BG Philharmonia Personnel – Fall 2023
Dr. Emily Freeman Brown, Director of Orchestral Activities
Eden Treado, Kyle Wendling, Allana Bogan, Master’s Assistant Conductors
Sujin Kim, Eunha Kim, Orchestra Librarians

Orchestra Personnel
Malika Brower, concertmaster Beethoven. Principal Vln II, Mussorgsky. Kurtag Vln I 2^nd chair.
Federico Orlando, concertmaster Mussorgsky. Kurtag, Principal Vln II. Beethoven Vln I 2^nd chair.
Autumn Kuntz, concertmaster Kurtág. Beethoven Principal Vln II. Mussorgsky Vln I 2^nd chair

BGSU Annual High School Honors String Festival Participants

Violin
Maggie Bixler
Stephanie Hinton
Makenzie Kindler
Michael Olvera
Khushi Patel
Alexander Hu-Van Reeth
Elizabeth Sadowski

Viola
Lexam Anderson
Zavion Henderson
Katherine Tyson
Mattie Gragston
Owen Davis
Cadence Jones
Jackson Hart
Bolan Xu

Cello
Griffin Davis
Xyon Gavula
Michael Taylor

Bass
Charlie Jimenez

Violist Hannah Levinson is an in-demand performer of contemporary and classical music based in New York City. 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 and is currently editing the solo viola works of Lucia Ronchetti.
 
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 debut album, playlist (New Focus Recordings) was recorded as part of a residency at Renssaelaer Polytechnical Institute’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) and was included on “The Best of Bandcamp Contemporary Classical: October 2019” list.
 
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 as Assistant Professor of viola, 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.

Assistant Director & Program Manager
FASE Latin America and FASE Diverse String Teachers Fellowship

Felipe Morales-Torres is an award winning conductor and educator with a passion for empowering the next generation of musicians and teachers. He has conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestras’ Concert Orchestra since 2015, working with staff and students to develop a unique ensemble experience that explores a diverse range of repertoire and its social contexts. Under his direction, the Concert Orchestra was named a national finalist for the 2019 American Prize in Orchestral Programming and was selected to open the 2020 Ohio Music Education Association State Conference in a featured ensemble performance. Mr. Morales also coaches chamber ensembles for the Cincinnati Symphony Nouveau Program, which supports student musicians from Black, Latinx, and Native American descent.

In addition to his roles with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Felipe previously served as the orchestra director for Anderson High School and Winton Woods City Schools, and he also played a part in several community music programs, including the Louisville Youth Orchestra and the Dayton Philharmonic's Q The Music. The Anderson orchestras were known for their focus on symphonic orchestra literature, but Felipe also helped students engage in a variety of new musical outlets, such as feature-length film concerts, staged ballets, and the Anderson Contemporary Ensemble (ACE). During his tenure at Winton Woods, the orchestra program doubled in size and offerings expanded to include electric ensembles, summer camps, frequent guest artists, and multicultural performance tours. He was recognized with the district’s Most Influential Teacher Award twice, in 2015 and 2017.

Felipe started his musical life as a violist, but eventually pursued bassoon performance and music education at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. In 2019, he completed a Masters degree in Music Education and Orchestral Conducting, earning the UC Excellence in Teaching Award for his work with undergraduate music education majors. He has participated in a number of professional conducting fellowships since 2015, working with Diane Wittry (Allentown Symphony), Gzegorz Nowak (London Philharmonic), and Leonid Grin (National Symphony of Chile). In 2022, he received CCM’s Young Alumni Award for his contributions to music education in Cincinnati and beyond.