About the Artist
Kim Sopata's diverse musical career has spanned nearly fifteen years. She began her studies in Cambridge, England with noted flutist Gavin Tate-Lovery and went on to study with Dr. Pamela Jackson Youngblood and Milwaukee Symphony’s principal flutist, Jeani Foster. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Flute Performance with honors from Northwestern University, where she studied with Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef. She has performed in masterclasses with Carol Wincenc, Marco Granados, Jeanne Baxtresser, Amy Porter, and Robert Langevin, among others.

Her appearances with orchestra include numerous performances with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, the South Carolina Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, and the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she has appeared as soloist with the South Carolina Philharmonic and the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony.

Kim is also a dedicated chamber musician. Her award-winning flute-guitar collaboration "The Avanti Duo" was founded in 1993 and continues to perform at numerous events throughout the Chicago Area. She has recently co-founded a woodwind quintet, and can be heard in concert with many other musicians affiliated with Jubal Music, the company she founded in 2003.

Her commitment to performing the works of living composers has led to several premiere performances, including the world-premiere performance and recording of Exursión a la Montaña, by Mexican-born composer Jose Elizondo.

Kim has always had a fascination with music traditions of other cultures. This passion led her to pursue a M.A. in Ethnomusicology with an emphasis in Middle Eastern Music from Bethel University. (St. Paul, MN). Through her studies and her patronage of Chicago’s world music scene, she met and began collaborating with Hicham Chami, the Moroccan-born qanun player who was voted Chicago’s Best Exotic Instrumentalist by Chicago magazine in 2002. Their unique combination has led to performances at the White House, Georgetown University, University of Chicago, L.A., NYC's Symphony Space, and before HRH Queen Rania of Jordan. They were recently the opening performers for Algerian folk-rock diva Souad Massi, and can be heard as members of the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble and the Mosaic Trio.

A respected instructor and adjudicator, Ms. Sopata maintains a private studio and is on the faculty of the Zion Conservatory of Music in Zion, IL. In 2002 she published The Flute Lesson Handbook, a manual and assignment notebook for flute students. She fosters a non-competitive, enthusiastic studio with frequent group classes that include instruction in music theory, music history, aural skills, extended techniques and health for musicians. She stresses mastering effective practice techniques and a holistic approach to learning music that necessitates concert attendance and listening to recordings, as well as analysis, creative interpretation and performance skills.

James Baur is part of a musical family: his father is a composer, his mother a flutist. Born in 1976, he was constantly exposed to a variety of musical styles. After beginning his musical studies on the violin, he turned his attention to the guitar at the age of 12. Throughout high school in Memphis, Tennessee he studied with the prominent guitarist Lily Afshar.

In 1999 he received both his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Northwestern University, under the direction of Anne Waller. While at Northwestern, he was selected to perform in the masterclasses of Oscar Ghiglia, Pepe Romero, Manuel Barrueco, Paul O'Dette and Scott Tenant. He is currently finishing his Doctorate of Music in Guitar Performance at Northwestern.

He was awarded First Prize in Guitar in the 1998 Society of American Musicians Competition. In 2000 he was selected to perform on both the Chicago Classical Guitar Society's Local Artist Showcase and The Friends of the Windows Second Saturday Concert Series, on which he was invited to perform again in 2001. Recent performances include appearances on concert series at Sherwood Conservatory of Music, the Northbrook Public Library, and The Ukranian Institute of Modern Art with the MAVerick ensemble. In 2005 he performed on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Cultural Center in Chicago; the performance was simulcast on WFMT 98.7FM.

In February 2001 he premiered his father John Baur's Etudes for Guitar and Songs of Love for Soprano and Guitar at the Imagine Festival in Memphis, Tennessee, and has performed with Ensemble Noamnesia and Northwestern University's Contemporary Music Ensemble. In April 2003 he gave World Premiere performances for Chicago composers Bjorn Berkhout and Robert McDonald. In November 2003, he played the electric guitar in Virgil Moorefield's ensemble work Things You Must do to Get into Heaven. In March 2004 he performed "fa/sil" by Bjorn Berkhout at the New Music Festival at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois.

Recent concert programs include "A History of the Guitar: The Twentieth Century," a series of 4 concerts chronologically exploring significant works from the guitar's repertoire. He is also a member of The Avanti Duo, a flute and guitar duo with flutist Kim Sopata. His current projects include a series of concerts exploring the works of Chicago composers, and a new CD of works by John Dowland, Maurice Ohana, Sergio Assad, and John Anthony Lennon. His most recent CD release features Benjamin Britten's Nocturnal after John Dowland, J.K. Mertz's Elegie, and Mauro Giuliani's La Rossiniana, Op. 119.

Also active as a teacher, he is on the faculty of Lake Forest College, The Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians, The Lake Forest Symphony Music School, and the Music Institute of Chicago.