Adam Kirkpatrick, tenor                              Previous Seasons
Jana Young, soprano
Magdelana Wor, mezzo soprano
John Lawless, percussion
Esther Budiardjo, piano
Christina Smith, flute
Jen Mitchell, composer
Robert Cronin, composer


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Dr. Adam Kirkpatrick, assistant professor of music at Kennesaw State University, has sung operatic roles and concerts professionally in many theaters throughout the United States, singing with the Cincinnati Opera, Atlanta Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Tri-Cities Opera (NY), Dayton Opera, Florida State Opera, Knoxville Symphony, Newton Symphony (Boston, MA), Tallahassee Symphony (FL), LaGrange Symphony (GA), Axtell Symphony (NE) and more.

Kirkpatrick holds a BM and MM in voice performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and earned his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. Though he spends most of his professional life teaching voice and singing, Kirkpatrick also finds time to write and publish articles related to voice and singing. He is also author of the novel Lincoln’s Shadow.
 
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Jana Young, soprano - Praised for her beautiful lyric singing, most notably in the bel canto repertoire, soprano Jana Young is a native of Louisiana. She received her vocal training at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she holds two degrees; a B.M.Ed and a BM in Vocal Pedagogy. She later moved to Dallas, Texas to continue her vocal study with Madeline Sanders, a student of Gina Cigna. Mrs. Young moved to Darmstadt, Germany upon scholarship with the American Institute of Musical Studies and remained in Europe performing in recitals, and concert. While in Darmstadt, Ms. Young studied with Eva von Ambrosius of the Frankfurt Stadtstheater. Upon returning to the United States, Mrs. Young graduated with a M.M. in Vocal Performance from The University of Louisiana-Monroe, where she studied with Dr. John Burgin.

During her year at The University of Louisiana Jana Young was selected to premiere Richard Hervig's "Five Romantic Songs", the winner of the first NATS song composition competition. She regularly sings with the Naples Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Christopher Seamon, and sings with the Miami Bach Society, the Miami Youth Orchestra, as soloist with the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami, Collegium Musicum, Mainly Mozart Festival, the Nakamichi Concert Series in Boston, and the University of Miami Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Young was the soprano soloist in Mahler's Symphony # 2, under noted Mahler expert, Gilbert Kaplan, soloist in Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Mass in C major, and Mozart's Solemn Vespers with the Bahamian National Choir and Orchestra, in Nassau, Bahama. She also was the soprano soloist in premiere and subsequent recording of Steven Edward's Ave Maria Mass with the London Sinfonia Orchestra.

In 2003, Jana Young was the featured soloist at Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, for "A Birthday Concert Celebration for Ned Rorem" with the noted composer present. She was cited in the New York papers for her ability to achieve the "near impossible" by alternating the angular vocal lines with perfect skill and lyric beauty of tone in performances of two of his most famous songs:   Alleluia and The Silver Swan, and as the soprano soloist with the Miami Chamber Ensemble in Rorem"s Ariel: Five Poems of Sylvia Plath. This past year, Mrs. Young was the soprano soloist in Schubert"s Mass in Eb, with the Miami Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Maestro Jo-Michael Scheibe.

From 1991-2005, Mrs. Young served on the voice faculty at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. Beginning in the fall of 2005, Ms. Young is Artist-In-Residence on the voice faculty at Kennesaw State University.  Ms Young is also active as a vocal clinician, adjudicator and Master Class Teacher. She is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

 
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Magdalena Wór is a First Place Winner of the Heinz Rehfuss Vocal Competition, a Metropolitan Opera Competition National Finalist, a Winner of the Mozart Society of Atlanta Competition and an alumna of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Summer Opera Program, Chautauqua Music Institution’s Marlena Malas Voice Program, St. Louis Opera Theatre’s Gerdine Young Artist Program, and the Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program where she sang the role of Zita in Gianni Schicchi for the Young Artist Program and Grimgerge in Die Walküre, Herdswoman in Jenůfa, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Giovanna in Rigoletto and the 3rd Maidservant in Elektra for the main stage. Recent engagements include Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with the Atlanta Opera, a Christmas Concert with New Trinity Baroque, a recital at the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, as well as an evening of Russian Fairy Tale Operas with the Russian Chamber Arts Society.

Ms. Wór’s upcoming performances include Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Ashlawn Opera Festival, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the National Philharmonic, and the title role in Bizet’s Carmen with the Palm Beach Opera.

Magdalena is originally from Poland and has lived in the United States since 1991. She received her Bachelor and Masters degrees in vocal performance from Georgia State University and studies with Magdalena Moulson-Falewicz.

 
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John Lawless became Director of Percussion Studies at Kennesaw State University in 2004. Principal Timpanist of the Atlanta Opera since 1979, Mr. Lawless was appointed as Principal Timpanist with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Orchestra in 1986. Since 1978, Mr. Lawless has performed and recorded as an extra with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra while maintaining a thriving freelance career as studio and pit percussionist.

A founding member of the Atlanta Percussion Trio, Mr. Lawless performs more than 600 school concerts a year for audiences totaling 300,000 annually. In 2004 the Atlanta Percussion Trio performed as concerto soloists with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra in “The Glory and the Grandeur” by Russell Peck.

A graduate of Georgia State University, Mr. Lawless’s teachers include Tom Float, Jack Bell, Cloyd Duff, Paul Yancich, Bill Wilder, and Mark Yancich. Mr. Lawless’s previous faculty appointments include those at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and West Georgia State University.
 
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Pianist Esther Budiardjo has received considerable acclaim from many respected music critics. Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe wrote, “One marvels at the subtlety and variety of her touch, and sophisticated virtuosity of her fingers and her musical mind.” Harold C. Schonberg of American Record Guide noted, “The performances here are splendid. Budiardjo is a powerful pianist who employs her superb technique with taste.” In addition to winning first prize at the 1996 William Kapell International Piano Competition in Maryland, she was awarded top prizes at the 1993 Stravinsky Awards International Piano Competition in Illinois and both the 1998 and the 2000 Palm Beach Invitational International Piano Competition in Florida.

In addition to performing across North America, in recent years Ms. Budiardjo toured Southeast Asia as a solo recitalist. In 2005, she performed at the newly opened Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre in Malaysia in its premier HSBC Classics Piano Festival; at Gedung Kesenian Concert Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia; and at Victoria Concert Hall as part of the Singapore International Piano Festival. In 2004, she gave recitals at San Francisco's Herbst Theatre in Four Seasons Concerts' Distinguished Artists Series, and at Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. Highlights of 2007-08 solo appearances include a performance with the South Carolina Philharmonic and a recital for Sundays Live at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ms. Budiardjo’s recordings for the Pro Piano Records label have gained wide international recognition. Her interpretations of Mendelssohn's music in her debut recording prompted the following statement from American Record Guide, “Mendelssohn's piano works were always wonderfully crafted, and when they are played as well as this, they are endlessly enjoyable.” In 2000 Philadelphia Inquirer selected her second recording which features the music of Godowsky and Tansman as one of its top 10 classical CDs. In a glowing review of Ms. Budiardjo’s third recording which features works by Moszkowski and Brahms, Gramophone magazine wrote, “Budiardjo is clearly a pianist to watch.” September 2005 marks the release of her fourth recording, a two-CD compilation of Henselt’s music.

In prior seasons Ms. Budiardjo has given recitals in Lincoln Center in New York City, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Jordan Hall in Boston, le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the Harmony Hall in Matsumoto, and various other concert venues around the world. She has made concerto appearances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, the Omaha Symphony, the Belgian National Orchestra, and others. In North America, National Public Radio and CBC Radio have featured her performances in their broadcasts.

Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Ms. Budiardjo received the Doctorate degree and the Presidential Scholar Award from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Her principal teachers have been Wha Kyung Byun, Russell Sherman and Lev Vlasenko. A Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts graduate, she has attended the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Currently she resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Cobb Symphony Orchestra | PO Box 791 | Marietta, Georgia 30061 | Phone: 770-429-7016 | Fax: 770-794-8916 | bhermanson@cobbsymphony.org
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