Guest Artist Series

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2019-2020 Season

Evan Mazunik, piano and Conrad Kehn, voice

September 25; 7:30pm

Evan Mazunik is a composer &keyboardist raised in Iowa and currently based in Denver, CO. He plays music that blends the complexities of urban life with the openness of midwestern fields. Mazunik directs his band ZAHA using Soundpainting, a sign language for live composition. 

Conrad Kehn is a composer, performer, educator and arts administrator. He is the founding Director of The Playground, a chamber ensemble dedicated to modern music. An award winning composer, Conrad's genre-crossing output includes traditional and contemporary chamber music, experimental and multi-media works, and popular music. His work has been performed across the US in numerous concert halls, festivals, clubs, galleries and underground warehouses.

Andrew Diessner, vocalist

Commercial Combos @ Warehouse 2565 

October 23; 7:30pm 

Andrew Diessner was born and raised in Denver, Colorado where he was the principal bassist in Colorado State's Symphony. Andrew then switched his musical focus from the bass to vocal studies and fell in love with classical voice performance. After performing in a plethora of operas, concerts and recitals, Andrew graduated from CSU with a Bachelor of Arts in Voice Performance. Andrew's favorite stage credits over the years include Les Miserables, Ragtime, Xanadu, Madame Butterfly, The Elixir of Love, A Little Night Music, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, A Miracle on 34th Street and the Music Man.  Aside from performing, Andrew has discovered a passion for arranging music. He arranges the majority of the music for his headlining shows and is also the arranger on a large new project: Motones vs. Jerseys.

Balkan Percussion Duo

November 8; 7:30pm

Balkan Percussion Duo embodies a union of two divergent players who share a common background. The duo focuses on collaborations with living composers and performing new percussion repertoire, while keeping rooted in musical tradition by duo's own reinvented transcriptions of famous works. As a result, their distinctive musical tendencies and means of expression give a unique blend of sound. 

Joe Burgstaller, trumpet

With Arthur Houle, piano
Sponsored by Karen Combs

December 5; 7:30pm

Called “quite simply, a superstar of the trumpet” by conductor JoAnn Falletta, multi-genre international soloist Joe Burgstaller has captivated audiences throughout the world with his dazzling virtuosity, sensitivity, and engaging personality. He tours internationally as a soloist, as a chamber musician, as a modern-music specialist and as an educator. Perhaps best known in the brass world as a former full-time trumpeter and arranger for the famed Canadian Brass (approx. 8 years), he joined The Peabody Institute as Distinguished Visiting Artist in 2007, and now resides in Baltimore as a full-time faculty member teaching trumpet and brass chamber music. 

Phoenix Park-Kim, piano with Kristen Yeon-Ji Yun, cello

April 9; 7:30pm

Pianist Phoenix Park-Kim is an active soloist, avid chamber musician and a Professor of Music at Indiana Wesleyan University. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Phoenix began playing the piano at the age of five and gave her first public performance at seven years old. She graduated from Yonsei University in Seoul with a B.M. in piano performance and a B.A. in English Language and Literature. She completed her graduate work at Miami University (M.M.) and at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, Conservatory of Music (D.M.A.). 

Matt Harris, piano

CMU Jazz Festival with Jazz Ensemble

May 4; 7:30pm

Matt Harris graduated with a B.M. from the University of Miami and a M.M. from the Eastman School of Music. He moved to Los Angeles after touring, writing, and recording with jazz legends, Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich. Matt is co-director of Jazz Studies at California State University Northridge, and is a current faculty member at Yellowstone and Idyllwild Arts summer jazz camps. He is currently the VP for California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ) and is a National Panelist for Young Arts based in Miami.