The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts | WFMT

Cellist Ezra Escobar and pianist Ryan Senger perform works by Nicanor Abelardo and Sergei Rachmaninoff live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.
Lauded as “vibrant” and “gifted” (Chicago Classical Review), Filipino-American cellist Ezra Escobar maintains a prolific output as a multigenre cellist, composer, and music producer. He made his solo debut at age 16 with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago and was a guest soloist with the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra. Other engagements include appearances with the Young Steinway Concert Series, Chicago Rush Hour Concerts, on Chicago’s WFMT radio station, collaborations with activist music collective Sound Off and a residency with noted jazz clarinetist Ken Peplowski at Birdland Jazz Club in NYC. Ezra is a resident artist of the Fil-Am Music Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting exceptional Filipino classical musicians through scholarship assistance and performance opportunities. As a composer, his works have premiered at Symphony Center, the Evanston Chamber Music Society, and the Heifetz Institute. He is currently at work on his first solo record as a cellist, inspired by 2000s rave culture and dance music.
Ryan Senger is a Chicago based pianist who ardently promotes the expansion of today’s classical cannon. Maintaining an active performance schedule as a recitalist and collaborator, recent engagements have seen him perform at the Brevnov Monastery in the Prague Piano Festival; Utrechts Conservatorium in the Netherlands; on the Steinway Piano Series in Tampa, Florida; and as a chamber music collaborator with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. In 2022, Senger won the U.S. OSAKA International Music Competition for piano. Additional awards and honors have included receiving the Steinway Young Artist Prize, given at the 2019 Brancaleoni International Music Festival, as well receiving first prizes at the 2021 University of South Florida Piano Competition and the 2016 Kleinman Piano Competition.

Cellist Yanyan Lin and pianist Umi Garrett perform works by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Lili Boulanger, and Nadia Boulanger.
Yanyan Lin performed Haydn D Major Cello Concerto at age 19 with Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra as his solo debut in Shanghai He-luting Hall. He has been invited by festivals such as Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, Encuentro de Santander, Seiji Ozawa Academy, Ravinia Festival, Cello Akademie Rutesheim Cellofest.fi, Saito Kinen Festival and Shanghai International Cello Festival. He is also the laureate of the China National Chamber Music Competition and the American Protégé Competition He has participated in masterclasses with world-renowned artists such as Jian Wang, Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, David Geringas, Jens-Peter Maintz and Mario Brunello. Yanyan Lin is currently a PhD student at the Royal Academy of Music. He has accomplished the Artist Diploma and master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Music with Prof. Jo Cole and Christoph Richter, with the support of the full scholarship from ABRSM and Hans Keller Award. He received his Bachelor at the Shanghai Conservatoire with Prof. Li Jiwu. He currently plays on a Genaro Gagliano 1764 Violoncello, kindly lent by the Royal Academy of Music Museum.
Most recently, Umi Garrett was awarded 4th prize at the 2020 National Chopin Competition and 1st prize in the Juilliard School’s concerto competition, performing Ravel’s G Major Concerto. As a soloist, she has also performed with many renowned orchestras, such as the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, Symphonia Boca Raton, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Pasadena Symphony and Pops, the Boston Pops, the Missouri Symphony Orchestra, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. As a passionate collaborator and chamber musician, she has performed with prizewinners in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition, 2022 Sphinx Competition, and 2023 Montreal International Violin Competition, where she received the award for best collaborative pianist. Umi has recorded 3 solo albums and will be releasing her debut chamber album in 2023 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s 5 Sonatas for Piano and Cello with Emily Mantone. Umi is a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where she currently studies with Hung Kuan Chen. Umi is a Young Steinway Artist.

Baritone Ian Rucker and pianist Michael Banwarth perform music by Gabriel Fauré, Gustav Mahler, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, and Richard Rodgers live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.
The third-year baritone with Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Ian Rucker will appear at Lyric in the 2024/25 season as Schaunard/La bohème. He holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where his roles included Count Almaviva/The Marriage of Figaro and the title role/The Barber of Seville. He has also appeared as Papageno/The Magic Flute at Bloomington Chamber Opera. Rucker earned his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he was heard in the title roles of Don Giovanni and Sweeney Todd, as well as Officer Lockstock/Urinetown and Ernst Ludwig/Cabaret. Concert engagements include Carmina Burana with the Northwest Indiana Symphony. Rucker is a former Palm Beach Opera Apprentice Artist and a former Aspen Music Festival Renée Fleming Artist. He recently received an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Wisconsin District) and first place in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition.
The second-year pianist with Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Michael Banwarth recently completed a Master of Music in collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. A recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship and Gunther Schuller medal at NEC, Banwarth served as teaching assistant for the Song Lab program, performed frequently in the Liederabend and Sonata Night concert series, and prepared productions of The Turn of the Screw and L’enfant et les sortilèges. In summer 2022, he was invited to be a vocal piano fellow at Music Academy of the West. He has also held fellowships at the Bay View Music Festival and the Atlantic Music Festival, and served as assistant music director and harpsichordist for the Iowa State Opera Studio during his undergraduate studies. In Lyric’s 2024/25 Season, Banwarth will serve on the music staff for Blue.

Violinist Oliver Neubauer and pianist Chelsea Wang perform works by Clara Schumann and Richard Strauss live at the Seventeeth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.
Violinist Oliver Neubauer is quickly establishing himself as one of the most exciting young artists of his time. First prize winner of the 2023 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Oliver is a YCA Jacobs Fellow and is managed worldwide by Young Concert Artists.
Praised by the New York Times as an “excellent young pianist”, Chelsea Wang is prizewinner and finalist of many national and international piano competitions including the Seoul International Piano Competition, Washington International Piano Competition, and New York International Piano Competition. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with James Giles.

Recently winning 3rd prize at the Epinal International Piano Competition and Leoš Janáček International Competition in Brno, In-Ae Ha is acclaimed as a passionate pianist, lauded for her “new and radiant interpretation, brilliant virtuosity, and driving energy” according to the Chosun Newspaper Concert Review.

Recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, 29-year-old American pianist Mackenzie Melemed’s international career continues to flourish. Melemed was the winner of Juilliard’s 2019 Leo B. Ruiz Carnegie Hall Recital Prize and 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, as well as the Jade Medal at the 2019 China International Music Competition and the first prize and chamber music prize at Finland’s 2017 Maj Lind International Piano Competition. He performs works by Amy Beach, Robert Schumann, and Igor Stravinsky, live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.

Pianist Avery Gagliano was the First Prize and Best Concerto Prize winner of the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition, and semifinalist at the 18th International Chopin Competition in 2021. She perform works by George Frideric Handel, Maurice Ravel, and Nikolai Medtner live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.

Pianist Anna Han received the second prize at the 2023 Naumburg International Piano Competition and first prize at the 2023 National Federation of Music Clubs Competition. She performs her own arrangement of two Robert Schumann pieces and works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Unsuk Chin, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Sergei Prokofiev, live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.