Meet the Artists
Soprano Wendy Reynolds' and pianist Heather Coltman's bios are found on preceding pages.
Mei Mei Luo, a violinist originally from China, earned her Bachelor's degree from the Shanghai and Shenyang Conservatory of Music. She was Second Prize Winner of the National Youth Violin Competition of China, and is a recent graduate from the Master's program at the University of Miami.
Miss Luo has played as a member of the Philadelphia Concerto Soloists as well as an alternate for the Philadelphia Orchestra. She is recognized as one of South Florida's finest violinists and until its closing was the Assistant Concertmaster of the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, where she remained until the final concert in 2003 when she was given the honor of being Concertmaster for the final performance.
As a soloist, Mei Mei has performed the Tchaikovsky, Mendlessohn and Bruch Violin concertos. As a leading chamber music violinist she performs with the Palm Beach Chamber Music Festival and the Delray String Quartet.
Mei Mei has recorded chamber and orchestra music under the Klavier and Harmonia Mundi labels, and with the Delray String Quartet under the Poinciana label.
Jeffrey Kaye is an internationally acclaimed orchestral and chamber musician, soloist and teacher. Since moving to Boca Raton in 1989, he has had a versatile music career in South Florida. A founding board member of the Boca Symphonia, Jeff plays Principal Trumpet and began his association with the Symphonia in September 2005. He held the position of Principal Trumpet of the Florida Philharmonic for 14 seasons from 1989 to 2003. Jeff was also Principal Trumpet of the Florida Grand Opera, the Florida Philharmonic Pops Orchestra and the Miami Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to performing throughout South Florida with many orchestras in many venues, Jeff performs regularly with the Milwaukee Symphony. Since 1999 he has played with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Germantown, Tenn. and is a core member of that prestigious orchestra. Jeff was a guest soloist, performing the Shostokovich Piano & Trumpet Concerto as well as soloist with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.
Summer performances have included the Santa Fe Opera (Principal Trumpet for 4 seasons), Aspen Music Festival, Waterloo Music Festival, Norfolk Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music, and Tanglewood Music Festival where he was a fellow and played under Leonard Bernstein. Jeff has also performed as soloist and taught at the Tainan Music Festival in Tainan, Taiwan and toured Europe with the North Carolina School of the Arts Chamber Orchestra as trumpet soloist.
After receiving his undergraduate training at the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford where he earned both a Bachelors of Arts in performance and a Bachelors of Science in Music Management, Jeff was awarded a talent scholarship by the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he earned a Masters Degree in Music Performance.
In addition to solo appearances, Jeff’s music can be heard on several recordings. Most notably is the award winning Florida Philharmonic CD recording of Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony which received critical acclaim, notably for the Blumine movement: “The Blumine is especially welcome for the ineffably cool, poised tones of principal trumpeter Jeffrey Kaye”. (Orchestral Reviews BBC music magazine). Jeff’s music can also be heard on the EMI, Telarc, Epic and Harnonia Mundi labels, performing with The Empire Brass, The Florida Philharmonic, Placido Domingo, and the Broadway show “Scarlett Pimpernel".
