Honors Recital

carthage music department presents

Honors Recital

Saturday, May 16, 2026 | 2:00 p.m.

A.F. Siebert Chapel

program Die Winterreise, D. 911 Die Wetterfahne Ständchen Der Doppelgänger

Franz Schubert (1797–1828)

Ayden Wildman, baritone Greg Berg, piano Better from Little Women

Jason Howland (b. 1971)

How to Return Home from Our First Mistake

Bree Lowdermilk (b. 1986)

My Days from The Notebook

Ingrid Michaelson (b. 1979) Arielle Allen, voice Melissa Cardamone, piano

Divertimento for Alto Saxophone and Piano

Roger Boutry (1932–2019)

John Cargille, alto saxophone Fumi Nakayama, piano Selections from Sunday in the Park with George Sunday in the Park with George Everybody Loves Louis We Do Not Belong Together Children and Art

Stephen Sondheim (1930–2021)

Ella Bergfeld, voice Melissa Cardamone, piano Spark of Creation from Children of Eden

Stephen Schwartz (b. 1948)

Climbing Uphill from The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown (b. 1970)

Screw Loose from Cry-Baby

Adam Schlesinger (1967–2020) Addison Wytonick, voice Matthew Hougland, piano

program There is a Garden from Trouble in Tahiti

Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990)

Silent Noon

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) Annaliese Ruhs, voice Melissa Cardamone, piano

Shiksa Goddess from The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown (b. 1970)

Hurt Me Once from Sing to Me Instead

Ben Platt (b. 1993)

Reality from 36 Questions

Chris Littler & Ellen Winter Brayden Follett, voice Melissa Cardamone, piano

Selections from Les Misérables Rue Plummet/In My Life A Heart Full of Love Drink With Me Empty Chairs at Empty Tables A Heart Full of Love (Reprise)

Claude-Michel Schönberg (b. 1944)

Chase Juster, voice Melissa Cardamone, piano “Un sospiro” from Three Concert Études, S. 144 “Gnomenreigen” from Two Concert Études, S. 145

Franz Liszt (1811–1886)

Yiwei Duo, piano Tableaux de Provence

Paule Maurice (1910–1967) Jalen Imroth, alto saxophone Fumi Nakayama, piano

judge’s biographies instrumental/piano: Jeannie Yu was awarded first prize in the Frinna Awerbuch Piano Competition in New York, the Flint Symphony International Concerto Competition, the Portland Symphony International Concerto Competition, and the Kingsville Piano Competition in Texas. She also earned the prestigious Gina Bachauer Memorial Scholarship Award, a full scholarship for a Master’s Degree program at the Juilliard School where she also received a Bachelor’s Degree. Subsequently she was awarded an accompanist fellowship at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where she received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree.

Dr. Yu has performed as soloist with the Flint Symphony, Portland Symphony, Marina del Rey-Westchester Symphony, Des Moines Symphony, Des Moines Brandenburg Symphony, the Xiamen Symphony Orchestra in China, Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra, Festival City Symphony, and the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra.

As a soloist and collaborative artist she has performed on WQXR in New York, WOI in Des Moines, IPR in Interlochen, WFMT in Chicago, and numerous chamber music series throughout the United States. For nine years, she was a member of the Rembrandt Chamber Musicians based in Chicago. She is the pianist of the Florestan Duo which has recorded the complete works for cello and piano

by Beethoven. Recently, she is active as a keyboardist in Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

instrumental/strings: Violinist Paul Hauer joined the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 2016.

Solo and concerto performances have brought Mr. Hauer to the countries of Germany, Greece, France, the Czech Republic, Vietnam, Mexico, Canada, and the Philippines. Chamber music and orchestral concerts have brought him to Italy, San Marino, Singapore, Mexico, Japan, and China, performing on concert series that include Newport Classical (Rhode Island), the The Dalí Museum (Florida), and Centro Cultural San Pablo (Mexico). Before moving to Milwaukee, Mr. Hauer was Principal Second Violin of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and performed regularly with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Louisville Orchestra.

Mr. Hauer was a featured soloist with violinist Alex Ayers and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for the 2024 opening season gala concert. He also participated in the 4th Leonidas Kavakos International Masterclass in Athens, Greemoce in 2015. Earlier that year, he performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (Missouri), while other honors include winning the Indianapolis Matinée Musicale Collegiate Competition in 2013. In the summer of 2011, he toured Europe with the Denver Young Artists Orchestra as the soloist for the Barber Violin Concerto. While serving as teaching assistant to Addison Teng, he performed and taught lessons with the Teng Studio on international tours.

judge’s biographies His early violin training came from Gloria Schroeder and Ferenc Fenyő. Hauer also studied with Stéphane Tran Ngoc, Carol Leybourn, Catherine Walby, and Dr. Kyung-Ran Kim through the Lawrence Community Music School. He has attended the Montecito International Music Festival, Oberlin in Italy, and International Academie de Courchevel. Hauer received his degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. His principal teachers include Addison Teng and Alex Kerr. As a teacher, Mr. Hauer is on faculty at the Fulton Summer Music Academy, the Fulton Conservatory of Music, and coaches strings at the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hauer is a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and performs with the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County each summer.

classical voice: Laura Strickling, a two-time GRAMMY® award nominee for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album for 40@40 (2024) and Confessions (2022), was recognized by The New York Times for her, “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence.” An in-demand guest artist with orchestras, chamber music organizations, and recital series around the world for a kaleidoscopic range of repertoire from Bach and Beethoven to Britten and beyond, she curated the NewMusicShelf Anthology of Contemporary Art Songs for Soprano, founded the 40@40 Project – her personal initiative to commission, perform, record, and publish new songs – and is the host of SongCycle, a podcast about all things art song. www.laurastrickling.com

instrumental/brass: Jonathan Winkle is an accomplished arts administrator, educator, conductor, and trombonist. Mr. Winkle is currently Executive Director of the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. He has held positions as Executive & Artistic Director of Performance Santa Fe, President & CEO of the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, and Executive Director for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and the Racine Symphony Orchestra. He also served as Vice President of Community Engagement for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to more than two decades as an arts administrator, he has extensive conducting experience and trombone performance credits, including currently serving as the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra’s Assistant and Cover Conductor for the annual Nutcracker productions, and Co-Director of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s (MYSO) Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Winkle was Music Director of the Carthage College Chamber Orchestra, Music Director of the University of North Texas Brass & Percussion Ensemble, and Founding Artistic Director of Cathedral Brass.

judge’s biographies He performed regularly as a substitute/extra musician with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, performed with Present Music for 20 years, and has held tenor trombone and bass trombone positions with numerous orchestras and wind ensembles in Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennessee, and Texas. He was a member of the East Side Jazz Orchestra in DallasFort Worth, Music Director of the Starliner Big Band, and performed regularly with the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra. Mr. Winkle has also performed for many of the national touring Broadway productions as part of the Marcus Performing Arts Center series over the past 30 years. He currently serves as the local musician contractor for Broadway Across America, and as the orchestra contractor for other touring productions traveling through Milwaukee.

Mr. Winkle was the Manager of the Edwards Instrument Co., a division of the Getzen Company, where he participated directly in instrument design, and worked intensively with members of the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and many others.

Mr. Winkle served as the President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras (AWSO) at two separate times over the past 20 years. Previously, he has served on the board’s of the International Trombone Association, Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation, Arts Wisconsin, Present Music, Civic Music Association of Milwaukee, and Kenosha Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Winkle is a graduate of Carthage College, and taught as an adjunct faculty member at two separate times.

musical theatre voice: Andrew Varela: After 25 years in Broadway shows and national tours, including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Sunday in the Park with George, and Little Women the Musical, Andrew relocated to Wisconsin and became a part of the thriving arts community we have in Milwaukee. He has performed with many MKE organizations including Skylight, The Rep, First Stage, Florentine, Optimist, In Tandem and has been seen on Chicago Fire, Chicago Justice and The Chi.

judge’s biographies instrumental/woodwinds: Kathy Ripley is the Band Director at Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, she received her Bachelor of Music in Education from the University of Iowa and her Master of Music in flute performance from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She has taught Instrumental Music in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Arizona and New York before coming to Wisconsin. She is currently in her 25th year teaching in the Kenosha Unified School district and was awarded the Spark Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2023. At Tremper, Kathy conducts four concert bands, two jazz ensembles and AP Music Theory. Under her direction, the bands have earned Division 1 ratings at the WSMA large group contest every year and have travelled to New Orleans, Myrtle Beach, New York City, Toronto, and Disney World in Orlando.

Kathy plays flute and piccolo with the Kenosha and Racine Symphony Orchestras, the Wisconsin Wind Orchestra and is the assistant director of the Kenosha Pops Summer Band. Kathy teaches the woodwind method classes for both Carthage College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Kathy stays active as a flute clinician and adjudicator for Wisconsin School Music Association and the Iowa High School Music Association and just completed serving her term as the flute clinician for the WSMA High School Honors Project.

upcoming fall events Faculty Recital: Greg Berg Sunday, August 30 • 2:00 p.m.

H.F. Johnson Recital Hall Patio Pops Concert Sunday, September 13 • 2:00 p.m.

A.F. Siebert Chapel Tickets Required. Visit www.carthage.edu/tickets for ticket information PAS: Laura Strickling Tuesday, September 22 • 7:30 p.m.

H.F. Johnson Recital Hall Fall Musical- Elegies Friday, September 25 • 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 26 • 3:00 p.m.

Sunday, September 27 • 3:00 p.m.

Wartburg Theatre Tickets Required. Visit www.carthage.edu/tickets for ticket information

Arts at Carthage acknowledges that the land on which our building stands is part of the traditional Potawatomi, Sioux, Peoria, Kickapoo, and Miami peoples past, present, and future.

These homelands reside along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes. We honor with gratitude the land itself, and the people who have stewarded it throughout the generations. Many Indigenous peoples thrive in this place— alive and strong, and this calls us to commit to continuing to learn how to be better stewards of the land we inhabit as well.

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Get tickets 24/7 at carthage.edu/tickets or 262-551-6661 noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday – Friday