Westminster Presents Evening of Chamber Music

Westminster College presents "An Evening of Chamber Music" Tuesday, March 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Orr Auditorium.

 The program includes Beethoven's "Piano Trio Op. 1 No. 1 in Eb Major," Brahms' "Piano Quartet Op. 60 in C minor," and Schoenfield's "Café Music." 

 The event is free and open to the public.  Contact the Westminster College Department of Music at (724) 946-7270 for more information.

 The chamber quartet includes:

 Jonathan Moser, visiting lecturer of music at Westminster College, serves as adjunct faculty for Grove City College and is the Director of Music at Providence Presbyterian Church. Moser holds a master's of music in performance degree from Arizona State University and a bachelor's of music in performance degree from Shenandoah University, with prior studies at University of the Pacific and Harid Conservatory.  An active performer, Moser has toured extensively with Sandip Burman – an internationally renowned tabla artist, is a member of the Erie Philharmonic, plays with the Wheeling Symphony, and gives several recitals each year. He has served as concertmaster for Musica Nova (Scottsdale, AZ), Arizona State University's Symphony, and Chamber Orchestras, Shenandoah University's Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and the Philadelphia Settlement School of Music Chamber Orchestra. Moser was winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Solo Competition, the Philadelphia College of Bible Solo Competition (2 years), the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association Solo Competition, and was a finalist in the National Symphony Orchestra's Young Soloists Competition. He was a founding member of the Arizona State University, Katherine K. Herberger Graduate String Quartet as first violin, 2002-03.

 Rodrigo Ojeda, piano, was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1975. He began his piano studies at the age of ten and obtained his bachelor's degree at the Institute of Musical Studies in 1997 under Arnaldo Pizzolante. In 1999 he began his studies with Enrique Graf at Carnegie Mellon University, first receiving a graduate assistantship and then an artist diploma in 2003. Ojeda has performed for master classes with Kasimierz Giesrod (director of the Chopin School of Music in Warsaw), Marek Jablonsky, Georgy Sandor, Marta Gulyas, and Earl Wild.  He has performed numerous times as soloist in Venezuela, Ecuador, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, S.C.  Some of his recent concerto performances include Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Gershwin, Grieg, Schumann, Mozart, Liszt's Totentanz, C. Franck and Prokofiev.  Ojeda is also a frequent performer of chamber music. He has appeared in many chamber recitals with strings, woodwinds and brass. He was also a member of the Contemporary Ensemble at CMU under the direction of Efrain Amaya and Eduardo Alonso Crespo. Last summer, Ojeda performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in Caracas, Venezuela with the Orquesta Municipal which was broadcast live on radio and television. Upcoming performances include Brahms's 2nd Piano Concerto in July 2006 in Caracas, Venezuela, as well as solo recitals in Caracas, Maracaibo, and Valencia.  Ojeda currently is a member of the School of Music staff at Carnegie Mellon University and resides in Pittsburgh with his wife, Giuseppina, and son, Sebastian.

A native of Warwick, R.I., cellist Elisa Kohanski is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where she studied with Pamela Frame.  Elisa received her master's of music from Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Anne Martindale Williams and David Premo.  Kohanski is principal cellist in the Wheeling Symphony and performs with several other orchestras, including the Erie Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra, and the Columbus and Youngstown Symphonies. She serves as adjunct faculty at Grove City College and at Seton Hill University teaching students ages five to 60.  Kohanski is an avid chamber musician and concertizes often with her contemporary ensemble in Pittsburgh, IonSound.  Kohanski resides in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood, but travels extensively, having performed in an array of local and international venues, including the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany; the AIMS Opera Festival in Graz, Austria; Royal Albert Hall in London, England; Carnegie Hall in New York City; and locally at Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh Playhouse and Hazlett Theatre.  She has performed with artists including Phil Keaggy, Robert Shaw, Garrison Keillor, John Tesh and Olivia Newton John and has toured America's heartland with the Montovani Orchestra. 

Violinist Kathryn Hatmaker recently completed her master's in violin performance at Carnegie Mellon University, where she served as the graduate assistant to Concertmaster Andres Cardenes.  Kathryn is a contracted member of various orchestras in the Pittsburgh area, including the Wheeling, Youngstown, and Canton symphony orchestras.  She performs frequently with the Pittsburgh Symphony and the San Diego Symphony, as well as the Pittsburgh Opera and Benedum Center orchestras.  She currently serves as associate concertmaster for the newly-formed Pittsburgh Live Chamber Orchestra and can often be heard at various musical theaters around town, as she is quite active in genres outside of classical music as well. Hatmaker supplements her performance schedule with both teaching and participation in summer music festivals.  Her last few summers have consisted of performances with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colo., where she performed Ravel's "Tzigane" with the orchestra, and l'Academie Internationale de Musique in Montpellier, France.  She completed her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.

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