Dear 2002 Northwest Mahler Festival Participants,

We are happy to announce the conductors and locations for our upcoming reading sessions, and an open call for soloists for Bruckner's Te Deum. If you haven't yet registered for the festival, please do so today, especially string players AND SINGERS (SATB)! We can still use more of most other instruments, too, and in particular we are looking for bassoon (and contra), E-flat clarinet, trumpet, harp, and timpani players. As always with our reading sessions and concert, the bigger, the better! Registration is easy: go to the Registration page. It takes just a minute to fill out the form.

Conductors and Locations for Reading Sessions

We have a very fine lineup of conductors for this year's five sessions. You won't want to miss any of them. Please note the SPECIAL section for each session, for special instruments required.

June 11th, 2002 - Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde. Eckstein Middle School, Seattle. 7pm. Conducted by John Welsh.

John Welsh has spent much of his life in the Baltimore-Washington area, where he earned an advanced degree in conducting from the Peabody Conservatory, and was the Music Director/Conductor of the Georgetown Symphony Orchestra for 22 years and the conductor of the Prince William Symphony Orchestra for 13 years. Coming to the Northwest in 2000, John became Music Director of the Bremerton Symphony and founding Music Director of the Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia. For the past two seasons, he has also held the position of Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre du Festival Internationale d'Echternach, in Luxembourg. In his distinguished career, John Welsh has conducted the Air Force Band, the Annapolis Symphony and Opera, Baltimore Symphony, the National Lyric Opera Company, the New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, among many others. John conducted Das Lied Von Der Erde with the Oak Ridge Symphony a number of years ago. "As with every time I have performed music by Mahler," he says, "the experience turned into an emotionally moving and broadening one....I am looking forward to restudying the work...."

SPECIAL: For Das Lied Von Der Erde, we are looking for someone to play celeste, and someone to play mandolin. We also need two harpists.

June 14th and 15th, 2002 - Anton Bruckner's Te Deum. Lannigan Gym, Holy Rosary Church, West Seattle. 7pm, both dates. Conducted by Lynn Hall.

Besides conducting the Northwest Chorale, which he founded in 1978, Lynn has been the director of several large ensembles over the years, including the University of Washington University Singers, the Esperance Baptist Church Choir, the Seattle Area Lutheran Chorale and Orchestra, and the Christ Church Choir and Orchestra. He was Assistant Conductor of both the University Oratorio Chorus and the University Chorale. Mr. Hall has also served as Music director for several area churches.

SPECIAL: For the Te Deum, we need an organist (playing on a synthesizer). Note that there is no percussion for this work, other than one timpani player.

Our soloists will be:

Note:  We have decided that the Friday session will be for chorus only.  The orchestra will join in on Saturday.  (The orchestral music alone does not really justify an entire reading session.)  We apologize for this late change of plans.

June 18th, 2002 - Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 4. Lannigan Gym, Holy Rosary Church, West Seattle. 7pm. Conducted by David Waltman.

In 1990, David, a Maryland native, was the youngest conductor ever selected for the highly competitive United States Army Band Officer program after auditioning with the United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) in Washington, D.C. He has conducted orchestras, choirs and wind ensembles in Denver, Syracuse, Seattle, Columbia, Toronto, St. Thomas, Washington, D.C., Cincinnati and numerous other cities. In addition to teaching and conducting ensembles at the University of Washington, where he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting, Mr. Waltman is Music Director and Artistic Advisor for the Port Gardner Bay Chamber Music Society and Conductor of the Boeing Employees Concert Band. In association with Western Washington University, Mr. Waltman and his wife, Marisa Hartman, are producing the Masters of Wind Music video series showcasing the world's finest wind conductors and composers. This program has featured Maestro Frederick Fennell, world renowned conductor and founder of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Professor H. Robert Reynolds of the University of Michigan and composer Dr. Alfred Reed. Also a fine bassoonist, Mr. Waltman has performed with the Denver Symphony Orchestra, the Greeley Chamber Orchestra, the Jefferson Symphony and many outstanding United States and European military bands.

SPECIAL: For Nielsen's Symphony No. 4, we need an extra set of timpani. The challenging timpani part requires two players. There is no other percussion.

June 20th, 2002 - Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. Eckstein Middle School, Seattle. 7pm. Conducted by David Seamon.

Described by The Oregonian as "an extremely gifted young conductor, on the way up", David Seamon has won accolades from critics and musicians alike. On his reading of the Tchaikovsky "Pathetique" Symphony with the Oregon Symphony, James DePriest declared "I rarely encounter conductors of his expressive capability, those who are such natural musicians and very inspiring. David is an authentic talent". A native of New York, David Seamon was Music Director of the Southeastern Minnesota Youth Orchestra and conductor of the Metropolitan Chambers Players from 1992 until 1994. He joined the conducting staff of the Oregon Symphony in 1995. Seamon has conducted the symphony during subscription, youth, and pops concerts. He has also conducted the Portland State University Orchestra and has been an adjunct faculty member at Pacific University. David also developed and hosts a radio program, "The Great Interpretations", which airs on KPBS in Portland. David Seamon has served as a cover conductor for the Boston Symphony, as well as the National Symphony and Leonard Slatkin. In addition, he has been a guest conductor for the Houston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony.

SPECIAL: For Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, we need two harpists.

June 24th, 2002 - Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 12. Eckstein Middle School, Seattle. 7pm. Conducted by Alexei Girsh.

Alexei is back once again to give another expert reading of Shostakovich. In his years in Russia, Alexei was highly acclaimed as principal conductor of the Radio-Television Symphony of Vladivostok, Music Director of the St. Petersburg Youth Symphony, and a professor at the Institute of the Arts in St. Petersburg. Since moving to the United States in 1991, he has been Music Director of the Washington Wind Symphony, the Youth Philharmonic Northwest, the Bellevue Ballet Orchestra, and currently the Eastside Symphony. He is also conductor of the Seattle Symphony's Classical orchestra and teaches conducting, theory and orchestration at the Washington Academy of Performing Arts.

For directions to Eckstein Middle School and Holy Rosary Church, and for more information about each conductor, go to the Schedule page. If you have specific questions, you can send them to info@nwmahlerfestival.org.

Open Call for Soloists for Bruckner's Te Deum

For anyone interested in singing one of the four solo parts (SATB) in our mini-concert of Bruckner's Te Deum on June 14 and 15, we will be holding informal auditions soon. If you're interested, please contact Pam Silimperi at 206-543-0909 (day) or 206-525-1996 (eve) to make arrangements.

2002 Northwest Mahler Festival     info@nwmahlerfestival.org