Featured Composers
Camila Agosto is a composer, interdisciplinary artist, and educator based in New York City. Her work spans electroacoustic music, improvisation, installation, custom instrument design, and collaborations with musicians, ensembles, visual and performing artists, filmmakers, and instrument makers. At the core of her work are research and creative interests that explore themes of memory, perception, and somatic experience, with a focus on how sound and vibration shape our emotional and physical relationship to music. As a certified yoga instructor, she integrates somatic and mindfulness-based practices into her creative process and teaching, using them as tools for personal grounding and artistic exploration. She is the founder of Meristem Artists, a platform that supports holistic, interdisciplinary exchange among artists. She has developed and led workshops for artists and scholars at Columbia University, Meristem Artist Retreats, and summer music programs like the International Contemporary Ensemble's Ensemble Evolution. Camila is currently an ABD doctoral candidate in Music Composition at Columbia University and a 2023 recipient of the Berlin Prize and Deutsche Bank Fellowship from the American Academy in Berlin. camilagosto.com
Eleanor Alberga is a highly-regarded mainstream British composer with commissions from the BBC Proms and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. With a substantial output ranging from solo instrumental works to full-scale symphonic works and opera, her music is performed all over the world. In April this year, Eleanor’s Piano Concerto was given its World Premiere in Liverpool to a flourish of positive reviews, with the performance streamed on Medici TV and BBC Radio 3. The work was commissioned by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in conjunction with the Leeds International Piano Competition, and premiered by the competition’s most recent winner Alim Beisembayev with the orchestra’s Musical Director Domingo Hindoyan conducting. In 2015 her commissioned work Arise, Athena! for the opening of the Last Night of the BBC Proms was seen and heard by millions, and cemented a reputation as a composer of huge originality and consummate skill. Eleanor has gathered a number of awards, most notably a NESTA Fellowship in 2000 and a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award in 2019. In 2020 she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. Eleanor was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 for Services to British Music, eleanoralberga.com
Brad Balliett is a New York City-based bassoonist, composer, and educator. Brad is on faculty at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, The Juilliard School, and Bard Prison Initiative, and is a former Artistic Director of Decoda, a chamber music collective in residence at Carnegie Hall. In New York, Brad often performs with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, the Knights, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a member of contemporary music ensembles Signal and Metropolis Ensemble. As a composer, Brad has written orchestral, chamber, choral, operatic, and incidental music. Recent commissions have come from Carnegie Hall, Cecelia Chorus, Metropolis Ensemble, and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble. Brad’s work ‘Arboretum’ matches instruments to specific trees to create an interactive singing forest, and has been performed in Arboretums across the country. Brad grew up in Westborough, MA, and attended Harvard College (summa cum laude, 2005) to study music composition and Rice University (2007) to study bassoon performance. His teachers include John Harbison, Robert Levin, Christoph Wolff, and Benjamin Kamins. Brad spends his free time filming birds. His videos have been featured on local and national news stations. bradballiett.net
Douglas A.A. Balliett is a composer, instrumentalist and poet based in New York City. The Los Angeles Times recently wrote "Bassist Doug Balliett, who teaches a course on the Beatles at the Juilliard School and writes cantatas for Sunday church services, as well as wacky pop operas, is in a class of his own." Doug has been professor of baroque bass and violone at The Juilliard School since 2017, and leads the Theotokos ensemble every Sunday at St. Mary's church on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where he also composes new music every week. He plays regularly with the American Modern Opera Company, Les Arts Florissants, Jupiter Ensemble, ACRONYM, Ruckus, Boston Early Music Festival, Alarm Will Sound, and other ensembles. Mr. Balliett has led Les Arts Florissants in his own work on several occasions, including Ovid Cantatas, filmed for Qwest TV with the Juilliard School, and a new St. Mark Passion performed and filmed in August, 2025. Upcoming and recent performances include his newest opera Rome is Falling! with AMOC in Lincoln Center, his Ovid Cantatas in Zurich, his St. Mark Passion in New York City, and Beast Fights with the Boston Symphony bass section at Tanglewood.
Jessie Montgomery, Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, is a GRAMMY-winning composer, violinist, and educator whose music blends classical, vernacular, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness. Described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post), her works are performed by leading orchestras and ensembles globally. Her diverse body of work spans solo, chamber, vocal, and orchestral pieces, with recent highlights including Hymn for Everyone (2021), Five Freedom Songs (2021), and I was waiting for the echo of a better day (2021). Montgomery’s notable works also feature Banner (2014) and concerti such as DIVIDED (2022) and Rounds (2021). Her 2022-2023 season includes premieres for violinist Joshua Bell and orchestras like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Future projects involve contributions to Alisa Weilerstein’s FRAGMENTS project, a percussion quartet, and an orchestral work for the New York Philharmonic. Montgomery holds degrees from Juilliard and New York University and is a doctoral candidate at Princeton. She is a Professor at The New School and holds residencies at Vanderbilt University and Bard College. She has received numerous awards, including the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation. Since July 2021, she has served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. jessiemontgomery.com
Having grown up in Atlanta, with a long lineage of preachers and connections to gospel music to inspire him, GRAMMY-nominated Carlos Simon proves that a well-composed song can indeed be a sermon. His music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Simon is the current Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and frequently writes for the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera. In the 2024/25 season, Simon will have premiere performances with the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra for the Last Night of the Proms (in his BBC Proms commissioning debut), Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Carnegie Hall for the National Youth Orchestra of the USA. Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. Simon was a recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization to recognize extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians, and was named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow for his work for film and moving image. carlossimonmusic.com
Featured Visual Artists
Having trained as a young student under the mentorship of Russian artist Juri Borodatchev, Chrissy Angliker later broadened her means of expression by pursuing a degree in Industrial Design at the Pratt Institute in New York and worked as a post-graduate in the design industry before shifting back to painting in 2008. The artist’s hybrid background is visible through her calculated and frank yet painterly and unrestrained representations of her subjects. Chrissy Angliker is represented by Massey Klein Gallery where the artist has had two solo exhibitions. She has also exhibited extensively in Europe and the United States, including exhibitions with Craig Krull Gallery, Stalla Madulain, Galerie 94, Rarity Gallery, and Kleiner Von Wiese Gallery. The artist was featured on David Zwirner’s PLATFORM in the fall of 2022. Angliker has been awarded the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award (Pratt Institute) and the International Takifuji Art Award (Tokyo), among other international accolades and nominations, and has had site- and project-specific work commissioned by AOL America Online, Burton Snowboards, and Wired Magazine, among others. chrissy.ch
Jonathan Feldschuh is an artist and scientist. He originally trained as a physicist, graduating with an A.B. degree summa cum laude from Harvard. He went on to study painting and drawing for three years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. His work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions, at public venues such as the National Academy of Sciences, the AAAS Gallery, the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, and the Herter at UMass, as well as at private galleries such as Mixed Greens, Cynthia Broan, Richard Salmon, Fredric Snitzer, and Marella Arte Contemporanea. As a scientist, he currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer of Daxor, a medical technology company, and is an inventor on multiple patents as well an author on academic papers. The overarching theme of his work has been something he refers to as “instrumental vision” - the ways in which scientific advances create new ways to see and understand the universe. At the same time, almost all of his work features a commitment to the material processes of painting. The Large Hadron Collider series presented paintings on translucent mylar of the world’s largest particle accelerator. Each work had a view of some part of the detector on the front side of the mylar, with the reverse side having an abstract splash of paint formed by the “collision” of different jets of paint with the surface. jonathanfeldschuh.com
Nitcha Tothong (Fame) (Thai: ณิชชา โตทอง-เฟม, she/they) is a Thai interdisciplinary media artist, coder, and designer based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). Her work is focused on cross-medium pollination and explores the intersection of digital and analog mediums through visuals. She investigates sensory experiences while challenging perspectives shaped by soft power, colonization, and technology.
Nitcha has been an artist-in-residence at Banff Centre, Babycastles, The Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, and CultureHub (2023-2024), and is a 2024 Eyebeam Democracy Machine Fellow. She co-founded elekhlekha with Kengchakaj, winning the 2022 Lumen Prize Gold Award, and is currently a member of NEW INC's Y11 Extended Realities track. www.nitcha.info
Featured Ensembles
Cardume is a brand-new percussion trio founded by Rogério Boccato, Keita Ogawa, and Cleber Almeida, three highly accomplished musicians with decades of collective experience in the world of improvised music. The name CARDUME comes from Portuguese translating to "school of fish”. Their music reflects that fluid, spontaneous connection found when fish move as one through the water, with movements that are similarly leaderless and, apparently based on an endless series of reactions to reactions. Together, they bring their deep experience to the stage, creating spontaneous, listening-based performances that explore the rich textures and rhythms of the percussion world. The trio draws on the diverse expertise of its members, each of whom has collaborated with top-tier artists (Snarky Puppy, John Patitucci, Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, Brian Blade, Hermeto Pascoal, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Toninho Horta to name a few), and have performed at prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Blue Note Clubs, Kennedy Center, Symphony Hall and many more.
Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty,” the Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception in 2017 with a mission to enrich the classical music world by spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers alongside the standard repertory. Among the many composers whose works they have championed are Eleanor Alberga, Gabriela Lena Frank, Osvaldo Golijov, Jessie Montgomery, Angélica Negrón, Iván Enrique Rodríguez, Carlos Simon, Alvin Singleton, and George Walker. They premiered Derrick Skye’s Deliverance through a commission from Caramoor in 2024. The Ivalas Quartet served as the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School from 2022 to 2024, where they studied with the Juilliard String Quartet. The Quartet is also thrilled to be the 2024-2025 Curator/Performing Ensemble of the Schneider Concerts at The New School in New York City. In 2021, they created the first recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth from Other Suns for string quartet under Lara Downes’ digital label Rising Sun Music. The members of the Ivalas Quartet – violinists Reuben Kebede and Tiani Butts, violist Marcus Stevenson, and cellist Pedro Sánchez – have a shared dedication to their roles as educators. In New York City, they have coached student groups at The Juilliard School in both the preparatory and undergraduate divisions. The quartet has worked with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center through the Society’s Chamber Music Beginnings since 2022. ivalasquartet.com
Le duo N'imPorte Quoi was conceived in 2004 by Koko Taylor and Sylvain Fournier to abolish the idea that "you can do anything except anything." From then on, we dedicated ourselves to this mission: to do anything musically, but correctly. The concerts are performed on around twenty instruments and include absolutely no barriers of genre or style. Since their first public performance in 2004, the NPQ duo has played in a multitude of different settings: concert halls, festivals, museums, au pair schools, community centers, apartments, castles, Japanese and Swiss Ems, cabarets, kindergartens, jazz clubs, exhibition openings, Turkish baths, radio, TV, hospitals, traditional music venues, public schools, primatology conferences, libraries, open-air parties, etc. duonpq.com
Theotokos Ensemble is made up of musicians who are internationally recognized as masters of baroque, classical, and medieval performance practice. Members of Theotokos regularly perform with Les Arts Florissants, Sequentia, Jupiter Ensemble, Boston Early Music Festival, Ruckus, and American Modern Opera Company. The ensemble has an ongoing relationship with the Juilliard School Historical Performance department. Founded in 2020 at the invitation of Fr. Andrew O’Connor, the ensemble is in residence at St. Mary’s Church on the lower east side of New York City. Every week a new cantata is composed by director Douglas A.A. Balliett and performed by the ensemble, based on and tightly linked with the liturgical readings assigned to that date. Theotokos has given concerts of sacred vocal music around NYC, including performances of Telemann’s Harmonischer Dottesdienst cantatas, Charpentier’s Leçons de Tenebre by candlelight, and the sacred madrigals of Marenzio. Driven by a special interest in early Christian music, Theotokos also runs a Gregorian Chant club, open to all, which regularly meets to chant the Latin Mass and the Divine Office. In 2021 Theotokos began a fruitful collaboration with the Juilliard School Historical Performance program, in which interested students are given the opportunity to perform, compose music, and experience the baroque sacred music tradition from within. www.dougballiett.nyc/theotokos
Acclaimed as an “outstanding ensemble…cohesive yet full of temperament” (The New York Times), the Verona Quartet has firmly established itself amongst the most distinguished ensembles on the chamber music scene today. The group’s singular sense of purpose earned them Chamber Music America’s coveted 2020 Cleveland Quartet Award, and a reputation for its “bold interpretive strength, robust characterization and commanding resonance” (Calgary Herald). The Quartet serves on the faculty of the Oberlin College and Conservatory as the Quartet-in-Residence and as Artistic Directors at Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. In the 2024-25 season, the Verona Quartet will debut at numerous prestigious series institutions including the Grand Teton Music Festival, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Institute of Music, Music Mondays in NYC, Lebanon Valley College, San Antonio Chamber Music Society, Camerata Musica in Washington state, and for the University of Buffalo’s celebrated Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle. The Verona Quartet’s second album, SHATTER, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart in the summer of 2023. The ensemble’s “vibrant, intelligent” (The New York Times) performances emanate from the spirit of storytelling; the Quartet believes that this transcends genre and therefore the name “Verona” pays tribute to William Shakespeare, one of the greatest storytellers of all time. veronaquartet.com
Culinary Artist
Regine Bigler was born on a small farm in Switzerland. Creatively, Regine was heavily influenced by her vegetable growing mother who grew food to sustain her family before “sustainability” was a buzz word. She stopped eating meat in 1995 and that opened her tastebuds to a whole new world of flavors. Her search for creative vegetable expressions, and a passion for travel, encourages her to keep expanding her palate. She continues to eat, cook, read, and grow all things vegetable. Regine’s career was never stagnant and always moving towards creative expression. Her teenage urge to break out of farm life took her to the nearby city of Bern where she managed movie theaters and helped to bring them into the digital age. Encouraged by her success in Bern, and motivated by a love of challenges, she moved to NYC in 2000 where she started her New York journey by managing a rundown youth hostel in East Harlem. Her desire to work in the arts pushed her into a management position at the iconic Sunshine Cinema for the next nine years. In 2016, hungry to further express her creativity, she turned to a professional career in the kitchen. In 2018, she started collaborating all things plant-based with Chef Morgan Jarrett at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden and moved up the ranks to the Sous Chef position. This is where Regine really tapped into her passion, and, despite the Covid pandemic, she volunteered at a food pantry and held several pop-up food events to hone her skills and bring awareness to the natural beauty of vegetables. She is now the Creative Culinary Director at NeueHouse Madison Square.
Artists
Considered one of the most important percussionists of his generation, Brazilian percussionist Cleber Almeida plays with the most well-known artists in Brazil, such as Antonio Nobrega, Toninho Horta, Hermeto Pascoal, Banda Mantiqueira, Arismar Do Espírito Santo, Nailor Proveta, Trio Curupira, Jaqcues Morelembaum, among many others. He has been touring throughout Europe and the USA with some of these artists and with his own project, Trio Macaíba, which focuses on the fantastic tradition of dance music from the Northeast of Brazil. Cleber Almeida graduated in 1996 from the Tatuí Conservatory (SP) and is an avowed follower of the universal music of Hermeto Pascoal. “Música de Baterista”, his first solo album, is a showcase of the most diverse influences and the different groups he is part of, which also includes Trio Curupira and Trio Macaíba. In Sorocaba (São Paulo), Cleber performs at Botequim do Antenor, a venue for dance nights which hosts bands like Trio Macaíba, as well as the Cabeça de Vinil project, when a musician plays and shows off part of his/her large vinyl collection. Once on stage at Teatro Anchieta, at Sesc Consolação, the musicians bring to life all the melody, chords, and training from “Música de Baterista”.
Brazilian percussionist and educator Rogério Boccato plays/recorded in projects led by some of today’s leading jazz artists, among them Maria Schneider, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Brian Blade, Kurt Elling, Danilo Perez, Renee Rosnes, and many others. He is featured on three Grammy-award winning albums: Kurt Elling & Danilo Perez‘s “Secrets Are The Best Stories“, “The Thompson Fields”, with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and on Billy Childs’ “Rebirth”. He is also featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, among them: Kenny Garrett’s “Beyond The Wall”, John Patitucci‘s “Remembrance“ (alongside Joe Lovano and Brian Blade), and on Alan Ferber’s “Jigsaw“. Rogério Boccato has been a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music , NYU and of the Percussion department of The Hartt School (University of Hartford) teaching Brazilian Music and Ritmica. Rogério holds the 2024 Weisser & Holtgrave Artist Chair. rogerioboccato.com
Violinist Tiani Butts is a passionate solo and chamber musician that strives to use the arts to encourage and inspire young students from all backgrounds. She has performed in numerous concert venues throughout the U.S. as well as internationally in Germany, Austria, Iceland, and Italy as a violinist in the Rome Chamber Music Festival. Tiani has been a solo fellow at the Aspen Music Festival, the Wintergreen Summer Music Academy, and the Philadelphia International Music Festival as well as a quartet fellow at the Colorado Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, and the Madeline Island, Walla Walla, and Great Lakes chamber music festivals. In addition to a notable performance career, Tiani is dedicated to teaching and engaging with the community through the arts. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings, a dual master’s degree in violin performance and chamber music from the University of Michigan, and an artist diploma from The Juilliard School. Outside of her musical endeavors, you will find Tiani enjoying a good book, weightlifting, or relaxing in the park. ivalasquartet.com
Oboist Hsuan-Fong Chen (pronounced “SHUan-fong”) is known for her versatility across orchestral, Broadway, and contemporary music scenes. Based in New York City, she has performed across the U.S., Europe, and Asia with leading ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Albany Symphony, and the American Ballet Theatre. On Broadway, she has played in Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, Camelot at Lincoln Center, and served as lead oboist in Rocktopia. In 2023, she was featured in the world premiere of Watch Night, directed by Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones. A passionate advocate for new music, she performs regularly with Rocket City New Music, Talea Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, and at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Ms. Chen teaches at Queens College (CUNY), Juilliard Pre-College, the Calhoun School, and the Greenwich Music School. She also maintains a private studio and has served in leadership roles, including Artistic Coordinator and Orchestra Manager for the National Youth Orchestra of China. Originally from Taiwan, she studied at The Juilliard School (B.M.), Yale School of Music (M.M., Artist Diploma), and the Manhattan School of Music (Orchestral Performance Diploma). A former competitive pianist, she performed at Carnegie Hall and was featured in the National Palace Museum’s film A Museum Without Walls. She lives in NYC with her husband, Sean Ritenauer, their young son, and Cockapoo, Hiro. hsuanfongchen.com
Paul Wonjin Cho is a Korean-American clarinetist whose vibrant career bridges orchestral performance, chamber music, and education. Currently a substitution clarinetist with The Cleveland Orchestra, he has performed under Franz Welser-Möst, including a European tour and four commercial recordings. He also serves as the tenured bass and third clarinetist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. His dynamic orchestral career includes tenured principal clarinet with the Binghamton Philharmonic and acting principal with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Cho has performed with the Met Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Knights, Vermont Symphony, Argento Ensemble, and others. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, Mr. Cho earned both an Artist Diploma and a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance under David Shifrin, winning the Dean’s Prize, the T. D. Nyfenger Memorial Prize, and the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition. He also studied with Yehuda Gilad at the University of Southern California, and Dong-Jin Kim at Seoul National University and the Korean National University of Arts. Mr. Cho’s discography includes GRAMMY-winning and critically acclaimed recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra, Experiential Orchestra, and Naxos, featuring works by Strauss, George Walker, Philip Glass, Beethoven, and Ethel Smyth.
Puerto Rican-born Edmar Colón is a saxophonist, pianist, and composer. Some highlights in Colon’s career include performing and touring with an expansive list of world-class artists, arranging/orchestrating selections in the GRAMMY AWARD-winning albums “12 Little Spells” by Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington’s “New Standards” and the GRAMMY-nominated “Waiting Game” by Carrington. Other highlights include being the copyist for Wayne Shorter’s opera, “Iphigenia,” composing a 30-minute orchestral piece for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, arranging 16 pieces for the National Symphony Orchestra, and most recently, finishing three new works for the legendary Boston POPS including a four-movement Saxophone Concerto premiered in May 2024 played by the jazz luminary Branford Marsalis. This has led to numerous new commissions, including a brand-new arrangement or "re-imagination" of the classic work by George Gershwin, "Rhapsody In Blue," commissioned by concert pianist Lara Downes. This work has been recorded and released on Pentatone Records, one of the leading classical music labels in the world. edmarcolon.com
Marguerite Cox, a double bassist from northeast Ohio, is a versatile and in-demand collaborator in numerous musical settings throughout the United States. A recent alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect fellowship, she performs regularly with A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and counts forthcoming appearances with The Knights, AMOC*, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Ruckus, Teatro Nuovo, and other chamber ensembles exploring music through the ages. In 2024, Maggie toured and recorded extensively with experimental folk band Big Bend in collaboration with producer and musician Shahzad Izmaily. Marguerite received her undergraduate degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School and her master’s at the Curtis Institute, where she was the first bassist to receive that degree. In 2016, inspired by studies within Rice’s Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities program, she founded the Ohio-based Artists for Action, through which she organizes community benefit concerts and other funding initiatives for local organizations. Based in New York, she instructs budding musicians of all ages across the city, lately at Brooklyn High School of the Arts through her Ensemble Connect placement. margueritecox.com
One of the most multifaceted and creative musicians of today, drummer and composer Adam Cruz is best known for his work with Danilo Perez, Tom Harrell, Steve Wilson, and Edward Simon. Cruz was born in New York City. He spent his formative years with saxophonist David Sanchez and the Mingus Big Band. He then toured and recorded with Chick Corea and Origin, culminating in the recordings Origin and A Week at the Blue Note. His teachers have included his father/ percussionist Ray Cruz, Frank Malabe, Kenny Washington, Victor Lewis, Keith Copeland, Portinho, Lewis Nash, and Joe Chambers. He has worked in groups led by artists such as Chris Potter, McCoy Tyner, John Patitucci, Pharaoh Sanders, Joey Calderazzo, Hilton Ruiz, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Eddie Palmieri, Lou Donaldson, Charlie Hunter and Paquito D’Rivera among many others. Cruz’s remarkable musicianship has made him one of the most in demand drummers of today. In 2010 he was awarded a grant from the ACFM to record his much anticipated, debut recording as a composer and bandleader entitled Milestone. Adam has has received great critical acclaim by the Los Angeles Times, Downbeat Magazine, Jazz Times, Modern Drummer Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
Sylvain Fournier was born in Geneva. From the age of 9, he learned the marching band drum, then took drum lessons and joined a thrash-metal group with whom he gave his first concert, at 13. Subsequently, he took lessons in Brazilian, Oriental, and Bulgarian percussion with musicians from these cultures. Self-taught, he continued to learn composition, guitar, musical saw, mandolin, drums and percussion; he has more than 600 compositions to his credit. His collaborations and performances span Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Morocco, Brazil, Canada, Norway, Spain, Italy, Chile, UK, Jordan with: Albertine and Ernest Platini (personal projects), Le Grupetto (jazz), Hors-Bord Pour Pain (cassettes and CDs of personal compositions), Anabaena (afro-funk-jazz), Les Biscômes (song), Ziad El Ahmadie (music from Lebanon), Nabila (Balkan music), Skaros (Greece, Albania), Marina Pittau (Sardinia), Henri Dés (children's song), Rajni (Hindu tales), Gostosinho (Brazil music), Styve Tromazy saxophone 4tet (jazz), Les cow-boWs (western-ravioli music), Nadia Makhlouf (dances from the Arab world), Yaravi (latin-jazz), Poupin Trio (jazz), Les Ferries (jazz), Kardelen (Turkey-Kurdistan), Gipsy Kings (yes..!), Oogui (disco-improv-jazz), La Fanfare du Loup (balls and creations), Théâtre Spirale (25 shows), Théâtre les montreurs d’images (3 shows), Am Stram Gram, etc. foufoumusic.com
Soprano Sonya Headlam enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, chamber, and ensemble singer, performing repertoire from the Baroque to the 21st century. She has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, Apollo’s Fire, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and TENET Vocal Artists, among others. Her recordings include In the Salon of Madame Brillon: Music and Friendship in Benjamin Franklin’s Paris with the Raritan Players and forthcoming releases featuring music by Ignatius Sancho and Trevor Weston. Headlam holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University, where she later served as a visiting scholar researching 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho. She was the 2023 Rohde Family Artist-in-Residence at the Chelsea Music Festival and is delighted to return this season. sonyaheadlamsoprano.com
Violinist Reuben Kebede has performed recitals across the U.S. and Europe. As first violinist of the Ivalas Quartet, he recently completed an Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School in the Graduate Resident String Quartet program. He also received an Artist Diploma in string quartet performance from CU Boulder under the tutelage of Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes, and the members of the Takács Quartet. Previously, he studied with Danielle Belen at the University of Michigan, where he served as concertmaster of both university orchestras, and with Sarah Plum at Drake University. In his free time Reuben loves reading, as well as watching and discussing soccer and films. ivalasquartet.com
American violist Jeremy Kienbaum has been lauded for his “eloquent strength” (Well-Tempered Ear) and sound that “refracted like shards of light” (New York Times). He has recently appeared with Love from Lincoln Center, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and at the Paax Festival GNP in Quintana Roo, Mexico. Committed to performing works by living composers, Dr. Kienbaum has premiered works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Augusta Read Thomas, and Georg Friedrich Haas and has worked with Thomas Ades, Fred Lerdahl, and Nina C. Young. Dr. Kienbaum teaches at Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College, and Opportunity Music Project. He has been recognized internationally for his musical achievements as first prize winner in the Enkor International Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the National Federation of Music Clubs Student/Collegiate Competition, and second prize in the Vršac International Competition. Originally from Wisconsin, Dr. Kienbaum received degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Juilliard, and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is grateful to have had the mentorship of his teachers David Perry, Sally Chisholm, Samuel Rhodes, and Mark Steinberg. jeremykienbaum.com
Violinist Yeajin Kim joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2022 September. Prior to joining the ISO, she was pursuing Artist Diploma at Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Simin Ganatra. Born in Korea, she began her musical studies at age 5. She has previously appeared at the Waltz & Dr. Mahn Young Artist Concert as a featured soloist and has performed in Seoul, Ansan, Goyang, and Namyangju in Korea. In 2021, she premiered “Double Concerto for violin, piano and 15 winds” with composer Andrew Mead. Her festival appearances include Tanglewood Music Festival, the Music Academy of the West, Round Top Summer Music Festival, and Toronto Summer Music Festival. As an active chamber musician, she is a founder member of Eurus String Quartet, the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Indiana University as students of the Pacifica Quartet in 19-20 season. Eurus String Quartet made their European recital debut at the Beethoven-Haus Kammermusiksaal and also appeared at Chelsea Music Festival. She graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelor of Music at the Seoul National University, where she studied with Hyuk-Joo Kwun and She holds a master's degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Jorja Fleezanis. In her spare time she loves running and watching movies or reading books. She also enjoys learning languages.
Salley Koo began her violin studies at the age of 4. She has been lucky enough to study with many famous people at many famous schools. Ms. Koo performs all over the world with very cool people of varying degrees of fame and tries to get along famously with her colleagues and her own students. She now splits her time between her homes in Urbana, IL, and Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and their very cute dogs. salleykoo.com
Brooklyn-based horn player, writer, and performance artist Nicolee Kuester divides her time between experimental music and the older stuff, recently performing with the International Contemporary Ensemble, The Knights, Talea Ensemble, Illinoise on Broadway, and the New York Pops in NYC; Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris; Alarm Will Sound in St Louis; and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra in LA. She is co-founder of MEANINGLESS WORK, a performance series that happily meanders between sounds, performance art, text, and movement theater. Nicolee holds undergraduate degrees in horn performance and creative writing from Oberlin College & Conservatory and graduate degrees in contemporary music performance from UC San Diego. From 2016-2018 she was the horn fellow with Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and has spent many summers immersed in chamber music at the Marlboro, Yellow Barn, and Lucerne Music Festivals. nicoleekuester.com
A graduate of The Juilliard School and Yale School of Music, cellist Angela Lee is a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study in London with William Pleeth, a grant from the Foundation for American Musicians in Europe, the Jury Prize in the Naumburg International Cello Competition, and a cello performance fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation. She is a founding member of The Lee Trio, which won top prizes in the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gaetano Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Italy. In its third decade, the Trio regularly gives master classes and performs worldwide and has commissioned and premiered works of numerous living composers and has recordings on Delos, Innova, and the Chelsea Music Festival Records labels. The Trio's latest album, Midsummer Night Magic, was released in 2024 to critical acclaim. Using music to foster peace and goodwill, Angela Lee has made humanitarian trips to the Republic of the Philippines and the former Yugoslavia. While on a U.N.-sanctioned tour of six war-torn cities throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina, she performed for NATO troops and displaced civilians. She joined Ensemble SF in 2022 and has been coaching chamber music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 2017. She also serves on the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Alumni Association Leadership Council and on the Board of The Resonance Project, which promotes empathy through live music.
leiken is a singer and performance-maker based in Brooklyn, NY. A specialist in both medieval and new music, their practice fuses these disparate worlds exclusively through collaboration and frequently explores queer spirituality, identity, and ephemera. A sought-after vocalist for concert, opera, and theatre, leiken has performed all over the world alongside iconic artists such as Ran Blake, Sequentia, Eve Beglarian, and Four Larks. Their extensive performance experience has brought them to legendary venues like the Getty Villa Museum, Carnegie Hall, Hong Kong's Queen Elizabeth Stadium, the Théâtre du Chatelet, and the Hirschhorn Museum. leiken also loves fermentation, textiles, and swimming. www.leiken.xyz
Carlos Rafael Martinez Arroyo is a distinguished violinist acclaimed for his technical proficiency and artistic versatility. Born in Córdoba, Spain and based in New York City, Carlos holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where he was awarded a full scholarship under the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program. His influential teachers have included renowned violinists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, and Mark Steinberg. His vibrant performance career includes featured solo engagements with the Real Orquesta Sinfónica de Sevilla in Spain, where he performed the Bruch Violin Concerto at the Teatro de la Maestranza, and the New York Session Symphony, presenting Brahms’s Double Concerto in Manhattan. Additionally, Carlos’s chamber music contributions include performances at esteemed venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, WQXR Radio Studios, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, and Festival Haus der Musik in Mexico, highlighting his ability to seamlessly blend solo artistry with collaborative musicianship. His dedication to musical excellence has earned him accolades, including Second Prize at the Chicago International Violin Competition (2022). Outside performance, Carlos has cultivated significant teaching experience, nurturing students across diverse age groups and skill levels in prominent New York music institutions. Fluent in Spanish and English, and proficient in several other languages, he is dedicated to connecting with a global audience both through music and cultural exchange. He performs on a 2004 Mario Miralles violin generously loaned by the Maestro Foundation.
Praised for his captivating performances and expressive artistry, Doori Na has played on the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, and beyond. In 2018, he made a notable debut with the San Francisco Symphony, performing Bach's Double Violin Concerto alongside the legendary Itzhak Perlman under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. A dynamic and versatile musician, Doori is known for his deep commitment to chamber music, his leadership as concertmaster for orchestras, and his innovative work in contemporary music. He has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the New York Philharmonic, and many more. As a longtime member of both the Argento New Music Project and New Chamber Ballet, Doori has performed internationally, premiering numerous new works and showcasing his dedication to bringing contemporary music to life. His passion extends to reviving neglected works and composers, particularly those overlooked due to class and race. Beyond classical music, Doori is featured on Chick Corea’s The Continents album and has toured Europe with Brad Mehldau and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, further demonstrating his versatility across genres. doorinaviolin.com
Bennett Norris is an accomplished double bassist and dedicated educator who has performed with some of the most respected orchestras in the world. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Bennett has been invited to play with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony, and the Israel Philharmonic on its 2025 U.S. tour under the direction of music director Lahav Shani. He was most recently the Interim Assistant Principal Bass of the Louisville Orchestra during the 2023 season. Bennett’s orchestral experience includes collaborations with world-renowned conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Muti, Klaus Mäkelä, Christian Thielemann, and Jaap van Zweden. He is currently a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and in the summer months serves as a guest principal with the Ocean City Pops. Bennett’s festival appearances include the Derby City Chamber Music Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, Masterworks Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival and Texas Music Festival. He can be heard on the soundtrack of Netflix’s Maestro alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Bradley Cooper. Bennett is based in Chicago, Illinois, and continues to perform, teach, and inspire through music.
Hailing originally from Sasebo city, Nagasaki, Japan, Keita Ogawa is 3-time Grammy-Award nominee and 3-time Grammy-Award winner and one of the most versatile and sought-after percussionists and drummers in New York City. He was accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music in fall of 2005 where he studied with legendary musicians and educators Manuel “Egui” Castrillo, Jamey Haddad, Tito De Gracia, David Rosado, and Mark Walker. Keita relocated to Rio de Janeiro for 3 months and studied with Jorginho do Pandeiro, Celsinho Silva, Kiko Freitas , and Marcio Bahia among others. He works with Snarky Puppy, Bokanté, Banda Magda, Bokantè, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charlie Hunter, JSquad, Camila Meza and the Nectar Orchestra, Clarice Assad and more. In 2017 He became the Ambassador of Tourism of his Hometown, Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan. He is endorsed by Canopus Drum, Meinl Percussion, Meinl Cymbal, Vic Firth, Evans Drumhead, Stack Ring Percussion, Cooperman Company, Dem Sticks, Parka Percussion, and Decora 43. Keita's passion for crossing musical borders and uniting differences in cultures is a rare talent which he exhibits with a smile and an open heart. keitaogawa.com
Acoustic and electric bassist John Patitucci has been at the forefront of the jazz world for the last 40 years and active in all styles of music. He is a 4-time Grammy award winner, has been nominated over twenty times and has played on many other Grammy award-winning recordings. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz giants such as Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Kenny Garrett, Victor Feldman, Nancy Wilson and countless others. John has also performed and/or recorded with pop artists such as Natalie Cole, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Joni Mitchell, Bono, Sting, Norah Jones, James Taylor, Carole King and Paul Simon. He has been active as a composer with eighteen solo recordings of his own and has been commissioned to write for various chamber music groups. In early 2020, John’s composition, a protest piece entitled Hypocrisy, was premiered in Toronto and performed by the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, along with Danilo Perez, Brian Blade and Mr. Patitucci. After touring with the award-winning Wayne Shorter Quartet for over 20 years, John continues to tour with his own projects, including the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, his Brazilian Trio and the John Patitucci Trio featuring saxophonist Chris Potter and drummer Brian Blade. That Trio released a recording in 2022 entitled Live in Italy and recently released a studio album with Edition Records, entitled Spirit Fall. He also tours with the Children of the Light Trio and the Wayne Shorter Legacy Project. johnpatitucci.com
Sachi Patitucci, cellist, graduated from the Eastman School of Music and has been active in Los Angeles and New York as a freelance musician, performing in concerts and recording for numerous films, television shows, commercials and recordings. She was a founding member of the cello quartet CELLO, who made its debut at Carnegie Recital Hall, and toured with pop artists performing in concert halls and stadiums around the world. Sachi is Principal Cellist with the Westchester Chamber soloists and performs chamber music in the NY Metro area. She continues to perform, compose and arrange music and she manages her husband, bassist John Patitucci. She also works in Music Licensing and as coordinator for a non-profit online Jazz Radio Station, The Jazz Groove. sachipatitucci.com
Violinist Miho Saegusa, a versatile chamber musician and orchestral leader, cherishes collaboration and the joy of shared music-making. She is a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Aizuri Quartet, recipient of Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award, Grand Prize at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, and top prizes at competitions in Osaka and Wigmore Hall in London. In addition to chamber music, Miho is a member and has served as an Artistic Director of the celebrated Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. For five seasons she was Concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and has also performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and NOVUS NY. Miho has been featured as soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York Classical Players, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Iris Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony. Miho is grateful to her principal teachers Masao Kawasaki and Dorothy DeLay for encouraging curiosity. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, and completed graduate work at The Juilliard School, earning her Master of Music and Artist Diploma. While touring, Miho creates memories through food in addition to music. She likes to explore local restaurants and farmers markets, and experiments with recipes when back at home.
Pianist Julian Shore is known for his "deep maturity as a composer and bandleader" (DownBeat), and his work as both a versatile sideman, and experienced bandleader has JazzTimes calling him one of the “leaders of the young jazz piano scene.” Bandcamp glows “his melodies are fueled by a powerful blend of contemplation and exploration. It’s just as easy to immerse yourself in any single moment as it is to be swept away by the entire epic journey.”
Based in New York, Shore has become one of the city’s most sought-after pianists. He has performed domestically and abroad with artists as diverse as John Patitucci, Gretchen Parlato, George Garzone, Theo Bleckman, Don Braden, Sara Gazarek, among many others. He’s appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center and major venues and festivals across Europe, Asia and South America.
As an educator Shore remains active in a variety of settings. He was an artistic consultant for Herbie Hancock’s Master Class for masterclass.com, and transcribed and notated hundreds of pages of Hancock’s piano performance for the course. He teaches privately at the New School, through the New York Jazz Academy, and has presented workshops and masterclasses at universities and performance venues across the globe.
New York City based cellist Pedro Sánchez is originally from Caracas, Venezuela. His energetic style of playing was significantly shaped by his training with El Sistema and the Emil Friedman Conservatory in Caracas. In the United States, Pedro completed his high school education at Interlochen Arts Academy, followed by a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music. He furthered his studies with a master’s degree from the University of Michigan and earned artist diplomas from both CU Boulder and the Juilliard School. Pedro has performed solo recitals internationally, including in Africa, South America, and the United States. During his time at the University of Michigan, he served as faculty for the university’s Artist Citizen program, which provides free music education to a diverse community of children in Ann Arbor. Pedro has coached chamber music at several prestigious institutions across the U.S., including Juilliard, Vanderbilt, and CU Boulder. Currently, Pedro is a teaching artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and serves as cello faculty at the Opportunity Music Project. He is dedicated to integrating social-emotional learning into his teaching approach, believing in the transformative power of music education to foster personal growth and resilience. His commitment to this philosophy stems from his experiences with El Sistema. Pedro plays a 2010 Marten Cornelissen Cello, generously loaned to him by the Maestro Foundation in California. ivalasquartet.com
Violist Marcus Stevenson is an avid chamber musician and educator based in New York City. Originally from New Jersey, Marcus is an alumnus of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. In 2018, Marcus won the Rondo Young Artist Competition with the Neptune Piano Quartet, and the National League of Performing Arts Chamber Competition with the Milan String Quartet. Marcus was also previously a member of the Elless Quartet, who won Grand Prize in the 2020 Coltman Chamber Music Competition and was a finalist in the 2022 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition. Marcus has performed with renowned artists, including Margaret Batjer, Jaime Laredo, Philip Setzer, and Sharon Robinson. Marcus holds a bachelor’s degree in viola performance and eurythmics pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Jeffrey Irvine. He also holds a master’s degree in viola performance from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Heidi Castleman. While in Cleveland, he was the recipient of the inaugural Sidney D. and Nina Josephs Chamber Musician Award and the Darius Milhaud Award. While at Juilliard, Marcus was awarded the Joseph W. Polisi Prize and served as violist of the graduate string quartet in residence, studying with the Juilliard String Quartet. Currently based in Manhattan, Marcus teaches privately and serves as faculty for the Opportunity Music Project. ivalasquartet.com
Léo Tardin won the Montreux Jazz Festival International Piano Solo Competition in 1999, while still a student at the New School in New York, where he later obtained a Bachelor in Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance. Shortly after, he founded his Grand Pianoramax group, with which he released 6 albums and 3 vinyls internationally, and performed around the world at festivals such as the Tokyo Jazz Festival, SXSW in Texas, CMJ Music Marathon in New York, and Paléo Festival in Nyon, to name a few. Collaborators of this project include drum visionaries Jojo Mayer, Deantoni Parks and American spoken-word artists and poets Black Cracker and Mike Ladd. He has also collaborated and recorded with renowned artists including Roy Ayers, The Last Poets, Les Nubians, Erik Truffaz, Burhan Öçal, Maria João, and Grégoire Maret.
In parallel, he also toured with his solo piano project and released “Dawnscape” (2014), a first album produced in collaboration with the Montreux Jazz Festival and released at the Cully Jazz Festival. After over two years of research and production in both graphics and music, Léo Tardin now performs with Le piano illustré, creating drawings that are projected live (stop-motion effect) while he plays the piano. Born in 1976 in Geneva, Léo Tardin spent ten years in New York, followed by two years in Berlin, before settling back in his hometown, where he teaches and serves as dean at the Ecole des Musiques Actuelles.
Koko Taylor was born in Tokyo and first recognized for her musical skills after performing a song she composed at 5 ½ years of age on national radio. She sang in a trio with her sisters under the guidance of her mother, a pianist. Koko then learned the transverse flute, the piano, the recorder (diploma in early music with Gabriel Garrido, Geneva Early Music Center), and the oud (2 years in Iraq with Ustad Ruhi-al-Hammash). She was a student of Raymondo Thévenot on the kéna, of Patrick Bielser on the alphorn, and of Stéphane Métrayer on the tuba. Koko was a member of the Heinrich Schütz Chor in Tokyo, founder of the Daedalus ensemble (15th century European music), and member of La Brante (village music of Bernex) and of the Ernest Platini Quartet on tuba. She performs regularly with the brass quintet “Post TeneBrass Quintet.” Since 1992, Koko has toured Germany, Japan, Africa, and Poland with the “Christmas Trio” (Christmas carols from all countries with Tomoko Masur and Rui dos Reis). Since 2010, she has learned the Schwyz accordion and the clarinet. She has also taught recorder for 30 years at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique, Danse et Théâtre de Genève.
A versatile solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, flutist Anna Urrey leads a dynamic and multifaceted career. She has performed with ensembles such as The Knights, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony, Mark Morris Dance Group, NOVUS NY, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Camelot on Broadway. Anna spent three summer seasons at the Castleton Festival led by conductor Lorin Maazel, and recently completed her second consecutive holiday season with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra. A devoted chamber musician, Anna serves as the core flutist of Frisson, an acclaimed shape-shifting ensemble that tours extensively nationwide. She is also the flutist and Co-Artistic Director of Exponential Ensemble, a New York City–based chamber group dedicated to innovative programming and to commissioning new works. Anna’s playing can be heard on a variety of recordings, ranging from soundtracks for the feature films Radium Girls, Little Women, and Goodnight Mommy, to playing Principal Flute in the Experiential Orchestra's GRAMMY Award–winning recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s "The Prison," to the Exponential Ensemble's recently released debut album, "Matters of Time." A dedicated educator, Anna is a Teaching Artist with the New York Philharmonic, serves on the flute faculty at the Marymount School of New York, and is a proud Wm. S. Haynes Artist. annaurrey.com
Praised for his “entrancing” performances (National Sawdust Log) and “tonal beauty” (The Strad), Caleb van der Swaagh is a versatile chamber musician and soloist. In demand as a chamber musician, Caleb is the former cellist of the GRAMMY-nominated Aizuri Quartet and a core member of Exponential Ensemble. An advocate of contemporary music, he is a member of counter)induction, Ensemble Échappé, and Ensemble Ipse as well as performing regularly with other leading contemporary music ensembles. He also performs his own compositions and arrangements. His extensive discography includes albums on New Focus Recordings, Albany Records, Bright Shiny Things, and Avie Records among others. Caleb is a graduate of the Columbia University – Juilliard Exchange program, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music and he is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect. His primary teachers are Bonnie Hampton, Laurence Lesser, and David Geber. Caleb is the cello professor at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase College. calebvanderswaagh.com
Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong is a unique and vibrant performer who is equally at home in both Baroque and standard violin repertoire. In 2020, she made history when she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming the only baroque artist to receive the honor. Her exceptional blend of technical virtuosity on gut strings, expressive musicianship, and understanding of period performance practices has garnered international critical acclaim and a dedicated following. Equally accomplished on the modern violin, Rachell made her first public appearance with Philharmonia Northwest at age 11 and has since performed as a soloist with orchestras such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony, among many others. Among her many awards, Rachell was the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Rachell attended The University of Texas at Austin, Indiana University, and The Juilliard School, where she was a Kovner Fellow recipient. Rachell performs on a baroque violin from the school of Joachim Tielke ca. 1700, and a violin made in 1953 by Carlo de March. She currently resides in New York City with her two bunnies. www.rachellwong.com
Violinist-violist hybrid Christine Wu has been hailed for her “strikingly bold sound” and “technical facility” (Theater Jones), and performs internationally with recent solo appearances in Chicago, Sendai, New York City, and Berlin. Her live premiere of Jeffrey Mumford’s verdant cycles of deepening spring with the Chicago Composers Orchestra debuted on Jeffrey Mumford: Echoing Depths with Albany Records in 2023. She has also been named a recipient of an Audience Prize at the 8th Sendai International Music Competition, the CD Recording Prize with Outhere Music at the inaugural Berlin Prize for Young Artists competition, as well as the winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition, and at the Aspen Music Festival and School’s Low Strings Concerto Competition as a violist. Christine studied at the Manhattan School of Music, The Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music with Sylvia Rosenberg, Nicholas Mann, Masao Kawasaki, and Jaime Laredo. She also holds a minor in Business Management from Case Western Reserve University. christinewwu.com
Violinist Jocelyn Zhu’s work has taken her across the globe to over thirty countries, bringing features on Good Morning America, PBS, The Today Show, and WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase. Her collaborators and instructors include Catherine Cho, David Finckel, Alan Gilbert, Hyo Kang, Joseph Kalichstein, and Itzhak Perlman, and she is the recipient of the Juilliard School Career Grant, the McGraw Hill Robert Sherman Award, the National Trustees Grant, the Tarisio Trust Young Artists Grant, and the US Department of State Federal Assistance Award. A passionate advocate of arts in society, she founded and is the co-director of Concerts for Compassion, a non-for-profit benefiting refugees worldwide. jocelynzhu.com
Artistic Directors
Lauded for her “impeccable technique and artistic interpretation” [The Columbian], pianist Melinda Lee Masur has performed on all three stages of Carnegie Hall, at London's Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room, the Berliner Philharmonie, at the Ravinia Festival, Festival Les Muséiques Basel and in Boston’s Symphony Hall. An avid chamber musician, Masur has performed with such artists as Augustin Hadelich, Alban Gerhardt, Fanny Clamagirand, Adrian Brendel and Thomas Quasthoff.
She is pianist and founding member of The Lee Trio, praised worldwide for its “gripping immediacy and freshness” and "rich palette of tone colours" [The Strad]. The Trio has garnered awards such as the Recording Prize at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung grant in Berlin and has given world, American and European premieres of piano trios by composers including Edmund Finnis, Uljas Pulkkis, Nathaniel Stookey, Philip Lasser, Jane Antonia Cornish & Sylvie Bodorova and garnered awards such as the Recording Prize at the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and the Gotthard-Schierse-Stiftung grant in Berlin.
Masur has a passion for working with the next generations of musicians and has taught at the University of Chicago and Boston University, and will serve on the Piano & Chamber Music Faculty at Stanford University this Fall. Masur is the Director of Piano Chamber Music and Co-Director of the Young Artists Piano Program at the BU Tanglewood Institute. A graduate of Harvard University and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover, Germany, Melinda Lee Masur is a Steinway Artist. theleetrio.com
Conductor and Grammy-nominated producer Ken-David Masur has been hailed as “fearless” [SD Union Tribune] and “a brilliant and commanding conductor” [Leipziger Volkszeitung]. As the Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Masur leads a range of dynamic programs with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, where his programming throughout the season continues to increase representation in the performance canon. He recently concluded the second year of an MSO artistic partnership with pianist Aaron Diehl, a collaboration forged through several seasons of the Chelsea Music Festival, and begins a new partnership with baritone Dashon Burton. As Principal Conductor of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Masur leads concerts throughout the season, including an annual Bach Marathon.
Other recent engagements include debuts with the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville and Omaha Symphony Orchestras, and a return to Poland’s Wroclaw Philharmonic. Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with the young musicians of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has led orchestras and masterclasses at Juilliard, the New England Conservatory, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and at leading universities and conservatories throughout the world. Masur graduated from Columbia University, where he served as first Music Director of the Bach Society Orchestra, building on his education as boy soprano in the Gewandhaus Children‘s Chorus. kendavidmasur.com