The Minnesota Orchestra Welcomes Four Full-Time Members to Begin its 2023-24 Season

Lukas Goodman appointed as assistant principal cello, Julianne Mulvey as associate principal bassoon and Kate Wegener as associate principal oboe; Yi Zhao to join first violin section

The Minnesota Orchestra will open its 2023-24 season with several new players onstage and will welcome four new full-time musicians to its ranks by year’s end in its bassoon, cello, oboe and violin sections. All four musicians will perform in the ensemble during Thomas Søndergård’s two weeks of inaugural concerts as the Orchestra’s next music director on September 21-23 and 28-30.

Three of the four new appointees received all or part of their education from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Lukas Goodman will begin his tenure full-time as assistant principal cello at the end of December. The Massachusetts-born cellist earned his bachelor’s degree at Rice University, where he won first prize in the Shepherd School Concerto Competition, as well as a gold medal at the 35th annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition. In 2019, he made his concerto debut with the Missouri Symphony, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, which he performed again in 2020 with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. He was named a finalist in the 2022 Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition.

A fellow Massachusetts native, Julianne Mulvey, the Orchestra’s new associate principal bassoon, has performed with a variety of orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and as guest principal with the Houston Ballet Orchestra. She completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Rice University, where she won the Shepherd School Concerto Competition in 2022 and performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto unconducted with the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra in 2023.

Also joining the ensemble’s woodwind section is Kate Wegener, who will become the Orchestra’s associate principal oboe at the end of December. Wegener received her bachelor’s degree and is currently completing her master’s degree at the Juilliard School where she studies primarily with Nathan Hughes, the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal oboe. In addition to performing with the Juilliard Orchestra, she regularly appears with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Florida Orchestra, among others, and has been featured at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival and with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Yi Zhao has accepted a first violin position with the Minnesota Orchestra. Prior to joining the Orchestra, Zhao was the assistant concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony for nine seasons. She has performed as a solo artist with major community orchestras around Colorado, and for the past six summers has regularly performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival. Born in Henan, China, Zhao received her bachelor’s at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music and earned her master’s at the Shepherd School of Music. Among the renowned pedagogues she has studied under is the late Jorja Fleezanis, who served as the Minnesota Orchestra’s concertmaster from 1989 to 2009.

This announcement follows the recent selection of two musicians participating in the Orchestra’s Fellowship program: clarinetist Olivia Hamilton and trombonist Felix Regalado. Both graduates of Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, Hamilton most recently played with The Orchestra Now, while Regalado is a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Initiated in 2017, the Fellowship program is intended to enhance the orchestral careers of African American, Latin American and Native American musicians, and to encourage greater diversity in the orchestral field.

About Lukas Goodman

Lukas Goodman joins the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2023 for select concerts, and will begin his tenure full-time as assistant principal cello at the end of December. He began playing the cello at the age of 11, studying with Anne Bennett at the community music school in his hometown of Winchester, Massachusetts. In 2016 he began his studies at the Rice University Shepherd School of Music with Desmond Hoebig, where he was awarded the Shepherd Society award. While at Rice, he won first prize in the Shepherd School Concerto Competition, as well as a gold medal at the 35th annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition. After graduating from Rice, he attended the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Ralph Kirshbaum. He currently resides in New York, where he studies with Joel Krosnick and Carter Brey, and recently enrolled at the Juilliard School.

In 2019, Goodman made his concerto debut with the Missouri Symphony, performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, which he performed again in 2020 with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. He was named a finalist in the 2022 Friends of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, and in 2023 was awarded first prize at the George Gershwin International Competition, as well as the special prize for the best performance of a work by Gershwin. More: minnesotaorchestra.org.

About Julianne Mulvey

Associate Principal Bassoon Julianne Mulvey joins the Minnesota Orchestra in September 2023. Raised in Reading, Massachusetts, she began her musical studies studying flute with her mother, but in sixth grade made the switch to the bassoon.

Prior to joining the Minnesota Orchestra, Mulvey performed with a variety of orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and as guest principal with the Houston Ballet Orchestra. She was a fellow at Tanglewood Music Center from 2019 to 2021 and has spent summers at Spoleto Festival USA and Texas Music Festival. In 2022, she won the Shepherd School Concerto Competition and, in 2023, performed the Mozart Bassoon Concerto unconducted with the Shepherd School Chamber Orchestra. Since her days playing flute, Mulvey has been involved in outreach and performance at assisted living facilities, museums and schools. At Rice University, she performed in many outreach concerts and served as the co-coordinator for the Shepherd School’s outreach program. She completed her bachelor's and master’s degrees at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Her primary teachers have been Benjamin Kamins, Richard Svoboda and Neil Fairbairn. More: minnesotaorchestra.org.

About Kate Wegener

Kate Wegener joins the Minnesota Orchestra full-time at the end of December 2023 as associate principal oboe. A native of Connecticut, she has recently been featured at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival and with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. In addition to performing with the Juilliard Orchestra, she has appeared as a substitute musician with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra and the Apex Ensemble, among others. Equally passionate about teaching, she is a mentor for Juilliard pre-college students as they develop their skills in orchestral playing and reed-making. 

Wegener received her bachelor’s degree and is currently completing her master’s degree at the Juilliard School where she studies primarily with Nathan Hughes—the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal oboe—with additional studies with Elaine Douvas, Linda Strommen and Scott Hostetler. More: minnesotaorchestra.org.

About Yi Zhao

Before joining the Minnesota Orchestra’s first violin section, Zhao was the assistant concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony for nine seasons. During her time in Colorado, Zhao appeared as a solo artist with major community orchestras and was frequently featured at the Englewood Arts, Walden Chamber Music Society (Salida) and Epic (Colorado Springs) series. She is now looking forward to sharing her passion for music in the Twin Cities community.

Born in Henan, China, Zhao received her bachelor of music under the tutelage of Qian Zhou at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in 2007 and earned her master’s under the guidance of Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in 2013. For the past six summers, Zhao has been regularly performing at the Grand Teton Music Festival, taking on various leadership roles as well as chamber music concerts. In 2022, she was invited by Manfred Honeck to join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s summer European tour and performed at major festivals across Europe, including the Salzburg Festival. Prior to her invitation to the Tetons, Zhao and her colleagues, Coleman Itzkoff and Andrew Staupe, were invited to the 2014 La Jolla Music Festival as the Pegasus Trio. This past summer, Zhao performed as the concertmaster at the Sunriver Music Festival in Bend, Oregon. More: minnesotaorchestra.org.