Waltzes, Rags, a Legend, a Ballad, and a Bit O’ Blues
Music of Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Jr., Franz Lehár, PIotr Ilich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, Henri Wienawski, William Bolcom, Scott Joplin, Jeanne Danglas, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, & more
The Musicians
Ronald Mutchnik, violin
Isaiah Shim, piano
*This concert will take place at a different time and location than the other concerts on our series:
Time 4:30pm
Location: First Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3604 Chatham Road, Ellicott City, MD 21042
Ronald Mutchnik
Violinist Ronald Mutchnik graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore County summa cum laude, where he studied with Robert Gerle. While there, he won the Baltimore Music Club’s and Baltimore Musicians’ competitions. He earned his master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Joseph Gingold and Masuko Ushioda. He continued post-graduate studies in Israel with Yair Kless.
A resident of Howard County since 1983, Mutchnik is active as an orchestral violinist, chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist. He has served as concertmaster and assistant concertmaster with the Maryland Symphony, and National Chamber Orchestra and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and as concertmaster of the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Bach in Baltimore and the Columbia Pro Cantare He has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Maryland, as well as orchestras in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Minnesota. He appeared in the film “Washington Square”, performing his own composition, and was a featured soloist for the Maryland Ballet Theater, and performed in Maryland and Alabama in a special recital, “Music of the Jewish Soul.” His performance of the Bach Chaconne at the Baltimore Bach Concert Series was described by Michael Lawrence, creator and director of the critically acclaimed movie Bach & Friends, as a “nuanced and expressive” interpretation that “holds up with the best performances I have heard.”
Mutchnik has taught in several universities and colleges and currently has a private studio of forty students. He was President of the American String Teacher’s Association’s Maryland/DC Chapter and twice received the chapter’s Teacher of the Year award. He has also toured Korea, coaching and performing chamber music. He is a founding member of the Sundays At Three chamber music series in Columbia, and is its current president and artistic director. In 2008, he formed the Orchestra of St. John’s, later called the Howard County Concert Orchestra, the county’s first all professional chamber orchestra. In 2009, Mutchnik received the Howard County Arts Council’s “Howie” as outstanding artist of the year. In 2019, he became interested in the discipline of Body Mapping which helps musicians avoid pain, injury, and limitation in their playing and in January of 2022, became the first stringed instrument teacher in the state of Maryland to become a Licensed Body Mapping educator and has most recently presented workshops at the American String Teachers Association’s National Conferences as well as at various universities in Maryland and also teacher workshops out of state.
Isaiah Shim
Isaiah Shim is a dynamic conductor and crossover keyboardist whose musical leadership spans orchestral, chamber, choral, operatic, and educational realms. He currently serves as Assistant Conductor of the Columbia Pro Cantare in Maryland, while also holding the position of Organist at St. Louis Church.
On the podium and at the keyboard, Mr. Shim has collaborated with a vast array of prominent ensembles across the United States, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Salt Lake Symphony, Purdue University Orchestra, Montgomery Philharmonic, and Annapolis Opera. On the international stage, he has led and performed with ensembles including the Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra in Europe, with additional concert credits spanning venues in Asia, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Highly regarded for his versatility across diverse musical genres, Mr. Shim has worked with distinguished artists and conductors such as Marin Alsop, Avi Avital, Kristin Chenoweth, Andrew Lippa, Nicholas McGegan, Stephen Schwartz, Gil Shaham, and John Storgårds. Deeply committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians, he has served as assistant conductor for the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras and Young Artists of America at Strathmore, and maintains an active role as an educator within the Howard County Public School System.
Mr. Shim is an alumnus of the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University (graduate studies in conducting/collaborative piano) and Wheaton College (IL) (Bachelor’s degrees in piano performance/music education).
Return to the 2026-2027 Concert list.