David Rehman, bassoon
20 November 2005 | Mozart: Bassoon Concerto in B-flat Major, K. 191

David Rehman has been principal bassoonist of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra since the 2002–03 season. As a member of the UCDSO, Rehman had the particular privilege to play in last season’s collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company. He has played bassoon for six years, studying with David Granger at UC Davis since 2002. In spring 2002, he conducted the UC Davis Concert Band in Tiny Pebbles, an original piece he composed in high school. He is also deeply involved in ArtsBridge, a campus outreach organization that brings music and other arts disciplines to public schools in the Yolo County area and beyond.

Rehman attended high school in the Marshall Islands, where he lived for 10 years. Now in his senior year, he is double-majoring in music and biological sciences. After graduating, he plans to pursue medical school, possibly going into pediatric care or the research of neuropathic disorders. In his free time, he enjoys playing pool, salsa dancing, and traveling.

Steven Tharp, tenor
4 December 2005 | Britten: Saint Nicolas

Whether performing Bach or Rorem, Wagner or Donizetti, Steven Tharp convinces critics and audiences alike that the work at hand is his specialty. Tharp has appeared with most of the major U. S. orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony (under Solti and Barenboim); the New York Philharmonic (Masur); and the Cleveland Orchestra (von Dohnanyi); as well as the Royal Philharmonic and Hong Kong Philharmonic. His repertoire ranges from the great Baroque and Classical liturgical masterpieces to contemporary works.

Early in his operatic career Tharp received awards from the Metropolitan Opera National Council and San Francisco Opera auditions. His operatic repertoire of over forty roles includes the major tenor parts of Mozart and Handel. Tharp has a special interest in lesser-known operas of the Classical and early Romantic eras, and has taken roles in Haydn's L'Isola disabitata and L'Infedelta delusà, Grétry's Zémire et Azor, and Schubert's Alfonso und Estrella.

Steven Tharp sang with the Metropolitan Opera in 2002 in Prokofiev's War and Peace and returned shortly for Andrea Chenier and Turandot. Highlights of his 2004­05 season included recitals at the Trinity Church in New York and Currier Museum of Art in New Hampshire, Monteverdi¹s madrigals and Messiah with the American Bach Soloists, Israel in Egypt with the Music of Baroque, and his debut with the Nationale Reisopera as Sospiro in Florian Leopold Gassmann's L'Opera seria.

Susan Lamb Cook, cello
12 February 2006 | Elgar: Cello Concerto

Susan Lamb Cook, UC Davis's artist affiliate in cello and chamber music, has performed as soloist as well as chamber musician in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. She holds the degrees of Bachelor of Music and Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa, as well as a performance degree from the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna. Lamb Cook has performed as soloist with orchestras throughout northern California, and her solo and chamber music recitals have been broadcast on National Public Radio. She currently teaches cello and chamber music at the University of California, Davis, and is program director and coach for the Sacramento Youth Symphony¹s Chamber Music Workshop. Lamb Cook has recorded chamber music by American composer Daniel Kingman for Innova Recordings and has released a CD entitled Works for Cello and Piano by Rachmaninoff.

Her United States premiere performance of Kenneth Leighton's Cello Concerto received the following praise from the Sacramento Bee: "The strongest source of (the concerto¹s) power is the cello, and Susan Lamb Cook made every ounce of that power felt. She led the way with (the orchestra) throughout the first movement, growing more impassioned with each entrance. The long cadenza was eloquently and powerfully put."

Susan Lamb Cook is a member of the Gold Coast Trio.

Benjamin Kreith performs chamber music in both the United States and Europe. He has played recitals at the Juan March Foundation in Madrid, the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, and the American Academy in Rome, and given world premieres of solo violin works at the contemporary music festival in Marseille and Strasbourg. His live recording of Christian Lauba¹s Kwintus for violin solo was released on the Accord/Universal CD Morphing.

Kreith co-founded the Ensemble Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, a group recognized for its innovative chamber series in Santiago de Compostela, numerous commissions, educational activities, and collaborations with composers such as Francisco Guerrero, Magnus Lindberg, and Tristan Murial. He has also played with the Harvard Group for New Music, Barcelona 216, and as guest artist with the Österreichisches Ensemble für Neue Musik in Salzburg and the League of Composers Chamber Players in New York. With Alea II and conductor Gunther Schuller, he appeared as soloist in the US premiere of Schulhoff¹s Concerto for String Quartet and later doubled on violin and harmonica for the group¹s tours of Greece.

Kreith studied principally with Jorja Fleezanis, Malcolm Lowe, and Lorand Fenyves as well as chamber music with Louis Krasner. While studying at the New England Conservatory he performed as soloist with the NEC Bach Ensemble directed by John Gibbons and the NEC Symphony. Recently, his interest in teaching led him to study pedagogy with Kato Havas in England. He has taught at the Escola de Música de Barcelona and the Escuela Maese Pedro in Madrid.

Joseph Abad, alto saxophone
21 May 2006 | Ibert: Concertino da camera

Joseph Abad is a native Californian who is currently pursuing a BA degree in saxophone performance at UCDavis under the tutelage of Keith Bohm.

As a student at James Logan High School in Union City, California, Abad was chosen among a band program of over 200 students as the principal saxophonist in the Logan Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Ramiro Barrera. During his four-year tenure there, Abad had the opportunity to perform throughout California as well as to represent the state in the 2001 Bands of America National Band Festival in Indiana. In addition to playing in the Wind Ensemble, he was also in the James Logan Jazz Band, directed by Kenneth Karlin, for four years. There he played alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, earning several soloist awards.

Abad has been co-principal of the UC Davis Wind Ensemble and UC Davis Concert Band as well as a member of several chamber ensembles, including William Walton's Façade and UCD Saxophone Quartet as well as The Rocky Horror Show. Abad has given private and group lessons and middle and high schools. Currently he is Peer Advisor in the UC Davis Music Department, as well as co-founder of the (resurrected) Impresario Society, a student-run organization that raises money for public-school music programs.

Michael Morgan, conductor
21 May 2006

Currently in his sixth year as Music Director of Sacramento Philharmonic and his fifteenth year as Music Director of Oakland East Bay Symphony, Michael Morgan and the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra have enjoyed an increasingly close relationship since his first season with the Sacramento Philharmonic. Morgan is in the habit of dropping in on UCDSO rehearsals and has quickl established a great popularity with the student musicians and student conductors for his affability, good humor, and musicianship.

Born in Washington, DC, he attended public schools and began conducting at the age of 12. While a student at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood studying with Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa, and it was at that time that he first worked with Leonard Bernstein. For the last two summers he has taught conducting at Tanglewood.

In 1980 he won first prize in the Hans Swarovsky International Conductors Competition in Vienna, Austria, and became Assistant Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, under Leonard Slatkin. In 1986, Sir Georg Solt chose him to become the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a position he held for seven years. His debut conducting a regular subscription concert of the CSO came in 1987 when he stepped in to replace the ailing Solti with no rehearsal and to critical acclaim. In 1986 he was also invited by Leonard Bernstein to make his debut with the New York

He makes appearances in schools nationwide and is regarded as an expert on the importance of arts education and minority access to the arts.

Shawnette Sulker, soprano
4 June 2006 | Orff: Carmina Burana

Shawnette Sulker (soprano) has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as a singer ²displaying a bright, superbly controlled soprano with perfectly placed coloratura.² This native of Guyana has appeared with the American Bach Soloists singing Bach¹s cantata Non sa che sia dolore, and with the Santa Clara Chorale and Orchestra in Mozart¹s Exultate, jubilate and Haydn¹s Lord Nelson Mass both. With the Redwood Symphony, she has sung Mahler¹s Symphony No. 4 and the role of Clara in a concert version of Gershwin¹s Porgy and Bess. Additional concert repertoire includes the soprano solo in Mozart¹s Missa Brevis in G Major, which was performed at the National Shrine Cathedral in Washington DC, and the soprano solo from Fauré¹s Requiem.

Ms. Sulker¹s operatic résumé includes two roles sung in San Francisco Opera productions of The Mother of Us All and Louise. She is also currently participating in the San Francisco Opera Guild¹s outreach production of The Elixir of Love in the role of Adina. Other roles include Oscar (Un ballo in maschera) with West Bay Opera and Adele (Die Fledermaus) with North Bay Opera. She has appeared with Berkeley Opera in the roles of Adle (ŒBat out of Hell¹ ­ Die Fledermaus), Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), and Despina (Così fan tutte). She created the role of Corina in the world-premiere of David Conte¹s opera Firebird Motel. Other roles performed include Musetta (La Bohème), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), and Belinda (Dido and Aeneas).

Film credits for the young soprano consist of a soundtrack performance for the movie Mimic and an on-camera operatic appearance for the forthcoming feature film Jackson directed by J. F. Lawton. Ms. Sulker¹s upcoming engagements include performing the Princess in Many Moons, and Susanna, both with Cinnabar Opera.

Gerald Thomas Gray, tenor
4 June 2006 | Orff: Carmina Burana

Gerald THomas Gray performs throughout the United States in repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Mahler. Highlights of his 2004­05 season included the role of Tempo in Handel's Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra of Los Angeles, and one-voice-per-part performances of Bach¹s sacred cantatas with the American Bach Soloists, which received critical acclaim. Gray will return to Musica Angelica in October to perform a concert of Bach's sacred cantatas and will return to the American Bach Soloists in May of 2006 for a series of one-voice-per-part performances of the St. Matthew Passion of J. S. Bach.

Past highlights include appearances with the Handel and Haydn Society in a staged production of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers for which the Wall Street Journal hailed the "sensuousness of his vocal line." He performed the title role in Handel's monumental oratorio Samson and the title role in Carissimi's Jephte with the Amor Artis Chorale and Orchestra in New York City. At Harvard University he has performed Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde and has appeared in Bach's Magnificat under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. He also appeared in Lully's opera Thesée in Boston Early Music Festival's main-stage production of 2001.

He is an alumnus of Emmanuel Music where a 35-year tradition of weekly performances of Bach¹s Sacred Cantatas continues under the direction of Craig Smith. With Emmanuel Music, Gray has performed over forty of Bach's sacred cantatas as a soloist, over one hundred as a chorister, and has performed much of the music of Heinrich Schütz. He has appeared in Emmanuel Music¹s evening concerts in Handel's Saul and Brockes Passion,
Schubert's Mass in E-Flat, and Bach's St. John Passion (1725 version), which was subsequently recorded on the Koch International label. On the operatic stage he has performed such roles as Anatol in Barber's Vanessa, Quint in Britten's Turn of the Screw, and Pedrillo in Mozart's Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail. He holds degrees from Austin Peay State University in his native Tennessee, the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the University of Iowa in Iowa City.