Sewickley Music Club will kick off the second half of the 2024-25 season on March 11.
Two talented Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians, Rhian Kenny (piccolo/flute) and Jack Howell (bass/clarinet), will perform the program entitled, “Sonata Domestica” at Sewickley Presbyterian Church at 1:30 p.m.
Kenny joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1990 as principal piccolo. She holds the Frank & Loti Gaffney Chair. Active in the orchestra’s education and outreach programs, she speaks often to groups throughout the Pittsburgh region.
She pays it forward by teaching the next generation and by chairing the Musicians Care Fund, which has a mission to provide access to great music for every child in the region.
Kenny was born in Benghazi, Libya, and grew up in Calgary, Canada, where she began her flute studies at the age of 9. She continued her studies with Timothy Hutchins at McGill University in Montréal, where she received a bachelor’s degree in music. Throughout her studies, she won many competitions, including the Concours de l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (1989), Concours de l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (1988), and the Concours de l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec (1987).
Kenny used to chaperone, chauffeur, coach and cheer on her three daughters, but now that they have grown, she finds herself on and in the water swimming or rowing or trying to stay out of the water while playing golf. She enjoys yoga to release all life’s stressors.
Jack Howell is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and served as principal clarinet of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, performing with the Santa Fe Opera and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival before joining the Pittsburgh Symphony for two one-year stints in 1996-1998. After spending the following season as associate principal clarinet of the New Zealand Symphony, he returned to Pittsburgh, where he married Kenny and embarked on the raising of a family and the pursuit of a freelance career.
He served as principal clarinet of the Wheeling Symphony and second clarinet of the Pittsburgh Ballet and Opera Orchestras and generally traveled far and wide as an orchestral and chamber musician. In 2015, his career came full circle when he won the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s principal bass clarinet position.
Howell has been a member of the Duquesne University music faculty since 1996, teaching clarinet and chamber music. He is the author of “The Lovely Reed,” a how-to book on making split bamboo fly fishing rods.
Information on The Sewickley Music Club membership can be found on The Club’s Facebook page or by calling Donna Pavlis, publicity/marketing, at 412-498-6352.
The following SMC 2024-2025 Season performances will include:
April 8, 1:30 p.m.
My Favorite Fugues
Michael Hammer (organ/ piano)
Sewickley Presbyterian Church
May 13, noon
Annual Meeting & Spring Luncheon
The Concord Jazz Quartet
Jeff Grubbs (bass), Eric Susoeff (guitar), Andy Reamer (vibraphone), and Tom Wendt (drums)
Montour Heights Country Club
