Featured Composers
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Featured Visual Artists
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Featured Ensembles
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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
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
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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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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