ARTIST BIOS

MICKEY EMCH

soprano

As a performer, Mickey loves collaborating in choral, chamber, and operatic spaces. In recent years, her favorite performances include selections from Costello’s The Juliet Letters, the roles of Pietho in Soper’s Here Be Sirens, Angelina in Constantinides’ Rosanna (in recital at Carnegie Hall), and Voice 2 in Reich’s Tehillim. Her favorite operatic roles from the standard repertoire have been Anne Truelove in The Rake’s Progress, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Abigail Williams in The Crucible.

As an administrator, Mickey provides operational support to Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts and the International Alliance for Women in Music. Before she joined TAPA in 2021, she studied contemporary music performance in the DMA program at the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University. There, she coordinated BGSU’s annual interdisciplinary Arts X event, student MicroOperas, and interned as a production assistant on WGTE FM’s Living Composers: New Music from Bowling Green.

As an educator, Mickey has taught collegiate courses at Bowling Green State University and Louisiana State University. Her doctoral research centers on teaching practices of vocal distortion in opera, theatre, and contemporary commercial music.

When not at a concert, she enjoys floral design, memes, and Murder She Wrote.

RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

piano and viola

A cross-genre eccentric, collaborative pianist Richard M Blumenthal currently resides near the woods of Wayne National Forest in Ohio. Comfortable in any setting that calls for piano, from academia to taprooms, Blumenthal has held a wide range of positions as collaborative pianist, repetiteur, or music director at: Middle Tennessee State University, Louisiana State University, the International Tuba & Euphonium Conference, the Mid-South Flute Festival, Southeast Tuba Euphonium Workshop, Nickel City Opera in Buffalo NY, Manship Theater in Baton Rouge LA, and Town & Gown Players in Athens GA. Being entrenched in the modern saxophone repertoire has led to performances at NASA saxophone conferences, Naumberg, numerous universities as niche pianist for hire, and touring with Dr. Zach Stern (Sinta Quartet). As a home recording hobbyist, Richard has worked as a session musician for diverse genres from lo-fi to mathrock. A member of progressive metal band Aviations, recent tours have led across the US & Canada in direct support of Finnish progmetal band Wheel, as well as a small number of shows opening for German metallers Unprocessed & Canadian metalcore Red Handed Denial. Blumenthal also has released four albums of original music with drummer James Knoerl under the moniker of ‘blumen’ that have been described as “astonishingly complex and tightly played music” as well as “SO unpleasant to listen to”. When sheltered at home in the woods, Richard enjoys the company of wife Allison and their indeterminate number of cats & three-legged dog Clover.

MERWIN SIU

violin

Merwin Siu holds the David W. Robinson Chair as the Toledo Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Second Violin, and serves as the TSO’s Artistic Administrator. He particularly enjoys introducing audiences to works by 20th and 21st century composers. Notable recent performances include the North American premiere of Fazil Say’s 1001 Nights in a Harem and concerted works by Alban Berg, Leonard Bernstein, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, Lou Harrison, Keith Jarrett, Astor Piazzolla, Max Richter, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Chen Yi. For six years, Merwin presented an annual music marathon that took place every August at the Toledo Museum of Art.

Merwin is a founding member of the Zin String Quartet and the Bezonian Trio. An enthusiastic educator, Merwin is on the violin faculty of the Toledo Symphony School of Music, and regularly works with the students of the Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestras, while maintaining a busy schedule of adjudications, lectures, workshops, masterclasses and coachings. He is the consulting Artistic Director of the Glass City Chamber Music Competition.

Besides the sounds he makes on his violin, you may recognize Merwin as the host of the Toledo Symphony’s Pre-Concert Conversations that precede each of the TSO’s Masterworks Series concerts. He was a regular participant on WGTE-FM’s Touchstone-Award-winning radio show and podcast, Toledo SymphonyLab. Eagle-eyed film buffs may remember Merwin from a (very) brief cameo in Marvel’s The Avengers in 2012.

Alongside his musical performances, Merwin also serves as the Artistic Administrator for the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts. In that capacity, Merwin coordinates artistic input from conductors, musicians, and audiences for subscription series concerts, outreach appearances, and educational performances.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Merwin received his earliest violin instruction from Marie Gale, and continued his studies with Ranald Shean and Mauricio Fuks. Merwin holds a Master’s in Music from Indiana University and degrees in English and music from Montreal’s McGill University. A recipient of Toledo’s 20 Under 40 Award in 2004, Merwin is also inordinately proud of his contributions to the Toledo Symphony’s extremely competitive Spelling Bee team. His violin’s name is Dmitri, his sons are named Kai and Matthias, and his Russian tortoise is named Scuttle.

CHERYL TRACE

violin

Cheryl Trace has been a member of the Toledo Symphony, and a regular member of the Toledo Symphony String Quartet since 1991. Educated at Butler University, she earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Music in Violin Performance. During that time she performed with the Indianapolis Opera Company and the Arriaga String Quartet, in residence at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. She also spent one summer singing and playing fiddle at the King’s Island amusement park. 

From 1981-91 she was a member of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rico String Quartet, the Pops Orchestra and Concerto Chamber Players. She also held a teaching position at the Conservatory String Program (founded by Pablo Casals), teaching young violinists and co-directing the summer music programs. She also worked in a recording studio, playing jingles for commercials and albums for vocal pop artists. After leaving Puerto Rico, had positions with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and Opera Company, Des Moines Metro Opera Company, and was a founding member of Apollo’s Fire (the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra). 

Her musical projects/tours have taken her to places such

as: Boston, Washington D.C., Aspen, Spain, New Zealand, Italy, the UK, and Germany, among others. She has been the recipient of three Mellon foundation grants, each one designed to bring free performances to the general public. 

Ms. Trace teaches both traditional violin lessons and Suzuki Method. Her Suzuki training includes the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Capitol University, and Eastern Michigan University. In 1995 she co-founded the Toledo Suzuki Strings ensemble with students ages 4-18yrs. She also teaches Early Childhood Music classes with the Musically Me program as an outreach program to preschoolers in the TSP Head Start Program. She maintains an active teaching studio, and is currently is on faculty at the Toledo Symphony School of Music, teaching private and group classes to students ages 4-60+. 

ROBERT CLEMENS

cello

Robert Clemens began his music education at the age of nine in Lima, Ohio. He began his private studies a year later, and performed his first public performance at the age of twelve.

Mr. Clemens majored in Performance Studies at Bowling Green State University, where his performances spanned musical styles from Pre-Baroque to Jazz, experimental, and electronic. He is a strong advocate of 'cross-cultural' musical experiences—particularly stringed-instrument improvisation, and has performed as a Rock and Jazz soloist with the Toledo Symphony.

He began his relationship with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in 1986. Over the years, he has broadened his role within the organization, by assuming a variety of responsibilities. In addition to his performances in the cello section, he has served terms on the both the Orchestra Committee and the Artistic Advisory Committee, performed as a member of the Toledo Symphony's String Quartet and Chamber Players, and has been featured as a soloist at TSO Masterworks, Family, Regional and Neighborhood Concerts. In past years, he has also appeared as a guest speaker on behalf of the TSO at various functions. Deeply committed to education, he has maintained a private teaching studio for more than three decades. He, has participated as an instructor in the Symphony's Educational Outreach Program, and has appeared regularly as Narrator and Host of the Symphony's Young People's Concert series.

When he is not performing as a representative of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Clemens can be found performing with Michigan Opera Theater (Detroit), The Cassini Ensemble (Ann Arbor), The Chicago Cello Quartet, and as solist with various orchestras in this region.

Robert Clemens makes his home in West Toledo with GeorgAnn (his wife of 35 years). In his "spare time," he enjoys playing Jazz and Rock&Roll on his cello, canoeing, backcountry camping, outdoor/wildlife photography, decoy carving, and the Cleveland Browns.