Oboist Alex Leidtke and pianist Dana Brown perform works by Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Verdi, Barbara Strozzi, and Antonio Pasculli. They perform live at the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago.
Alex Liedtke is the newly appointed principal oboe of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, a position he begins in the 2024-2025 season. He is currently associate principal oboe of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and second oboe at the Grant Park Music Festival. Alex was acting/interim assistant principal oboe and English horn with the North Carolina Symphony for two seasons and served as guest principal oboe for one season with the Chilean State Opera and Ballet Orchestra at El Teatro Municipal in Santiago. A Chicago native, Alex is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music under Elizabeth Camus and he thereafter studied extensively with Robin Driscoll. Alex is passionate about composing and arranging – several new arrangements of early music adapted for the oboe/oboe d’amore are featured on his solo CD “A New Renaissance,” which is available on all streaming platforms.
Dana Brown is an Associate Professor of Opera and Vocal Coaching at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. As a pianist, he has been heard many times on 98.7 WFMT Radio, in addition to performances at the Ravinia Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Grant Park Music Festival, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. His recent CD with soprano Michelle Areyzaga Were I With Thee raved rave reviews: … One of the finest art song CDs ever, a tour-de-force of expression … remarkable collection of American songs … accompanied by Mr. Brown who has been a superb collaborator in this 74 minute musical exploration.” —John Campbell, Artsong Update. Mr. Brown is also the Chair of the Board of Directors of Chicago’s Fourth Coast Ensemble, a professional vocal quartet. His playing with Fourth Coast Ensemble is featured on the group’s CD 2021 release, Human to Human, which features world premieres written for the ensemble by Andrea Clearfield and Wayland Rogers.
