EVENTS
2021
August Musicales
Wednesday, August 11th
7:00 PM EST
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
1627 Monument Ave
Richmond, VA 23220
Concert is free but your donation of any amount will be gladly accepted!
Click here for more information
Program
Perkinson Louisiana blues strut
Navarro Creation for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Hurnik Sonata da camera for flute, oboe, cello, and piano
Destenay Tarantella for violin, cello, and piano four hands
Esmail Tasveer for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Saint-Saens Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs for flute, oboe, clarinet, and piano
Artists
Keith Bonner, flute
Shawn Welk, oboe
Ralph Skiano, clarinet
Alana Carithers, violin
Jason McComb, cello
Daniel Stipe, piano
Maria Yefimova, piano
Guest Artists
Ralph Skiano currently serves as Principal Clarinetist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra after serving in the same position in the Cincinnati Symphony, the Richmond Symphony, and the Des Moines Metro Opera. He has also appeared as guest principal clarinetist of the Seattle Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. During his time in Richmond, he was a founding member of the Atlantic Chamber Ensemble. Critics have praised him for his solo and orchestral performances, describing him as having “wisdom beyond his years” and the ability to bring “the audience closer to the stage, transforming the performance into more of an intimate storytelling” - Huffington Post.
Mr. Skiano has toured extensively throughout Europe and Asia with the Detroit Symphony and the Cincinnati Symphony and can be heard in several recent recordings released by the Detroit
Symphony’s label “Live From Orchestra Hall”, including the entire cycle of Brahms Symphonies, Symphonies 4, 5 and 6 by Tchaikovsky, and the Grammy-nominated recording of Copland’s Third Symphony. In addition, he can be seen and heard through an innovative high-definition video archive created by the Detroit Symphony called “DSO Replay”.
Mr. Skiano has been involved in numerous music festivals, including the the Mainly Mozart Festival, The Peninsula Music Festival, the Britt Music Festival, and Festival Lyrique-en-Mer. As a soloist, he has been featured with ensembles in the United States, France, Germany, and Switzerland. In 2010, Skiano was a guest artist at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium and he was a featured soloist with the Baton Rouge Symphony at the 2014 International Clarinet Association Convention. Mr. Skiano has also been featured several times as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony.
Mr. Skiano has served on the faculty of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and at the schools of music at James Madison University and the College of William and Mary. An active presenter and clinician, he continues to present masterclasses and workshops at universities all across the United States.
As a Buffet Group and Vandoren Artist, Ralph Skiano performs exclusively on Buffet Crampon clarinets and Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces.
Flutist Keith Bonner has performed in a wide variety of ensembles, ranging from symphony and opera orchestras to small chamber groups, Broadway pits as well as movies and television.
Mr. Bonner is currently principal flute of both the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and Riverside Symphony as well as a member of the Borealis Wind Quintet. He performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Symphony Orchestras of New Jersey, and Stamford, CT and the New York City Ballet Orchestra. As soloist, Mr. Bonner has performed concertos by Nielsen (Lincoln Center), Gluck, Telemann, Bach, Doppler and Mozart with various orchestras in the New York metropolitan area and across Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. Keith has also performed much chamber music for flute with the Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players, Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Wind Soloists of New York.
Keith maintains an active freelance career in New York City and has played in the Broadway pits of over a dozen productions. Mr. Bonner has been on the faculty of Brooklyn College and the 92nd Street Y. He currently teaches at the Special Music School. He was a board member of the New York Flute Club from 2006 until 2012.
Mr. Bonner holds a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music.