Our
Artists
Painting by Lory Williams Winford
2025 Festival
KRISTIN ANDREASSEN, GUITAR, VOCALS, DANCE
Kristin Andreassen is a songwriter, dancer, and community builder. Over the years she's put out two solo albums, toured with bands including Uncle Earl and Sometymes Why, performed traditional dance with multiple ensembles, developed and organized a creativity retreat called Miles of Music Camp, and much more.
Her songs have been heard in TV and film scores. Her most recent release is a kids' album called The Bright Siders: A Mind of Your Own featuring an all star cast of guest singers. She has also toured, recorded, written and otherwise collaborated with such luminous artists as John Paul Jones, Dirk Powell, Jeffrey Lewis, Caitlin Canty, Noam Pikelny, Julian Lage & Chris Eldridge, Mipso, Dawn Landes, Michaela Anne, Molly Tuttle, Aoife O’Donovan, Ruth Ungar, Abigail Washburn, Rayna Gellert and KC Groves.
LAURA ATKINSON, MEZZO SOPRANO
Laura Atkinson is a Louisville native who has carved out a career as a professional singer and music educator in this country and in Europe. She completed her teacher training in the foothills of Appalachia at Maryville College and her masters degree in Vocal Performance and Early Music at Yale University. In 2010 she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study at the Mendelssohn Music Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany. She spent the subsequent near-decade enjoying Germany as an ensemble member at the Staatstheater Braunschweig and as a freelance singer in Berlin with her husband, who was an ensemble member at the Komische Oper Berlin.
Since relocating back to Louisville, Laura has begun a career as a public radio host for Louisville’s classical music station, 90.5 WUOL; you can hear weekday afternoons, 12-3pm. She is a roster member of NouLou Chamber Players, a soloist at Second Presbyterian Church, and serves as Director of Education for the Bach Akademie Charlotte. She continues to work around the country as a professional ensemble singer and soloist. At home, her two young children keep her busy, and she enjoys the perks of being married to a sommelier.
ANNE AZÉMA, SOPRANO
Before assuming the directorship of The Boston Camerata in 2006, French-born vocalist, scholar, educator, and stage director Anne Azéma was already generally acknowledged as a world leader in the field of medieval solo song. She is widely admired on three continents for her creative skill in building and directing musical productions of varied styles and periods, both for her recital programs and for larger ensemble forces (concert and stage). These creations, eighteen to date with The Boston Camerata, are the result of extensive original research in Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and early American musical sources.
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Anne Azéma’s current discography of 47 recordings as a soloist (Grand Prix du Disque; Edison Prize) and director, includes five distinguished solo CD recitals of medieval music. Her teaching activities include master classes, seminars, and residencies at conservatories and universities here in the US and abroad. She has contributed articles to scholarly and general audience publications and has recently been named Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government. This summer, she happily returns to collaborate with lutenist Nigel North, on a program developed in part during the pandemic years.
JAMES CAMPBELL, CLARINET
James Campbell has been called “Canada’s pre-eminent clarinetist and wind soloist, by the Toronto Star, "Canada's premiere clarinetist" by the Ottawa Citizen and “a national treasure” by the CBC. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician in over 35countries with over 60 orchestras including the Boston Pops, Montreal Symphony and the London Symphony.
He has collaborated with Glenn Gould and Aaron Copland and toured with over 35 string quartets, including the Guarneri, Amadeus (when he replaced an ailing Benny Goodman on a tour of California) and Vermeer. Of his over 40 recordings, the BBC and The Times of London rated his recording of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet as the best available and his CD “Stolen Gems” (Marquis Records) won a Juno.
He has been named Canada’s Artist of the Year, awarded the Queen’s Gold and Diamond Jubilee Medal, an Honorary Doctor of Laws, the Order of Canada and has recently been inducted into the CBC’s Classical Music Hall of Fame.
James Campbellhas been Artistic Director ofthe Festival of the Sound since 1985and was Professor of Music at the famed Jacobs School of Music, of Indiana University from 1988-2019.He regularly gives masterclasses throughout the world and is a Conn-Selmer Artist.
BLAKE BECKEMEYER, TENOR
Tenor Blake Beckemeyer thrives on exciting, small-ensemble performances working on historical and text-driven interpretations of Baroque, Classical, and modern music. He returns from being the tenor Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival including performances as soloist with Grete Peterson and Michael Beattie. Beckemeyer looks forward to an exciting season featuring reprising appearances at the Bloomington Bach Cantata Project, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra's collaboration with St. Paul's, Apollo's Fire's tour of Messiah throughout the Midwest, Alkemie Viols' collaboration with Incantare at Christmastime, and returns to Washington Bach Consort. The season features two performances of the Bach St. John Passion Evangelist & Arias with Quartz and the Arizona Philharmonic as well as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and Christ Church Cathedral.
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In past seasons, Beckemeyer has been also seen with Seraphic Fire, The Thirteen, True Concord, Oregon Bach Festival, the Valparaiso Bach Ensemble, Bach Ensemble-Helmuth Rilling, the Weimar Bach Cantata Akademie, the Fort Wayne Bach Collegium, both the Bloomington and Indianapolis early music festivals, and Tonos del Sur. Beckemeyer's work has taken him to record multiple discs and video recordings, including video recording for German state Television, a Rocky Mountain Emmy award-winning video of Runestad's Earth Symphony for Arizona PBS with True Concord, and multiple Opus Klassik nominations for Vox Orchester's recording of Handel Alexander's Feast.
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Beckemeyer lives in Indianapolis with his wife, Shannon and he works as a software consultant in architecture for low-code and no-code platforms and data analytics and engineering.
EMILY YOCUM BLACK, SOPRANO
Described as a “sleek and glistening vocal talent” (San Francisco Chronicle), soprano Emily Yocum Black is emerging as a versatile and accomplished performer of many genres of music. Known for her sparkling, clear tone and particular gifts as a communicator, she feels at home in art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, and musical theatre. Emily has performed major works with orchestras and chamber ensembles across the U.S. including the Savannah Philharmonic, the Louisville Orchestra, the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, the Jackson Symphony, American Bach Soloists, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Madison Bach Musicians, and Bourbon Baroque. Recent engagements include Bach’s B Minor Mass with Spire Chamber Ensemble, soprano soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Bourbon Baroque and Spire Chamber Ensemble, Festival Recital Artist with the Savannah VOICE Festival, and soprano soloist for POPS Concerts with the Paducah Symphony, the Jackson Symphony, and the Savannah Philharmonic. Competitions include the 2019 Silver Medal and 2018 Sherrill Milnes Opera Award at the American Traditions Vocal Competition, First Place in the American Prize for Art Song-Professional Division, 1st Place in the Mid-South NATSAA Competition, 2nd Place in the 7th Annual Handel Aria Competition, and 1st Place in the Kentucky Bach Choir Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition.
Emily is an alumnus of SongFest (2014, 2017), American Bach Soloists Academy (2018), Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute (2018), Savannah VOICE Festival (2019, 2020), RISE Camp at Crested Butte Music Festival (2020), and Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar (postponed until 2022). She holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Louisville where she was a Teaching Assistant in her graduate degree. Upon returning to her hometown of Paducah, Kentucky, Emily opened her studio Atomic City Voice Studio and began teaching private voice there and at local public schools. Emily is an active participant at the Market House Theatre, Paducah’s award-winning community theater, as a music director for children’s shows and a performer. She is also co-founder of the choral ensemble, The Paducah Singers, along with her husband, Fowler. www.emilyyocumblack.com.
GIANFRANCO BORTOLATO, OBOE
“A real revelation; his interpretation is rich in poetry and sweet sound...A poetic interpretation....Bortolato obtains melancholic, delicate and sweet tones, with impeccable musicality and a contagious joy of playing” – The Times
Born in 1964, Gianfranco Bortolato gained his Diploma with honours from the “B. Marcello” Conservatoire in Venice where he was taught by Bruno Baldan, before continuing his studies with Pietro Borgonovo. In1992 he was awarded the Konzertdiplom from the Musk-Akademie der Stadt Basel.
From 1994 to1995 he attended a course of further specialist study with Hans Elhorst at the Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg. From1990 to 1995 he played first oboe with the Orchestra Sinfonica of Sanremo. From 1995 to 1998 he played first oboe with I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano. He has also collaborated as principal oboe with several other orchestras, including the Orchestra at the Teatro La Scala, Teatro Comunale di Genova, Orchestra Regionale Toscana, the Teatro Regio in Turin, Accademia di S. Cecilia. He has given several soloist performances and has made recordings for Ares, Frequenz, Erato, Nuova Era, Ricordi, Tactus, Rivoalto. In 2001 he was invited as a member of the jury to the International Competition Gillet/Fox in the USA. In the same occasion he presented “Parigi o cara” during the IDRS.
He performed, as an Italian premiere, the “Trittico” for Oboe, Oboe d’amore, English horn and strings of A. Dorati. He presented the “Trittico” at the IDRS at Banff (Canada) as well. In 2003 he presented, as a world premiere, at the IDRS at Greensboro (USA) his new CD ”Ardon gli incensi” which contains fantasies by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti operas. His performance of the A. Dorati’s Trittico in the USA has been the subject of a thesis at the Indiana University.
He played with the Avant-garde Quintet, one of the finalists in the 46th International ARD Competition in Munich and in1995 was awarded the second prize at the seventh “Concorso nazionale Vittorio Pitzianti” for oboe held in Venice. He played as soloists in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Perù, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ecuador, Japan etc. In 2018 he was appointed Knight of the Italian Republic for merit towards the nation in the field of music
He is currently Solo - Oboe of the Orchestra del Teatro dell ’ Opera in Rome.
SIMIN GANTRA, VIOLIN
Simin Ganatra, a Grammy-award winning violinist, has won wide recognition for her performances throughout the United States and abroad. She has been described by critics as an "excellent and unique violinist" and heralded for "creating a miraculous sense of flow and otherworldly beauty."
She has performed in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Corcoran Gallery, and Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. Collaborations include performances with Michael Tree, Toby Hoffman, and the St. Lawrence Quartet. She is the recipient of several awards and prizes, including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Coleman Chamber Music Competition, and first prizes in the Union League of Chicago Competition, the Pasadena Instrumental Competition, the Minnesota Sinfonia Competition, and the Schubert Club Competition.
Originally from Los Angeles, Ganatra studied with Idell Low, Robert Lipsett, and most recently Roland and Almita Vamos. She is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory, where she was concertmaster of the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra and recipient of the Louis Kaufman Prize for outstanding performance in chamber music.
She is currently on the faculty of Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music and the University of Chicago.
NIC GAREISS, DANCER
Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss (he/they) has been named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” and has been hailed by The New York Times for his “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance.” Gareiss grew up learning footwork from Ireland, Canada, and Appalachia surrounded by fiddlers, banjo-players, and balladeers at folk festivals in central and northern Michigan. This mix of instrumental music, song, and movement from rural places has become the heart of Nic's creative work as a performer across the disciplines of traditional and contemporary music and dance.
In 2011, Gareiss performed experimental composer Steve Reich's piece Clapping Music as a duet with a video installation of himself at the Cork Opera House's Reich Effect festival, celebrating the composer's 75th birthday. This performance was hailed by the Irish times as "a left field tour-de-force with irresistible wow factor." In 2020, Gareiss received the Michigan Heritage Award, the region’s highest distinction bestowed on traditional artists. His dancing has been heard on National Public Radio, including NPR's Best Roots Music of 2022 list for his visual album The Thrill with banjoist Allison de Groot.
Over his 30-year career, Gareiss has performed in seventeen countries including at London's Barbican Centre, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Liege Opera House, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Kennedy Center and collaborated with The Chieftains, The Gloaming, Colin Dunne, Bruce Molsky, Sandy Silva, Bill Frisell, Jake Blount, and NEA National Heritage Fellows Phil Wiggins and Liz Carroll.
Nic holds a MA in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick. His thesis became the first piece of scholarship to center the experience of LGBTQ Irish step dancers, leading eventually to a chapter in the 2017 book Queer Dance: Meanings & Makings, edited by Clare Croft published by Oxford University Press. www.nicgareiss.com // @nicgareisslfi
ALLISON DE GROOT, BANJO
On clawhammer banjo, Allison de Groot has become a well known instrumentalist in the North American traditional, Americana and roots music scenes. She seamlessly navigates between powerful driving rhythm and delicate melodic lines with an emotional depth to her playing. Starting out on banjo in her hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, Allison has grown into a career of continued musical exploration that is centered around collaborations. She was recently awarded the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and was nominated by the Americana Music Association for “Instrumentalist of the Year”.
She’s played with some of the most renowned traditional musicians in North America, including with fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. Together, their music has been described by Bandcamp Daily as “one living, breathing organism”. They create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original and No Depression writes that it “transports the listener to a different plane”. Whether playing with Tatiana, percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, or artists like Yasmin Williams or The Transatlantic Sessions, Allison’s banjo style is distinctly her own, grounded, joyfully playful and interactive.
BRITTANY HAAS, FIDDLE
Brittany Haas is widely regarded as one of the most influential fiddlers of her generation. Hailing from Northern California, she immersed herself in string camps across the U.S., crafting her distinctive sound under the mentorship of Bruce Molsky and Darol Anger. At 14, she hit the road with Anger’s Republic of Strings, and by 17, released her self-titled debut album. While earning a degree in Evolutionary Biology at Princeton, Haas joined the groundbreaking band Crooked Still, helping shape their sound through four albums and global tours.
A sought-after collaborator, Haas has performed on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live with Steve Martin’s bluegrass band, and featured on his Grammy-winning album The Crow. Over the years, she has performed and recorded with Bela Fleck, Vince Gill, Abigail Washburn, Tony Trischka, Yonder Mountain String Band, and more.
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Now based in Nashville, Brittany is at the heart of several exciting projects. Her band Hawktail’s fourth album, Place of Growth, came out in 2022, followed by a collaboration with Swedish folk legends Väsen. She is the newest member of the Grammy-winning Punch Brothers and has toured with the Dave Rawlings Machine, appearing on Nashville Obsolete and Poor David's Almanack. Along with her cellist sister, Natalie Haas, she released a much-awaited duo album in 2023.
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Named Americana Music Association’s Instrumentalist of the Year in 2020, Haas continues to inspire the next generation of fiddlers through teaching and performances. She’s also recently received commissions from the Freshgrass Foundation and completed a month-long writing residency at Badlands National Park.
ALEXANDER HANNA, DOUBLE BASS
Alexander Hanna was appointed Principal Bass of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Riccardo Muti in the spring of 2012. Prior to his Chicago appointment, he served as Principal Bass of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra for four years. A 2008 graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music, Hanna has performed as soloist, chamber musician, teacher, lecturer and orchestral musician around the world.
His passion for chamber music has led to collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma, Mitsuko Uchida and Jeremy Denk among many others. He has performed atseveral of the world’s finest music festivals including the Great LakesChamber Music Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music, where he wasfeatured as a concerto soloist in the summer of 2015. Additionally, Hanna hasperformed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the East CoastChamber Orchestra. Also an accomplished soloist, Hanna made his CSO solo debut in Vanhal’s Double Bass Concerto under conductor James Conlon in2015.
In addition to classical music, Hanna is devoted to new music and makes frequent appearances on the CSO’s Music NOW series. He has also performed with New Music Detroit .A dedicated teacher, Hanna serves on the faculty of DePaul University and coaches the bass section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
He has taught master classes at many of the world’s finest universities and conservatories, several international conventions and symposia. Hanna’s primary teachers have included Hal Robinson, Edgar Meyer, Scott Haigh, Kay Moore and Virginia Marks.
AUSTIN HARTMAN, VIOLIN
Grammy-award winning violinist, Austin Hartman, has distinguished himself as a chamber musician, soloist and educator with performances throughout the United States and abroad that critics have hailed as a “top flight…masterclass in chamber music.” His performances have been featured in venues throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Africa that include Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Baroque Art Hall in Seoul.
Since joining the Pacifica Quartet in 2017, Mr. Hartman has served on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where the quartet is in-residence and on the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival where he co-directs the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies. He has collaborated with some of today’s most acclaimed artists that include members of the Cleveland, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vermeer, and Juilliard Quartets as well as Menahem Pressler, Sharon Isbin and Anthony McGill.
For twelve seasons, he was the first violinist and founding member of the Biava Quartet an ensemble that garnered the 2003 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and captured top prizes at the Premio Borciani and London International String Quartet Competitions. As a soloist, Mr. Hartman has made numerous appearances with orchestras throughout his career that include two guest appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 1999, he was awarded the Gold Medal prize at the Stulberg International String Competition and since that time he has continued to present solo recitals around the world that included a number of humanitarian concert performances featured in China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Taiwan and Zambia.
His discography can be heard on the Albany, Naxos, and Cedille labels and in 2020, along with his colleagues, he won a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance of the Year. As an educator, Mr. Hartman has served on the faculty of numerous summer festivals including the Brevard Music Center, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institutes and the Luzerne Music Center. Prior to joining the Pacifica Quartet, Mr. Hartman was the Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Indianapolis where he conducted the orchestra and opera theatre while also co-founding the Indianapolis Quartet. He has earned Artist Diplomas from both the Juilliard School and Yale School of Music as well as degrees from the New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music.
MARK HOLLOWAY, VIOLA
Violist Mark Holloway is a Grammy-award winning chamber musician sought after in the United States and abroad. He is a member of the Pacifica Quartet, in-residence at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University Bloomington, where he is a member of the faculty. An artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he has appeared at prestigious festivals and series such as Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Caramoor, Banff, Taos, Music from Angel Fire, Mainly Mozart, Alpenglow, Plush, Whittington, Olympic, Concordia Chamber Players, Kon-Tiki, Bay Chamber Concerts, and with the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Performances have taken him to such far-flung places as Chile and Greenland, and he plays regularly at chamber music festivals in France, Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland, and at the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England. He has frequently appeared as a guest with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus, and the Metropolitan Opera orchestras. Mr. Holloway has been principal violist at Tanglewood and of the New York String Orchestra, and he has played as a guest with the Boston Symphony and guest principal of the American Symphony, Riverside Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Camerata Bern, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has performed at Bargemusic, the 92nd Street Y, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Tertulia, the Cartagena International Music Festival, with the Israeli Chamber Project, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, NOVUS NY, Emerald City Music, and on radio and television throughout the Americas and Europe, most recently a Live From Lincoln Center broadcast.
Hailed as an "outstanding violist" by American Record Guide, and praised by Zürich's Neue Zürcher Zeitung for his "warmth and intimacy," he has recorded for the Marlboro Recording Society, CMS Live, Music@Menlo LIVE, Naxos, and Albany labels. Mr. Holloway was a student of Michelle LaCourse at Boston University, where he received his B.M. Summa cum laude, and he received his Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Michael Tree.
ANDREAS IOANNIDES, PIANO
"An outstanding pianist of the highest artistic standards." – Menahem Pressler
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Cypriot pianist Andreas Ioannides leads a dynamic international career devoted to performance, interpretation, and teaching of the piano.
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Andreas has made concert appearances throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America. Highlights include performances at Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Seoul Arts Center, the Temppeliaukio Kirkko in Helsinki and the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro. As soloist he has performed under such maestros as Neil Varon, David Effron, Paul Nadler and Roberto Tibiriçá. A devoted chamber musician, he has collaborated with esteemed artists including John Sharp, Joseph Swensen, Atar Arad, Mark Kaplan, Peter Stumpf, the Fry Street and Ariel quartets.
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Andreas has received enthusiastic reviews by the Boston Globe and his performances have been broadcast on television and radio across three continents. Having been a prize winner in the BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro and the Hastings International Piano Competition in the UK, he more recently turned his attention to recording projects, including a 2-disc album released by NAXOS in 2020 in honor of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.
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Ioannides is currently Lecturer of Piano and Chamber Music at the Technological University of Dublin and has previously served as Lecturer at both Munster Technological University in Cork and Indiana State University in the USA. He is also co-founder and Artistic Director of ChamberFest Brown County, a chamber music festival that seeks to inspire audiences in rural America through classical music performance and education of the highest caliber.
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Ioannides holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, mentored by legendary pianist Menahem Pressler.
LINCOLN STRING QUARTET
The Lincoln String Quartet, now in its 26th season, comprises four members of the Chicago SymphonyOrchestra. The quartet has been heard in venues across Chicago, including the Northwestern WinterChamber Music Festival, the ChicagoSymphony Chamber Music Series, Dempster Street Pro Musica, and on WFMT, and has performed in Santiago, Chile at the invitation of the Fundación Beethoven. Its members have performed chamber music across the U.S., in Europe, and in Asia.
Violinist Qing Hou has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1997. A native of China, Hou studied at the Central Conservatory in Beijing before coming to the United States in 1988 tocontinue her studies. She holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory andthe New EnglandConservatory. Before joining the CSO, she was a member of the San Francisco Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Hou has performed on series and at festivals in Boston, Madison, Napa, El Paso andSun Valley as well as in Europe. She has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today and regularly performs in the Chicago area in various ensembles. In 1997, Qing, along with her sister, CSO violinist Lei Hou and CSO violist Lawrence Neuman (now Qing’s husband), founded the Lincoln String Quartet. As a soloist, Hou has appeared with orchestras in Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, and China. In 2003, she made her first appearance as soloist with the Chicago Symphony performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G Major conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
Violinist Lei Hou joined the Chicago Symphony in 1997. Prior to her engagement with the CSO, she won a position in the first violin section of the Cleveland Orchestra. She also has served as assistant principal second violin of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., for six years, appointed by Mstislav Rostropovich. As an active chamber musician and soloist, Hou has performed with Pinchas Zukerman at the Ravinia Festival and Northwestern University’s Winter Chamber Music Festival, with Yefim Bronfman at Symphony Center and with members of the Guarneri and Alban Berg quartets at theMarlboro Festival. She also has extensively performed as leading violinist of chamber groups formed with musicians from the Chicago Symphony and the German Radio Orchestra in concert tours in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Hou has been a featured soloist in concerts forNational Public Radio, WFMT of Chicago and WBJC FM of Baltimore. She has served on the faculties ofthe music schools of the University of Maryland and the American University. A native of Dalian, China, she studied at the Middle School of Music in Shanghai, China. She also attended the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Hou earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance at the Peabody Conservatory where she was invited to study with Berl Senofsky under full scholarship.
Violist Lawrence Neuman has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991. Before coming to Chicago he was violist with the Miami String Quartet. As a chamber musician he frequently isheard throughout the Chicago area and has performed across the United States, in Europe, and in Asia.He has appeared at festivals and chamber music series in Boston, Marlboro, La Jolla, Madison, Napa,Portland and Davenport. Chamber music collaborators have included such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman, Lydia Artymiw, Gil Shaham, Simone Lamsma, and Aaron Rosand. During the 1998/99 season Neuman took a leave of absence from the CSO to serve as principal viola ofthe Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. For over 20 years he has taught viola and chamber music at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, Neuman attended the Eastman School of Music, the University of Southern California and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and he was a student of Heidi Castleman, Donald McInnes and Robert Vernon.
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Kenneth Olsen joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as assistant principal cello in 2005. A native of Albany, New York, he began his musical studies at his public elementary school at the age of eight. He soon went on to study with Martha Vivona, followed by Luis Garcia Renart of Bard College. Olsen received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a Richard Aaron student and pursued graduate work at the Juilliard School under Joel Krosnick.
An avid chamber musician, Olsen has performed at numerous festivals around the country, including the Aspen Music, Tanglewood and Ravinia (where he is an alumnus of the Steans Institute) festivals, among others. He has also appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions.
Olsen is a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, a conductorless string orchestra that began in 2001 as a group of friends from leading conservatories and music festivals around the country. He is also a founding member of Civitas Ensemble, established in 2011.​
FUTABA NIEKAWA, PIANO
Known for her verve and sensitivity, Japanese pianist Futaba Niekawa pushes the boundaries of her artistry as a soloist and collaborative pianist across genres and disciplines. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, England, Spain, Taiwan, and Japan and to date has released five recordings (PARMA Recordings, Petrichor Records) and her live performances have been recorded for radio broadcast.
In demand as a collaborative pianist, Niekawa has performed with Atar Arad, James Campbell, Charles Castleman, Gabriele Ragghianti, and the members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has been engaged as a collaborative pianist at the Banff Centre, New England Conservatory, Meadowmount School of Music, and the IU Summer String Academy. Praised as “a beautifully balanced duo” by Gramophone Magazine, Niekawa’s long-term duo partnership with violinist Kerry DuWors, duo526, has led to numerous performances, recordings, and artist residencies at the Banff Centre and Avaloch Farm Music Institute.
Niekawa’s passion for multi-disciplinary collaboration and performing music of her generation have developed into artistic partnerships with composers, dancers, poets, and visual artists. In her leisure-time she plays free-improvisation. Niekawa is currently a Lecturer in Music (Chamber and Collaborative Music) at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
She earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Her dedication to pedagogy, mentoring, and performance practice is shown through workshops at duo526’s annual Sonata Seminar, and invitations as a guest teacher at universities across North America.
NIGEL NORTH, LUTE
Born in London, England, Nigel North has been playing the lute for over 50 years, since the age of 15. Teaching and playing have gone hand in hand and he has been Professor of Lute at the Historical Performance Institute (formerly Early Music Institute), Indiana University, Bloomington (USA) 1999 -2024. From July 2024 he was thrilled to return to Europe, and now lives in Gent, Belgium.
Previous positions include The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London (1976–1996), Hochschule der Künste, Berlin (1993– 1999) and the Royal Conservatory, Den Haag, (2006–2009).
Initially inspired at the age of seven by the early 60’s instrumental pop group The Shadows, Nigel North studied classical music through the violin and guitar and eventually discovered his real path in life, the lute. Nigel is basically self-taught on the lute and was inspired by Michael Schäffer, Gustav Leonhardt and the Jazz duo, Tuck and Patti. The music of Bach has always been his first love in music, especially after a dream at age 12 in which Bach handed him a lute.
After hearing one of Nigel’s Bach recitals in London, Julian Bream recalled in 2002 “I remember going to a remarkable recital, one which I wish I had the ability to give: it was one of Nigel North’s Bach recitals, and I was bowled over by how masterful and how musical it was. A real musical experience, something you don’t always get from guitar and lute players and which, in general, is pretty rare.”
Nigel North wrote Continuo playing on the Lute, Archlute and Theorbo (Faber, 1986 and Indiana University Press). More recently in 2024, Le Luth Dore (Paris) published Bach on the Lute, volumes 1 and 2. Transcriptions for baroque lute of BWV 1001-1006, 1007-1012 and the complete works for lute, BWV 999- 1006a. 2026 will see his latest book, Playing with Patterns: 16th century divisions on the lute (Oxford University Press).
Recordings include a four CD boxed set Bach on the Lute (Linn Records), four CDs of the lute music of John Dowland (Naxos), four CDs of music by Sylvius Weiss (BGS) and 2 CDs of music by Francesco da Milano (BGS). Most recently for “Deux-Elles” a double CD of Bach’s Complete works for lute and other new transcriptions (April 2023).
SEUNGKYU OH, PIANO
Born in South Korea, Seungkyu Oh began his education in piano at age 6. He earned an undergraduate degree in piano performance at the Seoul National University, where he studied under Hie-yon Choi. He earned a master’s degree at Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where he studied under Arnaldo Cohen. He received a full scholarship supported by the Graduate Tuition Award and the Jacobs Chairman’s Scholar Award.
Seungkyu Oh is an award-winning solo performer both in South Korea and the United States. He was a winner of the Concerto Competition at the Indiana University (2018), and NSAL piano competition in Bloomington Chapter (2022) in the United States. He has participated in many prestigious festivals, including the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival in the United States, and the Seoul National University Winter Academy.
As an avid chamber musician, Seungkyu Oh leads an ensemble called Trio Castus. Trio Castus was invited to the prestigious Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition(TICC) for the live performance round. They had a concert at the Mason Hall, Frimurerlogen in Norway. In the following year, the ensemble got the 1st prize at the NOLA ChamberFest in New Orleans. The ensemble had been invited to have concerts at the UNO(University of New Orleans) Recital Hall and St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church in New Orleans as a residency artist.
He continues his musical journey with a Doctor of Music(DM) in Piano Performance and Literature at the Jacobs School of Music, holding an Associate Instructor position with full scholarships and stipend supported by the Jacobs School under the guidance of Professor Arnaldo Cohen. He also holds two minor fields in Music Theory, and Collaborative Piano under the guidance of Roman Ivanovitch and Anne Epperson respectively for his Doctoral
PACIFICA QUARTET
“…nothing short of phenomenal…” – The Telegraph
With a career spanning three decades, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices. Having served as quartet-in residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music for over a decade, the Quartet also previously the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2021, the Pacifica Quartet received a second Grammy Award for Contemporary Voices, an exploration of music by three Pulitzer Prize-winning composers: Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music’s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and in 2006 was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. With its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound, the Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.
In 2008 the Quartet released its Grammy Award-winning recording of Carter’s Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 on the Naxos label; the 2009 release of Quartets Nos. 2, 3, and 4 completed the two-CD set. Cedille Records released the group’s four-CD recording of the entire Shostakovich cycle, paired with other contemporary Soviet works, to rave reviews: “The playing is nothing short of phenomenal.” (Daily Telegraph, London) Other recent recording projects include Leo Ornstein’s rarely heard piano quintet with Marc-André Hamelin with an accompanying tour, the Brahms piano quintet with the legendary late pianist Menahem Pressler, the Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets with clarinetist Anthony McGill, and their Grammy Award-winning Contemporary Voices album.
For more information on the Quartet, please visit www.pacificaquartet.com
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GEORGE SAKAKEENY, BASSOON
George Sakakeeny is professor of bassoon at the Eastman School of Music, professor emeritus of the Oberlin Conservatory, and an artist faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School. In the past he has held the principal bassoon positions of numerous music festivals, the New Japan Philharmonic,the Handel & Haydn Society, the Opera Company of Boston, Promusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus, and City Music Cleveland. More recently he has been serving as visiting guest principal with the Atlanta, and the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestras.
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Three major works for bassoon and orchestra have been composed for him: Libby Larsen's full moon in the city (2013), Peter Schickele’s Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra (1998),and Alexander Blechinger’s Fagott konzert (1997).
Professor Sakakeeny has taught guest master classes at the Paris Conservatory, Rice University, Tokyo University of Fine Arts, the Juilliard School, and held longer term residencies at the Shanghai Conservatory, the Central Conservatory, Seoul National University, and the Conservatoire National Supèrieur de Musique et Danse of Lyon, France. For 7 years he served as guest bassoon professor for Venezuela's El Sistema. He also holds the title "Guest Professor" at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Sakakeeny's numerous solo recordings include Blechinger’s Fagott konzert, the Villa-Lobos Duo with oboist Alex Klein, and his recording off our modern works for bassoon and orchestra "full moon in the city." He is the author of the iBook Making Reeds Start to Finish with George Sakakeeny. Find out more at his Website: www.sakakeenybassoon.com.
JAMES SMELSER, HORN
James Smelser joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as second horn in the spring of 2000, after having played as a regular extra since 1986. In addition, he has been a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Born in Chicago, raised in Joliet, Jim’s first teacher was his father, followed by former CSO hornist, Frank Brouk.
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Jim attended Northwestern University and studied with former CSO second hornist Norman Schweikert. He left Northwestern to study with Gerd Seifert, then principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic, at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, and after returning to Evanston, he studied with CSO principal horn Dale Clevenger. He graduated with honors from Northwestern with a double major in music and German language and literature. He also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music.
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Before joining the CSO, he played over fifteen years of Broadway shows, ballet, and radio and TV commercials. In addition, he has served as principal horn with the Philharmonia Hungarica and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as utility horn with the San Francisco Symphony. He also has performed with the Göttingen Symphonie Orchester, Dresden Staatskapelle, Israel Philharmonic, Shanghai Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariinsky Orchestra, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Jim appeared as a soloist with the CSO in Schumann’s Konzertstück For Four Horns at the Ravinia Festival, and again with his CSO Horn colleagues with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Also as soloist, he has appeared with the Lake Shore Symphony Orchestra in Chicago. He has served as the brass instructor for Den Nye Opera Academy in Bergen, Norway. He has held master classes in Chicago, at the Moscow State Conservatory, and in Seoul and Beijing. Jim was a judge and soloist for the Jeju International Brass Competition, in Jeju, Korea, and he currently is on the faculty of DePaul University School of Music in Chicago. Apart from the Horn, Jim can be found in his garage working on one of his classic Detroit automobiles, picking spicy peppers in his garden, at a White Sox game, or on the beach in Cancun!
JASON STEIGERWALT, BASS
Jason Steigerwalt is an American baritone with an active career in both Germany and the United States. As a concert singer, he has recently been heard in Handel’s Messiah and Saul, Saint-Saens Oratorio de Noel and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
He made his Carnegie Hall solo debut singing under the direction of Ton Koopman in Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum, and was heard again the following year performing Faure’s Reqiuem. As an ensemble member, he has worked with the RIAS Kammerchor and Rundfunkchor in Berlin, the Gächinger Kantorei in Stuttgart, Apollo’s Fire in Cleveland and Musica Sacra in New York. Since 2013, he has been employed as a full-time member of the Komische Oper Berlin, where he has sung in over one hundred performances each season. Notable productions during this time were Prokofiev’s Der feurige Engel, Shostakovich’s Die Nase, Mozart’s Figaro, and Barrie Kosky’s highly celebrated productions of Berstein’s West Side Story, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Schönberg’sMoses und Aron, Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Handel’s Semele, and Bock’s Anatevka.
He is a graduate of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, as well as Susquehanna University, with additional studies at Temple University. He was selected for vocal fellowships at both the Carmel and Oregon Bach Festivals.
BRANDON VAMOS, CELLO
Brandon Vamos, a Grammy-award winning cellist, has performed solo and chamber music recitals both in the U.S. and abroad to critical acclaim. Called a "first-rate cellist" by the Chicago Reader and praised for his "gutsy bravura" by the Chicago Tribune, Mr. Vamos has appeared as soloist with orchestras worldwide, including performances with the Taipei City Symphony, the Suwon Symphony in Seoul, the Samara Symphony in Russia, and the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Vamos has collaborated with many distinguished artists, including Paul Katz, Michael Tree, Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, and the Emerson Quartet, and has recorded for Cedille, Naxos, and Cacophony Records. Awarded a Performer’s Certificate at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Music Degree as a student of Mr. Katz, Mr. Vamos has also studied with distinguished artists such as Tanya Carey in Macomb, Illinois, and Aldo Parisot at Yale University, where he earned a Master of Music Degree.
As a member of the Pacifica Quartet, with whom he performs over 90 concerts a year, he won a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance and the Cleveland Quartet Award, in addition to being named Musical America’s 2009 Ensemble of the Year.
Past Artists
CHRIS ALBANESE, TENOR
Chris Albanese is Pam and Jack Burks Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he conducts the Grammy-nominated Singing Hoosiers and teaches courses in choral conducting.
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Under his direction, the Singing Hoosiers were invited to perform at the 2021 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He has led and prepared the ensemble for collaborations with notable guests including Sylvia McNair and Sandi Patty.
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Prior to IU, Albanese was a member of the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Chanticleer, with which he performed across the United States and abroad, including at Los Angeles’ Disney Concert Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein, Prague’s Rudolfinum, Paris’s Oratorie du Louvre, and St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater. His performances have been broadcast by public radio affiliates in Minneapolis, New York, Seattle, Denver, and Cincinnati, and he appeared with Chanticleer as a featured guest on the Hallmark Network’s Home and Family.
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Albanese also serves as music director of the Akron Symphony Chorus. He has prepared the chorus to critical acclaim for numerous collaborations with the symphony, most recently for performances of Haydn’s The Creation, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and the world premiere of Julia Perry’s Frammenti dale lettere di Santa Caterina.
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An active performer, Albanese’s solo credits include performances with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Dayton Opera, Cincinnati Bach Festival, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Bloomington Early Music Festival, Ars Musica Chicago, and Castleton Festival under the baton of Lorin Maazel.
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Albanese is in demand as a clinician and guest conductor, having presented workshops and master classes across the United States and abroad, including at a national ACDA conference. He is frequently engaged to speak on the topic of vocal production and resonance building in the choral setting. In recognition of his excellence in teaching, he was awarded IU’s Trustees Teaching Award during the 2021-22 academic year.
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He earned a B.M. in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the University of Dayton, an M.M. in Vocal Performance from Northwestern University, and a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His doctoral research centered on the double choir masses of Ibero-American composer Juan Gutierrez de Padilla.
DONNIE RAY ALBERT
Louisiana native and 1972 Louisiana State University graduate, Donnie Ray Albert began his operatic career after completing his Masters of vocal Performance degree from Southern Methodist University in 1975, where he studied with Bruce Foote and Thomas Hayward. Mr. Albert has been Senior Lecturer in Voice at the University of Texas Austin, Butler School of Music since the Fall of 2012.
For 13 years Mr. Albert performed as a Bass-Baritone before switching to Baritone in 1988. Mr. Albert's 49-year career has taken him to some of the world's greatest opera houses and concert halls. Highlights include TOSCA (Scarpia) in Portland, New York City Opera, Atlanta & Giessen; AIDA (Amonasro) in Washington, DC, Köln, Boston, Montreal, and Stade de France; NABACCO in Vancouver, Florentine Opera, La Scala; RIGOLETTO in Miami, New York City Opera, Mannheim, & Vancouver; OTELLO (Jago) in Sacramento, Kentucky Opera, Hamburg; UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (Renato) in Chicago Lyric and Los Angeles; THE FLYING DUTCHMAN in Austin, Köln, Arizona; MACBETH in Columbus, Ohio & Köln; LA TRAVIATA (Germont) Metropolitan Opera in the Parks; DIE WALKÜRE (Wotan) in Austin and Tokyo, Japan; SIEGFRIED (Wanderer) in Tokyo, Japan; TALES OF HOFFMANN (Villains) Houston, Köln, Prague National Theater, and Covent Garden.Orchestral engagements include Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Jerusalem, London, Cleveland and New York. Mr. Albert has collaborated with notable conductors, John DeMain, James Conlon, Paavo Järvi, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Alexander Joel, John Fiore and Karel Mark Chichon.
Mr. Albert's 2016-2017 performances included soloist in the Opera John Brown (concert at Carnegie Hall), the 4 Villians in the TALES OF HOFFMANN (Dresden, Germany); Germont in LA TRAVIATA (Dresden, Germany). In 2018, he appeared as the Doctor in VANESSA, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, England. During the pandemic, Mr. Albert performed the role of Larry in Fort Worth Opera’s zoom production of Bernadette’s Cozy Book Nook and Detroit Opera’s Twilight of the Gods, performed in the parking garage. In May 2022, Mr. Albert performed the role of Lord Capulet in Houston Grand Opera’s Romeo and Juliet, which he is repeating with the Dallas Opera in March 2024. New repertoire includes Tomsky in Queen of Spades at UTBOC and Capellio in L’Opera National DE Lorraine’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
Mr. Albert can be heard on RCA’s PORGY AND BESS (Grammy 1977 – Best Opera Recording and the Grand Prix du Disc) conducted by John DeMain; THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY (2 Grammys: 2008 Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album) conducted by James Conlon; EMI’s EINE FLORENTINISCHE TRAGÖDIE, also conducted by James Conlon. Mr. Albert’s discography can be found on CD Baby, Spotify and Amazon.com.
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ARIEL QUARTET
“...a gripping and often very subtle reading, setting ear-melting tenderness against seething passion with adeft and precise touch.” –The Washington Post
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Distinguished by its virtuosity, probing musical insight, and impassioned, fiery performances, the Ariel Quartet has garnered critical praise worldwide for more than twenty years. Formed when the members were just teenagers studying at the Jerusalem Academy Middle School of Music and Dance in Israel, the Ariel Quartet was named a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, granted by Chamber Music America in recognition of artistic achievement and career support. The Quartet serves as the Faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they direct the chamber music program and present a concert series in addition to maintaining a busy touring schedule in the United States and abroad.
Recent highlights include the Ariel Quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut, a series of performances at Lincoln Center together with pianist Inon Barnatan and the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as the release of a Brahms and Bartók album for Avie Records. In 2020, the Ariel Quartet gave the U.S. premiere of the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Daniil Trifonov, with the composer as pianist for the Linton Chamber Music Series in Cincinnati.
In their 2023-24 season, the Ariel Quartet presents performances of an anniversary commission by Matan Porat. A longstanding friend of the Ariel Quartet, Matan Porat’s new work is a universally relatable journey about the complexities of string-quartet-life over the years. Upcoming performances include ones for the Aspect Chamber Music Series, Perlman Music Program, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Charleston Chamber Music Society, and the Chamber Music Society of Central Kentucky.
The Quartet has dedicated much of its artistic energy and musical prowess to the groundbreaking Beethoven quartets and has performed the complete Beethoven cycle on five occasions throughout the United States and Europe. The Ariel Quartet regularly collaborates with today’s eminent and rising young musicians and ensembles, including pianist Orion Weiss, cellist Paul Katz, and the American, Pacifica, and Jerusalem String Quartets. The Quartet has toured with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and performed frequently with pianists Jeremy Denk and Menahem Pressler. In addition, the Ariel served as Quartet-in-Residencefor the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program,as well as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival.
Formerly the resident ensemble of the Professional String Quartet Training Program at the New EnglandConservatory, from which the players obtained their undergraduate and graduate degrees, the Ariel wasmentored extensively by acclaimed string quartet giants Walter Levin and Paul Katz. It has won numerous international prizes in addition to the Cleveland Quartet Award: Grand Prize at the 2006 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Székely Prize for the performance of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4, and Third Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. About its performances at the Banff competition, the American Record Guide described the group as “a consummate ensemble gifted with utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power” and noted, in particular, their playing of Beethoven’s monumental Quartet in A minor, op. 132, as “the pinnacle of the competition.”
The Ariel Quartet has received significant support for its studies in the United States from the American-Israel Cultural Foundation, Dov and Rachel Gottesman, and the Legacy Heritage Fund. Most recently, they were awarded a grant from the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation.
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ATAR ARAD, VIOLA
Israeli-born violist and composer Atar Arad is a faculty member at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington. His summer activities include teaching at Keshet Eilon, Israel, Domaine Forget, Canada, Heifetz Institute and the Steans Music Institute (where he is serving as faculty since 1991). A Cum Laude First Prize winner at the Geneva International Music Competition (1972), he has performed worldwide in recitals and as a soloist with major orchestras and, for seven years, a sa member of the celebrated Cleveland Quartet. His recordings with the quartet and as a soloist for labels such as Teldec, Telarc, RCA and RIAX are widely acclaimed. His performance of Paganini’s Sonata Per La Grand’ Viola e Orchestra in particular is considered by many as a landmark in the history of the viola. A “late bloomer” composer, Arad’s compositions include a Solo Sonata for Viola, two String Quartets, a Viola Concerto (which he premiered in Bloomington, Brussels and in Stockholm) and more. His Tikvah for Viola Solo was commissioned for the 2008 Munich International Viola Competition by the ARD. His Listen (three poems by W.S. Merwin) for tenor, clarinet, viola, cello and bass was written for the International Musicians Seminar’s concert tour in England with singer Mark Padmore. Epitaph for cello and string orchestra was written for cellist Gary Hoffman who premiered it in Kronberg, Germany, with the Kremerata Baltica Orchestra (Arad performed the viola version of this piece at the International Viola Congress in Rochester, NY). Arad performed and presented his Twelve Caprices for Viola on several USA, Canada, Israel and European concert tours. The Caprices are published by Hofmeister Musikverlag, Leipzig. Recent performances include the Primrose Memorial Concert at BYU and, as a part of his services as the Lorand Fenyves Distinguished Visitor, in Toronto.In November 2018, Arad was a featured artist at the International Viola Congress in Rotterdam, premiering his new concerto for viola and strings, titled “Ceci n’est pas un Bach”.Atar Arad is a recipient of the American Viola Society’s Career Achievement Award (June 2018) and theInternational Viola Society’s Silver Alto Clef 2018 “in recognition for his outstanding contributions to the viola” (November2018). In 2021, Arad composed his Chaconne for solo viola, commissioned by the International Hindemith Viola Competition. Arad plays on a viola by Niccolo Amati. He uses a set of PI strings by Thomastik.
CARLOS BENDOYA, GUITAR
"A complete musician that excels in all range of styles.”(Ernesto Bitetti), Colombian guitarist Carlos Bedoya is a rising concert artist currently pursuing a D.M degree at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music where he also serves as Associate Instructor. Apart from performing, Bedoya also enjoys teaching, collaborating through chamber music, and furthering cultural enrichment through community engagement and volunteering opportunities.
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Some of his most significant concert engagements include performances for the Wilmington Classical Guitar Society, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Florida State University, Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, Antioquia Music Fest, the Cape Classical Artist concert series, Uniquindio Guit-Art Festival, and special appearances at the International Clarinet Association, the Cartagena Music Festival, and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has performed as soloist with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, the Schwob Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northern Lights Music Festival Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ocean City Pops Orchestra, and the Rowan University Orchestra.
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As an avid competitor, Bedoya has garnered more than 20 top prizes in national and international competitions including: Chicago Guitar Festival, Art Farm at Serenbe Guitar Competition, Appalachian State Guitar Competition, University of Memphis International Guitar Competition, Sinaloa International Guitar Competition, Hong Kong IFA Guitar Competition, Florida State University Guitar Competition, Southern Guitar Festival, Sarajevo International Guitar Festival, Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition, amongst others.
Aside from his career as a performer, Bedoya maintains a busy teaching schedule and has an avid enthusiasm for singing and conducting. Bedoya is also an occasional composer and arranger and is currently a Yamaha classical guitar ambassador.
TINA BERGMANN, HAMMERED DULCIMER
Hailed by Pete Seeger as “the best hammered dulcimer player I’ve heard in my life”, Tina Bergmann has been performing concerts, and teaching workshops and private lessons from an early age. A fourth-generation musician, Bergmann began playing music at age eight, learning the mountain dulcimer from her mother in the aural tradition and hammered dulcimer at the knee of West Virginia-native builder and performer Loy Swiger. She established a thriving teaching studio at age12, and went on to be in high demand at festivals and camps across the US. Demonstrating gifts for both performance and teaching, she has been a featured performer across the United States, performing solo; as a duo with her husband, bassist Bryan Thomas; with her string band Hu$hmoney; and touring the US, England, Germany and Ireland as a member of Apollo’s Fire, Cleveland’s world renowned Baroque Orchestra.
LAUREN BERNOFSKY, CONDUCTOR
Hailed by Lukas Foss as “a master composer,” Lauren Bernofsky has written well over a hundred works, including solo, chamber, and choral music, as well as larger-scale works for orchestra, film, musical, opera, and ballet. Her music has been performed across the United States and internationally in major venues, from Carnegie Hall to Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.
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Bernofsky strives to capture the unique expressive potential of each instrument, an approach that has made her work popular with performers looking for new works to showcase their abilities. Her philosophy of composition is simple: music should be a joy both to play and to hear.
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Over seventy of her works are in print from Theodore Presser, Alfred, Carl Fischer, Boosey & Hawkes, FJH, Hal Leonard, Grand Mesa, Balquhidder, Fatrock Ink, and Wingert-Jones. Her music is often heard at major festivals and conferences, including Tanglewood, The Midwest Clinic, and the International Women's Brass Conference, and it has been played by members of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, and many others. Recordings of her music can be heard on the Polarfonia, Emeritus, Blue Griffin, MSR Classics, Mark Records, Summit, and Albany labels.
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Lauren Bernofsky holds degrees from The Hartt School, New England Conservatory, and Boston University, where she earned a doctorate in composition. She has taught at Boston University, The University of Maryland Baltimore County, The Peabody Institute, and Interlochen, and she regularly serves as a clinician and guest conductor at schools, universities, and regional festivals.
WILLIAM BUCHMAN, BASSOON
William Buchman joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1992 after two seasons with the Dallas Symphony. He was appointed assistant principal bassoon in 1996 and has served as acting principal on multiple occasions, including all overseas tours between 2007 and 2014. In 2008 he performed and toured as guest principal bassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Bill has played chamber music with pianists Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Yefim Bronfman and Emanuel Ax; performed and toured with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Pro Musica, and the Chicago Symphony Winds; and plays regularly with Music of the Baroque. He was a soloist at the1998 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and first appeared as soloist with the CSO in 2002; he has performed as a soloist on multiple occasions with Music of the Baroque and DePaul University ensembles. He also has appeared at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in Maryland, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming and the Saint Bart’s Music Festival in the Caribbean. He was awarded first prize in the 1990 Gillet Competition of the International Double Reed Society and has performed at several IDRS conferences since then. A native of Canton, Ohio, Bill earned a bachelor of science degree in physics magna cum laude from Brown University in 1987. With the support of a DAAD fellowship, he continued his physics studies the following year at the Universität Fridericiana Karlsruhe in Germany. On returning to the United States, Bill studied bassoon performance at the Yale University School of Music with Arthur Weisberg and at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music with Norman Herzberg. A member of the DePaul University School of Music faculty since 1998, Bill also coaches the bassoon section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and has presented master classes throughout the United States and in Brazil, China, Canada and Germany. He lives with his husband Lee Lichamer in Chicago’s Ravenswood neighborhood.
OTO CARRILLO, HORN
Oto Carrillo was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) horn section by Daniel Barenboim in 2000. A native of Guatemala, Carrillo grew up in Chicago admiring the CSO and its wonderful horn section while receiving a Bachelor’s degree in music performance from DePaul University and a Master’s degree in both music performance and musicology from Northwestern University. His teachers were Jon Boen, principal horn of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Gail Williams, former associate principal of the CSO. After graduating, he won positions with the Memphis and Cedar Rapids orchestras, and was able to continue playing in Chicago for two seasons as a member of the Civic Orchestra, coached by the legendary retired principal horn of the CSO, Dale Clevenger. He also has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Metropolitana Orchestra of Lisbon, Portugal as well as having had featured roles in Chicago based ensembles such as the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Music of the Baroque where he is now its principal horn. In addition, Oto has played in various summer festivals with such orchestras as the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Grant ParkOrchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival in Woodstock, Illinois, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Prior to his appointment to the CSO, Carrillo held positions in the South Bend and Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestras. Oto has collaborated with numerous chamber groups such as Civitas, Dempster Street Pro Musica, TheChicago Chamber Musicians, musicians from the Music Now series, and as a member of the Millar Brass Ensemble. Carrillo has been a soloist with various groups in and outside the Chicago area performing works by Bach, Strauss,Mozart,Britten, and Gliere as well as giving the Chicago premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’Silver Chants the Litaniesfor horn and chamber orchestra.Recently, Oto gave a series of recitals in Vancouver, Canada and served as guest principal horn of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México as well as the Utah Symphony. He has collaborated with his colleagues in the CSO horn section to perform Schumann’s Konzertstücke For Four Horns with the Chicago Youth Symphony, the Civic Orchestra, and most recently, the CSO. As an instructor, Carrillo has given many master classes around the globe. He has been on faculty at DePaul University since 2003 and in 2013, was awarded its Distinguished Alumnus Award. In addition, he served as the horn professor for 10 years at thePacific Regional International Summer Music Academy (PRISMA), formerly SOAP, a unique summer training program for aspiring young orchestral musicians set in British Columbia. Outside of playing horn, Oto enjoys savoring and occasionally brewing excellent craft beer, woodworking, playing sports of all types, traveling to beautiful places around the world, and the company of his wife Sarah, a free-lance trumpet player, and their two college aged children, Lucas and Isabelle.
JAMES COOPER, CELLO
James Cooper joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2022. He has performed at the music festivals of Aspen, Sarasota, Nippon, Amelia Island, Meadowmount, and he has participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar of Carnegie Hall. He has performed as soloist with the Colburn Orchestra, the Northwestern Philharmonia and Baroque Ensemble, the Houston Civic Symphony, and the HSPVA Symphony. He has performed in masterclasses at Cello Akademie Rutesheim and Kronberg Academy, for artists such as Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, Danjulo Ishizaka, Mario Brunello, and Alisa Weilerstein. He has performed chamber music with Augustin Hadelich, Denis Bouriakov, and Anthony Marwood at the Colburn Chamber music society, and has also collaborated in chamber music with Camden Shaw, Robert McDuffie, and James Dunham. He is the first prize winner of the Samuel and Elinor Thaviu String Performance Competition, the Houston Civic Symphony Young Artist Competition, and was recently awarded the Pirastro Young Artist prize at Echo Arts Munich. Previously he served as Principal Cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He also performs regularly with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and toured this season with the orchestra to Carnegie Hall and throughout Europe with Music Director Riccardo Muti. He studied at the Colburn Conservatory with Ronald Leonard, and at Northwestern University with Hans Jorgen Jensen.
FERNANDA GHI, DANCER
Fernanda Ghi has been dancing from a very early age and chose tango dance as her only form of artistic expression. She has traveled the world for more than 3 decades, creating, producing and teaching, and stands out as one of the artists of the hinge generation between the tango of the 1980s and the 2000s. Her teaching has been continuously evolving along with her personal growth, adapting the dance to each social moment without losing its essence. Fernanda maintains that tango is based on three fundamental pillars: a clear definition of the partners’ roles; a constant and active embrace; and a common axis of the dancing couple. The starting point is the music, which determines the dynamics of expression, and thus creates a “style”, but the “style” is never the starting point. A clear understanding of the mechanics ensures that no undue stress is placed on the body and each movement is a response to a partner’s movement. The Tango that Fernanda teaches is based on a deep understanding of the essence of the dance and allows each student to find their own personal manner of expression, without losing the universal language of Tango and the culture from which it comes. Fernanda Ghi is a true legend in the world of Argentine tango. Celebrated for her elegant style, unique interpretation, creative choreography and powerful command of the stage, she has toured internationally for over two decades. Ghi performed in countless shows and exhibitions and became the World Argentine Tango Champion in 1999. Ghi and her partner were the first non-Asians ever invited to perform at the Imperial Theater in Tokyo and were the feature dancers on the PBS special ‘Tango Magic’ with Pablo Ziegler and the Orpheus Orchestra. Ghi has performed in concert with several Symphony Orchestras (NewMexico, Long Beach, Costa Mesa, Cincinnati) and was commissioned the creation of a tango ballet for the Tulsa Ballet Dance Company. In 2017 and 2018, Ghi served as a judge at the ‘Tango Mundial,’ the World Competition for Argentine Tango. Ghi’s new performance company creates a fusion between Argentine Tango and other art forms, such as theater, visual arts, opera and other styles of dance. Ghi is the Founder of a Boston-based academy that trains amateur and professional dancers.
ZACHARY GOOD, CLARINET
Zachary Good is a multifaceted clarinetist, chamber musician, and composer based in Chicago. He navigates Classical, historically-informed, and contemporary performance practices in chamber music, solo, orchestral, experimental, and collaborative spaces. Zachary is the clarinetist of the sextet Eighth Blackbird, a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, and a founding Co-Artistic Director and member of the eccentric performance collective Mocrep. He has frequently performed with International Contemporary Ensemble, Music of the Baroque Chicago, and the puppet company Manual Cinema. As an improviser, he performs and records with the trio ZRL and the amplified acoustic and synthetic quintet Honestly Same, as well as regularly appearing on improvised music series throughout Chicago. He has been a featured solo artist with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s All Access Chamber Series, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series, the University of Louisville’s New Music Festival, the Washington Arts Ensemble, DePaul University's Ensemble 20+, and at The Phillips Collection. With Eighth Blackbird, Zachary has notably appeared as a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the US Navy Band, the Dallas Winds, and the Pacific Symphony. As a collaborator, Zachary works closely with composers to bring new work to life, having premiered over 125 compositions to date. As a composer, Zachary explores contrapuntal possibilities on the soprano clarinet with small–interval multiphonics (“close dyads”), creating the illusion of multiple clarinetists playing simultaneously. His music is quietly virtuosic, inspired by the intricacies of the clarinet and a love for Baroque nuance and form. Zachary’s compositions and intersecting multiphonic research are the focus of his dissertation, “Add Dye: Dyadic Perspectives on Close Dyad Multiphonics for the Soprano Clarinet”. Zachary is a graduate of Northwestern University (DMA), Oberlin Conservatory, and DePaul University. He is the recipient of the 2021 Luminarts Classical Winds Fellowship. Zachary has participated in fellowships with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Aspen Contemporary Music program. Zachary is a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist.zacharygood.com
KEVIN LIN, VIOLIN
Originally from New York, violinist Kevin Lin has received international recognition for his musicianship and “soulful” playing (The Arts Desk). Lin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Lin is a highly sought after Concert master, previously holding the position of Co-Leader in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His Guest Concertmaster appearances have included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Lin has performed as a soloist and recitalist across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and South Korea. In recent years, Lin has received prizes from the Irving M.Klein International Competition (Fourth Prize) and the Schmidbauer International Competition (First Prize), as well as competed in the George Enescu International Violin Competition and Menuhin International Violin Competition.
Lin spent his early years studying with Patinka Kopec in New York, and later with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. He continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as a recipient of the Mark E. Rubenstein Fellowship, under the pedagogy of Aaron Rosand.
JAAP TER LINDEN, BAROQUE CELLO/VIOLA DA GAMBA
Jaap ter Linden, viola da gamba and baroque cello, is a Dutch pioneer in the world of Early Music. Currently based in the United States, he is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University, where he directs ensembles and the baroque Orchestra. His extensive discography includes 2 recordings of the JS Bach suites for cello solo, the complete Mozart symphonies with the Mozart Akademie which he founded and conducted, as well as countless recordings with Musica Antiqua Cologne, the English Concert and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. During his performance career he has collaborated with such well known musicians as Andrew Manze, Ton Koopman, Richard Egarr, Reinhard Goebel and the late Gustav Leonhardt to name a few. He joined Elizabeth Wallfisch and David Breitman to perform the fabulous trios of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. With David he recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas and variations. As a solo and chamber music player and conductor, Ter Linden has toured throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, China and Japan.
TOMÁS LOZANO, SINGER
Singer, musician, composer, scholar and writer, Tomás Lozano was born in Barcelona, Spain to Andalusian parents. Musically inclined from a young age, he started playing Catalan folk music as a teenager in Barcelona and went on to perform folk, traditional and medieval music at festivals across Europe. In 1993 he toured Canada and the United States with the theatrical troupe Bufons thanks to a sponsorship from the Spanish Ministry of External Affairs. Lozano has since made the U.S. his home base, performing as a soloist and with a variety of musicians and ensembles across the country and internationally. He is known for his eclectic musicianship and his performance of Spanish traditional ballads stands out as iconic. He started singing Argentinian tango eight years ago under the tutelage of his friend and colleague, Alfredo Minetti, and has since been the voice of Tamango, a Bloomington based Argentine tango band, until the present. Lozano has become well-known for his musical compositions set to legendary poets. In 2015 he released the album Eternal Juan Ramón Jiménez, a collection of such compositions, set to the poetry of one of Spain’s best loved and most homespun poets of all time. The album expresses a musically innovative style that marries classical, baroque and modern sounds by way of voice, Spanish and flamenco guitar and baroque bass viola da gamba. Lozano has continued to compose songs out of poems, including the poetic works of Guerau de Liost, Apel.lesMestres, Palmira Jaquetti, Jacint Verdaguer, Josep Carner, Federico GarcíaLorca, Gerardo Diego, Manuel Altoaguirre, Ernestina Champourcin, Juan José Domenchina, Rafael Alberti and Emilo Prados, among others. Lozano has also set to music the poetry of Mexican poet and writer, José Emilio Pacheco when, in2021, The Cervantes Institute of Chicago created a library that bears his name and contacted Lozano to commission a musical program for the inauguration of the library which opened in May 2022. Lozano currently performs with Duo Krupoves Lozano, Salaam and Shakespear's Ear besides pursuing his own musical projects and collaborations with other artists. He has performed around Europe, the United States, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica.
JAMES MAVERICK, PIANO
Since 2021, James Maverick has been pianist and Assistant Chorus Master at Cincinnati Opera, preparing productions of Madama Butterfly, The Pirates of Penzance, and Il barbiere di Siviglia, among others. Other past productions include I pagliacci with Austin Opera and a workshop of Jennifer Higdon's upcoming Woman with Eyes Closed with Opera Philadelphia. He was chorus master and pianist for productions of Bizet's Les pêcheurs des perles and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, where he was also a Resident Artist from 2017-2019. While in Kansas City, he served on the coaching faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, and he has previously been a fellow with Wolf Trap Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and the Tanglewood Music Center. In the fall of 2021, he joined the Collaborative Piano faculty at the University of Texas-Austin Butler School of Music, where he also coaches singers at the Butler Opera Center. He holds degrees in piano performance, choral conducting, and collaborative piano from Lawrence University and Indiana University-Bloomington.
ALFREDO MINETTI, PIANO
A native of Uruguay, Alfredo Minetti moved with his family to Argentina and eventually to Brazil. He studied classical piano in Rio de Janeiro with Ondine de Mello, and also developed an interest for the social and human sciences, earning a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from Indiana University. He is interested in the social aesthetics, collective emotion and group creativity of musical practices as well as in the complexities related to the acquisition of taste. While residing in Bloomington, Indiana, Minetti collaborated regularly with the Latin American Music Center of the Jacobs School of Music, as pianist and arranger. In 2008 Minetti created and produced Singing for Social Justice: 1968’s Legacy in the Americas, a celebratory concert remembering the critical importance of 1968 through a series of protest songs from the Americas. A year later he founded Minetti Productions, a performing arts company, followed by the Zero Hour Festival, and later partnered with dancers Fernanda Ghi and Guillermo Merlo to produce the shows Identidad and Carmen de Buenos Aires. With Identidad the company toured the US and twenty-seven cities in China (2014/2015). In 2015 Minetti formed a duo with bandoneonist and composer Richard Scofano and the duo released their first CD Estaciones in the following year. An accomplished pianist, Minetti has performed in concerts, festivals and tours in Brazil, Argentina, Europe, China, Canada, and the US. He is currently working on a book analyzing the concept of the duende as well as on a solo recording with his own compositions.
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MAURICE NEUMAN, CELLO
Maurice Neuman, age 18, is a senior in high-school at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. A native Chicagoan, Maurice began studying cello at age 3 and piano at age 4. He currently is a student of Hans Jensen, professor of cello at Northwestern University. He previously studied with Stephen Balderston and Paula Kosower. Maurice has won top prize in several competitions, including the 2023 George Gershwin International Music Competition; the 2023 19th Century Charleston International Music Competition; the 2023 Lakeview Orchestra Young Artist Competition; the 2023 Paul Vermel Young Artist Award; and the 2023 DePaul Concerto Festival. Maurice is co-principal cello of the top orchestra at the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, as he was in the 2022-23 season. He was also appointed principal cello of the 2023 ILMEA All-State Honors Orchestra. Maurice earned Honorable Mention at both the 2022 Walgreens National Concerto Competition and the 2023 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Crain-Maling Foundation Young Artists Competition. Active as a chamber musician year round, Maurice has attended Greenwood Music Camp in western Massachusetts for the past 6 years and is the cellist of the U-High Piano Trio.
LEIGHANN DAIHL RAGUSA, BAROQUE FLUTE
Applauded for“some of the most spirited, stylish, and nuanced playing” (Chicago Classical Review) as well as her “invigoratingly fresh and perky interpretation” (Bachtrack), Leighann Daihl Ragusa, is an accomplished musician, performing on both historical and modern flutes. She has concertized throughout central Europe as well as the United States both as a soloist and as a collaborator of chamber and orchestral music. In 2007, Leighann was a major prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Baroque Flute Competition and has been fortunate to work under such notable conductors as Jeffrey Thomas, Barthold Kuijken, Jeanne Lamon, Stanley Ritchie, Harry Bickett, and Peter Kooij. In addition, her performances can frequently be heard on Chicago’s Classical Radio Station WFMT, 98.7. Based in the midwest, Leighann earned degrees in modern flute from DePauw University and Indiana University as well as degrees in historical flutes from The Royal Conservatory of the Hague (TheNetherlands) and Indiana University. Her primary flute teachers included Wilbert Hazelzet, Michael McCraw, Kate Lukas, Trevor Wye, Anne Reynolds, Barbara Gisler-Haase and Cate Hummel. Leighann has also been the recipient of the prestigious Netherland-American Fulbright grant. In addition to an active performance career, Leighann is an avid studio teacher of aspiring and professional flutists, and offers master classes and workshops on ornamentation and historically informed performance practices.
RICHARD SCOFANO, BANDONEÓN
A master of the bandoneón, Richard Scofano was born in Paso de los Libres, Argentina, and is the descendant of three generations of bandoneonists. Beyond his renowned virtuosity, musicality and sensibility, Scofano is also an accomplished composer, arranger, and musical director. He began his studies at age five, with his father, Ricardo Scofano, himself a landmark in the Argentine musical genre of the Chamamé. Richard grew up in the center of the folk traditions and culture of Northeast Argentina in a home constantly filled with musicians and singers and, nowadays, his artistry is a testimony to his mastering of the genre, to his musical craft, and to his ability to combine both through an exceptional creative genius. Scofano always nurtured interest in the music of neighboring Brazil and is passionate about the study of concert music. With forty years of professional work, Scofano has taken his music literally throughout the world and is held in high esteem by fellow musicians and audiences alike. Richard has played throughout South America, North America, Europe, Japan, China and Australia. In 2014/15 he toured China as director of the show ‘Identidad’, which included some of his music in the program. In 2015 he composed the music for ‘Carmen de Buenos Aires’, an adaptation of the script of the opera Carmen for a tango/flamenco version premiered in Boston in November of that year. Still in 2015 he created a duo with pianist Alfredo Minetti and they toured extensively throughout the US and Puerto Rico, as well as Argentina and Brazil. In October of 2016, he premiered his ‘Iberá’ (concerto for bandoneón and orchestra) with the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago under the direction of Mina Zikri. This concert has been performed in the US, in Argentina (including the prestigious Sala Ballena Azul, at the CCK in Buenos Aires), as well as in Brazil. The year of 2016 also marked the release of his CD ‘Estaciones’ with his original compositions. In this recording Scofano debuted his original contribution to his native genre. In 2017 he was invited to perform a concert with his music by the Jacobs School of Music, in Bloomington, IN. In 2018 he was invited by Yamandú Costa to perform with him at the Guitar Salon International, in Santa Monica, CA. He performed again with Yamandu in 2019, in New York at the Sony Hall Concert; in Montreal, Canada, at the Montreal Jazz Festival; and at the Vail Jazz Festival, in Vail, Colorado; and once again in 2022 to perform at Yamandu’s American tour. In 2020 he received a commission by the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and wrote a symphonic poem entitled 'La Tierra Sin Mal' (for bandoneon and orchestra), inspired on a Guarani legend, which he premiered with ROCO, in September of that same year. He’s done numerous TV and Radio appearances, interviews and shows. And his music has been featured on radio, including on Performance Today, conducted by Fred Child. He has participated as producer, arranger and/or performer in many recordings. In September 2022 he performed his concert for bandoneón and orchestra (IBERA) and his symphonic poem (LA TIERRA SIN MAL) with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira (OSB) under the direction of Lanfranco Marcelleti. In November of the same year, he performed his symphonic poem and Astor Piazzolla “Concerto for Bandoneon” (Aconcagua) with the New Mexico Philharmonic under the direction of Roberto Minczuk. In 2023 Richard toured Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (in Brazil) with Alfredo Minetti, and upon returning to the US he performed ‘La Tierra Sin Mal’ with the Boulder Philharmonic. He also played in Nashville,TN and Tucson,AZ in duo with legendary classical guitarist Sergio Assad
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KATHIE STEWART, BAROQUE FLUTE
Kathie Stewart is the newly appointed Curator of Historical Keyboards and Visiting Academic Specialist in Historical Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She is a founding member and principal flutist of the Grammy Award winning Apollo’s Fire: the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. A faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she is also a Kulas Visiting Artist at Case Western Reserve University, and former Curator of Harpsichords at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she taught baroque flute for nearly twenty years. She is an avid proponent of Celtic music, playing Irish and baroque flutes on several Apollo’s Fire recordings. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, The Four Nations Ensemble, Oberlin Baroque Ensemble, ARTEK, and the Bach Sinfonia in Washington, D.C. She is also Assistant Director of the Seattle Baroque Flute Workshop.
PETER STUMPF , CELLO
Peter Stumpf is professor of cello at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to his appointment, he was principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Stumpf's tenure in Los Angeles followed 12 years as associate principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. His professional orchestral career began at the age of 16 when he joined the cello section of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He received a bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist's Diploma from the New England Conservatory.
A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Johannes String Quartet and has appeared on the chamber music series at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, the Boston Celebrity Series, the DaCamera Society in Los Angeles, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and at the concert halls of Cologne. He has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston and Philadelphia and at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico as well as the Festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bridgehampton, Ottawa, Great Lakes, Ojai, Spoleto, and Aspen. He has toured with Music from Marlboro, the Casals Hall Ensemble in Japan, and with pianist Mitsuko Uchida in performances of the complete Mozart Piano Trios. He has collaborated with pianists Leif Ove Andsnes, Emmanuel Ax, Jorge Bolet, Yefim Bronfman, Radu Lupu, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Andras Schiff, Jean Yves Thibaudet, Mitsuko Uchida, and with the Emerson and Guarneri String Quartets. Most recently, the Johannes Quartet has collaborated with the Guarneri Quartet on tour in performances including commissions from composers William Bolcom and Esa Pekka Salonen.
Concerto appearances have been with the Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the LosAngeles Philharmonic, the Boston Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, the Vermont Symphony, the Connecticut String Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay, the American Youth Symphony,and at the Aspen Music Festival. As a recitalist, he has performed at the Universities of Hartford, Syracuse, and Delaware, at Jordan Hall in Boston, and at the Philips and Corcoran Galleries in Washington, D.C. Most recently, he performed the Six Suites for Solo Cello by J. S. Bach on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society Series and on the Chamber Music in Historic Sites Series in LosAngeles. His awards include first prize in the Washington International Competition, the Graham-Stahl Competition, and the Aspen Concerto Competition and second prize in the Evian International String Quartet Competition.
As a former member of the Boston Musica Viva, he has explored extended techniques, including microtonal compositions and numerous premieres. As a teacher, he has served on the cello faculty of the University of Southern California, Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, the New England Conservatory, and guest artist faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music as well as at the Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Musicorda Summer String Program. He has conducted master classes at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, Manhattan and Mannes Schools of Music, Iowa and Pennsylvania State Universities, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Seoul National University, Temple University, and at the Universities of Delaware and Michigan.
KONSTANTYN TRAVINSKYY, PIANO
Ukrainian pianist, Konstantyn Travinskyy has won prizes in numerous piano competitions across the globe including 1st prize at the Sorantin Music Competition, 3rd prize at the California International Young Artist Competition, 4th prize at the Valesesia-Musica International Competition (Italy) and 1st prize at the International Wideman Piano Competition in Shreveport, Louisiana. Konstantyn was invited to study with Vladimir Viardo, Artist-in Residence of the University of North Texas, where he completed his Master’s degree in May 2010 and is currently pursuing his Doctorate in piano performance. He is a recipient of Toulouse Graduate School scholarship as well as College of Music and Viardo Fellowship Foundation scholarships. In addition to his competition accomplishments, Konstantyn made several major performances in the U.S. including his Chicago debut at the Dame Myra Hess Series which was broadcast live on the city's classical radio station, WFMT. His orchestral performances include appearances with the Domenico Cimarosa Symphony Orchestra in Italy, the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the University of North Texas Symphony Orchestra and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. After his performance with the latter The Shreveport Times stated, “He has a wonderfully precise style of fingering and approach, equally adept at capturing the drama of the work as well as its melodic content."
EDUARDO VILLALBA, DANCER
Eduardo Villalba, a highly respected icon within the Chicago Tango Scene, is a distinguish Argentine tango maestro who currently imparts his dance expertise in his esteemed studio within the Chicago area. Eduardo’s deep-rooted connection to the world of tango began in the vibrant neighborhood of La Boca, where he was raised amidst the rich tapestry of tango culture. La Boca known for its illustrious tango history and cultural significance, provided Eduardo with an immersive tango upbringing. Eduardo’s journey led him to grace the iconic dance floors of Buenos Aires, where he honed his craft and embraced the essence of tango. With over two decades of devotion to his dance form, he has cultivated a unique style that is characterized by elegance, unwavering passion, and an authentic connection to the heart of tango. In 2008, Eduardo embarked on a new chapter in his life by immigrating to the United States. Since then, he has become a cornerstone of the Chicago community, collaborating with numerous prominent tango dancers like Marcela Durán, Lorena Ermocida, and Fernanda Ghi. Together they have orchestrated intense workshops, sharing their collective knowledge and passion for tango in festivals, marathons, studios, and even at renowned Universities across the United States. Eduardo’s mission has been to propagate tango as an integral part of Argentine culture and identity in the United States, solidifying his role as a pillar of the Chicago Tango Community.
ELISABETH WRIGHT, HARPSICHORD
Professor Emerita of harpsichord and fortepiano at the Historical Performance Institute of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, a post from which she recently retired after 39 years, Elisabeth Wright is noted for her versatility as soloist and chamber musician and for her expertise in the art of basso continuo improvisation. She is in frequent demand for masterclasses and seminars pertaining to performance practices of 16th to 18th century music. Following graduate studies with Gustav Leonhardt at the Amsterdam (now Sweelinck) Conservatory, she has maintained a distinguished international career performing in many noted venues. Soloist with Tafelmusik, Pacifica, Seattle, Portland and Lyra Baroque Orchestras, she has performed for decades as founding member of Duo Geminiani with esteemed Baroque violinist Stanley Ritchie, with other prominent ensembles, and has collaborated with numerous distinguished artists. She has been broadcast on five continents and recorded for Classic Masters, Milan-Jade, Focus, Arion, Arts Music, Música Ficta, ProMúsica Antiqua, and Centaur. A perpetual student of languages and interested in the relationship between text and music, her research on musical settings of the poetry of Giambattista Marino led to writing a chapter in The Sense of Marino: Literature, FineArts and Music published by Legas Press. Founding member of The Seattle Early MusicGuild and Bloomington Early Music Association, she has served on the board of EarlyMusic America and as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, PEW and PennPat and for numerous early keyboard societies, conferences, and academies.
Recent activities include concerts in Minnesota for Lyra Baroque, a chamber tour in the Pacific NW for the Salish Sea Festival, performances with Música Ficta in Mexico and in Poland and, in January, concerts and two recording projects, the first with music from the Bogotá Cathedral Archives and the second a solo harpsichord recording of music by Jean Henry D’Anglebert.
