Performers

The ARK Trio was founded by soprano Allison Charney, cellist Kajsa William-Olsson, and pianist Reiko Uchida, all full-time musicians, mothers of school-age children, and dear friends who wanted to collaborate musically. Much to their surprise, they soon learned that their make-up of soprano, cello, and piano is unique in classical music, as evidenced by the paucity of extant compositions available for their combination.

Award-winning Armenian-American pianist Kariné Poghosyan has been praised on the world stage for her “ability to get to the heart of the works she performs.” Since her orchestral debut at the age of 14, Poghosyan has been enchanting concert audiences around the globe, with her masterful artistry and exceptional performances that leave them forever transformed.

A South Korean native, Koeun Grace Lee is an avid performer of contemporary piano repertoire. Chicago Classical Review praised Lee’s performance of selected variations of Robert Gross’s Variations on a Theme by Stefan Wolpe, the central work of this album: “Lee brought technical precision and thoughtful shaping to each movement, with particular care given to the childlike second variation, ‘Easily,’ and the third, ‘Like a Baroque Prelude,’ whose rhythmic figurations gesture winkingly to Bach’s Prelude in C Major.”

Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia, solo English horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995, has toured the globe with the Philadelphia Orchestra to wide critical acclaim with many of the world’s finest conductors. She has premiered several solo English horn pieces written explicitly for her, including concertos by Behzad Ranjbaran and Nicholas Maw, and David Ludwig’s Piccola Notturna for English horn, harp, and string quintet.

Hagai Yodan (b. 1985) is an Israeli pianist, vocalist, harpsichordist, and composer. His repertoire spans from early music to contemporary pieces, and he has collaborated with nearly 300 different composers.

Timothy Stoddard has been hailed by Opera News as “having a clear-voiced tenor.” A native of Idaho, he is an award-winning vocal musician and actor who focuses his time and interests in new music, works for the stage, and oratorio. His repertoire spans that of early music, chamber music, works of Broadway, traditional opera, and world premiere pieces, and he performs in the United States, as well as Europe and Asia.

The 2014 and 2018 Latin GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Classical Album and 2008 GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Instrumental Soloist without Orchestra, pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti has received international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for her stunning virtuosity and musicality, both as a soloist and chamber musician. Her performances include the live Latin GRAMMY® Awards television broadcast, the GRAMMY® Awards Classical Music Tribute to Earl Wild and Lang Lang at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the Robert Schumann Festival at the Marcella Sembrich Museum in Lake George NY, the Campeche Festival in Mexico, and at the opening of the VI International Festival of Music at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Heralded by Reno Arts News for her “tender” playing, Sarah Coyl enjoys a diverse musical career playing and teaching violin and viola. She is a member of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra and an instructor of violin at the University of Nevada, Reno. As an emerging chamber musician, she has performed in concert on viola with world-renowned pianist Joyce Yang. Recent solo engagements include a performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra.

A native of Houston, Andrew Schneider is a composer, pianist, and vocal coach whose virtuosic technique and daring interpretation has cemented his reputation among clients as a fearless musician. His extensive collaborative activity encompasses early music, standard operatic and art song repertoire, as well as contemporary music. Proficient for coaching purposes in French, German, Italian, and Latin, as well as adept with less frequently encountered languages, especially Slavic ones, Schneider enjoys using his considerable linguistic skill to help make challenging texts accessible to his clients. His wide ranging musical activities also include harpsichord and organ performance and conducting.

Cappella Clausura was founded by Amelia LeClair in 2004 to research, study and perform the music of women composers. Our twin goals are to bring engaging performances of this music to today’s audiences, and to help bring women composers into the classical canon. Our repertoire extends from the earliest known music by women, written in the middle ages, to the music of our own time.

The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOSR) was established in 1929 as the orchestra of the Bratislava-based branch of the Radiojournal radio institution, being the first professional symphony orchestra in Slovakia.

Guerilla Opera is one of Boston’s most exciting young companies creating brave new works. Founded in 2007, the ensemble has accumulated a repertoire of 40 new works, which continues to grow, by the most exciting composers of our generation. In daring performances, they have garnered a national reputation for innovative contemporary opera, with the Boston Globe raving that “radical exploration remains the cornerstone of everything it does.”

A Grammy-nominated artist and McKnight Fellow, José A. Zayas Cabán has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. A native Puerto Rican (born and raised in Mayagüez PR) and musician activist, José now resides in Minneapolis MN and is building an artistic career focused on developing projects, albums, and collaborations that address, respond, and raise awareness about current events and social issues.

Born in San Francisco, violist Brett Deubner has established himself as one of the foremost violists of his generation. As a sought after soloist who has performed with orchestras on five continents, Deubner has redefined the role of “solo artist” and has given the viola a new standing in the world of classical music with his virtuosity, commitment to championing new music, and his mentoring tomorrow’s young artists.

“Richard Galliano has changed the course of accordion history. Today we can speak of ‘before’ and ’after’ Galliano.” — Yasuhiro Kobayashi, accordionist and musician accompanist of the singer Björk It was my dearest wish: to give a fair place to this instrument, unjustly qualified as the “poor man’s piano,” whereas my accordion has always been a Steinway with braces. I was determined to restore the image of my instrument, so I left my native village and “went up to Paris” like many others. There I had the chance to meet artists who quickly put their trust in me: accordionists like Jo Basile, singers like Claude Nougaro, Serge Reggiani, Barbara, and jazzmen like Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Michel Portal.

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an integral part in Scotland’s musical life, including performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including George Szell, Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev and Stéphane Denève.

David Watkin has made a wide range of acclaimed recordings including Sonatas by Vivaldi (Hyperion), Beethoven (Chandos), and Francis Pott (Guild), Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with OAE (Virgin), and Schubert Quintet with the Tokyo Quartet (Harmonia Mundi). He has been a soloist at Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, and performed the Schumann Concerto with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique at Lincoln Center, New York. As a guest artist he has collaborated with Robert Levin and Fredericka von Stade. As a founder member of the Eroica Quartet he has performed all over Europe and the United States and their recordings of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Debussy, and Ravel have astonished critics.

Founded in 1924 by visionary violin teacher Mary V. Dodge, Portland Youth Philharmonic provides young musicians in Portland OR with a challenging opportunity to explore their creativity while receiving the highest quality musical education. The nation’s first youth orchestra, PYP has produced consistently inspiring performances and upheld a tradition of excellence since its first public concert in February 1925. Alumni of this organization can be found around the world in professional orchestras, teaching music at every level, and promoting music education as an important life skill that benefits individuals in any career path.

In 2008, Lande was appointed principal guest conductor of the St. Petersburg State Symphony, and in 2011 he led the orchestra on a 24-concert "Tour of the Americas” including New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Philadelphia’s KimmelCenter, Baltimore’s Meyerhoff Hall, and the Society of the Performing Arts in Houston, as well as the most prestigious venues in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, and Uruguay.

Maestro Dian Tchobanov has been the General Music Director of State Opera – Plovdiv since their 2013-2014 season. He earned his master´s degree at the State Musical Academy (Sofia) in 1997 and at the University of Performing Arts and Music Vienna, Austria (Uroš Lajović – orchestra conducting and Konrad Leitner – accompanying). His conducting style has been influenced by Sir Colin Davies, Dresden, Germany, Maestro Fabio Luisi, and Maestro Michael Halas, conductor at Vienna State Opera. Tchobanov has been awarded with the second and the special award of "Lovro von Matačić" at the International Conductors Competition in Zagreb in 2003. In 2015 he was invited to jury the competition.