"A stand-out treasure"
– Westport News, CT
"Passionately controlled"
– Chicago Reader, IL
"Impressive playing" "Wonderfully nimble"
– Chicago Tribune, IL
"Capriccio was stunning in its beauty and perfect meld of
tone colors...ravishing, a gem...I would describe the
entire concert that way."
– Richland Observer, WI
The sparkling sound of the flute and the magical quality of the harp combine to form music of unparalleled grace and charm. Internationally acclaimed harpist Stephen Hartman and award wining flutist Donna Milanovich are on the roster of the Illinois Artstour Touring Program, Arts-in-Education Residency Program and the Heartland Arts Fund Community Connections Program. They have performed at such diverse concert venues such as the National Flute Association in Orlando (FL), Woodstock Opera House (IL), Lincoln University (MO), Shenandoah Music Association (IA), Arkansas State University (AR), Kalamazoo Community Arts Series (MI), Richland Center (WI), and WFMT’s Live Form Studio One. They met while touring with Bugs Bunny and the Warner Brother Symphony Orchestra in 1991! Their CD CAPRICES is a delightful mix of traditional flute and harp repertoire and their own unique arrangements. Capriccio creates a striking atmosphere that engages and delights audiences everywhere.
Visit the Capriccio website: www.flute-harp.com
Donna Milanovich, flute
Donna Milanovich made her New York Debut at Weil Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall as a winner of the Artist International Chamber Music Award. Her CD, Sounds of the Seine, is available on the Delos International Label. She is a member of the Chicago Philharmonic and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. She has performed as an extra player with the Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and has had the good fortune to work with and be influenced by Chicago flutists Jean Berkenstock, Walfrid Kujala, and Donald Peck.
Milanovich is on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Chicago and maintains a private teaching studio for high school through postgraduate. Her students have been accepted at Curtis Institute, Manhattan School of Music, and Indiana University, among many others. She has both taught and performed at the chamber music festival Les Musicades de Lyon in France. She has toured for the US State Department to the Czech Republic, Romania and Cyprus.
Among her many awards have been grants from Chamber Music America, a distinguished artist award from the Bronx Council of the Arts, the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, and competitive selection by the National Flute Association to perform at its Washington, Boston, Orlando, Columbus, and Chicago Conventions. In 2000 she was a prizewinner in NFA Chamber Music Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the Concert Artist’s Guild Competition in New York City and won the Pro Arte Foundation Competition, which sponsored her in a CAMI Hall recital in NYC. In addition to playing as flutist with the Capriccio, she also performs with The Glorian Duo. They won the American Harp Society Young Artists Competition, which sponsored their national tours for 3 years, featuring them at many conventions and the World Harp Congress in Sevre, France.
David Diamond, William Bolcom, and Vaclav Nelhybel, among others, have written works for her. She has articles published in Flute Talk Magazine, Chamber Music America, and has music editions published by Southern Music Company.
She entered college at 15 and her undergraduate degree was with Geoffrey Gilbert and her summer studies at age 16 and 17 were with Marcel Moyse. Her post-graduate degree, from the Royal Northern College of Music, England, was with Trevor Wye.
Stephen Hartman, harp
Stephen Hartman is solo and principal harpist with the Elgin Symphony, has performed with such ensembles as the American Ballet Theater, Chicago Opera Theater, and as an extra harpist has played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at home and on tour in New York, Japan, Switzerland and Germany.
He has recorded and toured with composer William Ferris to the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music at the Vatican in Rome, and has toured the Elgin Choral Union to Wales and England. His 1996 recording of Leo Sowerby’s Concerto for Harp and Small Orchestra with the Monadnock Music Festival was the premiere CD for this concerto. He has recorded Christmas CDs with the Glenn Ellyn Children’s Chorus, Milwaukee Children’s Choir and the Tick Tock Harp Duo’s Carols of the Winter Solstice.
As a commercial harpist he has played with the Broadway touring productions of Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, The King & I,Show Boat, Phantom of the Opera, 42nd Street, Sugar Babies, Camelot, Shenandoah, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Good-Bye Girl,My Fair Lady, and is on call with many of the major recording studios. In 1991 he toured nationally with the Warner Brother’s Symphony Orchestra, accompanying Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. Popular artists such as Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, the Moody Blues and Joni Mitchell have included him in their orchestras.
Mr. Hartman schooled at Interlochen Arts Academy, and received both Bachelor and Master of Music performance degrees from Indiana University with Peter Eagle and postgraduate studies with Susann McDonald and Sarah Bullen. He has served on the faculty of DePaul University and North Park University, currently has a private studio and is an international agent for Lyon & Healy Harps.
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