CelloFest

Saturday, October 19, 2024

We are thrilled to invite cellists of all ages to join us for the first UNI CelloFest! Participants will spend a day in the spectacular Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center with our faculty and guest artist ensemble The Parrish Cello Trio.

UNI CelloFest offers a full day of masterclasses, entrepreneurial workshops, cello ensemble rehearsals, lunch and a final concert side-by-side with the Parrish Cello Trio.

UNI Cello Fest 2024 Faculty:

Jamie Clark - Cello Faculty at the University of Northern Iowa
Kenny Lee - Director of Orchestra at University of Iowa
Seth Russell - Principal Cellist of the Greenville Symphony

Please contact Jamie.Clark@uni.edu with any questions.

Schedule
Faculty & Guest Artist Info

Click here to register!

Schedule

9:30 AM	REGISTRATION/CHECK-IN	GBPAC Lobby
10:00 AM	“Find Your Why” Workshop	Davis Hall, GBPAC
11:00 AM	Masterclass with Jamie Clark	Davis Hall, GBPAC
12:00 PM	Lunch	Piazza Dining Center
1:00 PM	Masterclass with Kenny Lee and Seth Russell	Davis Hall, GBPAC
2:15 PM	Cello Ensemble Rehearsal	Davis Hall, GBPAC
3:45 PM	Break and Open Rehearsal with Parrish Trio
4:30 PM	UNI CelloFest Concert	Davis Hall, GBPAC

About our Faculty & Guest Artists

Parrish is a cello trio whose members first met and played together during their undergraduate degree at Eastman School of Music, and then continued their education together at New England Conservatory. Now, while based in three different states, the trio combines their talents and experience again to inspire students and audiences.

The non-traditional nature of the cello trio ensemble lends itself to easily bridging "genre-hopping." Parrish plays music spanning from Lassus to Imogen Heap, with many pieces arranged by the trio themselves.

The trio gets its name from Maxfield Parrish, a painter known for his fantasy and neo-classical imagery, particularly popular in the 1920's. A Maxfield Parrish mural can be found in Eastman Theater at the Eastman School of Music, where the trio met.

About Jamie Clark

Cellist Jamie Clark of Boulder, Colorado has been praised for her sensitive, imaginative, and colorful sense of artistry. She has concertized throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia as a recitalist and a chamber musician. She has performed solo and chamber music recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, Eastman's Kodak Hall, New York City's American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Both an enthusiastic chamber musician and entrepreneur of collaborative outreach programs, Jamie is a Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Flatirons Chamber Music Festival, a non- profit organization based in Boulder, Colorado. The festival strives to cross cultural, geographic, and temporal divides between performers, composers, and audience members, inspiring dynamic interaction within the entire Festival community.

Her commitment to community engagement has led to collaborations with the Music For Food initiative in Orlando, Deland, Boston, Denver, and Boulder. She also has served as a core artist for Open Scene, a vibrant Orlando-based non-profit organization led by professional Latina women, championing multiculturalism and inclusion through artistic and humanistic programs. She is a founding member of the Parrish Cello Trio and Persimmon Ensemble, and regularly performs with EnsembleNewSRQ and the Sarasota Orchestra.

An engaged collaborative partner with contemporary composers, Jamie received a Stetson University Summer Grant to fund “Hear Her Voice” in 2021. “Hear Her Voice” features seven solo cello commissions by outstanding female composers. Each piece offers a distinct perspective of isolation experienced in the context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Jamie is thrilled to be joining the faculty of University of Northern Iowa in fall of 2024. She previously served for five years at Stetson University as Assistant Professor of Cello and Coordinator of Chamber Music. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree and Masters of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz. She received her Bachelors of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music with David Ying.

About Kenny Lee

Kenny Lee has established himself as an outstanding artist and leader both on the podium and as a cellist. Praised for his “lyricism, drive, tenderness, and passion” (The Times Argus), he has performed as a conductor, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Lee is Assistant Professor and Director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Iowa, where he conducts the Orchestra and teaches graduate and doctoral conducting students. Additionally, he is the conductor of the prestigious Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent conducting highlights include collaborations with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Czech Chamber Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Moravská Filharmonie Olomouc, Lviv National Philharmonic, Gwinnett Chamber Orchestra, Illinois All-State Orchestra. Prior to his appointment at Iowa, Lee was the orchestra director at Western Illinois University and led the WIU Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra with thrilling and adventurous programs. He travels frequently both as a guest conductor and a masterclass clinician.

Lee’s musical journeys have led him to collaborations with several esteemed artists, including principal players of the Berlin Philharmonic, members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Borromeo, and Ying Quartets. Festival appearances have included Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Taos Chamber Music Festival, and Piatigorsky International Cello Festival. Lee is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Flatirons Chamber Music Festival, a non-profit organization in Boulder, Colorado. Additionally, Lee is a founding member of the Parrish Trio.

Cello performance highlights include solo and concerto appearances in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, and Eastman Kodak Hall. He recently performed concerti by Dvorak, Haydn, Elgar, and Gulda and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Sinfonia, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, Eastman Philharmonia, Jordan Winds, and Eugene Symphony. He has collaborated as a soloist with conductors such as Giancarlo Guerro, Neil Varon, and William Drury.

Lee is a top prize winner of several competitions, including the Seventeenth International Conductor’s Workshop and Competition, New York International Artists Competition, Hudson Valley String Competition, Borromeo Guest Artist Competition, Eastman Concerto Competition, and New England Conservatory Honors Chamber Music Competition as the founding member of the Gioviale Quartet.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Lee grew up in Oregon and began studying music at the age of 10. Lee’s primary conducting teachers included Steven Sloane, Catherine Larsen-Maguire, Carl St. Clair, and Charles Peltz. Lee studied cello with Laurence Lesser, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, and Steven Pologe. He has also worked extensively with Hans Jørgen Jensen, Pieter Wispelwey, Lluis Claret, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Frans Helmerson. Lee graduated from the Eastman School of Music as a recipient of the John Celentano Award for Excellence in Chamber Music. He earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees from the New England Conservatory with honors.

About Seth Russell

Seth Russell performs internationally as a chamber musician, soloist, and orchestral player. Audiences have praised his technical wizardry, adventurous programming, and inspiring musicianship. He has performed solo and chamber music recitals in venues such as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, Eastman's Kodak Hall, and Taipei’s Elite Performance Hall. In 2017 and 2019 he was awarded a top prize in the New York International Artists Competition. He became the Principal Cellist of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina in 2021.

Seth is passionate about chamber music and creating new ways to connect with audiences. He recently formed the Parrish Cello Trio with cellists Jamie Clark and Kenny Lee. In October 2022 the trio had their inaugural residency in Greenville, SC. The trio led a masterclass with local students and performed a featured concert of diverse genres and arrangements at the Fine Arts Center. In 2014, Seth formed the Oceanus Quartet with colleagues in Boston, which received a New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial grant for a tour of Taiwan in May-June, 2015. The quartet performed and coached students at universities, schools, and concert halls throughout Taiwan. Seth was also a founding member of Phoenix, an innovative chamber orchestra in Boston that creates unique concert experiences through programming, venue, and audience engagement. Now in its ninth season, Phoenix has won the Improper Bostonian’s “Boston’s Best Classical Ensemble,” and was reviewed by the Boston Globe as “eminently worthy of your attention.”

Dedicated to pedagogy and music education, Seth has worked with students of diverse levels and backgrounds, both privately and with educational organizations. In 2015-16 he served as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Cello and cellist of the Ceruti Quartet at University of Memphis in Tennessee. His private students have been accepted into the “Rising Stars” Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the University of North Dakota, and Oberlin Conservatory. He has served on the faculty of several summer music festivals, including the Longhorn Music Camp, Furman Orchestra Camp, Varna International Music Festival, and MasterWorks Festival.

Seth holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with David Ying. He received a Master’s degree in Cello Performance from New England Conservatory where he studied with Paul Katz. He studied with Bion Tsang at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in 2019. His Doctorate research document, “House Concerts: Classical Music at the Heart of Community,” highlights the crucial role of house concerts in the history of classical music as well as the modern music scene. Seth has also studied with Lluis Claret, Gary Hoffman, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Pieter Wispelwey, and worked with the Ying, Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, and Miro Quartets. Seth and his wife Chelsea are natives of Greenville, SC.