Concert

Week of February 20, 2021

Violinist Kate Hatmaker is the cofounder and Executive/Artistic Director of Art of Élan, a San Diego-based chamber music organization committed to bringing innovative classical music to diverse audiences (www.artofelan.org), and has been a violinist with the San Diego Symphony since 2006. She has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony. She is a frequent chamber music recitalist and guest clinician and has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras in North America. A passionate advocate for innovation in the arts, she has been invited to speak at Carnegie Mellon University, UC-San Diego, San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene University, among others. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with high honors and degrees in both Political Science and French.

 

Sonya Schumann is an expressive and imaginative pianist, both in solo and collaborative performance. She holds top prizes in many competitions and has toured throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. She is a sought-after guest lecturer and masterclass presenter at several festivals and colleges. Recently, she has performed with the Cornish-American Song Institute, Red Rocks Music Festival, and The Gilmore. Deeply involved in a multitude of aspects within the artistic community, she also serves as a faculty founder of Keys to Inclusion, a cross-collegiate initiative to expand the standard piano repertoire, elevating works of marginalized composers. She is also internationally recognized for her involvement as a founding member of Piano Theatre, an artist group formed to engage audiences with innovative combinations of classical music, theatre, literature, art and technology. Dr Schumann currently teaches at San Diego State University, where she also serves as piano faculty for the Community Music School.