Soloists

The Granite State Symphony Orchestra is proud to share the stage with wonderfully talented soloists, many of whom are regular members of our Orchestra.

George Lopez | Stacie Lin | Yasmin Myers | Elliott Markow | Laurel Gagnon

 

Soloists of our 2012|2013 Season:

George Lopez, Piano
Performing in: An Afternoon with Beethoven

George Lopez has been featured across the globe as recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and collaborator. He received critical acclaim for his interpretation of Bach's Goldberg Variations at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and has performed the complete cycle of Beethoven Piano Concertos in his last two concert seasons. He was invited by the Holland Music Sessions, now one of the top performing arenas for up and coming musicians in Europe, to go on a world tour for which he performed in Paris, London, Cologne, New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and in Los Angeles where he was hailed by the L.A. Times for his "...musical perspective, continuity, and kaleidoscopic colors."

Mr. Lopez has also performed Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue to a capacity crowd with the NH Music Festival Orchestra. Last November he gave recitals in Switzerland and Holland and just this October played Chopin's First Piano Concerto. He has premiered a piano concerto especially written for him by Romeo Melloni, an Italian composer from Milan, which he recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra in Prague with Maestro Paul Polivnick. He has just returned from a successful West Coast tour where he performed solo and chamber music concerts as well as masterclasses in San Jose, Seattle and San Francisco. In 2009 he performed at Brown University with renowned American composer David Amram for a week-long residency there and his recent tour of Europe has garnered future invitations to festivals in Switzerland and Italy. His upcoming concert season includes several concerto appearances besides tonight's concert including Beethoven's "Emporer" Concerto, Mozart's "Jeune Homme" and Schumann's Concerto in A minor.

Mr. Lopez is Bowdoin College’s Robert Beckwith Artist-in-Residence and has recently taken up the baton to be the new conductor of the Bowdoin Chamber Orchestra. He lives in Maine with his wife and two children.

 

Stacie Lin, Violin
Performing in: Baroque is Back

Stacie Lin, a freshman at Bedford High School in NH, began studying the violin when she was three and a half. She won first place in her instrument at the 2009 Taiwan Music Competition when she was in fifth grade. Stacie plays in the New Hampshire Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal and played in the NH Youth Symphony Orchestra for two years. She studies under Elliott Markow, the concertmaster of the Granite State Symphony Orchestra, the New Hampshire Philharmonic, and the Nashua Symphony Orchestra. Stacie has also studied with Sally Thomas at the Meadowmount School of Music.

In school, Stacie has represented her school as captain of the math team for state math competitions for the past 2 years. An excellent student academically, she also enjoys track and field and golf. Her favorite foods are strawberries and chocolate.





 

Yasmin Myers, Violin
Performing in: Baroque is Back

Yasmin Soorayah Myers is currently in 5th Grade at the Pine Hill School in Wilton, NH. She started violin at age three and a half with Debbie Markow at the Manchester Community Music School, and moved under the tutelage of Elliott Markow when she was seven. Yasmin has served as Assistant Concertmaster of the Young People’s String Orchestra and is currently a member in the Junior Repertory Orchestra (both BYSO groups). At the age of nine, Yasmin was one of the winners of the American Fine Arts Festival Golden Strings Competition and performed at the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. For the last two summers, Yasmin has attended the Meadowmount School of Music where she has studied with Jan Mark Sloman.

In addition to the violin, Yasmin is working toward her Black Belt in karate, enjoys swimming, skiing, reading, art, piano lessons, and dreams about training dolphins when she grows up.





 

Elliott Markow, Violin
Performing in: Baroque is Back

Elliott Markow has been concertmaster of the Granite State Symphony Orchestra for more than nine years, and, according to conductor Robert C. Babb, is a tremendous leader as well as the hardest working, most ethical musician he knows.

Markow began playing violin at age 4 and has continued playing ever since. At 11, he made his professional debut performing Mozart's Concerto No. 4 with the Boston Pops. Markow is a graduate of Boston University and has studied with William Kroll, Emmanual Borok and Berl Senofsky. After winning an international audition, he was selected to study for two years under the legendary Jascha Heifetz.

Markow is a former assistant concertmaster of the New Orleans Symphony and has taught at the University of New Orleans and Tulane University. He has performed in the New England, Florida, Gulf Coast, New Orleans and Southern California regions.

Today, Markow is the concertmaster of not only the GSSO, but also the New Hampshire Philharmonic and the Nashua Symphony. He has been a substitute member of the Boston Pops and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops.

Aside from a rigorous performing schedule, Markow currently teaches at Manchester Community Music School, the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and his private studio.

 

Laurel Gagnon, Violin
Performing in: Romantic in March

Laurel Gagnon, a home schooled senior from Hooksett, began her violin studies at the age of three. She has been studying with Elliott Markow at the Manchester Community Music School since 2007. She has attended the Meadowmount School of Music for the past three summers, studying with Sally Thomas.

In 2006, Gagnon won her first competition, the New Hampshire Youth Symphony Concerto Competition. She has also won the Young Promise International Music Competition, the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition, the NH Philharmonic Youth Concerto Competition, and the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra Youth Concerto Competition. She has previously soloed with six different orchestras, including the New Hampshire Youth Symphony, the Lakes Region Symphony Orchestra, the Granite State Symphony Orchestra, the NH Philharmonic, the Concert for Hope Orchestra, and the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra.

Gagnon has performed for and studied with professionals such as Ronan Leftkovich, Ben Sayevich, Andrew Sords, William van der Sleut, Tong Wei Dong, Lynn Harell, and Joseph Silverstein. Gagnon has also been a member of the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra since 2007. In 2010, she was accepted onto the substitute list of the Symphony New Hampshire. She regularly performs as a professional in other groups, such as the Clearlakes Chorale.

Off the stage, Gagnon is an avid runner, competing in cross country and track for Central High School. She also enjoys cooking and watching films. Next year, she will begin her college studies, majoring in violin performance. God has given her a passion for music, and she will be chasing her dream of a musical career.