Performers

Marta Brankovich was born in Belgrade, Serbia. She was only 21 years old when she graduated from the University of Belgrade, as the youngest student with the highest GPA in her class. During her studies she received numerous international and domestic awards, scholarships, and public recognition, including a special honorary scholarship from her country for building an outstanding career in the United States.

Called “enchanting” by the Boston Globe, flutist Sarah Brady is sought after across the country as a soloist, chamber musician, and master teacher. An avid promoter of new music, she has premiered and recorded new music from many of today’s top composers. Recent projects have included premieres of new solo flute and electronic music from Elena Ruehr, Andy Vores, Marti Epstein, Reinaldo Moya and John Mallia, and Curtis Hughes, as well as music for flute and strings from Marcos Balter, Nicholas Vines, and Johnathan Bailey Holland. Her solo, chamber, and over 50 orchestral recordings can be heard on the Albany, Naxos, Oxingale, Cantaloupe and BMOP/Sound music labels. As a leading interpreter of contemporary music, she was invited to read and record new music commissioned by Yo Yo Ma for his Silk Road Project at Tanglewood.

Shudong Braamse has appeared on stages in Canada, Italy, Austria, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Latvia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. She has premiered a number of vocal works, including Gary Nash’s cycle Peace, Love and Prosperity premiered in Nashville in 2010, and Michael Bulychev-Okser’s Spanish art song Romance de la Luna premiered in 2014 in Tallinn, Estonia.

An active soloist and chamber musician, American pianist Kate Boyd has performed solo recitals at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schubert’s birth house in Vienna, the National Concert Hall in Dublin, the Musikhalle Hamburg, in addition to many places throughout the US, Greece, Ireland and Canada. As a faculty member at Butler University, she has appeared as a soloist with each of the University’s large ensembles in performances ranging from Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

Thomas Bowes is one of the United Kingdom’s finest violinists. He is very active in the realm of cinema, and millions have heard him on the soundtracks of his 200+ film credits. Most recently he was featured as the solo violinist in Alexandre Desplat’s score for Guillermo del Toro’s award-winning stop-motion film Pinocchio.

Praised for her “beautifully full and lyrically strong tone” by Gramophone Magazine, Meredith Blecha-Wells is a sought-after performer and instructor. She has played throughout much of the United States, as well as Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia. Currently based in Oklahoma City, Blecha-Wells performs regularly with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble.

Tucker Biddlecombe (Ph.D.) is Director of Choral Activities at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music. There he conducts the Vanderbilt Chorale, and Symphonic Choir, and teaches courses in Choral Conducting and Music Education. He also serves as Director of the Nashville Symphony Chorus, the offcial vocal arm of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Biddlecombe is a veteran teacher and a passionate advocate for music education. Ensembles under his direction have performed to acclaim at state and division conventions of ACDA, and he is active as a guest conductor. A native of Buffalo New York, Biddlecombe is a graduate of SUNY Pots dam and Florida State University, where he completed doctoral studies in choral conducting and music education with André Thomas. He resides in Nashville, TN with his wife Mary Biddlecombe, Artistic Director of the Blair Children’s Chorus.

Yuriy Bekker, critically-acclaimed violinist and conductor, has been a mainstay of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in Charleston SC for 15 years. He has recently been named the CSO’s artistic director and also continues to lead as concertmaster (2007) and principal pops conductor (2016). Bekker previously served as the orchestra’s Acting Artistic Director from 2010–2014, playing a major role in the orchestra’s successful resurgence.

Described by NPR's Ron Schachter as "a musical Lewis and Clark, opening up new musical territories," Duo Cello e Basso “unites passion with elegance” (Boston Globe). Cellist/composer Emmanuel Feldman and double bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman partner to perform repertoire ranging from Bartok, Mozart, and Rossini to Feldman, Pinkham, and Schnittke. With more than 20 commissions and premiers to their credit, the duo creates dynamic programming that surprises and energizes audiences.

Edwin Barker is recognized as one of the most gifted bassists on the American concert scene. Barker graduated with Honors from the New England Conservatory of Music and immediately joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, before being appointed, at age 22, to the position of Principal Bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has held that position for nearly 50 years. Barker’s primary teachers were Peter Mecurio and Henry Portnoi.

The United States Army Field Band of Washington DC is the U.S. Army’s premier touring musical organization, traveling throughout the country and internationally to connect the American people to their Army and to represent the nation around the world. Members of the Army Field Band can be seen each year performing for the nationally televised “A Capitol Fourth,” the National Memorial Day Concert, and every four years leading the Army Element of the Presidential Inaugural Parade.

Hailed by Gramophone for her “characterful sparkle,” Jasmin Arakawa has performed widely in North America, Central and South America, Europe, China, and Japan. A prizewinner of the Jean Françaix International Music Competition, she has been heard at Carnegie Hall, Salle Gaveau in Paris, and Victoria Hall in Geneva, as well as in broadcasts of the BBC and Radio France. Arakawa is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Florida. She is a graduate of Indiana University (D.M., M.M.) and Tokyo University of the Arts (B.M.).

Aaron Haas and Anastasia Malliaras of Duo Apollon perform art song repertoire for voice and classical guitar. With grace, poise, and fearless expressivity, they bring new life to repertoire originally written for voice and piano, and showcase song cycles rarely heard written specifically for the voice and guitar ensemble. The pair met while studying music at the University of Southern California and began by performing The Divan of Moses ibn Ezra by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. After playing a number of recitals at the University, they began to branch out and play at various venues throughout Los Angeles.

Coro Allegro, Boston's acclaimed chorus for members and friends of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, seek to affirm, strengthen, and enrich the lives of its members and the broader community through the presentation of outstanding performances of choral music. Coro Allegro performances have been broadcast on WGBH's "Classical Performances" and brought to national and international audiences through performances at four GALA Choruses Festivals and the Eastern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association.

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan in 1989 and immigrating to Israel at a young age, Israeli violinist and recording artist Boris Abramov has established himself as a virtuosic soloist and chamber musician, performing across the world with several chamber ensembles and orchestras. Boris is the recipient of several awards and prizes; including the National Winner of the 2008 MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Competition for strings in Denver CO and was awarded a special prize at the 2009 Pablo de Sarasate International Competition in Pamplona, Spain.