Dear Friends of the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra
Welcome to our 2025-26 Season! We are thankful for our long time supporters and look forward to bringing in many new friends this season. The ECO is truly a marvelous orchestra and we are proud to present some of the greatest music, old and new from the last 400 years. Our concerts are always family friendly and a wonderful way to experience live orchestral music in an intimate setting of informal elegance.
We drew our largest ever audiences to our 24-25 Season Finale concerts with Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and my newest piece “The Ravens’ Tears” featuring incredible soloists and the Evergreen Chorale. What a celebration it was to end my tenth season as ECO’s Music Director! To keep this excitement going we have a new season of joyful and stunning music for you!
We open with our Season Preview at Cactus Jack’s on August 28, which is one of my favorite events of every year. It’s a great concert and party with great food, drinks, a beautiful setting right by Bear Creek on the deck with our friends from CJ’s, and your ECO. We’ll introduce you to some little bits of the music that we’ll play throughout 2025-26 like the Peer Gynt Suite, Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, and the finale to Orpheus in the Underworld - also known as “The Can Can”! And of course you may sing along to The Sound of Music.
The Season Opener Concert features flute soloist Cathy Peterson (CSO Associate Principal Flute) performing Ibert’s beautiful impressionist Flute Concerto. We open the program with three sections of Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite including the exciting “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and after intermission we play the Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5 “Reformation”. This symphony uses Bach’s famous chorale “A Mighty Fortress” and is a simply stunning setting of the iconic melody.
Our Fall Masterworks Concert begins with the sublime Mahler Adagietto from Symphony No. 5 for strings and harp. Our friend, the amazing pianist Jamie Shaak, returns to play the Ravel Piano Concerto in G Major, a wonderful mix of classical, impressionist, and jazzy effects with a bit of Gershwin influence. And we wrap up this presentation with the Second Symphony of Brahms, one of his most tuneful and beautiful compositions.
Our Holiday Concerts will, as always, feature Altezza from the Evergreen Chorale directed by Christine Gaudreau and our Young Artists Solo Competition winner. Sing-alongs, a visit from Santa, and lots of wonderful Holiday music make this a not to be missed way to kick off this magical time of year with your family joining our ECO musical family. Yes, the kids get
to participate in Jingle Bells!
Our Prelude to Spring Masterworks Concert in March will be our most eclectic program beginning with Offenbach’s well known Overture to Orpheus in the Underworld. And no it’s not scary or even sad music, but quite lively ending with a spectacular version of a dance now known as “The Can Can”! Our soloist is my friend and CSO Associate Principal Bassist Nick Recuber. He is equally at home in classical and jazz idioms and I’m writing a piece especially for him that uses his uncanny abilities on both acoustic bass and electric bass. You already know how versatile the orchestra is and this collaboration is something I’ve been looking forward to for several years. We end this evening with my favorite Dvorak piece, Symphony No. 7. It is full of Czech folk songs, dances, and majestic melodies, a tour de force for the orchestra.
The Season Finale is another not-to-be-missed event. Our friend and international star pianist Katie Mahan will join us for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 also known as the “Emperor”. And we round out this phenomenal program with the Beethoven Symphony No. 7. These are two of his most dramatic and engaging works that always inspire audiences and musicians alike.
Please join me in thanking the incredible musicians of the ECO for their dedication and hard work to make these concerts come to life. And thanks to James Spear, our Board President, for his organizational skills and for making our recordings and live streams possible. Chanel Ziegler, our Executive Director, works closely with James, our Personnel Managers Amy Chavez and Ciarra Shoemaker, our Librarian Lauren Skinner, our recital coordinator Shirley Marecak, our recital coaches Eric Peterson and Basil Vendryes, and me to keep all the wheels turning and everything moving forward. And a special thanks to you, our audience and supporters. Playing music and sharing this inspirational art with our community is what brings all of us the most joy.
I want to share a little quote from me that the Colorado Symphony published when I retired last June.
“It’s our job as performers, conductors, composers, any type of artist, to create magic, to take our audience and ourselves beyond everyday life into a place of higher consciousness, a place where things can form in our imaginations that can’t be duplicated in the tangible world.”
William Hill, Music Director
Evergreen Chamber Orchestra Music Director
William Hill has been acclaimed internationally as a composer, soloist, artist, and conductor. He retired after 45 years and over 7,000 concerts as Principal Timpanist and Composer with the Colorado Symphony. Mr. Hill retired in June 2020 after a distinguished career teaching composition at The University of Denver. Hill has served as a composer with the National Music Festival, Moravian Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival, and Evergreen Chamber Orchestra. He has performed as Principal Timpanist with the Honolulu, Omaha, and Colorado Symphonies, the Colorado and Grand Teton Music Festivals, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Hill’s Three Wings for Orchestra with Soprano (featuring Nadya Hill) opened the 2018 Colorado Symphony Season. The Raven for orchestra, chorus and electronic chorus was premiered by the Colorado Symphony in 2015 and was nominated for the Pulitzer and Grawemeyer Awards. Hill’s Symphony #3, was also
nominated for the Pulitzer. Passages for Orchestra, Electronics and Soprano, with electronics by Colin Hill was recorded with Hill conducting the Colorado Symphony, and Nadya Hill soprano, in 2022. Three
EVERGREEN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Violin
Katherine Thayer, Concertmaster*
Jessica Arnold
Kelly Carswell
Dorothy Crow-Willard
Ciarra Denman
Anthony Elias
Ellen Elias
Mary Alyce Groman
Natalie Hill
Marion Malinowski
Rachel Nalecz
Katie Primo
ECO
James Spear, President
Elsbeth Williams, Vice-President
Mary Alyce Groman, Secretary
Ernie Groman, Treasurer
ECO
Lauren Skinner
Administrators: Chanel Ziegler
Executive Director
Lauren Skinner
Music Librarian
Ciarra Denman
Strings Personnel Manager
Amy Chavez
Winds and Percussion
Personnel Manager
Je Spielman
Operations Manager
Lisa Schoch Viola
Trent Guerrero, Principal
Wanda Beck
Robin Newmark
Reuben Sanford
Lan Vo
*Arthur Feldman
James Cucunato
Michael Marecak
Shirley Marecak
James Todd Bass
Josh Filley, Principal
Sue Walters
Sharon Kent, Principal Jesse Nava Oboe
Larry
English
Horn
Patty Kershaw
Melissa McCoy
Chuck Strain
Lindsey Van Etten
Trumpet
Ross Campbell, Co-Principal
Rick Pelletier, Co-Principal
Trombone
Gary Leever, Principal
Marty Parot
Stephen Bray
Tuba
Christopher Chalfant
Timpani
Sandra Fauth, Principal Percussion
Daniel Kent
Piano and Harpsichord
Peggy Lyon
Katherine Thayer, Concertmaster
Katherine Thayer is concertmaster of Evergreen Chamber Orchestra (since 2001) and of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2004). She has appeared as soloist with both orchestras, most recently performing the Mendelssohn violin concerto with ECO in November 2023.
Katherine also enjoys her performances with Voice of the Wood Chamber Players who are heard frequently at ECO recitals, at DPOs Dazzle Jazz Club performances, and at many metro area libraries.
Katherine was Principal 2nd violin and soloist with the former Denver Chamber Orchestra, JoAnne Falletta, conductor. She enjoyed performing for five summers each at the Colorado Music Festival in
Tailored to
Boulder and Grand Teton Music Festivals in Jackson Wyoming.
Prior to moving to Colorado in 1983, Katherine was an Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Eastern New Mexico University where she performed as the violinist in the Raphael Piano Trio. Her violin studies include a Masters Degree from Michigan State University when the Juilliard Quartet was in residence, and European studies with Zino Francescatti, Christian Ferras, Alberto Lysy and Ayla Erduran.
She held positions in the first violin sections of the Kamarata Lysy, the Wurttembergishes Kammer Orchertre, and the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg touring frequently throughout Europe and the Philippines. Katherine returned to Europe in October 2017 as part of an exchange program with the DPO and the Bayerische Philharmone in Munich. She thoroughly enjoyed seeing Salzburg again after almost 40 years. In the summer of 2022, she performed Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to an enthusiastic audience in Munich.
Katherine delights in watching her daughter Ayla’s professional dance and aerial performances and reading Chamber music with friends, old and new.
Basil Vendryes, Recital Coach
Basil Vendryes is the Principal Violist of the Colorado Symphony, and is a former member of the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras. He currently serves on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver, the Cremona International Academy in Cremona, Italy and the Taconic International Festival in Padua, Italy. As a member of the Aurora String Quartet (1986-95) Mr. Vendryes performed recitals in New York, London and Tokyo as well as west coast premieres of works by John Harbison, George Perle, Richard Danielpour, Benjamin Lees and many others. From 2000-2018 Basil directed the Colorado Young Sinfonia (which he also founded), comprised of some of the best young talent in the Denver area.
Basil Vendryes was born in 1961 to West Indian parents, and began his musical training in the public schools of New York City at the age of eleven. He received scholarships to the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Sally O’Reilly, Francis Tursi and Heidi Castleman. Basil joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1982 at the age of 21 and the New York Philharmonic two years later. Basil joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Viola in 1993. He has also served as guest principal violist for the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Vendryes has appeared in many festivals, including Spoleto, Buzzards Bay, Sunflower, Midsummer Mozart, Interharmony, Green Mountain, Taconic and the Grand Tetons. Working with promising talent is one of his passions, and Basil has given classes in viola and chamber music in Europe and throughout the United States. Mr. Vendryes has served as a juror for the Sphinx Competition for African American and Latino string players, the Hong Kong International Music Festival and the
Nicosia Chamber Music Competition in Faenza, Italy. In April of 2008 Mr. Vendryes performed the American premiere of Giya Kancheli’s Styx with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (under the baton of Jeffrey Kahane) to critical acclaim. The Kancheli was subsequently repeated at the 2008 League of American Orchestras National Conference. In May 2023 Basil premiered the Concerto for Viola, Strings, Harp and Percussion by American Composer William Hill with the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra.
Projects for the 2025-26 season include performances of the Stamitz viola concerto in Kansas and Massachusetts, Vaughan Williams Flos Campi with the Littleton Symphony and recitals/ masterclasses in Texas, Nevada, Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. Mr. Vendryes will also teach classes in Genoa and Monopoli, Italy in December 2025. Preparations are underway for a new solo recording (his fourth) in the spring of 2026.
Basil Vendryes has recorded for the Albany, Ariel, Cadenza Music, Centaur, CRI, Naxos and Toccata labels in addition to his contributions as an orchestral violist for RCA, Decca, Nonesuch, Telarc, Columbia, BIS and Hyperion. His solo recordings of Russian sonatas and music of Paul Juon have received positive reviews from Fanfare and Strad magazines, as well as the Journal of the American Viola Society. Mr. Vendryes plays on a fine viola made in 2023 by Alexander Tzankow.
Erik Peterson, Recital Coach
Violinist Erik Peterson enjoys sharing great music with broad and diverse audiences. Erik reaches thousands of chamber music devotees and novices throughout the United States and Europe performing with Mendelssohn Trio, Ivy Street Ensemble, Candlelight Concerts and Front Range Chamber Players. As Artistic Director of Front Range Chamber Players, Erik engages in imaginative, diverse, and innovative programming.
Erik has collaborated with composers such as Obo Addy, Ofer Ben-Amots, Jacob Avshalomov, Kenji Bunch, David Crumb, Maria Grenfell, David Mullikin, and Loretta Notareschi to bring new and invigorating works into the classical repertoire. He also collaborates with universities, schools, retirement homes, and other organizations to engage students and adults in the art of chamber music.
Sharing the art of violin performance and pedagogy is a driving force for Erik. He enjoys working with talented students at prestigious institutions such as University of Denver, Colorado State University, Lamont Summer Academy, Rocky Ridge Music Center, Denver Young Artists Orchestra, and Denver School of the Arts while maintaining a private teaching studio. Many of his students succeed
in national competitions, attend prestigious summer festivals, and are accepted to renowned collegiate music schools and conservatories.
Erik has performed in the great concert halls of Europe on numerous international tours with Mendelssohn Trio and as Principal Second Violinist of The American Sinfonietta. He travelled to South America in June, 2025 for a tour of Brazil with the Front Range Piano Quartet. He has served as Concertmaster of Great Falls Symphony, Up Close and Musical, and Opera Steamboat. Currently Erik is Concertmaster of Canto Deo and the Metropolitan Choral Festival Orchestra. Following 28 years as a violinist in the Colorado Symphony, Erik pivoted to focus on chamber music performance and teaching. His performances are often heard on National Public Radio and online at his YouTube channel, EarWarp Chamber Music.
When not performing, teaching, or creating concert opportunities for audiences of all ages, Erik enjoys spending time with his family, skiing and hiking.
For more information about Erik and upcoming performances, visit www.earwarp.com.
SEASON OPENER CONCERTS
Saturday, October 11, 2025 — 4:00pm
Rockland Community Church 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd, Golden, CO 80401
Sunday, October 12, 2025 — 7:30pm
First Universalist Church of Denver 4101 E Hampden Ave, Denver, CO 80222
Edvard Grieg
Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 Movements I, III, and IV
Jacques Ibert
Concerto for Flute and Orchestra
CATHERINE PETERSON — FLUTE
Felix Mendelssohn
Symphony No. 5 in D Major, Op. 107, “Reformation”
Ari Williams 2020 2022
Grace Gill Save The Date
Alexandra Kallander 2025
Season Opener Soloist: Catherine Peterson
Catherine Peterson is Assistant Principal/ Second Flutist of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. As Acting Principal Flute of the Colorado Symphony for the 2017-2018 season, Cathy performed Syrinx for solo flute by Claude Debussy for a packed audience at Boettcher Concert Hall followed by flute lover’s orchestral works Afternoon of a Faun and Daphnis et Chloe. A regular substitute flutist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 2010-2019, and again in 2024, she has performed Afternoon of a Faun at Myerhoff Symphony Hall under the direction of Louis Langree, and toured Carnegie Hall with the BSO under the direction of Marin Alsop. She has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, Hawaii Symphony, and recorded Ameriques by Varese with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
An active chamber musician and educator, she performs with the nationally recognized Ivy Street Ensemble throughout Colorado on various concert series, and more importantly, at schools across the Front Range, bringing music to the next generation. Cathy can often be heard on Colorado Public Radio performing solo flute repertoire as well as award winning commissions for Ivy Street Ensemble. In addition to a private flute studio of young and adult flutists, Ms. Peterson is the Flute Practicing Artist for Denver School of the Arts and teaches at the University of Denver’s Lamont Summer Academy.
Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She is a regular performer at Front Range Chamber Players in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Her previous orchestral musical engagements include Principal Flutist with the Central City Opera, Principal Flutist with Emerald City Opera, and co-Principal Flutist of the Strings Festival in
When she is not busy performing, Cathy is Director of the annual Mile High Flute Camp, co-Director of Mile High Flute Benders(a Denver community flute choir for all ages), and President of the Board of Directors for Front Range Chamber Players. Cathy studied in college with Walfrid Kujala, Tim Day, Leone Buyse and Jeff Zook. She loves to take casual bike rides, walk her dog and spend time with her family. You can learn more about Cathy at www.milehighflutist.com.
Musician Spotlight: Ciarra Denman
My love for music started early on, listening to my mother play piano at home. I still remember the day she brought home a little grey boombox to play her CDs – everything from Bizet to The Beatles –out loud while cooking dinner. Her eclectic taste in music reflects a never-ending curiosity and desire to try new things, qualities I’m proud to have inherited from her. She didn’t bat an eye as I cycled through a whirlwind of after-school activities (including ballet, tap, French lessons, piano, even high-diving) before finally picking up the violin at age 10. I was immediately hooked; something
about playing the violin clicked for me in a way that nothing else had before.
Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV, I was fortunate to be part of a thriving arts community with no shortage of opportunities to play music. I attended the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts High School and participated in every youth orchestra, solo competition, and coaching clinic that I could during that time. Lucky for me, I never got too nervous during those auditions and performances because I always had my trusty accompanist and biggest cheerleader (my mom) by my side.
Directors in various roles. Soon after, I met my husband, Kevin, and had the honor of bringing him to his first live orchestra concert. In no time at all, Kevin became not only an avid concert-goer but also my main coach and motivator. One of his favorite quotes is, “Don’t you need to practice?” and it should come as no surprise that he and my mom get along very well. They met for the first time in person when my mom visited Denver to watch me play in a Beatles tribute concert.
I attended Penn State University for college, where I minored in Music Performance and played with the PSU Philharmonic and PSU Chamber Orchestra. I also began picking up more local gigs at this time and was eventually hired as a ringer for the Altoona Symphony and the Williamsport Symphony orchestras. After 5 years living in Pennsylvania, I was missing my family and craving change, so I set my sights to the West and moved to Colorado in the summer of 2016.
Once settled in CO, I joined the Denver Pops Orchestra as Principal 2nd Violinist. I also served on the orchestra’s Board of
In 2019 I began looking for an orchestra that rehearsed closer to my office, and a quick google search led me to the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra. I had no idea at the time what a gem I’d found! I became an ECO member in 2019 and took on the role of Strings Personnel Manager a few years later. I’m incredibly grateful to play among such talented musicians and under the direction of Bill Hill. It’s not just the high level of playing that makes ECO so special. It’s also the love and care - for music and for each otherthat goes into every rehearsal and concert. I hope you feel it in today’s performance, and I hope you share it with those around you when you leave. Life is always joyful when you have music in your heart!
FALL CONCERTS
Saturday, November 22, 2025 — 3:00pm
Rockland Community Church 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd, Golden, CO 80401
Sunday, November 23, 2025 — 3:00pm
Bethany Lutheran Church
4500 E Hampden Ave, Cherry Hills Village, CO 80113
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor — IV. Adagietto
TBD
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
PROGRAM COVER ARTIST : HUNTER LAWRENCE
Hunter Lawrence is a Denver Native graduate from East/Manual High School and B.A. in Psychology from Vassar College. Hunter returned to Colorado to study at Metropolitan State University of Denver and received his B.F.A. in Studio Art with an emphasis in Art History.
As a child, Hunter’s great passions were visual arts and music. Looking back it is clear he knew then what he wanted to do, to study, and to be at the earliest age — it just took a while to get back to those roots.
Today Hunter’s passions include Visual Arts, Performing Arts and Culinary Arts through which he expresses his faith and experiences bringing joy to others.
Hunter’s current work has involved acrylic on canvas mostly with palette knives. Influences and artists that fascinate him include Basquiat, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Fritz Scholder, and the Abstract Expressionists.
The 2025-2026 Season Program cover for the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra features Hunter’s watercolor of Bill Hill which was commissioned by the orchestra for Bill’s 10th season as Music Director of the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra.
Feel free to email Hunter at ihearthecolorblue@gmail. com
PRELUDE TO SPRING CONCERTS
Saturday, March 21, 2026 — 3:00pm
Rockland Community Church 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd, Golden, CO 80401
Sunday, March 22, 2026 — 3:00pm
Concerto
Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70, B. 141
Prelude to Spring Concerts Soloist: Nicholas
Recuber
Nicholas Recuber is a versatile double bassist whose work spans the classical, jazz, and pop worlds. Born in Philadelphia, he began playing bass at age 14, first drawn to jazz. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from Rowan University before turning his focus to classical music. He holds a Master’s degree in Classical Performance from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Orin O’Brien (featured in Netflix’s The Only Girl in the Orchestra), and continued his training with Nico Abondolo at the University of Southern California, earning a graduate certificate.
Recuber currently serves as Assistant Principal Bass of the Colorado Symphony. He has previously served as Principal Bass of the Santa Barbara Symphony, and performed with major ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony. He was a fellow for two seasons at the New World Symphony and has appeared at the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Moab Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, and Lucerne Forward Festival.
As a recording artist, Recuber appears as Principal Bass with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on their 2019 album Music for Violin and Orchestra, and with the Boulder Bach Festival on their 2023 self-titled release. He is also featured on a forthcoming Decca Records album with Kantorei, performing the music of Christopher Tin. Recuber’s published work, Fantasies for Double Bass (Carl Fischer Music), reimagines violin repertoire for bass, offering a bridge between early Baroque solos and the more advanced works of Bach.
Equally at home outside the classical realm and with the electric bass, Recuber has performed with artists such as Gregory Porter, Cynthia Erivo, Ingrid Michaelson, and Steve Vai. In 2023, he toured on both upright and electric bass with Nathaniel Rateliff for A Little Touch of Rateliff: The Songs of Harry Nilsson, continuing the collaboration in 2024
with a tour celebrating the music of Leonard Cohen. An advocate for the next generation of bassists, Recuber currently teaches at the University of Denver, previously teaching at the University of Northern Colorado for over a decade. He frequently leads masterclasses, in schools such as The New School, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado State University, Sheridan College, and more.
SEASON FINALE CONCERTS
Saturday, May 9, 2026 — 3:00pm
Rockland Community Church 17 S Mt. Vernon Country Club Rd, Golden, CO 80401
Sunday, May 10, 2026 — 3:00pm
First Universalist Church of Denver 4101 E Hampden Ave, Denver, CO 80222
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, “Emperor”
KATIE MAHAN — PIANO
Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Season Finale Soloist: Katie Mahan
Praised as “one of the most outstanding talents coming up today,” American pianist Katie Mahan is capturing the attention of audiences throughout the world for her innovative musical personality, poetic interpretations, and graceful, charming stage presence. She possesses an unquestioned technical mastery combined with a kaleidoscopic palette of tone colors, and has been recognized as “a daring and innovative performer.” A multi-faceted artist for whom music is an endless passion, Katie is at home in a broad repertoire, and is particularly distinguished as an interpreter of the music of George Gershwin – performing her own daring, exciting solo piano arrangements to standing ovations across the globe – Claude Debussy and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The daughter of a piano teacher and a solar physicist, Katie’s life has always been filled with music. She was first introduced to the world of live classical music at the age of two when she attended a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Santa Fe Opera, and at the age of four, inspired by attending a performance of Gershwin’s An American in Paris given by the famous French piano duo, Katia & Marielle Labèque, Katie decided that she wanted to be a concert pianist. She subsequently began piano studies with her mother, Bobette Mahan, giving her first solo recital two years later at the age of six.
Katie’s greatest pianistic influence came from her studies with the celebrated French pianist Pascal Rogé, with whom she studied the music of the French Impressionists. Rogé – who traces his musical heritage directly back to the great French tradition of Debussy and Ravel – was not only an important pianistic influence on Katie, but also inspired her to devote years of study to the search for understanding of French music, art and stylistic tradition. Today, Katie’s playing epitomizes the French style of elegance, beauty and poetry. Thomas Veszelits of the Münchner Abendzeitung described Katie’s Debussy thus: “Seasoned concertgoers who had already heard Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, long acclaimed as the best interpreter of Debussy and Ravel, were impressed by Katie Mahan. With such richness of color, perfection of tone, and structural clarity, she takes her world class place alongside the Maestro.”
Since making her orchestral debut performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F with the Breckenridge Symphony, Katie has appeared in concert throughout the USA, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Russia and Japan. She has performed with such celebrated conductors as Jiri Belohlavek, Marin Alsop – who described her as a pianist “in the style of Clara Schumann”, Mikhail Golikov, and Lawrence Leighton-Smith, among others, and in such famous halls as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Prinzregenten
Theater in Munich, the great hall of the Moscow Conservatory in Moscow, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Smetana Hall in Prague. Katie has participated in master classes by such musicians as Lang Lang – who praised her as “a fabulous pianist…full of emotion and originality” – Simon Trpceski, and Michel Béroff, and has recently preformed with orchestras including the Prague Philharmonia, Colorado Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Cheyenne Symphony, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Boulder Philharmonic, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, and the Wiener Residenz Orchestra, among others.
During the 2024-25 season, Katie will perform extensively throughout Europe and the USA featuring programs centered on the music of Mozart and Gershwin. Recital highlights of the past seasons include her Salzburg recital debut in the great hall of the Mozarteum, her performance at the Liszt Festival in Raiding, her Klassik Open Air recital in Lichtenfels, Germany before an audience of 2000 spectators, and a tour of Russia presented by the American Embassy in Moscow highlighted by her Russian orchestral debut in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and a performance at the Platonov Festival in Voronezh. Further highlights include her debuts with the New Mexico Philharmonic and Allentown Symphony, and recitals and concerto appearances throughout the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and the Netherlands.
Katie is a recording artist for the Steinway & Sons label and her extensive discography includes solo repertoire from Mozart to Bernstein. Her latest album “Mozart Live on Spirio” was released in December 2024 and was recorded exclusively on the Steinway SPIRIO, the world’s finest high resolution player piano capable of live performance capture and playback. Her previous releases on the Steinway & Sons label include “Once Upon a Time” (2022), featuring music of Mozart and Liszt, “Appassionata” (2020) with music by Beethoven and “Classical Gershwin” (2019) a CD + DVD set which includes an innovative music video of Gershwin’s beloved Rhapsody in Blue which, together with her Debussy CD “Clair de lune,” was selected by Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, and Austrian Airlines to be presented on their in-flight entertainment programs on flights all over the world. Arguably Katie’s most significant recording to date, the Complete Solo Piano Music of Leonard Bernstein, was released by Deutsche Grammophon in 2018 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, and in 2017 she
also recorded an all-Gershwin LP for the Berliner Meister Schall Platten label’s direct-to-disc format.
In addition to her CD releases, Katie is committed to finding new ways to bring classical music to younger audiences and is collaborating with Colorado Public Radio on an innovative project dedicated to Mozart which combines a recording of the complete sonatas and fantasies live from the historic Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg with a video blog series called Mozart Snapshots in which Katie takes listeners on a journey through the life of Mozart in Salzburg.
In 2020, Katie was featured in the multi-award winning Deutsche Welle documentary “A World Without Beethoven” in which she discusses Beethoven’s influence on jazz alongside trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. In 2019, she was selected for a collaboration with the Denver Art Museum for the production of a special edition CD entitled “Music in Monet’s Time” to accompany “Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature” the largest exhibition of Monet artworks to come to the US in more than two decades. Her recording of Debussy’s beloved “Clair de lune” accompanied the half million visitors through the exhibition of more than 120 paintings by Claude Monet. She has also appeared on PBS, NPR, ORF, Ö1 (Austria), BR-Klassik (Germany), et al.
Katie was a protégé of Howard Waltz – himself a student of the legendary French pianist Robert Casadesus – and studied with Robert Spillman at the University of Colorado College of Music where she graduated with highest honors. In addition to performing, Katie devotes her time and talent to the support of various humanitarian, medical, and educational causes. Katie is a Steinway artist and was awarded the Classic Superstar 2008 award by the Berliner Salon.
CHAMBER RECITALS
All recitals will be performed at:
St. Laurence Episcopal Church
26812 Barkley Road, Conifer, CO 80433
Series Premiere Recital
3:00pm - Sunday, September 28th, 2025
Autum Recital
Winter Recital
3:00pm - Sunday, November 2nd, 2025
3:00pm - Sunday, February 22nd, 2026
Series Finale Recital
3:00pm - Sunday, April 26th, 2026
SPECIAL EVENTS
Season Preview Concert
6:00pm - Thursday, August 28th, 2025
Cactus Jack’s Saloon & Grill
A joyous holiday tradition with Altezza, the chamber voices of the Evergreen Chorale, a visit from Santa, and the winner of this year’s Young Artists Solo Competition. Barkley
at Cactus Jack’s Saloon & Grill
4651 County Hwy 73, Evergreen, CO 80439
A community favorite for years - enjoy an ECO performance right in the heart of downtown Evergreen with dinner and a free drink generously provided by Cactus Jack’s Saloon & Grill.
Colorado Mountain Holiday Concerts
3:00pm AND 6:00pm - Saturday, December 20th, 2025
Evergreen Lutheran Church
5980 County Hwy 73, Evergreen, CO 80439
ECO TIDBIT
The Evergreen Chamber Orchestra’s music director, William “Bill” Hill, is a multi-talented individual. Not only is he a composer, soloist, conductor, and recently retired as the principal timpanist for the Colorado Symphony, but he’s also an accomplished jazz musician and his Grammy-nominated band, “Bill Hill and Friends,” is featured at the orchestra’s annual Jazz Gala held in June.
TICKETS
For Masterworks Concert Series and Chamber
Recital Series events:
GENERAL (ages 18-64): $30
SENIOR (ages 65+): $25
STUDENT (ages 16+): $15
CHILD (ages 5-15): $10
Children under 5: FREE
Get tickets and learn more at www.evergreenchamberorch.org
ABOUT ECO
Founded in 1981, the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra is currently led by William Hill. ECO is a dedicated group of volunteer musicians who delight our community with captivating performances of timeless masterpieces.
Tangos and From Silence and Isolation were premiered by the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra in 2021 and 2022.
William Hill’s newest works include Symphony #4 in Classical Style, Concerto for Viola, Strings, Harp, and Percussion (for Colorado Symphony Principal Violist Basil Vendryes), Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra (for pianist Jamie Shaak), and The Ravens’ Tears with the composer conducting the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra at each premiere. Renaissance for Chorus and Orchestra premiered with the Colorado Symphony and Chorus in May 2023.
The Grand Rapids Symphony opened its 2010 Season with Hill’s Aurora Borealis and the first concert of their MusicNow Series featured his Ancient Rituals, The Journey of Ra and Full Moon at Giza with Nadya Hill soprano and violin. Hill’s Percussion Concerto was premiered by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in 2006 with the composer as soloist. The Moravian Philharmonic of the Czech Republic recorded four of his
compositions in 2006.
Hill won the Percussive Arts Society International Composition Contest, and numerous other prizes. Mr. Hill has performed across the US and in numerous European countries and China. He has been a soloist with many orchestras and his first CD Rhythms of Innocence featured him on over 75 percussion instruments, recorders, wood flutes, didjeridoo, and piano. Hill’s Jazz/Latin/Fusion and World Music groups have released numerous CDs and DVDs.
William Hill holds the Bachelor of Music with High Distinction (1977) and Performer’s Certificate from Indiana University, and the Master of Music (4.0 GPA 1980) from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
William Hill is married to violinist Natalie Schmitz Hill and their two children, Nadya, and Colin are both excellent professional musicians. Nadya’s husband Michael Hoffman is also a well known tenor and teacher. The Hill’s love to enjoy Colorado’s wonderful outdoors hiking, skiing and kayaking. An avid mountaineer, Hill has climbed and skied from the summit of more than 60 of Colorado’s highest peaks.
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THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
VIRTUOSO ($5,000+)
Anonymous
Cactus Jack’s Saloon & Grill
Colorado Creative Industries
Amy Feldman and Michaela Vogt*
William Hill*
Shirley Marecak
Judith O’Connor
VIVACE ($500-$999)
Anonymous
Anthony and Ellen Elias
Josh and Melissa Filley
Hunter Lawrence
Dedicated to my musical family Natalie, Nadya, Colin, Michael, and Rosie, Chanel Ziegler, James Spear, and all of the ECO family.
Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD)
MAESTRO ($2,500-$4,999)
Canyon Courier
Colorado Community Media
Ernie and Mary
Alyce Groman
PRESTO ($1,000-$2,499)
Anonymous
Nancy and George Crego
JoAnn T. Hackos
David and Lynn Hurst*
Lan Vo Photography
Daniel S. Lyons
Jeannie Mann
Mike and
LIV Sotheby’s International Realty
Cathy and Bruce Martin
Oralie McAfee
Douglas and Laura Moran
Jeffrey Robertson
Junie Weed-Ziegler
ALLEGRO ($100-$499)
Harvey and Darla Alpert
Susan Anderson
Anonymous
Larry and Wanda Beck
Claire Benson
Mamie Bloom
Laura and Chris Brown
Vivian Burrows
Charles and Bette Carcano
Amy and Guy Chavez
Martha Colbert
Colorado Gives 365 Community First Foundation
Karen Connolly
Gary and Dorothy Crow-Willard
Judy Daggett
Evergreen Discount Liquors
Evergreen Living Magazine
Evergreen National Bank
David and Susan Goldin
Marilyn Haas
Rainer Hantschel
Curt and Barb Harris
Jennifer Heglin In honor of Bill Hill
William and Carole Horger
John and Mary
Ella House
Yumi Hwang-Williams
Dedicated to Bill Hill
Brenda Jansen
Jennifer Gann Insurance
Patty and Kevin Kershaw
King Soopers (Kroger)
Melissa Leasia
Frieda Leason
Harold and Joan Leinbach
Dan and Beth Lincoln
Barbara Linton
Sharon Lydon
Rhonda Lyles
August Mayer
Dennis and Nanci Markusson
Richard Miklic
Marion Malinowski
Elizabeth Nelms
David Oeser
John and Beth Parenteau
DONORS CONTINUED
ALLEGRO ($100-$499)
cont.
Marty Parrott
Chris Pfaff and Larry White
Amy Poole
Edna Roberts
Eleanor Roberts
Sylvia Robertson
Linda Rockwell
Ruth Salter
Irv and Marilyn Saltzman
Lynn Saunders
In honor of Elsbeth Williams, ECO Clarinetist
James D. Spear
Dedicated to Dallas and Phyllis Spear
Jane Stewart In memory of Pam Bixter
Christopher Vogelsang
Suzanne Walters
Elsbeth Williams
Randy and Polly Wilson
Jane Wolfe
Jeffery Wyatt
Loraine Yeatts
Chanel and Jason Ziegler*
Dedicated to Bill Hill
FRIENDS (UP TO $99)
Diana Aldridge
Peggy Ballengee
Robert Bassett
John Burghardt
Christopher Chalfant
Geoffrey Forster
Bruce Fraser
Beverly Free
Dedicated to my brother Don and family
Lindsay Genadek
Douglas Hesse
Mary Hinton
Kaitlen Horne
Bob and Katherine Hussey
Kernstock Family
Dedicated to Atticus Alvin Kernstock
Barbara Klaus
Peggy Lyon
Loris McGavran
In honor of the Dufford family
Emily Morton
Dedicated to James Spear
Kurt and Janet Ochsner
Bill O’Toole
Roger and Stephanie Oram
Phyllis Pieffer
Frank Rabbio
Catherine Rafter
James and JoAnn Roos
Deborah San Juan
Jeremy Studinski
Monica Tall In honor of Katherine Tall
Katherine Thayer* In honor of Art and Lee Feldman
Nancy Van Etten
Basil Vendryes
Kerry Weigner
Bill Witt
*DONATED TO THE ARTHUR FELDMAN MEMORIAL CONCERTMASTER CHAIR
ECO IS A PROUD MEMBER OF THE EVERGREEN AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
SUPPORT ECO!
ECO is a nonprofit organization that relies on the generous financial and in-kind support of our communities. Here are a few ways you can help ECO thrive.
Volunteer: ECO is always looking for volunteers to help with our concerts, receptions, taking photos, and posting flyers!
Please contact Chanel Ziegler at 303.670.6558 or cziegler@evergreenchamberorch.org for more information about volunteering.
Please visit our website to learn more about Donating, Sponsorships, Donating a Vehicle, and participating in the King Soopers Community Reward program.
