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.
Christylez Bacon
Christylez Bacon (pronounced: chris-styles) is a GRAMMY® Nominated Progressive Hip-Hop artist and multi-instrumentalist from Southeast, Washington, DC. As a performer, he multi-tasks between various instruments including the West African djembe drum, acoustic guitar, and the human beat-box (oral percussion), all the while continuing the oral tradition of storytelling through his lyrics. In 2011, Mr. Bacon began a cross-cultural collaborative concert series in Washington, DC called the “Washington Sound Museum” (WSM), a monthly intimate celebration of music featuring guest artists from diverse musical genres with Christylez Bacon and his progressive hip-hop orchestra. Since WSM’s inception, Mr. Bacon has collaborated with artists from various cultural backgrounds, ranging from the Hindustani & Camatic music of India, the contemporary Arabic music of Egypt, and the music of Brazil. With a mission of fostering cultural acceptance and unification through music, he constantly pushes the envelope – from performances at the National Cathedral, to becoming the first Hip-Hop artist to be featured at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival to composing and orchestrating an entire concert for a 12-piece orchestra commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institute, or recording a Folk/Hip-Hop children’s album. He is the recipient of several honors awarded by the Washington Area Music Association including the 2013 Artist of the Year, and the Montgomery County Executive Award for Excellence in the Arts. He was honored as a 2012 “Library Superhero” by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County.
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 with 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.
Borromeo String Quartet
Sought after for both fresh interpretations of the classical music canon and their championing of works by 20th and 21st century composers, the Borromeo String Quartet has been hailed for “edge-of-the-seat performances,” by the Boston Globe, which called it “simply the best.” Inspiring audiences for more than 25 years, the Borromeo continues to be a pioneer in its use of technology and has the distinction of being the first string quartet to utilize laptop computers on the concert stage. Reading music this way helps push artistic boundaries, allowing players to perform solely from 4-part scores and composers’ manuscripts, a revealing and metamorphic experience which Borromeo members now teach to students around the world. As the New York Times noted, “The digital tide washing over society is lapping at the shores of classical music. The Borromeo players have embraced it in their daily musical lives like no other major chamber music group.” Moreover, the Quartet often leads discussions enhanced by projections of handwritten manuscripts, investigating with the audience the creative process of the composer. Passionate educators, The BSQ has been ensemble-in-residence at the New England Conservatory and Taos School of Music and enjoyed a relationship with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for over two decades. It is quartet-in-residence at the Heifetz International Music Institute, where first violinist Nicholas Kitchen is Artistic Director. The quartet has worked extensively with the Library of Congress (highlighting both its manuscripts and instrument collections) and has been in residence at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Kansas University, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Colorado State University. Their presentation of the cycle of Bartók String Quartets as well as the lecture “Bartok, Paths Not Taken,” give audiences a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear a set of rediscovered alternate movements Béla Bartók drafted for his six Quartets. The Borromeo’s expansive repertoire includes the Shostakovich Cycle and those of Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Brahms, Schumann, Schoenberg, Janáček, Lera Auerbach, Tchaikovsky, and Gunther Schuller. Recent premieres are works written for them by Sebastian Currier and Aaron Jay Kernis, presented in recitals at Carnegie Hall and Shriver Concerts. The Borromeo has received numerous awards throughout its illustrious career, including Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the Young Concert Artists career award.
The Escher String Quartet
The Escher String Quartet receives acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In 2021-2022, the Escher toured the U.S. extensively, performing at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Rockefeller University, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, La Jolla Music Society, Savannah Music Festival, and Chamber Music Society of Detroit. Internationally, the quartet returned to Wigmore Hall in London and the Sociedad Filarmonica de Bilbao.and made recent debuts in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Chamber Music San Francisco, [email protected], and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. The quartet has held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and the University of Akron, OH. Recordings include the complete Mendelssohn quartets, the romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky and the complete Zemlinsky string quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014. The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
Rachel Feldman
In addition to her role as visiting director of choral studies at Mount Holyoke College, conductor and mezzo-soprano Rachel Feldman also directs the choral ensembles at Connecticut College. Recent engagements include conducting Mount Holyoke choirs at Vespers, preparing William Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast,” and serving as the clinician for the Quinebaug Valley Middle School Music Festival. For two summers she has taught at Westminster Choir College’s High School Summer Vocal Institute, where she conducted the treble choir and taught music theory and history. Ms. Feldman recently earned her master’s degree in choral conducting from Westminster Choir College under the tutelage of Dr. Joe Miller, Dr. Amanda Quist, and Margaret Cusack. During the 2018-2019 season, she acted as graduate assistant conductor for the world-renowned Westminster Choir, assisting in the preparation of the choir’s performances and tours throughout China and Texas, ACDA’s national conference and Spoleto Festival USA. A Connecticut native, she began her musical training with the Elm City Girls’ Choir in New Haven and has since returned to the organization to conduct on tours to Canada and China. She received her bachelor’s at the University of Connecticut, studying conducting and, while there, assisted in conducting the Festival Chorus and the choir at Storrs Congregational Church. In addition to conducting, she remains active as a singer. She was a featured member of Westminster Choir, Westminster Symphonic Choir and Westminster Kantorei and currently performs with the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, the professional choir for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Recent solo work includes Joby Talbot’s “Path of Miracles,” J.S. Bach Cantata 45, Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater,” Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” Haydn’s “Lord Nelson Mass,” and Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.”
Renana Gutman
Praised by the New York Times for her “passionate and insightful” playing, Renana Gutman has performed across four continents as an orchestral soloist, recitalist and collaborative artist. She has appeared at The Louvre and Grenoble Museum (France); Carnegie Recital Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, Merkin Hall (New York); St. Petersburg’s Philharmonia (Russia), Stresa Music Festival (Italy), Ravinia Rising Stars (Chicago), Jordan Hall and Gardner Museum (Boston); Herbst Theatre (San Francisco), Menuhin Hall (UK), UNISA (South Africa), and National Gallery, Phillips Collection, and Freer Gallery (Washington DC). Her performances are heard frequently on WQXR’s “Young Artists Showcase,” WFMT “Dame Myra Hess,” Chicago, and American Public Media’s “Performances Today.” Her recording of Chopin Etudes op.25 is soon to be released by “The Chopin Project.” A top prize winner at the Los Angeles Liszt competition, International Keyboard Festival in New York, and Tel-Hai International Master Classes in Israel, she has been the soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony, Haifa Symphony, Belgian “I Fiamminghi,” and Mannes College Orchestra. Her festival appearances include Marlboro and Ravinia.
Ieva Jokubaviciute
Lithuanian pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute’s powerfully and intricately crafted performances have earned her critical accolades throughout North America and Europe. Labor Records released Ieva’s debut recording in 2010 to critical international acclaim, which resulted in recitals in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, Vilnius, and Toulouse. She made her orchestral debuts with the Chicago Symphony; in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and in February 2017 was the soloist with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo in Uruguay. Her piano trio—Trio Cavatina—won the 2009 Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition. Her latest recording: “Returning Paths: Solo Piano Works by Janacek and Suk” was also released to critical acclaim in 2014. In the fall of 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. Since, they have given recitals in Japan, Poland, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, India, and Sri Lanka. Jokubaviciute’s latest piano solo recording “Northscapes” was released in 2021. This recording weaves works, written within the last decade by composers from the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe, into a tapestry of soundscapes that echo the reverberations between landscape, sound, and the imagination. It features works by Kaja Saariaho and Anna Thorvaldsdottir, among others. Appearances at international festivals include Marlboro, Ravinia, Bard, Caramoor Prussia Cove in England, Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, festivals in Finland, and Music in the Vineyards in the Napa Valley.
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, [email protected], 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 notable 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. She 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.
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.
Manhattan Chamber Players
The Manhattan Chamber Players are a chamber music collective of New York-based musicians who share the common aim of performing the greatest works in the chamber repertoire at the highest level. Formed in 2015 by Artistic Director and violist Luke Fleming, MCP is comprised of an impressive roster of musicians who all come from the tradition of great music making at the Marlboro Music Festival, Steans Institute at Ravinia, [email protected], Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival and Perlman Music Program, and are former students of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard, Colburn, and the New England Conservatory. MCP has been praised in Strings Magazine for “A fascinating program concept…It felt refreshingly like an auditory version of a vertical wine tasting.” At the core of MCP’s inspiration is its members’ joy in playing this richly varied repertoire with longtime friends and colleagues, with whom they have been performing since they were students. Its roster allows for the programming of the entire core string, wind, and piano chamber music repertoire—from piano duos to clarinet quintets to string octets. While all its members have independent careers as soloists and chamber musicians, they strive for every opportunity to come together and again share in this special collaboration, creating “a mellifluous blend of vigorous intensity and dramatic import, performed with enthusiasm, technical facility and impressive balance. Members of MCP are current and former members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble Connect, and the Aizuri, Attacca, Dover, Escher and Vega quartets; the Aletheia, Appassionata, and Lysander Piano Trios; and Imani Winds. They are top prizewinners in the Banff, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, Melbourne, Naumburg, Osaka, Primrose, Queen Elisabeth, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Tertis, and Young Concert Artists Competitions, and are some of the most sought-after solo and chamber performers of their generation. The Manhattan Chamber Players is the Ensemble-in-Residence at both the Festival de Febrero in Mexico and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans. In addition to its numerous concerts across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, MCP regularly tours in Asia and the Middle East, and has led chamber music residency programs at institutions throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Jeremy McCoy
After thirty-five seasons as Assistant Principal double bass of the Metropolitan Opera, Jeremy McCoy continues to enjoy a busy career as both performer and educator. He has been presented in recital by CBC Radio, the International Society of Bassists and at Lincoln Center, and performed as concerto soloist at the National Arts Centre and with the Louisiana Philharmonic, Classical Tahoe, Atlantic Chamber Orchestra and Musica Viva of New York. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with members of the Arditti, Borodin, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard and Tokyo string quartets and many other distinguished artists. He has performed at Bargemusic and at festivals including Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Banff, Classical Tahoe, Affinis Festival (Japan), Kneisel Hall, Grand Tetons, Bowdoin, Festival Napa Valley, Lincoln Center Festival, Appalachian Summer Festival, Ottawa International Music Festival, Music Festival of the Hamptons and Cooperstown. Mr. McCoy began studying double bass in his native Ottawa, Canada. With the assistance of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, he continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. At age twenty, he won a position with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the following season joined the Metropolitan Opera. A founding member of Sequitur and Ensemble Sospeso and frequent collaborator with Speculum Musicae, he has presented many premiere performances and recorded works by eminent contemporary composers such as Elliott Carter, David Del Tredici and Thomas Ades. As a studio session player, Mr. McCoy has performed solo and as section leader on an extensive list of motion picture and television soundtracks and recorded with popular artists including Bruce Springsteen, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Sting and Natalie Merchant. His own solo recordings, Dialogues with Double Bass (2005) and Baroque Legacy (2012) have garnered popular and critical acclaim. Mr. McCoy serves on the faculties the Manhattan School of Music, Bard, the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Tamar Muskal
Undaunted by new forms or new frontiers, Tamar Muskal has written everything from pop songs to symphonies to a score for the historic silent film “La Venganza de Pancho Villa” (for string quartet and a Mexican band—a collaboration with the Library of Congress, about the Mexican revolution), a song cycle commissioned by ASCAP and music for a documentary film about finding a cure for blindness (narrated by Robert Redford), exemplifying the diverse material and platforms she uses. Her work “The Yellow Wind,” based on the novel by Israeli author David Grossman, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Ms. Muskal has been the recipient of many other awards from institutions such as ASCAP, Meet-the-Composer, the Academy of Arts and Letters, the Jerome Foundation, American Music Center, the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University and a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship. Educated both in Israel and the United States, Ms. Muskal’s music harmonizes the unique cultural aspects of both places. Her music follows a counterpoint style, carefully structured, and with great attention for details. She earned her degrees in composition from the Jerusalem Academy for Music and Dance and Yale University. Her composition teachers included Mark Kopytman, Jacob Druckman, Martin Bresnick, Tania Leon and David Del Tredici. Recent and future commissions include a double concerto for saxophone and viola for the Williamsport Symphony, an orchestral piece for the Idyllwild Arts Academy, a song cycle for Jo Lawry, Sting’s backup singer commissioned by ASCAP for a string quartet, a piece for Lucy Shelton and the Colorado String Quartet on text by Hanoch Levin and a piece for bassoon and string quartet for Uzi Shalev of the Israeli Philharmonic for the International Double Reed Convention in New York. Ms. Muskal also focuses on music for theater. Recent works include “Angels in America” performed in Cincinnati, “The Labor of Life” and “The Seven Beggars” performed at La Mama Theater in New York, and “Cristabel” and “Trojan Women” performed in New Haven. Of her work “Mirrors,” John Von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune wrote: “The ripples and shimmers that filled Muskal’s post-minimalist score were as evanescent as swirling, digitized visuals – dissolving into one another with kaleidoscopic beauty. Mirrors is high-tech music theater at its most inventive and fascinating.” Tamar Muskal has written two works as part of the Close Encounters With Music Commissioning Program, one marking the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, and the second, “One Earth,” receiving its world premiere this season.
Tian Hui Ng
Tianhui Ng is Music Director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony, Boston Opera Collaborative and the Victory Players and White Snake Projects. In addition, he is Director of Orchestral Studies at Mount Holyoke College. He has conducted orchestras around the world including the Savaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Dartington Festival Orchestra (UK), Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Wallonie (Belgium), and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra (USA). Equally at home in the realm of choral music, he has conducted the Stuttgart Chamber Choir (Germany), Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus (USA), Oregon Bach Festival Chorus (USA), Yale Schola Cantorum (USA), and the Young Person’s Chorus of New York (USA). He has collaborated with internationally renowned artists such as Dashon Burton, Tyler Duncan, Marcus Eiche, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Ayano Kataoka, Ilya Polataev, Astrid Schween, Sara Davis Buechner, Nicholas Phan, and James Taylor. Bringing new music to fresh audiences, he has premiered works by Pulitzer and Rome Prize winners Jay Kernis, Robert Kyr, David Sanford, and Joan Tower. Tian Ng’s irrepressible musical spirit first expressed itself when he conducted a choir of kindergarten children in his native Singapore at the age of five. A pianist, singer and trombonist, he studied composition and Early Music at the University of Birmingham (UK) where he discovered his love for Stravinsky and contemporary music. Returning home, he helped found one of the first contemporary music ensembles in the country, and was soon composing for animation, dance, film, chorus, and orchestra; and following his affinity for inter-disciplinary work, created the groundbreaking site-specific community-based arts festival, NOMAD, with which he has won awards from the Singapore National Arts Council. Ng Tian Hui continued his education at the Yale School of Music where he fed his passion for the masterworks of the choral orchestral repertoire, assisting such renowned interpreters as Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Dale Warland, Simon Carrington, Marguerite Brooks and Jeffrey Douma. His works have been heard in diverse settings such as the Hong Kong Film Festival, Animation World Magazine (USA), and Apsara Asia Dance (Singapore).
Daniel Panner
Daniel Panner is Principal violist of New York City Opera, a member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet and the contemporary ensemble Sequitur. He has performed at festivals including Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Aspen and collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, and Juilliard String Quartets as well as with artists such as Isidore Cohen, Felix Galimir and Mitsuko Uchida. Winner of 1998 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award as a member of Whitman String Quartet, he has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; toured with Musicians from Marlboro and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has been Guest artist with Bargemusic, Carnegie Chamber Players, Greenleaf Chamber Players, Da Capo Chamber Players, and Music from the Anthology. His recordings include Thea Musgrave’s “Lamenting With Ariadne” for viola and chamber orchestra for Albany records and he has been featured on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” as soloist and chamber musician. He has served on the faculties of the Juilliard School and Queens College Conservatory of Music and is co-chair of the String Department at Mannes College of Music, the New School in New York City.
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, Mr. Schmidt has performed at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, San Francisco Performances, the Louvre Museum in Paris, and Tokyo’s Musashino Cultural Hall. Festival appearances include Ravinia, 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, he 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; with additional guidance from Pinchas Zukerman. 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. 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.
Avirodh Sharma
Avirodh Sharma is considered one of today’s leading exponents of the tabla, carrying on the tradition of percussion rhythm that originated on the Indian Subcontinent. Trinidadian born, Mr. Sharma was trained by his father, Dr. Ravideen Ramsamooj, managing director of the East Indian Music Academy who, together with his mother, Bharati Ramsamooj, have produced over 20,000 students in New York City. As a resident teacher at the Academy for over 24 years, Sharma has trained tabla players nationwide. A multifaceted artist, he is also a composer and producer, with work featured in films, documentaries, fashion shows, on radio and in television commercials. He has been featured in The New York Times, NY Daily News, TV Asia, STARZ NETWORK, Zee TV and NPR Radio. Sharma has worked with Grammy-winning artists including Shakti and Masters of Percussion, Vikku Vinayakram, Dhrubesh Regmi and Sukarma, Suresh Wadhkar, and many more. He has also collaborated with Asian Underground musician Karsh Kale, fiddler Patrick Mangan, and David Bowie drummer Sterling Campbell. In 2015, his debut recording as a tabla soloist was nominated for the 14th Independent Music Awards “Best World Beat Album.” He was recently commissioned by Parsons Dance Company to compose and perform Microburst in NYC’s Joyce Theatre, receiving critical acclaim. In the realm of theater, he composed and performed for Dishwasher Dreams which was developed at the Joseph Papp Public Theater. His performances have captivated audiences in Italy, Switzerland, Nepal, India, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and the U. S. This past January, he performed at Kumbh Mela, in India, the largest religious festival in the world with millions in attendance. He has appeared recently at the international festivals Artisti in Piazza (Italy), and Taj Mahotsav (Taj Mahal, India).
Yekwon Sunwoo
Gold medalist of the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Yekwon Sunwoo has been hailed for his “unfailingly consistent excellence” (International Piano) and celebrated as “a pianist who commands a comprehensive technical arsenal that allows him to thunder without breaking a sweat” (Chicago Tribune). A powerful and virtuosic performer, he also, in his own words, “strives to reach for the truth and pure beauty in music.” The first Korean to win Cliburn Gold, Yekwon’s 19/20 season included appearances with Fort Worth and Tuscon Symphonies and the Bucheon Philharmonic and debuts with Washington Chamber Orchestra, Royal Danish Orchestra and Danish Radio Orchestra as well as a debut appearance at the Vail Festival with the Dallas Symphony. Recital highlights include Four Season Arts, San Antonio Arts and the Stadttheater Aschaffenburg. 2021 will see Mr. Sunwoo make his debut with Orchestra Chambre de Paris and Tugan Sokhiev and return to KBS Symphony with Jaap Van Zweden. In previous seasons, he has performed as soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, Houston Symphony, National Orchestra of Belgium, Sendai Philharmonic and Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Recital appearances include Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Cortot and Kumho Art Hall. An avid chamber musician, his collaborators have been Benjamin Beilman, Linus Roth, Andrei Ioniță, Sebastian Bohren, Isang Enders, Tobias Feldmann, Gary Hoffman, Anne-Marie McDermott and the Jerusalem and Brentano Quartets. He has also performed at Chamber Music of Lincoln Center’s Inside Chamber Music Lectures and been invited to the Summit Music, Bowdoin International and Toronto Summer Music Festivals. In addition to the Cliburn Gold Medal, Yekwon won first prizes at the 2015 International German Piano Award, the 2014 Vendome Prize held at the Verbier Festival, and the 2012 William Kapell International Piano Competiton. Born in Anyang, South Korea, he began studying piano at the age of 8 and made his recital and orchestral debuts in Seoul at 15. His teachers include Seymour Lipkin, Robert McDonald, Richard Goode and Bernd Goetzke. In 2017, Decca Gold released Cliburn Gold 2017 two weeks after Yekwon was awarded the Gold Meda, and included his award-winning performances of Ravel’s La Valse and Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata. A self-proclaimed foodie, Yekwon enjoys finding Pho in each city he visits and takes pride in his own homemade Korean soups.
Danielle Talamantes
“It’s not often that a fortunate operagoer witnesses the birth of a star!” critics hailed Danielle Talamantes’ recent role début as Violetta in La traviata. This season, Talamantes sings Mimì in La bohéme with Fairfax Symphony and returns to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Frasquita for their productions of Carmen. In addition, she will appear as a soloist in multiple classical masterworks including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall, Verdi’s Requiem with the National Philharmonic, Fauré’s Requiem and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music with Eugene Concert Choir, and in the National Philharmonic’s Bernstein Choral Celebration concert. In recent seasons, Talamantes performed the role of Marzelline in Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Princeton Festival; Mimì in La bohéme with the St. Petersburg (FL) Opera and Symphony of Northwest Arkansas; the title role of Susannah with Opera Roanoke; Anna in Nabucco and Frasquita in Carmen with The Metropolitan Opera; Violetta in La traviata with Finger Lakes Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre; Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Cedar Rapids Opera Theater; a début at Spoleto Festival USA as Sergente in Veremonda. Additional concert works include “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman!” with Close Encounters With Music in Great Barrington and at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts; Mozart’s Requiem with Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Cathedral Choral Society, and Fairfax Symphony; Brahms’ Requiem with National Philharmonic, Choralis and St. Mary’s College; Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, Bach’s Magnificat, and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with the National Philharmonic; Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Handel’s Laudate pueri dominum, and Charpentier’s Te Deum with The City Choir of Washington; Händel’s Messiah with Phoenix and La Jolla symphony orchestras, United States Naval Academy, National Philharmonic, The New Choral Society, and Austin Symphony & Chorus Austin; Poulenc’s Gloria with Arizona State University’s Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with Choral Artists of Sarasota and the Oratorio Society of VA; soprano soloist in Bob Chilcott’s Requiem at Alice Tully Hall; Dvořák’s Stabat Mater at North Carolina Master Chorale; Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with Manchester Symphony Orchestra; and recitals and masterclasses with El Paso Pro Musica, Washington & Lee University, James Madison University and Point Loma University. Her debut album, Canciones españolas, was recently released on the MSR Classics label and the album Heaven and Earth, A Duke Ellington Songbook has followed.
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.
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
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
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 String Quartet
Jorge Martin, composer
Emily Marvosh, contralto
Sarah McElravy, violin
Stefan Milenkovich, violin
Rainer Moog, viola
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
Bill Schimmel, accordion
Paul Schoenfield, composer
Sebastian Baroque Ensemble
Hagai Shaham, violin
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
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 …