BAHLEST EEBLE FACULTY
2021-23

Haruka Fujii, percussion

Multi-percussionist Haruka Fujii has become one of the most prominent solo percussionists and marimbists of her generation. She has won international acclaim for her interpretations of contemporary music, having performed premieres of works from composers including Tan Dun, Nico Muhly, Vijay Iyer, Joji Yuasa, and Maki Ishii. Since 2010 Ms. Fujii has performed as a member of the Grammy Award winning Silk Road Ensemble, joining a group of international musicians founded by Yo-Yo Ma. She has frequently collaborated with composer Tan Dun, performing his Water Percussion Concerto, Paper Percussion Concerto, and opera Tea in major venues across the world

Ms. Fujii’s passion for introducing audiences to new percussion music has put her on stage with diverse orchestras and ensembles. She has appeared as a soloist with the Munich Philharmonic, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Nationale de Lyon, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of Flexible Music  and the Line C3 Percussion Group and two New York based ensembles and also Utari Percussion Duo, a duet project with her sister Rika which actively commission new compositions from young composers. Her world premiere recordings can be found on the SONY, Kosei, ALM Records, and Deutsche Grammophon labels. In addition to her career as a performing artist Ms. Fujii directed the percussion department at the University of Connecticut from 2009-2011, and has been a frequent guest instructor at Juilliard Summer Percussion Seminar and several international percussion festivals.

Born in Saitama, Japan, Ms. Fujii began her musical studies on the piano at the age of three. Influenced by her mother, noted marimbist Mutsuko Fujii, she developed interest in percussion instruments. She studied music at the Tokyo National University, the Juilliard School, and the Mannes College of Music.

https://www.harukafujii.com/

Nathalie Joachim, flute

Nathalie Joachim is a Grammy-nominated flutist, composer, and vocalist. The Brooklyn born Haitian-American artist is hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice”. (The Nation). She is co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo, Flutronix, and comfortably navigates everything from classical to indie-rock, all while advocating for social change and cultural awareness. Her authenticity has gained her the reputation of being "powerful and unpretentious." (The New York Times).

Ms. Joachim, a 2020 United States Artists Fellow, has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles including Bryce Dessner, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble, and is the former flutist of contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird. As a composer, Joachim is regularly commissioned to write for instrumental and vocal artists, dance, and interdisciplinary theater, each highlighting her unique electroacoustic style. Current commissions include Discourse, an evening-length performance, community engagement and social change initiative commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts; new solo instrumental works for cellist Seth Parker Woods and violinist Yvonne Lam; and larger scale chamber works for So Percussion, Lorelei Ensemble, Duo Noire, and The Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Joachim’s current touring project, Fanm d’Ayiti, is an evening-length work for flute, voice, string quartet and electronics that celebrates some of Haiti’s most iconic yet under recognized female artists, and explores Joachim’s personal Haitian heritage. Commissioned by and developed in residence through St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series, Fanm d’Ayiti was recorded with Chicago-based ensemble Spektral Quartet. The work, released in 2019 on New Amsterdam Records as Joachim’s first featured solo album, received a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album.

Ms. Joachim is Director of Contemporary Chamber Music at the Perlman Music Program; holds rotating faculty positions at the Bang On a Can Summer Festival and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity; and is a guest teaching artist for The Juilliard-Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme.

https://www.nathaliejoachim.com/

Charles Overton, harp

Charles Overton is a Boston-based harpist and performer of classical, jazz and world music. He began his harp studies at the age of ten under the direction of Lynelle Ediger, where as a member of her "American Youth Harp Ensemble" he was afforded the opportunity at an early age to perform internationally in notable venues such as the Salle Gaveaux in Paris and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. In 2009 Charles went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy to further his musical development under the direction of Joan Raeburn Holland during which time he was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Harp Competition and was twice a finalist for the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition.

In 2012 Charles moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where while continuing to study classical music under the direction of BSO principal harpist, Jessica Zhou, he also began to explore the world of jazz and other improvised musics more seriously. During his time at Berklee, he competed in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition where he was a finalist, and became the first harp student to be admitted to the Berklee Global Jazz Institute - a prestigious and highly specialized program at the school in which students are able to learn from and work intimately with master jazz artists such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and Terri-Lynn Carrington.

Over the course of his musical career, Charles has attended several summer music festivals such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, and the Castleton Festival where he has performed under the batons of conductors such as Stéphane Denève, Jun Markl, Stefan Asbury, and the late Lorin Maazel. Additionally he has performed with various ensembles in some of the world's greatest concert halls including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston's Symphony Hall and the KKL Luzern Concert Hall.

Currently, Charles resides in Boston where he maintains an active performance schedule as a performer of classical, jazz and contemporary music. Recent engagements include an appearance at Scullers Jazz Club with his jazz ensemble: the Charles Overton Group, regular performances with the Boston Philharmonic, an appearance as a featured artist at the Dutch Harp Festival in concert with the Dutch National Youth Jazz Orchestra, as well as a performance tour of Spain performing Ginastera's Harp Concerto with Benjamin Zander's Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

http://www.charlesovertonmusic.com/

Jennifer Ellis, harp

Committed to shifting the boundaries of harp performance, Jennifer R. Ellis (D.M.A. University of Michigan, M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music, B.M. Oberlin) thoroughly enjoys taking the harp off its pedestal and using the instrument in new and unexpected ways. She embraces firsts. She has premiered over 100 works. She was the first harpist to be a U.S. State Department One Beat Fellow, the first harpist to teach at Nief Norf, the first musician to be named a University of Michigan Engaged Pedagogy Fellow, and the first harpist to attend Bang on a Can, Fresh Inc., and Splice summer festivals. A 2022 LABA Fellow and Alice Chalifoux Prize awardee, her love for innovative new music has led her to serve as a featured performer for the International Harp Festival, Festival of New American Music, Omaha Under the Radar, Sound of Late, Spitting Image Collective, Spark Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and Kerrytown Edgefest. Her recordings run the gamut from premieres (Tides by Brian Baumbusch on Other Minds Records, Entertainment Tonight by Steve Horowitz, and multiple tracks by Roscoe Mitchell on Wide Hive Records) to solo improvisation (January Lullaby on Persist) to commissions for harp and saxophone (Launch with Jonathan Hulting-Cohen on Albany Records). Her scholarship examines new music and community engagement; she has written articles for Harp Column Magazine and The American Harp Journal, where she now serves on the editorial board. Her composition Dance was recently featured on Lyon and Healy’s Harptacular and her composition Glasswing was featured by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project. Her commitment to teaching composers about the harp has led her to provide workshops for composers at over a dozen universities and summer programs. Recent performances include the premieres of Indra’s Net by Meredith Monk and Impenatrable by Brian Mark. In addition to serving as the American Harp Society Pacific Region Director, she teaches harp at Mills College and harp and community engagement at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

www.harpellis.com

César Aguilar, countertenor

César Aguilar is a Mexican countertenor whose vocal talents have allowed him to build his career from a very early age and, at the young age of 15, César debuted the opera "La leyenda del Tepozteco" by Mexican composer Federico Alvarez del Toro. Since that time, César has performed with orchestras in different countries, including the Mexican Marine Symphony Orchestra, Chiapas Youth Symphony Orchestra, Lethbridge Symphony, ArsMusica Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. In terms of operatic productions, he most recently performed roles in “Giulio Cesare”, "Hansel and Gretel", "L'Enfant et les Sortilèges", "La Fille du Regiment" and “Magic Flute”. He most recently brought 5 countertenors together including his teacher and mentor renowned countertenor Daniel Taylor for an evening titled “Countertenor Madness” for a sold out concert in Toronto. Recent engagements include his participation in the workshop of the new opera “The Last Dream of Frida and Diego” by acclaimed composer Gabriela Lena Frank and librettist Nilo Cruz as well as a performance at the National Art Centre in Mexico City of songs and arias. Upcoming engagements include his participation at GLFCAM in California as well as the production of Purcell’s “Fairy Queen” with the Fine Arts School of the Panamerican University in Mexico City.  In addition to his career as a performer, César is a dedicated scholar of the vocal arts. He possesses a Bachelor degree from the University of Lethbridge, a Master’s Degree from the University of Western Ontario, an Advance Certificate in Performance from the University of Toronto and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Music from the same Institution. He was part of the Faculty at the University of Lethbridge Music Conservatoire where he had a very active vocal studio for 3 years. César has also had the extraordinary experience of working with the Latin American Flute Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, Orford Music Academy, Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, SienaAgosto  and the Académie de Fourvière.

www.cesaraguilarcountertenor.com

Francisco Fullana, violin

Spanish-born violinist Francisco Fullana, winner of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been hailed as a "rising star" (BBC Music Magazine), an "amazing talent" (conductor Gustavo Dudamel) and "frighteningly awesome" (Buffalo News).

A native of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands of Spain, Francisco is making a name for himself as both a performer and a leader of innovative educational institutions. As an orchestral soloist, he has performed the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Bayerische Philharmonie led by the late Sir Colin Davis, the Sibelius Concerto with the Münchner Rundfunkorchester, and the Brahms Violin Concerto with Venezuela’s Teresa Carreño Orchestra under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel.

Highlights of Francisco’s recent and upcoming orchestral engagements include debuts with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Tucson, Miami and Springfield Symphony Orchestras, Oviedo Filarmonía, and Argentina’s National Orchestra. Recital debuts this season also include the Phillips Collection, Mecklenburg-Vorlpommen Festival and Palm Beach’s Kravis Center, as well as a two tours of eastern China and Japan. He is the new artist in residence of the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra and the artistic director of ‘Lincoln Center in Mallorca’ summer festival.

Orchid Classics recently released Francisco’s recording “Through the Lens of Time,” which includes Max Richter’s composition The Four Seasons Recomposed performed with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carlos Izcaray. Francisco’s new album, Bach’s Long Shadow, will be released by Orchid next June, featuring historically informed performances of Bach’s Partitas, Ysaye and Albeniz among others.

Born into a family of educators, Francisco is a committed innovator, leading new institutions of musical education for young people. He is the co-founder of San Antonio’s Classical Music Summer Institute, where he currently serves as Chamber Music Director, and the founder of the Fortissimo Youth Initiative, collaborating in performance with youth orchestras around the world.

He currently performs on the 1735 "Mary Portman" ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù violin, kindly on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Yue Qian, Violin

Chinese-born violinist Yue Qian enjoys a diverse career in music-making and believes that it truly brings people together. She has performed across China, the United States, and Europe, at the Shanghai Concert Hall, Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center, and Kloster Schöntal in Germany. She was invited to renowned festivals such as the Verbier Festival, Music@Menlo, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and Taos School of Music, working with eminent artists including Christoph Eschenbach, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Sir Simon Rattle, Nobuko Imai, Robert McDonald, Valery Gergiev, Danish String Quartet, and the Juilliard String Quartet.

Invited by Beijing Contemporary Soloists, Yue has been traveling with the ensemble in China, performing contemporary music, and working with composers since 2019. The highlights include performances at Sichuan Conservatory, Nanning Arts University, and Beijing Modern Music Festival under the baton of Dr. Joel Sachs. The ensemble’s debut CD, “Jade”, has just been out under the NAXOS label. 

Qian is the Silver Medalist of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, as part of the Y. Trio. The second-place winner of the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, she is also a USC Concerto Competition winner, and a scholarship recipient of the Linyaoji Music Foundation of China. Qian has also been invited to participate in the 2016 Sendai, 2018 Tibor Varga, and 2020 Shanghai Issac Stern Violin Competitions.

Besides performing in the concert scene, Qian is passionate about community engagements. Together with Midori, she has reached out to Los Angeles, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Japan, sharing music with the local communities. She was invited by Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival to coach amateur musicians two summers in a roll. Previously an orchestra mentor for the Juilliard School Pre-college, Qian has also served as the chamber music coach at the pre-college of the Juilliard School Tianjin during 2020-2021.

Born in Nantong, Jiangsu, Qian received her music education through Shanghai Conservatory Middle School, Interlochen Arts Academy, USC Thornton School of Music, and the Juilliard School, studying with Binyou Zhou, Yuri Namkung, Midori Goto, Ronald Copes, and Sylvia Rosenberg. Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral degree (DMA) at USC with Bing Wang, the associate concertmaster of the LA Philharmonic.

Gregory Beaver, cello

Cellist of the Chiara String Quartet for 18 years, Gregory Beaver performed over 500 concerts in concert halls on 3 continents, garnered a Grammy nomination, premiered 40 works, and recorded 7 major albums. Beyond traditional concertizing, the Chiaras were the first quartet to perform in clubs and bars across the country, reaching younger audiences and hiring a manager specifically for that role. Recently, removing the barrier of music stands and connecting with audiences more directly, the quartet offers all programs memorized. In 2016, the quartet presented all 6 of Béla Bartók’s string quartets memorized in a 2 day period at the Ravinia Festival and recorded the quartets on Azica Records Bartók by Heart. Their final performance in May of 2018 featured the New York premiere of Philip Glass’s piano quintet, composed for the Chiaras and pianist Paul Barnes.

From the beginning of his work as a performer, Gregory has been fascinated with the process of growth. This fuels his performing, composing, teaching, and writing with a passion from 18 years of performing internationally with the Chiara String Quartet. It permeates his published writings in Strad Magazine, a book on computer programming, his contributions to the open source programming world and even his personal recipe for guacamole. Mr. Beaver takes this passion and devotes it to expanding his solo performing, composing, and teaching activities. It extends to his role as a Staff Software Engineer at Braze, Inc. where he gets to hack on interesting problems that help business engage with their customers in more authentic ways, seamlessly transitioning between musical practice and computer work in a typical day.

Before his professional life, Mr. Beaver studied with Joel Krosnick at the Juilliard School, and Norman Fischer at Rice University. He had the opportunity to work with great conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, played principal cello of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and won first prize at the Corpus Christi International Competition. He began his cello studies under Char Sherman as a Suzuki student and studied in high school with renowned pedagogue Louis Potter, jr. Mr. Potter studied with Willem Willeke at Juilliard, graduating in 1935. Mr. Willeke had a long and fruitful relationship with Johannes Brahms, perhaps explaining why Mr. Beaver feels an affinity for Brahms. Gregory has performed cycles of Solo Bach, Beethoven Cello/Piano Sonatas, as well as Brahms, Beethoven, and Bartok cycles with the Chiara Quartet. He lives with his wife, violinist Hyeyung Yoon, 2 daughters and cat in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Doori Na, violin

Known for his sweet and “sumptuous” (New York Times) tone, American-born Doori Na took up violin at the age of four and began his studies with Li Lin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He quickly made his first performance with orchestra at age seven with the Peninsula Youth Symphony as the first prize winner of the concerto competition. Thereafter Mr. Na went on to win top prizes in The Sound of Music Festival, The Korea Times Youth Music Competition, the Chinese Music Teacher’s Association, The Menuhin Dowling Young Artist Competition, The Junior Bach Festival, VOCE of the Music Teacher’s Association of California, and The Pacific Musical Society. Receiving full scholarships to private high school Crossroads School of Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, he moved to Los Angeles to study with renown violin teacher, Robert Lipsett, at The Colburn Music School. There he appeared as soloist with the Palisades Symphony, Brentwood Symphony, and Torrance Symphony. During that time, the summer of 2004 was Mr. Na’s first time at the Perlman Music Program where his expression and musical identity were greatly influenced. He has been a part of the program ever since and participated in many of their special residencies in Florida, Vermont, New York, and Israel.

Currently living in New York City, Mr. Na plays with numerous ensembles around the city. He has played with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with tours in the US, Japan, and Europe performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Musiverien in Vienna. Other orchestras include American Symphony Orchestra at Bard College, American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House, and Riverside Symphony at the Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center.  The music of our time has also been an integral part of Mr. Na’s New York life. He is part of the New Music Project of Argento Chamber Ensemble performing the works of Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Tristan Murail, and many more. One of his favorite groups to work with is New Chamber Ballet, where he has been a member since 2013. He provides live solo music for dance at their regular venue of City Center Studios and have also gone on tour to Lake Tahoe, Germany, and Guatemala.

Chamber music has always been a big part of Mr. Na’s growth as a musician. His first endeavor playing in an ensemble was with the Luna Trio as a teenager, and were finalists at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2016. From then on, he has collaborated with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera and has been fortunate to tour with Itzhak Perlman at venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Other notable experiences include performing at the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach with the Bonhoeffer Trio and Les Amies trio.

Mr. Na has also found that teaching and doing outreach is essential to being a well rounded musician. He currently works at the Juilliard School as a teaching assistant to Catherine Cho and gives lessons as well as running play-through classes for the students. In 2015, he returned to the Music Teacher’s Association of California to give a masterclass and recital for their annual convention. Outreach to schools includes going to Sarasota, Florida with the Perlman Music Program/Suncoast, Brazil with Juilliard Global Ventures, the British International School of Chicago with Juilliard President Joseph Polisi, and more.

Mr. Na attended the Juilliard School with the Dorothy Starling and Dorothy Delay scholarships and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree where he studied under Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Donald Weilerstein. He was concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and was fortunate to play on a Guadagnini and Vuillaume violin from the Juilliard School’s prestigious violin collection.

https://doorinaviolin.com/

Marilyn de Oliveira, cello

Brazilian cellist Marilyn de Oliveira has been the assistant principal in the Oregon Symphony cello section since September 2009.  Prior to joining the Oregon Symphony, Marilyn was a member of the San Antonio Symphony for three seasons, during which she was both a member of the section and acting assistant principal. 

Before moving to San Antonio, Marilyn was a fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami, FL.  While in Miami, she served as principal cellist during tours to Teatro Santa Cecilia in Rome and to Carnegie Hall, all under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas. 

Since moving to the United States from her native country of Brazil to pursue her musical career, Marilyn’s summer activities have included the Tanglewood Music Center (where she received the Karl Zeise Memorial Cello Prize), Spoleto Festival USA, the Kent/Blossom Music Center, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas and several European music festivals.

During her years in Portland, OR, Marilyn has become an experienced champion of contemporary music, playing with all of the major new music groups in town.  She was a prominent voice in the very first cycle of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, helping to launch the Academy’s inaugural year.

Marilyn received her Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University under cellist Emilio Colon and her Master of Music degree at Rice University with Norman Fischer.  Some of her live solo performances can be heard regularly on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.  Marilyn is married to Oregon Symphony cellist Trevor Fitzpatrick.

Jonah Sirota, viola

Composer and violist Jonah Sirota is a new breed of multi-talented musician. Equally at home writing concert music, performing as a soloist and chamber musician, scoring soundtracks for TV, film, and videogames, and collaborating in improv and new music ensembles, Jonah creates and recreates vivid music for a wide variety of audiences.  His debut solo recording STRONG SAD, a 2018 National Sawdust Tracks release, features premiere recordings of new elegies for the viola by Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Arthur Joseph McCaffrey, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Robert Sirota, Kurt Knecht, and Jonah himself. Recent compositions include Grounded, an orchestral work written for the Greenwood Music Camp Orchestra and premiered in the summer of 2018, and the viola sonata Flutter Fingers.

Jonah was the violist of the recently-disbanded Chiara String Quartet for all of its 18 years. With the Chiara Quartet, he toured internationally, recorded seven albums and played in numerous major venues worldwide. The Chiara Quartet performed much of the string quartet repertoire from memory ('By Heart"), including the complete string quartets of Béla Bartók, a recording of which was released in 2016 on Azica Records. The group was honored with a Grammy nomination (2011, Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Jefferson Friedman's 3rd String Quartet on the New Amsterdam label), the ASCAP/CMA Adventurous Programming Award, the Guarneri Quartet Award, top prizes at the Paolo Borciani Competition and the Astral Artistic Services Audition, and a Gold Medal at the Fischoff Competition. Their albums have been featured on N.P.R., and in "Best of the Year" lists from the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. In the 2015-2016 season, the group was in residence at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, a venue to which the group returned for their farewell New York concert in May of 2018. As a concert violist, Jonah performs with pianist Molly Morkoski, with organist Kurt Knecht as the improv duo Mondegreen, and as a member of the revived California String Quartet. He is sought after as an session player and regularly plays with major orchestras, including the Long Beach Symphony, where he is Assistant Principal Viola.

Jonah is also known as a pedagogue. He coaches chamber music at the Colburn School, teaches viola at Cal State University Fullerton, and gives viola and composition masterclasses and residencies across the country. His "practice self-audit" has been used by many viola students to facilitate the self-evolution of their own improvement and creativity in the practice room, while his Practice Tune-Up for professional and adult amateur violists has given many the chance to reconnect with their own inner passion on the instrument. Mr. Sirota has taught at the Juilliard School, at Harvard University, and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music (where he helped build a world-class chamber music program), as well as at Greenwood Music Camp. He resides in South Pasadena, CA.

Matthew Worth, baritone

This season baritone Matthew Worth performs the title role in Harvey Milk with Opera Parallele, Billy Bigelow in Carousel with Central City Opera, premieres a number of song cycles through the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and is presented in recital at Shenandoah Conservatory with pianist Tyson Deaton. Highlights of recent seasons include the title role in the world premiere of JFK with Fort Worth Opera, the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Boston Lyric Opera, the Narrator in the world premiere and recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua, the world premiere of The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera, and Moby Dick at Washington National Opera. He has performed principal roles at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opéra de Montréal, Tanglewood Festival, Cincinnati Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, under luminary conductors James Levine, Lorin Maazel, and Sir Andrew Davis.

Matthew has degrees from the University of Richmond, Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School. He is pursuing his DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music while simultaneously a full Professor of Voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He and his wife have two children (ages two and four) who bring a lot of joy and a smidge of insanity to every day.

Kathryn Bates, cello

Cellist Kathryn Bates’ boundless energy for sharing musical experiences has shaped a career that continues to explore the intersections of tradition and innovation. Praised for her “beautifully rounded sound” by the New York Times, Kathryn’s performances are characterized by a dancer’s sense of rhythm and captivating theatricality.  Projects range from her recent tongue-in-check solo cello recording of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (“Inspire Christmas” album on Sono Luminus) to performances during Elliott Carter 100th Birthday anniversary celebration at Tanglewood that were called the “revelation” of the concert (Sequenza 21) and “electrifying” (Boston Globe). Cellist of the San Francisco-based Del Sol Quartet since 2010, Kathryn has established herself as an important voice in the contemporary music world, as musician, collaborator and curator. 

Fascinated by the feedback loop between social change, technology, and artistic innovation, Del Sol is a leading force in 21st-century chamber music – whether introducing Ben Johnston’s microtonal Americana at the Library of Congress or in a canyon cave, taking Aeryn Santillan’s gun-violence memorial to the streets of the Mission District, exploring Andean soundscapes with Gabriela Lena Frank, or collaborating with Huang Ruo and the anonymous poets who carved their words into the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station during the years of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Del Sol has commissioned or premiered thousands of works by composers including Terry Riley, Gabriela Lena Frank, Frederic Rzewski, Vijay Iyer, Mason Bates, Miya Masaoka, Michael Harrison, Huang Ruo, Pamela Z, Chinary Ung, Chen Yi, Erberk Eryilmaz, Theresa Wong, Reza Vali and Kui Dong. The quartet works regularly with composers through workshops, universities across the country, as well as Del Sol commissioning and incubator programs.

The quartet has performed at venues including the Kennedy Center, Symphony Space, Miller Theatre, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, the Hopkins Center, the Other Minds Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Santa Fe Opera; Chautauqua Institution, and internationally in Europe and Asia. The 2021-2022 season features two large-scale premieres: “The Angel Island Project,” an immigration-themed oratorio by Chinese-American composer Huang Ruo, and “Between Worlds of Sound”, a collaboration with North Indian musicians Alam Khan & Arjun Verma.

Kathryn’s seventh album with the Quartet releases October 2021 as a coloring book, featuring Huang Ruo’s meditiatve quartet “A Dust in Time”. Previous albums include “Kooch-e Khamân”, the “addictive” Dark Queen Mantra and Scrapyard Exotica, which the New York Times asked: “See if your foot can stay still once you put on this funky disc of rhythmically infectious… music played by the adventurous Del Sol String Quartet.”

As curator, Kathryn co-curated the recent 2017 Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music to rave reviews and premiere performances.  She has shaped Del Sol’s local scene for years with her series “Soundings” - a concert experience where audiences delve deeply into one work - played twice - amplified by the work of a local artist and the “Golden Arts Society,” an intimate house concert series. A native of historic Concord, Massachusetts, Kathryn graduated from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  

delsolquartet.com
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Michelle Farah, oboe

Oboist Michelle Farah is a well established orchestral and chamber musician based in New York City. In addition to performances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, American Ballet Theatre, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Knights, A Far Cry, Talea Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and International Contemporary Ensemble, her solo playing has been described as "uniformly excellent" by the New York Times. Michelle is a member of Wavefield Ensemble, a musical collective committed to the adventurous commissioning and programming of contemporary repertoire. 

Ms. Farah holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and The Manhattan School of Music. Her primary teachers include Stephen Taylor and Joseph Robinson. While in New Haven, Ms. Farah worked under Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve at the Oral History of American Music, an archive of historic and contemporary interviews with American composers. 

Chris Froh, percussion

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.

Titus Underwood, oboe

Titus Underwood is the Principal Oboe of the Nashville Symphony, having previously served as Acting Principal Oboe since September 2017. Prior to performing with the Nashville Symphony, he served as Acting Associate Principal of the Utah Symphony. He received his Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Elaine Douvas, with additional studies with Nathan Hughes and Pedro Díaz. He earned his Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a pupil of John Mack, legendary principal oboist of The Cleveland Orchestra. While there, he also studied with Frank Rosenwein and Jeffrey Rathbun. 

Underwood has performed as Guest Associate Principal of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and as Guest Principal of Miami Symphony Orchestra and Florida Orchestra. He has also played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony and San Diego Symphony. He was an Oboe Fellow at Aspen Music Festival and has performed at the Grand Tetons Festival. He will serve as Principal Oboe at the Bellingham Music Festival in summer 2019. Other festivals he has attended include Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra and Domaine Forget.

Amr Selim, French horn

Amr Selim is a musician, educator, cultural entrepreneur, and community leader born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. His work has taken him to most of the Middle East, Europe, and the USA -- whether collaborating, performing, teaching, or speaking, Amr aims to advocate for a thoroughly decolonized and inclusive performance and education climate. His endeavors can be seen through his publications, guest talks and lectures, membership in the Presidential Task Force on Leading Change in Music Education, and co-chairing the International Initiative Committee at the College Music Society.

Dr. Selim is a former professor of Music at the Lebanese American University and has held posts at Adelphi University and Stony Brook University in New York, at which he earned his Doctorate in Musical Arts as a Staller Scholar. As a musician described as "expressive and ghostly wailing [playing] of a kind never heard from the instrument before" Amr has worked closely with renowned artists, conductors, and ensembles such as The Silk Road Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma, Emerson String Quartet, Imani Winds, Daniel Barenboim, Frank Shipway, Christopher Muller, Ingo Metzmacher, and Gunther Schuller.

As the Director of International Music Programs at the Association of American Voices, Amr is working extensively on international projects such as YES Academies, the "Heart of" series, and a new Cultural Diplomacy endeavor that helps musician and educators use their knowledge to impact the communities around them.

Christine Lamprea, cello

Christine Lamprea, Cellist and 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence Winner, is an artist known for her emotionally committed and intense performances. Upon her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in 2013, she has since returned to Carnegie, as well as performed with orchestras such Costa Rica National Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, National Symphony of Michoacan, New Jersey Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi across the U.S. As a recitalist, Ms. Lamprea has appeared on prestigious series at Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Florida’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Pepperdine University, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Washington Performing Arts Society. In demand as a chamber musician, she performs  regularly with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and has performed with such musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Sarah Chang, Itzhak Perlman, Roger Tapping, and Carol Wincenc.

Ms. Lamprea strives to expand her musical boundaries by exploring many genres of music and non-traditional  venues for performance and teaching. Her Songs of Colombia Suite includes arrangements of traditional South American tunes for cello and piano or guitar, and have been performed at the Colombian Embassy and Supreme Court of the United States for Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She has worked with members of Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, and studied sonatas with fortepiano with Audrey Axinn. She has premiered several works by composers of today. In recent years, she commissioned cadenzas for the Haydn D Major Concerto by Jessie Montgomery, and premiered Jeffrey Mumford’s cello concerto “of fields unfolding...echoing depths of resonant light” with the San Antonio Symphony.

Ms. Lamprea is on the cello faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, serves as substitute faculty at the Juilliard School, and served as Lecturer of Cello at the Texas Christian University School of Music for the 2018-19 academic year. Ms. Lamprea has given masterclasses for the Vivac-e Festival, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, among others. She has worked with Ecuadorian youth in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil, as part of a residency between The Juilliard School and “Sinfonia Por La Vida,” a social inclusion program modeled after Venezuela’s El Sistema program. Christine Lamprea is the recipient of a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, which supported her studies at the New England Conservatory, and a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant, which supported her study with acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz. She studied with Bonnie Hampton at The Juilliard School and holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she studied with Natasha Brofsky. Additional influences were Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, and Philippe Muller. Previous teachers include Ken Freudigman and Ken Ishii.