Connexions
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about us
A Cincinnati-based trio focused on sharing a passion for life through the performance of chamber music. With the unique instrumentation of violin, saxophone and piano, Connexions seeks to engage audience members with music by new composers, including the commissioning of new works. The group also performs repertoire that makes the old new again. Together as Connexions, Kevin Towner, saxophonist; Donna Martin, pianist; and Marion Peraza de Webb, violinist; combine their virtuosic talents to provide audiences with an idyllic, modern expression. Connexions' performances inspire listeners wherever they may be on their musical journey.
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Kevin Towner
Kevin has been guest soloist with the Muskingum Valley Symphonic Winds in New Concord, Ohio, Morningside College Symphonic Band in Sioux City, Iowa, Bowling Green State University Symphonic Band, Milford High School Symphonic Band, and the Anderson Community Band in Forest Hills. He has also performed with The Cincinnati Symphony, The Kentucky Symphony, The Richmond (IN) Symphony, and The Springfield (OH) Symphony Orchestras. An advocate of new music, Kevin has participated in concurrent premieres of works by John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, and Bernard Rands and has also commissioned works from Mike D’Ambrosio and Christopher Scinto. Mr. Towner currently teaches saxophone lessons and saxophone chamber ensembles at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio and for the nationally recognized William Mason High School Band program in Mason, Ohio. Kevin holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Bowling Green State University. An avid cyclist, Kevin completed his first century ride this summer at Americas Most Beautiful Bike Ride in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. |
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Donna Martin
Donna earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of South Carolina, where she won the Concerto Competition and performed with USC’s Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with the University of Alabama Orchestra. Donna completed her Masters and DMA degrees in Piano Performance from the In addition to majoring in piano at USC, Donna minored in Voice and was a student of Beverly Hay. As a soprano soloist, Donna won a vocal competition at Cincinnati Christian University and performed with recording artist Larnelle Harris in concert. She has subsequently performed with Mr. Harris on several other occasions. Her latest vocal project involved recording “Have Thine Own Way” with trumpet soloist Ashley Hall on her debut album “Behold Him,” released in August 2007. |
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Marion Peraza de Webb
Mrs. Peraza de Webb was selected to be part of the Latin-American Violin Academy under the tutelage of Jose Francisco Del Castillo. Through her tenure with the Academy, Marion found herself being a featured soloist with all major Venezuelan orchestras. This honor continued with her being a featured soloist with orchestras in the US and Canada. As first violin of the Cuarteto de Cuerdas América, she has played festivals, universities, and concert series from Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia to Canada, Luxembourg, Germany and the United States, garnering many excellent press reviews along the way. She has collaborated with composers such as Joan Tower, Susan Botti, and Ricardo Lorenz. She also has premiered works by composers Roland Vasquez, John Ferrito, Diogenes Ribas, Diana Arismendi, and Arcangel Castillo- Olivari. Marion Peraza de Webb won the Miami University Concerto Competition in 1998 and was awarded the Battel Stoeckel Trust Award at Yale University the same year. In 2000, she won the Grand Prize and Honor Award in the Annual Competition of Spanish and Latin American Music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and was distinguished with the Ohio Latino Arts Association’s Performing Artist of the Year Award- 2001. She has taught master classes at the American String Teachers Association, Artists on Tour in Ohio, Yellow Springs Young Instrumentalists Workshop, Soundfest Festival in Cape Cod, University of Louisville Chamber Music Program, Festival de Música Latinoamericana in Colombia, and the Simon Bolivar Conservatory in Caracas, Venezuela. As a devoted pedagogue, Mrs. Peraza de Webb is the director and owner of Peraza’s Music Workshop. She teaches both traditional and Suzuki methods, chamber music, and music theory. Every year Mrs. Peraza de Webb hosts guest teachers at Peraza’s Music Workshop that have included Mimi Zweig, Timothy Lees, Nancy Jackson and Carrie Reunning-Hummel, among others. Former students of Mrs. Peraza de Webb are attending the Julliard School, Indiana University, and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Marion regularly performs with the Cincinnati Symphony Pops and the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra in Detroit. She works with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra coaching their high school chamber music group Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Nouveau Chamber Players. Marion Peraza de Webb was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Her principal teachers include Jose Francisco Del Castillo (Simón Bolívar Conservatory), Margaret Pardee (Juilliard School), the Tokyo Quartet, and the Vermeer Quartet.
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Kevin Towner won the North American Saxophone Alliance National Saxophone Competition, the Ohio Music Teachers Association Young Artist Competition and was a finalist for the Bowling Green State University concerto competition in 1996. Since then he has been an active soloist and chamber musician in the Cincinnati/Tri-State area and throughout the mid-west. Kevin’s recent performances have been with Connexions, a trio he founded, at churches such as Christ Church Cathedral, First Unitarian Church, Northern Hills Fellowship, and First Church of Christ in College Hill. Previously as a chamber musician, Mr. Towner has performed with a variety of groups including the Spectrum Saxophone Quartet and the Par 4 Saxophone Quartet that have performed at universities such as University of Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky University, University of Dayton, and Wright State University, as well as regional and national North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences.
Donna Martin performs frequently as an accompanist, chamber musician and vocalist in the Greater Cincinnati area. In addition to being a member of Connexions, she stays very busy accompanying student recitals at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has accompanied several faculty recitals as well as Master classes and recitals by Guest Artists, including Joe Burgstaller, Christian Lindberg, and Sergei Nakariakov. 
Violinist Marion Peraza de Webb began her musical career as a member of Venezuela's famous Youth Orchestra System. As a member of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, she has toured Japan, USA, Mexico, Brazil, France and Spain, and participated in seven CD recordings under the Dorian Records label.