Contact:
Carl Herko
Vice President, Media & Public Relations
503-416-6347
cherko@orsymphony.org

June 4, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FOUR MUSICIANS TO JOIN OREGON SYMPHONY’S RANKS
FOR 2008-09 SEASON

(PORTLAND, Ore.) – Four new musicians – two horn players, a flutist and a clarinetist – will join the Oregon Symphony for the start of the 2008-09 concert season, the orchestra has announced.

All four were winners of auditions conducted by the orchestra between February and May. They include:

• Mark J. Dubac, second clarinet – Dubac has been principal clarinetist with the Green Bay Symphony in Wisconsin for the past two seasons and has performed with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra and the New Mexico Symphony. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Ricardo Morales, principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

• Graham G. Kingsbury, assistant principal horn – Kingsbury, currently a member of the Marin Symphony in California, has performed with several San Francisco Bay Area ensembles, including the San Francisco Symphony, since 2005. He holds a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in Illinois, both in horn performance.

• Alicia DiDonato Paulsen, assistant principal flute – Paulsen has been a free-lance musician based in Boston since 2002, where she has performed with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras as well as the orchestras of Opera Boston and the Boston Lyric Opera. She has earned a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory in Boston, a bachelor’s degree from The Hartt School in Connecticut and was awarded a fellowship with the New World Symphony. Paulsen will occupy the Martha Herby Flute Chair.

• Alicia Michele Waite, fourth horn – Waite has been a member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra since 2004 and has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony, New World Symphony and Civic Orchestra of Chicago, among others. She holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from Lawrence University in Wisconsin, both in performance.

Each of the newly appointed orchestra members was chosen from a large pool of candidates in highly competitive auditions. “The Oregon Symphony is well-known to musicians as a superb orchestra with a great music director – and the fact that we’re based in one of America’s loveliest and most-envied cities doesn’t hurt, either,” said Oregon Symphony Association President Elaine Calder.

At the end of its 2007-08 concert season, the Oregon Symphony also bid a fond farewell to cellist Adam Esbensen, who has won a coveted slot in the cello section of the Boston Symphony. Esbensen, a native of Corvallis, Oregon, had been a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2003.

The Oregon Symphony’s 2008-09 concert season will begin with two outdoor concerts Aug. 23 at Portland’s Mt. Scott Park and Aug. 28 at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland.