Mackenzie Melemed, piano

Recipient of the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant, pianist Mackenzie Melemed’s international career continues to flourish.  Winner of Juilliard’s 2019 Leo B. Ruiz Carnegie Hall Recital Prize and 2018 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, as well as many others, he was also a laureate of the 2021 American Pianists Awards.  Melemed, a Steinway Artist, performs in recital and solo orchestral engagements throughout North America and Finland.  Melemed graduated from The Juilliard School with both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees.

Ryan Roberts, oboe

Ryan Roberts is the English horn/oboist of the New York Philharmonic. He has performed with many of the country’s leading orchestras and was previously a member of the New World Symphony.  A passionate teacher, Ryan serves on the oboe faculty at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. As a Kovner Fellow graduate of The Juilliard School, Ryan Roberts appeared frequently as principal oboe of the Juilliard Orchestra.

Yoobin Son, flute

Flutist Yoobin Son became a member of the New York Philharmonic in November 2012, the first Korean to join the Orchestra’s woodwind section. She has also served as principal flute of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and principal flute of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.  Yoobin Son received her bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, master of music degree from Yale University, and professional studies certificate and artist diploma from the Manhattan School of Music.

Graeme Steele Johnson, clarinet

Praised for his “elegant and rounded sound” (Albany Times Union), Graeme Steele Johnson is an artist of uncommon imagination and versatility. His diverse artistic endeavors range from a TEDx talk comparing Mozart and Seinfeld, to his reconstruction of a forgotten 125-year-old work by Charles Martin Loeffler, to performances of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in its original form on an elongated clarinet that he commissioned.  Since 2022, Johnson has served as the clarinetist of the award-winning quintet WindSync.

Bee Ungar, bassoon

Radovan Vlatković, French horn

One of the leading instrumentalists of his generation, Radovan Vlatković has travelled the globe performing extensively as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher.  Among his many prestigious appointments, he has served as Principal Horn with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin (now Deutsches Symphonie Orchester), as well as previously serving on faculty at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Since 2000 he has held the Horn Chair “Canon” at the Queen Sofia School in Madrid.

Luri Lee, violin

Assistant Principal Second Violin of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Luri Lee’s playing is “spotlessly clean and with never a routine phrase” (The Calgary Herald). She has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia as a soloist and chamber musician.  As a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, she received Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition and numerous others.

Barry Shiffman, viola

Artistic director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival and classical music at Rockport Music, internationally acclaimed violinist and violist Barry Shiffman is well-respected as a musician, educator and administrator. He was co-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ), and currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He also serves as Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Nicholas Canellakis, cello

Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, praised as a “superb young soloist” (The New Yorker).  A multifaceted artist, Canellakis has forged a unique voice combining his talents as soloist, chamber musician, curator, filmmaker and composer/arranger.  In addition to being an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he is also the artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona. He is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and New England Conservatory.

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