Musicians

Our Musicians

“There has always been
a special bond among the
musicians in this orchestra,
and between those musicians and their loyal fans.” Concertmaster, Kevin Case

Our Orchestra's 33rd Year -
Same Outstanding Musicians

We are a group of professional musicians who come together to honor one of the world's most accomplished composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. While we play many famous pieces, we also mix in a few surprises along the way. Come be delighted, entertained and uplifted by our world-class performances!

What does it take to become a musician?

A great passion and love for music? Hours and hours of practice? Yes, these are all part of what it takes to become a professional musician and play for a wonderful orchestra like the Midwest Mozart Festival. However, if you ask most musicians they will tell you good teachers and educators were key to their success. This is why the Midwest Mozart Festival is also so passionate about supporting music education!

Meet a Midwest Mozart Festival Musician –

Oboist Andrea Hixon

Andrea Gross Hixon of Appleton, Wisconsin is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and was principal oboe of the Green Bay Symphony for its final ten years. She teaches at UW-Oshkosh and UW-Green Bay and has spent the past two summers playing in the orchestra of the New Hampshire Music Festival in Plymouth, New Hampshire. She performs regularly with the Milwaukee Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra among other groups. Andrea is delighted to be performing with her long-time colleagues in Woodstock, where she has played since 2005.

In his debut performance as a soloist, Robert Everson was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a most outstanding performer”, the Chicago Sun Times has called him a “Master Timpanist” and the Chicago Classical Review said of a recent performance with the Chicago Philharmonic: “Spectacular timpani playing”. Although soloing on the timpani is relatively rare, he has done so many times, playing Darius Milhaud’s Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago String Ensemble and the Illinois Philharmonic. With the Sinfonietta, he has also performed Georg Druschetzky’s Concerto for Oboe and Eight Timpani, Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm, and the world premier of Jiri Gemrot’s Concertino for Flute, Bagpipes and Timpani. He has performed the Phillip Glass Concert Fantasy for Two Timpanists with the San Francisco Ballet. Most recently he performed Michael Daugherty’s Timpani Concerto “Raise the Roof” with the Chicago Philharmonic.

Bobby performs with several orchestras in the Chicago area including the Chicago Philharmonic, the Elgin Symphony, the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, the Lake Forest Symphony, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Joffrey Ballet and many other touring ballet companies, and the Midwest Mozart Festival. He has also performed as an extra with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Grant Park Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and can be heard on Chicago Symphony recordings under Bernard Haitink and Pierre Boulez; one of these recordings won the Grammy award for best orchestral performance in 2001. He has played with hundreds of pop artists and in many Broadway shows, commercial jingles and TV broadcasts.

Mr. Everson earned his Bachelor and Master degrees in Percussion Performance from DePaul University, and is the percussion instructor at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, IL and at the Birch Creek Music Performance Camp in Door County, WI. He performs solo in-school percussion demonstrations for the International Music Foundation of Chicago. He also participates in the educational outreach Seed Program with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Academy of Music Performance with the Chicago Philharmonic. He is a life-long resident of the Chicago area with his wife Ellen and their son Ian, a singer, songwriter and music producer now living in Los Angeles.

Timpanist Robert Everson

2019 Summer Concert Series - Orchestra Musicians

Violin 1 Flute

Kevin Case, Concertmaster Janice Bjorkman
            Carol Dylan Julia Richter
            Laura Hourt
Karin Kelleher Oboe
Nina Saito
  Heather Wittels Philip Koch
Emily Nash Andrea Hixon
  Talia Pavia Ricardo Castaneda

Violin 2 Clarinet

            Rachel Handlin Christian Ellenwood
Catherine Bush Christopher Zello
            Pamela Simmons
Erik Leveille Bassoon
Emily Nash
Rika Seko Peter Brusen
Heather Wittels Collin Anderson

Viola Horn

  Amanda Koch Michael Buckwalter
       Paul Vanderwerf Jeremiah Frederick
            Olga Tuzhilkov

Cello Trumpet

Nazar Dzhuryn Kevin Wood
Michael Beert Matt Lee
     Roza Borisova

Bass Timpani

   Charles Grosz Robert Everson
Ian Hallas

Our Musicians​

“There has always beena special bond among themusicians in this orchestra, ​and between those musicians and their loyal fans.” Concertmaster, Kevin Case