2004 Bios

2004 Whitewater Winter Bassfest Artist/Clinician Biographies

Jason Heath

Classical Bass

Jason Heath joined the UW-Whitewater Music Department in 2002. An accomplished performer and pedagogue in many styles of music, Jason has won first prize at several regional solo competitions. He performs and records on the Naxos and Chandos labels regularly with the Iris Chamber Orchestra of Germantown, Tennessee. Recent projects with Iris have included recordings of commissioned pieces for soloists Jamie Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Richard Stoltzman, and Edgar Meyer. Jason has also performed as principal bass of the Lake Forest Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Des Moines Metro Opera, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has also performed with the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Symphony II, Chicago Sinfonietta, New World Symphony, Britt Festival Orchestra, and Memphis Symphony. He has toured internationally with the American-Russian Young Artists Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival, and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Michael Hovnanian

Classical Bass

Michael Hovnanian grew up in the Seattle area and started playing the bass in the public schools. His primary private teachers were James Harnett and Ronald Simon of the Seattle Symphony. An early interest in solo playing lead to performances with the Seattle Symphony, the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and the University of Washington Symphony. Michael attended the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts where he studied with Frederick Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1986 he joined the Victoria Symphony as Principal Bassist and in 1988 the San Antonio Symphony as a member of the bass section. Since 1989 he has been a member of the Chicago Symphony, and has been a member of the faculty at Northwestern University since 1995. In addition to playing the Chicago Symphony, Mr. Hovnanian is active performing solo and chamber music in the Chicago area. He has appeared in the Chicago Symphony chamber concerts at Orchestra Hall and the Art Institute, with Chicago Pro Musica, and at the Winter Chamber Music Festival at Northwestern. Most recently, he performed as a member of the Wacker Consort, an ensemble consisting of four Chicago Symphony bassists. In addition to performing, Michael has written new music for the double bass. He is also a co-founder of the International Bottesini Society, an organization dedicated to promoting the legacy of that composer.

Carl Johnson

Electric Bass, Jazz Bass, and Bluegrass Bass

Carl is in his sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater working on his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. In addition to studying classical and jazz acoustic bass, Carl performs all over Wisconsin in a variety of musical settings. Carl makes time for composition in addition to his jazz, classical, rock, and bluegrass performing. Carl is a French bow player.

Robert C. Junceau III

Jazz and Electric Bass

An accomplished performer in many styles of music, Robert is a jazz and electric bass specialist in the Madison area. In addition to maintaining a busy performing and teaching career, Robert recently graduated from UWW with his Bachelor of the Arts degree in music. Robert is a French bow player.

Justin Cormia

Young Bassists Workshops and Electric Bass

Justin is in his sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater working on his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education. In addition to classical and jazz upright bass, Justin is an avid electric bass enthusiast. He plays French Bow.

Tyler Bakken

Young Bassists Workshops

Tyler is in his junior year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater working on his Bachelor of Music degree in music education. Tyler is a French bow player. He plays on Pirastro Permanent strings and Leduc graphite bows.

Erin Ilagan

Young Bassists Workshops

Erin is in her sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater working on a pre-business major and music minor. Erin enjoys the sonatas of Benedetto Marcello. She is both a French and German bow player.

Michelle Fiore

Instrument Repair/Maintenance

Michelle Fiore owns and operates Classic Contrabass, Inc., located in Des Plaines, Illinois. Classic Contrabass, Inc. specializes in repairs, rentals and sales exclusively for the double bass. Michelle works full time with the instrument and has personally repaired and set-up over 250 double basses. Michelle is a 1997 graduate of the Chicago School of Violinmaking. There, Michelle learned to hand-craft instruments and studied instrument history and identification. At the same time, she apprenticed at Seman Violins in Skokie, Illinois. Prior to attending the CSVM, Michelle studied Double Bass Performance at Northern Illinois University under well-known Chicago area bassists, Greg Sarchet and Larry Gray. She received a masters degree, summa e, in 1994 and a bachelors degree, magna cum laude, in 1992.

Devin Drobka

Drum set

Devin Drobka is currently a senior at Wauwatosa East High School. He has been playing for more than 10 years. He studies with Milwaukee jazz drummer Dave Bayles. He has recorded two EP's with his own band On a Moment’s Notice and one EP with Milwaukee metal band Rain of Ruin. He currently is playing with Bosio, a punk band out of Milwaukee.