CATALYST QUARTET. Hailed by the New York Times at their Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Catalyst Quartet is comprised of top Laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players, Bryan Hernandez-Luch (violin), Karla Donehew-Perez (violin), Christopher Jenkins (viola), and Karlos Rodriguez (cello). The mission of the ensemble is to advance diversity in classical music and inspire new and young audiences with dynamic performances of repertoire by a wide range of composers. The Catalyst Quartet combines a serious commitment to diversity and education with a passion for contemporary works. In the summer of 2011, the Catalyst Quartet had the opportunity to study with the renowned Juilliard String Quartet in New York City. The quartet has held residencies both domestically and abroad, and serves as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at Oberlin College and Roosevelt University in Chicago. The Catalyst Quartet members are also visiting teaching artists at the Sphinx Preparatory Music Institute, hosted by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The Quartet maintains an active performing schedule and led the Sphinx Virtuosi on a national tour in the fall of 2011, which included a return to Carnegie Hall on October 12.

Their 2012 season includes performances at Teatro de Bellas Artes in Colombia and at venues throughout the United States, from Hawaii to Brooklyn, including the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and the Kennedy Center. The Catalyst Quartet proudly endorses Pirastro strings. www.pirastro.com

RAVEN CHACON, composer, originally from Chinle, AZ on the Navajo reservation, is one of the few American Indian composers working in the world today. His work ranges from quiet, almost silent music for classical chamber instruments and ensembles to solo deafening performances for noise devices created by Chacon himself. His pieces and installations have been performed and exhibited in across U.S. as well as Europe, Canada and New Zealand. He has received commissions from the University of Mary Washington and the ERGO Ensemble. Chacon also is a member of the First Nations Composers Initiative, a collective of composers and musicians working to progress the education and works of young Native composers. He has also written essays on the subject of 'New Native Art' and contemporary American Indian art forms. As an educator, Chacon has taught courses in experimental art and performance at the University of New Mexico and annually he serves as Composer-in-Residence with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project, a month-long intensive course teaching composition to young Reservation students. The recently released full-length disc, Overheard Songs is available on Innova Recordings.

JOE DENINZON. Hailed by critics as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin” for his innovative style on the electric seven-string violin and his compositions combining jazz and rock with Gypsy influences, Joe Deninzon is a musician who transcends genres. He has worked with Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, Phoebe Snow, Everclear, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, and Les Paul among many others. He has also performed as a solo electric violinist with the New York City Ballet for Richard Einhorn’s “Red Angels.” and has performed, co-written, and musically directed the Broadway show “Spider Dance” with percussionist Alessandra Belloni. Joe is the lead singer and violinist for the band, Stratospheerius (www.stratospheerius.com), who have released five CD’s to international acclaim, and were named “Best Jam Band” in the Musician’s Atlas Independent Music Awards. He can be heard on over a hundred CD’s and jingles as a violinist and string arranger. A 12-time BMI Jazz Composer’s grant recipient and a winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, his original music has been featured on CMT, MTV VH1, Comedy Central, National Geographic, the Travel Channel, the History Channel, and most recently, the Will Ferrell/Adam McKay-produced film “Virginity Hit.” Joe has released a CD with his Acoustic Jazz Trio featuring guitarist Steve Benson and bassist Bob Bowen, entitled “Exuberance”. He is also a member of the Sweet Plantain String Quartet, which combines classical, jazz, hip-hop, and Latin styles. As an educator, Joe has taught rock violin at Mark O’Connor’s String Camp and Mark Wood’s Rock Orchestra Camp, and made repeated appearances performing with Robert Bonfiglio at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where he co-founded the Grand Canyon School of Rock. He has just written a book on electric violin techniques for Mel Bay Publications, entitled “Plugging In.” Joe holds bachelor’s degrees in violin performance and jazz violin from Indiana University, and a master’s degree in jazz/commercial violin from Manhattan School of Music.
www.joedeninzon.com
www.stratospheerius.com
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KIRK DOUGHERTY, tenor. Kirk Dougherty performs in opera, operetta, and in concert with companies throughout the United States, including Tri-Cities Opera of Binghamton, NY, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, North Shore Music Festival, Opéra Louisiane, where he sang the title role in Gounod’s Faust, the New York City Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Greenwich Choral Society, Manhattan Concert Productions, Loon Opera, The Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, Bronx Opera, Mercury Opera Rochester, Central City Opera, Opera Saratoga, Helena Symphony, Missouri Civic Orchestra, Rochester Bach Festival, Cortland Choral Arts Union, and the Delaware Valley Opera, among many others.

Recent performances include Hoffmann (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Alfredo (La Traviata), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Nemorino (L'Elisir d'Amore), and Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte) with Tri-Cities Opera. He returned to Tri-City Opera as guest artist in 2011-12 performing Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor).

Upcoming performances include the role of Pinkerton at Loon Opera’s Madama Butterfly, Tamino in Salt Marsh Opera’s The Magic Flute, Don José in Duluth Festival Opera’s production of La tragédie de Carmen, and he will perform the role of Joseph Treat in Anchorage Opera’s production of Victoria Bond’s new opera, Mrs. President, about suffragist Victoria Woodhull.

Originally from Sleepy Hollow, NY, Kirk Dougherty received the Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance and the Performer’s Certificate in Voice from the Eastman School of Music. www.kirkdougherty.com

ETHEL. Described as “indefatigable and eclectic” (The New York Times) and “vital and brilliant” (The New Yorker), the string quartet ETHEL continues to be a pacesetter of post-classical music. Formed in 1998, the New York City-based ETHEL comprises Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones (violin) and Tema Watstein (violin). ETHEL performs adventurous music by celebrated contemporary composers such as Julia Wolfe, Phil Kline, David Lang, John King, Raz Mesinai, John Zorn, Steve Reich, Kenji Bunch, JacobTV, Don Byron, Marcelo Zarvos, Evan Ziporyn and Mary Ellen Childs.

Upcoming highlights for the 2012-13 season include: a concert tour of the Netherlands; a week-long workshop/performance of “ETHEL’s Documerica” at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory; and nationwide tours of “Tell Me Something Good” with rock icon Todd Rundgren, of “Music of the Sun” with Native American flutist Robert Mirabal, and of “And Other Stories...” with guitarist Kaki King. ETHEL currently serves as the Ensemble-in-Residence at the Grand Canyon Music Festival as part of the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project, and as the official house band of TEDxManhattan.

A founding member of ETHEL, Ralph Farris (Artistic Director, Viola) is a Grammy-nominated arranger, an original Broadway orchestra member of The Lion King and former musical director for The Who’s Roger Daltrey. He has worked with Leonard Bernstein, Martin Scorsese, Depeche Mode, Natalie Merchant, Harry Connick Jr., Allen Ginsberg, Yo-Yo Ma and Gorillaz. A graduate of Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Ralph earned his Bachelor’s and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School.

A founding member of ETHEL, Dorothy Lawson (Artistic Director, Cello) has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the White Oak Dance Project, Philharmonia Virtuosi, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and numerous new music ensembles. Canadian-born, she completed degrees at the University of Toronto, the Vienna Academy and The Juilliard School. She teaches in the Preparatory Division of Mannes College at the New School in New York City.

KIP JONES, violin, is known for his ebullient and innovative solo performances in a style he describes as “experimental folk”. A modern musical troubadour, he’s performed in a range of eclectic venues that include a veranda packed with Bangladeshi migrant laborers in Kolkata, Aerostich’s Very Boring Motorcycle Rally, Tirana’s Jordan Nisja School of Music, and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. A native of Minnesota, Kip earned his degree in Violin Performance from the Berklee College of Music.

TEMA WATSTEIN, violin, is an active soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Hailed for her “sweeping and bristling” sound by the New York Times, she has performed with the Metropolis Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, Argento Ensemble, Tanglewood’s New Fromm Quartet, to name a few. She served most recently as the violinist in Gabriel Kahane's February House at the Public Theater. An alum of Rice University and graduate of MSM's Contemporary Performance Program, Tema is equally home whether playing Ligeti in concert or improvising in a field.

CLARE HOFFMAN, flute. Co-founder and artistic director of the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Clare Hoffman has toured the United States, Europe and Asia, performing in a variety of settings from major concert halls to an ancient ampitheatre on the Greek island of Rhodes. Recent engagements include the Berkshire Bach Society (Tanglewood), Bang on a Can Festival (Lincoln Center), Cutting Edge (New York City, Victoria Bond, director), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra (Lincoln Center's Great Performers series), Scandia Symphony, and Bronx Arts Ensemble. She has premiered works by John Corigliano, Seymour Barab, Brent Michael Davids, Arnold Black and Richard Einhorn and recorded for television, film, and RCA and High Harmony Records. Ms. Hoffman's 2001-2002 season included working with Music Givers, an organization founded by musicians after September 11, 2001, to offer their talents to the relief efforts in the New York City area. Under her guidance, the Grand Canyon Music Festival has been presenting critically acclaimed musicians and outreach education programs to schools in northern Arizona’s rural areas, primarily schools and communities on the Hopi and Navajo Nations, for 28 years, and received funding and recognition from diverse organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, WESTAF, and The Nina Mason Pulliam, Flinn, Compton, ASCAP, and APS Foundations. She is a dedicated advocate for the arts and has worked throughout the United States with students from diverse backgrounds, from inner-city schools in places like Los Angeles and New York City to farming communities in Iowa and Native American communities in Arizona. Her education projects for the Grand Canyon Music Festival include an arts curriculum for fifth graders that integrates music and visual arts with core subjects, developed with Arts Vision and Bank Street College of Education, and the Native American Composer Apprentice Project (NACAP) with composers-in-residence Raven Chacon and Trevor Reed, which was recognized by First Lady Michelle Obama and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. She taught at the Turtle Bay Music School in New York City where she developed curriculum for the Flute Certificate Program, and is currently on the faculty of Concordia College Conservatory in Westchester, New York. She studied at the Mannes College of Music with Andrew Lolya, at L'École d'Été in France with legendary French flutists Jean-Pierre Rampal and Alain Marion, and with Samuel Baron and Julius Baker.

CABIRIA JACOBSEN, mezzo-soprano. Cabiria Jacobsen was recently praised as “A revelation” by the Broome Arts Mirror, and as “one to watch as her career ascends,” for her performance in the role of Dorabella/Cosi fan tutte at Tri-Cities Opera.  A finalist in the 2012 Liederkranz Competition, Cabiria won the Ilene D. Kaplan award in the Connecticut Opera Guild's annual scholarship competition, and was an Encouragement Grant winner in the Career Bridges Foundation Competition in 2011. This past summer, Cabiria sang the role of Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro at Opera North, where the Classical Voice of New England called her performance "exquisite," and "intoxicatingly understated, yet believably endearing."  Opera News described her January 2012 performance of Angelica in Vaughan Williams' The Poisoned Kiss as "by turns saucy, exasperated, and man-hungry, exhibiting a wonderfully limber physicality." 

Cabiria will join Virginia Opera as an Emerging Artist for their 2012 - 2013 season. As a Resident Artist at Tri-Cities Opera, she performed the roles of Nicklausse/Les contes d'Hoffman and Cherubino/Le nozze di Figaro on the mainstage, as well as Hansel/Hansel and Gretel; La Ciesca/Gianni Schicchi; and Mom and Grandma/Little Red Riding Hood in their chamber opera and outreach series.  In the summer of 2010, Cabiria covered the role of Siebel/Faust at Opera New Jersey, under the direction of Mark Flint. 

A proud native of Brooklyn, NY, Cabiria began singing at a young age with the New York City Opera Children’s Chorus, and attended the Boston University Tanglewood Institute the summer before her senior year at the Bronx High School of Science.  At Northwestern University, Cabiria continued to pursue both opera and theater, graduating in 2006 with bachelor's degrees in voice as well as drama.  She subsequently moved to Boston, where she performed with the Lowell House Opera and OperaHub, a company she co-founded in 2007.  The South End News described her performance of Carmen’s arias for an OperaHub performance as “fascinating and coquettish.” Cabiria joined the Resident Artist Training Program at Tri-Cities Opera in 2009, and entered the University program with a full scholarship and teaching assistantship at Binghamton University. She graduated in June 2011 with an Master of Music in Opera, and returned to the University as a soloist in their November 2011 performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah.  

JON KLIBONOFF, piano. Jon Klibonoff has appeared as orchestra soloist, solo recitalist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and abroad. His numerous awards include the Silver Medal of the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, the Affiliate Artists Xerox Pianists Award, the Pro Musicis Foundation Award, First Prize at the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, The Concert Artists Guild Competition, and a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In the 2009-2010 season, Mr. Klibonoff performed Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Virginia Symphony, and Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic. He has recorded Philip Glass's Sonata for violin and piano (2008) and works by Bach, Schubert and Ravel with violinist Maria Bachmann for their 5th recital album Glass Heart, which was released in 2010 on the Orange Mountain Music label. They performed the New York and West Coast premieres of the Glass Sonata in the 2009-10 season. Previous recital cds with Ms. Bachmann include The Red Violin for Endeavour Classics/Allegro, Fratres and Kiss on Wood for BMG/Catalyst, and Rochberg and Beethoven Sonatas for The Connoisseur Society Label. Their CD Fratres was reissued on Sony/RCA Red Seal in 2005.

Mr. Klibonoff has performed as guest artist with numerous chamber groups, including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Shanghai, Miami and Lark String Quartets. For three seasons he was artist-in-residence for the “On Air” radio series produced by WQXR classical radio in New York City. Mr. Klibonoff has been heard in recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and the National Gallery and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

He has collaborated with many instrumentalists including flutist Carol Wincenc, clarinetist David Shifrin and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. His orchestral engagements include the Baltimore, Utah, Buffalo, Denver and North Carolina Symphonies. A graduate of the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Klibonoff is on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

BLAIR QUAMAHONGNEWA, NACAP composer-in-residence. A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Mr. Quamahongnewa has taught music at Tuba City High School and Hopi High School. He is an accomplished guitarist, performing throughout the northern Arizona, and has studied jazz at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He has been involved with NACAP since its beginning, and is currently teaching music at Tuba City Boarding School.

TREVOR REED, NACAP composer-in-residence. A native of Seattle, Washington, Trevor Reed began his involvement with music as a double bassist. He received first prize in the Washington State Solo Competition for three consecutive years, and later as a finalist in the All American Music Festival solo competition. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in composition from Brigham Young University. He recently completed his Masters Degree in Arts Administration Columbia University's Teacher's College and has been accepted into Columbia University's Doctoral Program.. Among Reed's achievements in composition are first prize in the Vera Hinckley MayHew Composition Competition and a grant from the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration to produce a new work for orchestra. A tribute to his Hopi culture, the orchestral piece marked an important milestone in Reed's goal of incorporating indigenous elements into concert music. Reed is currently Research Coordinator at the Research Center for Arts and Culture, where his team is conducting the first national study of living American composers.