Faculty Biographies
Click any of the links below to access faculty biographies.
Music Director – Tobias Werner
Senior Composer-in-Residence – Donald Crockett, Sean Friar
Violin – Laura Colgate, Mayuki Fukuhara, Amy Galluzzo, Shem Guibbory, Muneko Otani, Sheila Reinhold, Andrea Schultz, Sam Weiser, Masako Yanagita
Viola – Mark Berger, En-Chi Cheng, Korine Fujiwara, Gregory Luce, Kate Vincent
Cello – Claire Bryant, Michael Finckel, Jan Müller-Szeraws, Ariana Nelson, Carol Ou, Nathaniel Parke
Double Bass – Jessica Powell Eig
Flute – Giorgio Consolati, Conor Nelson
Oboe – Stephen Key, Jacqueline Leclair
Clarinet – Michael Dumouchel, Jo-Ann Sternberg, Pavel Vinnitsky, Garrick Zoeter
Piano – Audrey Andrist, Phillip Bush, Catalin Dima, James Goldsworthy, Genevieve Feiwen Lee, Kent McWilliams, Ardita Statovci, Anna Vinnitsky
Music Director
TOBIAS WERNER
Tobias Werner has been Music Director of the Chamber Music Conference since 2015. He was the cellist in residence and co-artistic director at Garth Newel Music Center from 1999 until 2012. He is the artistic director of Pressenda Chamber Players, teaches at Georgetown University, and is an Arts for the Aging teaching artist. He has performed at the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, Villa Musica Mainz, the San Diego Chamber Music Workshop, the Vail Valley Bravo! Colorado Music Festival, the Maui Classical Music Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Strathmore Hall, the Phillips Collection, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the New York Society for Ethical Culture, and Bargemusic.
Tobias has appeared as soloist with orchestras in the US, France, Germany, and Romania, and recent performances have included the concertos of Dvořák, Elgar, Haydn, and Boccherini. He has recorded on the ECM, Darbringhaus & Grimm, Bayer Records, and Orfeo labels. Recent CD releases include Piano Quartets by Mozart, Brahms, Dvořák, and Martinů with the Garth Newel Piano Quartet, the Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by J.S. Bach, and the Sonatas for Piano and Cello by Beethoven with Victor Asuncion.
Tobias studied at the Musikhochschule Freiburg in Germany and at Boston University. His teachers have included Andrés Díaz, Christoph Henkel, and Xavier Gagnepain. He plays on an 1844 J.F. Pressenda cello.
Website: www.tobiaswernercello.com
Senior Composer-in-Residence
DONALD CROCKETT
Born in Pasadena, California, Donald Crockett is dedicated to composing music inspired by the musicians who perform it. He has received commissions from a great variety of artists and ensembles including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Composer-in-Residence 1991–97), Kronos Quartet, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Aspen Music Festival, Hilliard Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Caramoor Festival, the San Francisco-based chamber choir, Volti, Charlotte Symphony, Music from Angel Fire, the Chamber Music Conference (Senior Composer-in-Residence 2002- present), and the Guitar Foundation of America, among many others.
Featured projects include commissions from the Dilijan Chamber Music Series and the Caramoor Festival for new string quartets, New Music USA for SAKURA cello quintet, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival and Oberlin Conservatory for And the River, a concerto for duo pianists and chamber orchestra, Aspen and Oberlin for his Violin Concerto, the Harvard Musical Association for violist Kate Vincent and Firebird Ensemble, the Claremont Trio, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and JFNMC for his Viola Concerto, a chamber opera, The Face, based on a novella in verse by poet David St. John, and a consortium commission from twenty-two college and university wind ensembles for his Dance Concerto for Clarinet/Bass Clarinet and Wind Ensemble. His music has also been widely performed by ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, eighth blackbird, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Collage, Xtet and the Arditti Quartet, at the Tanglewood, Aspen, Bennington and Piccolo Spoleto festivals, and by artists including violinists Ida Kavafian and Michelle Makarski, violist Kate Vincent, soprano Jane Sheldon, mezzo sopranos Janna Baty and Janice Felty, tenor Daniel Norman, baritone Thomas Meglioranza, oboist Allan Vogel, pianist Vicki Ray, and conductors Gil Rose, Jorge Mester, JoAnn Falletta, Hugh Wolff, Sergiu Comissiona, Jeffrey Kahane, H. Robert Reynolds and Christof Perick.
The recipient in 2013 of an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for outstanding artistic achievement, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2006, Donald Crockett has also received the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a commission from the Barlow Endowment, an Artist Fellowship from the California Arts Council, an Aaron Copland Award and the first Sylvia Goldstein Award from Copland House, a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award, as well as grants and awards from BMI, the Bogliasco Foundation (Aaron Copland Fellowship, 2007), Composers Inc., Copland Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and New Music USA (Commissioning Music/USA, 1997). His music is published by Keiser Classical and Doberman/Yppan, and recorded on the Albany, BMOP/Sound, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM, Innova, Laurel, New World, Orion and Pro Arte/Fanfare labels.
Also active as a conductor of new music, Donald Crockett has presented many world, national and regional premieres with the Los Angeles-based new music ensemble Xtet, Thornton Edge new music ensemble, and as a guest conductor with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Hilliard Ensemble, California EAR Unit, Firebird Ensemble, Ensemble X, Jacaranda and the USC Thornton Symphony, with whom he has premiered over 150 new orchestral works by USC Thornton student composers. He has also been very active over the years as a composer and conductor with the venerable and famed Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, and most recently the Jacaranda concert series in Santa Monica. His recordings as a conductor can be found on the Albany, CRI, Doberman/Yppan, ECM and New World labels.
After composition studies with American composers Robert Linn, Halsey Stevens and Edward Applebaum, and British composers Peter Racine Fricker and Humphrey Searle at the University of Southern California (BM Magna cum Laude 1974, MM 1976) and UC Santa Barbara (PhD 1981), he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in 1981. He is currently Professor and Chair of the Composition Program and Director of Thornton Edge new music ensemble at Thornton, and Senior Composer-in-Residence with the Chamber Music Conference (at Colgate University, formerly at Bennington College).
Website: www.donaldcrockett.com
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Violin Faculty
LAURA COLGATE
Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “remarkably poised...sensitive and majestic,” violinist Laura Colgate enjoys a versatile career as a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist, educator, curator, activist, and innovator. Having performed worldwide across Europe, Asia, and North America, she has performed on stages including the Barbican Centre, Kennedy Center, and multiple appearances at Carnegie Hall.
Laura currently lives in Takoma Park, MD and is concertmaster of the National Philharmonic in Bethesda, MD. She was formerly the concertmaster of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina and the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs as a substitute with several major orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the IRIS Collective in her hometown, Memphis, TN. She is also the curator of the Strathmore Music in the Mansion series, National Philharmonic Chamber Music Series, and formerly for the Chamber Music Series at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. Laura has formerly taught Financial Entrepreneurship for Arts Leaders as well as been adjunct Violin Professor at the University of Maryland.
She completed her doctorate at the University of Maryland School of Music, focusing her thesis on women composers. In March 2018 she cofounded the Boulanger Initiative, an advocacy organization for women composers based in Washington, D.C., for which she holds the position of Executive and Artistic Director. The Initiative champions the works of women composers through consulting, performance, education, and commissions, and launched the Boulanger Initiative Database of Repertoire by Women and Gender Marginalized Composers, the largest of its kind, in March 2023.
As founder and previous first violinist of Excelsa Quartet, Laura studied at the Conservatory in Luzern, Switzerland, and in the Professional Quartet Training Program with the Alban Berg Quartet in Cologne, Germany. The Quartet held the Fellowship Quartet Residency at UMD from 2013-2016, and were First Prize winners at the Charles Hennen 26th International Chamber Music Competition for Strings in The Netherlands. The quartet worked closely with members of the Guarneri, Pavel Haas, Mosaiques, Emerson, St. Lawrence, and Juilliard quartets. They also held multiple performances at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, performing on various instruments within the Smithsonian Instrument Collection. In 2015, the quartet commissioned and gave the world premiere of John Heiss's Microcosms.
As a passionate educator of solo and chamber music, Laura has given masterclasses throughout the US and Europe, and maintains a small studio of private students in the DC area.
Website: www.lauracolgateviolin.com/
MAYUKI FUKUHARA
Mayuki Fukuhara began his musical studies at age seven, and, by age twelve, he had won the International Music Festival Grand Prix. He came to the United States as a scholarship student at the Curtis Institute of Music, and later did post-graduate work at Mannes College of Music, studying under Ivan Galamian, Jaime Laredo, and Felix Galimir.
He performs with several of the New York metropolitan area's most prestigious chamber orchestras (Orpheus, Orchestra of St. Luke's, where he is a principal player, and others) and is a participating artist in such festivals as Marlboro, Caramoor, and the New England Bach Festival.
Mr. Fukuhara spends his summers performing with the Saito Kinen Festival of Japan under the direction of Seiji Ozawa. His recordings are available on the Musical Heritage Society, Music Masters, and other labels.
AMY GALLUZZO
Praised for her nuanced Mozartian phrasing
and her delicacy and, when needed, force
(Boston Musical Intelligencer), Amy Galluzzo enjoys an active career as both a chamber musician and soloist. For many years, Amy was a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, touring around the United States and internationally, performing a wide range of repertoire. Amy has performed at several prestigious summer festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, Taos, and Sarasota Music Festival, and has collaborated with artists such as Masuko Ushioda, Carol Rodland, James Buswell and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. More unusual collaborations include Yihan Chen, pipa, Scott McConnell, steel pan, and Dariush Saghafi, santoor.
Recent highlights include Amy's 2017 Carnegie Hall debut with Carpe Diem String Quartet and the release of four recordings with the quartet: The Art of Calligraphy (Albany Records), featuring the music of one of NPR's 10 Favorites, Iranian-born Reza Vali, Volumes 4 and 5 of the complete String Quartets of Sergei Taneyev (Naxos Records), and Music for Mandolin and String Quartet by Jeff Midkiff. Current recording projects include the complete string quartets of D.C.-based composer Jonathan Leshnoff and the latest quartets by Reza Vali. Amy has performed many world premieres by composers such as David Stock, Reza Vali, Derrick Jordan, Jeff Nytch, Jeff Midkiff and Jonathan Leshnoff.
A finalist in the Naftzger Competition and the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, and recipient of the Jules C. Reiner Prize for violin, Amy has been heard in recital and concert across Europe and America and has served as concertmaster under the batons of conductors such as Kurt Masur, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, and Christoph von Dohnányi.
Amy Galluzzo began her violin studies in Great Britain and went on to study with Dona Lee Croft, a professor at the Royal College of Music, London. Amy received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music with Honors and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Marylou Speaker Churchill and James Buswell. She has studied with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Shanghai, American and Concord Quartets.
Amy maintains a private violin studio in Boston, and teaches through the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and Continuing Education department. She has given masterclasses and workshops at Florida State University, Palm Beach University, University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon University, Eastern Arizona College and numerous music programs for students of all ages and has taught at the Chamber Music Conference since 2015.
SHEM GUIBBORY
Shem Guibbory has achieved recognition as an award-winning violin soloist, as a chamber musician, and as a music director and artistic producer.
His recording Voice of the People – comprising two works of Gabriela Frank and the Shostakovich Violin Sonata – was released worldwide in June 2010 and has received great reviews. This CD is the first element of a series exploring linked relationships among multiple arts. The series also includes mini-documentary films and theatrical works.
Currently he is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. From 1997 to 2006 he was Music Director of the Chamber Music Conference, winning two ASCAP/CMA Awards for Adventurous Programming (2001, 2002) in conjunction with Senior Composers-in-Residence Chen Yi and Donald Crockett. Mr. Guibbory was codirector of Special Projects for the Cal Arts Alumni Association (2006-2010), and serves on the Board of Directors of the Recording Musicians Association, NY Chapter (2011-present).
He is a coauthor of a groundbreaking music and theater work in collaboration with director Margaret Booker and writer Robert Schenkkan entitled A Night at the Alhambra Café, with its world premiere planned to take place at The Krannert Center, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.
His recordings can be found on the ECM, Gramavision, Opus 1, DG, Bridge, CRI, New World, ALBANY and MSRCD labels. He is a featured artist in The Classical Hour at Steinway Hall
, a joint production of NHK TV (Japan) and D'Alessio Media (USA). He has received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship (Bellagio) in 2002, a fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (2003), and a fellowship at the Centre por Ars y Natura (Spain, 2004).
As a soloist, his interpretations of 20th Century music have received international acclaim. He was the original violinist in Steve Reich and Musicians, and his recording of Reich's Violin Phase
(ECM) is now a classic of American avant-garde music. With Anthony Davis he recorded four albums, as well as Maps
, a violin concerto cocommissioned with the Kansas City Symphony (Gramavision). Mr. Guibbory has had close associations with other composers such as Ornette Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, Jeffrey Levine, Earl Howard, and Gerry Hemingway. He has premiered over 60 compositions with more than 30 works written expressly for him.
He has appeared as soloist with the N.Y. Philharmonic, the Beethoven Halle Orchestra (Bonn), the Kansas City Symphony, and the Symphony of the New World. He has served as concertmaster with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and many NYC freelance orchestras, and has performed recitals and chamber music throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
From 1981-1985 he was codirector (with choreographer Joan Lombardi) of NovEnsemble, a company dedicated to performance of live music and dance. Mr. Guibbory has also collaborated with the Belgian choreographer Anne-Theresa de Keersmaker.
A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, Mr. Guibbory studied violin with Broadus Erle, Romuald Tecco, Evelyn Read and Sophie Feuermann.
Websites: shemguibbory.com
innovativemusicprograms.com/
MUNEKO OTANI
Violinist Muneko Otani serves on the faculties of Columbia University and Williams College and is assistant to Lewis Kaplan at the Mannes College of Music. She has also taught at the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg.
As the first violinist of the Cassatt String Quartet since 1986, she has appeared in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as in Europe and Asia. Major venues have included Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Bastille Opera House.
As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with Walter Trampler, Martin Lovett, Marc Johnson, Paul Katz, Kazuhide Isomura, Ursula Oppens, Masuko Ushioda, Colin Carr, and Lawrence Lesser.
Ms. Otani has held fellowships at the Banff Centre, the Tanglewood Music Center, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival; and at Yale University, as assistant to the Tokyo Quartet.
She has served as a panelist for the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the 2019 Postacchini International Violin competition, the Barlow Prize for composition, and Chamber Music America’s Residency Program.
Ms. Otani received a Bachelor of Music degree in both Performance and Education from the Toho Academy of Music in Japan, where she studied with Toshiya Eto. She continued her training at the New England Conservatory, where her principal teachers were Masuko Ushioda and Louis Krasner.
Ms. Otani plays a 1770 J. B. Guadagnini of Parma violin.
SHEILA REINHOLD
Sheila Reinhold gave her first performance as soloist with orchestra at the age of nine in the Kaufmann Concert Hall of New York's 92nd Street Y. At fourteen, she was invited by Jascha Heifetz to join his master class at the University of Southern California, where she studied with him for five years. She received her B.Mus. from USC and studied theory and analysis with Leon Kirchner and Earl Kim at Harvard University.
Ms. Reinhold's engagements have included solo appearances with conductors such as Zubin Mehta and André Kostelanetz, chamber music with Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky, and performances both as soloist and as chamber musician at festivals such as Chautauqua, Ives, and Mohawk Trail. She has premiered solo and chamber works for both violin and viola, worked on major films and Broadway productions, and appeared with popular artists such as Tony Bennett.
Ms. Reinhold can be heard as a chamber musician on the North/South and Albany labels, and is featured on a newly released CD of the music of Victoria Bond. Her teaching positions have included Resident Musician at Harvard and head of the string faculty at the Children's Orchestra Society, and she has been a member of the Chamber Music Conference faculty since 2000.
Ms. Reinhold is the founder and music director of Intimate Voices, which has been presenting chamber music concerts and community outreach events in New York since 2009.
ANDREA SCHULTZ
Violinist Andrea Schultz enjoys an active and versatile musical life as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. She currently performs and tours with a wide array of groups, including the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the New York Chamber Ensemble, and Musica Sacra. A devotee of contemporary music, Schultz is also a member of the contemporary chamber ensemble Sequitur and has been involved in the premieres of more than a hundred works with groups that include Either/Or, Cygnus, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Locrian Chamber Players, Eberli Ensemble, the New York Composers Circle, the League of Composers, the Cabrini Quartet, and others. She has recorded contemporary chamber music for the Naxos, Albany, New World, and Phoenix labels. She was a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group Music Ensemble for many years, touring the US, Britain, Japan, and Australia; and has performed as guest with the Cassatt String Quartet, Perspectives Ensemble, Avery Ensemble, Apple Hill Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Mostly Mozart.
Schultz spends summers performing and teaching at the Kinhaven Music School, the Wintergreen Music Festival and Academy, and the Chamber Music Conference. She and her husband, cellist Michael Finckel, also curate a summer chamber-music series in a historic carriage barn in North Bennington, VT. A graduate of Yale University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, Schultz studied violin with Betty-Jean Hagen, Sydney Harth, Paul Kantor, Donald Weilerstein, and Joyce Robbins. She plays on a violin made in 1997 by Stefan-Peter Greiner.
SAM WEISER
Sam Weiser, currently the first violinist of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, is a lifelong chamber musician and advocate of contemporary music. He holds a number of positions around the Bay Area, including assistant concertmaster of the California Symphony, member of One Found Sound, and violinist in sfSound. Formerly, he was a member of the award-winning Del Sol Quartet.
Sam has performed all over the country, from the Herbst Theater and the Kennedy Center to a raft floating along the Yampa River. He has premiered over 150 new works by composers such as Vijay Iyer, Huang Ruo, and Chen Yi.
He studied with Ian Swensen, Lucy Chapman, James Buswell, and Patinka Kopec. He holds bachelors’ degrees from Tufts University in computer science and the New England Conservatory in violin, as well as a master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in chamber music.
Outside of the violin, Sam loves cooking, a long bike ride, or a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
Website: www.samweiser.me/
MASAKO YANAGITA
Masako Yanagita, winner of top honors in international competitions, has concertized around the world. At present, she is the concertmaster of Springfield Symphony in Massachusetts as well as Queens Symphony in New York. She is also active as a chamber musician, a teacher and coach. As a chamber music coach, she is a faculty member at the Chamber Music Conference (at Colgate University), Greenwood Music Camp and Princeton Play Week.
Masako began her violin studies in Japan at an early age and came to the United States to study with William Kroll at Mannes College of Music. She has recorded many chamber music and solo works including the entire Schubert repertoire for violin/viola and piano with her late husband, pianist Abba Bogin. She resides in both New York City and Charlemont, MA.
Viola Faculty
MARK BERGER
Violist and composer Mark Berger has toured throughout the United States and internationally as a member of the Lydian String Quartet, performing the acknowledged masterpieces of the classical, romantic, and modern eras as well as premiering remarkable compositions written by today's cutting-edge composers. In addition to his work with the quartet, Berger frequently performs with many of Boston’s finest orchestras and chamber ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Emmanuel Music, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Worcester Chamber Music Society, and Music at Eden’s Edge. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, and Radius Ensemble, and has performed at summer music festivals including Tanglewood, the Newport Music Festival, and Kneisel Hall. Strongly devoted to the performance of new music, Berger has performed with many of Boston’s new music ensembles including Sound Icon, Dinosaur Annex, Ludovico Ensemble, and ALEA III. He has recorded solo and chamber works for Albany, Bridge and Innova records.
A dedicated educator, Berger is Associate Professor of the Practice at Brandeis University, where he teaches viola, chamber music, music theory and analysis. In addition to his teaching at Brandeis, he frequently teaches analysis and orchestration courses for Boston University and has taught at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, where he coached chamber music and taught some of the most talented high school students in the country.
EN-CHI CHENG
Taiwanese violist En-Chi Cheng’s recent performance highlights include a solo appearance with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra playing the Walton Concerto. He also performed as part of the 30th-anniversary celebration concert series of the Taiwan National Concert Hall and chamber concert tours led by Nobuko Imai. He has been heard in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Opera House, and Dresdner Philharmonie. He garnered the Balmoral Prize and the Josef Weinberger Publisher Prize in the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.
He was a semifinalist in the ARD International Music Competition and Tokyo International Viola Competition. He received the Chi-Mei Arts Award from the Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation. He has held the principal viola chair of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Moritzburg Academy Chamber Orchestra, among others. As a chamber musician, he has performed with renowned artists such as Nobuko Imai, Ilya Kaler, Joseph Lin, Meng-Chieh Liu, and Peter Wiley. He has participated in Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and the Taos School of Music.
Mr. Cheng completed a master’s degree at The Juilliard School, studied with Samuel Rhodes, and received the Kovner Fellowship. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music under the study of Joseph de Pasquale and Hsin-Yun Huang.
KORINE FUJIWARA
Montana native Korine Fujiwara is a founding member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, a devoted and sought-after chamber musician and teacher, and a gifted composer and arranger.
Ms. Fujiwara is Professor of violin and viola at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington. She served for many years on the music faculty of Ohio Wesleyan University and is in great demand for master classes and clinics throughout the United States. Korine’s students have been accepted into the performance programs of such institutions as Indiana University, Cincinnati College Conservatory, and Northwestern University to continue their musical studies.
Named as one of Strings Magazine’s “25 Contemporary Composers to Watch,” Korine has received multiple commissions including works for opera, chamber ensembles, chorus, concerti, and music for modern dance. Her works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, China, and Japan. Her musical language encompasses a wide range of influences, including classical, folk, jazz, and rock and roll. Her diverse artistic collaborations have helped to infuse her work with a rhythmic power and intensity.
Critics have remarked of Ms. Fujiwara's music, “The ear is forever tickled by beautifully judged music that manages to be sophisticated and accessible at the same time,” “Contains a very rare attribute in contemporary classical music: happiness.” (Fanfare Magazine); “She knows how to exploit all the resources of string instruments alone and together; her quartet writing is very democratic, with solos for everyone; her solo violin writing is fiendishly difficult.” (Strings Magazine). “Fujiwara beautifully meets the challenge of weaving together different emotions across generations that make sense musically while delighting the ear.” (WOSU Classical 101 by Request) “Fujiwara’s music is rich and beguiling throughout.” (The Columbus Dispatch) “Artfully layered and knitted together…While each “room” has its own musical personality, the poignant sections in which characters in different periods actually sing together—a trio, a sextet, and even an octet—dovetail perfectly. The dramatic arc builds persuasively to the climactic moments, shifting with increasing speed between scenes to the culminating revelation.” (The Wall Street Journal)
Korine is a recipient of an Opera America Commissioning Grant from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, for the composition of “The Flood,” an award-winning opera with Stephen Wadsworth, librettist, premiered by Opera Columbus and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in February 2019.
Ms. Fujiwara is a gifted performer on both the violin and viola, and holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Northwestern University, where she studied with Joseph Fuchs and Myron Kartman, respectively. Her other mentors include Harvey Shapiro, Robert Mann, and Joel Krosnik. Ms. Fujiwara is a member of the music honorary society Pi Kappa Lambda.
Korine began her orchestral career with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and served as a principal player and soloist with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus. She is also a former member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, where she held the position of Acting Assistant Principal Second Violin.
Korine performs on a 1790 Contreras violin, 2004 Kurt Widenhouse viola, and bows by three of today’s finest makers, Paul Martin Siefried, Ole Kanestrom and Charles Espey, all of Port Townsend, WA, USA.
Website: korinefujiwara.com/
GREGORY LUCE
Honored by the Washington Post as an appealing, natural player
, Mr. Luce has performed as violist and violinist in various ensembles with interdisciplinary performances involving modern dance, opera, musical theater, on-screen television work, and orchestra, but he has primarily spent his musical life exploring the world of chamber music.
Mr. Luce’s ten years in the multi-award-winning, internationally performing Aeolus Quartet instilled in him a profound appreciation for the deep well of collaborative principles required to perform professionally as a chamber musician. Following a performance in Trondheim, the Aeolus Quartet received praise from Strad Magazine with Mr. Luce receiving particular note as being especially enjoyable
.
He aims to apply these collaborative principles to the highest degree in all musical endeavors, and does so as a quick study. Following a substitution at one hour’s notice for an ill colleague, the New York Times review reported given that Mr. Luce had only a few minutes before show time to rehearse with the other players, [the performance] was admirably tight, and genuinely intense.
He enjoys an ongoing working relationship with many excellent organizations and legendary personalities, such as the Mark Morris Dance Group, Conspirare Symphonic Choir, the American String Quartet, Boston-based chamber orchestra A Far Cry, the eclectic Ensemble MidtVest from Denmark, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. From January of 2018, Greg performed in the first national tour of Hamilton: An American Musical on both violin and viola, until the tour concluded in June of 2023.
Greg plays on a viola made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz for celebrated violist Walter Trampler in 1991, the instrument on which Trampler performed and recorded during the final six years of his life, and on a beautiful bow made by John Dodd. The viola bears on the ribs a Latin inscription which translates, it is not the age of a man that makes him, but his virtues.
"
Greg’s hobbies and interests include cooking, home-brewing beer, information security, and video games. He has volunteered at Animal Care Centers of New York, and at the Nomi Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending the slavish exploitation of women and girls worldwide.
KATE VINCENT
Violist Kate Vincent is originally from Perth, Western Australia. Her solo playing was recently described as having vivid color and palpable verve
(Fanfare Magazine). Currently a resident of Los Angeles, in 2010 Ms. Vincent moved to the West Coast from Boston where she continues to maintain a presence as Artistic Director/Violist of the Firebird Ensemble, in addition to performing with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Ms. Vincent has served as Principal Violist with numerous East Coast ensembles including Opera Boston (2003-2011), Emmanuel Music, Opera Aperta, and Opera Unlimited.
As a chamber musician Ms. Vincent has appeared with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, Alea 3, Chameleon Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Dinosaur Annex, the Fromm Foundation players at Harvard, Quartet X, Winsor Music, the Aurea Ensemble and on Emmanuel Music's Chamber Series. In Los Angeles she performs regularly with the Los Angeles Opera and has been a guest artist with the Eclipse Quartet, on the Dilijan Chamber Music Series, with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and on the Monday Evening Concert Series.
Over the past two decades, Ms. Vincent has toured extensively throughout Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Russia and the United States, and between 1999-2003 she was also violist of the Arden String Quartet. In the summers Ms. Vincent is a faculty member at the Chamber Music Conference and is a regular guest artist at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. She has premiered chamber and solo works by Luciano Berio, Lisa Bielawa, Donald Crockett, John Harbison, Lee Hyla, John McDonald, Joseph Maneri, Eric Moe, Eric Guinivan, and Nicholas Vines, and she has recorded for labels such as New World Records, BMOP sound, Tzadik, Oxingale, and Steeplechase.
Between 2006-2012, Ms. Vincent was a member of the faculty at Longy School of Music as co-director of the new music ensemble Longitude. She holds two Masters Degrees from New England Conservatory of Music (Viola Performance and Music Education), where she studied with James Dunham of the Cleveland String Quartet.
Cello Faculty
CLAIRE BRYANT
New York City-based cellist Claire Bryant enjoys an active and diverse career as a leading performer of chamber music, contemporary music, and the solo cello repertoire in premiere venues such as Carnegie Hall, Southbank Centre, Suntory Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Barbican Centre. Ms. Bryant is a founding member of the acclaimed chamber music collective, Decoda—an Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, and is the Principal Cellist of Trinity Wall Street's chamber orchestra, Novus NY. Ms. Bryant has collaborated closely with artists such as Daniel Hope, Anthony Marwood, Emanuel Ax, Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, and the Weilerstein Trio, Saint Lawrence String Quartet, and Danish String Quartet. Ms. Bryant is a frequent guest artist with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Band, and Ensemble ACJW, of which she is an alumna.
Ms. Bryant has appeared as a soloist with orchestras from South Carolina to California, and Honduras to Finland, performing concertos of Haydn, Elgar, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saens and Vivaldi, among others. Recent festival appearances include the Barbican Weekender Festival (UK), Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (DE), Danish String Quartet Musikfest (DK), Carnegie Kids at Suntory Hall (JA), Mainly Mozart Festival, Portland Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Conference Chamber Music Conference (at Colgate University, formerly at Bennington College), Lincoln Center Festival, and Carnegie Hall's Making Music Series (USA).
Ms. Bryant is equally engaged as an educator and advocate for inclusive arts in our society. Her international body of work in these areas was recognized in 2010 with The Robert Sherman Award for outstanding innovation in community outreach and music education by the McGraw Hill Companies. In 2009, Ms. Bryant founded a community residency project through chamber music in her native South Carolina called “Claire Bryant and Friends.” This endeavor brings world-class artists to communities for weeklong residencies which go beyond the concert hall—bringing engaging pedagogy and performances into the public schools, advocacy forums supporting arts education, and community concerts and creative projects in diverse and innovative venues including hospitals, homeless shelters, and correctional facilities.
She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her primary teachers were Bonnie Hampton and Joel Krosnick. She was in the pilot class of The Academy—A Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and Weill Music Institute and served as an Assistant Faculty for Professor Bonnie Hampton at The Juilliard School from 2007-2012.
Website: clairebryant.com
MICHAEL FINCKEL
Michael Finckel has enjoyed a wide-ranging career as cellist, composer, teacher, and conductor. A founding member of the Trio of the Americas and the Cabrini Quartet, he has performed as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. He also performs regularly with members of his family in the renowned Finckel Cello Quartet.
Finckel's passion for contemporary music has involved him in performances with many of New York's leading new-music groups including Steve Reich and Musicians, Speculum Musicae, Ensemble Sospeso, Columbia Symphonietta, Group for Contemporary Music, SEM Ensemble, and the American Composers Orchestra, as well as performances with members of the New York Philharmonic under the directions of Pierre Boulez and Leonard Bernstein. From 1984 to 1995 he held the Gheris Chair as principal cellist of the Bethlehem Bach Choir Orchestra and earlier served as principal cellist of the Vermont State Symphony, touring the state with Dvorak's Cello Concerto and on several occasions conducting his own concerto for cello and orchestra with his brother, Chris Finckel, as soloist. He has also been a past member of the North Carolina and Puerto Rico Symphonies, the National Ballet Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. Finckel has recorded for the Dorian, Opus One, New World, Albany, CRI, Vanguard, Vox/Candide, and ECM/Warner Bros. labels.
Since 1992, Finckel has been Music Director of the Sage City Symphony in Bennington, Vermont. Along with its annual commissioning program, he has fostered a unique pilot program for young composers, annually premiering orchestral works by area High School and College students.
Finckel performs and coaches each summer at the Kinhaven Adult Chamber Music Workshop in Weston, Vermont, the Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center in Wellesley, Massachusetts, the Chamber Music Conference (at Colgate University, formerly at Bennington College), and at the Wintergreen Festival in Virginia. He and his wife, violinist Andrea Schultz, co-direct the Park-McCullough House Carriage Barn Summer Concert Series in North Bennington, Vermont. Having taught at Cornell and Princeton Universities, Bennington College, and The Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts, Finckel is currently on the faculties of the Mannes School and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, New York.
JAN MÜLLER-SZERAWS
Cellist and Artist-in-Residence at the College of the Holy Cross Jan Müller-Szeraws has an active career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Solo performances have included engagements with the New England Philharmonic, Concord Orchestra, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción, Orquesta de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile and Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile with repertoire ranging from concertos from the traditional repertoire such as Haydn, Dvorak, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Bloch, Shostakovich to contemporary composers Chou Wen Chung, Gunther Schuller, Shirish Korda, Bernard Hoffer and John Harbison.
Projects have included the release of "Anusvara", a disc with music by Shirish Korde for cello, tabla and carnatic soprano, the premiere and recording of "Suite for Solo Cello" by Thomas Oboe Lee as well as a disc with sonatas by Brahms and Chopin with pianist Adam Golka for Hammond Performing Arts. Most recently he has been pairing the Bach Cello Suites with works by Shirish Korde in his project Bach & Ragas
.
He is a member of contemporary music ensemble Boston Musica Viva and Boston/Andover based ensemble Mistral. Also on the faculty at Phillips Academy Andover, he is a frequent guest artist at many festivals and is founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Holy Cross, an intensive summer program for talented high-school and college students.
Müller-Szeraws studied at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and holds degrees from Boston University. He plays a cello by David Tecchler, on loan from the Saul and Naomi Cohen Foundation.
Website: www.jan-mueller-szeraws.com
ARIANA NELSON
Biography to be supplied.
Website: www.ariananelson.com
CAROL OU
A versatile artist, cellist Carol Ou is known for her fiery, marvelous
and meltingly melodic outpourings
(Boston Globe) and her wonderfully pure cello tone and incisive technique
(The Strad Magazine). As a soloist and a former member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet, Ms. Ou's exuberant performances have taken her to prestigious concert venues across the globe including Carnegie Weill Hall, Jordan Hall, National Gallery of Art, Gardner Museum, National Concert Hall in Kiev, and the National Concert Hall of Taipei.
At ease with the diverse musical styles of the last five centuries, Ms. Ou's creative programming is often a mélange of traditional European masterworks with more eclectic ones. She has recorded three of the most beloved cello concerti by Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Elgar and premiered several new compositions written for her. She gave the first performance of Hsiao Tyzen's Cello Concerto in Taipei and collaborated with Hsiao on the premiere of a number of solo and chamber music works throughout the US and Singapore. American composers Richard Toensing and Daniel Pinkham have also dedicated works to her. Recent new music performances have featured collaborations with crossover artists on the banjo, accordion, didgeridoo, erhu, pipa, and the Persian santoor.
Carol Ou's discography includes solo and chamber music discs issued by Chi-Mei, Naxos, CRI, and Albany Records. Her three solo and concerti recordings are all produced by the Chi-Mei Label in Taiwan. Among her many recordings with the Carpe Diem String Quartet are Volumes 4 and 5 of Sergei Taneyev's String Quartets on Naxos and The Book of Calligraphy—the solo cello and string quartet works by Reza Vali—released by Albany Records. Her recording of Walter Piston's Chamber Music won the 2001 Chamber Music America's Best Chamber Music CD award.
A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Ou received her BA magna cum laude from Yale College and her MM, MMA, and DMA in music performance from the Yale School of Music. A much sought after teacher, Ms. Ou serves on the artist cello faculty of New York University's Steinhardt School of Music and teaches preparatory cello students as well as college chamber music students at New England Conservatory of Music. Since 2015, as the assistant chair of the string department at the conservatory's School of Continuing Education, she also cultivates a music-loving adult community. In addition to her regular teaching duties, Ms. Ou travels internationally to teach cello and chamber music master classes, most recently in Hong Kong, Turkey, and Italy.
NATHANIEL PARKE
Nathaniel Parke is a member of the Bennington String Quartet and is principal cello of the Berkshire Symphony and co-principal cello of the Berkshire Opera Orchestra. He has also been a member of the Boston Composers String Quartet with whom he can be heard performing new works by Boston composers on the MMC label.
He is currently artist associate in cello at Williams College, instructor of cello at Bennington College and at Skidmore College, and part-time lecturer at SUNY Albany, in addition to maintaining a studio of private students. He has served as a faculty member and chamber music coach at the Longy School of Music and is currently on the faculty of the Chamber Music Conference.
As a soloist, he has been heard with the Wellesley, Berkshire and Sage City Symphonies. His free-lance work in the Albany, N.Y. and Boston areas ranges from period instrument performances to premieres of new works. He can be heard on Albany records performing solo cello music by Ileana Perez-Velasquez.
He received his training at the Longy School of Music studying with George Neikrug, and in London with William Pleeth. He holds an MFA from Bennington College where he studied with Maxine Neuman. Mr. Parke performs on an instrument made in 1721 by C.G. Testore.
Double Bass Faculty
JESSICA POWELL EIG
Praised for her natural expressiveness
(Montpelier Times Argus), Jessica Powell Eig has crafted a dynamic and varied career performing on double bass, violone, and viola da gamba. She is a core member of the Washington Bach Consort and, in recent seasons, has also appeared with American Bach Soloists, Seraphic Fire, The Thirteen, Inscape Chamber Orchestra, Opera Lafayette, Washington National Cathedral Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, National Philharmonic, Washington Concert Opera, Urban Arias, and as a chamber music collaborator on a wide variety of projects.
In addition to her work as a performer, Jessica is active as a teaching artist and clinician. In 2022, she was appointed to the faculty of George Mason University’s Dewberry School of Music. She joined the faculty of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East in 2018 and has also served on the faculties of the Viola da Gamba Society Conclave and International Society of Bassists Conference. She is a regular guest lecturer in double bass pedagogy at the University of Maryland. From 2013 to 2016, she was the director of the Viola da Gamba Society of America Young Players Workshop, and her writing on classroom outreach has appeared in Early Music America. She maintains an active private studio and has received grants to support her music education projects from Early Music America, the Viola da Gamba Society of America, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
In 2010, Jessica completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in double bass performance at SUNY-Stony Brook, as a student of Joseph Carver and Kurt Muroki, where her research focused on the music of Sofia Gubaidulina. She received her earlier training at CCM, Eastman and Juilliard. Following the completion of her DMA she pursued further private study in historical bass with Rob Nairn. She studied viola da gamba with Christel Thielmann, James Lambert, and Martha McGaughey.
As a committed advocate for the arts, Jessica shares her expertise as a grant-writer and fundraising consultant with many established and emerging arts organizations. From 2013 to 2015, she served on the Executive Committee of the Viola da Gamba Society of America as Membership Secretary, and she currently serves on the board of the Viola da Gamba Society of Greater Washington-Baltimore. Jessica is a member of the American Federation of Musicians (Local 161-710), the International Society of Bassists (ISB), and the Viola da Gamba Society of America.
Flute Faculty
GIORGIO CONSOLATI
Praised for his “lustrous tone” (Musical America), Italian flutist Giorgio Consolati has performed at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, Miami’s New World Center and the Beijing China Conservatory. Highlights of Giorgio’s upcoming projects include a six-US city tour with Musicians from Marlboro, a solo concerto appearance with the York Symphony, and a residency at The Chamber Music Conference at Colgate University during the summer.
As a soloist, Giorgio performed with Alan Gilbert and the Juilliard Orchestra, as well as with the National Repertory Orchestra and the Verdi Conservatory Orchestra. Giorgio is the principal flutist of the York Symphony Orchestra and has previously worked under the batons of John Adams, Gianandrea Noseda, Peter Oundjian and David Robertson.
Passionate about chamber music, Giorgio has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He was also heard with the Juilliard School’s AXIOM and New Juilliard Ensemble, and at the contemporary music festival Milano Musica. Giorgio is a top prizewinner of several competitions including the National Society of Arts and Letters Woodwind Competition, the De Lorenzo International Flute Competition, and the Emanuele Krakamp Flute Competition. In 2019 Giorgio has released Tour De Flute, his debut album. As an educator, Giorgio teaches at the Peabody Institute as the assistant of Marina Piccinini and gave masterclasses for the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, at the Longy Conservatory of Bard College, the Pavia Conservatory in Italy, and the Beijing Central Conservatory.
A native of Milan, Giorgio is the first flutist in the Verdi Conservatory’s history to graduate with top honors and honorable mention. As a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship, Giorgio received both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School studying with Carol Wincenc. Giorgio is continuing his education with a Doctorate of Music degree under the guidance of Marina Piccinini at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he previously earned the prestigious Artist Diploma.
Website: www.giorgioconsolati.eu/
CONOR NELSON
Praised for his long-breathed phrases and luscious tone
by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Canadian flutist Conor Nelson is established as a leading flutist and pedagogue of his generation. Since his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, he has frequently appeared as soloist and recitalist throughout the United States and abroad.
Solo engagements include concerti with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Flint Symphony, and numerous other orchestras. In addition to being the only wind player to win the Grand Prize at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, he won first prize at the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. He also received top prizes at the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, the Haynes International Flute Competition as well as the Fischoff, Coleman, and Yellow Springs chamber music competitions.
With percussionist Ayano Kataoka he performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Hall, and Izumi Hall. A recital at the Tokyo Opera City Hall received numerous broadcasts on NHK Television. Their CD entitled, Breaking Training was released on New Focus Recordings (NYC). His second CD, Nataraja with pianist Thomas Rosenkranz is also available on New Focus. He has collaborated with Claude Frank on the Schneider concert series in NYC and appeared at numerous chamber music festivals across the country including the OK Mozart, Bennington, Skaneateles, Yellow Barn, Cooperstown, Salt Bay, Look and Listen (NYC), Norfolk (Yale), Green Mountain, Chesapeake, and the Chamber Music Quad Cities series
He is the Principal Flutist of the New Orchestra of Washington in Washington, D.C., and has performed with the Detroit, Toledo, and Tulsa Symphony Orchestras. He also performed as guest principal with A Far Cry, Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, and the Conceirtos de la Villa de Santo Domingo.
A respected pedagogue, Dr. Nelson has given masterclasses at over one hundred colleges, universities, and conservatories. Prior to his appointment at UW-Madison, he served as the flute professor at Bowling Green State University for nine years and as the Assistant Professor of Flute at Oklahoma State University from 2007-2011. His recent residencies include Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, the Sichuan Conservatory in Chengdu, China, the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, and the Associação Brasileira de Flautistas in São Paulo. He is also a regular guest of the Texas Summer Flute Symposium and has been the featured guest artist for eleven flute associations across the country.
His former students can be found performing in orchestras, as well as teaching at colleges, universities, and public schools nationwide. They have also amassed over sixty prizes in young artist competitions, concerto competitions, and flute association competitions.
He received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and Stony Brook University where he was the winner of the schoolwide concerto competitions at all three institutions. He is also a recipient of the Thomas Nyfenger Prize, the Samuel Baron Prize, and the Presser Award. His principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Ransom Wilson, Linda Chesis, Susan Hoeppner, and Amy Hamilton. Conor is a Powell Flutes artist and is the Assistant Professor of Flute at UW-Madison where he performs with the Wingra Wind Quintet.
Website: www.conornelson.com
Oboe Faculty
STEPHEN KEY
Stephen Nicholas Key is the adjunct assistant professor of oboe at Shenandoah Conservatory and principal oboist for The New Orchestra of Washington. A native of Oklahoma, he had his first solo appearance at the Kennedy Center at fifteen, and has since performed throughout The United States, Europe, and Russia.
Professionally, Key has played with the National Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Fairfax Symphony, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, Virginia Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio and the New World Symphony. Also, he has recorded with the Centaur Label and Albany Records. He attended the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival and The International Festival-Institute at Round Top where he won the chamber music competition. He serves as faculty and performer for the NOWsummer Festival, and faculty for the Bocal Majority/Operation O.B.O.E. annual double reed camp.
As a soloist, he has performed with the Washington Chamber Orchestra, Washington Master Chorale, University of Texas Symphony Orchestra and Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra as part of the school’s Pulitzer Prize Composer Festival, performing Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Oboe. Recently, he performed the Strauss Oboe Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Jan Wagner about which critics said, “I’ve never seen an oboe played like that… dynamics and phrasing were incredible… truly [bringing] the piece to life!” The New Orchestra of Washington premiered Key’s arrangement of Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin in fall 2018; New York Critic Oberon’s Grove said of Stephen’s playing, “gorgeous performance… terrific, notable solos… rich, warm tone.”
In addition to his university engagements, Key also maintains a private studio based in northern Virginia. His students have successfully placed in the top chairs of the American Youth Philharmonic, Virginia All-State, and summer festival orchestras. His students have been accepted to competitive undergraduate and graduate programs.
Key studied at the Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin where he won the Butler School of Music Concerto Competition. His principal teachers include Rebecca Henderson, James Caldwell, Rudolf Vrbsky, Carol Stephenson and James Moseley. Also, he has been professionally coached by Elaine Douvas (the Met and The Juilliard School), Katherine Needleman (Baltimore Symphony), and Richard Killmer (Eastman School of Music).
Website: www.stephenkeyoboe.com/
JACQUELINE LECLAIR
Oboist Jacqueline Leclair is Associate Professor of Oboe at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University Montréal, Québec. She is a member of Ensemble Signal, and can frequently be heard performing solo and chamber music concerts internationally. She was a member of Alarm Will Sound for eight years until resigning in 2011. Dr. Leclair was on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music (NYC) and was Assistant Professor of Oboe at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) from 2007 to 2012. During her last two years at BGSU she also served as the Director of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music.
Summer festivals for which Dr. Leclair has served as faculty and/or performer include the Lincoln Center Festival (NYC), Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum of the East, June In Buffalo (NY), Chamber Music Festival of Aguascalientes (Mexico), East/West Festival (Kazan, Tatarstan) and the Sebago Music Festival (ME) among others.
In addition to performing a variety of classical and other musics, Dr. Leclair specializes in the study and performance of new music. She has premiered many works, and regularly presents classes in contemporary music and its techniques at schools such as UCLA, the Eastman School of Music, Brigham Young University, The North Carolina School for the Arts and University of California San Diego.
Dr. Leclair has recorded for Nonesuch, CRI, Koch, Neuma, Deutsche Grammophon and CBS Masterworks, receiving critical acclaim in particular for her premiere recording of Roger Reynolds' Summer Island. Luciano Berio's Sequenza VIIa Supplementary Edition by Jacqueline Leclair is published by Universal Edition, Vienna, and Dr. Leclair's recording of the piece is on the Mode Records collection of all Berio Sequenze and other solo works.
The New York Times has reviewed Dr. Leclair's performances as astonishing
and as having electrifying agility
; and the New Yorker has referred to her as lively
and wonderful.
Dr. Leclair studied with Richard Killmer and Ronald Roseman at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and SUNY Stony Brook, earning a Bachelor of Music, Performer's Certificate, Master’s Degree and Doctor of Musical Arts.
Website: www.jacquelineleclair.com/
Clarinet Faculty
MICHAEL DUMOUCHEL
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, clarinetist Michael Dumouchel has studied with Stanley Hasty, Robert Marcellus, and Harold Wright. Currently, Mr. Dumouchel holds the posts of solo E-flat clarinet and second B-flat clarinet with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra - posts he has held for more than 30 years. As a chamber musician, Mr. Dumouchel has performed with Musica Camerata Montreal for the past 25 years. Mr. Dumouchel also teaches clarinet at McGill University. He has recorded on London/Decca, Centredisc CBC, DGG, and CRI.
JO-ANN STERNBERG
Jo-Ann Sternberg leads a diverse musical life in the New York area as a chamber musician, orchestral player, music educator, and interpreter of new music. A member of Sequitur, the Saratoga Chamber Players, Wind Soloists of New York, the Richardson Chamber Players and the Riverside Symphony, she also regularly performs and tours with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, American Symphony, Mark Morris Dance Company, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Musicians from Marlboro, and can often be heard playing in a number of different Broadway musicals.
Following her undergraduate years in the combined Tufts University/New England Conservatory dual degree program where she was mentored by Peter Hadcock, Ms. Sternberg continued her studies at Yale University with David Shifrin and at The Juilliard School with Charles Neidich. Currently, Ms. Sternberg serves on the faculty of the Music Performance Program of Princeton University, the Music Advancement Program at the Juilliard School, and maintains an active teaching studio from her New York City home. Additionally, she serves as an advisor for New England Conservatory's Entrepreneurial Musicianship Program and coaches chamber ensembles for the New York Youth Symphony. In the summer months, Ms. Sternberg lives in Maine where she is the founder and artistic director of The Maine Chamber Music Seminar at Snow Pond, teaches and performs at the Chamber Music Conference, and participates in numerous performance residences throughout greater New England. From September through May, Ms. Sternberg resides in Manhattan with her husband and two children.
PAVEL VINNITSKY
Clarinetist Pavel Vinnitsky has gained international acclaim through numerous solo, chamber music and orchestral appearances at major concert venues around the world and is recognized as one of the most in-demand clarinet performers and teachers in the United States.
Associate Professor of Clarinet at College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, he has previously served on the faculty of New York University, Interlochen Clarinet Intensive and Roundtop Summer Institute. Vinnitsky actively appears in masterclasses at universities and music schools nation-wide including Juilliard, Yale School of Music, Indiana University, Northwestern University, Michigan State University, DePaul University and Manhattan School of Music.
During the 2016-22 seasons he has served as an acting clarinet section member with the New York Philharmonic and as an Associate Clarinetist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2009. Vinnitsky is a frequent guest artist with the Chicago Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the American Symphony, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's.
In high demand as a chamber musician, he has been featured in performances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Philharmonic chamber music series, the Met Chamber Players at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Wind Soloists of New York, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble and is on the artists roster of numerous international chamber music festivals.
His discography includes Grammy Award winning recordings for Deutsche Grammophon with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sonny Classical and Deca Gold albums with the New York Philharmonic, recordings for New World and Bridge Records labels, numerous broadcasts on WQXR, SiriusXM, Bavarian Radio as well as appearances on CBS and ABC TV channels.
Vinnitsky can be heard on soundtracks for motion picture features produced by Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Paramount Studios, Disney and 20th Century Fox as well as TV series on Netflix and Amazon. He collaborated in performances and recording projects with rock and pop music stars including Sting, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennet, Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel.
Website: www.pavelvinnitskyclarinet.com
GARRICK ZOETER
Clarinetist Garrick Zoeter's passionate and exciting way with the clarinet has been acknowledged around the world. The Clarinet recently described his playing as remarkable, his tone is beautiful and he shows complete mastery of all the technical demands and effects that are required of this piece. His artistry and virtuosity are compelling. This is one of the finest clarinet performances I have reviewed.
The Washington Post described a recent performance of his as an utterly commanding performance, technically superb and radiant with otherworldly majesty, all played with exceptional insight.
A native of Alexandria, Va., Mr. Zoeter took his first serious clarinet studies with Kenneth Lee and National Symphony Orchestra clarinetist William Wright. He received his bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich and his master's degree from Yale University as a student of David Shifrin. He made his solo debut at the age of seventeen in Weber's Concerto #1 with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He has won numerous competitions as a soloist including the 1991 International Clarinet Society International Clarinet Competition, as well as prizes in chamber music—the Grand Prize in the 1998 Fischoff, Coleman, and Yellow Springs chamber music competitions, the silver medal in the 1997 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2002 Concert Artists Guild competition.
Mr. Zoeter is the founding member of the acclaimed multi-award-winning clarinet, violin, cello, and piano quartet Antares. From 1997-2013 with Antares, he annually gave performances around the United States at such prestigious venues as The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Aspen Music Festival, Strathmore, Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis, Carnegie Recital Hall, Market Square Concerts, the Library of Congress, the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, and Cincinnati Chamber Music Society. His work with Antares resulted in the commissioning and premiering of over 20 new quartets from several of North America's top young composers including Mason Bates, John Mackey, James Matheson, Kevin Puts, Dan Visconti and Carter Pann. Zoeter is also a frequent performer with such diverse groups as Trio Solisti, the Audubon Quartet, the Ensemble for the Romantic Century, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the University of Buffalo's Slee Sinfonietta, the PostClassical Ensemble, the Pressenda Chamber Players, Monadnock Music, and the New Orchestra of Washington. Recent performances have included Donald Martino’s Triple Concerto in Buffalo, NY, and chamber music appearances in Strasbourg, France and Medellin, Columbia, as well as an appearance at Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, TX. He is heard frequently in numerous chamber music performances around Washington D.C. including at Georgetown's Evermay estate.
A committed teacher as well as performer, Mr. Zoeter serves as the Anna Lee Van Buren Professor of Clarinet at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University. His students from Shenandoah include numerous competition winners and can be found performing in professional ensembles such as The President's Own
United States Marine Band, teaching in university and public school positions, and serving as music therapists throughout the country and abroad. He served on the clarinet and chamber music faculty of Wesleyan University from 2002-2007, and from 1997-2004 was the clarinet professor at the Festival Eleazar de Carvalho during the summer in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Mr. Zoeter has recorded for the CRI, Newport Classics, Bridge, Innova, Naxos, MSR Classics, and New Focus Recordings CD labels. In addition to his performing and teaching, Mr. Zoeter serves on the advisory council of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters.
Website: www.youtube.com/user/SUclarinets
Bassoon Faculty
LAURA KOEPKE
Laura Koepke is Professor of Bassoon at The State University of New York at Fredonia, where she began teaching in 2007. As an orchestral player, she is the principal bassoonist of the Erie Philharmonic and principal bassoonist of the CityMusic Cleveland Chamber Orchestra, where she also performed as concerto soloist in 2014 and 2015. Other solo appearances include concerto performances with the Western New York Chamber Orchestra and the Orchard Park Symphony. Prior to Fredonia, Laura lived in New York City where she enjoyed an active freelance career. She performed numerous concerts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, on European and US tours, and at home in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. She has also performed with orchestras such as the American Composers Orchestra, New York Pops, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the New York City Opera.
From 1998 to 2009, Laura was a member of the internationally acclaimed woodwind quintet, Quintet of the Americas. Three recordings with the quintet include Dancing in Columbia (MSR Classics,) Karel Husa—Recollections (New World Records), and Sounds of Brazil (MSR Classics). Laura has performed as a guest artist with Zephyros Winds, North Country Chamber Players, Sequitur, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has performed at many summer festivals, including the Bard Festival, Bang on a Can, Festival of the Hamptons, Lincoln Center Festival, and with the Chautauqua Symphony. Laura performed as principal bassoonist at the Carmel Bach Festival in 2015, 2016, and 2019.
Previous teaching positions include New York University, Manhattan School of Music Pre-college, Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and Western Connecticut State University. Laura graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College/Conservatory of Music, and received the Alumni Achievement Award in 2005. She holds a Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale University School of Music.
Horn Faculty
DANIEL GRABOIS
Daniel Grabois is Professor of Horn at the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he performs in the Wisconsin Brass Quintet and serves as the Curator of SoundWaves, a series he created that combines science lectures with music performances. The former Chair of Contemporary Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, Grabois now serves as Director of the Electro-Acoustic Research Space (EARS), a facility which he founded with funding from a UW2020 large-equipment grant. Grabois is also the hornist in the Meridian Arts Ensemble, a New York City based brass quintet founded in 1987. With Meridian, he has performed over seventy world premieres, released twelve CDs, received two ASCAP/CMA Adventuresome Programming Awards, and toured worldwide, in addition to recording or performing with rock legends Duran Duran and Natalie Merchant and performing the music of Frank Zappa for the composer himself. Grabois has also created numerous arrangements and compositions for Meridian.
A freelance musician from 1989 to 2011, Grabois performed with most of the classical music ensembles in New York City, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York City Opera, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra. He appeared on numerous recordings of classical music, rock, and jazz, and played in Broadway pits (some 36 shows, in thousands of performances).
In 2022, Grabois released his second solo album, Fire Names, for horn and tape. He composed the music for that CD as well as for his previous CD, Air Names. The next recording in the series, Earth Names, will be released in 2025, and Water Names will be released in 2026. Grabois’ compositions, including four etude books and numerous chamber and solo works, are published by Wave Front Music.
In addition to his work as a horn player, composer, arranger, and electronic musician, Grabois is also an avid woodworker and practitioner of martial arts.Daniel Grabois is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Website: www.danielgrabois.com
Piano Faculty
AUDREY ANDRIST
Hailed as a stunning pianist with incredible dexterity
, Canadian pianist Audrey Andrist has thrilled audiences around the globe, from North America to Japan, China and Germany with her passionate abandon
and great intelligence.
Ms. Andrist grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan, and while in high school traveled three hours one-way for piano lessons with William Moore, himself a former student of famed musicians Cécile Genhart and Rosina Lhévinne. She completed Masters and Doctoral degrees at the Juilliard School with Herbert Stessin, and garnered first prizes at the Mozart International, San Antonio International, Eckhardt-Gramatté, and Juilliard Concerto Competitions. She has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Place des Arts in Montreal, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, and Alice Tully Hall in New York. She is a member of the Stern/Andrist Duo with her husband, James Stern, Strata, a trio with Stern and clarinetist Nathan Williams, and the Andrist-Stern-Honigberg Trio with Stern and cellist Steve Honigberg. Ms. Andrist can be heard on over a dozen recordings on the Albany and New Focus labels, among others. She lives in the Washington, DC area, where she teaches at the Washington Conservatory and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and where she was a visiting faculty artist at the University of Maryland-College Park in 2020. Ms. Andrist is in constant demand as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher, master class presenter and pedagogy consultant. Her CD of solo works by Robert Schumann is available on Centaur Records.
Website: www.audreyandrist.com/
PHILLIP BUSH
Phillip Bush is a pianist of uncommon versatility, with a repertoire extending from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first. His active and unconventional career has taken him to many parts of the globe. Since his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984, Mr. Bush has appeared as recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. In 2001 he made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the London Sinfonietta to critical acclaim, replacing an ailing Peter Serkin on short notice in concerti by Stravinsky and Alexander Goehr. He has also appeared as soloist with the Osaka Century Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony, and several other orchestras, in repertoire as far-ranging as the Beethoven concerti and the American premiere of Michael Nyman's Harpsichord Concerto.
A much sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appears frequently on New York's Bargemusic series, and has performed at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains (Colorado), Sitka Music Festival (Alaska), St. Bart's Music Festival, Bahamas Music Festival, Music at Blair Atholl (Scotland), Cape May Music Festival, and many other festivals. He has also performed with the Kronos Quartet, the Miami String Quartet, and members of the Emerson, Guarneri, Tokyo, and St. Lawrence quartets. Between 1991 and 1999 he performed over 250 concerts in Japan with the piano quartet Typhoon,
and recorded five CD's with the group for Epic/Sony, all of which reached the top of the Japanese classical charts. In 1993 Mr. Bush founded MayMusic in Charlotte,
a critically acclaimed and innovative festival in North Carolina that annually presented chamber and contemporary music, film screenings, and other cross-disciplinary collaborations. He served as Artistic Director of that festival from 1993 to 1998. Mr. Bush can be heard frequently on public radio in the US, including appearances on Saint Paul Sunday,
and has had live performances broadcast frequently throughout the nation on television via the Classic Arts Showcase.
A fierce advocate for contemporary music, Phillip Bush has performed often with many of the New York area's most renowned new music ensembles, including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Philip Glass Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, Group for Contemporary Music, Newband, Sequitur, Parnassus, and New Music Consort. Since 1995 he has been an artist-member of the Milwaukee-based new music group, Present Music. Mr. Bush's efforts on behalf of contemporary music have earned him grants and awards from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Aaron Copland Fund, ASCAP, Chamber Music America, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His discography as soloist and chamber musician has now surpassed thirty recordings, on labels such as Sony, Virgin Classics, Koch International, New World Records, Denon, and many others.
Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Leon Fleisher. From 2000 to 2004 Mr. Bush taught piano and chamber music at the University of Michigan. He was Music Director of the Chamber Music Conference from 2006 through 2015. Today, in addition to his busy performing schedule, he continues to give master classes, sharing his insights with young musicians in venues throughout the nation. He makes his home in the Old Shandon neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, pianist Lynn Kompass, and their part-Siberian-Husky, Ruby.
CATALIN DIMA
Hailed as a pianist that displays “an expressive and unleashed interpretation, transcending all the technical challenges of the score…a gift to the audience” (Romanian Music Radio), Catalin Dima has established himself as one of the leading artists of his generation. He performed in acclaimed venues including the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (NYC), the Klavierhaus (NYC), the Romanian Cultural Institute (NYC), the International House (NYC and Washington D.C.), the Romanian Embassy (Washington D.C.), the Cosmos Club (Washington D.C.), the Preston Bradley Hall (Chicago), the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo, Norway), the Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest, Romania), the Thalia Concert Hall (Sibiu, Romania), the Mihail Jora Philharmonic Hall (Bacau, Romania), the Oltenia Philharmonic Hall (Craiova, Romania), and the Pitesti Philharmonic Hall (Pitesti, Romania).
Catalin Dima is a prize winner of numerous international piano competitions, including Karl Filtsch International Piano Competition (Sibiu), Pro Piano International Competition (Bucharest), Yamaha Piano Competition (Bucharest), Fr. Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford, CT), and Shenandoah Concerto Competition (Winchester, VA).
His engagements with orchestras include concerts with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra (Bucharest), the Pitesti Philharmonic Orchestra (Pitesti), the Washington Sinfonietta (Washington D.C.), the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (Winchester, VA), and the Symphonic Winds (SOSU).
In his pursuit for innovative programming in concerts and recordings, Catalin Dima combines mainstream and rare piano repertoire, often focusing on Romanian, American, and Japanese composers. Dr. Dima worked with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers such as David Lang, Jennifer Higdon, and John Corigliano, and performed in concerts with distinguished music groups dedicated to contemporary music such as Edge Ensemble (Shenandoah Conservatory) and Great Noise Ensemble (Washington D.C). Together with violinist Alexandru Malaimare, he started a duo project that includes lectures and concerts and promotes Romanian music throughout the U.S. Their engagements included tours in Indiana, Illinois, D.C., Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas.
A native of Bucharest, Dr. Dima holds degrees from Shenandoah University (D.M.A.), Mannes School of Music (M.M.), and the Romanian National University of Music in Bucharest (M.M., B.M.). Currently, he serves as a Piano Instructor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, the artistic director of the Texoma Piano Competition, and the coordinator of the Musical Arts Series. During his free time, he enjoys swimming, biking, camping, and hiking in the mountains.
Website: www.catalin-dima.com/
JAMES GOLDSWORTHY
James Goldsworthy has performed in Europe, Israel, Japan, Canada, and the United States, including broadcasts on Austrian National Television, the California cable television show Grand Piano, Vermont Public Television, BBC radio, and Minnesota Public Radio. While a Fulbright scholar in Vienna, Goldsworthy participated in German Lieder master classes with Hans Hotter and studied vocal coaching and accompanying with Erik Werba, Walter Moore, and Roman Ortner. He performed in one of the Musikverein 175th anniversary celebration concerts given in the Brahms Saal, and concertized in Vienna, Baden, and Spital am Semmering, Austria. More recently, he performed at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, and in Le Sax concert hall in Achère, France, and at the White House. He has appeared in chamber music concerts including celebrations of Milton Babbitt at The Juilliard School, Carnegie Recital Hall, and Cooper Union, James Levine's Met Chamber Ensemble, and in the Works & Process series at the Guggenheim Museum. He has accompanied the singers Judith Bettina, Lindsey Christiansen, Véronique Dubois, Elem Eley, Marion Kilcher, Benjamin Luxon, Sharon Sweet, and Edith Zitelli in recital, and performed in concerts with violinists Jorja Fleezanis, Lilo Kantorowicz-Glick, Rolf Schulte, and violist Jacob Glick. He has premiered works by Milton Babbitt, Christopher Berg, Chester Biscardi, David Olan, Tobias Picker, Mel Powell, David Rakowski, Cheng Yong Wang, and Amnon Wolman. Goldsworthy is currently the Director of the New Works for Young Pianists Commissioning Project. He has taught at Goshen College, Stanford University, and the University of St. Thomas, and is presently on the piano faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. His recordings with Judith Bettina of Chester Biscardi's The Gift of Life, David Rakowski's Three Songs on Poems of Louise Bogan, and songs of Otto Luening are on the CRI label. Most recently, he recorded works written for Judith Bettina with Bridge Records.
GENEVIEVE FEIWEN LEE
A versatile performer of music spanning five centuries, Grammy-nominated Genevieve Feiwen Lee has thrilled audiences on the piano, harpsichord, toy piano, keyboard, and electronics. She enjoys finding music that challenges her to go outside of her comfort zone to sing, speak, act, and play new instruments. She has given solo recitals at Merkin Concert Hall, NY, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris. Since her first concerto engagement at age twelve, she has appeared with the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, Brazil; the Vrazta State Philharmonic, Bulgaria, and The Orchestra of Northern New York. Her concerts in China appeared on Hunan State Television, and her performance from the Spiegelzaal at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was broadcast on live radio.
Ms. Lee has premiered and commissioned numerous works, and she can be heard on the Innova, Albany and Reference labels. She was nominated in the Best Chamber Music Performance category at the 58th Grammy Awards for the recording of Tom Flaherty's Airdancing. In the Los Angeles area, Ms. Lee has been a guest performer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Chamber Music series at Disney Hall, Southwest Chamber Music, Jacaranda, Piano Spheres and the Hear Now New Music Festival. She is a founding member of the Mojave Trio and was a member of the Garth Newel Piano Quartet when they performed in Carnegie Hall. Ms. Lee received her degrees from the Peabody Institute, École Normale de Musique de Paris, and the Yale School of Music. She is the Everett S. Olive Professor of Music at Pomona College, California, where she teaches piano, chamber music, aural skills and theory.
KENT MCWILLIAMS
Kent McWilliams has enjoyed a successful performing career since his debut in Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been an award winner at competitions of Porto (Portugal), the Regina Symphony and the Canadian National Competitive Festival of Music. Kent has also performed live recitals and concertos on the CBC in Canada and the ABC in Australia. He has released several recordings, including Tryptique, a recording of music for flute, oboe, and piano performed by the Meridian Trio, a soon-to-be-released album with trumpeter Martin Hodel, and East Meets West: Music for Clarinet and Piano by Chinese Composers with clarinetist Jun Qian.
Kent holds a Doctorate in Piano Performance from the University of Montreal, where he studied with Marc Durand. He completed doctoral research in Poland with Andrzej Jasinski while exploring the Polish folk elements in Chopin’s Mazurkas. Kent also earned an Artist Diploma under Oleg Maisenberg at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, Germany and completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Boris Lysenko at the University of Toronto.
Kent taught piano at St. Olaf College in Minnesota for 18 years prior to moving to Kent State University. He taught previously at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brock University, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
Dr. McWilliams has judged the national finals of the MTNA competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. He has also judged the Canadian Chopin Festival Competition as well as numerous regional competitions and MTNA auditions in 25 states and provinces. Kent has been an adjudicator for the Royal Conservatory of Music for over 25 years. Kent is also a very experienced clinician, having presented performance and pedagogy workshops to teachers at many national events. At the 2010 MTNA national convention, he presented the opening plenary session to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of Chopin’s birth.
ARDITA STATOVCI
Biography to be supplied.
Website: www.arditastatovci.com
ANNA VINNITSKY
Dr. Anna Vinnitsky, a pianist renowned for her eloquence and versatility, has forged a multifaceted career as a sought-after soloist, chamber musician, educator, and composer. With a robust performance calendar spanning the United States, Israel, and Western Europe, she has performed at iconic venues including Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Leipzig Gewandhaus, New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall, and Auditorium Haifa in Israel.
In addition to her remarkable achievements as a pianist, Dr. Anna Vinnitsky is a dedicated educator, sharing her expertise and passion with aspiring musicians. She currently serves as an adjunct faculty at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, holds a teaching position at The Seven Hills School in Cincinnati, and has been a guest lecturer at universities nationwide. Her commitment to music education is further evident through her involvement with the Kaufman Center’s Lucy Moses School and her role as a founder of Westchester Piano Studio, an innovative initiative that provides exceptional piano instruction tailored to each student’s artistic development, performance presentation, ear training, and theory.
As a composer, Dr. Vinnitsky has garnered acclaim with commissioned works for esteemed institutions such as the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) and Orchestra Lumos. Her solo and chamber music compositions, embraced by renowned performers, resonate widely across the musical landscape. Anna’s highly anticipated Klezmer Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra premiered in March 2024 at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, receiving widespread praise and acclaim.
As a highly sought-after collaborative artist, she has shared the stage with world-renowned musicians such as clarinetist David Shifrin, violinist Ilya Kaler, oboist Philippe Tondre, and cellist Eileen Moon, to name a few. Anna is also a cherished member of numerous music festivals, including the Interlochen Summer Intensive Program.
Currently, Dr. Vinnitsky is residing in Cincinnati.
Website: annavinnitsky.com/
