Faculty Bios

2022 FACULTY & ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

HEIFETZ CHAMBER MUSIC SEMINAR

Tel Aviv Israel native Shmuel Ashkenasi gave his first public performance at the age of eight. After studying with Ilona Feher, he came to the United States to study with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute of Music. After winning the Merriweather Post competition and receiving Second Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Mr. Ashkenasi concertized extensively worldwide. In 1969, he formed the famed Vermeer Quartet and remained its first violinist throughout the quartet’s 39-year career, gaining a reputation as one of the world’s outstanding chamber musicians. Mr. Ashkenasi joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2007, and also teaches at Bard College in Annandale, New York. In 2015, he and cellist Ralph Kirshbaum inaugurated our Chamber Music Seminar for advanced string players attending the Heifetz Institute.

Each performance by the Heifetz Institute Ensemble In Residence Borromeo Quartet further enhances its reputation as one of the most dynamic ensembles of our time. The Borromeo members—violinists Nicholas Kitchen and Kristopher Tong, violist Mai Motobuchi, and cellist Yeesun Kim—have been hailed for their “edge-of-the-seat performances,” featuring fresh interpretations of both chamber music masterworks as well as their championing of works by 20th and 21st century composers. The Boston Globe has called the quartet “simply the best there is.” The Borromeo continues to be a pioneer in its use of technology, and has the trailblazing distinction of being the first string quartet to utilize laptop computers on the concert stage. As The New York Times noted, “The digital tide washing over society is lapping at the shores of classical music. The Borromeo players have embraced it in their daily musical lives like no other major chamber music group.” The quartet has been Ensemble In Residence at the New England Conservatory and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum since 1992, and has worked extensively as performers and educators with the Library of Congress, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Taos School of Music.

CHAMBER MUSIC – SENIOR DIVISION

David Geber had his early musical training in Los Angeles, where he was raised in a family of professional cellists. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Juilliard School. His principal teachers and mentors have included Ronald Leonard, Claus Adam, and Robert Mann. Mr. Geber has been recipient of a Walter W. Naumburg Award and the Coleman Chamber Music Prize. As founding cellist of the American String Quartet, he concertized and recorded internationally with that ensemble for nearly thirty years, playing as many as 100 annual worldwide concerts and in all 50 of the United States. For many years, Mr. Geber served as Dean of Instrumental Performance at Manhattan School of Music in New York City, and continues as a member of the School’s cello and chamber music faculty. In addition to his teaching at the Heifetz Institute, Mr. Geber is artist/faculty at Music Academy of the West and the Tanglewood Music Center. He is Co-President of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation (New York City) and Vice President of American Friends of Kronberg Academy (Germany). He plays a rare Ruggieri cello, made in Cremona in 1667.

Grammy award-winning violist Kim Kashkashian has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an artist who combines a probing, restless intellect with enormous beauty of tone.” A unique voice on the viola, her work as performing and recording artist and teacher has been recognized worldwide, particularly for her efforts to broaden the range of technique and repertoire of the viola. Equally at home in both traditional and contemporary repertoire, the multi-Grammy nominee has developed creative relationships with György Kurtág, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Giya Kancheli, and Arvo Pärt, and commissioned and premiered works by Peter Eötvös, Ken Ueno, Thomas Larcher, Lera Auerbach, and Tigran Mansurian. Her longstanding and fruitful relationship with the esteemed ECM label has yielded a prolific discography, including an Opus Klassik prize for her Bach suites, a Grammy for her solo recording of Ligeti and Kurtág, a Cannes Classical Award for concerti of Kurtág, Bartók, and Eötvös, and an Edison Prize for her recording with pianist Robert Levin of the Brahms viola sonatas. Ms. Kashkashian is on the faculty of New England Conservatory, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is founder and Artistic Director of Music for Food, a musician-led hunger relief initiative.

Violist Martha Strongin Katz was a founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, performing to worldwide audiences from 1969 to 1980. During those years she performed in the world’s major concert halls as well as at the White House, the Grammy Awards, and NBC’s Today show. Ms. Strongin Katz’s solo appearances include a Carnegie Hall performance of Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas as well as countless recital and concerto appearances in major cities. Ms. Katz is currently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, and has also taught at Rice University, the Eastman School of Music, and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

COMPOSER IN RESIDENCE

Composer, educator, and longtime Virginia resident Adolphus Hailstork has been hailed as “The Dean of African-American Composers.” Dr. Hailstork has written numerous works for chorus, solo voice, piano, organ, various chamber ensembles, band, orchestra, and opera. Hailstork’s second and third symphonies were recorded by the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra for the Naxos label. Later commissions include Rise For Freedom, an opera about the Underground Railroad, Set Me on a Rock (re: Hurricane Katrina), for chorus and orchestra; and the choral ballet, The Gift of the Magi, for treble chorus and orchestra. Hailstork’s recent works include The World Called (based on Rita Dove’s poem Testimonial), a work for soprano, chorus and orchestra commissioned by the Oratorio Society of Virginia, and Still Holding On, commissioned and premiered by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is currently working on his Fourth Symphony, and A Knee on a Neck, a tribute to George Floyd. Dr. Hailstork resides in Virginia Beach Virginia, and is Professor of Music and Eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. He received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he was a student of H. Owen Reed. He had previously studied at the Manhattan School of Music, under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger.

VIOLIN – SENIOR DIVISION

Cuban-born artist Andrés Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his compelling performances as a violinist, conductor, violist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and recording artist. Since capturing Second Prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow, Mr. Cárdenes has appeared as a soloist on four continents with more than 100 orchestras, including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Moscow Philharmonic, and the Dallas Symphony. He has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Mariss Jansons, Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, and Jaap van Zweden. Mr. Cárdenes has made more than two dozen recordings on the Ocean, Naxos, Albany, Sony, Arabesque, RCA, ProArte, Telarc, Artek, Melodya and Enharmonic labels. Mr. Cárdenes has thrice served as President of the Jury of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and in 2011 joined the jury of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition. Mr. Cárdenes was named Concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by Lorin Maazel in 1989, and departed after the 2010 season to concentrate on his conducting, solo and chamber music careers.

Bronze Medalist of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition in 1990, and Second Prize as well as Audience Prize winner at the Washington International Competition in 1991, Hong Kong/American violinist Ivan Chan made his solo debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the age of 13. He pursued further studies with Jascha Brodsky, David Cerone, Felix Galimir, and Jaime Laredo at the Curtis Institute of Music, and with Miriam Fried at Indiana University. Mr. Chan is currently Associate Professor of Chamber Music, Violin and Viola at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He is also on the faculty at Music@Menlo, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Kent Blossom Music Festival. As a visiting artist, Mr. Chan has taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Meadowmount School of Music, Western Michigan University, Central Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and Morningside Music Bridge.

Described by critics as “scintillating” and celebrated by Musical America for her “rich, expressive playing” violinist Francesca dePasquale was the First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and recipient of the prestigious 2014–2016 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts. An active chamber musician, she has performed with renowned artists Adrian Brendel, Jennifer Frautschi, Kim Kashkashian, Nicholas Kitchen, Ronald Leonard, Robert Levin, Merry Peckham, Itzhak Perlman, Jeffrey Sykes, Roger Tapping, Richard Todd, and Donald Weilerstein. She is an artist member of the Manhattan Chamber Players and Noree Chamber soloists, and performs frequently with Marinus Ensemble and Chameleon Arts Ensemble. Ms. dePasquale is on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as well as the Juilliard School Pre-College Program. She previously served as the Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman and to Catherine Cho at the Juilliard School. A graduate of the Juilliard and Colburn Schools, Ms. dePasquale studied with Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Robert Lipsett. Ms. dePasquale performs on a 1968 Sergio Peresson violin and a Jean “Grand” Adam bow.

Ilya Kaler is one of the most outstanding personalities of the violin today, whose career ranges from that of a soloist and recording artist to chamber musician and professor. Mr. Kaler has earned rave reviews for his solo appearances with major American and European orchestras. A member of The Tempest Trio, Mr. Kaler has performed in concert venues

around the world with cellist Amit Peled and pianist Alon Goldstein. Mr. Kaler is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. A past Gold Medalist at the Tchaikovsky, he is the only violinist to win the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1986), the Sibelius Competition in Helsinki (1985), and the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1981), and frequently serves as a jury member at international violin competitions.

Grigory Kalinovsky is professor of violin at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He, along with violinist Joseph Swensen, holds one of two inaugural Starling Professorships, appointed in fall 2014. Hailed as a “superior poet” by the Vancouver Sun, and praised by Gramophone magazine for his “heart and indomitable will.” He has performed at some of the world’s major venues, from all three stages of Carnegie Hall in New York to the Musikhalle Grosser Saal in Hamburg. As a recitalist and avid chamber musician, Mr. Kalinovsky has performed at numerous concert series and festivals, including the Asheville Chamber Music Series, Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York, Lucas Foss’s Festival at the Hamptons, and the Newport Music Festival, collaborating with such renowned musicians as Pinchas Zukerman, Shmuel Ashkeniasi, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Miriam Fried. Mr. Kalinovsky began his music education with Tatiana Liberova in his native St. Petersburg, Russia. After coming to New York, he continued his studies with Pinchas Zukerman and Heifetz faculty member Patinka Kopec at the Manhattan School of Music.

Mark Kaplan is one of the foremost violinists of his generation. He has appeared as soloist with most major American and European orchestras and under such conductors as Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, and Leonard Slatkin. He is also devoted to chamber music, and appears with pianist Yael Weiss and Heifetz faculty cellist Peter Stumpf as the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio, with recordings and concerts tours worldwide. Formerly he performed and recorded extensively in the Golub-Kaplan-Carr trio, with cellist (and Heifetz faculty member) Colin Carr and the late pianist David Golub. Mr. Kaplan is Professor of Violin at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and is a graduate of The Juilliard School.

Violinist Ani Kavafian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Detroit and San Francisco Symphonies. She is a renowned chamber musician, and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 1979. Her numerous solo recital engagements include performances at New York’s Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls, as well as in major venues across the country. She is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions award, and has appeared at the White House on three separate occasions. Ms. Kavafian has recorded for the Nonesuch, RCA, Columbia, Arabesque, and Delos labels. Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Armenian heritage, she began piano lessons at the age of three. She went on to study violin at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian. Ms. Kavafian is Professor of Violin at Yale University, and plays the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.

Violinist/violist Patinka Kopec teaches in the Pre-College and Upper School Divisions of the Manhattan School of Music, where she serves as Co-Director and Co-Teacher of the Pinchas Zukerman Performance Program. She has just completed a longtime run as the Director of the Young Artist Program at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Ms. Kopec completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music Degrees at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy Delay and Ivan Galamian. She has given master classes all over the world, and her students have soloed with major orchestras and play in many professional ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Cleveland, and Berlin.

Heifetz Institute Artistic Director Nicholas Kitchen’s musicianship has been hailed by The New York Times as “thrilling, vibrant and captivating.” He is one of the most active and innovative performers in the music world today, as a solo violinist, chamber musician, teacher, video artist, technology innovator and arts administrator. A founding member of the Borromeo String Quartet, Mr. Kitchen mixes his passion for teaching and performing and has been on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music since 1992, where the Borromeo Quartet is the Quartet-inResidence. Recently, Mr. Kitchen has been entrusted with an important role of continuing the tradition of Szymon Goldberg. The late violinists’ Guarneri del Gesù, known as the “Baron Vita,” was donated to the Library of Congress under the condition that Mr. Kitchen play and travel with the instrument during his career.

Acclaimed by The Strad for her “exceptional tonal suavity and expressive intensity in equal measure,” violinist Kyung Sun Lee was a medalist at the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition, 1993 Queen Elizabeth Competition, as well as the Washington and D'Angelo International Competitions and the Montreal International Competition, where she also won the Audience Favorite and the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work prizes. She is on the faculty of the Seoul National University, and is a former member of the acclaimed KumHo/Asiana String Quartet, with whom she toured worldwide. Ms. Lee served as a judge of such prestigious violin competitions as the Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover, Seoul International Competition and the Tibor Junior International Competition. Ms. Lee studied at Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Nam Yun Kim, Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann, Dorothy Delay, and Hyo Kang.

She plays a Joseph Guarnerius violin dating from 1723 and she is the music director of Changwon International Chamber Music Festival and Seoul Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.

Elmar Oliveira is one of the most renowned artists in the world today. He has appeared with many of the world’s great orchestras and has played recitals on five continents. His numerous recordings cover a wide range of works from the Baroque period to the present. Mr. Oliveira is the only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky competition, and he also received the Avery Fisher Prize and First Prize at the Naumburg Competition. Mr. Oliveira is Distinguished Artist In Residence at the Lynn University Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, site of the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition.

Violinist Daniel Phillips enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, solo artist, and teacher. He has performed as a soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, including the Pittsburgh, Houston, New Jersey, Phoenix, and San Antonio symphonies. He appears regularly at Spoleto USA, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Music Festival, and the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall, England. He has also served on the summer faculties of the Banff Centre, and the Colorado College Music Festival. As a member of the Bach Aria Group, Phillips has toured and recorded in a string quartet for the Sony Classical label, with Gidon Kremer, Yo-Yo Ma, and fellow Heifetz faculty member Kim Kashkashian. His major teachers are his father, the composer and former Pittsburgh Symphony member Eugene Phillips, as well as Ivan Galamian, Sally Thomas, Sandor Vegh, and George Neikrug. Mr. Phillips teaches violin at the Queens College Aaron Copland School of Music and is on the faculties of the Mannes School of Music and the Bard Conservatory, as well as the Juilliard School, where he has been teaching since 2014.

Violinist Hagai Shaham is known for his combination of technical brilliance and a uniquely profound musical personality. Winning first prize at the ARD Munich Competition with duo partner Arnon Erez in the category of Violin-Piano, the duo was the first competitor to be awarded this coveted first prize since 1971. As a soloist, he has performed with such major orchestras as the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Taipei, Singapore and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras. In addition to his solo career, Mr. Shaham is a recording artist with 25 CDs to his credit, and teaches at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and serves as Artist in Residence at Stony Brook University. Jan Mark Sloman is a highly regarded violinist and dedicated teacher whose multifaceted career speaks to his passion for the violin, its ability to communicate powerfully, and his desire to develop true artistry in the students he guides. He has enjoyed a distinguished career leading orchestral violin sections throughout the U.S. and around the world. He served as principal associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Sloman was also a guest concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony and internationally with orchestras in Florence, Italy; Lugano and Geneva, Switzerland; and Melbourne, Australia. He is on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he teaches violin for the conservatory and preparatory divisions, and the school’s Young Artist Program. His summer studio at the Heifetz Institute receives generous financial support from the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation.

Borromeo String quartet violinist Kristopher Tong has been praised for his depth of insight, virtuosity, and creative flair. He has appeared under the baton of some of the world’s premier conductors, including James Levine, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Yuri Temirkanov, Kurt Masur, Paavo Jarvi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Kent Nagano, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Charles Dutoit, and Bobby McFerrin. He was also a member of the original cast of Classical Savion at the Joyce Theater in New York City, a collaborative project with tap dancer Savion Glover. A native of Binghamton, New York, Mr. Tong began his violin studies in a public elementary school program in the Johnson City School District before moving to Salt Lake City, Utah when he was 11. He received his Bachelor’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studied with the late Franco Gulli, Yuval Yaron, and Miriam Fried. In 2005 he completed his Master’s Degree at the New England Conservatory under Ms. Fried.

VIOLA – SENIOR DIVISION

Atar Arad was born in Tel Aviv, Israel where he had his early musical education and violin studies. In 1971, he decided to devote himself to the viola, and just one year later won the City of London Prize at the Carl Flesch Competition and then the International Viola Competition in Geneva. Numerous concerts and recordings followed. In 1980, Arad became a member of the legendary Cleveland Quartet, with which he toured the world. A frequent guest artist with today’s leading chamber ensembles, he is currently on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He is a composer of works for viola and for string quartet, his works are frequently featured on the Heifetz Celebrity Series concerts.

For more than two decades, violist Nicholas Cords has been on the front line of a growing constellation of projects as a performer, educator, and cultural advocate. A founding member of Brooklyn Rider, an intrepid string quartet which NPR credits with “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble,” and on the viola faculty at the New England Conservatory, he is deeply committed to music from a broad variety of traditions and epochs, with a particular passion for the cross section between the long tradition of classical music and the polyglot music of today. Mr. Cords also serves as violist, Programming Chair, and Co-Artistic Director of Silkroad, a musical collective founded by Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 with the simple belief that radical cross-cultural collaboration leads to a more hopeful world. Mr. Cords began his musical education at the Juilliard School, and completed his studies at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music. His teachers and mentors have included Karen Tuttle, Harvey Shapiro, Joseph Fuchs, and Felix Galamir.

Rochester, New York native Michael Klotz made his solo debut with the Rochester Philharmonic at the age of 17 and has since then appeared as soloist with orchestra, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the world. After a performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 with violist Roberto Díaz, the Portland Press Herald proclaimed, “this concert squelched all viola jokes, now and forever, due to the talents of Díaz and Klotz.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recently proclaimed Michael Klotz to be “a superb violist, impressive, with an exceptionally attractive sound.” Mr. Klotz joined the Amernet String Quartet in 2002 and has toured and recorded with the ensemble throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Romania, Colombia, Belgium, and Spain. A dedicated teacher, Klotz is Senior Instructor and Artist-in-Residence at Florida International University in Miami, where he teaches viola and chamber music.

Borromeo String Quartet violist Mai Motobuchi has earned distinction as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher in the United States and her native Japan. As a soloist, she has performed with such well-known artists as Yo-Yo Ma and Seiji Ozawa. Ms. Motobuchi’s career in chamber music has taken her around the world performing at concert halls in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Since joining the Borromeo String Quartet in 2000, she has collaborated with the world’s finest musicians, including Leon Fleischer, Kim Kashkashian, Midori, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman, and Dawn Upshaw. Ms. Motobuchi is a teacher on two continents, serving on the Viola and Chamber Music faculty at both the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and at the Tenrikyo Institute of Music in Tenri, Japan. A gifted teacher, since 1998 she has enjoyed the distinction of having each of her students in Japan named as First Prize recipients in the All Japan MBS Youth Music Competition at every level. Violist Paul Neubauer‘s exceptional musicality and effortless playing led The New York Times to call him “a master musician.” Appointed principal violist of the New York Philharmonic at age 21, he has appeared as soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the New York, Los Angeles, and Helsinki Philharmonics; National, St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, and Bournemouth Symphonies; and Santa Cecilia, English Chamber, and Beethovenhalle orchestras. Mr. Neubauer has premiered viola concertos by Bartók (the revised version of Viola Concerto), Friedman, Glière, Jacob, Kernis, Lazarof, Müller-Siemens, Ott, Penderecki, Picker, Suter, and Tower and has been featured on CBS’s Sunday Morning, A Prairie Home Companion, and in The Strad, Strings, and People magazines. A two-time Grammy nominee, he has recorded for the Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Red Seal, and Sony Classical labels. In 2016, he released a solo album of music recorded at Music@Menlo. Mr. Neubauer is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and Mannes College.

Internationally acclaimed violist Barbara Westphal concertizes regularly as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Ms. Westphal won the only prize for solo viola in the 1983 Munich competition, as well as the Busch Prize the same year. From 1978 to 1985, Ms. Westphal was the violist of the acclaimed Delos String Quartet, and later founded the Trio Da Salò and was a founding member of the Bartholdy String Quintet. Since 1989 she has held a professorship at the Musikhochschule Lübeck in Germany.

CELLO – SENIOR DIVISION

Cellist Colin Carr appears throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, Montréal as well as the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Carr recorded and toured extensively for 20 years with fellow Heifetz faculty member Mark Kaplan as a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio. He is a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals worldwide, and appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is the winner of many prestigious international awards, including First Prize in the Naumburg Competition, the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Award, and Second Prize in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition. Mr. Carr was made a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1998. The same year, St. John’s College, Oxford, created the post of “Musician in Residence” for him. He has been on the faculty of Stony Brook University in New York since 1992.

Steven Doane maintains an active schedule of performances throughout the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Doane and pianist Barry Snyder have made a series of recordings for the Bridge label. The duo’s recording of the complete music of Gabriel Fauré for cello and piano was awarded the Diapason D’Or in France, and has been broadcast throughout the world. The second recording in the series, containing works by Benjamin Britten and Frank Bridge, was also released to critical acclaim. Mr. Doane is currently Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music where he has taught for 25 years. He also holds the title of Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Cellist Rosemary Elliott has an active performing schedule as a chamber musician and recitalist. She is Assistant Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music, Principal Cellist of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra in Ithaca, New York, and core member of the orchestra’s chamber music ensemble. A founding member of the Irish contemporary group Nua Nos, Ms. Elliot was also a member of the National Symphony of Ireland and has performed regularly with the London Mozart Players, the City of London Sinfonia, and the Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square.

Guy Fishman is principal cellist of the Boston-based Handel & Haydn Society, and is in demand both as an early music specialist and as a performer and teacher on standard cello in the United States and Europe. He has performed with Seraphic Fire, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Arcadia Players, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Querelle des Bouffons, Les Violons du Roi, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Emmanuel Music, the Boston Museum Trio, Boulder Bach Festival, and El Mundo, among others. His playing has been praised as “plangent” by The Boston Globe, “electrifying” by The New York Times, and “dazzling” by The Portland Press Herald. Mr. Fishman studied with David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Julia Lichten, and Laurence Lesser, with whom he completed Doctoral studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he now serves on the faculty. Mr. Fishman is also a Fulbright Fellow, having worked with famed Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam. He plays a rare cello made in Rome in 1704 by David Tecchler.

Hans Jørgen Jensen serves as Professor of Cello at Northwestern University, and is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Jacob Gades Prize, a Danish Ministry of Cultural Affairs Grant for Musicians, and the Copenhagen Music Critics Prize of Honor. He has also been named Outstanding Studio Teacher of the Year by the Illinois chapter of the American String Teachers Association and was granted a U.S. Presidential Scholar Teacher Recognition Award by the U.S. Department of Education. Jensen has performed as a soloist with the Copenhagen Symphony, Danish Radio Orchestra, Irish Radio Orchestra, and Basel Symphony Orchestra and is a faculty member at the Meadowmount School of Music and the National Arts Center of Canada. His students have won prizes in numerous national and international competitions. Jensen studied at the Juilliard School with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins and pursued private studies with Pierre Fournier.

Cellist Clara Minhye Kim has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has been a guest performer and faculty at the Jerusalem Music Center in Israel, Seoul, Busan, and the Pyeongchang Great Mountains Music Festivals in Korea, Hong Kong Next Generations for the Arts, Beauvais and Festival Music Alp in France, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Morningside Music Bridge, and the Perlman Music Program in the U.S. Her cello method has been published under the aegis of the Korea Economic Daily & Business Publications Inc., and she is the author of numerous articles on cello pedagogy. Ms. Kim has also been chosen as one of the Korean American representatives in the Arts for the U.S. State Department events in Washington D.C. She studied at the Juilliard School, Yale University, New England Conservatory, and Columbia University. Ms. Kim is on faculty at Columbia University and both the College and Pre-College divisions of the Juilliard School.

Hailed by The New York Times for her “focused intensity” and “remarkable” performances, cellist Yeesun Kim enjoys worldwide acclaim as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. A founding member of the Borromeo String Quartet, Ms. Kim has performed in over 20 countries, and in many of the world’s most illustrious concert halls and festivals. Ms. Kim has performed throughout Europe and Asia with the Borromeo, in duo with violinist Nicholas Kitchen, and as a soloist, including engagements with the Philharmonie in Berlin, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Opera Bastille in Paris, and many others. Ms. Kim has had extensive involvement with NPR’s Performance Today, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Ms. Kim currently serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

Both an internationally renowned artist and a dedicated pedagogue, cellist Antonio Lysy has performed in concert halls worldwide. He enjoys exploring the versatility of the instrument’s voice, from Baroque to electric, and is committed to projects that enrich his diverse interests. A recent highlight is the extraordinary recital, broadcast on live radio, celebrating Bach through performances on Baroque, acoustic, and electric cellos at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Mr. Lysy has numerous recordings to his credit and is also founder of a summer chamber music festival in Tuscany. He is Professor of Cello at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Israeli-born cellist Amit Peled is one of the most exciting instrumentalists on the concert stage today. Mr. Peled has performed in recitals and as a soloist with orchestras in the world’s major concert halls. Mr. Peled is also a frequent guest artist, performing and giving master classes at such prestigious music festivals as the Marlboro and Newport Music, Schleswig Holstein,and EuroArts in Germany. As a recording artist, Mr. Peled has released several CDs for Centaur Records and Naxos and has been featured on television and radio stations including NPR’s Performance Today, WGBH Boston, WQXR New York, and many others. Mr. Peled is a Professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the John Hopkins University, and is a member of the Tempest Trio, the Ensemble In Residence at the Heifetz Institute in 2016.

Hannah Roberts is one of the outstanding cellists of her generation. After a wonderful start with Susanna Roberts, then Jennifer Ward-Clarke, she was privileged to have studied extensively with William Pleeth at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Heifetz faculty member Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music. Having won prizes in numerous prestigious competitions and awards such as Shell LSO, BBC Young Musician, Jacqueline du Pré Memorial, and Pierre Fournier awards, Ms. Roberts has gone on to give many concerto performances with leading orchestras, including the London Mozart Players, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as making frequent broadcasts for BBC radio and recording for the ASV label. Ms. Roberts is professor of cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Northern College in Manchester, and visiting tutor for the University of Oxford. Her current students and alumni include some of the world’s most notable young soloists, chamber musicians, and principal cellists. She is honored to have been awarded both an HonRAM and an FRNCM for her work helping to nurture upcoming cellists, and enjoys working with some of the world’s most gifted young musicians at prestigious international masterclasses each summer.

Cellist Astrid Schween has gained a rich following and enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber artist, and teacher. Since joining the Juilliard String Quartet in 2016, she has appeared at many of the world’s great concert halls including Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Vienna Musikverein, Berlin Konzerthaus, Wigmore Hall, Tokyo’s Yamaha Hall, at Lincoln Center, The 92nd Street Y, Ravinia, Tanglewood, the Kennedy Center, and in Hong Kong, Singapore, Greece, China, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and throughout Canada and the US. Ms. Schween made her concerto debut at the age of 16 with the New York Philharmonic and conductor Zubin Mehta who also arranged a special invitation for her to study privately in London with the legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pré. With degrees from the Juilliard School, Schween received her primary training under the guidance of Leonard Rose, Harvey Shapiro, Channing Robbins, Ardyth Alton, and Dr. H.T. Ma, with additional studies under Bernard Greenhouse and Eugene Moye. Astrid Schween maintains a lively solo performance schedule in addition to her extensive touring with the Juilliard String Quartet. A dedicated and passionate teacher and mentor, Astrid Schween is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and the Perlman Music Program.

Peter Stumpf is professor of cello at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Prior to his appointment, he was the principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for 9 years, following a 12-year tenure as Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He began his professional career at the age of 16, winning a position in the cello section of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. He received his undergraduate degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and an Artist’s Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music. A dedicated chamber music musician, he is a member of the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio, has performed with the chamber music societies of Boston, Philadelphia and the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles, and is a participant at the Marlboro and Santa Fe chamber music festivals. As a member of the Johannes Quartet, he collaborated with the Guarneri Quartet on a tour including commissions from composers William Bolcom and Esa Pekka Salonen. His awards include first prize in the Washington International Competition. He has served on the cello faculties at the New England Conservatory and the University of Southern California.

DOUBLE BASS

Applauded by The Strad for his “brilliant and compelling programming,” Samuel Stephen Suggs is the first solo bassist in 36 years to join the Concert Artist Guild roster, and inaugurated the first Double Bass studio in the history of the Heifetz Institute in 2019. Mr. Suggs was recently recognized with an award for Extraordinary Creativity at the 2017 Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Competition. A paradigm-shifting performer-composer, Sam was named “New Artist of the Month” (October 2015) by Musical America after winning 1st place at the 2015 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition while performing many original works. As a collaborative bassist, he has performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Northwest, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center. A native of Buffalo, New York, Sam spends his time between the Northeast and the Shenandoah Valley performing with various chamber, crossover, and contemporary groups, giving recitals and masterclasses, and teaching full-time as Assistant Professor of Bass at James Madison University.

VIOLIN/VIOLA – JUNIOR DIVISION

Rebecca Henry holds The Scott Bendann Chair in Classical Music at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she has been on the faculty for more than thirty years. There Ms. Henry helped create the Performance/ Pedagogy Master’s Degree program, and

currently teaches Violin Pedagogy and a series of Pedagogy Master Classes and Teacher Workshops. As Chair of the Peabody Preparatory String Department, she has guided the development of one of the most comprehensive pre-college string programs in the country, teaches violin and viola, co-directs the Peabody Chamber Camp, and directs the Peabody Pre-Conservatory Violin Program, which was founded with funding from the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation. Ms. Henry also teaches String Pedagogy at the University of Maryland. She performs in faculty chamber ensembles and with the Washington Chamber Orchestra and during the summers she returns to her alma mater, where she studied with Georges Janzer, Mimi Zweig, and Kim Kashkashian, and teaches at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Summer String Academy and Teacher’s Retreat for Professional Violinists and Violists. Her awards include Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Service to Strings from MD/DC ASTA, and the Excellence in Teaching Award from Peabody Preparatory.

Violinist and violist Bela Horvath is a winner of numerous prizes and awards, has made numerous TV and radio appearances, and given major performances in many European countries and the U.S. In 1998, he won the National Janos Koncz violin competition in Hungary. The following year, he entered the 9th International Carl Flesch Violin Competition. As the youngest contestant, he was the fourth prize winner of that year and also won a special prize for the best interpretation of a new work. In 2000, Bela entered the Franz Liszt University of Music, and in 2002, the renowned violinist, violist, and conductor Pinchas Zukerman invited Mr. Horvath to study with him and his associate, Heifetz Institute faculty member Patinka Kopec, at the Manhattan School of Music.

Violinist and Heifetz alumna Chloé Kiffer is a native of France, and has received enthusiastic praise by The New York Times for her “pure and beautiful tone” and the Greenwich Sentinel for being “…a star in every sense: performance, exquisite technique and beauty.” Ms. Kiffer has appeared at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, Beethoven Hall in Bonn, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Hall, Tel Aviv Opera, and Beijing National Center. In October 2015, she made her Carnegie Hall debut, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in Stern Auditorium. She has collaborated alongside Philippe Muller, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Steve Doane, Timothy Eddy, Pavel Vernikov, and the Emerson String Quartet. She is on the Pre-College violin and viola faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, and a laureate of the Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation. She graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and earned postgraduate degrees from Manhattan School of Music under Patinka Kopec and Pinchas Zukerman, and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Violinist Jennifer Liu enjoys a rich musical life as a performer, teacher, and arts advocate. She began her violin studies at the age of four in Los Angeles and moved to New York at age 15 to study with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School. She finished school as a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship and Benzaquen Career Grant and went on to become a fellow at Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. Currently, Ms. Liu is a member of Catherine Cho’s teaching team. She has worked with renowned artists of the Juilliard String Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, Cavani String Quartet, and Orion String Quartet, and has appeared in performances at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and many more. Beyond the stage, you can find Jennifer perfecting her homemade sourdough bread and playing fetch with her dog, Miche.

Desirée Ruhstrat’s violin artistry has captivated audiences throughout Europe and the Americas. Berlin's Der Tagesspiegel wrote, “…she played with such an intensive fire and sleepwalking assuredness that she was stormily celebrated by the audience.” Ms. Ruhstrat has won numerous awards including first prize at the National Young Musicians Debut Competition in Los Angeles, where she also won a special award for a young performer with extraordinary talent. She was the youngest prizewinner at Switzerland’s Tibor Varga International Competition and also won the award for best interpretation of the commissioned composition. Ms. Ruhstrat is a member of the Lincoln Trio, which has performed across the U.S. at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Ravinia Festival, Poisson Rouge and Music in the Loft. Ms. Ruhstrat also founded the Black Oak Ensemble with cellist David Cunliffe and violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli. A champion of new music, Ms. Ruhstrat has worked with some of the world’s leading composers, including George Crumb, Jennifer Higdon, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, Chen Yi, and Zhou Long. Laura Elise Schwendinger’s Violinists in My Life was composed for Ms. Ruhstrat. She is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, and currently serves as the Strings Chamber Music Coordinator at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. In 2014, Ms. Ruhstrat was awarded the American String Teachers Association Illinois Outstanding Studio Teacher Award.

CELLO – JUNIOR DIVISION

Korean-American cellist Minna Rose Chung teaches at University of Manitoba’s Desautels School of Music in Winnipeg, Canada. She is also co-author with Heifetz faculty member Hans Jørgen Jensen of CelloMind: Intonation and Technique, a discerning pedagogy method praised by Strings magazine for its “dense and fascinating treatise focusing not just on the left hand, but almost exclusively on the aspects underpinning the most minute gradations of intonation…it takes written pedagogy to

a new level,” She has been a member of The New World Symphony, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, and was principal cellist of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Chung made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 as a founding member of the Pangea String Quartet, under the direction of the Kronos Quartet. Her current ensembles include the Crocus String Quartet, the Desautels Piano Trio, and the Nacka Duo. Since 2008, Dr. Chung has been the founder and director of Project Rio, a multi-faceted exchange programme for Canadian and Brazilian music professors and students in the teaching and performance arenas. She has degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying with Norman Fischer and Peter Rejto; the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music with Hans Jensen; and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University, where she studied with Heifetz faculty member Colin Carr. She plays on a 1776 Chappuy cello.

Andrew Mark is Professor of Cello at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, having received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating with top honors in both performance and academics. His principal teachers have included Bernard Greenhouse, Laurence Lesser, Colin Carr, and George Neikrug. He has been a guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society and at several summer music festivals, including the Newport (Rhode Island) Music Festival, the Contemporary Music Festival at Tanglewood, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Chautauqua Festival, the Florida International Festival, and the neighboring Wintergreen Performing Arts. In 2018, Mr. Mark joined the acclaimed Portland String Quartet, and continues an ongoing commitment to teaching and is a member of the music faculties of the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division, and at Walnut Hill School.

CHAMBER MUSIC – JUNIOR DIVISION

Violist Matthew Cohen is a 2013 alumnus of the Heifetz Institute, Heifetz Ensemble in Residence member, and a frequent Heifetz On Tour performer. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 15 as a soloist in the New York premiere of Tomas Svoboda’s Sonata No. 2 for orchestra and solo string quartet. He returned to Carnegie Hall to perform York Bowen’s Phantasy in Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Cohen won the top prize at the 2015 VIVO International Competition and was a special prize winner at the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition. He has studied at the Juilliard School, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Colburn Conservatory. He has performed chamber music with many distinguished artists including Heifetz faculty member Amit Peled, Arnold Steinhardt, Daniel Hope, Ronald Leonard, Clive Greensmith, and Martin Beaver. His recording of the Bowen Phantasy was released on the Soundset label. Mr. Cohen plays a viola by Helmuth Keller and bow by Paul Martin Siefried generously on loan from The Maestro Foundation, and is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School in the Master of Music program, where he studied with Cynthia Phelps and Heidi Castleman. Cuban-American cellist Thomas Mesa first came to study at the Heifetz Institute at the age of 14. He has established himself as one of the most charismatic, innovative, and engaging performers of his generation. He was the winner of the $50,000 First Prize in the 2016 Sphinx Competition and the Astral Artists 2017 National Auditions. He has appeared as soloist at the Supreme Court of the United States on three occasions and with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Santa Barbara Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Highlights in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 Seasons include curating and performing as soloist with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, soloist with Sphinx Virtuosi touring at major venues across the U.S. with Jessie Montgomery’s Divided for solo cello and orchestra, Andrea Casarrubios’s SEVEN for solo cello (performed at the Heifetz Institute in 2021), and a 30-venue recital tour with duo partner and pianist, Ilya Yakushev. Thomas is on the faculty at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music.

Noémie Raymond-Friset first came to the Heifetz Institute in 2017 as a participant in the Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar, and has subsequently been a Heifetz On Tour and Heifetz Ensemble in Residence [HEIR] artist. Named as one of the “30 under 30” emerging classical artists by the CBC, Noémie is a passionate musician, praised for her sensitive and refined playing. She was previously the teaching assistant of Steven Doane at the Eastman School of Music when completing her DMA in music and literature. Ms. Raymond-Friset also holds a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory and a Masters from the University of Montreal, where she studied under the tutelage of Yegor Dyachkov and Carole Sirois. Previously, she studied with Denis Brott at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal. During her studies at the New England Conservatory, she was a recipient of one of the highly coveted scholarships from the Community Performances and Partnerships Program for which she offered recitals throughout the city of Boston and the surrounding area to promote classical music in the community.

Violinist and violist Caeli Smith was born in Philadelphia and made her debut as a soloist at age ten with the Philadelphia Classical Symphony. Caeli holds both BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School, where she was a principal violist of the Juilliard Orchestra, and received the William Schuman Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. An alumna of the Heifetz Institute, she has collaborated with many distinguished musicians in chamber music settings, including Leon Fleisher, Heifetz faculty member Ani Kavafian, Roger Tapping, and André Watts. In 2015, She is a founding member and Associate Director of Frisson, a nine-piece touring chamber ensemble, and on the Teaching Artist faculty of the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Charter School of the Arts. She is also on the faculty of the Chamber Music Institute of the Danbury Music Center in Connecticut. As a

teenager, she was a frequent performer and recurring cast member on NPR’s From The Top. Her print articles have appeared in Strings, Teen Strings, and Symphony magazines.

COLLABORATIVE PIANO FACULTY

Praised for her “genuinely memorable performances” by BBC Music Magazine, pianist Miki Aoki is widely recognized for her diverse abilities as a pianist and as a collaborative artist. She has performed as a soloist with National Symphony, London Soloist Chamber Orchestra, Hamburg Camerata, Washington Sinfonietta, and Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México. She holds degrees from Indiana University and Yale University, and, in May of 2022, her Doctorate of Music Arts from Stony Brook University, where she served as Teaching Assistant to the renowned pianist Gilbert Kalish. Ms. Aoki is a staff pianist at the Juilliard School, and, in 2020, she founded and launched the virtual concert series, Musik in the Air.

Quebec pianist Michel-Alexandre Broekaert has been recognized for his profound and spectacular interpretations. At ease both on stage and in the studio, he divides his time between the instrumental repertoire and the world of opera with equal pleasure. A pedagogue at heart, his activities as a coach / pianist-collaborator at the Université de Montréal and McGill University nourish his passion for passing on knowledge to generations of young musicians. He is also committed to the future of classical music, actively engaging with established organizations and collectives of experienced musicians to present this art form in an accessible and casual way. Mr. Broekaert first distinguished himself as a soloist, winning first prizes in the Canadian Music Competition, the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and the Concerto Competition at the Université de Montréal. In 2018, he and Heifetz Institute cellist Noémie Raymond-Friset co-founded Duo Cavatine, one of the most dynamic chamber music groups on the Canadian scene. He holds a doctorate from the Université de Montréal, under the tutelage of Mr. Jean Saulnier, and perfected his skills in Vienna with the renowned pedagogue Avedis Kouyoumdjian.

Pianist Rohan De Silva’s partnerships with violin virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Cho-Liang Lin, Midori, Joshua Bell, Benny Kim, Kyoko Takezawa, Vadim Repin, Gil Shaham, Nadja SalernoSonnenberg, Julian Rachlin, and James Ehne have taken him to highly acclaimed performances at recital venues all over the world. With these and other artists, he has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Philadelphia Academy of Music, Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and La Scala in Milan. Mr. De Silva’s festival appearances include Aspen, Ravinia, Interlochen, Manchester, Schleswig-Holstein, Pacific Music Festival, and the Wellington Arts Festival in New Zealand. Mr. De Silva joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in 1991, and, in 2015, he was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music. In 2001, he joined the faculty at the Ishikawa Music Academy in Japan, where he gives masterclasses in collaborative piano. Mr. De Silva additionally has served as a faculty member at the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing, China, and at the International String Academy in Cambridge, U.K. since 2011. Mr. De Silva has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Universal, CBS/ SONY Classical, Collins Classics in London and RCA Victor.

North Carolina native Allison Freeman is equally established as a piano soloist and collaborator. She earned her Master’s degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University as a student of Boris Slutsky, after undergraduate studies with Alvin Chow at Oberlin Conservatory. Among the festivals Freeman has attended are the Southeastern Piano Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Bowdoin International Music Festival, The Banff Arts Centre, and the Beijing International Music Festival and Academy. As the winner of the Richard R. Deas Concerto Competition, Freeman appeared as soloist with both the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra and the Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra. A recipient of the Rudolf Serkin Prize, Ms. Freeman was also named a winner in the 2015-16 Oberlin Senior Concerto Competition. She has also served as a collaborative pianist for the Castleman Quartet Program. While at Oberlin, Ms.Freeman also studied cello with Darrett Adkins.

Heifetz Institute Piano Faculty Coordinator Beilin Han was born in Shanghai, China, and started playing piano at the age of three. She attended the Shanghai Conservatory of Music for Primary and Middle School and also attended the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore. After graduating, Ms. Han was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Kansas, where she completed her Masters Degree. She has toured internationally as a concert pianist performing throughout China, Portugal, Spain, and the U.S. Ms. Han is on the piano faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and is spending her twelfth consecutive summer on the collaborative piano faculty at the Heifetz Institute.

Elizabeth G. Hill, an alumna of Mary Baldwin’s pioneering PEG program, is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist, and educator. Her notable concert appearances include performances for the Embassy Concert Series in Washington DC, the Center for Jewish History in New York, and the Robert-Schumann-Haus in Zwickau, Germany. She is the Principal Pianist with the Baltimore-based chamber orchestra Symphony Number One, a group devoted to performing substantial works by emerging composers. She is also the co-founder of Meraki, a chamber ensemble devoted to awakening cultural compassion through music. The ensemble was a recipient of Chamber Music

America’s 2018 Classical Commissioning Program. After early musical studies in Anchorage, Alaska, Elizabeth studied Piano Performance at Mary Baldwin College and James Madison University, and earned her DMA in Chamber Music at The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.

Hailed as a “highly skilled improviser” by The New York Times and “prickly and explosive” by the Montreal Gazette, Tae Kim’s rare blend of rigorous execution and whimsical styling creates an interpretation of the classical repertoire all his own. His recent program “words/ not-words: dichotomy between texts and music in piano literature” features not only his classical improvisation on the children’s novel Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney, but also traditional repertoire ranging from Robert Schumann’s programmatic compositions to haiku-inspired pieces by Philippe Hersant. His unique talent for classical improvisation earned him the Prix d’interprétation André Chevillion–Yvonne Bonnaud for the premiere of his work, Translate (2016) at the Concours international de piano d’Orléans, as well as the Prix–Mention Spéciale Edison Denisov. Part of the Piano at South Station, Mr. Kim regularly played on Thursdays in the middle of a train station amidst the confused-if-not-pleased onlookers and travelers. He is the pianist for the New England-based Revere Piano Quartet with Jin-Kyung Joen, Ron Gorevic, and Eugene Kim. He has studied with Jonathan Bass, Bruce Brubaker, Janice Webber, and Patricia Zander.

Pianist Sheng-Yuan Kuan has been a featured artist at the KUAF/Fulbright Summer Chamber Music Festival and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Music by Candlelight series. She has performed alongside Heifetz faculty members Nobuko Imai, Elmar Oliveira, Daniel Phillips, and Timothy Eddy, as well as Richard Stoltzman, Guillermo Figueroa, Heifetz alum Chad Hoopes, Sir Angel Romero, Time for Three, Stefan Jackiw, and members of the Borromeo and Parker Quartets and Apollo Trio. Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun praised Ms. Kuan as “(having) admirable technical finesse and expressive flair at the piano.” Currently serving as the keyboard faculty and staff collaborative pianist at Lynn University’s Conservatory of Music, as well as a member of the Florida-based Scherzo Trio, Con Brio Ensemble, and the A’s Duo, Ms. Kuan holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Yale School of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music.

Los Angeles-based pianist Seonmi Lee has collaborated with such notable artists as concertmaster Martin Chalifour of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and violist Paul Coletti. Since winning major international competitions at the age of 10, Ms. Lee has appeared as a celebrated soloist and is in demand as a collaborative pianist in major performance venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Korea. She has received performance degrees from The Korea National University of Arts, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. She is an official pianist at The Primrose International Viola Competition, as well as a collaborative pianist at the Colburn School and USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

A pianist, educator, and entrepreneur, Yoon Lee is the Special Prize winner of the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition. Ms. Lee is a member of the faculty of the SUNY Purchase School of Music, as well as a staff pianist of The Juilliard School. Her performance of Beethoven has been described as “equal to Beethoven’s virtuosic demands” by the New York Concert Review. As an international concert pianist, she has been on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Château de Fontainebleau, Hamarikyu Asahi Hall, and Seoul Arts Center, and featured on WQXR and the Korean Broadcasting System. She has collaborated with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, Orion String Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Elmar Oliveira, Catherine Cho, and Laurie Smukler. Ms. Lee has been the pianist for master classes by Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmersson, and David Geringas. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Graduate Diploma from the Juilliard School. She is an Artistic Director of Noree Chamber Soloists, a chamber ensemble she founded in 2017.

Yadi Liang was born in China and began playing the piano at age six. After earning her Bachelor of Music degree at the China Conservatory, she came to the Manhattan School of Music, receiving the President’s Award and earning her first Master of Music degree in piano under Dr. Arkady Aronov. She received her second Master of Music degree and Professional Studies certificate in the next year in collaborative piano under Dr. Heasook Rhee. She continued to study with Dr. Rhee and is currently a doctoral candidate pursuing a DMA degree. While studying at the China Conservatory of Music, Ms. Liang received 1st prize in the YAMAHA Music Awards during her junior year and performed at the Beijing International Piano Festival. After coming to MSM, Ms. Liang has had various opportunities to play for concerts and competitions, including those at Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, 92nd Street Y, as well as masterclasses of such renowned teachers as Pamela Frank, James Galway, Augustin Hadelich, and Robert McDonald.

Pianist Lynne Mackey has performed in solo and collaborative settings and given masterclasses in the United States, Brazil, Spain, France, and Morocco. She holds a Bachelor of Music, MM, and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan, The Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music. Most recently, she performed as harpsichord concerto soloist with the Presbyterian College Chamber Orchestra in South Carolina, and participated in the International Baroque Institute at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA. Lynne serves as Director of the Virginia Baroque Performance Academy. Lynne currently teaches at Mary Baldwin University.

Hailed by The Washington Post as a pianist “with a refreshing mellowness and poetic touch,” Jessica Xylina Osborne is one of the most intensely expressive and passionate artists of her generation. She has worked closely with some of the world’s finest musicians, including Hilary Hahn, Mark Kosower, and Timothy Eddy. She has performed throughout the continental U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has appeared in recitals at many of the world’s most celebrated venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and the Seoul Arts Center. Radio broadcasts include performances on A Prairie Home Companion, Performance Today, and WQXR. Dr. Osborne holds degrees in solo piano performance from Indiana University and Rice University, and a DMA in piano performance from Yale University.

Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described by The Herald as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style;” “mercurially brilliant” by The Strad; and by BBC Music Magazine as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions.” During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukebox series with his wife (and Heifetz faculty member) Elena Urioste—featuring Mr. Poster as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, curator, backing dancer and snowman—brought a staggeringly diverse selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. He is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. He has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott.

Pianist Miki Sawada is a musician who is free-spirited in her pursuit of adventure while showing deep commitment to fully realize classical music’s capacity to nurture and strengthen community bonds. In August 2017, she launched her “Gather Hear Alaska” tour, in which she traveled in Alaska with a piano in a van. Accompanied only by a filmmaker, she gave 25 performances in mostly rural community hubs such as cafes, bars, parks, and schools. The “Gather Hear” tours have subsequently taken place in West Virginia, Massachusetts, and in Louisiana in the spring of 2022. When not at the Heifetz Institute, she teaches and performs as a faculty member of Point CounterPoint and Berkshire High Peaks Festival. She holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Northwestern University.

Pianist and musicologist Jingxuan Zhang was born in Beijing, China where he began taking piano lessons at the age of five. His family moved to the US in 2001. He received his undergraduate degree at Columbia University and The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal, and his Master’s from New England Conservatory, under Alexander Korsantia. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Musicology from Duke University. He loves to conjure up the Chinese food he grew up enjoying, then converse with his friends while it all disappears. Jing enjoys sharing shareable things—music, food, time, knowledge, and company.

SUMMERTIME SPECIAL GUESTS

In addition to our world-renowned faculty and prodigious students, no Heifetz summer is complete without the glow of a guest artist or two, and you’ve got three to see in ‘22!

Heifetz alums Shannon Lee and Angela Sin Ying Chan are two of the six finalists in the prestigious Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition, which, with a First Prize of a cool $100,000, boasts the biggest prize purse in the world for violinists. The pandemic-paused final round of the SISIVC will take place later this summer and, in advance of that, both Shannon (who first came to the Institute at the age of 12, and has since returned as an Artist in Residence and Teaching Assistant), and Angela (Heifetz 2015 and 2019, and a frequent Heifetz on Tour performer) will be here to workshop their competition repertoire, lead Junior Division masterclasses, and participate in our Celebrity Series concerts.

Shannon Lee Angela Sin Ying Chan Adolphus Hailstork

We’re also thrilled to welcome composer, educator, and Virginia Beach resident Adolphus Hailstork as the Heifetz Institute’s very first Composer-in-Residence. Fresh off a round of performances and celebrations marking his 80th birthday, Dr. Hailstork has been called “The Dean of African American composers,” and he remains one of the most frequently performed and commissioned composers in the world. A longtime resident of the Old Dominion, Dr. Hailstork is in fact an emeritus Professor of Music at Old Dominion University, as well as Norfolk State University. He will be making his very first visit to Staunton to mentor our students in performances of his works, and will be a special guest for our July 29 Celebrity Series concert that will feature the Borromeo Quartet performing his String Quartet No. 2, Variations on Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Welcome Dr. Hailstork!

PERFORMANCE & COMMUNICATION TRAINING

The Heifetz Performance and Communication Training method was developed to guide musicians to discover their full creative potential and express their individuality not only through technically and intellectually robust music making, but also through emotional and even physical engagement with the music they play. It strives to empower young performers to perfect their artistry by developing their physical, mental, and emotional range, and also provides a great opportunity to forge powerful interactions with fellow Heifetz students.

Students are guided through multidisciplinary courses and led to connect the experiences back to their musical pursuits with the following overarching goals:

01. KNOW ONESELF

Becoming aware of one’s personality traits and understanding various human emotions is essential in conveying a convincing and authentic performance. The goal of the Heifetz Performance and Communication Training method is to support students as they access their own store of emotions and unique personality characteristics.

04. EXPRESS ONESELF

Once there is a clearer understanding of their individual personality and emotional range, students then explore how their physical and mental life work together to create an authentic and expressive performance. An essential element toward achieving these goals is gaining an awareness of the connection between musical training and emotional expression. Heifetz Performance and Communication Training is designed to support students as they balance and integrate all these features, deepening their connection to the music and to the audience.

02. OPEN ONESELF

Heifetz Performance and Communication Training is designed to provide a comfortable and safe environment for students to explore their emotional range, to overcome personal inhibitions, and to be willing to take risks as they develop their own expressiveness and interpretive style as connected to the music they perform.

04. IMPROVE ONE’S PHYSICAL FREEDOM AND HEALTH

One of the underlying bases for performing at one’s best is to have the necessary bodily strength, agility, and flexibility to do so. These traits enable the performer to have the freedom to demonstrate technical prowess, emotional resonance, and engagement with the audience. Physical fitness should become a regular component of every performer’s life. It is the aim of the Heifetz Institute to provide each student with the skills to develop a physical fitness regimen that meets individual needs and provides a sense of well-being.

SPEAKING IN PUBLIC/DRAMA

Daniel Pettrow is a Brooklyn-based actor, director, and teacher. He has been the Director of Performance and Communication Training for Heifetz International Music Institute since 2012. He is also the Drama and Speaking in Public teacher for Heifetz Institute. Mr. Pettrow is a teacher and lecturer at The Banff Centre for their “Concert in the 21st Century” program. He is also a guest teacher at Juilliard, NYU, Cleveland Institute of Music, National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Paris, and various institutions throughout the world. Mr. Pettrow has been the drama director for YoungArts Miami (2015), YoungArts LA (2016–2017) and YoungArts DC (2019). Mr. Pettrow frequently focuses on new and experimental creations while fostering collaborations with artists from different disciplines. Recently, he created an original dance-theater production with Mikhail Baryshnikov and choreographer John Heginbotham, which had its world premiere at Baryshnikov Arts Center in October 2019. He is a frequent collaborator with John Heginbotham, having worked on several projects together. Daniel was the assistant director and performer of Dance Heginbotham’s The Principles of Uncertainty, which premiered at Jacob’s Pillow, The Guggenheim, and BAM. Mr. Pettrow also performs the role of “The Wolf” in Isaac Mizrahi’s production of Peter & The Wolf for Guggenheim Works & Process (2012–present), choreographed by John Heginbotham. For the last twenty years, Daniel has worked closely with renowned French director Arthur Nauzyciel, having performed at National Theaters and festivals all over the world. Daniel is an associate actor with New York City-based experimental theater company The Wooster Group, and teaching artist at The Wooster Group’s Summer Institute. dance-theater productions with choreographer and fellow Heifetz Institute faculty member Anabella Lenzu.

MOVEMENT

Dancer, choreographer, and teacher Anabella Lenzu has more than 25 years’ experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the USA. As Artistic Director of Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, Ms. Lenzu draws on her diverse background to create thoughtprovoking and socially conscious dance-theatre in the interest of improving our human condition. Classically trained at the renowned Teatro Colòn in Buenos Aires, Lenzu studied the modern dance techniques of Humphrey/Limòn and Martha Graham in New York. Her studies of Tango and the folk dances of Argentina, Spain, and Italy have further informed her work. Her choreography has been commissioned all over the world, for opera, TV programs, theatre productions, and by many dance companies. Ms. Lenzu founded her own dance school—L’Atelier Centro Creativo de Danza—in 1994 in Argentina, and has maintained an active teaching career ever since. Currently, she conducts classes at Peridance Capezio Center, Wagner College, and Lehman College. Ms. Lenzu has written for various dance and arts magazines, and published her first book in 2013, entitled Unveiling Motion and Emotion—a collection of writings on the importance of dance, community, choreography, and dance pedagogy.

Hailed by The Washington Post as “a drop-dead beauty who plays with equal parts passion, sensuality, brains and humor,” violinist Elena Urioste was recently selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and has been featured on the cover of Symphony magazine. Ms.Urioste has given acclaimed performances with major orchestras throughout the United States, including the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras; Boston Pops; New York and Buffalo Philharmonics; and the Chicago, San Francisco, National, Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Austin, Charleston, Richmond, and San Antonio Symphony Orchestras. As a first-place laureate in both the Junior and Senior divisions of the Sphinx Competition, Elena Urioste debuted at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium in 2004 and has returned frequently as soloist. An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Elena has been a featured artist at the Marlboro, Ravinia, La Jolla, Bridgehampton, Moab, and the Sarasota Music Festivals. In 2019 Ms. Urioste returns to our Communication faculty as one half of Intermission, a groundbreaking yoga program that celebrates the symbiosis between music and yoga, allowing musicians to reconnect their minds, bodies, and spirits with the process of music-making, a program begun with fellow violinist Melissa White. Melissa and Elena met in 2003 via a combination of ENCORE School for Strings, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Sphinx Organization. And, fun fact: they both began playing the violin as a result of watching the very same episode of Sesame Street in 1988!

American violinist Melissa White has enchanted audiences around the world as both a soloist and chamber musician. A first prize winner of the Sphinx Competition, Ms. White made her solo debut with the National Philharmonic in Washington, D.C. under the baton of Piotr Gajewski in February 2018. As a founding member of the Harlem Quartet, Ms. White’s passion and artistry have contributed to performances that have been hailed for their “panache” by The New York Times and as “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent” by The Cincinnati Enquirer. In her administrative capacity with the Harlem Quartet, Ms. White has successfully procured funding for numerous projects, including James Madison University’s Cultural Connections Residency and the prestigious 2016 Chamber Music America/Guarneri String Quartet Residency Grant, which allowed the Harlem Quartet to partake in an extended residency in Mobile, Alabama, that included a close partnership with the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and area schools. Ms. White holds performance degrees from both the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory. When she doesn’t have a violin in her hands, Ms. White is an advanced practitioner of Bikram Yoga and the co-founder and artistic director of Intermission, a new program that combines music and yoga. Communications instructor John Gregorio has been performing and teaching improvisation across the country for 20 years. While attending Florida State University, he created The Whammo Players, the School of Theater’s first improv company and went on to found Dad’s Garage Theatre Co. in Atlanta. He also created the World Domination Festival, Atlanta’s first international improvisation festival. In 2001, Mr. Gregorio founded The Nuclear Family in NYC, which has toured throughout the country and had a successful Off-Broadway run.

Maile Okamura has designed and constructed dance and opera costumes for Mark Morris Dance Group, Dance Heginbotham, Atlanta Ballet, Tanglewood Music Festival, American Classical Orchestra, Bard College, and Middlebury College. She has been dancing with Mark Morris Dance Group since 1998.

STUDENT EXPERIENCE MANAGER

Adam Hockman is a practice and performance consultant specializing in applying behavioral, learning, and measurement science to music teaching, practice, and performance. He has coached students at major conservatories and presented lectures and workshops at such institutions as the Heifetz International Music Institute, Northwestern University, Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, and at international and national behavior science conferences. Outside of the performing arts, Adam oversees the design, development, and implementation of behavior-based learning programs for ABA Technologies, Inc. There, he works with clients on developing learning solutions to improve employee performance outcomes and business results. Formerly, Adam was research associate to Dr. Francis Mechner at the Mechner Foundation in New York City. Alongside Dr. Mechner and his colleagues, Adam assisted in developing educational technologies and implementing behavioral education programming in school settings. He has also worked as an instructional designer and technologist for several clinical, education, and healthcare groups. Adam served as managing editor for the Standard Celeration Society and continues to coach behavioral scientists in publishing their research and ideas. Adam received his academic training from Utah State University, Florida Institute of Technology, and MGH Institute of Health Professions (PhD candidate).

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School of Music Admissions

540.568.3851 | music_admit@jmu.edu MSC 7301 | Harrisonburg, VA 22807

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Nicholas Kitchen

Artistic Director

Benjamin K. Roe

President & CEO

Claudia Encinas

Director of Programming & Operations

Andrew Green

Marketing & Development Manager

Cameron Daly

Accounts & Logistics Manager

SUMMER STAFF

Gillian Boley, Faculty Assistant Zachary Brandon, Practice Partner & Online Student Coordinator Anwyn Cook, Front of House Coordinator Alex Daughtrey, Multimedia Intern Boubacar Diallo, Resident Assistant Mairead Flory, Resident Assistant Isabella Gorman, Outreach & Hootenanny Coordinator Birdie Hadfield, Music Library/

Administrative Coordinator Clayton Hancock, Resident Assistant Abbigail LaRocque, Stage Manager Abigail Leidy Studio, Assistant (Jr.

Studios & Pianists) Wenyun (Bill) Liu, Marketing Intern Duke Markos, Multimedia Director & Lead Audio Producer Passacaglia Mason, Resident Assistant Ross McIntosh, Resident Assistant Catherine McLean, Festival Intern Tatiana Pereira, Resident Assistant Ibeth Pinzón, Photographer Iva Raykova, Studio Assistant (Sr. Chamber Music Studios & Double Bass) Nairi Seker, Studio Assistant (Sr. Violin

Studios & Pianists) Derek Song, Media Producer Anabel Tejeda, Studio Assistant (Sr. Viola & Cello Studios & Pianists) Miranda Werner, Resident Assistant Kiva Wise, Asst. Stage Manager Zichen (Aidan) Yu, Festival Intern Zhe (Gray) Zhang, Multimedia Intern Yi (Zoey) Zhou, Multimedia Intern

2022 PIANO TECHNICIANS

Jocelyn Chan John Veitch

Memories, Magic, and Music!

Check out the Heifetz Institute’s YouTube Channel!

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