UW Ethnomusicology, Department of American Indian Studies, and the UW Symphony collaborate with Lushootseed Research’s Healing Heart Project in presenting this special community event.
Following a free screening of the documentary film The Healing Heart of Lushootseed, the UW Symphony (David Alexander Rahbee, director) and soprano Adia S. Bowen (tsi sʔuyuʔaɫ) perform Bruce Ruddell’s 50-minute symphony Healing Heart of the First People of This Land.
This powerful work was commissioned by Upper Skagit elder Vi Hilbert (taqʷšəblu) shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a vehicle for, in Hilbert’s words, “bringing healing to a sick world.”
Premiered by The Seattle Symphony in 2006, the piece draws inspiration from two sacred Coast Salish songs Hilbert had entrusted to the composer and features a number of percussion instruments native to this region.
The performance features soloist and Indigenous soprano Adia (tsi sʔuyuʔaɫ) Bowen, a UW alumna who graduated in June 2025 with degrees in Voice Performance and American Indian Studies
Program
Film Screening: The Healing Heart of Lushootseed
Performance: Bruce Ruddell: Healing Heart of the First People of This Land
UW Symphony Orchestra with Adia S. Bowen
Special thanks to Kaisho Barnhill (BM Music Education/Music Theory/Psychology) for his extensive music typesetting in preparation for this concert.
The Healing Heart Project
Feeling heartbroken by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Vi Hilbert, an 83-year-old elder from the Upper Skagit Indian tribe in the Pacific Northwest, asked the spirit, “What can one person do to heal a sick world?” The answer she received was music. The Healing Heart of Lushootseed, a short documentary film tells the extraordinary story of how a diminutive great grandmother gathered support for her most ambitious project yet, to heal the heart of the world through music.
On May 20th , 2006, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall was filled to capacity for the world premiere of The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land, an orchestral work in four movements, by Canadian composer Bruce Ruddell, performed by the Seattle Symphony and mezzo soprano Jenny Knapp, conducted by Maestro Gerard Schwarz. Vi believed the Symphony should be performed around the world. The Healing Heart Project seeks to fulfill her vision.
University of Washington Symphony Orchestra
David Alexander Rahbee, Music Director and Conductor
Robert Stahly and Zach Banks, Assistant Conductors
Flute
Xinyi Ma, DMA Flute Performance
Grace Playstead, MM Flute Performance
Oboe
Max Bolen, Music Education/Marine Biology
Aika Ishizuki, Pre-science
Clarinet
Ysanne Webb, DMA Clarinet Performance
Cameron DeLuca, DMA Clarinet Performance
Bassoon
Levi Beck, BM Bassoon Performance
Alex Fraley, Music Education
Contrabassoon
Eric Shankland, BA Bassoon Performance
Soprano Saxophone
Kyle Grant, Music Education/Saxophone Performance
Horn
Ethan Hicks, BM Horn Performance
Nicole Bogner, BM Horn Performance
Elise Moe, BM Horn Performance
Colin Laskarzewski, BS Physics
Trumpet
Hans Faul, BM Trumpet Performance
Antti Männistö, BS Physics
Haley Chávez (Coahuiltecan ancestry), PhD Ethnomusicology
Trombone
Nathanael Wyttenbach, Music Composition
Owen Fang, BM Trombone Performance
Bass Trombone
Miles Carter, BM Trombone Performance
Tuba
Dylan Aagaard, BM Tuba Performance
Percussion
Cyan Duong, Music Education
Devon Rafanelli, MM Percussion Performance
Regan Wong, Neuroscience
Piano
Chiao-Yu Wu, DMA Piano Performance
Violin I
Grace Pandra, Violin Performance/Business Administration (Co-Concertmaster)
Hanu Nahm, Violin Performance/Chemistry(Co-Concertmaster)
David Teves-Tan, Pre-Sciences
Yerin Hwang, Music
Michaela Klesse, Music
Kieran Horowitz, Biology
Brandon Bailey, Computer Science
Justin Chae, Computer Science/Mathematics
Rosalia Feng, Statistics
Vitaliy Duvalko, Engineering
Amelie Martin, Mathematics
Qurin Choi, Biochemistry
Ethan Li, Engineering
Lyle Deng, Computer Science
Jie Zhou, Music
Thea Higgins, MS Industrial Engineering
Violin II
Martessa Davis, MM Violin Performance (Principal)
Gustavo Berho, BM Music
Victoria Zhuang, Informatics and Geography: Data Science
Alice Leppert, Chemistry
Daniel Park, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology
Saraim Gebretsadik, Biochemistry
Jasmine Palikhya, International Studies
Cristina Kosilkina, BS Biochemistry
Leo Li, Computer Science
Mckinley Xia, Engineering
Amar Salmi, Biochemistry/CHID
Anja Westra, Marine Biology
Lily Bingham, Engineering
Alessandra Fernandez, Pre-science
Hailey Vaught, Business Administration
Christina Kim, Pre-music
Viola
Flora Cummings, Viola Performance (Principal)
Mica Weiland, Viola Performance
Abigail Schidler, Computer Science/BA Music
Emma Boyce, Music History
Helen Young, MM Music Education
Mia Grayson, Biochemistry
Annika Johnson, Earth and Space Sciences: Physics
Alan Arriola, Music/Physics
Henry Yang, Computer Science
Jacob Dagen, History/Education
Melia Golden, Biochemistry
Melany Nanayakkara, Material Science Engineering/Chemistry
Henry Hess (Chickasaw, Choctaw), Law, Societies, and Justice
Ryan Dakota Farris, DMA Orchestral Conducting
Violoncello
Cory Chen, BA in Music/BS MCD Biology (Principal)
Sota Emura, BM Cello Performance
Ian Jung, Engineering
Oliver Tiu, Biochemistry
Nathan Evans, BA Music History
Nacho Tejeda, PhD Mathematics
Jisung Lee, Computer Science
Mina Wang, Informatics
Jayden Kang, Pre-business
Mimi Leung, Chemistry
Jack Ruffner, Pre-Social Sciences
Ally Wu, Electrical Engineering
Andrew Vu, Chemistry/Biochemistry/Math
Lucy Finnell, Biochemistry
Stephan Rivera, Engineering
Bashir Abdel-Fattah, PhD Mathematics
Bass
Nathan Eskridge, MM Bass Performance (Principal)
Amelia Matsumoto, BM Bass Performance
Gabriella Kelley, English
Raiden Jones, Engineering
Colm Scott, History
Biographies
Adia Bowen Tsi Sʔuyuʔaɫ was born and raised in Mount Vernon, Washington. She is a citizen of the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe from the Washington family. Adia graduated from the University of Washington in 2025 with two degrees: American Indian Studies and Vocal Performance. She was awarded first place in the Northwest Collegiate Soprano Division of the 2023-2024 NATS Competition. Her recent credits include "Suor Angelica" in the opera Suor Angelica at Western Washington University,"La Musique" in UW's Les Arts Florissants, "Sister 13" in the world premiere of the musical Come on Get Tappy!with Outright Onstage, and "The Governess" in UW's abridged version of the opera Turn of the Screw. Adia is also a Tacoma Opera Young Artist for the 2024-2025 season. She was a part of the chorus for Tacoma Opera's La Bohème in October 2024, and in February she appeared as "Nella" in their production of Gianni Schicchi.
David Alexander Rahbee is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Music, where he is Director of Orchestral Activities and Chair of Orchestral Conducting. He is Music Director and Conductor of the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Campus Philharmonia Orchestras. He is a recipient of the American-Austrian Foundation's 2003 Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, the 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, a fellowship the Acanthes Centre in Paris (2007), and is first prize winner in conducting from The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the performing arts for 2020. His work at UW has earned national recognition. In 2021 he was praised by The American Prize as “Consistently one of the most courageous and comprehensive [orchestral] programmers working in higher education in the U.S. today…”
Dr. Rahbee has appeared in concert with orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Kammerphilharmonie Berlin-Brandenburg, Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, Bellingham Symphony, National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, Orchestre de la Francophonie, the Boston New Music Initiative, Seattle Modern Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Loja, Cool Opera of Norway, Schönbrunner Schloss Orchester and the Divertimento Ensemble of Milan. His collaborations with the Seattle Symphony include assistant conductor for the performance and recording of Ives’ Fourth Symphony, and as guest conductor for their Native Lands project and the North American premiere of Páll Ragnar Pallson's Quake. He has collaborated with several prominent soloists such as Sarah Chang, Michelle Cann, Jon Kimura Parker and Jonathan Biss. He has taught at the Pierre Monteux School, as has conducted at a number of summer festivals such as the Atlantic Music Festival, Sewanee Music Center, Bar Harbor Music Festival and Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.
Dr. Rahbee was an assistant at the Vienna State opera from 2002-2010. As part of his fellowship and residency at the 2003 Salzburg Festival, where he worked with members of the Vienna Philharmonic. Masterclasses with prominent conductors such as Kurt Masur, Sir Colin Davis, Jorma Panula, Zdeněk Mácal, Peter Eötvös, Zoltán Peskó and Helmut Rilling, and counts Nikolaus Harnoncourt to be among his most influential mentors.
Dr. Rahbeeʼs principal conducting teachers were Charles Bruck and Michael Jinbo at the Pierre Monteux School. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in violin and composition from Indiana University, a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory in orchestral conducting, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Montreal in orchestral conducting. He has also participated in post-graduate conducting classes at the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Vienna. His orchestrations of music by Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Ravel, Debussy and others are published by LeDor; his brass arrangements and an original composition are published by Warwick Music, and his articles on the music of Gustav Mahler have appeared in journals of the International Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft, among others.
In addition to being awarded first prize in conducting from The American Prize for 2020, he was awarded 2nd place in 2019. He has also placed among winners for five consecutive years for The American Prize Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award for Orchestral Programming, recognizing his programming with the UW Symphony and its affiliated ensembles for every season since he joined the faculty. The UWSO has also been a finalist in the category of orchestral performance in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Dr. Rahbee is co-editor of Daniels’ Orchestral Music (6thedition) and Daniels’ Orchestral Music Online (DOMO), the gold standard among conductors, orchestral administrators, orchestra librarians as well as other music professionals and students researching for orchestral programming.