Award-winning soprano and crossover artist Amy Owens is known for her “high-flying vocals” and “scene-stealing” charisma on operatic, musical theatre, and symphonic stages, as well as her multi-disciplinary pursuits as a music educator, producer, and conductor (Opera News). She is known on concert stages for her interpretation of Carmina Burana, including multiple performances with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap, as well as with MidAmerica productions for her Carnegie Hall debut. Her operatic and musical theater roles include Cunegonde in Candide, Johanna in Sweeney Todd, Chrisann Brennan in The Revolution of Steve Jobs, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, Emily in Our Town, Phoebe in Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, and the title role in Santa Fe Opera’s world premiere of Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun. Career highlights include a dynamic range of opera, operetta, and musical theatre performances with the Santa Fe Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Utah Opera, Virginia Opera, National Symphony, San Diego Symphony, New York Festival of Song, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and Virginia Arts Festival. In addition to performing, she serves as the director of the Young Voices of Santa Fe Opera.

Grace Park is a violinist celebrated for her artistry, passion, and virtuosity. Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “fresh, different and exhilarating” and by Strings Magazine for her “intensely wrought and burnished” sound, she captivates audiences worldwide. A winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition, Ms. Park is recognized both as a dynamic soloist and a devoted chamber musician.

Ms. Park’s most recent solo debuts include the Colorado Music Festival, Bard Festival under the baton of Leon Botstein, Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony, The Rudolfinum/ Dvorak Hall in Prague with Prague Philharmonia, and recital debuts at Krannert Center, Beethoven Minnesota Festival and Merkin Hall.  

Future collaborations include her solo debuts at Seoul Arts Center with Les Musiciens du Louvre with Marc Minkowski, Sarasota Orchestra with Peter Oundjian, Orlando Philharmonic with Eric Jacobsen, along with chamber music debuts at the Savannah Music Festival and Camerata Pacifica.

Ms. Park recorded her debut solo album with the Prague Philharmonia and their music director, Emmanuel Villaume, which will include concertos and solo works of Mozart and Dvorak. It is set to be released in the spring of 2025.

A devoted and passionate educator, Ms. Park is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and has taught masterclasses and coached at Conservatorio de Musica de Cartagena, Mannes School of Music, University of North Carolina, University of Mississippi, Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, Skidmore College, among others. She currently teaches as adjunct professor at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.

As a native to Los Angeles, California, Ms. Park began violin at the age of 5 where she trained at the Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Principal teachers are Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Robert Lipsett. She now resides in New York City.

She performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.

Violinist Wu Jie has garnered unprecedented success as a performer and teacher. At 15 years of age, she obtained her first solo appearance with the Shanghai Music Conservatory Symphony Orchestra during a tour of Germany and Switzerland and shortly after that, Miss Wu won first prize at the Orford Second International Competition in 1999. In 2000, Miss Wu was invited by Pinchas Zukerman to study with him at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music and did so from 2001 to 2005. As a chamber musician, Miss Wu was a founding member of the Escher String Quartet in 2005 and performed all over the world with that ensemble for seven full years. Presently, Miss Wu teaches privately both violin and viola in Plano, TX.

Violist Pierre Lapointe is the violist and co-founder of the acclaimed Escher String Quartet. Lapointe earned a D.M.A. degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2012 after writing a thesis about the unusual structure of Alexander Zemlinsky’s second string quartet. Almost simultaneously, Lapointe finished a two-year recording project of the complete cycle of quartets written by Zemlinsky for the Naxos label.

Lapointe received a prize in 2004 from the lieutenant governor of Quebec for his work at the Gatineau Music Conservatory. In March 2002, Lapointe performed one of his own compositions for the radio show “Jeunes Artistes” of Radio-Canada in Montreal to great acclaim. Lapointe was also awarded a gold medal in 2000 by the University of Ottawa for his undergraduate studies in composition and violin performance.

Born in Hull, Canada, Lapointe started violin lessons at age 5 with Yaela Hertz Berkson and studied violin with Calvin Sieb and composition with Steven Gellman at the University of Ottawa before devoting himself entirely to the viola.

As an educator, Lapointe is often invited by universities and music schools to coach chamber music groups and give master classes to viola students. He has taught at Stony Brook University, Manhattan School of Music Precollege and is presently an adjunct associate professor at SMU Meadows School of the Arts.

Praised for his “fluid virtuosity” and “soulful melodies,” Los Angeles native Brook Speltz has been inspired since childhood by the long tradition of deep musical mastery of artists such as Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Fournier, and the Guarneri String Quartet.  Mr. Speltz is the cellist of the internationally renowned Escher String Quartet—Quartet-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas–and an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

An extremely versatile cellist, Mr. Speltz has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist throughout the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. First Prize winner of the prestigious Ima Hogg Competition, he has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble, among others, and is a regular performer at England’s IMS Prussia Cove and on tour with Musicians from Marlboro. An avid and sought after chamber musician, Mr. Speltz has been personally invited by musical giants such as Itzhak Perlman and Richard Goode to collaborate in chamber music recitals and tours throughout the country. As a result of these collaborations, he has been nominated for the inaugural Warner Music Prize, a newly established prize presented by Warner Music and Carnegie Hall.

A lover of all facets of the music world, Mr. Speltz has enjoyed performing on extensive tours with the cello rock band Break of Reality, whose online video of the Game of Thrones cover immediately went viral and has already received over 8.5 million views. Their recent U.S. tour raised funds and awareness for music programs in public schools all around the country. Mr. Speltz studied at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and at the Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, after his formative years of study with Eleanor Schoenfeld in Los Angeles. He performs on a 1756 J.C. Gigli on loan from his father, a cellist and his first inspiration in a family of professional musicians.

A native of St. Louis, Grammy Award winning violinist Henry William Wang has been described by the Washington Post as an artist "that makes the audience cheer lustily". He has won several engagements as soloist with orchestras including the University of Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Alton Symphony Orchestra, the University City Symphony, the Belleville Philarmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. Venues of solo performances have included The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Powell Symphony Hall.

Currently residing in New York, Henry performs with various ensembles including the New York Classical Players, Metropolis Ensemble, Trinity Wall Street NOVUS ensemble, Quodlibet Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Players and is a substitute violinist of the New York Philharmonic. His solos can be heard on the Grammy Award Winning Album "The Prison" on the Chandos Label.

Henry is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he studied under Glenn Dicterow. He also studied under Mr. Dicterow and Lisa Kim at the Manhattan School of Music in the Orchestral Performance Program. Previously, he attained his BM as a student of Almita and Roland Vamos at Northwestern University.

Active outside the classical music scene, Henry regularly performs with Jazz legends such as Steve Coleman and Billy Childs. He has also appeared on an album by the Roots as well as on the hit TV Show, America's Got Talent.

Argentinian violinist Sami Merdinian has received worldwide recognition for his outstanding performances as a soloist and chamber musician. Sami has appeared with the Montevideo Philharmonic, the Argentinian National Symphony, The Charlemagne Orchestre, The Gagneung Philharmonic in South Korea, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, South Carolina Philharmonic, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Midland and Duluth Symphonies.

Sami is a member of award-winning string quintet Sybarite5, performing recently at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, Lincoln Center, and touring throughout United States, Canada, Asia and South America. Sybarite5’s album “Outliers” debuted at #1 in the Billboard Classical Music chart.

Highly sought-after as tango violinist, Mr. Merdinian has performed and recorded with some of the most prominent artists of the genre and has received a Grammy Nomination for "Masters of the Bandoneon" for Best Tango Album. Mr. Merdinian’s discography includes recordings for Universal Records, Canary Classics, CAG Records, Bright Shiny Things and Green Parrot Records.

Mr. Merdinian has been a prize winner in several international competitions including a Gold Medal in the XII International Young Solo Instrumentalists Competition in Argentina, and the New Talent Competition in Slovakia. He has also received the Rising Star Award by Tiffany & Co., was named Outstanding Artist of the Year by the Argentinian Press, and has been featured on WQXR in New York, “Spiegenzall” live from the Concertgebouw, Argentinian Classical National Station, America’s NPR, South Korean’s KBS and the BBC.

Mr. Merdinian is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the New Docta Festival in Argentina. He has led masterclasses around the USA, South America and Asia and given lectures about music and entrepreneurship in universities such as Penn State, Curtis Institute, New England Conservatory and The New School. In addition, Mr. Merdinian is also the producer and co-host of Down the Pit Podcast.

Venezuelan violinist Rubén Rengel has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Venezuela Symphony, and New York String Orchestra. Winner of the 2018 Sphinx Competition, he has collaborated with conductors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Xian Zhang, Elim Chan, and Theodore Kuchar. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Joseph Silverstein, Mitsuko Uchida, Pamela Frank, Jonathan Biss, Anthony McGill, Peter Wiley, David Shifrin, and Gilbert Kalish. Rubén’s chamber music appearances include performances at Caramoor, Moab Music Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Bridgehampton Chamber Music, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, and Marlboro. As a versatile performer, Rubén also explores Venezuelan and Latin American folk genres, and his arrangement of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata has been featured on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Rubén was recently in residence at Carnegie Hall as a member of Ensemble Connect.

Chinese violinist Yuanmiao Li holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University, with previous degrees from Arizona State University (B.M.), The Juilliard School (M.M.), the University of Denver (A.D.), and the University of Michigan (S.D.). As an active performer, Yuanmiao has collaborated with distinguished artists in both chamber and solo settings. She currently resides in Richmond, Texas, where she maintains a private teaching studio.

NYC-based violinist Brendan Speltz, second violinist of the world renowned Escher String Quartet, has toured the globe with groundbreaking ensembles such as Shuffle Concert, the Manhattan Chamber Players, A Far Cry, and the Harlem Quartet. As founder of FeltInFour Productions, Mr. Speltz has produced innovative concert events across the New York City area that have been described by The New Yorker as “Thrilling, poignant, unexpected, and utterly DIY.” Most recently, Mr. Speltz co-created a cross-disciplinary presentation of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with aerial dance troupe ABCirque which was sponsored by Meyer Sound Labs.

In NYC he has performed as guest with the New York New Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Speltz plays a 1925 Carl Becker violin.

Kenneth Alexander Jones Madrid, Venezuelan-born violinist, was a member of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, touring internationally under Gustavo Dudamel and appearing with Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado. He studied with José Francisco del Castillo in Venezuela and Almita and Roland Vamos in Chicago. Now based in Florida, he performs with leading orchestras and maintains an active career as an educator. He earned his degree from the University of Florida.

A multifaceted and eclectic violinist, Raunak Kumar currently works as an Associate Product Manager at HubSpot while maintaining and building a performing career in the United States. He earned his degree in Applied Mathematics from Columbia University and is based in New York City.

Praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his “glowing refinement,” violist Luke Fleming's performances have been described by The Strad as “confident and expressive...playing with uncanny precision," and lauded by Gramophone for their "superlative technical and artistic execution.” An alumnus of the Juilliard School, the Royal Academy of Music, the Marlboro Music School and Festival, and the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Mr. Fleming is the Founding Artistic Director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival, and serves as Artistic Program Director for Chamber Music Monterey Bay.

A Venezuelan-based violist and teaching artist, Maria Paparoni began her musical studies with El Sistema, the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra Foundation. She has been a violin/viola faculty at Orchestrating Dreams and UpBeat NYC, programs dedicated to community-based music education. As an active performer, she has appeared on international stages including Royal Albert Hall, Gasteig Philharmonie,Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and Carnegie Hall. Maria is currently completing her master studies at Manhattan School of Music under Shmuel Katz, associate principal violist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

Bio coming soon

Hailed by the New York Times for his "muscularity and shimmering lyricism", "insightful musicianship", and "sumptuous elegance”, cellist Andrew Janss' performances have been enjoyed across five continents in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Sydney Opera House, and the Louvre.

Mr. Janss has collaborated in concert and recording with a long list of iconic classical artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Leon Fleisher, and  Richard Goode, as well as chart-topping performers such as Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Lana Del Rey, Mary J. Blige, Florence + the Machine, Erykah Badu, and The Roots.

In March 2020, while Executive Director of the non-profit organization Project: Music Heals Us, he worked with Dr. Rachel Easterwood of New York Presbyterian hospital to launch a live, 1-on-1 virtual bedside program, which ultimately provided relief and comfort for over 15,000 isolated hospital patients in 46 healthcare facilities around the country. While at PMHU, Janss also lead the organization’s music composition program for incarcerated individuals: conceiving, directing, recording, and engineering their groundbreaking Music For The Future course, which was piloted for students by the Bard Prison Initiative in Fall 2022. In Spring 2023, to further these endeavors, he launched the Amplify Foundation, an arts and technology nonprofit organization which aims to expand and deepen the healing impact of human connection through the arts.

For his arts service accomplishments, Mr. Janss was nominated for a 2020-21 Emerson Collective Fellowship by his childhood (and current) idol Yo-Yo Ma.

Early in his musical career, Mr. Janss was the founding cellist of the Escher Quartet, with whom he was in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as part of Chamber Music Society Two from 2007-10. From there, he went on to be a cellist at the Marlboro Music Festival from 2010-12. He has served as Guest Principal Cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has toured extensively with the Mark Morris Dance Group throughout the US, China, Italy, and Australia.

Andrew also tours and records for the groundbreaking cello rock band Break of Reality, both in the United States and as cultural ambassadors for the US Department of State. Recent tours through American Music Abroad have taken the band to Eastern and Central Asia, Haiti, and Brazil, collaborating with local musicians and composers in each country they visit.

Mr. Janss attended the Manhattan School of Music, and was awarded an Artist Diploma in 2012. His major teachers include Andrew Cook, David Geber, Clive Greensmith, and David Soyer.

Kamila Dotta is Associate Principal Cello of the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. A former New World Symphony fellow, she has premiered and recorded works with NWS, Sphinx Organization and Rice University’s Contemporary and New Music Ensembles. Passionate about chamber music, she has worked with the Takács, Dover, and Brentano Quartets, and her former ensemble toured Europe after winning a Starling Foundation Award. Recent highlights include performing with Yo-Yo Ma at the Smithsonian and receiving the Most Outstanding Cellist Award at the Sphinx Orchestral Partners Competition. She is a Doctoral Candidate at Indiana University.

Bio Coming Soon.

Minnesota native Paul Macres is a bassist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Instructor of Bass at Loyola University. He has performed with many ensembles across the across the country, including the Minnesota Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Nashville Symphony.

Paul spends his summers performing in Boulder, Colorado with the Colorado Music Festival. Other summer engagements include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Lakes Area Music Festival.

Paul holds a Bachelors of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, a Masters of Music from Rice University, and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Colburn School.

Luis Eduardo Cuevas, originally hailing from Venezuela, was awarded at the age of 9 in the prestigious "Maurice Hasson" National Competition. Guided by his father, who served as his first violin teacher and mentor, Luis Eduardo embraced his musical heritage in performing Venezuelan folk music.

His pursuit of musical excellence led him to pursue violin studies at Mozarteum Caracas under the tutelage of Virginie Robilliard,Unearte and his Artist Diploma at Temple University under the guidance of Dr. Eduard Schmieder. Throughout his academic journey, Luis Eduardo showcased in various competitions, including the Temple University Concerto Competition, the First Prize and Grand Prix at The Young Virtuosos of Tomorrow, and participation in the Buenos Aires International Violin Competition and Sphinx Competition.

As an orchestral musician, Luis Eduardo has graced the ranks of numerous esteemed ensembles, including the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony Orchestra, Symphony in C, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Pennsylvanian Philharmonic, Central Texas Philharmonic as associate Concertmaster, Austin Symphony, Austin Opera and The Orchestra San Antonio as part of the Classical Music Institute.

Max Michael Jacob is the co-founder and bassist of the conductorless string ensemble “Shattered Glass.” Max earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Metropolitan Opera bassist Jeremy McCoy.

Isaac Fernandez Hernandez was appointed section percussionist of the Southwest Florida Symphony in October 2014. He has an extensive free-lancer career performing with every professional orchestra in the state of Florida such as the Naples Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, Orlando Philharmonic, The Florida Orchestra, Palm Beach Opera, etc... Isaac is a former student of Ted Akatz and studied at the Lynn Conservatory where he got his Performance Diploma. He received his Master of Music degree from Boston University where he studied with Tim Genis and completed his undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Isaac is also an alumnus from the Interlochen Arts Academy where he originated his percussion studies after moving away from his home country, Costa Rica. In the past years, he has performed under various renowned conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Valery Gergiev, Krystof Penderecki, Donald Runnicles, Giancarlo Guerrero within others. He has attended major festivals all over the world ranging from the Pacific Music Festival in Japan (2 consecutive years) to Lyrique-en-Mer in France and the Penderecki Musik Akademie in Germany and Poland. In September 2015, Isaac made his Carnegie Hall debut as the principal timpanist of the International Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.