Danielle Breisach, Andrew Briggs, Yana Avedyan
Biography Danielle Breisach, Andrew Briggs, Yana Avedyan
Danielle Breisach
Multifaceted flutist Dr. Danielle Breisach is a dynamic performer, educator, and conductor known for her ability to effortlessly connect with a wide range of audiences and groups. Having performed across North America, in Europe, and in Asia, Dr. Breisach is equally at home on stage as a soloist or member of an ensemble. She is Principal Flute with the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra, Piccoloist with the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, and a substitute with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and Madison Opera. She has performed Lowell Lieberman’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra, Op. 39 as a concerto soloist with the Western Michigan University Symphony Orchestra and Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Symphony Orchestra. In addition to solo and orchestral work, Dr. Breisach enjoys performing varied chamber ensemble repertoire with both the Madison New Music Ensemble and UWSP Faculty Woodwind Quintet. She is a prize winner in the Low Flute Society’s Alto Flute Competition and has been an invited performer for the National Flute Association, Low Flute Society, International Double Reed Society, and National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors.
Dr. Breisach currently serves on the faculty at UW-Stevens Point as Lecturer of Flute and Graduate Program Manager where she mentors undergraduate and graduate flutists in lessons, teaches pedagogy courses, conducts the UWSP Flute Choir, and administrates the Master of Music Education program. She has given guest artist classes and performances at universities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Alabama, Texas, and West Virginia. In addition to collegiate teaching, Dr. Breisach runs a thriving private studio in Madison, WI, has been on faculty for summer music camps and festivals in Wisconsin and Michigan. A talented adjudicator, she has judged youth, collegiate, and composition competitions in Texas, Florida, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, for the National Flute Association, and the Flute New Music Consortium.
Dr. Breisach is passionate about creating growth opportunities for musicians, educators, and community through her work with the Wisconsin Flute Festival, Madison Flute Club, commissioning projects, and UW-Stevens Point Master of Music program. Under her leadership as Director, the Wisconsin Flute Festival has become a nationally recognized festival offering performance, educational, networking, and resume-building opportunities for flutists of all ages and levels. As Co-Artistic Director of the Madison Flute Club, she has envisioned and been the driving force behind creating unique opportunities for adult amateur, professional, and youth flutists to connect, perform, and provide community education and outreach. Ever an advocate for new works, she has lead commissioning projects, often by up-and-coming composers, through Madison Flute Club and independently. In her role as Graduate Program Manager for UW-Stevens Point, Dr. Breisach has been instrumental in raising the profile of the school to an international level by designing successful initiatives for recruiting, marketing, and admissions for the online Master of Music Education program.
A sought-after conductor and director of flute ensembles, Dr. Breisach has been an invited guest conductor at international festivals and directed flute ensembles for the West Michigan Flute Association, Madison Flute Club, Western Michigan University Flute Studio, UW-Stevens Point Flute Studio, and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras. She actively mentors assistant and student conductors as part of her activities with the Madison Flute Club and UW-Stevens Point Flute Studio.
Dr. Breisach is an accomplished performer on flute, piccolo, alto flute, and bass flute, and enjoys playing Irish and Swedish folk music on simple system flutes. She received a B.M. in Instrumental Music Education and M.M. in Flute Performance from Western Michigan University, a D.M.A. in Flute Performance with additional studies on baroque flute from UW-Madison, and has completed additional training in the Suzuki Method.
Andrew Briggs
is a vibrant artist engaged in fostering connection and community with his audience. Whether as a soloist or within an ensemble, Andrew is dedicated to the immediacy of connection that is the power of music. His performances take place in concert halls to hospital bedsides, wherever there is an audience ready to deeply connect.
Praised as “an artist with an already expanding reputation and great future” (The Well-Tempered Ear), cellist Andrew Briggs performs on an international scale. Recent solo and chamber music performances include the Bridging Arts Music Festival (Nürmberg, DL); the Fontainebleau Festival (FR); Opus 16 Concert Series (NL); Festival de Radio France (Montpellier, FR); with upcoming performances at Festival International aux Garrotxes (FR) and in Paris.
Andrew’s 2022 – 2023 season is that of collaboration: duo recitals with violinist Diego Tosi as Violon(cell)issimo; recitals of Bach and chamber music in Paris; interventions for the médiathèques of Parisian hospitals, and both orchestral and chamber performances with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and the Orchestre Nationale d’Île de France.
Currently Andrew resides in Paris, France where he is in demand as a solo and collaborative cellist. Initially he moved to Paris as a recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship from the Fondation des États-Unis, where he studied and performed works of Duport, Debussy, and Poulenc with Daniel Grosgurin of the Schola Cantorum. He then moved to the Cité Internationale des Arts where he spent two years on projects featuring the cello works by Beethoven and world music with the Ensemble Kimya. Andrew is a founding member of the ensemble IMAGO in residence at the Fondation des Etats-Unis, creating musical performances featuring interdisciplinary art collaborations.
A dedicated performer of all eras of music, Andrew plays music from Baroque to contemporary. Studying Baroque cello with Phoebe Carrai at the Juilliard School, he performed with the Madison Bach Musicians and as a continuo cellist for UW-Madison’s opera production of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. Andrew also enjoys playing music of contemporary composers, performing contemporary chamber recitals for the Bridging Arts Festival (Nurmberg, DL), and with the FOCUS! Contemporary Music Festival, ChamberFest, and with Axiom Ensemble of the Juilliard School.
Past season highlights include Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 at the Festival Radio France (Montpellier, FR); solo and chamber recitals at the Fontainebleau Festival (France); chamber performances with the Ensemble Calliopé (France); performances of the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Middleton Community, Longmont, and University of Colorado Orchestras; solo cellist of the Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra; Carnegie Hall concerts with the New York String Orchestra Seminar, chamber music performances with Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra principal cellist Gregor Horsch.
Andrew balances his performance career with teaching. As an educator, he was involved with the Juilliard School’s Educational Outreach Department: performing outreach concerts as a Gluck Community Service Fellow, and teaching at the Harlem School for the Arts as an Arts Enrichment Fellow. He also taught in the classroom at Juilliard as an Ear Training Teaching Fellow while being a mentor for the Juilliard Pre-College String Ensemble. In 2016 - 2017, Andrew joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh as instructor of cello and music business, and performed with the Elmwood String Trio as Artist in Residence. He has since gone on to teach at conservatories in and around Paris, as well as create his own private studio on a global scale.
Andrew graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder, completing his undergraduate degree in cello performance as the College of Music’s Outstanding Graduate. Studying with Professor Judith Glyde, he won the Honors Competition, leading to performances of the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the CU Symphony and the Longmont Symphony. He attended The Juilliard School as a Master of Music degree student of Richard Aaron, and studying chamber music with members of the Juilliard Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Andrew graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, completing his Doctoral studies as a student of Uri Vardi. His doctoral project, "Piatti and the Body: An Integrative Approach to Learning the 12 Caprices, Op. 25," can be found on Youtube.com. Andrew has benefited from private study and master classes with Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Isserlis, Paul Katz, Frans Helmerson, Lluis Claret, Philippe Muller, Gary Hoffman, Ophelie Gaillard, Gregor Horsch, Michel Strauss, Diana Ligeti, and Xavier Gagnepain.
Yana Avedyan
pianist, is originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine, where she attended Music School # 9 and studied with Glazirina Tatiana majoring in piano performance. She began her studies with Dr. Karen Becker at SUNY Plattsburgh in 2007 and has participated in master classes with Evgenia Tzarov and Helen Huang. In the spring of 2011, Avedyan made her debut as soloist with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 488. She completed her bachelor's degree with a double major in music and accounting in May 2012, when she graduated summa cum laude. In the spring of 2013 Yana Avedyan and Danielle Breisach (flute) were the winners of the Annual Shain Woodwind-Piano Duo Competition. In the Spring 2014 Avedyan was one of the winners of the Annual Beethoven Competition. During her studies at UW-Madison Yana participated in masterclasses with Peter Minamoto and Joel Hastings. In the fall of 2016, she was one of the finalists of the UW-Madison Concerto Competition. She performed Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto with a UW student orchestra in the fall of 2017. Avedyan taught private students through Piano Pioneers Program at UW- Madison, Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee and Steinway Store in Madison. She attended festivals such as Brevard Music Festival as a solo pianist and Bay View Music Festival as a collaborative piano fellow. In June 2018, Yana participated in an inaugural concert series of LunART festival in Madison. In May 2018, Avedyan completed her DMA degree in piano performance at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she was a student of Van Cliburn medal winning pianist Christopher Taylor. Her dissertation project entailed promoting the solo piano works of the Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk.
