Recitals and Concerts
See below for a complete list of recitals and concerts at the 2024 WSMTA Conference in Spokane.
Admission to the student recitals and the evening concerts is included in the conference registration fee.
Washington Winners Concert
Thursday, June 27, 2024
5:00 pm / $15
- Winners of the Washington State MTNA Performance Competition
- MTNA Composition Competition Winners
- Winners of the Outstanding Artist Piano Competition
- 2024 WSMTA Commissioned Composer of the Year, Nathan Campbell, featuring Ben Workman-Smith, cello and Nathan Campbell, piano
Click here for the Washington Winners and Commissioned Composer Concert program.
Chamber Music Concert
Saturday, June 29, 2024
7:00 pm / $15
Maxime Ramey, clarinet
Margaret Baldridge, violin
Jody Graves, piano
Tana Bland, violin
Patricia Bartell, accordion
Eugene Jablonsky, bass
Jody Graves, piano
State Honors Recitals – Piano
$10
Student representatives chosen from each Washington State Chapter in performance.
For the program for each recital, click on the date above listed for the recital.
Young Composers Project Recital
Friday, June 28
2:30 pm / $10
Winners of the 2024 Young Composers Project performing their original compositions.
State Honors Recital #4:
Vocal and Instrumental
Saturday, June 29
11:00 am / $10
Student representatives chosen from Washington State Chapters performing a variety of inspiring pieces from all eras.
Click here for the Honors Recital #4 (Vocal and Instrumental) program.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT
The Sapphire Trio
The Sapphire Trio have been together since 1998 and are committed to delivering the legacy of fine art music, celebrating its universal language across the globe, and upholding the art of chamber music as an exciting, dynamic and diverse performance genre. Their concerts include a wide range of works, from Broadway and film music to nationally inspired works, new works and transcriptions, along with a mix of stories, visuals and vignettes about the composers and the music. As one concert attendee shared after a performance, “This ain’t your grandma’s chamber music anymore!”
The Sapphire Trio has served as U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors in a Middle East tour of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, upon which a report was sent to the White House describing their tour as one of the most successful exchanges in that region. The press referred to their concerts as “…imaginative and compelling”. They have also performed in four tours in the West Bank region (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nablus, Ramallah and the Golan Heights region) and served on international juries for the Palestinian National Music Competitions at the Edward Said Conservatory of Music based in Jerusalem. They have toured Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Colombia and Ireland and most regions throughout the U.S.
The Trio have been featured guest artists at the Spanish National Clarinet/European Clarinet Association Congress and have performed at many U.S. national clarinet symposia and ICA international Clarinetfests including the International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Medellin, Colombia, South America and at the National Art Museum in Bogota. The Sapphire Trio have also been headline performers at state and national MTNA, ICA, ASTA, conferences, including the National MTNA conference in Seattle. They have also performed commissioned works at Music and Medicine conferences at the Mayo Clinic, and at the American Association of Medical Colleges. They are invited performers for the International Clarinet Festival in Dublin, Ireland in 2024.
The Trio offers masterclasses and workshops in chamber music, and also work with young composers at Virginia Tech University and elsewhere to inspire their creativity in writing for this medium. The Sapphire Trio continues to perform the repertoire commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and enjoys performing several works that have been written especially for them. Margaret, Maxine and Jody are also active soloists, artist teachers, adjudicators, clinicians and workshop presenters. More information about the individual performers and the trio can be found at www.sapphire3.org
Tango Volcado
Tango Volcado – The Inland Northwest’s hottest Tango Band is stirring up a frenzy for Tango wherever it plays! This quartet of musicians play multiple instruments including the viola, violin, accordion, guitar, piano and bass. From the torrid to the tender, the group plays classic tangos, Nuevo tangos and their own tango arrangements of pop songs along with arrangements from film scores. Tango Volcado has performed as featured guest artists for numerous events ranging from curated concerts, regional summer concert series and live radio broadcasts to performing with the Spokane Symphony. These artists are all active performers in a variety of professional styles and genres outside of this quartet. They are also highly regarded music teachers at universities and in the secondary schools, play in the Spokane Symphony, run private studios, and serve as music directors. Jody Graves, piano/guitar – Patricia Bartell, accordion – Tana Bland, violin/viola – and Eugene Jablonsky, bass. Their concerts inspire everything from feet-tapping to tango dancing and often includes a collaboration with audience members playing a variety of percussion! For more information and upcoming concerts please visit: https://www.facebook.com/tangovolcado.
2024 WSMTA COMMISSIONED COMPOSER OF THE YEAR
Nathan Campbell
We are pleased to announce the 2024 Commissioned Composer of the Year, Nathan Campbell, composer, pianist, and music educator in Bellingham, Washington. He earned a BM in Composition at Chapman University, and completed his MM in Composition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Nathan was the winner of the 2013 San Francisco Shanghai International Chamber Music Competition. He also was the winner of the 2014 Highsmith competition, and the 2023 Marsha Wright Sonatina Festival. He has worked with such groups as Friction Quartet, FEARnoMUSIC, The Bellingham Symphony Orchestra, The SFCM Orchestra, The Firebird Ensemble, Beyond Pluck, Phonochrome, and the International Low Brass Trio.
More about Nathan and his music can be found on his website and on SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/nathan-campbell-composer
Nathan’s Proposal for the WSMTA 2024 CCOY, to be performed at the 2024 WSMTA Conference:
“Having watched a few recent interviews with the crew of NASA’s next Artemis mission, I’ve found myself spending more time gazing up at the stars and thinking about the planets and their orbits around the sun. I’ve found myself comparing our own routines to the orbits of planets. We pass in and out of each other’s lives on a daily, weekly, or yearly basis, but yet somehow, we remain connected through the influence of these orbits as our routines bring us in and out of each other’s lives.”
“I plan to capture this idea in a composition for piano and cello. The piano will create a minimalistic texture of overlapping harmonic progressions moving at different speeds, with each progression representing an orbit. The cello will present a melodic line highlighting the shared notes of each progression and act as a representation of the connection and influence between the orbits.
Ben Workman-Smith, cello
Ben’s musical background is extensive and diverse. Half of his life has been spent in the concert hall with the cello and voice, and the other half has been spent in cultural contexts including his native Tolowa tribal ceremonies, Powwow, the Lummi Blackhawk Singers, Ecclesiastical settings, and a lengthy stint with the Bellingham chapter of the Pacific Coast Norwegian Singers. As a cellist and vocalist, Ben has taken several tours to Europe performing both as a principal cellist in orchestral settings and as a vocalist. Ben has sat principal cello appointments in the Western Washington University Symphony Orchestra and has directed vocal ensembles ranging from 10 voices to 80- piece full choirs. These tours have yielded important performances in Prague’s Rudolfinum, Pallacio Bellmonte in Lisbon, collaborative performance with the Kuula institute in Vaasa, Finland, and Barcelona’s Nathan Campbell Palau Musica de Catalana. Even as a child, Ben showed devotion to enhancing every scene he played music in one way or another. As a result, Ben has shown disciplined collaborative musicianship and staunch commitment to proper cultural celebration. These were primary motivators through his Performance Degree work at WWU, continuing Graduate Study in Music Education, and a planned Doctorate study in Ethnomusicology. With that, he aims to cement the legitimacy of Native American music throughout the country and inspire the 8th generation of Indigenous people to do the same.
2024 CONFERENCE GUEST ARTIST
Connor Chee, pianist and composer
Originally from Page, Arizona, Navajo pianist Connor Chee is known for combining his classical piano training with his Navajo heritage. Chee began piano lessons at age 6 with Sue Barney, and later Debbie Mitchell. At age 10, his family relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts. While there, he studied under Anna Weinstein and Simon Goykhman.
At age 12, Chee won a gold medal in the World Piano Competition’s Young Artist Division, earning him his first performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. In the following years, he went on to win multiple awards in the World Piano Competition, earning performances at the United Nations, and an international feature on CNN.
While in Cincinnati, Chee performed with the Cincinnati Pops, the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. At Age 17, he graduated from the School for Creative and Performing Arts, and began studies at the Eastman School of Music under Professor Rebecca Penneys. Chee received his Bachelor of Music from Eastman in 2009, and went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, studying under Professor Elizabeth Pridonoff. Chee was awarded a First Prize in the 2016 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, and performed in the winners’ recital at Carnegie Hall.
Chee has released 3 studio albums of original pieces and piano transcriptions of Navajo music. The Navajo Piano won Best Instrumental Recording at the 16th Annual Native American Music Awards, and his piece “Beginnings” won Best New Age Song. In addition to winning Best Instrumental Recording, Chee was also nominated for Best New Artist and Record of the Year.
Chee’s most recent release, Scenes from Dinétah, features piano pieces written about elements of Navajo life and culture. It has been accompanied by the release of several music videos filmed on the reservation, directed by Navajo filmmaker Michael Etcitty Jr.
Chee is currently a voting member of The Recording Academy (the GRAMMY® Awards), and continues to perform throughout the United States. He is currently located in Phoenix, Arizona.