Ara Gregorian, violin and viola
Founder and artistic director of the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Gregorian debuted with the Boston Pops Orchestra in 1997 and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 1996.  A member of the chamber music ensemble Concertante, he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and China, and at the El Paso, Santa Fe, Cactus Pear, Strings in the Mountains, and Skaneateles festivals.  He has recorded for WQXR and NPR.

Adam Neiman, piano
Nominated for a Grammy Award, Neiman has performed as soloist with the Chicago, San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Minnesota, and the National Symphony orchestras. He has appeared in the PBS documentary film “Playing for Real” which aired worldwide, was a winner of the Gilmore Young Artist Award, and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. He has appeared at the Seattle, Moritzburg, Belgrade, Vancouver and Vail festivals.

Hagai Shaham, violin
First prize winner of the 1990 Munich ARD International Music Competition, Shaham has performed as soloist with the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Belgian National Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, and the Israel Philharmonic. He has recorded for the Decca International, Chandos, Biddulph, Naxos, and Hyperion labels and is a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California.

Amit Peled, cello
A featured artist at the world’s premier halls, Peled has appeared in London, New York, Paris, Berlin, and Tel Aviv. He’s recently performed as soloist with the European Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony and the Radio Symphony Saarbrucken and has appeared at the Newport, Seattle, Marlboro, and Cape Cod music festivals. His concerts are frequently heard on NPR, Radio France, and Swedish National Radio.

Steven Copes, violin
Concertmaster of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Copes has performed at festivals and series such as the Boston Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, Marlboro, and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. He has been a guest leader of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the London Philharmonic, and is the artistic director of Accordo in Minneapolis, MN.

Soovin Kim, violin
An Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, Kim has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic. He was awarded the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, the Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award, and won first prize at the Paganini Competition.

Raman Ramakrishnan, cello
Raman Ramakrishnan is a member of the Daedalus String Quartet, First Prize winner of the 2001 Banff International String Quartet Competition. He has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Caramoor’s Rising Stars series, the ­Marlboro Festival where he was broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today, and at Weill Recital Hall with the contemporary music group, Proteus 5.  He received his BA with honors in physics from Harvard University.

Thomas Sauer, piano
A member of the Mannes Trio, Sauer collaborates frequently with instrumentalists such as violinist Midori and cellist Colin Carr. He has performed at Oxford University, the Wolf Trap Center, Princeton University, the Portland, El Paso Pro Musica, Seattle, Salt Bay, and Marlboro festivals, and at the Philharmonie in Berlin and the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels.  He is the director of the Mannes Beethoven Institute.

Colin Carr, cello
Carr, who won the Naumburg Competition, the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Award, and the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, has performed as soloist with major orchestras worldwide including the Royal Concertgebouw, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Montreal. He is a former member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio.

Elina Vähälä, violin
Vähälä made her concerto debut at the age of 12 with the Sinfonia Lahti. Chosen to carry the title of “Young Master Soloist” of the Sinfonia Lahti, she has performed regularly with the Gramophone Award-winning orchestra since. She is the first prize winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and has performed with such orchestras as the English Chamber Orchestra, Dort- mund Orchestra and the Israel Camerata.

Hsin-Yun Huang, viola
In 1993, Huang won the top prizes in the Munich ARD International Music Competition and was awarded the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award.  The youngest ever gold medalist in the Lionel Tertis International Competition, she has been telecast in live performance with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic and the Zagreb Soloists. She has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell and is on the faculty at the Juilliard School.

Maria Lambros, viola
A former member of the Mendelssohn Quartet, the Grammy Award-nominated Ridge Quartet, and the Naumburg Award-winning Meliora Quartet, Lambros has appeared at the Aspen, Helsinki, Santa Fe, and Spoleto festivals, collaborated with the Guarneri, Cleveland, and Juilliard quartets, and performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society. She is a member of the chamber music faculty at the Peabody Conservatory.

Ani Aznavoorian, cello
A Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Aznavoorian won the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award and the Chicago Cello Society Competiton, and was a top prize winner in the 1996 International Paulo Competiton in Finland. She performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony, Boston Pops, Tokyo Philharmonic and the Helsinki Philharmonic. She is a member of the Corinthian Trio, Camerata Pacifica, and the International Sejong Soloists.

Nina Lee, cello
A member of the award-winning Brentano String Quartet, Lee has performed in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Library of Congress, Suntory Hall, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna.  She has appeared at the Tanglewood, El Paso International, and Marlboro festivals, and has toured with Musicians from Marlboro.  She teaches at Princeton and Columbia Universities.

Keiko Sekino, piano
A 2001 Presser Music Award recipient, Sekino has performed with members of the Peabody Trio, the Los Angeles Piano Quartet, and the Mendelssohn Quartet. She performed at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Parsimmon Hall (Tokyo), Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria (Spain), and Castello Caetani (Italy); and participated in festivals such as Ravinia and Norfolk. She served as a pianist for the Tanglewood Festival Chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Paul Tardif, piano
Distinguished Research Professor emeritus at East Carolina University, Tardif has performed as soloist with the North Carolina Symphony and as pianist for the Kennedy Center Orchestra for Honors Galas and Presidential Inaugural Concerts Orchestra.  He has released recordings on the Digital Arts Classical, and Koch labels, was a recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council jazz grant, and was First Prize winner of the National Piano Guild Competition.

Ani Gregorian, violin
First Prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Resnick has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Harvard’s Sanders Theater.  She has performed throughout Italy, Austria, Japan, and Korea and has collaborated with such diverse artists as Bono and Bryan Adams. An avid teacher, she has served as a New York Philharmonic Teaching Artist and is the founder and director of Suzuki on the Island.

Alicia Gregorian, cello
A recent graduate of New England Conservatory, Gregorian has performed in Avery Fisher Hall, Bpston’s Jordan Hall, and at Harvard’s Sanders Theater.  She has appeared at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Festival De Musica (Costa Rica), Sound Encounters Contemporary Music Festival, and as a member of the International Chamber Soloists.  While at NEC she was selected to participate in the Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Bartok string quartet seminars.

Concertante
Concertante has acquired a sheen, warmth, and polish that are the hallmark of superb chamber music groups. Comprised of a core of six virtuoso string players, Concertante has performed across America, gathering rave reviews from such publications as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. They have appeared on Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday, National Public Radio, at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and in major cities in Canada and China.  Concertante has recorded for the Helicon and Kleos labels and in 2006 began a four year commissioning project called “One Plus Five” that has led to new pieces for string sextet by Lowell Liebermann, Tigran Mansurian, Gabriela Lena Frank, Shulamit Ran, Kevin Puts and Richard Danielpour.

Robert McDonald, piano
McDonald has performed internationally as a solo recitalist and as a recital partner to Midori and Isaac Stern. He has appeared with the San Francisco, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Curtis symphony orchestras, as well as with the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional in Costa Rica, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Haydn di Bolzano e Trento in Italy.  He has performed with the Juilliard, Takacs, American, Muir, and Brentano string quartets.

Michael Kannen, cello
A former member of the Brentano Quartet, Kannen has received the Cleveland Quartet, Naumburg Chamber Music, Martin E. Segal (from Lincoln Center), and the Royal Philharmonic Society awards. He has appeared at the Vancouver, Spoleto, Rockport, Chamber Music Northwest, Skaneateles, and Caramoor festivals and is a member of the Apollo Trio. He is Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory.