Artists

Praised as “strikingly original” (NY Times) and “new voice from whom we will surely be hearing more” (LA Times), Kamala Sankaram writes highly theatrical music that defies categorization. Recent commissions include the Glimmerglass Festival, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Shakespeare Theatre Company, and Opera on Tap, among others. Awards, grants and residencies include: Jonathan Larson Award, NEA ArtWorks, MAP Fund, Opera America, NY IT Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical, the Civilians, HERE, the MacDowell Colony, and the Watermill Center. Known for her work with emerging technologies, her recent genre-defying hit Looking at You (with collaborators Rob Handel and Kristin Marting) featured live data mining of the audience and a chorus of 25 singing tablet computers.

When honoring him with its Goddard Lieberson Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters noted that “A rare economy of means and a strain of religious mysticism distinguish the music of James Primosch… Through articulate, transparent textures, he creates a wide range of musical emotion.”

Vertex Duo, comprised of Jeremy Chan (piano) and Kristin Gornstein (mezzo-soprano), bring the perspective of multiple cultures, backgrounds, and musical aesthetics to their work, sharing a love for freshness and improvisation in classical music. They have performed together in recitals at Seiji Ozawa Hall, Caramoor Center for the Arts, and the DiMenna Center in New York City. Chan and Gornstein met performing the works of William Bolcom, and this shared focus on performing the works of living composers has brought them to their current project, a recording of contemporary songs exploring the ways in which we find joy through sorrow. Featuring a newly commissioned song set by Pulitzer Prize-nominated composer Alex Weiser as well as works by Kamala Sankaram, Annika Socolofsky, James Primosch, Max Johnson, and Robert Balaguer, the album is entitled JOY TOO, and will be released on Navona Records in 2024.

Celebrated for his stunning musicianship and dazzling stage presence, American pianist Brian Woods has emerged as an exciting performer of international acclaim. His 2023-2024 Season included concert tours across the United States, including performances for the L'ermitage Foundation (Los Angeles CA), the Dana Center for the Arts at Saint Anselm College (Manchester NH), Connect2Culture (Joplin MO), the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts (Madisonville KY), the Keokuk Concert Association (Keokuk IA), the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh PA), and more. Woods is also honored to serve as Music Director for Classical Programming at the World Chess Hall of Fame, one of the premier venues for chamber music in Missouri.

Berklee professor and pianist Jennifer Elowsky-Fox has performed for many years in Boston, where her exciting performances have brought audiences to their feet. Her playing has been described in print as “buoyant,” “fun,” and “gorgeous in all respects.” A devoted friend to her contemporaries, she has championed composers and engaged fellow musicians with whom she has performed.

Described by noted American composer Libby Larsen as “fearless on stage,” saxophonist Dr. Stephen Page has garnered international prominence as one of today’s leading saxophonists. Page has concertized across five continents, in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Canary Islands, and throughout the United States.

Nermis Mieses is the Associate Professor of Oboe at Michigan State University and faculty at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. As a versatile performer of oboe literature from the Baroque period to the 21st century, she has earned accolades at the prestigious Barbirolli International Oboe Competition, the First International Oboe Competition in Santa Catarina, Brazil, the Matthew Ruggiero International Woodwind Competition, and the Ann Arbor Society for Musical Arts Young Artist Competition. 

South Korean-born pianist Hyewon Chang’s musical journey has seen her grace stages of international renown, including the Weill Concert Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich, and the historic birthplace of Franz Joseph Haydn in Rohrau, Austria. Additionally, her performances have resonated through Rolston Hall at the Banff Centre and across numerous venues in America, captivating audiences with her profound musicality and technical prowess.

Hailing from the vibrant heart of Rio de Janeiro, Eliane Rodrigues emerged early on as a musical prodigy, her innate talent blossoming in the colorful tapestry of Brazilian culture. Her exceptional capabilities were first nurtured by Helena Gallo and subsequently honed under the guidance of Arnaldo Estrella, a student of the renowned Alfred Cortot and Yves Nat.

As a symphony orchestra founded in 1935 under the auspices of the Belgian public broadcaster, unveiling the symphonic world as best we can is deep in our DNA. By innovating while maintaining full respect for the value of the past, we keep the symphonic music of the past, present and future relevant and inspiring — for ourselves and all of society. We do this from the historic Studio 4 at Flagey in Brussels, together with our musical director Kazushi Ono: he shares our open and adventurous spirit and our rock-solid belief in the need for cross-fertilization between art, life and society.

Described as “one of the finest pianists of his generation…a consummate musician” by Fanfare, Clipper Erickson has dedicated much of his long career to bringing new works to life. An enthusiastic musical explorer, he has also championed lesser-known works of the past. Erickson made his debut at age 19 in Los Angeles as soloist with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra, followed by studies at The Juilliard School, Yale University, and Indiana University. While at Indiana, Clipper trained with the great British pianist John Ogdon, whose dedication to the performance of new music and lesser-known works of the past inspired Clipper to follow in his footsteps.

Laurie Altman was born in 1944 and raised in New York City. He attended the Mannes College of Music in New York where he majored in composition and studied most notably with William Sydeman and Lester Trimble. Altman has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the Mason Gross Fellowship, a Lincoln Center Composers Forum Award, a Woodrow Wilson Composers residency Fellowship, and a University Professors Citation of Excellence from Tufts University in Boston. A Resident Composer at Westminster Choir College/Rider University in Princeton NJ for many years, Altman in addition pursued an extensive career as a performing jazz pianist with his quintet in New York City, and other venues including clubs and festivals in Russia, Helsinki, and Germany. Since moving to Switzerland in 2010, he has had two European premieres at the Musikverein in Vienna, as well as performances in Zurich.

Pianist Russell Hirshfield has received critical acclaim for his original and powerful interpretive insights across a wide repertoire. He has performed in recitals regularly throughout the world, giving concerts across the United States, Brazil, China, Belgium, England, Serbia, Costa Rica, and South Africa, including recent performances at the Sheldonian Theater and Holywell Music Room in Oxford, and the Royal Flemish Academy in Brussels. His latest solo recording, ALEXANDER SCRIABIN: EARLY WORKS (Navona Records, 2020) has been programed in radio broadcasts in at least 20 countries. It features a brilliant program of Scriabin’s earlier, and lesser-known, works for solo piano.

Dr. Dan Goble currently serves as the director of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance at Colorado State University in Fort Collins CO and was previously the Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury CT. An arts administrator who is also an active performer, Goble performed with the New York Philharmonic for over 19 years, and was featured with the orchestra as the saxophone soloist on Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Ravel’s Bolero, among other works. In addition to the New York Philharmonic, Goble has performed with the New York City Ballet, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Mariinsky Orchestra, the New York Saxophone Quartet, and the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet.

Since the Benda Quartet began performing in 2012 they have achieved a wide variety of musical successes and established themselves among highly respected Czech ensembles. Their first significant landmark was the concert debut they performed at the 60th Jubilee of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra in Ostrava in April 2014. The concert was recorded by Czech Radio and garnered a huge audience acclaim. Since then has the collaboration with the studio of Czech Radio continued on regular basis and resulted in a number of publicly appreciated recordings. The Benda Quartet have worked intensively together with the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra and artist management agency Janáčkův Máj on numerous chamber music and educational projects.

Yoko Hagino was born and raised in Japan, where she began her piano studies at the age of 4. As a child, she performed her own compositions, which took her to Europe and the United States, including performances as a concert soloist with the Czech Symphony, the University of Southern California Symphony, Kyoto City Symphony, and Ensemble Orchestra Kanazawa. Hagino has appeared as a soloist with Osaka Century Orchestra, UMass Boston Chamber Orchestra, Key West Symphony Orchestra, White Rabbit Sinfonietta, and has also performed various piano recitals ranging from the music of Bach to contemporary repertoire. Hagino is a prize winner of the Steinway Society Piano Competition, the First International Chamber Music Competition, the All-Japan Selective Competition of the International Mozart Competition, and Chamber Music Competition of Japan.

Clarinetist Rane Moore is well-regarded for her thoughtful, provocative interpretations of standard and contemporary repertoire. Fiercely devoted to the new music communities of the East Coast and beyond, Moore is a founding member of the New York based Talea Ensemble which regularly gives premieres of new works at major venues and festivals around the world. Moore has recently joined the award winning wind quintet, The City of Tomorrow, and is also a member of Boston’s Callithumpian Consort and Sound Icon.

The Arts Fuse lauds de la Guardia’s sound as “lovely, natural” and “as clear and powerful as grain alcohol.” As an active soprano vocalist, Aliana de la Guardia has garnered acclaim for her “dazzling flights of virtuosity” (Gramophone) in “vocally fearless” performances that are “fizzing with theatrical commitment” (The Boston Globe). A graduate of the Boston Conservatory and consummate interpreter of new classical concert repertoire, she has enjoyed collaborations with many ensembles featuring today’s most eminent composers including “Scenes from a Novel” and “Kafka Fragments” with violinist Gabriela Diaz by György Kurtág, “Aspen Suite” by Salvatore Sciarrino,“Nenia: the Death of Orpheus” by Harrison Birtwistle conducted by Jeffery Means, and the world premiere of “Earth Songs” by Ronald Perrera with New England Philharmonic, among others.

Lawrence Kenneth “Larry” Moss was born Nov. 18, 1927 in Los Angeles CA, died June 24, 2022 at his home in Silver Spring MD. Even as a small child, Moss was a gifted musician and eager student who loved listening and learning. He was torn between chemistry and music, but eventually chose music, studying first at Pomona College, receiving a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles and a M.A. at Eastman School of Music and a Ph.d. from University of Southern California. He taught Music at Yale University and University of Maryland and received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Fulbright Scholarship, and four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Sandrine Erdely-Sayo, pianist, composer, and artistic director of Piano on the Rocks International Festival began piano studies at the age 4 and has won numerous prizes across a career that began in Perpignan, France. She continued her musical studies with Denyse Rivière in Paris and with Christian Manen at the Paris Superior Conservatory where she received first prize for specialization in music theory. There, she pursued special studies in harmony, counterpoint, and fugue. At 14 she wrote Three Pieces for Chamber Orchestra that were played at the Chatelet Theater in Paris.