Sarah Armstrong is a multi-talented musician, educator, and director who is passionate about the performing arts. With over two decades of experience, Sarah has established herself as a respected figure in the music and education communities. Sarah began her career as a professional opera singer and spent over a decade as a soloist with companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Metropolitan Opera, and Connecticut Opera before returning to the classroom. She is currently the Performing Arts Chair at Canterbury School where she directs both the choral and theatre programs. Sarah is also an avid musician and performer. She is one half of the Halcyon Duo with Dr. Thomas Schuttenhelm, a critically acclaimed guitar and voice duo. She also sings with Voce, New England’s Chamber Choir. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley Colorado and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education with an emphasis on Choral Studies from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

William Beecher is a bassoonist, contrabassoonist, and teacher based in the Hudson Valley. He has performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and will be recording an album for the Naxos Label in March. William is faculty at the Juilliard School Pre College Division, and working on his doctorate at the Hartt School.

Amelia Caruk is from West Hartford, CT. She began playing the horn at age 9 in her school band.  In 4th grade she began performing in select honors festivals.  She participated in numerous CMEA Regional and All State groups. In 2020 Amelia performed in the NAFME All-National Honors Ensembles Concert Band. While in high school she attended the Hartt Preparatory Academy, studying with Barbara Hill and Jamie Marci, and playing principal horn in the CT Youth Symphony and the Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble. As a part of the Hartt Preparatory Academy program, she took college level music courses during her last two years of high school During her senior year of high school Amelia began subbing with university orchestras, specifically the Hartt and UCONN Symphony Orchestra.

Amelia has just finished her sophomore year of college studying with Peter Kurau at the Eastman School of Music where she is a candidate for a degree in Applied Music (Horn Performance). At Eastman she is a member of the Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Horn Choir, and Brass Guild, as well as her student-formed brass quintet. She was awarded the Eastman Artist Scholarship and the Neille I Meek Memorial Scholarship to help make iy possible to attend this prestigious institution.

Amelia has performed with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut Virtuosi, and Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. This summer Amelia will be studying with Denise Tryon for two weeks at the Orford Music Academy in Orford, Quebec, Canada. Amelia plans to spend the remainder of her summer working as a lifeguard, playing horn, going on long runs, and spending time with her cats, Stormy and Pumpkin.

Julia Cavagnaro is a part of the award winning Nautilus Brass Quintet and regularly performs in the Connecticut and New England area. Julia maintains a robust private studio and teaches clinics and sectionals in local middle and high schools. After completing her DMA coursework from the Hartt School. She and her family are residents of Canton.

Peter Coutsouridis is Associate Professor of Percussion and Music Theory at Westfield State University in Massachusetts where he performs with a faculty jazz ensemble. He is currently principal timpanist with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in Waterbury, Connecticut and is a drummer with the worship team ministry at Westfield Evangelical Free Church. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music, Central Washington University and received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Peter lives in Westfield, Massachusetts with his wife Karin and their six children.

We are pleased to feature Connecticut’s own Thomas Duffy and his concert overture composition, Overture 1776, in our program. Concert overtures are one movement compositions that frequently describe historical or patriotic events, legendary stories or scenes from nature. Overture 1776 uses English and American melodies that were popular during the Revolutionary War.

Overture 1776 is modeled on another piece of music, Tchaikovsky’s Overture 1812. Overture 1812 includes French and Russian melodies as it tells the story of the French and Russian Battle for Moscow during the War of 1812. Many American orchestras perform Overture 1812 on Fourth of July concerts. Because Overture 1776tells the story of the American Revolutionary War, Dr. Duffy hopes that as it becomes better known, many of these orchestras will play his Overture 1776 on patriotic holiday concerts.

Overture 1776 was originally written for concert band and was premiered by the United States Military Band at the West Point Academy. The Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra performed the world premier of the orchestral version April 17, 2004.

Thomas C. Duffy is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Yale University. An active composer with a D.M.A. in composition from Cornell University, where he studied with Karel Husa and Steven Stucky, he has composed music for the American Composers Forum, the United States Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army Field Band, and many bands, choruses and orchestras. He is a member of the American Bandmaster Associations, American Composers Alliance, Connecticut Composers Incorporated and BMI.

Mark Flegg is enjoying his 25th season with the Flint Symphony as Principal Trumpeter.

Mark has a Bachelor of Music Education from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Music in Trumpet from Arizona State University. While in Arizona, Mark performed with the Tucson and Sun City Symphonies, Arizona Opera and Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM.

In 1995 Mark returned to Michigan and became Principal Trumpet of the Flint Symphony Orchestra. He has been Principal Trumpet of the Saginaw Bay Symphony and substituted with the Detroit, Toledo, Windsor and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestras. He has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Michigan State University and performed seven summers with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA. Mark had an active studio in his Farmington Hills home and served as trumpet instructor at both Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State University.

In 2017 Mark relocated to Connecticut. He still performs in Michigan and is becoming equally sought as a performer in Connecticut. Mark has created the Structured Practice Journal, a web based music practice journaling application (www.structuredpracticejournal.com), and has a full schedule of freelance web and mobile development projects.

Connecticut native Tyler Gauruder began his viola studies at age 10. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Viola Performance from The Hartt School where he studied with Steve Larson. Tyler also has played the violin since age 16.  Tyler performs frequently with the Nutmeg, Hartford, Temple Beth El and other CT Symphony Orchestras. He has been featured as soloist with the Temple Beth El and Colchester Symphony Orchestras.

Tyler has performed and recorded world premieres of compositions by Connecticut composer Stephen Gryc and has recorded numerous soundtracks for small films, video projects, and albums for jazz and pop artists. He performs in the pit orchestras for operas and musicals throughout New England. He has extensive experience with music ranging from the Baroque through Contemporary, as well as popular music, jazz, movie soundtracks, opera, and musical theatre.

Tyler has been teaching violin and viola for 20 years, as well as coaching chamber ensembles and offering master classes for individuals, groups, and youth orchestras. As part of Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra’s current residency at Lewis Mills High School, Tyler will be presenting a workshop to the Lewis Mills High School Band on practice techniques and how to prepare music for performance.

Walter Gibson currently manages the Performance Library and Musical Instrument Collection at the Hartt School, University of Hartford. The Vietnam era veteran has followed his musical path from high school, the US Army, Mannes College, to the Hartt School from where he has a Bachelor’s of Music. Walter performs with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra and also the Waterbury, Wallingford and New Britain Symphony Orchestras. Walter is the personnel manager of the New Britain Symphony and teaches euphonium and tuba at the Hartt Community Division and Central Connecticut University. Walter was the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra Person of the Year 2016-2017 he recognition of his active support of orchestras in Connecticut.

Eli Gold is a junior at Simsbury High School in Simsbury, CT. He has studied percussion under Dr. Jianpeng Feng at the Hartt School Community Division for nearly eight years, and has participated in numerous festivals and competitions.

Notable achievements include 1st Place at the 2023 Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, 2nd Place at the 2024 USA Navy Band Young Artists Solo Competition, 3rd Place at the 2023 Hartford Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition, and 2nd Place at the 2023 Southern California Marimba International Artists Competition.

Eli is also the principal percussionist in the Connecticut Youth Symphony (CYS) and Greater Hartford Youth Wind Ensemble (GHYWE), run by the Hartt Community Division; Eli will be featured alongside GHYWE to play the marimba concerto Prism Rhapsody by Keiko Abe in April 2024.

In addition to percussion, Eli is also a passionate mathematician. He has taken numerous advanced math courses, and is currently studying graduate-level Algebraic Number Theory with Dr. Jeremy Teitelbaum at UConn. He has also excelled at competition math; he has qualified for the American Invitational Math Exam three times, is the two-time 1st-place winner of the Yale Sunday Math Tournament.

Additionally, Eli has recently taken up math teaching; he runs math enrichment at his school, and has started teaching live classes to middle schoolers across the world as part of the LIVE program, run by the esteemed mathematician Po-Shen Loh. Eli plans to spend his summer in Tacoma, WA at the 2024 Canada/USA Mathcamp.

Eli’s hobbies include Rubik’s cubing, chess, and ping-pong.

Jan Oliver Homann teaches oboe at Central Connecticut State University and the University of Bridgeport, as well as coaching woodwinds and teaching music theory at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.  He performs as a freelance oboist throughout Connecticut and is Principal Oboist of the New Britain Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Homann holds degrees from Northwestern University (BM), Yale University (MM) and City University of New York (DMA). His doctoral thesis covered the life’s work of Franz Joseph Rosinak (1749 – 1823), an eighteen-century oboist and arranger who worked for the Furstenberg Court in Donaueschingen, Germany. He has additional studies at the Hochshule fur Musik in Mannheim. Before coming to Connecticut, Oliver performed several years in Mexico with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Aguas Calientes and the Filharmonica del Bajio in Guanajuato.

Holding degrees in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy from Wheaton College and The Hartt School, Cynthia Knotts is an active performer and teacher in Connecticut. Cynthia serves as concertmaster for the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, and has also played with a number of orchestras in Connecticut, including Hartford and Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestras. She has been operating a private Suzuki studio since 2003 and has enjoyed the privilege of bringing music into the lives of many young people. One of her greatest delights is providing a classical education at home for her four delightful children, whom she plans to homeschool all the way through high school. They help support her music career in part by folding laundry while she is at rehearsals. Cynthia’s performing and teaching career and homeschooling efforts are made possible by the incredible support of her husband Tim who is also invested in homeschooling and oversees the laundry folding on rehearsal nights. Cynthia lives in Windsor and has more books than her bookshelves can hold.

Acting Principal Trumpet with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra and Lead Trumpet with the Berkshire Jazz Orchestra, Jens Larsen performs with the Nutmeg, New Haven, Waterbury and Wallingford Symphony Orchestras. Previous positions include Co-principal Trumpet of the Greenville Symphony (South Carolina) and Principal Trumpet with the Symphony Orchestra of Augusta (Georgia). He has performed extensively in the southeastern United States with other ensembles including the Greenville and Newbury College Faculty Brass Quintets, Spartenburg Philharmonic, Carolina Pops, Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the DeKalb Symphony, the Cobb Symphony and Orchestra Atlanta. Mr. Larsen has served as Instructor of Trumpet on the faculties of Newberry College and Converse College.

He received a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from Old Dominion University, studying with Dr. William Bartolotta, and a Masters of Music in trumpet performance from Rice University, studying with Armando Ghittalla.

John Leblanc, tuba, has performed extensively as a freelance musician throughout Connecticut and the Northeast. Present work includes performances with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Ridgefield, Greater Bridgeport, and Dartmouth Symphony Orchestras and the Waterbury Chorale. Principal tuba positions include the Cape Ann, New Bedford, New England, and North Shore Philharmonic Orchestras, and performances and tours with the Epic Brass Quintet. Solo performances include the Vaughan Williams Concerto for Bass Tuba with the Manhattan Concerto Orchestra, and the Gregson Tuba Concerto with the Westfield State University Wind Symphony, and presentations of Tubby the Tuba in collaboration with narrators Maureen O’Hara and Charles Nelson Reilly. Dr. Leblanc, or Dr. L as he prefers, served as tuba/low brass adjunct at Central Connecticut State, Westfield State, and Murray State Universities, taught music at the elementary/secondary levels, is a private studio instructor, and brass adjudicator/clinician for CMEA. His primary teachers include Toby Hanks, Daniel Perantoni, Jim Self, Laurie Frink, David Fedderly and Arnold Jacobs. His hobbies include hiking, history, and composing.

Julie Asuma Levene holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of music, both in clarinet performance. Her teachers have included Fan Lei, David Shifrin, Charles Neidich, and Ayako Oshima. She is plays principal clarinet in the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, and second clarinet in the Greater Bridgeport and Wallingford Symphony Orchestras, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and Connecticut Lyric Opera Orchestra. An active freelance musician, she has played at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT for the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera, as well as performances of the musical Cyrano at the Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theater.

Julie has been teaching music lessons for more than 25 years. She enjoys working with clarinet students of all ages and abilities, beginner and intermediate saxophone students, and coaching chamber ensembles. Her approach is to be as supportive as possible while helping students grow into confident, expressive musicians. As an active educator in CT, Julie is an Adjunct Instructor of Clarinet at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT, a clarinet and saxophone instructor at Neighborhood Music School, and is on the music faculty (clarinet) at Choate Rosemary Hall. 

Tracy Norkun studied at the Hartford Conservatory, Hartt School of Music and Syracuse University. In addition to being Principal Flute of the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, she holds the same title with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Tracy teaches and performs throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts and is a regular adjudicator for CMEA regional and all state festivals. Past concerto appearances with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra have included works by Mozart, J. S. Bach and Connecticut composer Joseph Russo.

Bassoonist Michael Roberson is a graduate of Yale School of Music and Hartt School of Music, where he studied with Frank Morelli. He received his master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Leonard Sharrow. Mr. Roberson has been principal bassoonist with the New Britain Symphony since 1990, and has played with the Nutmeg, Hartford, New Haven, Wallingford, Norwalk, Bridgeport, Waterbury and Meriden Symphony Orchestras, Simsbury Light Opera and Waterbury Chorale. In Florida Michael has performed with Sarasota Opera, Florida Orchestra, and Ft. Meyer Symphony Orchestra.

Michael has been a public-school teacher since 1999 and was awarded the 2000 Connecticut Association of Schools award for Exemplary Programs In Connecticut’s Elementary Schools. According to former Principal Patricia DeRenzo, “Michael Roberson, Clinton Avenues’ music teacher, creates musical magic by developing our students’ love for music”. Mr. Roberson continues to develop students’ love for music as he teaches band and general music at King/Robinson Inter-District Magnet School, New Haven, CT.

A concert soloist, Dongbin Shin gives concerts home and abroad. He has previously served as the concertmaster at the Hartt Symphony Orchestra and the Waterbury Chorale. Winner of the 2011 Central Washington University Concerto Competition, Dongbin was appointed as the violin technique class instructor at The Hartt School in 2012.

Jaime Thorne received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Pennsylvania State University, as well as an artist diploma from The Cleveland Institute of Music. Ms. Thorne moved to Connecticut in 2006 after winning an audition with The United States Coast Guard Band. Jaime performs in many Connecticut orchestras including the Nutmeg, Hartford, Bridgeport Symphony and Waterbury Symphony orchestras, as well as performing Broadway musicals at the Bushnell and Palace Theaters. Jaime recently received her Master’s Degree in social work, and is an intimate partner violence clinician at Family Centered Services in New Haven. During her free time, Ms. Thorne enjoys hiking with her dogs, working out, gardening, and spending time with her husband.

Frank Tamburro received his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees and a Performance Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Upon graduation he was appointed Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Chamber Brass Quintet.  Mr. Tamburro has also appeared as solo trumpet with the Chicago Music of the Baroque.  Currently, Mr. Tamburro is the Principal Trumpet of the Nutmeg and New Britain Symphony Orchestras and section trumpet with the New Hampshire Summer Festival Orchestra. He was formerly Principal Trumpet of the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra for ten years. He enjoys an extensive freelance career in southern New England performing with the New Haven and Hartford Symphonies as well as soloing and giving master classes.

As an educator, Mr. Tamburro has taught for twenty four years in the Connecticut Public Schools, having taught band in the Hartford and Bristol Public School systems. He currently devotes much time to his private trumpet studio in Andover where his students have regularly earned positions in Connecticut Regional and All State music festivals.

Cellist Lillian Yim, 21, is a versatile musician striving to instill a love for music to her audiences. Lillian discovered her passion for music while studying cello with Katie Kennedy at the Hartt School in Connecticut, where she began performing in orchestras and chamber ensembles. She was awarded the principal cello position of the Connecticut Youth Symphony as one of the youngest members in the orchestra. Ever since then, Lillian quickly became an avid orchestral musician.  While at Farmington High School Lillian participated in NAfME’s selective All-National and All-Eastern Festival Orchestras as well as numerous Connecticut Regional and All-State festival orchestras as principal and assistant principal. Her high school chamber music groups were recognized as the Hartt School of Music’s Honor Ensemble. Lillian was a part of the Malovani Piano Quintet which was selected to play in HarttWorks, a concert at the Hartt School of Music to showcase their best ensembles.

Her passion for orchestral playing has continued throughout her time in college, where she has served as principal and assistant principal of the New England Conservatory Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras. Outside of conservatory orchestra, she was selected for the New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2022, and performed two concerts in Carnegie Hall. This summer, she will be attending the Tanglewood Music Center as a fellow for the summer of 2023.

Chamber music is a valuable part of Lillian’s career. Throughout her time at the New England Conservatory, Lillian’s quartet was selected for the Borromeo String Quartet’s Beethoven Seminar and performed Beethoven’s String Quartet, op. 74 no. 10 “Harp” in Jordan Hall.

Lillian made her soloist debut at age 17 where she performed with the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Hartford Music Teachers Alliance Concerto Competition. The orchestra invited her back in 2020 to perform Elgar’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra as the second prize winner of the CT-ASTA Solo Competition. Lillian is the first prize winner of the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition for 2019 and 2020.

Lillian studies at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Yeesun Kim, She is a recipient of the Cornelia Lombard Scholarship and the Dean’s Scholarship.