Duo Recital: Sheldon Person, viola; Dr Shannon Hesse, piano

The University of St. Thomas Music Department presents a Duo Recital: Sheldon Person, viola; Dr. Shannon Hesse, piano Saturday, November 5, 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM in UST-Cullen Hall.

Featuring works including: Sonata Op. 40 by Dimitri Shostakovich, Phantasy by York Bowen, Dance Preludes by Witold Lutoslawski, Steps… by Malcolm Forsyth, Siete Canciones Populares Españolas by Manuel de Falla.

Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, violist Sheldon Person has been a member of the Houston Symphony since 2011. He was previously a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. As a fellow of the Aspen Music Festival and School, Sheldon has served as the Assistant Principal Viola of the Aspen Festival and Chamber Orchestras. He has also appeared as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

As first prize winner of the 2005 Royal Overseas League’s Bernard Shore Viola Competition in London, Sheldon performed recitals in London, including an appearance at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. As a member of the Artea String Quartet, Sheldon performed throughout the U.K., including appearances at Wigmore Hall, the South Bank Centre, the Brighton Festival, Buckingham Palace, and live on BBC Radio 3. Since moving to Houston, Sheldon has performed chamber music for KUHA Houston Public Radio, the Texas Music Festival, Interplay: Musicians of the Houston Symphony, and has appeared at Rice University, University of Houston, and Michigan State University.

Sheldon has served as an instructor for the Texas Music Festival, Indiana All-State Orchestra, and Filarmonica Joven de Colombia. He has performed with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and has served as artist-faculty at the Sewanee Music Festival.

Sheldon holds degrees and certificates from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London), Indiana University, Rice University, and the University of Alberta. His principal teachers have included Atar Arad, David Takeno and Karen Ritscher.

Sheldon performs on a modern viola by Theodore Skreko that won the Silver Medal for Tone at the 2010 Violin Society of America Competition.

Dr. Shannon Hesse has performed extensively both nationally and internationally as a soloist and collaborative pianist. Her concert schedule consists of recurring guest appearances in recitals sponsored by organizations such as the College Music Society, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Society of Composers, Inc., Tuesday Musical Club, Galveston Island Arts Academy Concert Series, Imperial Performing Arts series, Greenbriar Consortium, and the Houston Composers Alliance.

She regularly performs with musicians from the Houston Symphony, including her husband, cellist Anthony Kitai. A devoted teacher, Dr. Hesse is a long-standing member of Music Teachers National Association, where she is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music. She is frequently in demand as an adjudicator and her students have been prizewinners in competitions at the local and state levels.

Dr. Hesse has served on the faculties of Houston Baptist University, Texas Southern University and Valdosta State University, and spent many wonderful summers teaching at Westminster Choir College’s High School Piano Camp and at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she served as Coordinator of Collaborative Piano. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Dr. Hesse holds additional degrees from Catholic University and Westminster Choir College.

She is a member of the honors societies Phi Kappa Lambda and Alpha Lambda Delta and has had the great honor of working with outstanding teachers and mentors, including Jean Barr, Ingrid Clarfield, Marilyn Neeley, and Rita Sloan.