Charles Bernard 

Praised by the Montreal La Presse as “ a natural born cellist,” Charles Bernard was named assistant principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2001 after joining the orchestra as a section player in 1992. Prior to The Cleveland Orchestra, he was principal cello of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Bernard studied with Michael Kilburn at the Montreal Conservatory and with Stephen Geber (former principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra) at the Cleveland Institute of Music, from which he earned an Artist Diploma. A recipient of grants from the Canadian Arts Council and the FCAR Foundation, Mr. Bernard has won the Feiman Memorial Prize in cello and first prizes in cello and chamber music at the Montreal Conservatory. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Bernard was a member of the Cleveland-based ensemble “Myriad” and The Cleveland Octet, and currently performs with Ensemble HD. His discography includes Paul Schoenfield’s “Cafe Music” on Innova Recordings, Bernstein’s Piano Trio on Naxos, and “Ensemble HD Live at the Happy Dog.” He currently teaches at Cleveland State University.

Victoria Bond

Victoria is a major force in 21st Century music. Her compositions have been performed by the New York City Opera, Shanghai, Dallas and Houston Symphonies, members of the Chicago Symphony and New York Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater and the Cassatt and Audubon Quartets. Victoria has served as principal guest conductor of Chamber Opera Chicago since 2005. Her prior positions include Assistant Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony and New York City Opera and Music Director of the Roanoke Symphony and Opera and New York City Opera and Music Director of the Roanoke Symphony and Opera, Bel Canto Opera and Harrisburg Opera. She is the first woman awarded a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Juilliard School. Victoria is the first recipient of the Aronson “A” Award and was the keynote speaker at the Sixth Aronson Cello Festival honoring “Women and Classical Music.”

https://www.victoriabond.com

Katherine Bormann

Katherine Bormann joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2011. She completed degrees at Rice University and the Juilliard School, studying with Kathleen Winkler, Joel Smirnoff, and Ronald Copes, and subsequently became a member of the New World Symphony in Miami, where she performed as soloist and concertmaster. Ms. Bormann has participated in the Strings Music Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Festival, where she was also a member of the contemporary music ensemble, New Fromm Players. She has appeared on the Wednesdays at One concert series at Alice Tully Hall, taught and performed as part of the annual Kent Blossom Music Festival, and served for four years as concertmaster of Northeast Ohio's Suburban Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Bormann has been a guest lecturer at Baldwin Wallace University and at the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. She is currently a member of the board of trustees for the New World Symphony.

David Brockett

David Brockett received his Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Cleveland State University after completing an internship at The Cleveland Clinic in their Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program, where he provided individual and group counseling for the patients, as well as teaching mindfulness and meditation techniques for coping with chronic pain. He also holds degrees in Music Performance from The Cleveland Institute of Music and The University of Akron. He has been a performer for over thirty years, including several seasons playing with The Cleveland Orchestra. Neurological injury led to a shift in career focus, which includes his ongoing work with performers in mindfulness and meditation techniques for a variety of issues including performance anxiety. He has taught master classes in mindfulness, meditation and mental health at The Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, Miami University (Ohio), and Michigan State University as well as to members of major orchestras, including The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Madame Marta Casals-Istomin

Famed Cellist, Teacher and Impresario, Marta Casals Istomin has devoted her life to expanding access to classical music—not only for those who already know it and love it, but to young and in many cases disadvantaged people who would not otherwise have found the beauty it has brought to their lives. Istomin (née Marta Angélica Montáñez Martínez) was introduced to the violin during her childhood in Humacao, Puerto Rico, and soon after switched to cello. She continued her musical education at the Marymount School in New York. She became the student of the famed cellist Pablo Casals, and later married him; together they founded the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and, in 1959, the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. When her husband died in 1973, she took over the management of the Casals Festival, started a stringed-instrument program for local youngsters and also taught cello as a visiting professor at the Curtis School of Music in Philadelphia. She married the pianist Eugene Istomin in 1975. From 1980 to 1990 Marta Casals Istomin served as artistic director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. There, she founded the center’s Terrace Concerts and began the largest ballet series in the U.S. In France, from 1990 to 1997, she directed the Rencontres Musicales D’Evian Festival International, which offered master classes with visiting artists. From 1992-2005 she was president of the Manhattan School of Music. During her tenure, the school grew in stature from a leading U.S. conservatory of music to a place of international eminence. She helped lead a capital campaign that doubled the size of its campus. Istomin has also been a board member of the Marlboro School of Music and served as a member of the National Council on the Arts, as a Delegate to the World Arts Forum in Geneva in 1998 and 1990, as a member of the U.S. Advisory Board on Culture for UNESCO in Mexico City and Paris, and as a member of the first U.S. cultural delegation to the Republic of China in 1980. She also served as vice-president of the Casals Foundation and Museum in Barcelona. Istomin received the Living Legend Award from the Library of Congress on November 2, 2015. The first Living Legend awards were given in 2000 during the Library’s bicentennial (1800-2000) celebration. Recipients through the years have included artists, writers, filmmakers, physicians, entertainers, sports figures, public servants and musicians who have enriched the nation through their professional accomplishments and personal excellence. Madeleine Albright, Katharine Graham, B.B. King, David McCullough, Gordon Parks, Alan Lomax, I.M. Pei, Sally Ride, Martin Scorsese, Yo Yo Ma and Mario Andretti are among the more than 100 recipients

The catalyst

Quartet

Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience. The Catalyst Quartet, known for “perfect ensemble unity” and “unequaled class of execution” (Lincoln Journal Star),  has toured widely throughout the United States and abroad, including sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Chicago’s Harris Theater, Miami’s New World Center, and Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York. The quartet has been guest soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony, New Haven Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and has served as principal players and featured ensemble with the Sphinx Organization’s featured ensemble, the Sphinx Virtuosi, on six national tours. They have been invited to perform at important music festivals such as Mainly Mozart in San Diego, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where they appear annually. The Catalyst Quartet was ensemble-in-residence at the Vail Dance Festival in 2016. In 2014, they opened the Festival del Sole in Napa, California with Joshua Bell and participated in England’s Aldeburgh Music Foundation String Quartet Residency with two performances in Jubilee Hall. Recent seasons have brought international engagements in Russia, South Korea, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, and expanded tours throughout the United States. The ensemble’s New York City presence has included concerts on the Café Series at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, for Schneider Concerts at The New School, and six concerts with GRAMMY Award-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant for Jazz at Lincoln Center, for which the subsequent recording won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. The Catalyst Quartet launched its New York concert series CQ@Howl in 2018. Highlights of upcoming collaborations include Encuentros, featuring a newly commissioned work by innovative Cuban composer Jorge Amado Molina and other voices from across the Cuban diaspora; (Im)migration: Music of Change, a collaboration with the Imani Winds; and CQ Minute, a commissioning project of 10 miniature string quartets in commemoration of the quartet’s 10th anniversary with works by Andy Akiho, Kishi Bashi, Billy Childs, Paquito D’Rivera, Tania Leon, Jessie Montgomery, Kevin Puts, Caroline Shaw, Joan Tower, and one young composer to be selected from a national call for scores. The Catalyst Quartet’s latest project is UNCOVERED, a multi-volume set of albums to be released on Azica Records. The initiative celebrates beautifully crafted works by artists who have been overlooked and sidelined in classical music, especially because of their race or gender. Volume 1, released February 2021, includes the string quartet and quintets of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Stewart Goodyear. Volume 2 will feature works by Florence Price and Volume 3 and beyond will feature Coleridge-Taylor, Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker, among others.

https://catalystquartet.com

LIZ DEmio

Elizabeth DeMio is well-known as a collaborative pianist, recitalist and soloist in the Cleveland area. Besides appearing in over 100 concerts annually with local aspiring musicians, she performs frequently with renowned soloists such as Triple Grammy winner Zuill Bailey, Massimo La  Rosa,  John Mack, Andrew Sords, Umberto Clerici,  the Cavani Quartet and has appeared in tours and given master classes throughout the U.S., Korea, Mexico and the Carribean. In 2008 she was the pianist for two finalists in the Naumberg International Cello Competition, resulting in her Carnegie Hall debut and subsequent U.S. tour with first place winner David Requiro. She performs often as a soloist with the Trinity Cathedral Chamber Orchestra, having performed twenty Mozart concerti and the five Beethoven concerti, among many others.  Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer called her "a superb interpreter of Mozart" when she appeared as soloist with the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra in 2012. She is a member of the Pantheon Ensemble which has performed for CityMusic Cleveland, bringing classical concerts to underserved areas of Northeast Ohio. Also a frequent performer for El Paso Pro Musica and Northwest Bach Festival, she recently performed the complete sonatas by Beethoven for cello and piano with cellist Zuill Bailey. She has appeared as soloist for the Orquesta Sinfonica de Veracruz and the Orquesta de la UNAM in Mexico. As a recording artist she can be heard on Crystal, Yaffe and Azica labels, most recently on the debut album "Cantando"  and subsequent album “Sempre Espressivo” with virtuoso trombonist Massimo La Rosa, produced by multiple Grammy winner Thomas Moore. Other recent projects have been a debut album with cellist David Requiro and an album with solo and duo works by Bernard Garfield with Cleveland Orchestra principal bassoonist John Clouser. DeMio is on the collaborative piano faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is a collaborative pianist for the Stulberg International String Competition, the Sitka Cello Seminar and the John Mack Oboe Camp. She holds degrees from CIM and the University of Michigan. Her teachers have included Vitya Vronsky and Theodore Lettvin.

https://www.cim.edu/faculty/elizabeth-demio

Sterling Elliott 

Cellist Sterling Elliott​ is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. His orchestral appearances in the 2021/2022 season include Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 with the San Antonio, Richmond, West Virginia symphony orchestras and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra; the Popper Hungarian Fantasy with the Orlando Philharmonic and Hawaii Symphony Orchestra, and the Elgar Concerto with the Midland Symphony. He will appear in a Tuesday Matinee recital at Merkin Hall at the Kaufman Music Center, Ashmont Hill Chamber Music Society, and Tuesday Musicale, as well as chamber music at Festival Mozaic and with Shai Wosner and friends for Peoples Symphony Concerts. During the summer of 2021 Sterling debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl performing the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations led by Bramwell Tovey, with further appearances at Chamberfest Cleveland, and Music@Menlo. Previous orchestral engagements have included the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yannick Nezet-Seguin, the New York Philharmonic with Jeffrey Kahane, the Boston Symphony with Thomas Wilkins, the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony with Mei Ann Chen, the Dallas Symphony, Virginia Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic among others. Sterling has enjoyed a simple and humble musical journey.  As the youngest of 3 siblings, he did not want to play the cello but the violin like his older brother and sister. After a bit of encouragement, he completed The Elliott Family String Quartet by learning to play the cello at the age of three under the direction of Suzuki Cello teacher Susan Hines. He went on to make his concerto debut at the age of 7 by winning the Junior Division of the PYO Concerto Competition, and later the 2014 Richmond Symphony Concerto Competition, the Bay Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. Sterling has a long history with the Sphinx Organization where he first received 2nd place in the 2013 National Sphinx Competition Junior Division, then won the 2014 Junior Division.  In 2016 he received the Isaac Stern Award by the Sphinx Organization and toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi in 2018 before winning in 2019. He is a two-time alum of NPR’s From the Top where he was a recipient of a scholarship from The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and performed several concerts in Switzerland at the 2019 World Economic Forum.  He is a Young Strings of America ambassador for SHAR Strings.  In 2019, he was the first recipient of The National Arts Club’s Herman and Mary Neuman Music Scholarship Award. Sterling Elliott is currently a Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School where he is pursuing his Masters of Music degree studying with Joel Krosnick and Clara Kim.  He completed his undergraduate degree in cello performance at Juilliard in May 2021.

https://sterlingelliott.com

Andre Gremillet

André Gremillet is the President & CEO of The Cleveland Orchestra. Acknowledged as among the world’s best, its musicians, staff, board of directors, volunteers, and hometown are working together on a set of enhanced goals for the 21st century – to develop the youngest audiences of any orchestra; to renew its focus on fully serving the communities where it performs through concerts, engagement, and music education; to continue its legendary musical excellence; to build on its tradition of community support and financial strength; and to move forward into the Orchestra’s next century with a commitment to diversified programming. André Gremillet had previously worked as Managing Director of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since November 2012.  During his tenure, the MSO completed a highly successful European Tour with performances at the BBC Proms in London, the Edinburgh Festival, and the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, among others. Under his leadership, the MSO extended the contract of its Chief Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, with whom it has made several critically-acclaimed recordings including the first instalment of a Charles Ives orchestral works cycle on Chandos. Other highlights under Gremillet’s tenure also feature initiatives such as the MSO’s Chinese New Year concerts and the introduction of MSO Connect, a partnership between the Orchestra and several of Melbourne’s secondary schools. From 2007 to 2012, André Gremillet was President and CEO of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO) where his tenure marked a financial turnaround for the organization. Under Gremillet’s leadership, the NJSO appointed Jacques Lacombe as Music Director, strengthened its Board of Trustees, and greatly increased its national visibility and artistic reputation. Prior to joining the NJSO, Mr. Gremillet served for four years as President of the internationally-renowned pipe organ building company Casavant Frères. A native of Québec, Canada, and a conservatory-trained pianist, André Gremillet holds a Master’s degree from the Mannes College of Music and an MBA from McGill University.

Matt Haimovitz

Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz is praised by The New York Times as a “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts to a vast variety of styles” and by The New Yorker as “remarkable virtuoso” who “never turns in a predictable performance.” He has inspired classical music lovers and countless new listeners by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals and intimate coffee houses – any place where passionate music can be heard. He brings a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, champions new music, and initiates groundbreaking collaborations, as well as creating innovative recording projects. Alongside his relentless touring schedule, Haimovitz mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, in addition to his role as the first ever John Cage Fellow at The New School’s Mannes School of Music in New York City. The 2019/2020 season will see Haimovitz on extensive tours across the US with pianists Simone Dinnerstein in a program juxtaposing Beethoven and Philip Glass; Haimovitz also will be continue his cross-genre collaboration with Vijay Iyer; in numerous chamber music performances including his signature “Moveable Feast” and “Listening Room” cycles, which feature music for solo cello by Bach and more contemporary voices; as well as performing several cello concerti by Dvorak, Henri Dutilleux, Alfred Schnitke, and others from Texas to the Czech Republic. Haimovitz will also be heard on tour in Europe and the US with composer/pianist Philip Glass highlighted by a performance a recently-opened Paris Philharmonic. Also upcoming is the world premiere of Jacqueline – a portrait of virtuosity, an opera for soprano and cello, written by Luna Pearl Woolf and Royce Vavrek, based on the life of iconic cellist Jacqueline du Pré, for Tapestry Opera in Toronto. Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic and made his first recording with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for Deutsche Grammophon, at age 17. He has gone on to perform on the world’s most esteemed stages, with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, the English Chamber Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with Kent Nagano. Haimovitz made his Carnegie Hall debut when he substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard Rose, in Schubert’s String Quintet in C, alongside Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman and Mstislav Rostropovich. The solo cello recital is a Haimovitz trademark, both inside and outside the concert hall. In 2000, he made waves with his Bach “Listening-Room” Tour, for which, to great acclaim, Haimovitz took Bach’s beloved cello suites out into the clubs across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Haimovitz’ 50-state Anthem tour in 2003 celebrated living American composers and featured the cellist’s own arrangement of Jimi Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner.” He was the first classical artist to play at New York’s infamous CBGB club, in a performance filmed by ABC News for Nightline UpClose. Haimovitz revisited the Bach cello suites in 2015 with the release of The Cello Suites According to Anna Magdalena for the PENTATONE Oxingale series, inspired and informed by an authoritative manuscript by Anna Magdalena Bach and performed on period instruments. This was followed by the 2016 release of Overtures to Bach, six new commissions that anticipate and reflect each of the cello suites, by Philip Glass, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, David Sanford, and Luna Pearl Woolf. Overtures to Bach, in conjunction with Haimovitz’s “A Moveable Feast” performances – a series of pop-up events in unconventional locations, followed by a concert performance – continues to tour widely across the US, Canada, Germany and Japan. Haimovitz’ recording career encompasses more than 20 years of award-winning work on Deutsche Grammophon and his and composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf’s own trailblazing independent label Oxingale Records, now in collaboration with PENTATONE, several of which have received GRAMMY® and Juno Award nominations. Recent recordings include ISANG YUN: Sunrise Falling, a centennial commemoration of the Korean composer’s life and music on the PENTATONE Oxingale Series, with Dennis Russell Davies and the Bruckner Orchester Linz; TROIKA, an all-Russian program from Rachmaninoff to Pussy Riot, with his longtime duo partner, pianist Christopher O’Riley; and two performance compilations from the Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana. This season will also see the release of an album of French music with pianist Mari Kodama for PENTATONE. Haimovitz’ recordings for the Orange Mountain Music label, Philip Glass’s Partita No. 2 for Solo Cello and Cello Concerto No. 2, “Naqoyqatsi,” with the Cincinnati Symphony and Dennis Russell Davies, have been widely acclaimed. In 2006, Haimovitz received the Concert Music Award from ASCAP for his advocacy of living composers and pioneering spirit, and in 2004, the American Music Center awarded Haimovitz the Trailblazer Award, for his far-reaching contributions to American music. Born in Israel, Haimovitz has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1986), the Grand Prix du Disque (1991), the Diapason d’Or (1991) and he is the first cellist ever to receive the prestigious Premio Internazionale “Accademia Musicale Chigiana” (1999). Haimovitz studied at the Collegiate School in New York and at the Juilliard School, in the final class of Leonard Rose, after which he continued his cello studies with Ronald Leonard and Yo-Yo Ma. In 1996, he received a B.A. magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University.

https://baylinartists.com/matt-haimovitz-biography/

Paul Hogle

Paul Hogle was appointed as the ninth president and chief executive officer of the venerable Cleveland Institute of Music in July 2016, following a three-decade career of successful executive leadership for America’s most respected, innovative, and accomplished classical music institutions. With an enviable track record of pursuing mission-centered strategy, Hogle has developed a vast network of leaders in the performing arts community having worked, partnered, and consulted in America, Australia, and Japan. With Hogle’s arrival in Cleveland, CIM began a journey of engagement, conversation, and planning prompted by the ambitious assignment of crafting a new strategic plan for a new century. The results have been remarkable, including the highest-rated incoming classes in a generation and a 338% increase in Black and Latinx students, recruiting top faculty and administrative talent, growing annual support by 70% while adding over $16 million of new commitments to the endowment, breaking ground on a state-of-the-art student housing complex, increasing the school’s marketing and presence in Cleveland, recruiting a nationally significant roster of guest conductors to lead the CIM orchestra, building and strengthening alliances with conservatories across China and Europe, and, in pursuit of paying CIM’s civic rent, inaugurating an annual day of service — all while opening the CIM campus to new and legacy arts and community partners, lowering tuition by 15%, increasing scholarship funds by $1 million annually, and strengthening fiscal equilibrium. CIM recently extended Hogle’s tenure with an unprecedented 7-year contract.Prior to joining CIM, Hogle served as Executive Vice President of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. During one of the most tumultuous times in its storied history, Hogle helped architect the DSO’s unprecedented, highly-publicized turnaround which has resulted in a previously unimaginable renaissance in Detroit. Before joining the Detroit executive team in 2010, Hogle served in senior staff posts for the Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, and Indianapolis symphony orchestras. He was a founder of The Stewardship Group, a consulting and executive recruitment firm that facilitated the building of resources for a national client base. His career began as Executive Director of the Evansville Philharmonic (Indiana), one of the great regional orchestras in America. A native of Northeast Ohio, Hogle earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Management from the University of Evansville, a joint business and music degree program where he also studied trombone performance. He has served on the faculty of the Orchestra Leadership Academy of the League of American Orchestras and as a professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is a founding and current faculty member for the Masters in Arts Administration program at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. Hogle serves as a trustee of University Circle, Inc. and was a member of the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education (NOCHE) board of directors. In 2019, he was elected to The 50 Club of Cleveland.  Hogle and his wife Dr. Lauri Hogle, professor of music education at Oakland University (MI), make their home in Shaker Heights, OH. They have three adult children.  

Ben Hong

Ben joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1993 at the age of 24, making him the youngest member of the orchestra at the time. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Ben won his native country’s National Cello Competition three years in a row before leaving home at 13 for the Juilliard School. Later, he studied with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California’s School of Music before joining the LA Philharmonic. Ben performs frequently as soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles. Ben has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Janine Jansen, Lang Lang, Cho-Liang Lin, Bobby McFerrin, Christopher O’Riley, Sir Simon Rattle, Shanghai String Quartet, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lars Vogt and Long Yu. Ben served as an on-set technical advisor by Dreamworks to train cast members of “The Soloist” including Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx and Tom Hollander. Ben’s playing is featured on the film’s soundtrack. Ben’s other interests include motorcycles, bicycling, scuba diving, martial arts and West African drumming.

https://music.usc.edu/ben-hong/

Frank Huang

Frank Huang is a Steinway Artist and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Piano at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Previously, he was a faculty member at The College of Wooster and The Cleveland Institute of Music. Described by New York Concert Review as a “thoughtful and accomplished performer” and that his playing was “impressive for its maturity and refinement,” Mr. Huang has gained international recognition for his artistry and technical command. Others have also acknowledged his talents, as the Chopin Foundation of the United States, Northwest Chapter has commented that “Huang plays with authority and panache” while El Comerico of Lima, Peru praised his interpretation of Mozart’s Piano Concerto, K.482 “with the utmost sensitivity.” Mr. Huang’s performances have led him throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Such notable venues include Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall, Benaroya Hall (Seattle), US Embassy in Warsaw, Zelazowa Wola (Warsaw), Gijon International Piano Festival (Spain), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Holland Music Sessions, Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Dame Myra Recital Series at Chicago’s Cultural Center, Lincoln Center in New York, and St. Martin in the Fields, London, UK. Mr. Huang’s concerts have also been featured on radio and television broadcasts in various cities across the United States and abroad. Most recently, his performances were aired on "Primo Movimento," a popular classical music program on RaiRadio 3 in Rome, Italy. An avid chamber musician, he also enjoys performing with others as he has collaborated with members of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in recitals. Equally active as a soloist with orchestra, he has performed with the Sammamish Symphony, Northwest Philharmonia, Peru National Symphony, Wooster Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony, and Sichuan Symphony Orchestra. Huang’s creative interests consist of promoting lesser-known works and music of our time. His commercial recordings can be found on the Centaur Records, Nimbus Alliance, and Blue Griffin labels. His latest album, Solo Piano Works of Nikolai Medtner, Volume 1, is the first installment of a major nine-disc project to bring long overdue attention to the neglected Russian romantic composer. Gramophone described in a recent review that “Huang and Medtner are made for one another” and that “Huang can hold his own next to Marc-André Hamelin.” Other albums include a chamber music disc featuring living women composers, an all-Brahms solo CD, and works by Jack Gallagher. These discs have received rave reviews as critics have described Huang’s performances as “thrilling” (The Classical Reviewer) and that “Huang deserves kudos for his sparkling and sensitive playing, and that better performances of these works would be well-nigh impossible to come by.” (Fanfare) Huang has also performed and recorded music of Mark Applebaum, Augusta Read Thomas, Lera Auerbach, and Jennifer Higdon. Recently, he has been performing Frederic Rzewski’s monumental work, “The People United Will Never be Defeated!” in recitals. A native of Seattle, WA, Frank Huang studied extensively with Willard Schultz at the Academy of Music Northwest before obtaining Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he continued his studies with Julian Martin. Following his training at Juilliard, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Cleveland Institute of Music under the direction of Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Other influential teachers included Lee Kum-Sing, Robert McDonald, Daniel Shapiro, and Dominique Weber. Huang has also participated in masterclasses with eminent musicians of our time including Nelita True, Byron Janis, Jon Kimura Parker, Richard Goode, and Murray Perahia. Equally dedicated as a music educator, Dr. Huang feels privileged to share his knowledge with students who are passionate about music.  At Miami University, he teaches piano, chamber music, and various literature courses. Dr. Huang has been invited to present master classes in various institutions across the United States as well as an adjudicator at local piano competitions and auditions. Dr. Huang aims in committing towards continuing education. On his website, you can visit his blog, where he writes on pedagogical, literature, and performance issues. He also founded Rallentando, his own online virtual recital series. He makes his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife, Cindy Chang, who works as an emergency medicine physician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University of Cincinnati.

Joan Katz Napoli

Joan Katz Napoli has served for sixteen years as Director of Education and Community Engagement for The Cleveland Orchestra whose education and outreach programs serve more than 70,000 annually. In addition to school fieldtrip concerts and an outstanding Youth Orchestra, Music Study Groups for adults, and Music Mentors and Music Masters that support instrumental music programs in local schools, The Cleveland Orchestra was one of the first in the country to implement an arts integration program, Learning Through Music (now in its 14th year) which uses music to support learning across the K-5 curriculum, and has recently established a Musical Neighborhoods program in partnership with local Head Start sites, using music to build school readiness skills. Prior to The Cleveland Orchestra, Joan worked in public television, first with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), then with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) where she was the national Director of K-12 Learning Services. Joan managed several award winning educational television programs and series for the PBS network including: Good Morning Ms. Toliver (Peabody Award 1993); Who Will Teach for America? (1992 Emmy-nominee); Futures with Jaime Escalante (Peabody Award 1991); and a prime-time special, Math: Who Needs It?

Sarah Kim

Miami University Assistant Professor of Cello, Dr. Sarah Kim, leads a vibrant and diverse career as performer, educator, and arts administrator. She is an acclaimed instructor who was named the 2016 Ohio String Teachers Association Studio Teacher of the Year and recipient a 2015 Cincinnati Arts Association Overture Educator Award. Previous teaching appointments have included serving on the string faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music where she was Instructor of Cello and String Pedagogy as well as the String Pedagogy Cognate Coordinator for doctoral students. Her students have been top prize winners in regional and national competitions as well as soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, and Blue Ash Montgomery Orchestra. As a solo artist and chamber musician, Dr. Kim has performed internationally. She has been broadcast on WGN Chicago, Vermont Public Radio, and WGUC Cincinnati. She continues to be an active performer in the Cincinnati area where she has played with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and as guest principal cello of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. A native of Minneapolis, MN, Dr. Kim attended Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, and the the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati (UC-CCM). Her primary studies have been with Peter Howard, Steven Doane, and Hans Jørgen Jensen. Dr. Kim has regularly collaborated with members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music faculty, and faculty from renowned music schools on chamber music performances. She is the cellist of the resident Oxford String Quartet at Miami University.  Dr. Kim is executive director of the Cincinnati Young Artists, which she co-founded in 2010. The organization holds annual chamber music and cello festivals drawing the nation’s young talent to Cincinnati to work with renowned artist faculty www.CincinnatiYoungArists.org. She is also on faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, VT, the Aria International Summer Academy in Hadley, MA, and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobicco, Italy. A sought after clinician, Dr. Kim has given master classes and presentations at numerous cello festivals and workshops at universities such as the University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, Oklahoma State University, and DePaul University. She has also adjudicated local and national competitions such as the Music Teacher’s National Association National Finals. Dr. Kim maintains a strong interest in cello pedagogy and is regularly invited to present at conferences such as the American String Teachers Association and Suzuki Association of the Americas. She has developed community music cello programs at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati and other university preparatory programs such as UC-CCM, Roosevelt University in Chicago, and Northern Kentucky University. She has been a pedagogical consultant for the UC-CCM Preparatory Department Suzuki programs and has mentored many young teachers in the area.

https://miamioh.edu/cca/academics/departments/music/about/faculty-staff/strings/sarah-kim/index.html

Ty kim

Ty has more than two decades of experience as a journalist working in network, cable and local television, film, radio and print. For his work in television news, Ty earned six Los Angeles Emmys, the National Edward R. Murrow Award, nine Golden Mikes, and the Associated Press Award for California. He honed his storytelling craft working closely for years with Mike Wallace and Ed Bradley at CBS News/60 Minutes where Ty specialized in hard news, investigative reporting. Ty earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his undergraduate degree from Stanford University. Ty and his producing partner, Michael G. Nathanson (who has served as either chairman or president of four major motion picture companies) formed a company to create scripted feature films, scripted television series, and feature documentaries. Among Ty’s recent work includes a documentary about cellist Lynn Harrell and his 60-year journey through music. The film includes fresh interviews with Oscar-winning composers John Williams and André Previn (his last filmed interview), virtuoso violinists Itzhak Perlman and Anne-Sophie Mutter, the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and others. The film was invited to be shown at the Aronson Cello Festival at Southern Methodist University (SMU), The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, The Bing Concert Hall at Stanford University and other major venues. In 2018, Ty directed and produced a series of short films about the life and students of Lev Aronson which premiered at the Sixth Aronson Cello Festival. These short films profiled Christopher Adkins (principal cellist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Mitchell Maxwell (principal cellist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra), Brian Thornton (of the Cleveland Orchestra), the leading expert on Lev Aronson author Frances Brent, the two step-daughters of Lev Aronson (Joy Jamerson and Cheryl Surana), Victoria Bond, Dr. Melissa Kraut, and many other lifetime artists. For his work on behalf of The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF), Ty was a recipient of the Aronson “A” Award. Ty serving as the organization’s inaugural board chairman. Some of his accomplishments as Board Chair included rebranding the organization as The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF), recruiting the inaugural board and launching a series of fundraisers around the United States to build awareness of ACF, relaunching and helping redesign the ACF website and creating a new slate of programming for the upcoming festival. Ty’s pro bono work on behalf of the organization includes directing and producing original short films about major classical music artists. Ty is a member of the national advisory council for the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). He also serves as a board member of The Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO). Ty runs the “The Andrew B. Kim and Wan Kyun Rha Kim Family Foundation, Inc.” which has supported over fifty organizations in the arts and education on a national level.

Alicia koelz

Alicia Koelz joined the first violin section of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2005. Prior to joining the orchestra, she spent two years as concertmaster of Chicago Civic Orchestra. Ms. Koelz has appeared as a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra, among others. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she moved to Cleveland to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music and then received a graduate degree from Northwestern University. As a founding member of the Omni Quartet, she has performed extensively in the Cleveland area, as well as on the east coast and in Europe. Alicia lives in Moreland Hills with her husband, three lovely and extremely energetic children, and many pets.

Melissa Kraut

Co-head of the cello department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Dr. Melissa Kraut is recognized as one of the leading pedagogues of her generation. Having developed and trained some of the outstanding young musicians of today, Dr. Kraut has demonstrated a unique ability to teach all ages and stages of dedicated students, helping them reach their highest potential both at and away from the cello. With degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Iowa and Northwestern University, Dr. Kraut has had the opportunity to study with the great pedagogues Alan Harris and Hans-Jorgen Jensen as well as summer study/master classes with cellists such as Aldo Parisot, Frank Miller, Yo-Yo Ma, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and David Soyer. As a student, she participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Center for the Arts and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Europe. An active performer, Dr. Kraut has led a diverse career on stage, with solo and chamber performances throughout the United States and Europe. She has held leadership positions in several orchestras, and has played under the baton of conductors such as Sir Georg Solti, Valery Gergiev and Semyon Bychkov. Dr. Kraut currently enjoys performing chamber music with her friends and colleagues throughout the world. Dr. Kraut enjoys reaching students from all over the world through master classes and workshops. Her status as a Suzuki Teacher Trainer, enables her to pass on her love of pedagogy to the next generation of teachers. In addition, she is passionate about public speaking and the ability to reach audiences of a larger scope, about topics broader than cello. In the summer of 2014, Dr. Kraut and famed cellist Zuill Bailey launched the inaugural summer of the Sitka Cello Seminar in Sitka, Alaska, bringing 10 elite cellists from all over the world to study under their guidance. In prior summers, Dr. Kraut was on the faculty of several summer festivals including eight summers at the Meadowmount School of Music and eight summers at Interlochen Arts Camp, where she was also the Head of Strings. Other festivals include the Lev Aronson Legacy Week in Dallas, TX, as well as Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton, Virginia. Dr. Kraut’s students have achieved great success, with top prizes in National and International competitions. Students of Dr. Kraut have won the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Hachioji, Japan, Grand Prize in the Music Teachers National Association Competition, First Prize in the American String Teacher’s Association, Grand Prize in the Walgreen’s Competition, Grand Prize in the Fischoff Competition, as well as prizes in many local and regional competitions.

cim.edu/faculty/melissa-kraut

Tom landschoot

Praised for his expressive, virtuoso and poetic music making, Belgian cellist Tom Landschoot enjoys an international career as a concert and recording artist and pedagogue. He has toured North America, Europe, South America and Asia and has appeared on national radio and television worldwide. His solo career started after taking a top prize at the International Cello Competition ‘Jeunesse Musicales’ in 1995 in Bucharest, Romania. He has performed with the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Frankfurt Chamber Orchestra, Tempe Symphony,  Prima la Musica, the Symphony of the Southwest, Shieh Chien Symphony Orchestra, Scottsdale Philharmonic, Flemish Symphony Orchestra, Kaohsiung City Symphony, Loja Symphony Orchestra in Ecuador and the Orchestra of the United States Army Band and has appeared at Barge Music, Park City, Santa Barbara, Mammoth Lakes, Eureka, Utah, Red Rock, Park City, Manchester, Fresno, Madeline Island, Waterloo, Killington and Texas Music Festivals. His recordings are available on Summit, Organic, Kokopelli, ArchiMusic and Centaur Records. Since 2013, he is a member of the Rossetti Quartet.  He has also performed with the Takacs, Dover and Arianna Quartets and members of the Cleveland, Vermeer, Tokyo, and Orion Quartets. Past collaborations include Lynn Harrell, Peter Wiley, Gilbert Kalich, Cho-Liang Lin, Martin Beaver and Martin Katz. An avid promoter of music of our time, he has commissioned and premiered over 20 new works for cello, including a concerto by Dirk Brosse. Resent engagements included several concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders with a new concerto of Belgian composer Frank Nuyts. Tom Landschoot has been involved in interdisciplinary public service projects through his music, such as raising funds and awareness for the need of building an orphanage and hospital in Tamil Nadu, India. As part of this humanitarian project, Landschoot was featured in a documentary film of a cellist performing across India, integrating photography, culinary, journalism and original music compositions. He has served as a faculty member at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Castleman Quartet Program in New York, Killington Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Foulger International Music Festival, High Peaks, Madeline Island, Manchester, Montecito and Texas Music Festival. Landschoot has given master classes at conservatories and universities throughout Asia, the U.S. and Europe and South America. His students can be found among the ranks of national and international competition winners, occupy principal positions in major orchestras and teach at Universities around the US and abroad. Tom Landschoot is currently Professor of Cello at Arizona State University, one of the top schools of music in the United States. Prior to joining the music faculty at Arizona State University, Landschoot taught at the University of Michigan. He is the recipient of ASU’s prestigious Herberger College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award. Landschoot has served on the faculty of the Shieh Chien University in Taipei since 2008. Tom Landschoot is the founder and the Artistic Director of the Sonoran Chamber Music Festival (www.sonoranchambermusic.com), as well as the President of the Arizona Cello Society. He Performs on a cello by Tomaso Balestrieri (1776) and a Dominique Pecatte bow.

https://www.public.asu.edu/~tlandsc/bio.htm

jessica lee

Jessica Lee, assistant concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra, has appeared around the world, including solo performances with the Pilsen Philharmonic, Gangnam Symphony and Malaysia Festival Orchestra. Lee has also appeared with the Houston Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony and Richmond Symphony. She has performed in recital at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall, as well as at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Caramoor Festival and Asociacion Nacional de Conciertos in Panama. Lee's performance of Beethoven Violin Concerto at Alice Tully Hall was broadcast on WQXR-FM in New York.

Cho-liang lin

Cho-Liang Lin was born in Taiwan. A neighbor’s violin studies convinced this 5-year old boy to do the same. At the age twelve, he moved to Sydney to further his studies with Robert Pikler, a student of Jenő Hubay. After playing for Itzhak Perlman in a master class, the 13-year old boy decided that he must study with Mr. Perlman’s teacher, Dorothy DeLay. At the age fifteen, Lin traveled alone to New York and auditioned for the Juilliard School and spent the next six years working with Ms DeLay. A concert career was launched in 1980 with Lin’s debut playing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the New York Philharmonic and Zubin Mehta . He has since performed as soloist with virtually every major orchestra in the world. His busy schedule on stage around the world continues to this day. However, his wide ranging interests have led him to diverse endeavors. At the age of 31, his alma mater, Juilliard School, invited Lin to become faculty. In 2006, he was appointed professor at Rice University. He is currently music director of La Jolla SummerFest and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Ever so keen about education, he was music director of the Taiwan National Symphony music camp and youth orchestra for four years. In his various professional capacities, Cho-Liang Lin has championed composers of our time. His efforts to commission new works have led a diverse field of composers to write for him. The list includes John Harbison, Christopher Rouse, Tan Dun, John Williams, Steven Stucky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Bright Sheng, Paul Schoenfield, Lalo Schifrin, Joan Tower and many more. Recently, he was soloist with the New York Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Munich Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Nashville Symphony and Royal Philharmonic. Lin performs on the 1715 Stradivari named “Titian” or a 2000 Samuel Zygmuntowicz. His many concerto, recital and chamber music recordings on Sony Classical, Decca, BIS, Delos and Ondine can be heard on Spotify or Naxos.com. His albums have won Gramophone Record Of The Year, Grammy nominations and Penguin Guide Rosettes.

https://www.cholianglin.com

Deidre McPherson

Violinist Deidre McPherson is a creative producer, brand experience expert, and community advocate who has held leadership roles at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland. At both institutions, she was the creative architect responsible for producing and managing a range of community events and exhibition-inspired programs designed to make the museum a vibrant, socially relevant, and welcoming destination. Deidre regularly works on projects with arts and cultural institutions throughout Cleveland through her private consulting practice. She was founding director of Sistah Sinema Cleveland, a monthly film & dialogue series (2012-2017) that centered queer women of color for which she received the City of Cleveland’s LGBT Heritage Award in Arts & Culture (2018). An avid cyclist, Deidre serves on the board of Bike Cleveland and is certified by the League of American Bicyclists as a League Cycling Instructor.

https://www.clevelandart.org/magazine/cleveland-art-january-february-2018/deidre-mcpherson

Eliesha Nelson

Eliesha Nelson joined the viola section of The Cleveland Orchestra at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season. She is the first former member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra to be appointed a member of The Cleveland Orchestra, having played violin in the Youth Orchestra for three seasons, from 1989 to 1992, and serving as concertmaster of the ensemble for the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons. Raised in North Pole, Alaska, Eliesha Nelson joined the Young Artists Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) and began attending Hathaway Brown School at age 15. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from CIM and an artist diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London. After switching to viola, Ms. Nelson studied with Robert Vernon (principal viola of The Cleveland Orchestra) while pursuing her master’s degree at CIM. Her violin teachers included David Russell, György Pauk, and Linda Cerone. Prior to her appointment with The Cleveland Orchestra, Ms. Nelson served as acting principal viola of both the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra and the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra. She has appeared as a soloist with the Florida Philharmonic and the San Antonio Symphony and in Northern Ohio with the Cleveland Women’s Orchestra, Lakeside Symphony Orchestra, and Ohio Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Nelson’s honors include the Dr. Jerome Gross Prize in Violin (CIM) and the Marjorie Haywood Violin Recital Prize from the Royal Academy of Music. In September 2009, Ms. Nelson released a recording of the complete viola music of Quincy Porter.

anita pontremoli

Anita Pontremoli is an in-demand chamber musician who has performed with a myriad of internationally renowned artists, Cleveland Orchestra artists and gifted younger musicians. She employs results-oriented teaching methods, including collaborative and solo piano, as well as intensive coaching in chamber music and special studies in contemporary music and the works of women composers. She has had many successful students who have gone on to active careers in the United States and abroad. She has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1977, and is the Head of Collaborative Piano at Encore School for Strings.

https://www.cim.edu/faculty/anita-pontremoli

Alan Rafferty

University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music cello faculty member, is rapidly gaining recognition as a preeminent musician and master teacher.  In demand as a clinician around the world, Mr. Rafferty has presented Master Classes at numerous schools including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan  and Depaul University and has been a visiting faculty member for the Cleveland Institute of Music, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and makes yearly visits to work with the Fellows at the New World Symphony.   A member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 2007, Mr. Rafferty holds the Ruth A. Rosevear cello chair.  In addition to playing over 1000 concerts as a member of the orchestra both in Cincinnati and around the world on tour, he has been a regular performer on the CSO Chamber Players Series and narrated Education Concerts.   Mr. Rafferty made his solo debut with orchestra at the age of 16 and has been a featured soloist on numerous occasions since.  Recent solo appearances have included the North American premiere of Victor Herbert’s first published work, the Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 3 and Don Quixote with the CCM Philharmonia.  He can be heard on recordings for Telarc, Sono Luminus, CR and for WGUC Radio Station. As a chamber musician, Mr. Rafferty regularly collaborates with the likes of Leon Fleisher, Matt Haimovitz, Sandra Rivers, the Ariel Quartet, and members of the Cavani Quartet.  In the summer, he is the Artistic Director of the Ascent International Chamber Music Festival currently hosted by the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.  In the summer of 2022, Mr. Rafferty joins the faculty of the Aronson Cello Festival at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  Each January, he goes to Brazil as a faculty member of the Festival de Music de Santa Catarina. His students have played as soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony, Louisville Orchestra and Dayton Philharmonic and have been 1st prize winners in the MTNA National Solo Competition, Louisville Orchestra Competition, Cleveland Cello Society and Tennessee Cello Workshop.  Additional awards include U.S. Presidential Scholar of the Arts, YoungArts prizewinners and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award presented by From the Top.   Former students hold positions in orchestras all over the world.  As Cello/Chamber Music Faculty for the Starling Program at CCM his groups have won the Junior Division Gold Medal and Silver Medal of the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition among other top prizes. Mr. Rafferty holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Northwestern University.  His primary studies were with Hans Jorgen Jensen, Alan Harris, Merry Peckham, and Richard Weiss.  He and his wife, cellist Dr. Sarah Kim, were recently named the 2016 Ohio String Teachers Association Studio Teachers of the Year.  They are the founders and directors of the nationally recognized Cincinnati Young Artists and Ascent Music.

https://cincinnatiyoungartists.org/faculty/alan-rafferty/

Karlos Rodriguez

An advocate for multifaceted musical diversity in the 21st century and a founding member of the Catalyst Quartet, Cuban-American cellist Karlos Rodriguez is an avid soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, clinician, recording artist, writer, and administrator. Rodriguez made his orchestral debut with the New World Symphony at the age of 13 to critical acclaim. The winner of several competitions and prizes, including Florida’s State Cello Prize and the Irene Muir Performance Prize, Rodriguez has appeared at many of the United States’ major musical venues, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The New World Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, And Radio City Music Hall, to name a few. Rodriguez has also had the honor of working with distinguished artists and members the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, And Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Pieter Wispelway, Rachel Barton-pine, Awadagin Pratt, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Paul Neubauer, and Steven Isserlis. His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. A love of dance has led to collaborations with the Thomas/Ortiz Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, Vail International Dance Festival, and Chita Rivera. Rodriguez has attended and been a guest artist at the Encore School for Strings; the Sarasota, Strings, Aspen, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals; the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society, and Napa’s Festival Del Sole. As an educator, he is the Director of Artistic Affairs for the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and has given master classes domestically and abroad. Rodriguez has worked on various commercials, films, collaborated with pop artists such as Shakira, John Legend, Pink Martini, contributed to numerous Broadway musicals, and is a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. He is a board member of the Aronson Cello Festival and former principal cellist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra in Miami. Rodriguez is also the author of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life-Music, published by Intellect Books UK. Karlos Rodriguez plays on a cello by award-winning luthier Michael Doran made possible through a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant.

https://catalystquartet.com/karlos-rodriguez

John Sharp and Liba Schacht

Liba Shacht

Violinist Liba Shacht was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, where she began her musical studies at age five. Shortly thereafter, her family emigrated to Israel. The recipient of an Artist Diploma with distinction from Tel Aviv University, Ms. Shacht appeared as soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Broadcasting Symphony, the Israeli Sinfonietta, and in chamber orchestras and recitals throughout Israel. She represented Israel at the Jeunesses Musicales World Congress in Korea, Japan, and England, where she performed chamber music at the Royal Albert Hall. Upon the recommendation of Isaac Stern, Ms. Shacht was awarded a special Fellowship by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation to study with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School in New York. She earned a master’s degree and a doctorate from Juilliard. Her New York recital debut at Town Hall was marked by a glowing review from The New York Times :

“Miss Shacht plays with Russian intensity, yet her performances are tempered with abundant humor. She delights in her nimble technique, and virtuosic displays present few obstacles. Prokofiev Sonata in D was played with explosive energy, and Schumann's Sonata in a minor was enriched with a dark, songful melancholy."

Ms. Shacht is the winner of several competitions, among them the Artist International Distinguished Artists Award, which led to her first appearance at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York. As the winner of the Affiliated Artists national auditions, she has toured the United States extensively, performing with critical acclaim in recitals, playing with orchestras, and conducting master classes. She later performed as soloist in the rarely-played Glazunov Violin Concerto with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Shacht is an avid performer of chamber music. She has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival, where she performed with Rudolf Serkin and members of the Guarneri Quartet, as well as the chamber music series at the 92nd Street “Y” in New York. She is a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, as well as principal second violin of the Grant Park Symphony.

John Sharp

At age 27, John Sharp became one of the youngest principal players in the history of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. A top prizewinner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in performances of the Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting, the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim, and in concertos conducted by Sir Georg Solti, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Lorin Maazel, Charles Dutoit and Michael Tilson Thomas. Most recently, he was featured as soloist with the Chicago Symphony in the Elgar Cello Concerto conducted by Riccardo Muti. Sharp performed in the Chicago premiers of Penderecki's Concerto Grosso for Three Cellos and Boulez' Messagesquisse, and is the featured soloist on a Chicago Symphony recording of Strauss' Don Quixote with Daniel Barenboim conducting. An active chamber musician, John Sharp has participated at the festivals of Marlboro, Santa Fe, Vail, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has recorded Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence" with the Vermeer Quartet, and has performed in chamber music concerts with Mitsuko Uchida, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Ax and Christoph Eschenbach. Born in Texas, John Sharp studied the cello with Lev Aronson and later with Lynn Harrell at the Juilliard School where he earned a bachelor's and a master's degree. Prior to his appointment in Chicago, he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and later served as principal cello of the Cincinnati Symphony. He has given master classes throughout the United States and in Europe and has coached at the New World Symphony, the National Orchestral Assosiation, the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, and the Chicago Civic Orchestra. He is currently a professor of cello at Roosevelt University. John Sharp plays a rare cello made by Joseph Guarnerius in 1694.

Evan Solomon

Pianist Evan Solomon has appeared in chamber music and vocal recitals in France, Germany, China, Japan, Korea, and throughout the United States. His exceptionally wide repertoire has led to frequent engagements as official pianist at events such as the Hannover International Violin Competition, the International Viola Congress, the West Point Clarinet Summit, and the Starling-DeLay Violin Symposium. Mr. Solomon's performances as faculty artist of the Great Mountains Music Festival in Korea have been heard on the Korean Broadcasting System and NPR's "Performance Today.” Additional television credits include appearances on A&E Network's "Breakfast with the Arts" with violinist Sarah Chang and cellist Han-Na Chang, and "Live from Lincoln Center: Perlman at the Penthouse" on PBS. His recordings with tenor Michael Sells and clarinetist Seunghee Lee have received wide critical acclaim. A recent highlight was his premiere of the Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by composer Gerald Busby with the Orchestra at Shelter Rock. Evan Solomon began his piano studies with Olga Radosavljevich at the Cleveland Institute of Music. A graduate of Grinnell College with a major in mathematics, he received the Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California as a student of Brooks Smith.  Mr. Solomon was on the collaborative piano staff of the Juilliard School for over thirty years and currently occupies the same position at the Cleveland Institute of Music.  

Brian Thornton

richard weiss

Richard Weiss is first assistant principal cello of The Cleveland Orchestra.  For the 2009-2010 season, he served as acting principal.  A native of Los Angeles, California, he won first prize in the Music Teachers National Association competition.  At the Tanglewood Festival, he was the Young Artist contest winner and concerto soloist. While attending the Eastman School on full merit scholarship, he won a position in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.  During his senior year, he was appointed to The Cleveland Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist many times with The Cleveland Orchestra, and his repertoire includes concertos by Beethoven (Triple), Brahms (Double), Dvořák, Haydn, Lalo, Rósza, Saint-Saëns (both A and D minor), Schumann, and Tchaikovsky.  He is a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio, which performs both locally and on tour. Mr. Weiss teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he is co-chair of the cello department.  He also serves as president of the Cleveland Cello Society.  He coaches the cello sections of the CIM Orchestras, the New World Symphony in Miami, and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.  He has performed and taught at several music festivals, including Aspen, Pensacola, Reno, Kent/Blossom, and the Cleveland International Music Festival.  With Cleveland Orchestra colleagues Joela Jones, Max Dimoff, and Don Miller, he recorded Claude Bolling’s Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano Trio.

https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/discover/meet-the-musicians/cellos/weiss-richard/

joanna patterson Zakany

Joanna Patterson Zakany enjoys a mosaic-inspired life as a musician, yogi and entrepreneur. She joined the viola section of The Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 21 years old. In addition to performing with this marvelous group, she has been Guest Principal of the Detroit Symphony and performed with the All-Star orchestra. She also has an active chamber music career and has been a very successful teacher since 2008 at several universities. Outside of the performing world, she is a Certified Yoga Instructor, and after training at Duke University during the quiet days of the pandemic, she launched her well-being coaching business, MindfulOpus. Her mission is to to help classical musicians find physical and mental wellness so they can enjoy a balanced and thriving life, both on and off stage.

The Michael R. Armellino Internship

In 2022, The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF) launched an internship program to recognize a student in the arts who exemplifies immense potential and excellence in education. We are honored to announce our inaugural selection.

Funder is entering his fourth year at The Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is studying electronic production and design. As an artist, songwriter, producer, and musician, Funder specializes in creating fusions of hip hop, r&b, and pop music. Funder grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and started playing trumpet and piano. He plans for a career in the entertainment industry and to thrive in a team based environment.

Funder has been named the first recipient of "The Michael Armellino Internship" which offers him the chance to work with industry professionals and mentors of The Aronson Cello Festival (ACF).

During the festival, Funder will be working closely with our Emeritus Board Chair and Chief Operating Officer Ty Kim.