LiveWire and Meeting of Minds

Musiqa

Musiqa celebrates the creative arts through performances highlighting contemporary concert music from living composers paired with literature, film, theater, art, dance, and other contemporary art forms. Since its founding in 2002, Musiqa has performed the works of more than 300 living composers, including over 80 world premieres. Musiqa commissions multiple new works every year and has collaborated with hundreds of dancers, actors, poets, filmmakers, and other artists from Houston and beyond. Musiqa has provided educational programs for tens of thousands of young people, and been recognized nationally for its cutting-edge programs, twice receiving the CMA/ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award.

musiqa.org

Evie Chen

Evie Chen began her violin studies under the guidance of Jenny Rudin in Palo Alto CA. She made her solo debut with the Fremont Symphony Orchestra at age 8 after winning the Nafisa Taghioff Award in the FSO’s 2000 Young Artists Competition. Since then, she has garnered accolades at numerous competitions, performing concertos and solo works with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, California Youth Symphony, Eastman Philharmonia, the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Nanki Chugh

Nanki Chugh, an Indian-American violinist from Southern California, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in violin performance with Paul Kantor at Rice University. She received a B.S. degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University in 2022, and was the concertmistress during Yale Symphony Orchestra’s Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 seasons. Passionate about the intersection of music, art, and science, and its impact on education, therapy, and society, Chugh studies the effects of collaborative music-making on the brain at Rice University and the University of Houston, and performed Dr. Anthony Brandt’s Meeting of Minds at the 2024 “AI for Good” Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. This season, Chugh looks forward to continuing her fellowship as a DACAMERA Young Artist, premiering new works with Musiqa to share music with the Houston community, and staging a musical adaptation of her own children’s book Symba and the Lobster with Harris County Public Libraries.

Astrid Nakamura

Originally from Toronto, Astrid Nakamura maintains an expansive performing career as a chamber, solo, and orchestral violinist. She has been part of a diverse array of ensembles across North America, such as the Houston Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Musiqa Kinetic Ensemble, the Da Camera Young Artists Program, and Ensemble Urbain. Nakamura has been privileged to perform alongside members of the Doric and Jupiter quartets, and has had summer fellowships at festivals such as Yellow Barn and Music Academy of the West.

Jacob Schafer

Jacob Schafer is a multifaceted violinist dedicated to compelling and thoughtful performances of works old and new. Based in Houston TX, he is a core member of Loop38 and Kinetic Ensemble and regularly performs with the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, and Grand Opera Orchestras, Bach Society, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, and Musiqa. Recent performances include world premieres by Steven Banks, Martha Callison Horst, and Du Yun; and collaborations with Renée Fleming, Anthony McGill, and Seth Parker Woods; and chamber music concerts in Leipzig, Germany, and Rome, Italy. Festival appearances have included Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Norfolk New Music Workshop, Sarasota Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center.

Sebastian Stefanovic

Born and raised in Baltimore, violist Sebastian Stefanovic has been a member of the Florida Orchestra since 2022 and is based in Tampa Bay. A passionate advocate for new music and the expansion of the viola repertoire, he has commissioned, premiered, and recorded a variety of solo and ensemble works, including the winning composition of the American Viola Society’s Gardner Prize. He also performs with and curates concerts for the conductorless string ensemble Kinetic. As an educator, he helped found and co-leads a summer program for beginning middle school string players in conjunction with the Florida Orchestra’s education department. In addition to teaching orchestral masterclasses and sectionals, he is the music director of the Pinellas Youth Philharmonic. Stefanovic holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he was a student of Ivo-Jan van der Werff.

Molly Wise

Recognized by the Darius Milhaud Foundation for possessing “unusual creativity and expression,” Molly Wise is a violist who uses performance to inspire and educate audiences. She performs extensively throughout Houston with classical and contemporary organizations including Musiqa, Kinetic Ensemble, and more, as well as across the United States and Canada. Recent highlights include her professional recital debut with duo partner, pianist James Palmer, at the Steinway Selection Center in downtown Houston; the world-premiere performance of MEKONG: Soul at the Kennedy Center with the Apollo Chamber Players and Vân Ánh Võ; and a fellowship for the second year in a row at Toronto Summer Music. Wise was a featured lecture-recitalist at the 2024 American Viola Society Festival in Los Angeles, and she also enjoyed two years on the Young Artist roster of DACAMERA Houston. Wise is currently a Doctor of Musical Arts student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

mollywiseviola.com

Bree Ahern

Cellist Bree Ahern is a versatile solo and chamber musician committed to building community through performing, teaching, and collaborating across art forms. She currently performs with Kinetic Ensemble, a conductor-less chamber orchestra committed to performing diverse, under-represented and newly composed classical music, and Monarch Chamber Players, an ensemble dedicated to bringing classical music into accessible, unconventional community spaces.

Christopher Ellis

Born in Ireland, cellist Christopher Ellis has been described as “a rapidly rising cello star” (The Irish Times). Holding degrees from Conservatoire Nationale Supérieure de Musique et Danse Paris and Rice University, he currently resides in Houston TX. Ellis enjoys an active performing schedule, playing with groups such as Loop38, Musiqa, Kinetic Ensemble, and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. As a Da Camera Young Artist, he performs regularly throughout Houston, while engaging with the Houston community in musical visits to public schools.