Ashley Ertz is an oboist and arts administrator in the Chicago metropolitan area. Ertz is Co-Principal Oboe with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Principal English Horn with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director and Founder of 5th Wave Collective. She is also Program Manager with Classical Music Chicago and is on the Board of Directors for the Musicians Club of Women. In March of 2018 Ashley saw a lack of performance space for womxn composers and thus started 5th Wave Collective, a Chicago based ensemble dedicated to the performance and promotion of music by womxn composers. They are now in their second season with Ertz as Artistic Director, having had over 150 musicians perform with them and presenting over 75 womxn composers. Since relocating to Chicago in 2017, Ertz has performed with numerous ensembles including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony, Orchestra Iowa, Wisconsin Philharmonic and more. While living in San Francisco to earn her first two degrees, Ashley performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Green Music Center’s ChamberFest with Jeffrey Kahane, Santa Rosa Symphony, Symphony Napa Valley, Merced Symphony, Echo Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Academy Orchestra, Classical Revolution, Awesome Orchestra Collective, Curious Flights Orchestra, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, and One Found Sound Ensemble. Ertz is on the substitute lists for the New World Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Ertz earned her Performance Certificate from DePaul University studying with Alex Klein, her Masters degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with San Francisco Symphony’s solo English Hornist Russ DeLuna, and her Bachelor’s degree from San Francisco State University, studying with San Francisco Ballet’s Principal oboist, Laura Griffiths.
Lillia Woolschlager is a pianist and oboist in the local Chicago area. As a freelance musician and teaching artist, she has played with various groups including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Northbrook Symphony, Oistrakh Symphony, 5th Wave Collective, and Wisconsin Philharmonic. She has performed with the International Music Foundation as part of the Rush Hour concert series, collaborating with world-renowned oboist Alex Klein, as well as the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series with many outstanding musicians. She is an accomplished collaborative pianist, accompanying local university students and professional musicians throughout the city. Lillia is an instructor of piano and oboe with her own private studio, as well as with community music schools Musical Chairs and Music House.
Lillia attended the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, studying with oboist Dr. Anna Hendrickson and pianist Dr. François Germaine. She obtained a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Oboe Performance and Musical Studies with a piano pedagogy concentration. During the summer of 2016, Lillia was accepted to the Banff Masterclasses for Winds and Strings in Alberta, Canada where she studied for three weeks with oboist Alex Klein. After graduating from the Crane School, she moved to Chicago to study with Alex Klein at DePaul University. Here she obtained her Master of Music Degree in Oboe Performance, while accompanying her peers on piano in recitals and chamber music performances.
PROGRAM
Fernande Decruck (1896-1954)
I. Pavane (1949)
II. Odelette (1934)
Akiko Kawanaka (b. 1959) - An den Wassern (To the Waters), Op. 2, No. 3
Marguerite Roesgen-Champion (1894-1976) - Nocturne (1953)
Chia-Yu Hsu - A Love Song from Contrasts (1999)
Hedwige Chrétien (1859-1944) - Scène Rustique (1921)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912); arr. Althea Talbot-Howard - The Deep River Sonata (arr. 2022)
I. Thata Nabandji
Interlude I - Oloba
II. Deep River
Interlude II - Oloba
III. The Bamboula