Wed, March 10, 2010 Printer-Friendly Site Map Home Bookmark and Share
CELLO SECTION

All Photographs by Katrin Talbot
Musician profiles are in alphabetical order.


KAREN CORNELIUS
Noteworthy: B.M. in cello performance, Juilliard; Fulbright scholarship to study cello at the Hochschule für Musik, Vienna, Austria; winner of Concert Artists Guild competition, NY, as a member of Sonos Chamber Ensemble.
Funniest concert experience: A long time ago, I went to a Boston Symphony concert with my mother, and during a loud part of Berg's Lulu Suite, some small pieces of the ceiling of Symphony Hall fell on us. I think I still have them somewhere, and I think they have fixed the ceiling since then.


MAGGIE DARBY TOWNSEND
Noteworthy: B.M. in cello performance, University of Iowa; M.M. in cello performance, UW-Madison; played in the Cedar Rapids and Quad City Symphonies; played the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra.
Oddest practice quarters: When I was about 12, a music camp coach had our string quartet practice in a pink tiled women's dorm bathroom to explore acoustics. It was pretty embarrassing, especially for the only boy in the group!
What your colleagues don't know about you: I can play piano upside-down.
If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd let each section of the orchestra choose a musical work, and program a concert of "MOS musicians' favorites!"



JANET GREIVE
A private cello teacher in Madison, Janet earned BM and MM degrees at Peabody Conservatory of Music, where she was a full-tuition scholarship student as the result of winning the upper Midwest regional Federated Music Club Competition in high school. Her principal teachers were Luigi Silva, Zara Nelsova, and Raya Garbousova, and she has also studied chamber music with William Kroll, Robert Gerle, and members of the Juilliard Quartet. Besides studying at the Aspen Music Festival, she has performed and taught at numerous summer festivals and music camps, both independently and with her violinist husband Tyrone, with whom she has performed numerous unaccompanied duo recitals, double concertos with orchestra, piano trio concerts, and other ensemble programs. Janet has also taught at colleges in Iowa, South Dakota and Texas.


KARL LAVINE, Principal
Noteworthy: Recorded for Radio Stuttgart & CBC (Toronto); European tour of West Side Story; masters with Tim Eddy, doctoral candidate with Parry Karp; father of two.
Funniest concert moment: When the violinist lost his music through a crack in the stage floor during a Mendelssohn trio.
Oddest practice quarters: Back of an Italian bus, on tour.
What your colleagues don't know about you: Bicycled competitively; is a marathon runner.


MELISSA HONIGMAN
Noteworthy: B.M. in Cello Performance and Instrumental Music Teaching Certification, UW-Madison; currently I'm an elementary orchestra teacher in Shorewood, WI.
Oddest practice quarters: The lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Prague.
Funniest concert experience: A summer performance in Texas of Ravel's Bolero. We had to begin the piece slouched in our chairs, legs crossed, and holding our instruments (including cellos) like guitars. By the end, we were to be playing in traditional form, swaying back and forth. It was so strange!
What your colleagues don't know about you: I was originally accepted into school on a piano scholarship.
If I were John DeMain for a day: I'd invite the orchestra over for a soiree!


LAURIE RISS
Noteworthy: B.M. in cello performance from University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana, M.M. in cello performance from Rice University in Houston, and continuing studies toward certifications in music education at UW-Madison.
Oddest practice quarters: Practicing flute in the cabin of a cruise ship while 30-foot seas were making most passengers green from seasickness.
Funniest concert experience: A clothespin holding my music flew off the music stand and into the f-hold of my bass and rattled for the rest of the gig.
What your colleagues don't know about you: I play bass in an all-women swing band, "Ladies Must Swing," and a six-piece jazz group, "6 of 1".
Recurrent musical fantasy: To play chamber music with my two young sons who play classical guitar and cello.