0515 - Ariel Concert Series

Allegra Lily and Friends

Tournier: Deux Preludes Romantiques Op.17

Ravel: Piece en Forme de Habanera

Faure: Sicilienne Op.78

Kesselman: Bagatelle No.1

Vaughan Williams: Six Studies in English Folk Song

Saint-Seans: Swan

About the Program

coming soon

Concert Artists

Allegra Lily/Harp
Allegra Lilly joined the St. Louis Symphony as Principal Harp in 2013. She has appeared as Guest Principal Harp with the Chicago, Houston, Toronto and Charlotte symphonies, Boston Pops, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and All-Star Orchestra. A frequent substitute with the Boston Symphony, she acted as Guest Principal Harp for the BSO’s 2015 Tanglewood season and European tour, and she has earned the unique distinction of appearing as Principal Harp on back-to-back albums that won the GRAMMY Award for Best Orchestral Performance: the SLSO’s City Noir in 2015 and the BSO’s Shostakovich: Under Stalin’s Shadow in 2016.

Since making her solo debut at the age of twelve with the Detroit Symphony, Lilly has appeared as soloist with the St. Louis Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, and numerous ensembles in New York and in her home state of Michigan. She has also taken prizes at the Concours International de Harpe in Nice, the American Harp Society’s Anne Adams Awards, and the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. Lilly’s summer festival appearances have included Brevard Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Festival dei Due Mundi (Spoleto, Italy), National Repertory Orchestra, Artosphere Festival, and Castleton Festival. She is also an active chamber musician and has been a featured guest artist with the Missouri Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, Innsbrook Institute Music Festival, Missouri River Festival of the Arts, Argento New Music Project, and Carnegie Hall’s EnsembleConnect.

In addition to holding the harp faculty position at Brevard Music Center since 2017, Lilly has given masterclasses at Northwestern University, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston University, and the University of Ottawa. She has also coached orchestral and chamber music for New World Symphony and the preparatory divisions of The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory. Born in Detroit, Lilly began her own study of the harp with Ruth Myers at age seven. She went on to join the studio of New York Philharmonic Principal Harpist Nancy Allen at The Juilliard School, where she earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees.

Hannah Ji/Violin
Violinist Hannah Ji joined the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2020 after spending two seasons as a one-year replacement member. Ji’s playing has been hailed by critics as "engaging, mature, well thought-out, and honed down to the finest details" (głos na Wieniawskiego,Polish Radio Journal). She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis Institute of Music, studying with the late Aaron Rosand, a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, studying with Ida Kavafian, and an Artist Diploma degree from The Colburn School, studying with Robert Lipsett. She began her musical studies at the age of seven in South Korea and previously attended Manhattan School of Music's Precollege Division, studying with Grigory Kalinovsky.

As a soloist, Ji's performances have been widely publicized on NPR’s “From the Top,” Philadelphia’s WHYY, Taos’ KTAOS Solar Radio, and “Live from Lincoln Center” by PBS, which broadcast throughout North America. She performed in Canada Day concerts with Maestro Pinchas Zukerman in Centre National des Artes, with pianist Jeremy Denk for the non-profit organization, "The Art of Giving Back,” and a gala concert with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at Lincoln Center. Additional venues at which Ji has performed include: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, David Geffen Hall, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall and A. Mickiewicz University Hall in Poland. She has also recently performed at the United States Embassy of Canada.

As a classical and contemporary chamber musician, Ji has collaborated with renowned groups and artists such as Jamie Laredo, Jennifer Koh, Roberto Díaz, The Borromeo String Quartet, The Calidore String Quartet and Time for Three. She has worked with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, Emerson, Guarneri and Orion String Quartets, respectively. Ji has been an active participant in The Juilliard School's ChamberFest and Focus! Festival, which features U.S. and world premieres of works by composers around the world. She was also a contemporary ensemble artist at Atlantic Music Festival. As an orchestra musician, she served as Concertmaster and Principal Second with Symphony in C, Spoleto Festival USA, YMF Debut Orchestra, The Colburn School, The Juilliard School Orchestra and Curtis Symphony Orchestra. She has been a participant at the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Taos School of Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Summit Music Festival and the National Arts Centre's Young Artist Programme.

Additionally, Ji has held Artist Faculty positions at The Danbury Music Centre's Chamber Music Intensive, The Bronx Conservatory of Music, Manhattan in the Mountains, and The Curtis Institute's SummerFest Young Artists Program & Adult Chamber Music Program. She was a substitute faculty member at The Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and had a large studio in New York City, the students of which have been accepted to conservatories and summer festivals across the country. She currently enjoys working as a mentor through the SLSO’s Mentoring the Music: Peer to Peer program.

Bjorn Ranheim/Cello
Cellist Bjorn Ranheim was appointed to the St. Louis Symphony in 2005 and is a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in Idaho. He served as principal cellist with the Colorado Music Festival from 2006 – 2015 and has performed and toured with the orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland and Detroit.

Ranheim has appeared as soloist on multiple occasions with the St. Louis Symphony and Colorado Music Festival, as well engagements with the New World Symphony, Columbia Civic Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra and the Washington University Symphony Orchestra.Actively performing in chamber music, Ranheim has toured extensively in the United States, Europe and Central America, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He has participated in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Seminar, Costa Rica International Chamber Music Festival and Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.Ranheim is highly visible throughout the St. Louis region, presenting recitals, educational programs and chamber music performances. He is a core member of the Chamber Music Society of St. Louis and was the cellist with Washington University’s Eliot Piano Trio with St. Louis Symphony concertmaster, David Halen, and the late pianist, Seth Carlin. Mr. Ranheim’s recording of J.S. Bach Suite No. 3 for Unaccompanied Cello was released on AAM Recordings in 2013.

Seeking out new directions and partners in music making, Ranheim has collaborated with internationally known jazz musicians, sharing the stage and recording studio with Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Peter Martin, Jeremy Davenport & Brian Owens. In the spring of 2011, Mr. Ranheim appeared on the nationally renowned radio program, A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, performing alongside jazz vocalist, Erin Bode, and her trio. Ranheim is a founding member of The 442s, an acoustic string ensemble that pursues innovative, genre-defying music making and collaborations. A committed advocate of contemporary solo and chamber music, Ranheim has given world-premier performances of works by the late Stephen Paulus, Paul Schoenfield, Steven Heitzig, Peter Martin, Stefan Freund and William Beckstrand. As a mentor and coach, Ranheim has been invited to work with the New World Symphony, Indiana University Summer Music Festival and the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Ranheim has been a featured contributor to MUSAIC – the online video lesson library curated by the New World Symphony as well as the Online Music Academy produced by the Sheldon Concert Hall.
Ranheim studied at The Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Stephen Geber, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Ranheim lives in the heart of St. Louis, MO with his wife Dorie, their two beautiful daughters, Inga and Freya and Hungarian Vizsla, Ruby.

Robin Kesselman/Bass
Robin Kesselman was appointed Principal Bass of the Houston Symphony Orchestra by Music Director Andrés Orozco-Estrada in 2014. He has performed as Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic, travelled internationally with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and appeared with the National, Atlanta, and Baltimore Symphonies.

Kesselman frequently performs as a soloist and chamber musician and presents recital programs and masterclasses at the top universities across the country. He has already appeared twice as soloist with the Houston Symphony, in subscription performances of the Koussevitzky Concerto for Double Bass and Missy Mazzoli’s bass concerto Dark with Excessive Bright. Previous season highlights include Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante during the composer’s Carnegie Hall residency in collaboration with the Curtis Institute and Bottesini’s Concerto No. 2 with the Houston Civic Symphony. Recent festival engagements include leading the bass sections of the Grand Teton, Mainly Mozart, and Arizona Musicfest festival orchestras. He has also serves as faculty for the National Youth Orchestra - USA, Curtis Institute’s Summerfest, the Richard Davis Bass Conference, and the summer residency of the Youth Philharmonic of Colombia.

Kesselman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music. His primary teachers have included David Allen Moore, Harold Robinson, Edgar Meyer, Paul Ellison, Chris Hanulik, and Virginia Dixon.