Stamps Woodwind Quintet Class of 2019

Major: Instrumental Performance

Instrument: Flute

Profile:

Alyssa Mena, flute, is majoring in Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where she is a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Woodwind Quintet, Class of 2019, coached by faculty mentor Robert Weiner.  She studies flute privately with Trudy Kane. A native of Miami, Florida she graduated high school from the New World School of the Arts (NWSA). Mena began playing the flute at the age of 11, her first teacher was Lauren Bonavitacola. At age 13 she began studying with Ernesto Fernandez. While at NWSA, and while studying privately with Suzan DeGooyer, Alyssa Mena served as the principal chair from freshman year on. She also participated in the Florida All-State Band and Wind Symphony as well as the Miami Music Project Honors Orchestra where she was principal flute and piccolo for three years.

Mena also participated in the World Youth Wind Symphony at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in the summer of 2013, studying with Jill Heyboer, Virginia Crabtree, and Christopher Chaffee. In 2014, she was one of the featured laureate soloists for the NWSA Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition winners’ concert. That same year, Mena also performed as a soloist with the NWSA Wind Ensemble where she performed Joel Puckett’s The Shadow of Sirius.

In 2015, Alyssa Mena received national recognition from the National YoungArts Foundation where she was selected as a YoungArts merit winner in classical flute.

Major: Instrumental Performance

Instrument: Oboe

Profile:

Antonio Urrutia, oboe, is majoring in Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he is a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Woodwind Quintet, Class of 2019. He studies privately with Robert Weiner.

Antonio Urrutia hails from Miami, Florida, and began playing oboe in the 6th grade. He studied with Dr. Rachel Lueck. While attending Ransom Everglades School, Urrutia participated in All-State solo and ensemble competitions where for four consecutive years he received “superior” and “superior with distinction” ratings. He also performed with both the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and the Miami Music Project Youth Orchestra. In 2015 he was selected to perform on the nationally broadcast radio show NPR’s From the Top with Host Christopher O’Riley, which highlights the country’s most talented young musicians.  He also performed with the New World Symphony in their side-by-side concert, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas.  He has also been a member of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra, which performed at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Urrutia has also studied Robert Sheena and John Ferrillo, principal English hornist and principal oboist respectively of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and with renowned international soloist Nancy Ambrose King.

For the past three years, Antonio Urrutia was a principal oboist in the wind ensemble during UM Frost School of Music’s Honor Band Festival and is thrilled to spend the next four years as a Stamps Scholar. 

Major: Instrumental Performance

Instrument: Clarinet

Profile:

Dominick Metro, clarinet, is majoring in Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where he is a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Woodwind Quintet, Class of 2019, coached by faculty mentor Robert Weiner. He studies privately with Dr. Margaret Donaghue.

Metro started playing piano at the age of four, adding clarinet at age eight. He attended Lake Howell High School in Winter Park, Florida where he was first chair clarinet in Wind Ensemble all four years, under the direction of Trey Harris and Jose Eslava. Outside of school, Metro participated in the Florida Youth Artist Orchestra for seven years as principal clarinet and for five years in the Winter Park Chamber Music Academy, both under the direction of Dr. Alvaro Gomez. Dominick placed as the first chair at Tri-State and earned distinct recognition and accolades at All-State for five years, including serving as principal in the All-State Orchestra during his senior year of high school.  Dominick Metro was named a Stetson Young Artist via the Stetson Young Artist Soloist Competition from 2012 to 2014 and has also performed with the University of Central Florida’s top jazz ensemble.  He also participated in the Seminole County All-County Band for seven consecutive years and has studied primarily under Lynn Musco, professor of clarinet at Stetson University, for four years.

Major: Instrumental Performance

Instrument: Bassoon

Profile:

Marissa Takaki, bassoon, is majoring in Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where she is a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Woodwind Quintet, Class of 2019, coached by faculty mentor Robert Weiner.  She studies bassoon privately with Gabriel Beavers.

Marissa Takaki began playing the bassoon in 2008, following 2 years of study on the clarinet. In high school, she studied with Ann Dufek.  Takaki accredits many of her musical opportunities to her youth orchestra of five years, Midwest Young Artists (MYA), where she served as principal of their Concert Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Honors Wind Symphony. She was also a member of the MYA Summer Festival Orchestra and Wind Symphony from 2010-2012.

Marissa has been a part of MYA’s Intensive Woodwind Chamber Music program for the last 5 years with Matt Oliphant and Naomi Bensdorf Frisch as her coaches, including Tatyana Stepanova for the past year. She has served for four years as the principal of the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra, Glenbrook South Symphonic Winds, and the ILMEA All-State Honors Band in 2014. She also participated in the Chicago Youth in Music Festival in 2013 and 2015.

Her woodwind quintet, Quintet Finale, was accepted to the quarter-finals of the 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Competition. Other competitive achievements include acknowledgment in the 2014 Discover National Chamber Music Competition (Other Instruments Category), 2013 Walgreen’s Concerto Competition (Early Music Category), and the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition (Winner, 2014; Honorable Mention, 2013).

Takaki has attended a number of summer festivals through the Brevard Music Institute in 2015, the Interlochen Arts Camp Orchestra, and the Advanced Bassoon Institute programs in 2014 as an Emerson Scholar, and in 2013 under a scholarship from the CSO Crain-Maling Foundation Youth Auditions. At Interlochen, she served as principal of the Interlochen Philharmonic in 2014, studying primarily with Jeff Keesecker.  She has also attended the Birch Creek Symphony Session in 2011 and 2012, studying with John Gaudette and Jim Westhoff.
Marissa has also worked with notable conductors including Carlos Miguel Prieto, Cliff Colnot, Riccardo Muti, Ken Lam, Keith Lockhart, Dr. Carolyn Watson, Octavio Mas-Arocas, Dr. Allan Dennis, and more.

Major: Instrumental Performance

Instrument: French horn

Profile:

Natalie Miller, French horn, is majoring in Instrumental Performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music where she is a Stamps Distinguished Ensemble Scholar and a member of the Stamps Woodwind Quintet, Class of 2019, coached by faculty mentor Robert Weiner. She studies horn privately with Richard Todd.

Miller attended Keller High School in Texas where she studied privately with Karen Houghton. During her time in high school, she was a four-year member of Keller High School’s varsity marching band and was the French horn section leader for two years. Natalie made the Texas All-State band her junior and senior year and placed in the highest orchestra both years. In 2014, her horn quartet placed 1st at the Texas Christian University Hornfest High School Horn Quartet Competition, and in 2015 she received an honorable mention in the TCU Hornfest High School Solo Competition. She was also a member of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestras for 3 years.