Saturday, March 14, 2026
7:30 pm

Come in from the cold to celebrate music where everybody knows their names – the ultimate Cult Classical composers, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. We’ll have you dancing in the aisles to The Magic Flute, followed by Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with our guests, The Northwestern Quartet. Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 5 (“Da-da-da dum!”) brings this program to a spectacular finish.

Pre-Concert Chat - You're invited to arrive a little early to join Maestro Wheatley and guest artists from the Northwestern Winds quartet for an intimate pre-concert chat. Theater doors open at 6:40 pm for general seating, with the chat beginning at 6:45 pm. When the chat concludes, attendees will leave the theater and re-enter with their ticket to take their reserved seats for the concert.

W. A. Mozart
Overture to The Magic Flute

Franz Joseph Haydn
Sinfonia concertante, Op. 84/Hob.1:105

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 5, Op. 67

Total Runtime: 1 hour, 2 minutes

ARTIST BIOS

Haydn’s delightful Sinfonia Concertante for violin, cello, oboe and bassoon with orchestra features the following internationally acclaimed soloists of the Northwestern Quartet: Violinist Amelia Korbitz has been concertmaster with several ensembles, a soloist in the US and France, and a collaborative artist; Maya Benyas is an award-winning cellist and composer who has performed at music festivals in the United States, France, Spain and Italy; Edward Benyas is a distinguished oboist and conductor who has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the Ravinia and Carmel Bach Festivals, and on tour with Andrea Bocelli; Charles Shapera is Principal Bassoon of the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Southern Illinois Music Festival.

Edward Benyas is Emeritus Professor of Oboe and Conducting at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Artistic Director of the Southern Illinois Music Festival, Principal Conductor of Winter Opera St. Louis and Musica Le Mans (France), and Executive Director of the Cascade Symphony.  The Illinois Council of Orchestras named him Conductor of the Year, SIU’s College of Liberal Arts named him the Outstanding Scholar, the Southern Illinoisan named him a “Leader Among Us,” and he received SIU’s 2025 Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Benyas holds degrees in Oboe, Conducting, Law and Political Science from Northwestern and Michigan. He has conducted orchestras and opera companies across North America, Europe and China. His conducted repertoire includes over 400 works, including a dozen world premieres and several dozen complete operas and ballets. Mr. Benyas has an international reputation as an oboist, having performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera under Zubin Mehta, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim on its European tour, as Principal Oboe for Andrea Bocelli, and at the Ravinia, Carmel Bach, Spoleto, Banff and Des Moines Opera music festivals.

Maya Benyas is an award-winning cellist and composer. A graduate student at Stanford University studying applied and engineering physics minors, she served for four years as Principal Cello with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra and the Stanford Philharmonia, including tours of France and Bermuda. Formerly Principal Cello of the Southern Illinois Symphony, she has studied cello with Christopher Costanza and Eric Lenz, composition at Berklee, and piano with her mother. Maya has performed at the annual Southern Illinois Music Festival since 2015; at chamber music festivals in France, Spain, and Italy; and as soloist with orchestra in concertos by Dvorak, Saint-Saëns, and Boccherini. Her compositions have been performed by the Stanford Cello Choir, as prize-winner with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, and on commission from the Chicago Clarinet Ensemble.

Amelia Korbitz is an American violinist with a passion for new music and collaboration through chamber music. She is the executive director and founder of the Antigone Music Collective, an organization committed to performing music by underrepresented composers and making classical music accessible to modern audiences. Amelia’s solo performance highlights include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons: Primavera with the West Suburban Symphony and L’Inverno at the Southern Illinois Music Festival; Piazzolla’s Los Cuatros Estaciones Porteñas with the CCM Philharmonia; Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at the Southern Illinois Music Festival and as soloist at Musica Le Mans in France. Amelia earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Won-Bin Yim with a Spanish language minor from the University of Cincinnati. She will conclude her Master of Music studies in 2026 at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Dr. Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler. 

Charles Shapera is Principal Bassoon of the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. He is a founding member of the Oak Street Winds and the NCCO Wind Quintet, and has performed with those ensembles at chamber music festivals in Italy and Luxembourg. He is formerly Principal Bassoon of the Green Bay Symphony and currently serves as Executive Director of Temple Har Zion in River Forest, Illinois. The Haydn Sinfonia Concertante with Skagit Symphony will be his first solo appearance in the Pacific Northwest.