The Men and Women Behind the Birch Creek Sound

Betty Lewis

• 2011 marks Betty Lewis’ 18th year with the Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra. She is an active violinist and violist in the Chicago area, performing with groups ranging from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to Broadway in Chicago’s orchestra for Beauty and the Beast. It is clear that she has a passion for not only performing music in a professional environment, but also for teaching, as her violin and viola students at Birch Creek and the Francis Parker School in Chicago will attest.

Concertgoers may recognize Ms. Lewis from her many seasons with the Peninsula Music Festival orchestra as well.

• Not often is the tuba scored as a solo instrument in orchestral music, but on July 2, Birch Creek concertgoers will hear the tuba in a new light. Associate faculty member Cynthia Stark will be featured on a piece called “Tubby the Tuba” by George Kleinsinger, a charming and fanciful work about a tuba trying to find a melody.

• EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks has a long history with Birch Creek, having first attended as a violin student in 1998 and 1999. After serving as a teaching assistant for six years, she is currently a Birch Creek Associate Faculty member. Her talent, abilities and work ethic have brought her success. She has received her Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance from SUNY Stony Brook and is on the faculty at the Music Academy of Long Island and the East End Arts Council, Long Island, N.Y.

Ricardo Castañeda and Erin Horan

• Ricardo Castañeda stays sufficiently busy while on the Birch Creek campus. Not only is he the oboe instructor, he is also the Symphony Program Director, handling many administrative aspects of the session behind the scenes.

Recruited by Ray Still (oboist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for many years) to study with him at Northwestern University, Castañeda came to the U.S. and completed undergraduate and graduate degrees in oboe performance. He has remained in the Chicago area and is the principal oboist with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Lake Forest Symphony, the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and is professor of oboe at Northern Illinois University.

• Pictured beside Castañeda is Erin Horan, who serves as his assistant both in the oboe section and with administrative duties. She was a Birch Creek student in 1999 and returned the following year as Castañeda’s teaching assistant. She also completed an oboe performance degree under Castañeda at Northern Illinois University. In her 13th year at Birch Creek, she is now an Associate Faculty member. She is also education director with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra in Mobile, Alabama.

Birch Creek Music Performance Center is located at 3821 County E in Egg Harbor. All concerts begin at 8 pm with pre-concert music beginning at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and $6 for children. For more information or to reserve tickets, call 920.868.3763. For additional information, visit http://www.birchcreek.org.