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Vesper Legacy Concert
featuring Dr. David von Behren and Chamber Ensemble

Vesper Legacy Concert
Sunday, May 5, 2024 @ 3:00 PM

We end our 35th season as we began our first season–with the magnificent organ of Presbyterian Church of the Cross and a chamber ensemble, led by guest organist Dr. David von Behren, a Nebraska native and currently at Harvard University. This concert honors the memory of our series founder, Dana Sloan (1947-2022), as we celebrate 35 years of chamber music in Omaha. Dr. David von Behren will be joined by other musicians as we celebrate our season finale, including Ioana Galu and Stephanie March.

About David von Behren

Dr. David von Behren is the Assistant University Organist and Choirmaster of the Memorial Church at Harvard University. He recently graduated with his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Boston University College of Fine Arts where he studied with Peter Sykes. He earned his Master of Music degree at Yale University’s School of Music/Institute of Sacred Music, studying organ with Martin Jean and improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart. He is also a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance and music theory (double degree), pursuing organ studies with Todd Wilson. His recent album, French Flourishes from First Plymouth (2021), has been featured on American Public Media’s “Pipedreams.” In the last year, he has released two albums, American Adventures: An Organ Album (2022) and Merry Melodies for Advent and Christmas (2022).

Awarded the 2018 Mary Baker Prize in Organ Accompanying and 2019 Richard Paul DeLong Prize in Church Music, von Behren served as organ scholar at Trinity Church on the Green in New Haven, Conn., under the direction of Walden Moore, working with the Trinity Choir of Men & Boys and Choir of Men & Girls. Prior to his appointment at Trinity on the Green, he served four years as organ scholar at Plymouth Church UCC in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Dr. von Behren is the first organist to receive the Cleveland Institute of Music’s prestigious Darius Milhaud Award, given each year to a student “who displays qualities of unusual talent and creativity, sensitivity, expressiveness, strong love for and dedication to the musical arts, outstanding musical accomplishment, and evidence of academic excellence.” He also was named one of The Diapason’s “20 Under 30” Class of 2016. The winner of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award on National Public Radio’s (NPR) From the Top, David’s live radio performance has reached over half a million listeners. David continues to concertize extensively throughout the United States and Europe.

A native of Falls City, Nebraska David actively advocates for introducing and exciting younger audiences about classical music. In 2013, he began “The Little Stars Summer Program,” a music program for 3-11 year-old children in Falls City, in association with NPR’s From the Top and The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. As a violinist, David has performed in orchestra festivals at Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center. He frequently serves on teaching faculties for POEs (Pipe Organ Encounters) and various organ camps/festivals. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and running half marathons costumed as various superheroes. 

Dr. David von Behren's Website
Listen to Dr. David von Behren Performances Here!

About Ioana Galu

Ioana Galu, a native of Romania, has enjoyed a rich career as a performer, researcher and pedagogue in both Europe and the United States. Former Assistant Professor of Violin and chamber music at Gheorghe Dima Music Academy in Cluj, Romania, Galu has also been on the faculty at Heidelberg University, Bowling Green State University, and The College of Wooster. Galu joined the University of South Dakota in 2016 and is currently Associate Professor of Violin/Viola, co–director of the USD Chamber Orchestra and member of the Rawlins Piano Trio. She has served on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival (Greenboro, NC) between 2004 and 2022, and is now the artistic director of the Arioso Chamber Players. A graduate of Gheorghe Dima Music Academy, Romania, Galu earned a second master’s degree in violin performance from Bowling Green State University, an Artist Diploma from University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music and a doctorate in Contemporary Music from Bowling Green State University. Galu has been awarded prizes in several national and international competitions, including Second Prize in the Mozart International Competition for Piano Trios (Romania), and First Prize and Special Prize of the SOROS Foundation at the George Enescu Violin National Competition (Romania). She also won the Second Prize in the Starling Violin Competition College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati (CCM) and was the winner of the CCM Concerto Competition with Bernstein’s Serenade. Galu performed the world premiere of Marilyn Shrude’s violin concerto Libro D’Ore with the Central Ohio Symphony and the European premiere with the Sibiu State Philharmonic in Romania. She gave its US premiere and subsequently recorded the concerto for Albany Records. Galu also recorded “Music Under Political Unrest”– Works for Two Violins by Grażyna Bacewicz, Henryk Górecki, and Michał Spisak with Iuliana Cotirlea, violin.

About Stephanie March

A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Stephanie March is Principal Cellist of the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra and Associate Principal of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. She teaches cello and chamber music at Morningside University in addition to maintaining a private studio of young cellists. She entered the Eastman School of Music as one of five prestigious Rogers Scholars and graduated with Highest Distinction in 2011. While at Eastman, she studied cello with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott and performed as principal in orchestras under the baton of Maestro Neil Varon. Her master’s degree was earned at Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) where she attended as a full tuition Eckstein Scholarship winner, studying with Hans Jørgen Jensen. March’s love of orchestral music began early in life. She started cello studies at age three with Joseph Shufro, Principal Cellist of the SCSO. At age eleven she continued her precollege studies with Peter Howard, Principal Cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. By the time she was twelve, she was performing as a full section member in the SCSO. Since that time, she has performed with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, the New World Symphony in Miami, the Omaha Symphony, the Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra in Door County Wisconsin and as Associate Principal with the South Dakota Symphony. Performances as featured soloist with the Sioux City Symphony have included the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Maestro Xian Zhang, and a performance of works by Rachmaninoff and Ginastera to celebrate the symphony’s centennial season with Maestro Ryan Haskins.  She was a featured soloist once again with the SCSO during the 2022-23 season, performing the Haydn Cello Concerto in D. As soloist and chamber musician, March has been featured at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music, where she also taught, the LeMoyne Music Journeys Series, the Piano Recital Series at Morningside University, and the Sioux City Chamber Music Association Series. In 2013, March was selected as the National Winner of the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist String Competition in Anaheim, CA. March’s chamber music collaborations have included such distinguished artists as Grammy-nominated James Ehnes, Paavali Jumppanen and Andrew Russo. She has also worked with award-winning composer George Tsontakis and Pulitzer Prize winner Aaron Jay Kernis. She has served as the cellist with the Dakota String Quartet and currently performs as a duo partner with bassist Chunyang Wang. Their duo was selected in 2021 to present “Low Strings Attached,” a recital for the convention of the International Society of Bassists. March also performs in a trio with clarinetist Parker Gaims from the President’s Own Marine Band and pianist Yi-Yang Chen, Professor of Music at the University of Kansas. For solo appearances, she collaborates regularly with both Yi-Yang Chen and Shichao Zhang (faculty pianist from Eastern Illinois University).