2010 Artists

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Strings Nathan Cole, violin Carol Cook, viola Ma Xiaohui, erhu Yukiko Ogura, viola Kenneth Olsen, cello Jonathan Pegis, cello Linc Smelser, cello Akiko Tarumoto, violin Brant Taylor, cello Yuan-Qing Yu, violin Spoken Word & Voice Maire O’Brien, soprano Mary Ann Hoberman, Children’s Poet Laureate Piano, Harpsichord, & Organ Bruce J. Barber II, organ Kuang-Hao Huang, piano Quintet Attacca Collin Anderson, bassoon Erica Anderson, oboe Jennifer Clippert, flute Barbara Drapcho, basset horn Jeremiah Frederick, horn Emily Marlow, bass clarinet The Chamber Singers of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum

Fulcrum Point New Music Project Stephen Burns, trumpet Greg Flint, horn Peter Ellefson, trombone Lori Kaufman, piano Rembrandt Chamber Players Robert Morgan, oboe David Schrader, organ Third Coast Percussion Owen Clayton Condon Robert Dillon Peter Martin David Skidmore Fifth House Ensemble Andrew Williams, violin Clark Carruth, viola Herine Coetzee Koschak, cello Eric Snoza, bass Adam Marks, piano Trio Voce Jasmine Lin, violin Marina Hoover, cello Patricia Tao, piano Euclid Quartet Jameson Cooper, violin Jacob Murphy, violin Luis Enrique Vargas, viola Si-Yan Darren Li, cello

2010 Artist Biographies

Strings

Nathan Cole is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section. His debut recording, Rapid Approach, an unaccompanied disc featuring the works of Bach and Bartók, along with world premiere recordings of music by Augusta Read Thomas, was released in 2007 through Bacchanale Records.

He has appeared in recent seasons as guest concertmaster with the symphonies of Houston, Oregon and Seattle, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and Chicago’s Music of the Baroque. In addition to more than 100 concerts a year with the CSO, Chicago audiences see Nathan on the Orchestra’s chamber music series, the contemporary MusicNOW series, Dame Myra Hess recitals, and on WFMT’s Live from Levin Studio.

In 2007 Nathan founded the UBS Chamber Music Festival of Lexington and has served as artistic director since. The three-concert festival commissions both a work of chamber music and a piece of visual art each summer.

Prior to his CSO appointment in 2002, Nathan served for two seasons as principal second violin of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, his solo debut came at the age of ten with the Louisville Orchestra. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo. Nathan’s love for chamber music flourished at Curtis, and in 1998 he became the founding first violinist of the Grancino String Quartet, which won the 2000 Barnett Competition in Chicago and participated in the 2000 Isaac Stern Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem. The quartet made its New York debut in Carnegie’s Weill Hall in 2002. Nathan’s chamber music activities also include three summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, along with national tours as part of Music From Marlboro. Since 2003, he has performed and taught at the Mimir Festival in Fort Worth, Texas.Nathan joined the violin faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2006. His writing, on subjects from practice techniques to chamber music coaching, has appeared in Chamber Music, Strings and Symphony magazines. A portion of Nathan’s teaching is online: his website contains stories and pictures from his life in music, as well as articles on violin study. Visit him at www.natesviolin.com.

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Carol Cook is currently a violist with the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. She also performs frequently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has played with the New York Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and as guest Principal violist with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Carol was a member of the “Appalachia Waltz Trio” with Grammy Award winning violinist Mark O’Connor for five years. The trio toured extensively throughout the U.S. including performances at the Phoenix Symphony Hall, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, La Jolla Chamber Music Festival and the 92nd Street Y in New York. The trio was broadcast on NPR and they also released an album entitled ‘Crossing Bridges’. When Carol is not playing the viola she can be found at Cantigny Golf course where she loves to play golf and work on becoming a scratch golfer!

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One of China’s few first-class traditional artists, embracing an international career, renowned China Erhu Virtuoso and composer Ma Xiaohui is “an artist who speaks with the world through Erhu.” Graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Ma Xiaohui is artistic advisor of the Shanghai Grand Theatre, Cultural Ambassador in Shanghai’s successful bid for the 2010 World Exposition, Love Ambassador of the Special Olympics in 2007,Standing Director of Shanghai Overseas Exchange Association and director of the Shanghai Xiaohui Art Center. She is perhaps most readily recognized for her duet with famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

On June 18, 2008, Ma Xiaohui gave her first Carnegie Hall Erhu recital “Erhu Holding Hands with the World” in the Carnegie Weill Recital Hall. Tan Dun, the famed Chinese composer, said: “…Ms. Ma is truly one of the most talented young musicians of our time who transformed the Erhu from being an instrument only associated with traditionally Chinese music to one recognized on the great stages of the world….”

Ma Xiaohui, based in China, has a hugely successful international career and is loved by the audiences around the world. She has toured extensively over the last decade in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, appearing in more than five hundred concerts, recitals and lectures in places such as the Champs-Elysee Concert Hall, Beethoven House, Herkulessaal Munich, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Stockholm Concert Hall, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, NHK Concert Hall, National Performing Arts Center Beijing, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Fudan University, Northwestern University, Baylor University, Columbia University, University of Notre Dame and Monterrey Tech, Mexico. She played with numerous famous orchestras and musicians, attended many music festivals and performed before a number of presidents of countries.

Ma Xiaohui is featured in 20 CDs and appeared in over 40 recordings and DVDs. In 2003 she launched her own theme “Erhu Holding Hands with the World” in dialogue with different musicians and instruments.

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Yukiko Ogura joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2001. Born in Nara, Japan, Ogura began violin studies at the age of three. After earning a bachelor’s degree in music at Kyoto City University of the Arts in 1995, she performed chamber concerts throughout Japan, winning a position with the Kobe City Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Gerhard Bosse. In 1998, on the recommendation of Mazumi Tanamura, Ogura turned her attention to playing viola, leading to worldwide chamber and solo engagements, including an appearance with the Saito Kinen Orchestra under director Seiji Ozawa. In 2000 she left Japan to pursue viola studies in the United States with Li-Kuo Chang, assistant principal viola of the CSO. The following year, she auditioned for the CSO and was appointed to the viola section.

Ogura is a much-sought-after performer and recording artist who has recorded with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble directed by Yuko Mori and released a CD in 2001. She is a founding member of the Eusia String Quartet, first-prize winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2001, which also performed and recorded a CD at Round Top in 2005 with James Dick and the Eusia Quartet, and released a CD in Japan on the N&F label in 2006. She appeared on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series in 2006,and also performed with the Vermeer Quartet as a special guest in Mozart’s Viola Quintet in C major that same year. In addition, Yukiko Ogura regularly appears at the Winter Chamber Music Festival at Northwestern University.

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Kenneth Olsen joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as Assistant Principal Cello in 2005.

Mr. Olsen is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and a winner of the Institutes prestigious Concerto Competition. Other awards received include first prize in the Nakamichi Cello Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and second prize at the 2002 Holland-America Music Society competition. Mr. Olsens teachers have included Richard Aaron, Cleveland Institute of Music; Joel Krosnick, Juilliard School of Music; and Luis Garcia Renart, Bard College. He has also been a participant at The Steans Institute for Young Artists, the Ravinia Festivals professional studies program for young musicians, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute.

A native of New York, Mr. Olsen is a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a group of talented young musicians from orchestras and ensembles all over the county.

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Jonathan Pegis joined the Chicago Symphony in the fall of 1986; prior to that he was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic for 2 years.  Since his arrival in Chicago Mr. Pegis has performed frequently in chamber music and is active in the Chicago Symphony chamber music series.  He is a regular participant in the Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Festival and has performed with such artists as Lynn Harrell and Pinchas Zukerman.  He has also appeared as soloist with the Highland Park Strings, the Texas Chamber Orchestra, and the Signature Symphony in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  In 1993 Mr. Pegis joined the faculty at Northwestern where he teaches Orchestral Studies.
Originally from Rochester, New York, Jonathan Pegis began his studies at the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department.  His first teacher was Alan Harris; he has also studied with Lee Fiser, Paul Katz, and Lynn Harrell.  He completed his undergraduate studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  While there, he joined the LaSalle Quartet and violist Donald McInnes on chamber music tours of the US and Germany.  Their 1982 recording of Schoenberg’s “Verklaerte Nacht” received Japan’s Tokyo Record Academy prize.  Mr. Pegis returned to Rochester in 1984 to become a member of the Rochester Philharmonic and to attend Eastman, where he earned a Master’s degree and a Performer’s Certificate.

Jonathan Pegis lives in Skokie, Illinois with his wife soprano Dawn Pegis.  When not performing music their hobbies include sailing, crafts, and endless home improvement projects.

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A native of Arizona, Linc Smelser began his piano studies at age 8 with John Akin and cello studies at the age of 10 with Marguerite Rork.  He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance from the University of Arizona where he studied with Dr. Gordon Epperson and received his Master’s Degree and Performer’s Certificate in Cello Performance and Pedagogy at Northern Illinois University having studied with renowned cellist and pedagogue Raya Garbousova.  Advanced study included work with cellists Marc Johnson, Ron Leonard, Gabor and Peter Rejto, Heinrich Schiff, the Vermeer Quartet, and pianists Richard Faith and Jerome Lowenthal.

Mr. Smelser has appeared as a soloist with the Kishwaukee Symphony, the Fox River Valley Symphony and the Rockford Symphony and has twice appeared in recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series in Chicago, which is broadcast live on over 44 stations across the United States.  He has won several awards including first prize of the National Society of Arts and Letters Chapter Competition, top prize of the National Federation of Music Clubs Regional Competition and first prize of the International Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Competition.

Mr. Smelser has been a member of the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra Cello section for eighteen years and has been an active substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 16 years.  He continues to perform in the group The Three Celli, a chamber ensemble with two other cellists, Stephen Balderston and Brant Taylor, throughout the Northern Illinois Area.

Mr. Smelser is currently in his fifth year as professor of cello at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music.  He is currently a faculty member of the Northern Illinois University Music Department and has been teaching private cello lessons through the NIU Community School of the Arts since 1988.  Mr. Smelser is also on the faculty of the Chicago Suzuki Institute and the Intermountain Suzuki Strings Institute in Utah.

In 2003, Mr. Smelser was appointed conductor/music director of the Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra in DeKalb, IL. He has guest conducted the Rockford Area Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic and the Skokie Valley Community Orchestra. He is also conductor/founder of the NIU Sinfonia and Youth Symphonette, two youth symphonies that attract students from the entire Northern Illinois area.  He is also pianist/accompanist for the Northern Illinois University Suzuki program.

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Akiko Tarumoto was born in New York and studied at the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature from Harvard College in 1998 and a Master of Music from Juilliard in 2000, where she studied with Glenn Dicterow. She was a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2000 to 2004 before joining the Chicago Symphony Orchestra first violin section in 2004. While in Los Angeles, she soloed with the orchestra both during the regular season and at the Hollywood Bowl. Ms Tarumoto is a frequent performer on the CSO chamber music series as well as its new music series, MusicNow. During the summer, she performs at the Mimir Festival in Fort Worth, Texas and at the UBS Lexington Chamber Music festival in Lexington, Kentucky. She enjoys distance running, baking, and playing with her dog Fleur.

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Born in New York, Brant Taylor began cello studies at the age of 8. His varied career includes solo appearances and collaborations with leading chamber musicians throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as orchestral, pedagogical, and popular music activities.

After one year as a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Taylor was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Daniel Barenboim in 1998. In Chicago, Mr. Taylor has performed recitals for the Dame Myra Hess Concerts (live radio broadcasts), the First Monday concerts, Rush Hour Concerts at St. James, and the Ravinia Festival’s Rising Stars recital series. He has also performed regularly with the renowned Chicago Chamber Musicians and appeared on the CSO’s contemporary music series, MusicNOW. Mr. Taylor performs frequently as a member of the Lincoln Quartet, a group formed 10 years ago with colleagues from the CSO. The Chicago Tribune wrote of one recent performance: “the lush expanses of melody seemed to have been written for Taylor, who brought a throbbing lyricism, incisive attack and idiomatic characterization to the cello part.”

From 1992-97, Mr. Taylor was cellist of the award-winning Everest Quartet, prizewinners at the 1995 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The Quartet performed and taught extensively in North America and the Caribbean, and gave the world premiere performance of a work by Israeli-American composer Paul Schoenfield. Mr. Taylor has also been a member of the Whitney Trio since 1994, an ensemble dedicated to bringing chamber music to audiences of all ages in rural areas across the U.S.

In 1997, Mr. Taylor was a member of the New World Symphony. He has returned to appear as soloist with that orchestra under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan, as well as to teach and participate in audition training seminars. Other solo appearances with orchestra include the San Antonio Symphony, Raleigh Symphony, Midland-Odessa Symphony, and Racine Symphony, and Lafayette Symphony.

At home in the world of pop music, Mr. Taylor performs with the band Pink Martini. With this eclectic 11-member ensemble, he has appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien”, “The Late Show with David Letterman”, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and across the country in venues ranging from nightclubs to concert halls.

Mr. Taylor is a frequent performer and teacher at music festivals, including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival Santo Domingo, Michigan’s Village Bach Festival, and Music at Gretna in Pennsylvania, where he has made repeated appearances as a concerto soloist.

Active as a teacher of both cello and chamber music, Mr. Taylor serves on the faculty of DePaul University’s School of Music. He has also taught at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, Northwestern University’s National High School Music Institute, and has led classes on pedagogy and orchestral repertoire at the University of Michigan. Mr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the school’s Concerto Competition and performed as soloist with the Eastman Philharmonia. His Master of Music degree is from Indiana University. Mr. Taylor’s primary teachers have been János Starker and Paul Katz.

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Spoken Word & Voice

Máire O’Brien “was fresh and sweet in the soprano arias, and she had both the stratospheric high notes and the raw courage to take on the solo ‘Dulcissime!’” stated the Washington Post about Ms O’Brien’s performance in Orff’s Carmina Burana at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chorus.  In her New York City Opera debut, the New York Times hailed her performance of Miss Jessel in Britten’s Turn of the Screw as “vivid and well sung”.  Her powerful performance as the Duchess in Powder Her Face, by Thomas Adès, was heard most recently at the White Nights Festival in St Petersburg, Russia, having performed the role at the inaugural New Horizons Festival at the Mariinsky Theater in 2007.  She first sang this role conducted by Thomas Adès, at the Aspen Music Festival in its stage premiere, and again at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra under Robert Spano.

Ms O’Brien’s vocal expressiveness and agility have made her an acclaimed Violetta in La traviata; at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara, Mexico, at Baltimore Opera, Aspen Music Festival and CoOpera, Ireland.  Her operatic career has taken her to Spain, Italy, Mexico, and Ireland, in such roles as the Marchesa (Verdi’s Un giorno di regno), Adalgisa (Norma), Desdemona (Rossini’s Otello), Alice Ford (Falstaff – with Julius Rudel), First Lady (Die Zauberflöte) and Hanna (The Merry Widow).

An experienced concert artist, she recently performed Messiah with the Apollo Chorus at Chicago’s Symphony Hall and the Harris Theater. She was the soprano soloist at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chorus, performing in Mozart’s Requiem, Carmina Burana (Orff), and A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams. Also in Chicago, she sang the soprano solo in Villa Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 in “A Cello Celebration Encore: Cellists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera, and Friends” at the Rush Hour Concert Series at St. James Cathedral. She has sung with the American Composer’s Orchestra in Whitman & Song, and with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2 and Nielson’s Symphony No. 3. Other repertoire includes Stabat Mater (Dvorak), Mozart’s Mass in c minor, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Ravel’s Sheherezade, Mozart’s Ch’io mi scordi di te, and Barber’s Knoxville, Summer of 1915.

Her recital appearances in Ireland and the USA include performances at the Meet the Virtuoso Series at the 92^nd St Y, at the Tenri Cultural Institute, NY City, at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and at the Sounds Of Our City series at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. On CD, Ms O’Brien is to be heard in Handel’s Deidamia (Nerea), James Adler’s Memento Mori, and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3 on the Naxos Label.

She has been a New York regional finalist at the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions and received a career grant from the Gerda Lissner Foundation. Ms O’Brien is the only two-time winner of the E. Nakamichi Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival.  Other awards include prizes at the Premio SanRemo Musica Classic and Iris Adami Corradetti International Voice Competition (Italy) and the New Jersey State Opera Competition.

Ms O’Brien holds a Bachelors Degree from Trinity College, Dublin and a Masters of Music from the Juilliard School, and trained at the Juilliard Young Artist program.

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Mary Ann Hoberman was born on August 12, 1930, in Stamford, Connecticut to Dorothy (Miller) and Milton Freedman. She attended the Stamford public schools, where she wrote for her school newspapers and edited her high school yearbook. In 1951 she received a B.A. in history from Smith College and, thirty-five years later an M.A. in English Literature from Yale University. She married Norman Hoberman, an architect and artist, in 1951. They have four children, all in the arts – Diane, Perry, Chuck, and Meg – and five grandchildren. The Hobermans have lived in Greenwich, Connecticut, for almost fifty years in a house that Norman designed.

Mary Ann Hoberman has taught writing and literature from the elementary through the college level. She co-founded and performed with both “The Pocket People”, a children’s theatre group, and “Women’s Voices”, a group giving dramatized poetry readings. But ever since her first book was published in 1957, her primary occupation has been writing for children. She received a National Book Award in 1983 and the 2003 Poetry for Children Award of the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2008 the Poetry Foundation named her the Children’s Poet Laureate.

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Piano, Harpsichord, & Organ

Bruce J. Barber II was appointed Director of Cathedral Music in January 2004. Prior to joining the staff of St. James, he served as Canon Precentor & Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral Church of St. John, the Diocese of the Rio Grande, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for 10 years. At the Cathedral Church of St. John he developed a highly respected and internationally known music program consisting of a large choral program for both children and adults, various multi-faceted concert series and an organ recital series.As an orchestral musician, Mr. Barber has performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and since moving to the Midwest, has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the direction of such notable maestros as James Conlon, David Zinman, Helmuth Rilling, Semyon Byshkov, Kent Nagano and Duane Wolfe. An avid conductor, he has conducted a wide range of sacred music, orchestral literature and concerto repertoire ranging from Bach to Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, Brahms to Duruflé, Bernstein and Stravinsky. He has made two CD recordings with the Musicians of St. Johns Cathedral, To the Creator of Light: Choral Music from the Cathedral Church of St. John and All This Time: Music for Advent and Christmas, both of which have been critically acclaimed. While in New Mexico, the St. John’s Cathedral Choir was directed by such notable Anglican choral directors as Dr. Gerre Hancock, Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville, and Bruce Neswick. Trained as a choral and orchestral conductor, an organist and cellist, Mr. Barber holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, and a Master of Music Degree from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. With Bernard Zinck, Professor of Violin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he performs concerts for organ and violin both in the United States and Europe each year.

His professional affiliations are as a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians for which he is the Region V Coordinator, and as a member and Past Dean of the American Guild of Organists.

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Pianist Kuang-Hao Huang enjoys an active career of performing and teaching. He has performed throughout the United States as well as in England, France, China and South Korea. As a soloist, he has performed with the New World Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and has been heard on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series (WFMT 98.7 FM). Mr. Huang is also an active collaborator, performing concerts and radio broadcasts with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and as a regular guest of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has performed with the Vermeer and Chicago String Quartets and on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series.

An advocate of new music, Mr. Huang gave the world premiere performances of works by Louis Andriessen and Chen Yi at Weill Hall as part of Carnegie Hall’s Millennium Piano Book Project. Other premieres include works by Stacy Garrop, Daniel Kellogg, and James Matheson. Mr. Huang is a member of Fulcrum Point New Music Project.

Mr. Huang serves on the faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Concordia University-Chicago, and the Merit School of Music. During the summer, he coordinates the piano program at Northwestern University’s National High School Music. A native of Whitewater, Wisconsin, Mr. Huang currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois with his wonderful wife Janice and their children Maia and Gabriel.

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Founded in 1999, Quintet Attacca is one of Chicago’s most dynamic Chamber music ensembles. Grand Prize Winner of the 2002 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the quintet has spent the past four years in residence with the Chicago Chamber Musicians’ Professional Development Program. Quintet Attacca is also proud to be in residence at the Music Institute of Chicago and Lake Forest College.

Quintet Attacca is one of only two wind quintets in the 35-year history of the Fischoff Competition to have received the coveted Grand Prize.   In that same year, the quintet was also invited to be a finalist for Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center. Quintet Attacca is an ensemble dedicated to bringing the unfamiliar sounds of the wind quintet to all types of audiences; to this end, the quintet has played in venues across the Midwest, with extensive programming in Chicago.  In fall 2002, Quintet Attacca toured Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. The summer of 2003 marked the quintet’s European debut, with concerts at the Emilia Romagna Festival and the Catania Musica Estate Festival in Italy.  Recent seasons have seen Quintet Attacca continue to expand its reach with debut performances on Chicago’s classical radio station’s Live from WFMT, a New York debut on the Schneider Concert Series at the New School in January of 2005, a Detroit debut on the Cranbrook Music Guild Series in December of 2005, and an Iowa City residency with the Family Concert Series in 2007.  Recent Chicagoland performances have included the “First Monday” series at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Music Institute of Chicago’s Passports series, the Fermilab Gallery Chamber Series in Batavia, IL, the Dame Myra Hess series, and the RushHour concert series.  Last season, QA performed on the North Park University Chamber Music series, the Faculty and Friends series at MIC and its third annual Q & A with QA at the Music Institute of Chicago.

The 2009-10 season saw Quintet Attacca return to the Fischoff Competition for an educational residency in November.  Other Fall appearances included performing for the Chicago Chamber Music Society, The Fortnightly of Chicago, and the Jewel Box Series at Northeastern Illinois University.  In Spring of 2010, the quintet performed a concert for the Lyrica Series at Lake Forest College and presented their fourth annual Q&A with QA at the Music Institute of Chicago.

Quintet Attacca delights in bringing music education to all ages and abilities.  Using the differences in the individual instruments of the quintet as an advantage, the educational programs of Quintet Attacca have thoroughly engaged audiences of all ages.  The group has performed educational programs at libraries, elementary schools and middle schools in Iowa, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, including the Dogwood Fine Arts Festival in Dowagiac, Michigan and throughout the Chicago Public Schools. In January of 2008, Quintet Attacca collaborated with the Chicago Chamber Musicians to adapt and perform their popular “Quintet Idol!” show for a larger group of ensembles on the CCM Family Series at Navy Pier. The group has given master classes to young performers and composers at Northwestern University, Eastern Michigan University, Sherwood Conservatory of Music, Northeastern Illinois University, North Park University, and the Merit School of Music.

Priding themselves on their innovative programming, Quintet Attacca enjoys presenting concerts that are both accessible and cutting-edge.  A wind quintet is unusual by design and QA seeks to make the unusual noteworthy through music that challenges the performers while engaging the audience. Programs by the quintet have included works by Roberto Sierra, Eric Ewazen, Elliott Carter, Miguel del Aguila, Paquito D’Rivera, John Steinmetz, John Harbison, and Gyorgy Ligeti.  In addition to these composers, four works have been written for the quintet: David Smooke’s Trompe L’oeil written for the 2009 Call for Scores, Collin Anderson’s Tangram, written for Northwestern University’s New Music Marathon, Dancas Basilieras by Rami Levin, and Two Episodes for Wind Quintet, written for the ensemble by Dana McCormick. Numerous new music projects have included a master class of young composers’ works and performance on the New Music Marathon at Northwestern University and an annual call for scores, culminating in a recital at Lake Forest College. To create balanced and entertaining programs, Quintet Attacca combines the challenges of today’s most intriguing works with gems from the past.

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Bassoonist Collin Anderson attended the Eastman School of Music earning a Bachelor of Music Degree in bassoon performance in 1989 under the tutelage of David Van Hoesen. He completed a Master’s Degree in performance in 1991 at Kent State University where he studied with David DeBolt and was awarded a graduate assistantship. He is a founding member of Quintet Attacca, the 2002 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, only the second wind quintet in the competition’s history to take the top honor. Collin has performed on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and with the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Collin performs regularly with both the Elgin and Lake Forest Symphonies. He has also appeared with the Chicago Opera Theater, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Grant Park Orchestra. On recording, Collin can be heard on Chandos and Equilibrium Records.

Also a composer, Mr. Anderson earned a Master of Music degree in composition in 1996 from DePaul University and a Doctoral degree in composition from Northwestern University. His works have been performed by Quintet Attacca and at the Aspen Music Festival, New Music DePaul contemporary concerts, the International Double Reed Society Annual Conference and on WFMT Radio.

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Oboist Erica Anderson graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Eastman School of Music, and DePaul University.  Ms. Anderson performs regularly as a solo recitalist and is a founding member of Quintet Attacca. She was a featured soloist in the 2002 season of Midsummer’s Music, a chamber music series in Door County, Wisconsin.  She has performed with the MusicNOW series at the Chicago Symphony, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Philharmonic, Lyric Opera, Music of the Baroque, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, and the Chicago, Grant Park, Rockford, Milwaukee, and Elgin Symphonies.  An advocate of new music, she helped to commission works for the oboe by Bernard Rands and Dana McCormick.  She has studied with Richard Killmer, Robert Morgan, and Daniel Stolper.  Ms. Anderson currently teaches oboe at the Music Institute of Chicago and Lake Forest College.

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Flutist Jennifer Clippert is a DM degree recepient from Northwestern University and a Chicago-area performer.  She is the winner of a number of competitions including the 2001 Musicians Club of Women Farwell Award and the 2000 Flute Talk Competition. In addition, Ms. Clippert has been a finalist and prize winner in the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition, the NFA Performers Masterclass and Piccolo Masterclass Competitions, and the Wisconsin Public Radio Young Artist Competition.  Ms. Clippert played with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1996-1998 where she received regular coachings with Donald Peck.  She currently freelances with several area groups including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater and the Chicago Chamber Musicians.  A sought-after teacher, she is a faculty member at DePaul University.  Jennifer received her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her MM from Northwestern University where she studied with Walfrid Kujala.

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Clarinetist Barbara Drapcho holds both Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Northwestern University where she studied with Russell Dagon and Charlene Zimmerman. She is a member of Quintet Attacca, grand prize winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and ensemble-in-residence with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Music Institute of Chicago, and Lake Forest College. As a member of Quintet Attacca, she has performed on the Schneider Concert Series in New York City, the Cranbrook Series in Michigan, and has enjoyed numerous live performances on radio station WFMT. Her chamber music experience outside of Quintet Attacca includes performances with the Chicago Chamber Musicians and the Pacifica Quartet. Barbara currently is on faculty at the Merit School of Music, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Lake Forest College. She is a member of the New Philharmonic and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2000-2002. As a freelance clarinetist, she has performed with the Illinois Symphony, Elgin Symphony, and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestras.

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Hornist Jeremiah Frederick is currently a freelance horn player in Chicago. He holds the positions of Second horn with the Green Bay Symphony and Associate Principal Horn with the South Bend Symphony. During the Summer and Fall of 2008, he was acting utility horn for the Grant Park Orchestra and for Lyric Opera of Chicago. In addition, Jeremiah has played with other fine ensembles including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Lake Forest, Northwest Indiana, Elgin, and Ars Viva Symphonies, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic and the Philly Pops Orchestra in Philadelphia. He enjoys new music performance and to this end has played with contempo at the University of Chicago and on the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW series. As a soloist, Jeremiah was awarded third place in the American Horn Competition in 2001. Recent solo engagements have included performances of Schumann’s Concertpiece for Four Horns with the Fox Valley Symphony and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Frederick is a member of the Stonegate Brass, Third Coast Brass and the Millar Brass Ensemble. He is also a founding member of Quintet Attacca, a wind quintet and winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition’s Grand Prize in 2002. Following this great honor, Quintet Attacca has toured extensively in the Midwest, been an ensemble-in-residence at Italy’s Emiglia Romagna Festival and made their New York debut at the Schneider Concert series at New School University. Quintet Attacca is currently in residence at Lake Forest College and the Music Institute of Chicago.

Jeremiah graduated from Northwestern University in 2000 with a Masters’ Degree in horn performance and received his Bachelor’s in performance from Lawrence University. His teachers have included Gail Williams, Bill Barnewitz, Dale Clevenger, and James DeCorsey.

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Originally from Nova Scotia, Emily Marlow came to Chicago to pursue her Master’s Degree in Music Performance (clarinet) at DePaul University with Larry Combs. While at DePaul, she not only won a position with the Chicago Civic Orchestra but also was invited to substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on occasion. In 2001, Emily became a member of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra in Toronto and performs with chamber music ensembles in addition to her orchestra duties. When not in Toronto, Emily pursues an active freelance career in Chicago teaching and performing, and lives in Wicker Park with her husband and 1.5 year old daughter. Other orchestras she has played with include the Canadian Opera Company, Sarasota Orchestra, New Millennium Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony and the New World Symphony.

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The Chamber Singers of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Founded in 1993, the Chamber Singers are the subset ensemble of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Harvard’s select mixed choir. The student-conducted group explores choral works in an intimate musical atmosphere and is devoted to creating an ensemble of the highest caliber. The Chamber Singers focus primarily on a cappella repertoire, performing sacred and secular classics from all musical eras, but particularly the early Renaissance. Throughout the year, the group performs throughout Boston and Cambridge and also tours in the United States and abroad, having previously appeared in Montreal, France, Spain, Portugal, and Australia. The 2008 season is a very active one for the Chamber Singers, featuring a return to New York in January, a master class with Edward Wickham and the Clerks’ Group, and a series of clinical sessions with Scott Metcalfe, director of Boston’s Blue Heron Renaissance Choir.

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Fulcrum Point New Music Project

Trumpet virtuoso and conductor Stephen Burns is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Fulcrum Point New Music Project in Chicago. He has been acclaimed on four continents for his consistently and widely varied performances encompassing recitals, orchestral appearances, chamber ensemble engagements, and innovative multi-media presentations involving video, dance theatre, and sculpture. He began his studies at the age of ten and made his professional debut at the age of 14 performing Handel Aria “Let the Bright Seraphim” with coloratura soprano Elizabeth Phinney. In 1988 he won First Prize at the second Maurice Andre International Competition for Trumpet in France, which brought him numerous international engagements, including a Paris recital, national television appearances and tours of Europe, Asia and the United States.

Mr. Burns has performed in the major concert halls of New York, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Houston, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, and Venice. He has been a guest at the White House and has appeared on NBC’s “Today Show” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” His European tours have taken him to Italy, France, Finland, Germany, Holland, and Switzerland for guest appearances with orchestras, as well as recitals and performances on radio and television. On tour in the Far East he won rave reviews, which singled out his remarkable tone, musicianship, and technical facility. In recent seasons he has appeared with many leading international orchestras including the Atlanta Symphony under Neeme Jarvi, The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Iona Brown, The Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, The Arturo Toscanini Orchestra of Parma, the Japan National Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, and a United States tour with the Leipzig Kammerorkester. His recital programs often feature his own transcriptions of Falla’s El Amor Brujo, Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije, and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the latter scored for trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, bass trumpet, and piano.

In 1998 Stephen Burns was invited to create innovative new music programs as the Artist in Residence with Performing Arts Chicago. He founded Fulcrum Point New Music Project whose mission is to champion classical music influenced and inspired by Pop culture, Jazz, Rock, Blues, Latin, Folk, Klezmer, World Music, literature, film, art, dance, and theatre.

A conducting student of Jorma Panula and Pinchas Zukerman, Mr. Burns often appears as both soloist and conductor with orchestras performing repertoire ranging from the Second Brandenburg Concerto and Haydn’s Eb major concerto to works by Copland, Shostakovitch and André Jolivet. He has performed this dual role with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Orquesta, the Orquesta da Camera del Tachira, the Sea Cliff Chamber Orchestra, and the American Concerto Orchestra.

He has given numerous premiers by American composers (Rorem, David Stock, Gunther Schuller, Robert Rodriguez, Philip Glass) as well as composers of international renown (Stockhausen, Franck Amsallem, Somei Satoh, Sallinen). Committed to new music, Mr. Burns has written for trumpet, electronic music, chamber music and symphony orchestra. His composition “Reflections,” a work created in collaboration with choreographer Ruby Shang, was performed around the Henry Moore reflecting pool at Lincoln Center. In 1993 he composed and performed the Inaugural Fanfare for the Kuhmon Talon Concert Hall and his most recent composition, “Variations in America” was premiered in Hyannis, MA as part if their Independence Day celebration. He is currently composing Phalanx, a multi-media work based upon American military musical themes.

Stephen Burns is a frequent guest artist at many prestigious summer festivals including Santa Fe, Kuhmo, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Spoleto, Caramoor, Lieksa, Grand Canyon, Moab, Estate Musicale St. Cecilia, and Divonne les Bains. His recordings include Telemann for Trumpet, with the American Concerto Orchestra, on Dorian, The Complete Sonatas for Brass by Paul Hindemith on Helicon, The Complete Brandenburg Concerti with Helmuth Rilling on Haenssler Classics, and Trumpet Voluntary on ASV records. He has also recorded for Kleos, Musical Heritage Society, Delos, Classical Masters, Ess.ay and Grammavision.

Originally from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, Stephen Burns studied under Armando Ghitalla, Gerard Schwarz, Pierre Thibaud, and Arnold Jacobs at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Julliard School (BM/MM 1981-82), as well as in Paris and Chicago for post-graduate studies. He has won many prestigious awards including the 1981 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, 1982 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 1983 National Endowment for the Arts Recitalist Grant, the Naumburg Scholarship at Juilliard, “Outstanding Brass Player” at Tanglewood and the aforementioned 1988 Maurice Andre Concour International de Paris. Sought after internationally for master classes, Mr. Burns is a former tenured Professor of Music at Indiana University and Visiting Lecturer at the Arturo Toscanini Foundation Corso MYTHOS in Bologna, Italy. He presently resides in Chicago with his wife, school psychologist, Kate Neisser and their twin sons Edward and Isaac. Stephen Burns is a Yamaha performing artist.

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Greg Flint is Associate Professor of Horn at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

Prior to his UWM appointment in 2003, he taught horn at DePaul University and brass chamber music at his alma mater, Northwestern University.

As a soloist, clinician, and chamber musician he has performed and given master classes in Spain, Costa Rica, Brazil, Columbia, Taiwan, and throughout the United States.

Mr. Flint has been principal horn with the Elgin Symphony since 2001, where his performance of Richard Strauss’ Concerto No. 1 was broadcast nationally.  He has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony, Colorado Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony and the Key West Symphony.  In 2010 he appeared as guest principal horn with the Florida Orchestra.

Greg has played numerous performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, including on-stage and off-stage solos, and several Ring cycles under the direction of Zubin Mehta.  He also performs with the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, where he will be acting co-principal horn for the 2010 season.

An avid chamber music performer, Greg is a member of the award winning Asbury Brass Quintet, Tower Brass of Chicago, and the Fulcrum Point Brass Quintet.  He has toured internationally with the Chicago Brass Quintet and the Prairie Winds, and is co-artistic director of the Chamber Music Milwaukee series at UW-Milwaukee.

His long held position as first horn with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra has provided him opportunities to perform and record with such jazz luminaries as Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Jon Faddis and Frank Sinatra.

A much sought after freelancer, Greg has performed with The Three Tenors, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Stevie Nicks, Johny Mathis and Andrea Bocelli.

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Peter Ellefson enjoys a career of teaching at the finest institutions and performing with the finest ensembles. He holds the rank of Professor of Music at Indiana University in addition to Lecturer and Artist Teacher positions at Northwestern University and Roosevelt University. He has performed, recorded and toured with the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. In 2002, Prof. Ellefson moved to Bloomington, Indiana from Seattle where he had been a member of the Seattle Symphony since 1992. During his decade in Seattle, he made dozens of recordings with the orchestra, playing trombone, euphonium and bass trumpet and served as principal trombone for Seattle Opera’s renowned productions of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Prof. Ellefson has a keen interest in chamber music and solo literature and has given concerto performances of works by Bloch, Bourgeois, Deemer, Dorsey, Grøndahl, Guilmant, Larsson, Maslanka, Pryor, Pugh, Serocki, Tomasi, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rouse. His chamber music credits include the Canadian Brass, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Brass Quintet, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, New York Philharmonic Brass Quintet, Proteus 7 and Tower Brass of Chicago.

In addition to Indiana, Northwestern and Roosevelt Universities, Prof. Ellefson has also taught at the University of Costa Rica and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the International Trombone Association. His solo CD, “Pura Vida” will be released later this year.

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Rembrandt Chamber Players

Robert Morgan is the solo English horn and Assistant Principal Oboist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestra. He is a founding member of the Rembrandt Chamber Players and is Principal oboist of Music of the Baroque, Chicago Opera Theatre and the Chicago Philharmonic. An active teacher as well as performer, Mr. Morgan coaches chamber music at Northwestern University and maintains a private studio. Mr. Morgan has been the featured soloist with Music of the Baroque on numerous occasions, performing concertos of Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart and has been the soloist with other area organizations in concertos of Vaughn Williams, Strauss and performed the Chicago premiere of Joan Tower’s Island Prelude.” He has also performed with the Guarnieri Quartet. An avid supporter of new music, Mr. Morgan has commissioned and performed works by David Schrader, Jon Polifrone and Ilja Hurnik. He is a graduate of Indiana University where he received the coveted Performers Certificate. He has studied with Jerry Sirucek, Ray Still, March Lifschey and John Mack.

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Equally at home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano, David Schrader is “truly an extraordinary musician … (who) brings not only the unfailing right technical approach to each of these different instruments, but always an imaginative, fascinating musicality to all of them” (Norman Pellegrini, WFMT, Chicago). A performer of wide-ranging interests and accomplishments, Mr. Schrader has performed at the American Guild of Organists’ national convention on four occasions performing as a featured artist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Schrader has appeared as a soloist on organ and on harpsichord with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra having performed under the direction of Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, and Pierre Boulez. He has also appeared with the and Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony under Carlos Kalmar, and with many other orchestras throughout the United States and Canada.

In addition, Mr. Schrader has appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as the repetiteur and principal harpsichordist in Chicago Opera Theater’s highly acclaimed production of “Orfeo” under Jane Glover. He was the featured performer at the prestigious Irving Gilmore Keyboard Festival, performing concerts on organ, harpsichord and clavichord. And, Mr. Schrader appeared as a soloist at the Ravinia Festival under the direction of Nicholas McGegan performing all six of the Bach Brandenberg Concertos.

Mr. Schrader has appeared at numerous music festivals throughout the United States and Europe. He performed as the Artist of the Year at the Oulunsalo Soi Music Festival in Oulu, Finland. He was the harpsichord soloist with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble in a tour of Japan under Yuko Mori and the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik in a European tour. He has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the Michigan Mozartfest with Roger Norrington, the Connecticut Early Music Festival, the Manitou Music Festival, and the Woodstock Mozart Festival where he performed as soloist and conductor.

A resident of Chicago, Mr. Schrader leads an active musical life at home. He performs with Baroque Band (Chicago’s period instrument orchestra), Music of the Baroque, the Newberry Consort, and Bach Week in Evanston. Mr. Schrader has appeared with Chicago Chamber Musicians, Contemporary Chamber Players, Chicago Baroque Ensemble, and The City Musick. He is a frequent guest on WFMT radio (Chicago) on recordings and in live broadcasts as part of WFMT’s “Live From Studio One” programming.

Mr. Schrader’s recording with Grant Park Symphony of music for organ and orchestra by American composers is the first recording of the Casavant Frères organ in Chicago’s Symphony Center which was described by John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune as a “rich palette of sounds and deft rhythmic interplay … Schrader’s 17th recording for the Chicago-based indie label may be his best yet. Go for it.”

Mr. Schrader’s other recordings include concerti of J. S. Bach with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and continuo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for both recordings of Sir Georg Solti’s “Creation”, and the “St. Matthew Passion” and “Messiah”. Mr. Schrader has many releases of solo repertoire on the Cedille label, including the music of J.S. Bach, Soler, Franck, Vivaldi, Dupre and Domenico Scarlatti. His recording of Soler “Fandango & Sonatas” was described thus “We have never heard more beautiful, natural, realistic harpsichord sound … The playing? Excellent … There is no better recording on CD” (American Record Guide). “The popular ‘Fandango’ has perhaps never received so exhilarating a reading” (Chicago Tribune). “His recording of J. S. Bach “Fantasies & Fugues” “captures the sense of improvisatory, virtuosic energy that is to be found so plentifully in this music.” (Continuo) Mr. Schrader has also recorded for the Centaur and CRI labels.

Mr. Schrader is on the faculty of Roosevelt University, Chicago College of Performing Arts – Music Conservatory for performance and academic studies, where he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses since 1986. From 1993 through 1995 he also directed the Collegium Musicum at Northwestern University. He has also taught at the Music Institute of Chicago (formerly know as The Music Center of the North Shore.) Since 1980, he has been the organist of the Church of the Ascension, whose liturgies command a national reputation for musical integrity.

Mr. Schrader received a Doctor of Music degree in organ from Indiana University as well as the coveted Performer’s Certificate. He received a Bachelor of Music in piano and a Bachelor of Music in organ from the University of Colorado. His principal teachers have been Storm Bull, Abbey Simon, Oswald Ragatz, Anthony Newman and Everett Jay Hilty.

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The Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble is a versatile and dynamic group which has been praised by the New York Times for its “conviction, authority, and finesse.” Fifth House’s innovative programs engage audiences through their connective programming and unexpected performance venues.

Performances are aimed at highlighting relationships between classical music and art forms as diverse as film, dance, gourmet food, theater, winemaking and visual art, as well as creating new sounds through collaborations with artists of other music genres.

Continuing to pioneer the art of narrative chamber music, Fifth House collaborates with graphic novelist Ezra Claytan Daniels to present its third annual subscription series, titled Black Violet, for the 2009-2010 season. This unprecedented partnership melds music of the highest caliber, vivid imagery, riveting narrative, and compelling characters as graphic novel slides illustrate the story. Performances combine on-screen projections, staging, and live music performance to create a unique experience for audiences of all types.

Other performances this season include a premiere of a large-instrumentation chamber work by composer Alex Shapiro at the Norton Building Concerts in Lockport, a return to the First United Methodist Church in Kenosha, WI, as well as performances and workshops at Yale College.

Having established itself as a regular on the Chicago chamber music scene, Fifth House has performed on some of the city’s most well-regarded series and venues including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, Mostly Music Series, Waukegan Chamber Music Society, Pritzker Pavilion, Byron Colby Barn, PianoForte Chicago, Live from the Morse/WFMT, WFMT Impromptu, Sunday Salon Series at the Chicago Cultural Center and Rush Hour Concerts at St. James. Through a generous program grant, Fifth House was the first chamber ensemble to train and present a program on the Recital Theater Series of New Triad for Collaborative Arts in New York in June of 2007, and will return to NYC for a performance on the Miller Theater’s Composer Portraits Series in November, 2009. In addition to public performances, Fifth House Ensemble reaches out to those unable to make it to the concert stage through its MusiCare series, presenting concerts at the Self Help Center and Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Recently named to the Illinois Arts Council’s Arts-in-Education Roster, Fifth House’s innovative educational endeavors have resulted in performances and residencies at Chicago public schools and the Chicago Cultural Center in partnership with the International Music Foundation, as well as performances at the Woodstock Opera House, Fremd Schaumburg and Stevenson High Schools. Programs are customized to the curriculum of each school, with the goals of promoting active listening skills and connecting music to a wide variety of subjects. This season’s residencies will be conducted at Chicago’s Mather High School, Burley Elementary School and Perez Elementary School, and will explore subjects including geology, poetry and multicultural influences in Western music.

Named Ensemble in Residence at Carthage College beginning in the Fall of 2009, Fifth House also frequently performs for college audiences, including workshops, residencies, and performances at Millikin University, Manchester College, Northwestern University, DePaul University, University of Illinois-Chicago and the University of Northern Iowa.

Members of Fifth House Ensemble are also active as orchestral musicians, having performed with ensembles including the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Also active as educators, members of Fifth House serve on the faculties of Carthage College, the Merit School of Music and Trinity University.

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Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Andrew Williams is an active performer throughout the Chicagoland area. In addition to being a member of Fifth House Ensemble, he has served as principal second violin of the Rockford Symphony. Williams earned degress from CIM and Rice University, and has a Performance Certificate from DePaul. Previous teachers include David Cerone, Kathleen Winkler, and Ilya Kaler.

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A graduate of the University of Georgia (BM) and Northwestern Univeristy (MM), Clark Carruth currently performs with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the New Phiharmonic, and the DuPage Opera Theatre. A former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and South Bend Symphony, previous performance credits also include appearances on WFMT, the International Harp Festival in Viroqua, WI, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

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Cellist Herine Coetzee Koschak, originally from South Africa, holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the Indiana University School of Music, where she was a student of Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Ms. Koschak has appeared as a featured soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Nittany Valley Symphony and the National Repertory Orchestra, as well as in recital as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the East Coast and in the Mid-West. Her master class performances include those for Yo-Yo Ma, Anner Byslma, Truis Mork, and Orlando Cole. She currently serves on the faculties of Carthage College and the Merit School of Music.

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Eric Snoza has been a double bass performer since before he could even properly reach the fingerboard. He earned his Bachelors and continuing Masters degress from the Eastman School of Music in Rochestra, NY. At Eastman, Eric studied solo performance with one of the world’s leading double bass performers, James VenDemark. He has performed with many leading new music ensembles including OSSIA, Musica Nova, and Ensemble X. Eric’s solo accomplishments include the Rochester debut of the Eduard Tubin Double Bass Concerto and his own world premier transcription of the Elgar Cello Concert for Double Bass led by Rochester Philharmonic Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik.

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Praised as an “excellent pianist” with “titanic force” (New York Times), Adam Marks combines a commitment to contemporary music with innovative programming designed to reach new audiences. In 2008, Marks became the first American laureate of the Orleans Competition for music composed since 1900 in Orleans, France. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Brandeis-Wellesley Symphony Orchestra. Other notable venues include the Salle Cortot in Paris, Zankel and Weill Halls at Carnegie, Ravinia, and Montalvo Arts in California. He currently serves as the Director for Artistic Programming for Fifth House Ensemble, and is on the faculty of Carthage College.

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Trio Voce is a spectacular new piano trio that thrills audiences with their passion, enthusiasm and ability to make the written music come alive. The three individuals of Trio Voce communicate as one voice (“voce” in Italian), whether they are performing the repertoire of Haydn or that of the present day. All three members, Jasmine Lin, Marina Hoover and Patricia Tao, are established musicians, who have studied with some of the great masters at schools such as Curtis, Yale and Harvard, have a demonstrated depth of experience as collaborators and as performers on the international stages throughout the world, and have championed recent music through commissions, premieres and recordings of works by living composers. Their collaboration in this Trio has resulted in a new and outstanding synergy, apparent with every performance they give, and bringing verve and excitement to audiences of all ages. Highlights of the 2008-2009 season include performances for the Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud, the Music Guild of Los Angeles, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and a live broadcast performance on Chicago’s classical music radio station, WFMT.

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Jasmine Lin began violin studies at age four. Since then she has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Brazil, Symphony Orchestra of Uruguay, and Summer Serenade, and in recital in Chicago, New York, Nova Scotia, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo. She was a prizewinner in the International Paganini Competition and took second prize in the International Naumburg Competition. The New York Times describes her as an “unusually individualistic player” with “electrifying assertiveness” and “virtuosic abandon”.

As a chamber musician, Ms. Lin has been a participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia, and has toured in New York, Maine, Delaware, Michigan, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, and the British Virgin Islands as part of the Chicago String Quartet, in China as part of the Overseas Musicians, and in Taiwan as a member of Taiwan Connection Music Festival. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University and DePaul University and was a faculty member of the Taos School of Music in New Mexico. She is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, which won first prize in the London International String Quartet Competition in 2006. The Formosa’s debut cd on EMI Classics Debut Series was released in January.

Ms. Lin is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She gave her New York debut in Merkin Hall, where the program included her poetry set to music. Her poem “The night of h’s” received Editor’s Choice Award from the International Poetry Foundation, and her poetry/music presentations have been featured in Chicago and on radio in Taipei. During the 1999-2000 season, she served as second assistant concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, whose Composer Perspectives series won the ASCAP award for adventuresome programming, and the violinist of Trio Voce. She is heard regularly on WFMT in Chicago.

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Two-time Grammy nominee Marina Hoover was founding cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which rocketed to international prominence after winning both the Young Concert Artists auditions and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In her 13 years with the St. Lawrence, Ms. Hoover performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street “Y,” The Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, (London), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), and Theatre De Ville (Paris). In addition, the quartet made regular appearances at Tanglewood, the Newport Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, as well as over 1000 other appearances throughout North and South America, Europe, Japan, Australia, and Viet Nam. The St. Lawrence has been the resident quartet at Spoleto USA since 1996.

The Quartet’s major recording label debut, Schumann String Quartets 1 and 3, won the Juno award for Best Classical recording (1999), and the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik (2001). It was voted one of the most important classical recordings of the 1990s by Opus Magazine. In 2002, the St. Lawrence’s third cd, Yiddishbbuk: The Chamber Works of Osvaldo Golijov was nominated for two Grammy awards, including Best Classical Chamber Music Recording and Best Composer, as well as a Juno Award for Best Classical Recording. Ms. Hoover’s most recent cd with pianist Patricia Tao includes works by Chopin, Strauss and Liszt on the Centaur label.

Ms. Hoover’s solo career has included concertos with Toronto Symphony, Red Deer Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Belo Horizonte Symphony (Brazil), Edmonton Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Yale Chamber Orchestra, and the Curtis Orchestra. She has performed recitals throughout North America and most recently at Northwestern University’s Lutkin Hall. She appeared in the movie “Illuminata,” directed by John Turturo. A decade after winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition, she returned to Banff to serve as a juror for the competition in 2002.

Ms. Hoover studied cello under David Soyer at the Curtis Institute of Music, and obtained a Masters at Yale under Aldo Parisot. Ms. Hoover was Artist-in-residence at Stanford University, where she co-directed the string program and designed and ran a summer institute for chamber musicians. She has been visiting artist-in-residence at the University of Toronto, and participated in numerous community outreach programs with the St. Lawrence in Kansas City, Washington D.C., Palo Alto, and other cities. In 2002-03 she was visiting Professor of Cello at the University of Toronto and has also been an artist-in-residence at the Banff School of Fine Arts and Distinguished Artist at the University of Alberta. She has also taught chamber music as part of the Chicago String Quartet at Northwestern University and currently coaches chamber music at the Music Institute of Chicago, Evanston Campus.

Ms. Hoover maintains an active performing schedule of both solo and chamber music. Recent performances include appearances with the Chicago String Quartet, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, faculty members from Northwestern University and the Music Institute of Chicago, her duo partner Patricia Tao, and Trio Voce.

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Pianist Patricia Tao, founding member of the Guild Trio from 1988-1998, leads an active life as performer, teacher and concert organizer. As pianist of the Guild Trio, she performed throughout the United States and Europe, with appearances in major North American cities, including New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C. With the Guild Trio, she won the prestigious USIA Artistic Ambassador competition, resulting in a seven-country European tour. The following year, her trio was awarded the position of Trio-in-Residence at the Tanglewood Music Center, where they were lauded by the Boston Globe as a “beautiful new landmark” on the concert stage.

As soloist, Dr. Tao toured the United States for Columbia Artist’s Community Concerts series and as an “Artistic Ambassador” for the USIA, with recitals in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. Winner of numerous awards, she was the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein scholarship and the David McCord Arts Award upon graduation from Harvard University. Summer festival credits include the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England, Rutgers Summerfest, the Cape May Music Festival, Apple Hill Music Festival, the Summer Serenades at the Staller Center, Niederstotzingen Festival in Germany, and the International Arts Festival in France. Recent solo performances have included recitals on the University of Alberta’s MACH series, Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 414 with string quartet at the Winspear Centre, the Yellow River Piano Concerto with the HKJYCC Orchestra in Hong Kong, and a recital at the Wuhan Conservatory of Music.

Dr. Tao’s live performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” WNYC’s “Around New York,” WQXR’s “The Listening Room, the public television series “Premiere Performances” out of St. Louis, Chicago’s WFMT and “Our Music” on CBC. Dedicated to the performance of new works, Dr. Tao (with the Guild Trio) commissioned and premiered numerous works, including William Bolcom’s “Spring Trio,” Sheila Silver’s “To the Spirit Unconquered,” Harvey Sollberger’s “From Winter’s Frozen Stillness,” and works by Bradley Lubman, Daniel Weymouth, Peter Winkler, and Perry Goldstein. Previous recordings include Sheila Silver’s “To the Spirit Unconquered” on the CRI label, a solo CD on the Arktos label featuring works of Schubert, Liszt and Corigliano, and most recently, cello and piano sonatas with cellist Marina Hoover on the Centaur label.

An avid chamber musician, Dr. Tao performs frequently with Ms. Hoover and Trio Voce, with most recent performances in Edmonton, New York, Vancouver, Minnesota, and Chicago. Dr. Tao received her undergraduate education at Harvard University, a masters degree with distinction from Indiana University and her doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where her principal teachers were Leonard Shure, Gyorgy Sebok and Gilbert Kalish. She has given master classes at numerous schools, including the University of Ottawa, Ithaca College, and the Conservatories of Barcelona, Prague, Bratislava and Wuhan, and has held performance residencies at the Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York, the medical school of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the University of Virginia. She taught at Western Washington University and is now Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alberta.

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Praised by Time Out Chicago for “chops, polish, and youthful joy in performing,” Third Coast Percussion uses an impressive array of percussion instruments to create a performance experience like no other. With exceptional talent and dedicated artistry, this “sonically spectacular” (Chicago Tribune) quartet combines the driving intensity of drums, the beautiful warmth of marimbas and vibraphones, and the surprisingly exotic sounds of everyday objects to make music that is playful, memorable and profound. In performances around the country, the Chicago-based ensemble has swiftly gained national attention for effortlessly combining the energy of a rock concert with the precision and sophistication of classical chamber music.

Third Coast Percussion has established a reputation for its commitment to expanding percussion repertoire and setting the highest standard in new music performance. Passionately dedicated to modern music, Third Coast has commissioned, premiered, and performed pieces by many of today’s preeminent up-and-coming composers, programming them alongside 20th century masterpieces for percussion.

The group maintains an active touring schedule throughout the country presenting concerts and master classes for an extraordinarily wide range of audiences. In the 2009-10 season, Third Coast was presented by the Lake Forest Lyrica Series, Rocky River Chamber Music Society,

University of St. Francis Guest Artist Series, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Unity Temple Break the Box Series, the Eastman School of Music and the Rush Hour Concert Series. Highlights of the upcoming 2010-11 season include the premiere of a multimedia work by Glenn Kotche, the drummer for rock band Wilco and composer who has recently collaborated with Kronos Quartet and eighth blackbird, and performances at Pittsburgh’s Music on the Edge Series, the Dickinson College Guest Artist Series, and the Garth Newel Music Center.

Third Coast Percussion also has the distinction of being the only professional percussion ensemble in the country to present a full season of concert percussion music. In their hometown of Chicago, the group performs 4 to 5 concerts each season. The ensemble is dedicated to performing the greatest concert percussion music alongside lesser known and rarely performed master pieces. The group has programmed pieces by many of the great composers of the 20th and 21st century including Luciano Berio, STeve Reich, frederic Rzewski, Louis Andriessen, Wolfgang Fihm, and George Crumb. Third Coast is also active in developing new works. Future premiers include commissioned works by Glenn Kotche, David T. Little and Sarah Kirkland Snider.

The members of Third Coast Percussion—Owen Clayton Condon, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore—hold degrees in music performance from Northwestern University, the Yale School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and Rutgers University.

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Owen Clayton Condon made his solo debut in 1996 with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra after winning the orchestra’s Young Artist Competition. In 2000 he won the New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, and performed with the Conservatory’s Symphony Orchestra in Jordan Hall. Most recently he was a finalist in the 2003 PASIC Solo Marimba Competition. He has performed with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, the University of Chicago’s Contempo series, and as a guest artist with the Eighth Blackbird contemporary music group. Recently, he performed on behalf of Northwestern University at the Kennedy enter in Washington D.C. He holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Frank Epstein and Will Hudgins. Owen is completing his Doctorate of Music at Northwestern, where he studied with Michael Burritt and James Ross. He is currently the Director of Percussion Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.

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Robert Dillon is a founding member of Third Coast Percussion, a faculty member at Merit School of Music, and an active performer of contemporary and orchestral music in the Chicago area. He has performed as a substitute with the Chicago, Boston and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, and has appeared numerous times on the Chicago Symphony’s contemporary music series, MusicNOW, as well as the University of Chicago’s Contempo series alongside eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet.

For the 2007-8 season, Robert served as principal percussionist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and has previously held positions in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of the unique, international 12-percussionist Ensemble XII (formerly the Lucerne Festival Percussion Group), and has participated in Pierre Boulez’s Lucerne Festival Academy (Switzerland), Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival USA, National Repertory Orchestra and Pacific Music Festival (Sapporo, Japan).

In April of 2007, Robert gave the American premiere of the solo version of Christopher Adler’s “Signals Intelligence,” which he later recorded for a CD of Adler’s works released by Innova Records.
Robert holds a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory, where he received the John Cage Award for Outstanding Contribution to Contemporary Music Performance. His teachers include Michael Burritt, James Ross and Will Hudgins.

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Peter Martin is a member of the critically acclaimed ensemble Third Coast Percussion and is the principal percussionist with the contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente. He has been a featured artist at the Jeju Summer Music Festival of Korea, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Round Top Festival, the Soundfield Festival, the Rush Hour Concert Series, and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Peter has performed with such diverse ensembles as the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Opera Moda, the Greeley Philharmonic, New Philharmonic and Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra’s, and the Thodos Dance Company. He has enjoyed competition success as the first prize winner at the 2003 Percussive Arts Society Solo Marimba Competition.

Currently a Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, Peter has served as an instructor at Northwestern University, Trinity International University, and the National High School Music Institute. A passionate educator at all levels, he has worked with the Urban Gateways organization, the University of Chicago’s CONNECT program, and the Young Audiences organization in presenting outreach performances to public schools across the U.S.

Peter is a Doctoral Candidate and holds a Masters of Music degree from Northwestern University. He received his B.M. degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. His teachers include Michael Burritt, She-e Wu, James Ross, Paul Wertico, and Leigh Howard Stevens. Peter is an artist/endorser for Vic Firth and Pearl/Adams Musical Instruments.

For more information, please visit his website at www.newmarimba.com

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David Skidmore is active as both a performer and composer of music for percussion. David is a member of the Ensemble ACJW, Third Coast Percussion, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Ensemble XII, and Collide. He is a dedicated advocate for the music of our time, having commissioned, premiered, and performed dozens of new works by many of the great composers of the 20th and 21st century. David has been featured as a soloist with the Royal Academy of Music Orchestra in London, the Pacific Soundings series in Sapporo, Japan, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra LaSalle Bank Chamber Music Series. As a chamber musician, David has performed for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Music on the Edge series in Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Art Museum Concert Series, June in Buffalo, Klangspuren Schwaz, the Philharmonie Essen, the Ojai Music Festival, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the Bang On a Can Marathon, the Princeton Composers’ Ensemble, and at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. He has performed with So Percussion, the Signal Contemporary Ensemble, and Contempo (the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players). David has played under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Valery Gergiev, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, Peter Eötvös, and Michael Tilson Thomas. David has also performed as a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Pacific Music Festival, the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

David’s compositions are performed regularly in concert halls and universities across the country. Two of David’s pieces were performed in November 2007 at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, including the premiere of a new work for the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble. In May of 2007 his latest piece, “Unknown Kind”, was premiered at Carnegie Hall. He has received commissions from Michael Burritt, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Mark Ford, Dr. John Parks, the Spindrift Percussion Quartet, and Peter Martin. He was awarded 1st prize in the 2005 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest and 2nd prize in the 2004 contest. His piece “Whispers – for 9 Percussionists” was a finalist for an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2005, and has been recorded by the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble. David’s music for percussion is published by Keyboard Percussion Publications.

David received the Bachelor of Music degree from the Northwestern University School of Music and the Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. His teachers have included Robert Van Sice, Michael Burritt, James Ross, Paul Wertico, and Michael Hernandez.

For more information on David, please visit his website at davidskidmorepercussion.com.

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The Euclid Quartet is one of the most well-regarded chamber ensembles of its generation, whose performances are filled with passion, virtuosity, and sensitivity. Taking its name from Euclid Avenue, at the cultural heart of Cleveland, this award-winning group currently holds the prestigious residency at Indiana University South Bend.

The eclectic mixture of the quartet members represents four continents of the world, and inspires programs that celebrate the quartet’s diverse international heritage. The group also combines new and challenging works with the established masterpieces to create varied and exciting programs. From Piazzolla and Hindson to Beethoven and Bartók, the quartet lends its unique voice to all styles.

The quartet has performed to high acclaim across the country – at appearances including Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Aspen Music Festival, Merkin Hall, and the National Gallery – and has won top prizes at several prestigious competitions, including the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition as well as Hugo Kauder, Carmel, and Yellow Springs competitions. They have also commissioned works from several noted composers and given many world premieres.

The Quartet was recently awarded an American Masterpieces grant from the NEA for its innovative educational programming. The group has pioneered numerous projects including roles as Musical Explorers at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, commissioning “Symphonies of String Instruments” for quartet and student string orchestras, and a friendly introduction to the world of the Bartok string quartets entitled “Bartók/Bar-Talk.”

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Jameson Cooper, originally from Sheffield, England, began playing the violin at age 6. At 13 he joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and later became concertmaster of the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. He studied with Malcolm Layfield and Wen Zhou Li at The Royal Northern College of Music, where he earned a Graduate of Music Degree with Honors and a Professional Performance Diploma. Mr. Cooper first came to the U.S. as a participant in the Aspen Music Festival. Since then, he has studied with Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, and Roland and Almita Vamos. He earned Masters Degrees in Violin and Conducting from Kent State University, where he
later served as Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola at the University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music. He has performed as soloist with orchestra, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and Europe. In the 2001-02 season, Jameson played in the Audubon Quartet in its Beethoven Quartet cycle series.

Recipient of numerous prizes, including the Prince’s Trust Award, and first prize in the Tuesday Musical Club of Akron and Kent State University Concerto Competitions, Mr. Cooper has also recorded Icelandic music for Musart, and new music by Kent State University composers on Innova. Jameson has given masterclasses at Virginia Tech, Michigan State University, and Morningside College, and is a former faculty member of the Lyceum Music School of Oldham, England.

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A founding member of the Euclid Quartet, Jacob Murphy hails from Fresno,
California. He began his violin studies at the age of 6, and soon earned acclaim as a soloist with the Kings Symphony Orchestra and the Fresno Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. He was also a recipient of the Fresno Arts Council Horizon Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts.

Mr. Murphy continued his studies at the Eastman School of Music, where he received his B.M. in 1998. He then attended Kent State University as a graduate assistant, where he received his M.M. in 2000. His principal teachers included Charles Castleman, Gregory Fulkerson, Camilla Wicks, and Claudia Shiuh. He attended such festivals as the Heidelberg (Germany) Castle Festival, the Quartet Program at Bucknell University, Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, and the Orford Arts Centre.

On top of being an accomplished quartet musician, Mr. Murphy has made a point of gaining knowledge and expertise in all styles of classical music. He has performed with a baroque period performance ensemble, which was led by the famous lutenist Paul O’Dette. On the other side of the spectrum, Jacob has also been involved with several new music ensembles, and has recorded contemporary music for the Innova label.

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Luis Enrique Vargas, violist, is a native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He began viola lessons at age 14, studying at the Vicente Emilio Sojo and the Simon Bolivar Conservatories of Music in Venezuela. Throughout his career, Mr. Vargas has studied with many internationally known musicians. Among them are Jose Manuel Roman, Richard Young, Gerard Causee, Li-Kuo Chang, James Dunham, Michael Tree, Earl Carlyss, and the Vermeer and Emerson string quartets.

In his native land, he was an active performer and educator and was part of the
internationally acclaimed “Sistema” of the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra, collaborating with its expansion and educative mission in remote regions of Venezuela. He was a member of the Venezuelan Lara State and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestras. He toured to Brazil, Spain, and France, performing at the Festival de la Radio France et Montpellier in 1993. With the Simon Bolivar Orchestra he performed in Paris in 1995 at the UNESCO and at the Sorbonne University, and in Madrid at the Bela Bartok Concert Series. Also with them he recorded “Latin-American Lollipops,” a compilation of Latin-American masterpieces on the Dorian label. Mr. Vargas has participated in several international chamber music festivals, including Aspen, Norfolk, and Great Lakes, and has performed as a chamber musician throughout the US, South America, Canada, and Europe.

Mr. Vargas was the violist of the Cuarteto America (string quartet) from 1997 through 1999, during which time he pursued a Diploma in Chamber Music at Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada) and a Masters degree from Miami University of Ohio. He has been violist of the Euclid Quartet since September 2001.

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Si-Yan Darren Li made his professional debut at the age of nine. Since then, he has appeared in recitals and chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, the 92nd Street Y, Kennedy Center, Victoria Concert Hall in Singapore, Izumi Hall in Osaka, National Concert Hall in Taipei and the Basilica de San Lorenzo in Florence.

Mr. Li has received top prizes in numerous competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, the Young Artists Competition of Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, and the Second China National Cello Competition. He has also appeared in many festivals, including the Ravinia Festival, the Kronberg Academy Cello Festival in Germany, and the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland. As an active chamber musician, Mr. Li has collaborated with renowned artists, such as Emmanuel Ax, Carter Brey, Cho-Liang Lin, Miriam Fried, Paul Katz and Lang Lang.

Mr. Li began his cello studies at the age of five in China. At the age of nine, he was accepted to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. After moving to the United States in his early teens, Mr. Li continued his cello studies with Orlando Cole in Philadelphia. He holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music Degree as well as an Artist Diploma from the Peabody Institute, where he studied with Fred Sherry, Harvey Shapiro, Alan
Stepansky and David Hardy. Mr. Li plays on a 1773 J.B.Guadagnini Cello, generously on loan from the private collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rin Kei-Mei.

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