COMPASS Concert: Welcome to the Program: Community Online Meditation Performance and Salon Series, An online Zoom concert presenting live music programming.

Margaret had early training as a classical pianist in the U.K. and the U.S., then pursued an academic career in German and French language and literature. She holds degrees from Tufts University and the University of Michigan, and taught at university level for several decades. In 2013 she added a graduate certification in Nonprofit Management to her professional portfolio, with a specialty in arts organizations, and currently works to help arts nonprofits, as a Board member, consultant and musician. Margaret is a Director and the Emcee of Classical Revolution PDX (CRPDX), a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon. CRPDX connects amateur and professional chamber musicians in non-hierarchical music-making, and brings both paid and free classical music to underserved audiences.

Margaret is active in Portland's classical music scene, playing for CRPDX, retirement communities, Portland Piano International, Friends of Chamber Music and Big Mouth Society, as well as playing, organizing and hosting house concerts. An avid tango dancer, Margaret also plays tango piano in ensembles for dancers. She co-directs a foundation benefitting underserved communities through arts, humanities, educational and health nonprofits.

Dianne Davies

Dianne Davies explores the deeper meaning of music and human connection through a shared experience. For some 30 years, since earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance and completing the Oregon music education certification for K-12 instruction, Dianne has offered high quality performances, cutting-edge education and engaging compositions and arrangements.

As a composer/arranger, in 2010, Dianne developed her own comedy show titled, Dianne Davies Has Fallen Off Her Bench, a two-hour concert of all her own arrangements from a plethora of Classical favorites and gems from the vernacular, echoing traces of Liberace, Victor Borge and more. In 2016, she created and performed a brand new show titled, Attachments & Detachments Tragedy to Triumph, integrating new compositions with dance, live art and theatre to tell a story. Her original compositions have been performed each year at Portland State University in the “In Good Hands” concert. This regular series is sponsored by Cascadia Composers, Oregon’s local chapter of the National Association of Composers USA which is the largest and most active local organization under the umbrella of NACUSA in the US today.

In 2019, Dianne produced a show titled SOLI DEO GLORIA that featured her original compositions and arrangements for the Christmas season. This concert offered premieres of vocal solos, choral pieces, original piano solos and arrangements. She featured her self-published work, A Romantic Christmas Suite, which adeptly combines six Chopin Nocturnes with well-known Christmas carols.

In addition to her passion for composing and arranging, she operates a professional piano studio spanning ages K-12 to recreational adults. Her curriculum includes hands-on instruction on arranging and composing. At the State level in Oregon, Dianne chairs the annual Composition Celebration Recital for honored student composers who are taught by Nationally Certified Teachers through the Oregon Music Teachers Association. In these trying times of the pandemic, she produced a virtual event for the recognition of these young composers.

Lastly, Dianne is committed to the creation and performance of new music and weaves that into her regular concert performances throughout the year. For upcoming projects, check out Dianne and her music at:
www.musiqPOWER.com

You can purchase her music here:
Romantic Christmas Suite Vol 1
Romantic Christmas Suite Vol 2
Impressionist Christmas Suite Vol. 3

Baltazar Díaz Dávila

A native of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, MX. Baltazar received a Bachelor's degree of flute performance from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and a Master's degree in flute performance from the University of Missouri Kansas City's Conservatory of Music and Dance. He is currently a part of the Cohort of the Orchestra of the America's Academy 2021, where he is pursuing an Artist Diploma in Orchestral Performance and Digital Creation as a part of Leone Buyse's flute studio.

He has participated in festivals such as Fresno Orchestral and Opera Summer Academy (FOOSA), Festival de Música de Santiago de Querétaro, Mostly Modern Music Festival, and Orchestra of the Americas.

Baltazar currently holds the position of co-principal flute at the Guanajuato Symphony and is the flute instructor at the Jóvenes Líderes Youth Symphony, in Leon, MX. He also serves as woodwind faculty for the Tamaulipas Symphonic Youth Festival. Baltazar is the official translator for the Puerto Rico Flute Symposium.

Adam Eason

After many years of humming, whistling, and otherwise making noise as a child (to the chagrin of every elementary school teacher who taught him), Adam Eason graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2008 with a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Music. After that, he immediately jumped into teaching and freelancing around the Dallas/Ft.-Worth area. In 2017, Adam followed his parents to Oregon, and began setting up a similar career in Portland. Most recently, he attended the Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium as both a composer and a performer, as well as writing and performing for Classical Revolution PDX. He received a BA in music from Lewis and Clark College with piano emphasis and K-12 music education certification

Nancy Good

Nancy has been playing clarinet for over 20 years and was also in a touring band (folk/classical/light rock) singing main vocals. Since 2012, her clarinet focus has been with tango orchestras and trios. She is a psychotherapist, working internationally in trauma healing and resilience, mother of 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

Nancy performs with Isabelle Haulin and other musicians who live close to Portland Oregon. They met through tango dancing, and have been playing tango music together for about 2 years. They particularly like playing for dancers, at local public events and small house parties.

Isabelle Haulin

Isabelle has been playing piano as a hobby since childhood, mostly classical music, until around 2016 when she decided to focus on tango music. She is a software engineer currently working for Nike, and mother of an 18 year old boy.

Isabelle performs with Nancy Good and other musicians who live close to Portland Oregon. They met through tango dancing, and have been playing tango music together since 2018. They have played for dancers and at house parties.

Mari Hwang

American pianist Mari Hwang believes in creating a safe world where people are inspired to live wholeheartedly. As co-founder of The COMPASS Concerts (Community Online Meditation Performance and Salon Series), she and her partners, Shinichiro Inaji and Louis Yungling, have established a welcoming, safe environment for music performance where people from all over the world feel a sense of community, support, and healing.

Ms. Hwang’s earlier experiences and challenges with stage fright for solo performances have guided her to share mindfulness awareness practice, easing psychological and physical tension, and connecting heart to music. She has performed in a variety of venues, in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Merkin Hall, and in cathedrals, hospitals, libraries, music schools, and private residences.

Her programming has frequently shined light on works by unknown, undervalued, minor works of well known composers, and women composers. Her embodiment of often deeply personal storytelling has resonated profoundly with audiences and led to open and courageous dialogues.

With her exceptional sight-reading ability, Ms.Hwang has been able to serve as a collaborative pianist for community music schools, conservatories, and summer programs. She has played for numerous admissions entrance auditions, competitions, graded exams, juries, lessons, recitals, recordings, and many more to help musicians achieve their dreams.

She has a private teaching studio in NYC where she’s constantly learning from her students who deeply enjoy music, are curious and open to explore, and independent thinkers.

Ms. Hwang has moved from a sunny suburb of Los Angeles, CA, to attend Manhattan School of Music in NYC, where she has received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. Subsequently, she has received a Master’s in Music from Mannes School of Music and a minor in Impact Entrepreneurship from The New School.

She lives in New York City and enjoys walking, trying out different modes of transportation (airplanes, funiculars, ferries, gondolas, trains, trams, etc), and planning and organizing.

Having had many of her past dreams come true in recent years, with tremendous gratitude she has semi-retired from active performing and on her way to the next new dreams.

Alexandria Jackson

Alexandria Jackson is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Southern Methodist University (SMU), under the tutelage of Dr. Barbara Hill-Moore. Before her arrival at SMU, Jackson appeared in several UC Santa Barbara Opera Theatre productions, including W.A. Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and the North American premiere of Franz Lehár’s The Mock Marriage. Jackson also competed in numerous competitions, winning first place in the New Century Singer - California and Whittier New Century Singers competitions; second place in the National Association of Negro Musicians - Regional Competition and Mu Phi Epsilon Competition; third place in the National Liszt Competition; and fourth place in the National Association of Teachers of Singers (NATS) Regional Competition. She also received honorable mention in the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition and has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship by the American Institute of Musical Studies.

Alexandria looks forward to continuing her career at SMU, in order to hone her craft and thus becoming a better artist.

Karen Silverman

Over the years, Karen has performed flute in a variety of venues. Music played includes Classical, Folk, Jazz and World music. She is currently learning Brazilian Choro, Argentine Tango and American Songbook tunes and performs gigs for senior communities, weddings and special occasions. Outside of music, Karen is very interested in rainwater harvesting and sustainability

Louis Yungling

Hello, my name is Louis Yungling and I'm a co-founder of COMPASS Concerts. I'm also a pianist and piano teacher.

Meditation, mindfulness and awareness exercises are an integral part of my teaching and practice. Musicians benefit greatly from these practices by being able to fine tune their focus and get more out of their practice as well as increase their responsiveness to sound and be more present and confident in performance.

I created COMPASS concerts to extend these practices to audiences and give everyone a moment to pause and go inward. We do this by sharing a brief contemplation exercise before every concert. In this way we practice being aware of one another and give ourselves a chance to feel and appreciate our unique contribution.

Preparing our minds and bodies to receive and make music allows us to be more receptive to the beauty and generosity that goes into a musical performance. And practicing this type of mindful preparation regularly can help us open our hearts more to the experiences of our day to day lives.

I am thrilled to share this journey with you and the very talented, generous artists who perform here. Thank you to all my musician friends for sharing your gifts and creating beautiful programs of music for our COMPASS community. And thank you to all who come and partake in these heart-warming community concerts.

I currently live and teach piano in Valencia, Spain. My teaching website: Yungling Piano Studio.