Allegheny Ensemble and Amos Lawrence

String Quartet                             Scott Joplin

   Paragon Rag                                              (1868-1917)

   Pineapple Rag

Piano Quintet, Opus 34        Johannes Brahms

   Allegro non troppo                                       (1833-1897)

   Andante, un poco Adagio

   Scherzo, Allegro

   Finale, Poco sostenuto,  Allegro non troppo

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                                            Musicians:

                                    Laura Artesani: piano

                                    Amos Lawrence: violin

                                    Sachi Murasugi: violin

                                    Michael Wheeler: viola

                                    Jeffrey Schoyen: ‘cello

Dr. Laura Artesani graduated summa cum laude from Barrington College in Rhode Island with a B.M. in Music Education, and received a M.M. in Piano Performance from the University of Maine. She earned a D.M.A. in Piano Performance from West Virginia University, where she was the recipient of the Swiger Teaching Fellowship for four years. She has completed Level I-III of Orff Schulwerk Training, and is the recipient of a research grant from the American Orff Schulwerk Association. Articles that Dr. Artesani has written or co-authored have appeared in The Journal for Music Teacher Education, The Orff Echo and General Music Today. Highlights as a collaborative pianist include performing with Dr. Beth Wiemann at the International Clarinet Fest in Baton Rouge, LA; with Dr. Jack Burt at the Schagerl Brass Festival in Melk, Austria; and with Dr. Dan Barrett at the Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington, D.C. In addition to her duties at the University of Maine, Dr. Artesani also serves as organist/pianist at the Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono. She has taught at the Lincoln School in Providence, RI; North Orrington and Center Drive schools in Orrington, ME; and the Stillwater Montessori School in Stillwater, ME.

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Dr. Sachiho Murasugi, violin, has performed extensively as a professional orchestral and chamber musician. She has been concertmaster of the Sorg Opera Orchestra in Ohio and Filarmonica del Bajio in Mexico, and a member of the West Virginia Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Springfield Symphony. As a chamber musician she has performed throughout the United States, Mexico and Spain, received a National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant and was selected for the Nebraska Arts Councils Touring Artist Program as a member of the Sandhill Trio. She is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music and earned her D.M.A. from the Ohio State University. Her teachers have included Raphael Bronstein, Daniel Philips and Kia-Hui Tan. Currently she is on the music faculty at SU where she teaches upper strings and serves as SSO concertmaster. Additionally, she holds an M.B.A. from Tulane University where she was awarded the Freeman Fellowship.

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Conductor and music director of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and the Salisbury Youth Orchestra, Jeffrey Schoyen teaches cello and bass at SU. He has given concerts throughout the United States, Germany, Mexico, Spain and Ecuador, and received a Frank Huntington Beebe Grant to study in London with William Pleeth. He is also a Tanglewood Gustav Golden Award recipient. Schoyen honed his cello skills at the New England Conservatory of Music and Carnegie Mellon University, before earning his D.M.A. at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Dr. Schoyen has extensive orchestral experience and has been a member of the Opera Orchestra of New York, Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and Principal Cellist of the Filarmonica del Bajio in Mexico.

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Amos Lawrence, was a violinist for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the opera orchestra of Florence, and for seven years the principal second, and 12 years the assistant concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. He served as an adjunct professor at the College of Charleston and played in the Charleston Symphony String Quartet. He has performed over 25 performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He attended the N.C. School of the Arts, the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Ivan Galamian and Jascha Brodsky, and the New England Conservatory of Music (MM). He has performed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain at the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, and Israel in the Israel Festival.

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Michael Wheeler, currently the HSO Principal Viola, began his professional career in the New World Symphony under the leadership of Michael Tilson Thomas. Prior to joining the HSO he was a member of the San Antonio Symphony. He performs regularly with ensembles and orchestras throughout Connecticut. He studied at Indiana University, Juilliard, and the New England Conservatory. He enjoys teaching at the Hartt School Community Division and at the Miss Porters School.

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