Maricopa Music Circle
Co-founded in 2010 by Judith Lang Zaimont, pianist, Genevieve Ehrbright, violin, and Mary Mullarky, cello. Performing primarily within Maricopa and surrounding locales, MMC has since grown from a small ensemble to a conductorless Chamber Orchestra of skilled musicians playing arrangements tailored especially for our instrumentation. Our programs always range widely and include everything from full orchestral works to classical instrumental and vocal solos, along with traditional seasonal music, popular tunes, and great standards from the big-band era to the present.
Photos courtesy of Chris Ehrbright. Used by permission.
All music excerpts are live concert performances by Maricopa Music Circle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zsf5b0xNz4&feature=youtu.be
Current MMC Members
Judith Zaimont - Pianist, Composer, Co-Founder
Piano studies with Rosina Lhevinne at Juilliard. Concert career in teens and young adulthood which included international prizes, recordings, radio, and television ( Lawrence Welk show, age 11; semi-regular on the Mitch Miller Show for two seasons, age 16-17).
Her 100+ works cover every genre and are performed widely throughout the world: Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore and Mississippi symphonies, Berlin and Czech Radio symphonies, Slovak National Philharmonic, Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, etc. and her music has been heard repeatedly at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Two dozen CDs of her works are currently available.
Cat Ackerson - Trombone, 3rd Flute
Cat played trombone in school in Concert, Symphonic, Marching and Jazz Bands, and earned 1st and 2nd ratings in several solo and ensemble festivals. She sang in choir in high school as well as church, where she also sang a duet. She played flute in ensemble with friends and has dabbled in several other instruments. In 2009 she began teaching music privately while working in accounting, and she joined Maricopa Music Circle in May of 2012. Currently she teaches piano & guitar full time while playing trombone & flute with MMC.
Wendy Janzen - 1st Flute, Piccolo, & Alto Flute
Holds degrees in Music from Mennonite Brethren Bible College and University of Winnipeg, and a Master of Music in Flute Performance from University of Minnesota.
Skilled and experienced performer as both soloist and ensemble member (orchestra, symphonic wind ensemble, concert band, chamber ensembles of many configurations). Performances with Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis), Allegro Sinfonia (Minnetonka), Grand Symphonic winds ( St. Paul), St. Paul JCC Symphony Orchestra and St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra.
Held leadership positions both artistic and administrative: Founder and former Director of the Crystal Flute Choir; President of the Upper Midwest Flute Association, and Examiner for the Repertoire section of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Comprehensive Flute Exams (2003-2008). Served as Clinician with the Mason City High School and various Iowa middle schools, and maintained a private flute studio for over two decades.
Was invited to join the Maricopa Music Circle in spring of 2010. First flute and piccolist for the Maricopa Community Theater production of "The Music Man" at Maricopa Performing Arts Center, Spring 2012ds degrees in Music from Mennonite Brethren Bible College and University of Winnipeg, and a Master of Music in Flute Performance from University of Minnesota. Skilled and experienced performer as both soloist and ensemble member (orchestra, symphonic wind ensemble, concert band, chamber ensembles of many configurations). Performances with Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra (Minneapolis), Allegro Sinfonia (Minnetonka), Grand Symphonic winds ( St. Paul), St. Paul JCC Symphony Orchestra and St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra.
Dieter Knecht - Tenor, Percussion
Dieter is a retired research scientist from the Idaho National Laboratory, where he performed research and development and received patents on treating hazardous and radioactive wastes. Awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Oberlin and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from the U of Rochester, he also studied singing at Oberlin and Eastman and was active in singing ensembles, including the Oberlin College Choir. While living in Idaho, he was active in the Idaho Falls Opera Theatre, singing numerous leading and supporting roles, and was a soloist for the Idaho Falls Symphony. He currently studies voice with dramatic soprano, Kristine Ciesinski. He and his wife, Peggy, are seasonal Maricopa residents at their home in the Province retirement community and spend summers, fall and a month in winter at their home in Driggs, ID. In addition to music, other activities include tennis, hiking, backpacking, and skiing.
David Kordahl - 1st Violin
David Kordahl has a long history in music. After beginning to play when he was just four years old, he joined his first symphony orchestra in the fifth grade. By the time he graduated from high school, he had been selected multiple times as an all-state performer, had performed for several years with the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and had soloed with the Dakota Academy of Performing Arts orchestra. In college, he went on to major in violin performance, along with studies in English and physics. His collegiate experiences allowed him to tour internationally and to take on leadership roles in various ensembles, including the Wartburg Community Symphony and the Wartburg String Quartet.
After college, he has continued to play for various events, though much of his professional life has been spent in diverse pursuits. After earning a master's degree in physics from the University of Kansas, he now works as a high school teacher and a freelance writer, as well as being a violinist. In the greater Phoenix area, he has performed with the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, La Forza Chamber Orchestra, and now the Maricopa Music Circle.
Mary Mullarky - Cello, Co-Founder
Mary started on cello at the age of 9 in Santa Monica, California and has been a member of the Marshall, Ohio, and Long Beach college orchestras as well as Houston, Singapore, and Crystal Cathedral semi professional performance organizations. For 25 years she has performed an average of four to six concerts a year. All this while teaching for 30 years at preschool and elementary school levels, and in an after school Gifted and Talented programs instructing primarily in violin. She maintains homes in Maricopa and California, and in addition to performances with MMC, she continues to play with Orange Coast College and Symphony Irvine orchestras.
Laura Olivieri - Viola
Laura Olivieri is a violist from Muskegon, Michigan. She studied viola from elementary through high school and has attended Interlochen Fine Arts Camp – Summer Music Program for three years. She has performed with the West Shore Youth Symphony Orchestra in Muskegon Michigan and has also played with the Nassau Community College Community Orchestra in Garden City, New York. She has been a resident of Maricopa since 1998 and an MMC member since 2012.
Louvenia Samford - Piano
Co-founder of the Cross Timbers Music Teachers Association and distinguished long-term member of the National and Texas Music Teachers Association, Louvenia Samford began piano study at age 7, adding organ at age 11. She was the youngest organist to play her hometown’s Good Friday service, and has taught and performed on both instruments for more than 40 years. After university study in piano at Sam Houston State University and Tarleton State University, she continues to provide private musical training for many students in her studio and has seen her dedicated pupils go on to college graduation as music majors.
She joined Maricopa Music Circle shortly after moving here in 2009. She currently serves as Music Director for the First Baptist Church of Stanfield, has accompanied the Maricopa High School Choir since 2011, and has also played keyboard for several Maricopa Community Theatre main-stage productions in 2011 and 2012.
Gary Zaimont - Bass Clarinet, 2nd Flute, Composer
Gary’s first instruments was trumpet, and holds bachelor and master’s degrees in Music and Music Education. He taught himself all the wind and string instruments (including guitar) and has performed on several of these in New York, Paris (France) and Minnesota. He creates the excellent, skilled arrangements so central to MMC’s performances, using imagination and a good ear effectively.
Inactive MMC Members
Zhenevyeva (Genevieve) Ehrbright
1st Violin, Co-Founder
Born 1976 into an artistic family in the former USSR. Child prodigy in both art and music performance. Began solo performances age 8, holds degrees as an honors graduate from a music academy and music college in Apahasia (USSR), and college and graduate degrees from the Music College of Rimsky-Korsakov and St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia). Came to the US in 1998, and began solo and ensemble performances in the Phoenix area from 1999 to the present; at the same time established a private studio for music instruction in violin and piano.
Began a tradition of in-home Winter Musicales in 2007 which continued until she co-founded Maricopa Music Circle in 2010. Performed before Governor Napolitano in 2008 (as a member of a Casa Grande-based string quartet). United States citizen since 2003. A Maricopa resident for more than six years, she represents the Arts in Maricopa on the cover of InMaricopa Magazine's Spring 2010 issue.
Adam Poland
2nd Violin
Adam has played in several different orchestras and around Arizona. He started learning violin in 8th grade in an after school program and then taught himself how to play Viola, Cello and Bass when he was in High School. Poland played with the Maricopa High School Orchestra for four years as a Violinist and bassist. When He graduated he was awarded with the National School Orchestra Award. He was the Assistant Orchestra Director at Pathway Elementry school for two years. He was also a Violin instructor at Xpressions Center for the Arts and a choir director at his church. He played with Maricopa Music Circle in 2012. .
Patricia Tillery
2nd Violin
The violin has been a part of Patricia's life since she was a child and was given lessons by her grandfather, who himself grew up in a family that brought the oomph band tradition to the United States in the late 1800s. She became more serious about the violin and music as her own children took lessons and became proficient on strings. For many years she played in the Los Alamos (NM) Orchestra, but retired the violin after she left there with her husband in 2000. However, when in Fort Collins (CO), Patricia began to participate in an Elderhostel orchestra program held in the Rocky Mountains, which contributed to her awakened interest. When she moved to Arizona in 2006, Chandler Symphony became a big part of her life. She began lessons again and is enjoying practicing and performing with Chandler Symphony and played with Maricopa Music Circle in spring of 2013.
