mtvernonmusic090110

Dr. Peter Jutras

Mt. Vernon Music Presents
"Transfigured Night" September 12th

Mount Vernon Music will present a special program titled Transfigured Night – An Evening of Romantic Music and Art on Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 7 pm in Mount Vernon Music Hall, 402 Leftwich St. at Yates St. in Mt. Vernon. The title piece of the program, Transfigured Night by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, uses lush harmonies and emotional musical color to portray a story of regret, forgiveness and love as told in a famous poem by Richard Dehmel. Examples of Austrian visual art from the same time period, provided by the Franklin County Arts Alliance, will be on display. The program will feature an opening talk by Pete Jutras, explaining the surrounding social, historical and cultural context of the music being performed.

Also on the program are a string quartet by Fannie Mendelssohn Hensel, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, and a duet for cello and violin by Maurice Ravel. Performing will be Mark Miller and Kristin Jutras, violins; Ute Miller and Susan Dubois, violas; Jolyon Pegis and Donna Davis, cellos.

Tickets are $10 for MVM members, $15 for non-members. Students are admitted free. Memberships in MVM start at $25 and are good for the entire season from June 1 through May 31. For more information call Mount Vernon Music at 903-563-3780, or visit www.mountvernonmusic.org .

Dr. Pete Jutras is well-known as an expert in the field of piano pedagogy. Currently assistant professor of piano at the University of Georgia, Athens, he is editor-in-chief of Clavier Companion magazine, and was a founding member of MVM’s board of directors.

Currently the Director of the Univeristy of Georgia Community Music School, Kristin Jutras began Suzuki violin instruction at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York when she was four years old. She continued her studies at Eastman, receiving bachelors and masters degrees in violin performance as well as a performer’s certificate. Kristin has been a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in Carnegie Hall numerous times, recorded much of the standard orchestral repertoire, and toured Europe three times with the Dallas Symphony. She has also been an active chamber musician, appearing regularly with Duo Renard, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and other chamber groups in the Dallas area. Kristin now performs in the University of Georgia Hodgson School of Music faculty string quartet. She lives in Watkinsville with her husband, Dr. Pete Jutras and their two children.

Presently concertmaster of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, violinist Mark Miller performs with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and other area ensembles. He is president of Mount Vernon Music Association, and directs the chamber series “The Color of Sound” at Texas A&M University – Commerce, where for eleven years he taught and performed as an Artist-in-Residence together with his wife, violist Ute Miller, and the ensemble Duo Renard. Following studies at Purchase College, NY, Indiana University – Bloomington and Boston University, he studied with Jürgen Kussmaul in Germany, where he was assistant concertmaster in the Robert Schumann Chamber Orchestra of Düsseldorf and a member of the Beethoven Orchester Bonn.

Ute Miller is principal violist of the East Texas Symphony, performs with the Dallas Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared as a soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. A founder and treasurer of Mount Vernon Music Association, Ute performs with her husband Mark in the violin-viola ensemble Duo Renard, which was brought to Texas with a National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residencies chamber music grant. Ute’s musical studies include the prestigious Konzertexamen diploma from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, and a year at Boston University as a student of Raphael Hillyer. In addition to playing with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, she served for seven years as assistant principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchester/Cologne Philharmonic, and for eight years as principal violist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra. She maintains a private studio in Dallas.

A native of San Diego, Susan Dubois was selected as a prizewinner and recitalist at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in the United Kingdom, and was the sole viola winner of Artists International's 23rd Annual Auditions, presenting her New York recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. She has extensive experience as a chamber musician, performing and coaching throughout the Australia, South America and the United States. Through appearances at music festivals such as Marlboro and La Jolla, she has performed with such notable artists as Lynn Harrell, David Soyer, David Finkel, Donald Weilerstein, Menahem Pressler and Carter Brey. She is currently associate professor of viola at the University of North Texas College of Music.

Jolyon Pegis is Associate Principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Principal Cello of the Chautauqua Symphony. He is a member of the Grammy-nominated contemporary ensemble Voices of Change, and also plays as a substitute with the Chicago Symphony. He gives regular master classes at Baylor University and Eastern Michigan University, and is in great demand as an audition coach. An avid chamber musician, Jolyon is the cellist of the Tesoro Trio, and has performed numerous times with Duo Renard and for Mount Vernon Music. He attended Indiana University and the University of Hartford, studying cello with Fritz Magg, Gary Hoffman, and David Wells.

Donna Davis has been teaching the Suzuki method of music instruction for over 20 years. She began her teaching career in Connecticut working with Diana Tillson, a pioneer of the Suzuki method in America. Teaching at Mercyhurst College, PA, Donna established a cello program and an extensive early childhood music program there. She has also served as conductor for the Young Artists Philharmonic, CT; Greater Erie Youth Orchestra; and the Youth Orchestra of San Antonio. She currently lives in Plano with her husband, fellow cellist Jolyon Pegis, and their son, where she conducts for the Cross Timbers Youth Orchestra and teaches at the Suzuki Institute of Dallas.

Mount Vernon Music is a 501(c)(3) organization formed in 2006 to further the performance of classical and other fine music in rural East Texas. MVM provides professional concerts for residents of nursing homes and senior centers throughout East Texas, and brings musical events to schools. For more information on the mission and concert schedule of Mount Vernon Music, and about historic Mount Vernon Music Hall, please visit www.mountvernonmusic.org .