David LaVorgna, flautist, began his serious study of the flute at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He went on to study with Bonnie Lake at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he received the Britten Johnson Award as the most outstanding and promising flutist. After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree, David moved to California to study with Timothy Day at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and earned his Master of Music degree. He has performed in master classes with Trevor Wye, Eugenia Zukerman, Julius Baker, and Karl Kraber, and has coached with Trudy Kane and Mark Sparks. His many performance credits include working with such varied artists as Leon Fleisher, Samuel Sanders, Judy Collins, Bobby McFerrin, Dudley Moore, and Liza Minnelli. David earned multiple awards and competitions for both his solo work and ensemble playing. He has also collaborated with many contemporary composers throughout the development, revision, and premieres of many works, and has performed in a multitude of concert settings to promote music and the understanding of music. He currently resides in Baltimore with his wife Monica and daughters Cecilia and Lucia. He is a faculty member at Goucher College, Loyola University, the Waldorf School of Baltimore and the Ward Center for the Performing Arts at the St. Paul's Schools. He is currently the piccolo player for the National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Joseph Satava, pianist, has collaborated with orchestras, conductors, and music festivals throughout the US, Canada, France, and Spain. Most recently, he has appeared with An Die Musik in Baltimore, Maryland; Museo Evaristo Valle in GijÛn, Spain; The Kosciuszko Foundation in New York; and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, Maryland. He has also performed with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, at the Aspen Summer Music Festival, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West Summer Music Festival, the American Conservatory of Fontainbleau, France, and the Millennium Orchestra, Iglesia San Felix de Cand·s, and the International Piano Festival in Gijon, Spain. An avid supporter of contemporary composers, Mr. Satava has appeared in Alice Tully Hall as part of the Focus! Festival for contemporary music and in Merkin Concert Hall in New York City performing works of Keith Kramer. Mr. Satava has been heard at the French Consulate in New York City and the French Embassy in Washington D.C. as part of the ëRising Starí series. He has twice been invited to perform for the Texas Conservatory for Young Artists in Dallas, and has appeared in recital at the Steinway Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. He has given recitals as part of the Old St. Paul's Tuesday Music Series in Baltimore, MD and offered the inaugural performance of the Mt. Vernon Place Concert Series in Baltimore, MD. In 2008, Mr. Satava took second place in the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. Other significant awards include being named a Promising Young Artist by the National Society of Arts and Letters (2002), the Miecyslaw Munz piano competition, the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra concerto competition, and the Peggy and Yale Gordon piano competition. Most recently, he was selected to participate in the Jaen International Piano Competition in Spain. Mr. Satava holds faculty positions at the Maryland Conservatory of Music, The Bryn Mawr School, and Harford Community College, and is the program coordinator for the GijÛn International Piano Festival in GijÛn, Spain. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he is a doctoral graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded the Frances W. Wentz Turner Memorial Prize in Piano and a Peabody Career Award Development Grant to complete a residency at the Banff Centre for Performing Arts in Alberta, Canada. Mr. Satava received his Masterís degree at the Juilliard School and his Bachelorís at the Peabody Conservatory. His primary teachers have included Julian Martin, Marc Durand, Jerome Lowenthal, and Ann Schein.
Gottfried Stoger, saxophonist and composer, was born in 1964 in Salzburg, Austria. At an early age he received classical training on the violin at the Mozarteum Salzburg. He studied classical saxophone at the Hochschule for Musik in Vienna. Mr. Stoger was contracted as woodwind specialist as part of the Orchestra of the United Stages in Vienna from 1987-91. Attained between 1992 through 1996, his degrees in jazz performance and composition include a B.A. from the Manhattan School of Music and a M.A. from the University of Miami, and also has been a member of Miamiís faculty. Since 1996 he resided as a freelance saxophonist and woodwind player in New York City. Additionally, he was the Musical Director of the annual International Jazz Seminar Salzburg, Austria from 1997 through 2002. Mr. Stoger has toured throughout Europe, Asia, Brazil and the U.S., and has recorded and performed with jazz greats as Joe Zawinul, Toots Thielemans, Kenny Werner, Marc Copland, Joe Henderson, Billy Hart and many more.
Receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Julliard School of Music, David Taylor, bass trombonist, started his playing career as a member of Leopold Stowkowski's American Symphony Orchestra, and by appearing with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez. Almost simultaneously, he was a member of the Thad Jones Mel Lewis jazz band, and recorded with Duke Ellington (The New Orleans Suite), The Rolling Stones, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Mr. Taylor has recorded four solo albums (Koch, New World, and DMP) and has presented numerous recitals throughout the world (including Carnegie Recital Hall, Kaufman Auditorium at the Y at 92nd Street, and Merkin Hall). He has appeared as a soloist with the St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra , The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Caramoor Festival Orchestra, The NY Chamber Symphony, The Basil Sinfonietta, The Adelaide Philharmonic, and The Group for Contemporary Music among others. He has been involved in dozens of commissioning projects for the Bass Trombone in solo and chamber idioms; collaborating with composers including Alan Hovhaness, Charles Wuorinen, George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, Lucia Dlugoszchewski, Eric Ewazen, David Liebman, and Daniel Schnyder. He has appeared and recorded chamber music with Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Wynton Marsalis. Throughout his career, David Taylor has appeared and recorded with many major jazz and popular artists including Barbara Streisand, Miles Davis, Quincey Jones, Frank Sinatra, and Aretha Franklin. Mr. Taylor has won the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Most Valuable Player Award for five consecutive years, the most it could be awarded and has been awarded the NARAS Most Valuable Player Virtuoso Award, an honor accorded no other bass trombonist. He has been a member of the Gil Evans Band, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band, George Russell's Band, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, and the Chuck Israel Band to name a few. Although he has performed on numerous Grammy Award winning recordings, 1998 was special. In 1998 Taylor performed on four Grammy nominated CD's: The J.J. Johnson Big Band, Dave Grusin's West Side Story, the Joe Henderson Big Band, and the Randy Brecker Band. The latter two CD's were chosen for Grammys. David Taylor currently performs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Charles Mingus Big Band, Eos Orchestra, The NY Chamber Symphony, The Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, The Michelle Camillo Band, Areopagitica (a brass trio in residence at Mannes College), The Bob Mintzer Band, the Daniel Schnyder, David Taylor, and the Kenny Drew Jr Trio. He appears frequently with Orpheus, and the St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra, and he is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College. Some upcoming events include appearances with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and master classes and recitals in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. David has appeared with the Absolute Ensemble under the direction of Kristian Jarvi (this project was broadcasted on European TV and recorded for Enja Records), The Niederoesterreichische Tonkuenstlerochester, and The Tiroler Symphonie Orchester Innsbruck.
Prize-winning soprano Jessica Hanel Satava is enjoying a season of debuts. In addition to her premiere performance as Inez in Il Trovatore with Center Stage Opera, she debuted as Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi with Opera Lancaster in September. In November, she returned to Center Stage Opera as Musetta in La bohËme, and in March as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. This spring, she will sing the role of Un voce dal cielo in Verdiís Don Carlo with Repertory Opera Theatre of Washington. Ms. Satava has also recently been featured in debut solo recitals with the School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, and numerous concert series in Baltimore, MD. Topping off her season, she was recently awarded First Place in the Baltimore Music Club Competitionís Professional Division, and gave a winnerís recital. In February 2010, she will make her debut as MimÌ in a concert version of La bohËme. Later, in April 2010, Ms. Satava makes another debut as The Voice from Heaven in Verdiís Don Carlo with Repertory Opera Theater of Washington. Additional roles include Despina in CosÏ fan tutte, Lisette in La Rondine, Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Beatrix in Offenbachís Les Bavards, Polly in The Threepenny Opera, Laurey in Oklahoma! and Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Thief in venues including the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater, Peabody Opera Theatre, South Bend Civic Theater, and Bethel College. She created title role in the premiere of Christopher Bassettís new opera, Janine of Newark, also at Peabody. Ms. Satavaís talent has been recognized with awards from many competitions, including both senior and professional divisions of the Baltimore Music Club Competition, the Marian B. and Samuel Bernstein Memorial Prize for Opera, the Russell T. Wonderlic Competition for Voice, the Kennett Symphony Voice Competition, Michigan NATS, and the Marie E. Crump Vocal Arts Competition. In demand as a recitalist, Ms. Satava has appeared in numerous concert series, including Community Concerts at Second, The Thursday Noon Recital Series, The Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church Recital Series, The Mansion at Strathmore, Old St. Paulís Tuesday Music Series, and Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD. She has appeared as a guest with Loyola Collegeís Da Camera, most recently as soloist on an all-Bernstein program. Ms. Satava earned her Master of Vocal Arts at The Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with William Sharp. She continued her studies with Ruth Drucker and Thomas Houser, her current teachers. Other influential teachers have included Eileen Farrell and Victoria Garrett.
Sebastian Stoger-DeMayo, cellist, born on March 5, 1999 in New York City, is of Austrian-American descent. Sebastian has been a student of the Special Music School in NYC since kindergarten, a dual curriculum public school for musically gifted children, where he studies art, music theory, chorus, and violoncello with Yari Bond. From 2006-2009 Sebastian played cello with various ensembles of the Inter School Orchestras of New York. Sebastian has been performing as a soloist since age five with organizations including Steve Getzís concert series in Dobbs Ferry, NY, the Jan Hus Young Artists Concert Series in NYC and with SMS at Goodman Hall and Merkin Hall and the community outreach program. Sebastian has completed his 3rd grade and 4th grade recording productions at Lofish Studios and John Guth Studios, which are available by emailing gstoger@aol.com. Sebastian has been fortunate to perform with several virtuoso pianists and composers including Julia Basis, Cathy Cambell, Sarah J.Cion, John Cort, Steven Marzullo, Christian McLeer, Vilija Naujokaitis and Anna Vinitzky. He has studied chamber music with Yari Bond and the Maija String Quartet since 2006. Sebastian also studies soprano saxophone and improvisation with his father Gottfried, tap dance with Vera Huff and Karate. He has performed as a member of the New York Metropolitan Opera Childrenís Chorus from 2006-2008. Sebastian made his solo debut at Jacobís Pillow in Massachusetts in August of 2008 premiering Steve Marzulloís Suite for Cello and Piano with choreography for modern jazz dancers by Chet Walker at the Jazz Happenings concert event. Sebastian was the winner of the 2009 Concerto Competition in the cello category of the Special Music School, Kaufman Center, New York. As part of the competition, the winners performed their solo concertos at Merkin Hall, accompanied by a professional chamber orchestra under the direction of conductor Nathan Hetherington. Sebastianís concerto was the Cello Concerto in B minor by Antonio Vivaldi. Sebastian performed Steve Marzulloís Cello Suite at the world famous jazz club ìBirdlandî in New York on Nov. 16, 2009. Sebastian was a 1st price winner of the 2009 ìAlexander & Buono International String Competitionî in the cello category. The winnerís concert was held at Carnegie Hall-Weill Recital Hall in New York City on November 22, 2009. Sebastian performed the first movement of the Concerto No. 3 in G Major by Luigi Boccherini and Cadenza by Maurice Gendron. On February 22, 2010 Sebastian performed Steve Marzulloís ìSuite for Cello and Pianoî as part of the Songbook Concert Series at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center in New York City. Sebastian enjoys reading, fishing, swimming, hiking, bike riding and gathering wild chanterelle mushrooms in the forest.
Please click on a date below to view information about recent concerts.
Baltimore, Maryland: April 7th, April 16th and May 2nd 2010
Baltimore, Maryland and College Park, Maryland: January 15th, February 18th and February 19th 2010
Baltimore, Maryland: October 31st and November 20th 2009
Baltimore, Maryland: February 27th and March 2nd 2008
Baltimore, Maryland: December 1, 2006
Towson, Maryland: October 25, 2006
New York, New York: March 25, 2006