Artist Biographies

Delores Stevens, piano

Delores Stevens’ distinguished musical career began, alongside her longtime associate Caroline Worthington, with the Montagnana Trio which enjoyed wide acclaim in North America, Asia and Europe. Ms. Stevens, recognized as a leading piano soloist on the West Coast with an extraordinarily wide repertoire which ranges from Mozart to Mel Powell, performed solo concerts on tour in Japan and Spain. Ms. Stevens performs also with such chamber music ensembles as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the L.A. Philharmonic, the New Music Group and at the Ojai Festivals. Ms. Stevens is a Trustee of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and a Director of Chamber Music for the Young Musicians’ Foundation. She directs the chamber music program at Mount St. Mary’s College and is Head of the Piano Department at California State University Dominquez Hills. Well-known for her advocacy of contemporary composers, Ms. Stevens’ CD release "Pilgrimage", beautifully captures the piano works of five of these composers. Ms. Stevens performed last fall in a series of concerts in Queensland, Australia with other distinguished international artists on the invitation of the Second World Indigenous Pathways Conference. Members of the conference included The Honorable Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile, Premier of Africa’s Eastern Cape, who represented Nelson Mandela. Earlier this year Ms. Stevens gave the premier performance of Ninne Scah, a piano concerto composed for her by Maria Newman (who composed the MVCMS commissioned work Chilmark). Ninne Scah, a river in Kansas, was commissioned by the Delores Wunsch Stevens New Music Foundation at the University of Kansas in honor of Ms. Stevens.

Paul Stevens, French horn

Paul Stevens is Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Kansas, where he performs as a member of the Kansas Brass Quintet and the Kansas Woodwinds. The KBQ recently appeared on NPR with their "Musicke fit for a King or Queene" and plans to release a new CD in the spring of 2000. Mr. Stevens is also principal of the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra and plays extra with the Kansas City Symphony.

Dr. Stevens recently completed his DMA at UCLA under Richard Todd and Brian O’Connor. He still maintains an active performing schedule in the Southern California area. He is a member of the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, and principal horn of the Orange County-based Mozart Classical Orchestra. Last year, the Los Angeles Times called his solo performance with the MCO "…a finely detailed, elegant performance of Haydn’s Concerto, sailing over technical hurdles with an assurance marked by unfailing intonation and pristine ornamentation in all registers…" In addition, Paul has appeared with the Los Angeles Opera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Joffrey Ballet, the San Diego Opera, the Long Beach Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Camerata Pacifica and on ‘Star Trek’, ‘Jag’, and other films and television scores.

Nationally, Dr. Stevens has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the American Ballet Theatre and the San Francisco, Houston and Oregon Symphonies. In the summers he is a Featured Artist of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and a permanent member of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society. Other festivals have included Apple Hill, Oregon Bach, Mozart in Monterey, La Jolla, Fairbanks (AL) and the Da Camera Society (Los Angeles).

Humbert Lucarelli, oboe

Oboist Humbert J. Lucarelli has distinguished himself as one of America’s foremost musicians. He has been hailed as "America’s leading oboe recitalist" (The New York Times), and The New York Daily News notes that he "has proven his preeminence among oboists today." Mr. Lucarelli has performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Japan, Australia and Asia. He has been featured as a performer and teacher in numerous music festivals including Angel Fire, Aspen, Chautauqua, Marblehead, Martha’s vineyard, Music Mountain, Newport, Victoria International, and Festival De Artes De Itu, as well as the Puebla, both in Brazil.

Mr. Lucarelli’s wide range of musical activities has included performances with the American Symphony Orchestra, I Solisti Veneti, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, London’s Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square, The Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Orquestra Sinphonica Do Estado De Sao Paulo and the Philharmonia Virtuosi. Concerts with the original Bach Aria Group, the Trio Bell’ Arte, the American, Amernet, Audubon, Chester, Colorado, Emerson, Leontovich, Manhattan, Muir, Panocha and Philadelphia string quartets have brought a vast new audience to the oboe. Of his performance with I Solisti Veneti, Allen Hughes of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Lucarelli is a true virtuoso on the oboe."

As an orchestral performer, Mr. Lucarelli has performed and recorded with some of the world’s leading conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Fiedler, Kiril Kondrashin, Josef Krips, James Levine, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Artur Rodzinsky, Sir Georg Solti, Leopold Stokowski and Igor Stravinsky.

Mr. Lucarelli has recorded John Corigliano’s Oboe Concerto for RCA Victor, which was written for and premiered by him, with the American Symphony Orchestra, to a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall. This recording has been re-released on BMG Classics and cited by The New York Times as one of the "Twenty-Five Best Recordings of Contemporary Music since 1945." Mr. Lucarelli has also recorded extensively with Koch International, Lyrichord, MCA Classics, Musical Heritage Society, Pantheon and Stradivari. His recorded repertoire ranges form Baksa, Bax, Bliss, Britten, Debussy, Hindemith, Leclair, Lefebre, Mozart, Poulenc, Rameau, Saint-Saens, Strauss, Telemann, Vaughan Williams to Wolf-Ferrari.

Mr. Lucarelli is Professor of Oboe at The Hartt School in West Hartford, Connecticut. He is the recipient of a Solo Recitalists Fellowship, consortium commissioning, and Music Recording grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jean Danton, soprano

Jean Danton’s distinguished career has allowed her to explore a wide range of musical styles - from the baroque to the contemporary. She has performed extensively throughout the United States in recitals, oratorio and opera. She has appeared as a soloist with the Handel and Haydn Society under Christopher Hogwood, Oregon Bach Festival conducted by Helmuth Rilling, Boston Baroque with Martin Pearlman, and the Boston Pops led by Bruce Hangen. Her many festival appearances include engagements at the Carmel Bach Festival, Winter Park Bach Festival, Breckenridge Music Festival, New York Bach Aria Festival, Bar Harbor Music Festival, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Ms. Danton made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Handel’s Messiah with the Masterwork Chorus and her Lincoln Center debut at Avery Fisher Hall with the National Chorale. Recent engagements include Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with the Nashua Symphony and Viennese operetta with the North Carolina Symphony under Gerhardt Zimmermann.

Ms. Danton’s operatic performances include roles in Le Nozze di Figaro with Boston Baroque, Monteverdi’s Orfeo with Andrew Parrott at the Boston Early Music Festival and Gianni Schicchi with the Greater Buffalo Opera Company. Her stage roles include Polly in Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera under Craig Smith at the American Repertory Treatre, Belinda in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Miss Silverpeal in Mozart’s The Impresario, Polly in John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, and Quiteria in the U. S. premiere of Telemann’s Don Quixote with the Boston Classical Orchestra under Harry Ellis Dickson.

Ms. Canton enjoys an active career as a recitalist with highlights including New York solo recitals for the Trinity Church Concert Series and the Twentieth Century Music Series at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, Carmel Bach Festival, Bar Harbor Music Festival, Yale Center for British Art and the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society. As a strong promoter of American music she has premiered works by composers Sharon Davis, Thomas Stumpf and William Moylan.

An active recording artist, Ms. Danton has recorded several CD’s for Albany Records including Songs of Innocence (chamber music of Argento, Cooke and Moylan), newly released American Dreamer (American songs of the 19th and 20th centuries) and Origins (new music of William Moylan). She can also be heard on the PBS documentaries The Nobel Legacy and Apollo 13 - To the Edge and Back and Mary Magdalen for lifetime. Ms. Danton was recently chosen for the Massachusetts Touring Roster for opera and solo concert work.

Roger Wilkie, violin

Roger Wilkie’s playing has been described as having "surpassing virtuosity, a thrilling legato tone, and a sense of full emotional engagement" by the Los Angeles Times. Concertmaster of the Long Beach Symphony, Mr. Wilkie has also held that position with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, and the round Top Festival Orchestra of Texas.

Roger Wilkie has appeared as soloist with many orchestras including the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He has given solo recitals for the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art/KUSC-FM broadcasts, Swiss National Radio and NPR’s "Performance Today."

Mr. Wilkie’s chamber music performances have included the Santa Fe, La Jolla, and Mainly Mozart Music Festivals, and the Camerata Pacifica of which he is the principal violinist. As a founding member of the Angeles String Quartet (1987-1993) he toured throughout North America including New York’s 92nd Street Y and recorded an interactive CD/video disc for the Voyager Co. Mr. Wilkie appears on the California Arts Council Touring Roster.

David Niwa, violin

Violinist David Niwa’s extensive performing career has included feature appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute, the Oak Park Symphony, the Chicago Youth Symphony, as well as recitals in the Corcoran Gallery, the Terrace Theatre of the Kennedy Center, the Cloitre des Jacobins, and Landgraf. Since 1990, he has been featured regularly as soloist with the New York Symphonic Ensemble throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. He appeared annually with the Chamber Orchestra of the Palisades and the Plainfield, NJ Symphony, where he also served as concertmaster.

An active chamber musician, his engagements include concerts with The Lighthouse Chamber Players, the Roycroft Chamber Players, and the Niwa Duo (formed with his sister Gail) and appearances as guest artist at Summer Chamber Music at URI. Previously he has performed in Reno, Miami, New York City, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nice. In 1987 and ’88 he was the invited guest artist-in-residence at the Festival de la Gesse in southwestern France.

A native Chicagoan, Mr. Niwa began his studies at the age of five. While under the tutelage of his father, Raymond Niwa, he was awarded top prizes in all five divisions of the prestigious Society of American Musicians Competition. He was a three-time winner of the ISMTA competition, a winner of the St. Paul Musical Arts Competition, and was awarded scholarships by the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation. In 1982, Mr. Niwa was a prizewinner in the NFAA Recognition and Talent Search, and a finalist in the 17-General Motors National Concerto Competition. In 1985 he made his live national TV debut with Tchaikovsky Concerto on NBC. Mr. Niwa currently serves as assistant concertmaster of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Niwa holds degrees from the Curtis Institute and the Juilliard School, where his teachers were Aaron Rosand and Szymon Goldberg, respectively. His other mentors include Nathan Milstein, Henryk Szeryng, Lorand Fenyves, Robert Mann, Samuel Rhodes and Felix Galimir.

He enjoys cooking and eating, and is an avid tennis player.

Mary Ruth Ray, viola

Mary Ruth Ray is an internationally known performer who has received critical acclaim throughout the United States, Europe and Russia. As violist of the Lydian String Quartet, she has been awarded prizes at competitions in France, England and Canada, and is a 1984 winner of the Naumberg Award for Excellence in Chamber Music, resulting in debuts at Carnegie hall, Alice Tully Hall and the Library of Congress. An active soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Ray has performed as guest artist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Bard Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva, and Juneau Jazz and Classics, and was invited to present a featured concert/demonstration of the Bach Cello Suites for the 13th International Viola Congress.

As member and soloist with Emmanuel Music in Boston, Ms. Ray has performed the complete cycle of sacred cantatas (numbering well over two hundred) by J. S. Bach as well as chamber music of Debussy, Brahms and Schubert on its acclaimed "encyclopedic exploration of great composers" series. She is a recording artist with CRI, Nonesuch, Centaur, Harmonia Mundi and New World Records. Ms. Ray has been an Artist-in-Residence on the faculty of Brandeis University since 1980, teaching viola and chamber music, and is Director of the Performance Program at Brandeis.

Charles Veal, Jr., violin

The astonishing musical range of Charles Veal, Jr., reflects a multifaceted talent which was recognized early in his career. While he was still a student at the University of Southern California he was invited by Jascha Heifetz to join a very select master class. Mr. Veal’s career has included violin and viola performance; he is a conductor, a singer, performs piano and saxophone and has participated in almost every aspect of musicianship. His extensive credits include violin soloist under Neville Marriner’s direction, soloist with Rudolph Nureyev and Friends from Paris and with the Bolshoi Ballet in their American debut. He has performed frequently with the Academy Awards Orchestra and on Henry Mancini’s television tribute to Duke Ellington under Quincy Jones’s direction. Mr. Veal founded Spectrum Productions, which produces concerts of classical, jazz and popular music as well as live theater and art exhibitions, the proceeds of which go to furthering the musical education of young people. Last year Mr. Veal toured Australia performing for the indigenous people and appearing before the Nelson Mandela Delegation, along with Delores Stevens. Charles Veal can be seen, and heard, in the just released and highly acclaimed film with Meryl Streep "Music of the Heart".

Eugene Kim, ’cello

Eugene Kim holds the Morris Black chair as the principal cellist of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Formerly he served as principal cellist of the Harvard Bach Society, the Aspen Concert Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Philharmonic, acting as solo cellist under Pinchas Zuckerman, Sergiu Commissiona, and James DePriest. Mr. Kim was music director of The American Repertory Theater production "Song of the Nightingale." He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Laurence Lesser, Andres Diaz, Colin Carr and Carter Brey. Mr. Kim is on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, the New England Conservatory Extension Division, and the Concord Community Music School in New Hampshire.

Wernel Dickel, violin

Werner Dickel, violin, was principal violist and soloist with the Camerata Academica in Salzburg where he studied with Sandor Vegh. Mr. Dickel subsequently toured widely for seven years as a member of Europe’s Ensemble Modern, introducing works of many leading contemporary composers. He was also a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Ensemble Innovacion, in Cologne and is a member of the Prometheus Ensemble, based in Brussels, Last year he recorded the A Major and c minor Brahms Piano Quartets with Prometheus (due out this fall) as well as the Ligeti Horn Trio. He is a professor at the Hochschule Für Musik in Wuppertal, where he lives with this wife, Lila Brown, and their son, Lennie.

Lila Brown, viola

Lila Brown, viola, is co-founder and co-artistic director of Music From Salem. After three years with the Boston Symphony in the 1980’s, she became principal violist of the Camerata Academica in Salzburg, where she had studied with its conductor, Sandor Vegh. After moving to Germany in 1992, she joined the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt, with which she toured extensively for six years. Ms. Brown has taught international master seminars in Sweden, Germany and Austria, and since 1997 has been a professor of music at the Hochschule Für Musik in Dortmund, Germany.

Kari Ravnan, ’cello

Kari Ravnan is presently Principal Cellist of the Norwegian Opera Orchestra in Norway, and member of the Oslo Sinfonietta and Borealis Ensemble in Oslo. After graduating from the Eastman School of Music with Performer’s Certificate, she studied with Pierre Fournier in Geneva, William Pleeth in London and Sandor Vegh in Salzburg. In addition to regular tours as a recitalist of the Mid-West, USA, and solo recitals in Washington, D. C. and at the Bergen International Festival, she has appeared as soloist with several European and American orchestras, including the Aspen Philharmonia, Aldeburgh Festival Orchestra and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. As a member of the Zennor String Trio, "Music from Marlboro" and the Koening Ensemble, she has toured throughout Europe, the Soviet Union and the United States. The Borealis Ensemble’s CD of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and the second string Quartet was nominated for the Norwegian "Spellemannspris" in 1995. A frequent participant in the music festivals at Aspen, Marlboro, Aldeburgh and Prussia Cove, she is the recipient of many awards and honors. She was chosen the winner of the 1985 Washington International Competition in ’Cello and made her solo debut in Washington, D. C. She was principal cellist of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra from 1984 to 1989 and of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra form 1992 to 1997.

Miwako Watanabe, violin

Miwako Watanabe, violinist, is a graduate of the Toho Conservatory of Music, Tokyo, and has won numerous national music awards in Japan. She received a Fulbright grant to study with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and has extended her training with Sandor Vegh in Europe, where she was active in solo and chamber music performances.

Ms. Watanabe was a member of and frequent soloist with the Munich Bach Orchestra under Karl Richter, and of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Since 1972, she had been a member of the Sequoia String Quartet, a winner of the 1976 Walter Naumberg Chamber Music Award, making concert tours of the United States, the Far East, Europe, and Australia. The Sequoia Quartet recorded for Delos, Nonesuch, and Sheffield records.

In 1986, Miwako Watanabe joined cellist Bonnie Hampton and pianist Nathan Schwartz as the New Francesco Trio making its debut at Chamber Music West in San Francisco. During the recent season, their concert appearances included the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Chevron Museum Concerts in San Francisco, the Chamber Music at the Historical Sites series in Los Angeles, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. The Francesco Trio is the winner of 1988 commissioning grants from Chamber Music America and Meet the Composer Reader’s Digest Commissioning Programs in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Miwako Watanabe has also been active in Japan as a member of the Mito Chamber Orchestra and the Saito Kinen Orchestra appearing in concerts, recordings and festivals. In Los Angeles, she appears regularly as the concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay and is also invited to perform chamber music with the Pacific Serenade, the South Bay Chamber Music series and Chamber Music Palisades.

Sheryl Staples, violin

Sheryl Staples, violinist, has performed as soloist with over forty orchestras nationwide including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Albany Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic. On January 2, 1999 Ms. Staples made her New York solo debut at Avery Fisher Hall with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic in the Tchaikovsky Concerto, for which the New York Times wrote: "She is a perceptive musician, who plays with great rhythmic integrity and a lucid sense of phrase structure….she draws a wonderful array of vibrant and luminous colors….interpretive honesty and unmannered elegance."

Ms. Staples is currently the Principal Associate Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, a position she began in September of 1998. She is also on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. In the summer of 2000 Ms. Staples joined the faculty of the Bowdoin Music Festival.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Staples has participated in the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Tucson and Seattle Chamber Music Festivals, and she has been a faculty artist at the Sarasota Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. In the New York area she performs with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, and as a guest with ensembles such as the Mainly Music Series. She appears on three Sterophile compact discs with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
At the age of 26, Ms. Staples was appointed the Associate Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, a position she held for three years. In addition, she was a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Encore School for Strings, and Kent/Blossom Music Festival, and she was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio. Previously, in Southern California, she was Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony and the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and held faculty positions at the University of Southern California and the Colburn School of Performing Arts.

Native of Los Angeles, Sheryl was a W. M. Keck Scholar at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, a young Musicians Foundation Scholar, and a scholarship student at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, spending summers at Encore School for Strings. She then earned an Artist Diploma from the University of Southern California. Her principal teacher was Robert Lipsett, and her ensemble mentor was Heiichiro Ohyama.

Ms. Staples performs on the "Kartman" Guarnerius del Gesu, c. 1720, on loan from the Mandell Collection of Southern California.

Barry Centanni, percussion

Barry Centanni performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, serving as principal percussionist and assistant timpanist. He can be heard on recordings for Sony, Music Masters, Telarc, and Deutsche Grammophon. Other ensembles with which he has performed include the American Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Chamber Symphony, Concordia, American Composers Orchestra, New York Pops, Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and the Metropolitan Opera.

In the "pop" music field, Barry has appeared with such artists as: Sting, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, and most recently at Madison Square Garden with the heavy metal band Metallica.

A graduate of the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Centanni has been on the faculty of Columbia Teachers College and SUNY Purchase, and he presently teaches at the Mannes School of Music, New York University, The College of New Jersey, and Montclair State University.

St. Petersburg String Quartet

Alla Aranovskaya, first violin, Ilya Teplyakov, second violin, Aleksey Koptev, viola and Leonid Shukaev, ‘cello, formed their quartet in 1985 when they graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory. Although these four outstanding musicians have performed under several names — String Quartet of the Leningrad Conservatory Named after N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, the Leningrad String Quartet, and finally in 1991, the St. Petersburg String Quartet — they have the singular distinction of being an ensemble which remains intact in an unbroken pursuit of excellence. Since the outset they have won the First Prize or title Laureate in the most demanding competitions, first in their own country and then abroad. In 1989 the then Leningrad String Quartet won the Silver Medal and Special Prize in Tokyo in the International Competition of Chamber Ensembles. In the summer of that same year the Quartet visited the U. S. A. for the first time as Artists-in Residence at the Musicorda Festival and String Program in Massachusetts. Shortly after they entered the Vittorio Gui International competition for Chamber Ensembles in Florence, Italy and won the first Prize and both Special Prizes. In July 1991 the Quartet enjoyed another brilliant success in winning First Prize and the "Grand Prix Musica Viva" in the International Competition for Chamber Ensembles in Melbourne, Australia. Several grand tours followed in Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan, the Netherlands and again in the U. S. The political changes which took place in their native land at that time were responsible for the dramatic change of their name from the Leningrad String Quartet to the St. Petersburg String Quartet which, it appears, has the same enduring quality as the ensemble itself. The group has recorded the complete quartets of Tchaikovsky, Borodin Quartets and most of the Shostakovich Cycle for Sony Classical. They were nominated for a Grammy Award in ‘96 and chosen "Best Record of the Month" in Stereo Review. They have performed on the most prestigious series and festivals in the world, including Caramoor, Piccolo Spoleto and Music Mountain. The St. Petersburg Quartet spent the ‘97-’98 year as Quartet-in-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and most recently debuted at Wigmore Hall in London, performed in Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa, appeared on Lincoln Center’s "Great Performances" series and at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

Abraham Appleman, violin

Abraham Appleman was born in Yokohama, Japan. He began his studies on the violin and the piano at the age of four. It was soon after this that his family moved to the Boston area leading to his debut, at fifteen years of age, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A full scholarship to study with Joseph Silverstein followed and later an invitation to be a fellow at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. Since then Mr. Appleman has had a many-faceted career as soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician. He is founding member of the chamber ensemble "Voce Intimae", and frequently tours Asia, Europe and Latin America. In New York, Mr. Appleman frequently performs with orchestras of the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Ballet. He is concertmaster of the Atlantic Classical Orchestra and during the summer plays with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Festival.

Nancy Wu, violin

Nancy Wu has served as the Associate Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 1989. Prior to joining the MET Orchestra Ms. Wu was principal second violin of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Wu’s early musical training took place in Los Angeles where she made her solo debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age thirteen. A graduate of Stanford University and the Vienna Hochschule fuer Musik under a Fulbright Grant, she has been a guest artist of the Linton Music Series in Cincinnati, the Manchester Music Festival and a frequent guest artist with MVCMS.

Carol Landon, viola

Carol Landon, violist, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, has been active as a performer, composer and arranger in New York and Los Angeles. She recently recorded with Jennifer Lopez and Natalie Cole. She has also recorded for Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, Branford Marsalis, Barbara Streisand, Dave Grusin, Michael Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa and for hundreds of films and jingles, including "You’ve Got Mail". In New York Ms. Landon has performed with New York City Opera, American Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonic Virtuosi, the Vienna Boys Choir and numerous Broadway shows, including "The King and I". She arranged and orchestrated a classical ballet pas de deux for the New Jersey Ballet and the Colorado Ballet and composed source cues for the films "Impulse", "Noble House" and "Divorce Wars". She made a video documentary of John Deak the performer/composer.

Ronald Arron, viola

Ronald Arron, violist, performs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and as principal violist with the Stamford Symphony and the New York Pops. He was a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1986 and a founding member of the Symphony String Trio of Cincinnati. Mr. Arron has performed as a member of the Richmond (Virginia) Symphony and the Florida Symphony and participates regularly in summer festivals, including the Santa Fe Opera, the Congress of Strings Faculty, Sun River Music Festival and the Garth Newel Chamber Music Festival. From 1966 to 1969 Ronald Arron was a member of the Army Strolling Strings in Washington, D. C., performing regularly at the White House. Mr. Arron, who holds a B. M. E. from Northwestern University, has been a faculty member at the Manhattan School of Music preparatory division since 1992.

Eufrosina Raileanu, viola

Eufrosina Raileanu has been on active chamber musician and soloist since she came to the United Stated in 1978 from her native Romania. A graduate of the Eastman and Juilliard Schools, where she earned her Master and Doctoral degrees, Ms. Raileanu has been top prize recipient in the Fischoff and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions. Her appearances include performances as guest artist with the Juilliard String Quartet on PBS, the Chelsea Chamber Ensemble, the Mendlessohn String Quartet, the Sea Cliff Chamber Players and in solo performances on radio stations WNCN and WQXR in New York City. Ms. Raileanu is presently principal violist of the New York City Opera Orchestra, a member of the Chelsea Chamber Ensemble, and tours and performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with whom she has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon. Eufrosina Raileanu is warmly familiar to Vineyard music lovers for her frequent appearances here with MVCMS.

Roy Malan, violin

Roy Malan is concertmaster and solo violinist of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and principal violinist of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Mr. Malan studied in London with Yehudi Menuhin and at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute, where his teachers were Ivan Galamian and Efrem Zimbalist. Since 1979 he has been on the faculty at the University of California as Santa Cruz. Mr. Malan is the founder and co-director of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival. He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and Australia, with acclaimed appearances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles, and Paris. The author of a biography of Efrem Zimbalist, Mr. Malan was bequeathed the great violinist’s collection of bows.

Gervase de Peyer, clarinet

Gervase de Peyer, long recognized as one of the world’s most brilliant clarinetists, was born into a musical family in London and, while still a student at the Royal College of Music received the medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He was a founding member of the Melos Ensemble in 1951 and joined the London Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinet in 1956. Acclaimed throughout England and Europe as a solo performer, Mr. de Peyer’s distinguished personal style of playing had a profound influence in establishing the clarinet as a popular instrument in the grand tradition. Gervase de Peyer has more than sixty recorded works to his credit, many of which received major international awards. In 1969 he was invited to join the newly created Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. For many years he has been a regular commuter between Europe and the United States, as a soloist or chamber musician with artists such as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Menuhin, Perlman and the Amadeus String Quartet. In the last few years he has added a new dimension to his career as a conductor. Mr. de Peyer has directed the London Symphony and the English Chamber Orchestras, the London Mozart Players and the Melos Sinfonia. In Italy he has regularly conducted the Collegium Musicum Orchestra of Rome, and has worked with many orchestras in Japan including the New Japan Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo. He performs frequently with the Melos Sinfonia in New York, with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and with his colleagues in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A gifted teacher, Gervase de Peyer’s masterclasses are much sought after.

Scott Woolweaver, viola

Scott Woolweaver’s distinguished career as violist began when he graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music, followed by his graduate work in Boston with Walter Trampler. He was a founding member of the Boston Composers String Quartet which won the silver medal in Osaka, Japan at the 1993 String Quartet and Chamber Music Festa. In 1985 Mr. Woolweaver was a founding member of Chamber Music East at the New England Conservatory and of the First Monday Series at Jordan Hall. He is violist of the award-winning New England Piano Quartette, the Boston Baroque, the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, and performs at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, CO, the Telluride Chamber Music Festival and at the Adult Chamber Music seminars at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine. Mr. Woolweaver has premiered numerous works for the viola, many of which were written for him. He toured Greece three times with Alea III, a contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University. He has been soloist and guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Cape and Islands Festival, Chamber Artists of Washington, DC, Collage New Music, the Bangor Symphony, Les Violons du Roy (Quebec), and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. He is a faculty member of the All Newton Music School, Tufts University and the University of Massachusetts (Boston). Mr. Woolweaver has recorded for Orion, Koch International, TelDec, Audioton, Albany Records, Decca and Northeastern Records. In January, he joined the Ives String Quartet in San Francisco.

Susan Greenberg, flute

Susan Greenberg enjoys a versatile career as a soloist and a chamber and orchestral performer. A member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, she has frequently performed solo flute and piccolo, appearing also as guest soloist with the San Francisco and Oakland Symphonies, at the Casals Festival, and was principal flutist of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra during their recent tour of Japan. Ms. Greenberg has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the L.A. Opera, the New York City Opera, the Joffrey Ballet and the Ojai Festival. Ms. Greenberg, a cum laude graduate of UCLA, has been on the faculties of the California Institute of the Arts and Occidental College. She received the "Most Valuable Player Award" for flute from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, and can be heard on Crystal, Orion and Angel labels. Her many film and television performances include Star Trek, The Lion King, True Lies and On Golden Pond.

Michael Grego, clarinet

Michael Grego is currently a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and principal clarinetist of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and Asia America Symphony Orchestra. He performs regularly with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Winds, Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Long Beach Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Mr. Grego also performs with the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the Camerata Pacifica, Pasadena Symphony Opera Pacific Orchestra and the California E. A. R. Unit. Mr. Grego has performed throughout the United States and Japan, Europe, Canada, and South America, and as guest artist at many prestigious festivals including Ojai Festival with Pierre Boulez and the L. A. Philharmonic New Music Group and the California E. A. R. Unit, the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the Berlin Festwochen, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and with the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society. Mr. Grego holds a Doctorate in Clarinet Performance from the University of Southern California where his principal teachers were Mitchell Lune, Christie Lundquist and David Shifrin. He is on the faculty at Cal State Fullerton and Chapman University. In the Los Angeles Times Mr. Grego’s playing was described as spinning "...phrases in an unflagging legato line, couched in sound that never rasped at any dynamic level."

Gerard Reuter, oboe

Oboist Gerard Reuter, a recipient of the prestigious Pro Musicis International Award, has enjoyed a distinguished solo career touring the United States, Europe, India and Africa. His guest performances at the music festivals in this country include Caramoor, Marlboro, La Jolla, Round Top and the Chamber Music Festival of the Library of Congress. In Europe he has performed at the Flanders Festival, the Dartington Festival in England and the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove. He has appeared as soloist with the Jupiter Symphony and Philharmonia Virtuosi in New York, the National Chamber Orchestra in Washington, DC, the Soviet Emigre Orchestra and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, of which he was a founding member. Also active as a chamber musician, Mr. Reuter is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and was a founding member of the ensemble An die Musik. He has performed as guest with many ensembles including the Colorado String Quartet, Composers String Quartet, DaVinci Quartet, Aspen Wind Quintet, American Chamber Players, New York Philomusica and I Flamminghi in Belgium. Mr. Reuter has been heard on major radio stations throughout this country and in Europe and has been recorded in concert for worldwide broadcast on The Voice of America. He has recorded for Sony, New World, Telarc, Columbia, BMG-Catalyst, Dorian, Summit and Musical Heritage Society. Mr. Reuter studied at the Juilliard School with Lois Wann and at the Royal College of Music in London. He is on the faculties of New York University and Sarah Lawrence College.

Judith Farmer, bassoon

Judith Farmer is principal bassoonist of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, lecturer for bassoon at the University of Southern California and on the faculty at Cal State University, Northridge. She has enjoyed a rich and varied career as an orchestra and chamber musician, soloist and teacher. She received her education at Indiana University and then went of to the Hochschule fuer Musik in Vienna studying under Karl Oehlberger and Mordechai Rechtman. From 1984 to 1996 she was principal bassoonist of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra and toured regularly with the Camerata Academica of Salzburg appearing also as a soloist at the Salzburg Festival in Vienna, and in Moscow and Odessa (in the former Soviet Union) Ms. Farmer has performed in chamber music festivals at Prussia Cove, Martha’s Vineyard and La Jolla. For the 1995-1996 season she held the position of visiting professor at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Graz, Austria. In 1996 Ms. Farmer moved to Los Angeles and since then has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera Company, the Long Beach Symphony, and performs regularly for major motion film productions. Ms. Farmer’s frequent collaborations with composers has resulted in her performance on many new works written expressly for her. Her recordings as a soloist and chamber musician are available on Albany and Ex-House Records.

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