Grace Farms Lectures with Concert | The Musicians

Arlen Hlusko, cello

Hailed for her “sublime cello prowess” (Take Effect), “absorbing originality” (Gramophone), and “mesmerizing beauty” (NY Music Daily), internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Husk is a dynamic, versatile artist who has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician across North & South Americas, Asia, and Europe. She is “capable of playing with great delicacy but also fearlessness; regardless of the character of the material, she executes it with authority and conviction […] and open-hearted expression is present throughout” (Textura). Arlen has performed solo recitals from Tippet Rise to Carnegie Hall to Toronto’s Summer Music in the Gardens to the Guangzhou Opera House and beyond, and is the cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars sextet (extolled by the New York Times for “combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble”). She regularly performs with ensembles including The Knights, Dolce Suono Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players; is a member of the Harry Chapin Band; and recent alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

Jennifer Frautschi, violin

Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Avery Fisher career grant recipient violinist Jennifer Frautschi has appeared as soloist with innumerable orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is an artist-member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and has appeared as chamber musician at Chamber Music Northwest, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, Tippet Rise Art Center, Toronto Summer Music, and the Bridgehampton, Cape Cod, Charlottesville, Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, Moab, Ojai, Salt Bay, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Spoleto Festivals. Her extensive discography for the Albany, Artek, and Naxos labels includes the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerti with the Seattle Symphony. Born in Pasadena, California, Jennifer attended the Colburn School, Harvard, the New England Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. She performs on a 1722 Antonio Stradivarius violin known as the “ex-Cadiz,” on generous loan from a private American foundation with support from Rare Violins In Consortium. She teaches in the graduate program at Stony Brook University.

Vijay Gupta, violin

Vijay Gupta is a violinist, speaker and citizen-artist dedicated to creating spaces of wholeness and belonging through music. Vijay’s own musical journey embodies his belief that the work of artists and citizens is one: to make a sadhana – a daily practice – of the world we envision. Hailed by The New Yorker as a “visionary violinist…one of the most radical thinkers in the unradical world of American classical music,” Vijay leads a protean career as a thought leader, performer, collaborator, curator, and communicator.

Vijay is the founder and Artistic Director of Street Symphony, a nationally-recognized pioneer in creating spaces of connection for people in reentry from homelessness, addiction and incarceration. Since 2011 Street Symphony’s communities of artists have presented thousands of musical workshops, performances and lessons in Los Angeles shelters, clinics, county jails, state hospitals and prisons – delivering the music of classical, choral, Jazz, Reggae, Mariachi and West African drumming traditions to communities beyond the concert hall. Vijay believes that the transformation brought on by music is a “two-way symphony”: a pathway to mutual healing. “With Street Symphony”, writes Alex Ross in The New Yorker, “he has created a formidable new model for how musical institutions should engage with the world around them. “For his work in “bringing beauty, respite, and purpose to those all too often ignored by society”, Vijay was the recipient of the 2018 MacArthur Fellowship.

Vijay has performed as an international recitalist, soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician for over 20 years, playing his solo debut at age 11 with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta. Vijay won his first orchestral audition and joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2007, when he was 19 years old – the youngest violinist to ever join a top-tier American orchestra, where he remained for 12 years. Increasingly in demand as a soloist, curator, and chamber musician, Vijay has collaborated with the artists from the Kronos Quartet to Yo-Yo Ma and folk music legend Pete Seeger, and appears regularly with the Strings Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He has also performed as a guest concertmaster with the Los Angeles Opera and the UK’s acclaimed Philharmonia Orchestra, and served as 2023 Artist in Residence at Music Worcester. Vijay is a founding member of the innovative Darshan Trio, and a member of Tesserae Baroque. He was appointed to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.

A riveting speaker, Vijay has shared his work with dozens of conferences, campuses,corporations and communities across America over the past 10 years, including The Richmond Forum, The Aspen Institute, Hallmark, Accenture, Mayo Clinic, US Psychiatric Congress, American Planning Association, and the League of American Orchestras. In June 2020, Vijay Gupta delivered the 33rd annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy for Americans for the Arts. His three TEDtalks have garnered millions of views, and he has been recognized as “a master of music and medicine” (The TODAY Show) and featured in TIME Magazine’s “Next 100” influencers list. His first book, a memoir, will be published in early 2026.

A dynamic recording artist, Vijay has released several albums of solo violin and chamber music, including works of Reena Esmail, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, and the complete unaccompanied Bach Sonatas. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Marist College, and a Master’s in Music from the Yale School of Music, studying primarily with Ani Kavafian and Glenn Dicterow. Vijay plays a 2010 violin made by Los Angeles-based luthier Eric Benning.

Blake Pouliot, violin

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned,” (ArtsAtlanta) violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenoms. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star).

As a soloist, Blake’s 2025-26 concerto highlights include a return to National Ars Centre Orchestra to open their season with Music Director Alexander Shelley, performing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. He will make debuts with the Illinois Symphony, performing Rózsa’s Violin Concerto with Music Director Taichi Fukumura, and with Columbus Symphony, performing the Korngold Violin Concerto with Josep Vicent. Additional concerto appearances include Rochester Philharmonic, as well as a tour with the Prague Philharmonia in Spain and the U.S., culminating with a performance at Carnegie Hall, marking Blake’s Stern Auditorium debut. Recital appearances this season include Newport Classical, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Artist Series of Sarasota, and Portland Ovations with his long-time collaborator and pianist, Henry Kramer.

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many others. He has collaborated with many musical luminaries including conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthias Pintscher, Sir Neville Marriner, David Afkham, Pablo Heras-Casado, JoAnn Falletta, Marcelo Lehninger, Vasily Petrenko and Thomas Søndergård.
Pouliot has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series and has been NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota (2017/18), Hawaii (2018/19), and across Europe (2021/22). Prior to that, he won the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2018 and 2015 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.

Michelle Ross, violin

Michelle Barzel Ross is a GRAMMY™ Award-winning violinist, composer, and improviser, whose music-making has been hailed as “affecting” (The New Yorker), “gorgeous” (The New York Times), and “nobly shaped and impeccably sustained” (The San Francisco Chronicle). As a performer, Michelle’s artistry spans engagements with leading venues, artists, and ensembles around the globe. As a soloist, she has debuted in venues such as Carnegie Hall, with the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, KKL Lucerne, Cité de la Musique, Metropolitan Museum’s Temple of Dendur. A renowned chamber musician, she often collaborates with Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, and most recently toured as guest first violinist with the Juilliard String Quartet. Michelle recently joined superstar mandolinist Avi Avital and Between Worlds Ensemble for a European tour, as well as the Musicians from Marlboro National and International tours for six seasons. Michelle is an in-demand guest concertmaster with the world’s greatest orchestras, including Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, MusicAeterna, Orchestre national d’Auvergne, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and more.

As a composer and improviser, Michelle is lauded as a “formidable composer…with fearlessness of expression” (Textura), her works praised as “very effective” (The Strad) and like a “fever dream” (A Closer listen). Michelle’s compositions weave poetic labyrinths and dialogue with composers of the past, as Gramophone describes “the many shapes and colors echo across Ross’s wistful Désenvoyé, inspired by Schumann’s hidden voices and the world of ‘unsent’ longings, with further references to Webern… fascinating.“ Michelle has been commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Juilliard String Quartet, The Jasper String Quartet, The Perlman Music Program, and her works have been premiered at leading venues such as the Palau Musica in Barcelona, Vienna’s MusikVerein, Paris’s Thêatre les Bouffes du Nord. Michelle’s second string quartet Birds on the Moon was commissioned by the Juilliard String Quartet and Chamber Music Napa Valley, and is dedicated to the ensemble’s beloved late violist, Roger Tapping. Birds on the Moon recently had its world premiere in California, and will be featured by the JSQ at MusikVerein’s 2026 Beethoven Festival. Passionate about expanding the bounds of contemporary music as both a performer and pedagogue, Michelle is faculty at Lucerne Festival Contemporary. In November 2024, Michelle collaborative orchestral vignette with composer Stephen Mennotti and Orchesterschule Insel Ein Leid auf den Lippen: Carry the Sun within your Heart toured Switzerland; the work is dedicated to the children who perished during the Holocaust at Theresienstadt and is a companion piece to Hans Krasa’s Brundibar.

Celebrated for her prolific output as a GRAMMY™ winning recording artist, Michelle is known for her solo Bach debut album, pop-up project and “affecting blog posts” (The New Yorker) Discovering Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach, where her “delicacy and control…truly impresses” (Classics Today).

Michelle recently released her second solo album, Vivaldi: Four Seasons with Eric Jacobsen and the Odyssey Orchestra. Featured on Samuel Adler’s Chamber Music, Michelle is praised as a “stellar violinist… impresses with intense feeling and consummate poise…lyrical poignancy beautifully rendered” (Textura). A self-taught improviser across genres from Baroque to Contemporary, Michelle is a featured artist improvising with her longtime friend Jon Batiste on Movement 11’ from his GRAMMY™ winning Album of the Year We Are. Michelle’s compositions have been recorded on Naïve Records by Christian-Pierre la Marca and Jean-Frédéric Neuberger, Carr-Petrova Duo, Arlen Hlusko, Sæunn Thorsteinsdottír, Caitlin Sullivan and Long Echo Records.

Michelle is the recipient of the prestigious Leonore Annenberg Career Grant and holds degrees from The Juilliard School and a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University. Principal teachers and mentors include her life-long teacher Itzhak Perlman, Ronald Copes, Dorothy DeLay, Catherine Cho, Dr. Samuel Adler, and Dr. Kendall Briggs. Born in California and raised in both Canada and New York, Michelle celebrates her Mizrahi-Iraqi heritage.

Ayane Kozasa, viola

Hailed for her “magnetic, wide-ranging tone” and her “rock solid technique” (Philadelphia Inquirer), violist Ayane Kozasa is a member of the San Francisco-based Kronos Quartet. Their current season tours include performance venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the London Jazz Festival, and performance stops include Brazil, Norway, Poland, and across the United States. Many of their concerts include dynamic collaborators such as Indonesian singer Peni Candra Rini, visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger, and composer Terry Riley. Ayane is also a member of the quartet collective Owls, whose debut album Rare Birds was just released on New Amsterdam Records this spring. As a founding member of the Aizuri Quartet, she toured with the group for 11 years, garnering a Grammy nomination and capturing grand prizes at the M Prize Chamber Arts Competition and the Osaka International String Quartet Competition. Much of Ayane’s current work involves mentoring young musicians through programs like the Meadowmount School of Music, and she was previously on the viola faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Aside from music, she enjoys hiking, doodling, and creating animation.

Melissa Reardon, viola

Grammy-nominated violist Melissa Reardon is an internationally renowned performer whose solo and chamber playing spans all musical genres. Melissa is a member of the Borromeo String Quartet, Artistic Director of the Portland Chamber Music Festival, Artist in Residence at Bard College and Conservatory, and a founding member and former Executive Director of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO). As a member of the Ensō String Quartet from 2006 until its final season in 2018, Melissa toured both nationally and internationally, with highlight performances in Sydney, Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, New York’s Carnegie Hall, and Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center to name a few. Melissa is a faculty member of the New England Conservatory of Music and is married to the cellist Raman Ramakrishnan. They live in New York with their son Linus.

Gabriel Cabezas, cello

Cellist Gabriel Cabezas is a prolific and sought-after soloist and collaborator. Praised for his artistry and charisma, he is as comfortable interpreting new works as he is with the pillar scores of the cello repertoire and was named one of the “Composers and Performers to Watch” by the Washington Post. Gabriel has appeared with America’s finest symphony orchestras and has inspired and premiered dozens of new works by vanguard composers of the 21st century.

In the 2025-26 season, Cabezas will perform Gabriella Smith’s concerto Lost Coast in a pair of transatlantic performances with conductor Gemma New, first with the BBC Philharmonic for the piece’s UK premiere and then with the Seattle Symphony, where Gabriel will serve as the orchestra’s Artist in Focus. He will also perform this signature work with the Chicago Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Gabriel is a member of the genre-leading chamber sextet yMusic, acclaimed for “transcending all the conventions that they were trained in” (NPR Music). Their unique musicality has attracted collaborators from Paul Simon to Ben Folds, and inspired an expanding repertoire of works by prominent composers including Caroline Shaw, Missy Mazzoli, and Andrew Norman. The ensemble’s debut self-composed album, YMUSIC (2023), was praised by Strings Magazine as “one of the most exciting and confident chamber music releases of the year.”

Gabriel recently co-founded the string quartet Owls, described by The New York Times as “a dream group.” With its unique instrumentation of violin, viola, and two cellos, the quartet weaves together new compositions with fresh arrangements of works from the 1600s to the present.

Gabriel is a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, an early-career grant awarded to extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music under Carter Brey.

Anthony Manzo, bass

Anthony Manzo’s vibrantly interactive and highly communicative music-making has made ubiquitous in the upper echelons of classical music, appearing with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York and across the country, and is a recurring figure at chamber music festivals including Spoleto USA, La Jolla Summerfest, and Music@Menlo. The former solo bassist of the Munich Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco’s New Century Chamber Orchestra, he now performs with chamber orchestras across the country, including ECCO, A Far Cry, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Making his home just outside of Washington, DC, Mr Manzo is also a regular guest with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Society, and the Baltimore Symphony. He has also been guest principal with Camerata Salzburg in Austria, where collaborations have included a summer residency at the Salzburg Festival and two tours as soloist alongside bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, performing Mozart’s “Per questa bella mano.” An active performer on period instruments, Mr. Manzo appears regularly with groups including the Handel & Haydn Society of Boston (where his playing was lauded as “endowed with beautiful and unexpected plaintiveness” by the Boston Musical Intelligencer), Philharmonia Baroque in San Francisco. Additionally, Mr. Manzo is on the double bass and chamber music faculty of the University of Maryland. His primary instrument was made in 1890 by Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy in Paris – and has been fitted with a removable neck to simplify all the travel!

Pallavi Mahidhara, piano

Praised for her unique artistry and charismatic stage presence, Indian-American pianist Pallavi
Mahidhara has appeared in solo and orchestral concerts across five continents, including
performances at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Teatro del
Lago in Frutillar, Chile, and the Bolshoi Zal in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She is the Second Prize
winner and of the 69th Geneva International Piano Competition, and of the VI International
Prokofiev Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She has performed at important festivals such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Marlboro Music and Verbier Festival. The Klavier-Festival Ruhr in
Essen released a live performance recording of her recital from October 2021, available on Spotify.

Pallavi is the Executive Producer, Writer, and Host of “The Conscious Artist®” – a podcast designed to promote Mental Health Awareness for performing artists. Aside from her private studio, she is
regularly invited to give masterclasses and workshops at Universities and Summer Programs. She holds degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music and Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, and
studied with Dimitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. As the first female
Indian pianist to attend these institutions and host a podcast on mental health in Western classical music, she fervently embraces her role as cultural ambassador, artist, and mentor.

Pallavi has collaborated with renowned artists such as Gary Hoffman, Diemut Poppen, Wolfram
Christ, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Arnold Steinhardt, Pablo Ferrández, and Black Oak Ensemble. She has performed under the direction of Arjan Tien, Thomas Sanderling, Daniel Boico, Róbert
Farkas, Daniel Abad Casanova, and Pablo Gonzalez, among others.

Pallavi is a Steinway Artist.

Emi Ferguson, flute

A recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Emi Ferguson performs as a soloist and with groups including the Handel and Haydn Society, AMOC*, Ruckus, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Players, and is the music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque. Her recordings Amour Cruel and Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes, were called “blindingly impressive … a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by The New York Times. Emi has spoken and performed at TEDx events and was featured on the Discovery Channel, Amazon Prime, and Vox talking about how music relates to our world today. With WQXR, she hosts the Young Artists Showcase and Once Upon A Composer, and created the series “This Composer is SICK!”, exploring the impact of Syphilis on historical composers. Her book, “Iconic Composers”, co-written with Nicholas Csicsko with artwork by David Lee Csicsko, was released in 2023.

Yoonah Kim, clarinet

Hailed by The New York Times for her “inexhaustible virtuosity”, clarinetist Yoonah Kim is an artist of uncommon musical depth and versatility. She enjoys a diverse career as solo clarinetist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and educator. Yoonah launched her career when she won the 2016 Concert Artist Guild International Competition – the first solo clarinetist to win CAG in nearly 30 years; she is also the first woman to win first prize at the Vandoren Emerging Artists Competition and is a first prize winner of the George Gershwin International Competition and the Vienna International Competition.
Committed to new music, she has commissioned and premiered works such as Eric Nathan’s Double Concerto for Violin and Clarinet, Texu Kim’s Rhapsody in Blue for Solo Clarinet, and Andrew Hsu’s Erebus for Clarinet and Piano.

Yoonah regularly performs as guest principal clarinet with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Princeton Symphony, and Novus Orchestra and has also appeared as guest principal clarinet with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. She is also a regular guest with chamber music ensembles such as NOW Ensemble, Jupiter Chamber Players, and Manhattan Chamber Players.

Yoonah is on the clarinet faculty at New York University and she is a Vandoren Artist.

Gina Cuffari, bassoon

Bassoonist Gina Cuffari is a dynamic and versatile musician who performs a variety of roles in the New York City area as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, new music advocate, artistic director and educator. Praised for having a “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric and fast-moving” (Palm Beach Daily News), Gina is the Bassoonist of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Principal Bassoonist of the American Symphony Orchestra and Riverside Symphony. As a member of Orpheus, Gina has performed and recorded throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia for 18 years, and recently completed her tenure as one of the ensemble’s Artistic Directors. She also performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Composers Orchestra, and the Knights, and has played in recent Broadway productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Sunset Boulevard, My Fair Lady, Into the Woods and Camelot as a substitute bassoonist.

Gina is a frequent guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is a member of Sylvan Winds, Trio Cabrini and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. A longtime collaborator with the new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, she has premiered a plethora of new works with the group over many years. In an ongoing personal project, Gina commissions and premieres works that combine her two passions – singing and playing the bassoon – into one performing experience. New works have been created by composers Jenni Brandon, Sunny Knable, Gregg August, and Allison Loggins-Hull.

As an educator, Gina currently holds positions at Stony Brook University and New York University. She is a frequent guest clinician at Bard College for The Orchestra Now and teaches masterclasses and “Singing Through Your Instrument” workshops throughout the country. She spends her summers teaching and performing at the Mostly Modern Festival at Skidmore College, the Madeleine Island Chamber Festival and the Bard Music Festival.

Arlen Hlusko, cello

Hailed for her “sublime cello prowess” (Take Effect), “absorbing originality” (Gramophone), and “mesmerizing beauty” (NY Music Daily), internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Husk is a dynamic, versatile artist who has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician across North & South Americas, Asia, and Europe. She is “capable of playing with great delicacy but also fearlessness; regardless of the character of the material, she executes it with authority and conviction […] and open-hearted expression is present throughout” (Textura). Arlen has performed solo recitals from Tippet Rise to Carnegie Hall to Toronto’s Summer Music in the Gardens to the Guangzhou Opera House and beyond, and is the cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars sextet (extolled by the New York Times for “combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble”). She regularly performs with ensembles including The Knights, Dolce Suono Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players; is a member of the Harry Chapin Band; and recent alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

Adrian Anantawan, violin

Adrian Anantawan holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, Yale University and Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a violinist, he has studied with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter; his academic work in education was supervised by Howard Gardner. Memorable moments include performances at the White House, the Opening Ceremonies of the Athens and Vancouver Olympic Games and the United Nations. Adrian helped to create the Virtual Chamber Music Initiative at the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehab Centre. The cross-collaborative project brings researchers, musicians, doctors and educators together to develop adaptive musical instruments capable of being played by a young person with disabilities within a chamber music setting. He is also the founder of the Music Inclusion Program, aimed at having children with disabilities learn instrumental music with their typical peers. He is the current Chair of Music at Milton Academy, the Artistic Director of Shelter Music Boston and is on faculty at Berklee College of Music. Throughout the year, Adrian continues to perform, speak and teach around the world as an advocate for disability and the arts.

Lun Li, violin

Violinist Lun Li is committed to creating thought-provoking, boundary-pushing concert experiences for contemporary audiences. A native of Shanghai, he won the 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, along with the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, and was named John French Violin Chair at YCA.

He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Bangor Symphony, Kennett Square Symphony, Colgate University Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Meridian Symphony, Salina Symphony, and McCall Summer Festival Orchestra, as well as with the Brevard Philharmonic, Aiken Symphony, University of South Carolina Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, and the Riverside Symphony at Alice Tully Hall. Upcoming concerto appearances include the Kyoto and Osaka Symphonies.

Lun made his New York recital debut at Merkin Hall and his Washington, D.C. debut at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, both presented by Young Concert Artists. He has since appeared at The Morgan Library & Museum, Caramoor, Brookings Chamber Music Society, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Bay Chamber Concerts, Tippet Rise Art Center, and with the Jupiter Chamber Players. He also collaborated with Pulitzer Prize–winning composer and performer Du Yun at the Asia Society in New York Internationally, he has also performed at Konzerthaus Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus, and Kulturpalast Dresden.

This season, Lun was featured on the opening night of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall. A member of CMS’s Bowers Program, he has toured extensively with the Society, including in China.

Lun holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where he completed an Artist Diploma as teaching assistant to Catherine Cho. He performs on the 1735 “Samazeuilh” Stradivarius, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

Celia Hatton, viola

Celia Hatton, NYC-based violist, has performed across Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, and the US. Her playing can be heard on several Grammy-winning works, including as Principal Violist on Experiential Orchestra’s album The Prison and Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds. She is a member of A Far Cry, Principal Viola of Sphinx Virtuosi, and Co-Principal of Chamber Orchestra of New York. Hatton has performed with ECCO, The Knights, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. An Adjunct Professor at Adelphi University, she has given masterclasses at Colburn Music Academy, New York University, and Vanderbilt University. Hatton holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Kim Kashkashian, and a Master’s Degree from Manhattan School of Music with Karen Dreyfus.

Arlen Hlusko, cello

Hailed for her “sublime cello prowess” (Take Effect), “absorbing originality” (Gramophone), and “mesmerizing beauty” (NY Music Daily), internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist Arlen Husk is a dynamic, versatile artist who has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician across North & South Americas, Asia, and Europe. She is “capable of playing with great delicacy but also fearlessness; regardless of the character of the material, she executes it with authority and conviction […] and open-hearted expression is present throughout” (Textura). Arlen has performed solo recitals from Tippet Rise to Carnegie Hall to Toronto’s Summer Music in the Gardens to the Guangzhou Opera House and beyond, and is the cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars sextet (extolled by the New York Times for “combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble”). She regularly performs with ensembles including The Knights, Dolce Suono Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players; is a member of the Harry Chapin Band; and recent alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

Alex Sopp, flute

Alex Sopp creates flowering gardens of song and clouds of harmonious flute sound, rendering dreams and reimagining portraits, channeling a state of wonder and enchantment. Her debut album of original songs, “The Hem & The Haw” was released on New Amsterdam Records in April of 2024. She is a founding member of Music, The Knights, NOW Ensemble, and the Berlin-based Between Worlds Ensemble, and has played principal flute in the New York Philharmonic and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at venues such as Suntory Hall, the Ojai Festival, and the Lucerne Festival. As a soloist, she has played works written for her by Judd Greenstein, Gabriel Kahane, Nico Muhly, Chris Thile, and Allison Loggins-Hull. Performing iconic vocal lines and whistle solos, Alex toured the world with Music in support of their album with Paul Simon. Music redefines the chamber ensemble as a creative voice in its own right, debuting a self-titled record of original compositions at Carnegie Hall, while creating an outpouring of arrangements and collaborations with artists such as John Legend, Ben Folds, and Anohni. Her unique visual artwork, ranging from meticulously detailed pen drawings to evocative paintings has been used by musicians such as Joshua Bell and cutting edge organizations like Castle of Our Skins to bring their projects to life. She is an advocate for creative risk-taking and multi-disciplinary freedom for artists, loves cats and clouds, grew up in the Caribbean, and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Simone Porter, violin

Violinist Simone Porter has been recognized as an emerging artist of impassioned energy, interpretive integrity, and vibrant communication. She has debuted with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle and Pittsburgh Symphonies and with a number of renowned conductors, including Stéphane Denève, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Manfred Honeck, and David Danzmayr. Simone made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and her international debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13. In March 2015, Simone was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Highlights of Simone’s 2025/26 season include a performances of Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto with David Danzmayr and the Oregon Symphony, where she is artist in residence. Simone will also embark on a tour of Florida with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Joann Falletta, and lead a side-by-side project with New Century Chamber Orchestra and students of the San Francisco Conservatory, presented in San Francisco and at Stanford Live. In February 2025, Simone released her highly acclaimed debut album ad tendo on Bright Shiny Things label, featuring pieces by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Reena Esmail, Andrew Norman, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber and Hildegard von Bingen. Simone Porter performs on a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona Italy on generous loan from The Master’s University, Santa Clarita, California.

Owen Dalby, violin

Praised as “dazzling” (The New York Times), “expert and versatile” (The New Yorker), and “a fearless and inquisitive violinist” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Owen Dalby leads a multifaceted life as soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and educator. From 2015–2024 he was a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, with whom he performed concerts worldwide and mentored generations of young artists. With SLSQ he has recorded acclaimed albums of music by Haydn and Korngold, and has been a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony, LA Philharmonic, and NHK Philharmonic. A Yale graduate and former Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect fellow, he is Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University and Co-Artistic Director of Noe Music in San Francisco, CA, which he leads with his wife, violist Meena Bhasin.

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola

Praised by Strad magazine as having “lyricism that stood out…a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines,” Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearances as soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, theTokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony in C, she 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, which was described in Strad as being “fleet and energetic…powerful and focused.”
Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the twice-Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008-2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Also during her tenure, the Dover Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her numerous awards also include First Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is now a member of the newly formed piano quartet “Espressivo!” along with acclaimed artists Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.