Bruce Burnside has been a professional musician for more than thirty-five years. Along with guitar, he usually plays mandolin and the banjo family of instruments. His slide guitar, dulcimer, dobro or autoharp playing only happens under duress. He's toured in jug bands, folk duos and trios, blues bands, bluegrass bands and as a solo performer most of his life. With degrees in English and Education, he's a speaker for the Wisconsin Humanities Council on the Civil War and the history of American Opera houses. As Artistic Director for Forgotten Wisdom (www.forgottenwisdom.org) he teaches history, science, and creative writing during week long residencies in schoolsof the upper Midwest. He's written several stage productions including Unsung Storeis of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln: The Living Legacy. He has written and recorded numerous CDs, television sound tracks and radio themes since his first full length recording, The Led Balloon Jug Band in 1967. For 26 years he has been a member of the Blue Canvas Orchestra at Lake Superor Big Top Chautauqua and for 30 years a member of the Lost Nation String Band. He has survived building a home, three daughters attending college at the same time and five years of directing large groups of third graders in productions of the Bullfrog Banjaree.
ECCO Guest Musicians
Guest Musician
Val Knobloch, tenor, has directed the Senior Choir at Grace for over 25 years and co-directs and sings with adult choirs at Grace. Knobloch received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Performance and Education and a B.A. in Hispanic Studies from St. Norbert College and a Master of Science in Teaching degree with emphasis in Music History form UW-Eau Claire. At UW-Eau Claire he founded the Vocal Jazz Ensemble and directed the Women's Chorus and Cabaret and assisted with the Concert Choir and Statesmen. He has sung with community choirs in Eau Claire (The Master Singers for over 12 years and the Musical Arts Chorale) and Germany (Freiburger Kammerchor) as well as choirs at UW-Eau Claire, Saint Norbert College and UW-Madison. During the day, he is an educational consultant for the regional educational agency, CESA 10. Knobloch also directs the Chippewa Valley Community Chorus.
Guest Musician
Elaine Mann is Director of Music and Organist at Grace Lutheran Church in Eau claire. She is an Associate in Ministry (AIM) in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Before coming to Grace, Elaine was the Director of Music and Organist at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls. She is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and a past Dean of the Chippewa Valley and Milwaukee Chapters. She has a Bachelor of Music from Greensboro College, Master of Music from Boston University, and further organ study with Delbert Disselhorst at the University of Iowa. Elaine has been the accompanist for the Chippewa Valley Community Chorus and for soloists at the Heyde Center for the Arts. She recently performed in France as part of the Summer Insitute for French Organ Study.
Guest Musician
Ned Kirk, artistic and managing director of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, is a native of Redding, California, where he received his early musical training. He has performed extensively in the United States and Europe as a piano solist and chamber musician.
In 2007, guided by the vision of Hugh Miller and with the collaboration of board members Ken Lanik and Julie Smith, Kirk helped fund the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. Now in its third season, the festival is dedicated to showcasing the tremendous talent found in the region as well as featuring some of the most important international concert artists of our time including Joshua Bell, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Hampson and many others. The festival is also proud to feature the Minnesota Orchestra in two performances each summer.
Kirk served as orchestral pianist for the Colorado Music festival in Boulder. Over the course of three summers, he performed 25 concerts on piano, harpsichord and celesta including Stravinsky's Petrouchka, Piazzolla's Three Chamber Pieces for piano and string orchestra, a complete baroque program with Michala Petri (recorder), various chamber music concerts and Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals for two pianos, with his wife, Caroline.
Kirk earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Music as a student of Walter Hautzig and his Master of Music degree in piano performance as a student of Craig Sheppard at the University of Washington. Before moving to Minnesota in 1999, he served on the piano faculty at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. In addition to his work with the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, Kirk is also an associate professor of piano and chair of the music department at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota
Guest Musician
Norma Lionberger earned a BA degree in Music education at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. She began ringing handbells in 1976 as a charter member fo the adult handbell choir at Grace Lutheran Church. In 1983 she became this choir's dircotr, and presently teaches two handbell choirs and one handchime choir, grade three through adult, at Grace Lutheran Church, and one adult handbell choir at First Lutheran Church.
Guest Musician
Mitra Sadeghpour, soprano, teaches voice and directs the opera program at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. An active recitalist and concert musician, she has recently performed as the soprano soloist in Mozart's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Faure Requiem and in numerous recitals throughout Wisconsin. Her previous performances with ECCO include Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and the world premiere of David A. Baker's Chamber Symphony. Her stage credits include roles ranging from Frasquita in Carmen to Maria in The Sound of Music.
Sadeghpour stage directed Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten at UW-Eau claire in 2009 and she regularly engages in collaborative research projects with students and other faculty. Special research and performance interests include art song by women composers, diverse American art song, vocal music by French composers Charles Gounod and Cecile Chaminade, and contemporary American opera. A graduate of Luther College and Indiana University, she previously taught on the voice faculty at Luther College and she currently serves as the artistic director aof teh Clearwater Musical Theatre camp at UW-Eau Claire. She is a native of Iowa.
Guest Musician
Wilma Hovland, alto, is a retired music educator. She formerly taught vocal and general music, K-12, in Mondovi Wisconsin, Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Great Falls, Montana. She currently directs adult choirs at Grace Lutheran Church, Eau Claire. She sings in several community-based choirs, has been a frequent soloist, and has directed several community-based choirs throughout her career.
Hear the ECCO
Mendelssohn
You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
Recent posts
Grab Our Feed
