Immaculata Symphony

William Carr, Pianist, Steinway Artist, is Professor of Music at Immaculata University. After receiving degrees in piano performance from Temple University, he received a scholarship to the Graduate School of the Juilliard School in New York in the Professional Studies Program in piano performance to study with the renowned pedagogue, Adele Marcus. He continued studies with Ms. Marcus for his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance which he received from the Catholic University of America. He earned post-doctoral performance certificates from the Munich Conservatory in Chamber Music and from the Liszt Conservatory through studies with concert pianist, Paul Badura-Skoda in Germany and Austria.

Dr. Carr has performed in the master classes of Claudio Arrau, Joerg Demus, Leon Fleisher and Horacio Gutierrez. He has performed throughout the US and in many European cities, and in 1988 he performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall. He gave a solo performance in the Isaac Stern auditorium of Carnegie Hall in 2002 and 2005 and gave solo performances in the Verizon Hall auditorium of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in 2003 and 2004. In February of 2008, he performed Rhapsody in Blue on the main stage of the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. In November of 2008, he was piano soloist with the Immaculata Symphony in a performance of Vincent D’ndy’s Symphonie on a French Mountain Air.

Dr. Carr received a Masters Degree in International Relations/International Business from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has given corporate seminars on creativity to the schools of business at Columbia University, the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College, and at the Wharton School and to over thirty Fortune 500 corporations both nationally and abroad. In 1997/98, he was awarded the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award for Demonstrated Excellence in Teaching at Immaculata University, and continues to maintain an extensive schedule of solo performances with area orchestras. He is the former Artist-in-Residence at Cabrini College and at Gwynedd-Mercy College.

William Carr was recognized as a Steinway Artist in the Spring of 2006. He will be performing the Franz Liszt Piano Concerto with the Main Line Symphony in November and the Leroy Anderson Piano Concerto with the Immaculata Symphony in December. He will be appearing as piano soloist at the Perelman Theatre of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in the fall of 2012.

DANIEL WILLIAMS, Tenor

Daniel Williams attended West Chester University for voice and theatre. He is currently the Tenor Section Leader at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Chester.

Daniel has performed numerous roles in the greater Philadelphia area, including Alexis in The Sorcerer, Marco in The Gondoliers, Edwin in Trial by Jury, The Duke in Patience, Camille in The Merry Widow and the Sorcerer in Dido and Aenus. Daniel originated the role of Dianne Feinstein in Melissa Dunphy’s The Gonzales Cantata. He has also been a featured soloist for performances of Handel's Messiah, Schubert's Mass in G, Orff's Carmina Burana and Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio.

In addition to performing, Daniel has also directed Trial By Jury with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Chester County and HMS Pinafore with Thespis, etc. He is a founding member of Spare Change barbershop quartet and a brother of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He also sings with The Brandywine Singers.

JANET AHLQUIST, Pianist

Janet Ahlquist, Internationally acclaimed pianist, has performed solo and chamber music recitals in such venues as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. A Gulbenkian Foundation Grant sponsored her recitals of rarely heard music of Portuguese composers at the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress in cooperation with the American Portuguese Society of New York and the Embassy of Portugal; at Harvard University in collaboration with the Department of Romance Languages of Tufts University and the Portuguese American Cultural Society of Boston; at Brown University, and at the National Conservatory in Lisbon, Portugal in cooperation with the American Embassy.

The New York Times said, “Ahlquist has made a name for herself championing Portuguese keyboard music. She plays with vigor and strength as well as with sensitivity.” Her interest in the multicultural experience inspires innovative programs such as A View of the Composers World whereby her slides of Grieg's home, “Troldhaugen”, slides of Paris sculptures and gardens, and slides of early instrument collections are shown while performing works of pertinent composers. Janet was invited to perform works of Rachmaninoff and the American composer Roger Sessions at a special celebration sponsored by the Center of Russian Musical Culture in St. Petersburg, Russia, honoring the American Independence Day. As a top prize winner at the French Piano Institute's Festival International in Paris, she performed the music of French composers at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. Additional honors include the Wyoming Governor's Art Award for her inspiration to music students and numerous lecture-recitals across her home state as a touring artist on the Arts in Education program and the Wyoming Council of the Arts.

As Director of the Casper College Humanities Festival, “The Good Life: Perspectives from the Humanities” she brought professors from across the country to speak of the varying ways man has defined himself, and noted composer Samuel Adler presented “Music and the Good Life”. Ahlquist directed a concert of his works.

Educated at Juilliard and the Eastman School of Music, she was awarded the prestigious Performer's Certificate and was awarded the Artist Diploma from the Longy School in Cambridge. Her CD recordings, “The Soul of Russia”, “Portuguese Classics”, and “Live at Mansfield University” have received critical acclaim. Following her Carnegie Hall recital, New York Recital Associates wrote, “Ahlquist displayed delicate and glistening tone colors and assured musicality. The Rachmaninoff Preludes showed a warm lyrical playing with the artist conveying the intimate nature of the music.” Dr. David Burge, former Chair of the Piano Department at Eastman noted, “Ahlquist is an astonishingly gifted pianist who brings brilliance and remarkable facility to the keyboard.”

This is Ahlquist's third performance with the Immaculata Symphony. She is an adjunct faculty member at Immaculata University and continues her performances across the country. She is a member of Trio Internationale and in the 2012-2013 season they will perform in Carnegie Hall, New York, as well as in Wyoming and other states.