Protea, woodwind chamber music

Enjoy an evening of chamber music with WMS clarinetist Lisa Raschiatore, along with Dennis Carter, flute and Mariah Boucher, piano. Presenting a varied program with pieces that blend jazz, Latin, poetry, and contemporary music influences with classical woodwind standards, their most recent program “Crossing the Equator” features the works of Villa Lobos, Piazzolla, Catherine McMichael, Valerie Colemen, and the poetry of Langston Hughes.

Debuting to local acclaim in 2013 at Trinosophes in Detroit, Protea is Dennis Carter on flute, Lisa Raschiatore on clarinet, and Mariah Boucher on piano. The Detroit Metro Times listed them as "a new trio of top-drawer local musicians" and indeed, their musical energy onstage is electric and energetic.  Their repertoire is varied, focusing on works that blend jazz, latin, vocal, and contemporary music influences with classical woodwind standards. Their most recent program, "Crossing the Equator," features the works of Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, Catherine McMichael, Valerie Coleman, and the poetry of Langston Hughes. They were featured on the "Friday Night Live!" performance series at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and at the 2015 Art X Festival in Detroit with the Kresge Literary Arts Fellow Terry Blackhawk. They are frequent recitalists, performing at Trinosophes in Detroit, the Fair Lane Music Guild in Dearborn, and the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, and often collaborate with additional artists, including vocalists Jennifer Goltz and Carol Ambrogio-Wood, and poets Terry Blackhawk, Justin Rogers, and Marsha Music. They perform and commission new works for their ensemble, and have worked with composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Evan Chambers, and Marilyn Biery. In 2016, they will premiere a new work by Pierre Jalbert as members of the Flute Clarinet Duo Consortium Commissioning Project. You can find out more about them on their website, lisaraschiatore.com/protea 

Dennis Carter is a busy freelancer in the Detroit area, serving as Principal Flutist for the Michigan Philharmonic and the Dearborn Symphony, and as an additional musician with the Michigan Opera Theater, the Flint Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He is a well known soloist in the area, performing concerti with the Michigan Philharmonic, the Dearborn Symphony, and the Rochester Symphony.  Active in theater orchestras, he serves as the Principal Flutist for the Fisher Theater Orchestra, the Bijou Orchestra, and the R4Revue, and has toured the United States with the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, the New Sigmund Romberg Orchestra, and the Carl Rosa Opera Company (UK). He also is a part of the Sphinx Organization, serving as an assistant in their Overture Strings Program and as Principal of the Sphinx Orchestra, which recently was on tour at the Napa Valley Music Festival in California. He taught for many years as an assistant music teacher in the Southfield Public School System, taught at Henry Ford Community College, and currently has a studio of private students. He holds a B.M. in Music Performance from Wayne State University, and his teachers were Ervin Monroe and Clement Barone.

Clarinetist Lisa Raschiatore serves as Principal Clarinetist with the Michigan Philharmonic, Bass Clarinetist with the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and as an additional musician with the Grand Rapids, Windsor, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. She regularly performs contemporary music in chamber music settings, most recently with Amphion Percussion and her wind trio, Protea, at various venues including the Detroit Institute of Arts, Trinosophes, Constellation, and Kerrytown Concert House.  She has appeared with singer Shara Worden and her band My Brightest Diamond at many music festivals, most notably with the ensemble yMusic at the Lincoln Center "Out of Doors" Festival in NYC. She has been a member of Warped Consort and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, and has commissioned works from composers David T. Little, Evan Chambers, Andre Myers, and Kirsten Volness. She received her doctorate at the University of Michigan and has taught at Central Michigan University, Alma College, and Adrian College.  She currently teaches clarinet, chamber music, and music appreciation courses at Madonna University, directs the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts Clarinet Workshop, is on faculty at the Performing Arts Institute in Pennsylvania, and maintains a private clarinet studio. For more information, please visit lisaraschiatore.com 

Active as a collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and vocal coach, Mariah Boucher frequently performs in recitals featuring singers and instrumentalists, and has been a featured soloist with orchestras performing the concerti of Mendelssohn and Ravel. She has joined with chamber partners Dennis Carter (fl) and Lisa Raschiatore (cl) and Jennifer Goltz (voice) to perform at the art space Trinosophes. She has worked closely with composers Michael Daugherty, Gabriela Lena Frank and Evan Chambers premiering and exploring new music. As an opera enthusiast, Mariah has performed and coached Puccini’s La Boheme, Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore and Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte. She also has joined in numerous outreach programs to bring opera to elementary schools throughout the Detroit area. Studying with Martin Katz, Logan Skelton and Katherine Collier, Mariah completed her M.M. and D.M.A. at the University of Michigan in Collaborative Piano. Mariah currently serves as the Visiting Professor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University, South Bend as well as a Vocal Coach at Notre Dame University.