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DSO Cellos Present: From Bach to Motown

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DSO Cellos Present: From Bach to Motown

Thursday, February 9, 2023—7:00pm

Thursday, February 9, 2023—7:00pm
The Peter D. and Julie F. Cummings Cube
1 hour and 30 minutes

The DSO Cello Section brings a musical transformation to The Cube. Experience a program fusing classical repertoire with pop hits curated by cellist and composer Jeremy Crosmer. The evening features music by Bach, Michael Jackson, Motown classics, and an original composition by Jeremy Crosmer.

Artists

Wei Yu

Principal

Wei Yu was appointed Principal Cello of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Laureate Leonard Slatkin in 2014. He made his solo debut performing Dvořák's Cello Concerto and has appeared as soloist with the DSO every season since. Before joining the DSO, Yu was a member of the New York Philharmonic for seven seasons.

Yu was a prizewinner at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Holland American Music Society Cello Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition (MTNA National Collegiate Strings), Canada’s National Music Festival, Calgary’s Kiwanis Festival, and China’s National Cello competitions.

An avid chamber musician, Yu has been invited to the Marlboro, Ravinia, Great Lakes Chamber Music, and Mainly Mozart music festivals. Wei has collaborated with musicians including cellist Carter Brey and David Soyer; pianists Richard Goode and Menahem Pressler; violinists Augustin Hadelich, Midori, and Pinchas Zukerman; and members of the Guarneri, Emerson, and Juilliard Quartets. As a member of the New York Philharmonic ensembles, he made regular appearances at Merkin Concert Hall.

A successful instructor, Yu serves as a faculty member at the Northwestern University Bienen School Of Music. He has given cello masterclasses at universities and festivals in the United States, Canada, Poland, and China. During the summer, Yu teaches at the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival in Calgary, Canada; Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra, and the Center Stage Strings Summer Institute at the University of Michigan.

Born in Shanghai, China, Yu began studying the cello at age four and made his concerto debut at age 11, performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. He received a Bachelor of Music from North Park University in Chicago and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers include Mei-Juan Liu, John Kadz, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and David Soyer.

Abraham Feder

Assistant Principal

Abraham Feder began his tenure with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Cello in the fall of 2018. Prior to his appointment, he was a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. During the summer of 2018, he served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Santa Fe Opera. Feder began his orchestral career as Principal Cello of the Sarasota Orchestra and as cellist of the Sarasota String Quartet from 2008–2016.

Feder has been featured as a soloist with the Sarasota Orchestra, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Americas, and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, as a member of the Chroma Quartet, he founded the Tuesdays with Chroma concert series in Sarasota.

An avid chamber musician, Feder has performed with Ricardo Morales, Amy Oshiro Morales, and Kerri Ryan of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Michelle Kim, Assistant Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic; Richard Hirschl, Brant Taylor, Kenneth Olson, and Yuan-Qing Yu of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO); Stephen Balderston, former Assistant Principal Cello of the CSO; Desomd Hoebig, former Principal Cello of the Cleveland Orchestra; Danielle Belen; Joseph Silverstein; Ray Chen; Christopher O’Riley; and Leonidas Kavakos.

Feder earned his master’s degree under the tutelage of Desmond Hoebig at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He received a Bachelor of Music at The Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with David Soyer and Peter Wiley. His teachers have also included Richard Hirschl and Tanya Carey.

Paul Wingert

Jeremy Crosmer

Jeremy Crosmer is a remarkable artist—both as a cellist and a composer. He completed multiple graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in cello, composition, and theory pedagogy, and received his DMA in 2012 at age 24. From 2012 to 2017 he served as Assistant Principal Cello with the Grand Rapids Symphony and joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in May of 2017.

Crosmer is the composer and arranger for the GRS Music for Health Initiative, which pairs symphonic musicians with music therapists to bring classical music to hospitals. In March of 2017, the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital launched a music channel that runs continuously, using four hours of meditative music composed by Crosmer and performed by musicians of the GRS.

Crosmer is a founding member of the modern music ensemble Latitude 49. He is also a current member of the band ESME—a duo that aims to broaden the education of classical music by bringing crossovers and mashups of pop and classical music to schools throughout Michigan. ESME released its first CD in December of 2016.

In April of 2013, Crosmer toured London with the Grand Valley State University Chamber Orchestra performing the Boccherini G Major Concerto, No. 7. He performed the Vivaldi Double Concerto with Alicia Eppinga and the GRS in March of 2016. While still in school, Crosmer was awarded the prestigious Theodore Presser Graduate Music Award to publish, record, and perform his Crosmer-Popper duets. He recorded the duets with Julie Albers, and both sheet music and CD recordings are available online.

Crosmer has taught music theory, pre-calculus, and cello at universities across Michigan. He draws mazes, writes science fiction, and plays good old country fiddle in his spare time.

David LeDoux

David LeDoux joined the DSO in 2012, coming to the orchestra from the Syracuse Symphony where he previously served as Principal Cello.

LeDoux has appeared as a soloist with the Syracuse Symphony, the Skaneatelas Festival Chamber Orchestra, the Tulsa Philharmonic, the Oklahoma State University Symphony, the Louisiana Sinfonietta, and the Mid-Texas Symphony.

LeDoux is an active and avid chamber musician, performing for many years with the Syracuse Society for New Music. As a committed private teacher, he previously served as a cello instructor for Imagine Syracuse—a music program in an inner-city school that was modeled after the El Sistema program in Venezuela.

Past professional engagements for LeDoux include serving as Principal Cello with the Baton Rouge (LA) Symphony, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Symphony, and the Louisiana Sinfonietta.

LeDoux has studied with Ronald Leonard, Dennis Parker, and Kari Padgett Caldwell. A resident of Madison Heights, LeDoux’s hobbies include reading, running, and watching movies.

Peter McCaffrey

Peter McCaffrey has been a member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra cello section since 2012.

Prior to joining the DSO, McCaffrey served as principal cellist of the Louisville Orchestra and of the South Florida Symphony. Since moving to Detroit, McCaffrey has become an advocate for the role that the arts can play in helping to revitalize a city. He is frequently found performing in schools, hospitals, retirement homes, bars, religious institutions, and was featured in a National Geographic video about the comeback of Detroit.

McCaffrey has soloed with many orchestras including subscription concerts with the Louisville Orchestra, the Royal Oak Symphony, and the Windy City String Ensemble while on tour in Australia. As a chamber musician, McCaffrey has had the opportunity to travel around the country and abroad performing in concert series and music festivals. His college string quartet was a finalist in the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition and he currently performs with the Great Waters String quartet made up of fellow DSO musicians.

McCaffrey earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in cello performance from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. His primary teachers include Eleonore Schoenfeld, Gerard Mantel, Richard Hirschl, and Gilda Barston. McCaffrey performs on an 1880 Postiglione cello.

Cole Randolph

Cole Randolph, a Posse Foundation Leadership scholar, is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison holding degrees in mathematics, music performance, and economics. Randolph was born and raised in Washington DC and began playing the cello at the age of five. He has performed in many venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The White House.

Randolph studied cello under Uri Vardi and has performed in masterclasses for various artists including Alban Gerhardt, Clive Greensmith, and Timothy Eddy. Throughout his collegiate studies, Randolph participated in a myriad of musical and non-musical activities. In the summer of 2016, he had the unique opportunity to participate in the Leadership Alliance program at the University of Chicago, conducting mathematics research under the supervision of Dr. Benson Farb. Randolph presented his findings at two research symposia in Illinois and Connecticut.

Úna O'Riordan

First-generation Irish American cellist Úna Fionnuala O'Riordan was born in the Chicago suburbs and began playing the cello at four years old after hearing a string instrument demonstration in her kindergarten class. When her family moved to the Washington DC-area, she continued her musical education and went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Camp as an Emerson Scholar. Her experiences at Interlochen, plus the opportunity to perform for Mstislav Rostropovich at the 1992 Kennedy Center Honors Ceremony, encouraged her to seek a career as a professional musician. She went on to receive a Bachelor of Music with distinction from the Eastman School of Music, where she was named an Arts Leadership Scholar.

As a recipient of the Eckstein Grant, O'Riordan did her graduate studies at the Northwestern University School of Music and performed with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Northwestern University Concerto Competition. While completing her master's degree, she was also Co-Principal Cello of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, working under the batons of Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez.

A fellowship recipient at the Aspen and Meadowmount music schools, she has performed both orchestral and chamber music in major concert halls across the United States, Europe, and Asia including Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany, and the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Her principal teachers include Hans Jørgen Jensen, Pamela Frame, Alan Harris, and Loren Stephenson, and she has performed in masterclasses for Janos Starker and Yo-Yo Ma, among other esteemed pedagogues.

Since her appointment to the DSO in 2007, O'Riordan has enjoyed performing chamber music throughout Michigan, appearing on series such as Pro Mozart, Classical Brunch in Birmingham, and Enescu, as well as at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Kerrytown Concert House. As a member of the contemporary music ensemble New Music Detroit, she has performed at Detroit’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAD), the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID), and the Bohemian National Home.

Passionate about music education, O'Riordan served on the faculty for the DSO’s Power of Dreams String Project and regularly coaches both chamber music and cello sectionals for the DSO's Civic Youth Ensembles program. In 2011–2012, O'Riordan was the cellist for the Fusion Project, a series of school presentations fusing music and photography inspired by the city of Detroit.

In her free time, O'Riordan is a passionate traveler and enjoys photographing her adventures, including an especially memorable trek to Machu Picchu in 2011. O'Riordan performs on a cello made by Carl Becker and Son, 1954.

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Artwork for The Peter D. and Julie F. Cummings Cube
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3711 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI
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