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.

Ara Gregorian, violin
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.

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.

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.

Nicholas Cords, viola
A member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Cords has appeared across the U.S. and Europe, and in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Singapore, India, Iran, Syria, and Egypt. He has performed as soloist with the Chicago Symphony and the Minnesota and Philadelphia orchestras and has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein, Santa Fe, Tanglewood, Piccolo Spoleto, Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and the Smithsonian Folklife festivals.

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.

Chris Grymes, clarinet
Formerly a member of the eclectic ensemble Tales & Scales, Grymes was a first prize winner at the MTNA National Collegiate Woodwind Soloist Competition, a member of the National Repertory Orchestra, and a fellow at the Norfolk/Yale School of Music Festival.  He has performed with the Boston, Utah, Saint Louis, and North Carolina symphonies and is a member of the faculty at the East Carolina University School of Music.

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.

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.

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.

Shai Wosner, piano
Winner of a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, Wosner was named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. He has performed as soloist with the major U.S. orchestras of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Houston and has appeared at the Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla SummerFest, Bravo! Vail Valley and Ravinia festivals.  Abroad, he has appeared  as soloist with the Vienna Philharmonic.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.