Sunday, May 31, 2026 at 3pm. Mount Vernon Music will present their anniversary concert.
Fanny Mendelssohn and her brother Felix both composed brilliant music, but due to expectations of the time only his was published. What if social conventions had been different, and it was commonplace for our favorite masterworks, like Mozart’s incredible Clarinet Quintet, to share the program with music written by women?
Ruth Gipps Rhapsody in E-flat op. 23 for clarinet and string quartet (11 min.)
Emmy Frensel Wegener (1901-1973) Suite for violin, viola and cello (1925) (10 min.)
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Adagio ma non troppo and Allegretto from String Quartet in E flat major (8 min.)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Fantasiestücke for string quartet (21 min.)
Intermission
W.A. Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major KV 581 (31 min.)
MUSICIANS
Ivan Petruzziello, clarinet; Mark Miller and Andres Bravo, violins; Ute Miller, viola; Laura Ospina, cello
BIOS
Ivan Petruzziello
Italian clarinetist Ivan Petruzziello currently serves as Assistant Principal Clarinetist of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Principal Clarinetist of the Corpus Christi Symphony. Previously, Mr. Petruzziello served as Principal Clarinetist of the Cali Philharmonic and Valle Symphony in Colombia.
As a guest, Mr. Petruzziello has performed with orchestras around the world, including the Orchestra Internazionale d’Italia, the Latina Philharmonia, the Orquesta Filarmonica Nacional de Cuba, the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogotá and the Orquesta Clásica of Colombia. In North America, he has performed with the Irving, Plano, Las Colinas, San Angelo and Victoria Symphony Orchestras, among others. Festival appearances include those with the Sinfonietta di Roma, Euromediterraneo Festival, Tiroler Festspiele, Orquesta Sinfonica de Holguin and Orchestra Nuova Amadeus.
Mr. Petruzziello is a teaching artist in the B Sharp Music Program. Previously, he was on faculty in several institutions in Colombia, such as the Universidad Central, Universidad del Valle, Universidad EAFIT and the Antonio María Valencia Conservatory. He has presented masterclasses in Colombia, Cuba, Italy, Panama, Perú and the United States.
Mr. Petruzziello earned a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance under the tutelage of Francesco Belli, a Master of Music in Chamber Music and an Artist Diploma Certificate from Texas Christian University. He resides in Fort Worth with his wife, cellist Laura Ospina and their children Tomas and Olivia.
Mark Miller
Besides serving as concertmaster of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, violinist Mark Miller performs with the Fort Worth Symphony and other North Texas ensembles. He is a founder and president of Mount Vernon Music (MVM), a membership-based nonprofit bringing outstanding performances of chamber music to underserved audiences in East Texas.
Consistent with an emphasis on outreach to school children in rural communities, MVM has commissioned numerous musical stories for young audiences, including The Town Musicians, which was made into an illustrated book and CD with narration by Hollywood actor Will Ryan.
MVM performances can be enjoyed on Mount Vernon Music’s YouTube channel.
Mark also co-presented the chamber series “The Color of Sound” at Texas A&M University – Commerce, where he taught and performed as Artist-in-Residence with his wife, ETSO principal violist Ute Miller. Their duo recordings (Duo Renard) can be found on the MSR and Fleur de Son labels.
Following studies at SUNY Purchase, Indiana University – Bloomington and Boston University, Mark studied with Jürgen Kussmaul in Germany, where he was assistant concertmaster in the Robert Schumann Kammerorchester of Düsseldorf and a member of the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn.
Andres Bravo
Andres Bravo, originally from La Paz, Bolivia, has established his performance and teaching career in Dallas, Texas. Andres has performed as a soloist with Bolivian orchestras and in the US and played alongside members of the Escher quartet, Viano Quartet, Julius quartet, Nicola Benedetti, Aaron Boyd, Philip Quint, Jaime Laredo, and Paul Nebauer.
Andres has been appointed concertmaster and principal second violin in orchestras at Interlochen, Eastern Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Round Top Festival Institute, and Bolivia Clasica, SHSU (Sam Houston State University Symphony Orchestra, and Meadows Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a guest artist of the Erikson Center of the Arts for the past few years. Currently he holds positions with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra, McKinney Philharmonic, and he regularly plays with the Plano and Irving Symphony Orchestras.
Ute Miller
Ute Miller is the principal violist of the East Texas Symphony, performs frequently with the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared as a soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.
A founder and the Executive Director of Mount Vernon Music Association, Ute performs with her husband Mark in the violin-viola ensemble Duo Renard, which was brought to Texas with a National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residencies chamber music grant. She also produces the Color of Sound series at Texas A&M Commerce, where she was Artist-in-Residence.
Ute’s musical studies include the prestigious Konzertexamen diploma from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, and a year at Boston University as a student of Raphael Hillyer.
In addition to playing with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, she served for seven years as assistant principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchester/Cologne Philharmonic, and for eight years as principal violist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra.
Laura Ospina
After winning the national “Roberto Mantilla” competition and performing as soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, cellist Laura Ospina concertized throughout her native Columbia both as a recitalist and in solo appearances with the foremost Columbian orchestras, along with the Holguín Symphony Orchestra in Cuba, the Latina Philharmonia Orchestra and Fondi Chamber Orchestra in Italy, and the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra. She also performed with the International Chamber Orchestra in Rome, Italy.
Laura has led the cello sections of the Cundinamarca Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia. She maintains a busy freelance career in Texas, serving as Principal Cellist of the Las Colinas Symphony and the East Texas Symphony, and is an active member of Mount Vernon Music. Since 2021 she is member of the Dallas College Faculty.
