BAHLEST EEBLE FACULTY
2017

Tony Arnold, soprano

Hailed by the New York Times as “a bold, powerful interpreter,” soprano Tony Arnold is internationally acclaimed as a leading proponent of contemporary music in concert and recording, having premiered hundreds of works by established and emerging composers. A strong advocate for the creation of new music, Tony Arnold’s artistry has attracted many of the most gifted composers of our time.  The growing repertoire of vocal chamber music now includes major works written for her voice by Georges Aperghis, Eric Chasalow, Philippe Manoury, Josh Levine, George Crumb, Pamela Madsen, Fredrick Gifford, David Liptak, Brett Dean, Christopher Theofanidis, Jason Eckardt, Hans Tutschku, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Jesse Jones, Nathan Davis, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, John Zorn and David Gompper, amongst others.  In 2012, Arnold and violinist Movses Pogossian were the recipients of a Chamber Music America Commissioning Grant to support the creation of Seven Armenian Songs by Gabriela Lena Frank.

Tony Arnold is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University.  Growing up in suburban Baltimore, she composed, sang and played every instrument she could persuade her parents to let her bring home, but never intended to become a professional vocalist.  Instead, she applied her varied musical background to the study of orchestral conducting.  Following graduate school, she was a fellow of the Aspen Music Festival (as both conductor and singer), and she enjoyed success as the music director of several orchestras in the Chicago area.  In her early thirties, Tony reconnected with her love of singing, and discovered a special ability for making the most complex vocal music accessible to every audience.  Having been inspired by many mentors, she is especially indebted to the teaching of sopranos Carmen Mehta and Carol Webber, conductors Robert Spano and Victor Yampolsky, and composer György Kurtág.

www.screecher.com

Third Angle New Music Ensemble

Third Angle New Music maintains a revolving roster of distinguished guest artists. Each season they present a mix of nationally and internationally renowned performers alongside top regional artists from groups including the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, and Chamber Music Northwest. Third Angle creates an artistic melting pot where you’ll find musicians, composers, visual artists, dancers, authors, poets, and filmmakers, all collaborating together and playing outside the lines.  The Third Angle String Quartet comprise the core string players of the ensemble and are Ron Blessinger and Greg Ewer, violins; Charles Noble, viola; and Marilyn de Oliveira, cello.  

thirdangle.org

Johnny Gandelsman, violin

Johnny Gandelsman's musical voice reflects the artistic collaborations he has been a part of since moving to the United States in 1995. Through his work with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Bono, Osvaldo Golijov, David Byrne, Bela Fleck, Kayhan Kalhor, Suzanne Vega, James Levine, Mark Morris, Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, Nigel Kennedy and Martin Hayes,  Gandelsman has been able to integrate a wide range of creative sensibilities into his own point of view. Combining his Classical training with a desire to reach beyond the boundaries of the concert hall, and a voracious interest in the music of our times, Johnny developed a unique style amongst today's violinists, one that according to the Boston Globe, possesses "a balletic lightness of touch and a sense of whimsy and imagination". 

A passionate advocate for new music, Johnny has premiered dozens of works written for his string quartet, Brooklyn Rider, as well as the Silk Road Ensemble of which he is a long-time member. A typical year sees diverse premieres by composers such as Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky, Vijay Iyer, Bela Fleck, Daniel Cords, Rubin Kodheli, Dana Lyn, Gabriel Kahane, Colin Jacobsen, Shara Worden, John Zorn, Christina Courtin, Ethan Iverson, Padma Newsome, Gregory Saunier, Evan Ziporyn, Bill Frisell and Nik Bartsch, and Gonzalo Grau.

Johnny was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. His father Yuri is a professor of Viola at Michigan State University, his mother Janna is a pianist, and his sister Natasha is a violinist as well. Johnny lives in Brooklyn with his partner Amber and their kids: Julius Ivry and Raiya Leone.

johnnygandelsman.com

Joshua Roman, cello

Hailed as “a musician of imagination and expressive depth” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), Joshua Roman has earned an international reputation for his wide-ranging repertoire, a commitment to communicating the essence of music in visionary ways, artistic leadership and versatility. As well as being a celebrated performer, he is recognized as an accomplished composer and curator, and was named a TED Senior Fellow in 2015.

Roman’s adventurous spirit has led to collaborations with artists outside the music community, including his co-creation of “On Grace” with Tony Award-nominated actress Anna Deavere Smith, a work for actor and cello which premiered in February 2012 at San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral. His outreach endeavors have taken him to Uganda with his violin-playing siblings, where they played chamber music in schools, HIV/AIDS centers and displacement camps, communicating a message of hope through music.

Before embarking on a solo career, Roman spent two seasons as principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony, a position he won in 2006 at the age of 22. Since that time he has appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mariinsky Orchestra, New World Symphony, Alabama Symphony, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Ecuador, among many others. An active chamber musician, Roman has collaborated with established artists such as Andrius Zlabys, Cho-Liang Lin, Assad Brothers, Earl Carlyss, Christian Zacharias and Yo-Yo Ma, as well as other dynamic young soloists and performers from New York’s vibrant music scene, including the JACK Quartet, Talea Ensemble, Derek Bermel and the Enso String Quartet.

A native of Oklahoma City, Roman began playing the cello at the age of three on a quarter-size instrument, and gave his first public recital at age ten. Home-schooled until he was 16, he then pursued his musical studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Richard Aaron. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance in 2004, and his Master’s in 2005, as a student of Desmond Hoebig, former principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Roman is grateful for the loan of an 1899 cello by Giulio Degani of Venice.

https://www.joshuaroman.com

Chris Froh, marimba

Percussionist Christopher Froh specializes in promoting and influencing the creation of new music through critically-acclaimed performances and dynamic lectures. A member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Empyrean Ensemble, Rootstock Percussion, and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Froh has premiered over 100 chamber and solo works by composers from 15 countries. He is known for his energized performances which have been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “tremendous” and San Francisco Classical Voice as “mesmerizing. As a soloist, he has appeared at festivals and recitals across Japan, China, Turkey, Europe, and the United States including the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center. He has recorded, to critical acclaim, with the San Francisco Symphony on SFS Media; as a soloist on Albany, Bridge, Innova, and Equilibrium labels; and as a chamber musician on Music@Menlo LIVE. He frequently tours Japan with marimbist Mayumi Hama and with his former teacher, famed marimba pioneer Keiko Abe.

Active in music for theatre and dance, Froh has recorded scores for American Conservatory Theater, performed as a soloist with the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and composed original music for Oakland-based Dance Elixir. His score for the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s exhibition of Thoreau’s Walden: A Journey in Photography has toured the United States.

Currently, Chris teaches percussion at the University of California at Davis and CSU Sacramento.

Mayumi Hama, marimba

One of the foremost marimba players of Asia, Japan native Mayumi Hama is the leading disciple and proponent of the music of pioneer marimba composer, Keiko Abe. Having begun her studies with Professor Abe at the age of six, Mayumi became her duo partner in 1996, traveling with her around the world to present definitive interpretations of existing repertoire as well as premiering new works for marimba duo. Over the course of her touring career, Mayumi has been awarded numerous international awards and has received critical acclaim for her performances. She has performed frequently as a soloist with major symphony orchestras and considers outreach an essential part of her mission as a performing artist.