2023 Musicians

Michael Stephen Brown has been described as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers” (New York Times). Winner of a 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and an alum of CMS's Bowers Program. He makes regular appearances with orchestras such as the National Philharmonic and the Seattle, Grand Rapids, North Carolina, and Albany symphonies, and was selected by pianist András Schiff to perform an international solo recital tour, making debuts in Zurich’s Tonhalle and New York’s 92nd Street Y. This season he makes European recital debuts at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn and the Chopin Museum in Majorca. He has appeared at the Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise, Bridgehampton, and Bard music festivals, and performs regularly with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis. A prolific composer, his Piano Concerto (2020) was co-commissioned by the Gilmore Piano Festival and the NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra in Poland and was premiered by the Kalamazoo Symphony with Brown as soloist. He was the composer- and artist-in-residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017–19 seasons and a 2018 Copland House Award winner. He is the First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild competition and earned degrees in piano and composition from the Juilliard School, where he studied with pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald and composers Samuel Adler and Robert Beaser.

Photo: Neda Navaee

Hailed by the New Yorker as a “superb young soloist,” Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation. In the New York Times his playing was praised as "impassioned... the audience seduced by Mr. Canellakis's rich, alluring tone.” His recent highlights include solo debuts with the Virginia, Albany, Bangor, and Delaware symphony orchestras; concerto appearances with the Erie Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony as artist-in-residence, and the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall; Europe and Asia tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and recitals throughout the United States with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Stephen Brown, including a recital of American cello-piano works presented by CMS. An alum of CMS’s Bowers Program, he is a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals, including Santa Fe, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Bard, Bridgehampton, La Jolla, Hong Kong, Moab, Music in the Vineyards, and Saratoga Springs. He is the Artistic Director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona, and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory. Filmmaking and acting are special interests of his. He has produced, directed, and starred in several short films and music videos.

Photo: Sophie Zhoi

Dmytro Choni took home bronze at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2022, only the second Ukrainian pianist to medal at the prestigious contest. He won hearts and accolades with a compelling and colorful musicality that is fortified by a genuine, immediately engaging stage presence. As one critic noted: “Each time he strode onstage, it was with winning confidence and a big smile. He’s clearly an accomplished, assured―and communicative—pro” (Dallas Morning News).

Stand-out Cliburn performances were manyfold: Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 that “[leapt] off the page in a stunning display of musical intelligence and keyboard athleticism” and showcased “contrasting sections of lush lyricism with blazing paroxysms and helter-skelter runs—a compelling performance from start to finish” (Classical Voice North America, Musical America). Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, which was “exceptional for its elegance, but even more so for the emotional arc that he created from beginning to end” (Seen and Heard International). And a set of Debussy (“Et la lune descend sur le temple qui fut” from Images, Book II, and L’isle Joyeuse) where he “created the hypnotic, static beauty in the former and revealed the joyful sense of motion and ecstasy in the latter” (Onstage NTX).

His Cliburn prize builds on an already impressive resume. He has garnered top prizes and awards at, among others, the Paloma O’Shea Santander International Piano Competition (Spain 2018), the Leeds International Piano Competition (Great Britain 2021), and the Bösendorfer USASU (USA 2019). He has collaborated with renowned orchestras, such as the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, RTVE Symphony, Seongnam Philharmonic, Ukraine National Symphony, Castilla y León Symphony, Liechtenstein Symphony, and Dominican Republic National Symphony Orchestras, working with conductors Andrew Manze, Marin Alsop, Nicholas McGegan, Oksana Lyniv, and others. His performances in major halls and festivals—among them, the Kissinger Sommer, Verbier Festival, Dubrovnik Summer Festival, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall, and Teatro Colón Buenos Aires—have made a lasting impression on his musical development. Also a devoted chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Quartetto di Cremona, Calidore String Quartet, violinists Rudens Turku and Jack Liebeck, clarinetist Sharon Kam, and violist Nils Mönkemeyer.

Highlights from Dmytro’s 2022–2023 inaugural tour as Cliburn medalist include Beethovenfest Bonn, the Duszniki International Chopin Piano Festival (Poland), Salle Cortot (Paris) and Palau de la Música (Barcelona); concertos with the Hamburger Camerata and Silesian Philharmonic; and a recital tour across the United States.

Dmytro’s debut album was released by Naxos in 2020; it received a “Supersonic Award” from Pizzicato and was highly acclaimed by the international critics, one raving he “could be one of the 21st century’s most outstanding pianists” (David’s Review Corner).

Dmytro Choni began piano in his native Kyiv when he was 4 years old. After a particularly meaningful performance at the age of 14, which he calls “a turning point,” his lifelong journey of professional musicianship began. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine under the guidance of Yuri Kot, then moved to Austria in 2015 to study with Milana Chernyavska at the Kunstuniversität Graz. In March, he told the Fort Worth Report that music is “always kind of a hideaway from what’s going on in the world. Through the music, you can try to project the best possible emotion, the optimism, the hope.”

Cellist David Finckel’s dynamic musical career has included performances on the world’s most distinguished stages as well as ground-breaking entrepreneurial projects. As cellist of the Emerson String Quartet for thirty-four seasons, his massive chamber music repertoire – both performed and recorded - includes virtually the complete string quartets of Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Brahms, Bartok and Shostakovich, as well as the additional collaborative masterpieces and discoveries that he performs annually.

His solo and duo discography is equally comprehensive, including all the standard literature for cello and piano. Fascinated since student days by recording technology, David created ArtistLed with pianist Wu Han in 1997, the first artist-directed, internet-based classical label. His discography includes commissioned works by George Tsontakis, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Augusta Read Thomas and Pierre Jalbert, and his orchestral recordings include both the Dvorak and Harbison Concertos.

David’s enthusiasm for living luthiers is evidenced through his performances, since 1993, on a cello made for him by the Brooklyn maker Samuel Zygmuntowicz, a copy of the “Duport” Stradivari cello of 1711. At age ten, deeply inspired by the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, David committed himself to life as a cellist, and at age sixteen became Rostropovich’s first American student.

After first playing with pianist Wu Han in 1981, David added to his already busy career the responsibilities and opportunities of a professional cello-andpiano duo, both in the recording studio and on the concert stage. As artistic co-director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (since 2004) and the Music@Menlo Festival in Silicon Valley (since 2002), David Finckel oversees CMS’s Bowers Program, as well as Menlo’s annual Chamber Music Institute.

He teaches cello and chamber music at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University

Anna Geniushene’s fresh, layered, and powerful interpretations defined her participation at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—and won her the coveted silver medal and the adoration of fans around the globe. And the critics couldn’t get enough: “powerhouse sound, forceful musical personality, and sheer virtuosity…had this critic on the edge of his seat” (Musical America); “a performance of rare devotion and insight” (Onstage NTX); “a fresh version…that had this listener hanging on every bar” (La Scena).

And when Anna closed the Cliburn Competition with a momentous performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, Gramophone likened it to the contest’s revered namesake, “I couldn’t help but equate Anna Geniushene’s seasoned pianism to Cliburn at his best.”

Highlights of the upcoming 2022–2023 season include recital appearances at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Festival International de la Roque d’Anthéron, and across the United States; a tour of Japan with pianist Andrey Gugnin; piano duo concerts with Wu Han and Dmytro Choni at Wolf Trap and La Musica Festival; engagements with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra and Taipei Symphony Orchestra; and the birth of her second child.

Born in Moscow on New Year’s Day in 1991, Anna made her recital debut just seven years later in the small hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. She has since developed a diverse and versatile career as an artist: performances in major world venues such as the Town Hall in Leeds, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Museum of Arts in Tel Aviv, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and Sala Greppi in Bergamo; appearances with famed conductors, including Marin Alsop, Edward Gardner, Nicholas McGegan, Arvo Volmer, Gintaras Rinkevičius, and Valentin Uryupin; a dedication to chamber music, including duo piano repertoire with her husband, Lukas Geniušas, and close collaboration with Quartetto di Cremona; and the creation of her own festival of collaborative music-making (NikoFest).

During the pandemic, Anna’s penchant for creativity manifested in online projects, such as a series of online recitals for the Vancouver Chopin Society, participation in the “Armchairs Season” of the Moscow Philharmonic, and recording sessions for the ConSpirito music channel on YouTube. Her debut CD was released on LINN Records in March 2020. A laureate of major international piano contests, she previously had strong finishes at the Leeds (laureate and finalist), Tchaikovsky (semifinalist) and Busoni (third prize) Competitions.

Anna Geniushene graduated from the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in 2015, where she studied with professor Elena Kuznetsova, and completed her Master’s with Distinction and Advanced Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music (London) in 2018 under the tutelage of Professor Emeritus Christopher Elton. She currently resides in Lithuania with her husband and their young son, Tomas.

Pianist Wu Han, recipient of Musical America’s Musician of the Year Award, the highest honor bestowed by the organization, enjoys a multi-faceted musical life that encompasses performing, recording and artistic direction at the highest levels. Currently artistic co-director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Music@Menlo, Silicon Valley’s innovative chamber music festival, she also serves as artistic advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music in the Barns series and for Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts.

Her recent concert activities have taken her from New York’s Lincoln Center stages to the most important concert halls in the United States, Europe and Asia. In addition to countless performances of virtually the entire chamber repertoire, her recent concerto performances include appearances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

She is the founder and artistic director of ArtistLed, classical music’s first artist-directed, internet-based recording label (1997) which has released her performances of the staples of the cello-piano duo repertoire with cellist David Finckel. Her more than 80 releases on ArtistLed, CMS Live and Music@Menlo Live include masterworks of the chamber repertoire with numerous distinguished musicians, the latest being Schubert’s Winterreise with baritone Nikolay Borchev.

During the past season, Wu Han designed and produced more than 200 digital media projects, including concerts and innovative educational programs, which have sustained the art of chamber music in dozens of communities across the United States. At CMS, Wu Han was instrumental in transforming the CMS Two Program into today’s Bowers Program, which admits, through rigorous and highly competitive auditions, stellar young musicians to the CMS roster for a term of three seasons.

Passionately dedicated to education for musicians of all ages and experience, Wu Han directs the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, which immerses some forty young musicians every summer in the multi-faceted fabric of the festival. Wu Han was privileged to serve on multiple occasions as a faculty member of Isaac Stern’s Chamber Music Encounters in Israel, New York and Japan.

A recipient of the prestigious Andrew Wolf Award, Wu Han was mentored by an elite selection of some of the greatest pianists of our time, including Lilian Kallir, Rudolf Serkin, and Menahem Pressler. 

Married to cellist David Finckel since 1985, Wu Han divides her time between concert touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County. 

Acclaimed by critics worldwide for his exceptional talent and magnificent tone, American violinist Chad Hoopes has remained a consistent and versatile performer with many of the world’s leading orchestras since winning First Prize at the Young Artists Division of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.

Hoopes is a 2017 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Career Grant. Former winners include Kirill Gerstein, Yuja Wang, Leila Josefowicz, Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn.

Highlights of past and present seasons include performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse for the French premiere of Qigang Chen’s concerto La joie de la souffrance. He has performed with leading orchestras including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston and National Symphony, as well as Minnesota Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Hoopes frequently performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has additionally performed recitals at the Ravinia Festival, the Tonhalle Zürich, the Louvre, and at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series in New York City.

His debut recording with the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra under Kristjan Järvi featured the Mendelssohn and Adams concertos and was enthusiastically received by both press and public. His recording of Bernstein’s Violin Sonata with pianist Wayne Marshall was released in 2019.

 Hoopes is a frequent guest artist at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, the Rheingau Festival, and at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where he was named the winner of the prestigious Audience Award.

Born in Florida, Hoopes began his violin studies at the age of three in Minneapolis, and continued his training at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He additionally studied at the Kronberg Academy under the guidance of Professor Ana Chumachenco, who remains his mentor.

He plays the 1991 Samuel Zygmuntowicz, ex Isaac Stern violin.

Chad Hoopes is represented worldwide by Tanja Dorn at Dorn Music.

Photo: Copyright, Jiyang Chen

Recipient of the prestigious 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2017 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists, violinist Paul Huang is considered to be one of the most distinctive artists of his generation. The Washington Post remarked that Mr. Huang "possesses a big, luscious tone, spot-on intonation and a technique that makes the most punishing string phrases feel as natural as breathing," and further proclaimed him as "an artist with the goods for a significant career" following his recital debut at the Kennedy Center.

Mr. Huang's recent highlights have included acclaim debut at Bravo!Vail Music Festival stepping in for violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in the Mozart’s Violin Concerto No.4 with Chamber Orchestra Vienna-Berlin, Detroit Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, Houston Symphony with Andres Orozco-Estrada, Baltimore Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic with Markus Stenz, and recital debuts at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and Aspen Music Festival. In Fall 2021, Paul also became the first classical violinist to perform his own arrangement of the National Anthem for the opening game of the NFL at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina to an audience of 75,000. 

During the 2022-23 season, Mr. Huang opens the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan season with Jun Markl (also embarks on a US tour at the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Ceneter's David Geffen Hall) and makes debut with the Hiroshima Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic with Lahav Shani,  and Dallas Symphony Orchestra with Fabio Luisi. Other highlights will include engagements with the Buffalo and Fort Wayne Philharmonics, and Colorado, San Diego, and Pensacola Symphonies.

2022-23 season recital and chamber music performances will include Mr. Huang’s return to both the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica, his recital debut at Alice Tully Hall with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and appearances at the Washington Performing Arts, Wolf Trap, the Rockefeller University, the Society of Four Arts in Palm Beach, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music San Francisco. In January 2023, Mr. Huang will launch the first edition of "Paul Huang & Friends" International Chamber Music Festival in Taipei, Taiwan in association with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan.

Mr. Huang's recent recital engagements included Lincoln Center's "Great Performers" series and return recital engagement at the Kennedy Center. He also stepped in for Midori with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony to critical acclaim. Mr. Huang has also made debuts at the Wigmore Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and the Louvre in Paris.

A frequent guest artist at music festivals worldwide, he has performed at the Seattle, Music@Menlo, Savannah, Caramoor, La Jolla, Santa Fe, Moritzburg, Kissinger Sommer, Sion, Orford Musique, and the PyeongChang Music Festival in South Korea. His chamber music collaborators have included Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Nobuko Imai, Mischa Maisky, Jian Wang, Lynn Harrell, Yefim Bronfman, Kirill Gerstein and Marc-Andre Hamelin.

Winner of the 2011 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Huang made critically acclaimed recital debuts in New York at Lincoln Center and in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center. Other honors include First Prize at the 2009 Tibor Varga International Violin Competition Sion-Valais in Switzerland, the 2009 Chi-Mei Cultural Foundation Arts Award for Taiwan’s Most Promising Young Artists, the 2013 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and the 2014 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award.

Born in Taiwan, Mr. Huang began violin lessons at the age of seven. He is a recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees under Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee. He plays on the legendary 1742 “ex-Wieniawski” Guarneri del Gesù on extended loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago and is on the faculty of Taipei National University of the Arts. He resides in New York.

A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. She is the co-founder and artistic director of Emerald City Music in Seattle and was recently appointed to the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music faculty as assistant professor of violin.

Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Ural Philharmonic of Russia, Korean Broadcasting Symphony, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, and Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Dominican Republic. She has performed on the world’s finest concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Kennedy Center, Kimmel Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ravinia Festival, the Louvre Museum, the Phillips Collection, and Korea’s Kumho Art Gallery. An accomplished chamber musician, Lee is a member of both the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Camerata Pacifica in Santa Barbara, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Lee began studying violin at age five and within one year won First Prize at the Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the United States to continue her studies under Sonja Foster and in 1997 entered The Juilliard School’s Pre-College. In 2000, Lee was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman. Lee holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School.

American violist Matthew Lipman has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman is relied on as one of the leading players of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber musician.

Lipman has debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival in the summer of 2021. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the American Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Lipman has worked with conductors Edward Gardner, Sir Neville Marriner, Osmo Vänskä, and Nicholas McGegan. He performs regularly on tour and at Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Lipman performed with fellow violist Tabea Zimmermann at Michael Tilson Thomas’ Viola Visions Festival at the New World Symphony and has debuted in recital at Carnegie Hall, Newport Classical, and the Tonhalle in Zurich.

Lipman made his Sony Classical debut recording, The Dvorak Album with the Moritzburg Festival. Ascent, his 2019 release by Cedille Records, was celebrated by The Strad as a “most impressive” debut album and Lipman was praised for his “authoritative phrasing and attractive sound.” The album marks the premiere recording of Shostakovich’s, Impromptu and of Clarice Assad’s Metamorfose, which Lipman commissioned for the album. He has recorded Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by the late Sir Neville Marriner.

Lipman is the recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and has won major prizes at international competitions. He studied at The Juilliard School with Heidi Castleman, and with Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy. An alum of the Bowers Program, Lipman occupies the Wallach Chair at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, He performs on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola loaned through the generous efforts of the Pine Foundation and on a 2021 Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn.

Matthew Lipman is represented worldwide by Dorn Music.

Photo: Copyright, Abi Krelik

Praised by Strad magazine as having "lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines," violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation.  In addition to appearances as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which was described in Stradas being "fleet and energetic...powerful and focused".  

Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008-2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include First Prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale.  She then received her Master's Degree in String Quartet with the Dover Quartet at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, as a student of James Dunham.

Possessing a voice praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for its “effortless precision and tonal luster,” Grammy Award-winning soprano Jessica Rivera is one of the most creatively inspired vocal artists performing before the public today. The intelligence, dimension and spirituality with which she infuses her performances on great international concert and opera stages has garnered Ms. Rivera unique artistic collaborations with many of today’s most celebrated composers, including John Adams, Osvaldo Golijov, Gabriela Lena Frank, Jonathan Leshnoff, Nico Muhly, and Paola Prestini, and has brought her together with such esteemed conductors as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Robert Spano, Markus Stenz, Bernard Haitink, and Michael Tilson Thomas.

A champion of new music, Ms. Rivera recently gave the world premiere of Nico Muhly’s The Right of Your Senses, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed by the National Children’s Chorus and the American Youth Symphony conducted by Carlos Izcaray at Walt Disney Concert Hall. A major voice in the rich culture of Latin American music and composers, Ms. Rivera recently performed in Antonio Lysy’s beloved Te Amo Argentina with Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and partnered with pianist Mark Carver for a recital titled Homage to Victoria de los Angeles at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, FL. Recent seasons have seen Ms. Rivera premiere Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem with the Houston Symphony and Chorus conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and perform John Harbison’s Requiem with the Nashville Symphony and Chorus under Giancarlo Guerrero, recorded and released on the Naxos label in October 2018.

Ms. Rivera treasures her decade-long collaboration with Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She was featured as a soloist on Spano’s final concert as ASO Music Director, singing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Other recent highlights with Spano and the ASO include Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem and Jonathan Leshnoff’s Zohar with the ASO and Chorus at Carnegie Hall. Additionally, she joined Spano for Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Fort Worth Symphony and for Christopher Theofanidis’s Creation/Creator in Atlanta and at the Kennedy Center’s 2017 SHIFT Festival of American Orchestras. Here she also sang Robert Spano’s Hölderlin Lieder, a song cycle written specifically for her and recorded on the ASO Media label.

Ms. Rivera has worked closely with John Adams throughout her career, and received international praise for the world premiere of A Flowering Tree, singing the role of Kumudha in a production directed by Peter Sellars at Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival. Under Adams’s baton, she has sung the role with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre. She has also performed Kumudha in her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and the Cincinnati Opera led by Joana Carneiro. Ms. Rivera made her European operatic debut as Kitty Oppenheimer in Sellars’s acclaimed production of Adams’s Doctor Atomic with the Netherlands Opera, a role that also served for her debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Finnish National Opera and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Spain. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its new production of Doctor Atomic under the direction of Alan Gilbert. Ms. Rivera has also performed Nixon Tapes with the Pittsburgh Symphony under John Adams’s direction, as well as his composition El Niño with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson, San Francisco Symphony under John Adams, and at the Edinburgh International Festival with James Conlon and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Rivera made her critically acclaimed Santa Fe Opera debut in the summer of 2005 as Nuria in the world premiere of the revised edition of Osvaldo Golijov's Ainadamar. She reprised the role for the 2007 Grammy Award-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording of the work with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, and bowed in the Peter Sellars staging at Lincoln Center and Opera Boston, as well as in performances at the Barbican Centre, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Cincinnati Opera, and the Ojai, Ravinia, and New Zealand International Arts Festivals. Performances of Margarita Xirgu in Ainadamar took place in the summer of 2007 at the Colorado Music Festival under the baton of Michael Christie and she reprised the part recently for the Teatro Real in Madrid.

Committed to the art of recital, Ms. Rivera has appeared in concert halls in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas and Santa Fe. She was deeply honored to receive a commission from Carnegie Hall for the World Premiere of Nico Muhly’s song cycle entitled The Adulteress, for her Weill Hall recital performance.

As a recording artist, Ms. Rivera’s extensive discography includes releases on the Deutsche Grammophon, Nonesuch, Naxos, Telarc, Urtext, VIA Records, Opus Arte, CSO Resound, and ASO Media labels. Her third release for Urtext, an Homage to Victoria de los Angeles, was released in 2021.

Keith Robinson, cellist, is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet and has been active as a chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist since his graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music. Robinson has had numerous solo appearances with orchestras throughout the U.S. including the New World Symphony, The American Sinfonietta, and the Miami Chamber Symphony, and in 1989 won the P.A.C.E. "Classical Artist of the Year" Award.

His most recent recording released on Blue Griffin Records features the Complete works for Cello and Piano with his colleague Donna Lee. Fanfare Magazine wrote: "I have sampled several CD's (of the works for cello and piano by Mendelssohn) and found them very fine, but my gut feeling is still to go with Robinson and Lee. This one is, quite simply, amazing". Lynn Ren Bayley - Fanfare Magazine. He has performed the complete works for Cello and Piano by Beethoven on many occasions with her as well. As a member of the Miami Quartet he has recorded for BMG, CRI, Musical Heritage Society and Pyramid recording labels.

In 1992, the Miami String Quartet became the first string quartet in a decade to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. The Miami String Quartet has also won recognition in competitions throughout the world; as laureate of the 1993 Evian Competition, 1991 London String Quartet Competition, and as the 1989 Grand Prize Winner of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. In 2000 the Quartet received the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award and was named to the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two Program as well.

Keith regularly attends festivals across the United States, including those in Santa Fe, Music@Menlo, Kent Blossom Music, Mostly Mozart, Vail Music Festival, Savannah Music Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. He appears with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on a regular basis, including a tour in Taiwan this past November. Highlights of recent seasons include performances in New York at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, engagements in Boston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Paul, and Philadelphia . International highlights include appearances in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei and Paris.

Keith hails from a musical family and his siblings include Sharon Robinson of the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio, and Hal Robinson, Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Keith plays a Carlo Tononi cello made in Venice and dated 1725. Mr. Robinson serves on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music as a professor of Chamber Music.

Praised for his “spectacular performances” (Wall Street Journal), and his “unfailing virtuosity” (Chicago Tribune), Grammy-nominated percussionist Ian David Rosenbaum has developed a musical breadth far beyond his years. As a passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered over one hundred new chamber and solo works. He has collaborated with and championed the music of established and emerging composers alike. He was nominated for three Grammy Awards in 2021 for his performances on albums of music by Andy Akiho and Christopher Cerrone, including two nominations for Seven Pillars, an album by Sandbox Percussion released on Aki Rhythm Productions, a record label he co-founded with Akiho in 2021. In 2012, he joined the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) as only the second percussionist selected in its history and has performed regularly with the Chamber Music Society since then. Highlights of the 2021-22 season include the world premiere of Seven Pillars, a collaboration with the Borromeo String Quartet at the New England Conservatory, performances with pianist Michael Stephen Brown and cellist Nick Canellakis, and a performance of George Crumb’s seminal work Ancient Voices of Children with CMS. He is a founding member of Sandbox Percussion, the Percussion Collective, and the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Bridge, Innova, Naxos, and Starkland labels and is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Rosenbaum performs with Pearl/Adams instruments, Vic Firth mallets, and Remo drumheads.

Photo: Matt Fried

Violinist James Thompson enjoys a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, educator, and lecturer. He is currently on faculty at Music@Menlo and has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program since 2021.

Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Thompson considers himself fortunate to have been surrounded by an abundance of world-class musical artists and educators from a young age. Through the preparatory program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he was introduced to the world of chamber music – an artform whose intimacy and power inspired his devotion to the violin.

Thompson has since performed for prestigious chamber music organizations across the country including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, the Four Arts Society, Parlance Chamber Concerts, the Perlman Music Program, and the Taos School of Music. Solo engagements include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra. He was invited to perform in Budapest as part of the First Bartok World Competition and in Sendai for the Seventh Sendai International Violin Competition.

Recently, Thompson’s abilities as a presenter have earned him invitations to speak at a variety of established concert series. His multimedia live-interview with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, was a highlight of his 2021/2022 season. As newly-appointed director of Music@Menlo’s Winter Residency, he curates diverse student and community programs in the Bay Area.

Alongside his career onstage, Thompson is forming a strong reputation as a private instructor and chamber music coach. In 2019, he joined the faculty of Music@Menlo as both a coach for the Young Performer’s Program and a mainstage artist. He has recently served as a teaching fellow at both the Encore Chamber Music Festival and the Western Reserve Chamber Music Festival. He views his work with young people as an immensely important aspect of his calling as a musician, and is grateful to have the opportunity to share with everyone the joy he has found making music.

Thompson holds Bachelor of Music, Masters, and Artist Diploma degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music; his primary teachers include Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, and Paul Kantor. He currently resides in Rochester, New York with his wife, violinist Jeanelle Thompson.

Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of extraordinary versatility and originality. He is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, winner of the Naumburg and Geneva competitions, and was selected for the 2016 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. He has made appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, San Francisco Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Chicago Symphony, and Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg while performing recitals and chamber music at Ravinia, Tokyo’s Musashino Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Lucerne Festival, Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Music@Menlo. Deeply committed to the performance of contemporary music, he has premiered numerous works both in the United States and Europe and has worked closely with numerous notable composers including Jörg Widmann, Heinz Holliger, Anthony Cheung, and George Benjamin. Recent projects include a performance of Carlos Chávez's Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium with The Orchestra Now, a debut at Mostly Mozart, a critically acclaimed recording of music of Richard Strauss and Kurt Leimer with the Bern Symphony Orchestra and Mario Venzago for Schweizer Fonogramm, as well as multiple appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. During the summer of 2022, Vonsattel appeared at seven of the United States’ most prestigious chamber music festivals. An alum of CMS's Bowers Program, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Columbia University and his master’s degree from the Juilliard School. He currently makes his home in New York City. Vonsattel is Professor of Piano at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and serves on the faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Photo: Marco Borggreve