Faculty Artist Series: Robert Satterlee, piano

Pianist Robert Satterlee has developed a reputation as an accomplished and versatile solo recitalist and chamber musician.  He plays regularly throughout the United States, delighting audiences with his incisive and imaginative performances.  He has appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts in Chicago, San Francisco’s Old First Concert Series, the Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minnesota, the Music Teachers National Association national conferences, the Quad Cities Mozart Festival and many colleges and universities.

He regularly performs in China, including concerts in Beijing, Shenyang, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Nanjing. Satterlee has played concerts at the new Romanian-American Festival in Romania, the World Piano Conference in Serbia and at the Interlochen Arts Center in the United States.  He was a featured performer at the Piano Plus Festival and the Corfu Festival in Greece and has also performed in Sweden, Holland, Germany, Thailand and Kenya. He has been heard in radio broadcasts throughout the United States, most notably on Minnesota Public Radio and WFMT in Chicago.

Music of our time plays an important role in Satterlee’s performing activity, and he has given premieres of several works.  In June of 2004 he was invited to perform at the Music04 festival in Cincinnati, where he shared a program with the composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski. In 2006 he toured the US with a program of the composer’s works, including a new piece specially written for the tour, and has released a CD of his works on the Naxos label. The CD has garnered glowing reviews, and was selected by the New York Times as one of the outstanding classical recordings of 2014. His most recent CD, with music of Rzewski and William Albright, was released on the Blue Griffin label February 2015.

Satterlee’s avid interest in chamber music has led him to collaborate with members of the Chicago, London, Philadelphia and Detroit Symphony Orchestras in chamber music performances, and he was co-artistic director of Chamber Music Quad Cities, an organization presenting a concert series and music festival in Iowa and Illinois.

Satterlee was appointed in the fall of 1998 to the piano faculty of Bowling Green State University in Ohio.  He teaches at the Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer.  He has been awarded prizes in many competitions, among them honors in the St. Louis Symphony Young Artists Competition. He holds degrees in piano from Yale University, Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

Katherine Pracht Phares, mezzo-soprano, comes to BGSU with twenty years of professional singing experience in opera, recital, and oratorio performances. She champions contemporary opera and much of her recent professional activity is in this genre. Katy is currently a student in the DMA in Contemporary Music program at BGSU.

The 2022-23 season featured several premieres for the busy mezzo. Pracht performed Madeleine in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera on the Avalon, returned to West Edge Opera for her first Cornelia in Giulio Cesare, and workshopped two new operas, Bulrusher, and Laura Kaminsky’s February. She then debuted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Quad-City Symphony, as well as the role of Mary Johnson in Virginia Opera’s production of Fellow Travelers. In October, Pracht creates the role of Helen in Kaminsky’s next world premiere opera February at Opera on the Avalon in St. John's, Newfoundland; and she looks forward to another exciting announcement coming soon! 

2021 engagements included a world premiere and cast recording as Horatio in Joseph Summer’s Hamlet at the Dohodno Zdanie Theater in Ruse, Bulgaria, and a reprisal of the title role in Kevin Puts’ opera, Elizabeth Cree with West Edge Opera. Katy also won outstanding reviews as Miss Jessel in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw with IlluminArts in Miami. The 2019 season also had important role debuts: Charlotte in A Little Night Music with Madison Opera, Ottavia in L'incoronazione di Poppea with Florentine Opera, Kate Julian in Britten’s rarely heard Owen Wingrave with Little Opera Theatre of NY, Duruflé’s Requiem with the Washington Chorus, and Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Philadelphia.

Other recent credits are Glenda (cover) in We Shall Not Be Moved with Opera Philadelphia;  Philip Glass' Symphony No. 5 for Trinity Wall Street; Lady Wang in Bright Sheng’s Dream of the Red Chamber in Changsha, Beijing, and Wuhan, China; Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky with York Symphony; and her premiere as Elizabeth Cree with Chicago Opera Theater, where the Chicago Tribune said “Katherine Pracht brought a mezzo of size and quality, and confident dramatic presence, to the complicated title role.” 

Ms. Pracht appeared as Mariam in the AOP-sponsored workshop of Sheila Silver’s opera, A Thousand Splendid Suns, sang A Bernstein Marathon and Arias & Barcarolles with Steven Blier and Michael Barrett (New York Festival of Song) at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’ Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man and the world premiere of Sing! The Music Was Given at Carnegie Hall, and Stravinsky’s Requiem Canticles with The Orchestra NOW at the Bard Festival under the baton of Leon Botstein. She returned to that Bard Festival in Rimsky-Korsakov’s From Homer with the American Symphony Orchestra, and as Dunyasha in The Tsar’s Bride.  Katy performed Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles with Bright Sheng and Michael Barrett for The Intimacy of Creativity 2017 Festival in Hong Kong. Her Kennedy Center debut was as Mezzo soloist in Philip Glass' Symphony No. 5 with the Washington Chorus.

Katy has performed and workshopped many roles in new works: Florence Williams in Susan Kander’s The News From Poems, Hester Prynne in Eric Sawyer's The Scarlet Professor; Eve in Julian Wachner and Cerise Jacobs’ Rev 23 for the Prototype Festival, Sharon Falconer in Elmer Gantry with Florentine Opera and Ariel in the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s The Tempest for The Shakespeare Concerts in Boston recorded by Albany Records. In concert she sang Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the York Symphony, and Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with Grand Rapids Symphony. Pracht made her Carnegie Hall debut as Alto Soloist in Verdi's Requiem, her debut with Opera Philadelphia as Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, twice sang Der Trommler in Der Kaiser von Atlantis for Central City Opera with the Colorado Symphony and for Chicago’s New Millennium Orchestra, sang Meg in Little Women directed by David Gately for Opera on the James, and two concerts with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus singing John Corigliano’s Fern Hill and Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky.

Violinist Benjamin Hoffman has performed to critical acclaim throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, appearing in Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall (New York), Disney Hall (Los Angeles), the Philharmonie Berlin, the Wiener Konzertverein (Vienna), the Seoul Arts Center, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He has collaborated with many of the world’s preeminent musicians, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Soovin Kim, Yura Lee, Wolfram Christ, and Gary Hoffman, among others. Appearances at summer music festivals include the Atlantic Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Music Academy of the West, Chamber Music Northwest, and the Ojai Music Festival.

Alongside pianist Irene Kim, Benjamin is a founding member of the Brightfeather Duo (brightfeatherduo.com), with whom he recently gave a concert tour of California, Malaysia, and Thailand premiering contemporary Malaysian and American works. He is also a founding member of the Webern Quartet (webernquartet.com), a string quartet dedicated to the works of the Second Viennese School in addition to contemporary premieres and standard repertoire. The Webern Quartet recently returned from a residency in Vienna, Austria, during which they were the youngest group ever to perform all four Schoenberg string quartets on the same day, and will be releasing their first album during the 2024-25 season on the Etcetera label.

Benjamin has appeared as a guest violinist with the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony, and has performed under the batons of conductors such as Simon Rattle, Edo de Waart, Marin Alsop, John Adams, and Peter Oundjian.

He is an enthusiastic concertmaster, having served extensively in that capacity with the New Haven Symphony, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony, the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the Sichuan Orchestra of China, and the Yale Philharmonia. As co-concertmaster of the conductorless Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Benjamin led the groundbreaking ensemble for three seasons in repertoire such as Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, Debussy La Mer, and Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3.

One of the things he is most proud of is connecting underserved young musicians with opportunities across the country and the world. He has been a faculty member for eight consecutive years at the YOLA National Festival, a two-week intensive El Sistema-based workshop led by Gustavo Dudamel, and in 2017 founded the Young Composers Initiative of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, bringing composition lessons to elementary school-aged children throughout Los Angeles that would not otherwise have access to music lessons.

Benjamin studied at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and the Universität der Künste Berlin, and received his degrees from Indiana University (BM) and the Yale School of Music (MM and DMA). His principal mentors were Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Alexander Kerr, Jorja Fleezanis, and Ani Kavafian.

Violist Hannah Levinson is an in-demand performer of contemporary and classical music. She has recently been featured as a soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, The Stone, 92Y, Miller Theater, Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival, June in Buffalo, and the Andy Warhol Museum, and at international festivals including the Kroch Festival (Stockholm), Musikprotokol Festival (Graz), Projektgruppe Neue Musik (Bremen), and Festival Musica (Strasbourg). Dedicated to working with living composers, Hannah has commissioned and premiered over 40 chamber and solo works.
 
Hannah is a founding member and Executive Director of the violin/viola duo andPlay, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration.” andPlay’s most recent album, Translucent Harmonies (2023), was released in September 2023 on the UK-label, Another Timbre. Featuring works by Catherine Lamb and Kristofer Svensson, the album was included on Bandcamp’s “Best Contemporary Classical: September 2023” and Steve Smith’s “2023, for the record.”
 
Committed to both contemporary and classical repertoire, Hannah is also a member of the Talea Ensemble (“a crucial part of the New York cultural ecosphere” New York Times), Fair Trade Trio, and the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and a former member of the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra. She frequently performs with NYC ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, either/or, counter)induction, Heartbeat Opera, Cantata Profana, Contemporaneous, and The Rhythm Method Quartet.

A strong believer in sharing her artistic practice with her local community, Hannah is committed to audience engagement events through “andPlay (in) conversation,” a free series in Upper Manhattan that provides opportunities for audiences to look inside the collaborative process of creating music, and through performances with organizations including “Music for Autism.”
 
Before her appointment at BGSU, Hannah was Music Artist Faculty at NYU Steinhardt and at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. She earned her degrees at Oberlin College and Conservatory (BM in Viola Performance, BA in Russian East European Studies), Manhattan School of Music (MM in Contemporary Performance), and NYU Steinhardt (PhD in Performance). Her primary teachers include Karen Ritscher, Martha Strongin Katz, and Nadia Sirota. Her research explores how interactions between composers and political structures affect the creation of new music.

Praised by the Boston Globe for his “…pugnacious, eloquent, self-assurance…”, cellist Brian Snow has earned a reputation as a compelling and versatile performer and a skilled educator.  Dr. Snow has performed and recorded with a variety of artists, including Meredith Monk, The National, Max Richter, Björk, and the Emerson String Quartet and has worked closely with composers including Nico Muhly, David T. Little, and Martin Bresnick. In 2013, he and violinist Caroline Chin released a critically acclaimed CD of violin and cello music by Elliott Carter on Centaur Records. He has also appeared on New Amsterdam, Innova, Deutsche Gramophon, Cantaloupe, and Naxos labels. He has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, 92nd St. Y, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan, and has performed regularly with many prominent contemporary music ensembles, including ACME, Alarm Will Sound, Da Capo Chamber Players, and Talea Ensemble. As principal cellist of New York Symphonic Ensemble, Dr. Snow performed in halls throughout Japan on that ensemble's annual tours and has appeared as soloist at halls in Fukuoka and Sendai. Other concerto appearances include Riverside Orchestra in New York, Longy Chamber Orchestra in Boston as winner of the Longy Concerto Soloists Competition, Crescent City Symphony in New Orleans, the Hartt Symphony as first prize winner of the Paranov Competition, and the BGSU Philharmonia. Dr. Snow has presented recitals and masterclasses nationally and internationally at institutions including Oberlin Conservatory, University of Missouri, Sam Houston State University, and Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China. Dr. Snow received a DMA from Stony Brook University, a MM from Yale, and holds degrees from Hartt and Longy Schools of Music. His teachers have included Aldo Parisot, David Finckel, and Colin Carr. Dr. Snow has previously served in faculty positions at Sarah Lawrence College, Western Connecticut State University, and Brooklyn Conservatory and currently serves as Associate Professor of Cello at Bowling Green State University. In the summers, Dr. Snow serves on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center. He performs on a cello made by master American luthier Jon van Kouwenhowen.