Robert Patterson, clarinet

Rob is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Boston University's School of Music, founder of the online program The Clarinet Sessions, and Acting Principal Clarinet of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra. A passionate educator, Rob is on the faculty for Aria International Summer Academy and is a frequent coach with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. Rob has been a guest instructor at the Curtis Institute of Music and at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

Recent masterclass invitations have included the San Francisco Conservatory, Indiana University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Peabody Institute, University of North Texas, University of Toronto, Grieg Academy (Norway), Sibelius Academy (Finland), and Royal College of Music (Sweden). Rob has served on the faculty at the University of Virginia, where he was featured in recital and as soloist with the Charlottesville Symphony.

Rob has served as Acting Principal Clarinet with the Baltimore and Louisville Orchestras as well as Principal Clarinet with the Charlottesville Symphony and Lyrique-en-Mer Festival Orchestra in France. Additionally, he has served as guest Principal Clarinet for the orchestras of Albany, Chautauqua, Cincinnati, Richmond, Huntsville, Modesto, Pasadena, Peoria, as well as the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops Orchestra.

Rob’s chamber music performances have taken him across North and South America, Europe and Asia. He has performed contemporary music as a member of the VERGE Ensemble in Washington, DC, with the San Francisco Contemporary Players, and was previously a member of the Philadelphia-based Ensemble 39, which was also invited to serve in residence at the Teatro del Lago in Frutillar, Chile.

Mr. Patterson has been the featured soloist in Copland’s Clarinet Concerto with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Charlottesville Symphony as well as the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the Lyrique-En-Mer (Le Palais, France) Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic, Middletown Symphony Orchestra, and the Howard County (Maryland) Concert Players. As a former Strathmore Music Center Artist in Residence, Mr. Patterson presented a series of solo recitals, masterclasses, educational concerts, and a recital at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including the World-Premiere of John B Hedges’ Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet.

Festival appearances include Moab, Mendocino, Festival Napa Valley, The Peninsula Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Festival Lyrique-En-Mer, Garth Newel Music Center, Music from Angel Fire, and the Yellow Barn Music Festival.

Hailing from Cincinnati, OH, Mr. Patterson earned degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of Southern California. His principal teachers were Yehuda Gilad, Richard Hawley, and Donald Montanaro.

Mr. Patterson is proud to be a D'Addario and Buffet-Crampon performing artist.

Please visit www.robwpatterson.com for more information.

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Upcoming Performances

Johanna Borenstein, principal flute

Johanna Borenstein is an active orchestral and studio musician in Los Angeles and Principal Flute of the Modesto Symphony. She frequently plays with LA Opera, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony and Long Beach Symphony. As a studio musician she has been on movies such as Star Wars IX, Call of the Wild, The Mandalorian, Spies in Disguise, The Grinch, The Greatest Showman, Family Guy among many others. Johanna holds degrees from The Hartt School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory and The Colburn School. She has studied with John Wion, Tim Day and Jim Walker. Since the pandemic Johanna has started a small business making one of a kind Suncatchers, her store Crystal Dracorium is on Etsy. 

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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johanna-borenstein-69257a15

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Performances

David Granger, principal bassoon

David Granger currently resides in the San Francisco Bay area where he works as a freelance musician performing in orchestras throughout northern California. He currently holds positions as principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, the Modesto Symphony Orchestra, the Fremont Symphony. and is a member of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and Marin Symphony.

In 1982, Mr. Granger began teaching at the University of California, Davis, and in 1985, became coordinator of the music department’s student chamber music program, a position he held until 2011. He joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, in 2000. He has also taught at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where he performed with the Pacific Arts Woodwind Quintet, and at California State University-Stanislaus.

Born in Shawnee Mission, Kansas, Mr. Granger began studies at the age of 8 on clarinet. His clarinet teacher, Michael Spielman, principal bassoonist of the Kansas City Philharmonic, encouraged his talented student to switch to bassoon at the age of 13.

After studying two years at the University of Kansas with Austin Ledwith, Mr. Granger received his Bachelor of Music in 1973 and his Master of Music in 1975 from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. His teachers included Harold Goltzer of the New York Philharmonic, Elias Carmen, formerly of the NBC Symphony under Toscanini, and Stephen Maxym of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1974 he won the school’s annual concerto competition and performed the Weber Concerto in F Major with the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. From 1973 to 1977, Mr. Granger was a member of the prestigious National Orchestral Association, a training orchestra for young professionals that regularly performed in Carnegie Hall.

From 1975 to 1981, Mr. Granger worked in the busy freelance world of New York City, performing with a number of that city's famous orchestras as well as pursuing an active chamber music career. He was a founding member of the Manhattan Woodwind Quintet, resident quintet at the C. W. Post Center of Long Island University and winner of the 1978 Artists International Competition. The ensemble made its Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1979. In 1981, Mr. Granger commuted to Florida to play principal bassoon in the West Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Granger was principal bassoonist of the Sacramento Symphony from 1981 until its bankruptcy in 1996. Mr. Granger was a strong advocate of symphonic music while in Sacramento. When the Sacramento Symphony first ceased operations in December 1992, Mr. Granger, with other musicians and dedicated music lovers, created the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, a musician managed symphony (no association with the current organization with this name.) As President of the Philharmonic, he helped keep the symphony musicians performing for Sacramento audiences through the spring of 1993. With the revival of the Sacramento Symphony in 1993. Mr. Granger served as Secretary of the Board of Directors, and continued his active role as coordinator of the Sacramento Symphony’s very successful 1995 and 1996 World View Music Festivals.

Mr. Granger attended Indiana University's Early Music Institute and received a Performers Diploma in Baroque bassoon in 2004. In 2005, he founded Passamezzo Moderno, a period ensemble that performs the music of three centuries, from 1530 to 1830, and specializes in the virtuoso instrumental music of the 17th century.

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Performances

Katy Juneau, viola

Katy Juneau is Principal Viola of the Fremont Symphony, Lamplighter’s Theatre Orchestra and West Edge Opera Festival.  Katy is a member of Modesto Symphony & California Symphony. She also plays with Oakland Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Marin Symphony, & Sacramento Philharmonic on a regular basis.

Katy’s most exciting passion project these days is being a member of the FSQ string quartet. In 2018 the Fremont Symphony & Quartet won a Zellerbach family foundation grant for their Lost Voices program. She also enjoys playing with Contra Costa Musical Theatre, and the Island Opera Company. Katy plays chamber music with various smaller ensembles throughout the Bay Area. Since 2013 she has volunteered as a coordinator and player for chamber music programs at Oakland Heights Pacifica Senior Living. Katy has fun playing a variety of musical genres and has been in backup groups accompanying all sorts from Wynton Marsalis, Peidmont Community Church, KISS, Bonnie Raitt, Synchronicity Strings, Kevin Spacey, Storm Large, and Josh Groban to playing in the World Classic Baseball Orchestra on the field at AT&T Park. Katy graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

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Performances

Adam Wolf, horn

As a freelance hornist in Los Angeles, Adam Wolf has had a variety of opportunities, including chamber music, orchestral playing, recording work, contemporary music, and solo appearances.

Adam has recorded and performed with many artists and composers, including Miley Cyrus, Will.I.Am, Pete Townsend, Billy Idol, John Debney, Arturo Sandoval, Mark Isham, Jeff Russo, Pinar Toprak, and many more.

As an orchestral player, Adam has had the privilege to perform with the San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony to name a few. He is also Principal Horn of the Redlands Symphony and Third Horn of the Modesto Symphony. In addition to performing, Adam is an accomplished composer whom’s music has been performed on five continents. He is commissioned regularly for concert music and is also the hornist, composer, and founder of Rock Horn Project- a multi-genre fusion band.

In 2017 Adam joined the faculty at the University of Redlands where he serves at the Artist Teacher of Horn and maintains a thriving studio. He is a Performing Artist for Conn-Selmer, and has a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Composition and Performance from California Institute of the Arts.

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC9W1p5Ux_OovNo3htPqtZA/featured
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adam.wolf.horn/?hl=en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adamwolf777
Pathways (Podcast): https://pathways.libsyn.com/

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Performances

Denis Harper, oboe

Denis Harper has consistently been praised for his performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra player. A recipient of a Hewlett Foundation Fellowship and the Marian Anderson Young Artist award, he made his New York recital debut in Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall to enthusiastic acclaim by The New York Times. “Mr. Harper has a clean, tapered, and exquisitely lovely tone… his phrasing is elegant and he can float a tune with the best of them.”

He has been Principal Oboe of the Modesto Symphony since 1991.

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Performances

Ilana Blumberg Thomas, violin

The Violin Player who Does it All...

Whether onstage at Davies Hall or playing to sold-out arena crowds, Ilana Blumberg Thomas has been at home performing for diverse audiences since she was a child. Following her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony at age 16 for a celebration of renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin’s historic debut, she embarked on a career that has spanned the worlds of classical and popular music, taken her across several continents and, most importantly, allowed her to share her craft with hundreds of thousands of eager concert-goers along the way.

Appreciating the vibrant variety and forward-thinking energy of the San Francisco Bay Area, Ilana currently lives in the East Bay, balancing a schedule that incorporates symphonic and classical violin concerts, chamber music and recording projects, appearances as an acoustic and electric violinist at prestigious private events, a busy teaching studio, and regular appearances as a popular violinist with an exciting array of celebrated artists. Recent past years have found her onstage supporting major acts including Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Gregory Porter, Chuck Prophet, Il Divo, Warren Haynes and Josh Groban, to name a few. With electronic duo ODESZA, she was featured in performances on NYE in San Francisco, at their inaugural music festival in Riviera Maya, Mexico, and at their tour finale shows in Stanford and Los Angeles, all of which received rave reviews and helped her satisfy her passion for electric violin music.

On classical violin, Ilana regularly appears with area orchestras from San Jose to Sacramento, including the Oakland Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Berkeley Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, and the Modesto Symphony, where she serves as Associate Concertmaster. Other regular collaborations include the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, West Edge Opera, Earplay, Opera Parallele and guest appearances with many other established groups. She also treasures her role as a wedding violinist, helping innumerable couples seal their vows and celebrate their happiest of days with everything from Ed Sheeran songs to R&B hits to traditional favorites like the Pachelbel Canon. 

Before her return to her native Bay Area, Ilana lived in New York City, where she performed as a popular violinist, in renowned chamber orchestras such as Philharmonia Virtuosi, and in various Broadway productions, including Elton John’s Aida and the Tony Award-winning Producers. Her Broadway affiliations have continued on the West Coast with ‘The Unreachable Stars’, featuring Phantom of the Opera lead Jeremy Stolle, and supporting the recent SF production of Anastasia. She also has appeared at all the major American music festivals, including Aspen, Marlboro, Santa Fe Chamber Music, and Tanglewood, where she participated in recording a series of videos with Wynton Marsalis. Her other recordings can be heard on the Deutsche Grammophon, Argo, and Albany labels.

When not performing, Ilana devotes herself to nurturing her varied group of students, ranging in age from 3 to ‘not willing to admit their age’, and her two sons. Never one to do anything halfway, she balances her love of distance running with a marginally unhealthy obsession with cookbooks.

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Website: https://www.sfweddingviolinist.com/

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Upcoming Performances

Don Grishaw, MSYO Concert Orchestra Conductor

Donald Grishaw began piano and violin lessons at an early age. His interest in music flourished throughout his high school years. He attended San Jose State University, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance in violin and piano and a minor in Spanish. While attending SJSU, he studied the violin with the late Dr. Lauren Jakey and also with Daniel Kobialka of the San Francisco Symphony. Upon graduation, Mr. Grishaw pursued Single Subject and Multiple Subject teaching credentials and taught in the Turlock Unified School District for 37 years. He recently retired from Pitman High School where he taught Concert Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra as well as Spanish 2 and AP Spanish Literature. With the opening of Pitman High School in 2002, Mr. Grishaw founded the Pitman High School Orchestra which now includes over 80 students, and has received accolades both locally and in Southern California where they continue to perform each year while on tour. Mr. Grishaw performs regularly throughout the surrounding communities on the violin, the viola, and the piano. He is a longstanding member of the violin section of the Modesto Symphony Orchestra and also freelances with other local orchestras and string quartets. Mr. Grishaw and his wife, Angelica, play regularly for Sunday Masses, quinceañeras, and weddings at Sacred Heart Church in Turlock. Mr. Grishaw joined the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra faculty in 2014. Under Mr. Grishaw’s direction the Concert Orchestara Division has continued to expand and prepare additional young string, wind, brass, and percussion musicians for the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra Symphony Orchestra Division. Mr. Grishaw is an active member of A.S.T.A. (American String Teachers Association) and A.F.M. (American Federation of Musicians).