Updated: 2009-08-25, Author:  

Biographies

Kathy Pirtle Bio Photo

Mozart Clarinet Quartet 2nd and 3rd Mvmt.’s

Kathryne Pirtle:

Kathryne Pirtle is the clarinetist and executive director of the Orion Ensemble, which gives three concert series in Metropolitan Chicago, presents a live, internationally broadcast series on Chicago’s WFMT-FM Fine Arts Radio Network and tours throughout North America. She is principal clarinetist of the Lake Forest Symphony and frequently performs with the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, the Grant Park Music Festival, The Ravinia Festival Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

In a review from Gramophone Magazine (Sept. 2006), Donald Rosenberg stated that, “Clarinetist, Kathryne Pirtle, plays with seamless elegance, telling nuances and spacial tonal resources…

In 2004, the Hal Leonard Corporation released her solo album of selected Bach unaccompanied cello and violin suites and sonatas transcribed for the clarinet by Himie Voxman. This represents the first time these transcriptions have been presented in a recording by a clarinetist.

Ms. Pirtle has co-authored a book with Dr. John D. Turner and Sally Fallon called Performance without Pain, which was published in 2006 by New Trends. This book focuses on the modern dietary influences in common inflammatory and degenerative conditions in musicians, athletes, dancers and the general public. It presents a highly effective solution to healing that utilizes nutrient-dense, enzyme-rich, traditional foods. Since 2004, she has given more than 85 workshops around the country and appeared on numerous radio and television shows.

In 2009, Ms. Pirtle completed an e-book on acid reflux called Acid Reflux: a National Epidemic and Precursor to Chronic Illness–Achieving Lasting Healing with Nutrient Dense Foods. This is the first book that not only addresses holistic symptomatic treatment, but also the correction of the serious nutrient deficiencies that accompany any digestive disorder.

In 2010, she testified in Washington, DC against the new USDA Dietary Guidelines. In 2012 she was a speaker at the Wise Traditions Conference in London, England. She has been published in the Autism File Global, Advance Magazine (a publication for Physical Therapy), Wise Traditions, International Musician, the Clarinet and writes a blog on her website performancewithoutpain.com about issues relating to building health with nutrient-dense foods. She is also a delegate of health freedom and sustainable farming for the Canary Party, canaryparty.org.

Kathryne maintains a private studio, coaches chamber music, gives master classes in clarinet performance and pedagogy and lectures on artist career development and organizational development for not-for-profit chamber music groups. In addition, she has served on the faculties of Wheaton College Conservatory, Northern Illinois University, Bradley University and Indiana University.

As a child and young adult, Kathryne experienced early symptoms of undiagnosed Celiac disease, an allergy to gluten grains (wheat, oats, barley and rye), that included depression, inflammation, flatulence, acid-reflux, weight instability and an eating disorder.

Beginning in the Fall of 2001, she became chronically ill for two years, suffering from a severe inflammatory condition in her spine, which caused debilitating pain in her arms, shoulders, hands and fingers, making it difficult to play. Her embouchure, the facial muscles used to produce a beautiful sound, began to shake uncontrollably. Embouchure shaking is a form of focal dystonia, which is a problem that can end the career of a professional wind or brass player. This was ultimately diagnosed as coming from Celiac disease and also a diet too high in fiber. She developed chronic diarrhea, malabsorption and malnutrition from intestinal damage caused by these elements, even though she closely followed modern nutritional dictates for healthy eating.

Although she was chronically ill for two years, she had experienced ongoing inflammatory conditions since her 20s and relieved them through physical therapy related approaches common to her field, including massage therapy, chiropractic, Alexander Technique, yoga, rolphing and muscle-balancing routines. However, these approaches did not address the serious consequences of a long-term digestive disorder and ongoing intestinal damage.

She was able to find answers to healing her digestive illness and long-term nutrient deficiencies through the work of Dr. Weston Price, and is now recovered and vibrantly healthy! Since her recovery, she has experienced no pain in her body, after having ongoing pain for 25 years, and her embouchure is completely strong.

It took well over one and a half years to recover from her digestive disorder. Gaining in-depth understanding of the relationship that nourishing traditional foods offer to healing chronic illness and promoting vibrant health and the dietary causes of inflammation allowed her to continue the career she loves as a performing artist.

Sally Fallon:

Journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker and community activist, Sally Fallon is the best-selling author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrat. This well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods contains a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains, but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.

Sally Fallon Bio Photo

Ms. Fallon’s lifelong interest in the subject of nutrition began in the early 1970s when she read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price. Called the “Charles Darwin of Nutrition,” Price traveled the world over studying healthy primitive populations and their diets. The unforgettable photographs contained in his book document the beautiful facial structure and superb physiques of isolated groups consuming only whole, natural foods. Price noted that all of these diets contained a source of good quality animal fat, which provided numerous factors necessary for the full expression of our genetic potential and optimum health. Ms. Fallon applied the principles of the Price research to the feeding of her own children, and proved for herself that a diet rich in animal fats, and containing the protective factors in old fashioned foodstuffs like cod liver oil, liver and eggs, make for sturdy, cheerful children with a high immunity to illness.

When the youngest of her four children became old enough to attend school full- time, Ms. Fallon applied her writing skills and training in French and Mediterranean cooking to the subject of nutrition and began work on a comprehensive cookbook, combining accurate information on nutrition with delicious, practical recipes. She teamed with Mary Enig, Ph.D., a world renowned expert in the subject of lipids and human nutrition. Now in its second edition, Nourishing Traditions has stimulated the public health and medical communities to take a new look at the importance of traditional foods and preparation techniques, and to reexamine the many myths about saturated fats and cholesterol. The book places special emphasis on the feeding of babies and children to ensure optimal development during their crucial growing years.

Ms. Fallon and her colleague Dr. Enig are frequent contributors to holistic health publications. Their work is widely respected for providing accurate and understandable explanations of complicated subjects in the field of nutrition and health. Several articles on the dangers of modern soy products have generated intense controversy in the health food industry.

Ms. Fallon is a founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and editor of the Foundation’s quarterly magazine, as well as the founder of A Campaign for Real Milk. She is also president and owner of New Trends Publishing, serving as editor and publisher of The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD; The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid, ND; The Yoga of Eating by Charles Eisenstein; The Fourfold Path to Healing by Thomas Cowan, MD; and The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD.

Ms. Fallon’s new book, Eat Fat Lose Fat (Penguin, Hudson Street Press), co-authored with Dr. Mary Enig, was published in December 2004.

Ms. Fallon received a Bachelors Degree in English with honors from Stanford University and a Masters Degree in English with high honors from UCLA. She has served as president of her local citizens group and is actively involved in community landscaping projects. She speaks French and Spanish. Her interests include music, gardening and of course, cooking. She lives in Washington, DC where her children, now grown, enjoy coming home from time to time for a good meal.

Dr. John D. Turner, DC, CCSP, DIBCN:

Dr. John D. Turner, DC, CCSP, DIBCN has been in private practice for over 20 years, treating professional instrumentalists, singers, athletes, dancers and the general public. He is a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician and also a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist. While earning a Bachelors Degree at Indiana University, he competed as a national qualifying gymnast. Drawing on this experience, he has treated national and international athletes at a variety of venues. Most notably, he was on the medical staff at the World Gymnastics Championships and the United States and Big Ten Track and Field Championships. He has also lectured at the National Athletic Trainers Association Annual Conference and was the Nutrition Consultant for the Chicago Sting Professional Soccer Team.

John Turner Bio Photo

Dr. Turner has been a resident of Bartlett, Ill. for 19 years with his wife and two children. His office is located in Glendale Heights. He enjoys working with student athletes and volunteers his time in the training room at Bartlett High School.

The focus of Dr. Turner’s practice has been to find the underlying cause of his patients’ health issues. He has found that interactions between the body’s many systems are extremely complex and that where a person feels pain is not always the point of origin of the problem. By integrating techniques taught at various seminars with his independent research on nutrition, Dr. Turner has been able to help his patients regain their health. His belief is that health is more than merely the absence of symptoms, but is the optimal balance of the physical, biochemical and energetic aspects of our bodies.