APPLE HILL CENTER for CHAMBER MUSIC
2025 – 2026 Program Book
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Dear Friends,
Welcome, and thank you for joining us for the 2025 summer season of music at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music!
I first joined the Apple Hill Board of Trustees in early 2020. Shortly thereafter, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the world seemed to stop overnight. Despite the challenges the pandemic presented, Apple Hill persevered with the unwavering commitment of our board, staff and summer faculty, supporters and donors, and our artistic leaders, the Apple Hill String Quartet.
Since 2021, major capital improvements to our 100-acre campus, such as a commercial grade kitchen, expanded rehearsal and practice rooms, and a large solar array have been installed. In 2024, we returned to full attendance at all sessions; cellist and co-artistic director Jacob MacKay joined the AHSQ; and we made two stellar additions to our leadership team: Sam Bergman as Executive Director, and Kristina Gulla as Director of Development.
As the world around us continues to evolve, our commitment to our mission remains steadfast: cultivating connection and understanding among people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, playing levels, and ages through music performance and education centered around the values of acceptance, inclusivity, creative expression, and encouragement.
Apple Hill is well-positioned to innovate and adapt as changing times demand, and we are so excited to share our 55th summer festival season with you. We thank you, as a valued member of our community, and we are thrilled to share with you the unique and joyful experience of taking in an Apple Hill concert as the sun sets beyond the hill.
With deep appreciation,
Taryn Fisher, President, Board of Trustees
Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music
Program book cover photo by Apple Hill alumna Deborah Shapiro
ANNIVERSARY SEASON 60th our
June
THU 19, 12pm | Opening Concert ~ Depot Park, Peterborough - FREE THU 19, 6pm | Supper Club - Martini Night ~ Location TBA - $75
SUN 22, 3pm | Jaffrey Village Concert ~ Jaffrey Meetinghouse - FREE
SAT 28, 1pm | Family Concert~ The Friendly Farm, Dublin (Concert FREE with paid admission into the Friendly Farm)
July
SUN 6, 3pm | Dublin Village Concert ~ Emmanuel Church - FREE THU 10, 6pm | Supper Club ~ Location TBA - TICKETED
SAT 12, 7pm | Deering Village Concert ~ Deering Community Church - FREE
SUN 13, 3pm | Rindge Village Concert ~ Cheney Hall, Franklin Pierce University - FREE
THU 17, 7pm | Westmoreland Village Concert ~ Park Hill Meeting House - FREE
SUN 20, 3pm | Light and Shadow ~ Bass Hall, Peterborough - $30/$25
FRI 25, 6pm | Supper Club - Big Night ~Location TBA - $125
SAT 26, 7pm | Harrisville Village Concert ~ Harrisville Community Church - FREE
August
FRI 1, 7pm | Candelit Concert ~ Spring Hill Studio, Sharon - $25/$15 6pm | Candelit Concert w/Supper Club - $50
WED 6, 7pm | Nelson Village Concert ~ Nelson Congregtaional Church - FREE
Details TBA | 60th Anniversary Gala - The Sixties! ~ Location TBA - TICKETED
FIND US ON
MITSUKO UCHIDA & JONATHAN BISS, ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
The Walden School
INSPIRING PROGRAMS for CREATIVE MUSICIANS
Young Musicians Program ages 9-18, all instruments, all levels
Creative Musicians Retreat composers, performers, teachers, choral and electronic musicians ages 18 and up
Summer 2025 Concert Series: 20+ free, public events
Jonathan Colby, Music Director
Dublin, New Hampshire || Founded in 1972 Nurturing passionate singers... Enriching the cultural
The Keene Chorale is a welcoming, non-auditioned chorus and our members include singers with a wide range of musical and life experiences - from high school to octogenarians. Open to all!
FULL DE L I TAKE OUT
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Taryn Fisher, President
Vanessa Holroyd, Vice-President
Daniel Goodman, Secretary
Jan Weekes, Treasurer
Molly McCarthy, Immediate Past President
Patsy Beffa-Negrini
Allison Frisbee
Mark C. Gebhardt
Zoe Kemmerling
Nelly Palmer
Jean Prior
Sue Quinn
Reem Abu Rahmeh
Peter Roos
STAFF
Sam Bergman, Executive Director
Apple Hill String Quartet & Artistic Directors:
Elise Kuder, violin
Jesse MacDonald, violin
Mike Kelley, viola
Jacob MacKay, cello
Kristina Gulla
Director of Development
Richard Anderson
Facilities Manager
Keegan Brosseau
Facilities Manager
Gail Malitas
Office Administrator
Amelia Perron
Summer Workshop Administrative Director
Friends of Apple Hill
We’d like to extend our deepest gratitude to the Friends of Apple Hill—a group of dedicated volunteers who support and help organize special events that cultivate new relationships and steward existing ones within the Apple Hill community.
Mike Anderson
Emily Carr
Suzanne Coble
Maria Coviello
Sorrell Downing
Dita Englund
Deb Ford
Glenn Galloway
Anne Havill
Don & Joyce Healy
Bill Heyman
Mark Meess
Sara Mustin
Ann Shedd
Linda Singer
Craig Stockwell
Judith Waterston
Chip & Kathy Woodbury
Now in its sixth decade, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music exists to perform, teach, and broaden the appreciation of chamber music— cultivating connection and understanding among people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and ages through music performance and education centered around the values of acceptance, inclusivity, creative expression, and encouragement.
Launched in 1971, Apple Hill was originally the vision of a group of professional musicians and friends who purchased 100 acres of rural land in Nelson, New Hampshire, in order to start a summer camp for young musicians. To enhance the educational experience, they formed a resident touring and performing ensemble, the Apple Hill Chamber Players (now the Apple Hill String Quartet) in 1973. The centerpiece summer program soon expanded to include students of nearly all ages and musical experience levels. In a fully enrolled summer, Apple Hill’s workshops serve as many as 300 students across five sessions.
On a tour to the Middle East in 1989, Apple Hill inaugurated the Playing for Peace initiative, a program that uses the skills of chamber music performance to
create personal connections and understanding across cultures. (For more on Playing for Peace, see pgs. 16-17.)
Students at Apple Hill’s summer workshop sessions share meals and chores and socialize together, forming meaningful bonds of friendship and understanding that enhance their growth, not only as musicians, but as people. At Apple Hill, music becomes more than an artistic, academic, or technical pursuit – it serves as a powerful catalyst for connection with others.
Instead of students needing to strategize to fit in or conform to expectations, they are encouraged to be themselves and embrace their uniqueness, a philosophy which enables Apple Hillers to grow and connect deeply with one another through music. We want each student to be unique; to be creative; to feel free; and to express their individuality while at Apple Hill.
These three values form the basis of everything we do as an institution:
• Everyone is accepted.
• Everyone has an expressive voice.
• Everyone deserves to be encouraged and supported equally
Apple Hill Executive Director Sam Bergman grew up playing music in small-town Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied viola with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Prior to joining Apple Hill, he spent nearly 25 years performing as a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, for which he also produced and hosted multiple original concert series. He began his orchestral career as a member of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Iris Orchestra. He also served for 11 seasons as principal violist of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, California, performing major premieres by dozens of 21st century composers.
During his time with the Minnesota Orchestra, Sam was part of a team of dedicated musicians and staff working to reduce the organization’s reliance on white privilege, broaden the orchestral repertoire
to include marginalized and unjustly neglected composers, and confront the industry’s history of racial and gender discrimination. In 2022, he and Minnesota’s First Associate Concertmaster, Susie Park, co-created a major new initiative designed to benefit outstanding Black composers (and their heirs) both past and present. In its first three seasons, The Listening Project resulted in more than a dozen previously unrecorded works being performed, recorded, catalogued, and released online for free use, with the intent of encouraging more orchestras to program works by these great composers.
Sam has served as board president of CAYO (Cuban American Youth Orchestra,) and of The Moving Company, an award-winning theater company in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. He has recorded string tracks for international pop stars including Prince, Taylor Swift, and Celine Dion. He has taught music at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Greenwood Music Camp in Massachusetts, and of course, at Apple Hill.
Apple Hill is deeply grateful for the support we receive from the following corporate, government, private, and family foundations and local businesses:
COHEN FAMILY FOUNDATION • FINGER LAKES AREA COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT
• GRIMSHAW-GUDEWICZ CHARITABLE FOUNDATION • HOFFMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION
•
• MAE PRIVATE FOUNDATION
THE MCININCH FOUNDATION • • OTTO AND MARIANNE WOLMAN FOUNDATION
• THE KINGSBURY FUND • THE WALDO AND ALICE AYER TRUST • ANONYMOUS
Called “dashing and extraordinary” by The Strad magazine, the Apple Hill String Quartet are the Artistic Directors and resident musicians at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and winners of the CMAcclaim Award from Chamber Music America. The Quartet serves as the Music Directors for Apple Hill’s Summer Chamber Music Workshops in Nelson, New Hampshire, known for cultivating connection and understanding among people of diverse backgrounds, cultures, playing levels, and ages through its guiding philosophy, Playing for Peace.
During the regular concert season, the Quartet performs concerts and conducts residencies locally in NH, nationally in major U.S. cities, and internationally around the globe—in venues as diverse as the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, ChatterABQ, Burncoat High School in Worcester, Project STEP in Boston, Cedarcrest Center for Children with Disabilities in Keene, NH, the Ketermaya refugee camp outside Beirut, Lebanon, the Moscow Conservatory, the Conservatorio National de Musica in Lima, Peru, the Gitameit Music School in Yangon, Myanmar, and the Harrisville General Store.
The Quartet’s concert programs reflect the diversity of Apple Hill: pieces amplifying new voices, views, and backgrounds in classical music; compositions from places representing the Quartet’s global travels and the summer workshop community; and music from the historic canon and new commissions, especially from renowned alumni.
The Quartet has collaborated with members of the Brentano String Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Dorian Wind Quintet, Warp Trio, and Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo. Members of the Quartet have received degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Brandeis University, and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship to London, England.
Called “first-rate” by The Boston Globe, Elise Kuder is the first violinist of the Apple Hill String Quartet and Co-Artistic Director of the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music where she has been a resident musician since 1998. Through Apple Hill’s Playing for Peace program, Elise has performed and taught internationally from Aleppo and Amman, to Baku and Bethlehem, Da Lat and Dublin, Kuala Lumpur and Kyrenia, Lima and Limassol, Madaba and Moscow, and Yangon and Yerevan. Elise has also performed and given educational workshops throughout the U.S., including at the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, UCLA, Sunday Chatter in Albuquerque, the Baltimore School for the Arts, Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, and the Elementary School in Nelson, NH. Recently, Elise and the Quartet released an album of the Franck and Bridge Piano Quintets with pianist
Sally Pinkas on the MSR Classics label. Elise is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory and The Juilliard School where she studied with Marilyn McDonald and Joel Smirnoff. She attended the Tanglewood Music Center where she served as concertmaster under conductors Robert Spano and Bernard Haitink. As a Fulbright Scholar, Elise studied in London with David Takeno. In her spare time away from Apple Hill, Elise is a studio regular in the New York City disco scene, including Red Bull Music Academy performances at the Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem with disco legends Patrick Adams, Black Ivory, and Donna McGhee.
Second violinist of the Apple Hill String Quartet and Co-Artistic Director at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Jesse MacDonald has participated and placed in
festivals and competitions in the Northwest and Northeast regions of the United States. He first attended Apple Hill’s Young Artist Fellowship Program in 2014 as violinist in the Tempest String Quartet, and again in the summers of 2016 and 2018 as the teaching assistant for violin. He previously performed with New York City’s Luminaria String Quartet and Boston’s Emma String Quartet in performances at NEC’s Jordan Hall, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, The Shalin Liu Center in Rockport, MA and throughout the New England area. He was also the lead fiddle player for the Broken String Band, a touring contra dance and swing band based out of Bozeman, MT, for 10 years. He is currently a core member of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra and Co-Artistic Director of their Sandbar Chamber Music Series, the adjunct professor of violin and viola at Keene State College, and has played all over the East Coast with groups such as Palaver Strings (Portland, ME), the Dessoff Choirs with Dr. Malcolm Merriweather, with Kent Tritle at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, with the Rioult Dance Company at the Joyce Theater in NYC and with Off-Broadway theaters such as the Company Theatre in Norwell, MA, and the Seacoast Repertory Theater in Portsmouth, NH. Jesse has also arranged all types of genres of music extensively for Palaver Strings and is the string arranger for Scuta Music Productions (MA), a Cape Verde-based recording studio for which his string arrangements can be heard on numerous recordings.
Jesse received his Bachelor’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying with Masuko Ushioda and Joanna Kurkowicz, and was awarded the Rachmael Weinstock Scholarship for Violin and Hugo Kortschak Award for Chamber Music from the Manhattan School of Music where he received his Master’s degree, studying violin with Mark Steinberg.
Mike Kelley, Apple Hill String Quartet violist and Co-Artistic Director at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, graduated from The Walnut Hill School for the Arts and has received degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and The Juilliard School. His teachers have included Leonard Matczynski, Jeffrey Irvine, and Karen Tuttle; he studied string quartets with Eugene Lehner and Robert Mann. A Primrose International Viola Competition finalist at the age of 18, Mike joined the resident ensemble of the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music three years later and has been
performing and touring internationally with the group for 30 years. Mike has been a Teaching Fellow in Electronic Music at Juilliard, and is a frequent New York studio session player. An active multidisciplinary composer, he has written pop music for Pharrell and Madonna; rock music for fight nights at Madison Square Garden; art music for ensembles across the world, and has scored numerous commercials, network TV shows, documentaries and feature films. Under a pop-disco alias, he has performed worldwide in clubs such as Webster Hall (NYC), the O2 (London), and Berghain (Berlin). His recorded albums have been selected for the “best of the decade” lists of music magazines Stylus and Fact, and have been highly recommended by Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, and The Guardian. His most recent album, Au Suisse, was recently voted a Top 10 Album of the Year by the BBC. Fulfilling a lifetime devotion to Apple Hill’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop (where he first attended as an 11-year old), he has coached hundreds of chamber music ensembles there, acting as a Music Director since 2001.
Joining the Apple Hill String Quartet in 2024, Jacob MacKay recently served as the Resident Cellist and Education Coordinator at the Newport String Project. As a teacher, he has been on the faculty at Point CounterPoint, Worcester Chamber Music Society’s Neighborhood Strings, Salve Regina University, St. George’s School, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School. As a performer, he collaborated with the Silk Road Ensemble, and has been featured on concert series around the world including Classical Impromptu in Key West and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. Jacob graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University in 2016 with degrees in Environmental Studies and Cello Performance. He was awarded a Leonard Bernstein Fellowship, and was a recipient of the Coffey Award for “excellence in the performance of music” and the Fisher Prize for “extraordinary achievement in the creative arts.” In 2019, Jacob received a master’s degree in Cello Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. His primary teachers have been Nancy Hair, Harel Gietheim, Joshua Gordon, and Norman Fischer.
Central to Apple Hill’s mission is Playing for Peace, founded in 1989 to assemble musicians from areas in political conflict to play chamber music together. Over the span of 36 years, the program has grown to include communities around the U.S. and the world which are divided by racial or ethnic discord, or which suffer from accessibility gaps perpetuated by systemic inequity and discrimination. Grouped together in small ensembles, our student musicians focus on the five skills of chamber music—
listening, watching, adjusting, sensitivity, and flexibility—the very same skills needed to work and function effectively in the world. Everyone learns not only to play music, but to communicate and connect with each other in ways that may not be possible in their home communities.
Because Apple Hill is alive with people from all over the world doing a task together, our chamber music is not just an artistic, academic, or technical pursuit, but a powerful catalyst for connection.
AHSQ Violist Mike Kelley & Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh take a selfie with young audience members at a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon, 2018
In order for Apple Hill to ensure diversity and cultivate understanding, we have formed partnerships with similar music programs and institutions around the world. These include embassies, universities, community schools, music conservatories, and youth orchestras in many countries, as well as organizations that reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of our U.S. communities such as Project STEP in Boston; Dallas Young Strings; Community MusicWorks in Providence; the Juilliard MAP Program in New York City; Burncoat High School in Worcester; Walker West Music Academy in Saint Paul, Minnesota; and schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Washington D.C., and Memphis. Through scholarship programs
co-sponsored with these organizations, students who would otherwise not have access are able to attend Apple Hill’s Summer Workshops.
Apple Hill students come from New Hampshire, over 20 U. S. states, and around the world to work with one another in an atmosphere that promotes diversity, creativity, and understanding through excellence in music.
To learn more about supporting the Playing for Peace program, call 603-847-3371 or visit www.applehill.org
Students from Apple Hill partner organization Walker West Music Academy performing in Saint Paul, Minnesota
At Apple Hill, our approach to music education suffuses everything we do, from the summer chamber music workshop sessions to the Apple Hill String Quartet’s tireless work throughout the year in schools, community music organizations, and venues throughout New England and beyond. Wherever Apple Hillers go, we strive to create an environment where everyone can learn without judgment, and where the joy of exploration, discovery, and accomplishment is paramount.
Students at our summer workshops play new works by living composers alongside established masterpieces from bygone eras, and we accommodate student requests for specific music whenever we can, because the surest way to encourage a passion for performance is to give students music to play that they are passionate about. At the same time, we encourage discovery of the new, and assign plenty of music that students may never even have heard before, so that their range of experience can grow and develop along with their skills. Apple Hill’s commitment to bringing diverse groups of people together extends to the music we play as well – because everyone deserves to hear and play music that they can relate to, even as they reach beyond the familiar.
During the fall, winter, and spring, the Apple Hill String Quartet spends countless hours working with students of all ages everywhere they go. Our national and international tours are nearly always built around visits to community music schools and organizations that share our love for creating deep human connection through music. The quartet works with chamber ensembles, school orchestras, and individual students in New Hampshire, greater New England, and all around the world, focusing on building confidence and selfesteem in every group they encounter.
Close to home, we focus on engaging our local community in the Monadnock region all throughout the year. Whether it’s performing a concert preview at a local high school, dropping by retirement communities around the region, hosting friends and neighbors for free, informal recitals on our campus, or squeezing our music stands in between the coffee urns and local bookshelves at the Harrisville General Store (the AHSQ’s favorite venue!), Apple Hill is here for our neighbors, because our neighbors have always been here for us.
Below:
Bottom of page:
“Apple Hill has revived my faith in both humanity and music, and for that I’m beyond grateful.”
– a 2024 summer workshop participant
Left page: Fred Cohen coaching students at Apple Hill in the 1970s
Elise Kuder & Jesse MacDonald with happy violin kids
Right: AHSQ performs a morning concert at the Harrisville General Store
AHSQ with orchestra students in San Jose, California
| SUMMER 2025 CONCERT SERIES
For 54 years, the Summer Concert Series has nourished audience members from New Hampshire and beyond. All concerts except the Summer Gala on August 5 begin at 7:30pm. Each Tuesday evening performance features members of the Apple Hill String Quartet, Summer Workshop
SINGLE TICKET PRICES:
• $35 Reserved seating
• $10 Students/children
• $125 Gala ticket
• Outside seating is always FREE!
SEASON PASSES:
$405 Nine concerts + Gala (1 free concert)
$280 Nine concerts (1 free concert)
$282 Five concerts + Gala (includes $18 discount)
$157 Five concerts (includes $18 discount)
$247 Four concerts + Gala (includes $18 discount)
faculty, and guest artists, performing in our Louise Shonk Kelly Concert Barn on the Apple Hill campus: 410 Apple Hill Road, in Nelson, New Hampshire. To reserve a seat, the suggested donation is $35. Reserve online or call 603-847-3371 for more information. Outside seating is always FREE!
AUGUST 5 – THE SUMMER GALA
Tickets: $125, event starts at 6pm with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by music, awards presentations, and dessert!
JOIN US FOR A PRE-CONCERT
DINNER
6:00–6:45pm on Tuesdays in the Summer Concert Series
• Pre-concert dinner $25 per person (advance reservations required, or bring your own picnic!)
Order online at www.applehill.org • Box Office Telephone: 603-847-3371
The summer concert series is wheelchair-accessible. We are happy to accommodate other accessibility needs whenever possible –please call anytime if you have concerns regarding accessibility.
The Summer Gala is the perfect way to support our Playing for Peace mission while enjoying great music, food, and company in one of the most beautiful places on earth!
The 2025 Gala takes place on Tuesday, August 5, and will feature the Apple Hill String Quartet, violist and Executive Director Sam Bergman, and longtime Apple Hill director and pianist, Eric Stumacher on our newly rebuilt 1897 Steinway Grand!
Empowering young musicians to break barriers & reach their full potential.
Be part of our story
Discover our upcoming events. Learn more at ProjectSTEP.org
| FACULTY AND GUEST ARTISTS |
Violinist Joshua Addison is a passionate chamber musician and music educator who currently teaches violin and viola in the Natick Public Schools. He previously served as Associate Director and Resident Musician at musiConnects, a unique non-profit musical residency centered in the Boston neighborhoods of Roslindale & Mattapan. Joshua has performed with many orchestras throughout New England, and appeared as soloist with the Keene Chamber Orchestra, where he served as concertmaster for five years. Joshua holds a B.A. in History from Boston University and a M.M. in Violin Performance from University of California, Los Angeles. His primary teachers include Movses Pogossian, Daniel Phillips, and Rohan Gregory.
Myriam Avalos Teie’s performances throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia have earned her critical acclaim as a soloist and chamber musician for her passion and power, expression and sensitivity. Her appearances and broadcasts include the Phillips Collection, the Kennedy Center, the Dumbarton Concert Series, the Purcell Room in London, the Royal Academy of music in Stockholm, the Voice of the OAS, the Victoria Festival, WGMS radio, Teatro Municipal de Lima and two State Department-sponsored tours of China and Brazil. Ms. Avalos gave her first public performance at the age of three and, shortly thereafter, was admitted to the National Conservatory of Music in her native city of Lima, Peru. She made her orchestra debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Peru at the age of twelve and was awarded full scholarships to the Eastman School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory. A special grant from the Organization of American States allowed her to continue her studies in the United States with renowned pianists Frank Glazer, Ellen Mack, Menahem Pressler, and Harvey Wedeen, and in Europe, with Hungarian pianist Louis Kentner. In 1999 she earned a doctorate degree from The Catholic University of America, where she furthered her studies in piano and chamber music with the distinguished pianist Marilyn Neeley. Dr. Avalos performs with the National Symphony orchestra as an adjunct pianist, and is a faculty member and performing artist at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music Summer Festival. She is currently pursuing a busy concert season in the United States and South America. In January of 2004, Dr. Avalos was conferred the title of Cultural Ambassador by the government of Peru.
Dr. Chelsea Bernstein enjoys an active and varied career as a specialist in the performance of modern cello, historical cello, and viola da gamba. Chelsea proudly serves as the resident cellist of the Newport String Project, where she enjoys an active performing season with the resident ensemble, the Newport String Quartet. In addition to her work with NSP, Chelsea
performs regularly as a multi-instrumentalist with the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Four Seasons, Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, Washington Performing Arts, Les Arts Florissants, American Bach Soloists, Gotham Early Music Scene, and Music Before 1800 concert series. Chelsea holds advanced performance degrees from The Juilliard School and the University of Maryland, and serves on the music faculties of Salve Regina University and St. George’s School, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Saul Bitran, Associate Professor of Violin at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and first violinist of the award-winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano, has received Mexico and Chile’s highest artistic awards, namely the Bellas Artes Medal and the Order of Merit Pablo Neruda. A devoted pedagogue, many of Bitran’s former students populate some of the world’s leading orchestras and hold teaching positions at renowned music education institutions. Bitran was an associate professor of violin at Carnegie Mellon University from 1987 to 2008, and teaches regularly at numerous music festivals, including the Cremona International Music Academy, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Dartington International Summer School, Centre d’Arts Orford, Festival de Música de Cámara de San Miguel de Allende, and many others. The Cuarteto Latinoamericano is one of the world’s foremost string quartets and champions of new music from Latin America. Founded in 1982, the Cuarteto has toured extensively throughout Europe, North American, South America, Asia, and Australia, as well as premiering over one hundred new works composed for the quartet. Having recorded most of the string quartet repertoire written in Latin America, their albums have won two Latin Grammy Awards and the prestigious Diapason d’Or. Saul made the premiere recording of Paul Desenne’s violin concerto (The Two Seasons of the Caribbean Tropics), with Bostonbased Unitas Ensemble, conducted by Lina González-Granados. Bitran’s noted solo appearances have included the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, and National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, as well as with prominent conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gerard Schwarz, Eduardo Mata, and Keith Lockhart, among others. Bitran is a graduate of the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, Israel, under the tutelage of Prof. Yair Kless.
Elizabeth Cook is a Boston based cellist who grew up in North Carolina where she studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She went on to obtain degrees from Mannes College and SUNY Purchase, where she studied with renowned cellists such as Marcy Rosen, Brooks Whitehouse, Zvi Plesser and Julia Lichten. In 2018 Elizabeth was awarded a Gloria Miner Fellow at the 2018 Sitka International Cello Seminar and performed as soloist with the Western Piedmont Wind Symphony in
the “Music Beyond Borders” concert series which highlighted the stories of refugees. Elizabeth’s passion for social change has driven her to serve in many different places all over the world such as Sounds of Palestine, an orchestral program for refugee youth, in Bethlehem and Children of Cambodia, a sponsorship program for orphans in Cambodia. Elizabeth spent three years as a cello teacher for Al Kamandjati, a music organization that exists to teach music to Palestinian children, especially those in marginalized areas. Currently, she performs with Shelter Music Boston and is on faculty at musiConnects and Milton Academy.
Mikael Darmanie regularly performs throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Caribbean as a pianist, improviser, conductor, chamber musician with his group the Warp Trio, and as a DJ. He is currently a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in composition and is a Doctoral Candidate in Piano Performance at Stony Brook University in New York under the mentorship of Gil Kalish.
Maiani da Silva is a violinist, chamber musician, and educator. Maiani is a member of the four-time Grammy-winning sextet Eighth Blackbird; founder of Brouhaha, an interdisciplinary project connecting anthropology and contemporary music; and Lecturer at Yale University. She has had the pleasure of working with and premiering works by Joan Tower, Viet Cuong, Louis Andriessen, Kelley Polar, Raven Chacon, Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Wild Up, and David Lang, whose new work composition as explanation (Cedille Records), recorded by her sextet Eighth Blackbird, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2025. Contrary to popular belief, she enjoys moments of silence. For pet peeves, please ask Maiani directly.
Hailed for his energetic and inspirational performances, the Cypriot clarinettist George Georgiou enjoys a career as a classical and contemporary clarinetist. He appeared in many solo concerts and recitals in Europe, Middle East and USA. He collaborated with some prominent musicians such as the legendary cellist Rohan de Saram, Prazak Quartet, Apple Hill String Quartet, Chilingirian String Quartet, the violinist Movses Pogossian and he appeared as a soloist with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Sinfonietta, Commandaria Orchestra and Moscow Virtuosi. In his research for new repertoire, George started commissioning works for clarinet and so far he collaborated with the most dominant composers from Cyprus. He premiered several works featuring the clarinet with most of them being dedicated to him. He is a member of Georgiou Georgieva DUO, Lyrical Noise Ensemble, Quintus Ensemble, Chronos Contemporary Music Ensemble,
Patsiaoura Ensemble and Claritar Duo. He holds the position of clarinet professor at the ARTE Music Academy as well as the Pafos and Nicosia Music Schools. George is a graduate from City University, London, where he studied clarinet with Julian Farrell and Joy Faral at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is also a MBA graduate from the Neapolis University Paphos, Cyprus and a member of Mensa Cyprus. His busy profile gained him an international recognition and he became a Selmer Paris Clarinet Artist, a Silverstein Ligature Artist, Marca Reeds Artist, Gleichweit Mundstucke Artist and a Royal Global Accessories Artist. He is also the Cyprus Chair and the Middle East Regional Chair of the International Clarinet Association and a member of the association’s New Music Committee. His first Digital Album with Solo Clarinet Works by Cypriot Composer was released in 2023 and two more albums are expected to be released in 2025.
Born in Israel in 1984, Yoni Gertner studied at the Kfar Saba Conservatory, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Much credit for the indispensable gifts of inspiration, technique and love of music goes to his teachers and mentors through the years: Atar Arad, Hagai Shaham, Michael Gaisler, Paul Welt and Zachary Chanin. Growing up, Gertner was a member of the Jerusalem Music Center’s Young Musicians Program and served in the Israel Defense Force as an outstanding musician. He won prizes in several competitions and was a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship and the Barbara and David Jacobs fellowship at the Jacobs School of Music, where he also held a position of Associate Instructor. As a chamber musician, Gertner collaborated with Joshua Bell, Tabea Zimmermann, Atar Arad, Mao Fudjita, Behzod Abduraimov, Hagai Shaham, Rudolph Koelman, Mihaela Martin, Giora Feidman, Kirill Gerstein, the Rubens Quartet, the Apple Hill Quartet and many more. He took part in major music festivals in Europe and in Israel, collaborated with several ensembles specializing in new music and performed as soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. A passionate educator, Gertner has led masterclasses in Israel and across the USA. He is on the teaching faculty of Hassadna Conservatory in Jerusalem and at Musethica Foundation. Gertner is a member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and also serves as the chairman of the orchestra’s management.
Pianist Judith Gordon explores diverse repertoire as both a soloist and in collaboration with a wide range of instrumentalists and singers. Heard often at festivals and on series including Apple Hill, Charlottesville, Music Mountain, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Tanglewood, Music from Salem, and Chatter, she has also performed with the Boston Pops, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and was a member of the percussion-based ensemble Essential Music. A Boston Globe
‘Musician of the Year’, Gordon was an associate professor of music at Smith College from 2006-20, and is now based in Albuquerque.
Born in Chicago, Palestinian-American clarinetist Amer Hasan is an active recitalist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator. Through his performances, Amer showcases his tenacity as an artist and citizen by creating an immersive and visceral concert experience. Performing and teaching classical music has led him to engage with audiences worldwide, including performances across the U.S., Latin America, Europe, East Asia, and Jordan. As a chamber musician, Amer has performed and won top prizes at the Fischoff and M-Prize chamber music competitions. His collaboration with other musicians is often centered on the creation and performance of new music. Amer was the Principal Clarinetist of the Akron Symphony Orchestra from 2019-2025, having joined the orchestra while pursuing his undergraduate degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. While living in Cleveland, he was also the Principal Clarinetist of the Firelands Symphony Orchestra and frequently performed as a guest musician with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. Amer has toured internationally as a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, an orchestra co-founded by Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim, with performances in Europe, Asia, and New York City. A passionate educator, Amer has taught undergraduate clarinet and chamber music classes at Yale University and Oberlin College. He also served as a teaching artist for Oberlin Conservatory’s tour of Jordan and has taught at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the University of Akron, the Akron Youth Symphony, and Yale’s Music in Schools Initiative. A first-generation college graduate, Amer received his Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He also completed a year-long fellowship in arts administration at Oberlin, assisting the conservatory deans, and is currently the Morse Post-Graduate Teaching Fellow at Yale in the 2024-2025 season. His major musical influences include David Shifrin, Richard Hawkins, Bonnie Campbell, and Kinan Azmeh.
Azerbaijani-American flutist Dr. Jeiran Hasan is the Assistant Professor of Flute at Utah State University. An active and versatile musician, Hasan enjoys a multi-faceted career as a flutist and educator. A sought-after master teacher and adjudicator, Jeiran has given masterclasses around the globe, on four continents and the Middle East and in numerous languages, including Azerbaijani, Russian, Spanish, and Arabic. Dr. Hasan is also a frequent presenter and clinical at flute fairs and colleges and universities across the U.S. with a recent performance and masterclass tour at Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Ohio State and West Virigina Universities. Passionate
about chamber music and a champion for new music, she is commissioning and premiering numerous new works for flute especially by female Azerbaijani composers. Her research interests including performing music by living BIPOC composers. As an orchestral musician, Dr. Hasan has performed with many professional ensembles throughout the U.S including with the Utah Symphony, as principal flutist at Carnegie Hall with the International Virtuosi Orchestra and as the Principal Flutist of Andrea Bocelli’s tour. Dr. Hasan has competed in and been a prize winner or finalist in over twenty international and national competitions including the National Flute Association’s Orchestral Excerpt and Young Artist Competitions. Jeiran is the Vice President of the Utah Flute Association and an active member of the National Flute Association through various committees. Her dedication to supporting students, especially those from traditionally marginalized communities is extensive. Dr. Hasan is a LefreQue Sound Bridge performing artist and holds degrees from the University of Iowa (D.M.A.) and the Cleveland Institute of Music (MM and BM).
After many years living an eclectic musical life in New York City, Greg Hesselink is now the cello teacher at Ithaca College. As a chamber musician, he is a winner of the Naumburg Chamber Award with the New Millennium Ensemble, and is a former member of numerous other ensembles including Sequitur, Newband (caretakers of the Harry Partch instrument collection), the Argento New Music Project, New York Philomusica, the Manhattan Sinfonietta and the Bang on a Can ‘Spit’ Orchestra. He continues to perform with the Locrian Chamber players, the Orchestra of the League of Composers and as principal cello of Riverside Symphony. An active promoter of new music, Greg has premiered more than 150 works including concertos by Ross Bauer, Daniel Weymouth and James Tenney’s Song and Dance for Harry Partch (on the tenor violin) at the Donaueschingen Musiktage. He has been the recipient of numerous awards with his ensembles, including the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, NEA, Ditson Fund, Copland and Mary Flagler Cary recording grants, CMA, Fromm, Meet the Composer and NYSCA commissioning grants. Recordings can be heard on CRI, Nonesuch, Naxos, Bridge, Koch, Albany, Wergo, Innova, PPI and Point Records. Greg received his training at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Cris Campbell, the Eastman School of Music with Steve Doane, and SUNY Stony Brook with Tim Eddy. In addition, he studied during summers with Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Orlando Cole and Stephen Geber, as well as extensive chamber music studies with members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Alban Berg, Emerson, Tokyo, Prague, Bartok and Mendelssohn String Quartets, the Beaux Arts Trio, Gil Kalish, Julius Levine, Jan De Gaetani and Martha Katz. Greg has taught at Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Hunter College and for 20 years at Mannes prep, not to mention many summers at Apple Hill!
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Flutist Vanessa Holroyd is a frequent soloist with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music and was a featured performer with the ensemble at the 2024 BachFest in Leipzig, Germany. She is a tenured member of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Portland (ME) Symphony, the Boston Philharmonic, and the Rhode Island Philharmonic, among other regional ensembles. Vanessa has focused much of her professional career around chamber music including collaborations with Radius, the Worcester Chamber Music Society, Worcester Music’s “The Complete Bach” project, the Arneis Quartet, the Apple Hill String Quartet, the Craft Ensemble, pianist Joy Cline Phinney, guitarist Peter Clemente, and her current project, TriChrome with violist Daniel Doña and harpist Franziska Huhn. For ten years, Vanessa was a member of Arcadian Winds, a woodwind quintet specializing in contemporary music and recipient of Chamber Music America’s “Residency Partnership Grant.” With the quintet and with other ensembles, Vanessa premiered numerous works and collaborated on recording projects for Centaur, PARMA, BMOP, and ECS Publishing. An experienced arts executive, Vanessa has recently been appointed as Emmanuel Music’s next Executive Director. She led the entertainment agency, Music Management as co-owner from 2012 to 2022, having priorly served as a Senior Sales Associate beginning in 1998. With Music Management, Vanessa produced over 800 events per year, employing hundreds of local musicians at performance venues such as the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Fenway Park, and the White House. She is the former Concert Series Manager and Concert Tour Director for Phillips Exeter Academy, where she managed the prestigious Gilbert Concert Series and curated performance tours to Vietnam, Canada, California, and New York. Vanessa is currently on the woodwind faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division and Emmanuel Music’s Bach Institute. She has performed and taught as a guest faculty artist at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music since 2007 and frequently works with the students of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. She holds a B.A. in Literature from Yale University, a M.Mus. in Flute Performance from McGill University, an Artist Diploma from the Longy School of Music of Bard College and is ever grateful to her teachers: Geralyn Coticone, Robert Willoughby, Timothy Hutchins, Michael Parloff, and Elssa Green.
Jesse Holstein graduated from Oberlin where he studied with Marilyn McDonald and then received his Master’s with James Buswell at the New England Conservatory. Prior to Oberlin, he studied violin with Philipp Naegele in Northampton, Massachusetts. Jesse would be remiss if he did not send a huge thank you to his wonderful Suzuki teacher Diana Peelle who started him at age 5 and was extremely patient with his
slouching posture for years. An active recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician, Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony. In recent summers, he has performed at the Bravo! Festival in Vail Colorado, the Montana Chamber Music Festival in Bozeman, the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, the Green Lake Festival in Wisconsin, the South Coast Chamber Music Series, among others. While an undergraduate, Jesse taught for the Oberlin Preparatory Program in the Lorain, Ohio public schools. Also at Oberlin, he served as Assistant Concertmaster and later as Music Director of the Royal Farfissa Disco Juggernaut, the premier disco orchestra in the greater-Cleveland area in the mid-1990s. Currently, Jesse is a teacher and resident musician for Community MusicWorks and was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet. Jesse performed with the Muir, Borromeo, Miro, Apple Hill, Orion, Turtle Island, and St. Lawrence Quartets, as well as pianists Jonathan Biss and Emanuel Ax, cellist Matt Haimovitz; Cleveland Orchestra Principal Oboe, Frank Rosenwein, and violist Kim Kashkashian, among many others. Jesse also has attended the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in Durham, New Hampshire, where he learned about instrument repair. He manages all of the instruments at Community MusicWorks and the program’s 150 students. Jesse has been a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Jacmel, Haiti and is currently on the faculty at Brown University. Some of his life forces are mindfulness, running, animals, and visiting Donegal, Ireland with his wonderful wife, violinist Ealaín McMullin.
At Oberlin Conservatory, Christopher Jenkins is the Associate Dean for Academic Support, Conservatory Liaison to the Office of DEI, and a Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology. Chris teaches courses on hip-hop and the racial politics of classical music and recently completed joint doctoral degrees, earning a DMA in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a PhD in musicology from Case Western Reserve University. As a violist, Chris has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the St. Louis Symphony, the Akron Symphony, various Broadway productions, and the Sphinx Virtuosi, in addition to appearing onstage with stars such as Diana Ross and Taylor Swift. In 2024 his first solo recording, of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Blue/s Forms, was released by the American Viola Society. In fall 2025, his chamber group Linking Legacies will release its debut recording on Innova Records. Chris’ first book, Assimilation vs. Integration in Music Education, was published by Routledge Press and the College Music Society in 2023. He writes and consults regularly on the diversification of Western classical music, including recent presentations at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Susquehanna University, and conferences for the College Music Society and the Black Orchestral Network. Prior to arriving at Oberlin,
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Chris was Deputy Director and instructor of viola and violin at the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah, West Bank. As a security analyst, he has worked on projects for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Southeast Asian Affairs, the Global Engagement Center, and ACLED (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data). As a performer and teacher, his international work has included tours throughout Palestine, Lebanon, and Dubai; chamber music with Jordanian musicians at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Petra; and an appearance in Kabul, Afghanistan as a guest artist at the Afghan National Institute of Music. Alongside music theorist Philip Ewell, Chris is a co-founder and co-organizer for the Theorizing AfricanAmerican Music conference, which celebrated its third convening at Emory University in June 2025. Chris is the winner of several awards for service, scholarship, and music performance, including the Cleveland Orchestra’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Service in the Arts Award; the Cleveland Music Settlement’s Ida Mercer Community Service Award; Karamu House’s “Room in the House” Fellowship; CWRU’s Adel Heinrich Award for Excellence in Musicological Research; the American Society for Aesthetics’ Irene Chayes “ New Voices” award; the American Viola Society’s David Dalton Research Competition; and as a third-place laureate in the Sphinx Competition.
Salley Koo began her violin studies at the age of 4. She has been lucky enough to study with many famous people at many famous schools. Ms. Koo performs all over the world with very cool people of varying degrees of fame and tries to get along famously with her colleagues and her own students. She now splits her time between her homes in Urbana, IL, and Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and their very cute dogs.
Cellist Pei Lu is an accomplished performer and educator, recognized with numerous awards and honors, including top prizes at the National Cello Competition in China, the MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Competition, Baltimore Music Club Competition, and the Carmel International Chamber Music Competition, as well as the prestigious Gregor Piatigorsky Award from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. An active soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Lu has performed across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and has toured extensively with the Apple Hill Chamber Players and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. She holds the Associate Principal Cello position with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and frequently performs as a substitute with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Dedicated to music education, Ms. Lu serves on the faculty of the Baltimore School for the Arts and has been a longtime instructor at Apple Hill for over 20 years. A native of China, Ms. Lu began her musical training at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music before
moving to the United States, where she was awarded a full scholarship to study with the world-renowned cellist Stephen Kates at the Peabody Conservatory. She completed her studies with the most prestigious Artist Diploma in cello performance at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Brooklyn-based visual artist and composer Dana Lyn has collaborated with a wide variety of artists including Tony Award-winning songwriters Stew and Heidi Rodewald, actor-directors Ethan Hawke and Vincent D’Onofrio, performance artist Taylor Mac, cellist Hank Roberts and Natalie Merchant, and Irish poet Louis de Paor. She has received commissions from Brooklyn Rider, the National Arts Council of Ireland, the Apple Hill String Quartet, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, violist Nicholas Cords, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings. She has made eight albums as a bandleader or co-bandleader and has written music for short films, New York Times’ audio stories and for dance. Her contributions to the Ken Burns documentary American Holocaust were called “sublime” by The Boston Globe. Dana was an artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in the Spring of 2017, an awardee of the 2018 American Composers Forum Create Commission, a recipient of a 2020 NYFA Women’s Fund Award for Media, Music and Theater and a Sundance Composer Lab Fellow in 2021. Her radio play with De Paor received a Gold Award at the 2022 New York Festivals Radio Awards. Her recently released album “A Point on a Slow Curve (In-a-Circle Records)” is a suite of music for septet and four voices; “brilliantly capturing the rigours and abandon of creativity (A Closer Listen)”, it has been featured on WNYC’s New Sounds program and noted for it “singular expressionism, incorporating forms common to the modern jazz idiom alongside chamber, choir, folk, and avant-garde (Dave Sumner, The Bird is the Worm).”
Lenny Matczynski, former Director of Apple Hill (2007-2022), made decisions that shaped Apple Hill’s performance, educational, and administrative structure, its concert and touring programs, its longrange plans, and the development of new programs. Once he stepped down from this position, he decided to use what he learned at Apple Hill and work as a consultant in order to help and mentor the next generation of individuals and organizations. He also serves as a trustee for Historic Harrisville, Peterborough’s Firelight Theatre, Newport Strings in Newport RI, and Boston’s Winsor Music. As a concert violist, he studied with Martha Katz, Heidi Castleman, and Karen Tuttle and has been on the faculty of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He received NH’s 2021 Ewing Arts Lifetime Achievement award for artistic excellence; was one of the founders and past chairs of Arts Alive, an organization that promotes arts and
culture in the Monadnock region of NH; and was chosen to participate in the 2016 Leadership NH program, a program that increases civic involvement in communities by educating and connecting leaders from throughout the state of NH.
Makia Matsumura first gained recognition as a composer and pianist in her teenage years. In her late twenties, a seemingly random invitation to accompany a silent film sparked a lifelong passion. What began as a one-off event soon turned into a defining artistic path. Since then, she has become one of the most sought-after artists in the field of live silent film accompaniment. Known for her richly improvisational style, Matsumura brings classic cinema to life with expressive, spontaneous scores. She has performed at major festivals and institutions around the world, captivating audiences with her ability to fuse musical storytelling with visual narrative. Her concerto performance credits include appearances with the Hungarian National Symphony, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared at leading venues throughout Europe and Japan, as well as at renowned archives and festivals such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, American Film Institute, George Eastman Museum, the Pordenone Silent Film Festival (Italy), and the National Film Archive of Japan, among others. Beyond the stage, Matsumura has created recorded scores for several Kino Lorber releases, including Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers and Pioneers of African-American Cinema. Select titles from these collections have been broadcast on Turner Classic Movies and streamed on Netflix. She holds composition degrees from the Tokyo University of the Arts and the Juilliard School. A longtime resident of New York City, Matsumura continues to explore the intersection of music and film, breathing new life into cinematic legacy with every performance.
Violinist Ealaín McMullin was first introduced to chamber music through one of Apple Hill’s very first Playing for Peace tours to Donegal, Ireland. An avid devotee ever since, Ealaín has been a long-time summer participant at Apple Hill and was a Playing for Peace scholar at Keene State College in 2006. A graduate of Trinity College in Dublin and The Boston Conservatory, her influential teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley, and Lenny Matczynski. She has performed with members of the Miró, Brooklyn Rider, Kronos, and Lydian String Quartets and has performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (Ireland) and Music From Salem (New York). In 2011–13, Ealaín was a Fellow at Community MusicWorks (Providence) a nationally acclaimed organization exploring the intersection between artistry, education and community. Currently, Ealaín is
the co-director of the Newport String Project, a performance and youth mentoring initiative serving youth, families and audiences in Newport, RI.
Following her London debut at Wigmore Hall, pianist Sally Pinkas has garnered universal praise as an eloquent and versatile performer. Among career highlights are performances with the Boston Pops, the Aspen Philharmonia, New York’s Jupiter Symphony and Indonesia’s Bandung Symphony. Summer credits include the festivals at Marlboro, Aspen, Rockport and Apple Hill, as well as Masters de Pontlevoy in France, Havana Contemporary Festival in Cuba and Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory PianoFest in Vietnam. Recent tours took her to Brazil on an extensive visit with the Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo, and to Madrid and Barcelona for solo recitals. Pinkas travels widely as a member of Ensemble Schumann and collaborates often with the Adaskin String Trio and the Apple Hill String Quartet. Equally at home in a recording studio, her discography features works by Mozart, Schumann, Fauré, Debussy, Gaubert, Bridge, Martinů, Shostakovich, Rochberg, Pinkham and Christian Wolff, released on the MSR, Centaur, Naxos, Toccata Classics and Mode labels. Recent releases include piano quintets by Miguel del Aguila with Cuarteto Latinoamericano (on Urtext Digital Classics), and by César Franck and Frank Bridge with the Apple Hill String Quartet (on MSR Classics). Pinkas holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. in Composition from Brandeis University. Pianist-in-residence at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, she is Professor of Music at Dartmouth’s Music Department.
Edvard Pogossian is the principal cellist of the Royal Northern Sinfonia as well as a cello professor at the Royal Northern College of Music. He has guest led the cello sections of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Hallé, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
As the winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, Edvard performed the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations at David Geffen Hall in New York and at the Harris Theater in Chicago with the Juilliard Orchestra under the direction of Itzhak Perlman. The Chicago Tribune praised Edvard’s performance for his “astonishing musical and technical maturity,” as well as his “winning lightness of touch to everything he played, combined with a velvety tone.” He has also appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Edvard is a member of Trio Isimsiz, as well as currently being on trial with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
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Movses Pogossian made his American debut performing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Boston Pops in 1990, about which The Boston Globe wrote: “There is freedom in his playing, but also taste and discipline. It was a fiery, centered, and highly musical performance…” Laureate of several competitions, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition, he extensively performs worldwide. A devoted chamber musician, Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets, and with such artists as Kim Kashkashian, Jeremy Denk, Lynn Harrell, Ani and Ida Kavafian, and Rohan de Saram. He frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, teaching annually at their summer music festival in New Hampshire. A committed champion of new music, Pogossian has premiered over 100 works, and works closely with composers such as G. Kurtág, K. Saariaho, T. Mansurian, Gabriela Lena Frank, and many others. Pogossian’s discography includes the Complete Sonatas and Partitas by J. S. Bach, solo CDs “Inspired by Bach”, “Blooming Sounds”, “In Nomine”, and, most recently, “Hommage à Kurtág” (2022) and a 4 CD-set “Serenade with a Dandelion”. The Bridge Records CD of Complete Violin Works of Wolpe made the 2015 Top Ten list in Sunday Times (UK), and the 2020 releases of Armenian contemporary music: “Modulation Necklace” (New Focus Recordings) and “Con Anima” (ECM) have garnered critical acclaim. Pogossian is Distinguished Professor of Violin at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and Founding Director and Advisor of the UCLA Armenian Music Program. As Head of the Los Angeles Chapter, he actively participates in the Music for Food project (musicforfood. net) which raises awareness of the hunger problem and gives the opportunity to experience the powerful role music can play as a catalyst for change.
Flutist Gretchen Pusch made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut as winner of the Artist International Competition. She has appeared in recital and as concerto soloist in North America, Europe and Asia. Gretchen is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Symphony and on Broadway, among others. She has served on the flute faculties of Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, Rutgers University, and the Round Top International Festival. She studied with Julius Baker, James Pappoutsakis, and Keith Underwood.
For over two decades, cellist Rhonda Rider was a member of the Naumburg Award-winning Lydian Quartet and Triple Helix Piano Trio. An advocate of contemporary music, Rider has premiered and recorded works by composers including John Harbison, Lee Hyla, Reena Esmail and Raven
Chacon. Her interest in bringing classical music to unusual places, has led her to artist residencies at Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks. She has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Copland Fund and adjudicated at the Fischoff, Stulberg and Concert Artists Guild Competitions. Recently, she has performed with Shelter Music Boston, MusicaNova, the New Gallery Series and the Radius Ensemble. During the summer, she performs and teaches at festivals including Green Mountain, Music from Salem, Tanglewood and the Harvard Music Festival. Rider holds degrees from Oberlin and Yale and is Professor of Cello at Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she was twice awarded Outstanding Teacher of the Year.
Hannah Ross is the Assistant Director for Community Engagement at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School, where she cultivates joyful musical experiences and sustainable education opportunities for thousands of youth throughout Rhode Island. As a former educator, Hannah has worked in public and private school settings as well as community-based programs across 3 continents. Hannah earned her BM and MM degrees in viola performance from The Juilliard School and has performed in the viola sections of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Pops Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, RI Philharmonic Orchestra, and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. Hannah is a member of Sphinx LEAD (Leaders in Excellence, Arts & Diversity) Cohort 6, a national cohort of BIPOC arts administrators through the Sphinx Organization. Hannah is also a proud graduate of the Rhode Island Foundation’s Equity Leadership Initiative and the RIBBA Emerging Leaders Development Program.
Syrian-American Kareem Roustom is a composer whose genre crossing collaborations include music commissioned by conductor Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Kronos Quartet, arrangements for pop icons Shakira and Tina Turner, as well as a recent collaboration with acclaimed British choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh. Roustom has been composer-in-residence at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming, and with the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen in Germany and the Mannheim Philharmonic. A musically bi-lingual composer, Roustom is rooted in the music of the Arab near-east but his music often expresses beyond the confines of tradition. The themes of a number of his works often touch issues of those affected by war and instability. Roustom’s music has been performed by ensembles that include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Minnesota Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh
Symphony, Boulez Ensemble, Oregon Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Mulhouse, The Crossing choir, Lorelei Ensemble, A Far Cry, and at renowned festivals and halls such as the BBC Proms, the Salzburg Festival, the Lucerne Festival, Carnegie Hall, the Verbier Festival, the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, and others. Roustom has been composer-in-residence with the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival, the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, and the Mannheim Philharmonic. Roustom has received commissions from the Malmö Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Teton Music Festival (2018 & 2023 seasons), the Grant Park Music Festival, the Daniel Barenboim Stiftung (2013, 2015, & 2017), the Pierre Boulez Saal, the Royal Philharmonic Society & Sadler’s Wells Theatre (U.K.), A Far Cry & Lorelei Ensemble and others. Roustom’s music has also been recorded by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester (Berlin), and the Philharmonia Orchestra (London). Roustom holds the position of Professor of the Practice at Tufts University’s Department of Music in Boston. Roustom’s awards include an Emmy nomination and an Aaron Copland House Residency Award.
Cellist Tony Rymer has performed major concerti to critical acclaim with the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Pops, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and Pittsburgh Symphony, among others. He was the first prize winner in the Washington International Competition and the Sphinx Competition Senior Division, Second Prize Winner in the Enescu Competition, and took 3rd place in the Stulberg International String Competition. A native of Boston, Tony began playing cello at age five, attended the Walnut Hill Arts School, was a Project STEP scholarship student from 1996-2007, and was awarded the prestigious Kravitz scholarship in 2007. One of the first recipients of the Jack Kent Cooke Award on the NPR national radio show From the Top, he has also been heard as soloist on WGBH Boston, WCLV Cleveland, and NPR’s Performance Today and the BBC Proms. An avid chamber musician, Tony has performed at festivals and concert series throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Most recently he has performed at the Festival del Lago, Marlboro Music Festival, Krzyzowa Music, Leeds International Concert Series, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Musical Masterworks, Eufonia Music Festival, Perlman Music Program, Bard Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and Incontri Musicali. Tony has performed chamber music with artists such as Hilary Hahn, Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Ani Kavafian, Miriam Fried, Kim Kashkashian, Paul Katz, Martin Helmchen, Dénes Várjon, and members of the Guarneri, Takacs, Juilliard, Orion, and Cleveland Quartets. Tony worked privately with Yo-Yo Ma and performed in master classes for Anner Bylsma, Gary Hoffman, Steven Isserlis, and Pieter Wispelwey. He completed his BM and MM at the New England Conservatory where
he studied with Paul Katz and Laurence Lesser while holding the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship. Tony then received a Masters of Music, with highest marks, as a student of Frans Helmerson at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule für Musik.
Marc Ryser, piano, teaches and performs in the Boston area, and each summer helps organize Music by the Sea, an artists’ residency and concert series in a remote village on the coast of Vancouver Island. He performs regularly with the Boston Artists Ensemble, Music from Salem, and other groups. He has taught at Pomona College, San Francisco Conservatory, Drake University, Smith College, Brandeis University, and currently teaches at NEC Preparatory School, the Rivers School Conservatory, and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts.
Jean Schneider, piano, began her piano studies at age seven, and by the age of fifteen had performed three times as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She has been heard in recital in the U.S. and Europe, and on the radio in Germany, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and on NPR’s Performance Today. She has collaborated with numerous artists in concerts at Tanglewood, Aspen, and Norfolk Festivals, the Banff Centre, and the Sarasota Music Festival, where she is Associate Piano Faculty. Jean currently lives in New York City, where she performs as soloist and chamber musician.
Pianist Philip Solomonick achieved remarkable success in his youth, securing numerous awards such as the prestigious ‘Grand Prix’ at the Art towards the 21st Century Competition in Ukraine, and first prize at the Chopin competition in Tel-Aviv, and The Pnina Zaltzman Competition. His bachelor and master degrees are from the Music Academy in Jerusalem, where he studied under professor Irina Berkovich. During this time, he received the Dean’s Award after he won at the Haim Kalmi Competition, and the Academy’s Concerto Competition. Before moving to the US, Solomonick made his debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, and was a semi-finalist at the NYCA Worldwide Debut Audition. While earning his DMA at the University of Michigan under professor Arthur Greene, he distinguished himself as a finalist at the American International Piano Competition in Washington DC. The highlights of Solomonick’s career thus far include solo recitals in remembrance of the stage director Yuri Lyubimov (Moscow), and performances as a soloist with orchestras in Israel, France, Russia, and the USA. He is a Resident Artist teaching at the University of New Hampshire.
| FACULTY AND GUEST ARTISTS |
Ivan Stefanović was born in Belgrade, former Yugoslavia. He enrolled in college at age 16 at Cleveland Institute of music, U.S.A., where he earned Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma degrees. CIM later awarded him an Alumni Achievement Award “in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in the fields of Violin Orchestral and Chamber Music Performance”. He won a position in the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at age 21, eventually moving up to his current position as Associate Principal Second Violin. He has performed numerous times as a soloist with the BSO as well as several other orchestras, has served as Guest Concertmaster in several American orchestras. He regularly records with the All-Star Orchestra, comprising some of the best orchestral players in the country. He is a co-founder and co-Artistic Director of Chamber Music by Candlelight, and performs in multiple chamber music ensembles and orchestra in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area and throughout the United States. Mr Stefanović coaches orchestras and teaches violin and chamber music at the Peabody Preparatory and Baltimore School for the Arts. Mr. Stefanović plays on a 2021 violin made by Ryan T. Fini of Baltimore, Maryland.
For over 40 years, clarinetist Eric Thomas has been coming to Apple Hill. He is a graduate of New England Conservatory of Music where he completed major studies with Peter Hadcock.
Mr. Thomas is a recipient of the Concert Artist Guild Award and has appeared as a guest artist with several chamber groups throughout the country. He was the Director of the Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band at Colby College for over 20 years and is now the Music Director and Conductor of the Keene Chamber Orchestra. He has been an adjunct for several colleges and prep schools throughout his career. Now he enjoys working on compositions and is currently working on a commission for “Around Hear,” a Boston-area music education organization led by longtime Apple Hillers Marji Gere and Dan Sedgwick. He just rejoined the faculty at the University of Maine, Orono, teaching Saxophone and Jazz Theory. Robert Koff (violinist with the original Juilliard String Quartet) has said “It is a rare opportunity to meet a virtuoso musician who is as articulate about his art as he is with his art,” Gene Pack (Classical music expert NPR affiliate KUER) has said “Eric Thomas is the world’s finest clarinetist.” The Los Angeles Times wrote “[he] drew a pallet of musical color from [his] instrument.” And the New York Times “ talent multiplied, a superb musician, an important addition to the musical scene” While Downbeat Magazine “[a] remarkably clean and inventive improvisor stretching [jazz] tradition while adding to its language” and the Boston Globe “he shines as a wizard at subtle, super-quiet playing.”
Violist Beste Tiknaz Modiri was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and began her viola studies at Istanbul Conservatory with Ani Inci. She received a Performance Diploma from the Boston Conservatory with Leonard Matczynski, and an Artist Diploma from Istanbul University and Chamber Music Diploma from The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna MDW with Prof. J. Meissl. She is currently Professor of Viola at Istanbul University State Conservatory and head of string department. Founder and Artistic Director of Bosphorus International Music Academy and Vice President of Turkish Viola Society and Music Director of Point CounterPoint Session 4 in Vermont. In addition to being a prize-winning soloist, Beste is also an active chamber music player and Principal Violist of many Orchestras. Her Album on Turkish Music for Viola and Piano has been released on Alto Music Label in October 2021. As principal violist of Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, she has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Onyx, and Deutsche Welle. As an Apple Hill alumna, Beste received one of the first Turkish Playing for Peace scholarships to attend Apple Hill in the summer of 2003.
Jingjing Wan is a highly accomplished pianist, collaborator, teacher, and choral director known for her exceptional musical abilities and unwavering dedication to her craft. Wan discovered her passion for music at a young age, setting her on a path of musical excellence. She began her musical journey by studying piano performance at the Middle School affiliated with Tianjin Conservatory of Music. Driven by a desire for musical growth, Wan pursued her education at renowned institutions worldwide. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the prestigious Royal College of Music in London, United Kingdom, where she honed her skills under the tutelage of distinguished teachers such as Gordon Thompson and Dmitry Alexeev. She furthered her education by obtaining a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the same institution. Additionally, she pursued a Master of Music in Piano Chamber Music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance under the tutelage of Christopher Harding. Continuing her commitment to musical excellence, Wan is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the University of Michigan. She has served as an Artist in Residence at All Seasons Community, where she regularly performs concerts, curates programs, and fosters meaningful connections with residents. As a Graduate Student Instructor at the University of Michigan, she has taught Class Piano for college level music students as well as non-major students, provided personalized instruction to collegiate students, and worked as an accompanist. Jingjing has also held positions as the Music Director at Ann Arbor Calvary Presbyterian Church and the Choir Co-Director at the St. Augustine’s Homeschool Enrichment Program. Her experience
| FACULTY AND GUEST ARTISTS |
as the NAFA Vocal Department Accompanist has further enhanced her skills as a collaborative pianist. Jingjing Wan continues to inspire audiences and fellow musicians alike with her exceptional talent, passion for music, and unwavering commitment to artistic excellence.
Dr. Christina Wright-Ivanova, hailed by critics as “a brilliant pianist” (Wiener Zeitung, Vienna) and an “ideal partner” (Huffington Post), is an Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Keene State College. From 2014-2024 she served as the Artistic Director for the North End Music & Performing Arts Winter Concert Series in Boston. She recently held the Interim Artistic Director position at the Redfern Arts Center and served on faculty at New England Conservatory as a vocal coach for graduate students. Dr. Wright-Ivanova spends her summers at Colorado’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice and has premiered over 150 works by living composers. She has performed new works in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Museum of Fine Arts, Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Berklee School of Music, MIT, The Harvard Club, Opera America (NY), and in Concert Series across the US. Recent international concert performances at the Berlin Art Song Festival, Teatro Sociale in Como, Reaktorhalle (Munich), Humboldt University, École Normale Supérieure Lyon, Joanneumsviertel Museum, and Schloss Frohnburg (Salzburg). The 2025-26 season includes international concerts in venues such as Lago di Como’s Sala Bianca, Vivace Vilnius Festival (Lithuania) and the Rodi Conservatory (Italy), as well as master classes at the University of Southern California, Boston Conservatory, and Clark University. As a chamber musician, she has been heard in over 25 countries throughout North & South America, UK, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She enjoys frequent
performances with orchestral musicians, including members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Kansas City Symphony, and with the Apple Hill, Lydian, and MIVOS Quartets. She regularly adjudicates chamber music and piano festivals nationally and internationally, and has given master classes across the US, Europe, and China.
Zen Wu [she/her] is a soprano from the San Francisco Bay. Trained as a multi-instrumentalist in a wide range of genres, she collaborates both as a soloist and as a guest musician with many groups including the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, San Diego Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Musica Sacra, Cathedral Choir of St. John the Divine, SEM Ensemble, and Ensemble Ipse. Wu began her formal studies in classical voice at UC San Diego, where she was immersed in contemporary and experimental performance in addition to training in traditional vocal repertoire and technique. Wu sang two seasons with the San Diego Opera Chorus before making her professional mainstage debut and moving to New York, where she is currently based as a freelance classical artist. She is lauded for her interpretations of canon works as well as her fearless championing of 20th century and new music. Wu studied jazz and holds a degree in political science from Columbia University and writes extensively on the intersections of human rights, politics, performance art, race, and ethics in her spare time. Her 2024-25 season solo engagements included Beth Morrison Projects’ NEXTGEN3 presented at National Sawdust, Florence Price’s Abraham Lincoln Walks At Midnight with the Dessoff Choirs, Max Duykers’ Both Eyes Open at UC Berkeley, and the St. Matthew Passion at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Scenes from the Summer Workshops
Apple Hill’s Summer Chamber Music Workshops are at the heart of our educational mission. Participants in the workshops come from all over the US and around the world, and they’re as dedicated to fun as they are to music! When the rehearsal day is done, you’ll find Apple Hillers throwing themselves into games, sports, Zumba and yoga classes, and even mucking around in the kitchen in zombie makeup (don’t ask, it’s a viola thing…)
Apple Hill sits on 100 acres of pristine woodland divided between the towns of Nelson and Roxbury, New Hampshire. Roughly half of the property is overseen by the Monadnock Conservancy, for whose careful environmental stewardship we are very grateful. The campus has over 40 buildings, and we are continually striving to maintain and improve our immense physical infrastructure. In recent years, the central campus has had a major glow-up, with an expanded commercial kitchen; a winterized rehearsal room with beautiful mountain views large enough to host our popular pop-up dinners; a new deck connecting our Louise Shonk Kelly Concert Barn to the rehearsal room where extra keyboard instruments are stored; new practice rooms; and newly accessible ramps, paths, and restrooms to make our performance spaces inviting to all.
Since last summer, our facilities team has been extremely busy with the latest exciting upgrades to the campus! In fall 2024, following a successful campaign funded by our generous donors, we installed three large solar arrays on the roofs of both
our rehearsal barn and our kitchen building – solar power now generates the majority of our electrical power throughout the year! We also installed a new generator to keep our water pumps working during power outages. And once the snow cleared this spring, a brand new cabin began to spring up on the hillside below our concert barn, replacing a wellloved yurt which was past its prime. At the same time, our intrepid former director, Lenny Matczynski, was hard at work on our beloved flower gardens, and longtime supporter Ulia Sokol was revitalizing our dormant vegetable garden so that we can eat fresh all summer long!
But perhaps the most exciting addition to the campus in 2025 will be a brand new soccer field atop the hill just across the road from the central campus. For more years than anyone can remember, Apple Hillers have piled into buses and vans in the evenings to play soccer at public fields off-campus, but now, we can host the games right here at home! All of these improvements and upgrades are made possible by your generous support – thank you!
Most people come to Apple Hill for the music, of course, but no one who sets foot on our campus ever fails to notice how lovingly maintained our campus is. Natural beauty is one thing, but keeping a property like ours in great condition takes hard work, immense skill across a variety of trades, and the long-range vision to anticipate what our needs will be from year to year.
For the better part of two decades, the person behind our campus’s incomparable beauty has been Richard Anderson. Richard was first hired at Apple Hill in 2001 as a bus driver, but he was quickly found to be indispensable and uniquely qualified to take over the job of Facilities Manager. In the years since, he’s overseen countless buildings & grounds projects, led major renovations, and directed the building of the majority of our current summer cabins. When the unexpected happens during our summer workshop sessions (as it always does!) Richard is our steady hand, righting the ship through power outages, water leaks, fallen trees, and much, much more.
As hard as it is to imagine Apple Hill without Richard, all good things eventually come to an end, and Richard will be retiring at the end of August. He’ll be on hand through all five 2025 summer sessions, and we know we’ll see him in our audience in future years! We wish him many years of fulfilling travel and relaxation ahead, and are grateful that he’s promised to still return our calls when we need his assistance and consultation!
Succeeding Richard in the role of Facilities Manager is Keegan Brosseau, who began working at Apple Hill in 2019 and has been transitioning into his new role this spring. Keegan grew up just down the road from Apple Hill, and is unmatched in his knowledge of local flora and fauna, his willingness to move immense boulders by hand, and his enthusiasm for our campus. We’re so lucky to have found a successor to Richard in our own backyard, and we can’t wait to see what transformations Keegan will bring to Apple Hill in the years to come!
| THE SOSTENUTO SOCIETY |
Sostenuto – to be played in a sustained or prolonged manner
Donors who give monthly to Apple Hill sustain our mission through the ebb and flow of grant cycles, appeals, and fundraising events. In recognition of their dedicated support, all recurring donors who give on a monthly basis become celebrated members of Apple Hill’s Sostenuto Society. A monthly gift can be integrated into your budget and is particularly helpful for Apple Hill in that it provides steady income all year long. Just $10 a month ($120/year) or whatever level is right for you helps support Apple Hill’s year-round programming, financial aid for students, and summer workshops. Ask your employer if they will match your donation for double, triple or even quadruple the impact!
Enroll easily online: Go to applehill.org and click on “Give” and then “Recurring Donation.” Indicate the amount you wish to donate monthly, fill out the forms, click submit, and you’re done. You will see the transaction on your account every month.
The Sostenuto Society
Reem Abu Rahmeh
Patsy and David Beffa-Negrini
Pat Belfer
Hannah Bureau
Jack Calhoun and Beth Healy
Jim and Leslie Casey
Apple Hill is profoundly grateful for our Sostenuto Society members who collectively contribute more than $3,000 per month in donations and matches. Thank you for answering our call to increase both the number of donors and the amount given — we hope to grow Sostenuto membership again this year!
Richard J. Forde, MD
Henry Frechette
Katie Gardella and Peter Straus
Matt Gillman
Vanessa Holroyd and Dave Jamrog
Lina Hsu and Mark Longtin
Joy Clendenning and Michael Scott
Wendy Clymer
Russell Cobb and Brett Amy Thelen
Carolyn Cunningham and Christopher Hague
Siobhan Cute
Sorrell and Jeff Downing
Joan Epro
Charles Faucher and Pamela Worden
Dr. Taryn E. Fisher
Heidi Huckins
Jon and Susan Joyce
Zoe Kemmerling
Ivan Kirschner
Patty Ladpli
Leslie Lawrence
Molly McCarthy and Tito Carvalho
Daniel Melody
Naomi Morey and Glenn Parker
Susan and Gordon Peery
Dana Polson
Jean and Jay Prior
Susan Quinn and Dan Jacobs
Joan Richards
Nancy B. Roberts
Linda Singer and Greg Rothman
Annette Schaich
Deborah Shapiro and Elena Botella
Peter W. Shea and Suzan Smith
Sherry and Winston Sims
Ulia Sokol
William and Judith Waterston
Janet and Anthony Yeracaris
Edward J. Yoxen and Jenny Hughes
Our dream is that Apple Hill will continue to positively shape lives for generations to come.
We know many of you feel the same way—for those who have already made plans to include Apple Hill in your estate planning, thank you.
If you haven’t taken any legacy planning steps yet, and want to ensure that inclusion, support, and artistic excellence will always be part of Apple Hill’s near and long-term future, it’s not hard to begin.
Consider your budget, assets, and goals –
How much do you want to spend in creating your estate plan?
Visit FreeWill.com for a legally-binding, budget-friendly option that allows you to make a bequest gift to Apple Hill. For those with more complex assets and/or tax needs, consult with an estate attorney.
What would you like to leave to Apple Hill?
There are many avenues for supporting our mission, including but not limited to cash, real estate, art, collectibles, vehicles, jewelry, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, insurance policies, pensions, crypto, etc.
Gifts can be a full or set amount or %, remaining assets after your estate is settled, etc. — you decide!
Whether you choose to designate estate or planned gifts through a will, trust, bequest, retirement plan, donoradvised fund, or an insurance policy, your gift is very meaningful to us. Legacy gifts that support our mission are transformational. They amplify Apple Hill’s mission—today and always.
Once you have identified a planned gift to Apple Hill in your will or trust, please contact Kristina Gulla at kristina@ applehill.org so that we may add you to our legacy society, Apple Hill for the Ages.
Can I donate now? Yes—many have adopted a ‘giving while living’ philosophy. Consult with a financial advisor about tax-deductible gifts of cash, appreciated assets like stock, real estate, artwork, etc.
A heartfelt thank you to the following individuals who have included Apple Hill in their Estate Plans:
Anonymous
Mike and Serafin Anderson
The Estate of Amédine A. Bella
Sam Bergman
Doug and Barb Bletcher
Victoria Gray Bross
Arthur E. Cohen
Lindsay Dearborn
Dita and Bob Englund
Cecile Goff
The Estate of Bernie Gondos
Bill and Peggy Heyman
The Estate of Rev. Olivia Holmes
Eric Kawamoto
Lenny Matczynski
Mary Day Mordecai and Ned Hulbert
The Estate of Polly Perry
Linda Singer and Greg Rothman
Linda Stavely
Judy and Bill Waterston
The Estate of James F. Whipple
The Estate of Dorian Zachai
We gratefully acknowledge the generous support received between May 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025. In the event of any omissions or corrections, please email gail@applehill.org.
$25,000 and higher Anonymous (2)
Patsy and Dave Beffa-Negrini
Doug Bletcher
Cohen Family Foundation
Rick and Jan Cohen
Maryann Evans
Thomas and Anne Havill
Estate of Reverend Olivia Holmes
New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
Jim and Judy Putnam
Putnam Foundation
Peter and Elisabeth Roos
Otto & Marianne Wolman Foundation
$10,000–$24,999
Waldo & Alice Ayer Trust
Emily and Robert Carr
Finger Lakes Area Community Endowment
Richard J. Forde, MD
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The McIninch Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
New Hampshire State Council on the Arts
Nancy B. Roberts
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$5,000–$9,999
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Robin Becker
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The Kingsbury Fund
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United States Embassy, Cyprus
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$500–$999
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Fenton Family Dealerships
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$100–$499
Anonymous (7)
Joshua and Margaret Addison
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Marni Lynn Ager
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Arthur E. Cohen, MD
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Up to $99
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Nelson “Jim” Howard
Ms. Anna Hubbard
Heidi Huckins
Janet and Henry Hurley
David Jaffe
Thomas Johnson
Susan Joy
Eric H. Kawamoto
Eli Kaynor
Anthea and Greg Kechley Tolwinski
Bevin Kelley
Ms. Rachel Kemp
Jennifer A. Kiernan
Sarah Kim
Lowell Klock
Carol Kraus
Margot Lacey
Richard Lee
Jenny Lee
Clara Lennox and Mike Heichman
Steven Lewis
Barbara Lewis
Sandra Lewis
Leslie Lopato
Juan Lora
Ms. Judy Lundahl
Ginnie Lupi
Gail Malitas and Bill Robbins
Kiana Marsh
Christopher Marshall
John Maycroft
Mike and Diane Metell
Mary Richardson Miller
Judy Mortner
Marty Moseley
Eliza Murphy
Sara Neilson
Ms. Kathryn Nettleman
Christopher Nolin
Vladimir Odinokikh
Nancy Owen
Silas Patlove
Susan and Gordon Peery
M J Perron
Tobee Phipps
David Polando
Emma Powell
Richard Ragin and Marcia Smith
Beth Rapier-Ross
Karen Reixach
Cheri Robartes
Christine Rutkowski
Ms. Suzanne Saunders
Rebecca and David Sayles
Katie Schenkkan
Beth Schine and Pam McArthur
Shana Eliza Schoen and G arrett Sanders Schumann
David Schwartz
Mary Q. Seaver
Marji Gere and Dan Sedgwick
Anne Selbyg
Wendy Seltzer
Marie Sennett
Lezak Shallat
Lois and Michael Shuford
Loren Siegel
Pat Silberg
Ms. Nancy Sims
Amy Skidmore
Naomi Smidt-Afek
Katherine Smith
Noah Sobe
Magen Solomon
Priscilla Stein
Ms. Julia Subrin
Anita Sulski
Lisa Sailer and Ivan Tan
Lynn T. Tanoue
Myriam Avalos Teie
Pam Turci
Jo Valens
Bert Vander Meeren
P and R Venezia
Dena Verkuil
Patricia Wallinga
Jennifer Walters
Ms. Janet Waters
Todd Watson
Elaine Waxman
Thompson and Joan Webb
Dan Weidman
Alan Weisner
Edward Wharton
Katherine Whitney
Barbara Wright
Yankee Publishing
Laura Yogi
Danielle Young
Lorel Zar-Kessler
Timothy Zavadil
We gratefully acknowledge our donors who made gifts in honor of the following:
Apple Hill String Quartet
Javier Caballero
Sorrell and Jeff Downing
Kenneth Freed
Daniel Goodman
Dodie Hogstad
Sue Kelley
Sarah Kim
David Klock
Jacob MacKay
Molly McCarthy
Marilyn McDonald
Ealaín McMullin and Jesse Holstein
Karen Romer
Rebecca Sayles
Edith Shonk
Megan Tam
Ryaan Zeidieh
We gratefully acknowledge our donors who made gifts in memory of the following:
Julie Albright
Amédine Allis Bella
Jimmy Carter
Joan D’Alessio
Sally Frechette
Tal Gregory
Fred Kelley
Lola Palmer Klein
Marilyn La Due
Steve Rosenthal
Lenni Strauss
John F. Wilson
We gratefully acknowledge our donors who made gifts in honor of Apple Hill trustee
Daniel Goodman’s birthday:
Elaine Adler
Jessica Baum
Jim and Rachel Billings
Chaya and Hillel Bromberg
Janet Buchwald and Joel Moskowitz
David Cherenson
Lenore Cowen
Peter Dain
Michelle Fineblum
Devorah and Saul Gamoran
David Gilfix
Judith Glixon
Judith F. Goldberg
Jessica Goldhirsch and Michael Brown
Robin A. Henry and Jonathan H.
Goodman
Lisa Chernin Goodman
Belle Linda Halpern
Randy Hiller
David Jaffe
Barbara Johnson
Arthur Keigler
David Krieger and Susan Musinsky
Steven Lewis
Marla Lewitus
Julia Poirier
Steven Rauch
Lois Roman
Beth Schine and Pam McArthur
David Schwartz
Priscilla Stein
Emmy Suhl
John Tarrh
Susan Tohn and Jordan Oshlag
Michael Tsuk
Dan Weidman
Alan Weisner
Eli Wylen
Janet and Anthony Yeracaris
Lorel Zar-Kessler
Apple Hill deeply appreciates the following companies and individuals who have donated materials and services in-kind:
Tricia Bell and Clive McCarthy
Cold River Materials/Gary Patch
Jodi Genest
Madeni Software/Brian Ford
Oster & Wheeler
Andrew Ritchie
Ulia Sokol
Jayne West
