Pan Harmonia

 June 9-14, 2013

Kate Steinbeck • Flute / Director

A remarkable musician, Kate Steinbeck’s career began with a Fulbright Grant to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Liège, Belgium where she received a first prize in chamber music. Her visionary work and artistic excellence has been nurtured and supported by the North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. She founded Keowee Chamber Music–now Pan Harmonia– in 2001 with the goal of bringing professional chamber music to audiences of all ages.

A passionate teacher and coach, Kate has presented master classes at the Spanish Flute Convention, Madrid, Spain; Belgian Royal Conservatories in Liège and Mons; New England Flute Fair, Boston; Durham (NC) Arts Center; Duke University and the Fine Arts Center, Greenville, SC. She loves teaching and revels in guiding students to new levels of accomplishment and musical awareness. Kate enjoys traveling and discovering new places with her family. She speaks French and German. www.katesteinbeck.com

Brian Hermanson • Clarinet

Brian Hermanson received his BM in clarinet performance from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester, Rochester, New York), as well as receiving one of Eastman’s highest performance honors, the Performer’s Certificate. In addition to formal studies at Eastman, Brian received advanced training at the Shepherd School of Music (Rice University, Houston, Texas). He has been a participant at such festivals as the Sarasota Summer Music Festival, Chautauqua Summer Music Festival, Colorado Summer Music Festival, and on tour throughout Europe. He has performed with orchestras across the US.

Brian has also recorded for the Nonesuch, Oxford University Press and several other independent labels. An innovative and dynamic leader in arts and education, he assumed full-time responsibilities for Reed Project in 2012. Founded specifically as a research and development project working to explore and refine the sound potential of the clarinet (and started in a collage dorm room at Eastman), Reed Project continues to grow and serve clarinetists throughout the United States and abroad. It focuses on research in the world of the changing acoustical properties and expectations of the modern clarinetist and works towards the development of materials in support of those shifts. Reeds are currently in use and being designed by players with the Metropolitan Opera, LA Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Dresden Philharmonic, London Symphony, BBC Symphony, Stockholm Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Turin Opera, among others.

Jennifer Merrell • Horn

A native of Brevard, NC, Jennifer has been a  professional musician for more than 30 years. She has performed in orchestras and chamber groups around the world. She has extensive knowledge and experience with the chamber music repertoire and believes that chamber music performance is the key to fine playing and development of one’s skills as an artist. Jennifer loves to share her enthusiasm for the literature and is looking forward to connecting with ACMI participants.

Jennifer received her Masters of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and studied in Norway with acclaimed performer and teacher, Froydis Ree Wekre. She plays with the Greenville Symphony, subs with the Charlotte Symphony and was a founding member of the Mountain Chamber Players, based in Brevard, NC.

Rosalind Buda • Bassoon

Bassoonist Rosalind Buda hails from Iowa. Since moving South in 2011, she has been very much in demand playing chamber music, orchestral repertoire and teaching throughout North and South Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. She is the principal bassoonist for Pan Harmonia and has been lauded by audiences throughout the region.

A graduate of the New England Conservatory, Rosalind earned her Master’s Degree while studying with Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal, Richard Svoboda.  She received her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Iowa where she studied with Benjamin Coelho.

Prior to moving to Asheville, Rosalind performed with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony (IA), the Rome Festival Orchestra in Italy, Lowell House Opera, (Cambridge, MA), The Neponset Valley Philharmonic (Boston, MA), and the Lausitzer Opernsommer in Germany.

Rosalind is adjunct professor of bassoon at Brevard College and Gardner-Webb University. She also teaches bassoon and bagpipes privately and has been a guest lecturer at Eastern Tennessee State University.

Outside of classical bassoon performance, Rosalind pursues her other musical passion–traditional and modern Scottish/Celtic/world music and various forms of Celtic dance. She plays traditional reed instruments including highland bagpipes, Scottish smallpipes and Breton bombard. Rosalind performs with the band Brizeus and the Jamie Laval Band.