Soloists
Stella Perlic (October 2011)
Stella Perlic, age 15, has been playing percussion since elementary school. She is starting her 7th year with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestras and has participated in their 2010 and 2011 Marrowstone summer music festivals in Bellingham. She studies with Gunnar Folsom and has recently started teaching a student of her own. In addition to classical music, Stella loves being in pep and jazz band at Juanita High School and was selected to participate in the 2011 All-Northwest Band. She has also been a member of the Shumba Youth Marimba Ensemble for the last 5 years, playing traditional music from Zimbabwe. After playing with the Eastside Symphony for two years, she is extremely excited to be playing the Creston Marimba Concertino with them. In her spare time Stella enjoys crafting and hanging out with her friends.
Audrey Chen (October 2011)
Audrey Chen, a sophomore at Interlake High School, began playing the cello in fourth grade with Mr. Kai Chen. She has been the principal cellist of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2010, performing as a soloist in 2008 and 2011. This year, she has also soloed with the Sammamish Symphony Orchestra. She has distinguished herself in many competitions, including winning 1st place in the solo and concerto play-offs of the 2009 Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside, as well as receiving the Overall Excellence award. She recently won 1st place at the 2011 Washington State Solo and Ensemble Competition, and received the alternate prize in the junior division of the 2011 Music Teachers National Association Festival. In addition to playing the cello, Audrey enjoys fencing and playing the piano. Audrey plays on a French Buthod cello on loan from the Carlsen Cello Foundation.
Mark Baker (December 2011)
Mark J. Baker began his musical career at the age of 11 in the East Wenatchee School District. By age 16 he was taking private trumpet lessons with Gerald Webster, then Professor of Trumpet at Washington State University. Mark also spent 2 years of study with Robert "Beep" Panerio at Central Washington University and played trumpet in their Wind Ensemble. He auditioned for the United States Marine Band and was asked to join but instead started a trumpet studio which included trumpet choirs as well as teaching private students ranging in age from 10 to 40.
Mark was a charter board member of the Wenatchee British Brass Band where he played Eb repiano soprano cornet. He has performed in brass quintets for over 30 years with his brass quintet being the first to ever perform at Lake Chelan Bach Fest. In 1988 he moved to Minneapolis and was principal trumpet with the Dakota Valley Symphony where he also served a term as the president of their association.
He counts himself fortunate to have performed in every state in the United States and throughout Europe with several different groups including Jon Stemkoski's Celebrant Singers, Soundsation Vocal Jazz and tours with Cam Floria's Continental Singers under the direction of Wayne Watson and Donny Monk. He also enjoyed playing principal trumpet for three seasons with the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Mark performs consistently at weddings, churches, orchestras, and other services and ensembles in the northwest.
Mark believes music is an integral part of our public school system as he has found it to be a wonderful gateway to see the world and meet people from all cultures and backgrounds. His wife, Wendy, is a flute player and teaches music at Alcott Elementary in Lake Washington School District.
Lisa Hedley (March 2012)
Lisa Hedley has been a member of the Eastside Symphony since 2002 and has been a frequent soloist with the orchestra, having performed the Chaminade Concertino, the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto, and the Stamitz Flute Concerto the past three seasons. Lisa teaches private flute lessons and has a passion for collecting the many different members of the flute family, which she often gets to showcase with her professional trio, the Elle Flute Trio (www.elleflute.com). Lisa also plays with the Sky Valley Wind Quintet and enjoys performing in her church. She has studied flute with Cheryl Fogg in Seattle and with He Shengqi at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Lisa and her husband, Mike, reside in the Redmond-Woodinville area.
Lisa commissioned Three Philosophies from composer Catherine McMichael and performed the premiere with the Eastside Symphony in 2005. Lisa wanted to feature the alto flute, bass flute, and contrabass flute as solo instruments in an orchestral work with an Asian theme. McMichael's inspiration for such a piece was based on an interview she heard on NPR with an American man who became Buddhist and moved to Korea to run a monastery. He said that Buddhism helped him develop his humanity in a unique way: it put him in touch with his essence, helped him gain insight, and charged him with acting with compassion in all things. These three ideals, essence, insight, and compassion, became the starting point for the piece and subsequently are the names of each movement. Although taken from the context of Buddhism, these three philosophies span mankind's universal need to deepen, grow, and reach out to others.