Bear Valley, CA…In this final concert of the 2016 Festival Maestro Michael Morgan leads the Bear Valley Symphony in Vivaldi’s double cello concerto with soloists Emil Miland and Lucas Chen plus the haunting Serenade No. 1 by Brahms. Bay Area cellist Lucas Chen received his B.A. from UC Davis, studying Music and Animal Science. He received his Masters Degree and Post-graduate diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Jennifer Culp

Upon finishing his studies, Lucas has been enjoying a diverse career teaching and performing/recording both classical and mainstream music. He has served as mentor and coach for The Oakland Youth Orchestra and Summer Music West. He has served as principal cellist of the Bear Valley Music Festival orchestra since 2014 and makes his solo debut with them in August of 2016 alongside a life-long friend, celebrated cellist Emil Miland.

Equally passionate about mainstream music, Lucas has performed/recorded with such artists as Death Cab for Cutie, Sting, Train, Chicago, Chris Botti, The Trans Siberian Orchestra, Quartet San Francisco, Hillary Hahn, and for numerous movie and video game soundtracks.

A lover of the great-outdoors, Lucas and his wife, Mai, are avid backpackers and enjoy kayaking, hiking, and travelling. When not at Bear Valley, Lucas is a resident teaching artist at the Alameda String Academy in Alameda, CA, and the music teacher/director at Northcreek Academy in Walnut Creek, CA, where he lives with his wife, their cat, Gizmo and dog, Waffles.

orcmilandA member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra since 1988, Mr. Miland enjoys a much acclaimed career as a soloist, chamber & orchestral musician. He made his solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony at age 16, the same year he was selected to perform in the Rostropovich Master Classes at the University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, he has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America. He has collaborated as a soloist in concert with Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, Marilyn Horne, Frederica von Stade, the late Zheng Cao and the late Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson. In 2010, Mr. Miland was invited by von Stade to perform with her at Carnegie Hall for her farewell recital.

Many composers have written and dedicated new works for him including Ernst Bacon, David Conte, David Carlson, Shinji Eshima, Jake Heggie, Andrew Imbrie, Lou Harrison, Richard Hervig, James Meredith and Dwight Okamura. His recordings include David Carlson’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony on New World Records and the Sonata for Cello and Piano with pianist, David Korevaar on MSR Records. He is featured on many of Jake Heggie’s recordings beginning with the RCA Red Seal CD, “The Faces of Love: The Songs of Jake Heggie” and most recently, the 2013 release, “Here/After: Songs of Lost Voices on Pentatone”. Mr. Miland is presented in “The Heart of a Bell”, a recent film by Eric Theirmann and Aleksandra Wolska, performing Smirti, a haunting elegy for cello, Tibetan chimes and bells with the Sonos Handbell Ensemble. He also appears in the 2012 documentary, “Lou Harrison: A World of Music” by Eva Soltes.