Soprano Sarah Luebke has appeared on opera, musical theater, and concert stages throughout the United States. This spring she made her Carnegie Hall debut singing Vivaldi’s Magnificat and Martini's Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me Festina with Mid-America Productions in 2023. She recently appeared in Sibelius’ The Tempest with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Irish Classical Theater Company under JoAnn Falletta.

A trail-blazing interpreter of 21st century vocal repertoire, she recently performed for composer Chen Yi at her residency at the Chautauqua Institution, appeared in the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus’ presentation of James Whitbourn’s Annelies, and has worked directly with Missy Mazzoli and Benjamin Moore as Isabelle Eberhardt in Songs from the Uproar and Masha in Enemies: A Love Story.

Stage roles include Yum-Yum (Mikado), Rose Maybud (Ruddigore), La Fée (Cendrillon), Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Najade (Ariadne auf Naxos), Monica (The Medium), Serpina (La Serva Padrona), Nora (Riders to the Sea), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Lucinda (Into the Woods), and Jane McDowell (The Stephen Foster Story). Dr. Luebke was as a young artist with Twin Cities’ Opera Guild and the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Festival.

Dr. Luebke’s concert work includes Fauré’s Requiem with Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, and Brahms’ Requiem with the Rochester Oratorio Society and Houghton College. She performs chamber work and recitals throughout Western New York. Her recital, Maîtresse du chant: Songs of Pauline Viardot, was nominated for the 2023 Eastman School of Music Lecture Recital Prize.

Recognized for her studio teaching, Dr. Luebke was selected for the distinguished 2022 NATS Intern Program, where she was awarded the 2022 NATS Mario Martinez Intern Prize as the most outstanding teacher in the program. She was also awarded the 2020 Teaching Assistant Prize at the Eastman School of Music. Many of her students have been named winners and finalists in the National Classical Singer Competition, the Schubert Club Competition, and state, regional and national NATS Competitions, including the first-place winner of the 2014 National NATS. Her students have been accepted into top music schools and performance programs, including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Interlochen Summer Music Program, and the Brevard Music Festival.

Dr. Luebke received the DMA in vocal performance, with a concentration in vocal pedagogy, from the Eastman School of Music. She completed her MM in vocal performance at the University of Kentury, and the BM in vocal performance with a minor in French at St. Olaf College.

https://www.sarahluebke.com/

Laura K. Hicken comes to us from Towson University (Towson, MD), where she taught undergraduate music education courses and graduate research courses. Hicken earned her Ph.D. in Music and Human Learning at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin, her Master of Music degree in Music Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and her Bachelor of Music Education degree at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Prior to joining the faculty at Towson, Hicken taught high school and middle school band, middle school general music, and elementary music in South Carolina and Florida.

As an active clinician, Hicken has presented sessions at state and national teacher in-service conferences and at professional development meetings for local school districts. Hicken’s research is in the area of music teacher cognition. She is especially interested in how eye movements reveal information about teacher thought processes and decision making in various teaching situations. Hicken is also interested in teacher perceptions and practices of including students with disabilities in music classes. Her research has been presented at state, national, and international conferences, and is published in The Orff Echo, The Journal of Music Teacher Education, and The Journal of Research in Music Education.

Hicken’s professional memberships include the International Society for Music Education (ISME), The National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Maryland Music Educators Association, the Society for Research in Music Education, and the Society for Music Teacher Education.

Dr. Jeremy Marks started his position as Assistant Professor of Trombone at UNC Charlotte in the fall of 2018. Prior to that appointment, he held faculty positions at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Blinn College (TX), and was the Teaching Assistant for the trombone studio at The University of Texas at Austin. His students have participated in summer programs such as the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute and the Bar Harbor Brass Camp.

He has served the International Trombone Association as the Web Assistant and the state representative for Louisiana's chapter of T.A.P.A.S. (Trombone Artists Performing for Amateurs and Students), an education initiative by the International Trombone Association. In addition to teaching, he has been published in the International Trombone Association Journal and presented his research interest on bass trumpet at several conferences and festivals.

Dr. Marks was the 2nd trombonist with Opera Carolina and the North Carolina Brass Band, bass trombonist of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, and interim principal trombonist with the Western Piedmont Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has performed with several other symphony orchestras, including Charlotte, Virginia, Baton Rouge, Austin (TX), and Canton (OH). His doubling credits on bass trombone, bass trumpet, and euphonium can be heard on the Naxos, Mark Customs, Arcadia, and Longhorn record labels. He is a member of the 2013 International Trombone Association Quartet Competition winner, Northside Trombone Quartet. Other performing credits include several regional, national, and international venues, such as the 2018 and 2019 International Trombone Festivals and the 2017 International Women’s Brass Conference.

He holds memberships with the International Trombone Association, International Tuba and Euphonium Association, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He is an S.E. Shires Trombone Artist and exclusively performs on Greg Black mouthpieces.

Dr. Marks’s primary teaching influences include Dr. Nathaniel Brickens, Dr. Steve Wolfinbarger, Dr. William Mathis, Garth Simmons, and Charles Villarrubia. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin, Master of Music from Western Michigan University, and Bachelor of Music from Bowling Green State University.

https://www.trombonemarks.com/

Dr. Keren Schweitzer was the Coordinator of the Intro to Chamber Music Program and a member of the Music Theory faculty at the Colburn School’s Community School of Performing Arts. Also an accomplished flutist and teacher, she was on the flute faculty of Claremont Graduate University, Mount Saint Mary’s University and Cerritos College. As a published writer, her articles on music have appeared in Symphony magazine, The Paris New Music Review and Salon Arts magazine.

Dr. Schweitzer has performed with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and has toured throughout China, Japan, South America, Canada and the United States. She has appeared on numerous occasions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has performed chamber music concerts with its members. Additionally, she has routinely performed as Guest Principal Flute of the Reno Chamber Orchestra. She was the winner of the 2011 Byron Hester Flute Competition, the 2010 National Flute Association Convention Performer’s Competition, First Prize at the 1997 Flute Talk Competition, and a finalist in the 2000 Concert Artists Guild Competition. While a student, she won the concerto competitions at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed at the Tanglewood, Spoleto, Caramoor, and Bowdoin Music Festivals and with the Verbier Festival Orchestra. Most recently, she has appeared in recital at the University of Idaho, Pasadena City College, the University of Houston, the 2017 MACCC convention in San Francisco, and at the National Flute Association Conventions.

As a flute teacher, her students have recently been accepted to prestigious institutions including the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, University of Michigan, University of Texas, UCLA, and Cal Arts. She has conducted masterclasses at the University of Idaho, The University of Southern Mississippi, Mexico City/YOLA- LA Philharmonic, and the Instituto Baccarelli. Included among her former flute students are the Principal Flute of the Milwaukee Symphony and a prizewinner in the Munich Competition.

Dr. Schweitzer is a graduate of the University of Michigan with honors, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Manhattan School of Music where she received her DMA in flute performance. Her principal teachers include Jeanne Baxtresser, Linda Chesis, and Byron Hester.

Dr. Michel is an accomplished flutist, educator, and advocate for contemporary music. She currently teaches flute at Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College, and music courses at St. Francis College. Based in New York City, she maintains an active freelance career and operates a private music studio in Brooklyn.

A champion of new music, Dr. Michel has commissioned and premiered hundreds of works, collaborating with many of today’s most prominent composers. She is the flutist and Co-Director of the Wavefield Ensemble and performs with the Da Capo Chamber Players, PinkNoise, and Duo RoMi.

Dr. Michel holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Music from SUNY–Purchase College, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the City University of New York Graduate Center.

John Eagle is a composer, instrument builder, and performer. His work operates within ecological frameworks involving extended instrumental systems. These works explore harmonic intonation as an environmental process.

Eagle has performed and presented work internationally including EMPAC’s Reembodied Sound 2024, the Sound/Image Festival in London, Int-Act Festival in Bangkok, Heidi Duckler Dance’s Ebb & Flow festival, UC Irvine’s The Art of Performance, Hear Now Music Festival, Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium, Göteborg Art Sounds, Co-Incidence Festival, Live Arts Exchange, and the Dog Star Orchestra festival.

Sound House, a performance installation developed with Janie Gesier and Cassia Streb, features a sixteen-channel wireless sound instrument he designed with Eric Heep. He was a lead artist on two collaborative sound films (Sound House and transient flows) presented by Music for Your Inbox in 2022/23. He has worked with Charles Gaines on several projects as music director and/or arranger including Manifestos 4 and 6 with recordings and performances at Times Square, MoMA, and REDCAT.

His music has been performed by Tacet(i) Ensemble, Red Desert Ensemble, Brightwork New Music, Wet Ink Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Unheard-of//Ensemble, Isaura String Quartet, Southland Ensemble, Inverted Space, and others.

Eagle holds degrees from Bennington College (BA), California Institute of the Arts (MFA), and Cornell University (MFA, DMA). He was the Composition Fellow at Bennington College from 2009 – 2011 where he taught and directed music for theater and music productions. Based in Los Angeles, Eagle performs in a variety of contexts on French horn and with his own instruments.