Classical Music Indy employs a diverse range of musicians for our events around Indianapolis. In 2016 we hired 95 musicians. Classical Music Indy has dedicated our blog articles to outstanding women musicians this month. We’ve shared about great women music educators in America and about under-recognized women musicians throughout history. This week, we take a look at a few of Classical Music Indy’s top performers – women who are doing great work here and now in the city of Indianapolis. Read below about these incredibly talented musicians, and hopefully you’ll hear them at one of our events in the near future!
Highlighting Our Female Performers
Bethany Daugherty
As a musician and writer, Bethany Daugherty is extremely passionate about the performing and written arts. She began learning violin and piano at the age of five from her mother, and grew up performing for schools, nursing homes, and churches as part of a family performance group. Daugherty double majored in music and English while attending the University of Indianapolis, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Violin Performance and a second major of Creative Writing. Daugherty studied violin with Christal Steele, Ariana Kim, and Austin Hartman.
Daugherty has a long history of performing and teaching, with 18 years of experience performing in orchestras and gigging, and 14 years of experience teaching private lessons. Currently, she is the personnel manager and section violinist for Anderson Symphony Orchestra, board member of the Indianapolis Symphonic Band, a freelance musician playing for weddings, background music, and Classical Music Indy gigs, teaching for three different music studios, and a member of Juvin: The One Man Band, a local bluegrass/folk band. Daugherty and her husband Josh live in the Fountain Square neighborhood of Indianapolis.
Laura Dubish
A native of California, flutist Laura Dubish serves as second flute with Anderson Symphony Orchestra and piccolo with Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, and holds substitute positions with Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
A passion for chamber music and education has led to many opportunities to perform with, and direct chamber ensembles. Her work with the Blackbird Music Project, a chamber music ensemble in the Los Angeles area that performs at local engagements and non-profit concerts as an educational outreach for young musicians, is a constant reminder of the importance of musical experience in the lives of young people. In Los Angeles, Dubish also served as the assistant director of the Sterling Flute Choir, which she co-founded with director Sandra Kipp. In Indianapolis, she is the founder/director of the Indy Winds Flute Choir, a 30 member flute orchestra of all ages and levels, and an active member of the Greater Indianapolis Flute Club.
As a teacher, Dubish maintains a private studio in Indianapolis focused on adult musicians looking to enrich their lives through continued pursuit and rediscovery of musical practice. Dubish and her partner, Nick Milan, currently run Chickadee Gardens, a non-profit urban farm in Indianapolis, as well as Roost Acrobatic Loft, their acrobatics training loft on the property
Jennifer Gallegos
Born in Indianapolis, Jennifer Gallegos began playing flute in church with a group of lively musicians. She learned new music playing by ear and harmonizing and improvising on songs. Since 1990, Gallegos has maintained a busy career as a freelance performer and teacher throughout the United States and the Caribbean. Recent recordings of Gallegos can be heard on Echoes of Your Heart (2016), 500 Years (2010), Dance of the Brujas (2008), and El Viajero (2006). At the Moonlight Jazz Festival on St. John in the USVI, Gallegos opened for Nestor Torres and Gato Barbieri in 2005 and 2007, and she continues to perform chamber music, large concerts, and festivals throughout the United States and the Caribbean.
Gallegos met and began playing with pianist Joshua Thompson in 2016, and quickly realized they shared a passion for French music, specifically music written around the turn of the 20th Century. This enthusiasm quickly led to the formation of a duo, and Bon Temps was created. Bon Temps, meaning “good times” in French, focuses on life, love, music, and art as it was from the 1870’s through the 1930’s, when artists from Europe and America were crisscrossing the Atlantic, sharing ideas, lovers, and life.
Gallegos is also the founder of Chica Fluta Ensemble, a group of bass, alto, and transverse flutist performers of classical and chamber music, and in 2014 Gallegos joined the Indiana Wind Symphony, resident ensemble at The Palladium in Carmel, Indiana. She maintains a full teaching studio, and is the Adjunct Flute Specialist at Carmel High School, Noblesville High School, and Riverside Junior High School. Gallegos also leads flute clinics through Conn-Selmer Education Program. More information about bookings and lessons can be found at chicaflutastudio.com.
Maya Nojiri Sutherland
Maya Nojiri Sutherland is an emerging artist with great enthusiasm for contemporary music. A native of Japan, she is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Cello Performance at IU, while freelancing widely and teaching in Indiana and surrounding areas.
Nojiri Sutherland has collaborated with composers internationally for numerous performances and premieres of new compositions. Recent collaborative activities include participation in interdisciplinary projects with film, art, and dance, Midwest Composers Symposium 2012 and 2013, Japan Festival for Contemporary Music from Japan held at Indiana University, festivals and workshops with established ensembles Fifth House Ensemble (Chicago), and Ensemble Modern (Germany), and JACK Quartet. She is the recipient of 2014 Indiana University Dean’s Prize, Mrs. Hong Pham Memorial Recognition Award for New Music Performance.
Nojiri Sutherland is a founding member of Indianapolis-based contemporary music ensemble, Forward Motion. Nojiri Sutherland hopes to provide more opportunities for the community to experience broader styles of modern classical music.
Jennifer Page
Jennifer Page is a freelance artist in the greater Indianapolis area where she maintains an active private studio and performance schedule. In addition to teaching and performing, Page serves as a board member for the Symphonic Youth Orchestra of Greater Indianapolis, as the secretary for the Greater Indianapolis Flute Club, and as a board member for the International Artist Initiative. A contemporary music enthusiast, Page is a founding member of Forward Motion, Indy’s premier new music chamber ensemble.
During the day, you can find Page teaching private flute lessons and sectionals in several of the greater Indianapolis school corporations, at the University of Indianapolis Pre-College and Adult Music Program, and at her home studio. On the weekends, you can find her performing with local ensembles for various events and concerts. As a teacher, Page seeks to provide personalized instruction tailored to each individual’s learning styles and goals. As a result, her students have found great success in their school ensembles, local youth orchestras, and various competitions and auditions. As a performer, Page strives for the transcendent, to move audiences beyond the simple enjoyment of music to a deeper connection that begs for contemplation and self-reflection. She believes art and music have the power to bring positive change and healing to a broken world.
Heidi Radtke
Heidi Radtke maintains an active career as a saxophonist and pedagogue. She is in her third year as the Instructor of Saxophone at Butler University and is a sought after private teacher in the Indianapolis area.
An avid chamber musician, Radtke has performed with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Carmel Symphony, and Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. She actively performs with fellow saxophonist Henning Schröder as part of the Hiding Duo. As a solo artist, she has been featured at regional and national conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance, the Indiana State Contemporary Music Festival, and the Annual Festival of New Music at Ball State University. In 2015, Radtke performed the Midwest premiere of Scott McAllister’s Concerto Americana along with clarinetist Trina Gross and the Butler Wind Ensemble. She was a featured artist at the 2015 SEAMUS Electro-Acoustic Music Conference and presented two performances at the 2015 World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France.
Prior to moving to Indianapolis, Radtke served as an Associate Instructor of Saxophone for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she is currently a doctoral candidate. She completed bachelor degrees in political science and saxophone performance along with masters degrees in library science and music performance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her primary teachers include Debra Richtmeyer and Otis Murphy.
Heidi Radtke is a Vandoren Artist.
Leilah Smith
Leilah Smith is a Suzuki cello and piano instructor in the Broad Ripple area. She graduated from the Music Education program at the University of Indianapolis in August of 2015 and has been teaching privately since. She has been playing music since she was 6 years old and is an alumni of the New World Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has previously attended intense chamber music programs at the Credo and Masterworks summer music festivals. Smith performs frequently with her string quartet/trio Dynamic Strings.
Smith’s priority as a teacher is to encourage character building traits in her students and to differentiate based on their learning needs. Her goal is to help children acquire important life skills and coping mechanisms through the study of music.
This month’s blog posts are made possible by the Eloise Paul Women in Music Fund.
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