Instrument & Voice Festivals at Interlochen Arts Academy

Victoria Chiang

Artist-Faculty Member of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Coordinator of Viola Deparment; Distinguished Artist & Concert Violist at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, Mercer University 

Victoria Chiang is an artist-faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Music where she serves as coordinator of the viola department. Her most recent recording of the viola concertos of Stamitz and Hoffmeister was released for Naxos to critical acclaim. Other recordings include Pleyel Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola also on Naxos as well as a recording of Shostakovich and Roslavets Viola sonatas. Career highlights include appearances with the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Romanian State Philharmonics of Constantsa and Tirgu Muresh, Duluth Superior Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Acadiana Symphony and the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington DC. Ms. Chiang has appeared as guest artist with the Guarneri, Takács, Tokyo, American, Arianna and Pro Arte string quartets and is a founding member of the Aspen String Trio, an internationally touring string trio. Ms Chiang spends her summers at the Aspen Music Festival as well as other music festivals, and teaches with Becca Albers at the McDuffie Center.

Gordon Hawkins

Baritone

Beginning his career singing the bel canto roles of Italian opera, Gordon Hawkins drew early praise from critics like Lon Tuck of the Washington Post, who pronounced him to be “one of the most promising young singers of the decade.”

Since then, Gordon Hawkins has been critically acclaimed throughout the world for his in-depth interpretations and luxuriant baritone voice. A winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and the George London Grant recipient, he has been praised for his rich lyricism as well as his dramatic instinct. He is a winner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition and in 2006 was honored as the Washington National Opera “Artist of the Year.”

Recent engagements include Amonasro in Aida with Houston Grand Opera and Cincinnati Opera; a gala concert for the Supreme Court Justices in Washington, D.C.; the title role in Macbeth with Seattle Opera; Tonio in I Pagliacci with Atlanta Opera; Porgy in Porgy and Bess with Washington National Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre; High Priest in Samson et Dalila with Opera Ontario; Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffman in Tokyo, and Tonio/Alfio in Manitoba Opera’s double bill of I Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana.

He can be heard as George Milton on the first recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men with the Houston Grand Opera on Albany Records, and on the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts recording of Simon Boccanegra in the title role.

Ashley Hall-Tighe

Soloist and Ensemble Musician, Trumpet

Ashley Hall-Tighe is an internationally renowned musician, educator and certified life coach. With her exuberant and relatable approach and her passion for building authentic and meaningful connections, Ashley enjoys engaging audiences as a soloist and ensemble musician, facilitating coaching courses, working with individuals in her private coaching practice, and leading professional and personal development workshops.

Ashley’s work as a soloist has taken her around the world. From the Sydney Opera House to the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China, she radiates an “energetic joy” (Rochester Post Bulletin) through her “warm tone, stunning technique and expressive artistry” (Cincinnati Enquirer). Performing as a soloist both with ensembles and as a recitalist, 2024 highlights include solo performances with the Roanoke Symphony and Rock Hill Symphony as well as recitals in Hong Kong, Australia, and throughout the United States. From August 2023-May 2024, Ashley was a touring member of Canadian Brass, performing concerts around the world and entertaining audiences in the iconic and light-hearted style for which the group is known.  

In 2019, she was the first trumpeter to perform for the esteemed concert series, Matinee Musicale in Cincinnati, OH.  Of this performance, classical music critic Janelle Gelfand said, “In each piece, she displayed a warm tone, stunning technique and expressive artistry. Best of all was the joy she found in each note, and that communicated to the audience.”

Ashley is releasing her debut solo album with pianist Ana Maria Otamendi, Upcycle, in the fall of 2024. This collection of transcriptions for trumpet and piano was created by Ashley’s husband Nathaniel Tighe, and it honors the artist’s common European classical roots while presenting a vision of what might have been possible if the modern trumpet was a solo instrument at the time these works were conceived.

As an educator, Ashley combines her passion for whole-person development with a methodical approach to trumpet improvement.  Her teaching on respiratory mechanics, strategic practice planning, upper register development, as well as her personal stories of growth make her one of the most sought-after guest clinicians and educators on the trumpet.  She has served on the faculties of the University of Dayton, St. Olaf College, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Ashley was the founding director of the Longy School of Music’s Career Coaching Program from 2019-2022, which helps students develop careers that align with their values.  She hosted a weekly speaker series at Longy, “The Multifaceted Career”, and interviewed over 60 artist leaders who embody an expansive, integrated narrative of holistic career success. Ashley is an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation and trained with Co-Active Training Institute and Graydin.  In her private coaching practice Ashley offers individual coaching sessions that empower artists to unlock their potential and align their values with their creative lives.  She is a Certified Start with Heart Facilitator through Graydin and leads professional development coaching courses for institutions seeking cultural transformation.  

Ashley co-owns Maple Rise Music, a Cincinnati-based publishing company she founded with Nathaniel Tighe. She is also a Yamaha Performing Artist and endorses GR mouthpieces.

Ashley lives in Cincinnati, OH, with her husband and their two amazing children. 

Andy Hudson | Clarinet

Associate Professor of Clarinet, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music

Celebrated artist-teacher Andy Hudson joined the faculty of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music as Associate Professor of Clarinet in the Fall of 2023. Performances by Hudson have been hailed as “a treat for the listener” (IAWM Journal) and have been praised for “an uncommon singularity of purpose, technical virtuosity, youthful vigor and a mature sensitivity” (The Clarinet). An “inspiring” (MMR) and “fearless” (Cacophony) performer, he has performed widely across North America, Europe, and Africa in solo, chamber, and orchestral settings settings at many of the world’s great venues, including Weill Recital Hall at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Chicago’s Symphony Center, the KKL Lucerne, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Alexandria Theater (Egypt), and numerous others. Hudson has been featured at national and international gatherings of the College Music Society and the International Clarinet Association, as a concerto soloist at The Midwest Clinic, and at the 2011 World Congress of the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Learn More about Andy Hudson