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Violinist Aaron Boyd has established an international career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, recording artist, lecturer and pedagogue. Since making his New York recital debut in 1998, Boyd has appeared at the most prestigious venues throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and Asia and has participated in the Marlboro, Tippet Rise, La Jolla, Rockport, Aspen and Hong Kong and Music@Menlo festivals. Boyd has been a regular season artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012.  

A member of the Escher String Quartet for five seasons, Boyd was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Martin E. Segal prize from Lincoln Center. As a passionate advocate for new music, Boyd has been involved in numerous commissions and premieres in concert and on record, and has worked directly with such legendary composers as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Charles Wuorinen.  

Recently featured on Live From Lincoln Center’s “ODYSSEY: The Chamber Music Society in Greece”, Boyd has been broadcast in concert by PBS, NPR, WQXR and WQED, and was profiled by Arizona Public Television. Formerly on the violin faculties of Columbia University and the University of Arizona, Boyd now serves as Director of chamber music and Chair of Strings at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and makes his home in Plano, Texas, with his wife Yuko, daughter Ayu and son Yuki.  

Boyd plays on violins crafted by Matteo Goffriller in Venice, 1700, and Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn, 2018

Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) since 2008, Andrew Wan is also Associate Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, Artistic Director of the OSM Chamber Soloists, member of the Juno and Opus award-winning New Orford String Quartet (NOSQ), and for the 2017-18 season, served as Artistic Partner of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist, he has appeared in Canada, the United States, China, New Zealand, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, and Switzerland under conductors such as Maxim Vengerov, Peter Oundjian, Vasily Petrenko, the late James DePreist, and Rafael Payare. His live recording of the three Saint-Saëns Violin Concerti with Kent Nagano and the MSO was released by Analekta in the fall of 2015 to wide critical acclaim, garnering a Prix Opus and an ADISQ nomination. His next album release with Nagano and the MSO of concerti by Ginastera, Bernstein and Samy Moussa was released in the Fall of 2020 and won the 2021 Juno Award for Best Classical Album for Large Ensemble.

Mr. Wan has concertized extensively throughout the world, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Taipei’s National Theatre and Paris’ Salle Gaveau in chamber music performances with artists such as the Juilliard Quartet, Daniil Trifonov, Vadim Repin, Emanuel Ax, Gil Shaham, Marc-André Hamelin, Jörg Widmann, Menaham Pressler, and Cho-Liang Lin. He serves as guest concertmaster for the Pittsburgh, Houston, Indianapolis, Toronto, National Arts Centre and Vancouver symphonies, and has appeared as artist and faculty at the St. Prex, Seattle, Aspen, La Jolla, Toronto Summer, Morningside Music Bridge, Olympic, and Orford Music Festivals. Discography includes releases on the Analekta, Onyx, Bridge, ATMA, and Naxos labels with James Ehnes and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, the Felix award-winning OSM Chamber Soloists ensemble, the Grammy award-winning Metropolis Ensemble, and the Juno award-winning NOSQ. He recently completed his recordings of all of the Beethoven Piano and Violin Sonatas with Charles Richard-Hamelin, winning Opus, Felix prizes as well as receiving a Juno nomination.  

Mr. Wan received his Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Artist Diploma degrees from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Masao Kawasaki and Ron Copes. In the spring of 2019, he received the Part-Time Teaching Award from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University.

Andrew Wan performs on a 1744 Michel’Angelo Bergonzi violin, and gratefully acknowledges its loan from the David Sela Collection. He also enjoys the use of an 1860 Dominique Peccatte bow from Canimex.

GRAMMY Award winning cellist Andrew Yee has been praised by Michael Kennedy of the London Telegraph as “spellbindingly virtuosic”. Trained at the Juilliard School, they are a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet who have released several albums to Critical acclaim including Andrew’s arrangement of Haydn’s “Seven Last Words” which Thewholenote.com praised as “...easily the most satisfying string version of the work that I’ve heard.” They were the quartet-in-residence at the Met Museum in 2014, and have won the Osaka and Coleman international string quartet competitions. Their newest recording of the string quartets of Caroline Shaw won a GRAMMY for best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble performance. As a soloist last season Andrew performed John Taverner’s The Protecting Veil and Strauss Don Quixote. In 2019 they won the first prize at Oklahoma University’s National Arts Incubation Lab for their pitch of a wearable garment that translates sound into vibrations for the hard of hearing. They like to make stop-motion videos of food, draw apples, cook like an Italian Grandma and have developed coffee and cocktail programs for award-winning restaurants (Lilia, Risbobk, Atla) in New York City. 

Their solo project “Halfie” draws on their experience as a bi-racial and non-binary person in having access to multiple communities at once, while not feeling at home in any of them. The works commissioned and on the concerts will feature a wide range of composers all for solo cello. 

They play on an 1884 Eugenio Degani cello on loan from the Five Partners Foundation.

As a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, Jane Atkins is one of Britain’s most diverse and versatile violists, with performances encompassing multiple genres ranging from Baroque to Contemporary music, Dance to Jazz. Passionate about expanding the viola repertoire Jane has commissioned and performed many works by eminent composers including John McLeod, John Woolrich, Diana Burrell, Ib Norholm and Andrew Toovey. Her contemporary recordings include Woolrich’s Ulyssees Awakes, Burrell’s Concerto - “Calling, Leaping, Crying, Dancing” and Tavenor’s Out of the Night for Viola and Tenor. 

Attending the Yehudi Menuhin School from the age of six and completing her studies with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Jane won the LPO/ Pioneer Young Soloist of the Year and gained second prize in the Lionel Tertis competition before graduating. Since her solo debut performance of the Walton concerto with Kurt Sanderling and the London Philharmonic, Jane has appeared as a soloist throughout the UK and Europe with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, the Dutch and Danish Radio Orchestras and both the City of London and Northern Sinfonias. As a recitalist she has performed in some of the major British Festivals including Harrogate, SpitalZields, Newbury, Cheltenham, East Neuk and Edinburgh. 

Early on in her career, Jane honed her craft as an orchestral and chamber musician in the role of Principal Viola with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, whilst continuing to Zlourish as a soloist and recitalist. Later, during her years as principal viola with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jane collaborated with many conductors, composers and performers including Joseph Svenson, Oliver Knussen, Robin Ticciati, John McLeod, Llyr Williams, Hugo Ticciati and Alexander Janiczek, delivering highly acclaimed solo and ensemble performances. 

Jane recently teamed up with the artist Jyll Bradley and composer Anna Clyne to create the audiovisual work “Pardes”, commissioned by and featured in the Scottish Ensemble’s Solo Collaborations series. She currently enjoys a varied freelance career and regularly performs with the Chineke! Orchestra. 

Jane is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London and a tutor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. FulZilling her passion for keeping music alive for younger generations, she also coaches young musicians with the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Edinburgh Youth Orchestra and the Britten Pears Orchestra. 

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, cellist Estelle Choi has garnered top prizes as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has gained international recognition as a founding member of the Calidore String Quartet, an ensemble that celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2020. Praised by the New York Times for its “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” the Calidore won the Grand-Prize of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition. Choi is an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, recipient of the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist award, BBC 3 New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust recipient, a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and alumni of the Bowers Program. Choi’s artistry has been broadly praised by critics like Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times who wrote that “her tone is rich, deep and powerful, giving the impression that music and the room are a single living being.” Choi studied with John Kadz in Calgary, Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music and Ronald Leonard at the Colburn Conservatory. She instructed cello performance and chamber music at the University of Houston. Choi teaches and performs at the University of Delaware. She holds a Masters degree from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor and Artist Diploma from the Colburn Conservatory of Music. 

James Ehnes is one of the world’s foremost violinists and a favorite guest of many of the world’s most celebrated orchestras and concert halls. Recent orchestral highlights include the National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de France, Sydney Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule and is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. His extensive discography has won many awards, including two Grammys, three Gramophones, and 11 Junos. He began violin studies at the age of four, debuted with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at age 13 and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, and is a professor at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.

Photo by Ben Ealovega

Violinist Barnabás Kelemen has conquered the most famous concert halls in the world with his virtuoso technique and dynamic, passionate playing style. Versatile and open-minded, he is an outstanding soloist and chamber musician, as well as an artistic director of festivals and a teacher at renowned institutions. In recent years he has also worked as a conductor. 

He regularly performs at the world’s most prominent concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Royal Festival Hall, the Palais de Beaux Arts, Suntory Hall, and the Berliner Philharmonie. He is a frequent guest of such eminent ensembles as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Estonian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Hannover’s NDR Radiophilharmonie, to name but a few. 

He has recorded all of Bartók’s works for violin in the series of albums produced under the aegis of Zoltán Kocsis, and many received international acclaim, especially his CD comprised of Sonatas for Violin and Piano Nos 1 and 2 (featuring Kocsis) and Sonata for Solo Violin, which won the 2013 Gramophone Award. So far, he has released a total of 20 albums – 17 solo and three with his quartet – as well as a double DVD of live performances of Mozart’s complete violin concertos. 

Barnabás Kelemen has achieved outstanding results in prestigious contests, including first prizes at both the 1999 International Mozart Violin Competition in Salzburg and the 2002 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and third prize at Brussels’ 2001 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. His artistry has been recognized with the highest professional and state honours: he has been awarded Liszt and Kossuth Prizes and Prima and Gramophone Awards, and is the holder of the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. 

Together with Katalin Kokas, he is the founder and artistic director of the Festival Academy Budapest Chamber Music Festival, which regularly features artists such as Vilde Frang, Maxim Rysanov, Shlomo Mintz, and Joshua Bell. From 2010 to 2018 he was the leader of the Kelemen Quartet, which enjoyed a stellar international career and which recently started up again with a new formation. 

Barnabás Kelemen performs on the “ex-Dénes Kovács” Guarneri del Gesú violin of 1742, generously loaned to him by the Hungarian State.

Catherine Manson enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist and chamber musician.  

As first violinist of the classical London Haydn Quartet she has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Sydney Opera House. The quartet’s series of recordings of the Haydn quartets on the Hyperion label has met with high critical acclaim internationally. 

She was appointed as leader of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 2006. Together with the orchestra's director, Ton Koopman she has recorded the six obbligato sonatas by Bach, Haydn's concerto for violin and organ and the complete chamber music by Buxtehude. They have given many concerts together throughout Europe.  

She is frequently invited as guest leader of ensembles such as The Orchestra of the 18th Century, Collegium Vocale, the Smithsonian Chamber Players in USA and Arcangelo in the UK. She has also appeared as soloist and director with Tafelmusik in Canada and with the Orquesta Barrocca de Sevilla.  

Teaching has always been an important part of her musical life; in 2001 she co-founded and now directs MusicWorks, presenting chamber music courses for young musicians.  She has given masterclasses and workshops at conservatories in London, Lyon, Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore as well as at Juilliard School, Yale and Indiana Universities.  

Grammy award-winning violinist and educator Károly Schranz has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world while mentoring the next generation of classical music luminaries.  Schranz co-founded the Takács Quartet in 1975 at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.  The quartet first received international attention in 1977, winning first prize and the Critics’ Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The quartet also won the Gold Medal at the 1978 Portsmouth and Bordeaux Competitions and first prizes at the Budapest International String Quartet (1978), London International String Quartet (1979), and the Bratislava (1981) competitions. The Takács Quartet made its North American debut in 1982 and has been in residence at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1983. 

During is 43-year tenure with the Takács Quartet, Schranz earned numerous awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance (2002), three Gramophone Awards for Best Chamber Music Album, BBC Record of the Year (2005), the Classical Brits Award for Best Chamber Music Album (2005), three Japanese Recording Academy Awards, and the Wigmore Hall Medal (2014), in addition to five Grammy Award nominations and four Gramophone Award nominations.  The Takács Quartet was the first string quartet to be inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012.   

Schranz previously served as co-founder and instructor of the University of Colorado Graduate String Quartet Program from 2006-2018, where he earned the Excellence in Research, Scholarly, and Creative Work Award, as well as Guest Professor and Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Faculty and Guest Artist at the Music Academy of the West and Aspen Music Festival and School.   

Notable collaborations include All the World for Love, a fourteen-city tour with poet laureate Robert Pinsky combining music and the spoken word, and Everyman, a collaboration with Pulitzer Prize winning author Philip Roth and Oscar-award winning actors Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep combining readings from Roth’s novel of the same name and Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”, as well as a long-standing relationship with the Hungarian folk group Muzsikás.   

Schranz has served as co-concertmaster of the Hungarian National Opera and the Budapest Philharmonic.  He has served on the juries of the London International String Quartet Competition and the International String Quartet Competition of Geneva, Switzerland.  He earned Artist and Teaching diplomas from the Franz Liszt Academy where he studied with Mihály Szücs, György Kurtág, and András Mihály.  

Born in Korea, Sung-Won Yang graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and was assistant to Janos Starker at Indiana University in the United States. He is regularly invited to be in the jury of the International Competitions such as International String Quartet competition in Banff, Canada, the International Cello Competition André Navarra in France, the International Cello Competition Cassado Japan and the Tongyeong International Competition in Korea. Recipient of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government, he is currently a professor of cello at the School of Music Yonsei University in Seoul, visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Director of the Festival Beethoven à Beaune, in France, as well as Music In PyeongChang Festival.

Heralded as “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” by the Los Angeles Times, the “immensely gifted American bass-baritone Davóne Tines has won acclaim, and advanced the field of classical music” (The New York Times) as a path-breaking artist whose work not only encompasses a diverse repertoire but also explores the social issues of today. As a Black, gay, classically trained performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, contemporary classical music, spirituals, gospel, and songs of protest, as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance that connects to all of humanity.

Tines is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year. He is Artist-in-Residence at Detroit Opera—an appointment that culminates in his performance in the title role of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in the spring of 2022—and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale’s first-ever Creative Partner. His ongoing projects include Recital No. 1: MASS, a program exploring the Mass woven through Western European, African-American, and 21st-century traditions, with performances this season in Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, and London. He also performs Concerto No. 1: SERMON—a program he conceived for voice and orchestra that weaves arias by John Adams, Anthony Davis, Igee Dieudonné, and Tines himself, with texts by James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou—with the Philadelphia Orchestra and BBC Symphony. He premieres Concerto No. 2: ANTHEM—created by Tines with music by Michael Schacter, Caroline Shaw, Tyshawn Sorey, and Carlos Simon, and text by Mahogany L. Browne—this summer at the Hollywood Bowl.

Tines is a member of AMOC and co-creator of The Black Clown, a music theater experience commissioned and premiered by The American Repertory Theater and presented at Lincoln Center. He has premiered works by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard, and Matthew Aucoin, and his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth with the San Francisco Symphony to Kaija Saariaho’s True Fire with the Orchestre national de France.

He is a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence; the recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center; and is a member of Lincoln Center’s Collider, an innovation engine for new voices at the intersection of art, technology, and social justice. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University, where he also serves as guest lecturer.

James Ehnes is one of the world’s foremost violinists and a favorite guest of many of the world’s most celebrated orchestras and concert halls. Recent orchestral highlights include the National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National de France, Sydney Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. Alongside his concerto work, Ehnes maintains a busy recital schedule and is the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. His extensive discography has won many awards, including two Grammys, three Gramophones, and 11 Junos. He began violin studies at the age of four, debuted with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal at age 13 and graduated from The Juilliard School in 1997, winning the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada, and is a professor at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. James Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715.

Photo by Ben Ealovega

“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He regularly performs around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time, and gives recitals at major concert venues and festivals worldwide.

Highlights of Mr. Hamelin’s 2023–2024 season include a vast variety of repertoire performed with the Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Reger’s Piano Concerto), and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (music by Franck and Boulanger). Recital and chamber music appearances take Mr. Hamelin to Prague, Poland, Oslo, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, Portland Piano International, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Cliburn Concerts and Brevard Music Center with Johannes Moser, and across the U.S. with the Takács Quartet. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Le Festival de Lanaudière, Grand Teton Music Festival, Tuckamore Festival, Schubertiade, and Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Hamelin is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, where his discography spans more than 70 albums, with notable recordings of a broad range of solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoire. In September 2023, the label releases Mr. Hamelin’s recording of Fauré’s Nocturnes and Barcarolles, including a short four-hand suite, played with his wife, Cathy Fuller. In 2022, he released both a two-disc set of C. P. E. Bach’s sonatas and rondos and a two-disc set of William Bolcom’s complete rags that both received wide critical acclaim.

Mr. Hamelin has composed music throughout his career, with over 30 compositions to his name. The majority of those works—including the Etudes and Toccata on “L’homme armé,” commissioned by the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—are published by Edition Peters. Mr. Hamelin performed his Toccata on “L’homme armé” along with music by C.P.E. Bach and William Bolcom on NPR’s Tiny Desk in 2023. His most recent work, his Piano Quintet, was premiered in August 2022 by himself and the celebrated Dover Quartet at La Jolla Music Society.

Mr. Hamelin makes his home in the Boston area with his wife, Cathy Fuller, a producer and host at Classical WCRB. Born in Montreal, he is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Record Critics’ Association, and has received 7 Juno Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, and the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. In December 2020, he was awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Mr. Hamelin is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.
 

Curtis Stewart, violin; Jannina Norpoth, violin; Nick Revel, viola; Hamilton Berry, cello

Applauded by The Washington Post as “a perfect encapsulation of today’s trends in chamber music,” and by The New Yorker as “independent-minded,” the GRAMMY nominated PUBLIQuartet’s modern interpretation of chamber music makes them one of the most dynamic artists of their generation. Dedicated to presenting new works for string quartet, PUBLIQuartet rose on the music scene as winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild’s New Music/New Places award, and in 2019 garnered Chamber Music America’s prestigious Visionary Award for outstanding and innovative approaches to contemporary classical, jazz, and world chamber music. PQ’s genre-bending programs range from 20th century masterworks to newly commissioned pieces, alongside re-imaginations of classical works featuring open-form improvisations that expand the techniques and aesthetic of the traditional string quartet.

PUBLIQuartet has served as artist-in-residence at top institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Sawdust and has appeared at a wide variety of venues and festivals, from Carnegie Hall and the Newport Jazz Festival to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Their latest album, the GRAMMY-nominated Freedom and Faith, debuted atop the Billboard Classical Charts in May 2019. The 2019-2020 season brings a diverse array of programs to venues across the United States and abraod, including an appearance at the String Quartet Biennale in Amsterdam.

PUBLIQuartet’s commitment to supporting emerging composers inspired their innovative program, PUBLIQ Access, which promotes emerging composers and presents a wide variety of under-represented music for string quartet--from classical, jazz and electronic, to non-notated, world and improvised music. Other unique projects include MIND|THE|GAP, a series of group-composed works developed by PQ to generate interest in new music while also engaging traditional classical music audiences. These unique creations range from “Bird in Paris” (Claude Debussy meets Charlie Parker) to more recent extended works including “What Is American?” (an exploration of Dvorak’s beloved “American” String Quartet) and Sancta Femina (based on themes by three medieval and baroque female composers).

Founded in 2010, PUBLIQuartet is currently based in New York City.

Hao Zhou, violin
Lucy Wang, violin
Aiden Kane, viola
Tate Zawadiuk, cello

The Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after performing young ensembles today and are currently in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program from 2024-2027. Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have traveled to nearly every major city across the globe, captivating audiences in New York, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Paris, Beijing, Lucerne, and Los Angeles. The quartet was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for the Music in the Morning series in Vancouver until 2025, where their focus will be to commission new works and lead extensive community engagement initiatives. The quartet has also held residencies at the Curtis Institute, Colburn Conservatory, Northern Michigan University, and Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. The Viano Quartet’s chief mentors include faculty of the Curtis Institute and Colburn Conservatory, as well as members of the Dover, Guarneri, and Tokyo string quartets. The quartet’s name was created to describe the four individual instruments playing together both harmony and melody, creating a unified instrument called the “Viano”.

Photo by Kevin Condon

Johannes Marmen, violin; Laia Braun, violin; Bryony Gibson-Cornish, viola; Sinéad O’Halloran, cello

Formed in 2013 at the Royal College of Music in London, the Marmen Quartet is fast building a reputation for the vitality and vigor of their performances. In 2019 they won the Grand Prize of the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition as well as the First Prize of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, with the Haydn and Canadian commission prizes in addition. Recent engagements have taken the Quartet to the Amsterdam and Barcelona String Quartet Biennales as well as the Hitzacker and Lockenhaus festivals.

Upcoming season highlights for the Marmens include debuts at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Pierre Boulez Saal as well as extensive European tours including performances in Heidelberg, Belfast, Luberon, Stockholm and Graz. Festival engagements will take the Quartet to the Lucerne Festival, Gulbekian Biennale, Wonderfeel Helsinki and Estivales de Musique en Médoc. In the US the Quartet undertakes the first visit of its two-year residency at Southern Methodist University in Dallas; a relationship that will see the Quartet work closely with the students as well as giving performances and developing new projects. The Quartet performed works by Haydn and Simpson at their BBC Proms debut in 2021, live on BBC Radio 3.

Founder and Artistic Director of the prize-winning Montreal Chamber Music Festival and Professor at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, cellist Denis Brott is recognized internationally as one of Canada’s finest performing musicians. He has appeared as soloist with every major Canadian orchestra and has toured internationally. A devoted chamber musician, Brott spent eight years in the Orford String Quartet. In 1985, he played a pivotal role in the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank which gave him a magnificent 1706 David Tecchler cello for his lifetime use. In 2015, Brott was appointed Member of the Order of Canada. 

Sebastian Ruth is a musician, educator, and organizer whose work explores new roles for music making in contemporary society.

Sebastian is the Founder and Artistic Director of Community MusicWorks, a community-based organization that builds cohesive urban community through music education and performance in Providence, Rhode Island. CMW’s programming includes a full season of chamber music performances by its fifteen musicians in residence and guest artists; a robust practice of commissioning new music; a free, robust music education program for 125 neighborhood young people; workshops, student concerts, and community dinners that involve families and the wider community; and fellowships and training programs that prepare a next generation of musicians to pursue socially-engaged music making.

As a violinist and violist in the MusicWorks Collective, Sebastian has had the opportunity to make music in Providence, Boston, Los Angeles, Banff, and New York, and to collaborate with the Borromeo, Kronos, Muir, Miro, Orion, and Turtle Island String Quartets, pianists Emanuel Ax and Jonathan Biss, violist Kim Kashkashian, oboist Frank Rosenwein, and violinist Jonathan Gandelsman.

Since 2013, Sebastian has served as a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale School of Music, designing and teaching courses on the connection between music, service, and society, including an online course on the Coursera platform, called “Music and Social Action.”

Sebastian is an enthusiastic participant on the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture’s cabinet, with a title of Secretary of Music and Society, and Sebastian serves on the advisory board of the Sphinx Organization.

In 2010, Sebastian was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship for his work “providing richly rewarding musical experiences and education for urban youth and their families while forging new roles beyond the concert hall for the twenty-first-century musician.” Sebastian visited the White House in 2010 to receive the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michele Obama on behalf of Community MusicWorks. In 2012, Sebastian received an honorary doctorate in music from Brown University, and was named by Strings Magazine as among the 25 most influential people in the string music world.

Sebastian lives in Providence, Rhode Island, is married to violinist Minna Choi, and is a father to two awesome daughters.

The lecture series is generously supported by Ernie and Sandra Green.

Sri Lankan-born Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO, SOCAN, ECMA, and Masterworks-winning composer, conductor, and pianist, described by The New York Times as “exuberantly creative” and Toronto Star as “an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future”. His work takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2004 as composer, conductor, and pianist, performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble and returned to Carnegie in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk has also appeared at the Kennedy Center, Opera Bastille, Lincoln Center, Teatro Colón, Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East. He was featured as a main character in What Would Beethoven Do?, the documentary about classical music innovation featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin, and Ben Zander. Growing up in Dubai, Dinuk studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and Juilliard, with Oscar-winner John Corigliano. Conducting studies followed at Mannes College under David Hayes, and doctoral studies with Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto. Dinuk has conducted the orchestras of the National Arts Centre, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, PEI, Scotia Festival, and Symphony Nova Scotia during his three-year appointment as Conductor-in-Residence. He is the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting; the NS Established Artist Award; NS Masterworks nominations for his Tabla Concerto and piano trio Love Triangle; double Merritt Award nominations; Juilliard, Mannes and Countess of Munster scholarships; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize, the RNCM’s highest student honor. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.

Image by Raoul Manuel Schnell

Mark Steinberg is first violinist of the Brentano String Quartet, which has an active career both in the U.S. and abroad. The quartet has won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, the first Cleveland Quartet Award, Lincoln Center’s Martin Segal Prize, and the Royal Philharmonic Society Award. The group is also quartet-in-residence at Princeton University. Also active as a soloist and chamber musician, Mark Steinberg has been heard in numerous European festivals, the Marlboro Festival, the El Paso International Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He is currently on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music.

Mark Steinberg est le premier violon du quatuor à cordes Brentano, qui se produit activement aux États-Unis comme à l’étranger. Ce quatuor a été lauréat du Concours de musique de chambre de la fondation Naumburg, du premier des Prix du Quatuor de Cleveland, du Prix Martin Segal du Lincoln Center, et du Prix de la Société philharmonique royale de Londres. L’ensemble est également quatuor en résidence à l’Université de Princeton. Aussi actif comme soliste que comme chambriste, Mark Steinberg a joué dans de nombreux festivals européens, au Festival de Marlboro, au Festival international de musique de chambre d’El Paso, à Chamber Music Northwest, de même que pour la Société de musique de chambre du Lincoln Center. Il est actuellement professeur au Mannes College of Music.

Theresa Leonard is a highly sought-after audio professional with extensive expertise in all aspects of music production, including audio post-production and broadcast. Her impressive portfolio of work comprises hundreds of high-profile, award-winning, and nominated recording projects, with a diverse range of international artists such as the Gryphon Trio, The St. Lawrence String Quartet, The Dover String Quartet, Pacific Opera Victoria, Victoria Symphony, and The National Arts Centre Orchestra. 

Theresa has received international recognition for her unwavering commitment to excellence in audio training and research, which she demonstrated during her tenure as Director of Audio at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Through her leadership, she has provided unparalleled educational opportunities for multiple generations of audio engineers, both through the Banff mentorship program and her presidency and fellowship with the Audio Engineering Society. As a result, she has been instrumental in shaping the careers of future leaders in the field, preparing them for major positions in the music technology and audio industries. 

Theresa's expertise extends beyond production and engineering, as she continues to serve as a consultant, director, and/or faculty, with several international music festivals and academic institutions, including Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Verbier Festival Academy. Theresa holds a Master of Music degree in sound recording from McGill University and bachelor’s degrees in both music and education.

Rachael Kerr is an alumna of the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio and has coached/played for many COC productions, most recently serving as head coach for Bluebeard’s Castle and rehearsal pianist for Gianni Schicchi. She has also been part of two workshops developing world premieres by Ana Sokolovic and Ian Cusson at the COC. She was recently the Dora Award-nominated music director for Against the Grain Theatre’s Figaro’s Wedding. Rachael has also been a rehearsal pianist for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in numerous projects, including world premieres by Brett Dean, Vincent Ho, and Gary Kulesha, and assisting as rehearsal pianist for the JUNO-nominated recording of Massenet’s Thaïs. Rachael holds a doctorate in piano performance and collaborative arts from Northwestern University, where she was concurrently a faculty instructor in music theory. Rachael has also performed in recital in association with the Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, and Finger Lakes Opera.

Rachael is currently a faculty member at The Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music as a vocal coach and was the music director for Soundstreams’ Garden of Vanished Pleasures. This past season, she has appeared in several performances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Chamber Soloists and was the keyboard section coach for the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Barry Shffman has had a rich and varied career as a performer, recording artist, and administrator. A founding member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe and recorded several critically acclaimed discs during his 17 years with the ensemble. With the Quartet, he served as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1994-2006 and was a member of the faculty of Stanford University from 1998 to 2006.

 He currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School, and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has also served in numerous roles at Banff Centre, including Director of Music Programs (2006-2010), Artistic Director of the Centre’s Summer Classical Music Programs (2010-2016), and  Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Since 2009 he has been Executive Artistic Director of Music in the Morning in Vancouver. Most recently, he was appointed Artistic Director Designate of Rockport Music in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Mr. Shiffman is the recipient of the Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching awarded by the Longy School of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary.