Jessica Lee

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.

Earl Lee

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.

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Jung-min Amy Lee

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.

Yvonne Lam

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.

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Frank Huang

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.

Noah Geller

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.

Song-Ie Do

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.

Sharon Cohen

Born in 1983, Israeli violinist Sharon Cohen has been living in Boston now for over two years. She received her Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, Boston, this past Spring, and decided to stay in the area for the newly formed chamber orchestra, 'A Far Cry'. Her other plans this year include substituting with the Israeli Philharmonic whenever possible.

Among these orchestras and others in the Boston area, Sharon is also a member of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra which brings together Israelis, Europeans and Arabs from all over the Middle East under the baton of Maestro Daniel Barenboim. A regular member of this orchestra since 2003, Sharon has toured with the orchestra in Europe, South and North America, Morocco and in the Middle East. She is a recipient of the Barenboim-Said Foundation Scholarship.

Before coming to Boston she had studied at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance for her Bachelor's degree, and has served in the Israeli Defence Force as part of the Musicians Unit.

Maurycy Banaszek

Maurycy Banaszek was born in Warsaw, Poland. He has performed at the Marlboro, Seattle, Santa Fe, Aldeburgh, Moritzburg, Mozart, Kingston, Martha's Vineyard, Warsaw Autumn festivals. He regularly tours with the Musicians from Marlboro and appears at the Barge Music in New York.

As a founding member of The Elsner String Quartet he has played in such prestigious venues as the Carnegie Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, among others. In August 1998 he was invited by the members of the legendary Amadeus String Quartet to perform at the Amadeus Quartet 50th Anniversary Gala Concert in London.

He was recently invited to be the soloist with the New Jersey Lyric Orchestra at their Carnegie Hall debut performance and with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra in Jordan Hall, Boston. He was also chosen by Gidon Kremer to participate in Chamber Music Connects the World Festival in Kronberg, Germany where he performed with the Guarneri String Quartet.

He holds a position of Principal Viola at the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra. He is also a founding member of ECCO - the new conductor-less chamber orchestra. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in New York where he studied with Michael Tree. He plays a viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka in Philadelphia in 1997.

David Auerbach

Violist David Auerbach will graduate this fall with a performance Doctorate from Stony Brook University, where he has been a scholarship student of Katherine Murdock for the past three years. Previously, he earned a Masters Degree at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Samuel Rhodes, and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with majors in both Music Performance and Molecular Biology.

As a soloist, Mr. Auerbach has given numerous recitals in both New England and the Midwest. His vital involvement in chamber music includes participation in the music festivals of Ravinia, Kneisel Hall, and Norfolk, and he has performed several times in Carnegie's Weill and Zankel Recital Halls. In addition to maintaining an active performing career, Mr. Auerbach teaches in a wide variety of contexts, including giving individual instruction to pre-college students at Juilliard, teaching beginning string players in elementary schools in Vermont, and coaching chamber music at Dartmouth College.

Kyle Armbrust

Described as "assured, brilliant, and stylish" by the New York Times, violist Kyle Armbrust made his New York debut in Avery Fisher Hall in 2002, performing the Bartok Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction of Kurt Masur. He was awarded first prize in the Chicago Viola Society, Midwest Young Artists, and Rembrandt Chamber Players Competitions, and the Faber Prize at the 2003 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.

In May 2005, Mr. Armbrust was invited to perform with Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma at the Neue Gallery in New York City, and in December 2005 he performed the J.S. Bach Viola Concerto with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Bern, Switzerland. Since being accepted onto the A level of the orchestra's substitute viola list in January 2006, he has performed regularly in the viola section of the Philadelphia Orchestra, joining the orchestra for a U.S. tour in March 2007.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Armbrust is a founding member of the Phaedrus String Quartet, which performed recitals in the Aix en Provence (FRA), Schleswig Holstein (DEU), and Verbier (CHE) Festivals in July 2006. Formed in 1999, the Phaedrus Quartet has collaborated with Nicholas Angelich, Yuri Bashmet, Joshua Bell, Dimut Poppen, and Yevgeny Sudbin, and has performed extensively in Europe. Mr. Armbrust has participated in the Ravinia and Marlboro music festivals and recently went on tour with Musicians from Ravinia. Mr. Armbrust also plays with the Xtreme Trio, a string trio that specializes in performing new music; and with the Knights, a chamber orchestra based in Brooklyn, which recently performed the premiere of a work entitled Harmony, with the violinist and composer Mark O'Connor.

Mr. Armbrust received his Bachelor and Master Degrees from the Juilliard School where he studied with Misha Amory, Heidi Castleman, and Michael Tree. He is currently enrolled in the Artist Diploma Program, and will finish his studies at Juilliard in April 2008.

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Avner Dorman

Avner Dorman (he/him/his) writes music of intricate craftsmanship and rigorous technique, expressed with a soulful and singular voice. A native of Israel now living in the United States, Dorman draws on a variety of cultural and historical influences in composing, resulting in music that affects an emotional impact while exploring new territories. His music utilizes an exciting and complex rhythmic vocabulary, as well as unique timbres and colors in orchestral, chamber, and solo settings; many of his compositions have become contemporary staples in the repertoire. Dorman's music is championed by conductors including Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Ricardo Chailly, and Andris Nelsons, and by soloists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Martin Grubinger, and Hilary Hahn. 

His music has been championed and commissioned by orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and opera houses such as Badsisches Staastoper Karlsruhe, Theater Dortmund, Theater Bonn, and Deutsche Oper Am Rhein.

Dorman's music has garnered numerous awards and prizes. Most recently, he won the 2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music, and his debut opera, Wahnfried, was named a finalist in the category of World Premiere at the International Opera Awards. At the age of 25, Dorman became the youngest composer to win Israel's prestigious Prime Minister's Award for his Ellef Symphony. He has earned several international awards from ASCAP, ACUM, and the Asian Composers League. Dorman studied composition with John Corigliano and Josef Bardanashvili, and he holds a doctorate in composition from the Juilliard School. Dorman currently serves as Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College.

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David Frost

David Frost is a recording producer with numerous releases by major labels such as Sony Classical, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics and RCA Red Seal. Honors include twenty Grammy Awards, among them seven for Classical Producer of the Year, three for Best Engineered Classical Album, two for Best Opera Recording for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” releases of Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten” and Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance for the Verdi Requiem with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony, Best Surround Sound Album, Renée Fleming’s “Verismo”, Sharon Isbin’s “Journey to the New World”, “Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago” and for the Sony Classical recording Listen to the Storyteller, with music by Wynton Marsalis, Edgar Meyer and Patrick Doyle, and narrated by Kate Winslet and Graham Greene. He was the producer for Alicia de Larrocha’s RCA recording of Granados’ Goyescas, which won both a Grammy Award and the Grand Prix du Disque.

He is currently a music producer and mixer for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” cinema broadcasts and has served as music producer for WNET’s Great Performances television series, featuring Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Philharmonic, Andrea Bocelli, Pierre Boulez, The Cleveland Orchestra and The Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Other credits include Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13 and Verdi’s Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Riccardo Muti, Renée Fleming’s “Homage: The Age of the Diva” and “Broadway”, Maria Schneider’s “WInter Morning Walks” with Dawn Upshaw (a triple Grammy Award winning album), Gustavo Dudamel’s recording of Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique for Deutsche Grammophon, the Broadway cast album of Baz Luhrmann’s Production of Puccini’s La Boheme for Dreamworks Records. Recent collaborations include recordings with Yuja Wang, Daniil Trifonov and the Emerson String Quartet with Evgeny Kissin.

As a staff producer at BMG Classics (RCA Red Seal) for nearly a decade, he collaborated with RCA’s most important artists to create dozens of albums. He has also produced recordings for The Milken Archive, a multi-volume set of Jewish American music released by Naxos. He has been guest faculty at the Banff Centre and the Manhattan School of Music, giving workshops and lectures on record producing.

An accomplished pianist, David Frost has performed Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto at Carnegie Hall and has made two recordings, one titled Romantic Variations and one of the music of Scott Joplin. He has both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music.

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Aya Hamada

Harpsichordist and Pianist, Aya Hamada is an active concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and continuo player. Currently she plays principal keyboard for the New York Symphonic Ensemble and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra of Columbus.

She has given numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in major venues throughout Japan as well as the US and Europe, including a recital in "Music in the Mountains; International Recital Series" in New York City. She frequently performs at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In April 2003, she premiered Kati Agocs's "Apollonia (harpsichord concerto)" with the New Juilliard Ensemble, and in 2005 she performed "Concerto for Oboe, Harpsichord and Strings" by Osvaldas Balakauskas in the New Paths in Music Festival in New York City. Last season, she performed J.S.Bach's all Brandenburg Concertos with Kasai Philharmonic Orchestra to a sold-out audience in Japan. She has also performed with the Juilliard Symphony, Ensemble America, and the Berkshire Opera Company. She was recently featured on the cover page of New Jersey Independent Press, and also reviewed in the Boston Globe, the Berkshire Eagle and Springfield Republican.

Ms. Hamada won first prize in the London Music Festival Competition, second prize in the Josef Hofmann Piano Competition, and was also a winner of the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition and the Artists International Auditions. She was a recipient of the Heward Memorial Scholarship and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship from the Juilliard School.

A native of Kobe, Japan, Ms. Hamada made her debut with the Kobe Chamber Orchestra at the age of seventeen. Since moving to the US, she has earned her master of music degree from the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Ruth Laredo, Richard Contiguglia, German Diez, Louis Bagger and Lionel Party.

She resides in Manhattan, New York City.

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Michal Korman

Michal Korman was born in Jerusalem in 1983 and is currently completing her M. Mus. degree with Timothy Eddy at The Juilliard School. She gained her Bachelor's degree at the Buchman- Mehta School of Music in the cello class of Hillel Zori. Michal has performed as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and has recently been invited to perform as soloist with The Tivoli Festival Orchestra, Copenhagen in May 2007, and in Lima, Peru in September.

Michal has participated in various festivals in the U.S. and Europe including the West-Eastern-Divan directed by Daniel Barenboim, the Yellow Barn Festival and the Manchester International Cello Festival, in which she will participate again as the representative selected by The Juilliard School. She has also been invited to participate at the Marlboro Music Festival in this coming summer.

Michal is an active chamber musician. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Music Center Young Musicians Group, has performed various concerts in live and recorded broadcasts on Israel National radio and has collaborated with musicians including Itamar Golan, Bonnie Hampton and members of the Peabody Trio. During her musical studies she has been instructed by numerous artists including Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, Franz Helmerson, Martin Lovett, Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mischa Maisky, Janos Starker, Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein and Garry Hoffman.

Eric Nowlin

Violist Eric Nowlin has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as abroad. He has been described by the Springfield (MO) News-Leader as "having a full, warm tone, expressive phrasing, and effortless technical command that suggest an artist twice his age" and by the Santa Cruz Sentinel as "displaying the remarkable capabilities of the viola, with a rich tone and sensitive interpretive skills." Past accomplishments include receiving second prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition, first prize in the 2003 Irving Klein International String Competition; first prize in the 2002 Hellam Young Artists Competition; grand prize in the 2001 Naftzger Young Artists Competition; and winner of the 2001 Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition, which led to a performance of Hindemith's Konzertmusik with Roberto Minzcuk conducting the Juilliard Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall.

Performances have included solo engagements with the Springfield Symphony in Missouri, Santa Cruz Symphony, Peninsula Symphony, and the Kumamoto Symphony in Japan, as well as recitals in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Mexico. Mr. Nowlin has been featured on NPR, WQXR in New York, WGBH in Boston, WFMT in Chicago, as well as television programs in Wisconsin and California. He is an active chamber musician, participating in festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia. He is a regular member of the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City, and also tours with Musicians from Marlboro and Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute. In addition to solo and chamber music performances, Mr. Nowlin performs regularly as a substitute in the viola section of the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Nowlin was chosen as the recipient of a Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation Grant in 2004, an award intended for the advancement of young artist's performance careers. An active advocate of contemporary music, Mr. Nowlin is a founding member of a dynamic new music series in New York City, Elastic Arts Room, which presents programs that explore the philosophical and cultural contexts of music today through performance and discussion.

Mr. Nowlin received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School, as a scholarship student of Samuel Rhodes. He plays on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola on generous loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.

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Lily Francis

Lily Francis is an up-and-coming chamber musician, sought after both as a violinist and a violist. She is a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two, the residency program for distinguished young artists. As part of CMS Two, she regularly peforms at Lincoln Center, in the Rose Studio and Alice Tully Hall. She received her Bachelor's degree from Curtis, studying with Joseph Silverstein, and is now pursuing her Master's degree at New England Conservatory, studying violin with Miriam Fried. Her other teachers have included Teri Einfeldt, Brian Lewis, and Philip Setzer. In addition, she began viola studies in the fall of 2005, with Steven Tenenbom.

Ms. Francis made her debut with the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra, and has since soloed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on their Masterworks Series, the Connecticut Virtuosi, the Brockton Symphony Orchestra, and the New Britain Symphony. In addition, she has been top prizewinner in several competitions, including the Hartford Symphony Young Artist’s Concerto Competition, the Paderewski Competition, and she received the Howard Beebe String Award for Solo Bach Performance at the Corpus Christi International Competition.

Ms. Francis is the violist of the Vertigo String Quartet, which has performed throughout the Philadelphia area, and in Ischia, Italy, at the home of Lady Walton, widow of Sir William Walton. The Vertigos also traveled to Atri, Italy, where they took First Prize in Chamber Music at the 2nd Competition of the Duchi D'Acquaviva. They recorded the soundscape for Michael Hollinger's award-winning play "Opus", and received a Barrymore Award for their unique collaboration. They have appeared at Music From Angel Fire, New Mexico and have performed numerous times at BargeMusic in Brooklyn, where they will begin a year-long residency this fall.

Ms. Francis has attended several summer festivals, including Marlboro, Aspen, Greenwood, and Yellow Barn. She has been privileged to play alongside such distinguished artists as Richard Goode, Gilbert Kalish, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, Mitsuko Uchida and Peter Wiley. She recently appeared on Caramoor's Rising Stars series in Katonah, Mostly Music series with Carter Brey, and with Musicians from Marlboro on their east coast tours of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and points in between. Her plans include concerts at Caramoor, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, and in Ischia and Austria.

Arnaud Sussmann

Twenty-two year old violinist Arnaud Sussmann is quickly establishing a reputation as a multi-faceted and compelling artist, earning the highest praise from both critics and audiences alike. He has performed as a soloist throughout the United States, Central America, Europe, and Asia at many renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Smithsonian Museum and the Louvre Museum. Mr. Sussmann has recently appeared with the Cannes Orchestra, the Monaco Chamber Orchestra, the Nice Orchestra, the Orchestre des Pays de la Loire, the El Salvador National Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and presented recitals in numerous cities around the world including New York, Memphis, Chicago, Panama City, San Salvador, London, Paris, St Petersburg, and Shanghai among others.

In addition to his solo career, Mr. Sussmann is also a dedicated chamber musician. He was recently accepted into the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program for the 2006-2009 seasons and will appear in numerous performances at Lincoln Center in New York as well as on tour throughout the United States. He has performed with many of the today’s leading artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Joseph Kalichstein, Miriam Fried, Ani Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Fred Sherry, and Andre-Michel Schub.

Mr. Sussmann is a winner of several International Competitions and awards including the Andrea Postacchini Competition in Fermo, Italy and the Vatelot/Rampal Competition in Paris, France. In 2003, the Tanglewood Music Center awarded him the David Gritz Violin Award for his extraordinary commitment of talent and energy. Most recently the New York Salon de Virtuosi concert series awarded him with their fellowship grant, resulting in a live concert broadcast on WQXR’s “Young Artists Showcase” radio show. In the summer of 2006, he was chosen to perform on the Dame Myra Hess concert series in Chicago which was broadcast live on television and on WFMT radio.

Highlights of the 2006-07 season include a performance of the Brahms G Major sextet with Itzhak Perlman, concerto and recital appearances in Houston, Santa Fe, New York, London, El Salvador, and a tour of the United States with violinist Miriam Fried and musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute. Other upcoming engagements include chamber music concerts with Menahem Pressler, Gary Hoffman and Ida Kavafian. In April 2006, Mr. Sussmann recorded a live CD of chamber works by Dvorak and Beethoven with David Finckel and Wu Han. Mr. Sussmann is also featured as the leader of the Suedama ensemble on a recording of Mozart piano concertos being released on the Vanguard Classics label in the summer of 2006. Mr. Sussmann’s past summer festival appearances include Strings in the Mountains, Giverny Music Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, Ravinia, Tanglewood, and the Perlman Music Program.

Mr. Sussmann holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from The Juilliard School and is currently working towards his Master of Music degree with Itzhak Perlman, who chose him to be a Starling Fellow, an honor qualifying him as his teaching assistant for the next two years. His previous teachers include Daniel Lagarde and Boris Garlitsky. He has also studied chamber music with Jerome Lowenthal, Pamela and Claude Frank, the Juilliard String Quartet, Miriam Fried, and Donald Weilerstein.

Mr. Sussmann plays on a fine Franciscus Celoniatus violin from Turin, 1732.

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Eliran Avni

Hailed as "The new hope of Israeli music" by Ma'ariv and described as possessing both "ironclad technique" and "ample suppleness" by the New York Times, Eliran Avni is an emerging force in the contemporary classical music scene. Having made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta at age seventeen, Mr. Avni has appeared as a soloist and chamber collaborator throughout Europe, North and South America, as well as in his native Israel and has made numerous recordings for the Naxos label and the Israeli and German broadcasting systems. A charismatic lecturer and teacher, Mr. Avni has given master classes and lectures on the connection between music and the emotions in the US and Israel and has taught at prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School and the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival.

Mr. Avni began his musical training at the Tel Aviv Academy studying with Marina Bondarenko. He soon developed a strong affinity for chamber music and worked with leading musicians such as Yo Yo Ma, Isaac Stern, and Yefim Bronfman. At age sixteen he won first prize in both the Clairmont and Rachmaninoff Competitions and was an annual scholarship recipient from the Israel-America Cultural Foundation from 1989- 2000.

A frequent collaborator, Mr. Avni has worked with renowned musicians such as Yehonatan Berick, Daniel M�ller-Schott, Yehuda Hanani, Terrence Wilson, Jennifer Aylmer, William Sharp, the Chicago Chamber Music Players, actors Sigourney Weaver and Richard Chamberlain, as well as in performances of Schumann's Symphonic Etudes with dancer Laura Careless.

Mr. Avni received both his BM and MM degrees while studying with Veda Kaplinsky at The Juilliard School and completed his DMA degree as a student of both Veda Kaplinsky and Jerome Lowenthal. His dissertation: "The Musician's Challenge: Merging Emotion and Structure in Performance", written under the advisement of Dr. Carl Schachter,presents an original methodology designed to assist musicians in uncovering and understanding the emotional content of musical works.

A preeminent interpreter of the music of Israeli composer Avner Dorman, Mr. Avni has been privileged to record two CDs of Dorman's music. The first, The Piano Works of Avner Dorman, was recorded at Tanglewood's Ozawa's Hall in 2006, was produced by Grammy winner David Frost and was released on the Naxos label. The second CD, of Dorman's Chamber Concerti with the Metropolis Ensemble and Maestro Andrew Cyr, will be released in 2010, also on Naxos.

Currently Mr. Avni is dividing his time between performing solo and chamber concerts, conducting workshops and master classes on the subject of emotional understanding of music and teaching at both The Lucy Moses School and The New York Chamber Music Program.

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Mindy Kaufman

Solo piccolo and flutist Mindy Kaufman joined the New York Philharmonic in 1979 at the age of 22, after performing for three years with the Rochester Philharmonic. In addition to her duties as solo piccolo with the orchestra, she has performed as the Orchestra's Associate Principal Flute, including most recently during the 2007 Europe tour and the residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

Ms. Kaufman received a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and at the age of 19 won her first audition for a position, which led to her being Second Flute at the Rochester Philharmonic. For one season she served as Acting Principal Flute of the Milwaukee Symphony, during which time she recorded works by Dvorák and Kodály conducted by Zdenek Macal.

Mindy Kaufman has appeared as a piccolo soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of then music directors Zubin Mehta and Kurt Masur. Her playing on both flute and piccolo has been acclaimed throughout the world, as she has been praised for "the extraordinary control of the piccolo's long sustained pianissimos" (The Times of London), and The New York Times wrote, "Mindy Kaufman... played the flute solos in the Takemitsu beautifully." The S & H International Concert Review wrote of her, "Who would have thought that during the evening the piccolo would have such a sensational day in the sun, but that is exactly what happened after intermission in the Shostakovich Tenth, with the Philharmonic's Mindy Kaufman at her most mesmerizing. Both the first and third movements end with conspicuous... roles for this instrument, and she just did a fabulous job."

Ms. Kaufman plays chamber music regularly with her colleagues in the New York Philharmonic Ensembles at Merkin Concert Hall, and she has performed at summer festivals including the Mt. Desert Festival of Chamber Music and the Grand Teton Music Festival. She can be heard on dozens of film soundtracks, including The Cotton Club, The Untouchables, Cape Fear, Aladdin, The Alamo, Hitch, and The Last Holiday, and she played with The Four Tops on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman.

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