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Sunday, April 26 2026, 7:30 PM

Emily Tsai

oboe

Tristan Savella

piano

Joey Grimmer

bassoon

Pass in the Night

PROGRAM

3 Romances by Robert Schumann

Sarabande et Cortege by Henri Dutilleux

Scenes from a Jade Terrace by Alexina Louie

II. Memories in an Ancient Garden

Fastforward by Alexina Louie 

Pass in the Night by Whitney George

Trio by Francis Poulenc

BIOGRAPHY

Emily Tsai, a world renowned orchestral and chamber musician, and educator, is the Assistant Principal Oboe of the Washington National Opera Orchestra. The Washington Post’s opera critic, Michael Brodeur, quotes Emily’s playing as “frequently catching my ears from the pit.” She can be heard regularly performing operas, ballets, musicals, and chamber music at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Emily is also on faculty at the University of Maryland School of Music. She is also an active freelancer in the DC metro area and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic among others.

A former MKI Artist, Emily was the oboist of WindSync, gold medalist at the Fischoff Competition, and medalist at the M-prize Competition. She has performed in venues such as Ravinia and the Library of Congress, and taught masterclasses at many institutions, including the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and New World Symphony.

Emily has been on a number of recorded albums including the Grammy nominated album, Samuel Coleridge Taylor, where she was guest principal oboe with the National Philharmonic. Other recordings include All Worlds, All Times, which debuted at #2 on the Classical Billboard charts and WindSync plays Miguel del Aguila, recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, which debuted at #1 on the Classical Billboard charts.

Emily has made solo appearances with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Alba Music Festival Orchestra, Paragon Philharmonia, Amadeus Orchestra, and others.

Emily began music at four years old on violin and started oboe when she was ten. Her main teachers include Mark Hill, Richard Killmer, and Malcolm Smith. Emily received her BM in Oboe Performance, with a Performer’s Certificate and Chamber Music Award from the Eastman School of Music, and BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from
the University of Rochester, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She received her MM from the University of Maryland as part of the Graduate Fellowship Quintet.

Emily is a Lorée Artist and plays on a Lorée Royal oboe and a Lorée English Horn.

Joseph Grimmer is Principal Bassoon of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra/Washington National Opera Orchestra and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and is Assistant Professor of Bassoon, Division Coordinator of the Winds & Percussion, and Coordinator of Chamber Music at the University of Maryland. He previously served as Principal Bassoon with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the Jacksonville Symphony, was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Acting Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Naples Philharmonic, and spent six summers as Assistant Principal Bassoon with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado.

He has appeared as Guest Principal Bassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, Miami City Ballet Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, IRIS Orchestra, and Wolf Trap Orchestra and has also performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Arizona Musicfest Orchestra.

As a soloist, Grimmer has performed with the IDRS Conference Orchestra in an arrangement of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy and with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in David Ludwig’s Pictures from the Floating World. An active educator, he has served on the faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory, Howard University, The Catholic University of America, and the Miami Music Festival. He regularly presents masterclasses at music schools across the United States and internationally.

Grimmer was a fellow of the Lucerne Festival Academy, Aspen Music Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival, and was a prize winner of the International Double Reed Society’s Young Artist Bassoon Competition in Birmingham, England. He currently serves on the Executive Board of Washington, DC Local 161-710 of the American Federation of Musicians.

He earned his Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins, and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with William Winstead.

Filipino-American pianist, Dr. Tristan Savella is an active soloist and chamber musician based in Toronto. His career has taken him to performances at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Schloss Mirabell in Salzburg, Austria, and the Canadian Opera Company’s Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre in Toronto. Furthermore, Tristan is the recipient of multiple prizes at various national and international competitions, including prizes at the Concours Flame (Paris), the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition (New York), and the Glenn Gould School’s Chamber Music Competition.

Engagements in 2025-26 include a variety of programs (solo, chamber and operatic) at the Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series (Toronto), the Chapelle historique du bon pasteur (Montreal), Emerson Avenue Music Salon (McLean, Virginia), Highlands Opera Studio (Haliburton, Ontario), and the University of Toronto New Music Festival. Apart from performing, Tristan is a passionate educator, working as a chamber music coach at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Taylor Academy, as well as maintaining a private piano studio. He also regularly serves as an examiner and collaborative pianist at the RCM, and as an adjudicator for multiple festivals and competitions (such as Kiwanis Toronto and Kingston, VAYA Festival in Vancouver, ORMTA, and the Aegio International Piano competition).

Tristan is an alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Eastman School of Music (B.M.), the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg (M.A. with Distinction), the Glenn Gould School (Artist Diploma) and the University of Toronto (D.M.A). He pursued additional training at various festivals, such as the Banff Piano Masterclass, the Orford Music Academy, the Gijon International Piano Festival, and the Chautauqua Institute. Aside from music, Tristan works as a Research Analyst for the Ontario Arts Council and his other interests include tennis, traveling, cooking, learning languages and playing video games.”

To learn more, please visit his website or follow him on Instagram:

https://www.tristansavella.com/
Instagram: tpiano91

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