Erik Ralske is an American classical horn player. He has been principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2010, following seventeen seasons as third horn of the New York Philharmonic. He was featured horn soloist of the MET's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle , [1] and was a soloist on several occasions with the New York Philharmonic. He is also a member of the orchestra's Philharmonic Quintet of New York.
Ralske, a native of Long Island, New York, [2] studied at the Juilliard School where he received his Bachelor of Music Degree in 1980 and his Master of Music in 1982. [3] Prior to joining the New York Philharmonic in 1993, he was associate principal of the Houston Symphony as well as principal of the Vancouver Symphony, Florida Symphony, and Tulsa Philharmonic. [4] In July 2010 he was offered two principal horn positions in the same week—with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He opted to remain in New York and took up his appointment with the Met at the start of the 2010/2011 season. [5]
He has been a member of the faculty at the Juilliard School since 2012 and also teaches at Mannes College The New School for Music, and the Manhattan School of Music. [3]
Ralske's recordings as solo or principal horn include:
Julius Baker was one of the foremost American orchestral flute players. During the course of five decades he concertized with several of America's premier orchestral ensembles including the Chicago Symphony and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
John Paul Corigliano Jr. is an American composer of contemporary classical music. With over 100 compositions, he has won accolades including a Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and an Academy Award.
James Conlon is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra.
Eric Ewazen is an American composer and teacher.
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of 6 and by age 9 was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991 to 1993 she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. Mashurova received a bachelor's and master's degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Masters in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Dennis Smylie is an American bass clarinetist and professor, known particularly for his performances of contemporary classical music.
Homer Mensch was a prominent classical bassist who was a former member of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the New York Pops, and the NBC Symphony. Mensch held faculty positions at Yale University, at the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, Rutgers University, Dalcroze School, Queens College, and Catholic University. He taught upwards of 45 students a week from beginners, to conservatory students, to professionals both in the classical and jazz fields.
Simon John O'Neill is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Eugene Izotov is a Russian-born oboist and recording artist. He is Principal Oboist of the San Francisco Symphony appointed by Michael Tilson Thomas in 2014. He is the first Russian-born oboist in any major U.S. symphony orchestra. Previously, he was Principal Oboist of the Chicago Symphony, Principal Oboist of the Metropolitan Opera, Principal Oboist of the Kansas City Symphony, and has appeared as guest Principal Oboe with the Boston Symphony and New York Philharmonic. He studied with American oboist Ralph Gomberg at Boston University, from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award. In addition to being recognized as one of the world's premiere orchestral oboists, Izotov has been awarded top prizes at international competitions for solo oboists in Moscow (1990), Saint Petersburg (1991), New York (1995) and the First Prize at the 2001 Fernand Gillet International Oboe competition. Eugene Izotov's solo and chamber music collaborations include partnerships with Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, James Levine, Nicholas McGegan, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jane Glover, Yo Yo Ma, Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Jaime Laredo, André Watts, Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, and the Tokyo String Quartet. He has appeared over 70 times as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, MET Chamber Ensemble, Pacific Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, and has performed principal oboe on numerous Grammy winning recordings on BMG, Sony Classical, SFS Media, and CSOResound.
Michael Best is an American operatic tenor and voice teacher. A native of North Carolina, he was a solo artist at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, singing 297 performances in 17 seasons. He currently teaches voice at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC is a Canadian conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Orchestre Métropolitain (Montréal), the Metropolitan Opera, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was the principal conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra from 2008 to 2018.
Anthony Dean Griffey is an American opera tenor. He is a regular presence on the stages of opera houses and concert halls around the world. Griffey has also been noted for his acting talent in addition to his voice.
Jon Manasse is an American clarinetist.
Martha Lipton was an American operatic mezzo-soprano and music educator who is best known for her career performing at the Metropolitan Opera from 1944-1961. A native of New York City, she began her training as a vocalist with her mother who had a brief career as a concert soprano under the name Estelle Laiken. She later studied both privately and at the School of Musicianship for Singers, Inc and the Juilliard School. She made her professional concert debut while still a student in 1933 at Carnegie Hall, performing in a concert of light opera excerpts with the New York Light Opera Guild. In 1936 she began working as a church vocalist at both Riverside Church and Temple Emanu-El of New York.
Joseph Anderer is principal horn and a founding member of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He has also been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra’s horn section since 1984, serving as acting Principal Horn for season 1984-5 and has been Principal Horn since 2003-2004. Before joining the Met Orchestra, he was a frequent performer with the New York Philharmonic for fourteen seasons, and participated in many concerts, recordings and tours in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. He was also a member of the Boehm Quintette for many years, and premiered many works composed for that ensemble. As soloist, he has appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Carnegie Hall including performing as soloist in the American premier of Benjamin Britten’s “Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal”, as well as at many festivals. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Ranier DeIntinis. Mr. Anderer is active in the recording studio, performing chamber music, operas, symphonic works, solo works, TV commercials and films along with performing in recitals with singers and other musicians. He has also appeared on albums by Dawn Upshaw, Billy Joel, Mandy Patinkin, Grover Washington, Jr., Marcus Roberts and Tony Bennett & k.d. lang. He has been the Horn Coach at the Verbier Festival for many years and has been a member of the faculties of the Mason Gross School at Rutgers University and the Steinhardt School of New York University.
Richard Fleischman is an American violist and viola d'amore player, conductor and pedagogue.
Julie Landsman is an American-born French horn player and teacher. Landsman was Principal Horn of the Metropolitan Opera from 1985-2010. Prior to her appointment with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Landsman served as co-principal horn with the Houston Symphony, and has toured internationally with the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Julie Landsman is on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the USC Thornton School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West. She formerly taught at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.
David Chan is an American violinist, conductor, and a concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is one of the most sought-after violinists of his generation. He is a prizewinner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, among many others. As a conductor, Chan is praised for his deep understanding of the music and interpretive depth.
Ken Noda is an American concert pianist, accompanist, vocal coach, and composer. He began composing music and performing as a concert pianist before the age of 11. He has performed with symphony orchestras throughout the world, and has composed numerous art songs and five operas. He worked as a vocal coach at the Metropolitan Opera from 1991 until retiring from his full time position in July 2019.