Artist Group: 2023-2024

Born in Oakland, California, violinist Ariane Sletner enjoys an active career with more than sixty appearances as soloist with orchestra throughout the US, Central and South America and Europe. Concerto performances include her debut with the Oakland Symphony and the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra under Kent Nagano, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Colombia under Luis O. Biava, the Orquesta Nacional de Guatemala under Luis G. Biava and orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area, Columbus, Oberlin, Mt. Vernon and Philadelphia, among others. Last summer with NASO, she performed the Brahms Double and, on tour, Mozart in Prague, Herzogenaurach and in Stephansdom in Vienna. A participant in national and international competitions, she was chosen for pre-selection and played at the Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris and was invited as a contestant to the International Tchaikovsky Competition. Her chamber music and solo work have been broadcast on NPR, KDFC San Francisco and WOSU Columbus. Ariane played with the High Street Four String Quartet for 10 years and is a member of the Biava-Uribe Trio and the Camarata Trio with pianists Blanca Uribe and Suzanne Newcomb and cellist Luis Biava with both trios performing the Beethoven Triple Concerto. Camarata has completed the Mozart and Beethoven piano trio cycles and played many contemporary trios, including works by Elliott Carter, Jennifer Higdon, Lera Auerbach, Arvo Pärt and Augusta Read Thomas. At twenty-two, she played with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and was principal second of their national touring orchestra, Western Opera Theater. She was a member of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and played with the Columbus Symphony for more than twenty years. She taught and performed with principal players of the New York Philharmonic and the Met Orchestra and with pianist Jeremy Denk in artist faculty chamber concerts at Musicorda in Massachusetts and the Festival Youth Orchestra of the Americas (FOSJA) in Puerto Rico. Recent and upcoming concerts include performances completing the Brahms and Schubert trio cycles with Camarata, the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Knox County Symphony, the Sibelius Concerto with the Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra and the South American premiere of Carillon Sky by Augusta Read Thomas and the Iberacademy Orchestra in Medellin, Colombia. Ariane currently serves as concertmaster of the New Albany Symphony, Opera Libera in Philadelphia and the Camarata Chamber Orchestra and teaches at Kenyon College. Ms. Sletner earned performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her teachers include Almita Vamos, David Cerone, Kay Stern, Zvi Zeitlin, Stephen Clapp, Eugenia Fichtenova and Lenore Stephens.

Sonya Moomaw is a 13-year-old, eighth grader at The School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Sonya has won several competitions including the Music Teachers National Association Junior Strings Competition in 2023 and the Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition’s Junior Division in 2022. In January of 2024, she was featured on NPR’s “From the Top” with host Peter Dugan and placed third at the 27th Annual National Sphinx Competition in the Junior Division.

At age eight, Sonya made her orchestral debut with the University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, where she performed the first movement of the Haydn C Major Cello Concerto. In March of 2023, she performed the Saint-Säens Cello Concerto No. 1, with the Seven Hills Symphony Orchestra. She is excited to perform concertos with both the New Albany Symphony and the Blue Ash/Montgomery Symphony Orchestra in March of 2024. She is currently a member of the SCPA Chamber Orchestra, the SCPA Jazz Ensemble, the Seven Hills Symphony Orchestra, and the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra. 

In 2023, she was awarded the Norman E. Johns Chair Award from the Multicultural Awareness Council (MAC) of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra.

She has been studying cello with Dr. Sarah Kim for the last ten years.

Venezuelan pianist Alejandro Orta is a junior piano major at the Ohio University School of Music and Honors Tutorial College where he is a student of Professor of Piano Dr. Christopher Fisher. He is a laureate of many competitions both in the United States and in his home country. Recent prizes include first place in the 2021 Graves/OhioMTA Young Artist Competition and Senior Division winner of the 2021 Ohio University School of Music High School Concerto Competition, in which he performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Concerto with the Ohio University Symphony Orchestra. He has played in master classes of celebrated pianists including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, George Li, Henry Kramer, and Dominic Cheli. 

In 2008, at the age of eight, Alejandro began is piano studies with Professor Elizabeth Guerrero and music theory with Zuleyma Somaroo in Juan José Landaeta National Conservatory of Music, where he also completed his third year of choral activity in the “Adda Elena de Sauce Children’s Choir”. There he cultivated his passion and love for music, playing concerts and recitals. Alejandro participated in the second level of the XI Silvia Eisenstein National Piano Competition where he won first prize, Best Sonatina Performance Award, Best Venezuelan Work Performance Award in 2011. He played in La Fete de la Musique (sponsored by the French Embassy) in 2010 and 2013. 

At the age of 13, he continued his piano studies with Professor Carlos Urbaneja Silva at the Mozarteium Caracas School of Music. There he took classes in music history, harmony, musical analysis, art history, and auditory training with Professors Edwardo Plaza, Eduardo Lecuna, Luis Felipe Barnola, and Maria Grazia. He participated in the fifth level of the XIII Silvia Eisenstein National Piano Competition where he received the second prize in 2016. 

He was selected to participate in three seminars of the National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela held at “Las Taritas” farm in order to begin an international tour with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel in 2017. Alejandro has performed the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 with the National Philharmonic Orchestra (Venezuela) and conductor Daniel Gil, followed by performances of Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 and Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Municipal Orchestra of Caracas under the baton of Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni. He has performed in all of the major concert venues in Caracas including the José Félix Ribas Concert Hall of the Terese Carreno Theater, Humboldt Cultural Association, BOD Cultural Center, Anna Julia Rojas Hall (Unearte), Villa Planchart, Museum of Colonial Art of Venezuela, Transport Museum “Guillermo José Schael”, among others.

Lorelei Roeger is a graduate of New Albany High School and an incoming freshman at The Ohio State University. She has been involved in Columbus’s arts and theater programs since 6th grade. Some of her favorite credits include working with the Short North Stage, Evolution Theater Company, and The Butterfly Guild. She also placed first in the Central Ohio Singing Competition (2022) and was a nominee for Best Actress at the CAPA Marquee Awards. Lorelei would like to thank her friends, family, teachers, and the New Albany Symphony for this opportunity!

Growing up in the rich environment of New Orleans as the oldest son of pianist and educator Ellis Marsalis, Branford was drawn to music along with siblings Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason.  His first instrument, the clarinet, gave way to the alto and then the tenor and soprano saxophones when the teenage Branford began working in local bands.  A growing fascination with jazz as he entered college gave him the basic tools to obtain his first major jobs, with trumpet legend Clark Terry and alongside Wynton in Art Blakey’s legendary Jazz Messengers.  When the brothers left to form the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, the world of uncompromising acoustic jazz was invigorated.  Branford formed his own quartet in 1986 and, with a few minor interruptions in the early years, has sustained the unit as his primary means of expression.  Known for the telepathic communication among its uncommonly consistent personnel, its deep book of original music replete with expressive melodies and provocative forms, and an unrivaled spirit in both live and recorded performances, the Branford Marsalis Quartet has long been recognized as the standard to which other ensembles of its kind must be measured.

Branford has not confined his music to the quartet context however.  Classical music inhabits a growing portion of Branford’s musical universe.  A frequent soloist with classical ensembles, Branford has become increasingly sought after as a featured soloist with such acclaimed orchestras as the Chicago, Detroit, Düsseldorf, and North Carolina Symphonies and the Boston Pops, with a growing repertoire that includes compositions by Debussy, Glazunov, Ibert, Mahler, Milhaud, Rorem and Vaughn Williams.

Under the direction of conductor Gil Jardim, Branford Marsalis and members of the Philharmonia Brasileira toured the United States in the fall of 2008, performing works by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, arranged for solo saxophone and orchestra. This project commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the revered Brazilian composer’s death.

Making his first appearance with the New York Philharmonic in the summer of 2010, Marsalis was again invited to join them as soloist in their 2010‐2011 concert series where he unequivocally demonstrated his versatility and prowess, bringing “a gracious poise and supple tone… and an insouciant swagger” (New York Times) to the repertoire.

In 2013, Branford served as Creative Director for the Ascent Series of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra which included two week-long residencies as well as a number of concerts with the CSO.

Once again partnering with an esteemed ensemble for a tour of the United States, Branford joined the highly celebrated Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in Marsalis “Well-Tempered” on a 20-city US tour in the fall of 2014, performing Baroque masterpieces by Albinoni, Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and others.

Raising the bar yet again, Branford took on the challenging Saxophone Concerto by composer John Adams, performing the piece with the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Edwin Outwater, in October 2015.

To begin 2016, Branford traveled to Germany for a concert with the prestigious Bayerische Staatsoper at the National Theatre in Munich performing an array of selections including Ter Velduis’ Tallahatchie Concerto.

He then returned to Asia twice in the spring of 2016, first for his debut collaboration with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, followed by a trip to Kuala Lumpur where he performed two concerts with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Petronas Twin Towers.

The fall of 2016 saw Branford returning to his home state of Louisiana where he was invited to be a guest soloist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, presenting works by John Williams and Heitor Villa Lobos.

Broadway has also welcomed Branford’s contributions.  His initial effort, original music for a revival of August Wilson’s Fences, garnered a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play and a Tony nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theater.  Branford also provided music for The Mountaintop, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, and served as musical curator for the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun.  Branford’s screen credits include the original music for Mo’ Better Blues and acting roles in School Daze and Throw Momma from the Train.

Branford formed the Marsalis Music label in 2002, and under his direction it has documented his own music, talented new stars such as Miguel Zenón, and un-heralded older masters including one of Branford’s teachers, the late Alvin Batiste.  Branford has also shared his knowledge as an educator, forming extended teaching relationships at Michigan State, San Francisco State and North Carolina Central Universities and conducting workshops at sites throughout the United States and the world.

As for other public stages, Branford spent a period touring with Sting, collaborated with the Grateful Dead and Bruce Hornsby, served as Musical Director of The Tonight Show Starring Jay Leno and hosted National Public Radio’s widely syndicated Jazz Set.  The range and quality of these diverse activities established Branford as a familiar presence beyond the worlds of jazz and classical music, while his efforts to help heal and rebuild New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina mark him as an artist with an uncommonly effective social vision.  Together with Harry Connick, Jr. and New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, Branford conceived and helped to realize The Musicians’ Village, a community in the Upper Ninth Ward that provides homes to the displaced families of musicians and other local residents.  At the heart of The Musicians’ Village stands the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a community center dedicated to preserving the rich New Orleans musical legacy containing state-of-the art spaces for performance, instruction and recording.

Some might gauge Branford Marsalis’s success by his numerous awards, including three Grammys and (together with his father and brothers) his citation as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.  To Branford, however, these are only way stations along what continues to be one of the most fascinating and rewarding journeys in the world of music.

Angela is a 6-time Emmy Award winning journalist who anchors Central Ohio’s #1 weekday morning newscast on WBNS-10TV at 4:25 a.m., 5 a.m. and 6 a.m.  She also lead’s 10TV’s CrimeTracker 10 franchise, focusing on crime concerns, trends, and prevention in central Ohio communities.  Angela also manages the station’s Nextdoor partnership sharing positive stories of neighbors doing goo.

In recent years, Angela has been honored by numerous organizations.  She was named a “10 of 10 Women Leaders” by Dress for Success Columbus and honored by MADD of Central Ohio with the Driven to Save Lives Award.    The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium invited Angela to an exclusive behind-the-scenes with Jungle Jack Hanna during his final appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in New York City.  Angela also co-presented a 1-hour program on crime prevention, focusing on women and families with a special demonstration of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.  Angela says one of her most memorable assignments was covering the deadly Southeast Asia tsunami in 2004.  She has also received high recognition from numerous organizations, including the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, the Ohio State Highway Patrol, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Community service is one of Angela’s greatest passions.  She serves as an advisory board member for JDRF Central Ohio.  Previous board membership includes Komen Columbus, Canine Companions for Independence, and Columbus Fashion Week.  She lends her support to other groups such as Crime Stoppers of Central Ohio and the Heinzerling Foundation.

Prior to joining 10TV in August 2000, Angela worked at KSL-TV in Salt Lake City, where she was one of the first journalists in the market to certify as a county wild land firefighter.  Angela also co-founded a news magazine program, China Near and Far, based out of New York City.  Her journalism career began at KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.

Angela is graduate of the University of Southern California.  She also received a Master’s in Strategic Public Relations from George Washington University. Angela is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and a classical pianist.  She loves to golf and proud to call central Ohio home.

 

C. Andrew Blosser, a native of Belle Center, Ohio, has performed roles in opera and musical theatre, and presented master classes and recitals throughout the United States, Ireland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Czechia, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland. Blosser received a Bachelor of Music in vocal music education from the Conservatory of Music at Capital University, a Master of Music in voice performance and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Ohio State University.

Blosser has been a featured soloist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Lakeside Symphony, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra for concert and oratorio performances. A few highlights include Ralph Vaughn Williams’ On Wenlock Edge with the Carpe Diem String Quartet as part of the Marble Cliff Music Festival, Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and was the soloist for the world premiere performance of Te Deum, by British composer Patrick Hawes, at the Lancaster Festival. He served as cantor for services at the Berlin Cathedral, as well as the soloist for the Mozart Missa Longa at the Salzburg Cathedral. Blosser most recently performed on the recital Singing Our History, a chronological story of American history told through the works of American composers at the National Association of Teachers of Singing conference in Boston, Massachusetts.

Blosser currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Teaching in voice Ohio State, where he teaches applied voice, voice literature, opera history, and diction courses. He is also the Director of Music at First Community Church in Columbus, Ohio. Prior to this appointment, Blosser served on the faculties of Terra State Community College, Ohio Christian University, Capital University, and Muskingum University. He has presented sessions on vocal production and hygiene at OMEA and ACDA professional conferences, most recently in Pasadena, Denver, Omaha, and Spokane. Blosser holds professional memberships with the National Association of Teachers of Singers (NATS), the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society, and Phi Mu Alpha.

Known for his stage savvy, Robert Kerr’s foundation in opera began in musical theater. Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times wrote of his Falstaff: “He made words matter and conveyed the self-delusion of this likable laughingstock… “

Recent and upcoming: Mr. Kerr was heard as Germont with the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York at Lincoln Center; and sang the King in Aida with Opera Columbus. This past season Mr. Kerr sang solo engagements with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Ohio Song Project and Denison University. In addition he participates in Opera Columbus’s world première of The Flood by Korine Fujiwara directed by Stephen Wadsworth; he was soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Philharmonia Orchestra of New York; and was the title role of Rigoletto with Opera Projects Columbus. This season he played the title role in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Columbus.

Robert Kerr returned to Rose Theater with Maestro Atsushi Yamada and the Philharmonia Orchestra of New York in a Verdi concert and sang Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Performance Santa Fe!; and, was the title role in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Project Columbus. He returned to Japan for engagements in performances of Requiem by Minoru Miki in Natori and reprising the work at Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. He was the Germont in La traviata with the Arroyo Foundation; concerts with the Columbus Symphony; covered the role of the King in El Gato con Botas with Gotham Chamber Opera; was soloist with the New York City Opera Orchestra in a Japan tour of Carmina Burana and sang Tonio in Pagliacci with Opera Columbus.

Other engagements include his appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors along with Sondra Radvanovsky and Joseph Calleja in an Aida tribute to honoree, Martina Arroyo. He sang the title role of Falstaff with the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s “Prelude to Performance” with Willie Waters conducting and was engaged with the Lancaster Festival in Ohio. Mr. Kerr was Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Columbus and made his Indianapolis Opera debut this season as Peachum in The Threepenny Opera. He sang Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with Sinfonia da Camera in Illinois and was soloist with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Große Messe in c-Moll; he reprised the role of Peachum with Amarillo Opera.

Past roles include: Scarpia in Tosca, Secret Police Agent in The Consul, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Germont in La traviata, Ford in Falstaff, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, Marullo in Rigoletto, Danieli in Das Liebesverbot, Commissario in Madama Butterfly; and, Keeper of the Madhouse in The Rake’s Progress. Mr. Kerr has sung King Hildebrand in Princess Ida with So. Ohio Light Opera; he was engaged by Opera Memphis as the Sacristan and Jailer in Tosca; and sang Carmina Burana with the Las Cruces Symphony and El Paso Chorale.

He has appeared in summer stock with The Barn Theater and Huron Playhouse; and in past productions with the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Opera Theater and the Music Festival of Lucca, Italy. For three seasons he was a member of the Glimmerglass Opera where he participated in the Young American Artists program. In addition, he was a member of San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program where he received advanced training.

Reviews

La traviata, Prelude to Performance

“Robert Kerr, the baritone singing the role of Germont evinced a full rich voice and did justice to his character and his emotional shifts. His Act II arias bore intense charges. His shame for his son in Act III was palpable. When he embraced Violetta as his daughter in Act IV, we could literally feel his remorse.”

— Meche Kroop, Voce di Meche

“The hearty baritone Robert Kerr began his career in musical theater, and that experience showed in his performance of Falstaff. He made words matter and conveyed the self-delusion of this likable laughingstock, a character convinced that his girth is actually an imposing physique with natural appeal for cultured women.“

— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

 

Carolyn Redman, mezzo-soprano, is originally from Bellevue, Ohio and received a MM and DMA in vocal performance from the Ohio State University.  She has performed operatic roles as well as musical theater roles with various professional companies including Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera/Columbus, Opera Project Columbus, Columbus Light Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Weathervane Playhouse, and Lyric Opera Cleveland.  She was selected as an apprentice artist with both Des Moines Metro Opera and Cincinnati Opera Young Artists programs and was also chosen to perform in masterclasses and performances at the Instituto Superior de Arte of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  She has been a winner or finalist in four competitions, including a first-place finish in the Opera/Columbus vocal competition.  Recent roles include La Badessa in Suor Angelica, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Miss Todd in The Old Maid and the Thief, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette,  Martha/Ayah in The Secret Garden, Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Jo in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, Second Lady in The Magic Flute, and Countess Charlotte Malcolm in A Little Night Music.  She has also been a featured soloist in oratorios and other concert works with groups such as Cantari Singers, Denison University, Columbus Bach Ensemble, Marion Civic Chorus, Master Singers, Inc. Chorale, New Albany Symphony, Saint Joseph Cathedral, Westerville Symphony, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria.  In addition to performing, she serves on the voice faculties of Kenyon College and Denison University.

“Her voice is like a cello, with such a deep and beautiful resonance!” – Libby Larsen

“The climaxes are wonderfully secure and exciting to hear. . . and what is also wonderful is her dramatic involvement, which is total — she lives every line.” – Roger Pines (Lyric Opera of Chicago)

Chelsea Hart Melcher has been described as “cooly captivating,” “ethereal and sublime,” and “a woman to be reckoned with” onstage. A national finalist in Sherrill Milnes’ “Opera Idol” competition, Melcher earned a Performance Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a Master of Music from The Ohio State University, and a Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University. She has worked with numerous symphonies and opera companies across the nation, and was the soprano soloist for the American premiere of Requiem Novum by Mårten Jansson. Melcher has also performed as soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mass in C and Choral Fantasy, Mahler’s Second Symphony, Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living, Michael Haydn’s Requiem in C, Mozart’s Requiem and Coronation Mass, and others. Her operatic roles include Micaëla and Frasquita in Carmen, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Mimi and Musetta in La Bohème, Violetta and Annina in La Traviata, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Maria in The Sound of Music, Adina in L’Elisir d’amore, Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica, Butterfly in Madama Butterfly, Norina in Don Pasquale, Mariuccia in I Due Timidi, Female Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Melcher is director of Opera and Musical Theater at the Capital University Conservatory of Music, and serves on the faculty of Columbus Children’s Theatre. She is the Founder of Vocal Career Academy and Nerves Be Gone Academy, and Co-Founder with her husband Paul Melcher of Red School of Music in suburban Columbus.

To access Chelsea’s album, “So Smooth, So Sweet – Songs of Allen Sapp,”  CLICK HERE.