SpringFest! 2024 Musicians | Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival

Ara Gregorian

Violinist/violist ARA GREGORIAN made his debut as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center, and in cities throughout the world including Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Helsinki. Gregorian is the founder and artistic director of Four Seasons and has appeared at the SpringLight (Finland), Storioni (Holland), Casals (Puerto Rico), Intimacy of Creativity (Hong Kong), Voice of Music (Israel), Vail, Taos and Sante Fe festivals. He has performed extensively as a member of the Cooperstown and Daedalus quartets and the chamber music ensemble Concertante. Gregorian is the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival Distinguished Professor in Music at East Carolina University where he has been on the violin/viola faculty since 1998.

Leah Amory

A 2021 National YoungArts Foundation Winner in Classical Music, 20-year-old LEAH AMORY is a versatile young violinist. She made her concerto debut at age 15 as the First Prize winner of the International Virtuoso Competition. Other recognition includes prizes from NY Chamber Players Competition, Charleston Music Competition, the Lyra Competition and the Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition. Leah was also a finalist for the 2022 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. A committed chamber musician, Leah has participated in chamber performances at the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute, the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop, Music for Food in Philadelphia, and Juilliard’s ChamberFest, appearing onstage with such eminent musicians as Miriam Fried, Erin Keefe and Areta Zhulla. She has also performed with composer Bruce Adolphe and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall, and led members of the Back to Bach Project as a Regional Director. Leah is also a member of non-profit music organizations such as Concerts in Motion and Community Table.

Colin Carr

COLIN CARR appears throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, Montréal and all the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. Conductors with whom he has worked include Rattle, Gergiev, Dutoit, Elder, Skrowasczewski and Marriner. Chamber music plays an important role in his musical life. He is a frequent visitor to international festivals and has appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has held teaching positions at the New England Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music. St John’s College, Oxford created the post of “Musician in Residence” for him. Since 2002 he been a professor at Stony Brook University in New York.

Catherine Cho

CATHERINE CHO draws upon her experiences as a soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and artistic director to support and mentor artists in their quests to engage and enrich their high values as future leaders. She is devoted to fostering the next generation of performers and teachers through the development of artistic excellence, inspired curiosity, and clarity of vision through a holistic view of the whole person. Her work as a teacher in the Juilliard Community Engagement Seminar highlights her passion for connection through art and communication. Cho has served on the Violin and Chamber Music Faculty of the Juilliard School since 1994. When away from her teaching and performing, you may find her tending her Zen garden, practicing yoga, or catching up with the Times. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, Todd Phillips, and son, Brandon.

Leonard Fu

LEONARD FU has, at a young age, established his musicianship in manifold ways – as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, teacher, and composer. He has performed on multiple continents and played concerts in halls such as the Elbphilharmonie, the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Mariinsky Theatre, and Jordan Hall. His collaborators include Kim Kashkashian, Laurence Lesser, Jörg Widmann, Janine Jansen, Jens-Peter Maintz, Thomas Riebl, Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, Natasha Brofsky, and Hsin-Yun Huang. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. His musical interests vary widely from Historical Performance to premiering works by contemporary composers and cross-genre performances. A laureate of international competitions (Postacchini, Lipizer, Joseph Joachim, Schadt), he has been praised for his “superior awareness for sound and structure” by music critic Harald Eggebrecht. He has studied with Lara Lev, Tanja Becker-Bender, Donald Weilerstein, and Catherine Cho, to whom he serves as teaching assistant. Leonard plays on a “Lorenzo Storioni, Cremona, 1781,” a generous loan from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Anna Han

ANNA HAN is the winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Auditions, Juilliard Bachauer Competition, New York International Piano Competition, and second prize of the Naumburg International Piano Competition. She has performed eleven different concerti with orchestras, and in chamber recitals with Steven Isserlis, Kim Kashkashian, and Itzhak Perlman. As pianist in residence at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Nova Scotia, she has performed over twenty solo and chamber concerts there, including nearly five hours of Beethoven’s music. Her repertoire also includes thirty works by living composers, including Michael Brown’s Suite for Piano, which she recorded for the Steinway and Sons label. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Barenboim-Said Akademie, her main teachers were Robert McDonald, Sir András Schiff, Schaghajegh Nostrati, Fei Xu, and Christopher Elton.

Jimin Jang

JIMIN JANG was born in Korea and began playing violin and piano at the age of 5 and viola at the age of 13. She entered the Korea National University of Arts at the age of 17 where she studied with Soonwha Oh and Hanna Lee. She has won numerous competitions in Europe and South Korea, including the Pirastro Prize for Outstanding Young Talent at the Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition Prague, 1st Prize at the Sung-jung Music Competition, Music Education Newspaper competition and the Buam Competition. In 2015, she was invited to the New York Spring Festival and played at the Lincoln Center as a chamber musician.‪ Jimin has been a Kumho Prodigy and Young artist of the Kumho Cultural Foundation, as well as a scholarship artist of the Hyundai Chung Mong-Koo Foundation. Jimin is a scholarship musician of the ‘Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben’ and, as the winner of the Wettbewerb des Deutschen Musikinstrumentenfonds, plays a viola by Paolo Antonio Testore, Mailand 1740. She is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin with Florian Peelman.

Yiliang Jiang

YILIANG JIANG has performed as soloist and chamber musicians in the concert halls of multiple continents (Asia, North America, Europe). He has appeared as a soloist with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, amongst others. In chamber music he has performed and worked with esteemed musicians such as Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Weilerstein, Laurence Lesser, Kim Kashkashian, Merry Peckham, Roger Tapping, Caroline Widmann, Seth Knopp, and Gil Shaham. Jiang also performs regularly with his New York/Boston based string quartet The Tempest. Jiang is laureate of several national and international competitions such as the Premo Paganini (4th Prize), Andrea Postacchini (2nd Prize), and the Dorothy Delay Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival. Jiang studied in the studio of Donald Weilerstein at New England Conservatory of Music to whom he served as teaching assistant from 2021-2023. He plays on a violin by Stefan-Peter Greiner from 2017.

Michael Kannen

Cellist MICHAEL KANNEN was a founding member of the Brentano String Quartet and for seven years performed with that group on concert stages around the world. During those seven years, the Brentano Quartet was awarded the first Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, and appeared regularly in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw and the Sydney Opera House. Kannen has been a member of the Apollo Trio and the Meliora and Cooperstown string quartets, has appeared at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed at the Spoleto Festivals in Charleston, Italy and Australia. Kannen is a member of the faculty of the Yellow Barn Music Festival and is currently the Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory.

Ani Kavafian

Violinist ANI KAVAFIAN has performed as soloist with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, San Francisco and Seattle symphony orchestras. She has appeared at the White House on three separate occasions for three different presidents. Kavafian has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1979, performs frequently with her sister, Ida Kavafian, and has appeared in solo recitals at New York’s Carnegie and Alice Tully halls. She has appeared at the Four Seasons, Music from Angel Fire, Bravo! Vail and Bridgehampton festivals, and recorded the Mozart violin concerti with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Kavafian has held teaching positions at Mannes College, Manhattan School of Music, McGill University in Montreal and Stony Brook University. She is currently full professor at the Yale University School of Music.

Ida Kavafian

The versatile violinist/violist IDA KAVAFIAN recently completed her 35th year and final year as Artistic Director of Music from Angel Fire. She is co-founder of Tashi, OPUS ONE, Trio Valtorna and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (running it for ten years), frequent artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, former violinist of the Beaux Arts Trio and faculty member of The Curtis Institute (where she holds the Nina von Maltzahn Violin Chair). She has premiered numerous new works including concerti by Toru Takemitsu and Michael Daugherty, toured and recorded with jazz greats Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Fiddler/Composer Mark O’Connor, appeared with the Guarneri, Orion, Shanghai and American String Quartets (as violist), and has had a solo feature on CBS Sunday Morning. A graduate of Juilliard studying with Oscar Shumsky, she made her NY debut under Young Concert Artists with the pianist Peter Serkin. Together with her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, she breeds, trains and shows prize-winning Vizsla dogs, which presently include a Gold Grand Champion as well as a Master Hunter.

Hye-Jin Kim

Violinist HYE-JIN KIM was awarded first prize at the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition. She has performed as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic, and has been presented at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Kim has appeared at the Four Seasons, Marlboro, Ravinia, Music from Angel Fire, Prussia Cove and Music@Menlo festivals and was a member of the Cooperstown Quartet. She has toured as a member of Musicians from Marlboro and recently founded “Lullaby Dreams,” an initiative that brings beauty and humanity to babies and families in NICUs and children’s hospitals through music. Kim is associate professor of violin at East Carolina University.

Masha Lakisova

Praised for her “sensitive musicianship and communication” (The Strad), MASHA LAKISOVA is fast becoming one of the rising stars of her generation. As a soloist, Masha has taken top prizes at the Stulberg, Klein, and Tibor Junior Competitions, and most recently, the World’s Biggest Stage Competition. In addition to appearing as a soloist with orchestras worldwide, Lakisova is also an avid chamber musician, having won two consecutive Gold Medals at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in the Junior Division, and a Silver Medal in the Senior Division. She has performed in esteemed concert venues in the United States and all over the world including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. She has previously studied with Grigory Kalinovsky, Itzhak Perlman, and Li Lin, and is currently pursuing her bachelor’s at the New England Conservatory, where she is a student of Miriam Fried. Miss Lakisova is the proud recipient of a magnificent violin by Giovanni Francesco Pressenda, Turin, 1845 on loan from The Stradivari Society of Chicago thanks to the generosity of her patron, Edward Manzo.

Alex Lau

ALEX LAU, cello, born in 2002 in Hong Kong, currently studying at the Munich University of Music with Wen-Sinn Yang and has received important musical impulses from renowned musicians such as Misha Maisky, Gary Hoffman, Pavel Gililov, Alban Gerhardt, Nobuko Imai, Tabea Zimmermann, and others. Festival appearances include among others the Seiji Ozawa Academy, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, NUME Festival, Villar Music Academy, Geneva International String Academy, and Chamber Lab Montecastelli where he collaborated with renowned artists such as Robert McDonald, Catherine Cho, Nicholas Kitchen, Mi-Kyung Lee, Sergey Ostrovsky, and performed in concert venues such as Genva Victoria Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Foundation Pierre Gianadda, and Flaggey Brussels. Alex Lau collaborates regularly with choreographer Jacopo Godani and the Dresden Frankfurt Dance Company. The resulting works include “Bach off!” (Bach Solo Suites) and “Premonitions of a larger plan“ (Solo Sonatas by G. Ligeti and Z. Kodaly) and also during the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex Lau and his violist brother Gordon Lau were featured on violinist Daniel Hope’s “Hope at Home- Next generation” program, streamed on ARTE-concert and other important German broadcasters.

Julia Lee

Korean-American cellist JULIA LEE is passionate about creating authentic connections and relationships through her love of music. She is a prize winner of the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition, and has collaborated with renowned artists such as Clive Greensmith, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Inon Barnatan, Blake Pouliot, Merry Peckham, Julie Albers, Molly Carr, and Takács Quartet across various international stages. An avid chamber musician, she has appeared at the Perlman Music Program, La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, and Music in the Vineyards Festival in Napa Valley. Julia also heavily involves herself in community engagement, most recent being her collaboration with Molly Carr and ‘Project: Music Heals Us’ working closely with inmates of the Santa Rosa County Jail and Jericho Project. Julia received a Bachelor of Music at The Juilliard School where she studied with Darrett Adkins. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music at Juilliard where she studies with Joel Krosnick.

Tianyou Ma

TIANYOU MA has been a single study student at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, Australia since 2010, where he was awarded a full scholarship to study with Keith Crellin from 2010-2013. In 2014, Tianyou was awarded a full scholarship at The Yehudi Menuhin School in the U.K. and studied violin with Diana Galvydyte. He was also awarded a full scholarship covering all his living fees from the Music and Dance Scheme in the U.K. from 2016 – 2019. Tianyou started his undergraduate study with a full scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 2019-2023, studying with Pamela Frank and Shmuel Ashkenasi. In 2023, he was selected by the Curtis Institute of Music community to give a commencement speech, followed by winning the Curtis 2023 Milka Violin Artist Prize. Tianyou is now pursuing his Master’s degree with Catherine Cho in Juilliard as a Kovner Fellowship student.

Robert McDonald

ROBERT MCDONALD has toured extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. He has performed with major orchestras in the United States and was the recital partner for many years to Isaac Stern and other distinguished instrumentalists. He has participated in the Marlboro, Casals, and Luzerne Festivals, the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, and has broadcasted for BBC Television worldwide. He has appeared with the Takács, Vermeer, Juilliard, Brentano, Borromeo, American, Shanghai, and St. Lawrence string quartets as well as with Musicians from Marlboro. His discography includes recordings for Sony Classical, Bridge, Vox, Musical Heritage Society, ASV, and CRI. Mr. McDonald’s prizes include the Gold Medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. A member of the piano faculty at the Juilliard School since 1999, Mr. McDonald joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins Chair in Piano Studies. During the summer, he is the artistic director of the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico.

Emma Meinrenken

Violinist EMMA MEINRENKEN is a Master of Music student at the Yale School of Music, under the tutelage of Augustin Hadelich. She has a B.M. from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Ida Kavafian and was awarded the Milka Violin Artist Prize. Other prizes include Yale’s Presser Foundation Award and a Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, as well as gold at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau. She has been a fellow at festivals such as the NUME Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, and recently represented the Curtis Institute on a chamber music tour of Europe. Meinrenken debuted with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2011, and often collaborates with composers, being the dedicatee of several new compositions. She plays on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius violin, on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Jason Moon

Violinist JASON MOON is a curious emerging artist who finds inspiration in everything from Fritz Kreisler to Queen to craft coffee. He has recently earned his Master of Music at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles as a student of Martin Beaver. He previously completed his Bachelor of Music degree at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Li Lin. Jason has won numerous competitions, including the Hellam Young Artists’ Competition, Colburn Conservatory Concerto Competition, and the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, and was a finalist in the Ysaye International Music Competition. He has performed with the San Francisco Symphony and Colburn Orchestra, among others. An avid chamber musician, Jason frequently performs for the Colburn Recovered Voices Initiative and spends most of his summers at chamber music festivals, including Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World, Music@Menlo, Olympic Chamber Music Festival, and the Taos School of Music.

Clara Neubauer

Praised for her “seductive artistry” and “rare grace” (Classical Voice North America), violinist CLARA NEUBAUER is a recent recipient of the Ana Chumachenco Award from the Kronberg Academy and the Peter Mennin Prize from The Juilliard School. Clara has appeared at festivals including the Ravinia Festival, Taos School of Music, Music@Menlo, Four Seasons, Music from Angel Fire, Olympic Music Festival, and Marlboro Music Festival. Winner and recipient of the silver medal at the National YoungArts competition, Clara has appeared as soloist with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, the Symphony of Westchester, the National Repertory Orchestra, the New York Concerti Sinfonietta, the Little Orchestra Society, Ensemble 212, and the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. Clara received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School as a student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman and a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.

Daniel Phillips

Violinist DANIEL PHILLIPS is a founding member of the 30-year-old Orion String Quartet and performs frequently at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He appears regularly at the Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music and Four Seasons festivals and has participated in the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, England, since its founding by Sandor Vegh. Phillips was a winner of the 1976 Young Concert Artists Auditions, was a member of the Bach Aria group, and has toured and recorded in a string quartet with Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is a professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and is on the faculties at the Mannes College of Music, the Bard College Conservatory, and The Juilliard School.

Anthony Ratinov

Pianist ANTHONY RATINOV has been praised internationally for his “precision, crystalline sharpness and great inner energy” (L’Ape Musicale) and his “class, style, technical mastery, and solo prowess” (Beckmesser). Anthony is the winner of the 2nd Prize at the 64th Busoni International Piano Competition, as well as the 1st Prize at the Ricard Viñes Competition, and the 2nd Prize at the València Iturbi Competition. Anthony began studying piano at the age of four with his grandmother, Edit Ratinova, who taught at the Gnessin School in Moscow and was a student of the school’s founder, Elena Gnesina. Anthony is pursuing his Artist Diploma program at The Juilliard School in the studio of Robert McDonald. He completed his graduate studies at the Yale School of Music studying with Boris Berman and Boris Slutsky, and previously studied at Yale University, where he majored in chemical engineering in addition to studying piano with Wei-Yi Yang.

Marcy Rosen

Cellist MARCY ROSEN has collaborated with the world’s finest musicians including Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida, Isaac Stern, Robert Mann, Sandor Vegh, Kim Kashkashian, Jessye Norman, and the Juilliard, Emerson, and Orion quartets. She is a founding member of La Fenice and the world-renowned Mendelssohn String Quartet, with which she was an artist-in-residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Blodgett Artistin- Residence at Harvard University. The quartet, which disbanded in January of 2010, toured annually throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe for 31 years. Since 1986, Rosen has been the artistic director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival. She is professor of cello at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and is on the faculty at the Mannes College of Music.

Andres Sanchez

Born in Allentown, PA, cellist ANDRES SANCHEZ-LINARES began his cello studies at the age of eight years old with former Puerto Rico Symphony principal cellist Miguel Rojas. He continued his studies with Jesus Morales of the Dali Quartet and former principal of the Puerto Rico Symphony. At 10 years of age, Andres made his solo debuts in the Midwest Clinic of Chicago and the Ocean City Pops orchestra. Three years later, he made his Carnegie Hall solo debut with the ArCoNet Chamber Orchestra. At 16, Andres was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with cellists Peter Wiley and Carter Brey. He currently studies at the New England Conservatory under the guidance of Paul Katz. Andres has made solo appearances with the Kennet Square Symphony, the Central Jersey Symphony, the Summit Symphony, Pennsylvania Sinfonia, and the Gabrieli Ensemble. As cellist of the AYA Trio, he has performed across the country, including at Concerts International in Memphis, TN, the Schneider Concert series at the Mannes School of Music, the Brevard Music Center, and New York City’s Merkin Concert Hall.

Mafalda Santos

Portuguese cellist MAFALDA SANTOS brings to the stage her engaging personality and desire to share music and stories with audiences all over the world. As the winner of over 20 awards from prestigious competitions, she has performed in acclaimed venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Berliner Philharmoniker. Since her debut with the FIME Ensemble at the age of fourteen, Mafalda has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Europe and the United States. As an avid chamber musician, Mafalda has participated in renowned chamber music series and festivals. Passionate about exploring the impact of classical music in society, Mafalda collaborates with numerous organizations across the US to create innovative and inclusive concerts. Mafalda holds degrees in Cello Performance and Musicology from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Amit Peled on a full scholarship. She is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Yale University, studying with Paul Watkins as a George W. Miles fellowship recipient.

Sophia Anna Szokolay

Lauded for her “stirring and singing tone” by Martha’s Vineyard Gazette, Canadian violinist SOPHIA SZOKOLAY has captivated audiences across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Equally at home as a soloist and chamber musician, Sophia balances a busy schedule as a recitalist and chamber musician while completing her Doctorate at the New England Conservatory, where she serves as Donald Weilerstein’s teaching assistant. Sophia regularly performs with the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, Delirium Musicum, Palaver Strings, and the Phoenix Orchestra. A champion of new music, she has collaborated with and premiered works by György Kurtág, James Lee III, Jörg Widmann, Shulamit Ran, and Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol. In past seasons, Sophia has performed at the YellowBarn, Lucerne, Perlman Music Program, and Taos Chamber Music Festivals. Sophia received her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and her Master’s Degree from Juilliard. Her teachers include Catherine Cho, Miriam Fried, and Donald Weilerstein. Beyond music, Sophia is a photographer and avid distance runner.

Macintyre Taback

Born in New York City, MACINTYRE TABACK began his cello studies at the age of 11 as a part of his school’s strings program. Mac is the founder of the Bennetts Point Cello Seminar in Charleston, SC, which held its first festival in January of this year. In addition, he has recently performed at IMS Prussia Cove, the Perlman Music Program, and Yellow Barn, and the Kronberg Academy’s ‘Chamber Music Connects the World”. Mac has worked closely with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, and the Brentano Quartet, and has recently collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Lawrence Power, Erich Höbarth, Alasdair Beatson, and the Emerson, Borromeo, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. In 2021, Mac completed his undergraduate studies with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott at the Eastman School of Music, where he received the Performance Certificate and Harris Cello Prize. He is currently pursuing his DMA at the New England Conservatory under Laurence Lesser, Donald Weilerstein, and Vivian Weilerstein. Mac plays on a cello made by David Tecchler in Rome, 1723.

Jakob Giovanni Taylor

JAKOB TAYLOR, 26, has recently completed his Masters of Musical Arts degree at the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Paul Watkins. Born in New York City, Jakob began playing the cello at the age of three. His career as a soloist and chamber musician has led him around the globe and has taken him to perform at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Stude Hall, Bargemusic and Jordan Hall. Jakob received his Masters of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music studying with Desmond Hoebig. He has also received diplomas from the New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School. Jakob was the recipient of the Harvey R. Russel Scholarship and Irving S. Gilmore Fellowship at Yale University where he most recently performed Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Jakob has spent his summers performing at Music@Menlo, the Taos School of Music, Music Academy of the West, and Bowdoin International Music Festival, among others.

Steven Tenenbom

STEVEN TENENBOM is the violist of the Orion String Quartet, which has served as the quartet-in-residence of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival, the Mannes College of Music, and the Santa Fe Music Festival. He has appeared with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets, the Kalichstein-Loredo-Robinson and Beaux Arts trios, TASHI, and as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brandenburg Ensemble. Tenenbom has had a long association with the Marlboro Music Festival, including many tours across the United States, Japan, and France, and has appeared at the June Music, La Jolla Mostly Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest, Four Seasons, Music from Angel Fire, and Bravo! Colorado festivals. He is co-founder of Opus One and is on the faculties of the Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School, and the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Luther Warren

Violinist and violist LUTHER WARREN has appeared at such festivals as Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Four Seasons, the Perlman Music Program, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Gstaad Menuhin Festival & Academy, Norfolk, and Taos. He has appeared on stage with Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, David Shifrin, Colin Carr, Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Daniel Phillips, Steven Tenenbom, Hsin-Yun Huang, and the Borromeo String Quartet. He is a founding member of chamber-music collective ensemble132, performs regularly with LA-based chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum, and acts as violist of the Tempest String Quartet currently in residence at the New England Conservatory. Luther has presented masterclasses for East Carolina University and Queens College, maintains a private studio, and served as violin and viola instructor for Merrimack College. Luther is a doctoral student at the New England Conservatory where he has worked with Kim Kashkashian, Donald Weilerstein, and Miriam Fried.

Miranda Werner

MIRANDA WERNER (violin/viola) holds her M.M. in Violin Performance from the Yale School of Music, and her B.M. with High Distinction and Music Honors from Indiana University. She studies viola privately with Nicholas Cords, and violin with Soovin Kim. A versatile musician, Miranda has earned principal orchestral positions as both a violinist and violist, including Associate Principal viola at the 2022 New York String Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Yale Philharmonia, and Principal 2nd Violin of the IU Philharmonic. She was awarded runner-up in the IU Viola Competition (2022), and her ensemble, the Uni Quintet, won Second Prize at the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Miranda has attended festivals such as the Taos School of Music, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Heifetz Chamber Music Seminar. She has also collaborated with members of the Miró Quartet, and studied chamber music extensively with the Brentano, Pacifica, and Borromeo Quartets.

Elliot Wuu

Praised for his “power, speed and finesse of artists twice his age” (Tribune Star), ELLIOT WUU is a Young Steinway Artist, a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, a recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi 2021 Career Grant, and has appeared in major venues in the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Romania and China. He has performed at the United Nations Headquarters, WQXR’s Greene Space, Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Davies Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall, and has appeared at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Aspen Festival, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Capital Region Classical, Shriver Hall Concerts, Music Academy of the West, BravoPiano! and Chopin Foundation of the US. Wuu has appeared as soloist with the Hilton Head Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Lansing Symphony, Terre Haute Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, and Arad State Philharmonic in Romania. Elliot completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald.

Cherry Choi Tung Yeung

CHERRY CHOI TUNG YEUNG, a violinist born and raised in Hong Kong. Winning her first job at one of the major orchestras in the United States at the age of 21. Ms. Yeung is now the Associate Principal Second Violin of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Yeung has performed with the New York Philharmonic, New World, and Princeton Symphony Orchestras; Symphony in C; New Jersey Festival Orchestra; and as concertmaster of The Juilliard School Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra where she was awarded the loan of a fine Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin. Ms. Yeung has won numerous prizes including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, the Juilliard Violin Concerto Competition, and the Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2018 she was named a New York Philharmonic Global Academy Zarin Mehta Fellow. Ms. Yeung is an artist at the prestigious Marlboro School of Music. Ms. Yeung holds an artist diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music and bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she finished both degrees within 4 years. Her former teachers include Ivan Chan, Ida Kavafian, Michael Ma, Arnold Steinhardt, and Steven Tenenbom.

Emad Zolfaghari

19-year-old Canadian violist EMAD ZOLFAGHARI was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music at age 16, where he currently studies with Hsin-Yun Huang. He is the first prize winner of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the International Morningside Music Bridge Competition, second prize winner of the Johansen International String Competition and third prize winner of the OSM String Competition. Emad has appeared as a soloist with several major symphony orchestras, including l’Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Montreal Symphony, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra and the National Metropolitan Philharmonic. Emad has attended Morningside Music Bridge, the Center Stage Strings festival as a junior faculty member, the Perlman Music Program and Music from Angel Fire. Emad currently plays on an 1820 Giuseppe Dall’Aglio viola and 1931 W.E. Hill & Sons bow on generous loan from Canimex, Inc.