Tahirah Whittington, Cellist | Hugh Hinton, Pianist | Michael Parola, Percussionist
	Concerts | Chamber Music Theatre | Commissions | Recordings | Acknowledgements
	TAHIRAH WHITTINGTON
	Cellist
	Tahirah Whittington is a native of Houston, Texas, and has performed for audiences in the U.S., Chile, France, Italy, and Japan. Solo engagements include a performance with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, at Merkin Hall in New York City, and with the New England Conservatory Symphony in Boston, MA. Ms. Whittington is formerly a member of the Acacia String Quartet, winners of the 1999 Artists International Competition. A recipient of the Irene Diamond and C.V. Starr Scholarships, she holds a Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied cello and chamber music with Joel Krosnick and Joel Smirnoff of the Juilliard Quartet. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory, under the tutelage of Lawrence Lesser.
	HUGH HINTON
	Pianist
	A winner of the United States Information Agency’s 1997 Artistic Ambassador Award which resulted in concert performances throughout the Middle East, Hugh Hinton received his Bachelor of Music from Harvard University and a Master of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory of Music where he is currently completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree. His teachers have included Lev Vlasenko, Russell Sherman and Wha-Kyung Byun. As a concerto soloist, Mr. Hinton has appeared with the Boston, Dallas and New Orleans Symphonies. During the 1992-93 season he joined the Aequalis Ensemble in performances of Chinary Ung's Triple Concerto with the Phoenix, Honolulu and New Hampshire Symphonies. Mr. Hinton has also been a prize winner in the Robert Casadesus and Washington International competitions. In addition to his performances with the CORE Ensemble, Mr. Hinton maintains a busy schedule of solo recital and concerto engagements. His active teaching profile includes a position as Instructor of Piano at the Longy School of Music.
	MICHAEL PAROLA
	Percussionist
	Michael Parola received his B.F.A. from State University of New York at Purchase and his M.M. and D.M.A. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His primary teachers were Raymond Des Roches and Richard Horowitz. Mr. Parola was a founding member and percussionist with the Aequalis Ensemble from 1984-1993. With Aequalis, Mr. Parola toured nationally, presenting hundreds of concerts and master classes in every region of the United States. During the 1992-93 season, he appeared with Aequalis in performances of the Chinary Ung Triple Concerto with the Phoenix, Honolulu and New Hampshire Symphonies. Additional work with Aequalis included national radio broadcasts on NPR's “A Note To You,” international radio broadcasts for Voice of America and on CD, with a highly acclaimed 1991 release on New World Records. Michael Parola has commissioned many new works for solo percussion, with nationwide performances of pieces by composers such as Edward Cohen, Jorge Liderman, Armand Qualliotine, and James Baker III. As an orchestral timpanist, he has performed in the American premieres of works by Verdi, Donizetti and Shostakovich. Mr. Parola is active in teaching, with an appointment as percussion instructor at the Conservatory School of Music at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. In 1993 he founded the CORE Ensemble in which he serves as Percussionist and Executuve Director.

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