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About the Artists

2023

Light and Shadow

Robert Patterson

Rob is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Boston University's School of Music, founder of the online program The Clarinet Sessions, and Acting Principal Clarinet of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. A passionate educator, Rob is on the faculty for the Curtis Institute of Music’s Mentor Network and is a frequent coach with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Rob has been a guest instructor at the Curtis Institute of Music and at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

      Recent masterclass invitations have included the San Francisco Conservatory, Peabody Institute, University of North Texas, University of Toronto, Grieg Academy (Norway), Sibelius Academy (Finland), and Royal College of Music (Sweden). Rob has served on the faculty at the University of Virginia, where he was featured in recital and as soloist with the Charlottesville Symphony.

      Rob has served as Acting Principal Clarinet with the Baltimore and Louisville Orchestras as well as Principal Clarinet with the Charlottesville Symphony and Lyrique-en-Mer Festival Orchestra in France. Additionally, he has served as guest Principal Clarinet for the orchestras of Cincinnati, Richmond, Huntsville, Modesto, Pasadena, Peoria, as well as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

      Rob’s chamber music performances have taken him across North and South America, Europe and Asia. He has performed contemporary music as a member of the VERGE Ensemble in Washington, DC and was previously a member of the Philadelphia-based Ensemble 39, which was also invited to serve in residence at the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile.

      Mr. Patterson has been the featured soloist in Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Charlottesville Symphony as well as the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Lyrique-En-Mer (Le Palais, France) Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic, Middletown Symphony Orchestra, and the Howard County (Maryland) Concert Players. As a former Strathmore Music Center Artist in Residence, Mr. Patterson presented a series of solo recitals, masterclasses, educational concerts, and a recital at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including the World-Premiere of John B Hedges’ Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet.

      Festival appearances include Mendocino, Festival Napa Valley, The Peninsula Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Festival Lyrique-En-Mer, Garth Newel Music Center, Music from Angel Fire, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival.

      Hailing from Cincinnati, OH, Mr. Patterson earned degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Southern California. His principal teachers were Yehuda Gilad, Richard Hawley, and Donald Montanaro.

      Mr. Patterson is proud to be a D'Addario and Buffet-Crampon performing artist.

      Please visit www.robwpatterson.com for more information.

Grace Soonjoo Moon

Pianist Grace Soonjoo Moon is the founder and director of the Stone Park Music Festival. 

Constantine Finehouse

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Pianist Constantine Finehouse is a member of the jury for the SPMF Piano Competition.

Light and Shadow

Susanna Ogata

      Susanna Ogata enjoys musical collaborations and is dedicated to historical performance practice. Her playing has been described as “warm, witty, responsive, making the tops of phrases gleam” (Gramophone Magazine), “warm and rich of tone” (Fanfare Magazine), and “electrifying energy, awesome technical command and rollicking dialogue” (Arts Fuse Magazine) where her performance was distinguished as a top performance of the season. 

      Susanna has appeared as chamber musician and soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society, where she serves as Assistant Concertmaster, as well as with the Bach Ensemble, Sarasa, Boston Early Music Festival, Newton Baroque, Ashmont Bach Project, and Upper Valley Baroque. Solo appearances for the 2022-23 season include performances of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Connecticut Early Music Festival and the Reading Symphony Orchestra and baroque concertos with the Ashmont Bach Project and Upper Valley Baroque. 

      Susanna and keyboardist Ian Watson completed “The Beethoven Project”, recording the entire Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin of Beethoven on period instruments, receiving praise in such publications as The Boston Globe, where it was distinguished as an eminent release of 2017, BBC Music Magazine, Strad Magazine, Gramophone, and Early Music Review. The New York Times praised them for “elegant readings that are attentive to quicksilver changes in dynamics and articulation. Their performance of the Sonata No. 4 in A minor is darkly playful, their ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata brilliant and stormy.” They participated in a two-year residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, performing for and working with 

students there. 

      Susanna currently coaches students at the New England Conservatory through the Pratt Residency for Early Music. 

Andrus Madsen

Andrus Madsen is an active performer on the organ, harpsichord clavichord and fortepiano. He resides in Wayland MA, and is the Minister of Music at Second Church in Newton MA. He is the founding director of Newton Baroque and also plays with Exsultemus. He spearheaded a project combining the forces of Newton Baroque and Exsultemus to perform the entire Harmonischer Gottesdienst cantata cycle of Georg Phillip Telemann during the year of 2011. Madsen is also known for his eloquent Baroque style improvisation. He strives to play written repertoire as if he is improvising, while his improvisations often sound as if they had been notated. His recording of keyboard music by Pachelbel, has received significant critical acclaim. “Superb recordings of superb instruments by a musician who deserves to be better-known.” (Michael Barone of pipedreams) This album, played on organ, harpsichord and clavichord is available on Raven CD Recordings.

Newton Baroque, directed by keyboardist Andrus Madsen, is a period instrument ensemble dedicated to innovative performances of Baroque repertoire. The outstanding musicians of Newton Baroque are known for their enjoyment in taking musical risks together and imbuing their performances with a spirit of improvisatory spontaneity. Newton Baroque is especially committed to calling attention to fine music outside the Baroque canon. As an example, in 2011 Newton Baroque joined with the early music vocal ensemble Exsultemus for all 72 cantatas of Georg Telemann’s Harmonischer Gottesdienst, an unprecedented performance project that met with widespread acclaim. Based in Boston for the past ten years, Newton Baroque took a spectacular leap onto the national stage in May 2014 when they performed three exciting innovative programs as a featured ensemble at the American Bach Society annual convention at Kenyon College in Ohio, garnering an overwhelming response from some of the most knowledgeable Bach scholars in the world. You can always find out more at newtonbaroque.org.

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