2026 Musicians

Flute: Tara Helen O’Connor
Violin: Ani Kavafian, Ida Kavafian, Benny Kim, Daniel Phillips
Viola: Toby Appel, Steven Tenenbom
Cello: Angela Park, Colin Carr
Double Bass: Chelsea Strayer
Piano: Marina Iwao, Michael Stephen Brown
Bassoon: Peter Kolkay
Clarinet: Todd Palmer

Commissioned Composer: Michael Stephen Brown
Musicologist/Lecturer: Jonathan Coopersmith

Young Artists:

Juilliard School: The Candide Quartet:
Violin: Chili Ekman, Henry Rogers
Viola: Amelia Krinke
Cello: Vanny Hu

Juilliard School: The Dolphins:
Violin: Luke Henderson, Isaac Park
Viola: James Preucil
Cello: Ian Maloney

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.

Colin Carr appears throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, and the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia, and Montréal, as well as all the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. Conductors with whom he has worked include Rattle, Gergiev, Dutoit, Elder, Skrowaczewski, and Marriner. He has been a regular guest at the BBC Proms and has toured Australia and New Zealand frequently.

As a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, he recorded and toured extensively for 20 years. Chamber music plays an important role in his musical life; he is a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals and has appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Mr. Carr is the winner of many prestigious international awards, including First Prize in the Naumburg Competition, the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Award, Second Prize in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, and the Young Concert Artists competition.

He studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Maurice Gendron and later in London with William Pleeth. He has held teaching positions at the New England Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music. St John’s College, Oxford, created the post of Musician in Residence for him. Since 2002, he has been a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. He plays a Matteo Gofriller cello made in 1730.

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.

Called “superb” by the Washington Post and “stunningly virtuosic” by the New York Times, Peter Kolkay is the only bassoonist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the first bassoonist to win the Concert Artist Guild International Competition. In-demand as a chamber musician, he regularly performs with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has appeared in recent seasons at the Music@Menlo, Bridgehampton, Sarasota, and Maverick summer festivals.

Kolkay actively engages with composers in the creation of new works for the bassoon; he has commissioned and premiered solo works by Elliott Carter, Joan Tower, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and Tania León, among others. His most recent record, Red Maple (Bridge Records), features music for bassoon and strings by Tower, Turnage, Russell Platt, and Judith Weir performed with the Calidore String Quintet. Other recent recordings include the Christopher Rouse and Michael Torke bassoon concertos with the Albany Symphony.

A dedicated teacher, Mr. Kolkay is Professor of Bassoon at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, where he received the Ellen Gregg Ingalls Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2024, and has offered masterclasses throughout the United States, Mexico, and South Korea. Mr. Kolkay also served as Vice Chair of the Vanderbilt University Faculty Senate and was part of the inaugural class of Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Faculty Fellows. He holds degrees from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University. A native of Naperville, Illinois, he now resides in Nashville, TN. Mr. Kolkay plays a Fox 601 bassoon.

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.

Equally at home as a soloist and chamber musician Angela Park has performed throughout the North and South Americas, Europe, and East Asia. Notable appearances are concertos with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic, chamber music appearances at the Marlboro, Verbier, and Ravinia Festivals, and masterclasses at the New England Conservatory.

In recent seasons, Angela has performed her solo cello program of music by Perkinson – Saariaho – Kodaly – Bach in multiple cities, performed with Helsinki Baroque, Anne-Sophie Mutter on her Virtuosi European Tour, Incheon Philharmonic, and has returned to the Marlboro Music Festival, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Seoul Spring Festival, and Festival de los Siete Lagos in Argentina. She was awarded the Silver Medal at the Isang Yun International Competition, in addition to prizes at the Stulberg International Competition and the Young Tchaikovsky International Competition. She has performed chamber music with the most inspiring musicians, including Leonidas Kavakos, Miriam Fried, Peter Wiley, Bruno Canino, and Kim Kashkashian, and has also performed the concerto repertoire with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) Orchestra, and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra.

Angela is increasingly in demand as a baroque cellist. She performs the “Bach Suites” in a baroque setup, and has played continuo at the Pyeongchang Music Festival with Helsinki Baroque, as well as for the Gamut Bach Ensemble Philadelphia. In addition to performing early music, she has a deep interest in the music of our times and is dedicated to playing the works of living composers. Angela has taken part in dozens of world premieres.

Born in California to Korean parents, Angela started playing the cello at age 10 with Sungeun Hong and Kyungmi Lim. Performing from an early age soon thereafter, Angela won virtually every competition in Korea and made her debut with the Seoul Philharmonic at the age of 12. At 14, she started her studies at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and the late Orlando Cole. While at Curtis, she made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Christoph Eschenbach.

Upon graduation, Angela studied with Laurence Lesser at the New England Conservatory, with Jens Peter Maintz at the Universität der Künste Berlin in the Konzertexamen Program, where she was a DAAD Scholar (German Academic Exchange) graduating with highest distinction, and baroque cello with Kristin von der Goltz and Daniel Rosin. In 2026, she joins the Daedalus Quartet, quartet-inresidence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her multifaceted performing career has led her to be a sought-after teacher, and has taught at the Korean National Institute for the Gifted in Arts, the Curtis Young Artist Summer Program, and Festival de los Siete Lagos of Argentina.
She currently resides in Pittsburgh, USA, where she is on the cello faculty at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Music.

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.

Chelsea Strayer is a double bassist from southern California who specializes in contemporary music. In 2018, she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Double Bass Performance and Music Education from Peabody Conservatory where she studied under Iram Gold. Chelsea is now completing her Master’s Degree at the Yale School of Music and is currently working with Don Palma. Throughout her time playing the bass, Chelsea has performed with many different professional orchestras and chamber ensembles as a freelance musician throughout the United States. She also has had an extensive teaching career as a faculty member at Bassworks for five years, she also worked as an elementary school strings teacher, coached at various middle and high schools, and has helped run the ISB young bassists program, while managing her own teaching studio. Chelsea is extremely passionate about combining her love for performing new works and teaching and is planning on continuing her education to receive her PhD. Her focus for this degree will be on creating resources for young bassists to help them have access and the tools that they need to explore the world of contemporary music.

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.

Formed in 2023, the Candide Quartet consists of violinists Chili Ekman and Henry Rogers, cellist Vanny Hu, and violist Amelia Krinke.
Now in their third year as an ensemble, the Candide Quartet is deeply committed to exploring the chamber music repertoire and gaining performing experience. Sharing a common love for Voltaire’s “Candide” and its philosophies, the group embodies the camaraderie and dedication that they feel are inherent both in the story and in string quartet playing. Their goal is to cultivate their music and share the fruits of their commitment with all of their audiences.

During past summers, the Quartet held the Fellowship String Quartet in Residence at Music in the Vineyards in Napa, Madeline Island Chamber Music in Wisconsin, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and the PRISMA Quartet Fellowship. The quartet had the pleasure of performing alongside faculty at these festivals, coaching high school string quartets, and presenting community outreach concerts at local Boys & Girls Clubs and retirement homes.

This summer, the Quartet will hold fellowships at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival’s Shouse Institute, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Music from Angel Fire.

The ensemble recently won First Prize at the Frances Walton Chamber Competition, presented by the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle (LMC) this past May. They were also finalists in the 2026 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition and semi-finalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

The Candide Quartet has been coached and mentored by many esteemed musicians, including David Finckel, Daniel Phillips, Paul Neubauer, Zvi Plesser, Samuel Rhodes, Robert Levin, Eugene Drucker, Philip Setzer, Paul Watkins, Nicholas Mann, Joseph Lin, and Areta Zhulla, among others. They have also worked with the American, Calidore, Harlem, Miró, and Pacifica quartets.
In 2025, the Candide Quartet participated in the Robert Mann String Quartet Seminar, and in both 2025 and 2026, the Calidore String Quartet Seminar at the University of Delaware. They also worked with Caroline Shaw to give the Juilliard premiere of her work “Plan and Elevation” at Juilliard’s inaugural Fall Festival. They collaborated with Shaw again for the first Juilliard at Zankel Hall concert, where they performed Shaw’s “Other Song” alongside the composer.

The Quartet recently made their Alice Tully Hall debut as part of the Honors Chamber Program and was invited to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) masterclass series with Paul Neubauer. This past April, the Candide Quartet presented their Honors Chamber Project for Earth Month in collaboration with The Juilliard School, pairing local art with music.

A recent graduate of The Juilliard School, violinist Chili Ekman will be continuing his studies in the Master of Music program with Professors Daniel Phillips and Stella Chen. Originally from Berkeley, California, Mr. Ekman attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College division and performed with organizations including the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and Young Chamber Musicians.

He makes frequent returns to the Bay Area to perform concerts, appearing last season at the San Francisco International Piano Festival in collaboration with Jeffrey LaDeur. In 2022, he made his solo debut with the Stockton Symphony, performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Ekman has worked with many of the world’s leading chamber musicians, performing alongside greats such as Paul Watkins, Philip Setzer, Julie Albers, and David Shifrin.

He has also been coached and mentored by many esteemed artists including David Finckel, Paul Neubauer, Robert Levin, and Eugene Drucker, among others. In 2023, he co-founded the Candide Quartet, which has attended major chamber music residencies, won national competitions, and performed in notable venues including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall.

Canadian cellist Vanny Hu will be starting her master’s degree this fall at The Juilliard School. She attended the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studied with David Hetherington and Andrés Díaz.

Ms. Hu currently serves as principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra, performing in Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. She previously performed as principal with the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

She has played in masterclasses for distinguished artists including Zuill Bailey and Zlatomir Fung, and has studied chamber music with David Finckel, Daniel Phillips, among others. Ms. Hu and her quartet have worked with the Miró, American, and Pacifica quartets.

In 2017, Ms. Hu received the RCM Gold Medal for piano, along with several theory distinctions, and placed second in the Provincial Finals for lower strings the following year. She gave her first solo performance with the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Orchestra in 2019, receiving the Demonstrating Strong Leadership Award. She recently performed Haydn’s “Cello Concerto in C Major” with the Stratford Symphony Orchestra.

Her ensemble, the Candide Quartet, won the 2026 LMC Frances Walton Competition, and were finalists in the 2026 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition and semi-finalists in the 2026 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. At Juilliard, Ms. Hu is an active mentor and coach in the Pre-College Chamber and Orchestral divisions. She is a Gluck and Morse Fellow, presenting performances to various communities and mentoring young children in public programs and charter schools across New York City.

Ms. Hu previously studied with Richard Aaron and continues her studies with Zvi Plesser.

Amelia Krinke is a violist and conductor from New York City studying with Steven Tenenbom and Misha Amory at The Juilliard School, where she is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. She won the Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition in 2022, performing Michael White’s “Viola Concerto,” and was an Honorable Mention winner of the 2022 National YoungArts Competition. She performed Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra in March 2024 and was a member of the Classical Tahoe Festival Orchestra in July 2024. Ms. Krinke has also attended the Kneisel Hall Young Artists Program, the Castleman Quartet Program, and the Heifetz International Music Institute.

She was an Apprentice Conductor with the Philadelphia Ballet for two seasons and conducted select performances of “The Nutcracker” in 2022 and 2023. As a conductor, Ms. Krinke also completed four years as a New York Youth Symphony Conducting Apprentice and attended the National Orchestral Institute and the Conductors Institute of South Carolina. She acted as a cover conductor for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in 2025 and conducted the Juilliard Music Advancement Program’s composers’ concerts in 2024 and 2025. She graduated from the Juilliard Pre-College division in 2022 with distinction for outstanding work in music theory and ear training, having studied viola under the tutelage of Molly Carr and Yi-Fang Huang.

Violinist Henry Rogers, 22, is pursuing his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Joel Smirnoff. A native of Princeton, New Jersey, he first studied locally with Katarzyna Powichrowska and with Sally Thomas in New York City. He relocated to Cleveland at age 15 to pursue intensive training and undergraduate coursework through the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Artist Program, graduating in 2021 under Joan Kwuon.

Mr. Rogers received his Bachelor of Music degree from Juilliard in 2025 with academic honors, completing additional studies in German at Columbia University. Prior to joining the Candide Quartet, he attended prestigious summer festivals including Aspen, Sarasota, Brevard, Heifetz, and Meadowmount, working with mentors Alexander Kerr, David Halen, Jan Mark Sloman, and Gerardo Ribeiro. In 2022, he gave a solo performance with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra under longtime Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart after winning the festival’s annual Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition.

He has performed with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony, and has held principal positions with the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Juilliard Opera Orchestra, and the Aspen Festival Orchestra.

Mr. Rogers has given chamber performances in many prominent venues across New York City, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Bohemian National Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, and St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University. An accomplished violist as well, his past ensembles won top prizes at the Chicago National Chamber Music Competition and the Coltman Chamber Music Competition (2021), as well as Second Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (Junior Division, 2021).

The Dolphins Quartet is a string quartet and composer collective united by a belief that chamber music can be vibrant, daring, and deeply human. Trained at The Juilliard School and based in New York City, the quartet has gained recognition for adventurous programming, original compositions, and performances that reimagine the possibilities of quartet playing.

Luke, Ian, and James began playing together at a summer festival in Maine, and their first performance together made quite a splash—resulting in an admonishment for their improvisatory additions to Mendelssohn’s “Op. 13.” Yet, playing with people bold enough to take such risks was too thrilling to walk away from, and that spirit became the foundation of the ensemble’s identity. Upon returning to New York City, their longtime friend and musical partner Isaac joined their ragtag ensemble of chaotic creatives.

Encouraged to channel their creativity into original work, they composed “The Dolphin Miniatures,” a piece chronicling the stories and misadventures of their formative summer. Each year since, the quartet has composed works blending humor, nostalgia, and storytelling. In early 2026, they released their debut album, “Dolphins at Play,” featuring all-original works.

From performing non-standard repertoire early on in their journey to collaborating with living composers such as John Adams, Andy Akiho, and Jessie Montgomery, the Dolphins are devoted to discovery. This commitment led to the formation of their Young Composers Program, a free initiative empowering pre-college composers to write for string quartet.

Equally important is their work in community engagement. The Dolphins have worked with incarcerated composers in California and taught string players in Nairobi, Kenya, building strong musical communities and sharing a deep sense of connection.

Whether performing at festivals, in schools, or in unconventional spaces, the Dolphins aim to create warmth, joy, and belonging. True to their name, they embody playfulness, intelligence, and a welcoming spirit wherever their music takes them. And yes, they can swim.

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.