August 4, 2017 — 5:30pm
Music of Schumann
Violinist Rebecca Jackson is founder and artistic director of “Music in May”, an annual chamber music festival in Santa Cruz, California. The series has featured such noted musicians as Michael Tree, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ron Leonard, and Martin Beaver.
Believing strongly in the power of music to heal and unite, she has performed in many marginalized communities across the US, Ukraine, Romania, Dominican Republic, Haiti, India, Costa Rica, and most recently into Said Gawash and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon.
Combining her passion for music and service, she is co-founder of Sound Impact, a collective of musicians initiating projects within homeless centers, hospitals, and juvenile detention centers. The latest undertaking, in collaboration with her father, is writing the authorized biography of her mentor David Arben, imprisoned in many Nazi death camps & former associate concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Ms. Jackson received her B.M. from The Juilliard School and a graduate degree from UC Santa Cruz. She is founding member of Ensemble San Francisco and regularly performs with the San Francisco Ballet and Santa Fe Opera orchestras.
Violist Alexandra Leem received her B.M. from the Eastman School and A.D. & M.M. from Yale University.
Ms. Leem is a former Principal Viola for the Concerto Soloists, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and Orchestra 2001. She was a member of the Opera Philadelphia, the Philly Pops, and viola substitute for the Philadelphia Orchestra.
A versatile musician, Ms. Leem has recorded extensively for The Studio, Philadelphia; the NFL studios, Mt. Laurel, NJ; and has performed for the Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia; the Royal Ballet; Pennsylvania ballet; Network for New Music; Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival; and the Santa Fe Concert Association. Other notable appearances include the Heidelberg Festival, Germany; Internationales Orchesterinstitut Attergau, Austria; and the International Holland Music Session; and in San Francisco bay area’s Music in May Festival, Santa Cruz; Chamber Music Silicon Valley; and the Ensemble SF.
Currently, she is a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra in New Mexico, and Principal Viola of the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra.
Christopher Schnell, cello, has been Assistant Principal Cello of the Sarasota Orchestra and cellist of the Sarasota Piano Quartet since 1995. In the summer, he is a cellist for The Santa Fe Opera.
Mr. Schnell is originally from Moorestown, NJ, and received his Bachelor of Music from Temple University in Philadelphia, after which he was a fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami Beach.
He has been a member of the Florida Philharmonic and the Milwaukee Symphony, and has been a frequent substitute in the Philadelphia Orchestra. In Florida, he has performed at numerous churches and with many ensembles, such as Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Opera, Key Chorale, Gloria Musicae, and the Sarasota-Manatee Bach Festival.
He lives in Sarasota with his wife and two daughters.
Originally from Rochester, NY, pianist Glenn Lewis has served, since 2008, as Head of Music Staff for the Pittsburgh Opera. He is also now in his 16th season with the Santa Fe Opera as a member of the music staff serving as pianist, vocal coach, and conductor. His musical activities span opera, chamber music, solo piano and vocal recitals.
Recently, Mr. Glenn conducted Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio for Dayton Opera, presented a solo piano recital in Pittsburgh as well as an Art Song recital with Pittsburgh Opera resident artsts Claudia Rosenthal and Brian Vu. With members of the Pittsburgh Opera orchestra, he has performed chamber works of Schubert, Brahms and Mendelssohn. This past spring he served as pianist and assistant conductor for Puccini’s Turandot and the world premiere of The Summer King at Pittsburgh Opera. This season, he is assistant/cover conductor for Santa Fe Opera’s Lucia di Lammermoor and will play piano and celeste in the orchestra for the SFO premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.
Over the last decade he has had engagements at the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago as well as many regional American opera companies serving as pianist, conductor and vocal coach. From 1994-2006, he worked as pianist and conductor in the opera houses of Cologne and Duesseldorf, Germany. He holds degrees in piano performance from Ithaca College and Northwestern University and an artist diploma in opera coaching and conducting from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.