Artist Bios
Flute & Company
Flute Music by Katherine Hoover
Wendell Dobbs' life as flutist has been diverse and far ranging. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, he graduated magna cum laude from Memphis State University, where he studied flute with Paul Eaheart. He joined the United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) in Washington, DC at the age of nineteen and completed masters and doctoral degrees at Catholic University during those years, studying with Bernard Goldberg. After the Army Band, Dobbs was awarded a scholarship by the French Government to study for two years with Michel Debost and Alain Marion in Paris. Returning to Washington, he became an active recitalist and received complimentary notice in The Washington Post, "Such a performer equal parts technical competence, musical integrity and artistic enthusiasm was well worth seeing and hearing."
Wendell is featured on Katherine Hoover's "Da Pacem" CD on the KOCH International Classics label. He authored and published a Study Guide to Rubank Selected Studies for Flute, which includes instructional text and CD demo recording. In addition, he performed the world premiere of Hoover's Dances and Variations on the Terrace Theater Series at the Kennedy Center.
With his home orchestra, the Huntington Symphony, Wendell premiered James Kessler's Appalachian Folksong Suite commemorating the orchestra's 25th anniversary, and premiered Paul Whear's Celtic Concerto. He appeared on public television performing Kessler's Gaelic Rondo for flute and Irish pennywhistle on the Toledo Symphony's series Concerts Under the Stars. He performs constantly with wife and colleague, Linda Dobbs, in the Celtic band Shenanigans! Dr. Dobbs is a professor at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
Mary Kathleen Tryer, harpist, has performed with numerous orchestras, including the San Antonio, Knoxville, Baltimore, National, and West Virginia Symphonies; the Austin Lyric and Cleveland Opera Associations; and the Corpus Christi Ballet. She has participated in the Grand Teton orchestral seminars, Pierre Monteaux summer music festival and Salzedo Summer Harp Colony. Her chamber music appearances include those with Octandre of Northern Virginia, the Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Texas Contemporary Music Ensembles, and the Austin Premier Harp Ensemble, (broadcast nationally on PBS's Performance Today).
A native of Kingsville, Texas, Mary began harp studies at age ten with Patricia Furley, harpist with the Corpus Christi Symphony. She holds a Bachelor's in harp performance from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with Gail Barrington; and a Master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Alice Chalifoux. Mary resides in Alexandria, Virginia, where she teaches music to first through eighth graders at Browne Academy.
Montclaire String Quartet members Kathryn Langr (violin), Christine Vlajk (viola) and Andrea DiGregorio (cello) join Wendell Dobbs in the performance of Divertimento. One of America's finest young chamber ensembles, the quartet is attracting attention for the precision, energy, warmth and sensitivity of its performances. Musical America spotlighted the Montclaire Quartet in its listing of "young talents to watch." The quartet performs on many concert series, including a recent concert at the Terrace Theater Series at Washington's Kennedy Center. During summers it has been featured as Quartet-in-Residence at the New Hampshire Music Festival and has played at Virginia's Hamden-Sydney Music Festival. The quartet has performed at the International String Quartet Festival in Bogota, Colombia, and at the West Virginia governor's mansion for public television's Arts & Letters Series. Awards and honors include prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, Evian International String Quartet Competition, Coleman Chamber Music Competition, Chamber Music Society of the Monterey Peninsula Competition, and the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition.
They were awarded a fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival's Center for Advanced Quartet Studies and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. Following advanced study in the quartet fellowship program at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Quartet participated in a highly competitive Juilliard Quartet Seminar, which resulted in a Young Artist Showcase broadcast on New York's WQXR radio. Quartet-in-Residence for the West Virginia Symphony, they perform a concert series in Charleston and also tour throughout the state. Prior to their affiliation with the symphony, the Quartet held residencies at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Northern Iowa.
Leo Welch, guitarist, has been hailed as "an interpreter of style and grace" by the Charleston Daily Mail. Active as both a solo and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the Midwestern U.S. and has appeared on Chicago Public Radio's noted Live at Studio One series. Leo was featured at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina per-forming Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Romancero di Gitano for guitar and chorus with the Cantori di Montani.
He has written and served as editor for over thirty guitar publications with Theodore Presser Tuscany Publications, the FJH Music Company, and Class Guitar Resources. His arrangement of Telemann's Trio Sonata In A Minor for recorder, violin, guitar and cello was a prize winner in the National Flute Association's Newly-Published Music Competition. He also serves as national guitar editor for the American String Teacher Association. Students from his guitar studio have won numerous local, regional, and national guitar, chamber music and concerto competitions. Leo directs the guitar program and serves a Coordinator of Music Theory at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.
