Garrick Olof Ohlsson is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Competition in Italy and the Montreal Piano Competition in Canada. He was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Ohlsson has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards, winning one in 2008.
The Kopelman Quartet is a Russian string quartet founded in 2002 by Mikhail Kopelman (violin), Boris Kuschnir (violin), Igor Sulyga (viola) and Mikhail Milman (cello). They studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the 1970s, but pursued individual careers for twenty-five years before founding the quartet.
William Edward Childs is an award-winning American composer, jazz pianist, arranger and conductor from Los Angeles, California, United States.
Atar Arad is an Israeli American violist, professor of music, essayist and composer.
James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey is a Grammy Award-winning American cellist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he has appeared with major orchestras internationally. He is a professor of cello at the University of Texas at El Paso. Bailey has an exclusive international recording contract with the Telarc label.
The Cleveland Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1969 by violinist Donald Weilerstein, at the time an instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, whose director Victor Babin had secured funding for an in-resident quartet to be headed by Weilerstein. Weilerstein formed the group that summer at the Marlboro Music School and Festival with violinist Peter Salaff, violist Martha Strongin Katz, and cellist Paul Katz. The group was initially called the "New Cleveland Quartet." In 1971, the group left the Cleveland Institute because of disagreements over teaching loads and took up residency at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York; they dropped the word "New" from their name at this time. In 1976, the quartet made their final change of residency and moved to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Frank Xin Huang is a Chinese-born American violinist and teacher. Since 2015 he has been the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. Previous to his position in New York, Huang was the first violinist of the Ying Quartet and a professor of violin and chamber music at the Eastman School of Music, then served as the concertmaster of the Houston Symphony from 2010 to 2015. He has won several international music competitions, most notably the 2003 Naumburg Competition. Huang has concertized widely as a soloist, and his debut recording on Naxos was critically acclaimed.
The Boston Chamber Music Society (BCMS) is an American organization of musicians located in Boston, Massachusetts and dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization performs works from the Baroque era to the present day and is a member of Chamber Music America and ArtsBoston. BCMS' website states that it is "New England’s preeminent chamber music society and presents the most extensive and longest-running concert series in the region". BCMS currently offers 8 concerts throughout the year at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre, New England Conservatory of Music's Jordan Hall and First Church in Cambridge, Congregational. Each spring BCMS also hosts an annual chamber music workshop for mixed ensembles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The organization is led by artistic director Marcus Thompson and managing director Wen Huang.
Martha Strongin Katz is a violist and member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston, Massachusetts, where she teaches viola and chamber music. She was a founding member of the Cleveland Quartet, along with her former husband, Paul Katz (cellist), and Peter Salaff and Donald Weilerstein (violinists). From 1969 until her departure from the group in 1980, she performed more than 1,000 concerts, including appearances at the White House, the Grammy Awards, on the NBC Today Show, and in the major concert halls of five continents.
David Balakrishnan is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet.
The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham Hill Records in 1988 with Irene Sazer.
Quartet San Francisco is a non-traditional and eclectic string quartet led by violinist and String Masters co-founder Jeremy Cohen. The group played their first concert in 2001 and has recorded five albums. Playing a wide range of music genres including jazz, blues, tango, swing, funk, and pop, the group challenges the traditional classical music foundation of the string quartet.
Federico Agostini is an Italian violinist renowned as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.
The Artaria String Quartet is an American string quartet based in Minnesota and now in residence at Sundin Music Hall on the campus of Hamline University. Previously the Quartet was in residence at Viterbo University and Boston College. Originally formed in Boston, the quartet was mentored by members of the legendary Budapest, La Salle, Kolisch, and Juilliard quartets. Artaria centers on string quartet performance and education. It is committed to presenting inspiring live performances, to mentoring string players of all ages, and to illuminating the world's great repertoire of chamber music to a broad audience..
Nicholas Goluses is a professor of classical guitar at the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. Goluses has held the Andrés Segovia Chair at the Manhattan School of Music, as the founder and chair of that school's guitar department. He has recorded seven albums for Naxos including "Bach: Sonatas Transcribed for Guitar" and "Sor: Fantaisies / Progressive Studies." He is one of the only guitarists to have transcribed and recorded all three of Bach's violin sonatas. James Jolly in the Gramophone Classical Music Guide 2010 wrote that Goluses' Guitar Collection: Sor set "a benchmark for present-day guitarists.”
The Vághy String Quartet is a Canadian string quartet known for its luscious and emotional sound, as talked about by the New York Times, as well as for its numerous performances throughout North America and Europe. Formed in 1965, the quartet has played and premiered many composers. It has also recorded many classical pieces, having a total repertoire of over 160 pieces. The quartet taught throughout Canada and won the 1977 Canadian Music Council award for best recording of the year.
Carol Wincenc born June 29, 1949 is an American flutist based in New York City. She is known for her solo and chamber music performances and her support of new music for the flute. She is on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
Ayano Ninomiya is a Japanese-American violinist and a winner of both the Naumburg International Violin Competition and Tibor Varga International Competitions.
Brett Deubner is an American violist. He has performed as concerto soloist with over 70 orchestras on four continents.
The Dover Quartet is an American string quartet. It was formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008 and its members are graduates of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Its name is taken from the piece Dover Beach by Samuel Barber. The quartet consists of violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-Van de Stadt, and cellist Camden Shaw. In 2020, the quartet was appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music as ensemble-in-residence. Their faculty residency integrates teaching and mentorship, the quartet’s artist management, and the creation of digital content, all fostered at Curtis in a holistic way. Additionally, they hold residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Artosphere, and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival.
