Sunderman Woodwind Quintet to perform April 28

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - The Sunderman Woodwind Quintet will perform April 28 at Gettysburg College.

The 8 p.m. performance will take place in Schmucker Hall's Paul Recital Hall located along North Washington Street. The main entrance is on the west side of the building, away from the street. The quintet will perform works by female composers such as Germaine Tailleferre, Elsa Barraine, Amy Beach, Ellen Coleman and Libby Larsen. The Sunderman Woodwind Quintet was founded in 2005 as the faculty woodwind quintet in residence for the Sunderman Conservatory of Music. Members include Teresa Bowers on flute, Ed Stanley on oboe, Colleen Hartung on clarinet, Anna Claire Ballard-Ayoub on bassoon and Mary Bisson on horn. The performance is open to the public at no charge.

Bowers is an assistant professor at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music and teaches flute, coaches chamber music and serves as coordinator for recruitment and outreach. She is a frequent recitalist and freelance musician. Bowers received a bachelor's of music from Susquehanna University, master of music in woodwind performance from Ohio State University and doctor of musical arts in choral conducting from University of Maryland.

Stanley earned a bachelor's degree in music education at Western Carolina University and master of music in oboe performance from University of Oklahoma. He has served as principal oboist with the Maryland Symphony, Millbrook Orchestra, Cumberland Valley Chamber Players, Mercersburg Community Chorus and Orchestra, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Shippensburg Festival Orchestra and Hood College Chamber Players. He is a founding member of the Appalachian Wind Quintet, winners of the 1992 Baltimore Chamber Music Competition. As a freelance musician he has performed with many of the area's choral groups and churches as well as with the Harrisburg Symphony and Concert Artists of Baltimore.

Hartung has performed with the Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra, Little Symphony of Winston-Salem, Jackson Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and York Symphony Orchestra. She currently teaches at Gettysburg College, Mount St. Mary's University and Frederick Community College. Hartung received her bachelor's and master's degrees in clarinet performance at the North Carolina School of the Arts and a doctor of musical arts in clarinet performance at Michigan State University.

Bisson has played with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for more than 25 years. Born in Kentucky, she started playing in her hometown orchestra in Owensboro at 13 and as a 19-year-old played principal horn in the Maracaibo Symphony in Venezuela and State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. Bisson has performed with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Loudon Symphony, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and Baltimore Choral Arts Society and recently released a solo CD, "Evening Banquet: Music for Horn & Soprano."

Ballard-Ayoub has performed with the Fort Worth Symphony, Germantown Symphony and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Anna Claire was the solo bassoonist on the Washington National Cathedral's recording of Stale Kleiberg's Requiem for the victims of Nazi persecution. In addition to performing and teaching, Ballard-Ayoub owns a reed making business.

The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College combines Gettysburg's superb music tradition and its strengths as one of the nation's leading liberal arts colleges. Established in 2005 through a $15.7 million gift from 1919 graduate Dr. F. William Sunderman Sr., the conservatory offers three degrees -- bachelor of music in performance, bachelor of arts in music and bachelor of science in music education -- as well as a minor in music.

Gettysburg College is a highly selective four-year residential college of liberal arts and sciences with approximately 2,600 students. It is located on a 200-acre campus adjacent to Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1832.

Issued: 4/17/08
By: Justin Brower, class of 2010