05-05-10
Anna Reinersman
Anna Reinersman, harpist, began her harp studies at the age of 7, holding her first position as Principal Harp for the Rocky Mountain Symphony in Utah at the age of 14. Praised by The New York Times as “an elegant harpist”, she performs extensively throughout New York and Boston. Ms. Reinersman was the harpist for the entire run of the Broadway smash hit “The Producers”, and can be heard on the recently released “Finian’s Rainbow” cast album. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Mostly Mozart Music Festival, and has toured the country with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. She maintains an active career as a chamber musician with the Locrian Chamber Players, a contemporary ensemble, and the Chameleon Arts Ensemble, a Boston based chamber group. Comfortable in a variety of musical settings, she has performed with such contemporary pop artists as Joni Mitchell, Diana Krall, Alicia Keyes, and the indie band Hem. Ms. Reinersman is also cofounder and Artistic Director of the Carolina Chamber Music Festival, and can be heard on the soundtrack of the recent “The Producers” movie.
05-05-10
Jonathan Faiman
A multiple ASCAP award winner, Jonathan Faiman was described in The New York Times as “a pianist with the kind of technique that affords remarkable clarity even in the speediest lines.”
Critically acclaimed, his solo CD, Hie Up The Mountain, has been called “a major contribution to the available body of music by the generation now making its mark in American music”.
He is a member of the Locrian Chamber Players and The Actors Company Theatre and was a featured pianist and composer and the executive producer of TACT’s CD, Play On: Music for The Actors Company Theatre.
Mr. Faiman is also the pianist and co-producer of Jane Eyre, a new CD of music by Nils Vigeland.
Mr. Faiman has been commissioned byIan Hobson and the Sinfonia da Camera, the Coastal Carolina Chamber Music Festival, Michael Shapiro and theChappaqua Orchestra, Locrian Chamber Players, the Mirage Theatre Company, and Michael Mao Dance.
Mr. Faiman made his orchestral conducting debut with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has performed concertos, solo recitals, and chamber music concerts with The Ambrosia Trio and other musicians throughout North America and in Israel. In New York City, Mr. Faiman has performed extensively in most major halls, including Avery Fisher, Florence Gould, Merkin, Miller Theatre, Symphony Space, and Weill/Carnegie Recital Hall. He is also much sought-after in the world of Jewish music and has performed in synagogues throughout North America.
Mr. Faiman received his Doctorate from Manhattan School of Music as a student of Leon Fleisher. He has taught at Concordia College, the Preparatory Division of Manhattan School of Music, and Bloomingdale School of Music.
05-05-10
Diva Goodfriend-Koven
Diva Goodfriend-Koven, flute and piccolo, has performed worldwide with major orchestras, and as a soloist and chamber music recitalist. As one of New York City’s most versatile and busy musicians, she appears regularly as an Associate Musician with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (for more than twenty-five years), the New York Philharmonic, and is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, as well as the Locrian Chamber Ensemble. She has appeared as a soloist in the U.S. and abroad with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Symphonic Ensemble. She has toured the U.S. with the Borealis Wind Quintet, and the Ragdale Ensemble. She has toured both internationally and in the U.S. with the Metropolitan Opera. She has backed up Dianna Krall, Willie Nelson, Lena Horne, John Legend, and Lucianno Pavarotti among other popular stars. She has completed nineteen seasons with the Bard College Music Festival, played Principal Flute for one season with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, two seasons of the Lake George Opera Co., and one season of the Boulder, Colorado Music Festival. In-addition to her busy performing schedule, she is an experienced and enthusiastic teacher, and has given master classes at the Manhattan School of Music, Carnegie Mellon University, Montclair State, and the Mannes School of Music. Recently, in three successive years, her students have won the Young Concert Artists International competion, being awarded solo recitals at Weil-Carnegie Hall.
Diva can also be seen and/or heard on presentations of “Live From Lincoln Center”, the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcasts and video presentations, as well as numerous other recordings (DGG, Sony Classics, Vanguard, Pro Arte) and feature film scores. She is a former student of Julius Baker.
Diva makes her home in NYC with her teenage son Muir, her music-loving partner Michael, and two cats and a dog.
05-05-10
Greg Hesselink
Greg Hesselink leads an eclectic musical life as a chamber musician, soloist, teacher and promoter of new music. In addition to being an original member of Locrian, he is a member of the Naumburg winning New Millennium Ensemble, Sequitur, Newband (caretakers of the Harry Partch instrument collection) and is principal cello of the Riverside Symphony. A former member of New York Philomusica, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, and the Bang on a Can “Spit” Orchestra, he has also performed with many other established ensembles including Speculum Musicae, New York New Music Ensemble, Da Capo Chamber Players, Argento, the Group for Contemporary Music, the Flux Quartet, the American Symphony Chamber Players, and with the dance companies of Cedar Lake, Mark Morris, Merce Cunningham and Nai Ni Chen. Performance venues include the Lincoln Center Chamber Society, Library of Congress, Donaueschinger Musiktage (Germany), Spoleto (Italy), Salihara Festival (Indonesia), Music for Museums (Ireland) and other festivals throughout north America, Europe and Asia. Greg has premiered numerous works including concertos by James Tenney (on the tenor violin) Ross Bauer and Daniel Weymouth. An active teacher, he has taught at Sarah Lawrence and Priceton, and is currently on the faculty of Mannes pre-college, while teaching at Apple Hill in the summers. Each summer he is also a regular participant at Monadnock Music. Recordings can be heard on CRI, Nonesuch, Bridge, Koch, Albany, Wergo, Innova, PPI and Point Records.
05-05-10
Daniel Panner
Daniel Panner enjoys a varied career as a performer and teacher. As violist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, he concertized extensively throughout the United States and Israel. He has performed at music festivals in Marlboro, Tanglewood and Aspen and has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri and Juilliard String Quartets. As a member of the Whitman String Quartet, Panner received the 1998 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and served as teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet for two years. He currently teaches at the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, SUNY Stony Brook and the Queens College Conservatory of Music. He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he has taken part in numerous tours with Musicians from Marlboro and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Panner has been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” both as soloist and chamber musician. He has served as the principal violist of such orchestras as the New York City Opera and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. An active performer of new music, he is a member of Sequitur and the Locrian Ensemble and has performed as guest with such new-music groups as Speculum Musicae, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and Transit Circle. Mr. Panner studied with Jesse Levine at Yale University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. He continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Joseph dePasquale, the Juilliard School with Samuel Rhodes, and the City University of New York with Daniel Phillips.
05-05-10
Conrad Harris
Violinist Conrad Harris has performed new works for violin at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and New York’s Sonic Boom Festival. In addition to being a member of the FLUX Quartet, he is concertmaster/soloist with the S.E.M. Orchestra, Ostravská Banda, and STX Ensemble. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Elliot Sharp, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, and Tiny Tim. A solo CD featuring premiers by Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, Robert Ashley, and Gordon Mumma will soon be released on Mode Records. He has also recorded for Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, and Vinyl Retentive Records.
05-05-10
Calvin Wiersma
Calvin Wiersma, violinist, has appeared throughout the world as a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed numerous solo recitals, including appearances in Boston, New York, and Chicago, and has appeared with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, The Concerto Company of Boston, and the Lawrence Symphony, among others. In addition to his current membership with the Manhattan String Quartet, he was a founding member of the Meliora Quartet, winner of the Naumburg, Fischoff, Coleman, and Cleveland Quartet competitions, and the Quartet-in-Residence of the Spoleto Festivals of the U.S., Italy, and Australia, and was also a founding member of the Figaro Trio.
In addition to his worldwide touring with the MSQ, Mr. Wiersma has been heard at numerous summer Chamber Music Festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and the Vancouver, Rockport, Bard, Portland, Crested Butte, North Country, Central Vermont,New Hope, Interlochen, Prairie School, An Appalachian Summer, Cape May, and Music Mountain Festivals to name but a few. Former member of New York Philomusica, and frequent performer at Bargemusic, he has also performed with the Da Camera Society of Houston, the Brandenburg All Stars in sold out performances in New York City, the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, The Festival Chamber Music Society, The Chamber Music Society of New Hope, the Carnegie Chamber Players, and Close Encounters with Music.
Mr. Wiersma’s wide range of musical activities have recently involved an international tour soloing with Kathleen Battle, national and international tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, appearances at the Berkshire Bach Festival performing the complete Brandenburg concertos, and concerts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with flutist Paula Robison. His recently completed recordings include Jacob Druckman’s Third String Quartet for Philomusica, a recording of Elliott Carter’s Syringa, Swan Song by Milton Babbitt, a recording of chamber music of Nils Vigeland, and an album of Chamber Music of Stephen Foster with Ms. Robison for Telarc.
A noted performer of contemporary music, Mr. Wiersma is a member of Cygnus, the Lochrian Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared with Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, Parnassus, Ensemble Sospeso, and the New York New Music Ensemble. He has recently completed European tours with Steve Reich and Ensemble 21, and has been featured in solo performances for the International League of Composers of Music.
Mr. Wiersma was the creator of the Music program and initial Music Department chair at the Bard High School Early College, an innovative New York City Public School for gifted students, and has been a music education coordinator for the American Symphony Orchestra.
An active teacher as well as performer, Mr. Wiersma is an Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at the Purchase Conservatory of Music, and has been on the faculties of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, Florida State University, Brandeis University, the New England Conservatory, and the Longy School of Music. He has conducted clinics and master classes throughout the world, and has been an artist in residence at numerous institutions, including Middlebury College, Colgate University, the California Summer Arts Program, the Smolny Institute in Moscow, Russia, and the Institute for Chamber Music in Khiryat Shemona, Israel.
04-23-10
EMILY WONG, piano
Award-winning composer/pianist Emily Wong began her professional career as a pianist, now dividing her time between performing, composing and teaching. As a pianist, she was a 1st Prize winner of the Hodges International Concerto Competition, the Schubert Competition, and has won numerous other awards as both a soloist and chamber musician. She has gone on to champion the works of many living composers including her own, and has been highly praised for her interpretations of contemporary as well as traditional piano literature. Critics have portrayed her playing as passionate, enthralling, brilliant, and refined. The New York Times characterized her performances as “clean and rhythmically charged” and “played beautifully”, while Phil Collins of the Santa Cruz Sentinel wrote “She swept through the work with a magic wand … the dazzle was in itself splendid.”
Ms. Wong has appeared often with such orchestras as the San Francisco Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Continuum, American Composers Orchestra, and the Stamford Symphony. She has performed on the New York Philharmonic Chamber Series, and in the Summer Garden Series at the New York Museum of Modern Art. An active chamber musician, she has appeared in concert with such artists as Nadia Solerno-Sonnenberg, Mark O’Connor, Ani Kavafien, Philip Glass, and members of the Tokyo String Quartet.
Ms Wong’s own music engenders genuine and enthusiastic responses from audiences of all ages. Performances are inevitably followed by requests for scores and recordings. Her performance of Circle Dance for solo piano in recital at UCSC triggered a request from conductor Marin Alsop for an orchestral piece. Waves and Raves was a result of that inquiry, dedicated to Ms. Alsop, Consequently, Ms. Wong received a commission for a large-scale work from the Concordia Orchestra in New York, for which she wrote her Symphony #1/Structures III, previewed in at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and premiered by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, receiving critical support for both performances.
Performances of Ms. Wong’s works have been heard at the Moab Music Festival, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, by The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Chappaqua Orchestra, and such groups as the Locrian Chamber Players, MusicArts Ensemble, The Concert Artists of Chappaqua and the Ragdale Ensemble, and members of the Grand Rapids Symphony. Ms. Wong recently completed her chamber opera, Romeo e Giulietta, commissioned by the International Opera Theater and premiered in Citta della Pieve, Italy. She concurrently finished a composition for solo harp commissioned by harpist Amy Berger, and a Concerto for Alto Saxophone for Eric Thomas at Colby College. She is currently working on a Concerto for Harpsichord, commissioned by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Wong most recently joined the staff at American Ballet Theater as pianist.