Elizabeth Chang, violinist, has established a multifaceted career as performer, teacher, and arts administrator. She has given solo recitals throughout the United States as well as in Europe and South America, and she has appeared as soloist with orchestras both in the U.S.and in Europe. She is currently a faculty member of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School.
Award-winning violinist Wendy Sharp performs frequently as a recitalist and a chamber musician. In demand as a teacher and chamber music coach, she serves as Director of Chamber Music and a member of the violin faculty at the Yale School of Music, also maintaining a private studio.
James Stern is a multi-faceted musician whose violin playing has been heard worldwide and cited by the Washington Post for “virtuosity and penetrating intelligence.” He has performed at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Banff and Bowdoin festivals as well as at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. Well-known to Washington, DC audiences, he has performed as a member of VERGE ensemble, the 21st Century Consort, the Smithsonian Chamber Players and the Axelrod Quartet, at such venues as the Corcoran Gallery, the German and French Embassies, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Gallery, the Phillips Collection, Strathmore Mansion, and the White House.
Ms. dePasquale is a member of the violin faculty at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School Pre-College Program. Additionally, she is a member of the violin faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute, where she also serves as Director of their Program for the Exceptionally Gifted.
An artist deeply dedicated to the range of violin and chamber music repertoire, violinist Violaine Melançon is Associate Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. She was a member of the violin and chamber music faculties of the Peabody Conservatory until 2019 and was for thirty years the founding violinist of the Peabody Trio which was ensemble-in-residence at the Peabody Conservatory from 1987 to 2016.
A Tennessee native, violinist Shannon Thomas has garnered a reputation for exciting, thoughtful performances as a chamber musician, soloist, and in recital throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent performing engagements have taken her to the Kennedy Center, Spoleto Festival USA, Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Bolivia’s Centro Sinfonico in La Paz, and the Banff Centre where she has collaborated with distinguished artists such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet, David Halen, Richard King, Wendy Chen, Anita Pontremoli, and Midori.
Violinist Sandy Yamamoto has dazzled audiences in concert performances around the globe for the past three decades as a soloist and as a member of the Miró Quartet. Since leaving the Quartet in 2011, she has been appointed Associate Professor of Practice in Violin Performance at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.
Violinist Carolyn Huebl enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. She is currently Professor of Violin at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and violinist of the Blakemore Trio. Prior to her appointment at Blair, she was Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Assistant Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University. Critics have called her performances “unfailingly sensitive”, “utterly fearless”, and “pristine”, and STRAD magazine declared that she “possesses a beguilingly warm sound and highly responsive expressive personality.”
Rictor Noren teaches violin, viola, chamber music, string fundamentals, and string pedagogy at the Boston Conservatory of Music. His collaborative approach emphasizes balance, goal setting, efficient practice techniques, musical development, and a hands-on approach to training. His work supports students overcoming technical barriers, conquering physical pain, and developing a professional identity.
Described as “a charismatic soloist of expressive generosity and technical élan,” violinist Bayla Keyes is an ardent champion for a wide range of classical and contemporary repertoire. After her first professional experience with the acclaimed Music from Marlboro, Keyes founded the Muir String Quartet and toured internationally, winning the Evian and Naumburg Awards and two Grand Prix du Disques. Ms. Keyes currently concertizes throughout America as recitalist, as soloist with orchestras, and as a member of the contemporary music ensemble Boston Musica Viva and the acclaimed piano trio,Triple Helix.
