. Claire Laronde, Joan Epstein, Ricardo Neira, Gretchen Warren and Guillermo Gaviria. While developing her own work she has been a noted performer/collaborator in the works of Alvaro Restrepo, Cho Kyoo-Hyun, Liliana Villegas,Federico Restrepo as well as with numerous independent choreographers. In 1997 she co-founded Moving Current, a choreographer’s collective, and was co- arti! stic director for four seasons in Tampa, FL. A dedicated choreographer and teacher, Elsa served as guest choreographer and adjunct professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL for eight years. In the past few years she has taught at Hillsborough Community College as well as developing her more personal work in the somatic fields. She has been awarded the 2002-2003 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs and Florida Arts Council as well as being a two-time receiver of the Individual Artist Grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County.

Program Date & Time

Open Rehearsal
Sunday
01/29/06
7:30 pm

Concert
Wednesday
02/01/06
7:30 pm

Admission

Open Rehearsal
(01/29/06)
Open to the public at no charge. Donations are greatly appreciated.

Concert
(02/01/06)
$20

Seating is limited. Tickets can be purchased on location at The Studio@620 or online. Admission to this concert is not included as part of the 620 memberships benefit tickets.

Purchase Concert Ticket(s) Online

Important: Online ticket purchasers are required to bring a copy of their email receipt to the performance as their ticket.