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, Seth Grosshandler, Judith Zaimont, 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.
The Avalon String Quartet
The Avalon Quartet has 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, NPR’s St. Paul Sunday, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Dame Myra Hess Concerts, Los Angeles Music Guild, Ravinia Festival and numerous appearances for Close Encounters With Music in the Berkshires. The quartet performed the complete Beethoven Cycle for Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary Celebration at its concert series in historic Ganz Hall at Roosevelt University. In recent seasons, they presented the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven, Bartók, and Brahms at Fullerton Hall 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 Icicle Creek Chamber Music Institute, 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. In 2018 the quartet released a recording of the complete quartets of Matthew Quayle for Naxos and recorded “Aqua” by Harold Meltzer for Bridge Records, a recording which received a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Compendium. Their debut CD, “Dawn to Dusk,” featuring quartets by Ravel and Janacek, was honored with the 2002 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for best chamber music recording. The quartet’s live performances and conversations are frequently featured on Chicago fine arts radio station WFMT. They have also been heard on New York’s WQXR and WNYC, National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” Canada’s CBC, Australia’s ABC, the ARD of Germany, and France Musique. 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 City (1999). In its early years, the ensemble trained intensively with the Juilliard Quartet at The Juilliard School, the Emerson Quartet at the Hartt School of Music, and the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University. Quartet members are Blaise Magnière and Marie Wang, violins; Anthony Devroye, viola; and Cheng-Hou Lee, cello.
Helena Baillie
London-born Helena Baillie was hailed by The Strad magazine for her “brilliance and poignance,” and stands apart for a rare ease on both violin and viola. American Record Guide praised her “gorgeous singing tone” in an album that “from the opening flourish will be a special recital.” A prizewinner in international competitions including Munich ARD, Banff and Tertis, Helena has performed throughout Europe and the United States, with broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and “Performance Today” for American Public Radio. She has collaborated in chamber music with Pinchas Zukerman, Midori, the Tokyo String Quartet, the Shanghai Quartet, and the Beaux Arts Trio, with whom she performed in a live broadcast from the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. Her love of chamber music has taken her to the La Jolla Summerfest, Tucson Winter Chamber Festival, and the Kronberg Academy Festival in Frankfurt. Ms. Baillie was honored by a Bard Fellowship from 2010-2015. While a Fellow, her projects included Bach Among Us at Bard’s Fisher Center, which she produced and performed in collaboration with dancers of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. In her continued commitment to outreach and education, she has traveled across the globe to engage new audiences under the auspices of Midori’s Music Sharing Foundation. Ms. Baillie graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied violin with Arnold Steinhardt and viola with Roberto Diaz. Pinchas Zukerman, Isaac Stern, Felix Galimir, and Leon Fleisher were formative influences. At Yale University, she studied violin with Peter Oundjian, and she spent a year in Berlin with the eminent violist Wilfried Strehle. She plays a 2012 violin made by Collin Gallahue in association with the studio of Brooklyn-based luthier Sam Zygmuntowicz. Her viola is a 2009 Sam Zygmuntowicz. In addition to her work for Bard, she teaches in the violin and viola program at the Hotchkiss School.
Miranda Cuckson
Praised recently for “a rare style that fuse[s] precision and elegance with passionate intensity and successful risk-taking,” violinist/violist Miranda Cuckson’s playing generates tremendous audience excitement and critical acclaim. In her wide variety of solo and collaborative performances, she continues to evolve and explore. Engaging with Western classical traditions and the many modern musical avenues she has ventured on, Miranda has pursued a personal path motivated by sincere interest and exploration, the expression of any human feelings and experiences, and the realization of virtuosity, craft, and invention. Her particular interests include the playing of stringed instruments in musical cultures and contexts, and the porousness of the arts of interpretation and composition. In the past few years, Miranda has given celebrated concerto debuts at the Vienna Musikverein (playing Georg Friedrich Haas’ Violin Concerto No. 2, which she premiered in four countries), and with John Adams at the Ojai Music Festival. Her live performance of the Ligeti Violin Concerto with the UC Davis Orchestra was released as a commercial recording to great acclaim. In addition to her frequent live concerts around the USA and her hometown of New York City, she has been a featured performer internationally at festivals including Wien Modern, Grafenegg, Sinus Ton, Le GuessWho, West Cork, Bard, Frequency, TimeSpans, Lincoln Center, and Ojai, and such presenters as St. Paul’s Liquid Music, 92NY, Miller Theatre, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Library of Congress, and the Cleveland Museum. She is a core member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), which is working at the forefront of interdisciplinary creation. She and her frequent pianist partner Blair McMillen recently presented recitals at San Francisco Performances, at Boston’s Gardner Museum and the Detroit Institute of Art. Recordings include their ECM Records album of duos by Bartok, Schnittke, and Lutoslawski, the Grammy-nominated “Songs and Structures” with a duo written for them by Harold Meltzer; Michael Hersch’s “the wreckage of flowers”, and a landmark run of albums of duo and solo violin music by American composers Elliott Carter, Jason Eckardt, Roger Sessions, Ralph Shapey, and Donald Martino. Her album, with sound artist Christopher Burns, of Luigi Nono’s haunting, 50-minute “La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura” was named a Recording of the Year by the New York Times, and they have performed it live a dozen times, exploring its spatial and theatrical possibilities in a wide variety of settings. Miranda’s solo albums, also acclaimed, include “Világ” featuring the Bartok Solo Sonata along with folk-flavored recent works; the Korngold and Ponce violin concertos; and “Melting the darkness,” a forward-looking compilation of seven microtonal/electronic pieces. A passionate performer and enthusiastic participant in many music groups and collaborations, Miranda is also the founder/director of non-profit Nunc, with which she has curated concerts and residencies and produced numerous premieres, including ensemble works and opera. She frequently writes and speaks to audiences about music, and she earned her doctorate (and all her music degrees) from The Juilliard School. Dedicated to education, she is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music at New School University.
Gila Goldstein
A versatile musician who has captivated audiences around the world with her artistry, pianist Gila Goldstein has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, the Philippines, Europe and Israel. Notable performances included the Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra and Orquesta Da Camera in Mexico City as well as recitals and concerts at Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall in New York City, Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano, Beijing Concert Hall in China, Seoul National University in Korea, the Purcell Room at the South Bank Center in London, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Musée de Louvre and Cité des Arts in Paris, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Gardner Museum and Tsai Performing Center in Boston, Dame Myra Hess concert series, Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” Series and Symphony Hall in Chicago, ”Great Performances“ series in St. Louis, Israel’s Henry Crown Hall in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum, among others. A Board member of the American Liszt Society (ALS) and the Founder-President of its New York Chapter since 1992, she has been a frequent guest performer at ALS annual festivals around the United States and Canada. She also performed at festivals such as Amalfi Coast, High Peaks, La Jolla, Yellow Barn, Sonus, Summit, Colburn, OpusFest, Jewish Music Festivals in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and London and the Israel Festival. Gila Goldstein has been a sought-after pedagogue for nearly two decades and has given numerous master classes in the US, China and Korea. She is currently a member of the piano faculty at Longy School of Music in Boston. Previous teaching positions included Boston University, BU Tanglewood Institute, Brown University, and New York University. A champion of the music of Israel’s leading composer Paul Ben-Haim for over two decades, Ms. Goldstein has recorded two volumes of his entire piano and chamber works on the Centaur label. Her most recent CD, also on the Centaur label, “Latin-American Piano Gems,” was released in 2024. She obtained her music degrees in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Nina Svetlanova and at Tel-Aviv University School of Music, with Victor Derevianko, both disciples of the legendary pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus.
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 Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and his debut as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall. 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 which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary Season this 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), Taos, Bard, Bravo! Vail Valley, Santa Fe, Skaneateles, Music in the Vineyards, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Cactus Pear, Chesapeake, Madeline Island, Kingston, and Manchester festivals. He is a member of the Cooperstown Quartet, has performed extensively with Concertante and the Daedalus Quartet, and has recorded for National Public Radio, New York’s WQXR, and the Bridge and Kleos labels. An active and committed teacher, Gregorian is the Chair of String and Piano Chamber Music at New England Conservatory. He has served on the violin/viola/chamber music faculty at East Carolina University since 1998, has taken a leading role in creating opportunities for talented students and young professionals through Four Seasons’ Spring/Winter Workshop and Next Generation initiatives, and is on the summer faculty at the Taos School of Music. He performs on a Francesco Ruggeri violin from 1690 and a Grubaugh and Seifert viola from 2006.
Hye-Jin Kim
Violinist Hye-Jin Kim is known for her musical sensitivity and deeply engaging performances that transport audiences beyond technical virtuosity. Her distinguished career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician includes winning First Prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at age nineteen and the Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Kim has performed as soloist with major orchestras worldwide, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, BBC Concert Orchestra (UK), Seoul Philharmonic (Korea), Pan Asia Symphony (Hong Kong), and Hannover Chamber Orchestra (Germany). She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Kimmel Center Verizon Hall, the Kravis Center, Salzburg’s Mirabel Schloss, and London’s St. John’s Smith Square and Wigmore Hall. At the invitation of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, she served as a cultural representative through concerts and outreach engagements in Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, including performances at the U.N. Headquarters in Geneva and New York. A passionate chamber musician, Kim has appeared at leading festivals including Marlboro, Ravinia, Four Seasons, Music from Angel Fire, Seoul Spring, Bridgehampton, Music in the Vineyards, and Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music in England. Deeply committed to nurturing young talent, she presents master classes throughout the United States and founded the Summer Chamber Music Institute at East Carolina University for gifted pre-college musicians. Her debut CD, “From the Homeland,” recorded with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, features works by Debussy, Smetana, Sibelius, and Janacek. American Record Guide praised the recording as “superb—warm, polished, expressive.” Born in Seoul, Korea, Kim entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 14 and completed her master’s degree at the New England Conservatory. She currently serves as Associate Professor of Violin at East Carolina University and teaches at Taos School of Music as a member of the Cooperstown Quartet. Kim is the founder and artistic director of Lullaby Dreams, a non-profit organization bringing the healing power of music to babies, families, and medical staff in NICUs and children’s hospitals.
Saerom Kim
Saerom Kim has been widely praised for the expressivity, flexibility, and technical prowess of her clarinet playing. She currently serves as Principal Clarinetist of the Norwalk (CT) Symphony Orchestra, a position she won in September 2022. Born in South Korea, she has won numerous awards, including Grand Prize at the Korean Clarinet Association Competition, third prize at the International Clarinet Association Competition, and first prize in the Paranov Concerto Competition. In the summer of 2018, she performed Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Inori and Gruppen with the Lucerne Festival Academy at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Philharmonie de Paris in France, and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany under the baton of Peter Eötvös and Sir Simon Rattle. In 2019, she returned to the Lucerne Festival Alumni Orchestra in Switzerland, under the direction of Riccardo Chailly. Saerom Kim has also participated in several other music festivals, including the Moritzburg, and the Sarasota Music Festival. She received Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ayako Oshima and Charles Neidich, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Hartford, the Hartt School. She currently lives in Stamford, Connecticut.
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.
John Moore
A regular performer in both Europe and the United States, baritone John Moore is garnering praise for his energetic performances and burnished baritone in both operatic and concert repertoire. He is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program. During the 2024-2025 season, he made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Dillon in Mazzoli and Vavrek’s The Listeners and returned to Opera Philadelphia for performances of the same role. He also debuted with Washington National Opera as Steve Jobs in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, a role he has sung across the United States to great acclaim. With Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project, he performed and recorded the role of Kinesias in Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata; joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra twice—for concerts of Handel’s Messiah followed by performances of Poulenc’s Le bal masqué. Other recent engagements were with San Francisco Opera, as Steve Jobs in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. He performed as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Pittsburgh Opera, the title role of Sweeney Todd with Dayton Opera, and joined Seattle Opera for the company’s 60th Anniversary Gala concert. At Seattle Opera, he debuted the role of Rasheed in the operatic adaptation of A Thousand Splendid Suns; performed the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with New Orleans Opera; and joined Utah Opera in a return to the role of Steve Jobs. On the concert stage, he collaborated with the Jacksonville Symphony for Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden gesellen, In recital, he appeared with soprano Joélle Harvey and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Selected highlights of recent seasons include: Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with New Zealand Opera and San Diego Opera; Frank Lloyd Wright in Arizona Opera’s production of Shining Brow; The Philadelphia Orchestra’s presentation of Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, conducted by Stéphane Denève; the rescheduled tour of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with Austin Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Atlanta Opera, and Des Moines Metro Opera as Jess in the world premiere of Kristin Kuster’s A Thousand Acres. Upcoming seasons include his debut with the Finnish National Opera
Betty Olivero
Betty Olivero is a contemporary Israeli composer who has spent most of her career in Florence, Italy. Now Professor of Composition at the Music Department of Bar-Ilan University, Olivero is a winner of the numerous prestigious prizes : Emet Prize for Art, Science and Culture (2015), an Israeli prize awarded annually for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far-reaching influence and make a significant contribution to society; the Koussevitzky Award by the Koussevitzky Music Foundation and the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 2000–important international awards, given annually to only six composers; the Fromm Music Foundation Award (USA, 1986), the Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel, 2001); the Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel, 2009) and the ACUM Award for Achievement of the Year (Israel, 2010). While still studying in Israel, she was granted scholarships from the America-Israel-Cultural-Foundation. In Olivero’s works, traditional and ethnic music materials are processed using Western contemporary compositional techniques; traditional melodies and texts undergo processes of development, adaptation, transformation, assimilation, resetting and re-composition, to the point of assuming new forms in different contexts. These processes touch on wide and complex areas of contrast, such as East and West, holy and secular, traditional and new. Olivero’s works are published by Universal Music Publishing Classical (Casa Ricordi Music Milano) in Italy, and the Israel Music Institute (IMI) in Israel. Her works were recorded by ECM, Angel, Koch International, Ricordi, Plane, IMI, Beit Hatefutsoth, and Folkways record companies. Olivero has presented lectures and master classes at music schools internationally: Yale University; Harvard University; The Julliard School of Music; Manhattan School of Music; Mannes School of Music; University of California; Rice University, Houston; University of Houston; Boston University, School of Music; Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Bard College; The Boston Conservatory; Hebrew Union College, NY; Hochshule fur Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin, Germany; Milan Conservatory (Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi), Italy and many others. Between 2004-2008 she was composer-in-residence for the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. She currently lives in Israel.
Anna Polonsky
Anna Polonsky is widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician. Ms. Polonsky has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, Juilliard, and Shanghai Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. She has given concerts in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall’s Stern, Weill, and Zankel Halls, and has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two during 2002-2004. She is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She received degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music under the tutelage of Peter Serkin, and from the Juilliard School, studying with Jerome Lowenthal. In addition to performing, she serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College, and in the summer at the Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals. Together with violinist Jaime Laredo, violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt, and cellist Sharon Robinson, Polonsky is a member of the Espressivo! Piano Quartet. With the clarinetist David Shifrin and cellist Peter Wiley, she performs with the Polonsky-Shifrin-Wiley Trio. Ms. Polonsky is a Steinway Artist.
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 the Ravinia Festival, the Santa Fe and Montreal Chamber Music Festivals, Bard Music Festival, Scotia Festival of Music 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, Giora began playing the violin at the age of four. A graduate of the Juilliard School, his teachers have included Geoffrey Michaels, Patinka Kopec, Dorothy DeLay and Itzhak Perlman. Committed to education and sharing his passion for music, Mr. Schmidt is currently on the artist faculty at New York University (NYU Steinhardt) and Orford Musique Academy (Quebec) in the summer. He was previously on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, the Juilliard School and Perlman Music Program. 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. Giora plays a c. 1830 violin by Giuseppe Rocca and strings kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld, Vienna.
Vivace Chamber Orchestra
Comprised of fourteen top-tier soloists who gather for periodic tours, Vivace Chamber Orchestra performers are the crème de la crème of chamber music players. They are members of the legendary Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sybarite5, Frisson, Eighth Blackbird, Seraphic Fire, Sejong Soloists, The Knights, A Far Cry, Music from Copland House, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and the Jasper String Quartet. Individually, they have performed as soloists with prestigious orchestras around the globe— Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Spanish National Orchestra, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, Staatsorchester Brandenburgisches Frankfurt, Columbus, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, and New Jersey, symphony orchestras, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Venezuela Symphony, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic, Orchestre Royal de Chambre and Montevideo Philharmonic in the most prestigious cultural venues and in chamber music settings with stars of the music world. Members have taken top prizes in competitions, including the Naumburg, Boston Symphony Concerto Competition, Avery Fisher, and a Rising Star Award by Tiffany & Co. They lead colorful and eclectic lives in music, performing jazz, tango, contemporary and Baroque; have mastered the Violoncello da Spalla (a five-stringed mini cello that is played on the shoulder!) and the Argentine bandoneon; compose, teach, and have found other exciting outlets for their creativity. Cellist Aaron Wolff had a lead role in the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man and has provided string arrangements for Comedy Central’s sitcom Broad City. United in their excellence, experience and the excitement they generate, Vivace presents a precision-instrument orchestral voice.
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.
Jonathan Yates
Jonathan Yates made his professional orchestral conducting debut at 23, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in a Millennium Stages Concert. The following year he made his Carnegie Hall debut as a pianist in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop. He has collaborated as a pianist and conductor with many of the country’s most respected musicians, including Midori, Kim Kashkashian, David Finckel, Charles Neidich, Ida Kavafian, Colin Carr, Gilbert Kalish, Paul Neubauer, Joseph Lin, and William Purvis; and the Avalon, Daedalus and Pacifica Quartets. He has been heard as a chamber musician at the 92nd Street Y, Miller Theater, Bargemusic and Merkin Hall, as well as at the Caramoor Festival and on the Ravinia Festival Rising Stars Series. As an ardent devotee of the music of our time, he has conducted new music concerts with the Argento Chamber Ensemble and the Knights, was the recipient of an ASCAP award for adventurous programming, and has given local and regional premieres of pre-eminent composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Huang Ruo, Zhou Long, Chester Biscardi, and Chen Yi. Mr. Yates received his Graduate Diploma in conducting from the Juilliard School, where he studied with James DePreist and Otto-Werner Mueller, and was the holder of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship. He received his Master of Music from State University of New York, where he worked with Gilbert Kalish, and his Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University, where he studied with Robert Levin. He serves as Music Director Emeritus of Camerata Notturna, a chamber orchestra in New York City, and has also served on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College. He descends from a family that has been at the forefront of the battles for the cultural and humanistic life of our country. His grandfather, U. S. Representative Sidney R. Yates, was the principal defender of the National Endowment for the Arts in his 48 years in Congress, and his father, the Honorable Stephen R. Yates, was the first judge in Illinois to approve same-sex adoption. Jonathan Yates is the seventh Music Director of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra in its eighty-year history. He has been a driving force in reinvigorating the relationship between the symphony and its community, having revived the orchestra’s popular (Not) Just for Kids Educational Outreach programs, and started collaborations with numerous local cultural, religious and civic organizations. As Music Director of the Norwalk Youth Symphony, he has led that ensemble on successful tours to Spain, Germany, Carnegie Hall, and Tanglewood.
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
Jordan Bak, viola
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
Michael Brown, piano
Courtney Budd, soprano
David Bull, art restorer
Kenji Bunch, composer
Lissie Burns, double bass
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
Luke Fleming, viola
Miriam Fried, violin
Erick Friedman, violin
Joanna Genova, violin
Vadim Gluzman, violin
Rivka Golani, viola
Gila Goldstein, piano
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
Kobi Malkin, violin
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
John Moore, baritone
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
Danielle 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
John Viscardi, baritone
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 …