Elisabeth Adkins, violin

November 7, 2008 Concert

Elisabeth Adkins’ richly varied musical life makes her equally at home in solo, orchestral, and chamber music repertoire.  The Associate Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, she is also pursuing a successful career as a soloist and chamber musician.

As a concerto soloist, she has performed many times with the National Symphony, most recently in music from “Schindler’s List” by John Williams, and Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” at Wolf Trap.  She was featured with the Orchestra at the special request of Iona Brown, whom she joined in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins.  She has appeared as soloist with the Dallas Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony.  Other engagements include performances of concertos by Beethoven, Bruch, Saint-Saëns, Mendelssohn, Vivaldi, and Prokofiev.  In 2006 she premiered a new concerto by Tom Myron with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra. 

Ms. Adkins joins her husband, pianist Edward Newman, in a violin/piano duo that is a favorite of Washington audiences.  The new radio series Front Row Washington  chose the duo’s National Gallery recital to inaugurate the series.  The two have also been featured at the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, and Strathmore Hall.  A founding member of the American Chamber Players, Ms. Adkins has recorded with the group on Koch International Classics.  She also serves as concertmaster of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble conducted by her NSO colleague Sylvia Alimena.  As solo violinist with the 21st Century Consort, she is a noted interpreter of the contemporary repertoire.  In great demand as teacher and coach, Ms. Adkins is on the faculty of the University of Maryland and the Levine School, and her position as a faculty member of the National Orchestral Institute allows her to work with young people interested in pursuing orchestral careers. 

Ms. Adkins’ professional life has been enriched by the academic musical world in which she was raised.  The daughter of noted musicologists, she began playing the violin at the age of four.  By her teens she was performing professionally not only the modern repertoire, but also early music on period instruments.  Her family displays the same versatility, and her seven siblings include four violinists, two cellists, and a soprano, and 1994 saw the debut in the Dallas Symphony’s Meyerson Hall of the Adkins String Ensemble.  The family chamber group presents a concert series in Dallas, and has been in residency in Colorado at Music in the Mountains.  Several CD recordings are now available on the group’s website.. 

Andrew Wilson, trumpet

December 5, 2008 Concert

Andrew Wilson is the principal and solo cornet with the United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C.  He is also the principal trumpet with the McLean Orchestra and frequently performs with the Alexandria and Prince William Symphony Orchestras. Andrew is a frequent recitalist, chamber musician and active freelance artist throughout the National Capital Region and has been a featured soloist with the United States Air Force Band and The Catholic University of America Symphony Orchestra.  He holds degrees from The Ohio State University and The Catholic University of America.

Tim Marrone, physical comedian

December 6, 2008 Concert

Tim received his training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City and has appeared on stage throughout the Northeast, most recently in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. For ten years, Tim served as a founding member of the Maryland-based clown/theatre troupe Theatricks.  He has appeared as a silent comic character for the Washington National Opera, The Maryland Lyric Opera, The Summer Opera Series at Catholic University, and has toured as a clown with the George Carden Circus.

 As a physical comedian, Tim has co-written and performed productions with: The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra; The Lafayette Symphony Orchestra; The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra; The West Shore Symphony; The Lansing Symphony Orchestra; The Billings Symphony Orchestra; The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra; The Lincoln Symphony Orchestra; and The River Concert Series in St. Mary’s City, MD.

Tim is an associate artist with the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival, and is currently a theatre/movement instructor at the Baltimore School for the Arts.

Carole Bean, flute

March 14, 2009 Concert

Carole Bean, a native of Columbus, Ohio, attended Bowling Green State University and Northwestern University studying with Judith Bentley and Walfrid Kujala. She has played piccolo and flute with the National Symphony since 1990. She has been a member of the Honolulu Symphony, the Harrisburg Symphony, the ‘Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa’ (in Veracruz, Mexico) and has played with Baltimore Symphony.

In Washington, she is a member of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the Verge Ensemble from the Contemporary Music Forum and the Fessenden Ensemble. She is also a member of the Unlikely Trio which gives frequent educational performances for the Kennedy Center. Ms. Bean has appeared as a recent soloist with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, at the National Flute Association Convention, and at the Ohio Music Educators Association Convention. She also plays with the Grand Teton Music Festival in the summers.

Jeffrey Weisner, bass

March 14, 2009 Concert

Jeffrey Weisner is a multifaceted musician and teacher, combining an orchestral career with work as educator and soloist.  A bassist in the National Symphony Orchestra since 1995, he also performs as the solo bassist of the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra.  In 2003, he took a leave of absence from both these orchestras to join the bass section of the San Francisco Symphony in a one-year position. Mr. Weisner is a member of the bass faculty at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD, where he teaches private students and co-teaches the orchestra and solo repertoire classes.  He also teaches in the NSO’s Fellowship program, in which talented local high school musicians receive free lessons with NSO members.  While in San Francisco, he taught and coached bassists in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.  He has presented master classes at such institutions as the Colburn School, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Carnegie-Mellon University.

As a soloist, Mr. Weisner has focused on expanding the repertoire through his own commissions, by seeking out new works, and by creating new solo bass arrangements. Recent projects include a major new work for bass by composer Michael Hersch, and a recital of new works for bass by Peabody composers. He has done transcriptions for bass of music by Brahms and de Falla, and commissioned the concerto being performed on this concert.

Mr. Weisner grew up in Los Angeles, where he first began his bass studies with David Young.  He attended Boston University, where he studied with Lawrence Wolfe and Ed Barker, and the Peabody Conservatory, where he earned his Masters degree in the studio of Harold Robinson.  He has been a member of the New World Symphony and the Delaware Symphony.  He is performing at this concert on a bass made in Mirecourt, France ca. 1890 by Xavier Jacquet.

Cristina Nassif, saprano

April 5, 2009 Concert

Acclaimed for her powerful and expressive voice and her electric stage presence, Cristina Nassif’s roles include Violetta, Carmen, Nedda, Musetta, Rosina, Vitellia, Alice Ford, Donna Elvira, Pamina, Despina, and Tatiana. Critics and audiences alike have praised her performances with Washington National Opera, Virginia Opera, Shreveport Opera, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Piedmont Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and Bel Cantanti.  In addition to her February 2009 London debut as Carmen at Royal Albert Hall, engagements include: Pittsburgh Opera’s Djamileh (October 2008), Opera Delaware’s Le Nozze di Figaro (May 2009) and Virginia Opera’s Don Giovanni (November 2009).

Hailed on the concert stage for the distinct quality of her voice, her charismatic stage presence and her ability to sincerely communicate music and text, Ms. Nassif made her international debut in an operatic concert tour of Shanghai and Shenzhen (China) last December and has also appeared at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall as a concert soloist. Other engagements include the Virginia Symphony’s Elijah and Lobgesang, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Elijah, Buffalo Philharmonic’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Ocean City Pops’ Patriotic Salute,Pittsburgh’s International Poetry Forum sponsored Duende! (an all-Spanish solo recital), Philadelphia’s Opera on the Square, DC’s AIDS Marathon Opera Gala and the Embassy Series’ Operatic Gala and Tribute to Korngold.

Beginning her vocal training with her mother, Spanish mezzo-soprano Cristina Herrera de Nassif, Ms. Nassif earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Maryland and an Artist Diploma from The Academy of Vocal Arts. Competition credits include Rosa Ponselle All Marylander’s Vocal Competition’s Gold Medallion, Marjorie Lawrence International Vocal Competition’s First Prize, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions’ Regional Award, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition’s Grant, Annapolis Opera Competition’s Audience Choice, International Vocal Competition of Bilbao’s Critic’s Choice and Gerda Lissner Foundation’s First Prize.
For more info:  www.cristinanassif.com