ENSEMBLE RADIEUSE

Christopher Vaneman, flute
Kelly McElrath Vaneman, oboe
Melanie Foster Taylor, piano

Ensemble Radieuse, a flexible trio for flute, oboe, and piano, is dedicated to making a broad range of classics and new music accessible and enjoyable to a variety of audiences. The ensemble’s performances feature its members alternately solo, in duos, and in trio, and are enlivened by spirited commentary from the stage. Their repertoire spans from the Baroque to the present-day and from the familiar to the surprising; it is chosen with an eye (or ear) to melodiousness and rhythmic vitality.

Ensemble Radieuse appears annually on the Faculty Recital (see the Calendar of Events) series at Converse College and performs frequently throughout the Southeast. In recent years they have played to great acclaim in England, Panama, Michigan, Texas, and Pennsylvania, as well as at New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral. In 2006 they were awarded third prize in the National Flute Association's international Chamber Music Competition.

Ensemble Radieuse’s premiere CD, Inbox, was released in spring of 2003. A compendium of attractive new music for flute, oboe, and piano, Inbox contains several pieces commissioned by Ensemble Radieuse—Greg Wanamaker’s Triaria, and Tim Grundmann’s Junk Mail, both for flute, oboe, and piano, and Scott Robbins’ Sonata for flute and oboe. Also included is the premiere recording of Marc Satterwhite’s Seven Folksongs for oboe and piano, as well as Madeleine Dring’s popular Trio for flute, oboe, and piano and Robert Beaser’s The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water and Joseph Schwantner’s Black Anemones, both for flute and piano.

	Flutist Christopher Vaneman holds M.M., M.M.A., and D.M.A degrees. from the Yale University School of Music. He has also attended the Salzburg Mozarteum, the Eastman School of Music, and Belgium’s Conservatoire Royal. An avid chamber musician, Chris is also flutist of the New York-based chamber ensemble Echo. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Germany and Denmark as well as in the United States and served as principal flutist of the Reigate Festival Orchestra in England, among other ensembles. Chris is also an engaging writer on musical subjects, and has supplied program notes for concerts around the country as well as for several CD’s. He is currently Lecturer in Flute at Converse College.
	Oboist Kelly McElrath Vaneman holds M.M., M.M.A., and D.M.A. degrees from the Yale University School of Music. She received her B.Mus. summa cum laude from Baylor University and holds a certificate in performance from the Koninklijk Konservatorium Brussel. Dr. Vaneman has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Guatemala and the United States, and has played with such ensembles as the National Orchestral Institute, the American Wind Symphony, and the Reigate Festival Orchestra in England. As a chamber musician, she has been an Artist-Fellow at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Bach Aria Festival and was founder and director of Chamber Music in the Chapel in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. She is currently Assistant Professor of Oboe and Music History at Converse College.
	Melanie Foster Taylor holds degrees in Piano Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Marshall University, and the Doctor of Music in Piano Pedagogy and Literature from Indiana University. Her teachers include John Perry, Alfonso Montecino and Michel Beroff. She has lectured for the College Music Society and the Society for Music Theory, and has articles published in the American Music Teacher, The Piano Quarterly, and Journal SEAMUS. She has also served as Keyboard Editor for Alfred Publishing Company, for whom she has worked closely with Maurice Hinson on numerous publications. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at Converse College.