On February 15th, residents at The Hill enjoyed an evening performance by Hirono Oka; violin; Kazuo Tokito, flute and Jeffrey Uhlig, piano.
Hirono Oka joined the first violin section of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1990. After winning numerous competitions and awards in her native Japan, she came to the United States to study at the San Francisco Conservatory and the Curtis Institute of Music. Ms. Oka has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Chamber Ensemble and the Utica Symphony, among others. As a chamber musician, she has appeared with the Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music West in San Francisco, the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center in Washington (D.C.), the Network for New Music, the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Ms. Oka is a faculty member of Temple University and its Music Preparatory Division.
Kazuo Tokito joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1981. Previously, he was assistant first flute/piccolo with the Vancouver Symphony and principal flute in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Chamber Music Orchestra of Vancouver. Mr. Tokito holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in flute performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree in flute performance from Indiana University School of Music. As a student, Mr. Tokito participated in the Tanglewood Music Festival and American Wind Symphony orchestras. Currently, Mr. Tokito is on the flute faculty at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance.
Jeffrey Uhlig has performed with numerous outstanding singers and instrumentalists, including members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. He is known widely for his work as a chamber musician and accompanist and is a faculty member at Settlement Music School of Philadelphia, where he holds the Lilian Kraus Felber Distinguished Faculty Chair in Piano. Mr. Uhlig is also Principal Keyboard and Vocal Coach with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra and for many years served as Principal Keyboard with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra