Saturday Evenings at 8 p.m. at UNCW Kenan Auditorium
Errante Anniversary Performer Biographies
35th Annual Richard R. Deas Student Concerto Competition
David Haskins is an aspiring classical violinist attending Hoggard High School in Wilmington and a student of local violinist Roy Robuck. "I discovered my real musical passion, violin, at the end of fifth grade when I heard a live orchestra for the first time. I remember being amazed by the sound of an orchestra and I wanted to play the top voice and be heard,” David recalls. In addition to numerous state and regional honors, he has attended the Cannon Music Program at Appalachian State University and the North Carolina Governor's School focusing on violin. Currently in his third season with the Wilmington Symphony, he is also Concertmaster for the Hoggard High School Orchestra and the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Heather Bobeck is a junior at UNCW pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance. Her recent performances include: Filia Jephte in UNCW Chamber Choir’s Carissimi’s Jephte; Sandman from Humperdink’s Hansel and Gretel, presented by the UNCW Opera Outreach Program; and participation in the Laudate Dominum Conference in St. Pölten, Austria under the direction of Dr. Wolfgang Reisinger. She is a member of UNCW Chamber Singers and Concert Choir, the church choir at Little Chapel on the Boardwalk and UNCW-WOOP! Ms. Bobeck is a voice student of Nancy King.
Colm O’Reilly started studying violin in London at age four. By age seven he had successfully auditioned for the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain. He attended junior Guildhall until he moved to Chapel Hill in 2005. During high school he served as concertmaster at East Chapel Hill High School and as a 
member of the North Carolina High Schools’ Honors Orchestra. Since coming to UNCW in 2008, he has been a member of Wilmington Symphony all four years and has collaborated with many other students and faculty and also the Wilmington community. He currently studies with Dr. Danijela Zezelj-Gualdi, and after he graduates in May he plans to pursue a Master of Music degree in violin performance.
Dr. Richard R. Deas, for whom the student concerto competition is named and in whose memory it continues, helped create the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra in 1971. As the then-Chair of the UNCW Department of Music he assisted in developing the competition in 1976 as a way to give talented young musicians an opportunity to perform with a symphony orchestra.
The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Board of Directors, staff and volunteers extend their grateful appreciation and gratitude to Steven Errante on the 25th Anniversary of his exemplary contributions as Conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.
Steven Errante was born in Dearborn, Michigan in 1953. At an early age he began arranging, composing and conducting for various musical groups in the Detroit area. He studied composition and conducting at the University of Michigan and the Juilliard School with Leslie Bassett, Vincent Persichetti, and Uri Mayer. During this time, he wrote the score for The Boar's Head Festival, a work heard annually in Detroit since 1972.
Steven Errante has been Conductor of the Wilmington Symphony and a member of the UNCW Department of Music faculty since 1986. He is also founding conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra and accompanist for the Girls’ Choir of Wilmington.
He has also been active as a composer and arranger, his Battleship North Carolina March has been performed throughout the region by the North Carolina Symphony, and many of the guest artists performing jazz and popular music with the Wilmington Symphony have been backed up by his arrangements. He was commissioned by the Wilmington Concert Association to write a new fanfare to be played by Boston Brass at the WCA’s opening concert of the 2011-2012 season.
Errante’s approach to music centers on his belief that performance and education enhance each other, so in addition to his teaching at UNCW, he gives presentations in area schools, organizations, and before each WSO concert. His comments and musical illustrations can also be heard in the form of audio blogs on the WSO website and on the Wilmington Symphony Facebook page.
He lives in Wilmington with his wife Sandy, who is the founder and director of the Girls’Choir of Wilmington and owner of Kindermusik with Sandy Errante. They have two daughters: Emmy is a graphic designer in Wilmington and Casey attends UNC Chapel Hill.
Canadian soprano Nancy King is an active performer, teacher and guest lecturer as well as Coordinator for Vocal Performance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Ms. King received degrees from Boston University and the University of Western Ontario, both in vocal performance, and has completed her doctoral residency at the University of Minnesota. Nancy also serves as Director of UNC-WOOP! —University of North Carolina Wilmington Opera Outreach Project—that provides operatic training for UNCW students and community members and invigorates the art form locally.
Baritone Benjamin Horrell is a native of Wilmington, NC where he teaches an extensive choral music program at John T. Hoggard High School. Benjamin received the Bachelor of Music Education degree with an emphasis on Vocal Studies from East Carolina University. He frequently performs as a soloist in major choral works in the area and is a member of the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Horrell resides in Wilmington, NC with his wife Amy and their dog Spencer.