A S H L E E Y O U N G
Ashlee is a dynamic pianist and educator who leads people to find the excitement, passion and life force in music. She believes that music has the power to bring people together to recognize our shared humanity, if we let it.
Ashlee’s goal is to make classical music a less restrictive and exclusive space. This was the idea behind The Connection Experiment﹘a concert series that Ashlee co-founded with her colleague Stephanie Cooke. The concert series connects performers and audiences to music and each other by keeping the focus on humanity, emotion and education. Ashlee and Stehanie plan to begin offering group piano classes through The Connection Experiment in 2021. A podcast is also in the works!
In the fall of 2020, Ashlee joined a group of like-minded pianists to work on a project titled, A Seat at the Piano﹘an advocacy group with a searchable database of piano works by composers forgotten in a history dominated by white men. A Seat at the Piano advocates for the inclusion, study, and performance of this more representative body of piano works.
Ashlee has an extensive background in performance and competitions. She has placed in the Franz Liszt International Piano Competition, the Liberace Piano Competition, the VSA Arts International Young Soloist Award, the Coeur D’Alene Young Artist Competition, the Montana Association of Symphony Orchestras Competition, the State and Divisional Levels of the Music Teachers National Association, and went on to be one of only seven in the country to make it to the national level of the competition. She has performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
She currently resides in Oregon, where she performs, owns, manages, and teaches through her music studio, “Ashlee Young Music Studio, gives workshops, and is the piano head at Portland Community CollegeRock Creek Campus.
S T E P H A N I E C O O K E
Stephanie is a versatile pianist, performer and instructor with a passion for making music education and artistic expression a reality to all levels and ages. She is a confident classical, jazz, and pop artist who incorporates aspects of each genre into her teaching and performing. Stephanie is a teaching artist who is dedicated to musician wellness through her work in body mapping, a form of somatic education that teaches how the understanding of anatomy can help prevent musicians becoming injured throughout their career.
Visit stephaniecooke.org for more information.
V I C T O R I A F O X
Victoria J. Fox is a mezzo soprano communicator and connector who strives to breathe life and authenticity into every performance. A champion of contemporary music, Victoria has premiered operatic, concert, and chamber works by celebrated composers including Julia Adolphe, Donald Crockett, Veronica Krauses, Jordan Nelson, and Sarah Gibson. Victoria ferociously chopped carrots and sang of a housewife’s woes in the world premiere of the critically acclaimed opera HOPSCOTCH with The Industry in Los Angeles. She also created the role of The Word in Gilda Lyon’s eco-opera, A New Kind of Fallout based on the life and work of Rachel Carson with Opera Theatre Pittsburgh. She has performed new works around the country through Opera America’s New Opera Showcase, Aspen Contemporary Music Ensemble, Thornton Edge, and the LA Phil’s Green Umbrella Series.
In addition to creating new roles, Victoria enjoys diving into opera’s tradition of repertoire characters. Victoria studied and performed the role of Meg in Verdi’s Falstaff under the tutelage of Martina Arroyo in Ms. Arroyo’s Prelude to Performance program in New York City. Victoria then donned her britches and performed the role of Ottone in L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Aspen Opera Theater Center. Other roles performed include Carmen, Berta in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Clairon in Strauss’s Capriccio, Siébel in Faust, and Nicklausse in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, Zita in Gianni Schicchi, Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte, Arnalta in L’Incoronazione di Poppea Marchesa Melibea in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, and La Duchesse in Offenbach’s La Grande Duchesse de Gerolstein
Equally comfortable with sacred music and oratorio, Victoria has performed as the alto soloist in Bach’s Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah, and Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. She is currently working with composer Dale Trumbore on Pranayama, a song cycle that moves through the seven chakras through Chakra singing, Sanskrit mantra, and yoga movement.
Victoria earned her Bachelor of Music at The Lamont School of Music in Denver, Colorado and holds a Master’s Degree from The University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music. Victoria has been honored as a James Conlon Music Scholar, is a recipient of the Jeanette MacDonald Operetta Scholarship, and is a two time Aspen Music Festival Fellow.