SENSORY FRIENDLY CHAMBER CONCERT

MARCH 9, 2024

1:00 PM

WEATHERWAX HALL

FREE ADMISSION

*Reservation is required.

This sensory-friendly concert experience has been designed for those with sensory sensitivities, including neurodiverse audiences and those with communication, movement, and learning needs.

Upon entering the JSO, attendees will have the chance to feel and touch real instruments in our lobby prior to the concert. This concert features the softer wind instruments from our orchestra performing as a small ensemble/chamber group. Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Flute, and Oboe will share their unique sounds with the audience in a lower-lighting setting.

Audience members will be encouraged to use scarves to flow with the sound of the music and maracas to feel the beat. The venue will allow for moving or sitting during the performance as well as include accommodations like those listed below.

Please feel free to call our Box Office at (517)782-3221 or email us at info@jacksonsymphony.org to talk about any specific needs or accommodations.

Accommodations:

Abundant Handicap Seating
Quiet Rooms
Medium Quiet Rooms
Standing Room
Additional Viewing Areas
Earplugs
Headphones
Fidgets
Scarves
Maracas

GUEST ARTISTS

Tasha Warren
Clarinet

Tasha Warren, two-time Grammy nominated recording artist, teacher and international performer, has premiered over one hundred solo clarinet and chamber works throughout the US, Europe, Israel, China, South Korea, and India. She has recorded with Innova, Alba, SCI Records, Crystal, Centaur Records, and Bright Shiny Things. Warren is Assistant Professor of Chamber Music at the MSU College of Music and has taught on the music performance faculties of Louisiana State University and the University of Virginia. She is a member of American Modern Ensemble and Jackson Symphony and performs regularly with Lansing Symphony. She serves on the faculty of the Mostly Modern Ensemble and served as principal clarinet with the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra. She has implemented chamber music programs with the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, the University of Virginia, and the Musical Arts Youth Orchestra, as well as study abroad programs to India and Spain. She founded and has been Artistic Director if the Sensory Friendly Spartan Concert Series at Michigan State University since 2015. She holds MM and DM performance degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

William Wheeler
Bassoon

William Wheeler has been Principal Bassoonist of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra since 1982. He has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra in the Haydn and Mozart Sinfonias Concertante, the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, and Michael Daugherty’s Dead Elvis. Mr. Wheeler has presented solo recitals sponsored by the Orchestra and by Kalamazoo College, where he was instructor of bassoon. He has also held positions in the Lansing and Grand Rapids Symphonies, and performed with the Battle Creek, Jackson, Traverse, Midland, and Southwest Michigan Symphonies. He has presented and performed at annual conferences of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). An active chamber music performer, he is a founding member of the New Castle Trio, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Players, and the Durant Street Winds, and was a member of the Kalamazoo Symphony Woodwind Quintet for 21 years. His principal teacher was Dr. Edgar Kirk at Michigan State University. Mr. Wheeler and his wife, a retired registered nurse, live in Lansing, Michigan, and are the parents of two grown daughters.

Stephen Foster
Horn

Stephen Foster received his Bachelor Degree in Horn Performance and Music Theory from Western Michigan University in 1993 and his Master of Music in Horn Performance from Rice University in 1995. He is in his 28th season as 2nd Horn in the Lansing Symphony and has been a member of the Jackson Symphony since 1998. A founding member of the Durant Street Winds, Mr. Foster has had much chamber music experience including being a four-year member of the nationally awarded Russell Brown Brass Quintet, and as natural horn performer, having received a grant to perform three chamber works (Brahms, Mozart, and Beethoven) on the natural horn. Stephen, a native of Jackson, is Senior Project Manager at Jackson Automatic Sprinkler and lives in Jackson, MI, with his wife and two children.

Tess Miller
Flute

Tess Miller, DMA, CMP, CPC enjoys a portfolio career as a freelance performer, flute instructor, therapeutic musician, core energy coach, public speaker, and author. Dr. Miller received a Doctorate from Michigan State University. Her dissertation covered research on music performance anxiety and how to use journal writing to develop confident performance skills. Invitations to present her experience with journal writing for performance include the National Flute Association Convention, the College Music Society Great Lakes Chapter Conference, various educational institutions throughout the USA.

For over 20 years, Dr. Miller has taught at public and private colleges throughout mid-Michigan, including Albion College, Olivet College, Hillsdale College (maternity leave replacement), and Central Michigan University (sabbatical leave replacement). Dr. Miller is currently applied faculty at Alma College and maintains an active studio at the Michigan State University Community Music School. Dr. Miller has been an avid chamber musician throughout her career. As a founding member of the Great Lakes Art Music Ensemble (GLAM), she co-released a CD (Latin Dance Project) on the White Pine Record Label. Dr. Miller is a member of the Durant Street Winds, a wind quintet devoted to creating fun and engaging concerts for all audience types. In the orchestral realm, Dr. Miller currently plays second flute with the Traverse Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Lansing, Jackson, Midland, and Battle Creek Symphonies and the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra. She has been invited to be a featured soloist with various ensembles including the Alma College Orchestra, MSU Philharmonic Orchestra, the Meridean Concert Band, and the Mott Community College Band. Having a core value of using her strengths and talents in a service capacity, Dr. Miller became a Board-Certified Music Practitioner (CMP) through the Music for Healing and Transition Program and has provided live, prescribed music at the bedside of the ill and dying at McLaren Greater Lansing since 2015. Wanting to help fellow professionals deal with burnout and re-engage with their careers in healthy ways, Dr. Miller became a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) in 2019. Through her business, Wings Unfolded, she helps busy professionals remember who they are so they know what to do next. In 2021, Dr. Miller published her first book, The Book of STUCK: Stop Holding Yourself Back and Start Moving Forward. She lives in St. Johns, MI, with composer husband Scott R. Harding and son, Phoenix.

Gretchen Morse
Oboe

Gretchen Morse received her Doctorate in Oboe Performance from Michigan State University in 1995, while studying with Daniel Stolper. This will be her 29th season playing Oboe and English Horn with the Lansing Symphony, and she has been a contracted member with many other orchestras throughout Michigan and New York State, as well as The American Wind Symphony Orchestra.

Gretchen is also a founding member of the active Durant Street Winds quintet, which has performed on the recital series of the LSO, Mackinac Island, Olivet College and The Capital Chamber Music Society, as well as a live broadcast performance in spring 2021 sponsored by the Music Performance Trust Fund. She has taught at Olivet, Spring Arbor, Hope, Alma, and Aquinas Colleges and the MSU Community Music School, and maintains a full private studio. An avid composer, Dr. Morse has undertaken numerous commissioned works, and her music has been performed throughout the world, including the conference opener of the National Flute Association Conference in 2015, by the World Flute Choir. Life events have led Gretchen to help those who are facing things they did not choose, and she has become a Board Certified Neurofeedback Specialist. She owns Mid-Michigan Neurofeedback, in Okemos, where she helps those who have fallen through the cracks within traditional western medicine. She also serves on the board of the Midwest Society for Behavioral Medicine and Biofeedback. She and her dog, Pilot, volunteered at Hospice House, in Lansing. Pilot is now retired, but is helping Gretchen train their Smooth Collie puppy, Beacon.

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