Ensembles
Pinotage
Formed in 1998, the quartet Pinotage specializes in works written after 1900. Since their first performance, this unique chamber ensemble has worked closely with living composers, inspiring them to write for this distinctive quartet of mezzo-soprano, flute, viola and harp. Pinotage has performed at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, California; "Outside the Box" Music Festival in Carbondale, Illinois; Sonic Impact at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois; as well as for new music festivals at Bowling Green State University, DePaul University, Northern Illinois University and Northwestern University. The group served as ensemble-in-residence at Columbia College in Chicago and has played for concert series sponsored by American Women Composers, Chicago Composers Consortium, the Jewel Box Series, Mostly Music and Music in Small Places. Composers Pinotage has worked with include Karim Al-Zand, Jan Bach, Robert Lombardo, Juan Orrego-Salas, Marta Ptaszynska and Bernard Rands. The quartet has recorded the works of Lawrence Axelrod, Kathleen Ginther, Eric Gross, Arnold Rosner and Elizabeth Start.
Dr. Alison Attar specializes in both contemporary and historical music. A champion of new music, she performs regularly with numerous new music groups, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contempo (formerly Contemporary Chamber Players) and Milwaukee's Present Music. Alison debuted at Carnegie's Weil Hall in 1994 with the Marinos trio, performing a program of contemporary music. Highlights of Alison's pedal-harp career include the 1993-1996 and 2005-2006 Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as performances in orchestras from coast to coast. She toured Taiwan with Chicago's Symphonic Pops Orchestra and currently serves as Principal Harpist for Arnold Rosner's Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. Alison's interest in historical harps has led to performances in Boston, Chicago, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington D.C. Dr. Alison Attar holds a B.M., M.M., and D.M. in harp performance and a B.A. in Italian culture, all from Northwestern University. She can be heard on over a dozen recordings under the Albany, Cedille, Hungaraton and Mayapple labels, among others.
Since completing apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley has appeared in leading roles with opera companies throughout the country, and has been featured as a soloist with orchestras led by George Manahan, Raymond Leppard, Oliver Knussen, Robert Shaw and Pierre Boulez. She performs in Chicago with Mostly Music, CUBE, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the Orion Ensemble, PINOTAGE, Ensemble Noamnesia, Fulcrum Point, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Opera Theater, Concertante di Chicago, Music of the Baroque, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the MusicNOW series at Symphony Center with conductor Cliff Colnot. She has been a regular guest artist with the Chicago Chamber Musicians' Music at the Millennium series, most recently in works by Berio, Carter, and Boulez under the direction of Mr. Boulez. In 2001 she appeared to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall, also with Mr. Boulez, as the soloist in Le Marteau Sans Ma”tre. She has recorded on the Albany, Cedille and Tintagel labels. Recent engagements have included performances of the Messiah with the Apollo Chorus at Orchestra Hall, and appearances with the Ars Viva Orchestra and the Bach and Handel Week Festivals, as well as chamber music series in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. In the 2004-05 season she sang La Cenerentola for the Sacramento Opera, Meg in Little Women for Dayton Opera, and Time Cycle by Lukas Foss during the composer's Chicago residency.
Violist Claudia Lasareff-Mironoff graduated from the University of Denver with a bachelor of music degree and earned a master of music and a performerÕs certificate from Northwestern University. Upon completion of her studies she became the principal violist of the Cape Town Symphony in South Africa, where she recorded for the SABC and performed as a soloist. She joined the faculty of Northwestern University in 2000-04 as the Coordinator of String Chamber Music. She was appointed as a visiting artist at Valparaiso University in 2004-05. Ms. Lasareff-Mironoff has performed chamber music with members of the Chicago Symphony, members of the Lyric Opera, the Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players, the Pacifica String Quartet, and the Orion Ensemble. She has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony and has been the principal violist of the Chicago Opera Theater, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. During the 2007 season she performed with the Santa Fe Opera. Starting with a Dame Myra Hess Recital in 1998, she has performed in live broadcasts on WFMT from 1998-2007. She has recorded chamber works for Albany Records and Jade Records. A champion of new music she has premiered and performed works by many composers including Bruce Adolphe, Bernard Rands, Augusta Reed Thomas, Kevin James, Paul Moravec, and Osvaldo Golijov. Currently she teaches viola and chamber music at Wheaton College. Guest artist recitals and master classes include appearances at Northwestern University, Wheaton College, DePaul University, University of Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois University, and Roosevelt University.
Janice MacDonald is the principal flutist of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and is solo piccolo of the Lake Forest Symphony. She also performs regularly with the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, Concertante di Chicago, Ars Viva, the new music ensembles PINOTAGE, Fulcrum Point and CUBE, among others. Her credits also include several theatrical productions including Aida, Jekyll & Hyde and The Wizard of Oz. An active studio musician, she has recorded for the "American Girl" doll CD series as well as numerous radio and television commercials. Ms. MacDonald performs throughout the country as well as internationally. Most recently, throughout Ethiopia and Mali on a three week tour with Trio Chicago, including the first performance of an American classical group in Timbuktu. She performed in Italy with the Parnassus Orchestra of London, which included appearances as a soloist and chamber musician, has toured Greece and Britain, appearing with the Regent Quintet in London, and has also toured Switzerland and Germany twice with the Chicago Sinfonietta. Janice MacDonald holds degrees from DePaul University and the California Institute of the Arts.
Iris
Iris, an innovative Celtic harp duo, has received rave reviews from audience members: "a duo of extraordinary harpists... Their musical storytelling will send your imagination soaring." Alison Attar and Lynelle Kirkwood have performed throughout the United States as Iris. Both are also active freelance harpists.
Alison specializes in contemporary and historical music. A champion of new music, she performs regularly with numerous new music groups, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's MusicNOW, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contempo (formerly Contemporary Chamber Players) and Milwaukee's Present Music. Alison is also a founding member of the new music quartet Pinotage, and she debuted at Carnegie's Weil Hall in 1994 with the Marinos trio, performing a program of contemporary music. Highlights of Alison's pedal-harp career include the 1993-1996 and 2005-2006 Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as performances in orchestras from coast to coast. She toured Taiwan with Chicago's Symphonic Pops Orchestra and currently serves as Principal Harpist for Arnold Rosner's Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. Alison's interest in historical harps has led to performances in Boston, Chicago, Edinburgh, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Washington D.C. Dr. Alison Attar holds a B.M., M.M., and D.M. in harp performance and a B.A. in Italian culture, all from Northwestern University. She can be heard on over a dozen recordings under the Albany, Cedille, Hungaraton and Mayapple labels, among others.
Lyn Kirkwood has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Pops Orchestra and Symphony II. She has recorded several television commercials, including Disney, as well as with harpist Elizabeth Cifani on her two CD's Waulkin' O the Fauld and Bella Stella. Lyn recently completed composing and recording with Native American flutist Douglas Spotted Eagle for his Grammy award winning release Pray. She also maintains a large private teaching studio.
Together as Iris, Alison and Lyn have performed at the Venetian Festival, Michigan; Irish Fest, Wisconsin; Fox Valley Folk Festival, Illinois; Gebbhard Woods, Illinois and many other venues. They are regular performers and workshop leaders at the regional Folk Harp Conferences and on various Midwestern radio shows, and Iris performed at the International Folk Harp Conference in Galveston, Texas. Their CD Off the Path is currently available.