Jennifer Nelson, Clarinet - Jennifer Nelson joined the School of Music faculty as a clarinet instructor in Fall 2009. She is currently principal clarinet with the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Auburn Symphony orchestras. She also has a very active free-lance career, including playing Broadway-style shows at the Fifth Avenue and Paramount Theaters, occasional extra with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera and Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and recording for various television and motion picture scores.

Nelson has also traveled throughout the United States with the national touring companies of Phantom of the Opera and the New York City Opera. Her orchestral and recital performances have taken her to Mexico, Japan, Germany, Liechtenstein, Austria, Honduras, and most recently India. "I am honored to be a member of the Puget Sound community," says Nelson. "I feel very privileged to work with so many bright, talented, and kind students, staff, and faculty.

Shannon Spicciati, Oboe - Shannon Spicciati enjoys an active performance and teaching career in the Seattle/Tacoma area. She has played extensively with the Seattle Symphony on oboe and English horn, and has twice been featured as a soloist. She also performs locally with the Northwest Sinfonietta and the Camas Quintet. Spicciati has participated in many festivals, including the Icicle Creek Music Festival in Leavenworth, Wash. and the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany.

Spicciati holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Washington, studying with Richard Killmer, Rebecca Henderson, and Alex Klein.

Seth Krimsky, Bassoon - Bassoonist and composer Seth Krimsky joined the Seattle Symphony in 1986, and was appointed to the position of principal in 1990. In addition, he has been an active chamber music performer, sharing an especially long and happy association with the Seattle Chamber Players. His second commission by this ensemble, “House of Mirrors,” was performed in May 2004. He has also appeared as principal bassoonist with the Mostly Mozart Orchestra of Lincoln Center and the Waterloo Festival Orchestra.

As a soloist, Krimsky has performed with orchestras and as a recitalist in Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, Capetown, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Talahassee, Kalispell (Mont.), and San Diego. His future engagements include the Seattle Symphony and the Glacier Symphony in Montana.

Krimsky received his bachelor of music degree in 1983 from the University of Southern California, where he studied bassoon performance with Norman Herzberg. He continued postgraduate studies at USC, with a special emphasis in baroque performance, under the guidance of Michael O’Donovan. During his studies, Krimsky was an active freelance musician, performing with such ensembles as the Santa Monica Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Glendale Symphony, Pasadena Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also performed in summer festivals, including the Ojai Festival, the Bakersfield Music Festival, the Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood Festival. Krimsky also worked as a session player in Los Angeles recording studios and was the bassoonist in the Aleja Woodwind Quintet, award winners at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the Carmel Chamber Music Competition.

In 1984, he became the principal bassoonist for the Cape Performing Arts Board Orchestra of Capetown, South Africa, an opera and ballet orchestra that served the entire Cape Province. While in Capetown, Krimsky won the National Young Artists Competition and appeared as a soloist in Capetown, Johannesburg, and Durban, in addition to recording a series of performances for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

PERCUSSION

Tom Collier, Percussion: Mallet - B.A., University of Washington. Recordings with Bobby Shew, Barbra Streisand, Mike Vax, Howard Roberts, Ry Cooder and Laurendo Almeida, plus LP recordings with his own group, Collier and Dean, as well as his own educational records for the Music Minus One label. Mr. Collier, a respected artist in Seattle, as well as in Los Angeles, is listed in the first edition of Marquis Who's Who in Entertainment. His 1988 album "Illusion" received national critical acclaim ("a technological marvel" - Electronic Musician Magazine). Tom Collier is the Northwest's most in-demand vibraphonist, drummer and percussionist. A member of the University faculty since 1980, he is the director of the Jazz Workshop Combos, Mallet Jazz Quintet and the University of Washington Percussion Ensemble.

Michael Crusoe, Percussion: Timpani - Principal timpanist of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra since 1980. In addition, he also serves as principal timpanist of the Seattle Opera Association and the Mostly Mozart Summer Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center in New York. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Washington, he served as percussion instructor at the Waterloo Music Festival in New Jersey and has taught at Seattle Pacific University and Seattle University. Mr. Crusoe can be heard with the Seattle Symphony on the critically acclaimed Delos label recordings directed by Gerard Schwarz.

BRASS

Allen Vizzutti, Trumpet - Equally at home in a multitude of musical idioms, Allen Vizzutti has visited 35 countries and every state in the union to perform with a rainbow of artists and ensembles, including Chick Corea, Doc Severinsen, The NBC Tonight Show Band, the Airmen of Note, the Army Blues, Chuck Mangione, Woody Herman, Japan’s NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Kosei Wind Orchestra.

Performing as a classical and a jazz artist, often in the same evening, Vizzutti has appeared as a guest soloist with symphony orchestras in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the United States, and his performances have been broadcast on national television in Germany, Poland, England, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, Japan, and the United States. He has performed as a soloist at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Newport Jazz Festival, Banff Center for the Performing Arts, Montreaux Jazz Festival, the Charles Ives Center, Lincoln Center, and the Teton, Breckenridge, Vail, and Aspen Music Festivals.

He has many solo jazz and classical recordings on Summit Records, DeHaske/Hal Leonard Recordings, Sony, and Ludwig Music Publishing, include “The Emerald Concerto and Other Gems” with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and “High Class Brass,” a unique classical and jazz blend co-produced, written, and performed with fellow trumpet artist, conductor, and composer Jeff Tyzik and a 90-piece studio orchestra.

Vizzutti is professor of trumpet at the University of Washington School of Music. As Artist in Residence, he has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the Banff Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas State University, West Texas State University, the Skidmore Jazz Institute, and the Trompeten Akademie of Bremen, Germany. His long-standing commitment to education and the value of music in everyday life is reflected in extensive guest appearances at universities throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia.

Vizzutti’s extensive treatise, The Allen Vizzutti Trumpet Method, and his New Concepts for Trumpet (published by Alfred Music) have become standard works for trumpet study worldwide. Many more of his jazz and classical books, “play-along” recordings, student pieces, chamber music, and recital compositions have been published by Alfred, Southern Music Company, and DeHaske/Hal Leonard Publications. He wrote, performed, and produced an educational video, “Steps to Excellence,” for Yamaha Corporation of America. Vizzutti is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

His compositions have been premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Tonight Show Band, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London), London Symphony, the United States Navy Band, and the Summit Brass.

Vizzutti has performed on more than 100 motion picture sound tracks, including “Back to the Future” and “Star Trek,” as well as countless TV shows, commercials, and recordings with such artists as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Chick Corea, The Commodores,and Prince.

While growing up in Montana, Vizzutti was instructed in trumpet by his father, a self-taught musician and trumpet player, until he left home to attend the Eastman School of Music. There he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music, a Performer’s Certificate, a chair in the Eastman Brass Quintet faculty ensemble, and the only Artist’s Diploma ever awarded a wind, brass, or percussion player in Eastman’s history.

Ko-ichiro Yamamoto, Trombone - One of the foremost Japanese trombonists of his generation, Ko-ichiro Yamamoto is the principal trombonist of the Seattle Symphony and Saito Kinen Orchestras. He formerly was a trombonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Active as a soloist and freelancer, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and also as guest principal trombonist of the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He will be the soloist at the 2007 Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, DC. His discography includes Proof and Family Tree (Kosei Publishing).

Born in Tokyo, he began studying trombone at age 12 with his father, Tatsuo Yamamoto, and Yoshiku Hakoyama. After studying at Tokyo College of Music Senior High School, Yamamoto was accepted at the Franz Liszt Music Academy as a student of Gusztav Hoena and Sztan Tivador. While at the academy, he joined the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He studied with Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, at The Juilliard School from 1994-96.

Yamamoto has won numerous awards, prizes, and scholarships in Japan and abroad, including fourth place in the International Trombone Association Competition in Australia (1998), first grand prize of the Japan Wind and Percussion Competition (1991), and diploma prize at the Prague International Music Competition (1992).

David Kappy, Horn - M.M. and B.M., University of Wisconsin. Member of Soni Ventorum and chamber music groups; numerous recordings on Crystal, Musical Heritage, Delos, Telarc, and American Gramophone labels, and with the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet; recordings with Mannheim Steamroller; taught on the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Academy, and received a Fulbright Award to teach at the Federal University of Minas in Brazil (1985); Solo Horn with the Omaha and Lincoln (Nebraska) Symphonies, and the Omaha Opera; veteran of Grand Teton and Claremont Music Festivals, and the Festival de Inverno in Campos de Jordao, Brazil; extra Horn with the Seattle Symphony and the St. Louis Symphony.

Christopher Olka, Tuba - Principal tuba of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera, Christopher Olka has had a wide and varied career in music. His orchestral experience includes substitute tuba with the New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony, as well as principal positions with the New Jersey Pops, American Repertory Ballet, Aspen Festival, and Garden State Philharmonic orchestras.

Before moving to New York, Olka was a staff musician from 1989 to 1996 for the Walt Disney World Company in Orlando, Florida, where he was a member of many bands, including the TUBAFOURS tuba quartet, the world’s only fulltime tuba quartet.

He holds a BM degree from the University of Central Florida and an MM from the Juilliard School. During his undergraduate studies, Olka was the winner of the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Brass Solo Competition in 1996, as well as winning the Southern Regional MTNA Solo Competition twice and the Florida MTNA Solo Competition three times. He was guest tuba artist for the Harvey Phillips Northwest "Big Brass" Bash in 1999.

Olka’s teachers include Warren Deck (New York Philharmonic), Joe Alessi (New York Philharmonic), and Abe Torchinsky (Philadelphia Orchestra, Retired).

HARP

Heidi Lehwalder, Harp - Heidi Lehwalder, harpist, has performed as a guest artist with more than 65 orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as well as with the symphonies of Phoenix, Buffalo, Louisville, Wichita, Savanna, Syracuse, and Honolulu.

She has made 55 appearances with the Seattle Symphony and has collaborated with conductors Leonard Bernstein, Claudio Abbado, Erich Leinsdorf, Arthur Fiedler, Gerard Schwarz, Lucas Foss, Andre Kostelanetz, Dennis Russell Davies, and Charles Dutoit. Her recent performances include a 10-city tour with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and two performances during their 2006-07 season at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

An esteemed chamber musician, Lehwalder has performed in numerous concerts with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 1972 to the present. She has participated in the Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Santa Fe, and Spoleto Festivals. Lehwalder is the only harpist ever to be invited to tour with Rudolf Serkin’s famed Music from Marlboro. During summer 1987, she served as Professor of Harp in Korea’s First International Chamber Music Festival. As a member of the Orpheus Trio, she toured for eight years throughout North America and Europe with flutist Paula Robison and violist Scott Nickrenz. She has also toured extensively with flutist Carol Wincenc.

Lehwalder is the inspiration for numerous harp concerti, both written for and dedicated to her, including Jose Serebrier’s Colores Magicos, Roberto Camano’s Concerto for Harp, and Michael Colgrass’ Auras, as well as Sheila Silver’s From Darkness Emerging for harp and string quintet.

As a recording artist, Lehwalder has recorded for RCA, RCA Red Seal, CRI, Nonesuch, and Vanguard. Her collaborations include recordings with the Orpheus Trio, The Philadelphia Singers, Benedita Valente, Maureen Forrester, James Galway, Richard Stolzman, and the Tokyo String Quartet.

She has appeared on national television on the Firestone Hour, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, NBC’s Today Show, CBS Cable with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and PBS, both in joint recital with the Annapolis Brass Quintet and during the 1998-99 season as part of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Star-Studded 30th Anniversary Gala.

Lehwalder is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts, which has been nationally broadcast on NPR for 17 of the last 19 seasons. She also has served as Artistic Director of Belle Arte Concerts in Seattle and as Artistic Administrator of the Seattle International Music Festival. Lehwalder was Professor of Harp at the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia from 2003 to 2006.

She is the recipient of a Ford Foundation Grant and a Rockefeller Foundation Grant, and has the distinction of being the first recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.