Carrie RavenStem
Carrie RavenStem is the clarinetist and co-founder of contemporary chamber ensemble A/Tonal. She has performed with several orchestras and ensembles including the Louisville Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Keep Louisville Symphonic, Louisville Chamber Winds, the Louisville Ballet and the Kentucky Opera. Her focus is introducing audiences to living composers and contributing to the future of music by fostering the appreciation of new music.
Carrie was recently invited to perform at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest which was held in Knoxville Tennessee, July 2018. She performed the solo work Perceptions of Strife, which was written for her in 2011 by Peter Felice. In 2019-20, Carrie will be performing the world premiere of Leonardo Schiavo’s Tre foglie d’album at 21c Museum in conjunction with WUOL’s New Lens series. She will also be the guest artist of 10 Hair Legs, the all male dance repertory company, for their performance piece Quadrivium, set to Steve Reich’s New York Counterpoint for amplified clarinet and tape, May 2020.
As clinician and teacher in the Louisville/southern Indiana region, she directs her attention to the short and long-term musical goals of each student. She runs an active teaching studio in her home in Louisville, and works with several local schools and their clarinet sections. Ms. RavenStem has also been a clinician and guest artist at University of Evansville’s Clarinet Day as well as clarinet and theory faculty for University of Louisville’s Wind Band Institute. She has been on faculty at Indiana University Southeast in the Theory Department as well as a private teacher for the community Arts Institute. Ms. RavenStem enjoys training young clarinetists and building future performers and audiences.
Carrie enjoys sharing her musical life with her husband, composer Erich Stem, as well as with their four children. She is the store manager of Music & Arts Louisville, where she fosters music in the community through instruments and lessons. Her secret hobbies are crocheting and making killer omelets.
Carrie is a Backun Performing Artist and performs on Backun MoBa clarinets.
Photo Credit: Tina Gutierrez Photography
Paola Manrique-Land
Ms. Paola Manrique-Land is from Guayaquil, Ecuador and began studying the violin at age 6. By age 8, she was playing as a soloist with the Orchestra Sinfonica de Guayaquil and won the Ecuadorian National Competition at age 14. Later, she was offered a scholarship to study in the United States at the University of Louisville and received bachelors and masters degrees in music performance. While a student and after, Ms. Manrique-Land has had the opportunity to perform with many great artists such as Smokey Robinson, Jerry Lewis, Josh Groban, Leann Womack, Amy Grant, Neil Sedaka, Kenny Rogers and Stevie Wonder. Paola’s other passion is teaching and serves as Director of Orchestral Activities for Bardstown City Schools in Bardstown, KY. She currently resides in Louisville, KY with her husband Reese Land and her two sons, Alex and Henry.
Charlotte Roth
Charlotte Roth is an active performer and teacher. She has held tenure with the Huntsville Symphony since 2017, where she plays piccolo and third flute. In 2018 she won the position of piccolo and assistant principal flute of the Owensboro Symphony. She has also performed as a guest musician with the Louisville Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Orchestra, and the Evansville Philharmonic. A native of Boonville, she attended Signature High School and played in the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra for six years. She finished her high school education at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She then attended the Eastman School of Music, where she earned a Bachelor’s of Music and was awarded a Performer’s Certificate in 2014. After graduating she earned a Master’s of Music degree from Northwestern University in 2016. She currently lives in Louisville where she maintains a full teaching studio, and performs regularly with the ATonal ensemble.
Chad Sloan
Chad Sloan, baritone, is a member of the faculty at the University of Louisville. He has sung with Kentucky Opera, Louisville Choral Arts Society, Dayton Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, Anchorage Opera, New York City Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Opera, Aspen Opera Theater, and Tacoma Opera. Most recently he was heard in recitals with Ensemble for the Romantic Century, as a soloist in Britten’s War Requiem with Lawrence University, as a soloist in The Juilliard School’s concert celebrating the life and work of Elliott Carter, Willy in Lee Hoiby’s This is the Rill Speaking with Opera Memphis and featured along side eighth blackbird in University of Chicago’s CONTEMPO series. Other recent projects include Carmina Burana with Lexington Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony and Flagstaff Symphony, a return to the CONTEMPO series with eight blackbird at University of Chicago, performances of Papageno in Arizona Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen with Orchestra Kentucky. Further engagements include a return to Kentucky Opera in their production of The Mikado.
Robert Simonds
Robert Simonds is the Principal Second Violin of the Louisville Orchestra and a member of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA. Both ensembles are renowned for their devotion to new and adventurous music. As solo recitalist and chamber musician, Rob continues this commitment to contemporary music with an emphasis on American styles.
In addition to performing the music of leading contemporary composers, Rob is also dedicated to working across genres and has produced and performed in small ensemble partnerships with indie-folk artists Rhiannon Giddens, Joe Pug, Ben Sollee, Tobie Milford and The Low Anthem.
Rob began his professional orchestral career with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, which was followed by a longtime position in The Phoenix Symphony. He regularly returns to Arizona to play with the Downtown Chamber Series, which presents concerts in Phoenix through a network of urban art spaces as well as the recently opened Musical Instrument Museum. His work in Arizona also includes performances with the Arizona Music Fest Orchestra. As a substitute musician, he has worked with the orchestras of Minnesota, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Columbus, and Virginia. For several summers he was a member of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder.
Rob has recorded orchestral albums with both The Phoenix Symphony and The Indianapolis Symphony on the Naxos and Telarc labels. He’s also performed solo and chamber parts on recordings with indie musicians Ben Sollee and Ray’s Music Exchange.
Within popular music, Rob has served as concertmaster for orchestral concerts with Celtic Woman, Michael Feinstein, Jackie Evancho, and Barry Manilow. He performed as the Associate Concertmaster for the North American tour of Star Wars in Concert. He also works as a studio musician; recording commercial, pop, educational, and sacred music as well as soundtracks.
Born in Massachusetts, Rob began studying violin at a young age with his grandmother. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Rob earned two degrees in violin performance studying with Dr. Won-Bin Yim, for whom he served as graduate teaching assistant, and with Dorothy Delay. While at CCM he studied chamber music with the Amernet and Tokyo String Quartets. His violin is from Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, made by Mario Bedocchi in 1927.
Jessica Dorman
A native of Calera, Alabama, Jessica Litwiniec Dorman is an Adjunct Piano and Voice Instructor at Indiana University Southeast and maintains a private teaching studio at her home in Louisville. As well as being a staff accompanist at the University of Louisville, Jessica is an active freelancer in the Louisville area. She has also served as staff accompanist for local NATS competitions and the International Horn Competition of America (2011 & 2013). Jessica has played for numerous musical theater productions at local high schools and local community theater groups (including the Jewish Community Center, Acting Against Cancer, and TheatreWorks of Southern Indiana), as well as with the Broadway Across America Series both here in Louisville and in Birmingham, AL. She has also frequently serves as musical director for musicals at local high schools as well as for the Jeffersonville River Pops series; Jessica has also conducted musicals for local high schools and the Jeffersonville River Pops series. Jessica has also played with the Louisville Orchestra and Orchestra Enigmatic, and is a core member of A/Tonal ensemble.
Jessica is the current Secretary of the Kentucky Music Teachers Association (KMTA), having also served as 2nd Vice President of KMTA (2012-2014) and Secretary of the Greater Louisville MTA (2010-2012). In 2017, Jessica received the Distinguished Service Award from KMTA.
Jessica holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Alabama where she studied piano with Amanda Penick. She also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Samford University. While at Samford, Jessica studied piano with Dr. Betty Sue Shepherd, and studied organ and harpsichord with Dr. H. E. Tibbs. She has participated in Masterclasses with such artists as Ann Schein, Claude Franck, and Leon Fleisher, and has received coaching from John Perry and Yakov Kasman, among others.
Jessica studied voice with Daniel Weeks, and regularly sings throughout the area. She has premiered works by Chris Kincaid; while she is primarily a pianist for A/Tonal ensemble, she has also sung in performance with A/Tonal.
Jessica’s students regularly participate in local festivals and competitions; her students have been winners, representatives, and honorable mentions in the Bluegrass Voice and MTNA Composition competitions, as well as the National Piano Guild Composition contest.
Jon Silpayamanant
Jon Silpayamanant is a cellist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist in New Albany. A versatile musician, he has since tour and performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. Performances have included appearances Grammy Award winners Yo-Yo Ma, Ray Price, Hazzan Mike Stein, and Bobby Flores. He has also appeared with late Miles Davis’ tabla player, Badal Roy and his Jazz combo as well as a number of world music, chamber ensembles, and multi-media music projects
A dancer’s musician, Silpayamanant regularly collaborates in performance with ballet dancers, modern dancers, and dancers from many traditional ethnic and classical dance traditions from many parts of the world. Recent collaborations include compositions and live performances with Choreographer/Ballet Dancer Ashley Thursby Kern and Nashville based Blue Moves Modern Dance Company. Silpayamanant has been a regular performer for composer Robin Cox’s HOURGLASS, an immersive music, video, and movement experience designed for contact improvisation which is facilitated by Choreographer/Dancer, Stephanie Nugent. His current dance related projects include arrangements and transcriptions for world music group Sulh of dance music from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and India for collaborations with Raqs Maqom, the Crescent Moon Dance Company, BharataNatyam dancer, Shringarmani Phane Jayanthi Sen, as well as touring with the Louisville Ballet in performance lectures of “Plain Jane” with choreography by Lucas Jervies and music by cellist Tristan Parr.
Silpayamanant’s compositions and sound art has been featured in the UK on Channel 4 as part of Objective Productions programming; at the Vilnius Art Academy in Lithuania; on Açık Radyo in Istanbul; at Culture Fix in New York City, as well as several venues and radio stations throughout the US. His recent commissions include several scores for Louisville based Spanish Language Theater troupe Teatro Tercera Llamada and music for live-to-projection films and multi-media projects with interactive video and music project Camera Lucida. Past commissions include electro-acoustic compositions for the touring Diverse Universe Performance Festival Nordic-Baltic Tour in Estonia and Finland for dancer, Christine Olson; a score for several productions of “A Klingon Christmas Carol” (Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington D.C.); and a score for Chicago based Commedia Beauregard Theatre’s of “Bard Fiction.”
An active educator, Silpayamanant is currently an Adjunct Lecturer in Cello, Arts Institute Cello instructor, and a Summer String Clinic coach at Indiana University Southeast. He frequently lectures and gives presentations on the arts; performing career opportunities; and workshops and clinics in improvisation and world music styles at colleges, high schools, and other music organizations and festivals. Silpayamanant regularly leads sectionals and coachings in schools throughout the greater Louisville metropolitan area and has been the staff sectional coach with the Floyd County Youth Symphony since 2007. He was formerly a string specialist teaching cello classes at Virginia Chance Elementary School and Music Instructor at Gymboree Play & Music.
Born in Udon Thani, Thailand, Silpayamanant started playing the cello at the age of six after his family moved to New Albany. He attended DePauw University School of Music and graduated with a degree in cello performance and studied composition with Dr. David Ott. While at DePauw he was a two time winner of the DePauw Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and served the last two years as teaching assistant to Eric Edberg. Silpayamanant has attended cello master classes with Janos Starker, Fritz Maag, Eleonore Schoenfeld, Stephen Kates, Janet Anthony, and Owen Carmen and has participated in chamber music master classes with Gary Karr, the Borromeo String Quartet, and the American String Quartet.
Sheri Davino
Sheri Davino received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Flute Performance from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. She has studied with prominent flutists such as Marianne Gedigian, Nina Barwell, and Alan Weiss in Boston, as well as Carol Wincenc and Keith Underwood in New York City.
Originally from New York, Sheri has traveled the United States and Canada with the Gateway Playhouse and Nebraska Theatre Caravan. In addition, she performed with the Long Island Sound Symphony, Hunter Symphony, Stony Brook Wind Ensemble, Brisher Music, Merrick Center for Performing Arts, CM Performing Arts Center in the World Premiere of “Deirdre, a new musical”, and on Off-Broadway in “O Pioneers!” She also had the privilege of performing the radio-broadcast premiere of “Conversations” by Grammy-nominated Apostolos Paraskevas.
Since relocating to Louisville, Sheri has been actively freelancing with such groups as the Chamber Winds Louisville, Orchestra Enigmatic, Cathedral Players, Louisville Wedding Music, various churches and smaller chamber groups around the city.
For over 27 years Sheri has taught private lessons to all ages and levels. Currently she teachers at her home studio, at the Louisville Academy of Music, and for various schools in, and around, the Louisville area.
Tanner Leonardo
Tanner Leonardo currently studies under Dr. Greg Byrne at the University of Louisville. His studies seek a degree in Music Performance with a focus in percussion, graduating in the Spring of 2018. Previously, Leonardo has served as Section Principal in the University of Louisville Wind Symphony and Symphony Orchestra. Other performing ensembles he has achieved include the Commonwealth Brass Band, Louisville Philharmonia, Orchestra Enigmatic, Music City Drum & Bugle Corps, Walden Theater Opera Co., and the Kentucky Intercollegiate Band. He has performed within ensembles at both the World Association of Symphonic Bands & Ensembles Conference in San Jose, California and the Sandy Feldstein Percussion Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana. Leonardo also currently serves as the Head Percussion Instructor at North Oldham High School in Goshen, Kentucky and Grayson County High School in Leitchfield, Kentucky, having individual students place in All District and All State Ensembles. With this, multiple groups under his direction have received distinguished and first-place accolades within different events. Leonardo also is an Educational Endorser of Salyers Percussion, which will support his efforts to conduct the KMEA District 5 All-District Percussion Ensemble.