Hometown:

Richmond, Virginia

Year you joined the Grant Park Music Festival:

2001

Where did you study?

North Carolina School of the Arts, The Juilliard School

What were your earliest connections to music?

My mother loved classical music, so I grew up listening to it with her. We moved around every other year or so when I was a child, and there weren’t many opportunities to attend live concerts in the small Midwest towns where we lived. At age six, I wanted to start learning an instrument and was told that a piano was too big, so I asked if a flute was small enough, and that’s how I began. And I got the piano two years later!

What other art nourishes you (books, films, paintings, etc.)?

I have lots of houseplants – mostly orchids and violets, which creates a major challenge for my husband when I am away from home all summer!

When you’re not busy rehearsing and performing, what are some of your favorite non-musical Chicago summertime activities?

There are so many fun and diverse activities to do in Chicago, so I really look forward to spending my summers here each year! I’m a big baseball fan, so I have to see a Cubs game at Wrigley each summer. And my friends and colleagues down south in Richmond tease me because I follow NASCAR when I am home.

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