released January 29, 2010

A native Vermonter, Joanna Ross Hersey studied with Dan Perantoni at Arizona State University, received a Master of Music in Tuba Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Chester Schmitz, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts in Tuba Performance from the Hartt School. As Principal Tubist with the United States Coast Guard Band, Joanna performed throughout the country as a soloist and clinician after winning the position at the age of nineteen. Joanna has played for three U.S. Presidents, performed at numerous state functions for visiting dignitaries, and has appeared on The Today Show and Good Morning America. In her freelance career she has performed with artists including Placido Domingo, Roberta Flack, Marilyn Horne, Arlo Guthrie, Michael Bolton, Lee Greenwood, Arturo Sandoval and Jack Nicholson. Joanna is a founding member of the Athena Brass Band, a group first created for the 2003 International Women’s Brass Conference which has since performed at the 2006 IWBC, and has been featured at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. As a member of the Alchemy Tuba-Euphonium Quartet, Joanna performs throughout North America and Europe and can be heard on the group’s first compact disc recording Village Dances, and on their 2010 release Live in Jever. Alchemy is in residence each February at the Horn-Tuba Workshop in Jever, Germany where the group performs recitals, gives master-classes and conducts ensembles. Joanna is Assistant Professor of Low Brass at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. For more information visit Joanna at joannahersey.com.

Dr. Seung-Ah Kim, a native of Pusan, Korea, has recently received her doctorate in piano performance at the University of South Carolina. She holds two master's degrees in piano performance, one from Yonsei University in Korea and the other from The Cleveland Institute of Music. While studying at CIM, she was awarded the Arthur Loesser Memorial Award in Piano, recognizing her outstanding achievement. She also received a prize at the prestigious Darius Milhaud Performance Competition. At USC, she was applauded for the performance of Flights of Passage by Claude Baker, which was the South Carolina premiere at the Southern Exposure Concert. She was also on the piano faculty at the USC Community Music Program and served as the official pianist for the Concerto Competition at the Southeastern Piano Festival and Summer Conservatory at USC. Currently, she is teaching piano and accompanying UNCP Concert Choir as an adjunct faculty at University of North Carolina at Pembroke. In addition to her vigorous solo performances, she has actively performed as a collaborating artist. Most recently, she has accompanied Dr. Joanna Hersey’s Tuba recital at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Mr. Jacob Will’s voice solo recital at the East Tennessee University. With her Husband, tenor Jaeyoon Kim, she has been also presenting art song recitals at various concerts in Carolina area. Her teachers include Dr. Charles Fugo and Dr. Daniel Shapiro. She also studied chamber music with Carolyn Gadiel Warner and was chosen to play for the accompanying masterclass of Warren Jones and Elly Ameling.