Roger Coull, Violin
Roger Coull studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Trevor Williams, and later Frederick Grinke, and whilst a student was awarded many scholarships and prizes. Chamber music has always been one of his great passions and it was there that he formed the Coull Quartet under the guidance of Sidney Griller.
The Coull Quartet was appointed quartet-in-residence at the University of Warwick in 1977, where its members are still actively involved in its music making, and soon established itself as one of Britain’s leading string quartets. The Quartet performs regularly in concerts and radio broadcasts in Britain, Western Europe and the USA and has also toured India, the Far East, Middle East, South America and Australia. 2009 saw their first tour of mainland China and in 2012 the Coull undertook its first tour of Brazil, and was awarded a prestigious New Music 20×12 commission, with composer Joe Cutler, to celebrate the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Included in their many critically acclaimed recordings are the complete Schubert Quartets on Upbeat Classics, the complete Mendelssohn Quartets on Hyperion Records (the recommended choice of BBC Radio 3’s Record Review) and a recording of quartets by Walton, Elgar and Bridge which was voted ‘Record of the Year’ by the BBC Music Magazine. The ensemble has a broad repertoire and has retained a strong commitment to contemporary music, commissioning works from eminent British composers such as Robert Simpson, Nicholas Maw and Edward Cowie. One of the Coull Quartet’s most recent recordings (Sibelius quartet and piano quintet) was Editor’s choice in the September 2010 Gramophone magazine.
Roger Coull’s years of experience as an orchestral trainer and conductor gained through his work at the University of Warwick, the Tees Valley Youth Chamber Orchestra, and the String Orchestra course at the Canford Summer School of Music have led to many conducting invitations. He is a regular guest conductor of the Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Beauchamp Sinfonietta, conductor of the University of Warwick String Orchestra, and a regular director of the Helix Ensemble. He is principal conductor of the Warwickshire Symphony Orchestra, and has also conducted the Academy of St Thomas, and the Crendon Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. He also has much experience as a teacher, and has given many masterclasses internationally. He is a regular guest at Britain’s music colleges as teacher, examiner, and adjudicator and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music for his services to professional music making
Carol Redman
Carol Redman, flutist, has much experience in chamber music roles, with large symphonic orchestras, opera orchestras and chamber orchestras, as solo flutist, principal flutist, second flutist, and piccolo player. She performs on the modern flute, the one-key baroque flute and recorder. She has made recordings on Koch and Dorian labels (including a Grammy nominated disc of the chamber music version of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde) for Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Her professional experience includes flutist with Santa Fe Pro Musica, Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, 20th Century Unlimited, Oregon Festival of American Music, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (Oregon), New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Woodwind Quintet, Le Domaine Forget Music Festival (Canada), and appearances with the Oregon Bach Festival, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival (California), Maryland Handel Festival, Colorado Opera Troupe, Colorado Chamber Players, Eugene Symphony (Oregon) and festivals in Germany and Japan. Ms Redman has coached variously Flute, Ensembles and Baroque Workshops in Kammermusik Workshops since 2005.
Stephen Redfield
Violinist Stephen Redfield has been teaching violin and chamber music at the University of Southern Mississippi School of Music since 1996. He spent 2011-12 on leave as Chair of the Music Department at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe, where he is also concertmaster of the Santa Fe Pro Musica. Each summer since 1992, Stephen has performed with the Victoria Bach Festival, where his performances as concertmaster and soloist have been produced on discs and broadcast nationally. He is a long-standing participant in the Oregon Bach Festival, often featured as concertmaster and in chamber music, and where he has participated in numerous recordings, including the Grammy Award-winning disc “Credo.”
Stephen plays with his faculty colleagues in the Impromptu Piano Quartet. As a chamber musician and a soloist, he has performed throughout the United States and internationally. Stephen performs regularly as a Baroque violinist with the Albuquerque Baroque Players and with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra. Stephen’s Baroque chamber music credits include concerts with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and the Newberry Consort, with such artists as with Marion Verbruggen, Mary Springfels, Elizabeth Blumenstock and Kenneth Slowik. As a member of the Sebastian Ensemble with harpsichordist Kathleen McIntosh, he has performed throughout the US, and in Spain, Cuba and Peru.
Doug Dunston
Douglas Dunston is currently Associate Professor of Music and Music Program Director at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico, where he has conducted orchestral and choral concerts, operettas, and musical theatre, and where he teaches courses in music, creativity, and interdisciplinary problem solving. In recent years he has guest conducted the Albuquerque Philharmonic Orchestra and the Claremont Concert Orchestra, and he conducts frequently at the Animas Music Festival in Durango, Colorado, where he specializes in large-scale chamber works integrating instrumentalists with singers, dancers, and actors. Some of the works he has produced there include Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, Walton’s Façade, and Weill’s ballet Zaubernacht. He has also conducted orchestral performances in Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt, Austria and with the Sinfonietta Hungarica in Budapest, Hungary. Dr. Dunston received his DMA in conducting from Claremont Graduate University and also holds degrees in physics from Harvey Mudd College and University of California, Berkeley.
Crawford Best
Crawford Best has played bassoon in the New Orleans Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He taught and performed as the faculty bassoonist of the Dartmouth College Congregation of the Arts and was the bassoon instructor at Loyola University College of Music in New Orleans, where he was also the Coordinator of Adjunct Faculty. He is currently Principal Bassoonist of the Santa Fe Pro Musica Orchestra.
Mr. Best was Principal Bassoonist of the New Orleans Symphony for 28 winter seasons and bassoonist with the Minnesota Orchestra for 7 winter seasons. He was for 36 summers the Principal Bassoonist of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and was its Orchestra Personnel Manager for 28 years. Prior to that he was the faculty bassoonist of the Dartmouth College Congregation of the Arts for 6 summers, where his colleagues on the faculty included Bob Willoughby, Al Genovese, Robert Genovese, Barry Tuckwell, and others. In December of 1985 he performed with the first World Philharmonic in Stockholm for the opening ceremonies of the Nobel Prize Awards, with Carlo Maria Giulini conducting Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8.
Crawford was educated in the public schools of Spartanburg, SC, received the A. B. degree from Duke University, where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar, and the M. M. degree from New England Conservatory of Music, where he received the Pi Kappa Lambda Performance Award.