Discussion Panel

Meredith Brown (horn), a native of East Lansing, MI, attended Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Music, respectively. Meredith currently resides in Vallejo, CA with her husband, Bruce Chrisp.

What time not spent practicing or in servile duty to their four cats is spent driving around the Bay Area to play with groups such as Symphony Silicon Valley, the Marin Symphony,
the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Napa Valley Symphony and others, as well as to play extra parts with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera.

A need for a more tactile creative outlet has led Meredith to design and create fused glass jewelry and glass mosaics, but needless to say, projects for her own use may sit for many months in unfinished states. Meredith enjoys teaching at California State University East Bay and San Jose State University, and squeezes in chamber music and solo appearances whenever possible. In July of 2007, she was awarded the Herbert C. Spencer Honorable Mention Award at the International Horn Competition of America, and can't wait to compete again in 2009.

Ann Drinan, Senior Editor, has been a member of the Hartford Symphony viola section for over 30 years. She is a former Chair of the Orchestra Committee, former member of the HSO Board, and has served on many HSO committees. She is also the Executive Director of CONCORA (CT Choral Artists), a professional chorus based in Hartford and New Britain, founded by Artistic Director Richard Coffey. Ann was a member of the Advisory Board of the Symphony Orchestra Institute (SOI), and was the HSO ROPA delegate for 14 years, serving as both Vice President and President of ROPA. In addition to playing the viola and running CONCORA, Ann is a professional writer and editor, and has worked as a consultant and technical writer for software companies in a wide variety of industries for over 3 decades. (She worked for the Yale Computer Science Department in the late 70s, and thus has been on the Internet, then called the DARPAnet, since 1977!) She is married to Algis Kaupas, a sound recordist, and lives a block from Long Island Sound in Branford CT. Together they create websites for musicians: shortbeachwebdesign.com.

Ann holds a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MA in International Relations from Yale University.

Read Ann Drinan's blog here. web.esm.rochester.edu/poly/author/ann-drinan

Todd Jelen is the principal bassoonist with the Akron and Canton Symphonies in Ohio and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin. He has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Utah Symphony, Wheeling Symphony, Youngstown Symphony and the Cleveland Opera and Ballet Orchestras.

Mr. Jelen received his Bachelors Degree in Music from Cleveland State University, where he studied with Cleveland Orchestra members Ronald Phillips and Phillip Austin. He received his Master’s Degree in Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music where his mentor was The Cleveland Orchestra’s principal bassoonist, John Clouser. While studying at CIM, Todd was also a member of the Juniper Woodwind Quintet, which placed second at the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition and third in the Darius Milhaud Performance Prize Competition.

As a solo performer, Todd has been featured in Weber’s [i]Andante and Hungarian Rondo[/i] with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Villa-Lobos’ [i]Ceranda Des Sete Notas[/i] with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra. He also performed with the Utah Symphony on their 2005 European tour. Todd has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Chautauqua Music Festival, and the Orford Arts Centre in Quebec.

Kale Cumings received a B.M. degree from Wheaton College and a M.M degree from Northwestern University, where he studied with Vincent Cichowicz. Kale is an active freelance player and has performed with many bay area orchestras, including frequent appearances with the San Francisco Symphony. He has also played several Broadway shows in San Francisco, including Phantom of the Opera and Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Boheme. Kale is a founding member of the San Francisco Brass Company, a bay area brass quintet. When he is not playing, Kale enjoys spending time with his wife, two children, and dog.

Christine Coyle is a section cellist in New Haven Symphony, Eastern CT Symphony and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. She also works with other various orchestras in the area. She teahes at The Thames Valley Music School as well as the Community Music School in Essex. She is a memeber of the Amaryllis Ensemble, which performs gigs from Princton NJ to Simsbury CT and beyond. I love doing anything outdoors especially if it involves getting dirty and sweaty!

Bruce Chrisp has been performing trombone professionally in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1989. Currently he is principal trombone in the Santa Rosa, Marin, Napa Valley, Vallejo, Oakland and Fresno Philharmonic orchestras. He is also principal trombone in the Carmel Bach Festival orchestra and performs regularly with Opera San Jose.

Chrisp has performed and toured Europe with the San Francisco Symphony, and has performed with the San Francisco Ballet and Opera orchestras. He has recorded with the San Francisco Symphony and the Oregon symphony and is heard on a CD recently released by Chanticleer. He has been featured as a soloist with two Bay Area orchestras.

Bruce teaches trombone at UC Davis and is a founding member of the San Francisco Brass Company, a Bay Area-based brass quintet. He attended the University of Michigan School of Music for his undergraduate degree and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for his graduate degree.

Chrisp lives with his wife, Meredith Brown, a horn player, in Vallejo, CA. Bruce and Meredith were featured in the documentary film [i]Freeway Philharmonic [/i]released in 2008 and broadcast on PBS television.

Paul Castillo is a clarinetist in the greater Los Angeles – Long Beach – Orange County region and a Los Angeles native. Now well into his fourth decade as a free-lance professional musician in Southern California, he has performed with just about every orchestra in the area, including the Pasadena Pops, Long Beach, Pasadena Symphony, Long Beach Grand Opera,
Pacific Symphony, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Hollywood Bowl orchestras. Mr. Castillo has also worked as a theater pit
musician and a recording musician for theatrical motion pictures and television.

He is Secretary-Treasurer for the Long Beach Area Musicians’ Association Local 353 AFM, Parliamentarian for Professional Musicians
Local 47 AFM, and an experienced contracts negotiator. In his spare time, Mr. Castillo tends to the citrus trees in his backyard, studies French and German literature, and experiments in creating various culinary concoctions.

Meredith Brown (horn), a native of East Lansing, MI, attended Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she received her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Music, respectively. Meredith currently resides in Vallejo, CA with her husband, Bruce Chrisp.

What time not spent practicing or in servile duty to their four cats is spent driving around the Bay Area to play with groups such as Symphony Silicon Valley, the Marin Symphony,
the Oakland East Bay Symphony, the Napa Valley Symphony and others, as well as to play extra parts with the San Francisco Symphony and Opera.

A need for a more tactile creative outlet has led Meredith to design and create fused glass jewelry and glass mosaics, but needless to say, projects for her own use may sit for many months in unfinished states. Meredith enjoys teaching at California State University East Bay and San Jose State University, and squeezes in chamber music and solo appearances whenever possible. In July of 2007, she was awarded the Herbert C. Spencer Honorable Mention Award at the International Horn Competition of America, and can't wait to compete again in 2009.

Ann Drinan, Senior Editor, has been a member of the Hartford Symphony viola section for over 30 years. She is a former Chair of the Orchestra Committee, former member of the HSO Board, and has served on many HSO committees. She is also the Executive Director of CONCORA (CT Choral Artists), a professional chorus based in Hartford and New Britain, founded by Artistic Director Richard Coffey. Ann was a member of the Advisory Board of the Symphony Orchestra Institute (SOI), and was the HSO ROPA delegate for 14 years, serving as both Vice President and President of ROPA. In addition to playing the viola and running CONCORA, Ann is a professional writer and editor, and has worked as a consultant and technical writer for software companies in a wide variety of industries for over 3 decades. (She worked for the Yale Computer Science Department in the late 70s, and thus has been on the Internet, then called the DARPAnet, since 1977!) She is married to Algis Kaupas, a sound recordist, and lives a block from Long Island Sound in Branford CT. Together they create websites for musicians: shortbeachwebdesign.com.

Ann holds a BA in Music from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MA in International Relations from Yale University.

Read Ann Drinan's blog here. web.esm.rochester.edu/poly/author/ann-drinan