2024 Concert Season

Featuring upcoming artists for the 2024 season

Chamber Soloists of Detroit: Is there a composer in the House?

October 18, 2024 at St. John’s Episcopal Church

405 N Saginaw Rd. Midland, Michigan 48640

7:30pm - 9:00pm

Pauline Martin, Piano

Chamber Soloists of Detroit

March 8, 2024 at St. John’s Episcopal Church

405 N Saginaw Rd. Midland, Michigan 48640

7:30pm - 9:00pm

The Grove Music Festival presents Chamber Soloists of Detroit at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8, 2024 at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 405 N. Saginaw Road. Featured artists will be Eliot Heaton, violin, Erik Ásgeirsson, cello and Grove Music Festival regular Pauline Martin, piano. A full bio for the featured artists is available here.

This group from the Chamber Soloists of Detroit series will be presenting piano trios of Beethoven, Faure and Smetana. In the tradition of the great cultural centers of the world, Chamber Soloists of Detroit is proud to present the area’s finest virtuosi in collaboration with emerging and renowned touring artists while advancing the global image of the city once known as the Paris of the West. Launched in 2012 by pianist Pauline Martin, Chamber Soloists of Detroit rose in international prominence following its outstanding debut concert in 2022 at the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, which was recorded for broadcast on National Dutch Radio.

Participating artists, presenters and audience members alike extol the joyful festival atmosphere of CSD presentations, which embody the essence of the deeply personal art of chamber music, and typically feature its trademark artist talkback – aptly named Just Between Us!

Tickets are available at the door for $10.

Violinist Eliot Heaton “possesses a lofty level of technique...he’s a musician of sensitivity and courage.” (Bloomington Herald Times). Eliot is the Concertmaster of the Michigan Opera Theatre, Des Moines Metro Opera, and the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra, and performs as a soloist and chamber musician with New Music Detroit, the Heaton Pierce Martin trio, and as a guest artist on various concert series throughout the United States. He holds bachelor’s degrees in violin and history from Oberlin College and Conservatory as well as a Master of Music from Indiana University.

A native of West Bloomfield, Michigan, cellist Erik Ásgeirsson has earned high praise from conductors, composers, audience members and reviewers for his “refined magic of tone colors…exquisitely beautiful melodies and enormous virtuosity” (Der Westen, Germany). He has been featured as soloist with orchestras in his native Michigan, Florida and Germany, with several of his world premiere collaborations broadcast on German National Radio. He was appointed Solocellist (Principal) of Philharmonie Sudwestfalen (Siegen, Germany) in 2017, where he now also serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Siegen.

Canadian born pianist, Pauline Martin, earned B.M. and M.M. performance degrees from Indiana University, and a D.M.A. from the University of Michigan. She continues to earn world-class recognition for solo and chamber music performances, recordings and national broadcasts in the United States, Canada and Europe and currently serves as Artistic Director of Chamber Soloists of Detroit.

The Sean Dobbins Quintet

January 13th, 2024 at St. John’s Episcopal Church

405 N Saginaw Rd. Midland, Michigan 48640

7:00pm - 9:00pm

Sean Dobbins got his start at a young age when he would regularly perform with Blue Note recording artist Louis Smith. As Sean’s Career progressed he found himself the recipient of many awards and accolades including the Woody Herman Jazz Award and the Louis Armstrong Scholarship, each of them celebrating outstanding musicianship. Due to his talent both as a performer and an educator Sean has been the focus of countless news articles and media programs. In addition, the 2015 Michigan Jazz Festival was dedicated to him for his outstanding musicianship, leadership and mentorship in the Metro Detroit jazz community.

Though still young by jazz standards, Dobbins has amassed an impressive list of playing companions. He has performed/toured/ recorded with Roy Hargrove, Benny Golson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Frank Morgan, Joey
DeFrancesco, George Cables, Barbara Morrison, Tamir Hendilman, James “Blood” Ulmer, Marcus Belgrave, Larry Willis, Rodney Whitaker, Claude Black, Johnny O’Neal, Sheila Jordan, Jon Hendricks, David “Fathead”
Newman, Johnny Basset, Donald Walden, Cyrus Chestnut, Barry Harris, David Baker, Randy Johnston, Ralphe Armstrong, Mose Allison and a host of other great musicians.

Sean’s sound can best be described as hard-driving solid rhythm with refreshing melodic sensibility. Some of his influences include Art Blakey, Jeff Hamilton, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ed Thigpen, Sonny Payne as well as
Detroit area greats Louis Hayes and the one and only Elvin Jones. Sean has performed on countless recordings as a sideman and has released multiple albums as a leader and co-leader. As an educator Dobbins has most recently served as Director of Jazz Studies at Oakland University and Jazz Program Director at Community Music-School Detroit. In addition he has also served on the faculty at the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. Sean is currently an Associate Professor at Indiana
University and endorses Yamaha, Vic Firth and Zildjian products.

Dan Ventura is a junior at the Jacobs School of Music, pursuing a BSOF in Jazz Piano and Cognitive Science. Having previously studied classical piano with Mr. Dave McNally and Dr. Manabu Takasawa, Dan now studies jazz with Dr. Luke Gillespie.

He has performed at numerous venues including the Jazz Standard, Cork Jazz Festival, Carmel Jazz Festival, and Newport Jazz Festival. Dan is also studying and pursuing his interests in composition, arranging, and music production.

Sam Butler is a professional jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and educator based in Bloomington, IN. He has performed all around the Midwest with various ensembles including the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, Sean Dobbins and the Modern Jazz Messengers, and his own Folklore Sextet. As the winner of the 2023 International Trumpet Guild Jazz Solo Competition and with his debut album “Folklore” out with positive reviews in May of 2023, Sam has “an abundance of jazz success coming his way.” (Debbie Burke) He is immersed in the blending of musical styles including rock, classical music, folk, and jazz, and is creating a unique voice as he enters the modern jazz scene.

Natalie Boeyink, bassist and educator, serves as Associate Professor of Music in Jazz Studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. After completing her doctorate in music education at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2015, Boeyink spent eight years as a Jazz Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in the University of North Carolina system. She holds a MM in Jazz Performance (University of Louisville), and a BM in Jazz Studies (Indiana University). Her interest in the educational experiences and careers of jazzwomen has launched a series of research projects, conference presentations and publications, including her dissertation, “An Analysis and Description of Female Jazz Instrumentalists.”

Saxophonist Tom Walsh is Professor of Saxophone and Chair of the Jazz Studies Department at Indiana
University’s Jacobs School of Music. An active performer of jazz and classical music, he has presented
concerts and workshops in South Africa, China, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia,
Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, and across the United States.

Walsh has performed and presented at conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education, the Jazz Education Network, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the World Saxophone Congress. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist.