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MUSICIANS
DANIEL URBANOWICZ
Artistic Director
Baroque Violin/Viola d'amore/Viola
As a historical performance musician, Dan has been a featured guest artist with the Colorado Chamber Players where his composition "La Folia" for two violas d'amore was premiered in 2019. Additionally Dan has appeared with the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Piccolo Spoleto, The College of Charleston, and as a guest lecturer/recitalist at Augusta University. Apart from baroque endeavors Dan is currently a violist in the Sarasota Orchestra. Urbanowicz performs regularly with the Jacksonville Symphony and The Florida Orchestra. Dan has played with the New World Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, Gulfshore Opera, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the Firelands Orchestra, and the Plymouth Philharmonic. Urbanowicz has served as principal violist of the Augusta Symphony, Charlottesville Opera, Gulfshore Opera, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany, the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra. His principal teachers include Martha Katz and Jeffrey Irvine. Mr Urbanowicz plays on a 2017 Robert Clemens Viola. Urbanowicz’s viola d’amore is from the 19th century and is of unknown origin. Urbanowicz holds a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
SANDRA DEL CID-DAVIES
Baroque Flute/Recorder
Anybody who meets Sandra del Cid-Davies, who joined TFO on flute/piccolo this season, knows she has a passion for music and life that far outsizes her tiny piccolo. And it certainly comes through in this Q&A, which feels like a friendly chat over a piece of chocolate cake.
Background: Grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, and received her bachelor’s in music from the Peabody Conservatory, following up with her master’s at Northwestern University. Since 2008, she has been part of the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, where she has been a featured soloist. Other professional experience includes the Bach Festival Orchestra, Brevard Symphony Orchestra and Washington Bach Consort.
How did you choose flute/piccolo?
I started on violin when I was 4 and piano when I was 7. So here I was at 8 years old walking to school when suddenly I had an epiphany that the time had come for me to learn a new instrument. I thought very carefully and I decided on the piccolo because it was the smallest instrument and, therefore, the cutest. That meant I had to learn the flute, which was just fine with me. After all, everyone I knew who played the flute was either a glamorous high school student or an angelic child that would float in and play some Gluck at all those Suzuki Summer Institutes I went to while I was schlepping on Vivaldi and Bloch. So after a year of pleading with my parents and dismantling my wire stand so I could pretend I was playing the flute, I finally got one! And the rest is history…
What fascinates you besides music?
Faith and family for sure. People, I really love people. And then definitely watching elite and NCAA gymnastics! Seriously, I’m obsessed because I never got to actually do it. Figure skating, gastronomy (I just love to eat), and pandas (plus any other cute animal).
Describe a musical experience that changed your life.
This is a hard question because I feel there is a constant symbiotic relationship between the music I am experiencing and what’s happening in my life. For example, a few years ago I was going through a difficult season of life, and I heard this incredibly moving and simple melody on the flute streaming on my computer. It expressed everything that was in my heart. So I immediately looked it up and saw it was the first movement of the Rouse Flute Concerto. I felt so far away from making music of that caliber, so I just said this little silent prayer that I wanted to play this music. Somehow. And then life went on. Four months later, I was corresponding with a conductor who said, “Hey I was thinking of doing some of Christopher Rouse’s music next season. How would you feel about playing his flute concerto?” Boom! I could not believe it. It remains to this day the most organic artistic process I have ever had with a piece of music. Now whenever I listen to it, I am filled with gratitude and peace.
What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened to you on stage?
Oh dear. Last season TFO was performing Mahler’ Symphony No. 2 and at the time I was living in Orlando. I left around 4 for a concert that began at 7:30, and was making great time until a massive car accident caused a 90-minute delay. All I could do was call the personnel manager and explain that I would certainly be late to the concert. So while I was stuck on I-4 catastrophizing like a mature adult, the rest of the TFO flute section scrambled to cover my part until I arrived. At which point, it had been decided that I would walk on stage along with the soprano during the third movement (you know, like the featured guest artist that I wasn’t!). And that’s exactly what we did, and I sat down like nothing was wrong and proceeded to play the rest of the symphony. And it’s funny, because the piece is so involved for all musicians that several TFO members later said they had no idea what happened!
What excites you about the Florida Orchestra, especially in its 50th season?
The quality of the orchestra. We are performing a lot of difficult music this year that lesser orchestras would not be able to handle. That is definitely something to celebrate!
What about you would surprise people?
I met my husband, Dan, while dangling 30 feet in the air at a local rock climbing gym. It was hilarious. Our story was like one of those cheesy romantic comedies that you see on the Hallmark Channel. The only thing missing was having perfectly straight white teeth. It sounds totally obnoxious, but it truly is our story!
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SARAH SHELLMAN
Baroque Violin
Sarah Shellman is currently principal second violin with The Florida Orchestra; she joined the ensemble as a section violinist in 2002. She last appeared as a soloist on the TFO Masterworks series in March 2011, performing Thomas Ades’ Violin Concerto “Concentric Paths.” She’s also been featured on the Coffee series programs performing “Winter” and “Spring” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor with Nancy Chang.
During the summer, Shellman performs as a member of the orchestra at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (Santa Cruz, California). She is an advocate for the performance of works by living composers as well as for the expansion of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within the classical music profession.
Shellman graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in music and the University of Houston in 2000 with a master’s degree in music. While living in Houston, she played with the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, and as a freelance musician. In addition to her work on the modern violin, she has also performed with several early music ensembles as a violinist, violist, and mezzo-soprano.
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YUAN-YUAN WANG
Baroque Violin
Yuan-Yuan Wang performs with The Florida Orchestra as a tenured first violinist. She frequently performs with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
Yuan-Yuan Wang, holds a Doctor of Music degree in violin performance from Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University Bloomington, as well as Masters of Music in violin performance. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Her major teachers included Alex Kerr, Mark Kaplan, Paul Biss, Martin Beaver, Misha Rosenker, Keng-Yuen Tseng and John Mrill. Before arriving in the United States from China for high school, she attended the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Wuhan Conservatory.
Active as a recitalist, chamber musician, and educator, Yuan-Yuan Wang has also appeared in concerts, while collaborating with principal musicians of The Florida Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra and faculty artists at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
SCOTT KLUKSDAHL
Cello
Cellist Scott Kluksdahl has performed for nearly four decades as chamber musician, recitalist and soloist in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Central and South America.
Following a daring New York debut program of cutting-edge modern works at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Strings Magazine identified Scott Kluksdahl as “a simply superb cellist, playing with consummate technical ease, a beautiful sound, total conviction, authority and dedication to the music.” Scott Kluksdahl’s devotion to the works of current composers is widely regarded, and he is known for his close affiliations with Nicolas Bacri, Richard Brodhead, David Del Tredici, Robert Helps, Gunther Schuller, Augusta Read Thomas and Richard Wernick, whose works he has commissioned, studied, and recorded. He has also collaborated with Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Tamar Diesendruck, Philip Lasser, Eric Moe, Laura Elise Schwendinger and Scott Wheeler, and he has worked closely with American legends Leonard Bernstein, Elliott Carter, Andrew Inbrie, Donald Martino, and Ralph Shapey. As cello soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Kluksdahl premiered Philip Lasser’s Vocalise for Cello and Orchestra at Symphony Hall, and he has made acclaimed recordings of many of these composers’ works on the CRI, Centaur, Triton, Pierian, Nimbus, Crystal, and Albany labels.
Scott Kluksdahl presented his solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony, and since then he has performed a broad gamut of his instrument’s repertory throughout the entire United States and in the major musical centers of New York City, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Kluksdahl has been heard in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, Dame Myra Hess Series, Phillips Collection and Tanglewood Music Festival, and continues to perform the complete cycle of Bach Suites for cello, notably at the Oregon and Philadelphia Bach Festivals. He has been a frequent a guest chamber artist at the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, Music from Salem, Killington Music Festival, Craftsbury Chamber Players, Lancaster Music Festival, and Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. Scott Kluksdahl was a founding member of the Lions Gate Trio for two decades. He also performed as cellist of the Veronika String Quartet, and he has been a guest artist with numerous ensembles including DaPonte, Miami and Pacifica String Quartets.
Scott Kluksdahl serves as Professor of Cello at the University of South Florida, where he is a designated Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar, and he has presented master classes in such institutions as Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, Boston Conservatory, Northwestern University, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He teaches summers at the Brancaleoni International and the ARIA International Summer Festivals, as well as at the Cello Seminar at the Brown Farm in Salem, New York. Mr. Kluksdahl’s commitment to teaching prompted the renowned cellist Zara Nelsova to remark, “It is rare to find a cellist who is equally at home as a concert artist as well as a great pedagogue. In my opinion Scott Kluksdahl has one of the great talents of his generation.”
BRENT DOUGLAS
Harpsichord
Douglas is a highly versatile conductor and pianist with experience in orchestral, choral, and operatic repertoire. This summer he was on the conducting staff of the Vienna Summer Music Festival. In the summer or 2022, he will appear at the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival (Sicily), where he will serve as assistant conductor for “La Boheme”. He will also appear in Paris in 2021, conducting a performance of Poulenc’s GLORIA. He was a Conducting Scholar at Eastern Music Festival in 2019 where he studied with Gerard Schwarz. He made his debut as an opera conductor with Dusseldorf (Germany) Lyric Opera in 2017, where he conducted “The Magic Flute” for the company’s inaugural performance. He is currently Conductor of the Eckerd College Orchestra and Eckerd College Choir. He has played piano and celeste in The Florida Orchestra since 2013 and is a member of The Florida Orchestra Clarinet Trio. He regularly performs chamber music and serves as a vocal coach for the Savanna Voice Festival. He completed his Master of Conducting at the University of South Florida where he studied with Dr. William Wiedrich and Dr. James Bass. He has furthered his training in masterclasses with Michael Francis (The Florida Orchestra), Kenneth Kiesler (International Masterclass of Berlin), Harold Farberman (Bard Summer Conducting Institute), Diane Wittry (Beyond the Baton), and Dr. Ronald Portnoy (South Carolina Conducting Institute). “Creative Loafing Magazine of Tampa Bay – 2016 Classical Musician of the Year”
MICHAEL AMOS
Baroque Cello
Cellist Michael Amos currently resides in Tampa, Florida, where he graduated with both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Cello Performance from the University of South Florida where he studied under the direction of cellist Scott Kluksdahl.
An avid performer of chamber music, Michael plays with the Fifth Avenue Chamber Players and The Bach Ensemble, which are both located in Naples, FL. Also, in recent years, Michael has attended Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in Keene, New Hampshire, and the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont, where he was featured as an Emerging Artist.
As an active performer in the Tampa Bay area, Michael has been a featured soloist with both the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay in live concerts and on their most recent album “Light of the Midnight Sun”. Michael currently plays with The Florida Orchestra, the Sarasota Orchestra, Opera Tampa, among others throughout the state.
