Commuter Concert Series: Cara Schlecker Ketter, violin, and Paul Dykstra, piano
Name:
Commuter Concert Series: Cara Schlecker Ketter, violin, and Paul Dykstra, piano
Date:
November 21, 2023
Time:
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM CST
Website:
http://www.fpclg.org
Event Description:
Violinist Cara Schlecker, alumna of The University of Michigan and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, is an avid performer and teacher in the Chicagoland area. She is the current concertmaster of the West Suburban Symphony and former Member of The Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Ms. Schlecker has performed internationally in both the Rome Chamber Music Festival and the InterHarmony Festival of Hinterzarten, Germany. She made her Lincoln Center debut in 2012 and has had the pleasure of performing several times at both the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse and Le Poisson Rouge. She has been featured on Chicago’s classical station WFMT radio’s “Introductions.” Ms. Schlecker was featured on national television with the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in their PBS special, “A Grand Mercer Christmas.”
She has performed and toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Chuck Leavell, Jo Dee Messina, the “Ten Tenors” of Broadway, and Martin Short, to name a few. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Schlecker has performed chapter recitals on behalf of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Wagner Society of America. Her recording, of Igor Frolov's Concert Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, was released through The University of Michigan's “Gershwin Initiative.” Ms. Schlecker has served on faculty at Triton College and Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College Chicago. She currently maintains a private studio in Itasca.
Paul Dykstra supports (and has supported) choral / keyboard activities at Concordia Lutheran Church, Foster Avenue Baptist Church, Northwest Fellowship Baptist Church (all in Chicago) and Temple Jeremiah of Northfield and Temple Sholom of Chicago for 40+ years. A collaborative pianist, he is dedicated to exposing the world to the music lost in the Holocaust of World War II. He has performed at the Singer Festival in Warsaw debuting the piano trio and vocal works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and other Jewish composers.
Recent performances have included concerts with the Ravinia Festival Outreach, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Guild Activities, The International Women's Associates, The Grant Park Music Festival (including live WFMT / Myra Hess performances with The Grant Park Vocal Fellows and his own The Fine Art of the Song Series at Salon des Artistes Music in Chicago's Downtown Fine Arts Building.
As Musical Conductor of Chicago’s Lira Singers and visionary of the Lira Symphony Orchestra, Dykstra spent 15+ years bringing Polish opera and classical music to audiences throughout the United States. He conducted recordings and performances with Lira at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
Dykstra is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of South Dakota. He has studied piano with Ani Gogova and Ludmilla Lazar of the Chicago College of Performing Arts and with James Mathis of the Juilliard School. He studied coaching and conducting with Jan Meyerowitz of the Metropolitan Opera while at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria.
She has performed and toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, Chuck Leavell, Jo Dee Messina, the “Ten Tenors” of Broadway, and Martin Short, to name a few. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Schlecker has performed chapter recitals on behalf of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Wagner Society of America. Her recording, of Igor Frolov's Concert Fantasy on Themes from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, was released through The University of Michigan's “Gershwin Initiative.” Ms. Schlecker has served on faculty at Triton College and Sherwood Conservatory of Music at Columbia College Chicago. She currently maintains a private studio in Itasca.
Paul Dykstra supports (and has supported) choral / keyboard activities at Concordia Lutheran Church, Foster Avenue Baptist Church, Northwest Fellowship Baptist Church (all in Chicago) and Temple Jeremiah of Northfield and Temple Sholom of Chicago for 40+ years. A collaborative pianist, he is dedicated to exposing the world to the music lost in the Holocaust of World War II. He has performed at the Singer Festival in Warsaw debuting the piano trio and vocal works of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and other Jewish composers.
Recent performances have included concerts with the Ravinia Festival Outreach, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Guild Activities, The International Women's Associates, The Grant Park Music Festival (including live WFMT / Myra Hess performances with The Grant Park Vocal Fellows and his own The Fine Art of the Song Series at Salon des Artistes Music in Chicago's Downtown Fine Arts Building.
As Musical Conductor of Chicago’s Lira Singers and visionary of the Lira Symphony Orchestra, Dykstra spent 15+ years bringing Polish opera and classical music to audiences throughout the United States. He conducted recordings and performances with Lira at Chicago’s Symphony Center.
Dykstra is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of South Dakota. He has studied piano with Ani Gogova and Ludmilla Lazar of the Chicago College of Performing Arts and with James Mathis of the Juilliard School. He studied coaching and conducting with Jan Meyerowitz of the Metropolitan Opera while at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Austria.
