ARTIST BIOS

Artistic Directors

Violinist DIANA COHEN is the co-founder and co-artistic director of ChamberFest Cleveland. She leads a multi-faceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician, curator, and soloist. She was appointed Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012 and has appeared as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras, including those in Calgary, Richmond, Rochester, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Charleston, among others. Ms. Cohen has toured and

FRANKLIN COHEN, clarinet, is the cofounder and co-artistic director of ChamberFest Cleveland. He was the longest serving principal clarinetist and most frequent soloist in the history of The Cleveland Orchestra, and was named Principal Clarinet Emeritus, the first honor of its kind since the orchestra’s founding. Mr. Cohen has been the featured soloist in more than 200 performances throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. His Deutsche Grammophon recording of Debussy’s First Clarinet Rhapsody, conducted by Pierre Boulez, won two Grammy Awards in 1996. Mr. Cohen has collaborated with such leading artists as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Emanuel Ax, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Menahem Pressler, and András Schiff, and has recorded with the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and performed with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Sejong Soloists, The Knights, The Cleveland Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, she was awarded the Jerome Gross Prize in Violin and this year is the recipient of the 2023 Alumni Achievement Award. She was also inducted into the Cleveland Heights High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. Together with her husband, pianist Roman Rabinovich, Ms. Cohen founded Calgary’s first international chamber festival, ChamberFest West, which had its inaugural season in July 2022. performed with the Guarneri, Takacs, Tokyo, and Emerson String Quartets. He gained international recognition as the first clarinetist awarded First Prize at the 1968 Munich International Music Competition. Mr. Cohen has been on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1976, with former students in orchestras and ensembles throughout the world.

Pianist ROMAN RABINOVICH was named as a co-artistic director of ChamberFest Cleveland in 2022. At the opening of the 2022-23 season, he made his Carnegie Hall Concerto Debut, stepping in at 24-hours’ notice with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Mozart’s Concerto K. 271.

Other solo appearances include the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony, NFM Leopoldinum, Israel Symphony, Punta Gorda Symphony, and Helena Symphony. Recent recital engagements include Phillips Collection, Portland Piano International, the Steinway Series at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Philip Lorenz Memorial Piano Series, Maverick Concerts, and Music at MoCA Concert Series. Mr. Rabinovich made his Israel Philharmonic debut under Zubin Mehta at age ten, having immigrated to Israel a year before from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Winner of the 12th Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2008, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and The Julliard School, and was among the first of three young pianists to be championed by Sir András Schiff for his ‘Building Bridges’ series.

Festival Musicians

JULIE ALBERS is Principal Cello of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She made her major orchestral debut at seventeen with The Cleveland Orchestra and has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Ms. Albers moved to Cleveland in high school to pursue studies through the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. After winning the Grand Prize at the XIII International Competition for Young Musicians in Douai, France, she toured that country as soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Douai. She was named the

JESSICA BODNER is the violist of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet. She has recently appeared at venues such as Carnegie Hall, 92nd Street Y, Library of Congress, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Wigmore Hall (London), Musikverein (Vienna), Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and Seoul Arts Center, as well as festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, ChamberFest Cleveland, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn, Perigord Noir in France, Monte Carlo Spring Arts Festival, San Miguel de Allende, Istanbul’s Cemal Recit Rey, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hitzacker, and Heidelberg String Quartet Festival. Recent collaborators include mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron, clarinetists Charles Neidich and

Parker Quartet’s appointment as Blodgett Quartetin-Residence.

DAVID BOWLIN is on the violin and chamber music faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he also serves as Chair of Strings. First prize winner of the 2003 Washington International Competition, he has performed extensively as a soloist, with premieres of violin concertos written for him at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and Aspen Music Festival. As a chamber musician, he has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and performs regularly with the Oberlin Trio and the Bowlin-Cho Duo. He is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and a former member of the Naumburg Awardwinning Da Capo Chamber Players. Mr. Bowlin first Gold Medal Laureate of South Korea’s 2003 Gyeongnam International Music Competition. Ms. Albers participated in a three-year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Her album with ChamberFest’s Orion Weiss on Artek includes works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann, Massenet, and Piatagorsky. She serves as an assistant professor at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, where she holds the Mary Jean and Charles Yates Cello chair at the McDuffie Center for Strings.

Jörg Widmann, pianists Menahem Pressler, Shai Wosner, Gloria Chien, and Orion Weiss, violinists Soovin Kim and Donald Weilerstein, violists Kim Kashkashian and Roger Tapping, cellists Deborah Pae, Marcy Rosen, Natasha Brofsky, and Paul Katz, and percussionist Ian Rosenbaum. Ms. Bodner is a faculty member of Harvard University’s Department of Music in conjunction with the has performed as guest concertmaster with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Marlboro Festival Orchestra, and IRIS Orchestra. He has appeared at the Banff, Bowdoin, Bridgehampton, Chesapeake, Olympic, and Ojai festivals, ChamberFest Cleveland, the

Boston Chamber Music Society, and the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival.

ANDREW BRADY joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2022-23 season as Principal Bassoon, having previously held that position in both the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic. As a soloist, Mr. Brady has performed concertos by Hertel, Rossini, Mozart, Weber, and Zwilich with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Southeast Symphony, the Los Angeles Doctor’s Symphony, and The Colburn Orchestra.

MICHAEL STEPHEN BROWN, pianist and composer, was the winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He recently performed as a soloist with the National, Seattle, Grand Rapids, North Carolina, New Haven, and

Hartford Symphony, as well as Third Horn with the Montreal Symphony and Montreal Opera, and Acting Third Horn with the Boston Symphony

He appears regularly as Principal Bassoon with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and has performed as the guest principal with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and at Carnegie Hall, and on European tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In past summers, Mr. Brady has been a proud member of the Chineke! Orchestra, the United Kingdom’s first ensemble for Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians, including a performance at the 2017 BBC Proms. He graduated from The Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Richard Beene. Other major teachers and influences include Anthony Parnther, Rick Ranti, and Suzanne Nelsen.

Albany Symphonies and in recital at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Beethoven-Haus Bonn. He is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and regularly performs recitals with his duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis. He was selected by András Schiff to perform on an international recital tour. As a composer, Mr. Brown recently toured his own Piano Concerto around the US and Poland with several orchestras. He was the Composer and Artist-in-Residence at the New Haven Symphony for the 2017-19 seasons and a 2018 Copland House Residency Award recipient. A native New Yorker, he lives there with his two 19th century Steinway D’s, Octavia and Daria.

WILLIAM CABALLERO has served as Principal Horn of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for 33 seasons, under Maestros Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, and Lorin Maazel. He previously held the same position with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and and Boston Pops. Born in New Mexico and raised in Wisconsin, Mr. Caballero’s early horn studies included working under Larry Simons, Barry Benjamin, and Basil Tyler, as well as studying the piano and pipe organ. He graduated from New England Conservatory in Boston. Currently, he is the associate teaching professor of horn at Carnegie Mellon University School of Music. Recent chamber music performances include performing Brahms’s Horn Trio in E-flat major with Gil and Orli Shaham in Zankel Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and appearing live on NPR’s Performance Today in its Washington, DC studios.

Cellist JAY CAMPBELL is the only musician ever to receive two Avery Fisher Career Grants — in 2016 as a soloist, and again in 2019 as a member of the JACK Quartet. He made his concerto debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2013. In 2016, he worked with Alan Gilbert as the artistic director for Ligeti Forward, part of the New York Philharmonic Biennale at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was Artist-in-Residence at the Lucerne Festival and appeared at the Berlin Philharmonie with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. He returned to the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2022 as curator and cellist for his second Green Umbrella concert. Deeply committed to collaborative music, Jay is a member of the JACK

Quartet, the Junction Trio with violinist Stefan Jackiw and composer/pianist Conrad Tao, and the multidisciplinary artist collective AMOC. He frequently works with composers and performers like Helmut Lachenmann, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, John Zorn, Tyshawn Sorey, and many others.

Cellist NICHOLAS CANELLAKIS is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing regularly in Alice Tully Hall and on tour internationally. Recent concert highlights include concerto appearances with the Virginia, Albany, Delaware, Stamford, Richardson, Lansing,

Artist-in-Residence; Europe and Asia tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, including appearances in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Seoul Arts Center, and the Shanghai and Taipei National Concert Halls; and recitals across North America with his longtime duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Brown. Mr. Canellakis is the artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona in Arizona. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory, he began his Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center career as a member of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and has been in residence at Carnegie Hall as a member of Ensemble Connect.

As a young musician, clarinetist BEN CHEN made his American solo debut at the Kennedy Center after winning the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute concerto

Erie Philharmonic. He has performed as a guest musician in subscription concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Equally dedicated to chamber music, Mr. Chen has been a member of the award-winning North Coast Winds quintet since 2015. Festival appearances include the Artosphere Festival Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, National Repertory Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival, and ChamberFest Cleveland. He performs with his husband, pianist Dean Zhang, in the Edgewater Duo, presenting recitals nationwide.

DANIEL CHONG is the founding first violinist of the Parker Quartet, garnering wide recognition for his performances in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein, and Wigmore Hall. Recent solo engagements include National Sawdust (New York City), Seoul Arts and Bangor Symphonies, Erie Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now, and New Haven Symphony as competition. He returned to the nation’s capital eight years later, serving as Assistant Principal/ E-flat Clarinet with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Mr. Chen was previously Principal Clarinet of the Youngstown Symphony and currently holds positions with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and

Center, and Jordan Hall (Boston). He received the Cleveland Quartet Award and top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild and Bordeaux International String Quartet Competitions. He can be heard on the Zig-Zag Territoires, Naxos, and Nimbus Records labels, with a recent release on the ECM New Series featuring the Parker Quartet and Kim

Kashkashian. Mr. Chong has performed at major music festivals including the Marlboro Music Festival, Mostly Mozart, Festspiele MecklenburgVorpommern, and Perigord Noir Music Festival. An advocate for new music, he has worked with György Kurtág, Augusta Read Thomas, Helmut Lachenmann, and Chaya Czernowin. He won a 2011 Grammy Award with the Parker Quartet for their recording of György Ligeti’s string quartets.

Percussionist MARC DAMOULAKIS has been a member of The Cleveland Orchestra since August 2006, named as Principal Percussion in 2013. He is co-chair of the percussion department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and is a committed educator and clinician at institutions and festivals worldwide. Throughout his career, he has performed and recorded as a guest artist with the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Hong has performed with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Gilmore Festival, the New Music Consort, and the Pulse Percussion Ensemble, and is a founding member of the Time Table Percussion Quartet.

CYNTHIA KOLEDO DEALMEIDA was appointed by Lorin Maazel as Principal Oboe of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1991. Prior to that, she was Associate Principal Oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti. She received a Bachelor of Music from the University

KIRSTEN DOCTER is an associate professor of viola and chamber music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. First prize wins at the Primrose International and American String Teachers Association Viola Competitions launched her on a career that includes a 23-year tenure with the Cavani Quartet, concerts on major series and festivals, and numerous appointments as a masterclass clinician and teacher. Ms. Docter’s festival appearances include performances at the Aspen Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Kneisel Hall. Her work can be heard on the Azica, Albany, and New World labels. She previously served on the chamber music and viola faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Michigan. She has been a jury member of the Primrose International Viola,

Kong Philharmonic. Mr. Damoulakis is an active chamber musician, playing regularly with the Strings Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, and the Sun Valley Music Festival “In Focus” Series, where he is also the principal percussionist. He of Michigan, studying with Arno Mariotti, and a Master of Music degree from Temple University, a student of Richard Woodhams. Ms. DeAlmeida has been featured as soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in concertos by J.S. Bach, Leonardo Balada, Alan Fletcher, Francaix, Haydn, Mozart, Lucas Richman, Richard Strauss, and Vaughan Williams. An avid chamber musician, she appears frequently in recital at Carnegie Mellon University. She performs and teaches as a faculty member of the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, and has performed at the Strings Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, La Jolla Festival in La Jolla, California, and Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

Fischoff National Chamber Music, and Sphinx competitions. In the summer Ms. Docter serves on the viola faculty of the Perlman Music Program and Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Cellist STERLING ELLIOTT

is a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient and the winner of the Senior Division of the 2019 National Sphinx Competition. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the

Boston Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, and the Dallas Symphony. He recently performed the Brahms Double Concerto with Gil Shaham

Symphony. He was recently named Principal Bass of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra under James Conlon and Placido Domingo. He has appeared at the Marlboro Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Olympic Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, and the Da Camera Society. In addition to performance, Mr. Farrington is deeply interested in cinema. His LA-based audio company, Hazard Audio, connects top classical minds with creative artists in movie and TV production. Recent

Key Bank Music Scholarship and the Excellence for the Arts Scholarship. She studied at Cleveland at the Aspen Festival and made his German debut in Munich in May 2022, collaborating with Daniel Hope. Other recent performances include appearances with the Colorado, Cincinnati, North Carolina, and Fort Worth Symphonies, and Buffalo Philharmonic, among others. He has been presented in recital by the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, Shriver Hall, Tippett Rise, and Capitol Region Classical. Mr. Elliott is currently a Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School. He performs on a 1741 Gennaro Gagliano cello on loan through the Robert F. Smith Fine String Patron Program, in partnership with the Sphinx Organization.

NATHAN FARRINGTON is a bassist, singer, and composer living in Los Angeles. He regularly appears in the bass sections of many of America’s top orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and the Seattle projects include co-writing a score for a Martin Scorsese-produced documentary Building a Bridge, co-arranging a score to accompany Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, and managing a commission by Dafnis Prieto for soloists People of Earth and orchestra.

Soprano ASHLEE FOREMAN is a native of Akron, Ohio, and graduated from the Cleveland School of the Arts. She studied voice with the late Dr. A. Grace Lee Mims of the Cleveland Music Settlement, Amanda Powell of Apollo’s Fire, and Noriko Paukert of Cleveland. She joined the Akron Symphony Orchestra in Porgy and Bess (2011) and Titanic: The Musical (2012), and The Cleveland Opera in her debut of Clara in Porgy and Bess (2019). Ms. Foreman has been the recipient of the

State University and The University of Akron, and was awarded African American Spiritual performance scholarships named for her teacher, the late A. Grace Lee Mims. Ms. Foreman was Apollo Fire’s first Artistic Outreach Intern, singing the role of Princess Pamina at in-school workshops and performances. She currently performs with Apollo’s Fire as a MOSAIC Artist Fellow.

Canadian violinist JACQUES

Forestier

has performed in concert halls across North America, Europe, and Asia. Hailed by CBC Music as one of the “Top 30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30”, he began his studies at the age of two under the instruction of his mother. He currently holds the Thomas D. Watkins Fellowship at the

Perlman at the Perlman Music Program. A top prize winner at the Stulberg International Strings Competition, the Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition, the Johansen International Competition, the Shean Strings Competition, and the OSM Manulife Competition, among others, Mr. Forestier made his solo debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at age eleven, and has gone on to perform with orchestras and ensembles internationally. He is grateful for the support of many, including the Anne Burrows and Edmonton Community Foundations for their generosity in supporting his education.

The first American in four decades and youngest musician ever to win First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, ZLATOMIR FUNG is a recipient of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship 2022

Cello Biënnale Amsterdam. A winner of the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 2017 Astral National Auditions, Mr. Fung has taken the top prizes at the 2018 Alice & Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition, 2016 George Enescu International Cello Competition, 2015 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, 2014 Stulberg International String Competition, and 2014 Irving Klein International Competition.

Cleveland native JAMEY HADDAD is regarded as one of the foremost world music and jazz percussionists. He has been the percussionist for Paul Simon for more than 20 years. Other collaborations include Sting, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Bokanté, Osvaldo Golijov, Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano, Billy Drewes, Dave Liebman, Elliot Goldenthal, Brazil’s Assad Brothers, Simon Shaheen, and The Paul Winter Consort. His own group Under One Sun had a 2017 release and was featured in Downbeat Magazine. Mr. Haddad is a recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize and was

2012 he was voted the Top World Percussionist in DRUM Magazine and one of the top four world percussionists by Modern Drummer (July 2007).

Mr. Haddad is currently a professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

TENG LI is the Principal Viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, after more than a decade performing in the same role with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Li is an active recitalist and chamber musician who has participated in and a 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Recent orchestral engagements include the BBC and Rochester Philharmonics, Milwaukee and Sante Fe Symphonies, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and others, with a world premiere of a new cello concerto by Katherine Balch with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. International tours include a recital at Wigmore Hall and two performances at recognized as a Legend of Jazz by the Cleveland Jazz Society. He is a Fulbright Scholar and has been awarded multiple NEA grants for performance. In the festivals of Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Santa Fe, Music from Angel Fire, Rome, Moritzburg, and the Rising Stars Festival in Caramoor. She has been a featured soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Haddonfield Symphony, among others. Her discography includes a solo CD, entitled 1939, in addition to many recordings with the Toronto Symphony recordings. She has won the top prize at the Johanson International and the Holland-America Music Society Competitions, the Primrose International Viola Competition, the Irving K. Klein International String Competition, and the ARD International Music Competition.

ISMAIL LUMANOVSKI launched a career as a soloist and chamber musician in both classical and cross-over repertoire. His performances throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, South America, and Asia have received critical acclaim, mesmerizing audiences across the globe. Mr. Lumanovski has taken the stage in countless venues, including Carnegie Hall (New York), United Nations (New York), Musikverein (Vienna), Luzerner Saal (Luzern),

University’s McDuffie Center for Strings, she was concertmaster of the Florida Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony. She has premiered concertos for Grammy winner Matt Catingub and her Mercer colleague Christopher Schmitz, collaborated with James Ehnes for Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins and Bartók’s 44 Duos (both contributions

World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva), Lufthansa Technik (Hamburg), Pierre Boulez Saal (Berlin), National Radio Symphony Hall (Katowice), Emirates Palace (Abu Dhabi), Cemal Resit Rey (Istanbul), Expo Yeosu (Korea), Heydar Aliev Merkezi (Baku), Casa de la Musica (Quito), Berklee Performance Center (Boston), and many others. He appeared as the soloist in Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Concerto for the composer’s 100th birthday celebration in New York, alongside musicians from the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, under the legendary musical director Pierre Boulez.

Violinist AMY SCHWARTZ MORETTI has a musical career of broad versatility. Before becoming the inaugural Director of Mercer to Chandos recordings receiving consecutive Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and performed the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets in Seoul, Korea, with the Ehnes Quartet. Recognized as a deeply expressive artist, Ms. Moretti enjoys the opportunity to travel and perform concerts around the world. Her many festival appearances include Bridgehampton, ChamberFest Cleveland, Evian, La Jolla, Meadowmount, Music@Menlo, Seattle, and Manchester Music Festivals. The Cleveland Institute of Music has honored her with an Alumni Achievement Award, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music their Fanfare Award, and she was named to Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals” in 2018.

MILENA PAJARO-VAN DE STADT

viola, has appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the

Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and has performed in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, playing in the group from 2008-2022. During that time, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt’s numerous awards also include First Prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. She

, is a member of the newly-formed piano quartet “Espressivo!” alongside esteemed colleagues Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.

MAIYA PAPACH is Principal Viola of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A member of the orchestra since 2008, she has made solo appearances in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with concertmaster Steven Copes, Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae, and Woolrich’s Ulysses

Awakes. Ms. Papach has made frequent national and international appearances as a chamber musician, with versatile performances of both traditional and contemporary repertoire. She is a founding member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with whom she performed frequently at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, and dozens of experimental venues. She has toured extensively in the former Soviet Union with the Da Capo Chamber Players, across North America with Musicians from Marlboro, and has made appearances at Prussia Cove (UK), the Boston summer of 2016, he has attended the renowned Perlman Music Program. Recent summer festival

Music, and a Master’s degree in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies at The Orchestra Now of Bard College. He is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Savelyev performs and

Chamber Music Society, the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, the Chattanooga Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Quad Cities. She is currently a member of Accordo, a Twin Citiesbased chamber ensemble.

Violist SAMUEL ROSENTHAL began his musical studies in Cleveland, studying with Jeffrey Irvine as a member of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His passion for chamber music was ignited by formative work with the Cavani String Quartet and Cleveland Quartet violinist Peter Salaff. Since the performances include Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Encore String Quartet Intensive, and Music from Angel Fire. Later this summer, he will attend the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. A prize winner at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (Razumovsky String Quartet) and the Johansen International Competition, Mr. Rosenthal received the Silver Medal at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition. He is currently a Kovner Fellow at The Juilliard School, where he is completing his Master’s degree with Misha Amory and Hsin-Yun Huang.

Flutist DENIS SAVELYEV is an international soloist, chamber, and orchestral player based in New York and Baltimore. Newly accepted member of the Marlboro Festival, he is the firstprize winner of the 2017 New York Flute Club Competition, “Rising Star“ at the 2021 Galway Flute Festival, and Young Artist of the 2019 National Flute Association. From Lviv, Ukraine, Mr. Savelyev started to play the flute at age five. He earned a Special Degree in Music at Gnesin Academy of Music in Moscow, Master’s at Mannes School of gives lessons worldwide, loves collaborating with other artists, and is passionate about teaching. He is an Altus Flutes Artist.

Cellist JONATHAN SWENSEN made his concerto debut at the age of twenty performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with Portugal’s Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música. Since then he has appeared as soloist with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Ciudad de Granada, Venice State Symphony Orchestra, Poland’s NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Odense

Symphony Orchestra, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, and the Sun Symphony Orchestra in heard on the Naxos, Telos, Bridge, First Hand, Yarlung, and Artek labels. Awards include the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year, Gilmore Young Artist Award, Avery Fisher Career Grant, and Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship. A native of Ohio, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where he studied with Emanuel Ax.

Vietnam. Winner of the prestigious 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he received First Prize at the 2018 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, the 2018 Khachaturian International Cello Competition, and the 2019 Windsor International String Competition. Young Concert Artists presented his recital debuts in New York on the Michaels Award Concert at Merkin Concert Hall, and in Washington, DC on the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Concert at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater. Mr. Swenson currently attends the New England Conservatory of Music for graduate studies.

Chamber Orchestra. He was invited to perform in Budapest as part of the First Bartok World Competition and in Sendai for the Seventh Sendai International Violin Competition. Mr. Thompson holds Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Artist Diploma degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music; his primary teachers include Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, and Paul Kantor. He currently resides in Rochester, New York, with his wife, violinist Jeanelle Thompson.

Violinist JAMES

Thompson

enjoys a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, educator, and lecturer. He is currently on faculty at Music@Menlo and has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program since 2021. Mr. Thompson performs regularly for chamber music organizations across the country, and serves

Pianist ORION WEISS has performed with dozens of orchestras in North America, including the Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic, and at major venues and festivals worldwide. An avid chamber musician, as the director of Music@Menlo’s annual winter residency in California. Solo engagements include appearances with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the Blue Water he performs regularly with violinists Augustin Hadelich, William Hagen, Benjamin Beilman, and James Ehnes; pianists Michael Brown and Shai Wosner; cellist Julie Albers; and the Ariel, Parker, and Pacifica Quartets. In recent seasons, he has performed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Weiss can be

Pianist AMY YANG balances an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. In 2020, she shared the stage with Anne-Marie McDermott, Yefim Bronfman, Paul Neubauer, and the Dover Quartet in a myriad of performances at Bravo! Vail. Additionally, she gave her solo debut while joining forces with the Jasper String Quartet in piano quintets by Tania Léon and Joan Tower for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s 35th season. 2021 brought appearances with violinist Tessa Lark at Wigmore Hall, Gardner Museum, Cal Performances, Rockport Music Festival, and International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Series. Ms. Yang’s recent appearances include Hawaii Concert Society, Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, The Seattle Series, Music at

Pine Street, Coastal Concerts (DE), Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (with violist Roberto

Díaz and oboist Philippe Tondre), Santa Fe Music Festival (with violinists Danbi Um and Paul Huang), Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music San Francisco. Ms. Yang is the Associate Dean of Piano Studies and Artistic Initiatives at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Nelson Ricardo Yovera Perez

is a member of the horn section in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and Third Horn of the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra. He was Principal Horn of the Classical Music Institute Symphony Orchestra (San Antonio, TX) and the orchestras of Opera San Antonio and Ballet San Antonio. He is a frequent substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has participated in many summer festivals, including Marlboro Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, and Classical Tahoe. From 2015 to 2018,

Roosevelt University in Chicago.

DEREK ZADINSKY has performed in The Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Principal Bass since 2021, and as a section member previously, starting in 2012. He currently teaches at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory

Atlanta Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, KBS Symphony Seoul, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Kremerata Baltica, and American Symphony. As a recitalist he performed at Carnegie Hall’s Distinctive Debut series, Wigmore Hall, People’s Symphony Concerts, the Louvre Museum, Suntory Hall, and Frankfurt Radio. Mr. Zorman is a member of the Israeli Chamber Project and the Lysander Piano Trio, which won the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition. He studied at the Jerusalem Academy, The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and the Kronberg

Mr. Yovera Perez was a member of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (the youngest musician to win a position), including multiple tours of Europe and Latin America under the baton of Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. He served as Associate Principal Horn of the San Juan Symphony Orchestra of Argentina from 2018 to 2021. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Horn Performance with David Cooper at of Music, and Cleveland State University. Mr. Zadinsky has a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Harold Robinson and Edgar Meyer. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Carter Brey, Ray Chen, Jinjoo Cho, Vadim Gluzman, Ida Kavafian, Joseph Silverstein, and members of the Dover Quartet. As a soloist, he has performed twice with orchestras in Carnegie Hall, and has recorded an album on the Oberlin Music Label, available for streaming on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Additionally, he has an edition of Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 published on Apple Books.

Violinist ITAMAR ZORMAN is the winner of the 2014 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia. He has performed as a soloist with Mariinsky Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony,

Academy. He is currently a Visiting Guest Artist at the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Zorman plays a 1734 Guarneri Del Gesù violin from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.

Rising Stars

The Rising Star Program of ChamberFest

Cleveland, in which talented artists in the early stages of their careers are chosen to perform alongside established festival artists, is generously supported by Drs. Beth Sersig and Christopher Brandt, among others. The program has seen the Cleveland debuts of many important artists.

Guest Artists For The Carnival Of The Animals

In Cleveland, ROBIN VANLEAR is perhaps best known as the founder and director of Parade the Circle and the department of Community Arts at the Cleveland Museum of Art. However, for the past 34 years, since moving to Cleveland from Santa Barbara, CA, Ms. VanLear, often working as Art Acts, has been active creating art all over Greater Cleveland. She has created masks and puppets for The Cleveland Orchestra. Her puppets are showcased annually at the CCC JazzFest. Together with Mark Jenks, Ms. VanLear created the opening parade for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her most recent projects include an installation at Holden Arboretum, a nature trail at Hopewell Therapeutic Farms, and an annual Lantern Festival for Coventry Village each December. Ms. VanLear was awarded the Robert P. Bergman Award from the Cleveland Arts Prize and two Creative Workforce Fellowships. Her newest puppets, based upon Romare Bearden’s Wrapping It up at the Lafayette and created through a Karamu House Room in the House Residency, will debut June 23 and 24 at this year’s CCC JazzFest.

JEREMY JOHNSON is the President and CEO of Assembly for the Arts, an arts advocacy organization that strengthens and unifies the voice of greater Cleveland’s arts and culture sector. A Cleveland native, Mr. Johnson interned at New York’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He worked in philanthropy and arts administration in New Jersey before returning to his hometown in 2021. He has performed in gospel, classical, and theatric settings, including roles in Godspell, Pippin, and Bach’s St. John’s Passion. A University School alumnus, he attended Kenyon College, the University of Iowa, and Rutgers Business School.

JOSHUA BROWN graduated with a BA in Theatre Education and a Dance Minor at Ohio Wesleyan University. He danced for Inlet Dance Theatre from 2004 to 2020. Since 2020, he has been teaching and training others as an Inlet Teaching Artist, occasionally returning to perform. He currently trains the dancers in Inlet’s Trainee and Apprentice Program.

STORY RHINEHART CADIZ is an artist and choreographer who lives in Shaker Heights with her husband, two daughters, and their dog, Banton. When she is not choreographing or dancing inbrilliant costumes and/or giant puppets with her mom, Robin VanLear, she is teaching creative writing to kids and teenagers through Lake Erie Ink. She is thrilled to be getting to perform for the first time in a concert with her daughter, Sienna Cadiz.

STEPHANIE ROSTON is a Columbia, Missouri native. She began dancing in youth musical theater at the age of 13. She studied with Karen Grundy at the School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet. Ms. Roston received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Recent works include her 2021 Screendance Today Could Be the Day, created with Inlet’s Summer Dance Intensive students and her documentary Halfway There: Stories of Life, Loss, and Love in West Jackson, produced in collaboration with the homeless population of West Jackson. Ms. Roston has danced with Inlet since 2018 and serves as the company’s video production coordinator.

KENYA WOODS is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and holds more than 30 years of experience in dance performance, choreography, teaching, and leadership. She holds a degree in dance from Tennessee State University and is certified in Lester Horton Pedagogy, the official technique taught at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Madame Darvash, Dr. Diane McIntyre and Lynn Simonson have influenced her teaching style as well. Ms. Woods is currently a faculty teacher of Dance at Case Western Reserve University for students in the MFA Theater Program. She continues to teach dance to students of all ages and lead programs that help cultivate technique, artistry, body awareness and empowerment and appreciation for dance.

Inlet Dance Theatre

, a professional contemporary dance company, was founded in 2001 by Executive/Artistic Director Bill Wade. Inlet embodies his longstanding belief that dance viewing, training, and performing may serve as tools to bring about personal growth and development. During Inlet’s 22-year history, they have transformed from a small dance company with local impact into a celebrated organization that impacts people internationally. Our core strengths reside equally in performance and education. Whether performing at local venues, conducting regional residencies or international exchanges, Inlet continues to inspire, educate, and innovate – all with the vision that dance can further people. ChamberFest Cleveland welcomes students from Inlet’s dance program to perform in The Carnival of the Animals

VILLAGE FAMILY FARMS is an urban community farm located 10 miles from downtown Cleveland, serving and educating the community on fresh, locally grown produce. In the heart of the predominantly African American neighborhood of Hough, Jamel Rahkeera and family have transformed vacant lots into a growing and thriving ecosystem in an effort to engage residents in community gardening while selling their chemical-free goods to local stores and restaurants and at farmers markets. ChamberFest Cleveland is thrilled to include talented students from Village Family Farms as performers in this production of The Carnival of the Animals.