The Ensemble

	Maria Schleuning, violin Maria Schleuning has performed as violinist in the Voices of Change ensemble since 1996. She joined the Dallas Symphony in 1994. In 2007 Ms. Schleuning and Voices of Change cellist Jolyon Pegis played the Brahms Double Concerto for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the Dallas Symphony, Ms. Schleuning served as the concert mistress of several orchestras including the Banff Festival Orchestra in Canada. She has been a soloist for the Dallas, Allen, Oregon, Seattle, Columbia (Oregon) and Long Bay (South Carolina) symphonies and the New Philharmonic of Irving. Maria was an alumni soloist for the 75th Anniversary of the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Since 1993, she has been a faculty member and performer at the Bowdoin (Maine) Summer Music Festival and has also performed at Music in the Mountains, Idyllwild Arts, and the Skaneateles Festival. She has been a coach for the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and played violin for the Dallas Walden Piano Quartet. In 2004 Maria performed the Barber Violin Concerto with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra on a tour of Eastern Europe. As a chamber musician, Ms. Schleuning has performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, the New York Museum of Modern Art, Merkin Hall, and concerts with Villa Musica in Germany. Ms. Schleuning studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University where she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate, with Yfrah Neaman in London as a recipient of the Dame Myra Hess Foundation Trust and with Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School where she received her Master's degree. Discography American Classics - A Continuum Portrait Vol 6 - Seeger CD 2005 Voces Americanas - Rodriguez, Et Al. Voices Of Change CD 2001 Dzubay: Dansing on a Green Bay - Jac Alder, Harvey Boatright, Jo Boatright Voices of Change, David Dzubay 2003 Innova (American Composers Forum), 2003 Music By Donald Grantham - Jo Boatright, Voices Of Change CD 2000

	Barbara Sudweeks, viola A member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra since 1976, Barbara Sudweeks studied with William Primrose, Max Aronoff and Sally Peck. She has been a concerto soloist with the Symphony, Shanghai Radio Symphony, Jiangsu Province Orchestra, Kaohsiung Traditional Chinese Orchestra, Latvian Chamber Orchestra and the Utah Symphony. An active chamber music player, she is a member of the Dallas Walden Piano Quartet and has appeared with Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman and William Preucil. Barbara teaches viola, orchestral repertoire and chamber music at SMU. She also enjoys playing and performing on the Chinese erhu.

	Jolyon Pegis, cello Jolyon Pegis, was born in Rochester, NY. He attended Indiana University and the University of Hartford, studying cello with Fritz Magg, Gary Hoffman, and David Wells. Mr. Pegis is a winner of the Artists International Awards in New York City. He has appeared as soloist with the orchestras of Kingsport, TN, Chautauqua, San Antonio, West Virginia, Maui, Virginia, and Dallas. He gave his formal recital debut in New York at Weill Recital Hall in 1990 and has since appeared as a recitalist across the country. As a champion of new music he has commissioned and premiered several works and has worked with composers such as Gunther Schuller, Lukas Foss, and Don Freund. He is an advocate of the music of the late Eric Heckard and has premiered a number of his works including his Concerto for Cello and Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Pegis has served on the faculties of Southern Methodist University, the Hartt School of Music, and the D’Angelo School of Music at Mercyhurst College. He was a member of the Arcadia Trio in residence at the Yellow Barn Music Festival and has also been featured at the Roycroft Chamber Music Festival in Buffalo and the Anchorage Festival of the Arts. From 1993-1995 he was the Music Director of the Jamestown Youth Orchestra. Currently, Jolyon is a member of the Dallas Symphony and Assistant Principal Cello of the Chautauqua Symphony. He also plays as a substitute with the Chicago Symphony.

	Helen Blackburn, flute Helen Blackburn is currently principal flute of the Dallas Opera Orchestra and is on the faculty of Texas Christian University and has served on the faculties of Stephen F. Austin State University and McMurry University. She appears frequently in recital across the country and in Europe as a soloist and also with her husband, Drew Lang, in their flute/marimba duo. Ms. Blackburn has numerous credits with major performing arts organizations, both as a featured soloist and as a member, including the Aspen Music Festival, the South Bohemia Music Festival, Voices of Change – Dallas’ new music ensemble, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra. In the summer of 2002, she became principal flute at the Brevard (NC) Music Festival. Helen is a prizewinner of the Myrna W. Brown Artist Competition, the Fort Collins Young Artist Competition and the Aspen Wind Concerto Competition and is a former president of the Texas Flute Society. An advocate of contemporary music, she works closely with many living composers, including Dan Welcher, Simon Sargon, Martin Amlin, and G. Bradley Bodine. Ms. Blackburn received her B.M. (summa cum laude) from West Texas State University and her M.M. from Northwestern University. Her primary teachers (to whom she is forever indebted) were Sally Turk, Walfrid Kujala and Brad Garner with additional influence from James Pellerite.

	Paul Garner, clarinet Paul Garner is Associate Principal and E-flat clarinetist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his Dallas appointment he held positions in the orchestras of New Orleans and Denver and was a member of the United States Military Academy Band at West Point. He has been clarinetist for the Voices of Change ensemble since 1999. In the 2007-2008 season he performed the dramatic premiere of Simon Sargon’s The Miller’s Tears. Mr. Garner is Principal Clarinetist of Music in the Mountains in Durango, Colorado, and has performed with the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra of Wyoming. He has also served on the faculty of Brevard Music Center, North Carolina. He is active in several other Dallas area chamber music series, including those of the Nasher Sculpture Center, Fine Arts Chamber Players, Walden Chamber Music Society, Crowley Chamber Music Series at the University of Dallas and the Hubbard Chamber Music Society. Paul made his debut as soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in 1994 and has appeared in numerous solo and chamber recitals throughout Texas. He has been a contributing writer for The Clarinet, and has presented master classes at universities and music festivals throughout the country. A dedicated teacher, Mr. Garner is presently on the faculty of Southern Methodist University where he teaches clarinet and chamber music. Paul Garner holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Michigan State University, and his teachers include Kalmen Opperman, Else Ludewig-Verdehr and Larry Maxey.

	Deborah Mashburn, percussion Deborah Mashburn, resident percussionist with Voices of Change since 1984, is Principal Timpanist of the Dallas Opera and Assistant Principal Timpanist/Percussionist of the Fort Worth Symphony. She studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, on a Rotary International Undergraduate Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship and two Austrian Government Grants and is a graduate of the University of North Texas School of Music with a Masters in Percussion Performance. She toured throughout Europe as a member of the Glorieux Ensemble and performed frequently with the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Salzburg Academia Camerata Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Nuremberg Opera and the Munich State Opera. Ms. Mashburn also toured North America, Europe and Singapore with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and performed at music festivals in Mexico and South America. She was featured as soloist on the Cliburn Concert Series. Ms. Mashburn is actively involved in introducing music and percussion to students of all ages in the Metroplex. She leads a percussion trio that has performed hundreds of educational concerts for thousands of students over three decades. Ms. Mashburn has been featured on several Voices of Change recordings including Voces Americanas which was nominated in 1999 for a Grammy. In addition she has played on many recordings of the Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony and the Dallas Opera.

	Virginia Dupuy, mezzo-soprano Ms. Dupuy has delighted audiences from coast to coast with her performances of major works from the oratorio, symphonic, operatic and recital repertoire. She is winner of the Mid-America Concert Singers Competition and was a finalist in the National Opera Association and Concert Artists Guild competitions. She has appeared with the Dallas, Phoenix and Houston Symphonies, and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra. Currently, Ms. Dupuy is a member of the Voice Faculty of the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU. She has sung with Voices of Change since 1991. Virginia Dupuy has earned a reputation as one of the finest concert and recital singers in the United States. She continues to champion American music in her recent recordings including the 1999 Grammy nominated Voces Americanas with Voices of Change. Fanfare magazine hails her recording of Dominic Argento’s Pulitzer prize winner From the Diary of Virginia Woolf as one of the top classical recordings of 1990, calling it "one of the most impressive discs of vocal music heard in a long time." Her voice has been described as having "a velvety dark richness" (Santa Fe Reporter), and her interpretation, "a purity and pungency of style" (Houston Chronicle).?Ms. Dupuy made her Lincoln Center debut with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall. Other engagements include appearances with the symphonies of Pittsburgh, Dallas, Houston, Honolulu, Phoenix, Calgary, and the Fort Worth Symphony’s inaugural season in the Bass Performance Hall. She performs works ranging from Bach to Beethoven and Verdi to Mahler, displaying warmth of tone and flexibility. In 2004 Virginia Dupuy with Shields-Collins Bray and Tara Emerson released the CD Dwell in Possibility: Emily Dickinson in Song on the Gasparo label, a recital of songs by American composers following research on hundreds of composers’ settings of Dickinson texts. Represented in this project are her highly esteemed composer friends Jake Heggie, Lee Hoiby, Richard Hundley, Dan Welcher, Simon Sargon, Lori Laitman, William Jordan and others. At the Emily Dickinson International Society annual meeting in Amherst, Massachusetts, July 2002, Dupuy gave the premiere performance of two songs written for this event. In November, 2001, Ms. Dupuy appeared at Alice Tully Hall with Teatro Grattacielo, singing two roles in Risurrezione by Franco Alfano. The New York Times praised her "firm and glowing Mezzo" and "authoritative poise." Known for her versatility, Virginia Dupuy has sung roles in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Die Zauberflöte, Gianni Schicchi andCavalleria Rusticana. And in 2004/5, Jenufa,, ans Little Women. Her public television and radio appearances include performance of the Bernstein Jeremiah Symphony, Verdi Requiem, Ravel L’Enfant et les Sortileges, and the Bach St. Matthew Passion. Ms. Dupuy can also be heard as the Opera Diva on Disney’s audio release of Dick Tracy. Virginia Dupuy has maintained a strong passion for contemporary music, as expressed in her many recordings. Ms. Dupuy sang two world premieres:Wise Women and Hsueh-Yung Shen’s Three Poems of Anne Sexton with the Southwestern Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Recital Hall. By special invitation, she sang in the distinguished Mahler Symposium at Oxford University. Ms. Dupuy performed Harawi with pianist Shields-Collins Bray at an International Messiaen Festival which she reprised in 2001 with the premiere ensemble Voices of Change. She joined them again to sing works by Heggie and Welcher in two concerts in 2002. Ms. Dupuy is a professor of music at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. She is in demand as a teacher of vocal Master Classes internationally, and performs Emily in Song throughout the United States. Her 2004-2005 season featured appearances with the Dallas Opera (Jenkins), Dallas Symphony (Flor), Austin Symphony (Bay), Plano Symphony (Guzman), and Fort Worth Opera (Larkin). Other performances will include Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things not Seen, with the composer present, at Fort Worth’s Museum of Modern Art on the "Modern at the Modern by Cliburn " series, Voices of Change in "Harper’s Monologue" with Ricky Ian Gordon, soloist in Meadows Museum Brahms Symposium, the Handel Festival in Gerogetown with Julianne Baird and Drew Minter, and at the International Wind Convention with Will Roberts and Simon Sargon. Ms. Dupuy has recored on the VOX label with the New York Virtuosi, and has been heard on both public television and radio.

	Gina Browning, soprano Gina Browning has earned a reputation both as a major recitalist and as an opera star throughout the United States and Europe. She has performed leading opera roles with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Eugene Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Shreveport Opera, Vlamse Kameroper (Belgium), Ft. Lauderdale Opera and London's Camden Festival, where the Financial Times hailed her creation of the role of Iseult in Frank Martin's Le Vin Herbé as "mesmeric." Other critics have praised her "show stopping virtuosity," (Eugene Register-Guard)) her "delightful characterizations" (St. Louis Post-Gazette) and her "ravishing vocal beauty." (Miami Herald) The Albany Times said, "It would be difficult to imagine a better Violetta than Virginia Browning." She has been a frequent soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony, the Miami Symphony and the Austrian Radio Orchestra. She organized and was the soprano soloist in the Rolling Requiem in Santa Fe on September 11, 2002. This was a performance of the Mozart Requiem that was part of a series of performances worldwide, in memoriam of the victims of September 11, 2001. Her solo recitals include Vienna, Graz, Paris, London, Hamburg, Rome, Brescia, Kyoto, New York, Dallas, Santa Fe and San Francisco. She appeared as a guest soloist on a Public Television series about opera.