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.
Sarah Carter, cello Carter is the winner of both the 1999 Corpus Christi International and the 1998 ASTA National competitions. She’s served as soloist for major American ensembles including the Cleveland and Seattle symphony orchestras, and has to her credit many chamber music performances at the Marlboro, Ravinia, and Kingston festivals.
Arnon Erez, piano Erez has performed in the major halls of New York, Bonn, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Paris and London and has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein, Rheingau, Rolandseck Pro, Banff, Israel and Montpellier’s Radio France festivals. First Prize winner of the 1990 Munich ARD International Music Competition, he has performed with the Israel Philharmonic, the Baden Baden (SWF), Haifa Symphony and Banff Festival orchestras.
Jennifer Frautschi, violin Winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, she has performed at the Caramoor, Moab, and Seattle festivals. She was soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony and the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival. Selected by Carnegie Hall for its Distinctive Debut series, she made her New York recital debut in 2004 and was presented in London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and the Salzburg Mozarteum.
Joseph Genualdi, violin Director of the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Genualdi has received numerous awards including the Concours Evian, Prix du Disque, and the prestigious Naumburg Award. He has performed for the national broadcast services of the United States, France, Germany, and Italy, and has appeared at the Marlboro, Spoleto and Bravo! Colorado festivals. He is a former member of the Muir Quartet and the Los Angeles Piano Quartet.
Ara Gregorian, violin/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 ensemble Concertante, he has performed throughout the U.S., 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.
Emanuel Gruber, cello Former principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Gruber was awarded the Pablo Casals prize by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was a winner of the Concert Artist Guild Auditions in New York. He has taught at Indiana University, the Rubin Academy of Music, and currently at East Carolina University. His festival appearances include the Rostropovich Cello Festival and the Musical Spring Festival in St. Petersburg.
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.
Ed Jacobs, composer A prolific composer, Edward Jacobs is founder and artistic director of the NewMusic@ECU Festival and director of the Young Composers project serving Pitt County Schools. He received the Charles Ives Award, presented by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which called Jacobs’ music “engaging, attractive and intellectually demanding.” He is published by the C.F. Peters Corporation, APNM, and ACA.
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.
Ani Kavafian, violin Kavafian has performed as soloist with virtually every leading American orchestra including those in New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco. She is an Artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and has performed at the Ravinia, Seattle and Sarasota festivals. She received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, performed at the White House on three occasions, and been featured on network and PBS television specials.
John Kramar, baritone Kramar, co-director of ECU Opera Theatre and on the directing staff of the Chautauqua Opera, has performed with the Sarasota, Nashville, Washington Summer and Santa Fe operas; the North Carolina, Jupiter, Erie and Springfield symphonies; and with the Middle Tennessee Choral Society, Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, and the National Chorale. He is a member of the award-winning New York Vocal Arts Ensemble.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Zvi Plesser, cello Plesser has performed to critical acclaim throughout North and Central America, Europe, and Israel. At the age of 17 he made his U.S. debut with Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman in Carnegie Hall. He has performed with the Israel Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and has participated at the Marlboro, Cervantino (Mexico), Lapland (Sweden), and the Montpellier (France) festivals.
Raman Ramakrishnan, cello Raman Ramakrishnan is a member of the Daedalus String Quartet, First Prize winners 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.
Ani Gregorian Resnick, violin First Prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Resnick has performed in Austria, Italy, Japan, Korea and throughout the United States. She is the Founder and Director of Suzuki on the Island.
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.
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.
Ittai Shapira, violin A recipient of the Clairmont Award, Shapira has recently performed as soloist with the London Philharmonia, Russian Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Czech National Symphony, English Chamber Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared at the Ravinia, Banff, Aspen, and Schleswig-Holstein festivals and has recorded for the Black Box, Meridian, and EMI labels.
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, Dortmund Orchestra and the Israel Camerata.
