Artists

Noted for performances that combine innate musicality with interpretive insight, David Loebel joined the faculty of New England Conservatory as Associate Director of Orchestras in 2010 following an eleven year tenure as Music Director and Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Prior to his appointment in Memphis, he enjoyed a decade-long association with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, serving as Associate and then Associate Principal Conductor, as well as Artistic Director of its summer festival, Classics in the Loop. He has also been Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. As a guest conductor, David Loebel has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also conducted the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and Syracuse, the North Carolina Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic, among many others. Internationally, Maestro Loebel has conducted the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and toured Australia to great acclaim, leading the Sydney, Adelaide, Queensland, Western Australian, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras. He has led family and educational concerts at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Operatic engagements include productions at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Opera Memphis and he has appeared at summer festivals including the Grant Park Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, Sewanee Summer Music Festival and Woodstock Mozart Festival. Honored five times by ASCAP for his adventurous programming, David Loebel is a recipient of the prestigious Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award. An equally articulate communicator off the podium, he is a popular speaker and hosted The Memphis Symphony Radio Hour on public radio station WKNO-FM. His writings on music include program notes for Telarc recordings. With the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Chorus he recorded the critically acclaimed CD Independence Eve at Grant Park. Active throughout his career in the training of young musicians, Maestro Loebel has been Conductor-in-Residence of the New World Symphony and Music Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He has also conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the National Repertory Orchestra, and at conservatories including The Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Indiana University. As a mentor to conductors, he has served on the faculties of the League of American Orchestras’ Conducting Workshop, the Kennedy Center’s National Conducting Institute, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A native of Cleveland, David Loebel is a graduate of Northwestern University and a recipient of its Alumni Merit Award.

Megan Stout performs regularly with the St. Louis Symphony and served as Acting Principal Harp for the 2012-2013 season. She has been a frequent performer with other renowned ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She began her studies at the age of nine in Philadelphia, where she studied with the principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Elizabeth Hainen. Megan graduated from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where she holds both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Harp Performance. While at Indiana University she won several competitions such as the American String Teacher’s Association’s National Competition (Harp), and was a prizewinner twice in the National Society of Arts and Letters. Megan enjoys chamber music and, in addition to performing with Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, has been involved with the St. Louis Symphony Concert Series at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, Symphony Tuesdays at Tower Grove Park and Chamber Project St Louis.

Charles Metz studied piano at Penn State University, beginning his harpsichord studies through private lessons with the legendary Igor Kipnis. In the process of earning a Ph.D. in Historical Performance Practice at Washington University in Saint Louis Missouri, he studied with Trevor Pinnock. More recently, Charles has worked with Webb Wiggins and Lisa Crawford at the Oberlin Conservatory. In addition to performing with Chamber Music Society of St. Louis, he plays regularly in Saint Louis with ensembles including The Bach Society of Saint Louis, Collegium Vocale and the Saint Louis Baroque. Charles has performed across the country with recent concerts in Chicago IL, Saratoga NY, Bennington VT, Louisville, KY and Liberty Mo in their Baroque music JEMS Fest. In April 2010, he performed a solo recital at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. and in October 2011 performed a solo recital and Masterclass on Elizabethan Virginal Music at Oberlin Conservatory. He also recorded the “Tisdale Virginal Book”, music of the Elizabethan period, on his 400 year old Italian Virginal which will be released as a CD in 2012. His international appearances include performances in The Netherlands, Germany and Costa Rica.

Alla Voskoboynikova has held the position of Director of Keyboard Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis since 2004. Before moving to the United States in 1996, Alla Voskoboynikova was a pianist and vocal coach at the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theater in Ukraine. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance from the Music College in Voronezh, Russia and her Master’s Degree in Piano Performance from the Gnessins Academy of Music in Moscow, Russia. Her teachers were Oleg Milman and Lina Bulatova (student of Elena Gnessina and Henry Neihaus). Alla was an accompanist in the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994 and has performed numerous solo recitals along with chamber music concerts in several European countries. Since moving to the United States, Alla’s collaborations have included concerts with numerous members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra including Concertmaster David Halen and cellist, Bjorn Ranheim as well as performances with the Arianna String Quartet, and soprano Miran Halen. She serves as a coach for the Union Avenue Opera Company as well as the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. In 1998, Alla performed at Carnegie Recital Hall with flutist Brenda Hagni and in 2002, she performed Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Webster University Symphony Orchestra. In February 2004, Alla was the Russian coach for the St. Louis Symphony performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky and coached the St. Louis Symphony Chorus for the performance of Sergei Rachmaninov’s Vespers in November 2006. As a member of a duo, Alla performed John Adams’ Halleluiah Junction with pianist Orli Shaham in 2008. In the past several years, Alla has organized a series of thematic chamber music recitals, including a commemoration of Dmitri Shostakovich’s 100-year anniversary, a commemoration of Felix Mendelssohn’s 200-year anniversary, and a piano and winds recital, among others. Alla is a passionate teacher. Her students regularly perform at prestigious St. Louis venues such as The Sheldon Concert Hall, The Ethical Society of St. Louis, Powell Symphony Hall, Touhill Performing Arts Center, and others. They also participate in MMTA and MTNA auditions as well as regional concerto competitions. In 2012, Alla organized a concert tour of Russia which will include a series of piano recitals in St. Louis’s sister city of Samara. As part of a cultural exchange between the two cities, her students John Nuckols, Tom Winkler, Daniel Dickson and Daniel Kuehler performed at the Samara Philharmonic Hall and the Samara Social Humanitarian Academy. Alla resides in St. Louis with her husband Ilya Litvin, Russian-born trumpet player and teacher and their son, Boris.

Internationally acclaimed conductor Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Directeur Musical Honoraire of the Orchestre National de Lyon (ONL), Conductor Laureate of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de Gran Canaria (OFGC). He maintains a rigorous schedule of guest conducting throughout the world and is active as a composer, author, and educator. Slatkin has received six Grammy awards and 35 nominations. His latest recordings are Jeff Beal’s The Paper Lined Shack on Supertrain Records and Slatkin Conducts Slatkin, a compilation of pieces written by generations of his musical family, including three of his own compositions, on Naxos Records. Naxos has also recently remastered and reissued audiophile editions of his recordings of Gershwin’s and Rachmaninov’s orchestral works (with the SLSO) for Vox. Other Naxos releases include works by Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Berlioz (with the ONL) and music by Copland, Rachmaninov, Borzova, McTee, and John Williams (with the DSO). In addition, he has recorded the complete Brahms, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky symphonies with the DSO (available online as digital downloads). The 2023-24 season includes engagements with the Oregon Symphony, Orquesta de València, Orquesta Sinfónica de Radio Televisión Española, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), ONL, SLSO, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon University Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, OFGC, Prague Symphony Orchestra, and Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa. A recipient of the prestigious National Medal of Arts, Slatkin also holds the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor. He has received the Prix Charbonnier from the Federation of Alliances Françaises, Austria’s Decoration of Honor in Silver, the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award, and the 2013 ASCAP Deems Taylor Special Recognition Award for his debut book, Conducting Business. His second book, Leading Tones: Reflections on Music, Musicians, and the Music Industry, was published by Amadeus Press in 2017, followed by Classical Crossroads: The Path Forward for Music in the 21st Century (2021). Two volumes of a new series comprising essays that supplement the score-study process are scheduled for release by Rowman & Littlefield in 2024. He is also working on several new compositions. Slatkin has held posts as Music Director of the New Orleans, St. Louis, and National symphony orchestras, and he was Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He has served as Principal Guest Conductor of London’s Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the Minnesota Orchestra. He has conducted virtually all the leading orchestras in the world, including: New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, all five London orchestras, Berlin Philharmonic, Munich’s Bayerischer Rundfunk, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Slatkin’s opera conducting has taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Vienna State Opera, Stuttgart Opera, and Opéra Bastille in Paris. Born in Los Angeles to a distinguished musical family, he began his musical training on the violin and first studied conducting with his father, followed by Walter Susskind at Aspen and Jean Morel at Juilliard. He makes his home in St. Louis with his wife, composer Cindy McTee. Visit Leonard on the WEB      

Since having been chosen at age nineteen as the youngest competitor of the 1985 Van Cliburn Competition, Patti Wolf has performed as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has collaborated with distinguished artists, such as cellist Lynn Harrell, pianist Jon Kimura Parker, flutist Carol Wincenc, violinists Ilya Kaler, Glenn Dicterow, Andrés Cárdenas, David Halen, soprano Erin Wall, horn soloists Dale Clevenger and Hermann Baumann. Patti has been a regular performer with Chamber Music Society of S t. Louis since 2010. Previously Patti was a collaborative pianist at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University and served on the faculties of Washington University and Maryville University in St. Louis. She has performed and given master classes at the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Westminster College, Clemson University, Eastman School of Music, University of Iowa, University of Houston, University of Texas-Austin, the Chautauqua Piano Program and the Juilliard School of Music. In Chautauqua, New York, she played a duo recital with pianist Peter Frankl where she performs frequently with ensembles such as the Audubon Quartet, the Chautauqua Wind Quintet and the Chautauqua String Quartet. In 2017, Patti joined the faculty at the University of Texas, Austin, Butler School of Music, as Assistant Professor of Practice in collaborative piano performing regularly with faculty members. She was a guest recently with the Austin Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Lyrica Baroque in New Orleans, and Heights Arts in Cleveland, OH, performing with musicians of the Cleveland Orchestra.  

Susan Slaughter joined the trumpet section of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra in l969. Two years later she was appointed to the position of Principal Trumpet, becoming the first woman ever to be named Principal Trumpet of a major symphony orchestra. A graduate of Indiana University, she received the coveted performer’s certificate in recognition of outstanding musical performance. Her instructors include Herbert Mueller, Bernard Adelstein, Arnold Jacobs, Robert Nagel, Claude Gordon and Laurie Frink. Prior to accepting her position in St. Louis, Ms. Slaughter spent two years as Principal Trumpet of the Toledo Symphony. She appears regularly in area recitals and religious programs, and has been a frequent soloist with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Slaughter has served on the faculty of the Grand Teton Orchestra Seminar and the National Orchestra Institute. She is presently on the faculty of The Texas Music Festival and Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Slaughter has received numerous awards and recognition over the years including nomination by Ladies Home Journal for its annual Woman of the Year award, a special Leadership Award in the Arts from the Young Women’s Christian Association, the American Federation of Musicians, Local 2-197 Owen Miller Award for loyalty, dedication and fairness in actions and deeds, the Arts and Education Council Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 1991 she performed the National Anthem for game three of the World Series at the invitation of then baseball commissioner Fay Vincent. In 1992 Ms. Slaughter founded the International Women’s Brass Conference, an organization dedicated to provide opportunities and recognition for women brass musicians. As a fund-raising effort to support that institution, she organized and produced the very popular Holiday Brass Concerts, performed each December, which are now in their second decade. In 1996, Ms. Slaughter founded Monarch Brass, an all-women’s brass ensemble, which has toured in the United States and Europe to critical acclaim and released its first CD titled Monarch Brass. Ms. Slaughter retired as Principal Trumpet from the Saint Louis Symphony in 2010.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tom Drake joined the St. Louis Symphony in 1987 as Associate Principal Trumpet. He served as Acting Principal Trumpet from 2010-2013. Prior to accepting the position with St. Louis, Tom was Principal Trumpet of the North Carolina Symphony from 1985-1987. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, he began his professional career as fourth trumpet with the Rochester Philharmonic under David Zinman after winning that position as a sophomore. During the summer, Tom is a member of the artist/faculty at the Aspen Music Festival in Aspen, Colorado. In previous summers, he instructed young musicians at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, the oldest such camp in the nation. Tom’s interests lie in the recording field as well as he is producer for AAM Recordings and Arch Media. He has used his keen ears and special talents towards producing recordings for the St. Louis Symphony and several of its individual musicians including Concertmaster David Halen, clarinetist Diana Haskell and retired orchestra members, English horn/oboist Marc Gordon and violinist Haruka Watanabe. He has also helped produce the orchestra’s National Public Radio broadcasts from 1996-2000. Tom and his wife Marian, a frequent substitute cellist with the Symphony, have a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Michael.

Thomas Jöstlein was appointed Associate Principal Horn with the St. Louis Symphony in April 2010. Before coming to St. Louis, he served as Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Illinois, performed with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra and with Sinfonia da Camera under the direction of English pianist and conductor, Ian Hobson. From 2007-09, Thomas was Assistant Principal Horn with the New York Philharmonic where, under the direction of Lorin Maazel, he performed on three major tours, including the historic live broadcast from North Korea. Previously Thomas held positions with the Honolulu, Omaha, Richmond, and Kansas City orchestras and has taught at the University of Hawaii and Virginia Commonwealth University. While attending Rice University, he studied horn with William VerMeulen and Thomas Bacon and did private study with tubists Arnold Jacobs and Roger Rocco. As a soloist, Thomas won first prize in the professional division of the American Horn Competition in 2003 and the Grand Prize at the Hugo Kauder Music Competition at Yale University in 2005, earning a recital in New York’s Merkin Hall. Thomas lives in University City with his wife Tricia, who is also an accomplished hornist, and their two young boys, Klaus and Max.

Roger Kaza is principal horn of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, and principal horn of the Chautauqua Symphony in upstate New York. He has previously held positions with the Houston Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Boston Symphony, and the Boston Pops, where he was solo horn under John Williams. A native of Portland, Oregon, he attended Portland State University, studying with Christopher Leuba, and later transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received a Bachelor of Music with Honors in 1977 under the tutelage of Thomas E. Newell, Jr. Kaza’s musical activities are wide-ranging. The son of two musicians, growing up in a musical family, he received his early training on piano, giving two solo recitals on that instrument before concentrating on horn. He has studied composition with the Czech-American composer Tomas Svoboda, and conducting with Leonard Slatkin, Gunther Schuller, and Murry Sidlin. He has conducted over 40 concerts with the Houston Symphony under the auspices of its Community Connections outreach program, giving concerts in schools, churches, homeless shelters and retirement homes. As an educator, Kaza has served on the faculty of the University of Houston, the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and has previously taught at the Saint Louis Conservatory, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Southern Illinois University, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and given master classes at the University of Michigan, University of Iowa, University of British Columbia, Southern Methodist University, University of Southern Mississippi, the Eastman school of music, and others. Students from his many years of teaching fill orchestral positions worldwide, including principal players in major U.S. symphonies, and chamber groups such as the Canadian Brass. In addition, he has been engaged as guest artist and performer for the International Horn Society at international and regional conferences. He is the writer/ producer and performer on the instructional CD, Audition: Improbable, and contributor to the syndicated NPR radio show “Engines of Our Ingenuity.” Kaza has appeared as soloist with many orchestras, including the Saint Louis, Vancouver, and Houston Symphonies, and the Carlos Chavez Chamber Orchestra in Mexico City. A frequent chamber musician as well, he has appeared at numerous summer venues, including the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival, Music in the Mountains, Chamber Music Northwest, Mainly Mozart, Aspen and Marrowstone festivals. He presently serves as instructor of horn at the Chautauqua Institution’s Music School. An avid bicyclist, hiker, and whitewater rafter, Kaza is especially fond of the horn in its “original” setting: out-of-doors. A performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Interstellar Call, from “From the Canyons to the Stars,” recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, was personally critiqued by the composer shortly before his death in 1992. Kaza testifies-from personal experience-that a Conn 8-D in its case will float, at least temporarily. Roger is married to the pianist Patti Wolf and they have two daughters, ages 7 and 13.