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David Oei

was a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic at the age of nine and has since performed with major orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore Symphonies. Mr. Oei is the winner of five Interlochen Concerto Competitions and the WQXR, Concert Artist Guild, Young Musicians Foundation and P. Ulanowsky Chamber Pianist Awards. He has made guest appearances with the Audubon Quartet, Claring Chamber Players, Da Capo Chamber Players, Elysium, St. Luke's and Orpheus Chamber Ensembles and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Founding director of the Salon Chamber Soloists and a founding member of the Aspen Soloists, the Festival Chamber Music Society and the Intimate P.D.Q. Bach, he has also been a regular participant at Music from Japan, Bargemusic and Friends of Mozart. In addition to 12 summers at Chamber Music Northwest he has performed at various festivals including Caramoor, Sitka, Bard, Gretna, Seattle, Chestnut Hill, Dobbs Ferry, O. K. Mozart, Washington Square, Lanai (Hawaii) and Kuhmo (Finland).

His television credits include Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, the Today Show and the CBS News Sunday Morning. He has recorded a wide range of chamber works for Delos, ADDA, Vanguard, Pro Arte, Arabesque, Grenadilla and New World Records. Mr. Oei was the Music Director for Music-Theatre Group's productions of Stanley Silverman and Richard Foreman's Africanis Instructus and Love and Science. He was also the Music-Director for the Sundance Theater Workshop production of the Wallace/Foreman opera Yiddisha Teddy Bears. 

In recent years, Mr. Oei served as an affiliated teacher at SUNY Purchase and was the Volunteers Coordinator and Head Coach for Manhattan Special Olympics. The proud owner of Carlyle Wines, Mr. Oei is a faculty member of Summertrios, Bennington Chamber Music Conference, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School. He lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Eriko Sato, and their pit bull mix, Jazz.

Inesa Sinkevych

was awarded First Prize in the Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona and in the Premio Jaen International Piano Competition in Spain.  She also received top and special prizes at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel, Vianna da Motta and the Porto international competitions in Portugal, the Casagrande in Italy, the Panama, and the Piano-e-competition in the U.S.A, among others.

 She has performed in France, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Panama, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, and the United States.  She has been a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Minnesota Symphony Orchestra,  the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic of Spain, and the Porto Symphony of Portugal.   She has been featured live on the Europian classical music TV channel Mezzo, Kol Yisrael and Chicago's WFMT Radio Stations,  and her performances have been broadcast on the RDP Radio of Portugal, Tenerife Radio Norte and Radio Jaen

Ms. Sinkevych holds her master of music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts.  She is currently continuing her studies with Dr. Mikowsky at the Manhattan School of Music, where she is completing her DMA degree.

Noam Sivan

Has appeared in the United States, Canada, England, much of Europe and Israel, performing much of the concerto repertoire, some with newly composed cadenzas. He performed the Asian premiiere of the Viktor Ullmann Concerto with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a conductor, composer and improvisor. His performance of Bach's Goldberg Variations encored by an original improvisation the piece was recorded for TV and broadcast on the New Israeli Cultural Channel. Mr. Sivan is on the faculty at Mannes College and has given lectures and master classes at the Curtis Institute, SUNY Stony Brook, and in numerous other venues.
 

§Violin

Philip Coonce

Doctorate, The Manhattan School; student of Raphael Bronstein; chamber music study with Yehudi Menuhin, Nathan Milstein and Josef Gingold; is Associate Concert Master of Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico; has been Concertmaster of the Spoleto Festival.

Cordelia Hagmann

Violinist Cordelia Hagmann appears frequently as a chamber musician, recitalist and concertmistress in Europe and the US. She won a top prize  and the audience prize at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition in 2004 with the Moirae Trio, the Kiwanis Prize in Zürich in 2001, the concerto competition in Winterthur in 1998 and other prestigious scholarships in her native Switzerland. Currently based in New York, Cordelia has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall, as well as the Tonhalle in Zürich and KKL in Luzern, the Tel Aviv Conservatory and the Jerusalem Music Center. As a soloist Cordelia has performed among others with orchestras such as the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the Temple Symphony Orchestra, performing works by Bach, Beethoven, Chausson, Dvorak, Mozart, Sarasate, Saint-Saens and Vivaldi. Radio broadcasts have included the Swiss National Radio.

 Cordelia began playing the violin at age five with Matthias Steiner in Switzerland. She continued her studies at the conservatory in Winterthur-Zürich with Nora Chastain (BM with honors) and Rudolf Koelman. In 2002 she moved to the USA where she completed her studies with a Performer Diploma with Prof. Miriam Fried at Indiana University in Bloomington. While in Indiana Cordelia was a member of the Moirae Piano Trio under the guidance of Prof. Menahem Pressler (founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio). With the Moirae Trio she performed, among other works, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with orchestra and was invited to perform at Mr. Pressler’s 80^th birthday celebration. 

Cordelia has lived in New York City since 2004, where she plays with chamber music groups and orchestras like the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Onyx Chamber Group, String Orchestra of New York City and performs as concertmistress of the New England Symphonic Ensemble regularly in Carnegie Hall. Recent engagements have included the Kaprizma Ensemble in Israel. Cordelia is faculty member at Lucy Moses School and Opus 118, Harlem School of Music. 

Erin Keefe

Winner of the 2006 Avery Fisher Career Grant ,ad Prize winner in the 2006 Schadt Competition and the 2004 Corpus Christi International String Competition; Silver medalist in the carl Nielsen and Gyeongnam (Korea) Internation Violin Competitions.  During the 2006-7 season she performed Mozart Concerto #4 with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Poland, the Bartok Concerto #2 with the Allentown Symphony and led a performance of the Dvorak Viola Quintet in the Opening Night program of the Chamber music Society of Lincoln Center.

She has appeared with the Emerson S?tring Quartet, Roberto and Andres Diaz, Edgar Meyer, Wu Han, Richard Goode, David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Gilbert Kalish, William Preucil and Michael Tison Thomas.  She has recorded Schoenberg's Second String Quartet with Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, Fred Sherry and Jennifer Welch-Babidge for the Naxos Label; and the Bartok Contrasts and Dvorak Piano Quintet for Deutsche Gramophone. She has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Music from Angel Fire, Ravinia and other festivals.  She is a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber music Society Two program for the 2006-09 seasons.

She holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a BM from the Curtis Institute.  Her teachers included Ronald Copes, Ida Kavafian, and Arnold Steinhardt.

 

Christopher Lee

Doctorate SUNY at Stonybrook, Masters Juilliard, student of Nathan Milstein and Joseph Fuchs;  Teaching Assistant for Isidore Cohen; teaching assistant to Henryk Szeryng; former concertmaster The New Jersey Symphony; BBC Symphonia, London; Spanish Symphony Orchestra; guest concertmaster The Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, New York New Music Consort; soloist under Stokowski, Fiedler, Hugh Wolff; premiered Aaron Copland's "Ballades for Violin and Piano" with Leonard Bernstein, piano; representation by Columbia Artists Management, Inc.; founding violinist of New York Piano Trio. 

Emily Popham

has been a featured soloist with the Starling Chamber Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indiana University.  As a chamber musician, she has performed at the Ravinia, Taos and Kneisel Hall Music Festivals and has participated in the Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse and the Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar. Currently a pupil of Sylvia Rosenberg at Manhattan School of Music, Emily completed degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard School. Previous teachers include Miriam Fried and Robert Mann. Recently she was awarded the 1st Balsam Prize for Duos at Manhattan School of Music and will perform with the MSM Orchestra next season as winner of the Concerto competition.

Ayano Ninomiya

The New York Times called Ayano's 2004 debut solo recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall "deeply communicative and engrossing."   Ayano is the second-prize winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition and winner of the 2003 Astral Artistic Services' National Auditions, among other prizes.  She made her debut with the Boston Pops on Opening Night 1999 and most recently performed in Sofia, Bulgaria, at Tokyo's Suntory Hall, at the Ravinia Festival, as well as at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia's Kimmel Centre, and Chicago's Myra Hess series.  She has performed at the Marlboro, Caramoor, Olympic, and Bridgehampton chamber music festivals and toured in the U.S. and Europe for the Marlboro and Ravinia Festivals.  In 2001 Ayano recorded the complete works for violin by Larry Bell and the Philadelphia's City Paper placed this CD on its list of "Top  10 Classical Recordings of 2003."  Ayano graduated from Harvard College, received her Master's degree from the Juilliard School studying with Robert Mann, and the 2005 Beebe Foundation Grant enabled her to live and study in Budapest, Hungary for a year and a half.
 

Yuval Waldman

(also conductor) made his debut as a solo violinist at the age of 8.  He gave his Carnegie Hall Debut in 1969 as winner of Jeunesses Musicales - Carnegie Hall International Competition. A graduate of The Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and The Juilliard School, he has performed worldwide as a violinist, conductor and chamber player.  He is founding Music Director of the Madeira Bach Festival in Portugal and the Jefferson Music Festival at Kennedy Center; and principal conductor the New American Chamber Orchestra; he has recorded for Sony, Omega, Newport Classic and Angel Records. 

§Viola

Kimberly Foster

A native of Portland, Oregon, she began piano studies at the age of 6, later adding violin and viola.  She studied with George Taylor at the Eastman School of Music from 1992-1997 and with Jesse Levine at the Yale School of Music from 2001-2004. Upon graduating from Yale last spring, Ms. Foster was the first recipient of the Georgina Lucy Grosvenor Prize, awarded to the violist of the graduating class showing the most promise for a career as a soloist and chamber musician. 

Ms. Foster has performed in many orchestras and is an active chamber musician.  She is a member of the Albany Symphony and recently served as Principal viola with the Allentown, Pa Symphony during their 2004-2005 season.  She is also a member of the chamber ensemble Cante Libre, which performs extensively throughout the New York Metropolitan area.  In 2002, Ms. Foster was featured soloist with the Manchester Ct. Symphony in a performance of Vaughn-Williams ‘Flos Campi’.  She served as Principal viola at the Round Top Music Festival for two summers and as a substitute with the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Opera from 1999-2001.  She has performed with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and has toured Russia with the American Russian Youth Orchestra.  Kimberly Foster’s chamber music performances from the Round Top Music Festival have been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” series.

Andrew Knebel

is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music/University of Hartford where he was a tudent of Steve Larson.  He hold a double Bachelor's degree in viola  performance and music education.  He was a member of the honors chamber progam at the Hartt School, Performance 20/20, a tuition free, invitation only program.  He  has participated in masterclasses with John Largess (Miro SQ), Chauncey Patterson (Miami SQ), and Heidi Castleman.  Andrew is also a coach for the Young People's Institute forChamber Music in Stamford, CT. 

§Cello

Joseph Kimura.

Masters Degree, Juilliard; student of Harvey Shapiro, Channing Robbins, Paul Katz and Daniel Morgenstern; is Principal Cellist Stamford Symphony, Garden State Chamber Orchestra and Hudson Chamber Orchestra; member of Jupiter Symphony in New York City, Opera Orchestra of New York, the Solisti Chamber Orchestra.

Robert LaRue

Member, New York City Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center.  First Prize Winner, National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition (Mstislav Rostropovitch, jury chairman). Formerly, cellist of New England String Quartet: currently, member of Seraphim (contemporary music ensemble). Graduate of Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory, Juilliard School; Also attended Indiana University School of Music.  Teachers included Soyer, Greenhouse, Lesser, Starker, Tsutsumi, Parisot; chamber music with Mischa Schneider (Budapest Quartet), Felix Galimir, Menahem Pressler and Bernard Greenhouse (Beaux Artes Trio), Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet), Rostislav Dubinsky (Borodin Quartet), Samuel Sanders.

Karlos Rodriguez

Karlos Rodriguez made his solo orchestral debut at the age of thirteen to great audience and critical acclaim. And has since been an avid recitalist and chamber musician appearing at many of our important musical venues including Carnegie Hall (Isaac Stern Auditorium), Merkin concert hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel center, and Radio City Music Hall (Christmas Spectacular). Mr. Rodriguez has also had the honor of working with distinguished artists such as the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, and Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, and Steven Isserlis. His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. Karlos has also been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the Irene Muir performance prize, richard Lowellberg cello award, State award, Joyce Dutka arts foundation prize, Sphinx Competition and a William Randolph Hearst scholarship. 

A love of dance paired with live music has led to his collaboration with the Thomas/Ortiz Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Chita Rivera. Karlos has attended and been a guest artist at the ENCORE School for Strings, Sarasota, Aspen, and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society. As a teacher he is on the faculty at Summer Trios, the Sphinx Performance Academy-Walnut Hill School, and the Schneider Series-New York String Seminar. Mr. Rodriguez is the co-founder and Music Director of the Amagansett Chamber Music Festival and was recently featured by Hispanic International Television in an interview profiling a new generation of classical musicians. Having completed the national tour of CHITA RIVERA 'The Dancer's Life'. He is currently working on the Broadway productions of Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid and is a member of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra.

Brian Snow

is a doctoral student in music at SUNY Stonybrook where he studies with Colin Carr. He has apeared as a soloist with the Crescent City Symphony (New Orleans), the Hartt Symphony and the Longy Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with Ricardo Maroles, David Jolley, Christina Dahl and the Emrson String Quartet, and has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, the Taos Festival and others. He is first prize winner in the Paranov competition, the Longy Concerto Soloits competition, the Denison Performing Arts Competition and the Emerso String Quartet Competition. He is a member of the New Haven Symphony, Orchestra New England, and principal cellist of the Waterbury Symphony.

Andrey Tchekmazov 

A Grand Prize winner of the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition in Florence and  Premio Trio de Trieste in Triest, as well as Premio della Critica in Italy , Mr. Tchekmazov has performed throughout the North and South America, Europe, Russia, and Asia.  His appearances include the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall in Japan, Brazil's Sala San Paolo, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall, etc.

Among his other prizes and awards are the Koussivitzky Competition, Stadt, and the Russian National Competition in Moscow.

As a frequent  performer with the Jupiter Chamber Players and Lyric Chamber Music Society in New York, and at the Phillips Collection in Washington , Andrey Tchekmazov has "impressed his audiences with big, warm tone and... Russian brand of  virtuosity" - Strad, London -New York

 

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