ECC's music faculty perform free concert on March 7
Members of ECC's music faculty will showcase their talents on Monday, March 7, at the Elgin Community College Arts Center. The concert will take place at 7 p.m. in the ECC Arts Center's SecondSpace Theatre, located in Building H, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. The event is free but reservations are recommended.
The ECC Music Faculty Showcase will feature eight faculty performers in ECC's music lesson program which offers private music lesson opportunities for youth and adults on a wide variety of instruments. The faculty performers include Larry Dieffenbach (piano), Gwynn Downey (bassoon), Ryan Hobbs (trumpet), Constance Hughes (piano), Sharon Jones (horn), Scott Metlicka (flute), Donnie Sujack (soprano saxophone), and Deb Zelman (clarinet).
Featured musical works include Meno Mosso from Alexander Arutunian's Trumpet Concerto in Ab major, Jacob ter Veldhuis' "The Garden of Love," Verne Reynolds' Partita, Allegro from Jacque Ibert's Concerto for Flute, and W.A. Mozart's Quintet for Piano and Winds in Eb major.
To reserve a seat for the ECC Music Faculty showcase, call the ECC Arts Center box office at (847) 622-0300 or visit tickets.elgin.edu.
• Larry Dieffenbach (piano) completed his undergraduate studies at Olivet Nazarene University graduating with magna cum laude honors. In 1982, HE began studies at the University of Colorado. He has served as educational director at Cordogan's Pianoland, musical director of Lincoln Opera, and accompanist for soloists and ensembles including the St. Charles Singers, Elgin Arts Chorale, and the St. Charles Art & Music Festival, for which he also served as the director of the International Piano Competition. Dieffenbach has served as an organist for Geneva United Methodist Church and Baker Memorial Church in St. Charles, as well as dean of the Fox Valley Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
• Gwyn Downey (bassoon) has been a performer and private music instructor in the Fox Valley and Chicago area since 1985. Her instructors include Homer Pence and Anne Eagleton from the Lyric Opera, and Willard Elliot, Robert Barris, and Bill Buchmann from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She currently plays principal bassoon with the Park Ridge Orchestra and the Fox Valley Orchestra and performs chamber music with the Opus 3 Woodwind Trio. She has performed with the Rockford Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, The Mozart Festival Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic, Northbrook Symphony, Evanston Symphony, and New Philharmonic Orchestra. She also serves as an adjunct bassoon professor at Judson University.
• Ryan Hobbs (trumpet) is a member of the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra, and the founder/trumpet of Northside Brass. As a classical player, he has played with the Oistrach Symphony (Chicago), International Chamber Artists (Chicago, Paderewski Symphony (Chicago), The Millar Brass Ensemble, Bach-Week Festival (Chicago), New Philharmonic Orchestra, Fox Valley Symphony (Appleton, Wis.), Present Music Milwaukee, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Fox Valley Orchestra (Aurora), Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Battle Creek (Mich.) Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque (Iowa) Symphony Orchestra, and the Racine and Kenosha Symphony Orchestras in Wisconsin. Hobbs has played with Dennis DeYoung and Styx, Doc Severinson, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and can be found in Broadway show pit orchestras around Chicago.
• Constance Hughes (piano) received her masters of music from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. She is a Ravinia Festival artist, performer, and educator whose performance experience includes appearances with the Kansas City Philharmonic, Independence Symphony, the Rockford Symphony, and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. She is passionate about educating piano students of all skill levels. Hughes has presented recitals throughout the United States and Europe and is a sought-after accompanist and chamber musician.
• Sharon Jones (horn) is a member of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and is frequently seen performing as a pit musician in numerous productions with Drury Lane Theater Oak Brook, Broadway in Chicago, and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier. She has performed under the direction of conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Daniel Barenboim. She also became a member of the Millar Brass Ensemble and the Kenosha Symphony and was the principal horn of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra for the 1998-1999 season. During the summer of 2013, she joined the "Les Miserables" North American Tour, performing throughout the United States and Canada.
• Scott Metlicka (flute) is a member of the Elgin, Rockford, Wisconsin Philharmonic, and South Bend symphonies. His other orchestral engagements include Chicago Opera Theater, Grant Park Symphony, Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra as well as chamber music performances with several ensembles. He studied with Walfrid Kujala, Mary Stolper, and Mary Louise Poor. Metlicka won first prize in the Chicago Flute Club Piccolo Competition. He will perform as flute soloist on Ibert's Concerto for Flute and Orchestra with the Rockford Symphony in 2016.
• Donnie Sujack (soprano saxophone) is a saxophonist, woodwind doubler, and music educator based out of the western suburbs of Chicago. His performance experience includes work as an artist in the Wheaton Municipal Band, the TriTone Saxophone Trio, the Chicago Symphonic Winds, and his progressive rock band Pisces at The Animal Fair. Along with his regular performing ensembles, Sujack is often called to sub in groups including the Limited Edition Big Band, the DePaul University Wind Ensemble, and the Northeastern University Wind Ensemble.
• Deborah Zelman (clarinet) studied under the direction of Howard Klug at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She has also studied with Charlene Zimmerman of the Grant Park Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestra. Zelman performs locally as a principal clarinetist with the DuPage Symphony Orchestra and DuPage Symphony Woodwind Quintet. She is an active freelance and jazz musician, and performs regularly as a clarinetist, saxophonist and jazz vocalist with the DuPage Community Jazz Ensemble and Zazz Quintet.