U p c o m i n g C o n c e r t s
Sunday, October 1, 2023, 4:00PM
Violinist, Ellie Dixon
Ellie Dixon, age 17, is a high school senior from Charlotte, North Carolina (UNCSA). She began playing violin at the age of five and currently studies with Kevin Lawrence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. In 2019, Ellie won the Arts+ String Orchestra Camp Solo Competition and was selected as a Debbie Abels Strings Scholar. Ellie has won prizes in both the junior and senior divisions of the Symphony Guild of Charlotte Young Artists Competition and appeared as a finalist at the 2022 and 2023 Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition. At the 2023 competition she was a recipient of a Philadelphia International Music Festival Special Achievement Award.
As a violinist in a UNCSA piano trio, Ellie competed in the
2022 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She has performed in masterclasses for Jan Vogler, Paul Neubauer, Eric Larsen, and Peter Orth. During the Fall 2022 UNCSA Chamber Music Festival, Ellie had the opportunity to play alongside violinist Jennifer Frautschi and cellist Clive Greensmith performing Schumann’s Piano Quintet.
In past summers, Ellie has attended the Meadowmount School of Music and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. When she is not practicing, Ellie enjoys reading, going on walks, spending time with friends, and sharing her music at retirement homes and at church.
​Sunday, January 7 2023, 4:00PM
Bassist, Toby Vigneau
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As a soloist, orchestral musician, and collaborator, Toby Vigneau strives to bring positive change to the hearts of audiences and highlight the importance of community in music. He began music at age 5 on the violin, and at 10 started the double bass.
In 2020-21, Toby and his parents, Kevin Vigneau and Kim Fredenburgh, formed tRio Grande, an ensemble which commissioned several new works for the combination of oboe, viola, and bass, featuring compositions from Sérgio Azevedo, Miguel del Aguila, Mariano Morales, David Dean Mendoza, and Durwynne Hsieh. In this time, Toby also organized COVID-safe jazz trio performances in Albuquerque with pianist Evan Fort and drummer Jonah Minkus. The three of them helped bring live music
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to community members in the height of the pandemic, when all musical organizations struggled to find a safe way to keep the music going.
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In 2022, Toby attended the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed works in chamber and orchestral settings. At Tanglewood, he took part in the Festival of Contemporary Music, giving the North American premier of George Benjamin’s opera Lessons in Love and Violence. He has performed with the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Symphony, Symphony in C, and New Mexico Philharmonic. He also performs with Chatter Chamber Series in Albuquerque, playing works from a wide variety of periods and genres for instrumentations common and unusual. In 2019 and 2021, he attended the Aspen Music Festival and School as an orchestral fellow.
Toby has appeared several times as concerto soloist with the New Mexico Philharmonic, including as first-prize winner in the 2018 Jackie McGehee Young Artist’s Competition. He also performed in a solo capacity for the Placitas Artists’ series and Chatter Chamber Series. He is passionate about raising awareness to the unique musical voice of the double bass.
Toby studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. His major teachers include Harold Robinson, Edgar Meyer, and Albert Laszlo.
Sunday, May 5, 2024 4:00PM
Violinist, Nicholas Lin
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Nicolas Lin is in 9th Grade and studies violin with Elizabeth Faidley. He has soloed with the IMONY Chamber Orchestra and Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, and has performed in masterclasses for acclaimed violinists Augustine Hadelich, Ray Chen, Carolyn Widmore, and Lisa Batiashvili. Nicolas won the Grand Prize in the 2020 Prima Volta Music Competition, Grand Prize Winner in the International Young Artists Competition 2020, and Gold Medal in the 2020 National Young Maestro Competition. He received First Prize in the NY Artists International Competition 2020, the NY Young Virtuoso Competition 2020, the East Coast International Music Competition 2020-21, the VIVO International Competition 2021, the
Manhattan International Music Competition 2021, and the Canadian International Music Competition 2021. Nicolas is also an avid film maker and enjoys playing basketball and video games.