ACTU’s Live from the Center to present ‘Winds and Strings’ Thursday
Post Published On:Arts for the Community at Thomas University will present a Live from the Center performance at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, titled “Winds and Strings.” The event will be livestreamed from the Thomasville Center for the Arts at www.facebook.com/actu31792/live. No Facebook account is required for viewing.
The program will include Jonathan Holden, clarinet; Robert Root, bassoon; Jonathan Gannon, horn; Petra Bubanja, violin; Edward Charity, violin; Miriam Tellechea, viola; Boyan Boyan, cello; Christian Marshall, double bass; and Karl Barton, flute.
Dr. Jonathan Holden is Associate Professor of Clarinet at Florida State University, Principal Clarinetist of the West Michigan Symphony and a member of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. A frequent guest of numerous orchestras, he has performed with ensembles such as the Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Baton Rouge and Lansing symphony orchestras, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Mobile Symphony and the Sarasota Orchestra. He is a founding member of the Vireo Ensemble and the Argot Trio. Dr. Holden holds degrees from Michigan State University.
Dr. Jonathan Gannon teaches applied horn at Florida A&M University, serves as Third Horn of the Tallahassee Symphony, and Associate Principal horn of the Mobile Symphony. Dr. Gannon also performs regularly with numerous orchestras in the Florida Panhandle and has performed in Italy and the Dominican Republic. As a soloist, He has appeared with the Florida State University Wind Orchestra and the Florida State University Chamber Winds. Dr. Gannon has been a semi-finalist at the International Horn Competition of America, as well as the winner of the Midsouth Horn Workshop’s graduate solo competition and the Southeast Horn Workshop’s solo and high-horn excerpt competition. He holds degrees from Florida State University and University of Missouri-Columbia.
Dr. Bubanja is an award-winning violinist who comes from Montenegro, a small country in the Balkans. She recently finished her doctorate in violin performance at Florida State University with Benjamin Sung as her primary teacher. She attended the Brevard Music Festival as part of the concertmaster studio and played in the prestigious National Repertory Orchestra, where she was also featured as a soloist. Dr. Bubanja played for famous violinists, including Gil Shaham, David Coucheron and David Kim. She was recently offered the position of Adjunct Violin Instructor at Florida A&M University. In her spare time Dr. Bubanja is a cinephile. In addition to her love of motion pictures, she enjoys reading books, painting, dancing, doing yoga and taking walks in nature.
Dr. Charity earned his doctorate from FSU, where he was in the studio of Dr. Shannon Thomas. A native of northwest Louisiana, he has performed across the South and Midwest with numerous orchestras. Charity served as associate concertmaster for the Texarkana Symphony Orchestra (2010-2012) and as concertmaster and principal second with the FSU University Symphony Orchestra (2017). Dr. Charity attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he served as principal second in the Opera Orchestra and was a member of the Aspen Festival Orchestra. The past few summers he served as assistant violin solo for L’Orchestre de la Francophonie in Montreal, as well as concertmaster for the Vienna Summer Music Festival.
Miriam Barfield Tellechea began studying violin at age 6 with Melissa Brewer. She received her Bachelor of Music from Florida State University and her Master of Music in Viola Performance at the Boston Conservatory under Patricia McCarty. She was a state winner for the ASTA National Solo Competition in 2010 (Massachusetts) and in 2008 (Florida) and has performed in master classes for Joseph Silverstein, Robert Spano, James Dunham, and Thomas Dumm. She has been a member of many orchestras, including the Tallahassee Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, and the Columbus Symphony. Tellechea has attended the Lucerne Festival Academy in Switzerland under the direction of Pierre Boulez, Brevard Music Festival, Schlern International Music Festival in Italy, and the Meadowmount School of Music, where she was at teaching assistant for many summers and performed with violinists Joseph Silverstein and James Ehnes. Tellechea teaches violin and viola at her private studio and regularly performs chamber music in the region.
An award-winning cellist, Dr. Bonev serves as co-producer for the Center for the Arts’ productions and is also the orchestra director for Thomas County Schools. A native of Bulgaria, he holds doctorate and master’s degrees in music from Florida State University, and a bachelor’s degree in music from the National Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria. Bonev was a soloist in the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, the UWF Chamber Orchestra, the Florida Lakes Symphony Orchestra and the Stara Zagora Symphony Orchestra. He has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Bonev is a prizewinner from the Bulgarian National Competition for Singers and Instrumentalists and the Music and Earth International Competition. He is also a recipient of the Radio Stara Zagora National Award for Outstanding Concert and Artistic Achievements.
At Thomas University, Dr. Karl Barton is Professor of Music and Coordinator of ACTU. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Thomasville Entertainment Foundation and is a past president of the Florida Flute Association. Barton earned a D.M. in Flute Performance along with a Master’s degree in Historical Musicology and certificates in early music and world music from Florida State University. He regularly performs in Thomasville and Tallahassee as a soloist, with chamber orchestras and other small ensembles.
For more information about this and other ACTU events, visit www.facebookcom/actu31792 or www.thomasu.edu/actu, call 229-227- 6964 or email actu@thomasu.edu.
