TONIGHT
Saturday, October 28th, 2023
Saturday, October 28th, 2023
First Free Methodist Church
3200 3rd Ave W, Seattle WA 98119
Concert begins at 7:30PM
Please join our pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm
3200 3rd Ave W, Seattle WA 98119
Concert begins at 7:30PM
Please join our pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm
Michael Wheatley, conductor
Dr. Wheatley is the Music Director and Conductor of Skagit Symphony. Previously, he held the posts of Associate Conductor of the American Youth Philharmonic, Music Director of the Seven Hills Sinfonietta (Cincinnati, OH), and Associate Conductor of the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra. He has led professional orchestras on three continents, most recently in Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, and in the USA with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, Southern Illinois Music Festival, and the Cincinnati Chamber Opera.
Dr. Wheatley’s conducting teachers have included Christopher Zimmerman, David Zinman, Vassily Sinaisky, and Neil Varon. He is an alumnus of the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, Peter the Great Music Academy (Russia), and the College-Conservatory of Music (Univ. of Cincinnati). In 2019, he was awarded the Doctorate of Music Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music.
He has collaborated with soprano Renée Fleming, violinist David Kim, and Pulitzer-winning composers John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Kevin Puts, and Jennifer Higdon.
Dr. Wheatley is a frequent clinician and performs regularly as a violinist. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the Grammy-winning LaSalle and Tokyo String Quartets and has recorded on the Centaur and Claremont record labels.
Dr. Wheatley’s conducting teachers have included Christopher Zimmerman, David Zinman, Vassily Sinaisky, and Neil Varon. He is an alumnus of the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, Peter the Great Music Academy (Russia), and the College-Conservatory of Music (Univ. of Cincinnati). In 2019, he was awarded the Doctorate of Music Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music.
He has collaborated with soprano Renée Fleming, violinist David Kim, and Pulitzer-winning composers John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Kevin Puts, and Jennifer Higdon.
Dr. Wheatley is a frequent clinician and performs regularly as a violinist. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with members of the Grammy-winning LaSalle and Tokyo String Quartets and has recorded on the Centaur and Claremont record labels.
Elisa Barston, violin
Praised for her “glowing sound” and “technical aplomb” (Strad Magazine), violinist Elisa Barston has served as the Associate Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for nine seasons, and was a first violin section member of the Cleveland Orchestra. She is currently the Principal Second Violinist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Barston’s principal violin teachers include Josef Gingold, Robert Lipsett, Almita and Roland Vamos, Elaine Skorodin Fohrman, and Betty Haag. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Music Cum Laude. At Indiana University, where she earned a Master of Music degree, Ms. Barston was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship, and the Starling Foundation Grant.
Among her awards, Ms. Barston has garnered top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition including The Audience Prize, First Prize at the Julius Stulberg Auditions, Grand Prize at the International Kingsville Young Performers' Competition, and First Prize in the Seventeen Magazine-General Motors National Music Competition.
As a soloist, Ms. Barston has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, with the major symphony orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Taipei, among numerous others. In 1986, she made her European debut with the English Chamber Orchestra at the request of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Recent notable performances include the U.S. premieres of two previously unpublished violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi, Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” with the Seattle Symphony.
Ms. Barston’s principal violin teachers include Josef Gingold, Robert Lipsett, Almita and Roland Vamos, Elaine Skorodin Fohrman, and Betty Haag. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Music Cum Laude. At Indiana University, where she earned a Master of Music degree, Ms. Barston was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, the Jascha Heifetz Scholarship, and the Starling Foundation Grant.
Among her awards, Ms. Barston has garnered top prizes at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition including The Audience Prize, First Prize at the Julius Stulberg Auditions, Grand Prize at the International Kingsville Young Performers' Competition, and First Prize in the Seventeen Magazine-General Motors National Music Competition.
As a soloist, Ms. Barston has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, with the major symphony orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Seattle, and Taipei, among numerous others. In 1986, she made her European debut with the English Chamber Orchestra at the request of Sir Yehudi Menuhin. Recent notable performances include the U.S. premieres of two previously unpublished violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi, Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto No. 1, Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” with the Seattle Symphony.
