Premium Faculty
PIANO
Lily Friedman, pianist (and Summertrios Music Director) was a founding member of The New York Piano Trio, winner of the Artists International Competition, and awarded a debut performance at Carnegie’s Weill Hall. She has been a participant in the Marlboro Festival, the Orono, Maine Festival, and has performed in a large variety of chamber ensembles throughout the New York metropolitan area and New England as well as in France and the former Soviet Union. Among her more notable performances are the entire Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin with New York Philharmonic violinist Anna Rabinova as well as the entire Beethoven oeuvre for piano and cello with Juilliard professor Andre Emelianoff. She is co-founder and Music Director of Summertrios, a chamber music organization which offers four one-week residential programs to adult amateur musicians. It has served thousands of amateur musicians and provided intensive training in chamber music for dozens of young professionals. Friedman holds a Masters Degree from The Juilliard School where she was a student of Beveridge Webster and an ABD in the Doctoral Program at Teachers College of Columbia University. Independently, she studied piano with Irma Wolpe, and chamber music with Menahem Pressler, Arthur Balsam, Isidore Cohen, Rudolf Serkin, and Joseph Fuchs. She has been a performing participant in the Menahem Pressler Master Classes for the past 14 years.
Efi Hackmey, pianist, has appeared in the United States and Europe, including concerts in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; Weiner Saal Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria; and Hochschule fur Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar, Germany. In his native Israel, Mr. Hackmey has performed at the Recanati Auditoriujm, Tel Aviv Musieum of Art; the Jerusalem Music Center; and in concerts presented by the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society in Eilat. He was featured on Israeli TV Channel 2, the most popular TV channel in Israel, and on the "Voice of Music" channel of the Israeli National Public Radio. Mr. Hackmey is currently on the piano faculty at DePauw University School of Music in Indiana. He has taught at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as Associate Instructor of piano and music theory. Mr. Hackmey received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with distinction from Tel Aviv University. During his studies in Tel Aviv he won the second prize in the Tel Aviv University Piano Competition. He is currently a doctoral candidate in piano performance at Indiana University. His main teachers were Menahem Pressler and Pnina Salzman. He also worked with such renowned artists as Emmanuel Ax, Lazar Berman, Charles Rosen, Janos Starker, David Zinman and Jaime Laredo.
Adrienne Kim, pianist. Kim’s recent performances include recitals in New York's Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Bargemusic, Boston's Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.'s Phillips Gallery and Ravinia's Rising Stars series in Chicago. She has appeared as soloist with the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of Beijing, the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico, the Portland Chamber Orchestra, and the Richmond Orchestra. Ms. Kim was a member of Chamber Music Society Two, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's residency program for emerging young artists, and has performed with David Shifrin, Daniel Phillips, Ida Kavafian, Edgar Meyer, Cho-Liang Lin, Fred Sherry, Lucy Shelton, Wynton Marsalis, Paquito Rivera, and members of the Brentano, Borromeo, Cassatt, Mendelssohn, Meridian and Miami String Quartets. In addition, she has performed with the NewYork Chamber Ensemble, Garden City Chamber Music Society, Lighthouse Chamber Players, Salt Bay Chamberfest, Carnegie Chamber Players, Bronx Arts Ensemble, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, the Society for New Music, and is the resident pianist of the Seal Bay Festival in Maine. With the West End Chamber Ensemble, ensemble-in-residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she participated in the National Endowment for the Arts/Chamber Music America Rural Residency. She has recorded the solo and chamber works of Daniel S. Godfrey with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on the Koch label, the violin and piano sonatas of Charles Ives with Lisa Tipton on Capstone Records, and the sonatas of Niels Gade with violinist Katie Wolfe on the Centaur label. She and Ms. Tipton also presented the “Made in America” series at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall. A new CD with violinist Jorge Avila features the sonatas of Granados, Turina and Rodrigo and was recently released on Centaur. Ms. Kim studied with Menahem Pressler and Leon Fleisher and is on the piano faculties of Syracuse University and the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont.
David Oei, pianist, 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 Concert Artists Guild, WQXR Young Artists, Young Musicians Foundation and Paul Ulanowsky Chamber Pianists Awards. A perennial fixture on the New York City chamber music scene, he has made guest appearances with the Audubon Quartet, Claring Chamber Players, Da Capo Chamber Players, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, 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, Festival Chamber Music and the Intimate P.D.Q.Bach, he is currently a member of Friends of Mozart and the Elysium and Ecliptica Chamber Ensembles besides enjoying a longtime collaboration with violinist Chin Kim and a more recent duo with pianist Helene Jeanney.
A former regular artist at Bargemusic and Chamber Music Northwest, he has performed at various festivals including Caramoor, Sitka, Bard, Gretna, Seattle, Chestnut Hill, Dobbs Ferry, OK Mozart, Washington Square and Kuhmo (Finland). Mr. Oei is an Affiliate Artist of Innovative Music Programs, a company that develops and implements creative ideas with people in the visual and performing arts the world over. His television credits include Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, CBS News Sunday Morning and the Today Show. He has recorded a wide range of chamber works for Delos, ADDA, Vanguard, CRI, Pro Arte, Arabesque, Albany, Grenadilla and New World Records. Mr. Oei was the Music Director and Production Advisor 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 Theatre Workshop production of the Wallace/Foreman opera Yiddisha Teddy Bears. In the summer of ’07, he conducted the Washington Square Festival Chamber Orchestra in a Gershwin/Weill concert titled “Music as Political Statement” and he recorded the Strauss and Rachmaninoff Sonatas for cello and piano to help launch the Festival Chamber Music label using CD-60, the Steinway Grand featured in James Barron’s bestseller, Piano.
A very special project was his recent recording with Lutz Rath of The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke by Viktor Ullman for piano and speaker. In February 2010, he produced his first duo CD with violinist Eriko Sato titled “Five Not So Easy Pieces” on his new label Prestissimo. A former affiliated teacher at SUNY Purchase and the Volunteers Coordinator and Head Coach for Manhattan Special Olympics, Mr. Oei is a faculty member at Summertrios, Bennington Chamber Music Conference, Hoff-Barthelson Music School and the Mannes College of Music. He recently became pianist of Alaria, Mannes Extension Division’s ensemble-in-residence, which has offered the Chamber Music at Mannes program at Weill Recital Hall series for over two decades. Mr. Oei lives in NYC with his wife, violinist Eriko Sato, and their pit bull mix, Jazz. Please visit www.davidoei.weebly.com. Read more at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Oei
Inesa Sinkevych, pianist, Ukrainian-born, has established herself as one of the leading pianists of her generation. Critics have praised her “very personal sound and rich cantabile” (Ritmo, Spain) and her “intense, structurally sophisticated and thrilling playing” (General-Anzeiger, Germany). She has performed in many countries as recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist, in venues such as the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv, the Purcell Room at the Royal Festival Hall in London, the Minnesota Symphony Hall, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the Hong Kong City Hall and the Great Hall of the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon. She has performed as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, the Minnesota Symphony, the Gulbenkian Orchestra of Lisbon, the Gran Canaria Philharmonic of Spain, the Porto Symphony of Portugal and the Tenerife Symphony of the Canary Islands, among others. She has also been featured in numerous international summer festivals in France, mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.
Ms. Sinkevych has been a prize winner at the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Israel, the Maria CaSals International Piano Competition in Barcelona (First Prize), the Vianna da Motta and the Porto international competitions in Portugal, the Cidade del Ferrol Spanish Composers Competition and the Premio Jaén (First Prize) in Spain, the Casagrande International Competition in Italy, the Panama International Competition and the YAMAHA Piano-e-Competition in Minnesota, U.S.A. Ms. Sinkevych began her piano studies at the Kharkov Conservatory in her native country with Victor Makarov, later studying with Alexander Volkov at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. In Israel she was awarded a scholarship by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation which enabled her to continue her studies with Solomon Mikowsky in the United States, first at the Chicago College of Performing Arts (MM degree), and later at the Manhattan School of Music, where she is currently completing her DMA degree.
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VIOLIN
Tom Chiu, violinist, is noted for his contributions to new music as a pioneering violinist and composer-improviser. He has performed over 100 premiers worldwide by influential composers such as Virko Baley, Alvin Lucier, Somei Satoh, and Elliott Sharp, among many others. He has also worked closely with master improvisers David Chesky, David First, Oliver Lake, and Ornette Coleman, with whom he appeared at the Walker Art Center in 2005. His discography includes recordings on the Cambria, Chesky, Innova, Koch, Mode, and Tzadik labels. As founder of the FLUX Quartet, Chiu has helped bring a "renaissance to string quartet music" (Kyle Gann, Village Voice). In a mixed-media context, Chiu has collaborated with choreographers Shen Wei and Christopher Wheeldon, legendary soprano Jessye Norman, sound/video artist Phill Niblock, conceptual balloon artist Judy Dunaway, and director Lee Breuer from avant garde theater troupe Mabou Mines. His numerous film credits showcase his creative versatility: as composer/improviser (Boris), solo violinist (Jocasta, Last Winter), voice-over artist (Chandai Chowk to China), and actor (“The Man with One Red Shoe,” with Tom Hanks). Chiu holds degrees in music and chemistry from Yale, as well as a Doctorate from Juilliard.
Erin Keefe, violinist, won the 2006 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 200th Schadt Competition, and the 2004 Corpus Christi International String competition, and was Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen and Gyeongnam (Korea) International Violin competitions. During the 2006-2007 season she performed the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 with the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Poland, the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 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. Ms. Keefe has appeared with the Emerson String Quartet, Roberto and Andres Diaz, Edgar Meyer, Wu Han, Richard Goode, David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Gilbert Kalish, William Preucil, and Michael Tilson 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 Grammophone. She has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, Musica Menlo, Music from Angel Fire, Ravinia and other festivals. She was recently a member of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society Two program. Ms. Keefe holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a B. M. degree from the Curtis Institute. Her teachers included Ronald Copes, Ida Kavafian, and Arnold Steinhardt.
Jonathan Keren, violinist, is an award-winner at the Koussevitzky Foundation, Library of Congress (2007), a recipient of ASCAP's Young Composers Award Prize (2004) and was awarded scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation in violin and composition (1997-2003). He recently acquired a Masters degree in composition from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Milton Babbit and Samuel Adler. Mr. Keren's works have been performed at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City; the Louvre Museum in Paris; the Berlin Philharmonic Hall; the Tel-Aviv Museum, Jerusalem Music Center and the Tel-Aviv Opera House. His music has been performed by such artists as cellist Lynn Harrell, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the New Juilliard ensemble, and others. Mr. Keren began his studies as a violinist with Chaim Taub. He has participated in music festivals as an active modern music and chamber musician. Currently living in New York City, he performs with a number of classical, early music, and folk music groups, and is a co-founder of La Mela Di Newton Baroque Trio. As a violinist he has performed at Alice Tully Hall and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Opera House in Tel-Aviv and Teatro Comunale Modena in Italy.
Christopher Lee, violinist, became a protégé of Zino Francescatti at the age of 16. He studied at The Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School, earned a doctorate degree, became a Fulbright Scholar, and has been awarded four honorary doctorates. His teachers were Dorothy Delay, Henryk Szeryng, and Nathan Milstein who observed, “. . . he has the most beautiful violin sound of his generation.” Lee has received many awards, including the Guggenheim, Carl Flesch International Competition, J.S. Bach Competition and the Fritz Kreisler Prize. He has performed as a soloist under conductors Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Commissiona, Lucas Foss, Arthur Fiedler and others. His love of teaching has led him to the faculties of Taipei University Academy of Fine Arts; the Shanghai Conservatory; the Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland, where he was Szeryng’s teaching assistant; SUNY at Stonybrook, where he was assistant to Isidore Cohen; Princeton; and The Julliard School. Further, he teaches at Kean University in New Jersey, New York University, Summertrios, and in his private studio. He has served as concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony, the American Symphony, the Little Orchestra Society and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He is a founding member of the New York Piano Trio.
Timothy Peters, violinist, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and his Master of Music degree from Rice University. An avid chamber musician, Peters is currently second violinist of the Degas Quartet. With this ensemble, he has performed at the Library of Congress (on the “Ward” Stradivarius) and in the Charlotte, Raleigh, and Chicago Chamber Music Series. He was second violinist of the Brutini String Quartet, which made appearances at Carnegie Hall in the Stern Auditorium, and in the Schneider Concert Series at The New School. Peters was also a prizewinner at the 1998 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Other recent chamber music performances include Chicago’s Jewel Box Series, an appearance at the Kimmel Center, a residency at Seattle University with the Young Eight Octet, a recital in the Austin Chamber Music Series, and an appearance with the Enso Quartet in Texas.An equally avid orchestral musician, Peters has performed with the Houston, San Diego, and San Antonio Symphonies, as well as the Houston and Sarasota Opera Orchestras. He has made many festival appearances including Breckenridge, Swannanoa, the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Seminar, Musicorda, Chamber Music at the Barn, and was Concertmaster at the Spoleto and National Orchestral Institute Festivals. His teachers have included William Preucil, David Updegraff, Kenneth Goldsmith, and James Buswell. Peters currently resides in Houston, Texas.
Emily Popham, violinist, has been a featured soloist with the Starling Chamber Orchestra the Louisville Orchestra and he 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 the Manhattan School of Music and performed with the MSM Orchestra as winner of the Concerto competition.
Yuval Waldman, violinist (also conductor), made his debut as a solo violinist at the age of eight. 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 of the New American Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded for Sony, Omega, Newport Classic and Angel Records.
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VIOLA
Arthur Dibble, violist (also violinist), is active in New York’s Broadway Show scene and with the American Symphony Orchestra. He recently toured with Barbara Streisand throughout the United States and Europe. He was a former member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and frequently performs with the Harrisburg, Long Island, and Riverside Symphony Orchestras. Currently he is principal violist of the Key West Symphony. His chamber music performances throughout the world include collaborations with Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Harrell, and Gil Shaham. A dedicated educator, Mr. Dibble was professor of viola and chamber music at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a teaching artist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and holds degrees from Duquesne University and The Juilliard School.
Will Frampton, violist , is rapidly emerging as an exciting and unique artist. In recent seasons, he has appeared in recital in Boston, New York, Cambridge, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Wellesley, and gave his Carnegie Hall recital debut this February in Weill Recital Hall. He has appeared as soloist in Boston's Jordan Hall, including performances of Hindemith's "Der Schwanendreher" Concerto for Viola and Orchestra and Berlioz's Harold in Italy with Joseph Silverstein conducting. Last season, he collaborated with conductor David Hoose and the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble for a unique recital featuring the premiere of a viola concerto by Peter Homans. As a chamber musician, William's festival and workshop appearances have included Verbier Festival Academy, Kneisel Hall, Sarasota Music Festival, The Perlman Music Program, and others. An enthusiastic performer of new music, William has worked closely with composers such as Gyorgy Kurgtag, Malcolm Peyton and others. He has studied with Kim Kashkashian, Samuel Rhodes, Choong-Jin Chang, and Byrnina Socolofsky. William is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Music at Bunker Hill, a chamber music series in Southern New Jersey.
Kimberly Foster Wallace, violist, represents a new definition of classical musician in the 21st century through her creation of a portfolio career. As musician and educator, she stresses creative career building that combines performance and entrepreneurial skills, and promotes this broad definition of career development through her own example. She is a strong advocate of rarely performed solo and chamber works featuring the viola, and strives to broaden the concert repertoire of the viola as a solo instrument. As entrepreneur, she has started her own businesses, such as a successful private teaching studio in Monmouth County, New Jersey, has organized and promoted her own recitals throughout New York City, and is currently developing a program to teach entrepreneurial skills to college music students. Her performance career has led her through the Minnesota Orchestra and Albany Symphony, a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, and through orchestral tours of Japan and Russia.
She is a dedicated soloist and chamber musician, having performed as guest artist with the American and Elysium Chamber Ensembles, and, most recently, with the Alaria Chamber Ensemble at Weill Recital Hall. Other chamber music performances have been featured on international tours and also nationally on National Public Radio’s Performance Today series. A passionate teacher and chamber music coach, Ms. Wallace is a faculty member of Summertrios, the Princeton Chamber Music Playweek and Monmouth University’s Summer String In, where she coaches amateur chamber music enthusiasts. Through her multi-directional career path, Ms. Wallace hopes to serve as a catalyst for change and innovation by helping to redefine music education within the musical community at large. A native of Portland, Oregon, Ms. Wallace began her musical studies at the age of six. She studied with George Taylor at the Eastman School of Music and was granted a full scholarship to study with Jesse Levine at the Yale School of Music. Upon graduating from Yale, she was honored as the first recipient of the Georgina Lucy Grosvenor Prize. She lives with her husband, Ted, and her golden doodle, Jasper, in New Jersey.
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CELLO
James J. Cooper III, cellist, attended The Curtis Institute of Music as a student of David Soyer and Peter Wiley. He is principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and performs with the Philadelphia Orchestra as substitute cello. He also participates in the Philadelphia Chamber Music Series and the Post Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music concerts. He is principal cellist of The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra which has performed across Europe and in many South American countries. He has performed solo in the chamber music series at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church.
Robert LaRue, cellist, is a member of the New York City Opera Orchestra at Lincoln Center. He was First Prize Winner at the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition (Mstislav Rostropovitch, jury chairman). Formerly cellist in the New England String Quartet, he is currently a member of Seraphim (contemporary music ensemble). He is a graduate of Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory, Juilliard School, and also attended Indiana University School of Music. His teachers include Soyer, Greenhouse, Lesser, Starker, Tsutsumi, and Parisot; and for chamber music, Mischa Schneider (Budapest Quartet), Felix Galimir, Menahem Pressler and Bernard Greenhouse (Beaux Artes Trio), Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet), Rostislav Dubinsky (Borodin Quartet), and Samuel Sanders.
Karlos Rodriguez, cellist, made his solo orchestral debut at the age of thirteen to critical acclaim. He has since been an avid recitalist and chamber musician, appearing at 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; and with 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, the Sarasota, Aspen, and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals, the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society. As a teacher he is on the faculty at Summertrios, 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.
Michal Schmidt, cellist, has been a "double major" throughout her career. A pianist as well as a cellist she teaches at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges as well as the University of Pennsylvania. She studied both instruments in her native Israel. at the Royal Academy in London and did her undergraduate degree in the US at the Curtis Institute of Music. Michal completed her doctorate studies at Temple University. Her doctoral monograph about two of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas is accompanied by a recording of her playing both parts. Michal is a member of trio Camille, Piano4, The Hildegard Chamber Players and the Network of New Music. She has studied under cellists David Soyer, Lorne Munroe, Jeffrey Solow and Uzi Wiesel and has taken part in chamber music and solo coaching with numerous notable musicians including Lynn Harrell, Mischa Maisky, Josef Gingold, Karen Tuttle, Mischa Schneider, Felix Galimir, Sydney Griller and many others.
Brian Snow, cellist, pursues an active performing career in New York City, where he is a member of Newspeak Ensemble, the Omni Ensemble, and the Praxis String Quartet. He has appeared as a soloist with the Riverside Orchestra and Crescent City Symphony (New Orleans) and has performed with Mark Morris Dance Group, Alarm Will Sound, All-American Rejects, ACME, Fireworks Ensemble, singer-songwriter Brett Aaron, the Emerson String Quartet, and Meredith Monk. He has recorded with the Yale Cellos, Sonya Kitchell, Ratatat, Kenny Werner, and Jonsi of Sigur Ros. Brian has won top prizes at the Paranov, Emerson String Quartet, and Longy concerto soloists competitions. Currently a DMA candidate at SUNY Stony Brook, he holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and from Yale, and his cello teachers include David Finckel, Aldo Parisot, and Colin Carr. A dedicated teacher, Brian is a faculty member at Brooklyn Conservatory, Brooklyn Poly Prep, the Berkeley-Carroll School, and the 92nd St. Y School of Music.
Andrey Tchekmazov, cellist, is a Grand Prize winner of the Vittoria Gui International Chamber Music Competition in Florence and Premio Trio de Trieste in Trieste, as well as Premio della Critica in Italy. Mr. Tchekmazov has performed throughout 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 Palo, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Recital Hall. 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, Tchekmazov has “impressed his audiences with a big, warm tone and…Russian brand of virtuosity” (Strad, London-New York).