Flute: Sherry Kujala
Clarinet: Christopher French
Violins: Jameson Cooper
Brendan Shea
Cello: David Machavariani
Piano: Jennifer Muñiz
Percussion: Ben Runkel
Director: Jorge Muñiz
Sherry Kujala
Flutist Sherry Kujala resides in Evanston with her husband, Walfrid Kujala. Sherry has performed with many orchestras throughout the Midwest. The most recent count exceeded 20 professional orchestras, including 12 years as a substitute/extra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has served as principal flute of 5 orchestras over 30 years, and is active as a substitute/extra performer on all three positions – principal flute, 2nd flute and piccolo. Solo appearances with orchestras include performances of concertos by Carl Reinecke, Carl Nielsen, Vivaldi [both flute and piccolo concertos], Charles T. Griffes, Mozart concertos in G, D and the flute/harp) , CPE Bach, and Howard Hanson. In 2013 Sherry embarked on a concert tour in Texas, visiting three universities: University of North Texas, Baylor University and University of Texas for performances of Joseph Schwantner’s “Taking Charge”, a trio for Flute, Percussion and Piano, commissioned by Northwestern University to commemorate the retirement of Walfrid Kujala as professor of flute.
Sherry joined EC/21 for the inaugural season in November 2014, and later brought the ensemble to Evanston, Illinois, for a benefit concert in a program which included a repeat performance of “Birds” by Mason Bates.
When Sherry completed her master of music in flute performance at Northwestern, she won a spot in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. While performing with the Civic Orchestra, Sherry worked in the Development Department of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 3 years. Her work in Development for a world class institution inspired a sincere interest in the inner workings of arts organizations. Sherry returned to school to earn an MBA at Northwestern University’s Graduate School of Management, and has since established a “hybrid” career in which she is active as a performer and in the management functions of the fine arts.
The Kujalas own and operate the small publishing firm, Progress Press, devoted to music and study materials for flute and piccolo.
Jennifer Muñiz
Pianist Jennifer Muñiz, D.M.A., has performed in Spain, Italy, Mexico and the United States. Muñiz has garnered numerous awards and honors since her concerto debut at age eleven, including several public radio broadcast performances, a four-year performance grant for chamber music from the Liberace Foundation, her New York solo debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, performances at the United Nations, Steinway Hall, and the Polish Embassy in Chicago, and a solo recital at the Auditorio Principe Felipe in Oviedo, Spain.
Muñiz performs as a solo and collaborative pianist, with an emphasis in contemporary music, and has given recent recitals and masterclasses in Tennessee and North Carolina. She presents lecture-recitals, at conferences such as the Goshen College Piano Institute, and the College Music Society, with a presentation at the national conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts in fall 2013, and lecture-recitals at regional conferences in New York, North Dakota and Nebraska. Muñiz regularly performs with members of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.
For nine years preceding college, Ms. Muñiz studied with Beatrice Laurain, then earned her Bachelor of Music, summa cum laude, as a student of Lydia Artymiw, at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Ms. Muñiz completed her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Phillip Kawin.
She has taught on the keyboard skills faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and served there as a vocal accompanist, and at Barnard College. She maintained a private studio in New York City for seven years. Muñiz served as a piano instructor and accompanist at the University of Notre Dame for four years, including Opera Notre Dame, and taught as an associate faculty member at IU South Bend. From 2012-2013, she served on the faculty of the Swinney Conservatory of Music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri as Assistant Professor of Music, Piano and Theory. Muñiz joined the faculty of IU South Bend in summer 2013 as Assistant Professor of Music. Muñiz is especially interested in examining music development in specific environments, and has created two original courses: “Music in New York,” and “Music in Chicago.”
Christopher French
A versatile instrumentalist, Chris French is an accomplished clarinetist, saxophonist, and flutist. He received B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School where he was a scholarship student of Leon Russianoff and Joseph Allard. Concurrently with attending Juilliard, he studied jazz with Adolphe Sandole and Warne Marsh, and worked with traditional and modern jazz groups in New York City.
After briefly playing with the Orquesta del Estado de Mexico, he returned to Los Angeles and continued playing jazz and classical music with symphony orchestras, Broadway show pit orchestras, and recording studios until 1997, when he moved to Goshen, Indiana.
Mr. French is on the faculty of Indiana University South Bend, St. Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame, and Goshen College where he is the director of the jazz band. He plays regularly with Symphony orchestras and jazz performing groups in Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. He has been featured soloist with the Elkhart Youth Symphony, Maple City Chamber Orchestra, Elkhart Municipal Band, St. Joseph band, Truth in Jazz, Elkhart Symphony and the Elkhart Jazz Festival.
Jorge Muñiz
The music of Jorge Muñiz has been performed in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Australia, Singpore, and the United States by such ensembles as the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Seville Symphony Orchestra, Malaga Symphony Orchestra, Asturias Symphony Orchestra, Oviedo Filarmonía, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, the Das Scardanelli Quartett, Euclid Quartet, Cámara XXI, Duo Ahlert & Schwab, Duo Saxperience, Cuarteto Quiroga, and Duo Sonidos.
In May, 2014, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra presented the world premiere of Piano Concerto No. 2, “American Nights,” featuring Ilya Ulianitsky, piano, conducted by music director Tsung Yeh. In 2010, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra also presented the world premiere of “Requiem for the Innocent,” written in remembrance of victims of terrorism around the world, featuring baritone soloist Ivan Griffin and five choruses. The South Bend Tribune called the work “a creation that is profound, mature and well-proportioned.”
“La Nueche de San Xuán” for flute and harp was released in 2011 on a CD by Roberto Álvarez and Katryna Tan, principals of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In January 2012, Muñiz’s oratorio “Oda a Jovellanos” for tenor, chorus, and orchestra was released on CD and DVD in Spain, featuring tenor Joaquín Pixan, the Prince of Asturias Choir, and the Asturias Symphony Orchestra. In March 2012, the Vesper Chorale and Chamber Orchestra performed the world premiere of Muñiz’s “Stabat Mater” for alto, chorus, and orchestra featuring mezzo-soprano Lisa Bloom, conducted by Wishart Bell. In 2013-2014, Muniz also completed several new commissions, including “Duende” for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble at the University of Missouri, Columbia, a new Piano Quintet, “The Mississippi” for Cuarteto Quiroga and piano, commissioned by the Jornadas de Piano Luis G. Iberni International Piano Festival in Oviedo, Spain, a Sonata for Saxophone and Piano, “Motown Dreams,” for Duo Saxperience, and a new Piccolo Sonata for flutist Roberto Álvarez, which was premiered at the 2013 Australian Flute Festival.
In addition to winning the First Grand Prize of the European Young Composers Competition, Muñiz has won several other international awards including the City of Alcobendas Composition Prize, the Flora Prieto Composition Prize, the Guerrero Foundation Music Prize, the Joaquin Turina Music Prize, and the Spanish Society of Authors Young Composers Competition. At Carnegie Mellon University, Muñiz won the String Quartet Competition and the H. G. Archer Prize for Symphonic Composition. Muñiz is the also the recipient of several grants and fellowships from Fulbright and Rotary International, among others.
Jorge Muñiz received his masters in music composition from Carnegie Mellon University where he studied with Leonardo Balada and his doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music with Richard Danielpour. Dr. Muñiz is currently Associate Professor of Music – Composition and Theory, at the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend.