Stephanie Arado, violin

Violinist Stephanie Arado joined the Minnesota Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in 1991.  A Chicago native, Ms. Arado attended Western Illinois University where she studied with Roland and Almita Vamos.  She went on to receive a Masters Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Dorothy Delay.  She has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and Minnesota Orchestras.  Ms. Arado is a member of the Bakken Trio, which regularly performs chamber music in the Twin Cities.  In 2004, Ms. Arado was awarded the prestigious McKnight Performing Artists Fellowship.

Richard Bock, cello

Richard Bock, principal cellist with The Phoenix Symphony for 24 seasons, began his cello studies at the age of 12 with Harvey Shapiro at The Juilliard School. Leopold Stokowski chose Bock, at age 18, to be principal cellist of the American Symphony Orchestra, making him the youngest principal player in the orchestra's history.  Following his tenure with the ASO, Riccardo Muti, conductor of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra in Florence, Italy, chose Bock as his principal cellist. Bock remained in that position for eight years. It was during that time that he was asked to join the prestigious Musicus Concentus Chamber players as solo cellist, touring throughout Italy and Germany.

Upon returning to the United States, Bock joined the Pro-Arte Chamber Orchestra, the first string orchestra to tour the Soviet Union under the auspices of the State Department. Bock was the featured soloist, playing the C major Concerto of Haydn to critical acclaim in Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, Riga and Vilna. Following this tour, Bock joined the Soviet Emigre Orchestra and toured North and South America.

In 1981, Julius Rudel chose Bock to be the principal cellist of the Buffalo Philharmonic. It was during his stay in Buffalo that Bock founded the Westminster Chamber Orchestra. His orchestra was described by the Buffalo News as a group whose “dynamics, balance, intonation and the like displayed an almost magical perfection and focus.”  While with The Phoenix Symphony, Bock performed Don Quixote by Strauss in November 1995 and Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1 in April 1996, both under conductor James Sedares. He also appeared as soloist with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra directed by Jeffrey Siegel.  In 1994-95, Bock was the artist in residence at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Arizona and held a similar position at Arizona State University's School of Music in 1995-96.  Recent recordings of Bock include Mosaic, a collection of Yiddish songs and music of the royal courts of Europe. Additional recordings include the Rozsa Simphonia Concertante with the New Zealand Symphony, The Paul Winter Consort on A&M Records and Three Intermezzi for Cello on CRI Records. 

In June 2009, Mr. Bock’s Phoenix restaurant, Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen, was featured on the Food Network’s popular series Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Dan Dressen, tenor

Dan Dressen keeps himself engaged in a variety of functions.  He is a professor of music and Associate Dean for the Fine Arts at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he also is building a center for Nordic art song.  He edited a seven-volume anthology of opera arias by Benjamin Britten for Boosey & Hawkes and currently serves on the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Music and recently began duties as a site visit panelist for the Minnesota States Arts Board.  Formerly president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing and the Minnesota College and University Council on Music, he currently serves on the Northfield Arts and Culture Commission and on the board for the Minneapolis/St. Paul chapter of the Edvard Grieg Society.

Mr. Dressen’s career as a tenor spans nearly thirty year.  His operatic performances include appearances with Washington Opera in its production of CARMEN and the world premiere of Dominick Argento's opera, THE DREAM OF VALENTINO.  He has numerous Minnesota Opera productions to his credit including the role of Flute in its production of Benjamin Britten's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, Basilio in Mozart's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, Gastone in LA TRAVIATA, Sellem in THE RAKE’S PROGRESS and Valzacchi in DER ROSENKAVALIER.  Recently he was seen as the Doctor in Poul Ruder’s A HANDMAID’S TALE and in the world premier of THE GRAPES OF WRATH by Ricky Ian Gordon.  This season he performed the role of Elcius in the American premier of THE FORTUNES OF CROESUS by Reinhard Keiser. 

An active concert performer and recitalist, Mr. Dressen has performed in Minneapolis and St. Paul with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale, Dale Warland Singers, Bach Society, and most recently in the Schubert Club’s Summer Art Song Festival.  He has a long and active relationship with VocalEssence of Minneapolis, with whom he is heard as Martin in the recording of Aaron Copland's opera, THE TENDERLAND, and as Johnny Inkslinger in PAUL BUNYAN by Benjamin Britten.   Other appearances with VocalEssence include the title roles in Britten's ST. NICOLAS CANTATA, Handel's SAMSON, Elgar's DREAM OF GERONTIUS, Dominick Argento's REVELATIONS OF ST. JOHN and JONAH AND THE WHALE, Dame Ethel Smythe’s MASS IN D, the role of Rajar in the world premiere of THE FOURTH WISEMAN by Randall Davidson.  Most recently he performed with VocalEssence in the world premier of THE PASSION OF CHRIST by Francis Grier and THE SONGS OF INNOCENSE AND EXPERIENCE by William Bolcom.  Mr. Dressen has performed in several Aldeburgh Festivals in England.  Performances there include the tenor solos in Britten's THE COMPANY OF HEAVEN, which he also recorded in London.  He is the tenor soloist at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.  This year marks his fifth appearance with the Festival of the Lakes in Alexandria, MN.

Jennifer Gerth, clarinet

Principal clarinet of the Duluth-Superior Symphony and an active member of the Twin Cities musical community, Jennifer Gerth frequently performs with the Minnesota Orchestra, VocalEssence and the Minnesota Dance Theatre.  Jennifer is on the faculty at Augsburg College, the University of St. Thomas, and teaches and performs at Birch Creek Performance Center in Door County, WI.

Sarah Lewis , cello

Cellist Sarah Lewis is in her 10th season with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.  A St. Paul native, she started piano lessons at the MacPhail Center for the Arts at the age of three.  When she was six, her family relocated to Delaware, where she continued music lessons and eventually focused on the cello.  She holds degrees from Southern Methodist University and the Juilliard School, where she studied with Lev Aronson and Channing Robbins, respectively.  Prior to joining the SPCO, Lewis was a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (1994-1996), and performed as a substitute musician with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  She recently appeared as soloist with the SPCO in C.P.E. Bach’s Cello Concerto in A, and gave the U.S. premiere of Malcolm Forsyth’s Eclectic Suite for Cello and Piano with Lydia Artymiw on the SPCO’s Ensemble Series.  An avid chamber musician, she has performed solo and chamber recitals in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Twin Cities.  In addition to her career as a classical musician, Lewis performs and has recorded popular music.  Before joining the SPCO, she toured and recorded as featured cellist with pop pianist Lorie Line.  She toured Japan with the Percy Faith Orchestra in 1998, and performed on Peter Ostroushko’s recording, “Heart of the Heartland.”  Sarah performed in the Napa Valley Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2008, and is back playing her favorite pieces in Alexandria this summer.  Lewis makes her home in Edina with her husband and two children.  Her other interests include downhill skiing, mountain climbing, gardening and yoga.

Emily Lodine, mezzo soprano

Emily Lodine has performed with many of the world’s finest conductors, including James Levine, Hugh Wolff, Paul Hillier, Nicholas McGegan, Leonard Slatkin, Jane Glover, and Bernard Labadie.  She has appeared with the symphonies of Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Detroit, South Dakota, Phoenix, Rochester, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Philip Glass Ensemble.  A frequent soloist with Music of the Baroque, she can be heard on that group’s recording of Von Himmel Hoch.  She also received acclaim for her work in the world premiere and recording of Jon Polifrone’s Requiem, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Recent engagements include Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Verdi’s Requiem with the Wichita Symphony, music of Bach and Brahms with Chicago’s Rembrandt Players, Mahler’s 2nd and 3rd Symphonies with the South Dakota Symphony, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Houston Chamber Music Society, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Houston Masterworks Chorus, Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with the Anchorage Opera, and Handel’s Messiah with the Lyra Baroque Orchestra of Minneapolis.

Ms. Lodine made her Carnegie Hall debut in Messiah under the baton of John Rutter.  She appeared with the Chicago Symphony in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde and Humperdinck’s  Hansel und Gretel, as well as Stravinsky’s Les Noces, Requiem Canticles and Mass, under Leonard Slatkin.  At the Ravinia Festival, she made her debut in Strauss’ Elektra, conducted by James Levine.

Equally at home in opera, Ms. Lodine created the role of Verena Marsh in the world premiere of Stephen Paulus’ Summer with Berkshire Opera, where she also sang in Handel’s Semele and Rossini’s La Cenerentola.  Other opera credits include Verdi’s Falstaff with the Pine Mountain Music Festival, Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia with Lyric Opera Cleveland, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Grand Rapids, Hoiby’s Bon Appétit with the Madison Opera, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with the Anchorage Opera.

A Magma Cum Laude graduate of Indiana University, Ms. Lodine is the recipient of a Pi Kappa Lambda scholarship, as well as four Margaret Hillis Fellowships, and six grants from the Scholl Foundation.  In addition, she is a member of the highly respected and Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble “Conspirare.”

Timothy Lovelace, pianist

Timothy Lovelace is Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano and Coaching at the University of Minnesota. He is a former Assistant Professor of Accompanying at The University of Texas at Austin. His principal teachers were Harold Evans, Gilbert Kalish, Donna Loewy and Frank Weinstock.

Active as a soloist, conductor and continuo player, Lovelace most often collaborates as a chamber music pianist and art song partner. The roster of internationally-known artists with whom he has appeared includes Lisa Batiashvili, Helen Callus, John Cerminaro, Miriam Fried, Alban Gerhardt, Christine Goerke, Emma Johnson, Katalin Károlyi, Pekka Kuusisto, Joe Lovano, Robert Mann, Charles Neidich, Paul Neubauer, Ruth Palmer, Hila Plitmann, Lawrence Power, Paquito D’Rivera and Fred Sherry; he has also concertized with the Bergen Woodwind Quintet and Pacifica String Quartet. For thirteen years, Lovelace was a staff pianist at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, where he played in the classes of Barbara Bonney, Christoph Eschenbach, Thomas Hampson, Christa Ludwig and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.

In 2008 Lovelace appeared in recital at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall with violinist Ayano Ninomiya, and was hailed as “a splendid partner” by New York Concert Review Inc. He has also been featured at Rio de Janeiro’s Sala Cecilia Meireles, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Philadelphia’s Trinity Center, Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and on chamber music series sponsored by the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minnesota and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His 2003 performances of the complete Bach Brandenburg Concerti with the Chamber Soloists of Austin “provided the most astonishing individual playing of the evening,” according to the Austin-American Statesman.

A proponent of new music, Lovelace has performed under the supervision of composers Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Andrew Imbrie, Leon Kirchner, Lowell Liebermann, Thea Musgrave, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, David Evan Thomas, Dan Welcher and Judith Zaimont, and he presented the world premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Third World.

“The superb collaborations of pianist Timothy Lovelace can’t be understated,” wrote Gramophone magazine in praise of Forgotten Romance, one of two Lovelace recordings on the Albany label. The American Record Guide declared his performance of Loeffler’s Rhapsodies on the Boston Records CD …is but a dream “the very best I have ever heard. Anyone wanting a definitive modern recording of this work need look no further.”

Brenda Manuel Mickens, violin

Violinist Brenda Manuel Mickens is a member of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She received her master’s degree in music performance from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Mickens loves playing chamber music and also volunteers with care team ministry through her church to visit and play for the homebound. She enjoys yoga, walking, organic gardening and spending time with her husband, David, also a professional violinist.

Dina Michelson Namer, piano

Born in New York City, Dina Namer is now a resident of Ottawa, Canada.  She studied both piano and flute from an early age.  After winning scholarships for entrance to the Eastman School of Music, she began formal studies in the Bachelor of Music program there.  While at Eastman she worked with Armand Basile and Eugene List.  She later continued her studies at the Manhattan School of Music where she completed her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in piano performance.  Among her teachers were Robert Goldsand, Benar Heifetz and Artur Balsam (chamber music studies).  Later in her career, with the support of the Canada Council, she worked extensively with Menahem Pressler, of the Beaux Arts Trio.        

An active performer, Dina Namer has diverse experience as both a soloist and chamber musician.  She has performed and recorded a wide range of repertoire, from Baroque harpsichord works to contemporary Canadian repertoire.  She has a longtime association with the musicians of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada in Ottawa.  Through the orchestra's Music for a Sunday Afternoon series, she has collaborated with such artists as Bernard Greenhouse, Andrew Dawes, Paul Tortelier, Felix Galimir, Charles Treger, Timothy Eddy, Leone Buyse, Gail Williams and many others.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Namer has been a member of the Aulos Ensembl (a trio for flute, clarinet and piano), the Ottawa Baroque Ensemble, and the Sh’ma Ensemble, a group devoted to performing works of composers who died in the Holocaust.  Her work with the Aulos Trio culminated in the release of a CD entitled “Playing Tribute”, which features chamber works of several Canadian composers.

As an educator, Dina Namer has taught piano performance at Ottawa, Carleton and Queen's Universities.  She also served for a number of years as a senior examiner for RCM Examinations and continues to serve as an adjudicator for music festivals and competitions.  Currently Ms. Namer teaches piano performance at Carleton and Queen’s Universities in addition to running a busy private studio

Since 1995, Ms. Namer has performed regularly in both the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and the Alexandria Festival of the Lakes in Alexandria, Minnesota.  Recent performance highlights include the Beethoven Choral Fantasie, the six Brandenburg Concerti (harpsichord) with the Kingston Symphony, and the Franck Piano Quintet with the Penderecki Quartet.  Ms. Namer is heard frequently on Minnesota Public Radio, CBC, and “Radio Canada.”

Jill Olson, violin

Violinist Jill Olson performs with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Olson was formerly the Concertmaster of the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony and the Fargo-Moorhead Opera. She has also performed as a member of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon, the Heidelberg Schlossfestspiele in Germany, and Wintergreen Performing Arts in Virginia.

In addition to her private violin studio, Ms. Olson coaches chamber music at the Saint Paul Conservatory for the Performing Arts. She has been on the faculty of the International Music Camp at the International Peace Gardens and the Bismarck Suzuki School in North Dakota as well as the Saint Joseph School of Music and Eden Prairie String Academy in Minnesota

Ms. Olson is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Catherine Tait. She has studied chamber music with members of the American String Quartet and the Cleveland Quartet. Ms. Olson is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Tamás Strasser, viola

Avid chamber musician Tamás Strasser has been violist with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra since 1975.  He was previously a member of the Kansas City Philharmonic, United States Army Strings, New Art String Quartet and Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia. Strasser has performed with the Vienna Trio and the Muir, Moscow and Bakken string quartets, and been a soloist with the SPCO, Kansas City Symphony among other orchestras, and the Santa Fe Opera.  He served as artist-in-residence for the North Carolina School of the Arts summer program and on the faculties of Madeline Island Music Camp and Macalester College.  He has taught master classes at the University of Minnesota and Kansas City Conservatory, among others.  Strasser received his bachelor’s degree from the Kansas City Conservatory and master’s degree from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C.  His principal teachers were Andor Toth, Tiberius Klausner, Michael Rabin and Dorothy Delay.  He serves on the faculty at the University of St. Thomas teaching violin and viola and leading the String Orchestra.  Strasser has performed as principal violist with the Wintergreen (VA) Festival, Colorado Music Festival in Boulder and the Aspen Chamber Symphony.  This is his fourth year as principal violist at the Cascade Music Festival in Oregon.  Strasser returns to perform chamber music in Alexandria’s Festival of the Lakes this summer.  Tam’s hobbies include chess, motorcycling, and traveling.

Sonja Thompson, piano

Active as a performer, educator and coach, pianist Sonja Thompson has appeared locally and nationally in a variety of performance settings. 2009-10 marks her 16th year at Augsburg College where she is Assistant Professor of Music.  She also serves as Assistant Music Director to Philip Brunelle at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, where she plays organ, assists with the choir, and develops new programs for worship, music and theater for youth and adults.

Sonja enjoys a busy performance schedule, appearing regularly as a soloist, with singers and instrumentalists in song and chamber music recitals, and in theatrical and other events.  This season included a solo recital for the Sioux City Chamber Music Association (Iowa); a week of song recitals for the Schubert Club’s “Song Fest”; an evening of chamber music with Music St. Croix in Stillwater, and “Rough Cuts” performances with soprano Jennifer Baldwin Peden for Nautilus Music Theater.  Thompson also provided music for an evening of poetry by Bill Holm at Plymouth Congregational Church, and performed with the “A la Carte Players” for an Ikebana flower show at the University Club in St. Paul.  She opened 2010 with performances of Ned Rorem’s settings of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel with soprano Mary Laymon and clarinetist Nina Olsen at MacPhail; Samuel Barber’s cello sonata with cellist David Holmes for Thursday Musical and a concert of Latin American music with soprano Maria Jette in Michigan.

Last season included a program of music by Ralph Vaughan Williams with soprano Maria Jette and violinist Fritz Gearhart in Eugene, Oregon; duo piano recitals with New York pianist Karen Becker; an English Soiree with Philip Brunelle and the soloists from Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis, and a staged performance of Robert Schumann’s great song-cycle Dichterliebe at the Guthrie Theater with baritone Bradley Greenwald.  In January 2009 Thompson and Greenwald, joined by soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw and clarinetist Jennifer Gerth, were thrilled to present new music by Minnesota composers Abbie Bettinis and Jocelyn Hagen for the Bethlehem Concert Series at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. 

Thompson has appeared many times on A Prairie Home Companion; in the summer of 2007 she was invited by Garrison Keillor to perform on the Prairie Home cruise to Norway, and in 2006 appeared with Keillor in Columbus, Georgia for the reopening of their historic opera house.  In May of 2007 Thompson collaborated with soprano Maria Jette and poet and MPR commentator Andrei Codrescu for a poetry and music event commemorating Hurricane Katrina, and that same year participated in a host of concerts and activities honoring the 100th anniversary of Edvard Grieg’s death.  Other 2007 highlights included Schubert's Die Schöne Müllerin with Metropolitan Opera tenor Dennis Petersen for the Dame Myra Hess concert series in Chicago, with additional performances in San Francisco and the University of Iowa; several Nordic recitals with Norwegian soprano Marianne Hirsti, and music of Brahms and Schumann with players from the Minnesota Orchestra.

Thompson's recent Music-Theater credits include Voyages, an original new-music theater piece performed as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival in August 2009; Urinetown with the Augsburg College Theater Department; Godspell with the New Plymouth Players at Plymouth Congregational Church; A Water Bird Talk (Argento) with Nautilus Music-Theater for the Chekhov Festival at Bryant Lake Bowl; A Three Penny Opera at Augsburg College; Bolcom's Dynamite Tonite for the “Illuminating Bolcom” festival sponsored by VocalEssence, and covering keyboards for performances of Mefistofeles and Maria de Buenos Aires at Theatre de la Jeune Lune.