Icicle Creek Chamber
Music Festival

Russian-born pianist Oksana Ejokina appears frequently as guest recitalist and chamber musician on concert series across the United States and abroad. She has soloed with the Seattle Symphony, Symphony Tacoma, and St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, among others. Two of her long-term collaborations are with pianist Christina Dahl and Volta Piano Trio, whose recordings for the Con Brio label received accolades in international music magazines such as The Strad, Gramophone and American Record Guide. A sought-after teacher, Ejokina is Chair of Piano Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Pacific Lutheran University. She has been associated with the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts for nearly two decades, developing and directing classical music programs.

Christina Dahl is a chamber musician, soloist and teacher who has been on the piano faculty at Stony Brook University for twenty-seven years. She has spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival, been a collaborating artist at the Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival, and was a fellow both at the Tanglewood Center and at the Banff Center. Christina was both a faculty member and chair of the piano department at the Eastern Music Festival for nine years, and subsequently joined the faculty at the Icicle Creek Music Center and Yellow Barn Festival and School. She has twice been a cultural ambassador for the US State Department. She is in frequent demand as a master class teacher, regularly appearing on such distinguished series as the Steinhardt Piano Series at NYU and the Art of the Piano at CCM.

Her work with Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook, crafting a holistic graduate program for pianists that emphasizes collaboration, immersion in new music and a comprehensive performance outlook has yielded a staggering number of successful pianists who have gone into the profession as university professors, chamber music players and members of new music ensembles such as Yarn/Wire and Bang on a Can.

Christina has recently taken the position of Graduate Program Director in the Music Department at Stony Brook, and helps to oversee and run that distinguished graduate program in addition to her work on the piano faculty. Administrative work has proven intensely interesting during a year and a half when most work must be done from home and at the computer.

Christina Dahl is married to trombonist Richard Stout, a member of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Cellist Cheng-Hou Lee has worked with Yo-Yo Ma, Harvey Shapiro, Janos Starker, Mistilav Rostropovich, Paul Katz, and the Juilliard, Tokyo, and Alban Berg Quartets. He has appeared on WQXR in NYC and WFMT in Chicago, and he was a recipient of a career grant from the Quanta Education Foundation. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, and he earned his DMA from the New England Conservatory. Mr. Lee has performed with Paul Katz, Don Weilerstein, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Kim Kashkashian, Rachel Barton Pine, Anthony McGill, Robert Chen, Hsin-Yun Huang, Ruth Laredo, Richard Young, Yehuda Hanani, Yehonatan Berick, the Boromeo and Miami Quartets, and composer William Bolcom. He has performed at the Ravinia Festival, the Dame Myra Hess Series, and appeared with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, as well as solo appearances with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra. Cheng-Hou is currently the cellist of the Avalon Quartet, which succeeded the Vermeer Quartet as the quartet-in-residence at Northern Illinois University. He has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, Hot Spring Music Festival, and the Madeline Island Chamber Music Camp.

Praised by the Boston Globe for her “fleet, energetic, and bright-toned” playing, pianist Emely Phelps enjoys a flexible and multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. A finalist for the 2019 Pro Musicis International Award, she has presented solo recitals throughout North America and Europe with a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach to Carter. Highlights of her 2021-2022 concert season include performances of Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto with the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and Ohio University Symphony Orchestra, solo recitals at Denison University and Bucknell University, and duo recitals with pianist Oksana Ezhokina, violinist Christine Harada Li, and flutist Hannah Porter Occeña. An in-demand collaborator, Emely was a founding member of the prizewinning Trio Cleonice, with whom she spent eight years performing more than 150 concerts across the United States, Europe, and China. She appears on flutist Hannah Porter Occeña’s recently released CD, Confluence, and is in the process of recording a second album with Hannah, as well as a CD for the Delos label with violinist Dawn Wohn. Emely is currently Artist-Teacher of Piano at Ohio University, where she chairs the keyboard division, teaches piano, chamber music, and keyboard repertoire, and directs the graduate collaborative piano degree program. She holds a doctoral degree from Stony Brook University, a BM and MM from Juilliard, and has studied with Christina Dahl, Julian Martin, Vivian Weilerstein, Marjorie Lee, and Carole Kriewaldt. Emely is thrilled to be returning to the Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival for a fourth summer.

Violinist Marie Wang, has been in the Avalon String Quartet since its inception in 1995. As a member of this award winning ensemble, she has captured top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild and the Munich ARD international competitions. The quartet has been invited to perform at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie & Weill Halls, Alice Tully, 92nd St Y, Herculessaal (Munich),and the Library of Congress, among others. Marie has collaborated with artists such as Gilbert Kalish,Juilliard and Pacifica Quartets and members of the Emerson Quartet. Her recordings with the quartet can be found on Cedille Records, Bridge Records, Albany Records, and Channel Classics. Marie’s solo recitals have been broadcast on NPR and her Concerto appearances have been broadcast on CBC Radio Canada. Ms. Wang holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School in Quartet Studies while she served as a teaching assistant to the Juilliard Quartet as a part of the Lisa Arnold Graduate Quartet Residency. Her previous teachers include Donald Weilerstein, Mauricio Fuks, Phillip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, and Mathias Tacke. Marie is a Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Northern Illinois University. Prior to her appointment at NIU, she was an Artist in Residence at Indiana University South Bend.

Acclaimed by Opera News for her “potent” and “intense and incisive” stage presence, and praised by the Cincinnati Post as “regal in bearing, with vocal endowments to match,” lyric mezzo-soprano Soon Cho is an Associate Professor of Voice at Pacific Lutheran University. Dr. Cho is a sought-after clinician, conducting master classes at institutions such as San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, Florida State University, and various Schmidt Vocal Competitions annually. Dr. Cho is a member of the summer teaching faculty at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy, and Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival in Leavenworth, WA. Dr. Cho’s vocal and dramatic work is wide-ranging — from canonical works from the 18th through 20th centuries to contemporary music by living composers. Her performing career spans Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, with notable appearances at the Beaune International Baroque Festival in France, Forbidden City Concert Hall in China, and Ghent New Music Festival in Belgium, and has collaborated with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and May Festival Chorus, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, and Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra. While maintaining an active performing career, Dr. Cho is an artist teacher deeply committed to education. While holding herself and her students to the highest standards, Dr. Cho always adopts a nurturing, holistic, learner-centered approach that brings out the best in young singers.

Described by the Chicago Tribune as “an ensemble that invites you — ears, mind, and spirit — into its music,” the Avalon String Quartet has established itself as one of the country’s leading chamber music ensembles. The Avalon captured the top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich and First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition.

Since their founding in 1998, they have equally enjoyed performing and recording contemporary music and traditional string quartet repertoire. In 2018 the quartet released a recording of the complete quartets of Matthew Quayle for Naxos. Their performance of “Aqua” by Harold Meltzer for Bridge Records, received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Compendium. Their critically acclaimed 2015 recording on Cedille Records, “Illuminations”, featured music of Stacy Garrop, Osvaldo Golijov, Debussy and Britten. The Avalon String Quartet’s first CD, Dawn to Dusk, featuring quartets by Ravel and Janacek, was honored with the 2002 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for best chamber music recording.

The Avalon has performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St Y, and Merkin Hall New York; the Library of Congress and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC; Wigmore Hall in London; and Herculessaal in Munich. They have presented the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven, Bartok, and Brahms in historic Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Avalon is quartet-in-residence at the Northern Illinois University School of Music, a position formerly held by the Vermeer Quartet.

Anthony Devroye has been violist of the Avalon String Quartet since 2004, performing in major American venues as well as in Colombia, France, and Korea. Mr. Devroye is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Michael Tree and Roberto Diaz; and holds a B.A. in Biological Science from Columbia University, where he pursued concurrent viola studies at The Juilliard School under Toby Appel, Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Prior to joining the quartet, he held a two-year fellowship with the New World Symphony.
In addition to his numerous performances with the Avalon Quartet, Mr. Devroye is an occasional guest with the Chicago Symphony (with whom he has toured the United States, Europe and Mexico under Riccardo Muti), Chicago Chamber Musicians, Rembrandt Chamber Players and Grant Park Music Festival. His recitals, chamber music performances and commentary have been regularly featured on WFMT radio, and he has appeared as concerto soloist with the Illinois Philharmonic and Kishwaukee Symphony. He has served as Artistic Director of Rush Hour Concerts and the International Music Foundation in Chicago, organizations that make classical repertoire and new music openly accessible through free concerts and educational initiatives. Mr. Devroye is a Professor in the School of Music at Northern Illinois University.

Praised for his “virtuosic skill” (Stage and Cinema), “poised expression”, and “sweet, refined tone” (Chicago Classical Review), French violinist Blaise Magniere is a highly acclaimed chamber musician, active both in the U.S and abroad. He has toured extensively, including venues such as Wigmore Hall in London, Herculessaal in Munich, the Louvre Auditorium in Paris, the Schneider Series at Carnegie Hall, Ravinia Festival, Mostly Mozart, La Jolla Festival and the Caramoor Festival. As the first violinist of the Avalon String Quartet, he was the top prizewinner of the Munich ARD Competition and Grand Prize winner at the Concert Artists Guild Competition.
His performances and conversation have been heard on BBC, CBC (Canada), ABC (Australia) and France-Musique. He has recorded for the Channel Classics, Cedille, Bridge, New Tangent and Albany labels, and earned the 2002 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award. He performed on the album “Songs and Structures” which was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium. A highly dedicated teacher, he has successfully prepared students for orchestral auditions and top graduate programs.
He is presently the Richard O. Ryan Endowed Chair in Violin at Northern Illinois University. As an assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet, he coached chamber music at the Juilliard School. He was on faculty at Indiana University South Bend before arriving at NIU.

First Prize winner of the 2008 Naumburg International Violoncello Competition, David Requiro has emerged as one of today’s finest American cellists. Mr. Requiro has made concerto appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, and several orchestras from California and has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Mr. Requiro is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. He previously served as Artist-in-Residence at the University of Puget Sound as well as Guest Lecturer at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Meta Weiss made her international debut at the age of seven in Holland, and has established herself as one of the leading cellists of her generation. Her performances have taken her to venues worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Melbourne Recital Centre. Top prize-winner in numerous competitions, she has been hailed as “magnetic” (ArtsJournal) and “luminous” (Sydney Arts Guide). A graduate of Rice University (BM) and The Juilliard School (MM, DMA), she is Chamber Music Coordinator and Senior Instructor for the College of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder and Artistic Director of the Boulder Cello Festival.

Kai Hirayama is a New York-based clarinetist and educator. Before moving to the east coast, he was active in his native Seattle area as a musician with the Lake Union and Bainbridge Island Symphony Orchestras, Ballet Bellevue, and Seattle Rock Orchestra, as well as being a frequent guest artist for the Seattle Symphony’s “Tiny Tots” family concert series. A passionate educator as well as performer, he has taught music to students of all ages and levels, including directing public school band classes, teaching privately, coaching at numerous summer music programs, and occasionally serving as substitute clarinet faculty for the Juilliard Pre-college Division. He is an avid champion of new music and a strong believer in its necessity for a culturally relevant musical future, having worked with numerous composers such as Igor Santos, Stephen de Filippo, and Alan Hankers to create and premiere new works of clarinet solo and chamber music. Dr. Hirayama received his Bachelor of Music Education from Pacific Lutheran University (WA), his Masters in Clarinet Performance from The Ohio State University (OH), and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the guidance of Alan Kay (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Riverside Symphony).

Jennifer Caine Provine was a first prize winner of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Competition and recipient of several awards and grants including the Royal College of Music’s Isolde Menges Prize for solo Bach, Oxford University’s Polonsky Foundation Grant and Joan Conway Scholarship in Performance, Harvard University’s John Knowles Paine Traveling Fellowship, and the Frank Huntington Beebe Grant for Musicians. She has concertized throughout the U.S. and Europe in venues including the Phillips Collection, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the Glinka Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, where she performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic. Jennifer is Associate Concertmaster of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and violinist of the Volta Piano Trio (formerly Icicle Creek Piano Trio), with whom she has performed extensively throughout the Northwest and abroad, been heard on national radio stations, and recorded two discs on the Con Brio label to critical acclaim. As assistant director and resident violinist at the Icicle Creek Music Center from 2007-2010, she performed on the Canyon Wren Series and coached for and directed educational programs. Jennifer regularly appears on several Northwest chamber music series, including the Second City Chamber Series, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, and the Icicle Creek International Chamber Music Festival, and performs frequently with the Seattle Symphony. She has also written freelance reviews for Strings Magazine’s In Print column. Jennifer is a graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Slavic Languages and Literatures, and holds Masters Degrees from the Royal College of Music and Oxford University.

Rose Hashimoto grew up in Seattle and recently returned to the area after a long stint in New York City. Rose has performed with ensembles including A Far Cry, Shattered Glass Ensemble, the Thalia Quartet, the Aeolus Quartet, and the Argus Quartet; as a soloist with the Mannes Orchestra; and at music festivals including Birdfoot Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, Yellow Barn, Taos, and Kneisel Hall. She played with the Experiential Orchestra on the Grammy-winning recording of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison and on A Far Cry’s Grammy-nominated album, Visions and Variations. Rose earned a B.M. from Juilliard and a M.M. and Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes College.
A dedicated violin and viola teacher, Rose currently serves on the faculty of Kaleidoscope School of Music and the Suzuki Institute of Seattle.

Applauded for her virtuosity in the standard repertoire, violinist Elisabeth Perry is an avid proponent of contemporary music, a committed chamber musician, and a dedicated pedagogue. She shared the stage with Yehudi Menuhin at Royal Albert Hall at age 14. A winner of New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, the list of her other awards includes the Greater London Arts Award and the ISM Award. She served as concertmaster of the Deutsche Kammerakademie and First Concertmaster of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic with numerous recordings to her credit.

Mikhail Shmidt, violin, was born in Moscow, Russia. He began his musical education at the age of five, and at fourteen became the winner of the International Chamber Music Competition “Concertino Prague.” He graduated cum laude from Gnessin Institute of Music in 1987. His major teachers were Halida Akhtiamova and Valentin Berlinsky of the celebrated Borodin Quartet. While still at college, Mikhail participated in the highly successful Gnessin String Quartet. After college Mikhail Shmidt played in the State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio String Quartet and was concertmaster of “Camerata Boccherini” Baroque Orchestra. One of the highlights of Mikhail’s Russian career was collaborating with Alfred Schnittke, one of the greatest composers of our time.
Since immigrating to the United States in 1989, Mikhail Shmidt has established himself as a leading chamber musician. He was a founding member of the Bridge Ensemble which recorded and toured successfully in the U.S. and Europe. As a guest violinist of the Moscow Piano Quartet he tours Portugal regularely, and his “remarkable musicianship” was hailed by Lisbon newspaper Tempo. Among the highlights of Mikhail’s chamber music activities are his collaborations with such diverse and distinguished composers and musicians as Steve Reich, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Giya Kancheli, Paul Schoenfield, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Vadim Repin, and many others.
Mikhail has recorded on Melodia, Delos, Naxos, ECM, Tzadik, Dux, Six Degrees and Inova labels. Mikhail is a member of Seattle Chamber Players – leading New Music group of Pacific Northwest and Music of Remembrance.

Richard Wolfe studied violin with Aaron Shapinsky, Dorothy DeLay and Walter Levin. After playing three years with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, he settled in the Netherlands, where he had a 35 year tenure as principal violist of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. In this context he was a frequent soloist, in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. His recording of Mozarts ‘Sinfonia Concertante’ with the orchestra and its concertmaster Gordan Nicoliç, on the Tacet label, was met with critical acclaim. Richard is a member of the Belgian Ensemble ‘Explorations’ and the Utrecht-based Rietveld Ensemble.