Album Notes

Winter Sounds is a delightful collection of music, taking you on a journey through the Celtic soul. It is meditative, inspiring, and energizing. Enjoy! Dr. Sylvia Lee Mann is a composer, conductor and virtuoso performer, appearing regularly as a violist and guest conductor with several orchestras in the Southern California area. She is currently serving as Director of Music at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City, CA and as the assistant conductor of the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra. She is also the principal violist of the Golden State Pops Symphony Orchestra, and the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra. Her musical studies began at age 4 with piano; at 10 she added viola and guitar. She now plays a wide variety of instruments, most recently having taken an interest in the Celtic Harp. Sylvia completed her undergraduate studies at Chapman College, and did her graduate studies at the University of Southern California & in London. She studied viola and violin with such notable teachers as Dr. Thomas G. Hall, Louis Debovsky, John Coppin, Noumi Fischer, Francis Tersi, David Stockhammer and Milton Thomas. Her composition studies include advanced study with William Kraft and Samuel Adler. Her conducting studies included such notable pedagogues as Maestro John Koshak, who studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Dr. James Vail of the University of Southern California, and Dr. Rodney Eichenberger. From 1987 - 2002, Dr. Mann lived in Louisiana, where she served as the principal violist of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and violist of the Premier String Quartet. She also enjoyed performing with the popular all woman band, “Lip Service” and was the recipient of the Shreveport LA Regional Arts Council's prestigious Music Fellowship Award. Sylvia has recently composed incidental music for a number of theatre productions in the Los Angeles area, as well as multiple chamber music works and symphonic pieces for film projects, symphony orchestras, chamber music ensembles, and choral groups across the nation. Sylvia performed all of the music on this CD, using among other instruments, synthesizers, sequencers,and a computer. To contact her, email stringdance@charter.net or visit www.stringdance.com