Sounds and Words of Healing

This Spotlight performance showcases the poetry of Rosetta Peters as the performers explore the poignant theme of overcoming loss & trauma and the healing power of music and the arts. 

Program

Sonata No. 3 in C major for unaccompanied violin, BWV 1005 by Johann Sebastian Bach
III. Largo
David Leung, violin

Of a Feather by Rosetta Peters
Rosetta Peters, poet
JG Everest, guitar & electronics

Horn Trio in Eb Major, Op. 40 by Johannes Brahms
I. Andante
II. Scherzo (Allegro)
Mike Alexander, horn
David Leung, violin
Miryana Moteva, piano

Shhhh by Rosetta Peters
Rosetta Peters, poet
JG Everest, guitar & electronics

Horn trio in Eb Major, Op. 40 by Johannes Brahms
III. Adagio mesto
IV. Allegro con brio
Mike Alexander, horn
David Leung, violin
Miryana Moteva, piano

Diary of an Insomniac Woman by JG Everest and Rosetta Peters
Rosetta Peters, poet
JG Everest, guitar & electronics

A Letter to my Daughter by Rosetta Peters
Rosetta Peters, poet

Wiederstehe Doh der Sunde: from Cantata 54 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Miryana Moteva, piano

Performers

Rosie Peters, poet

Rosetta Peters is a poet, an author, a public speaker, and an activist. She is of Yankton, Crow Creek, and Oglala descent. A procrastinator to the point of detriment and lover of the natural world. Rosetta has had her poetry published in the Yellow Medicine Review and has recently been awarded the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant 2021 to professionally record and release an album of her Spoken Word/Performance Poetry and the MRAC Next Step Grant 2021/2022 for creative support for the completion of her memoir titled, The Spider and The Rose.

Mischa Santora, Artistic Director

Mischa Santora is one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial conductors of his generation. Appointed music director of the Boston Ballet in 2018, he conducts the majority of their performances with the Boston Ballet Orchestra at the Boston Opera House. During the COVID-19 lockdown, Mr. Santora produced a number of creative audio and video projects, including compositions for soundtracks, editing and mixing of soundscapes, as well as producing, filming, and editing of musical film projects. In addition to his busy conducting schedule, Mr. Santora is the artistic director of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble, with performances at Antonello Hall. Mr. Santora’s recent composition activities include music for theatrical productions, orchestral works, and soundtracks for film, TV/radio, and podcasts. He is the founder of a promising audio start-up company SONICITY, offering customizable high-fidelity soundtracks for creative professionals.

In North America, Mr. Santora has appeared with the Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Louisville Orchestras; the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Houston, National, New Jersey, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Richmond, North Carolina, Des Moines, Hartford, Princeton, Midland (Michigan), Eugene, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Hamilton (Ontario) Symphonies; as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia.

In Europe and the Middle East, he has led the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, the Basel and Lucerne Symphony Orchestras, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Matáv Symphony, the Miskolc Symphony, the Hungarian National Symphony Orchestra’s Chorus, the Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.

In the Pacific Rim he was invited by the West Australian Opera Company to conduct a production of Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro. In addition, he has appeared with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taiwan National Philharmonic, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand. In Latin America he has guest conducted in Mexico, Chile, and Peru.

JG Everest, composer, guitar, & electronics

JG Everest, composer, director, and musician, was born in Imnížaska (Saint Paul), MniSota Makoče and has been collaboratively making music his whole life. He has worked with ensembles such as Lateduster, Roma di Luna, Neotropic, BLACKFISH, and Sans Le Systeme; with dance companies such as Emily Johnson / Catalyst, Supergroup, and Irish Modern Dance Theater; and with poets such as Rosetta Peters, Jeffrey Skemp, Lisa Yankton, and Chavonn Shen. Since 2016, he has been creating and presenting his outdoor site-specific sound + performance installations called “Sound Gardens” around MN and beyond. He loves creating and performing with his dear friend Rosetta Peters. He is a 2019 McKnight Composers Fellow.

Mike Alexander, horn

One of the most in-demand freelance musicians in the Midwest, horn player Mike Alexander is known for his versatility as a solo, chamber, orchestral, and commercial musician.  Mike was appointed Principal horn of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra in 2019 after playing for several seasons as 4th horn. In addition to performing in opera and ballet pits throughout Minnesota, Mike is a regular performer with both the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Outside of the classical scene, Mike has played in touring Broadway productions ranging from West Side Story to My Fair Lady, and has performed with myriad musical acts including The Who, Evanescence, Josh Groban, Weird Al Yankovic, and Mannheim Steamroller. Alexander holds a master’s degree in horn performance from the New England Conservatory, and a bachelor’s in horn performance with Artist Diploma from the Eastman School of Music. Mike is currently the horn instructor at the College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University, Macalester College, and the MacPhail Center for Music, and has previously held teaching positions at the University of Wisconsin River Falls and the University of St. Thomas. As a soloist, Mike performed the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten with New England Conservatory’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto with the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Camille Saint-Saëns’ Morceau de Concert with the Duluth Symphonic Winds, and principal horn on Schumann’s Concert Piece for Four horns and Orchestra with the Itasca Symphony Orchestra. 

Miryana Moteva, piano

Pianist Miryana Moteva has recently appeared in recitals at Sundin Music Hall, the Fitzgerald Theater, the Schubert Club, the Baroque Room, and the Cowles Center for Performing Arts in collaboration with Curio Dance. An active soloist and chamber musician, she performs regularly on University of Minnesota’s Balkanicus New Music Series and the Schubert Club’s Courtroom Concerts. Her performances have been featured on Classical MPR. In the past, Miryana has appeared at festivals such as March Music Days and Music and Earth International Festivals in Bulgaria, and San Daniele International Piano Meeting in Italy. Currently, she is on the faculty of MacPhail Center for Music as a piano teaching artist and a staff pianist. Previously, she has served as a Collaborative and Applied Piano Teaching Assistant at University of Minnesota, and as an Accompanying Fellow at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. Miryana holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Collaborative Piano at University of Minnesota. A native of Bulgaria, she is a graduate of the National School of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria.

David Leung, violin

Dr. David Leung has served as MacPhail’s Camerata and MacPhail’s Chamber Orchestra Director since 2017. He started teaching college students while he was a graduate student at the Eastman School of Music in New York. He has gone on to teach students of all ages and at various universities worldwide. Dr. Leung’s teaching philosophy is to fully engage his students with passion, intelligence, experience, knowledge, humor and patience. He believes that all kids deserve to appreciate and learn to play music at all levels. It’s such an important skill and experience for our children! He has performed in concerts and Master Classes in the United States, Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. He conducted a nationally televised Christmas concert in Kenya in 2005 with more than 2000 live audience and a million TV viewers in East Africa. Two highlights of his performance career were his debut in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in 2006 and performing a solo recital at the National Museum in Bogota, Colombia in 2005. He holds Bachelor Degree in Music from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and Masters and Doctorate Degrees of Violin Performance and Conducting from Eastman School of Music.