2025 Musicians

Toby Appel has performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and the Far East. He has been a member of TASHI, and the Lenox and Audubon Quartets; guest artist with the Alexander, Manhattan and Vermeer Quartets, and the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. Festival performances include Mostly Mozart , Santa Fe, Angel Fire, Seattle, Chamber Music Northwest , and Marlboro, as well as festivals in England, France, Korea, Germany, Italy, Finland, and Greece.

A most versatile artist, Mr. Appel has narrated performances including: A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Ferdinand, Ode to Napoleon, Histoire du Soldat, Masque of the Red Death, and Facade. Mr. Appel is a frequent commentator for National Public Radio’s Performance Today.

Toby Appel entered the Curtis Institute at age 13 under the guidance of Max Aronoff. He has been on the faculty at the Juilliard School in New York City since 1990. He has toured for the United States State Department and performed at the United Nations and at the White House. Mr. Appel’s chamber music and recital recordings can be heard on the Columbia, Delos, Desto, Koch International, Opus 1, and Musical Heritage Society labels.

Toby Appel lives with his wife (Carolyn) and their dog (Morgan) in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician, throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

The 2025-26 season marks Mr. Arron’s 13th season as the co-artistic director with his wife, Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes String Quartet and he is a regular performer at the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies, the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bargemusic, Caramoor, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, Seoul Spring Festival in Korea, Music in the Vineyards Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland. Other festival appearances include Salzburg, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart, PyeongChang, Bridgehampton, Spoleto USA, Santa Fe, Evian, La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Chesapeake Chamber Music, and the Bard Music Festival.

Mr. Arron’s performances are frequently broadcast on American Public Media’s Performance Today. In 2021, Mr. Arron’s recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with pianist Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Arron currently serves on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

A native of Wisconsin, GRAMMY Award-winning soprano Sarah Bailey enjoys a versatile career that defies categorization. Praised by The New York Times for her “radiant, liquid tone,” and “exquisitely phrased” singing, and by Opera UK for “a sound of remarkable purity,” she is a prolific vocal soloist, cellist, ensemble singer, recording artist, and educator.

Among her many career highlights, she has appeared as a soloist with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah, serenaded the Mona Lisa with John Zorn’s Madrigals at the Louvre Museum in Paris, and performed with Kanye West and GRAMMY Award-winning alternative-classical vocal band Roomful of Teeth at the Hollywood Bowl. Other memorable engagements include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Colorado Symphony, recording cello and vocal soundscapes for the Fog x FLO public art installation in Boston’s Emerald Necklace; and inhabiting the role of The Soul in the world premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, for which she received the 2020 GRAMMY for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. Notable recent and upcoming projects include Julia Wolfe’s Her Story with the Lorelei Ensemble and the Boston, Chicago, Nashville, National, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; John Zorn works with Barbara Hannigan at the Elbphilharmonie; David Lang’s Song of Songs at the Barbican Centre; and the role of Prinze Ozia in Alessandro Scarlatti’s La Giuditta with Haymarket Opera.

Sarah is a featured soloist on several GRAMMY-nominated albums, including New York Polyphony’s Sing Thee Nowell, Wild Up’s recording of Christopher Cerrone’s The Branch Will not Break, The Clarion Choir’s recording of the Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil, Alexander Kastalsky’s Memory Eternal to the Fallen Heroes, and Maximilian Steinberg’s Passion Week, as well as the world premiere recording of Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Music. She sang the role of the impish fairy Verveine on the world premiere recording of Le Dernier Sorcier by Pauline Viardot, also featuring mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and bass-baritone Eric Owens. Additional discography includes multiple world premiere recordings with the Lorelei Ensemble: David Lang’s love fail, Scott Ordway’s North Woods, James Kallembach’s Antigone, and Jessica Meyer’s I long and seek after.

Sarah maintains a private voice studio and has conducted master classes and artist residencies at institutions around the United States, including the Peabody Conservatory, Ithaca College, Harvard University, Duke University, Cornell University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among others. She has served on the summer faculties of the St. Thomas Fifth Avenue Girl Chorister Course in New York City, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Northwestern Bach Academy, and the Nashotah House Seminary. She currently teaches on the voice faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Chicago.

Dedicated to building artistic communities and opportunities for young artists, Sarah is a co-founder of Just Bach, a monthly concert series in Madison, Wisconsin where she is also the Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition, a showcase for emerging professional singers dedicated to highlighting Handel’s extensive vocal repertoire.

Sarah is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fee to organizations they care about. Sarah supports NRDC, the Animal Welfare Institute, and Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness.

Jonathan Coopersmith, Festival Education Lecturer since 2015, is a highly regarded teacher, conductor, and lecturer on music theory and analysis, music history, and music’s relationship to well-being. He has been a member of the Curtis faculty since 2005 and has served as Chair of the Musical Studies department since 2010. He has served as Associate Conductor for The Philadelphia Singers for 12 years and the Artistic Director of Nashirah for seven years, and has been a frequent guest chorus director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Mr. Coopersmith is a sought-after educator and presenter in the Philadelphia area with recent lectures at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He has been a regular guest lecturer in the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking about music and well-being. He recently wrote a chapter for a multivolume set as part of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, titled “Musical Flourishes: Lessons from a Conservatory”, published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

Mr. Coopersmith holds a bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied with George Crumb, and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from Mannes College of Music, where he studied theory and analysis with Carl Schachter and Edward Aldwell. He has also studied at the Pierre Monteux School for conductors and orchestra musicians. Adeline

Marina Iwao is a Japanese-born pianist highly regarded for her nuanced artistry and deep commitment to ensemble playing. An avid chamber musician, she has performed with esteemed artists, including Frank Morelli, David Shifrin, Quatuor Debussy, and Koichiro Yamamoto, with whom she appeared at the 2023 International Trombone Festival. In summer 2025, she will appear on the artist roster for Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico. Based on the East Coast, Marina performs regularly at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, and Bargemusic and appears at festivals and concerts across the United States and internationally.

A dedicated interpreter of contemporary music, Marina is a member of Random Access Music, a New York City-based collective of composers and performers. In 2023, she premiered Margaret Brouwer’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano with clarinetist Thomas Piercy at the International Clarinet Association’s 50th Anniversary ClarinetFest in Denver.

Marina discovered her passion for ensemble playing in high school, accompanying friends long before she encountered the term “collaborative piano.” She earned her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from The Juilliard School, studying with Jonathan Feldman and Dr. Lydia Brown. She spent summers at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Music Academy of the West and served as a fellow and coordinator at the Yale School of Music from 2022 to 2024. Committed to education, Marina has taught at the New England Music Camp and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. She currently serves as a staff pianist at The Juilliard School and Kaufman Music Center and as chamber music faculty at the School for Strings in New York City. WEB: marina-iwao.com

Violinist Ani Kavafian enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. She has performed with virtually all of America’s leading orchestras in major venues across the country, has premiered and recorded a number of works written for her, and has been featured on many network and PBS television music specials. Kavafian tours internationally as an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and appears frequently in performance with her sister, violinist and violist Ida Kavafian.

At Yale, Kavafian teaches a studio of graduate-level violin students, coaches chamber ensembles, and frequently performs on Yale’s Faculty Artist Series and Yale in New York series. She regularly teaches and performs at several music festivals, including the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music, the Heifetz International Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, and the Meadowmount School of Music.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, of Armenian heritage, Kavafian began piano lessons at age 3. At age 9, in the United States, she began studying violin with Ara Zerounian and eventually with Mischa Mischakoff. She went on to study violin at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian, eventually earning a master of music degree with highest honors. She plays the 1736 Muir McKenzie Stradivarius violin.

Internationally acclaimed as both violinist and violist, 2019 marked the versatile Ida Kavafian’s 35th year and final year as Artistic Director of the acclaimed festival, Music from Angel Fire in NM. For over fifty years, she has been a frequent performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has been a founder of such groups as Tashi, Opus One and Trio Valtorna, as well as the festival, Bravo! Vail. During her tenure with the renowned Beaux Arts Trio, the group was Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year. She has toured and recorded with diverse greats such as Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Mark O’Connor, and was featured on CBS Sunday Morning.

Ms. Kavafian has premiered many new works including a concerto written for her by Toru Takemitsu as well as Michael Daugherty’s “Fire and Blood”, which she also recorded with the Detroit Symphony. As a violist, she has performed with the Guarneri, Orion, Harlem, Shanghai and American String Quartets. Ms. Kavafian holds the Nina von Maltzahn Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute, where she was awarded the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Armenian parentage, she began her studies with Ara Zerounian, continued with Mischa Mischakoff, then graduated with honors from the Juilliard School with Oscar Shumsky. Young Concert Artists presented her debut with pianist Peter Serkin.

Married to violist Steven Tenenbom, Ms. Kavafian has found great success in another field, the breeding, training, hunting and showing of prize-winning Hungarian Vizsla dogs under the prefix, “Opus One”.

Whether playing in the intimate setting of a string quartet or performing a concerto on the stage of a concert hall, Benny Kim’s “emotional depth and musical carriage are his real drawing cards. His is a style that touches the peak of romantic violin playing.” (The Washington Post) Known for his versatility as soloist, chamber musician and teacher, Mr. Kim has been described as having “titanium technique” and producing “exquisite, pearly colorations.”

Kim is a proud product of the Suzuki Method, which he began at age 10 with Doris Preucil. He continued his violin studies with Almita Vamos and at the age of 15 won the Chicago Symphony Youth Symphony Auditions, making his solo debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. One year later he won the St. Louis Symphony Youth Auditions and the Julius Stulberg Auditions. Kim went on to graduate with a Bachelor and Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with legendary pedagogue, Dorothy DeLay. In 1983, Mr. Kim won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions at the age of 20. While at Juilliard, the residents of Macomb, IL, Kim’s hometown, heard the news that he was preparing to purchase a violin. This small community, along with faculty members of Western Illinois University, began a fundraising campaign to contribute to the purchase. In 1987 he acquired a 1732 Stradivarius violin.

Kim has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Detroit, and internationally with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orquésta Sinfonica Nacional de México, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the major orchestras of South Africa. In recital, Kim has performed in virtually every major city in the United States, including critically acclaimed engagements at New York’s 92nd St. Y and at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center.

Mr. Kim is first violinist of the Miami String Quartet, winner of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award. Highlights of recent seasons include performances on the Quartets Plus Series at Carnegie Hall and the Fortas Chamber Music Series at the Kennedy Center. Dedicated to education, the quartet has also enjoyed working with students in residencies in Hong Kong and Bogota, Colombia and also teach at the Kent/Blossom Festival every summer. The ensemble’s commitment to new music has led to many commissions and premieres, including Concierto de Cámara by Roberto Sierra, Septet by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Angels by Joan Tower and Green Sneakers by Ricky Ian Gordon.

Kim spends summers playing chamber music with friends at festivals around the world, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, Mecklenburg and Schleswig–Holstein Festivals in Germany and the Bristol Festival in England.

In his spare time, Kim is a passionate golfer who, over the years, has seen his handicap fluctuate more than the stock market! Benny and his Golden Retriever, Cubby, make their home outside Kansas City on the Falcon Ridge golf course.

Cellist Eric Kim has a diverse career performing throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle and Far East as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with orchestra.

He joined the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as professor of cello at the beginning the 2009-10 academic year.

He served as principal cello of the Cincinnati Symphony from 1989 to 2009 and has also held principal cello positions with the San Diego and Denver symphonies.

Having made his solo debut at age 15 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kim was a featured soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra on its critically acclaimed tour of the Far East and has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cincinnati, Denver, and San Diego. He has collaborated as soloist with such conductors as Zubin Mehta, Sergiu Comissiona, Lawrence Foster, Alan Gilbert, Paavo Jarvi, Gianandrea Noseda, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and has appeared in recital in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Active as a chamber musician, he has performed with such artists as Emmanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yefim Bronfman, Susan Graham, Lynn Harrell, Stephen Hough, Jaime Laredo, Menahem Pressler, and Gil Shaham, as well as collaborating with members of the Emerson, Guarneri, and Orion string quartets.

At the invitation of violinist Pinchas Zukerman, he performed with Zukerman at the festivals of Athens (Greece), Mostly Mozart (N.Y.), Schleswig- Holstein (Germany), and Verbier (Switzerland). He has participated in several tours with Zukerman to South America and Israel as a member of the Pinchas Zukerman and Friends chamber ensemble. Highlights include chamber music debuts at Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, performing both Brahms Sextets with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Michael Tree, among others.

Kim can regularly be heard at the festivals of Angel Fire (New Mexico), Aspen, La Jolla, Orcas Island (Wash.), Sangat (India), Santa Fe, and Savannah. He has made several recordings for the RCA, EMI, Telarc, and Koch labels. As a teacher, he has students in major orchestras throughout the world. He is a regular teacher and performer at the Aspen Music Festival and School as well as the Music Masters Course Japan program held in Yokohama and Tokyo. Born of Korean parents in New York City, Kim grew up in Illinois, where he began piano studies with his mother at age five. At age 10, he began cello studies with Tanya L. Carey.

He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Leonard Rose, Lynn Harrell, and Channing Robbins. Upon graduation, Kim received the first William Schuman Prize, awarded for outstanding leadership and achievement in music.

Romanian-born cellist Mihai Marica is a first-prize winner of the Dr. Luis Sigall International Competition in Viña del Mar, Chile, as well as the Irving M. Klein International Competition, and is a recipient of Charlotte White’s Salon de Virtuosi Fellowship Grant. He has performed with orchestras such as the Symphony Orchestra of Chile, Xalapa Symphony in Mexico, the Hermitage State Orchestra of St. Petersburg in Russia, the Jardins Musicaux Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Santa Cruz Symphony in the US. He has also appeared in recital performances in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Spain, Holland, South Korea, Japan, Chile, the United States, and Canada.

A dedicated chamber musician, he has performed at the Chamber Music Northwest, Norfolk and Aspen music festivals where he has collaborated with such artists as Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, David Shifrin, André Watts, and Edgar Meyer. He is a founding member of the award-winning Amphion String Quartet. A recent collaboration with dancer Lil Buck brought forth new pieces for solo cello written by Yevgeniy Sharlat and Patrick Castillo. He recently joined the acclaimed Apollo Trio.

Marica studied with Gabriela Todor in his native Romania and with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music, where he was awarded master’s and artist diploma degrees. He is an alum of CMS’s Bowers Program.

Harpsichordist Kathleen McIntosh has been a Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival artist since 1996. She has performed in the United States and beyond, in festivals in Cuba, Japan, Peru, Spain and Germany, and as guest soloist with chamber orchestras in Russia and Vietnam. Workshop invitations take her regularly to Cuba, Peru and Poland.

An enthusiastic performer of contemporary music, she has premiered works by Melinda Wagner, Leo Brouwer, John Steinmetz and many others and premiered works by Lei Liang and Gregory Spear in 2021-2022. In October 2023, she premiered “Dream Scherzo” by Pierre Jalbert with Chatter, an Albuquerque based contemporary music series.

A resident of Santa Fe, McIntosh performs regularly with Several Friends, an early music group directed by Elizabeth Blumenstock and Mary Springfels. She has performed with Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica and the Desert Chorale, and as soloist with New Mexico Philharmonic in 2019. She can be heard on Marican Studio and Gasparo recordings.

Tara Helen O’Connor, who Art Mag has said “so embodies perfection on the flute that you’ll forget she is human,” is an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a two-time Grammy Award nominee, and, as a member of the New Millennium Ensemble, a recipient of the Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award. A Wm. S. Haynes artist, she was the first flutist selected to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program and is currently a season artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, a member of the Windscape woodwind quintet and the Bach Aria Group.

O’Connor serves as Visiting Associate Professor, Adjunct, of Flute at the Yale School of Music. She also serves on the faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music, and the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music, and is Artistic Director of the Music from Angel Fire Festival.

A champion of contemporary music, Ms. O’Connor has premiered hundreds of works and has appeared on numerous recordings and film and television soundtracks such as Barbie, Respect, The Joker, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building and Schmigadoon, to name only a few. O’Connor has collaborated with such distinguished artists as vocalists Jennifer Johnson Cano and Dawn Upshaw, violinist Jaime Laredo, clarinetist David Shifrin, guitarist Eliot Fisk, and pianists Jeremy Denk, Peter Serkin, and Stephen Prutsman, and with such revered ensembles as the Emerson, Orion, and St. Lawrence string quartets.

Among the festivals at which O’Connor regularly appears include the Bravo! Vail festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Music@Menlo, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass, Spoleto Festival USA, the Banff Centre, Rockport Music, Bay Chamber Concerts, Manchester Music Festival, the Great Mountains Music Festival, Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival and Music From Angel Fire. She has also performed in the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

A charismatic performer noted for her artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone spanning every musical era, O’Connor has appeared on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts and PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International, CMS Studio Recordings with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Bridge Records.

She lives with her husband, violinist Daniel Phillips and their two miniature dachshunds, Chloé and Ava on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Clarinetist Todd Palmer has appeared as soloist, recitalist, chamber music collaborator, educator, arranger, and presenter in a variety of musical endeavors around the world. A three time Grammy nominated artist, he has appeared as soloist with the Atlanta, Houston, BBC Scotland orchestras; St. Paul, New York, Cincinnati, Montréal, and Metamorphosen chamber orchestras, as well as many others. He’s collaborated with many of the worlds finest string ensembles such as the St. Lawrence, Brentano, Borromeo, Pacifica, Daedalus and Ying quartets; and has also shared the stage with sopranos Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, Elizabeth Futral, Heidi Grant Murphy and Dawn Upshaw, and many other notable instrumentalists. He has championed Osvaldo Golijov’s Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind around the world and commissioned the theatre work Orpheus and Euridice by Ricky Ian Gordon which was presented by Great Performers at Lincoln Center in 2005 . He was a winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions, and has participated in numerous music festivals in the US and abroad including 18 years at Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, 5 years at the Marlboro Festival and the Tanglewood Institute, where he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship. He has also held principle clarinet positions in the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Gotham Chamber Opera and the Grand Teton Festival. In 2008 he premiered David Bruce’s Gumboots, a Carnegie Hall commission that was written especially for him and the St. Lawrence Quartet, and for two years appeared in Lincoln Center’s revival of South Pacific.Recently he appeared as soloist in Robert Lepage’s staging of Stravinsky’s The Nightingale and Other Fables at BAM — dressed as a Cossack and performed the Mozart clarinet concerto as a part of Great Performers at Lincoln Center’s What Makes It Great series.

Violinist Daniel Phillips is co-founder of the Orion String Quartet which gave its last concert in April 2024 , presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln after an illustrious 37 year career. A graduate of Juilliard, his major teachers were his father Eugene Phillips, Ivan Galamian, Sally Thomas, Nathan Milstein, Sandor Végh, and George Neikrug.

Since winning the 1976 Young Concert Artists Competition, he has performed as a soloist with many orchestras, including the Pittsburgh, Houston, New Jersey, Phoenix, San Antonio symphonies. He appears regularly at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, St Lawrence String Quartet Seminar , Heifetz Institute, Chesapeake Music Festival, the International Musicians Seminar in England, and Music from Angel Fire, where he is co-artistic director. He was a member of the renowned Bach Aria Group and has toured and recorded in a string quartet for Sony with Gidon Kremer, Kim Kashkashian, and Yo-Yo Ma. A judge in the 2022 Leipzig Bach Competition, 2018 Seoul International Violin Competition, the 2023 World Bartok Competition, and the 2024 Prague Spring Competition.

Phillips is a professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and on the faculties of the Bard College Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. He lives with his wife, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, and their two dachshunds on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

Violinist Cathy Meng Robinson is a founding member of the Miami String Quartet. As a member of the quartet, which formed in 1988, she has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Awards with the quartet include the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award presented by Chamber Music America, first prize in the Concert Artists Guild competition, Grand Prize of the Fishchoff Chamber Music competition, as well as prizes in the Evian and London String Quartet competitions. The Quartet has performed at many of the country’s top summer music festivals, including Santa Fe, La Jolla, Music from Angel Fire, Steamboat Springs, Kent/Blossom and Bravo! Vail Valley. She has recorded with the Miami Quartet for BMG Conifer, Pyramid, and Musical Heritage Society labels. Cathy has been on the music faculties of The New World School of the Arts, Florida International University, and most recently – Kent State University.

Cathy is a native of Greenville, SC where she began violin studies at the age of six. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Ivan Galamian and David Cerone. She received her Master of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she studied with Isadore Tinkleman.

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

His most recent recording released on Blue Griffin Records features the complete works of Mendelssohn for cello and piano with his colleague Donna Lee. In 1992 the Miami String Quartet became the first string quartet in a decade to win First Prize of the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. The quartet has also received the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, has won the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and was a member of CMS’s Bowers Program. He regularly attends festivals across the United States, including the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Kent Blossom Music, Bravo! Vail, Savannah Music Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Highlights of recent seasons include international appearances in Bern, Cologne, Istanbul, Lausanne, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Paris. He also teaches chamber music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Robinson hails from a musical family and his siblings include Sharon Robinson of the Kalichstein- Laredo-Robinson Trio, and Hal Robinson, principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He plays a cello made by Carlo Tononi in Venice in 1725.

Steven Tenenbom’s impeccable style and sumptuous tone have combined to make him one of the most respected violists performing today. He has appeared as guest artist with the Guarneri and Emerson String Quartets, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson and Beaux Arts Trios. As soloist, he has appeared with the Utah Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brandenburg Ensemble.

Mr. Tenenbom was the violist of the Orion String Quartet, having just celebrated their final season and a co-founder of the exciting piano quartet, OPUS ONE. He has appeared at many festivals including Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Norlfolk, Music@Menlo and Music From Angel Fire.

Mr. Tenenbom is a member of the viola faculty of the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music and was a visiting professor at the Yale School of Music. His acclaimed recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets with the Orion Quartet are available on Koch International.

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. Tenenbom’s teachers have included Max Mandel, Heidi Castleman, Milton Thomas at USC, and Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle at The Curtis Institute of Music. He currently plays a viola made by Peter and Wendy Moes from 2015. Married to violinist Ida Kavafian, the Tenenboms live in Connecticut where they breed, raise and show champion Vizsla purebred dogs.

Pianist Shai Wosner has attracted international recognition for his exceptional artistry, musical integrity, and creative insight. His performances of a broad range of repertoire—from Beethoven and Schubert to Ligeti and the music of today—reflect a degree of virtuosity and intellectual curiosity that has made him a favorite among audiences and critics, who note his “keen musical mind and deep musical soul” (NPR’s All Things Considered).

Widely sought after by colleagues for his versatility and spirit of partnership, Wosner has collaborated as a chamber musician with numerous artists, including Martha Argerich, Martin Fröst, Lynn Harrell, Dietrich Henschel, Ralph Kirshbaum, Jennifer Koh, Cho-Liang Lin, Christian Tetzlaff, Orion Weiss, and Pinchas Zukerman. He has also collaborated with leading chamber ensembles, including the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet in The Schubert Effect recital series. Wosner is a past member of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) and performs regularly at various chamber music festivals, including Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival, Piano Aux Jacobins festival in France, and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

Born in Israel, Wosner enjoyed a broad musical education from a very early age, studying piano with Opher Brayer and Emanuel Krasovsky, as well as composition, theory, and improvisation with André Hajdu. He later studied with Emanuel Ax at The Juilliard School, where Wosner is also now on the piano faculty. He resides in New York with his wife and two children.

Hailed by CBC Music as a “Top 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30,” Jacques Forestier began playing the violin at the age of two, and has since delighted audiences in concert halls across North America, Europe, and Asia. A student of Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music, Forestier is also a student of Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program.

Forestier has performed as a soloist with orchestras internationally having made his début with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. The 1st Prize Laureate of the Shean Strings Competition, Forestier also took the Silver Medal and Bach Prize at the Stulberg International Strings Competition as well as top prizes at the Irving M. Klein and Johansen international competitions — most recently. He looks forward to performing in festivals across North America and Europe including at Chamberfest Cleveland, Gstaad Menuhin, Perlman, and Angel Fire music festivals.

Forestier is grateful for support from the Edmonton Community Foundation and the Anne Burrows Foundation in helping make his studies possible.

Maya has performed at many diverse venues including Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík, Carnegie Hall in New York City, The Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Chicago Symphony Center, Ravinia’s Bennett-Gordon Hall, Aspen’s Harris Hall and Benedict Music Tent, The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Deluxe Music Hall in Chengdu, China, Door Country Auditorium in Wisconsin, and historic Chenery Auditorium in Michigan.

In an effort to broaden Western classical music traditions, Maya unveils the music of her heritage by presenting pieces unique to her Indian ancestry, bridging her Eastern roots with her Western classical training. She enjoys showcasing works of Indian influence that reflect the form and improvisational quality of Eastern music, blending techniques of both cultures. An alumna of the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, she studied with Almita Vamos. She currently attends the famed Curtis Institute of Music in the studio of pedagogue Ida Kavafian. Maya performs with a c. 1730 Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago

Sumin Kim is a violist with extensive repertoire coverage, including solo, chamber music, and orchestra. Born in Seoul, she began playing string instruments with violin at age eight and won several major competitions. Since 2020, she has expanded her musical reach to the viola and been mesmerized by its deep sounds which led to her full devotion to the instrument.

As a violist, she was invited to Verbier Festival Academy, Kronberg Academy Masterclass, and Heifetz International Music Institute. She played multiple chamber music, including WRTI Live Radio performance, and played in the Curtis Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard 415 Period-Instrument Ensemble.

Kim studied viola with Steven Tenenbom at The Juilliard School and violin with Aaron Rosand, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, and Midori at the Curtis Institute of Music. She is pursuing her Post-Baccalaureate diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music as an Edna Harkness Fellow with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory.

Laura Navasardian is a talented cellist known for her captivating performances and dedication to classical music. A graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, she has participated in numerous recitals, showcasing her skills in works by renowned composers such as Claude Debussy, Felix Mendelssohn, and Béla Bartók. Notable past performances include her contributions to the Curtis Institute’s free recital series, where she played significant pieces like Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No. 2. Additionally, she has been featured in the Curtis Recital Series summer broadcasts, bringing the beauty of classical music to a wider audience through online platforms. Laura’s commitment to her craft and her ability to engage with diverse repertoires have established her as a rising star in the classical music scene. Looking ahead, she is set to continue her artistic journey with upcoming performances that promise to further showcase her exceptional talent and passion for music.

Gold Medal Winner in the Fischoff and the Coltman National Chamber Music Competitions, Luke Henderson is 21 years old, from Raleigh, North Carolina, and currently studies with Li Lin at The Juilliard School. In 2021 Luke won The American Prize in Instrumental Performance and the Grand Prize at the World Classical Music Awards.

Henderson was a member of the Chamber Music Intensive Performance Seminar at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School led by Merry Peckham and of the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Zander. He has performed internationally in Berlin, Salzburg, Budapest, Pecs, Vienna, Amsterdam, and Jihlava. Luke was awarded the New England Conservatory Eugene Lehrer Chamber Music Award and is featured on National Public Radio’s From The Top (Show 392).

Henderson’s musical interests extend beyond European classical repertoire – namely Bluegrass, Jazz, R&B, and South Indian Classical. Luke was featured in the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra during their residency at Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, performing the music of Duke Ellington. Henderson is dedicated to the study and performance of contemporary classical music. In 2023, he was featured in celebration performances for contemporary composers John Corigliano, Samuel Adler, and Reena Esmail.

When not playing violin, Luke enjoys hiking and listening to John Coltrane.

Ian Maloney is a cellist, composer, and chamber musician studying with Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School where he is currently pursuing a Master of Music. Maloney has appeared on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, NPR’s From the Top, and in music videos with Brooklyn’s Project Trio and violinist Joshua Bell. He has performed in master classes for Carter Brey, Philippe Muller, Clive Greensmith, Paul Katz, David Finckel, Bonnie Hampton and Colin Carr.

As a cellist, he has earned first prize in numerous music competitions and has appeared as a featured orchestral soloist. Over the past four years at Juilliard, ten of his works, mainly for chamber configurations, have been premiered. As an orchestral player, he has served as principal cellist of the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. He also performs with the New York Arabic Orchestra, appearing in David Geffen Hall at GlobalFest 2023 as well as in the video game, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.

Maloney is an active chamber musician, mainly as the cellist of the award-winning Dolphins Quartet.

Violinist Isaac Park began his studies at the age of five with Sunny Kang, and has studied with Li Lin, Wei He, Helen Kim, and Chen Zhao. In 2020, he entered the undergraduate program at The Juilliard School where he is currently a student of Joseph Lin. He has enjoyed chamber music from an early age, playing in nonprofit groups, the Young Chamber Musicians, and at various festivals.

Throughout the summers, Park has attended the Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and Music from Angel Fire.

Currently based in New York, he enjoys performing in nursing homes, hospitals, and schools. As a part of The Dolphins Quartet, the quartet has performed multiple times in Alice Tully Hall and have worked with renowned composers John Corigliano and Andy Akiho. Through the organization, Project Music Heals Us, they have performed for inmates on Rikers Island, and helped launch an initiative to create an educational program in prisons across California.

In 2024, The Dolphins performed the quartet concerto, Absolute Jest, in David Geffen Hall with the Juilliard Orchestra and John Adams conducting.

James Preucil, violist and composer, is pursuing his master’s degree at the Juilliard School of Music, where he studies with Molly Carr and Samuel Rhodes. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2024 from Juilliard. He previously studied with Peter Slowik and his mother, Stephanie Preucil.

An avid chamber music musician, James is the founding violist of The Dolphins Quartet, which formed in summer of 2022. Along with his quartet, Preucil attended Music From Angel Fire Festival, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and Centrum Chamber Music Festival. Previously, he attended Kneisel Hall Chamber Festival, Juilliard Chamberfest, Castleman Quartet Program, and Credo Chamber Music Festival.

Preucil also dedicated to composition, especially centered around the viola. His compositional style ranges from the natural, idiomatic sounds of strings to ideas typical of pop, country, and jazz. He has completed and performed three major works for solo viola: “Kalendarmusik” Partita (2021), Sonata no. 1 in C major “The Sea” (2022), and Sonata no. 2 in Db major “Solitude” (2023). He recently completed his String Quartet No. 1 in F# minor, “Grunge”.

Since January 2021, Preucil has created videos for his YouTube channel called “Viola King”, aimed at forming a community of violists and viola supporters. Now with an audience of more than 35,000 followers across multiple platforms, he regularly posts arrangements, covers, vlogs, comedy videos, and discussions about the viola.

Preucil is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School.

2025 MFAF Artist Roster:

Toby Appel, Violin

Edward Arron, Cello

Sarah Brailey, Soprano

Jonathan Coopersmith, Musicologist

Marina Iwao, Piano

Ani Kavafian, Violin

Ida Kavafian, Violin

Benny Kim, Violin

Eric Kim, Cello

Mihai Marica, Cello

Kathleen McIntosh, Harpsichord

Tara Helen O’Connor, Flute

Todd Palmer, Clarinet

Daniel Phillips, Violin

Cathy Meng Robinson, Violin

Keith Robinson, Cello

Steve Tenenbom, Viola

Shai Wosner, Piano

Jacques Forestier, Violin
Curtis Institute of Music
The Vizsla Quartet

Maya Anjali Buchanan, Violin
Curtis Institute of Music
The Vizsla Quartet

Sumin Kim, Viola
Curtis Institute of Music
The Vizsla Quartet

Laura Navasardian, Cello
Curtis Institute of Music
The Vizsla Quartet

Luke Henderson, Violin
The Juilliard School
The Dolphins

Ian Maloney, Cello
The Juilliard School
The Dolphins

Isaac Park, Violin
The Juilliard School
The Dolphins

James Preucil, Viola
The Juilliard School
The Dolphins