GUEST CONDUCTOR

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Andrew Bruhn is the Director of Choral Activities at Illinois State University, where he conducts Concert Choir, Belle Voix (advanced treble), and teaches conducting. A versatile musician, He has worked as a professional choral conductor, educator, composer, church musician, and trumpeter. His teaching at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels has earned him various awards and recognitions. His school choirs regularly received superior ratings in organizational contests,  one of which was a featured performer at the Illinois Music Education Conference. Andrew received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, his Master of Sacred Music degree in choral conducting from Luther Seminary and St. Olaf College, and a Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from Wheaton College. A prolific composer, his music is published by many major publishers. He won the 2017 Illinois American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Composition Contest and has been a finalist in other national composition contests. Andrew loves spending time with his wife, their two daughters, and their golden retriever.

Polly Purcell Brecht is a native of Galesburg, Illinois. She moved back to the area last year from Nashville, Tennessee, where she was a Professor at the Blair School/Vanderbilt and Organist/Music Associate at Westminster Presbyterian, Nashville, where she served for over 30 years. She currently teaches at Bradley University and serves as organist at Westminster Presbyterian, Peoria. She received degrees in piano, organ, and harpsichord performance from Indiana University and Florida State University, with additional studies at Oberlin, University of Houston, and the Eastman School. She also holds the performer’s certificate in organ performance and was a finalist in many competitions, including the Detroit AGO Nationals. Prior to her positions in Nashville, Polly was a tenured professor at Middle Tennessee State University for over 10 years. In addition she has served many churches in Tennessee, Florida, Houston, Indiana, and Illinois. She has extensive experience in solo and collaborative work on piano, organ, and harpsichord. On the Peoria Bach Festival 2024 she will be giving a solo organ concert on Sunday, June 2 at 4:00 pm and play continuo on the Thursday noon concert.

S. Blake Duncan has enjoyed a varied career as an oboist, Baroque oboist and English Horn player, a performer of Early Music, and a teacher in Illinois for 30 years. For 17 years he was an affiliate faculty member of the Bradley University Music Department teaching double reeds, Music Appreciation, Music Technology, and serving as Director of the Collegium Musicum, Bradley's early music ensemble. In addition he chaired the Woodwind Department. For 15 years he was a member of the Moveré Woodwind Quintet for the Lutheran Summer Music Program, He was also a member of the Columbus, Ohio based early music ensemble The Early Interval. In the 2000s he was a member of the WiZARDS! A Double Reed Quartet with whom he participated in several recordings, all of which are still available from Crystal Records. He has been a member of the Illinois, Peoria, and Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Symphony Orchestras and was a founding member of the Peoria Bach Festival Orchestra with whom he continues to perform. He began his Early Music studies while an undergraduate at New England Conservatory where he studied Performance Practice, Baroque Oboe, Shawm, Recorder, and early dance with Kenneth Roth, Daniel Pinkham, and Julia Sutton. He has studied Baroque oboe with Geoffrey Burgess and Meg Owens, and performs with the Collegium Vocale of St. Louis and as a free-lance artist on Baroque Oboe. He is currently retired and lives across the bridge from St. Louis in O’Fallon, Illinois.

An active and versatile musician, Stephanie Hunt performs on both modern and baroque cello. She is currently a member of the Perseid String Quartet and performs regularly with Early Music Missouri. Stephanie has participated in numerous international festivals, including the Nederlandse Orkest- en Ensemble-Academie, Royaumont Formations Professionnelles (France), the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, and spent two summers as a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow. Stephanie holds degrees in cello performance from the University of Miami and Rice University, and earned a master’s in baroque cello from the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands. Her principal teachers include Viola de Hoog, Norman Fischer, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Ross Harbaugh, and Monique Bartels. In addition to her performing work, Stephanie teaches cello in the Suzuki program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). She received the Suzuki Association of the Americas Certificate of Achievement in 2023 and became a credentialed Suzuki Cello Teacher Trainer in 2024. In fall 2025, she will launch a long-term training program at SIUE for cellists pursuing Suzuki teacher registration as part of their undergraduate or graduate studies.

Adriana La Rosa Ransom is currently Director of the School of Music at Illinois State University, where she was cello professor for 15 years. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance from the University of Missouri, where she studied with Nina Gordon. She earned Master and Doctorate degrees in performance from the University of Minnesota, studying cello with Tanya Remenikova and chamber music with Jorja Fleezanis. As a soloist, Adriana has recently appeared with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois State Wind Symphony, and the Illinois State Symphony Orchestra. She has also appeared as a guest artist on notable solo and chamber music recital series, including the Peoria Bach Festival, Chicago Cello Society concerts, the Trinity Lutheran Candlelight Concert Series, and at universities throughout the Midwest. Currently Principal Cellist of the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, she formerly was a member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, the St. Cloud Symphony (MN), the European Musical Festival Orchestra (Germany), and Sinfonia da Camera (IL). Adriana has served on the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Cloud State University, the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis, and the Grumo (Italy) Music Festival. She is the recipient of the University Outstanding Teacher Award, University Outstanding Service Award, and the Illinois American String Teachers Association Distinguished Service Award, among others. She is an invited presenter at the American String Teacher National Conference, covering topics such as David Popper’s character pieces, supplementary etudes for intermediate level cello concertos, and the use of visual color as a means towards musical expression.

Diane Wuthrich enjoys an active musical life of performing and teaching. After graduating summa cum laude from Illinois Wesleyan University studying primarily with Michael Hining and winning the school’s concerto competition, Diane received her Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying primarily under Jeffrey Irvine with additional instruction from several Cleveland Orchestra members. Following her education, Diane won a position with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. She also performed and coached chamber music and taught private lessons in the Tucson area. Since returning to Central Illinois, she has sought to strengthen the musical community through excellence in performance and instruction. She held the position of Assistant Principal Viola with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and currently holds the position of Principal Viola with the Heartland Festival Orchestra.  Diane is also a section member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia da Camera, and she regularly performs chamber music with various groups and individuals. She maintains a small private teaching studio and serves as a clinician throughout the central Illinois region. Diane and her husband Daniel reside in Morton where they homeschool their young family and are actively involved in their church.