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PCP Music Faculty

We strive to provide exceptional faculty to privately tutor, coach, and serve as role models for our campers. Our music faculty is composed of young professionals from all over the country who perform regularly, and who also have a passion for teaching and coaching.

During each summer camp session, our faculty perform public concerts at local venues. Their presentations of major works of the chamber music repertoire excite and motivate campers in their own musical growth. This popular series builds an intimate awareness of the discipline and joy of professional music making. The motivation and excitement is manifested in the many wonderful student performances. We are proud to have an exceptional list of accomplished individuals joining the Point CounterPoint faculty!

Directors of Music

Session 1: Philip Boulanger

Session 2: Ari Streisfeld

Session 3: Paola Caballero

Session 4: Beste Tiknaz

Session 1

Philip Boulanger, Director of Music and cellist

philip boulangerPhilip Boulanger lives in New Haven, CT, where he serves as cellist of the Haven String Quartet and Resident Cellist of Music Haven, a nationally recognized and award-winning nonprofit organization that provides tuition-free lessons and instruments to 90 students living in the most underserved neighborhoods of New Haven. Philip directs Music Haven’s student chamber music program, maintains a full teaching studio, performs over 25 concerts a year with the Haven String Quartet, and leads Music Haven’s student orchestra, “Harmony in Action.”

Prior to joining Music Haven in 2013, Philip served as a Teaching Artist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, designing new and innovative curricula for a variety of music education and outreach programs across Chicago Public Schools. Philip worked closely with Yo-Yo Ma on the Chicago Symphony’s Citizen Musician Initiative, including a performance together of Schubert’s Cello Quintet, and joined the CSO cello section for their MusicNOW series.

Philip received his Masters in Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University and was the teaching assistant to Hans Jensen at the Meadowmount School of Music. While at Northwestern, Philip also held the position of Assistant Principal Cellist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Philip received his Bachelors of Music from Boston University, and an Artist Certificate from the Krakow Academy of Music in Poland. Philip is also a Point CounterPoint alum, spending a memorable 14 weeks over two summers on Lake Dunmore in the 90’s.

 


 

Patrick Doane, violinist

Since moving to New Haven, Connecticut in 2017, Patrick has served as concertmaster and soloist with orchestras, and has performed in recitals throughout the northeast. He regularly performs with the New Haven, Hartford, and Harrisburg Symphony Orchestras. Since receiving his Bachelors and Masters degrees from Juilliard, Patrick has been working on completing his doctorate at The Graduate Center, CUNY in New York City.

Patrick has been described as a “compelling violinist” by the New York Times. The New Haven Independent writes, “His virtuosic playing and obvious command of his instrument was always in service of grand, thrilling musical gestures… Doane made the piece feel effortless, like flying, swooping, soaring, pirouetting.” His recent solo and chamber performances include recitals throughout the northeast United States, concerto appearances in New York City, and radio broadcasts on WMNR Fine Arts Radio.

Patrick has been the recipient of scholarships and awards from Juilliard, CUNY Graduate Center, The Banff Centre, Aspen School of Music, and The Meadowmount School of Music. As a composer, Patrick has composed works for the Spelaeus Quartet, The Portland String Quartet, and for solo violin. He has made several musical arrangements and transcriptions for The Noel Pointer Foundation and Music Haven in New Haven, CT.  An avid reader and listener of all sorts of music, Patrick enjoys doing headstands, lake swims, and cooking spicy food.

 


 

Erin Ellis, cellist

Erin EllisCellist Erin Ellis leads a versatile career as a performer and teacher.  She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States as well as in Canada, Chile, Italy, and Holland.  She was recently appointed as Assistant Professor of Cello at West Virginia University’s School of Music.  Formerly based in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. Ellis has appeared as a chamber musician at venues including the University of Alabama, the Atlanta Public Library, and Georgia State University.  She served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Atlanta Opera and continues to serve as Principal Cellist of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (GA). Dr. Ellis is also an accomplished baroque cellist and a member of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.  She can be heard on several recordings with the New Trinity Baroque Orchestra.
A dedicated music educator, she joins West Virginia University from the faculty at Agnes Scott College and the Waldorf School of Atlanta.  She also served as interim cello faculty at State University of New York at Fredonia.  In demand as guest artist and clinician, she has conducted masterclasses at Georgia Tech, Furman University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  She was also invited to present at the American String Teacher’s Association Conference in Louisville, KY, and in Tampa, FL.  She spends her summers in Leicester, VT, performing and coaching chamber music at Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Camp.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Ellis began her cello studies as a Suzuki student at the age of 4. She earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and she completed Suzuki teacher training with Tanya Carey. She went on to receive the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree with a minor in Early Music from the Eastman School of Music, where she was recognized with the Graue Award for Excellence in Musicology. She studied the cello with Richard Aaron, David Ying, Alison Wells, Phoebe Carrai, and Martha Gerschefski.

 


 

Gillian Gallagher, violist

Gillian Gallagheriolist and educator Gillian Gallagher studied chamber music with the Juilliard, Guarneri, Emerson, and Tokyo String Quartets. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The Juilliard School, and has been on faculty at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, New York’s Center for Arts Education, and the Berklee College of Music Summer String Program. Well-versed in many different styles of music, Gillian has performed and recorded with a broad variety of ensembles such as the new-music band Hotel Elefant, Taylor Mac’s 24-hour History of Popular Music, the JACK and Attacca Quartets, and violinist and composer Mark O’Connor. Recent performances include concerts at the Park Avenue Armory, National Gallery of Art, and the Philharmonie de Paris with the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. Next season, she will premiere “Adoration”, a new opera by Mary Kouyoumdjian, at Canada’s Banff Centre and the 2024 Prototype Festival in New York. Originally from Saratoga Springs, NY, Gillian currently lives in Providence, RI.


Karl Ørvik, violinist

Karl ØrvikKarl Ørvik, violin and viola, has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Norway and South Korea.  He has been a concerto soloist with the Bangor, Racine and Green Bay Civic symphonies, and has extensive experience as a concertmaster and section player with numerous other orchestras in New England and the Midwest.  An enthusiastic chamber musician, he is a former violinist with the Boston Public Quartet, and concertizes frequently with Stonehill College’s resident faculty ensemble, the Stonehill Trio.  As the founding violinist of Trio Klaritas, he has performed on concert series in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles, as well as at the Tanglewood Music Center and Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall.  Mr. Ørvik has taught violin and viola in a variety of settings, and he works easily with students of all ages and abilities. He is a professor of violin and viola at both the University of New Hampshire and Stonehill College, and a long-time member of the string faculty at the historic Community Music Center of Boston, where he was the recipient of the 2017 Marilla MacDill Prize for Teaching Excellence.  In the summers he teaches at the UNC-Asheville Chamber Music Workshop in North Carolina, the Point Counterpoint music festival in Vermont and the Youth and Muse festival in Boston. He has been published in the ASTA Journal, and is the author of New Scale Method, an innovative scale method book for advanced violinists and violists.  A native of Canada, Mr. Ørvik has studied with many distinguished musicians, including Roman Totenberg, Stephen Majeske and Calvin Wiersma, and members of the Muir, Cleveland, Cavani, Fine Arts and Portland string quartets.  He holds performance degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Lawrence University, and in January of 2012 he received his DMA from Boston University.


Nora Bartosik, pianist

Nora BartosikPianist Nora Bartosik has performed internationally as a soloist and in chamber ensembles in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. She was a Piano Fellow at the Tanglewood Festival in 2018 and has performed in other international festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Saoû Chante Mozart Festival in Saoû, France, the Festival des Nuits d’été in Macon, France, the HARMOS Chamber Music Festival in Porto, Portugal and the Max Reger Forum in Bremen. Beyond her regular performance activities, she has served on the jury of the Suffolk Piano Teachers Foundation Piano Competition on Long Island and given recitals in Harvard University’s historic Sanders Theater to benefit afterschool arts programs for children in the Boston area. From 2010-2012, she was on the artist roster of Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Germany, an organization with the mission to bring live music to audiences who otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience it. She was a two-time recipient of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship.

 

Nora Bartosik holds degrees from Harvard University, the Mozarteum University in Salzburg and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig. She also attended the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover upon the invitation of noted piano pedagogue Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. She studied piano with Ursula Oppens, Jacques Rouvier, Gerald Fauth, Patricia Zander and Robert Levin, and performed in masterclasses with artists including Daniel Barenboim, Emmanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma and Leon Fleisher.

Nora Bartosik resides in New York City and is on the faculty of the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University and Opus One Music in Manhattan.


Gregory Tompkins, violinist

Gregory TompkinsGregory Tompkins is a native of Greenville, S.C. He holds a B.M. in violin performance and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of Charles Castleman. Recently, he received his Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory as a student of Lucy Chapman and Jennifer Frautschi. Gregory has participated in a variety of summer festivals across the United States, including Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Festival USA, the Castleman Quartet Program, and the National Repertory Orchestra. He concertizes regularly in solo and chamber recitals all over the eastern United States and has performed as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

 


 

Zeynep Alpan, violinist

Zeynep AlpanTurkish-American violinist, Zeynep Alpan, started studying the violin at the age of 5 as part of her music therapy treatment for her diagnosis of speech delay. Almost immediately after being introduced to the violin, Zeynep began to speak and following a year and a half of violin studies, she had her first solo appearance with Vivaldi’s A minor Violin Concerto, after winning the Peabody Concerto Competition. Since then, Zeynep has appeared in a myriad of prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Moscow Conservatory Great Hall, Mariinsky II Theatre, and Strathmore Hall. Future engagements include an Artist Residency at Bilkent University.

 

With a passion for teaching, Zeynep is a New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist partnering with New York City Schools and has also partnered with the Kennedy Center for educational projects. Zeynep is on faculty for the Lincoln Center Audition Boot Camp and the Elizabeth Faidley Studio. As a doctoral candidate at Stony Brook University, Zeynep is currently a teaching assistant. She has previously taught for education programs at the Juilliard School (Music Advancement Program, and Morse Teaching Artist), Nord Anglia International School New York (String Ensemble Coach), and the Aspen Music Festival and School (P.A.L.S. Program).

 

In addition, Zeynep has produced a multitude of events including performances, workshops, and lectures. In 2019, Zeynep co-founded a non-profit arts production center, Artemp. Under this non-profit organization, she has initiated projects such as the Turkish American Cultural Laboratory (TACL) where she produces a variety of educational events and performances that enhance the cultural collaboration of the artists from America and Turkey through the contemporary arts.TACL is proud to be sponsored by Turkish Airlines.

 

Zeynep is a graduate of the Juilliard School (B.M. and M.M. under the Ahmet Ertegun Scholarship) and is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Violin Performance at Stony Brook University.

 

Session 2

Ari Streisfeld, Director of Music and violinist

Violinist Ari Streisfeld has garnered critical acclaim worldwide for his performances of diverse repertoire and has established himself as one of the foremost interpreters of contemporary classical music. Praised for his “dazzling performance” by the New York Times and “scintillating playing” by New York Classical Review, Dr. Streisfeld is a founding member of the world renowned JACK Quartet. He has collaborated with many of today’s most prominent composers including John Luther Adams, Caroline Shaw, Julia Wolfe, Helmut Lachenmann, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, Steve Reich, and Salvatore Sciarrino.

Together with his wife, mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway, Dr. Streisfeld formed Duo Cortona, a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of new works for the unique instrumentation of mezzo-soprano and violin. He is also a member of Shir Ami, an ensemble dedicated to the performance and preservation of Jewish art music. Dr. Streisfeld frequently collaborates with some of today’s leading ensembles, including Ensemble Signal, International Contemporary Ensemble, Worldless Music Orchestra, and Weekend of Chamber Music.

Hailed as “imaginative” by the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Streisfeld’s arrangements of madrigals and motets for string quartet by Machaut and Gesualdo have been performed to acclaim both at home and abroad. He has recorded for Mode, Albany, Carrier, Innova, Cantaloupe, Another Timbre, New Focus, and New World Records.

A passionate and committed music educator, Dr. Streisfeld holds the position of Assistant Professor of Violin and Violin Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina School of Music. He also serves as head of strings at the Carolina Summer Music Conservatory, Music Director for Point CounterPoint (Vermont) and is on the faculty of the Cortona Sessions for New Music (Italy).

Dr. Streisfeld holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (Bachelor of Music), Northwestern University (Master of Music), and Boston University (Doctor of Musical Arts). His teachers include Zvi Zeitlin, Almita Vamos, and Peter Zazofsky.

 


 

Jennifer Carpenter​, cellist

Jennifer Carpenter is an experienced performer in a diverse range of musical styles and ensembles. She is a tenured member of Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and her past orchestral experiences include performances in the Juilliard Orchestra, where she served as principal cellist, Aspen Music Festival and School, where she served as a fellow in the conducting academy orchestra, and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. As a dedicated chamber musician, she has performed at festivals such as The Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival fellowship program, Orford Musique, and the Castleman Quartet Program. She has also performed chamber music on the WXXI Live from Hochstein radio broadcast concert series, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Living Room Series, and Brockport’s Winter Serenades. Additionally, she has given numerous chamber music and solo performances at The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, where she earned Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees, respectively. Her past teachers include Natasha Brofsky, Laurence Lesser, Phoebe Carrai, Darrett Adkins, Catharina Meints, Eric Kim, and Ellen Shertzer.

In addition to modern performance, Carpenter is an enthusiast of historical performance, and during her studies at The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory she studied baroque cello and viola da gamba. Also an advocate of new music, she collaborates frequently with living composers, performs premieres, and has appeared with New Juilliard Ensemble, OSSIA New Music, and Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble.

As an educator, over the years Carpenter has taught cello students of various ages and levels. She received training to be a Suzuki Method teacher at The School for Strings in New York. She has served as a Lecturer in Music at Nazareth College, and as a mentor and coach to students in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, Kneisel Hall Program for Maine Students, and Wyoming Seminary Performing Arts Institute. She currently coordinates chamber music ensembles at the University of Rochester and serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Eastman School of Music, where she is working towards a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and is a recipient of the Performer’s Certificate.

 


 

Martine Thomas, violist

Martine Thomas (pronouns: she/her) is a violist, performing internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, improviser, and composer collaborator. She has appeared at the Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Mariinsky Theatre, Disney Hall, the KKL Lucerne, the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, and at the BBC Proms, Mariinsky White Nights Festival, Donaueschingen Festival, and Lucerne Festival. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Tyshawn Sorey, Kim Kashkashian, and Ghost Ensemble. Martine loves presenting solo recitals, and is looking forward to recitals this year in New York City, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and upstate New York. She is also passionate about recitals and concerts in community-oriented settings, including as a Music for Food artist fellow, through Meristem Artists, at the Biophony Festival, and in Celebrity Series Concert for One. Martine has a special interest in contemporary music and working with composers, which has led to recent collaborations and premieres with Tyshawn Sorey, Rebecca Saunders, George Lewis, Catherine Lamb, Miya Masaoka, and Joy Guidry as well as extensive workshops and performances at the Banff Centre and Lucerne Festival.

Martine received her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard and her Master of Music from New England Conservatory, where she studied in the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree program. Her mentors include Paul Neubauer, Martha Katz, Mark Steinberg, Paul Biss, and Vijay Iyer. She is currently working on a doctorate in viola performance at CUNY Graduate Center and is on the string faculty at Brooklyn College Conservatory and Point CounterPoint.

Martine is a poetry editor for Peripheries Journal and a recipient of the Joan Gray Untermeyer Poetry Prize and the Le Baron Russell Briggs Travelling Prize. Jorie Graham advised Martine’s senior thesis, a collection of original poems. Her poems have been recently featured in Lana Turner Journal and the Colorado Review.

 
 

 


 

David Shimoni, pianist

Praised by the New York Times for his “fluid and nuanced performance” and “fine musicianship,” pianist David Shimoni launched his career as the first-prize winner of the National Federation of Music Clubs’ Young Artist Auditions. He has appeared in recital in New York’s Zankel Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Museum of Modern Art. He has also been featured at the Barns at Wolf Trap, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and the Dallas
Museum of Art. He has been a guest artist at the Chautauqua, Brevard, Moab, Rockport, Foothills, and Golandsky music festivals, and his performances have been broadcast live on radio stations WGBH-Boston, WFMT-Chicago, and WQXR-New
York.
Sought after for his skills as a collaborator, Dr. Shimoni has performed with the Jupiter String Quartet, New York Festival of Song, Southeastern Festival of Song, and Toronto Dance Theatre. He has accompanied singers under such auspices as the Marilyn Horne Foundation and the Juilliard School’s Alice Tully Hall Vocal Debut Recital, and he has completed eighteen educational and outreach tours throughout the United States in affiliation with the Piatigorsky Foundation. Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Dr. Shimoni has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Swarthmore College, Masters degrees in both solo and collaborative performance fromthe Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His teachers have included Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert McDonald, Ilya Itin, Edna Golandsky, and Marc Durand.  Dr. Shimoni has been on the teaching and accompanying staff of The Juilliard School, Brooklyn College, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, the Ravinia Steans Institute, and Trevor Day School in New York. He has also given master classes and educational workshops throughout the United States and was invited to give presentations on his teaching approach at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference. He presently resides with his wife, soprano Jennifer Zetlan, and their daughter in New York City, where he maintains a large studio of piano students.

 


 

Marina Kifferstein, violinist

MARINA KIFFERSTEIN (she/they) is a violinist, composer, and educator based in NYC. Equally comfortable in major international venues and DIY spaces, Marina enjoys a multifaceted career with a focus on contemporary chamber music. They are a founding member of TAK ensemble and The Rhythm Method, and have performed across the US and internationally with these groups as well as with ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea, Wet Ink, the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and others. 

A specialist in new and experimental music, Marina has performed and commissioned hundreds of works by living composers. In recent years, they have collaborated closely with Tyshawn Sorey, Natacha Diels, Leah Asher, Ashkan Behzadi, Bethany Younge, Eric Wubbels, Meaghan Burke, Taylor Brook, Carrie Frey, Alec Goldfarb, Lewis Nielson, Anaïs Maviel, and inti figgis-vizueta. As a composer and improviser, Marina’s works have been performed across the U.S., South America, and Europe. Marina holds a curatorial position with the Lucerne Festival Contemporary division, on a team that oversees the Forward Festival, the Lucerne Festival Academy, and other Lucerne Festival affiliated projects. With TAK, The Rhythm Method, and as a soloist, she has released nine albums to critical acclaim, and is featured on several more with other artistic collaborators. 

International festival appearances include the Distat Terra Festival in Argentina, Donaueschingen Musiktage in Germany, the Sacrum Profanum festival in Poland, Festival Musiques démesurées in France, Musiikin Aika in Finland, the Delian Academy in Greece, the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Lincoln Center Festival, the Bang on a Can Long Play festival, and the Mostly Mozart Festival in NYC, the Omaha One Festival in Nebraska, the Cluster Festival in Winnipeg, and others. Recent highlights include performances at the New York Philharmonic’s David Geffen Hall, the MIT Museum, the KKL Luzern, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. 

Marina holds violin faculty positions at the United Nations International School, the Lucerne Festival Academy, the Composers Conference, Lake George Music Festival Composer’s Institute, and Point Counterpoint. She has held university residency positions at Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Bowling Green State University, Tulane, McGill, New York University, and the Zurich University of the Arts, among others, and with TAK Ensemble as Long-Term Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania. Her writings have been published by the Wet Ink Archive, WQXR’s Q2 Music, and I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

                                            

Marina is currently a DMA candidate at the City University of New York Graduate Center, where she studied with Mark Steinberg. She holds a Masters degree in contemporary performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where she was the recipient of a full scholarship in the studios of Curtis Macomber and Laurie Smukler. She received a BM in Violin Performance with Milan Vitek and a BA in English with a Creative Writing Concentration from Oberlin College and Conservatory in 2012, where she was the recipient of a Conservatory Dean’s Talent Award and a John Frederick Oberlin Scholarship.

 


 

Julia Henderson, cellist

Cellist Julia Henderson is a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and has appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic, Britten-Pears Orchestra, New World Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and others. Julia is the cellist of Desdemona Ensemble, a chamber group that brings eclectic programming to venues throughout New York City and recently premiered the chamber opera “Magdalene.” She tours regularly with chamber music theatre group Core Ensemble, and can be found in NYC venues such as HERE Arts Center, Bargemusic, 1 Rivington, Carnegie Hall, and the Joyce Theater.
 
Julia earned a Bachelor of Music degree at Oberlin Conservatory, studying with Darret Adkins, and a Master of Music with Timothy Eddy at The Juilliard School. At Oberlin she took secondary lessons in viola da gamba and baroque cello, and also played regularly with the contemporary music ensembles of both schools. She has worked with members of the Shanghai, Juilliard, Cavani, St. Lawrence, and JACK quartets, among others, as well as renowned chamber musicians such as Steven Doane, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Joseph Kalichstein.
 
In addition to being an avid performer, Julia is a dedicated teacher, and received Suzuki Certification at the School for Strings. She spent three summers performing and teaching on the island of Montserrat, West Indies, and does musical outreach in the Connecticut area through the New Haven Symphony. Julia has taught with Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, Sonic Explorations El Sistema program, Hudson River School of Music, the Trinity School, and Bronx School for Music. She currently runs a private studio in NYC.

 


 

Isabel Ong, Violinist

Recently moved from NY, Columbia-based violinist, Isabel Ong, is an avid chamber musician with a strong interest in contemporary music. She has performed in numerous venues – Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, National Sawdust, MOMA, to name a few. She was a member of Joel Sachs’ New Juilliard Ensemble and have premiered a number of compositions with them. She was also a frequent participant of Focus Festival and Chamberfest (both held at The Juilliard School).  Isabel was a Foulger Fellow at the Foulger International Music Festival in Kean University, New Jersey. She collaborated with prominent musicians such as Tom Landschoot, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Miranda Cuckson, Yoshie Akimoto, Max Levinson, and Scott Kluksdahl. Additionally, Isabel traveled to Cortona, Italy to attend Cortona Sessions and premiered pieces by many of today’s upcoming composers. Isabel holds degrees from Juilliard (BM and MM) and is currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of South Carolina. Her teachers include Joseph Lin, Laurie Smukler, and Ari Streisfeld.

 

 


 

Leah Asher, Violinist

Violinist/violist, composer, and visual artist Leah Asher is an avid performer of contemporary music and creator of new artistic works. Leah has been a member of The Rhythm Method string quartet, an innovative ensemble of composer-performers, since 2016. A sought after performer and collaborator, Leah can be found performing as a regular guest with New York-based ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and S.E.M. Ensemble. She is also the co-creator of Meaningless Work, an interdisciplinary performance collaboration with Nicolee Kuester.

Leah maintains an international career with performances presented by the Lucerne Festival, Lake George Music Festival, Omaha One Festival, MATA Festival, TriBeCA New Music, Festspillene i Nord Norge, Music Mondays, and Codes d’accès. Leah has equally enjoyed performing at such celebrated venues as The Wiener Musikverein, Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, and the KKL Lucerne, as well as smaller, more intimate venues such as The Owl Music Parlor, Kimaira, Echoraum, the cell theatre, Konsthall C, and JACK. Leah has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Leah formerly served as solo violist of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and co-principal viola of the Arctic Philharmonic.

As a guest artist and educator, Leah has given performances and worked with students at universities including Rice University, New York University, Bowling Green State University, Zurich University for Art and Music, Arkansas State University, Tulane University, Peabody Conservatory, Hunter College, Brown University, and Youngstown State University. In the summers, she holds faculty positions at Point Counterpoint, the Composers Conference, and Lake George Music Festival Composer’s Institute.

As a composer, Leah has been commissioned by several ensembles, including andPlay, Chartreuse, Periapsis, NorthArc Percussion Group, The Great Learning Orchestra, Du.0, and solo artists such as Meaghan Burke, Tristan McKay, and Jennifer Torrence. Recent releases include Leah’s solo album ‘Retreat into Afters’ (SCRIPTS Records), and The Rhythm Method’s self-titled debut album (Gold Bolus Recordings). Leah joined the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as of 2022.

Session 3

Paola Caballero, Interim-Director of Music and violinist

Paola Caballero has now chosen to return to Boston after spending more than a decade in Bar-celona performing as member of the Chamber Orchestra de Cadaques and the Orquesta Sinfo-nica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya, (OBC). She has performed with renowned artists in-cluding Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, Ray Chen, Augustine Hadelich, Lang Lang, Angela Gheorgiu, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kauffmann and has also worked under the baton of Giaandrea Noseda, Semyon Bychkov, Elihau Inbal, Vasily Petrenkov and John Ad-ams to name a few.

Aside from numerous tours around Europe finest concert halls with both Orquestra de Cadaques and Orquestra de Barcelona, Ms. Caballero has made numerous recordings with both ensem-bles and can be seen on Medici.TV, one of the world’s leading classical music streaming plat-form.

As a chamber musician, Paola has also collaborated with the Barcelona based highly acclaimed contemporary group, ‘BCN 216’. Prior to relocating to Barcelona, during her studies at the Guild-hall School of Music and Drama, in London, Ms. Caballero founded the Esperanto Trio, giving their first public performance at St. James Church in Piccadilly London and also performed in a live B.B.C. broadcast at the Barbican Centre as part of the New Music Festival hosted by the B.B.C. Symphony.

Ms. Caballero is very happy to be back in Boston. As an educator, she divides her time between the Lexington Chamber Music Center, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, maintains a private studio and served as Music Director of Symphonia at Phillips Exeter Academy for three seasons. Paola has just appointed as Interim Artistic Director for “Session 3” at Point Counterpoint Music Festival where she has been on faculty for the past ten seasons. Past masterclasses include the Conservatorio Nacional de Music in the Dominican Republic, the Puerto Rico Center for Collabo-rative Piano and has served on various panel discussions at the Puerto Rican Summer Music Festival.

Paola Caballero can be seen performing and recording with the Grammy Award-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project, (BMOP/sound), Odyssey Opera, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Back Bay Choral, the Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society and Boston Ballet. She has just recently joined the Chamber Orchestra of the United Nations with its debut performance at Carne-gie Hall.

In other genres of music, Paola has performed with Michael Buble, Chaka Khan, Madeleine Pey-roux, Antony and the Johnsons, Bjork, Joni Mitchell, Andrea Bocelli and Father John Misty at venues including Sonar, Electronic Music Festival, Primavera Sound and the Jazz Festival at the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Ms. Caballero holds a Postgraduate Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as both Masters and Bachelor degrees from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has studied with David Takeno, Masuko Ushioda, Eric Rosenblith, Lucy Chapman, and has worked with Lorand Fenyves and Erika Raum at the Royal Conservatory, the institution that sponsored the use of the1686 Nicolo Amati instrument.


 

Hyun-Ji Kwon, cellist 

Hyun-Ji Kwon, cellist, currently maintains an active schedule as soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She is a cellist of Meadowlark Trio, Echo Bridge Cellos, Convergence Ensemble, and frequently performs with Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra. She recently played the solo cello chair in the revival of Broadway musical 1776 on the national tour in 2023.

She taught at Boston University as a lecturer, Boston University Tanglewood Institute(BUTI) as a Co-director of Cello Workshop and cello coach at BUTI’s Young Artist Orchestra Program. Currently, she serves as a cello faculty at Colby College, Phillips Exeter Academy, and the Project STEP.

She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea; Master of Music and Graduate Diploma at New England Conservatory in Boston; Doctor of Musical Arts at Boston University, in the studio of Rhonda Rider.


Ralph Farris, violist

Multi-instrumentalist composer, conductor, producer and educator Ralph Farris, is Director
of Chamber Music and Viola Faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College. He is a
founding member and Co-Artistic Director of the genre-bending string quartet ETHEL
(GRAMMY® Award with Kurt Elling; Resident Ensemble at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Balcony Bar; EG Presenter; Multi-year TED Presenter; Ensemble-in-Residence at Denison
University; 2018/’19 Quartet-in-Residence at Kaufman Music Center’s Face the Music; and 2019
Levi Family Distinguished Visiting Artist at The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University). Ralph has spent the last three decades on contemporary music’s front lines, collaborating with a wide range of luminaries, from Leonard Bernstein, Ensemble Modern and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, to Gorillaz, Kaki King, Robert Mirabal and Merce Cunningham. He has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra, Tasmanian Youth Orchestra and Red (an orchestra). The onetime Music Director and Solo Fiddle of the Roger Daltrey band, Ralph was an original Broadway company member of Disney’s “The Lion King.” An award-winning graduate of The Juilliard School (BM/MM), award-winning three-time Tanglewood Fellow, Hermitage Artist, and YoungArts Interdisciplinary Master Teacher and National Reviewer, Ralph holds an honorary degree from Denison University. He has taught at Kinhaven Music School, Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Nevada School of the Arts, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Interlochen Arts Academy, Eastman School of Music, and The Juilliard School. Beyond his many performance credits, Ralph has produced recordings for and with ETHEL, for artists such as Hevreh and Stanley Grill, for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Balcony Bar from Home” series, and for the Broadway and 9/11 communities. Ralph provided string arrangements for the GRAMMY®-nominated Five For Fighting hit, “Superman (It’s Not Easy),” and he worked as music supervisor / coordinator / conducting coach on Martin Scorsese’s “The Key to Reserva.” Guest Curator of Randy Cohen’s “Person Place Thing,” Ralph has served as Host of Carnegie Hall Family Concerts, and in partnership with Rogers Art Loft (NV), as Curator & Host of Co-Lab: The Art of Collaboration. Ralph was lead coordinator of the volunteer corps of musicians at St. Paul’s Chapel and St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, supervising 500+ performances offered in support of the 9/11 Rescue and Recovery Effort. Featured Composer of New England Conservatory Preparatory School’s Contemporary Music Festival (2018), Ralph has received commissions from Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Ringling Museum, dance evangelists Monkeyhouse, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Las Vegas darlings Jarrett & Raja, the Jerome Foundation, and the NEA. His scoring credits include Jehane Noujaim’s “Pangea Day” industrial, Tracy MacDonald and Matt Zodrow’s “RIGGED,” the Aquila Theatre’s productions of “A Female Philoctetes” and “The Tempest,” and ETHEL’s “Documerica,” “The River,” and “Circus: Wandering City.” Ralph endorses the AVID family of software solutions. www.ralphfarris.com @theralphfarris @ethelcentral


Eliko Akahori, pianist

Eliko Akahori has appeared as a recitalist, chamber musician, and collaborative pianist to
great acclaim in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Recent performances include a live
broadcast of Brahms’ Clarinet Trio on WGBH radio in Boston, and a series of recitals in the U.S,
Austria and Spain with Karl-Heinz Schütz, principal flutist of the Vienna Philharmonic. Past
collaborators in recitals, chamber music concerts and recordings include members of the Berlin
Philharmonic and the Chicago, Montreal, Boston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras,
among others. In the Boston area, Ms. Akahori has also appeared in concerts with A Far Cry, Winsor Music, Monadnock Music, and performs regularly with Cantata Singers and Community MusicWorks. Eliko received the first prize, Coleman-Barstow Award, in the 57th Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and has performed in many festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, IMAI in Maine, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Eliko is currently performance faculty and director of the music performance program at Wellesley College. Eliko Akahori holds a Doctorate of Music in Collaborative Piano and Master’s degree in Music Theory, both from the New England Conservatory of Music and Bachelor’s degree in Composition from the Kunitachi College of music in Japan. Upon her graduation, Eliko was invited to perform for the Japanese Emperor’s Family in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.


Jennifer DeVore, cellist

Jennifer DeVore earned her BA in art history at Harvard before earning her Masters degree from the New England Conservatory.  Hailed as “superb” by the New York Times, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and London’s Barbican Center. A review of her violin/cello duo’s album “Zentripetal” mentions her “suave phrasing, impeccable intonation and effortless control.” DeVore has worked closely with composers John Cage, John Zorn, Daniel Bernard Roumain and Ornette Coleman, and has played in the Bang-On-A-Can Marathon and on WNYC’s New Sounds. Her newest string quartet project, SEVEN)SUNS, is breaking new ground in both classical and metal/hardcore worlds. The group was featured on the legendary hardcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan’s final album and played their last show. Other groups she has played with include the Vitamin String Quartet, the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jose Limon Dance Company, FLUX Quartet and Sweet Plantain Quartet. Her diverse interests have led to recordings and performances with artists such as Sean Lennon, Alicia Keyes, DJ Spooky, Josh Groban, Suzanne Vega, Jay-Z, Pink Martini, Laura Branigan, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as well as many others. DeVore has been featured as a teaching artist at universities all over the world, regularly performs on Broadway, is a member of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn.


York Kwong, violinist

York Kwong is a native of St. Louis, Missouri where he began playing the violin at the age of 12. He went on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where his principal teachers were Eric Rosenblith and Michele Auclair. After finishing his studies in Boston, York won a grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund which helped finance further studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. His principal teachers there were John Glickman and Stephanie Gonley. He received both a master’s degree in violin and a postgraduate diploma in viola.

Since 2006 York has been a member of the viola section of the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra. Before winning his current position, York was selected to participate in the London Symphony Orchesta’s string experience scheme. He has also worked with the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, the Orchestra of Opera North in Leeds, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia in London, and the New World Symphony in Miami. He has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls in the United States, England, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Finland, Austria, Italy, and China. Some of the conductors that York has performed under include Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Antonio Pappano, Leonard Slatkin, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Mauricio Benini, Michel Plasson, and Maxim Emelyanychev amongst others.

York is also an avid chamber musician. He has performed regularly in Seville and has participated in festivals such as Yellow Barn and International Musical Arts Institute. He has received coachings from members of the Takacs, Borromeo, Cleveland, and Vellinger String Quartets, Florestan Piano Trio, as well as recognized artists such as Laurence Lesser, James Buswell, Mark Knight, Christopher Wellington, and Gordon Back. York has also presented recitals in venues such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, and London’s St. Martin in the Fields, Southwark Cathedral, and St. John’s, Waterloo.


Lynn Bechtold, violinist

Violinist/composer Lynn Bechtold has concertized throughout the Americas, Asia, and Europe. She has premiered solo violin works by maverick composers such as Gloria Coates, Beatriz Ferreyra, Alvin Lucier, and Morton Subotnick. Lynn is a member of cutting edge violin duo Miolina, and performs regularly with Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Composers Concordance Ensemble, North/South Chamber Orchestra, and SEM Ensemble. Well-versed in all styles of music, she has performed at venues from Joe’s Pub and Madison Square Garden to Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, with artists such as Willie Colon, Roberta Flack, Donna Summer, and Sir Simon Rattle. She has appeared on TV shows such as 30 Rock, The CBS Morning Show, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and at festivals such as Kneisel Hall, Pacific Music, both Spoletos, and TriBeCa New Music. Lynn has written over 25 acoustic/electroacoustic works, and these were performed at venues including the Austrian Cultural Forum and Symphony Space in NYC; Institut Finlandais in Paris; Center for New Music in San Francisco; and Monten Hall in Tokyo. As composer, she has participated in festivals/series including Birmingham New Music Festival, Japan Society for Sonic Arts, Music With a View, Sonic Circuits, and Sound of Silent Film Festival. She is a recipient of grants from Adami, American-Scandinavian Foundation, Japan Foundation NY, Leopold Schepp Foundation, LMCC, NewMusicUSA, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYFA, NYSCA, New York Women Composers, and Queens Council on the Arts. Lynn has collaborated with artist Cecilia Mandrile, chef Kurt Gutenbrunner, percussive dancer Max Pollak, filmmaker Winnie Cheung, and choreographer Yukari Osaka. She has led masterclasses or held residencies at Alfred University, CUNY-Queens College, The Juilliard School, Seattle Pacific University, SUNY-Albany, University of Alabama/Tuscaloosa, and UC Irvine. She holds degrees from Tufts University, New England Conservatory of Music, and Mannes/New School, where she studied with noted violinist Felix Galimir. www.violynn.net


Grant Houston, violinist

Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through performances of unbridled energy and emotional magnetism. Known for drawing in audiences with a uniquely compelling musical voice, he has been described as playing “as ethereally as mist… the audience kept so quiet that it seemed we were holding our breath throughout.” (Yale Alumni Magazine). Particularly devoted to chamber music, recent appearances have included the notable festivals of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Yale University’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, The Moritzburg Festival Academy and the Music Academy of the West. In recent seasons, Grant has appeared regularly in concerts as a soloist and chamber musician, with engagements including Mozart’s fifth concerto with the Plymouth Philharmonic, performances with the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia and Wellesley Chamber Players, and recitals with Trio Gaia— in addition to a weeklong residency at the Panama Jazz Festival and studio sessions for the trio’s first release. In recent years, Trio Gaia has garnered numerous accolades, including prizes at the 2022 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition, the 2022 Premio Trio di Trieste in Italy, the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, the 2020 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, and the 2019 Plowman Competition. The 2023-2024 season marks the third year of its appointment as Trio-in-Residence in the New England Conservatory’s Professional Piano Trio Program. In addition to his career with Trio Gaia, Grant appears frequently with the conductor-less ensembles Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings, and most recently as a guest principal with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Performing regularly as a sought-after chamber musician, recent engagements include a performance on Boston’s First Monday at Jordan Hall series and a studio recording of Florence Price’s G Major String Quartet which has aired on WGBH public radio. Additional recent chamber music performances include Juventas New Music Ensemble’s Music for Peace project, a collaboration between Castle of Our Skins and Boston Lyric Opera, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Weekend Concert Series. A keen proponent of contemporary music, Grant has worked with numerous composers to premiere works that span the breadth of the genre. Recent projects have included a recital focusing on solo violin works of living composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Salvatore Sciarrino, an appearance on the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s “What I Hear” chamber music series curated by composer Bernard Rands, and multiple performances as part of [nec] Shivaree, the avant-garde ensemble of New England Conservatory. Grant has performed with artists such as Jeremy Denk, Paul Biss, Max Levinson, Marcus Thompson, and Melvin Chen, and counts Donald Weilerstein, Ayano Ninomiya, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and Merry Peckham among his primary mentors. Additional coaches include Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Hilary Hahn, Rachel Barton Pine, Martin Beaver, Inon Barnatan, and Stefan Jackiw, as well as chamber music guidance from members of the Brentano, Cleveland, Cavani, Juilliard, St. Lawrence, Prazak, Mendelssohn, and Miami string quartets. He performs on a 1757 Michel’angelo Bergonzi violin on loan from a private foundation.

Session 4

Beste Tiknaz, Director of Music and violist

Beste Tiknaz Modiri, -violist- winner of national and international prizes and awards, a soloist with orchestras and recitals throughout the World, an active Chamber music player and viola professor. She began her musical education with Ani Inci at the Istanbul University State Conservatory where she also studied with V. Warshavski. She received her Master’s Degree from Istanbul University, Performance Diploma from the Boston Conservatory with Leonard Matczynski, and DMA from Istanbul University, Chamber Music diploma from University of Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) with Johannes Meissl.

She works with world known violists such as; Y. Bashmet, N. Imai, Prof. M. Bucchholz, P. McCarty, M. Ruth Ray, P. Farulli, M. Tenenbaum, Prof. T. Masurenko, R. Gunes, B. Guiranna, R. Diaz, R.Tapping, M. Thompson, C. Phelps in master classes and workshops.

Tıknaz is the winner of: ICMEC Competition (Gold Medal), BO.CO. String Idol, MTNA Young Concert Artists State and Eastern Competitions, BO.CO. Concerto Competition, 9 Eylul University national viola Competition, Playing for Peace award, President award and Donizetti Chamber Music Award. The Prestigious festivals she attended include  Aix en Provence (France), Associazione Mozart Italia, Istanbul International Music Festival, Beethoven Fest (Bonn), BBC Proms (London), Salzburg Festival, FIMU Festival (France), Budapest Spring Fest. In addition to being a prize-winning soloist, Beste is also an active chamber music player. She was a member of the Kibele, Sospiro, Semplice, Winsor Music Quartets and currently is a member of the Sion Soloists.

Summers are spent teaching at Youth and Muse Festival in Boston, Point Counter Point in Vermont, Apple Hill in New Hampshire, Associazione Mozart Torino, Italy and Bosphorus Music Academy at Turkey.

She is curently Viola Professor at Istanbul University State Conservatory and the principal violist of the Philharmonisches Kammerorchester Berlin. Tiknaz plays a ‘1883 Gand and Bernardel’ viola.

 


Tina Lee Hadari, violinist

Honored by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame for her work
in the performing arts, violinist and educator Tina Lee Hadari has
performed as a soloist and chamber musician in diverse venues
such as Weill Recital Hall and the Vienna Konzerthaus to New
Haven’s Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen to K-12 classrooms all
over the country. As a member of the Vinca Quartet, an ensemble
hailed by the New York Times as “stunning” and “musicians worth
keeping an eye on,” and a prizewinner of the Fischoff, Plowman,
and Borciani Chamber Music competitions, she has toured both the U.S. and abroad to critical
acclaim.
Committed to bringing communities together through her artistry, she is the Founder and
former Executive Artistic Director of Music Haven, a nationally-awarded community-based arts
organization that anchors a string quartet to the lowest-income neighborhoods of New Haven
to provide tuition-free, intensive musical instruction for “at promise” youth.
Most recently she served as the National Program Director of ArtistYear, where she created and
implemented a comprehensive professional development curriculum for teaching artist Fellows
and led the program strategy for all service locations.
As the Director of Music, Arts, and Citizenship for the Brass City Charter School in Waterbury,
CT, she also built a K-8 Citizen Artist curriculum to enhance the school’s El-Sistema inspired
daily music program.
Tina has also served on the faculties of the 92nd Street Y, Choir Academy of Harlem, Opus 118,
Apple Hill Chamber Music Center, Point Counterpoint Chamber Music, and the Neighborhood
Music School. She holds a B.M. from New England Conservatory, a B.A. from Tufts University, a
Master’s degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Doctoral degree from the University of
Colorado. She has served on the board of Musaid, an organization dedicated to expanding the
capacity of music organizations in developing countries, and regularly mentors emerging
teaching artists at the Yale School of Music.


Paola Caballero, violinist

Paola Caballero has now chosen to return to Boston after spending more than a decade in Barcelona performing with the Chamber Orquestra de Cadaques and the Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona y Nacional de Catalunya, (OBC). She has performed with renowned soloists including Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Janine Jansen, Isabelle Faust, Ray Chen, Martin Frost, Maria Joao Pires, Lang Lang, Angela Gheorgiu, Placido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann and also worked under the baton of Giaandrea Noseda, Semyon Bychkov, Eliahu Inbal, Vasily Petrenko, and composer John Adams to name a few. Aside from numerous tours around Europe finest concert halls with both Orquestra de Cadaques and Orquestra de Barcelona, Ms. Caballero has
made numerous recordings with both ensembles and can be seen on Medici.TV, one of the
world’s leading classical music streaming platform.

As a chamber musician, Paola has also collaborated with the Barcelona based highly acclaimed contemporary group, ‘BCN 216’ and also founded the Barcelona Arts Quartet, a group dedicated to the performance of new music. Prior to relocating to Barcelona, during her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London, Ms. Caballero founded the Esperanto Trio, giving their first public performance at St. James Church in Piccadilly London. The group also performed in a live B.B.C. broadcast at the Barbican Centre as part of the New Music Festival hosted by the B.B.C. Symphony.

Ms. Caballero is very happy to be back in Boston. As an educator, she divides her time between the Lexington Chamber Music Center, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra and is Music Director of Symphonia at Phillips Exeter Academy. She has also served on faculty for the past eight seasons at Point CounterPoint Music Festival and has recently joined the faculty at Lyra Music Festival. Upcoming masterclasses include the Conservatorio Nacional de Music in the Dominican Republic and will be serving on panel discussions at the Puerto Rican Summer Music Festival.

Paola Caballero can be seen performing with the Grammy Award-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project, (BMOP/sound), Odyssey Opera, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Boston Ballet and Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society. She is looking forward to being the featured artist with the Boston Public Quartet as part of a selected ensemble to perform at the Florence Price Festival this August in Washington D.C.
In other genres of music, Paola has performed with Madeleine Peyroux, Anthony and the Johnsons, Bjork, Joni Mitchell, Andrea Bocelli and Father John Misty at venues including Sonar, Electronic Music Festival, Primavera Sound and the Jazz Festival at the Palau de la Musica Catalana.

Ms. Caballero holds a Postgraduate Diploma from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as well as both Masters and Bachelor Degrees from the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has studied with David Takeno, Masuko Ushioda, Eric Rosenblith, Lucy Chapman, and has worked with Lorand Fenyves and Erika Raum at the Royal Conservatory, the institution that sponsored the use of the1686 Nicolo Amati instrument.


Dan Zhang, violist

Dr. Dan Zhang’s musical expertise extends across multiple domains as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra player. She has enthralled audiences across the globe with performances in Europe, the US, Asia, and South America. Her performances have graced renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Heinz Hall, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Teatro Centro Cultura Kirchner in Buenos Aires, and NHK Hall in Tokyo.

Dr. Zhang’s musical prowess has earned her the privilege of performing with esteemed orchestras and festivals, including the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, and Naples Philharmonic. She frequently participates in various music festivals such as the Master Music Course Japan, Bach Cantata Music Festival in Germany, Kneisel Hall Music Festival, and International Jungen Orchesterakademie in Germany.

Dr. Zhang, a dedicated teacher at various esteemed institutions including Washington Adventist University and The Catholic University of America, has been invited by Facultad de Música-UNAM and Panamericana University in Mexico to conduct masterclasses and recitals annually starting from 2023. At the Washington Adventist University Summer Music Festival, she imparts her knowledge to students during summers. She is also on faculty at Music & More SummerFest (Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina). Her aim is to serve as a role model for her students, creating a supportive and nurturing atmosphere that fosters mutual learning. Dr. Zhang has also led masterclasses at several schools including George Mason University, Shenandoah University, MinZu University of China, Xi’an Conservatory, and Beijing Normal University. Furthermore, she serves as a clinician musician for Loudon County, Montgamory and Fairfax County public schools in the US. Her mission is to guide her students towards academic excellence while assisting them in achieving their personal aspirations and fulfilling their individual musical journeys.

Dr. Zhang is a respected figure in the music community, holding several leadership positions. She is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Washington Adventist University’s Summer Music Festival in Takoma Park, Maryland. Co-Chair of the MSMTA/ASTA-MD DC Spring Festival, Co-Founder and Board Member of the America Society of Musical Excellence, and one of the pioneers of the American Virtuoso International Music Competition. The AVIMC’s aim is to identify outstanding young artists and assist them in launching their international careers, placing emphasis on performers with a compelling artistic vision and stage presence. Dr. Zhang is also the Co-Founder of MTSY Studio (Xi’an, China) which has been hosting the SPSV International Music Festival annually since 2015. The festival invites around 50 music professors from the US and Europe to China, providing masterclasses, lessons, and performance opportunities to over 500 students. The MTSY Studio also offers abroad study consultancy services for music-related majors in China and has aided over 100 students in studying in the US and Europe upon graduating from the program.

Dr. Zhang’s exceptional musical talents have earned her numerous accolades, including being a finalist and winner of various competitions such as the First China Viola Festival and Competition, 3rd Hong Kong International Strings Competition, International Max Rostal Competition in Berlin, and the International Anton Rubinstein Viola Competition in Dusseldorf, Germany. Her impressive educational background includes a D.M.A. from The Catholic University of America, an M.M. from Yale School of Music, an A.D. from Shenandoah University, and a B.M. from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.


Redi Llupa, pianist

Albanian pianist Redi Llupa has distinguished himself by performing in prestigious venues in Europe,
North and South America, and Asia. An avid advocate of contemporary repertoire, Llupa collaborates
with and performs music by living composers. He is the dedicatee of Aleksandër Peçi’s Muzikë
Kabaistike (world premiere, 2016), Ermir Bejo’s Op. 1, and Joseph Klein’s Der Saus und Braus forsolo piano. Since 2015, Llupa worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker giving the world premiere performance of his complete piano sonatas. Of note was the April 2018
performance at the Eastman School of Music in honor of the composer’s 95th birthday where Llupa was invited personally by Dr. Walker. In May of 2019, he gave the first European performance of the complete sonatas at ReMusica International Festival in Pristina, Kosovo.
As a guest artist and lecturer, Llupa has been invited by prestigious institutions, such as the Eastman School of Music, the University of North Texas, the University of Louisville, the University of Oregon, the University of Miami, the University of Virginia, Oklahoma University, the University of Arts in
Tirana, the National University of Natal, and Universitad de Caldas. Llupa has also appeared as a guest artist at Festival Baltimore at UMBC, PIANODROM International Festival in Tirana, ReMusicaInternational Festival in Pristina, James Madison Contemporary Music Festival in Virginia, and New
Century New Voices in Middlebury in Vermont.
Important highlights of Llupa’s performing career include concerts at Weill Recital Hall – Carnegie Hall, Parco Della Musica in Rome, Auditorium Gorizia in Slovenia, Sala Revoltella in Trieste, Teatro Pumapungo in Ecuador, ACROS Hall in Fukuoka and Kumamoto Theatre in Japan, National Theatre
of Opera and Ballet in Tirana, Music Academy of Zagreb, Auditorium of Ljubljana, Voertman Hall in Texas, Mahaney Arts Center in Vermont, Auer Hall at Indiana University, Gusman Hall at University of Miami, Zankel Music Centre at Skidmore College, etc. As a soloist he has also appeared with the
Albanian National Opera and Ballet Orchestra and The National Radio Orchestra of Albania, as well as the Symphonic Orchestra of Cuenca, Ecuador.
As a chamber musician, Llupa collaborates with the Argentinean cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado. Both keen advocates of contemporary music, the duo has given world and U.S. premieres of works by Gustavo Beytelmann, Marcelo Nisinman, Ermir Bejo, and Louise Jallu. The Llupa-Delgado duo was
the 2011 recipient of the 100 Davis Project for Peace – a grant given by the Kathryn Davis foundation in the United States, with the purpose of developing a music curriculum for the children of the favelas in Natal/Mossoro of Rio Grande Do Norte in Brazil. In 2016, Llupa collaborated with the Frost School
of Music’s Percussion Department in a performance and recording of Alejandro Viñao’s Water – a sextet for piano and five percussionists – produced and released by Elemental Culture.
He is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (B.M.), Jacobs School of Music – Indiana University he has received guidance by Nadjezhda Porodini, Alberto Miodini, Max Levinson, Menahem Pressler, Santiago Rodriguez, Dario de Rosa, and Maureen Jones. Llupa is a founding member of Kaleidoscope MusArt, a non-profit organization based in Miami, dedicated to bridging the gap between canonical classical music and rarely heard or recently composed works whileprominently featuring living composers and emerging artists of diverse cultural backgrounds. He is also on the board of Academia Albanica at the Academy of Sciences of Albania, continuing his dedication to promote Albanian composers to the broad world audience.
Dr. Redi Llupa is currently residing in Miami with his wife, pianist Dr. Inesa Gegprifti.


Julie Post, violinist

Julie Post grew up in rural Massachussetts and holds performance degrees in violin from the University of Maryland and École Normale de Musique in Paris, where she studied principally with James Stern, Antoine Goulard, and Gerald Fischbach. She has performed extensively as an orchestral musician with the the San Antonio Symphony and the Mid-Texas Symphony, and in New Zealand with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Bach Musica, and the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. She is the second violinist in San Antonio’s Listeso Quartet which performs a range of classical and popular music for the Candlelight Concert series, and has also performed with various touring artists, including Placido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Michael Bublé, and Broadway Across America. Julie is very excited to return as a faculty member to Camp Point Counterpoint this summer!


 

Aleksandra Labinska, violinist

Aleksandra Labinska is a versatile violinists performing as a soloists, chamber musician and orchestral players throughout United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. She frequently collaborates on contemporary music projects and is a highly sought after violinists for solo recitals, recording and educational outreach concerts. Aleksandra frequently ventures outside of the classical music realm to pop and rock concerts, video game music and film scoring recordings. Aleksandra is a section member of the Grammy award winning Albany Symphony, Vermont Symphony and Symphony New Hampshire. She frequently performs with the Hartford Symphony as well as Cape Cod Symphony. As a chamber musician she is a member of the Virtuoso Soloists of New York, Voyage Piano Trio as well as the Mirage Violin Duo. Aleksandra’s toured with the Boston Chamber Orchestra in southern Japan and participated in the World Music Festival performing throughout mainland China. She frequently collaborates with the Boston String Ensemble as well as Atlantic Strings on performing projects and can be heard on BMOP sounds, Naxos recording and WGBH broadcasting. Aleksandra appeared as a soloist with the Mooredale Concerto Players in Toronto, and Ostinato Chamber Orchestra in Poland.

Aleksandra serves as an Adjunct Violin Faculty at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA  and at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra  and during the summer months she teaches at the Luzerne Music Center in upstate NY. Aleksandra holds a Doctorate and Masters degree from the Boston University College of the Arts under the tutelage of Professor Yuri Mazurkevich. Her undergraduate studies were completed at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music and University of Toronto Faculty of Music.

 


 

Jacques Lee Wood, cellist

Boston-based cellist Jacques Lee Wood has performed around the world as a solo artist, chamber, and orchestral musician. His activities as a performer reflects a broad range of interests – historical performance on period instruments, commissioning new works for both modern and baroque cello, improvisation that incorporates live electronics, and composing his own material are just a few of the areas he explores in his creative scope. Dr. Wood is Principal Cello of the Cape Symphony, and is a member of several musical groups including Aston Magna, StringLab, Pedroia Quartet, Antico Moderno, and the NYC-based bluegrass band Cathedral Parkway. He is a frequent guest artist with A Far Cry, Boston Baroque, House of Time, Yale Schola Cantorum, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Bachsolisten Seoul, Bach Collegium Japan, Juilliard 415, and the Handel and Haydn Society. A recognized pedagogue, Wood is the cello professor at the University of New Hampshire and holds additional faculty positions at the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (Intensive Community Program, BEAM Program) and Concord Academy.   He has held residencies at the Yale School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and Tufts University to name a few, and has received fellowships from the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Yale Center for East Asian Studies for research at Sogang University (Seoul, South Korea), and the Yale School of Music for postdoctoral studies in early music with noted scholar and baroque violinist Robert Mealy.  Wood is the founder and artistic director of the UNH Cello Festival and currently the cello faculty at the Summer Youth Music School (University of New Hampshire), Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Point Counterpoint.  An active guest lecturer and clinician, Dr. Wood has presented on a broad range of topics ranging from historical performance practice for the modern musician to music technology in the pedagogical process. He is a frequent guest artist at the Great Mountains Festival (South Korea), Korea Strings Research Institute, Bari International Music Festival, Banff Centre, Avaloch Farm, Aston Magna, and the Manchester Summer Chamber Music Festival.  A grammy-nominated recording artist, Wood has released recordings on the Hyperion, Musica Omnia, and Navona labels. Dr. Wood completed his BM at the New England Conservatory of Music under Laurence Lesser, and holds a MM and DMA from Yale University, where he studied with Aldo Parisot.

 

 

 


 

 

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