Firebrain Records - Musicians

Joseph Kuipers

Cellist

Cellist Joseph Kuipers is renowned for his creativity and versatility in his captivating performances on both modern and gut strings. Appearing at festivals and music centers around the globe, he has performed at the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Les Festival International du Domaine Forget, Kronberg Academy, Ascoli Pinceno Festival, Carl Orff Festival, and the World Cello Congress. Equally at home with modern and baroque performance styles, and often juxtaposing them in concert programs, Joseph is dedicated to the music of our time. He has worked extensively with living composers, among them Robert Cogan, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann and Arvo Part. His chamber music partners include the Miró, Dover and Escher Quartets, as well members of the Cleveland and Hagen Quartets, violinist Chee-Yun Kim and Hye-Jin Kim, pianists Alex McDonald and Amy Yang and bandoneonist JP Joffre.

Teaching plays a large role in Joseph’s musical career. He has held positions at Washington and Lee University, Eastern University, Binningen School for Gifted Students in Switzerland, as well as numerous masterclasses at worldwide, and maintains a private teaching studio of cellists in North Dallas, where he is based. His students regularly win prizes at local and national levels, and have gone on to attend Princeton, Brown, Yale, Peabody, CIM, UNT, SMU, and Indiana Universities.

He is the creative director of the TexasCellos. Under his leadership their programming has expanded to include TexasCellosSchool, one of America’s premier cello festivals, TexasCellos SESSIONS concert series presenting the most renowned musicians in casual venues, Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, and Fredericksburg Music Festival and School.

He plays a cellos from Francesco Gobetti, Venice ca 1711, and Mason Weedman, 2024.

Joseph Kuipers.com

Mary Reynolds

Violinist

Mary Reynolds, former first violinist of the Dallas Symphony ,continues to enjoy exploring the violin repertoire including chamber music; both new and traditional. Her experience in many genres of music are expanding to include such projects as tonight’s sonatas by Michael Clay. She received a Bachelor of Music from University of Southern California & a Masters Degree from SUNY Binghamton as first violinist of the Griffes Quartet .

Adam Phan

Harpist

Adam Phan is a recent graduate of the Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School where he studied with Nancy Allen. His time in New York was spent doing a wide range of work where Adam played with Wicked on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and was also a bartender at a Michelin rated restaurant! Adam has a budding orchestral career performing frequently as guest harpist with the Seattle Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St Louis Symphony, and the orchestras mentioned in NYC. Outside of orchestral playing Adam has a passion in transcribing new works for the harp, being active in education and community engagement, and having daily walks with his dog Angel.

Tracie Davis

Soprano

Tracie Rasmussen-Davis, soprano, is excited to make her second solo debut in Dallas, TX after a captivating performance of Sweet Little Jesus Boy this past December. She has performed with the Dallas Bach Society, Lafayette Singers, and Collins Classical Carolers and serves as a cantor and section leader at Mary Immaculate and Temple Emanu-El. Previously based in Chicago, she sang with the Grant Park Chorus, William Ferris Chorale, and Chicago A Cappella. A native of Pflugerville, TX, Tracie holds vocal performance degrees from LSU (BM) and Roosevelt University (MM). She is so thrilled for the opportunity to perform the beautiful music of Michael Clay!

Imre Patkai

Pianist

Imre Pátkai is pianist from Budapest Hungary. He has been a guest artist in the concert halls of Vienna, Göttingen, Jena, Helsinki, London, New York, Boston and Dallas. He made the Hungarian première of Ch. V. Alkan: Grande Sonate (Op. 33) in 2000. He regularly performs solo repertoire and he is a sought-after collaborative pianist.