Adjudicators
Piano
William Chapman Nyaho - See Artist's Bio on Home Page
Rhonda Rizzo - See Artist's Bio on Home Page
Janet Smith received a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from Oberlin Conservatory and a Masters from the Julliard School, both in piano performance. Her primary teachers included Adele Marcus at Julliard, Wilbur Price and Emil Danenburg at Oberlin, William Masselos at the Aspen Music Festival, and Aiko Onishi in the San Francisco Bay Area. She played in a master class for Alfred Brendel and coached with Aaron Copland for a performance of his Piano Fantasy at Oberlin's Contemporary Festival. Janet has performed many solo piano recitals on both coasts and in the Midwest, played a concerto with the Oberlin Orchestra, and has been a featured soloist on television and radio. She has given numerous two piano and duet recitals, appeared as a collaborative pianist with string and wind instrumentalists and singers, performed in chamber music recitals, and served as a choral accompanist. Locally, she has performed several times in the High Desert Chamber Music concerts.
As a teacher, she has served on the faculties of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, West Valley College, and DeAnza College. Her private piano studio in the San Francisco Bay Area produced outstanding students, some of whom won state-wide competitions and went on to become professional musicians. A frequent adjudicator in state and local competitions, she has also given numerous seminars and master classes for teachers. As a member of the Music Teachers' Association of California, she served for many years as an officer and on the state-wide Certificate of Merit Council.
Molly Wheeler has enjoyed a varied career as a teacher and performer. She received her Master of Music in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma and her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from Linfield College. As a performer, Molly has collaborated with many artists and has a special affinity for piano duet music. She has performed frequently as a part of the Ringering/Wheeler Piano Duo. The Duo has worked together since 2003 and has appeared at many venues and festivals, including The Ernest Bloch Music Festival, Water Music Festival, Bloedel Reserve Concert Series, Skamania Concert Series, as well as a live performance on KBPS 89.9. The duo released their first recording, “2 to Tango: Dance Music for Piano Duet” in 2009. Molly currently teaches piano in her home studio in Portland.
Strings
Travis Allen has a deep passion for music. His background includes a Ph.D. in Musicology and two cello performance degrees. Travis shares the universal language of music with 100s of students through the wide variety of classes he teaches at Central Oregon Community College. His college and private cello students thrive on his compassionate teaching style.
Sarah Ruzicka has been part of the Central Oregon community for 7 years. She is co-concert mistress of the Central Oregon Symphony, Music Specialist at High Lakes Elementary, and maintains a small studio of violin students. She completed a Masters in Music Education at Kent State University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education at the University of Miami. While living Florida she performed with Andrea Bocelli, Ron Raines, Nestor Tores, Cee Lo Green, Paul Oakenfold, and Mark O’Conner. She performed at both the 2008 Latin Grammy Tribute, and Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows, along with various professional classical ensembles throughout South Florida. She first began studying violin in the Salem-Keizer School district and served as Concertmistress for the Sprague Camerata, South Salem Chamber Orchestra, Salem Youth Symphony, and Mount Hood Community College orchestra. She also performed with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, All-State and All-Northwest Orchestras, and won the Salem-Keizer Solo and Ensemble competition 2 years in a row.
Sam Taylor is a violinist and guitarist with many years of teaching and performing experience in Europe and the US. His formal music education began at the San Francisco Conservatory and continued through some of the most prestigious school in Europe. Sam has been a conductor, concertmaster and chamber player in Europe, and most recently in Whitefish Montana. He is currently completing his Masters degree in violin performance at the University of Oregon with Kathryn Lucktenberg.
Other Instruments & Voice
Michael Gesme is currently in his eighteenth season as Conductor of the Central Oregon Symphony and Professor of Music at Central Oregon Community College. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he founded the Luther College Chamber Orchestra, and a Master of Music Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Michael also serves as the conductor of the Cascade Winds Symphonic Band, the Linfield Chamber Orchestra in McMinnville, OR, and is the music director for the Young Musicians and Artists summer camp held at Willamette University in Salem.
Stefanie Janin has a private flute studio and teaches music at Bear Creek Elementary in Bend. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, Oberlin Conservatory and the Yale School of Music and has performed in the United States and abroad. Stefanie plays with the Central Oregon Symphony, the Cascade Winds and is a member of the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra. Stefanie was a 2011 recipient of the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award. She is on the Central Oregon Symphony Education Committee, working on the new Symphony Stars outreach program. In addition to teaching, Stefanie enjoys organizing professional development for local music teachers.
Dan Flagg holds a Bachelor of Music in Trombone performance from California State Universitites, Northridge and Sacramento and a Master of Fine Arts in Trombone performance with emphasis on 20th century chamber music from California Institute of the Arts. Dan's principal teachers were Miles Anderson (Soloist, San Fracisico Symphony and L.A. Philharmonic) Ralph Sauer (La Philharmonic) and Normon Bolter (Boston Symphony Orchestra). Dan's first orchestral job was won at 16 years old as Principal Trombonist with the Sacramento Symphony Orchestra then with the Pacific Symphony 5 years later. Dan retired from the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in Maine in 2014 after a 28 year tenure and is currently the principal trombonist for the Central Oregon Symphony in Bend, Oregon. As a freelancer, Dan has performed and recorded with many popular artists such as Engelbert Humperdink, Anne Murray, The Kruger Brothers, The Manhatten Transfer, Paul Stukey, Arlo Guthrie, Frankie Valle and many others. Most recently Dan performed a world premier of Grammy winning composer Christopher Tin's work, Seirenes. Dan has performed as a soloist and in small emsembles at the Holland Festival and the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles. In recent years Dan has taken an interest in Jazz and is a founding member of Bend's own Summit Express Jazz band. Dan currently resides in Bend, Oregon with his wife Shelly who works at Central Oregon Radiology as a radiological technologist. He has two Children, Michael, 19, an aspiring drummer and Sarah, 24 a recent graduate of Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts earning degrees in Gender Studies and Musical Theater. In his spare time Dan enjoys the study of music history, building natural stone walls as well as cooking and gardening with his wife, Shelly.