Program Selections - Music for All

Festival Clinicians
National Percussion
Festival Clinician
Jon Crabiel
Percussion Clinician &
Percussion Coordinator
Sponsored by Yamaha
Jon Crabiel is currently artistin-residence
in percussion
at Butler University’s Jordan
College of Fine Arts, where
he serves as head of the
percussion studies program and conducts the university
percussion ensemble and steel drum ensemble. He is a
regular extra/substitute percussionist and timpanist with
the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis
Chamber Orchestra, serves as principal timpanist for
the Bear Valley Music Festival, has toured with the River
City Brass Band, and has performed with the Naples
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic
Orchestra, the Empire Brass, the Ronen Chamber
Ensemble, Dance Kaleidoscope, the Indianapolis Brass
Choir, and with artists Art Garfunkel, Bobby McFerrin,
Collin Raye, and Doc Severinsen. Jon studied with
Timothy Adams, Jr. at Carnegie Mellon University as an
artist diploma student and received both his bachelor of
music and master of music degrees from Eastern Illinois
University with Johnny Lee Lane.
Orchestra America
National Festival
Clinicians
Ingrid Fischer-
Bellman
Cello
Ingrid Fischer-Bellman was
born in Bucharest, Romania,
and received her advanced
musical training at Tel-Aviv
University Music Academy and
Indiana University School of
Music. Her major teachers have included Janos Starker,
Paul Tortelier, Uzi Wiesel and Samuel Shore.
Before joining the cello section of the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra in 1978, she played with the
Jeunesse Musicale International Orchestra, the Holon
Chamber Orchestra and the Tel-Aviv Academy Chamber
Orchestra. Ms. Fischer-Bellman is also quite active
in community outreach. She is an Artists In Schools
instructor in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s
School Partnership Program. She has appeared as soloist
with the Jerusalem Radio Orchestra, the Philharmonic
Orchestra of Indianapolis and the Carmel Symphony.
34 • Music for All National Festival Official Program
Diane Evans
Harp
Diane Evans is a native of
Cleveland and a graduate
of the Oberlin Conservatory,
where she studied with Alice
Chalifoux. She attended
the Interlochen Center for
the Arts, the Tanglewood
Festival and the Salzedo Harp Colony. Prior to joining the
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1981, Ms. Evans
was a member of the Toledo and Omaha symphony
orchestras. She has appeared four times as soloist on the
Orchestra’s Classical Series, including the premiere of a
work by Jan Bach. She later performed that piece at the
American Harp Society Convention in Chicago. She also
has appeared as soloist on the Family, Indiana and Marsh
Symphony on the Prairie series, as well as the New Year’s
Eve Viennese Gala concerts.
Ms. Evans has been soloist with the Indianapolis
Philharmonic and the Omaha and Springfield symphony
orchestras. She was instructor of harp at Butler
University and currently teaches privately and serves as
a section coach for the Orchestra’s Side by Side program.
Ms. Evans is also an experienced chamber musician,
and her solo and chamber music performances have
been broadcast on National Public Radio, the Public
Broadcasting System and network television. She and
her husband, an attorney, are the parents of twins who,
themselves, have appeared in numerous ISO Yuletide
Celebration performances.
Ju-fang Liu
Bass
Ju-fang Liu is a member of
the Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra. She was born
in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and
began her study of the bass
at age nine. She earned
B.M. and M.M. degrees from
Indiana University and has studied with Bruce Bransby
and Lawrence Hurst. Prior to joining the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra in 2003, she was principal
contrabass with the New World Symphony in Florida.
She has also been a member of orchestras in Kansas
City, Owensboro and Evansville, performed in summer
festivals at Aspen, Marlboro and Tanglewood, and been
heard as soloist with the Louisville and New World
orchestras.
Raye Pankratz
Violin
Raye Pankratz was born in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,
and earned B.M. and M.S.
degrees from Juilliard. His
major teachers have included
Raymond Niwa, Dorothy
DeLay and Ivan Galamian.
Before joining the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in
1977, he played with the American Symphony Orchestra
and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.
Pankratz was on the faculty of Wheaton College for
six years and with his wife, a pianist, continues a keen
interest in music education for young people through
the Allegro Music Classes. He has been a section coach
for the ISO’s Side by Side program. The father of one son
and one daughter, he maintains interests in table tennis,
swimming and reading.
Michael Isaac
Strauss
Viola
Michael Isaac Strauss,
principal violist of the
Indianapolis Symphony
Orchestra since 1994,
joined the faculty of Butler
University as Artist-in-
Residence in 2003. Mr. Strauss made his solo debut with
the Minnesota Orchestra in 1993. He has recorded the
Jennifer Higdon Viola Sonata and the Viola Concerto by
David Finko. His most recent recordings are the complete
viola quintets of W. A. Mozart with the Fine Arts Quartet
on the Lyrinx label.
Formerly a member of the Fine Arts Quartet, Mr.
Strauss has performed chamber music at music festivals
and on concert series across Europe and North America.
He is also a founding member of the Indianapolis-based
Canale Quartet. Prior to his tenure in Indianapolis,
Strauss performed with the Philadelphia and Minnesota
Orchestras, and held principal viola positions with
the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia
Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra 2001.
Mr. Strauss has won a significant number of prizes
and competitions and is on the Board of Directors for the
American Viola Society. A graduate of the Curtis Institute
of Music, Strauss performs on a viola made by Matteo
Albani from Bolzano, Italy in 1704. He and his wife,
Cathleen Partlow Strauss, a cellist and arts administrator
with the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis,
are the parents of a son, Jacob, and a daughter, Dana.
Away from music, he is a sports fanatic and loves to
cook.