Grays Harbor Music Teachers present ‘Musicale’ benefit concert

By The Daily World • January 7, 2025 1:30 am
Featured performers at this year’s event include: Judy Terreberry, Ken Williams and Merry Jo Zimmer performing piano trios by Frank Bridge and Nikolai Mjaskowski; The Coast Trio (Debra Akerlund, John O’Brien and Leslie O’Brien) performing works by Carlos Gardel, Consuelo Velasquez, and, with mezzo-soprano Joy Dorsch, the Habanera from Bizet’s opera Carmen; Emma Jeanne Dorsch, soprano, accompanied by Kira Miller, piano, performing songs and arias by Gounod, Poulenc, Handel and Mozart; Kyle Sholinder, tenor, accompanied by Kira Miller, performing Ben Moore’s song cycle Dear Theo; and pianist Sara Burkhart.
Featured performers at this year’s event include: Judy Terreberry, Ken Williams and Merry Jo Zimmer performing piano trios by Frank Bridge and Nikolai Mjaskowski; The Coast Trio (Debra Akerlund, John O’Brien and Leslie O’Brien) performing works by Carlos Gardel, Consuelo Velasquez, and, with mezzo-soprano Joy Dorsch, the Habanera from Bizet’s opera Carmen; Emma Jeanne Dorsch, soprano, accompanied by Kira Miller, piano, performing songs and arias by Gounod, Poulenc, Handel and Mozart; Kyle Sholinder, tenor, accompanied by Kira Miller, performing Ben Moore’s song cycle Dear Theo; and pianist Sara Burkhart.

The Grays Harbor Music Teachers Association will present their annual Grays Harbor Musicale Scholarship Benefit Concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18 at the Aberdeen First Presbyterian Church, 420 North Broadway.

The Musicale is a 32-year Harbor tradition, a concert in which some of the area’s finest musicians donate their performances in order to raise money for the GHMTA’s scholarship fund. Thanks to the Musicale, the GHMTA has raised and distributed nearly $90,000 in scholarship funding to deserving Grays Harbor and Pacific counties music students. Two of those scholarship recipients, Emma Jeanne Dorsch and Sara Burkhart, will be among this year’s featured artists.

Admission is free and the public is cordially invited to attend. A free will offering will be collected at intermission for the scholarship fund. A dessert reception will follow the performance.

Performer bios:

Dalma Ashby

Dalma Ashby is an accomplished violinist with a passion for performance and education. As a former concertmaster of the NAfME All-Northwest Orchestra (2019) and the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra, Dalma has showcased exceptional leadership and artistry. She also won the University of Washington’s prestigious annual concerto competition, further highlighting her musical excellence.

With experience as the Orchestra Director of Daejeon Free Waldorf School in South Korea, Dalma is now offering violin lessons to students of all levels, combining her expertise with a personalized approach to foster a love for music. Contact her at grouchbear@gmail.com or 360-743-1995.

Sara Burkhart

Sara Burkhart graduated from Grays Harbor College in 2024 with her high school diploma, Associates in Arts — Music, and Associates in Arts — DTA. While there, she studied under Kira Miller (piano), Joy Dorsch (voice), and Bill Dyer (music theory and musicianship). She also was a member of the GHMTA and maintained her own small studio throughout her time at Grays Harbor College. In fall 2024, she transferred to Baylor University in Waco, Texas where she is pursuing a degree in Piano Pedagogy. She currently studies under Dr. Michael Clark. After school, she plans to pursue a career as a piano teacher.

Emma Jeanne Dorsch

Soprano Emma Jeanne Dorsch grew up in a family of musicians and music educators, and began performing at a young age. She was a seven-year participant in the 7th Street Kids program, and a regular in Bishop Center musicals, where her lead roles included Jane Banks in Mary Poppins, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical: The Musical and Miss Honey in Matilda. After playing the titular role in the Grays Harbor Opera Workshop’s 2017 production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, Emma Jeanne began to focus her efforts on classical singing. She is an alumni of Seattle Opera’s elite Teen Vocal Studio program, and a national finalist in the 2024 MTNA Young Artist Performance Competition. Operatic roles include The Mother (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Mabel (Pirates of Penzance), First Lady (The Magic Flute), Cendrillon (Viardot’s Cendrillon), Josephine (HMS Pinafore), Gianetta (The Gondoliers), and Contrary Mary (Babes in Toyland). She is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance at Western Washington University.

Joy Dorsch

Mezzo-soprano Joy Dorsch is a native of Bellingham. She is a past winner of Bellingham Ladies Music Club scholarship and the Performing Arts Festival of the Eastside art song competition. She earned her BMus in Vocal Performance from WWU in 2000 and has since been a soloist with the Bellingham Chamber Players, Whatcom Symphony, Skagit Symphony, Grays Harbor Symphony and Grays Harbor Civic Choir, as well as at churches throughout the area. Operatic roles have included Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro, Pamina in The Magic Flute, Mrs. Mclean in Susannah, Antonia in Tales of Hoffman, and Don Ettore in La Canterina. Joy is also active as a session singer, with clients including CBS, Microsoft Studios and No Matter Studios. In 2016 she co-founded the Grays Harbor Opera Workshop educational opera program with her husband Ian, and their program is now in its eighth season, presenting two fully staged operas a year. Joy is currently president of the Grays Harbor Music Teachers Association. She is also an active member of the Washington State Music Teachers Association, Music Teachers National Association, and the National Association of Teaching of Singing. She maintains an active private voice studio and teaches at Grays Harbor College.

Kira Miller

Kira Miller, NCTM, graduated from Hoquiam High School in 1997. She then attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, and received her Bachelor of Music History and Literature in March 2002. While at WWU, Kira participated in Collegium Musicum, which toured Europe, including Italy and Hungary. After college she moved to the Olympia area where she taught piano and flute lessons. As an active member of the Music Teachers National Association she currently holds the position of Vice President for the Grays Harbor Music Teachers Association and President Elect for the Washington State Music Teachers Association. Kira moved to Montesano in 2021 where she works for the County, and continues teaching and accompanying, including for the Grays Harbor Opera Workshop.

Merry Jo Zimmer

Pianist Merry Jo Zimmer is a state and nationally certified piano teacher, teaching adult students in her studio in Aberdeen. An active member of Grays Harbor Music Teachers Association for 35 years, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. She recently retired from her position as Director of Music at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Aberdeen where she has recorded three CDs of reflective solo piano music. Performing with friends is her favorite way to share music.

Debra Akerlund

Violinist Debra Akerlund studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She has performed with the Spokane, Victoria, Fresno, Shreveport, Olympia, Tucson symphonies as well as the American Festival Orchestra in China. She has performed in summer festivals in Canada, Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Colorado and Iowa. She is currently Assistant Concertmaster of Symphony Tacoma, the Yakima Symphony and Violin 1 of the Oregon Britt Festival Orchestra. She is a founding member of the Coast Trio, in residence at Grays Harbor College.

John O’Brien

Cellist John O’Brien was born in New York City, and moved to Aberdeen at age 10. He started cello studies in the Aberdeen School district with J. Gordon Edlund and privately with Rose Haines. After graduating from Grays Harbor College, he continued his cello studies at Western Washington University, San Francisco State University, and private lessons with faculty from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has played in the Berkeley Promenade Orchestra and other semi-professional Bay Area orchestras. Today he is the principal cellist with Grays Harbor Symphony, teaches private cello lessons, and plays at local churches. John and wife Leslie, along with Debra Akerlund, are founding members of the Coast Trio in residence at Grays Harbor College.

Leslie O’Brien

Violinist and violist Leslie O’Brien started the violin in grade school and enjoyed playing in youth symphony and church orchestra in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she met and married cellist John O’Brien. Moving to John’s hometown of Aberdeen, she joined the Grays Harbor Symphony in 1984. She has also played violin and viola with the Grays Harbor Chamber Ensemble, Second Street Strings, Grays Harbor Civic Choir, Opera Workshop, Coast Trio, and local churches, and is the concertmaster of Grays Harbor Symphony. She and John are retired from their catering business and stay busy with music, gardening, walks, and community volunteerism.