Symphony Orchestra • Schumann’s Fourth

Lucas Gianini has performed with the Greensboro, Charlotte, and Lima Symphony Orchestras, Greensboro Opera, Bel Canto Opera Company, Carolina’s Wind Orchestra and with ensembles across Ohio and North Carolina. An avid performer of contemporary music, he has taken part in the premiere and commissioning of several pieces for solo clarinet and chamber ensemble. In 2016-2017, Lucas was a founding member and toured with the Noise to Signal Ensemble, which premiered works for Reed Quintet and Piano. Lucas was recently a winner of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s 2022 Student Artist Competition with John Corigliano’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra. He has received multiple performance invitations from conferences of the International Clarinet Association and the College Music Society. The most recent invitation to the ICA conference (Reno, NV in 2022) involves the commission and premiere of a piece for solo clarinet that features the rare “fluting” technique by Erin Cameron. In addition, Lucas was a performer for the ICA’s “New Music Weekend” in 2021 and has regularly performed at the Charlotte New Music Festival as part of their “open mic” concerts. Lucas performed at the 2020 Clarinet Maestro Festival and was invited to be the Bass Clarinet Fellow at the (subsequently-cancelled due to COVID) 2020 Brevard Music Center.

In addition to his teaching duties as a Doctoral TA for UNC Greensboro’s clarinet studio, Lucas currently teaches clarinet, saxophone, and flute lessons in the Charlotte, NC area. He has also taught online lessons to students as far as Texas. He has served as band director for multiple middle school programs in Charlotte, NC and regularly works with various local schools as a woodwind instructor. For several years Lucas has worked at the UNCG Summer Music Camp as both a counselor and private clarinet lessons instructor.

Lucas is currently working on his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at UNC Greensboro, where he is a Minerva Scholar and also earned his Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education and Performance. Lucas earned his Master of Music degree from Bowling Green State University. His primary teachers have included Anthony Taylor, Kelly Burke, Kevin Schempf, and Andy Hudson.

Kyrese Washington is a 2022 graduate of UNCG (BM Flute Performance) where they studied with Dr. Erika Boysen and Dr. Tim Hagen. As a soloist, Kyrese has appeared on many stages, such as the SECU Auditorium at the Museum of Art with the Community Music School, and the Meymandi Concert Hall with Pink Martini and the North Carolina Symphony. As an active student at UNCG, Kyrese has participated in the UNCG Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, University Symphony Orchestra, Opera, and Casella Sinfonietta. Additionally, Kyrese has been a winner of the Raleigh Area Flute Association Review and Contest consecutively for the past three years. Recently, Kyrese has been selected as a participant of the National Flute Association Young Artist Mentorship Program. As a result of all of Kyrese’s hard work and dedicating numerous hours into developing their craft, they have been selected by the UNCG School of Music faculty as the Presser Scholar of the 2021-2022 school year. Currently, Kyrese is the principal flutist of the Appalachia Wind Symphony and teaches private lessons at Music & Arts stores in Greensboro and Burlington.