Emi Ferguson can be heard live in concerts and festivals with groups including the Metropolis Ensemble, Handel and Haydn Society, AMOC*, the New York New Music Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players.
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Performer
Performer and composer Caleb A. Smith is a multi-faceted artist who hopes to use his art to present relevant, relatable, and thought-provoking narratives to his audience. Caleb received his Bachelor’s in Jazz Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he was able to attend on a full-tuition scholarship. Currently, Caleb is pursuing his Master’s Degree from Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music. He has been fortunate enough to study with musicians such as trombonist Robin Eubanks, as well as with performer composers like Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, Gary Bartz, and Billy Hart.
As a performer, Caleb has played with a vast selection of artists including five-time Grammy Award winning American visionary Lauryn Hill at the 2018 Rock N Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony presented by HBO, a performance with trumpeter Terrance Blanchard as part of Cleveland’s Annual Tri-C Jazz Festival, and at the New England Conservatory of Music with bassist Dave Holland. He has played with an array of different ensembles ranging from small jazz-based combos, concert/marching bands, a symphony orchestra, jazz big bands, Gospel groups and as part of a horn section in pop groups. Caleb has also given numerous performances in and around Cleveland at venues such as The Bop Stop at the Music Settlement, Severance Hall, and Akron’s acclaimed BLU Jazz+ Club.
Composition is an integral part of Caleb’s artistry and artistic process. He hopes that, through his original work and collaborations with others, he will make himself vulnerable to his audience and not only present themes and narratives associated closely with his heart and personal life, but also those that are associated with being Black in America. He has had the privilege to study composition at prestigious programs such as the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead (where he had his original work performed on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage) and at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music.
Caleb firmly believes that teaching is an integral part of any society and is very passionate about spreading the knowledge he has obtained to other people on their journey.
Kalun Leung (he/him) is a collaborative trombonist, augmented instrumentalist, and sound artist with an extended practice in instrument building, electronics, and movement. His projects are motivated by the exploration of new and unexpected contexts in which the trombone can thrive, an interdisciplinary and research-based approach that has led to the invention of new electronic trombone augmentations, the study of Balkan brass band music in Guča, the premiere of never-before-seen Keith Haring computer art, the mounting of a Fluxus-inspired trombone sound sculpture, and site-specific improvisations with landfills and robots.
As a performer, he is a major proponent for the presentation of new work through commissioning, collective creation, and improvisation, and performs in new music, improvised, jazz, inter-arts and folk music ensembles in New York City and Tiohtià:ke/Montréal where he is based. He has premiered works by George Lewis, Bekah Simms, and Lesley Mok, and has contributed to a GRAMMY-winning album with the Experiential Orchestra. He has collaborated with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Nation Beat, Slavic Soul Party, Zlatne Uste, David Taylor and Felix del Tredici (So Wrong it’s Right), Billy Martin (Medeski Martin & Wood), John Aaron Cockburn (Bruce Cockburn, Little Suns), and many others.
Eleonore Oppenheim
“Quietly virtuosic” (Alan Kozinn, the New York Times) upright and electric bassist Eleonore Oppenheim is equal parts valued ensemble player and engaging soloist. Her “…subtle expressivity” and “…particular eloquence” (Joshua Kosman, the San Francisco Chronicle), coupled with her New Music advocacy, have made her a go-to muse for some of the best composers of her generation, and she has built a rich repertoire of solo pieces, some of which will be featured on her debut album, “Home,” which will be released on Innova Recordings in Spring of 2016.
A musical omnivore and polyglot, Eleonore is at home in a wide range of musical idioms, and has worked with a variety of different artists and groups, among them the Philip Glass Ensemble, Tyondai Braxton (Battles), the Wordless Music Orchestra, Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond), Ensemble Signal, Bryce Dessner (the National), Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, and Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead).
Eleonore also performs and records regularly with the “All-star, all-female quintet” (Time Out NY) Victoire, whose debut album Cathedral City reached top-10 and best-of lists in the New York Times, Time Out NY, and NPR in 2010, and whose new album Vespers for a New Dark Age, a collaboration with Wilco drummer and percussionist Glenn Kotche, was released on New Amsterdam in 2015.
She has appeared at a number of national and international festivals and venues, most notably the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia, Spoleto USA, the MADE Festival in Sweden, Festival de Otoño Madrid, and Carnegie Hall, BAM, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim and Whitney Museums, the Barbican Centre, the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, Disney Hall, and the Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Recital Centre in Australia.
Eleonore was a Bang on a Can Fellow in 2006, where she met many of the fantastic musicians and composers she now collaborates with. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate at SUNY Stony Brook, and is also an alumna of the Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School.
Topu Lyo
Topu Lyo is a Korean-American multi faceted composer, producer, and cellist. He uses cello and electronics as his primary tool to compose and perform. He has been a co-leader of two piece band Live Footage for over 12 years touring throughout Europe, Asia, and the US. The band has scored documentaries for HBO, BET, VICE, UNICEF as well as done commercial work for many other brands including BMW, VOLVO and Arpel. He has held a 10 year residency at NYC's Apotheke every Sunday night.
Samer Ghadry
Samer Ghadry is a Brooklyn-based musician and healing sound practitioner. He uses a variety of droning and overtoning instruments such as gong, voice, bowls, and forks to craft relaxing, rejuvenating, and holistically transporting sound journeys in various settings. Samer has a background in percussion and improvisation and has toured and recorded with musicians Matthew Dear, Angel Deradoorian, and Dave Harrington, and has appeared in recent works such as Alanis Morsette's The Storm Before the Calm and the film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Sara Serpa
A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Literature, film, visual arts, nature and history inspire Serpa in the creative process and development of her music. Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist, Danilo Perez, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist, Ran Blake, and Greg Osby.
Her ethereal music draws from a broad variety of inspirations including literature, film, visual arts as well as history and nature. As a leader, she has produced and released ten albums, the latest being Intimate Strangers (2021) and Recognition (2020).
Pieta Brown is hailed as a "self-styled poetess, folk goddess and country waif" by the BBC, and over the course of the past decade-and-a-half, she’s released eight critically lauded records, prompting NPR to applaud her "moody, ethereal" songwriting, and the NY Times to praise her “sweet, smoky voice.” Her work garners praise and support from a wide array of peers and mentors, including legendary producer Don Was, filmmaker Wim Wenders, and Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon, who called Brown’s 2014 album Paradise Outlaw his “favorite recording made at our studio.” More »
Greg Chudzik is an active performer across numerous genres on the double bass and electric bass. Currently, he can be seen performing regularly with several new music groups, including Signal Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, and Talea Ensemble. Greg is also a member of several bands, including Empyrean Atlas, Bing and Ruth, and The Briars of North America. He has worked with numerous influential figures in contemporary music, including Steve Coleman, Steve Reich, Brian Ferneyhough, Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin, Helmut Lachenmann, Charles Wuorinen, Alex Mincek and Tristan Perich. Greg’s recording credits include playing on the Grammy-nominated “Barcelonaza” by Jorge Leiderman, “Pulse / Quartet” by Steve Reich on Nonesuch records, “Morphogenesis” and "Synovial Joints" by Steve Coleman on Pi Recordings, “No Home of the Mind” and "Tomorrow Was the Golden Age" by Bing and Ruth on RVNG records, the album “Americans” by Scott Johnson (Tzadik records), multiple recordings with Signal Ensemble on New Amsterdam and Mode Records, the album “Grown Unknown” by Lia Ices (Secretly Canadian records), the album "Inner Circle" by Empyrean Atlas, and the album “High Violet” by The National on 4AD records. Greg's debut album "Solo Works, Vol. 1" was released in July of 2015 and features original pieces of music written for bass guitar and electronics. His follow-up album “Solo Works Vol. 2” features original compositions for double bass quartet and will be released in 2019.
Andrew Wan was named concertmaster of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) in 2008. As soloist, he has performed worldwide under conductors such as Rafael Payare, Kent Nagano, Maxim Vengerov, Vasily Petrenko, Bernard Labadie, Carlo Rizzi, Peter Oundjian, Xian Zhang, Michael Stern and James DePreist. He has played chamber music with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, Vadim Repin, Marc-André Hamelin, Daniil Trifonov, Menahem Pressler, Jörg Widmann, Emanuel Ax, Johannes Moser, Arabella Steinbacher, James Ehnes, and Gil Shaham as a frequent artist at the Seattle Chamber Music, La Jolla Summerfest, Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music, Orford Musique, St. Prex, Colorado College and Olympic festivals. Wan performs regularly as guest concertmaster for the Pittsburgh, Houston, Indianapolis, National Arts Centre, Toronto and Vancouver Symphony orchestras.
Wan’s discography includes Grammy-nominated and Juno, Felix and Opus award-winning releases on the Analekta, Onyx, Bridge, and Naxos labels with the Seattle Chamber Music Society, New York’s Metropolis Ensemble, Charles Richard-Hamelin and the New Orford String Quartet. In the fall of 2015, he released a live recording of all three Saint-Saëns violin concerti with the OSM and Kent Nagano under the Analekta label to wide critical acclaim. His recent live album of works for violin and orchestra by Bernstein, Moussa and Ginastera with Nagano and the OSM won the 2021 Juno award for Best Classical Recording for Large Ensemble.
Wan enjoys a deep collaborative relationship with Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, silver medalist of the 17th Chopin International Piano Competition, with whom he has recorded all ten Beethoven sonatas for piano and violin. Their second album of Beethoven's 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th Sonatas garnered the 2022 Juno award for Best Classical Recording for Small Ensemble. Their next recording will feature the sonatas for violin and piano by Robert Schumann, to be released in the fall of 2022.
Wan graduated from The Juilliard School with Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Artist Diploma degrees and is currently a member of the New Orford String Quartet, Associate Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, Artistic Director of the Prince Edward County Chamber Music Festival and for the 2017-18 season was Artistic Partner of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, he won the Part-Time Teaching Award at the Schulich School of Music. (www.andrewviolin.com)
Andrew Wan performs on a 1744 Michel'Angelo Bergonzi violin, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the David Sela Collection. He also enjoys the use of an 1860 Dominique Peccatte bow from Canimex.
An avid chamber musician, violinist Annie Rabbat has participated in the Ravinia Festival's Steans Institute, IMS Prussia Cove's Open Chamber Music, and Caramoor's Rising Stars Series, as well as the Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals. She toured with Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute in 2005, giving performances in Washington, D.C.'s Library of Congress and Boston's Gardner Museum. Her chamber music collaborations have included performances with Roger Tapping, Gary Hoffman, Menahem Pressler, Timothy Eddy, Ani Kavafian, Anthony Marwood, and Stephen Stirling.
Ms. Rabbat's recent engagements have included a solo recital at the Caramoor Center for the Performing Arts and chamber music performances at the Virginia Arts Festival, Concord Chamber Music Society, and throughout the Boston area. She is a member of the Laurel Quartet, Concertmaster of the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra, and also plays with Walden Chamber Players and A Far Cry.
Ms. Rabbat completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Indiana University and holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. She now resides in Boston where she studies at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. Her mentors have also included Robert Mann, Nicholas Mann, Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian and Phil Setzer.
Active as a soloist and chamber musician, cellist Gal Nyska has been praised as an "agile" (New York Times) "prodigious," "spellbinding," and "technically assured" performer (Classical Voice of North Carolina) possessing "a deep and moving purity of sentiment" (the Ellsworth American). One of the leading Israeli cellist of his generation, he most recently triumphed at the Aviv Competitions, Israel's most prestigious contest for emerging musicians, winning both the Rachel and Dov Gottesman cello prize as well as the Meira Gera Audience Prize. Mr. Nyska also recently made his New York solo debut with the Juilliard Orchestra at Avery Fischer Hall under Dennis Russell Davies. Additional performances include solo, chamber music, and recital appearances at the Grand Salle des Invalides (Paris), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Jerusalem Music Center, Henry Crown Theatre, and concerto engagements with the Las Vegas, North Carolina, Bangor, Raleigh, and Durham symphony orchestras, among others.
Committed to the commissioning and performance of new works, Mr. Nyska has performed world and New York premieres of works by some of his generation's most promising composers including Michael Brown, Gilad Cohen, Huang Ruo, Noam Sivan, and Avner Dorman. This year he also collaborates with Michael Brown on a new work for cello and piano, with composer Ronnie Reshef on a work for cello and narrator, and with composer Hadas Pe'ery on a work for cello and electronics, all to be premiered in 2009.
Festival and workshops attended include the Olympic Music Festival, International Musicians' Seminar in Prussia cove, Accademia Chigiana, Kronberg Academy, Aspen Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute and Festival, the Quartet Program, Music in the Valley Institute and Festival, Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall, and Itzhak Perlman's Chamber Music Workshop. A recent graduate of the Master's degree program at the Juilliard School, Mr. Nyska serves as a teaching assistant to Juilliard String Quartet cellist Joel Krosnick.
Wayne Lin, a native of Green Bay, WI, received his Bachelor's degree from the Juilliard School, studying violin with Glenn Dicterow, and most recently completed his Master's degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of Peter Oundjian. His music has led him to performances on four continents, and he has appeared as soloist with the symphonies of Green Bay, Fox Valley, Milwaukee, the Martinu and Hradec Kralove Philharmonics in the Czech Republic, the Sudecka Philharmonic in Poland, the Chengdu Symphony in China, and chamber music performances in Bangkok, Thailand and throughout Argentina. Mr. Lin has served as concertmaster with the Juilliard Symphony, the Yale Philharmonia, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and is also a member of the New Haven Symphony and will be serving as concertmaster this up-coming season. An avid chamber musician, he is also a member of the Sebastian Chamber Players and the Hindemith Ensemble, and has participated in the Taos and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music festivals, Music Academy of the West, and the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals. Mr. Lin plays on a 1779 G.B . Guadagnini violin.
Violinist Jessica Lee, the First Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, was featured in the "Launch Pad" column of The Strad (June 2007), as the magazine's "pick of up-and-coming musicians" for that month. Describing a recent performance with her hometown orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said: "Her performance was flawless."
Current highlights for Ms. Lee include her debut recitals at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium and on the Ravinia Festival's Rising Stars series as well as engagements with the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock and Patrons for Young Artists (NY). Her 2006 concerto debut at Alice Tully Hall, performing Beethoven's Violin Concerto with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony was broadcast twice on WQXR-FM. Other recent engagements include Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG/Winners Series, as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Caramoor Festival in New York, Asociacion National de Conciertos in Panama and Purdue University.
Ms. Lee is an active chamber musician and became a member of the Johannes String Quartet in 2006. She has toured frequently with 'Musicians from Marlboro,' including appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Boston's Gardner Museum. She is also a member of the conductor-less string ensemble ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra), with which she has performed at Town Hall and the Kennedy Center.
Ms. Lee has also appeared on the Concerti di Mezzogiorno Recital Series at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Festival de Musica de Camera in Lima, Peru, and the FOCUS! Festival in New York. She has also performed as guest soloist with such orchestras as the American Chamber Orchestra, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Hampton Youth Symphony, and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. She has been a participant at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival as well as at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
A native of Virginia, Jessica Lee began playing the violin at age three and quickly captured national attention with a feature article in LIFE magazine. Following studies with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet, she was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music at age fourteen and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree under the tutelage of Robert Mann and Ida Kavafian. In May 2003, she completed her studies with Robert Mann for a Master of Music Degree at the Juilliard School and currently resides in New York.
Winner of the 2022 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Earl Lee is a renowned Korean-Canadian conductor who has captivated audiences worldwide. Currently Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra his appearances in the 21/22 season include leading the San Francisco Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, and Ann Arbor Symphony in subscription; the New York Philharmonic in its annual Lunar New Year Gala; debuts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at New York’s Lincoln Center, the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, and with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam as a participant in the Ammodo masterclasses led by Fabio Luisi. Next season includes a return to the San Francisco Symphony and his Boston Symphony subscription debut.
Beginning with the 22-23 season, Earl joins the Ann Arbor Symphony as Music Director.
Earl recently concluded his position as the Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony where he led various concerts and its programming. He also served as the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony from 2015 to 2018.
In all of his professional activities, Earl seeks ways to connect with fellow musicians and audiences on a personal level. His concerts to date in Canada, the U.S., China and South Korea have often been accompanied by outreach events beyond the concert hall in the community at large. He has taken great pleasure in mentoring young musicians as former Artistic Director and Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a regular guest conductor with the orchestras of North America’s top music schools such as Manhattan School of Music and the New England, San Francisco, and Royal Conservatories.
As a cellist, Earl has performed at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Caramoor Rising Stars, and Ravinia’s Steans Institute and has toured as a member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), with Musicians from Marlboro, with and Gary Burton & Chick Corea as a guest member of the Harlem String Quartet.
Earl has degrees in cello from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School and in conducting from Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory. He was the recipient of the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018, of a Solti Career Assistance Award in 2021 and has been awarded a Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship by Kurt Masur and the Ansbacher Fellowship by the American Austrian Foundation and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. He lives in New York City with his wife and their daughter.
Violinist Amy Lee has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Amy made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age fifteen at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. Three years later, she appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra again at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Following her debut, she has performed with orchestras including Germany's Baden-Baden Philharmonic, Curtis Chamber Orchestra, National Gallery Orchestra (Washington DC), Peninsula Symphony(San Francisco), Kennett Square Symphony(PA), Lower Merion Symphony(PA), Temple University Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra(NM) among many others, and was heard in a concert broadcast on Philadelphia public radio as both soloist and concertmaster with the Temple Youth Chamber Orchestra. Amy has achieved notable success at competitions both in America and abroad, most recently capturing first prize at San Francisco's prestigious Irving M. Klein International String Competition and at Corpus Christi International Competition for piano and strings.
In addition to her solo career, Amy has received widespread critical acclaim as a chamber musician, performing frequently on both violin and viola. She serves as first violinist in the Koryo String Quartet, an ensemble formed with three fellow Curtis students in 2001 which has performed to enthusiastic audiences across the country, has been featured at Music from Angel Fire (NM), and most recently was signed to the roster of Astral Artistic Services, Philadelphia's premiere artist management company. As both a chamber and orchestral musician, Amy has traveled the world, participating in celebrated music festivals and programs including the Marlboro Music Festival (VT), Aspen Music Festival (CO), Kneisel Hall (ME), Sarasota Festival (FL), Verbier Academy (Switzerland), the Library of Congress Juilliard Quartet Seminar (Washington DC), Carl Flesch Akademie (Germany), Mozarteum Summer Academy (Salzburg), and Jaime Laredo's New York String Orchestra Seminar.
She served as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and, in 2004, toured Japan's Hyogo prefecture as soloist with the Curtis Chamber Orchestra, led by Joseph Silverstein. In addition to performing, Amy has participated in masterclasses in America and Europe, has studied with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, including Yumi Scott and Choong Jin Chang (principal violist).
Amy graduated in May 2005 with a Bachelor's degree in violin from Philadelphia's prestigious Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with renowned violinist Ida Kavafian. She is currently studying at The Juilliard School as a Maters of Music candidate under Ronald Copes and Donald Weilerstein.
Violinist Yvonne Lam has captivated audiences worldwide with her intelligent and sincere musicianship, having appeared as soloist with such renowned orchestras as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, and the American Youth Symphony. Ms. Lam possesses a rare combination of thoughtful sensitivity and formidable technical prowess and was praised by the New Zealand Herald as a performer with the "subtlest of nuancing."
Winner of the silver medal at the 2005 Michael Hill World Violin Competition, Ms. Lam has also earned top prizes at the Liana Issakadze International Competition and the Holland-America Music Society Competition, Grand Prize in the Pasadena Instrumental Competition, First Prize in the Bronislaw Kaper Awards, the Arts Recognition and Talent Search festival (sponsored by the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts), and First Prize at the Donna Reed Foundation Competition. Furthermore, she won prizes for the Best Performance of a Commissioned Work at both the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and at the Michael Hill World Violin Competition.
A truly versatile artist, Ms. Lam is equally accomplished as a chamber musician, having performed with such distinguished chamber musicians such as Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, Anthony Marwood, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Gil Kalish, and Fred Sherry. She performed the New York premiere of Gabriela Ortiz's quintet El Aguila bicefala in Juilliard's Focus! Festival 2006, and presented a program of new chamber works at Juilliard and Harvard with the Juilliard Pierrot Ensemble in collaboration with Altavoz, a group of young Latin-American composers. She has toured Israel with her quartet, the Colburn Quartet, in which she was both first violinist and pianist, and has performed in chamber music festivals such as Music From Angel Fire, Ravinia Music Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival, and Taos Music Festival.
A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Lam studied both piano and violin at the Colburn School of Performing Arts. Her violin teachers in Los Angeles included Alexander Treger, Laura Schmieder, Alice Schoenfeld, and Linda Rose; her piano teachers were Yohsuke Suga and Dr. Louise Lepley. She earned her Bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005, where she studied with Victor Danchenko. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's degree in violin performance at the Juilliard School, where she is studying with Robert Mann.
Since winning the first prize of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, Frank Huang has developed a major career as a violin virtuoso. At the age of eleven, he performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in a nationally broadcast concert and has since performed with orchestras throughout the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, NDR-Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and the Genoa Orchestra. He has performed on NPR's Performance Today, Good Morning America and CNN's American Morning with Paula Zahn. Mr. Huang's first commercial recording, comprised of Fantasies by Schubert, Ernst, Schoenberg and Waxman, was released to critical acclaim on Naxos in the fall of 2003.
He has had great success in competitions since the age of fifteen with top prize awards in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition. He received Gold Medal Awards in the Kingsville International Competition, the Irving M. Klein International Competition and the D'Angelo International Competition. In addition to his solo career, Mr. Huang is deeply committed to chamber music. He has attended the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia's Steans Institute, The Seattle Chamber Music festival, and the the Caramoor Festival, and also been a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMSII program. He is also the leader and concertmaster of the Sejong Soloists, a conductorless string ensemble based in New York City. Recent performances include concerts in Wigmore Hall, (London) Salle Cortot, (Paris) Kennedy Center, (Washington) and Alice Tully Hall (new York), where he gave the world premiere of Donald Martino's Sonata for Solo Violin. Mr. Huang studied with Robert Mann at The Juilliard School, Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institue of Music, and with Fredell Lack.
Violinist Noah Geller, winner of numerous competitions and prizes, has given lauded performances throughout the United States and abroad. A laureate of the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Mr. Geller recently performed recitals in Queenstown, New Zealand and chamber music with the New Zealand Trio in Auckland. Previously he received top prizes in the 2006 Corpus Christi International String Competition, the Skokie Valley Symphony Young Artists' Competition and Wisconsin Public Radio's Neale-Silva Young Artists' Competition in Madison, Wisconsin. Mr. Geller has also won competitions at the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara) and the Chicago Youth Symphony, resulting in solo performances with those orchestras. Following performances at the Tanglewood Music Center, he was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize.
In recital, Mr. Geller has appeared at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago as part of the Chicago Youth Symphony's Distinguished Alumni Recital series. He has also performed in a live Wisconsin Public Radio broadcast at the Elvehjem Museum of Art in Madison. Through the Merit School of Music in Chicago, Mr. Geller performed the world premiere of Eugene O'Brien's Two Inventions for Violin and Cello, broadcast on WFMT radio. As a chamber musician, Mr. Geller has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, Alice Tully Hall, Sejong Center, and the Taos School of Music in New Mexico.
As an orchestral musician, Mr. Geller has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has served in concertmaster and principal positions for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under James Levine. Mr. Geller recently joined the first violin section of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
A previous student of Jennifer Cappelli and Hyo Kang, Mr. Geller is currently completing his Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School where he studies with Donald Weilerstein and Cho-Liang Lin. Mr. Geller plays a violin made in 1783 by Nicolo Gagliano II on loan from an enthusiastic benefactor.
A native of Korea, the 22 year old cellist Song-Ie Do has been described by critics as a "demonstrative cellist... featured the controlled ability of the finest performers." She has recently finished her Bachelor's degree at the New England Conservatory studying with Paul Katz and is going to continue her study in the Master's degree with Laurence Lesser in the same institution. In the past two years, Ms. Do was a recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship at NEC and has also been informed to receive the Presidential Distinction Award for the upcoming year.
Ms. Do made her solo debut with Seoul Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14, only three years after starting her cello study in Korea, and soloed with the Millennium Chamber Ensemble at Seoul Arts Center's Concert Hall in the following year. She has also appeared in numerous Young Artists Concert series in the country. Since coming to the States in 2000, Ms. Do has performed in venues such as Jordan Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Sanders Theatre, Zeitgeist Gallery, Chapin Auditorium, and Cowles - Kruidenier Auditorium. Ms. Do has also won prizes in the Klein International Competition, Corpus Christ International Competition, Boston Symphony Orchestra Competition, Kyung Hyang- Ewha Music Competition, and Chunchu Music competition.
As an active and passionate chamber musician, Ms. Do is currently a member of the Laurel String Quartet, a winner ensemble of NEC Honors Competition. The quartet has appeared in several Boston venues including a full recital in Jordan Hall, and was recently invited to give a concert and outreach programs in the Virginia Arts Festival. Ms. Do has also performed alongside such artists as Natasha Brofsky, Bonnie Hamton, Michael Kennen, Kathie Murdock, Anthony Marwood, Maria Lambros, and Roger Tapping.
Ms. Do has participated in several music festivals including the World Cello Congress III, Manchester Cello Festival, International Music Academy of Meissen, Musicorda, Perlman Music Program and Yellow Barn. She has also participated in Master classes given by various artists including Alexander Bailey, Anner Bylsma, Timothy Eddy, Natalia Gutman, Matt Haimovitz, Anssi Karttunen, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Mann, Alto Noras, Janos Starker, Donald Weilierstein, and Peter Wiespelwey. Ms. Do plays a Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano cello made in Naples, Italy.