Category: Soloists

Our talented soloists come from around the world to play with us at the Port Townsend Symphony Orchestra.

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LISA LANZA, Pianist

Pianist Lisa Lanza has been performing as a solo artist and collaborator for over 20 years on the Olympic Peninsula and in the greater Seattle Area. She has studied with internationally renowned pianists Maria João Pires and Paul Roberts at The Guildhall School of Theater and Arts in London. She holds a Masters of Music in Piano Performance and Accompanying from The University of Redlands.

As a guest artist she has performed on the Music at St. Leonard’s concert series, Hythe, England; Young Concert Artists Competition, at Weill Hall, New York; the Olympic Music Festival, Quilcene, Wash.; Sierra Opera Institute’s chamber music series, Mammoth, Calif.; and the Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Island, Wash.

As an opera and musical theater accompanist, she has worked with companies from Orange County, Calif., to the Seattle Opera, from Issaquah’s Village Theater to Key City Players in Port Townsend.

She holds 1st and 2nd prize medals from the Greater Spokane Music & Allied Arts Festival for her interpretations of Beethoven and Chopin. As a performing member of the Ladies Musical Club in Seattle, she performs regularly at the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Public Library and the Frye Museum.

Ms. Lanza has soloed with the Port Townsend Orchestra in October 2010 and May 2003.

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VICKI HELWICK, Soprano

Vicki was raised in Long Beach, California, and sang her first solo in church there at the age of five. Singing in the choir was, and still is, a favorite pastime. She even met her husband singing in the choirs at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo.

She earned her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at California State University, Sacramento.

After staying home to raise two children (a violist and bass player), she went back to school to earn her teaching credential and is currently teaching 7th grade Language Arts at Sequim Middle School.

Recently, Vicki has done two fundraising concerts, one for Port Angeles High School’s orchestra and another for the Sequim Choir. Both groups were preparing for trips to perform at Carnegie Hall. She sings with the Peninsula Singers. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is a freshman at the University of Idaho majoring in Dance Pedagogy and Choreography. Her son, Michael, is a junior at Port Angeles High School and plans to pursue a degree in Bass Performance.

Vicki recently appeared in Winter Wonderettes, a Readers Theater production directed by Maestro Ehling.

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RAY CHIRAYATH, Vocalist

Ray Chirayath
Ray Chirayath

A native of India, Ray Chirayath began singing at the age of fourteen. While in India, he performed as Joseph in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolored Dreamcoat; Rusty in Starlite Express; and Mungojerrie in Cats.

As his family traveled the world and lived in many different places, Ray frequently sang with church choirs, usually as a cantor.

He has performed with the Bangalore Academy Chorale, in India; the Moscow Oratorio, in Russia; the Buffalo (New York) Choral Arts Society; the Central Florida Master Choir, in Ocala; and the Peninsula Singers, in our own backyard.

Ray moved to Sequim about a year ago and works as a financial advisor with D.A. Davidson.

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CYNTHIA WEBSTER, Vocalist

Cynthia Webster
Cynthia Webster

Lyric soprano Cynthia Webster worked professionally with the late Gordon Nelson of the international award-winning Detroit Concert Choir as featured soloist, coach and vocal advisor. She was instrumental in the choir’s winning several prestigious awards in Wales, Austria and Spain.

In addition to her work with the Detroit Concert Choir, she maintained a vibrant music studio for a number of years. Her specialty: helping middle school students find their way to their true selves through music, assisted by Sadie, her iconic studio dog.

A Port Angeles native, she is loving her new life back home where she lives, writes and makes music with her friends on her beloved Peninsula.

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PAUL CREECH, Pianist

Paul Creech

Paul Creech was born and grew up on a farm in Missouri. Introduced to the piano at the age of nine, he discovered he could play in any key. He studied related theory and composition at Kansas State University and performed his own concertos with conductor W. Eric Stein and the Salina Symphony.

Early in his career, Paul became a sought after technician and tuner for various colleges and universities throughout Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Washington. As he continued to perform for live audiences, Paul began offering music classes to private students and opened a successful piano tuning business, allowing him the rare opportunity to become acquainted with virtuosos Van Cliburn, Victor Borge and Stecher & Horowitz. As his musical career progressed, composing and arranging became a passion.

“For me, composing is a natural extension of my training and devotion to music. Any person who has the ability to write music and perform is truly fortunate. I take great pleasure in teaching others the process of musical arrangement – blending the melody with the harmony and perfecting the art of transposing for a variety of instruments. Indeed writing for artists who appreciate original music is most satisfying and, of course, the audience response is thrilling. Writing music for solo and two pianos, or for full orchestras is a genuine treat because the music seems to flow effortlessly, inspiring the performers as well as the audience.” – Paul Creech

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RENT LACOUR, Pianist

Trent LaCour (photo from the Sequim Gazette)

Trent LaCour’s passion for piano began when he was eleven years old. Within a year of structured piano lessons, his technical virtuosity and interpretive abilities became evident and he was encouraged to advance his musical education under the direction of Paul Creech.

A devoted and motivated pupil, Trent has studied with Paul since 2009 and the two have performed together in a variety of musical venues including a benefit concert for the Sequim Community Church and a special performance at the Music Teachers’ Association in Port Angeles.

Trent was the youngest featured soloist at the 2014 North Olympic Land Trust Dinner. He continues to practice his craft by entertaining delighted audiences at retirement homes throughout Clallam county.

“I personally feel very honored to have been asked to play with Paul for this performance. This gives me a huge opportunity to also work with the Port Townsend Orchestra and to play with such fine musicians under the direction of Maestro Dewey Ehling.” – Trent LaCour
(February 2015)

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MICHAEL HELWICK, String Bass

Michael Helwick
Michael Helwick

Born in Seattle, Michael moved to Port Angeles at age three. He started playing cello in fourth grade, but Switched to the double bass in fifth grade. Michael is a student of Clint Thomas.

He has participated in the All State and All Northwest orchestras, including once under the direction of then-Seattle Symphony conductor Gerard Schwarz. He has competed at the State Solo and Ensemble Contest at Central Washington University for three years, in the string bass category and with the chamber orchestra.

Michael has been in the award-winning Port Angeles High School Chamber Orchestra for three years, and has played with the Port Angeles Symphony for four years.

He has attended the Hammond Ashley Memorial Bass Workshop at Seattle Pacific University for three years, working with renowned teachers including Jeff Bradetich, Max Dimoff and Tiang-Yang Liu. He teaches for the Morgan-Ellis Chamber Workshop and Strings Camp.

An active Boy Scout, Michael has achieved the rank of Life Scout. Currently in his senior year in high school, Michael hopes to attend the University of North Texas and study with Jeff Bradetich. His career plans include playing the double bass in any way he can!

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PHIL MORGAN-ELLIS, Conductor

Phil Morgan-Ellis (photo from Sequim Gazette)

Phil Morgan-Ellis grew up in Utah, where he played violin in the Golden Spike Youth Symphony. He studied Music Education at Weber State University. After graduating in 1972 Mr. Morgan-Ellis left for Seattle. In 1977 he moved to Port Angeles, where he taught orchestra, band and computers in the elementary and middle schools of the Port Angeles School District.

Mr. Morgan-Ellis and his wife, Deborah, started what became the North Olympic Youth Symphonies in 1979, and together they managed and conducted this group of orchestras for 25 years. They received a citation for their work from the Port Angeles Education Foundation in 1995, and were named Clallam County Citizens of the Year in 1996. The Port Angeles Symphony gave them the Biz Gehrke Award for their work with the youth of the peninsula in 1995.

Mr. Morgan-Ellis was principal violist in the Port Angeles Symphony until he moved from Washington state to Costa Rica in 2006. There he taught in the National Youth Orchestra and the European School in Heredia.

After four years he returned to the peninsula to start up Mr. Phil’s Strings, a group of after school orchestras for elementary and middle school string students. In February of 2012 he was asked by Lili Green to direct and conduct the Sequim Community Orchestra. He and his wife have two daughters: Elizabeth, a professional harpist in Philadelphia, and Esther, a professor of music at University of North Georgia.

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ANSON KA LIK SIN, Pianist

Anson Ka Lik Sin

Anson Ka Lik Sin is nineteen years old. A native of Hong Kong, he began studying piano at age six and violin at age twelve. At the Royal School of Music in England he passed the grade eight piano with distinction and the grade eight violin with merit. When he returned to Hong Kong, Anson was a piano accompanist and academic advisor. In 2011, he was taught in the piano master class by the great pianist Alexander Tutunov, who is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding virtuosos of the former Soviet Union. Last year he won third place in piano in the Young Artist Competition at the 61st Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.

While attending Peninsula College in Port Angeles, 2011 to 2013, he studied with Professor Kristin Quigley Brye, music director and conductor of Port Angeles Light Opera Company, and Heather Marie Ray, concertmaster in the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra. During the 2012-2013 concert season, he played in the first violin section of the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra and the Port Townsend Community Orchestra.

Currently, he is studying in the honors program at Hong Kong Baptist University for a Bachelor of Arts in music. He is also studying the piano with Mr. Cui Shi-Guang, among the greatest composers and teachers in China. (October 2013)

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NANCY BEIER, Vocalist

Ms. Beier had a thirty-year opera career, largely in Europe, specializing in Verdi, Wagner, R. Strauss and Puccini. She sang in Germany, Holland, Italy, Denmark and England, making her European debut as Tosca. 

Since moving to the peninsula in 2001, she has performed in and directed for both the Port Angeles Light Opera Association and the Port Angeles Community Players. In 2012, she was inducted into Oklahoma’s Will Rogers Foundation Hall of Fame.