Collaborators

Tessa Brinckman

Flute (modern & baroque), alto flute, piccolo
Artistic Director & Member - Ensemble East West
Member - Caballito Negro

Originally from New Zealand, Ms. Brinckman enjoys a versatile career, having worked in many classical music ensembles and concert series in the United States, South Africa and New Zealand. Her orchestral and festival work includes the Oregon Symphony, New Haven International Arts, Oregon Bach, Ernest Bloch, Bumbershoot and Astoria Music Festivals. She has recorded and composed for theater in New Zealand, New York and Seattle, for Radio New Zealand, and for TV commercials.

Ms. Brinckman is the founder of Ensemble East West (formerly East West Continuo), and co-founder of Caballito Negro. She has received local and international grants to present unique historic and contemporary chamber music programs, and has premiered numerous works by American composers.

Ms. Brinckman's composition for flute and string trio, Glass Sky, can be found on the critically acclaimed CD Glass Sky, and is featured in the South African documentary Inner Landscapes (Climax Films) about Outsider artist Helen Martins, and her Owl House creation.

When she's not flying around creating music, other art forms, or trouble, she is idle and enjoys breathing for its own sake.

Daniel Rouslin

Violin, Viola (Modern)
Member - Ensemble East West

Mr. Rouslin served for 13 years as first violinist of the award winning Delos String Quartet, with which he toured on three continents and made a recording of Czech music for Spectrum Records. Before coming to the northwest, he performed and recorded at the Smithsonian with the Twentieth Century Consort in Washington, D.C. and with the Penn Contemporary Players in Philadelphia.

He is concertmaster of the Salem Chamber Orchestra and violinist with Trio Oregon. With the Trio, he has toured in South America, China, and Japan. Mr. Rouslin has given solo violin recitals in Philadelphia, Chicago, Wisconsin, and California, toured in the Middle East for the US State Department.

He has participated in the Aspen and Grand Teton Festivals, the Oregon Festival of American Music, and the Ernest Bloch and Oregon Bach Festivals. He recently made a CD for Crystal Records.

When Mr Rouslin is not teaching, practicing, rehearsing or performing music, he flees to the hills to hike and backpack (as in, 2,521 miles in five months on the Pacific Crest Trail). He and his wife Jeanne love to ride trains (anywhere and everywhere), and when home, are doted upon by their two cats.

Victoria Gunn Pich

Viola, Violin (Modern, Baroque & Classical)
Member - Ensemble East West

Ms. Gunn Pich has explored many styles of music. At home in both the early music and contemporary worlds, she performed as first violist in Reinhard Goebel’s Musica Antiqua Cologne for four years after playing with Ensemble Modern Frankfurt, and as assistant principal in Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss. She has also appeared at the Taos Chamber Music and Marlboro Festivals. She can be heard on Deutsche Grammophon recordings under the Archiv label.

A member of the Alard String Quartet, specializing in music played on classical/romantic era instruments, Ms. Gunn Pich is currently Principal violist with Portland Baroque Orchestra, and she plays with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Music's Recreation, Magnificat, San Francisco Bach Choir and Arcangeli Strings.

In her free time she plays folk violin, exploring Irish, French, Spanish and Scandinavian folk music, performing with folk harp and mandolins.

When she isn't playing music, Ms. Gunn Pich may be found digging in the organic yard, spreading manure around the plants, or planning her chicken coop. Her colleagues will attest to her excellent chicken imitations.

Jenny Lindner

Harp
Member - Ensemble East West

Jenny Lindner has performed in many large and small ensembles here in the US and in France, and is in demand as a collaborative artist. She is principal harpist with the Portland Opera and the Oregon Ballet Theatre, and her orchestral work includes the Oregon Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cascade and Peter Britt Festivals as well as travelling Broadway shows. Her concerto performances include the Columbia Symphony and Peter Britt Festival.

Ms. Lindner is also an avid chamber player, and has appeared with many groups such as Third Angle New Music Ensemble and her harp duo, DjinnJen with harpist Jennifer Craig, and chamber music performances at Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in Alaska.

After working day and night like a fiend, Ms. Lindner entertains herself with stories about people who come to a bad end, and is a huge fan of tennis.

Mitsuki Dazai

Koto, bass koto
Member - Ensemble East West

A founding member of contemporary koto ensembles in both the United States and Japan, Ms. Dazai has performed in concert series and festivals throughout Japan, and the United States as a soloist and chamber musician.

In demand as a highly versatile performer, Ms. Dazai has collaborated with traditional musicians such Peter Hill, Larry Tyrrell, Teruo Furuya, Kaoru Kakizakai, and Kazushi Matama (shakuhachi), and with western musicians such as Joe Powers (harmonica), Joe Ross (guitar) and Radim Zenkl (mandolin).

Ms. Dazai is innovative in her arrangements and compositions for koto, drawing from many different genres. Not limiting herself to music traditionally associated with the koto, her works often incorporate western, pop and improvisational elements, pushing the koto technically, and reaching a wide audience.

She released her first solo CD Autumn in 2007. When she's not working patiently with her demanding colleagues, she enjoys the peace of her garden, home and family.

Terry Longshore

Percussion (western & non-western)
Member - Caballito Negro

Terry Longshore is active as a performer, composer, and educator of percussion and has performed throughout the U.S. as well as in Sweden, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, India, and the U.K.

Starting out on piano and then flute and saxophone, he realized that hitting things was much more fun and started serious percussion study (i.e. drum corps and rock bands) in high school. He performs regularly as a soloist and with percussion duo Skin & Bones, percussion quartet Conundrum, flamenco ensemble Alba Flamenca, and multi-media ensemble Sonoluminescence. His most recent recordings are of the work of Stanford University composer Mark Applebaum and former Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra Composer-in-Residence William Kraft, and Go Fish Music publishes his own works.

Mr. Longshore is a Yamaha Performing Artist and an artist endorser for Remo drumheads, Vic Firth sticks and mallets, and Zildjian cymbals. Not merely content with hitting things, he enjoys fly fishing, road and mountain biking, hiking, and camping.

Kenneth Shirk

Tambura
Guest Artist - Ensemble East West

Mr. Shirk was a professional freelance bass trombonist in the Northwest for more than twenty years before becoming a union thug and Indian sympathizer. His credits include backing up major touring Broadway shows, performing with celebrities such as Bob Hope, Rosemary Clooney, Ben Vereen, Mac Davis, and The Who and touring with Johnny Mathis, Manhattan Transfer and the late Liberace.

With his trombone playing currently in remission, he was coaxed into playing tambura by his wife, Ms. Brinckman, only after being assured that the instrument did not require large amounts of breath to play it, and that he would not have to read any music. Or start or end exactly with everybody else.

Cary Lewis

Mr. Lewis is in constant demand as a collaborative pianist for soloists and chamber music groups. He joins William Preucil (concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra) and Dorothy Lewis as members of the Lanier Trio, which was featured on NPR's Saint Paul Sunday broadcast. Their recording of the complete Dvorak Trios was honored by TIME magazine as one of the ten best music recordings of any kind in 1993.

With degrees from the University of North Texas as well as a doctorate and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, he was a Fulbright scholar for two years in Vienna. His teachers included Eugene List, Brooks Smith, and Dieter Weber. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall in London, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, and in other music capitals of the United States and Europe.

Dr. Lewis recently retired from the faculty of Georgia State University in Atlanta and is now based in Portland, Oregon. In recent years he has participated in festivals in Montana, Colorado, Michigan, Maine, Hawaii, and Turkey, with additional concerts in Australia, Southeast Asia, and South America. He has recorded works from the standard literature as well as music by American composers on the Turnabout, Vanguard, Educo, Coronet, Crystal, Orion, Musical Heritage Society, ACA, Albany, MSR Classics, and Gasparo labels.

Dorothy Lewis

Cello
Guest Artist - Ensemble East West

Ms. Lewis has toured extensively in cello recitals with her husband, pianist Cary Lewis. The couple joins William Preucil (concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra) as members of the Lanier Trio, which was recently featured on NPR's Saint Paul Sunday broadcast. Their recording of the complete Dvorak Trios was honored by TIME magazine as one of the ten best music recordings of any kind in 1993.

Ms. Lewis received degrees from the University of Michigan and the Eastman School of Music, where she also earned her Performer's Certificate. At the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna she was awarded a diploma "with distinction". Her teachers include Oliver Edel, Ronald Leonard, Richard Krotschak, and she played in master classes for Pablo Casals.

In recent years she has participated in festivals in Montana, Colorado, Michigan, Maine, Hawaii, and Turkey, with additional concerts in Australia, Southeast Asia and South America. Most recently she performed for Bargemusic in New York City. She has recorded for Educo, Orion, Coronet, Musical Heritage Society, ACA, Albany, and Gasparo labels.