ECCO & Guest Musicians

Ivar Lunde, Jr., Conductor and Music Director

Ivar Lunde, Jr., former principal oboist of the Norwegian National Opera, was educated at the Conservatory of Music, Oslo, Norway, and the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria. His teachers of oboe include Kees Lahnstein and Andre Lardrot; of Baroque oboe Grant Moore and James Caldwell; of composition, his father, Ivar Lunde, Sr.; and of conducting Trygve Lindemann, Hermann Scherchen, and Carl Melles. He has taught and performed in Europe and the United States, and appeared as oboe soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic and the Oslo Philharmonic, and many smaller orchestras in Norway, Sweden, Austria and the United States.

Mr. Lunde is a prolific composer and has been awarded numerous prizes and commissions. Several orchestral works have been performed by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic (Norway), the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra (Norway) and the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. Many of his works are published and recorded in the United States and Norway including a CD featuring wind and keyboard compositions released by Hemera label in Norway, as well as ECCO Tells the Tale with the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra released by the Tonheim Records label.

Mr. Lunde is also active as a conductor, having conducted symphny orchestras and chamber orchestras in both Europe and this country. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is Music Director and former principal oboist with ECCO and former music director and conductor of the Chippewa Valley Symphony and the Chippewa Valley outh Symphony. In 1988 Mr. Lunde formed a small publishing company, Skyline publications, to publish art music. Later Skyline Studios was added to provide audio and video post production to area artists.

Nanette G. Lunde, Harpsichord, ECCO Music Librarian

As a harpsichord recitalist, Nanette Lunde has performed in the United States and Europe. She holds the Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University School of Music and two Diplomas from the Akademie Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Nanette G. Lunde is the coordinator of Les Favorites, the resident period instrument ensemble at the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Ms. Lunde has perofrmed on harpsichords in European museums, appeared as soloist with orchestras in the United States, and in live broadcast performance over Minnesota and Wisconsin Public Radio. Ms. Lunde is founder and first President of the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society. She is Professor Emerita of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she taught harpsichord, piano, Baroque performance practices, basso continuo, and the course Women in Music. Ms. Lunde is Music Librarian and basso continuo player with the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra.

Bruce Burnside

Guest Musician

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.

Andrew Block, Violoncello

Andrew Block has been a member of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra since 1999, and has served as principal cellist for the past five seasons. During the 2002 concert season, he performed Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Cellos with Mary Burton, ECCO's founding principal cellist. He grew up in a musical family and began his violin and cello studies with his father, a music teacher. He continued studying cello with Janet Anthony at the Lawrence Conservatory in Appleton, and with Paul Kosower at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he was a member of both the Chamber and Symphony orchestras. He has performed with numerous other ensembles and musical groups around Wisconsin and MInnesota. Andrew is a 1993 graduate of the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Art Department and holds a BFA in Design. He is curretnly the Director of Design at the Twin Cities campus of Saint Mary's Univeristy of Minnesota, and resides in Minneapolis with his wife Alison adn their two cats.

Verle Ormsby, Jr., Horn

Verle Ormsby, Jr., a St. Louis, Missouri native, is Senior Lecturer in Horn Studies with the Department of Music, and is a member of the faculty ensemble, the Wisconsin Woodwind Quintet. Dr. Ormsby is also a member of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra, the Northwinds British Brass Band and performs with the Apple River Brass and Wind Quintets. Dr. Ormsby has a Doctor of Arts degree in Horn Performance and Master's in Music degree in Horn Performance from Ball State University (IN), and a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville).

Dr. Ormsby has been on the music faculties of Pittsburg State University (KS), Southwest Baptist University (MO), Southwest MIssouri State University, and Indiana-Purdue University at Ft. Wayne (IN). He has also performed with the Springfield Symphony (MO), the Springfield Regional Opera Orchestra, the St. Smith Symphony (AR), the North Arkansas Symphony (Fayetteville), the Ft. Wayne Philharmonic (IN), the Indiana Chamber Orchestra, the Northern Indiana Opera Orchestra, the Florida Symphony (Orlando), the Walt Disney World Band and Orchestra, the Florida Gulf Coast Symphony (Tampa), and the Savannah Symphony (GA).

Dr. Ormsby is a long-time member of the International Horn Society, and has served as a horn clinican for Conn Horns, and on the board fo the American Horn Competition.

Susan Halderman, Violoncello

Susan Halderman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and a Master of Music degree from Kent State University. Teachers include Mr. Ronald McCreery and Dr. Moshe Amitay. For sixteen years, Halderman taught public school orchestra in Clinton/Jackson, Mississippi and Greenville, South Carolina. She has played cello in many orchestras, including the Oshkosh Symphony, Canton Symphony (Ohio), Meridian Symphony (Mississippi), Mississippi Symphony, and presently the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. She is the cellist and one of the founding members of the Chippewa Valley String Quartet. She has created two cello ensembles: the Eau Claire Cello Ensemble and the Chippewa Valley Cello Ensemble. She has taught private cello lessons since college, and is running a cello studio under the name The Cello Connection.

Val Knobloch

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.

Kristine Klopfenstein Fletcher, Bassoon

Kristine Fletcher performs frequently as a collaborative artist and soloist. She has appeared as solist for the Edinburg, Scotland Society of Musicians, on the Schubert Club's Courtroom Concert Series, the Elvehjem/Chazen Museum of Art, on international conferences of theInternational Double Reed Society, the International Clarinet Association, the International Wood Flute conference, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, on the national conference of MENC, the Iowa Composer's Forum, Iowa Bandmasters Association, and on Wisconsin radio and television.

She performs regularly as a member of the Wisconsin Wind Quintet, the Sonora Reed Trio, Clearly Three Trio, and as prinicpal bassoonist of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and has toured England and Scotland as a member of the Wisconsin-In-Scotland Chamber Players. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Bassoon, as Master of Arts degree in Bassoon, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Iowa. She also holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Fletcher has written a number of music articles for professional journals and is the author of The Paris Conservatoire and The Contest Solos for Bassoon (Indiana University Press). She can be heard on these CD recordings: Clearly Three: Trios from the Twentieth Century (Tonheim), Chamber Music Favorites with Alto Saxophone (Harry Hindson), Zodiac (Hemera), Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra LIve (Skyline Studios), and ECCO Tells the Tale (Tondheim). Since 1982 Dr. Fletcher has been on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where she teaches bassoon, woodwind methods, and related subjects.

Keith Thompson, Trumpet

Keith Thompson maintains an active life in music despite a full-time career as a software developer for industry giant Microsoft. He has been a trumpeter with the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra since its second season with featured solos on several concerts, including a performance of J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and the world premiere of Robert J. Bradshaw's Sonata for Trumpet and Strings. He can also be heard wit the Borderline Brass Quintet and the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band, both of whom also perform his music arrangements. Thompson attended the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Eau claire, where he studied trumpet with Henry Mautner. He lives in St. Paul, MN, with his wife and two sons.

Jerry Young, Tuba

Jerry A. Young, principal tubist of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra, has appeared with ECCO previously as narrator for Stravinsky's L'histoire du Soldat and Paul Ramsier's The Road to Hamelin. Young has been a member of the music faculty at the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire since 1983 where he teaches tuba, euphonium and courses in music education and in the university honors program. He also leads the university's euphonium and tuba ensemble, BASSically BRASS, which has appeared at regional and international conferences in the U. S. and abroad. Young has served on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp where he founded the Interlochen Tubafest and performed regularly as a soloist and chamber muscian. He is past editor-in-chief of the Internation Tuba/Euphonium Association Journal, continues as an editorial advisor and is a former member of the Executive Tuba/Euphomium Committee and Board of Directors of ITEA. He is a member of the Board of Dirctors for the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, a position he has held for more than twenty years.

In addition to being a founding member of ECCO, Dr. Young has performed throughout Wisconsin with the UW-Eau Claire Faculty Dixieland Band and the University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Faculty Brass Quintet. Dr. Young has appeared across the U.S., Europe, and Japan as a soloist, chamber musician, clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator. In 1999 he was named a Distinguighed Alumnus of the Department Of Music at the University of Arkansas and is a Fellow of the University's Fulbright Alumni Academy.

Dan Julson, Trumpet

Dan Julson is in his eighth season withthe Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra, his normal capacity being the second trumpet player. He returns this year again to conduct the family Concert. His prior conducting experiences include leading high school band programs in Arcadia for five years and River Falls for two years, directing the musical theater production of Godspell, and guest conducting with the Chippewa valley Concert Band. Mr. Julson has taken conducting lessons from the late Dr. Donald George and Nobuyoshi Yasuda. Mr. Julson is also a member of the ECCO brass quintet and Xbrass, a ten-piece brass ensembel. He has performed in various orchestral and jazz settings thorughout Eau claire and the Twin Cities and loves to perform in musical theater. He lives in the Twin Cities where he works as an application software engineer.

Elaine Mann

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.

Christa Garvey, Oboe

Christa Garvey, principal oboist of the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra, is an active recitalist and a member of the Wisconsin Woodwind Quintet and the Sonora Reed Trio. Recent performances and presentations include a solo recital at the 2008 International Double Reed Society Conference, a performance on the LIve from the Chazen recital series, performances at the 2008 MENC National Conference, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the Wood Flute Conference in Seattle, WA, and a presentation at the College Music Society Northwest Chapter. In recognition of her commitment to the scholarship of teaching and learning, she is the 2008-2009 Wisconsin Teaching Fellow for the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Campus. She has performed with many groups, including the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, the Cheyenne, WY Symphony, the Colorado MahlerFest Orchstra, the Boulder Bach Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival.

Dr. Garvey holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Oboe Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her undergraduate degree was received from Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Garvey's teachers include James Brody, Marc Lifschey, Elaine Douvas, and John DeLancie. She joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2003 and teaches oboe, aural skills, and chamber music. Previously, she served on the faculty of the Metropolitan State College of Denver and was a Visiting Lecturer of Oboe and Musicology at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho.

Richard W. Fletcher, Clarinet

Richard Fletcher is Professor of Clarinet and Saxophone at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He holds a doctorate in Clarinet Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa where he was a student of distinguished music educator Himie Voxman, a Masters of Music from the University of Southern Illinois, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Arkansas Tech University. He is an active soloist and chamber musician, performing as principal clarinetist in the Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra, with the Wisconsin Wind Quintet, Clearly Three Trio and Sonora Reed Trio. He has performed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Elvehjem/Chazen Museum of Art, the Schubert Club's Courtroom Concerts Series, the Iowa Bandmasters Association, on Wisconsin radio and television, and performed on international conferences of the International Clarinet Association, the International Double Reed Society, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, and the International Wood Flute conference. He also performed in concert for the Edinburgh, Scotland Society of Musicians and in England and Scotland as a member of the Wisconsin-In-Scotland Chamber Players. As a Visiting Fellow at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music he had the privilege of studying the shakuhachi (bamboo flute) with virtuoso Goro Yamaguchi. Prior to University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Dr. Fletcher was a faculty member at Arkansas Tech University. He has served on the faculties of the International Music Camp, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and Arkansas Tech University Music Camp. He can be heard on Clearly Three: Trios from the Twentieth Century (Tonheim), a CD of trios for clarinet, bassoon and piano.

Ned Kirk

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

Ryan Poquette, Concertmaster

Concertmaster, Ryan Poquette attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire as a music major. He is currently a certified computer technician as well as the handbell director for two Eau Claire churches. A member of the Chippewa Valley String Quartet, he has also played with Wisconsin ensembles including the Madison Area Community Orchestra and the Beloit/Janesville Symphony Orchestra.

Lori Cruciani, piano

Lori Cruciani, pianist, recently completed her tenth year as lecturer for the University of Wisconsin -Eau Claire where her teaching emphasis is class and applied piano. Mrs. Cruciani holds the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Music in piano performance. She is a frequent performer and accompanist in the Eau Claire area both on and off campus. Mrs. Cruciani is also an active adjudicator for the Wisconsin School Music Association, the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association and the national Federation of Music Clubs.

Norma Lionberger

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.

Mitra Sadeghpour

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.

Wilma Hovland

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.

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