A Jacksonville, Florida, native, Terrance Patterson has performed in Paris, London, Milan, Brussels, Belgrade, Munich, Amsterdam, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York. He has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony of Detroit and the Nashville, Florida West Coast, Huntsville, Festival, and Las Vegas Symphonies. He attended the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with clarinetist Lorin Kitt, principal clarinetist of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Ann Hobson Pilot is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music.  She became principal harp of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1980, having joined the BSO in 1969 as assistant principal harp and principal harp with the Boston Pops. Previously she was substitute second harp with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and principal harp of Washington, D.C.’s National Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Pilot also has had an extensive solo career; she has performed as a soloist with many American orchestras, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Haiti, New Zealand, and South Africa. She has several recordings available on the Boston Records label, as well as on the Koch International and Denouement labels. Ms. Pilot is the recipient of a Doctor of Fine Arts from Bridgewater State College. In 1998 and 1999 she was featured in a video documentary sponsored by the Museum of Afro-American History and WGBH, aired nationwide on PBS, about her personal musical journey as well as her African journey to find the roots of the harp. In September 1999 she traveled to London to record, with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Harp Concerto by the young American composer Kevin Kaska, a work that she commissioned. Ms. Pilot is on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She is a member of the contemporary music ensemble Collage New Music and has also performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players and the Marlboro, Newport, and Sarasota music festivals, among others. Her solo performances with the BSO have included her solo debut in Mozart’s Concerto in C for Flute and Harp at Tanglewood in July 1972 and Debussy’s Danses Sacrée et profane with Charles Dutoit in July 1999. Her solo appearances in the 2005-06 season include performances with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Indian Hill Chamber Orchestra, and Boston Classical Orchestra.

One of New York City’s most in-demand violinists, Kelly Hall-Tompkins’ dynamic career spans solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. Her solo performances include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, broadcast live by WFMT Radio; in Baltimore, the Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust performances; and, through a special grant from the IBM Corporation, concerts at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Ms. Hall-Tompkins has been a soloist with the Dallas, Greenville, and Monmouth Symphonies, the Philharmonic of Uruguay, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, the Festival of the Atlantic Orchestra, and the Atlanta University Orchestra and her performances in recital have been featured on several occasions on the McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase, broadcast in New York by WQXR. Ms. Hall-Tompkins’ distinguished orchestral career has included extensive touring in the United States and internationally with the renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. In 1999 she won auditions held by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently appointed to the orchestra’s First Violin section. Hall-Tompkins began her violin studies at age nine. She earned a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music under the mentorship of Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

Kyle A. Lombard, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, was born in 1975. A recipient of Indiana University’s Performer Certificate and also a graduate of Yale University, Mr. Lombard enjoys a great variety of musical activities. As a chamber musician, Mr. Lombard has performed throughout Europe, the Middle East and the U.S. As a member of the Goffriller Piano Trio, Mr. Lombard’s performances were broadcast on Israeli Public Radio during Isaac Stern’s 3rd International Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem. As a soloist, Mr. Lombard debuted with the Kansas City Symphony at age 16. He has also concertized with the Savannah Symphony and the Sphinx Symphony, as well as recent recitals at the MOJA festival in Charleston, South Carolina and on the recital series of Southern Illinois University. Mr. Lombard has performed with the SLSO since the 1999/2000 season and is also on the faculty of the Webster University Community Music School.

New York City violinist Philip Payton enjoys an actively diverse career around the county and abroad. Mr Payton was a member of the New World Symphony where he was a concertmaster and principal violin under several prominent conductors including Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop and others. He was one of the first Americans to participate in the Nationaal Jeugd Orkest in the Netherlands where he was a concertmaster and has participated in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Currently Mr Payton performs regularly with the Sarasota Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Gotham Chamber Opera and several others. As a chamber musician, Mr Payton has been intimately involved in the formation of the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, a new summer festival in Washington state, performing on both violin and viola. He plays with Chamber Dance Project, Argento Chamber Ensemble and has performed recitals in St. Croix on the Candlelight Concert Series. An active Broadway musician, he has played on Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Spring Awakening (on violin, viola and electric guitar) and is currently performing in West Side Story. Mr Payton has also performed with a number of major performing artists including Smokey Robinson, Luciano Pavarotti, Quincy Jones, Billy Joel and several others. Mr Payton attended the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music where he earned his B.M. and M.M. respectively.

Amadi Azikiwe, violist, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court.  In recent seasons, Mr. Azikiwe been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  He has also appeared in recital at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, on the “Discovery” recital series in La Jolla, as guest artist at the 1993 International Viola Congress, and at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since then, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and throughout the Caribbean. He has also collaborated with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Mitsuko Uchida, Andras Schiff, Nobuko Imai, David Soyer, and Felix Galimir. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” “St. Paul Sunday,” and on WNYC in New York. Azikiwe is also Director of Program Development for the Gateways Music Festival while serving on the faculties of both the James Madison University and The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Cellist Tahirah Whittington, originally from Houston, Texas, has performed for audiences in the United States, Chile, Japan, France, Italy, and Spain. Her solo performances have included appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., and the Ann Arbor Symphony in Michigan, as a result of winning first prize at the 1999 Sphinx Competition. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Whittington is a member of the acclaimed Core Ensemble (piano, cello, percussion) that tours with an actor and performs Chamber Music Theater. She is also a member of the Ritz Chamber Players based in Jacksonville, Fla. Ms. Whittington received her Master of Music in cello performance from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick and received her Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory as a student of Laurence Lesser.

The brilliant and gifted young cellist Patrice Jackson is carving a name for herself as a talented and charismatic young soloist.  The Detroit News has described her as a “big-toned, boldly projected soloist” and the Hartford Courant stated that Ms. Jackson “wowed the audience with effortless facility, playful phrasing and a sense of spontaneity that one hears usually only from the highest caliber of musicians.” A native of St. Louis, Ms. Jackson began piano lessons with her mother at the age of three and cello lessons with her father at the age of eight. At thirteen she made her debut with the Belleville Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the Elgar Cello Concerto. In 2002 Ms. Jackson was awarded first place in the Senior Laureate Division of the nationally renowned Sphinx Competition, and was the recipient of the 2002 Yale University Aldo Parisot Prize awarded to a “gifted cellist who shows promise for a concert career.” Since then she has performed with the Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, New Jersey, Milwaukee, Omaha, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Grand Rapids, Nashville, Hartford, Chautauqua, Colorado and Mississippi Symphonies, as well as with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Ms. Jackson also made her international orchestral and recital debuts in South Africa in 2002.  Highlights of the 2008-2009 season included performances with the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Lima Symphony.Ms. Jackson, who performs on an Alberto Blanchi cello generously donated by Franklin and Tresa McCallie of Kirkwood, Missouri and Doris Taylor Cope of Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been a student of Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Joel Krosnick, and Bonnie Hampton. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York and the Yale School of Music in New Haven.

British Soprano Alison Buchanan is making a name herself internationally as a versatile and accomplished singer. During the 2006/7 season the soprano made her Carnegie Hall debut, premiered the Opera Hear our Voice in Prague, London and Nurenberg,  made her debut with the Jaxsonville Symphony and the Philippines Philharmonic. This year Alison joined the Israel Kibbutz Orchestra on a national tour of Israel singing Bess (Porgy & Bess) and sang the role of Palmyra in the opera Koanga by Delius at Sadlers Wells in London marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery by the British. Buchanan has performed many times under the Baton of Sir. Colin Davis; as Elvira (Don Giovanni), 2nd Niece (Peter Grimes with the LSO) and in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Buchanan is a member of the Ritz Chamber Players based in Jacksonville who most recently gave concerts in Baltimore, Chicago, Augusta and Harrisburg. The soprano also appears each summer in Prom’s concerts around the UK with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  Alison made her New York City Opera debut in 2002 as Bess in Porgy & Bess followed by Elvira (Don Giovanni) and has appeared at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Michigan Opera Opera company of Philadelphia and San Francisco Opera to name but a few.

Robert Sims, Gold Medal winner of the American Traditions Competition, has been hailed by critics for his rich tone, energetic performances, and convincing stage presence.

Mr. Sims has been highly praised for his moving interpretations of African American spirituals, and has given numerous recitals of them throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. He has appeared with many orchestras in the U.S., and toured Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra where he was featured in a nationally televised performance of Bernstein’s Opening Prayer. In 2005, Sims made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall and was invited by Jessye Norman to participate in Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy at Carnegie Hall in March of 2009. He has performed in concert at New York’s Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Institution, the Ravinia, Chautauqua, Savannah, Grant Park, and Big Arts summer music festivals, the Latour de France International Music Festival, and the celebrated American Church in Paris.  Under the auspices of Canti Classics, Community Concerts, and Live On Stage Series, Sims has performed more than 150 recitals throughout the United States.

Winner of a 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant, flutist Demarre McGill has performed concerti with the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony, among others.  An active chamber musician, Mr. McGill is a member of the Jacksonville, Florida based Ritz Chamber Players and has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s program for emerging young artists. He has been featured on a PBS “Live From Lincoln Center” broadcast with the Chamber Music Society performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #2 as well as on an Angel Records CD playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5 with pianist Awadagin Pratt and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Mr. McGill has participated in the Music from Angel Fire, Santa Fe, Kingston, Cape Cod, Music@Menlo, Bay Chamber Concerts, Mainly Mozart, La Jolla and Marlboro music festivals. He has also performed on the Ravinia Festival’s “Rising Star” series, the A&E Network Series “The Gifted Ones,” and was special guest on the Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood television program.

Currently principal flutist of the San Diego Symphony, Mr. McGill has held the same position with The Florida Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He also served as acting principal flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony during the 2005-06 season.

In addition to his performance schedule, Mr. McGill is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art of Élan, a chamber music organization in San Diego that aims to expose new audiences to classical music.

Mr. McGill received his Bachelor’s Degree in Flute Performance from The Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. He continued his studies with Mr. Baker at the Juilliard School, where he received a Masters of Music degree. 

A native of Washington DC, Judy Dines began studying the flute at the age of six. She won several competitions, including first prize in the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition and first prize in the Temple University Student Soloist Competition. She graduated from Temple University with a Bachelors degree in Music Performance, and was a Master’s degree candidate at the Peabody Institute. Her principal teachers include Alice Weinreb, Murray Panitz, Kazuo Tokito and Robert Willoughby. Currently, Ms. Dines plays in the Houston Symphony.

Since his professional debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, American pianist Terrence Wilson has established a reputation as one of today’s most gifted young instrumentalists. He has already appeared with many other prestigious ensembles including the Houston Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach, the Atlanta Symphony under Yoel Levi, the Cincinnati Symphony under Robert Spano, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne under Jesus Lopez-Cobos, the Detroit Symphony under Neeme Järvi, the St Louis and Colorado Symphonies under Marin Alsop, the Minnesota orchestra, and the Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, San Francisco, and Columbus Symphonies. He has also made highly acclaimed recital debuts in New York, at the 92nd Street Y, in Washington, at the Kennedy Centre, and in Paris, at the Louvre. In 1998 Mr. Wilson was awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant and in May 2001 he graduated from the Juilliard School where he received the prestigious Sony ES Award for Musical Excellence and most recently the William Petschek Award.

As one of America’s leading pianists, Leon Bates has earned for himself a place on the international concert circuit. His performance schedule includes dates across the United States, in Canada, Italy, France, Austria, Ireland, England as well as Africa. He is invited to perform on the major concert stages around the world and audiences and critics find his musical spirit to possess all the elements of greatness. Mr. Bates has performed with many of the major U.S. symphonies such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony and the Boston Symphony among others. In Europe, he has performed with the Vienna Symphony, the Basel Symphony, the Radio-Orchestra of Dublin, the Strasbourg Symphony, Orchestra Sinfonica dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Malmo Symphony of Sweden and more. Whether in recital or as a soloist with orchestra, his praises are enumerated in many different languages—but they are all in agreement on one point: Leon Bates is a major artist and one of America’s best.

A native of Toronto, Stewart Goodyear holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music studying with Oxana Yablonskaya. Goodyear has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St Martin- in-the-Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Winnipeg Symphony, and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. Goodyear has collaborated with illustrious composers including Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Barenboim, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Andrew Davis, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Andrew Litton, Yakov Kreizberg, Emmanuel Krivine, Osmo Vanska, Charles Dutoit, Pinchas Zukerman, Jun Markl, Hugh Wolff, Stefan Sanderling, JoAnn Falletta, Gerard Schwarz, Peter Oundjian, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Roberto Minczuk. Most recently Goodyear made his subscription debuts with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

A native of Orange, NJ, Orlando Wells began studying the violin at the age of 9. While attending LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, he picked up the viola. Mostly self taught in High School, he graduated winning the Behrens Foundation and B’nai Brith scholarships.  Mr. Wells attended S.U.N.Y. Purchase and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers. His primary teachers have included Yuval Waldman and Michael Tree.  Equally proficient on both the violin and the viola, he has held the principal viola chair with the Antara Chamber Orchestra and the concertmaster chair with the Soulful Symphony in Baltimore, the Orchestra of the Bronx and the Bronx Opera. He has appeared as a soloist with Antara, the Manhattan Virtuosi and the St. Peter by the Sea Orchestra.  Mr. Wells also performs with The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, SONYC Chamber Orchestra, The Ritz Chamber Players, Allentown Symphony, Sweet Plantain String Quartet, The Emerald Trio and the Radio City Christmas Show Orchestra. Performing frequently on Broadway, he has played regularly with Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Spamalot, Wicked and was the violist on the first national tour of the Broadway show, Little Women. Currently he is the violist on the new Broadway show Crybaby.  He has collaborated with musicians of many different genres and styles. Some of the artists he has worked with are John Legend, Mariah Carrey, Rihanna, Kanye West, Marvin Hamlish, the Akua Dixon Swing Quartet and Sojourner Strings.

Owen Young joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in August 1991. A frequent collaborator in chamber music concerts and festivals, he has appeared at Tanglewood, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Brevard Music Center, and the Aspen, Davos, Sunflower, Gateway, and St. Barth’s music festivals. As a concert soloist, he has appeared with numerous orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Salisbury Symphony Orchestra, Racine Symphony Orchestra, and San Antonio Chamber Orchestra. He is a founding member of the innovative chamber ensemble Innuendo and performs chamber music and recitals in the United States and abroad. His performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, WQED in Pittsburgh, WITF in Harrisburg, and WGBH in Boston. He has performed frequently with singer/songwriter James Taylor, including the nationally televised recorded concert “James Taylor Live at the Beacon Theatre” in New York City. Mr. Young has been on the faculties of the Boston Conservatory, New England Conservatory’s Extension Division, and the Longy School of Music and is currently active in Project STEP (String Training and Educational Program for Students of Color) and the BSO’s Boston Music Education Collaborative. From 1991 to 1996, he served as a Harvard-appointed resident tutor and director of concerts for Dunster House at Harvard University.  Mr. Young’s teachers included Eleanor Osborn, Michael Grebanier, Anne Martindale Williams, and Aldo Parisot. A cum laude graduate of Yale University, where he received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, Mr. Young served as principal cello of the Yale Symphony Orchestra and was soloist for its 1986 European tour. In 1986 and 1987, he was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Mr. Young won an Orchestra Fellowship in 1987; he played with the Atlanta Symphony in 1988 and with the Boston Symphony during the 1988-89 season. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra from 1986 to 1987 and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1989 until he joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Hailed “outstanding” by the Palm Beach Post, cellist Caleb Jones is rapidly establishing himself as one of classical music’s most versatile young artists. His career has taken him from concert halls such as
the Kennedy Center to performances in jazz clubs with great jazz musicians such as Gary Thomas. He has appeared in recital at the Kravis Center (FL), Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and Johns Hopkins
University’s Homewood House Museum. He was most recently the featured musician in the American premier of the Euripides play “Ion” at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, DC. Critics called his playing “fabulous” (DC Theatre Scene) and “incredible” (The Hill). Since 2006, Jones has been a member of the Young Eight, a string octet dedicated to diversifying the classical music audience through its adventurous programming and outreach programs. They have performed in concert series throughout the United States including Raleigh Chamber Music Guild (N.C.) and UW World Series (Seattle).The Young Eight is currently the ensemble-in-residence at Seattle University. Along with extensive outreach work with the Young Eight, he has worked with various organizations such as the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids, Boys and Girls Club of America, and the BE Community Foundation. Jones is a graduate of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities and holds degrees from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University.

Shea Scruggs is an up and coming voice in the oboe world. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in 2004 where he was a student of Richard Woodhams, the esteemed and longtime principal oboe of the Philadelphia Orchestra. The following year, Shea completed a degree in English Literature from Swarthmore College where he attended concurrently for two years.

Since then, Shea has performed widely with American orchestras, holding positions as Acting Principal of the Cincinnati Symphony and Principal Oboe of the San Francisco Opera. He has also performed in the sections of the Chicago Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra, and as guest principal with the Atlanta Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony, where he is currently performing as Assistant Principal Oboe. In addition to his studies at Curtis, Shea has worked with many prominent teachers, including Robert Walters, the solo English Horn of the Cleveland Orchestra, Elaine Douvas, Principal Oboe of the Metropolitan Opera and the late John Mack, the legendary Principal Oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra. Shea has also taught masterclasses at Oberlin University, the University of New Mexico, the San Francisco Conservatory and to the oboe students of El Sistema in Caracas, Venezuela.

After a “Triumphant” performance at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and a successful debut in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Kevin Sharpe has been praised by critics and has enchanted audiences with his “precise touch” and “strong individual voice.” In September 2005, Raoul Abdul of the New York Amsterdam News proclaimed his performance at Merkin Recital hall to be “Magnificent”. The top prize - winner of the 1991 Johann Sebastian Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. His performances of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” won him acceptance from New York’s critical elite when Bernard Holland of the New York Times declared, “Mr. Sharp’s rock-steady progress through this complex music reflected both understanding and command.” In his performance at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Sharpe was described as “a thoughtful performer with an attractive ear for nuance and detail.” His performance of the great Bach work at Washington’s Organization of American States was broadcast live throughout the Latin Americas. Joanne Sheehy Hoover of the Albuquerque Journal describes Sharpe’s playing: “Just a few measures into the music and one heard an extra little push on a small downward leap in the bass. It was the slightest of gestures, a delicious surprise that would be followed by a multitude of such delicacies over the hour’s program.” International appearances have included concerts in Mexico, Iceland, Finland Argentina, Hong Kong, Ireland Warsaw and the Czech Republic.

Sharpe is a member of the “Ritz Chamber Players” which is the premiere chamber ensemble showcasing Afro-American musicians from all over the world. Recently Sharpe joined the group for their New York Debut in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall in performances of Prokofiev, Brahms and a World premiere by Composer Alvin Singleton. In May of 2006, Sharpe was awarded the distinction of a Fulbright Scholarship to Dublin Ireland where he taught and performed at the Conservatory of Music in the Dublin Institute of Technology.

Marcus Thompson is a distinguished performer both on viola and viola d’amore. A multi-faceted artist, he is equally esteemed as recitalist, orchestral soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and educator. Born in New York’s South Bronx, he began violin studies at the age of six in a private studio, and at fourteen attended The Juilliard School Pre-College where he studied with Louise Behrend. After completing seven years of viola and viola d’amore studies with Walter Trampler, he received his Bachelors and Master’s degrees, and Juilliard’s first doctorate in viola performance.

Since his New York debut at Carnegie Hall in the Young Concert Artists Series, Marcus Thompson has been widely hailed as a master of his instruments. He has since presented recitals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston, Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Herbst Theater in San Francisco, and at numerous colleges and universities. To mark the Hindemith Centenary Mr. Thompson performed a recital of the complete sonatas with piano for viola and viola d’amore in Boston’s Jordan Hall with pianist Judith Gordon. Highlights of his solo career include a performance of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a performance of Hindemith’s viola d’amore concerto, Kammermusik 6 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit. He has also appeared as soloist with the National Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, The Cleveland Orchestra under Jah Jah Ling, with the Atlanta Symphony under Yoel Levi in a performance of Keith Jarrett’s Bridge of Light, in the west coast premiere of Harbison Viola Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under John Harbison, with the Saint Louis Symphony and the Boston Pops. He has appeared in concert and recordings with conductor Paul Freeman and three of his orchestras: the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Slovenian Radio Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony.

In addition to his busy performing career, Mr. Thompson serves as a member of the Viola Faculty at New England Conservatory of Music, and as the Robert R. Taylor Professor of Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded performance programs in private studies and chamber music. He has been recognized for extraordinary teaching at MIT with an appointment as a Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow.

A native of Syracuse, NY, David E. Berry’s performances as soloist and chamber musician have been featured at venues such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bechstein Hall, the FOCUS festival, the Gateways Music Festival, as well as in live broadcasts of WQXR New York Times Radio. Mr. Berry has been a featured performer in the “Nights in the Gardens of Spain” and “Chopin, George Sand and Their Circle” Piano Series’ hosted by author David Dubal and was recently featured as soloist in the 2011 world premiere of Kevin Cummines’ Piano Concerto with the Hudson Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Berry was the Grand Prize Winner of the 2007 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, as well as a prizewinner in the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition.  Mr. Berry received his Bachelors of Music with High Distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Juilliard School. His primary piano instructors have included Martin Canin and Douglas Humpherys, with additional chamber music studies under Seymour Lipkin, Jacob Lateiner and Jonathan Feldman.

Cellist Kenneth Law serves on the faculty in the School of Music at George Mason University in Fairfax. Virginia. Mr. Law has appeared nationally as soloist and recitalist; chamber music performances include appearances at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jazz at Lincoln Center Concert Series, and Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Mr. Law has also performed in England, France, Scotland, Panama and Puerto Rico as a member of the Converse Trio. He has collaborated with such artists as Earl Carlyss (Juilliard String Quartet), Michael Tree (Guarneri Quartet), Ying String Quartet, Norman Carroll (concertmaster emeritus, Philadelphia Orchestra), Diane Monroe, and the late Samuel Baron, and has recorded orchestral and chamber music for the New Albion and Telarc labels. In March of 2006, Mr. Law was featured on the nationally televised NAACP Image Awards as a member of the Ritz Chamber Players.  Mr. Law gave his first performance at the Piccolo Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC, as a member of the Converse Trio in the spring of 2008, and in the summers of 2009 and 2010 as a member of Ensemble Argos.

Prior to his appointment at GMU, Mr. Law spent 15 years on the faculty of the Petrie School of Music at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina as Associate Professor of Violoncello, Chair of the Performance Department, and Assistant Dean. Mr. Law was principal cellist of the Spartanburg Philharmonic, and played in the Greenville (SC) Symphony, Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, and Symphony Orchestra Augusta (GA).  His students have been accepted to the Peabody and Oberlin Conservatories, Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University (Bloomington), Florida State University, University of South Carolina, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and other respected schools of music in the southeast. He is a past president of the South Carolina Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and most recently he received the 2010 Studio Teacher of the Year Award from this organization.

Mr. Law received undergraduate and graduate degrees in performance from the Eastman School of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music where his primary teachers were Paul Katz and Alan Harris, and a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory as a student of Stephen Kates, and chamber music with Earl Carlyss.  He was also a chamber music fellow at The Juilliard School.  For several summers, Mr. Law was a participant in the Aspen Music Festival’s Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, and was coached by the Cleveland, American, Muir, Cavani, Orion and Emerson String Quartets;  as a participant in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, he was coached by the Tokyo Quartet, Claude Frank, Aldo Parisot, Gyorgy Pauk, and Nobuko Imai.  During the summer Mr. Law serves on the faculty of the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Gateways Music Festival, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

*Photos of Amadi Azikiwe, Alison Buchanan, Kyle Lombard,
Terrance Patterson, Tahirah Whittington and Terrence Wilson by Robin Holland