Loeffler Alumni Series
Loeffler Alumni Series: 10th Anniversary Concert
Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 4 PM ET
The Loeffler Alumni Series is sponsored by Robert and Jane Loeffler.
View on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/event/5163692
Thank you, Jane and Bob Loeffler
We thank Jane and Bob Loeffler for their visionary leadership and generous support in founding our Loeffler Alumni Series ten years ago. What started as an inspired idea has blossomed into a vibrant tradition. Over the years, we have welcomed back more than 30 accomplished alumni to perform at the place where their musical journeys began.
This flourishing series stands as a testament to the Loeffler family’s unwavering commitment to music education and to Levine. Time and again, participating alumni have expressed how meaningful it is to return to their first musical home. It is a tremendous gift — to Levine and to these talented young artists — that we can support and celebrate their careers with justifiable pride.
This series has not only elevated the trajectories of our alumni but also inspired our current students to imagine a future in music for themselves. For this, we are profoundly grateful.
Program
Fratres | Arvo Pärt
Luke Ratcliffe, piano; Jonathan Velsey, cello
Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Opus 38 | Frédéric Chopin
Rachel Yu Chen, piano
Waltz-Scherzo | Sam Post
Sam Post, piano
Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, Opus 60 | Frédéric Chopin
Luke Ratcliffe, piano
Trio for Oboe, Bassoon, and Piano, FP 43 | Francis Poulenc
II. Andante
Kenneth Stilwell, oboe; Jonathan Velsey, cello; Jamila Tekalli Hanner, piano
The Bells | Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal
I. Silver Bells
III. Brazen Bells
Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano; Colleen Daly, soprano
Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1009 | Johann Sebastian Bach
Sarabande
Jonathan Velsey, cello
Hungarian Dances Nos. 1-5 | Johannes Brahms
Luke Ratcliffe, piano; Rachel Yu Chen, piano
Meet the Artists
Rachel Yu Chen
Levine Teacher: Mikhail Volchok
Rachel Yu Chen received her BM in Piano Performance and MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan and a DM in Piano Performance with minors in Music Education and a Certificate in Preparing Educators of Students with Autism from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In addition to Levine Music, Rachel is also an alumna of the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she has taught at Indiana University, the University of Michigan, Stafford Music Academy, and the P.A.L.S. Program with the Aspen Music Festival and School. Rachel has also been a private studio instructor since 2012 and teaches weekly private lessons to students of all levels. Rachel joined the Levine faculty in 2022.
Rachel’s other notable achievements include being the Vice President/Co-Founder and President of the Music Teacher National Association (MTNA) at Indiana University in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 respectively, and she also co-founded two community-focused performance series: Keys to the Future and Musical Time.
Sam Post
Levine Teacher: Irena Orlov
Following his time at Levine Music, pianist Sam Post received his BS in Physics from Yale University and MM in Piano from Northwestern University. He has spent summers performing at Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, at the Bard Conductor’s Institute as a fellow, and as a resident at Avaloch Farms Music Institute.
Sam made his recital debut when he was 14 with an all-Bach program at Levine and has since gone on to compose and perform throughout the United States. He has performed with Reneé Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma, written a chamber symphony for the San Francisco Symphony, and his most recent solo album of ragtime was featured in No Depression and The Syncopated Times. Prior to returning to Levine as a teacher in 2013, Sam was on faculty with the Connecticut School of Music and the Westport School of Music. He also serves as the music director and pianist for the Kassia Music Collective.
Luke Ratcliffe
Levine Teacher: Ralitza Patcheva
Dr. Luke Alexander Ratcliffe received both his BM and MM in Piano Performance from George Mason University. Subsequently, he received his DMA in Piano Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where he earned a concentration in Piano Pedagogy. He also served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for Music Theory, Aural Skills, Keyboard Skills, and Piano Pedagogy, both in Cleveland and at George Mason University. Luke joined the Levine faculty in 2023.
Luke was a Judson Artist-in-Residence from 2021 to 2023 and received the Arthur Loesser Memorial Prize in Piano upon graduating from CIM. Through the Judson Artist-in-Residence program, Luke performed extensively, offering celebrated solo recitals and chamber music collaborations during his residency. More recently, he was a concerto soloist with the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra.
He has taken a particular interest in composer Einojuhani Rautavaara and is the first person to perform his complete works for solo piano.
Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal
Levine Teacher: Eva Pierrou (classical), Jean Butler (jazz)
Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal received his PhD in Aesthetics and Philosophy of Art from the Universidad de Sevilla and his MM in Piano Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory. He has held many professorships, including piano, French horn, music theory, and a title of superior professor in piano, all from the Conservatorio Superior de Málaga in Spain. He completed summer courses in Interpretation of Music and Music History and Analysis at Yale University and in Composition and Film Scoring at New York University’s Steinhardt School.
Gabriel has given solo piano, chamber music, and collaborative piano recitals throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America, where he has also performed as a concerto soloist with orchestras. He has released two recordings, Live at Armstrong Concert Hall and Piano Favorites.
Gabriel has been on faculty at the Pablo Ruiz-Picasso Conservatory in Malaga, Spain, Shenandoah Conservatory, and Universidad de Sevilla, and he has been on the Levine faculty since 1996.
Kenneth Stilwell
Levine Teacher: Richard White
Kenneth has a BM and BA from Oberlin Conservatory and an MM in Oboe Performance from the Peabody Conservatory. He was a student of acclaimed oboists James Caldwell, Joseph Turner, and Alex Klein. Kenneth has performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Delaware, Annapolis, Maryland, and Lancaster Symphony Orchestras.
A recipient of the Irving Lowens Award for research in Musicology and the Ruth Blaustein Memorial Scholarship at Peabody, Kenneth has published a chapter in monograph on Jesuits and Music (St. Joseph’s University Press), with reviews in Nineteenth Century Music Review and Ars Lyrica. He is also a member of the American Musicological Society.
He is a former Adjunct Faculty at Towson University, University of Alaska Fine Arts Festival, and Baltimore School for the Arts. Kenneth has been a member of Levine’s faculty for 23 years and currently teaches oboe and music theory.
Jonathan Velsey
Levine Teacher: Judith Shiffers
Jonathan began his cello studies with Judith Shiffers, first at the DC Youth Orchestra Program, and later, as a Levine student during his high school years. He was a member of the Levine Chamber Orchestra during its first year and went on to receive his BA from Bard College, where he studied cello with Luis Garcia Renart. He then earned an MM in Performance at Northwestern University, studying with Hans Jørgen Jensen.
Jonathan has been a freelance cellist in the greater Washington area since 1996. From 1996 to 2003, Jonathan was a section cellist, Associate, and Acting Principal Cello in the Maryland Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Fairfax Symphony, Arlington Symphony, Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and he has given numerous solo and chamber recital appearances both at home and abroad. Jonathan began teaching individual and group classes at Levine in the spring of 2017.
Guest Artists
Colleen Daly
Hailed for her “mezzo-tinted lower register rising to a wonderful warm top,” (The Washington Post) American soprano Colleen Daly skillfully balances engagements on both the concert and opera stages. Recent and upcoming engagements include the Governess in Britten’s Turn of the Screw with Opera Tampa, Older Alyce in Greensboro Opera’s Glory Denied, and joining the Washington Chorus and the National Symphony for Beethoven’s Mass in C Major at the Kennedy Center.
Equally at home on the operatic stage, her engagements have included a wide repertoire of roles ranging from Mozart to contemporary opera and musical theater, with a special affinity for Romantic repertoire. Career highlights thus far include the title roles in Floyd’s Susannah, Massenet’s Thaïs, and Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, Violetta in Verdi’s La Traviata, Musetta in Puccini’s La bohème, Micaëla in Bizet’s Carmen, and Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro.
Jamila Tekalli Hanner
Pianist Dr. Jamila Tekalli Hanner is a member of the piano faculty at Levine and the Artistic Director of the Washington Musical Pathways Initiative. She has performed as a soloist and collaborative musician in concerts, festivals, and competitions throughout the United States, Canada, and Central and South America, including performances at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Adrienne Arsht Center, and the New World Center.
Jamila holds a DMA in Piano Performance from the University of Miami, a MA from the University of Central Florida, and a BM from Indiana University. She served as Lecturer in Music at Barry University in Miami, Florida.