Yehuda Hanani (Artistic Director)
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 acclaim as soloist, chamber musician and inspiring pedagogue, and serves on the faculty at the Mannes School in New York City. His concerto appearances have been with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, 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, Escher, Dover, 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.
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.
Anthony Devroye
Known for his gutsy, colorful and nuanced playing—and the communicative clarity of his performances—violist Anthony Devroye has helped people deepen their connection to great music for over twenty years. As violist of the Avalon String Quartet, Mr. Devroye has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango in Bogotá, and the Shrine of St. Thérèse in Juneau, Alaska. The quartet’s diverse performance projects – and their recordings on the Cedille, Bridge, and Albany labels – have showcased a repertoire ranging from Beethoven, Bartok, Brahms and Berg to Stacy Garrop, Harold Meltzer, Leo Sowerby and Florence Price. Outside of the quartet, Mr. Devroye has frequently performed for Chicago’s beloved Rush Hour Concerts, a free summer chamber music festival for which he also served as Artistic Director for five years. In this capacity, he curated points of entry for listeners to explore programs ranging from Baroque performance practice to contemporary premieres and collaborations with poetry and dance. Mr. Devroye is also a regular substitute with the Chicago Symphony and has toured with the orchestra to New York, Vienna, Warsaw, and Mexico City. An innovative and inspiring educator, Mr. Devroye is Professor of Viola at the Northern Illinois University School of Music. He has also presented guest masterclasses at over a dozen universities including Northwestern and UCLA, and has spent summers teaching at Interlochen, Madeline Island, and the Icicle Creek Center for the Arts. He plays a 2001 viola made by Gabrielle Kundert in Olney, Maryland.
Diego Fainguersch
After many years of performing in the United States and Europe, Argentine cellist Diego Fainguersch returned to Buenos Aires in 2010 to fulfill the position of principal cello with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic at the Teatro Colon. Until that time, he was a member of the Carpe Diem String Quartet. This critically acclaimed ensemble served as the quartet in residence at Ohio Weslyan University, initiated the summer festival Scale the Summit, toured internationally with innovative programs, participated in community educational programs, and played for numerous recordings by Naxos and other labels. Diego Fainguersch has played with the Symphony, Ballet, and Chamber Orchestras of Cincinnati as well as having served as principal cello in many regional orchestras in Ohio and Pennsylvania. As a sought-after soloist, his interpretations of Haydn and Dvorak have captivated audiences. He has performed in some of the world’s top music festivals, including the Curitiba Music Academy (Brazil), Roman-sur-Isere (France), the Opera Theatre and Music Festival of Lucca (Italy), and Domaine Forget (Canada). Now professor of cello at the Institute of Art at the Teatro Colon, he previously served as professor in two of Buenos Aires’ State Conservatories. In the United States he taught in the Preparatory Department of the University of Cincinnati and at Ohio Weslyan. In addition to being invited to fulfill the position of adjunct professor in 2012 at CCM as a sabbatical replacement for Yehuda Hanani, he had served as assistant to him for several years, as well as to David Premo at Carnegie Mellon University. First prize winner of the 2006 Concerto Competition and 2007 Chamber Music Contest at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Mr. Fainguersch is also recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including the Fulbright and Antorchas Foundation Music Scholarships. In great demand as a teacher, he has led master classes and music festivals throughout North and South America. His teachers have included Yehuda Hanani at CCM, David Premo and Ann M. Williams at Carnegie Mellon University, Patrick Gabard at the Lyon Conservatory in France, and Wladimir Glagol at the National Conservatory of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He has participated in master classes led by M. Rostropovich, W. Strehle, P. Muller, and Y. Chiffoleau. He plays a cello made by George Gemunder in 1887.
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 new CD, also on the Centaur label, “Latin-American Piano Gems,” will be released in April 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.
Mark Irchai
American pianist and conductor Mark Irchai’s concertizing has taken him across the United States and Europe, where he has become known for his diverse musical programming and multi-colored sound. His awards include 1st prizes at the XIV International Orfeo Music Competition, the George Mason University Concerto Competition, and the Golden Classical Awards International Music Competition. Most recently, he was awarded the Newton Swift Award in Collaborative Piano by the Mannes School of Music. As a pianist, he appears as soloist with ensembles such as the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra and the Mason Symphony Orchestra and frequently gives independently organized recitals as part of his “Mark Irchai Presents” concert series. Performance venues have included Carnegie Hall, the Lyceum in Alexandria, VA, the Embassy of Turkey to the United States in Washington, DC, the Musikschule Sterzing, Italy, two appearances at DOROT for their inaugural concert series for survivors of the Holocaust, and many others. He has collaborated with prominent artists such as John Aler, Marlisa Woods, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya, Jamie Reimer, and Janet Hopkins. Most recently, he performed alongside musicians from the National Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the US Army Orchestra, the US Army Chorus, the Singing Sergeants, the Peabody Institute, and other high-profile institutions of music. Mr. Irchai has also worked as an assistant conductor—from the podium as well as from the piano—for a number of ensembles, including the George Mason University Singers, Chorale, and Mason Opera. A performance with soloist Eddie Adams and the Mason Symphony Orchestra was featured on CBS News and Reuters. He holds a BM in piano performance from George Mason University, where he studied piano and chamber music with Anna Balakerskaia and orchestral, choral, and band conducting. Additionally, he studied orchestral conducting at the International Academy of Advanced Conducting. He received an MM in Piano Performance from the Mannes School of Music, studying under the direction of Simone Dinnerstein. He serves on the faculty at the Levine School of Music in Washington DC.
Katie Lansdale
Violinist Katie Lansdale is widely acclaimed as soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She has performed as soloist and chamber artist in North/South America and Europe, and on numerous American concert series, including the Phillips Collection, the Caramoor Series, and Lincoln Center’s Rose Room. Winner of Grand Prizes at the Fischoff and Yellow Springs national chamber competitions, Lansdale has collaborated in chamber concerts with artists such as Yo Yo Ma, Felix Galimir, Donald Weilerstein, the Miami Quartet, Robert MacDonald, and Charles Neidich. For over 30 years she has been a member of the internationally acclaimed Lions Gate Trio, Hartt’s trio in residence, recording for Centaur and Triton records and performing across Europe and the Eastern US. Lansdale’s concerto appearances have included with the National Symphony, the Austin Mozart Orchestra, the Schroeder Classical Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and the NY Spectrum Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony and the New York Repertory Orchestra. In New York, where she founded the acclaimed Locrian new music group, Lansdale’s extensive chamber music concerts have ranged from Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center with Yo Yo Ma to Merkin Hall with the Twentieth Centuryists; she now performs regularly in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall with the Festival Chamber Society. Particularly widely acclaimed for performances of solo Bach, Lansdale has performed the complete cycle over a dozen times in North and South America. “This is one of the best recordings of this music,” wrote the American Record Guide of her Bach CD (Amazon.com). Having presented solo Bach at Juilliard’s Delay Symposium, Lansdale directs the Promisek Bach+ Festival in Bridgewater, CT. A champion of musical connections to children and communities, Lansdale regularly joins with her students in community engagement campaigns called Music for 1000 Children. Lansdale studied with Ronda Cole, Josef Gingold, Felix Galimir, Donald Weilerstein and Mitchell Stern. She graduated cum laude from Yale, where she was awarded prizes in both the arts and humanities, and earned graduate music degrees (M.M., D.M.A.) at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music. She has served on numerous summer festival faculties, including Kneisel Hall Chamber Festival, the Amalfi Coast Chamber Festival (Italy) , the Kuhmo Festival (Finland), Aria International Music Festival, and Music from Salem. Having taught at Boston University and at State University of New York-Stony Brook, Lansdale now teaches at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Jay Lesenger
During Jay Lesenger’s more than 45-year career as stage director, administrator andteacher, he has become known for intelligent, honest productions which aredramatically compelling and musically knowledgeable. Mr. Lesengerhas produced anddirected more than two hundred opera productions for the New York City Opera,Chautauqua Opera Company, Atlanta, Hawaii, Milwaukee, New Orleans (the worldpremiere of Thea Musgrave’s “Pontalba”), Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids, OperaPacific, Palm Beach, Pittsburgh, San Diego,Virginia and many others. His Europeandebut was with Opera Nordfjord, Norway, and he has directed for Volkstheater Rostockin Germany. His recent Glimmerglass Opera production of John Corigliano’s TheGhosts of Versailles was subsequently seen at the Royal Opera House at Versailles.For 21 years, from 1994 to 2015,hewas the General and Artistic Director of theChautauqua Opera Company, the longest serving general director in the company’shistory. As a nationally recognized teacher of acting for singers, he has taught on theSchool of Music opera faculties at the University of Michigan and NorthwesternUniversity.He hasstaged productions for the Manhattan School of Music,Mannes/The New School, Juilliard, Indiana University and the Academy of Vocal Arts.Afrequent adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Opera Indexand other vocal competitions, heholds a Masters degree from Indiana University and aBachelors of Music & Theater fromHofstra University.His Acting MasterclassesforSingers are transformative.
Alexander Shtarkman
Alexander Shtarkman’s debut recitals in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City prompted strong words of praise from audiences and critics alike. Martin Bernheimer wrote in the Los Angeles Times: “Alexander Shtarkman. Remember the name… He plays the piano with all the strength, flash and eagerness that his age would suggest. He also plays with the sensitivity and mellow refinement one associates with certain grand old men of the keyboard, most of them Russian.” James Keller of The New Yorker staff wrote of Mr. Shtarkman’s 92nd Street Y appearance – “Shtarkman’s was a debut recital of importance. In fact, debuts just don’t come much better than this. Of the young pianists currently entering the international spotlight, Shtarkman is unquestionably among the most musicianly.” Recital appearances in the United States include the Ambassador Foundation, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Tisch Center for the Performing Arts, Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars Series, San Francisco Performances, Regional Arts Foundation at the Kravis Center, The Peace Center and Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Orchestral appearances include the Dallas Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta at Orchestra Hall, Northwood Festival Orchestra, Marin Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of Albuquerque. In August 1995, Mr. Shtarkman was awarded the First Prize of the Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy. As a result of this prize, he was offered over sixty recitals and orchestral engagements in Europe within the following seasons. Shtarkman is a major prizewinner of the 1989 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. He won the First Prize of the First Taipei International Piano Competition and was engaged for numerous concerts throughout Asia. Mr. Shtarkman performs extensively in Europe and Asia, South and North America, Russia and the former Republics of the USSR. He is a frequent guest performer at the prestigious Great and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory. Since 2002 Mr. Shtarkman is a member of the Piano Faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Danielle Talamantes
“It’s not often that an operagoer is fortunate enough to witness the birth of a star!” noted of Mexican-Americansoprano, Danielle Talamantes’ recent turn as Violetta in La traviata with Hawaii Opera Theatre. The 2024-25 season includes Haydn’s Creation with the New Dominion Chorale, a duo recital with husband, bass-baritone Kerry Wilkerson with Opera Roanoke, Close Encounters with Music, and the Sitka Music Festival, a featured recital with Lyric Fest of Philadelphia, and the Brahms Requiem at the National Presbyterian Church. Recent season performances included an Alaska recital tour with Sitka Music Festival and Juneau Jazz & Classics, Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brasileras No 5 with the Pensacola Symphony, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle with the Washington Master Chorale, a duo recital with husband and bass-baritone, Kerry Wilkerson at the American Church in Paris, France as well as the Northwest Bach Festival followed by a five-city homecoming tour throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Additionally, Verdi’s Requiem with Pensacola Symphony and the NC Master Chorale, Britten’s War Requiem with Opera Roanoke, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Choral Arts of Washington, a world premier with Washington National Opera’s production of Written in Stone, a turn as Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème with Jacksonville Symphony and the Northern Lights Festival, Frasquita in Carmen and Anna in Verdi’s Nabucco with The Metropolitan Opera, Beatrice in Catán’s Il postino with VA Opera, and the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke. Professional recordings include At That Hour: Art Songs by Henry Dehlinger on the Avie Record Label; Canciones españolas and Heaven and Earth: A Duke Ellington Songbook on the MSR Classics label.
Shiyu Wang, Collaborative Pianist
The exciting young pianist Shiyu Wang is increasingly recognized for her compelling and creative performances of a wide repertoire, gaining particular acclaim for her deeply musical performances of the music of J.S. Bach. Shiyu has given solo recitals and performances in the United States, China, Japan, and Europe. She has performed the Bach D minor Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and the Ravel Left-Hand Concerto with the University of Rochester Symphony Orchestra. In 2020 she performed the “Yellow River Concerto” in China on the televised Gala New Year’s Eve Concert, with the Changsha Symphony Orchestra under Xiao Ming. Shiyu has won First Prizes in the PianoTexas Young Artist Concerto Competition, Connecticut Bach Festival and Competition, University of Rochester Concerto Competition, and “IMKA” Internet Music Competition, Second Prize in the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Concerto Competition, as well as the Silver Medal in the Manhattan International Music Competition. She is extremely active as a chamber musician and is a sought-after collaborative artist.
Shiyu received her Doctor of Music degree in 2023 at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Professor Arnaldo Cohen. Her previous teachers include Alexander Shtarkman at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and Enrico Elisi and Vincent Lenti at the Eastman School of Music. A native of China, she had early studies at the middle school affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory. She has also performed in master classes taught by Yoheved Kaplinsky, Leon Fleisher, Fou Ts’ong, Dan Zhaoyi, and John Perry. Shiyu is currently a piano faculty member at Indiana University East and at Earlham College. She is also the principal keyboard of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and the Director of Music Ministry at the Central United Methodist Church in Richmond, IN. Shiyu’s interests go beyond piano performance. She holds a double-major degree in music and business and a certificate of a one-year program in Renaissance art history from the University of Rochester. She published her first book Inside the Kaleidoscope on Amazon in 2020 and also published an article on Chopin’s E Minor Prelude in Music Space magazine in 2013. Her second book Interpreting and Performing Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the Modern Piano came out in June 2024. Notable recent performances include her New York recital debut on the Sunday Evenings from Klavierhaus Series (Bach’s “Goldberg Variations”), the world premiere of a new solo piano work by Michael Ippolito at Texas State University, solo concerts at Indiana University East and Earlham College, and many chamber music concerts.
Kerry Wilkerson
Kerry Wilkerson is a resonant bass-baritone known for his unique evenness in register and the “amber tone of a lyric baritone with the imposing weight demanded by Handel’s low-lying writing,” as praised by The Washington Post. His debut at Carnegie Hall in June 2017 as the baritone soloist in Vaughan Williams’ Sancta Civitas received rave reviews. Wilkerson’s solo concert career spans from coast to coast, where he has performed renowned oratorios with symphony orchestras, operatic roles and solo recitals. Recent notable performances include Raleigh in Roberto Devereux with Washington Concert Opera, Benoit/Alcindoro in La bohème with the Jacksonville Symphony and Northern Lights Music Festival, Verdi’s Requiem with the North Carolina Master Chorale, Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the Washington Master Chorale, Der Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte with Loudoun Lyric Opera, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the North Carolina Master Chorale and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem with the Air Force Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. Wilkerson’s past seasons have seen him as a baritone soloist with Opera Roanoke, duet recitals with his wife Danielle Talamantes throughout Europe and the US, and performances with prestigious groups such as the National Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic Orchestra, La Jolla Symphony, Pacific Symphony and Spokane Symphony. Other major works recently performed include Bach’s Mass in B minor, Faure’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Beginning his professional performance career as a chorister with the US military, Wilkerson toured extensively throughout the US with the Air Force Singing Sergeants before joining the US Army Chorus in Washington DC. This led to a brief career with Robert Shaw and his celebrated Festival Chorus at Carnegie Hall and summer institute shortly before his passing. Wilkerson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (B.M.) and George Mason University (M.A.).
Peter Zazofsky
Violinist Peter Zazofsky has enjoyed a richly varied career as a soloist, chamber musician and educator that spans thirty years and thirty countries on five continents. He has performed with many of the great orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, including the Boston Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta, Minnesota, and Hong Kong symphonies, collaborating with maestros Tennstedt, Ozawa, Ormandy, Kurt Sanderling and Charles Dutoit. As a recitalist, Mr. Zazofsky has given innovative programs in Carnegie Hall, Sala Cecilia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aries. He also tours the world’s music centers as first violinist of the Muir String Quartet, with whom he has performed many complete cycles of the Beethoven quartets. A native of Boston, he first studied with Joseph Silverstein before entering the Curtis Institute, where he continued with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay and Jaime Laredo. Graduating in 1976, Zazofsky went on to win top prizes in several international violin contests, including the 1979 Montreal Competition and 1980 Queen Elisabeth in Brussels. He is a frequent visitor to Israel, where he has given over forty performances of concerti, from Beethoven and Sibelius to Bach, Berg and Brahms. In recent years Peter Zazofsky added several new facets to his career. He has given premieres of new works written for him by composers in Holland, Belgium, Denmark and Spain, and he recorded concerti by Robert Chumbley and Frederick van Rossum in Belgium and Poland. He has also encouraged creation of new works by American composers Joan Tower, Sheila Silver and Richard Danielpour. Long committed to teaching, Zazofsky holds the position of Associate Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Boston University and serves as a jury member for the violin competitions in Montreal, Brussels and Odense, Denmark.
Carolyn Regula
Carolyn Regula (Festival Coordinator) began cello at age 8, held a principal chair at age 11 and won her first concerto competition at age 15. She has soloed with the New England Repertory Orchestra, Nashua Chamber Orchestra and has appeared at Boston’s Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, and Carnegie Hall. She has earned both a Dual Bachelor’s in Cello Performance and Music Theory & Composition, as well as a Master’s in Cello Performance from Boston University. In 2021, Carolyn graduated with her Performance Diploma from the Mannes School in New York City, having studied with Yehuda Hanani. She is currently based in Las Vegas, where she appears frequently as both an acoustic and electric cellist. In addition to live performance and teaching, Carolyn has a virtual career where she is known as “The Cello Doll.” Through original arrangements, mash-ups, and compositions, she presents the cello in unique music videos that fuse genres and translate classical music for modern audiences. Her online presence has led to being named an NS Design artist, appearing on stage with Lindsey Stirling, and acting as a consultant for major music brands & products. In the Fall of 2022, Carolyn released her debut album as The Cello Doll, entitled “Escaping Darkness.” As a High Peaks Festival alumna (2018 & 2020), Carolyn is excited to share her unique career path and help support the education of the program’s summer participants.
Caitlin Marsden McNeill
Caitlin moves seamlessly between the worlds of logistics and inspiration, helping bring world-class chamber music to life in the Berkshires. As Director of Operations for Close Encounters With Music, she’s the behind-the-scenes force making sure every concert, festival, and community program runs with heart and purpose.
She’s a builder — of partnerships, of opportunities, of ideas — always finding ways to grow support for the arts and open doors for emerging talent. Whether she’s rallying sponsors, coordinating venues, or uplifting the artists who make CEWM shine, Caitlin leads with clarity, care, and just the right mix of grit and grace
