Nancy Steltmann recently retired as principal cello of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a position she held since 1990. Helen Lukan is the principal pianist for the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra and is a regular keyboard substitute for the Grand Rapids Symphony among many others. Together they have created the newly released CD “Music to Dream By” which features the music of Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Shostakovich. They will be recording another CD in the fall of 2014.
Nancy Steltmann is a native of Albany, New York and holds a Bachelor and Masters Degree from Jilliard School where she studied cello with Leonard Rose and Harvey Shapiro, chamber music with Felix Galimir and the Juilliard Quartet, and played under Leon Barzin in the National Orchestral Association Orchestra. Upon graduation, she received the William Henderson Price in Cello. She also studied with Bernard Greenhouse. Steltmann appeared many times as the featured soloist in her 31 years with the Grand Rapids Symphony. She performed many of the major works for cello and orchestra including Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Roccoco Variations, Haydn’s Concerto in D Major, the Saint-Saens Concerto, and Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote. She also appeared in the Brahmns Double Concerto for violin and cello, and collaborated with Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, in two performances of the David Ott Concerto for 2 Cellos.
In addition to her CD’s with Helen Lukan, Ms. Steltmann will be on a soon-to-be-released CD featuring previously unrecorded chamber music of Alan Hovhaness, performing his cello and piano chamber music. It will be released on the Ogre/Ogress label.
Helen Lukan is a Chicago native and well regarded as a versatile collaborative pianist and harpsichordist throughout west Michigan and Chicagoland. She is gaining national notice as a respected collaborator for such groups as the Boston
Brass. She has vast experience accompanying a diverse range of soloists from vocalists to brass and wind instrumentalists, performing music in every genre. Helen recently performed with the Western Winds as the featured soloist in a performance of Rhapsody in Blue using the original orchestration premiered by Paul Whiteman in 1924. She was also invited to perform with TubaCOR at Eastman Conservatory for the Women in Music Series. Helen is the featured artist and co-creator of the multi-media presentation, A Kaleidoscope Of Sound.
In addition to Music to Dream By, Helen’s piano artistry can also be heard on the compact disc recordings, From the Start with Elizabeth Start, composer and cellist, and Shamanic Journey with Deanna Swoboka, tubist. For more on Helen please visit her website here.
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Tickets may also be purchased at NCCA-Artsplace in downtown Fremont. Hours are Monday – Friday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.. For more information please contact the Artsplace at 231.924.4022.