Please join us for a very special musical performance by Kolmar Duo!

Tickets available here.

BYOB

Willie McLellan has performed as a violist in Chicago for the last decade. He is an experienced orchestral musician, having played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and Camerata Chicago. Willie also greatly enjoys playing chamber music. He was a member of Chicago Symphony’s MusiCorps outreach program that educated and performed for audiences in schools and park spaces. In 2019 he co-founded the Kolmar Music Collective, a mixed ensemble that performs works of diverse and underrepresented composers. In the summer of 2021 he was a featured performer in a string quartet at the American Suzuki Institute in Stevens Point.

Willie has a performance degree from UW-Madison in violin. He studied viola performance at DePaul University and Northern Illinois University, where he was a teaching assistant to Tony Devroye. He currently maintains his own private studio of violinists and violists at Musette Strings, a music school he co-founded in 2023.

When he is not busy on the music scene Willie enjoys experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen, finding interesting hiking spots, and improving his swimming at park district pools.

Cellist ALEXA MUHLY holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Her major teachers include Aldo Parisot, and Alan Harris. She has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, and Lithuania, and is an active orchestral and chamber musician in the Chicago area. In recent seasons, she was the principal cellist of the Kalamazoo Symphony, and also appeared with the Grand Rapids Symphony and the Pine Mountain Music Festival. Ms. Muhly received early recognition as first-prize winner in the Iowa Center for the Arts competition as well as prize winner in the Jugend Musiziert national competition in Germany. Other honors include a long-term residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Calgary, Alberta and awards from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale University, and the Aspen Music Festival. She was the cellist for the new music ensemble Opus 21 with whom she has performed at Symphony Space and Carnegie Hall in New York City. She recently has performed in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. She currently teaches cello performance and music theory at Oakton College.