SEASON SPONSORED BY
2025 - 2026
Our 67th Season
The Search
GUEST ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
As a committed chamber musician, Setapen is in demand as a collaborator throughout the Midwest. She performs frequently with Present Music. Her talent has led her to collaborations with such distinguished artists as Ron Leonard, Lynn Harrell, Toby Appel, Cynthia Phelps, Joseph Kalichstein, Robert DeMaine, Paul Coletti, the Fine Arts Quartet, David Geber, Joan Tower, and Chris Thile. Solo and chamber music performances have brought her abroad to China, France, Brazil, Holland, England, Monaco, and Italy.
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Setapen grew up in Amarillo, Texas. Her father is a conductor and her first violin teacher was her mother. She was a student of Robert Lipsett both at the University of Southern California and at the Colburn Conservatory. She received her Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes. She is also a dedicated educator and has a thriving private studio. In her spare time, Setapen enjoys spending time with her husband and their two sons and swing dancing.
ILANA SETAPEN
Since her solo orchestral debut at age 15, Ilana Setapen has been flourishing as a violinist with a powerful and original voice. She is hailed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel as a violinist with “a sparkling sound” and “the kind of control that puts an audience completely at ease.” She is currently the First Associate Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
In recent seasons, Setapen has had solo performances with the Milwaukee Symphony, Festival City Symphony, and the Amarillo Symphony, among others. She also held the Assistant Concertmaster position of the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra in Chicago for 6 years and is a favorite guest concertmaster with the Chicago Philharmonic. In recent summers, she has performed at the Olympic Music Festival on Bainbridge Island and the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, Minnesota. She is currently on the violin faculty at Chicago Summer Opera and at the University of Michigan’s Center Stage Strings. ​
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VIOLIN
CHRISTINE SHERLOCK
VIOLA
Christine Sherlock is entering her third season as violist of the Cascade Quartet and principal violist of the Great Falls Symphony, and also holds the title of associate principal violist of the Helena Symphony.
She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey, and has also studied extensively with Caroline Coade at the University of Michigan, and Honggang Li, violist of the Shanghai Quartet.
Sherlock was a member of the Ashland Symphony Orchestra, the Erie Chamber Orchestra, the Youngstown Symphony, Warren Philharmonic, the Ohio Valley Symphony, Cleveland Opera Theatre, and Opera Circle.
She has been a core musician of many groups including the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Opera Italiana, Montclair Orchestra, and St. Peter’s by the Sea.
In addition, Sherlock has participated in many festivals and competitions, including the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition (2017), Mimir Chamber Music Festival, LAMP (Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance), and the Mendelssohn Festival in Hamburg, Germany.
In her spare time, she enjoys running, yoga, and strong iced coffee.
MATTHEW HAKKARAINEN
VIOLIN
Violinist Matthew Hakkarainen joins the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as Associate Concertmaster starting in the 2025-26 season. He attended the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Pamela Frank, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Ronald Copes, and he is an alumnus of the Rebanks Fellowship Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School. He is the first American violinist to win first prize at the Premio Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition, where he also received three special prizes.
​Matthew was awarded third prize at the Stuttgart International Violin Competition, second prize at the MieczysÅ‚aw Wajnberg International Violin Competition, and third prize ex æquo at the Ysaÿe International Music Competition. He also won the second prize, audience prize, and contemporary piece prize at the Mirecourt International Violin Competition, and won grand prize in the Adelphi Orchestra Young Artist Competition.
Matthew performed as a soloist with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony as the winner of their Concerto Competition, and he also won the Aspen Music Festival’s Violin Competition, performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra. He received first prize ex æquo in the Prix Ravel at the Fontainebleau Schools of Music and Fine Arts with his performance of Ravel’s Tzigane, and he was a recipient of the Oleg Kagan Memorial Fund Scholarship at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Courses in Finland, where he worked with Finnish violinist Elina Vähälä. Matthew has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Orchestra Sinfonica Bulgaria Classic di Plovdiv, Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Lorraine, Karol Szymanowski Academic Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Adelphi Orchestra, New River Orchestra, Alhambra Orchestra, and others. He has served as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the latter for which he recorded the violin solos from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and he has played as a substitute violinist with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Also an active chamber musician, Matthew has performed as a returning guest artist at Caspian Music and Viridian Strings, and was honored to be part of the inaugural Rising Artists Program hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach.
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Matthew is very grateful to perform on a 1790 Giuseppe Guadagnini violin and an Étienne Pajeot bow graciously provided by the company CANIMEX INC., from Drummondville (Québec), Canada. A native of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, he is also thankful to have recently received his dual citizenship with Finland.
DWIGHT PARRY
OBOE
Dwight Parry is the principal oboist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Professor of Oboe at Bowling Green State University and Adjunct Faculty at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Mr. Parry is a versatile and passionate soloist, chamber musician and advocate for new music, performing and teaching around the world. A background in jazz led Mr. Parry to pursue a career that spans from concert halls to the streets of New Orleans, where he has improvised with Dixie bands. In May of 2022, Mr. Parry premiered a wonderful new oboe concerto, Les Belles Heures, by Guillaume Connesson, which was commissioned by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Later that year, Mr. Parry gave the US premiere of Carl Vine's Oboe Concerto with the Ohio Valley Symphony. In recent seasons, he performed the Martinu Oboe Concerto with the CCM Chamber Orchestra and the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Prague Summer Nights Orchestra and in May 2025, with the Jakarta Symphony Orchestra in Indonesia.
He has also been a soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos 1 & 2. After hearing his performance of the Vaughan-Williams Oboe Concerto in Mexico City, he was invited by Hansjorg Schellenberger to judge the Sony International Oboe Competition in Tokyo.
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Mr. Parry was formerly principal oboist of the San Diego Symphony and a Fellow with the New World Symphony. He has appeared as guest principal oboist with the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, LAPhil, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony, Deutsche Symphonie of Berlin and Korean Broadcasting Symphony.
Originally from Southern California, he found his passion for music early on through piano, voice, and saxophone. In high school, Mr. Parry took up the oboe and decided to make a life in music. He went on to study at CIM with John Mack and USC with Allan Vogel and David Weiss, a gentleman who also taught him to surf!
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During the summer, he is in residence at the Interlochen Academy, the Grand Teton Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, Lakes Area Music Festival and the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa. In those rare moments when he is without his oboe, he is often attending concerts, plays, and other community events. He spends the rest of his time hiking, reading, volunteering, tossing frisbees, and creating curiosities in the kitchen.
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Mr. Parry is a Lorée artist.