ALUMNI 2005 - 2011
return to current musicians
Serena Corr - Vocals, Flute
Shivhan Dohse - Flute
Suzanne Duffy - Flute
Leah Lucas
- Fiddle/Viola
James MacNamara - Bass
Kristen Madler - Fiddle
Fran Malinoff - Fiddle
Leigh Ann McLemore - Vocals
Nick Moore - Drums
Emily Noble - Flute
Cliff O'Sullivan - Drums
Jon Pollay - Drums
Abigail Sten - Flute
Serena Corr
Serena came to us from the sean-nos
singing tradition of county Tipperary. She grew up singing
in her dad's band in Clonmel and doing all of the Irish singing
competitions. On the new CD The Galway Train she
can be heard singing the haunting "Marrying the Sea"
and the hilarious "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy."
Shivhan Dohse
Shivhan Dohse completed her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Northern Iowa studying under Dr. Angeleita Floyd, and her Master's of Music Degree from the University of California Santa Barbara as Jill Felber's Teaching Assistant. While in Santa Barbara, Shivhan taught undergraduate flute lessons, directed the flute choir, coordinated the UCSB 'Flute Focus' summer seminar and performed with Dannsair.
Shivhan is currently Principal Flute with the Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra and is the National Marketing & Sales Director for Miyazawa, USA. She also maintains a private studio and can be heard in performances with the Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra as well as the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Her flute duo, In Sterio, recently released their first CD, Frequency.
Suzanne
Duffy
Suzanne regularly performs
with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Opera Santa
Barbara Orchestra. She also performs in Florida with the Palm
Beach Symphony and the Palm Beach Opera orchestra. Suzanne
collaborates with classical guitarist James Edwards as Duo
Solaré, and is a founding member of The Aurora Ensemble,
an ensemble comprised of flute, viola, and cello.
A
four-season member of the Miami-based New World Symphony,
under the
direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, Suzanne has also participated
in such
festivals as the Music Academy of the West, the Festival-Institute
at Round
Top (TX) and the Conservatoire-Americaine at Fontainbleau,
France. She has performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony,
the Florida Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Symphony and at
the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival.
Her
teaching positions have included Associate Instructor at Indiana
University, Teaching Assistant at SUNY-Stony Brook, and Visiting
Faculty at
Indiana State University, Terre Haute. She
has also performed with The Chieftains.
Leah Lucas
Leah Lucas (Detroit, MI) has been described by critics as a player that "possesses a major talent as well as a sunny, room-filling personality" (The Santa Barbara Independent). Leah performs as a soloist, an orchestral musician and a performer of contemporary music in a variety of genres, including premiering a work written for her by composer Timothy Beutler entitled Pursuit of Truth: For Solo Viola and Tape. She also served as violinist and vocalist in Dannsair, a popular Irish band local to Santa Barbara, which was featured with the Santa Barbara Symphony for their St. Patrick's Day celebration. Originally from Illinois, Ms. Lucas graduated from the Chicago College of Performing Arts Music Conservatory and continued her graduate studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.
James MacNamara
James played bass with Dannsair. He is currently singing in the Quire of Voyces at SBCC under Nathan Kreitzer. He came to us from the SBCC Orchestra and a bluegrass group featuring Chris Cairns of Fireheart records.
Kristen
Madler
Kristen began classical violin studies
with Edward Kreitman at the Western Springs School of Talent
Education at the age of eight and later studied with Thomas
Wermuth. She has toured extensively throughout the United
States, Puerto Rico and Europe with the prestigious Chicago
Consort. In college, she continued her studies with Carol
Dallinger at the University of Evansville. Kristen began playing
Irish music after moving to Santa Barbara in 2002. She continues
to be inspired and enriched by the traditional Celtic Melodies.
She has performed with Dannsair, Reel On The Ha'Penny, The
Chieftains and Carlos Nunez.
Fran Malinof
Fran has been playing violin and fiddle in many different genres since she was 8 years old. Russ and Fran met 10 years ago through their children. Russ
was performing fingerstyle blues in the classic Robert Johnson
vein with his band The Self-Righteous Bros. Fran was doing
a classical violinist gig with the City College Orchestra.
They started playing together at the informal Irish sessions
held at Russ’ house.
Leigh Ann McLemore
Leigh Ann is a graduate of the University of Central Florida. She sang with Dannsair while in Santa Barbara working for Lockheed Martin. Her voice can be heard on Dannsair's 2012 release, Breton.
Nick Moore
Nick played drums for Dannsair. He studied music at SBCC, and recently moved to the Bay Area where he attends San Francisco State and plays with a pirate folk rock band, The Paper Boats.
Emily
Noble
Emily is a freelance flute player based in Los Angeles. Emily has a Bachelor of Music degree in flute performance from the University of Louisville where she studied with Kathy Karr. She earned her Master of Music degree in flute performance from the University of California in Santa Barbara where she studied with Jill Felber. She won concerto competitions and performed as a soloist with the orchestras at both schools. She has maintained a private flute studio for the past ten years in Kentucky and California, as well as teaching master classes and flute classes in elementary and high schools. Her professional credits include releasing a CD with the Irish group Dannsair, performing in pit orchestras for Oliver!, The Pirates of Penzance, La Cantarina by Haydn, and a carzuela entitled Gigantes y Cabazudos, and performing chamber music with her soprano and flute duo called KIVA. In 2009 she performed a flute duo recital in England. She also plays various new music ensembles, weddings, and miscellaneous musical events. Creating beautiful music with great colleagues is Emily’s ideal vision for her work.
Cliff O'Sullivan
Cliff played drums with Dannsair. Cliff came to us from Linda Holland's SBCC music classes. He was also studying guitar with Kenny Sultan. He currently goes to college in Arizona.
Jon Pollay
A mysterious figure, Jon Pollay was the band's percussionist for a number of years. Along with Russ, Jon was a member of the Self-Righteous Brothers blues band before joining Dannsair.
Abigail Sten
Flutist Abigail Sten has performed in a wide range of venues, from Salzburg’s Mirabell Palace to Santa Barbara’s James Joyce Irish Pub. She was a two-time finalist in the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition, as well as a two-time winner of the conservatory’s Mock Orchestral Audition Contest. Sten is a member of the National Flute Association, and has performed with the NFA Professional Flute Choir at the organization’s national convention. Sten holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Flute Performance from the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. She has studied with Sharon Perschke, Mary Nelson, Beatrice Rentsch, George Pope, Alberto Almarza, and Jill Felber.
Abigail Sten currently resides in Santa Barbara, California, where she is the second flutist of the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra and the YMF Debut Orchestra. She is in the Flute Masters Program at UCSB, studying with Jill Felber.
|
