Sunday, March 19, 2023 - 3:00pm

1707 16th Street Vero Beach, FL 32960


REINECKE Flute Concerto in D major
VON SUPPE Light Cavalry Overture
MORRICONE Cinema Paradiso
OFFENBACH Orpheus in the Underworld Overture
TCHAIKOVSKY Marche Slave
RIMSKY KORSAKOV Dance of the Tumblers
PISZCZEK Tuscan Portraits (WORLD PREMIERE)
ROSSINI Overture to "La Gazza ladra"
GLINKA Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture
SMETANA Dance of the Comedians from “The Bartered Bride”

Brendon Wilkins, flute
Carlos Jaquez, violin
Mark Piszczek, guest composer

Think you don’t know anything about classical music? Join us for this special program and discover how many musical pieces you are already very familiar with. From your favorite classic cartoon, to your favorite commercials and movies, you will recognize all of these enjoyable pieces. Enjoy popular works from composers such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Glinka, Morricone, Von Suppe, Smetana, Rossini, and more including Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture, Marche Slave, Light Cavalry Overture, Dance of the Comedians, Orpheus in the Underworld, and more!  Two SCSO musicians are highlighted in this sonic spectacular.  SCSO flutist, Dr. Brendon Wilkins will perform Carl Reinecke’s Flute Concerto in D major, a charismatic work of high artistic value, beauty and strong emotional suggestion and is unique in being the only flute concerto from the Romantic era.  SCSO violinist Carlos Jaquez will perform Ennio Morricone's gorgeous and rapturous theme from Cinema Paradiso.  The concert will also feature the World Premiere of Mark Piszczek’s Tuscan Portraits, a joyful, romping tour through Italy.

Artist Information


Brendon M. Wilkins is a multi-instrumentalist performer and educator who is involved in both classical and jazz woodwind performance. Brendon has performed in various musical mediums throughout the United States and has maintained active teaching studios in-person and online in New York, Texas, Florida, and Maine.  Brendon is the Director of Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. In addition to his responsibilities as a conductor, he teaches woodwinds as an Applied Music Associate. Brendon also performs with the Colby Symphony Orchestra and the Colby Jazz Collective.

Brendon’s active musical career has led to performances with Jose Aponte, The Barcelona Clarinet Players, Scott Belck, Wayne Bergeron, Ron Carter, John Clayton, Carey Deadman, Rosana Eckert, Gregg Field, Quamon Fowler, Keith Ganz, Marshall Gilkes, Gordon Goodwin, Frank Greene, Stefon Harris, Jimmy Heath, Steve Houghton, Hugh Jackman, Sean Jones, Audrey Ochoa, Brad Leali, Sal Lozano, Johnny Mathis, Joe McBride, Marcus Miller, Christian McBride, Kate McGarry, Chris Potter, Rashawn Ross, Rex Richardson, Eric Scortia, Doc Severinsen, Jim Walker, Jiggs Whigham, and many others.

Brendon was named a winner of the 2015 National Flute Association Jazz Flute Masterclass competition. He was also selected as a featured soloist in the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band in the same year. He was named a National Finalist on classical flute in the National Association of Negro Musicians Scholarship Competition, which led to a performance at the National Convention in Los Angeles, California. Brendon also performed at the Texas Music Teachers Association Annual Convention after winning first prize at the Young Artist Competition.

Brendon served as an Advising Member for the National Flute Association's Jazz Flute Committee from 2015 until 2021.

Brendon was selected to play alto saxophone and piccolo in the 2016 Disneyland All-American College Band in Anaheim, California. This program has been a Disneyland Resort tradition since 1971 and gives top college musicians from all around the United States the opportunity to perform and learn about the entertainment industry first-hand through performance at Disneyland and clinics with world-renown artists and experiences in nearby Hollywood. He was featured in the Dallas Morning News after winning the position. He was also interviewed by UNT News about his time with the band.

While attending the University of North Texas, Brendon performed with the North Texas Wind Symphony and the One O’Clock Lab Band, and recorded on multiple albums with each ensemble. The UNT College of Music faculty selected Brendon as the 2015-2016 Presser Scholar. The Presser Foundation allows the music faculty of an accredited college to award one undergraduate student a scholarship in their senior year. This student, selected on the basis of excellence and merit, will be known as the Presser Scholar. He was featured in The Saratogian after receiving the award.

Brendon Wilkins is originally from Saratoga, New York and is currently living in Central Maine. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Multiple Woodwinds with a cognate in Music Technology from the University of Miami. He also graduated from the University of North Texas with a Master of Music in Multiple Woodwinds, a Bachelor of Music Education, and a Bachelor of Jazz Studies.

Brendon has studied flute with Mary Karen Clardy, Jennifer Grim, Elizabeth McNutt; jazz with Brad Leali, Alex Fraile, Mike Steinel, Chris McGuire, and Fred Hamilton; saxophone with Eric Nestler and Dale Underwood; clarinet with Margaret Donaghue, Deborah Fabian, and Connor O'Meara; bassoon with Kathleen Reynolds, Gabriel Beavers, and Jorge Cruz; and oboe with James Ryon and Robert Weiner.

Mark Piszczek (b. 1957) is a native of central Florida where his parents worked in the fledgling space program. A professional performer on both oboe and saxophone, Piszczek has a deep background in both jazz and classical music. He has led his own groups and worked as a studio musician for over thirty years. Piszczek's father was a devout fan of classical music and it played daily on the family phonograph. This early exposure to concert music and the presence of highly competent music teachers, instilled a love of music that later turned into a lifelong passion. The composer cites the music of Karel Husa, Bela Bartok, Hindemith, Miles Davis, Chick Corea and Ralph Towner as key influences in his early musical development.

Piszczek studied oboe at the University of South Florida and The University of Wisconsin, Platteville. After years of performing and recording professionally as a jazz artist, he decided to return to his classical roots and received a master’s degree in composition at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, where he studied with composers, Elliott Schwartz and Dan Sonenberg.

He has written hundreds of jazz compositions, a flute sonata, two woodwind quintets, a string quartet, four works for chamber orchestra, a brass quintet, a trio for clarinet, viola and piano, a symphony for winds and percussion, a major work for symphony orchestra, Songs from the Gulf of Sorrows, which was premiered by The Brevard Symphony Orchestra in 2016, a trio for flute, clarinet, bassoon and piano based on native American folk songs, a trio for woodwinds and a new orchestral work dedicated to Lalo Schifrin, Walter Scharf and Elmer Bernstein.

He now resides in Melbourne FL. and performs with his Orlando based, progressive jazz group, Strange Angels as well as musical collaborations with lifelong friend, composer and multi-instrumentalist, Larry Williams.

As a very successful freelance concert violinist, Carlos Jaquez is simultaneously assistant concertmaster at Florida Lakes Symphony in Mount Dora, FL, first violin section at the Space Coast Symphony and acting assistant concertmaster at Charlotte Symphony. Has played in the Palm Beach Pops Orchestra, Boca Pops, Sunshine Pops, Miami City Ballet (principal), Sociedad Pro Arte Grateli (concertmaster), Florida Grand Opera, Gold Coast Opera, Southwest Florida Symphony Fort Myers, Symphony of the Americas, and many more.  In previous seasons, Mr. Jaquez maintained an international demanding schedule, performing in Germany, the Slovak Republic, Austria and Hungary, as well as the Caribbean and throughout the United States. He has been concertmaster for the University Baptist Church Christmas pageant and Ars flores Symphony.  In June of 2000, he made his memorable Carnegie Hall debut with the Miami Symphony. He was principal violinist with the San Francisco Sinfonieta for their European tour, as well in strings sections recordings. He has played as solo violinist in Broadway musicals, like “Fiddler in the Roof”, “I love you, you are perfect now change”, “Stoop in Orchid Street”, “Motown the Musical”, “The Book of Mormon,” and great artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Placido Domingo, Kenny Rodgers, Linda Ronstad, Frank Sinatra Junior, Jackie Evancho, the BeeGees, Alejandro Fernandez, Jenny Rivera, Luis Miguel, Johnny Mathis, Raphael de Espana and many more.

Mr. Jaquez was born in the Dominican Republic. He began his violin training in Santiago with Hilda Baez and later in Santo Domingo with Frank Hernandez, Zvezdana Radojkovic (at the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica) and Jacinto Gimbernard. At the age of sixteen, he was one of the youngest violinists in history to join the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of his country, where he played from 1987 to 1998. He also studied with Hans-Christian Siegert in Dusseldorf, Germany. Was violin professor at the Carol Morgan School and the Academia Dominicana de Musica both in Santo Domingo. In 2014, Mr. Jaquez became a citizen of the United States of America and has kept a very busy private teaching studio in Hollywood, Florida.

He has arranged music for the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional as well as for different ensembles of pop and classical music recordings and was the music director and producer of “Mozaribe”, the only one merengue orchestra with solo classical violin. He has been soloist and chamber music player for the New Music Ensemble of FIU in different venues and festivals, giving him the opportunity to work with some of the most important contemporary composers. In January, 2001 at the Music of the Americas Festival in Miami he performed works by Schwartz, Flores-Chaviano, and Max Lifschitz. He was selected from the complete string class of FIU to play at The Festival String Quartet and as soloist.

From 1998-2002, Jaquez studied at Florida International University, with a full scholarship from FIU’S School of Music and the Latin American And Caribbean Center, with the American violinist and pedagogue Cathy Meng-Robinson, violin, and with the Miami String Quartet, chamber music. He has taken master classes with Peter Michalica in Bratislava, Ludwig Muller, concertmaster of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and the legendary virtuoso Isaac Stern.