“More than 60 musicians from across the country and as far away as South Korea traveled to Tucson in May to compete for three jobs with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, and half of those were vying for the principal timpanist post,” writes Cathalena E. Burch in Saturday’s (6/22) Arizona Daily Star. “Alana Wiesing, an award-winning timpanist and percussionist from Bloomington, Indiana, won the post. Wiesing, who has performed with the Louisville Orchestra and the Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Phoenix symphonies, holds a master’s degree from Indiana University…. Wiesing will free up longtime Principal Percussionist Homero Ceron, who played timpani last season when Tyler Stell left after two seasons. Also joining the orchestra in the fall: flutist Zach Warren, a multiple first-prize competition winner who received his masters of music degree this year from the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music; and bassist Darren Cueva, who earned his doctor of musical arts degree from Arizona State University last year, has subbed with the TSO and Phoenix Symphony, and was principal bass with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador.” Two TSO members have retired: violinist Dawn Calista, who had been with the orchestra 39 years, and cellist Mary Beth Tyndall, a 38-year TSO veteran.
Posted June 28, 2019
