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Featuring Thursday Musical Members Kristine West Denton, piano with guest artist Kurt Claussen, saxophone; Koki Sato, piano; Melissa Holm-Johansen, soprano with guest artist Bryon Wilson, piano; and Megan Monahan Wallace, piano with guest artist Christopher Wallace, piano.
Click the photo on the left for artist and program information.
For everyone’s safety, Thursday Musical strongly recommends all audience members to wear a non-cloth mask such as a N95, KN95, KF94, or surgical mask inside of the recital hall.
Versatile in the repertoire across different styles, Koki Sato is a classical pianist with interdisciplinary interests: as an advocate of contemporary music and its potential in expanding the boundaries of classical music, for instance, he presented programs featuring post-1945 modern composers with differing identities for the Out and About Outreach Program at the Saint Paul Conservatory of Music; his passion for community engagement through music, furthermore, led him to such collaborative projects as Music under the Dome Concert Series at Coca-Cola Space Science Center and the opening performance at the Japanese Society of Pediatric Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
A first prize winner of national and regional competitions including the Schubert Club Competition, Atlanta Music Club Scholarship Audition, and Student Music Competition of Japan, Sato has performed with several orchestras, most notably Toho Gakuen Orchestra conducted by Leon Fleischer. Equally experienced in chamber music, Sato recently appeared at Klangspuren Schwaz in Austria as a member of the Klangspuren International Ensemble Modern Academy.
Born in Tokyo, Sato received the prestigious Woodruff Award for his undergraduate studies with Alexander Kobrin and Tatiana Muzanova at Columbus State University. Sato currently pursues a doctoral degree with Alexander Braginsky at the University of Minnesota.
Kristine West Denton has performed across the country, in Canada, and Germany as a soloist and collaborative pianist. She recently retired from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Previously, she taught at Grinnell College, Coe College and Fort Hays State University.
She was a frequent soloist with the Erie Philharmonic and played keyboards for the Erie Philharmonic, Erie Chamber Orchestra and the Bemus Bay Pops. She performed on live broadcasts from WKSU (Kent, OH), WCLV (Cleveland) and WQLN (Erie) in collaborative performances. She administered and performed in a free concert series at the Erie County Public Library and served on the Arts Council of Erie.
A concert review from the Badische Zeitung (Freiburg, Germany) called her “an excellent soloist and an intelligent and sensitive accompanist” while a recipient of a Collaborative Fulbright Grant.
She attended the vocal accompanying program at the Music Academy of the West and the vocal and instrumental programs of the Blossom Festival School, studying with Martin Katz, Warren Jones and Cleveland Orchestra members.
A native of Minnesota, Kristine received degrees from the University of Iowa (DMA), Kent State University, and Augsburg College (Mpls). Her principal teachers were Kenneth Amada, Margaret Baxtresser and Jim Johnson.
Kurt Claussen has taught saxophone and band for more than 35 years, working with students at all levels from beginner through adult. In 2022, he retired from K-12 teaching in the Rosemount/Apple Valley/Eagan, Minnesota public schools, most recently as a longtime band and woodwind specialist at Falcon Ridge Middle School in Apple Valley.
Since 2006, Kurt has served as adjunct instructor of saxophone at St. Olaf College, teaching lessons and coaching chamber music. He also maintains a select private saxophone studio. Mr. Claussen freelances throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area, and has appeared as a solo and quartet recitalist and clinician in the US, Canada, Finland, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland.
He holds the performer’s Certificate from the Conservatoire National de Region de Bordeaux, France, where he studied with eminent saxophonist and teacher Jean-Marie Londeix. He earned the Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from the University of Minnesota, studying with Ruben Haugen, and the Bachelor of Arts in music education from St. Olaf College.
Megan Monahan Wallace has been a member of Thurday Musical since 1998. She grew up in Butte Montana, and earned degrees from Eastman under Nelita True, and a D.M.A. from the University of MN under Lydia Artymiw. She has adjudicated and performed in Minnesota, Indiana, Washington, Texas and Montana and presented at the 2012 MMTA state convention. She has performed the five Beethoven concerti with the Mayo Clinic chamber symphony. She met her husband, Dr. Christopher Wallace at Eastman. They reside in St. Louis Park and maintain Wallace Piano and Organ Studios there with their 14 yr. old springer Spaniel, and a Bernese Mountain Dog.
Christopher Wallace, a native of Atlanta GA, received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Eastman School of Music as a student of Dr. Nelita True. He also received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of MN as a student of Lydia Artymiw. Christopher teaches with his wife, Megan, through their private studio, Wallace Piano and Organs Studios, is Music Director/Organist at Our Lady of Grace, Edina MN and is owner of Allen Organs of the Twin Cities, Inc./Allen Organs of Iowa, a Mid-West dealer for Allen Organ Company.
Soprano Melissa Holm-Johansen is a native of Halden, Norway, and is a 1998 graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA, where she graduated cum laude with a double major in vocal performance and music education. Dr. Holm-Johansen holds a D.M.A. in vocal pedagogy and performance from the University of Minnesota and was a two year recipient of a Torske Klubben scholarship. Her current project is a first-of-its-kind all-English recording of songs composed by her countryman Edvard Grieg, in collaboration with pianist Steve Swanson, Norwegian scholar/translator William Halvorson, and the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota. See direct links on the homepage to “Songs From the Heart” recording platforms. Past performing groups include The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, The Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorus, Bach Roots Festival, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Chorale, The Dale Warland Singers, The Oratorio Society, The Norwegian Youth Choir, and The St. Olaf Choir. Dr. Holm-Johansen is a longtime member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and was previously awarded the NATS Independent Teacher Award. She has a private voice studio at her home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is the Vocal Performance Program Instructor at Shattuck – St. Mary’s Boarding school in Faribault, MN and is on the faculty at North Central University in Minneapolis. She is a section leader at The House Of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul and studies with Tony-nominated singer/actor Melissa Hart and University of Minnesota professor Jean del Santo.