Georg Lehner, Baritone

Born and now residing in Vienna, Georg Lehner earned his oboe concert diploma at the University Music School, Graz. Subsequently, he played with the Vienna Symphony and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for several years. In 1987 he switched to singing and studied at the University of Music in Vienna under Professors KS Hilde Rössel-Majdan and KS Walter Berry. He also pursued master classes with Marlena Malas at the Julliard School, Michael Eliason at the Curtis Institute and James King at Indiana University.

Since then, lieder recitals have been a central part of the lyrical baritone´s career. He also performs in operas, operettas, solo concerts and oratories throughout Europe, the United States, Canada and Japan. His opera repertoire ranges from Don Giovanni and Conte Almaviva to Dottore Malatesta and major roles in contemporary operas.

The Austrian Television (ORF) broadcast concerts and operas featuring Georg Lehner, including Schreker´s "Chrostophorus" under Ingo Metzmacher, Egk´s "Columbus" under Günther Theuring, Dieter Kaufmann´s "Reise ins Paradies" under Herwig Reiter, "Die Beamtensymphonie" by Werner Schulze, "Zwei Stimmen: zwei-eins" by Josef Stolz as well as a series of Bach cantatas.

In 2004, Georg Lehner sang "Dichterliebe" by Schumann and "Schwanengesang" by Schubert at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in Rockport, Massachusetts, "Die Winterreise"  by Schubert in Germany, Beethoven´s "Ninth  Symphony"  in Nagoya/Japan and the "Italian Songbook" by Hugo Wolf at the "Stiftskonzerte Melk"/Austria.  The coming season will find the baritone performing as "Musiklehrer" in "Ariadne auf Naxos" by Richard Strauss at the State Opera in Tokyo and in the main role of "Pentheus" in the contemporary opera "Strom" by Johanna Doderer in Vienna.

Monique Mead is a violinist who loves music, and is intensly dedicated to inspiring the public's love for music. To carry out this dedication she has developed the concept, Klassic for Kids.

Monique was born in Indiana and began her violin instruction in her first seven years. She won a scholarship to Indiana University in Bloomington,  where she studied with Nelli Shkolnikova and legendary violinist Franco Gulli. She earned her bachelor's degree in music in 1989 and a master's degree in 1994, summa cum laude.  Between her courses in 1991 she won a Fulbright scholarship and spent a year in Lübeck, Germany, studying with Prof. Sachar Bron.

From 1993 to 1997 Monique lectured at Indiana University, the Indianapolis Academy of Music, and played with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  She appeared as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles in Rome, Brussels, Toronto, and all over Germany. She took part in the chamber music festivals in Schleswig-Holstein, New York, Mexico and California, and played with Philharmonia Hungarica, the Krakow Broadcast Orchestra, and the Mexico State Orchestra.

In 1997 Monique was invited to participate in a musical education project  for the new Philharmonic Concert Hall in Westphalia. She performed in the concert hall in Düsseldorf, in the Prince Regent Theatre in Munich, in the Beethovenhaus in Bonn and in the Cologne Philharmonic Concert Hall. She also took part in concerts with the Munich Broadcast Orchestra, the Southwest German Chamber, the Mainzer Chamber Orchestra, the Bochumer Sinfonikern, the Gürzenich Orchestra and the Cologne Philharmonic.

Monique lives part of the year in Pittsburgh, PA where her husband, Andrés Cárdenes, is concert master of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; together with their daughter Isabel Annik they enjoy several months a year in Düsseldorf.

Monique will produce her very popular Klassik for Kids in a free performance Saturday morning, June 19, and she will perform in concert that same night.

Monique Mead and Anne Martindale Williams play Klassik for Kids at Rockport Art Association, June 19, 2004. Photo by Cameron Smith.

In photo at top of page Rockport Artist Liné Tutwiler is set up to paint on Mill Lane, with the Old Fifth Parish Cemetery in background. Photo by Sam Coulbourn.

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