Yehuda Hanani
Named “one of the most polished performers of the post-Starker generation and a consistently expressive artist” by The New York Times, Yehuda Hanani’s charismatic playing and profound interpretations bring him acclaim and reengagements across the globe. He has won wide international recognition as soloist, chamber musician and inspiring pedagogue. His concerto appearances have been with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, San Antonio, New Orleans, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Irish National Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Taipei and Seoul symphonies among many other orchestras, and he has toured with I Solisti de Zagreb, conducting from the cello. A frequent guest at Aspen, Bowdoin, Chautauqua, Yale at Norfolk, Great Lakes, Casals Prades, Finland Festival, Ottawa, Oslo, Round Top Institute, Manchester, and the Australia Chamber Music festivals, he has collaborated in performances with preeminent fellow musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Aaron Copland, Christoph Eschenbach, David Robertson, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Itzhak Perlman, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, Dawn Upshaw, Yefim Bronfman, Eliot Fisk, the Tokyo, Vermeer, Muir, Escher, Ariel, Colorado, and Manhattan quartets. His recording of the monumental Alkan Cello Sonata received a Grand Prix du Disque nomination, and on CD and in live performances, he has given premières of works of Nikolai Miaskovsky, Lukas Foss, Leo Ornstein, Paul Schoenfield, Thea Musgrave, Joan Tower, Eduard Franck, Osvaldo Golijov, Lera Auerbach, Tamar Muskal, Virgil Thomson, William Perry and Pulitzer Prize winners Bernard Rands and Zhou Long. In New York City, he has appeared as soloist at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully, and the Metropolitan Museum. Among the early designers and proponents of thematic programming, his engaging chamber music with commentary series, Close Encounters With Music, has captivated audiences from Miami to Kansas City, Omaha, Detroit, Calgary, Scottsdale, the Berkshires, and at the Frick Collection in New York City. A three-time recipient of the Martha Baird Rockefeller grant, Mr. Hanani’s studies were with Leonard Rose at Juilliard and with Pablo Casals. He has inspired scores of cellists as Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and previously served on the faculty of the Peabody Conservatory. Artistic director of Berkshire High Peaks Festival, he presents master classes internationally at conservatories and for orchestras, including the Juilliard School, University of Indiana at Bloomington, New England Conservatory, McGill University, Paris Conservatoire, Berlin Hochschule für Music, Royal Academy of Music and Guildhall School in London, Tokyo National University, Jerusalem Academy of Music, the Central Conservatories in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and the New World Symphony in Miami. In recognition of his distinguished teaching, he was given the title of honorary professor of the Tianjin Conservatory, China. His objective is to instill a sense of wonder and adventure in young musicians, to lead them to technical mastery and bridge tradition with innovation. He now is a member of the faculty of the Mannes College of Music in New York City.
Avalon Quartet
Described by the Chicago Tribune as “an ensemble that invites you — ears, mind, and spirit — into its music,” the Avalon String Quartet has established itself as one of the country’s leading chamber music ensembles. They have performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd St Y, Merkin Hall, and Bargemusic in New York; the Library of Congress and National Gallery of Art in Washington DC; Wigmore Hall in London; and Herculessaal in Munich. Other performances include appearances at the Bath International Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Caramoor, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Dame Myra Hess Concerts, Los Angeles Music Guild, and the Ravinia Festival. The quartet performed the complete Beethoven Cycle for Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary Celebration at its concert series in historic Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University and has presented the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven, Bartok, and Brahms at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Avalon is quartet-in-residence at the Northern Illinois University School of Music, a position formerly held by the Vermeer Quartet. Additional teaching activities have included the Interlochen Advanced Quartet Program, Madeline Island Music Camp, and the Britten-Pears School in England, as well as masterclasses at universities and conservatories throughout the United States. Additionally, they have given numerous performances and presentations to young audiences in under-resourced schools and communities. The Avalon captured the top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich (2000) and First Prize at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York (1999). In its early years, the ensemble trained intensively with the Juilliard Quartet at The Juilliard School, the Emerson Quartet at Hartt, and the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University. Members of the quartet are Blaise Magniere and Marie Wang, violins; Anthony Devroye, viola; and Cheng-Hou Lee, cello.
“This is quite simply one of the most polished and dynamic young string quartets I have come across.” – Chicago Tribune
“Great warmth and tenderness” – NY Times
“Drop-dead gorgeous!” – ClassicsToday
Jordan Bak
Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations, and fearless power. Critics have described him as “an exciting new voice in Classical performance” (I Care If You Listen) and lauded his “haunting lyrical grace” (Gramophone). The 2021 YCAT Robey Artist and a top laureate of the 2020 Sphinx Competition, Bak is also a Grand Prize winner and Audience Prize recipient of the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the recipient of the 2019 Samuel Sanders Tel Aviv Museum Prize and the 2019 John White Special Prize from the Tertis International Viola Competition. Other recent accolades include being named one of ClassicFM’s “30 Under 30” Rising Stars and Musical America’s New Artist of the Month. Bak’s enthusiastically-received debut album IMPULSE (Bright Shiny Things) was released in May 2022, garnering over one million streams on major digital media platforms and featuring new compositions by Tyson Gholston Davis, Toshio Hosokawa, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, and Joan Tower. A new music advocate, Bak gave the world premieres of Kaija Saariaho’s Du gick, flög for viola and mezzo-soprano, Jessica Meyer’s Excessive Use of Force for solo viola and On fire…no, after you for viola, mezzo-soprano and piano, and Augusta Read Thomas’ Upon Wings of Words for string quartet and soprano. Bak has appeared as soloist with the Sarasota Orchestra, London Mozart Players, New York Classical Players, Juilliard Orchestra and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra among others. As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has been heard at some of the world’s greatest performance venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, Perelman Theater at The Kimmel Center, Elgar Concert Hall, and Helsinki Musiikkitalo. Bak’s recent performances include recitals at Kravis Center, Wiltshire Music Centre, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harriman-Jewell Series and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.
Fabio Bidini
Italian pianist Fabio Bidini is one of this generation’s top-flight pianists. His appearances have included performances with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, Dallas Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra Prague at the Rudolphinum, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra at Liszt Academy Hall. He has collaborated with conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas, Max Valdes, Dimitry Sitkovetsky, Ivan Fisher, Jesús López Cobos, JoAnn Falletta, Zoltan Kocsis, Michael Christie, and Gianandrea Noseda. Bidini’s schedule last season included orchestral appearances with the Buffalo Philharmonic, where he has performed close to a dozen times, and with the Fresno Philharmonic. In great demand as a chamber music partner, he is the pianist of the highly acclaimed Los Angeles Piano Trio and has enjoyed artistic collaboration with many ensembles and artists including Trio Solisti, the Modigliani Quartet, American String Quartet, Janacek Quartet, Brodsky Quartet, Szymanowski Quartet, Zoltan Kocsis, and Dimitri Ashkenazy. In 2015 the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles founded the Carol Colburn Grigor Piano Chair for him, and he currently serves on the faculty.
Julia Bentley
Mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley followed apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera with appearances in leading operatic roles including Carmen, Rosina, Dorabella, Despina, and both Rossini and Massenet Cinderellas, from Anchorage to New York. Recognized by the New York Times for her “rich sound, deep expressivity and uncanny sense of pitch,” she was featured as a soloist with orchestras led by George Manahan, Raymond Leppard, Oliver Knussen, Robert Shaw and Pierre Boulez. Ms. Bentley performs frequently with Chicago’s many fine ensembles, including the Ear Taxi Festival, Contempo, eighth blackbird, the Spektral Quartet, Fulcrum Point, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Opera Theater, Newberry Consort, Chicago Civic Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera and the MusicNOW series at Symphony Center with conductor Cliff Colnot. She has appeared to critical acclaim at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Hall with Pierre Boulez as the soloist in Le Marteau Sans Maître, and recorded on the Albany, Cedille and Tintagel labels. Recent engagements have included performances of La Damnation de Faust with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Pierrot Lunaire with eighth blackbird, La Cenerentola with Sacramento Opera, Berg’s Lyric Suite with the Emerson String Quartet, and the Bach B Minor Mass with the Apollo Chorus as well as chamber music series in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. She is honored to have a 20-year affiliation with The New Budapest Orpheum Society, participating in their Grammy-nominated CD As Dreams Fall Apart (Cedille Records) and residency at the University of Chicago. She served as an Associate Professor of Voice and Graduate Art Song Literature at the Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.
Lizzie Burns
Musician and educator Lizzie Burns is an experienced and sought after bassist who performs in chamber orchestras, continuo sections, rhythm sections, and new music ensembles. She has performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, recorded for major record labels and motion picture soundtracks, given dozens of world premieres, is a member of The Knights and A Far Cry, and is on faculty at the Hartt School of Music and the Mannes Conservatory at The New School. Drawing abundant inspiration from her colleagues, she works with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Century Chamber Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), The Orchestra of St Luke’s, and The New York City Ballet Orchestra. As an experienced historical bassist she has performed with the Handel and Haydn Society, Tafelmusik Baroque, and Teatro Neuovo. She is energized by collaborations with composers and has premiered works by Julia Wolfe, Caroline Shaw and Pauline Oliveros among many others, and has played as soloist for contemporary double bass repertoire across the country including works by Jacob Druckman, John Cage, Mario Davidovsky and James Tenney. She played on Broadway in Dave Malloy’s “Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812” alongside Josh Groban. Burns has recorded with soloists Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Pekka Kuusisto, Avi Avital and Nicholas Phan as well as popular artists including Jon Batiste, Chris Thile, Phoebe Bridgers, Ingrid Michaelson, Emily King, Wye Oak, and Joe Jackson. She has appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, recorded for the Sony Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, New Amsterdam, and Nonesuch record labels, and can be heard on popular film and television soundtracks including HBO’s hit series “Succession.”
Michael Chertock
Michael Chertock made his orchestral debut at the age of 17, performing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with Andrew Litton conducting and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1999 with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, performing Duke Ellington’s New World A’Comin’. He has recorded John Alden Carpenter’s Concertino for Piano and Orchestra with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Abbey Road Studio; the Roger Davis Piano Concerto in F, with the Sofia Philharmonic; and the Rhapsodies of Piano and Orchestra of William Perry with the RTE Orchestra of Dublin, Ireland. He has toured Asia with the Boston Pops and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Chertok’s 2003 performance on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Petrouchka with Paavo Järvi turned in rave reviews in Gramophone and American Record Guide. In 2005, he performed Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major with Keith Lockhart and the National Youth Orchestra of London. Later that year, he performed the world premiere of “Jeux Deux” for hyper-piano and orchestra by Todd Machover, commissioned by the Boston Pops expressly for Mr. Chertock and later repeated at MIT and in Portugal. Other conductors he has worked with include James Conlon, Jaime Laredo and Erich Kunzel with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Utah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Dayton Philharmonic. Festival appearances have been at Steans Institute of the Ravinia Festival and Grand Tetons. Additional recordings are Cinematic Piano, Chamber Music of Frank Proto, Palace of the Winds, Christmas at the Movies, Love at the Movies and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Festival Prelude for Organ and Orchestra, on which he was the organ soloist. In 1991, Mr. Chertok was awarded the silver medal at the World Piano Competition of the American Music Scholarship Association. He received bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where he is currently chair of the piano department.
Luke Fleming
Praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his “glowing refinement,” violist Luke Fleming‘s performances have been described by The Strad as “confident and xpressive…playing with uncanny precision,” and lauded by Gramophone for their “superlative technical and artistic execution.” Festival appearances include the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Perlman Music Program, the Norfolk and Great Lakes Chamber Music Festivals, the Melbourne Festival, Bravo!Vail, and Festival Mozaic. Formerly the violist of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet, he has served as Artist-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and received the National Federation of Music Clubs Centennial Chamber Music Award. He was awarded First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. In 2015, Mr. Fleming became the Founding Artistic Director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players, a New York-based chamber music collective, and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Viola at the University of New Orleans School of the Arts. Mr. Fleming holds the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts, Artist Diploma, and Master of Music from the Juilliard School, a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Louisiana State University.
Stacey Garrop
Stacy Garrop’s music is centered on dramatic and lyrical storytelling. The sharing of stories is a defining element of our humanity; we strive to share with others the experiences and concepts that we find compelling. She shares stories by taking audiences on sonic journeys—some simple and beautiful, while others are complicated and dark–depending on the needs and dramatic shape of the narrative. Dr. Garrop is a full-time freelance composer living in the Chicago area. Her catalog covers a wide range, with works for orchestra, opera, oratorio, wind ensemble, choir, art song, various sized chamber ensembles, and works for solo instruments. Recent commissions include Forging Steel for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Goddess Triptych for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Spectacle of Light for the Music of the Baroque Orchestra, Berko’s Journey for the Omaha Symphony, Song of Orpheus for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, The Battle for the Ballot for the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, In a House Besieged for The Crossing on texts by Lydia Davis, and Alpenglow, a double concerto for saxophone, tuba, and wind ensemble commissioned by a consortium of 18 organizations. Notable past commissions include My Dearest Ruth for soprano and piano with text by Martin Ginsburg, the husband of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Glorious Mahalia for the Kronos Quartet; Give Me Hunger for Chanticleer; Rites for the Afterlife for the Akropolis and Calefax Reed Quintet; Slipstream for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Musicians Chamber Music Series; and Terra Nostra (oratorio), commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Society and Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus. Dr. Garrop’s current commissions include upcoming projects with the U.S. Navy Band, Fauré Centennial Festival, and Chicago Opera Theater for a new opera with librettist Jerre Dye. Garrop has received numerous awards and grants including an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fromm Music Foundation Grant, Barlow Prize and three Barlow Endowment commission. Recent performances of her orchestral works were given by the Baltimore, Chicago, Fort Collins, Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Reading, Richmond, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras, of her wind ensemble works by the U.S. Marine Band and U.S. Navy Band; and of her chamber works by the Avalon String Quartet, Boston Trio, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Échappé, Kronos Quartet and the Lincoln Trio. Theodore Presser Company and ECS Publishing carry her works. Garrop is a Cedille Records artist with pieces currently on twelve CDs. In 2022-2023, Dr. Garrop served as the featured composer of the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival, Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival, and the University of Texas at San Antonio New Music Festival, with additional guest residencies at Michigan State University, Florida State University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder. Garrop is an ongoing mentor for Chicago a cappella’s HerVoice Emerging Women Choral Composers Competition. She was the first Emerging Opera Composer of Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Program (2018-2020), during which she composed The Transformation of Jane Doe and What Magic Reveals with librettist Jerre Dye. She also held a 3-year composer-in-residence position with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra (2016-2019), funded by New Music USA and the League of American Orchestras. She has served as composer-in-residence with the Albany Symphony (2009/2010) and Skaneateles Festival (2011), and as well as on faculty of the Fresh Inc Festival (2012-2017). Dr. Garrop earned degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Indiana University-Bloomington (D.M.). She taught composition and orchestration full-time at Roosevelt University from 2000 to 2016 before leaving to launch her freelance career.
Adam Golka
Polish-American pianist Adam Golka (born 1987) first performed all of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas when he was 18 years-old, and in 2020-2021 he performed the cycle of Beethoven’s 32 Sonatas at the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park (Florida) and at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (NYC), in socially-distanced and live-stream formats. These were complemented by 32 short films he created, known as 32@32 (available on YouTube), documenting his preparation for climbing the Everest of piano literature and featuring an amalgam of distinguished guests, from an astrophysicist to Alfred Brendel. Golka’s principal teachers have been José Feghali, with whom he studied at Texas Christian University, and Leon Fleisher, at the Peabody Conservatory. Since finishing his formal studies, he continued to develop his artistry through mentorship from Alfred Brendel, Richard Goode, Murray Perahia, Mitsuko Uchida, Evelyne Crochet, and Sir András Schiff, who invited him to give recitals at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Tonhalle Zürich for the “Sir András Schiff Selects” concert series. He has given solo recitals in Tokyo’s Musashino Hall, New York’s Alice Tully Hall (presented by the Musicians Emergency Fund), and Amsterdam’s Kleine Zaal at the Concertgebouw. As a concerto soloist, he has appeared with dozens of orchestras, including the BBC Scottish Symphony, NACO (Ottawa), Warsaw Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, as well as the San Francisco, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, New Jersey, and San Diego symphonies in the US, enjoying collaborations with conductors Joseph Swensen, Donald Runnicles, Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Wigglesworth, and his brother, conductor Tomasz Golka. He made his Carnegie Stern Auditorium début in 2010 with the New York Youth Symphony. Chamber music is an integral part of Golka’s life, and he has performed at the Beethoven Bonn festivals, as well as Konzerthaus Berlin, and at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor chamber music festivals in the US. Adam’s professional life began when he was awarded the first prize and audience prize at the 2nd China Shanghai International Piano Competition.
Ara Gregorian
Known for his thrilling performances and musical creativity, violinist/violist Ara Gregorian made his New York recital debut in 1996 in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and his debut as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall in 1997. He has since established himself as one of the most sought-after and versatile musicians of his generation with performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and in major metropolitan cities throughout the world including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Cleveland, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Helsinki. Throughout his career, Gregorian has taken an active role as a performer and presenter of chamber music. He is the founder and artistic director of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina, which is celebrating its 20th Anniversary Season, and has appeared at festivals worldwide including the SpringLight (Finland), Storioni (Holland), Summer Solstice (Canada), Casals (Puerto Rico), Intimacy of Creativity (Hong Kong), Voice of Music in the Upper Galilee (Israel), Bard, Bravo! Vail Valley, Taos, Beethoven Institute, Santa Fe, Skaneateles, Music in the Vineyards, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Cactus Pear, Wintergreen, Mt. Desert, Chesapeake, Madeline Island, Kingston, Manchester and Strings in the Mountains festivals. Gregorian is a member of the Cooperstown Quartet, has performed extensively as a member of Concertante and the Daedalus Quartet, and has recorded for National Public Radio, New York’s WQXR radio station, and the Bridge and Kleos labels. An active and committed teacher, Gregorian is the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival Distinguished Professor in Music at East Carolina University where he has been on the violin/viola faculty since 1998. He has taught at numerous summer festivals and seminars and has taken a leading role in creating performing opportunities that bring together talented students, young professionals and world-renowned musicians through the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival’s Next Gen on the Road, Summer Chamber Music Institute and Winter Workshop initiatives.
Ieva Jokubaviciute
Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute’s powerfully and intricately crafted performances have earned her critical acclaim throughout North America and Europe. Her ability to communicate the essential substance of a work has led critics to describe her as possessing “razor-sharp intelligence and wit” and “subtle, complex, almost impossibly detailed and riveting in every way” (The Washington Post) and as “an artist of commanding technique, refined temperament and persuasive insight” (The New York Times). Labor Records released her debut recording in 2010 to critical international acclaim, leading to recitals in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Vilnius, and Toulouse. Jokubaviciute made her orchestral debuts with the Chicago Symphony; in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; with the American Youth Philharmonic in 2016, and in 2017, she appeared with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo in Uruguay. Her piano trio—Trio Cavatina—won the 2009 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition. Her recording of solo piano works by Janacek and Suk was also released to critical acclaim in 2014. In 2016, she began a collaboration with the violinist Midori, with recitals in Canada, at the Cartagena International Music Festival in Colombia, and in Germany and Austria. They have given recitals in Japan, Germany, Austria, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, India, and Sri Lanka. Her most recent piano solo recording Northscapes, with works written within the last decade by composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries, includes composers Kaja Saariaho, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Lasse Thoresen, Bent Sorensen and Pēteris Vasks. A much sought after chamber musician and collaborator, Ieva regularly appears at international music festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England; Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Lubeck, Germany; and the Joaquin Turina Chamber Music Festival in Seville, Spain. She earned degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and from Mannes College of Music in New York City, her principal teachers have been Seymour Lipkin and Richard Goode. She is Associate Professor of the Practice of Piano at Duke University in Durham, NC.
Hye-Jin Kim
Known for her musical sensitivity and deeply engaging performances that transport audiences beyond mere technical virtuosity, violinist Hye-Jin Kim leads a versatile career as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician since her First Prize win at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at the age of nineteen and a subsequent win at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Kim has performed as soloist with major orchestras worldwide including the Philadelphia, New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, BBC Concert (UK), Seoul Philharmonic (Korea), Pan Asia Symphony (Hong Kong), and Hannover Chamber (Germany). She has appeared in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Kimmel Center Verizon Hall, the Kravis Center, Salzburg’s Mirabel Schloss, and Wigmore Hall in London. At the invitation of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, she performed at the U.N. Headquarters in both Geneva and New York and served as a cultural representative for Korea in Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan through concerts and outreach engagements. A passionate chamber musician, Kim appears in notable chamber music festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, Four Seasons, Music from Angel Fire, Music@Menlo, Seoul Spring, Bridgehampton, Music in the Vineyards and Prussia Cove in England. A dedicated teacher for the next generation of musicians, she presents master classes throughout the US and is invited as a jury member in international and national competitions. Born in Seoul, Hye-Jin Kim entered the Curtis Institute at age fourteen and earned her master’s degree at New England Conservatory. Her debut CD with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, “From the Homeland,” featuring works by Debussy, Smetana, Sibelius, and Janacek is available on CAG Records. Kim is Associate Professor of Violin at East Carolina University and a member of the Cooperstown Quartet. Kim is the creator of Lullaby Dreams, a project that brings beauty and humanity to the hospital experience of babies, families and medical staff in neonatal intensive care units and children’s hospitals through music.
Jong-Gyung Park
Jong-Gyung Park made her orchestral debut at the age of thirteen with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and has since appeared with the Israel Philharmonic, Moscow Symphony, Haifa Symphony, Montevideo Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, and Belgian National Orchestra. Recent concert activities include solo and chamber music recitals in Solothurn, Switzerland, the Royal Theatre La Monnaie in Brussels, and Sala Verdi in Milan. Born in Korea, where she started studying the piano at age three, her musical journey began at the Preparatory School of the Tokyo Music College in Japan, the Sun-Hwa Music School in Korea, and the New England Conservatory Prep in the U.S. She earned her Bachelor’s degree at NEC in Boston, followed by a residency at “Il Fondazione per Il Pianoforte” in Como, Italy where she was able to interact with eminent figures in the music world. She also earned an Artist Diploma from the Hochschule für Music in Munich. Ms. Park has received numerous international awards including Bronze medals at the Sviatoslav Richter International piano competition, the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition in Israel, the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy and the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Belgium.
Max Levinson
Pianist Max Levinson’s career was launched when he won first prize at the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, the first American to achieve this distinction. He was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and in 2005, the Andrew Wolf Award for his chamber music playing. The Boston Globe proclaimed: “The questioning, conviction, and feeling in his playing invariably remind us of the deep reasons why music is important to us, why we listen to it, why we care so much about it.” Levinson has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Boston Pops, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland among others. He has worked with such conductors as Robert Spano, Neemi Järvi, Uriel Segal, Joseph Swensen, Jeffrey Kahane and Alasdair Neale. Artistic Director of the San Juan Chamber Music Festival (Ouray, Colorado), he has appeared at major music festivals including Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, La Jolla, Bravo/Vail, Seattle, Killington, Vancouver, Cartagena, and Switzerland’s Davos Festival. Max Levinson garnered international accolades for his two recordings. Max Levinson, his debut recording, traces the musical lineage between Brahms, Schumann, Schönberg and Kirchner. American Record Guide declared Levinson’s second disc, Out of Doors: Piano Music of Béla Bartók “an important recording and a great one. The disc blew me out of my chair….Hearing performances as riveting as these produces a rare frisson; indeed, this is the most brilliant and exciting Bartók piano disc I have heard. On the basis of only two recordings, Mr. Levinson has created the myth of a pianist with everything.” He has experimented with internet broadcast, served as Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Lowell House for four years, and has been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today” and “A Note to You.” He has also taught master classes at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Harvard, MIT, Brigham Young University, Rutgers, the University of Washington, UCLA, the Colburn School, and Boston University. Mr. Levinson is chair of the Piano department at the Boston Conservatory, and is also a faculty member at the New England Conservatory.
Jay Lesenger
During Jay Lesenger’s more than 45-year career as stage director, administrator and teacher, he has become known for intelligent, honest productions which are dramatically compelling and musically knowledgeable. Mr. Lesenger has produced and directed more than two hundred opera productions for the New York City Opera, Chautauqua Opera Company, Atlanta, Hawaii, Milwaukee, New Orleans (the world premiere of Thea Musgrave’s “Pontalba”), Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids, Opera Pacific, Palm Beach, Pittsburgh, San Diego,Virginia and many others. His European debut was with Opera Nordfjord, Norway, and he has directed for Volkstheater Rostock in Germany. His recent Glimmerglass Opera production of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles was subsequently seen at the Royal Opera House at Versailles. For 21 years, from 1994 to 2015, he was the General and Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Opera Company, the longest serving general director in the company’s history. As a nationally recognized teacher of acting for singers, he has taught on the School of Music opera faculties at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. He has staged productions for the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes/The New School, Juilliard, Indiana University and the Academy of Vocal Arts. A frequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Opera Index and other vocal competitions, he holds a Masters degree from Indiana University and a Bachelors of Music & Theater from Hofstra University. His Acting Masterclasses for Singers are transformative.
Makaris
Celtic Baroque Band Makaris formed in 2018 to explore the broad musical heritage and culture of Scotland, and the following year released its first disc, Wisp in the Dell, to critical international acclaim. (“Absolutely wonderful…one of the very best releases of 2019”—MusicWeb International; “Marvelous…Highly recommended” – Fanfare; “Delightful…a winning combination” –Early Music Review.) The ensemble’s second recording was the EP Tam Lin, a modern fairytale folk opera composed by Fiona Gillespie and Elliot Cole, and the third, The Galland David Rizzio (“…beguiling energy and integrity…”—Early Music Review; “A beautiful intersection of folk melodies and dance rhythms with the airy textures, refined gestures, and virtuosic asides of the Galant style.”—Early Music America; “You can’t help but feel like you’ve suddenly traveled back in time and are enjoying a tankard of old Scottish ale inside a seedy establishment”—Classical Music Sentinel). Based in and around New York City, Makaris maintains a roster of early, contemporary, and folk music specialists at the top of their fields from around the country. A makar (pl. makaris) was a royal court troubadour of medieval Scotland; the term was resurrected centuries later and is used now to describe a Scottish bard or poet.
Kobi Malkin
Israeli violinist Kobi Malkin, is making his mark as both as an exciting soloist and a perceptive chamber musician. He was praised by the New York Times for his “aptly traversed palette of emotions, from languid introspection to fevered intensity with gorgeous tone and an edge-of-seat intensity.” As a soloist, Malkin has appeared with the Ashdod Chamber Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Jerusalem Music Academy Symphony Orchestra Haifa, New England Conservatory’s Philharmonia, Symphonette Ra’anana, the Ruse Philharmonic Orchestra, the Young Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orquesta de Camara de Bellas Artes, the Saint Louis Symphony and the Chicago Philharmonic under the batons of such conductors as Ze’ev Dorman, Stanley Sperber and Hugh Wolff. Malkin’s musicianship has been recognized by many awards, including the prestigious Ilona Kornhauser prize in the America-Israel Cultural Foundation’s Aviv Competitions, New England Conservatory’s Violin Competition, Haifa Symphony Orchestra’s Zvi Rotenberg Competition, the Canetti International Violin Competition, as well as scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, and has performed at an array of venues such as New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Ruse’s Philharmonic Hall, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. He holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sylvia Rosenberg and Donald Weilerstein, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, where he worked under the guidance of Miriam Fried.
Emily Marvosh
American contralto Emily Marvosh has been gaining recognition for her “plum-wine voice,” and “graceful allure,” on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Disney Hall, Lincoln Center, Prague’s Smetana Hall and Vienna’s Stefansdom. Following her solo debut at Boston’s Symphony Hall in 2011, she has been a frequent soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society under the direction of Harry Christophers. Recent solo appearances include the American Bach Soloists, Washington National Cathedral, and Charlotte Symphony, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and John Davenant’s Macbeth with the Henry Purcell Society of Boston. Upcoming engagements include Mahler’s Third Symphony with the Lexington Symphony Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem with the Knoxville Symphony, as well as solo recitals in Tucson and the Boston area. Awards include the prestigious Adams Fellowship at the Carmel Bach Festival, the American Prize in the Oratorio and Art Song divisions, and second place in the New England Regional NATSAA competition. She is also the inaugural Resident Artist with the Lexington (MA) Symphony and a member of the Lorelei Ensemble, which promotes innovative new music for women. With Lorelei, she has enjoyed collaborations with composers David Lang and Julia Wolfe, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, A Far Cry, Duke Performances, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A frequent recitalist and proud native of Michigan, Emily Marvosh created a chamber recital celebrating the history and culture of her home state, which won a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award. She belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. She supports Rosie’s Place and the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music through her performances. Ms. Marvosh holds degrees from Central Michigan University and Boston University.
Grace Park
Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for playing that is “fresh, different and exhilarating” and by Strings Magazine as “intensely wrought and burnished,” violinist Grace Park captivates audiences with her virtuosity and passion. Winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition, she showcases her artistry as soloist and dedicated chamber musician in appearances throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada at venues such as Walt Disney Hall, The Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall and Rockefeller University. She recently made a recital debut at Carnegie Hall and concerto debuts with Prague Philharmonia, Colorado Symphony and Orchestra NOW at the Bard Festival. She has performed in festivals such as Music @ Menlo, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Mozaic, Yellowbarn, and Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach. Ms. Park recently recorded her debut album of works of Mozart and Dvorak with Prague Philharmonia and their music director, Emmanuel Villaume, which is set to be released this spring. A native of Los Angeles, Grace Park began violin studies at age 5 and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Colburn Conservatory and Master of Music from New England Conservatory. She resides in New York City and performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.
Giora Schmidt
Praised by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as “impossible to resist, captivating with lyricism, tonal warmth, and boundless enthusiasm,” violinist Giora Schmidt has appeared as soloist with many prominent symphony orchestras around the globe including Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Canada’s National Arts Centre, Toronto, Vancouver and the Israel Philharmonic. In recital and chamber music, Giora has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, San Francisco Performances, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and Tokyo’s Musashino Cultural Hall. Festival appearances include Ravinia Festival, Santa Fe and Montreal Chamber Music Festivals, Bard, and Music Academy of the West. He has collaborated with eminent musicians including Yefim Bronfman, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, and Michael Tree. Born in Philadelphia to professional musicians from Israel, Schmidt began playing the violin at the age of four. A graduate of the Juilliard School, his teachers have included Dorothy DeLay and Itzhak Perlman. Committed to education and sharing his passion for music, he is currently on the artist faculty at New York University and Orford Musique Academy (Quebec) in the summer. Through technology and social media, he continues to find new ways of reaching young violinists and music lovers around the world. He is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, The Classical Recording Foundation’s Samuel Sanders award, and was a Starling Fellow at the Juilliard School. He plays an 1830 violin by Giuseppe Rocca.
Philip Thompson
Born and raised in NYC, Philip Thompson began studying music at a very young age as part of his homeschool curriculum. Philip studies cello with Yehuda Hanani and is currently a member of the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra. Previous chamber experience includes the NYYS Chamber Program and the Chamber Music Center of New York. He also studies piano with Ronn Yedidia at the New York Piano Academy. He has won various competitions and has played on many well known stages. This past summer, Philip was a participant in the String and Piano programs at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and at Close Encounters With Music’s Berkshire High Peaks Festival, during which he performed at Chesterwood and other venues.
John Viscardi
John Viscardi has moved audiences around the world with his vocal beauty and dramatic intensity, having performed with Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, New York City Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Carolina. Viscardi is a winner of both the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition and the Concorso Internazionale F.P. Tosti. Last season’s engagements included his role début as Cavardossi in Opera Carolina’s Tosca, a production of Pelléas at Mélisande with Los Angeles Opera, Hardin’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall, and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus with Opera San Luis Obispo. This season, Mr. Viscardi will join Opera Louisiane to sing Conrad in Hell’s Bells and Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Montana to sing Rodolfo in La Bohème. Mr. Viscardi attended the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Anthony Zerpa-Falcon
Born in London, Anthony Zerpa-Falcon began playing the piano at the age of seven, studied on a full scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and captured prize after prize in piano competitions – in the Maria Canals competition in Barcelona, the Making Music Young Artists award, the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Dame Myra Hess prize. He furthered his studies at the Piano Foundation in Como, Northern Italy where for two years he received tuition and guidance from luminaries of the piano such as Leon Fleisher, Charles Rosen, Martha Argerich, Karl Schnabel and Alicia de Larrocha. Mr. Falcon performs regularly across the UK, including concerti with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Oxford Symphony Orchestra as well as recitals at the South Bank Centre, Wigmore Hall and Sheldonian Theatre. His career has also taken him to Portugal and Spain, where he became deeply involved in Contemporary music and was professor of chamber music at the Escuela de Musica Contemporanea in Salamanca.
Xiao-Dong Wang
Xiao-Dong Wang has been called the most talented violinist to emerge from China. He began his studies at age 3 with his father, concertmaster of the Shanghai Symphony; he then studied with the renowned teacher Zhao Ji-Yang at the Shanghai Conservatory. As first prize winner in the Menuhin International Violin Competition and the Wieniawski-Lipinski International Violin Competition at the ages of 13 and 15, he was brought to the attention of violin pedagogue Dorothy DeLay who arranged a four-year scholarship at Juilliard. Mr. Wang has performed as soloist with orchestras around the world, including the London Royal Philharmonic, the London Mozart Players, Adelaide, Perth, Queensland symphony orchestras and Sydney Opera Orchestra. His recording credits include the Bartok Concerto No. 2 and Szymanowski Concerto No. 1 for Polygram. He has also appeared performing on both violin and viola in chamber music concerts at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Aspen, Ravinia and festivals and music series worldwide. Wang was the resident soloist of the Shanghai Symphony for the 2012-13 season, during which he also performed as a soloist with other major Chinese orchestras, including the China Philharmonic in Beijing. He is artistic director of the chamber music group Concertante, collaborating with world renowned musicians and producing a vast number of recordings.
Itamar Zorman
Itamar Zorman is one of the most soulful, evocative artists of his generation, distinguished by his emotionally gripping performances and gift for musical storytelling. Since his emergence with the top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, he has wowed audiences all over the world with breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.” His “youthful intensity” and “achingly beautiful” sound shine through in every performance. Mr. Zorman is the winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. He has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Kremerata Baltica, RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin) and American Symphony, working with Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, Valery Gergiev, James DePreist, Karina Canellakis and Yuri Bashmet. Mr. Zorman has performed around the world in halls such as Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Zurich Tonhalle, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, and Teatro Massimo Palermo. As a recitalist he performed at Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debut series, Wigmore Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, the Louvre Museum, Suntory Hall and HR-Sendesaal Frankfurt. Mr. Zorman has participated at Verbier, Marlboro, Brevard, Classical Tahoe and Radio France Festivals. As part of an ongoing exploration of the music of Paul Ben-Haim, Mr. Zorman released a CD of the works for violin and orchestra with BBC National Orchestra of Wales for BIS Records in 2019, entitled “Evocation.” A committed chamber player, he is a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project and a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, winners of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition. Born into a family of musicians in Tel-Aviv, Zorman began his violin studies at the age of six at the Conservatory of Music in Tel-Aviv. He received his Bachelor of Music from the Jerusalem Academy of Music as a student of Hagai Shaham, and his Master of Music from The Juilliard School in 2009. He is an alumnus of the Kronberg Academy where he studied with Christian Tetzlaff and Mauricio Fuks and is the recipient of scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Mr. Zorman serves on the faculty at the Eastman School of Music. He plays on a 1734 Guarneri del Gesù, from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel. Photo by Jamie Jung,
Past Performers
Close Encounters With Music Salutes the many great artists who have joined us over three decades of splendid and inspired music-making in the Berkshires.
Acronym Baroque String Band
Jane Alexander, actress
Amphion String Quartet
American Brass Quintet
Amernet Quartet
Daniel Anker, filmmaker
Ariel String Quartet
Nadine Asin, flute
Biava Quartet
Toby Appel, violin
Lydia Artymiw, piano
Shmuel Ashkenasi, violin
Lera Auerbach, composer
Avalon String Quartet
Aviv String Quartet
Maria Bachman, violin
Christylez Bacon, beatbox artist
Helena Baillie, violin
Lucille Beer, mezzo-soprano
Yehonatan Berick, violin
Boris Berman, piano
Martin Bernheimer, critic
Paul Biss, viola
Javier Bonet, horn
Robert Bonfiglio, harmonica
Michael Boriskin, piano
Borromeo String Quartet
Jim Bouton, baseball legend
Misha Bouvier, baritone
Courtney Budd, soprano
Michael Brown, piano
David Bull, art restorer
Kenji Bunch, composer
Amy Burton, soprano
Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello
Camarata San Marco
James Cammack, double bass
Richard Chamberlain, actor
Chamber Orchestra Kremlin
Michael Chertock, piano
Catherine Cho, violin
Edgar Choueiri, astrophysicist
Kevin Cobb, trumpet
Jean-David Coen, piano
Kenneth Cooper, harpsichord
Cuarteto Latinoamericano
Ran Dank, piano
Mikael Darmanie, piano
Andrew Dawes, violin
James Dick, piano
Arti Dixson, percussion
Dover String Quartet
Cornelius Duffalo, violin
eighth blackbird, sextet
Escher String Quartet
Inna Faliks, piano
Liu Fang, pipa
William Ferguson, tenor
Eliot Fisk, guitar
Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet
Miriam Fried, violin
Erick Friedman, violin
Joanna Genova, violin
Vadim Gluzman, violin
Rivka Golani, viola
Osvaldo Golijov, composer
Ralf Gothoni, piano
Paul Green, clarinet
Joanne Greenberg, novelist
Ara Gregorian, violin
David Grossman, double bass
Matthew Guerrieri, composer
Renana Gutman, piano
Susan Heerema, violinist
Stephanie Houtzeel, mezzo-soprano
Heather Johnson, mezzo-soprano
Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano
Renee Jolles, violin
William Kanengiser, guitar
Erin Keefe, violin
Jonathan Keren, violin and composer
Elizabeth Keusch, soprano
Do Yeon Kim, cello
Hye-Jin Kim, violin
Soovin Kim, violin
Igor Kipnis, harpsichord
Phil Kline, composer, lecturer
David Krakauer, clarinet
Yoon Kwon, violin
Kyung Sun Lee, violin
Soyeon Kate Lee, piano
Richard Lalli, baritone
Owen Leech, composer
Karine Lethiec, viola
Michel Lethiec, clarinet
Ida Levin, violin
Michele Levin, piano
Max Levinson, piano
Cho-Liang Lin, violin
Seymour Lipkin, piano
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
Benjamin Luxon, actor
Sivan Magen, harp
Manhattan Chamber Players
Manhattan String Quartet
Jorge Martin, composer
Emily Marvosh, contralto
Jeremy McCoy, double bass
Sarah McElravy, violin
Stefan Milenkovich, violin
Rainer Moog, viola
Mount Holyoke College Chamber Singers
Muir String Quartet
Thea Musgrave, composer
John Musto, composer
Charles Neidich, clarinet
Adam Neiman, piano
Anton Nel, piano
Michael Nicolas, cello
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Maureen O’Flynn, soprano
Sharon Olds, poet
Richard O’Neill, viola
Tina Packer, actor
Daniel Panner, viola
David Parsons, choreography
Lionel Party, harpsichord
William Perry, composer, lecturer
Daniel Phillips, violin
Ted Piltzecker, vibraphone
Walter Ponce, pianist
Rachel Lee Priday, violin
Prism Quartet
Stephen Prutsman, piano
Christian Puig, Flamenco guitar
William Purvis, horn
Roman Rabinovich, piano
Julian Rachlin, violin
Desmond Richardson, dancer
Alex Richardson, tenor
Jennifer Rivera, mezzo-soprano
Irene Rodriguez, Flamenco dancer
Seth Rogovoy, author
The Rose Ensemble
Ariel Rudiakov, viola
Stephen Sas, double bass
Marc Schachman, baroque oboe
Dov Scheindlin, viola
Giora Schmidt, violin
Bill Schimmel, accordion
Paul Schoenfield, composer
Sebastian Baroque Ensemble
Hagai Shaham, violin
Avirodh Sharma, tabla
William Sharp, baritone
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Yegor Shevtsov, piano
Lisa Shihoten, violin
Skylark
Alexander Shtarkman, piano
James Austin Smith, oboe
Michael Strauss, viola
Brian Suits, piano
Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
Arnaud Sussman, violin
Jeffrey Swann, piano
Emma Tahmizian, piano
Daniel Talamantes, soprano
Arve Tellefsen, violin
James Tocco, piano
Joan Tower, composer and pianist
Tragecomedia Baroque Ensemble
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Elina Vahala, violin
Vermeer String Quartet
Blythe Walker, soprano
Liang Wang, oboe
Xiao-Dong Wang, violin
Sam Waterston, actor
Sigourney Weaver, actress
Robert White, tenor
Calvin Wiersma, violin
Kerry Wilkerson, baritone
Carol Wincenc, flute
Robert Winter, musicologist
Hugo Wolf String Quartet
William Wolfram, piano
Sarah Wolfson, soprano
Angela Yoffe, piano
Judith Zaimont, composer
Peter Zazofsky, violin
Jennifer Zetlan, soprano
Itamar Zorman, violin
and many more …