LSYO WORKSHOPS
LSYO Woodwind Workshop
Sunday, March 8, 2026
12:30-3:30 p.m.
Stone Bridge High School, Ashburn
Calling all young woodwind players! Limited spots!
Don't miss this unique opportunity for all woodwinds to work with distinguished guest musicians and talented members of the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra.
The workshop has two tracks: Advanced and Intermediate. Advanced musicians should be at LSYO Philharmonic level. Intermediate musicians must have two years of experience on their instrument.
Classes include:
Masterclass
Technique
Excerpts (Advanced)
Ensemble (Intermediate)
For more information, contact Dr. Laurie Hudicek at laurie.hudicek@loudounsymphony.org.
Joseph Grimmer is Principal Bassoon of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra / Washington National Opera Orchestra and Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Maryland. He also holds the Principal Bassoon positions with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California. He previously served as Principal Bassoon with the Jacksonville Symphony, was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, was Acting Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Naples Philharmonic and spent six summers as Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado. He has performed as Guest Principal Bassoon with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Miami City Ballet Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, IRIS Orchestra, and Wolf Trap Orchestra, among others. He has also performed with the National Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, and Arizona Musicfest Orchestras. He has performed as a soloist with the IDRS Conference Orchestra in an arrangement of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in David Ludwig’s Pictures from the Floating World. He has taught at the Shenandoah Conservatory, Howard University, Catholic University and the Miami Music Festival and presents masterclasses at music schools across the US and internationally. Grimmer was a fellow at the Lucerne, Aspen, and Sarasota Music Festivals and a prize winner at the International Double Reed Society’s Young Artist Bassoon Competition in Birmingham, England. He serves on the Executive Board of Washington DC’s Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians. Grimmer earned his Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. He also studied with William Winstead at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree.
Meet Our Distinguished Guests
Leah Arsenault Barrick was appointed assistant principal flute with the National Symphony Orchestra in 2014. Her previous positions include acting associate principal flute with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and second flute with the Louisville Orchestra, as well as appearances as guest principal flute with the Seattle Symphony and as principal flute with the Crested Butte Music Festival. Barrick was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center and has served as a member of the Spoleto Festival (USA) orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra. In addition to her professional engagements, she has won First Prize in the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition, and the Frank Bowen Young Artist Competition. Barrick grew up in Southern Maine and began playing the flute at age nine. She earned her high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts and her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She received a Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music. In addition to her time as a performer, Leah Barrick has served in teaching positions at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park. She also enjoys working with flutists out of her home studio in Silver Spring, Maryland, where her students range from beginners to advanced high schoolers to adult amateurs.
Emily Tsai, a world-renowned orchestral and chamber musician, and educator, is the Assistant Principal Oboe of the Washington National Opera Orchestra. The Washington Post’s opera critic, Michael Brodeur, quotes Emily’s playing as “frequently catching my ears from the pit.” She can be heard regularly performing operas, ballets, musicals, and chamber music at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Emily is also on faculty at the University of Maryland School of Music. She is also an active freelancer in the DC metro area and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic among others. A former MKI Artist, Emily was the oboist of WindSync, gold medalist at the Fischoff Competition, and medalist at the M-prize Competition. She has performed in venues such as Ravinia and the Library of Congress, and taught masterclasses at many institutions, including the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and New World Symphony. Emily has been on a number of recorded albums including All Worlds, All Times, which debuted at #2 on the Classical Billboard charts and WindSync plays Miguel del Aguila, recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, which debuted at #1 on the Classical Billboard charts. Emily has made solo appearances with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Alba Music Festival Orchestra, Paragon Philharmonia, Amadeus Orchestra, and others. Emily began music at four years old on violin and started oboe when she was ten. Her main teachers include Mark Hill, Richard Killmer, and Malcolm Smith. Emily received her BM in Oboe Performance, with a Performer’s Certificate and Chamber Music Award from the Eastman School of Music, and BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Rochester, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She received her MM from the University of Maryland as part of the Graduate Fellowship Quintet. Emily is a Lorée Artist and plays on a Lorée Royal oboe and a Lorée English Horn.
Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is considered one of today’s most exceptional artists. Fiterstein has performed in recital, with distinguished orchestras, and with chamber music ensembles throughout the world. He won first prize at the Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition and received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant Award. The Washington Post has described his playing as “dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range. Every sound he makes is finely measured without inhibiting expressiveness” and The New York Times described him as “a clarinetist with a warm tone and powerful technique.” As soloist he has appeared with the Czech, Israel, Vienna, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, Belgrade Philharmonic, Danish National Radio Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, China National Symphony Orchestra, KBS Orchestra of South Korea, Jerusalem Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, Kansas City Symphony, and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He has performed in recital on the Music at the Supreme Court Series, the Celebrity Series in Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Louvre in Paris, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Tel Aviv Museum, and NYC’s 92d Street Y. A dedicated performer of chamber music, Fiterstein frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and ensembles and regularly performs with the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Yefim Bronfman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Pinchas Zukerman, and Steven Isserlis. Fiterstein performed with the Dover, Pacifica, Jerusalem, and Shanghai String Quartets as well as with Ensemble Wien-Berlin. He spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and appeared at the Caramoor, Moab, Music@Menlo, Montreal, Toronto, Jerusalem, and Storioni Chamber Music Festivals. Fiterstein is a founder of the Zimro Project, a unique ensemble dedicated to incorporating Jewish art music into chamber music programs. He performed as principal clarinet of the West-East Divan Orchestra at the invitation of Daniel Barenboim and has appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, KBS Orchestra with Yoel Levi, and with the St. Paul and Orpheus Chamber Orchestras. Fiterstein has a prolific recording career and has worked with composers John Corigliano and Osvaldo Golijov and had pieces written for him by Samuel Adler, Mason Bates, Paul Schoenfield, and Chris Brubeck, among others. Fiterstein was born in Belarus and immigrated to Israel at the age of two with his family. A Juilliard graduate, he won first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and received awards from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He is currently Professor of Clarinet and Chair of Winds at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Fiterstein is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Performing Artist.
