Music, Memory, and Meaning: How creativity helps us belong

About Merideth Hite Estevez
An active freelancer and sought-after recitalist, oboist Dr. Merideth Hite Estevez has performed and taught throughout North and South America, Asia, and Europe. She has performed with top orchestras in the US and abroad, including the Met Opera Orchestra and PhillyPops, and is currently the English hornist/Second Oboe of the Chamber Orchestra of NY. She has served on faculties of numerous universities and schools of music, most recently as Associate Professor of Oboe at University of Delaware. As the founder and director of “Artists for Joy,” she invites artists into community to unleash joy in the creation of art and to consider creativity as a spiritual practice. Her podcast of the same name was a 2022 winner of the Award of Excellence in 2022 Communicator Awards. She has degrees from The Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her first book, The Artist’s Joy: A Guide to Getting Unstuck, Embracing Imperfection, and Loving Your Creative Life, debuted at No. 1 in the Creativity category on Audible and held as the No. 2 New Release in Creativity on Amazon for multiple days during launch week.

When she’s not playing oboe or writing, Merideth enjoys drinking matcha lattes and running (not at the same time.) She hails from Abbeville, SC, but now lives in Bloomfield Hills with her husband, Rev. Edwin Estevez, daughter Eva, and son Eli.

About Nuné Hakobyan
Nuné Hakobyan was born and educated in Armenia, and graduated from Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, holding a Master’s Degree and an Artist Diploma in Piano Performance and Collaborative Piano. Along with teaching at her private studio, she actively performs, rehearses, and coaches in collaboration with many vocalists, instrumentalists, orchestras, and choral groups.

Together with Sargis Karapetyan, violin, and Andrei Sobchenko, alto saxophone, she co founded the NOR Trio, arranging and promoting mostly Armenian and Russian music. Ms. Hakobyan is also the organist at the Holy Trinity Armenian Church in Cambridge, MA, where she founded the Timeless Classics concert series.