Artists Biographies
Our Artist's Biographies
MICHAEL BEGAY
A Diné performer/educator/composer of Chamber Music, Experimental Sound, Native American Flute, and Metal music, Michael Begay is a guitarist and bassist, but also plays piano, and various instruments both Native American and orchestral.
A graduate of the Grand Canyon Music Festival’s Native American Composer’s Apprentice Project (NACAP), Mr. Begay has studied under both Native and nonnative American Composers: Brent Michael Davids (Mohican), David Mallamud, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw), Libby Larson, Raven Chacon (Diné), and Oscar Bettison.
Originally based on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona, Michael moved to Baltimore, Maryland, after being accepted to The Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute of Music, to further his studies in music composition. Michael Begay has studied music composition in the studio of Oscar Bettison at Peabody and is currently working on various compositions ranging from Chamber Music, Film, Electronic Ensemble, Solo and Orchestral works.
Recent activities include: Co-Composer and Music Director for Documentary, “Navajo Police – Class 57” due for release on HBO MAX; Composer for the documentary, “Look For Me” soon to be released at Sundance Film Festival; Experimental Improvisation album released, “Dark Red Skies” Michael Begay/Thollem McDonnas; 2023 Fall Concertia HTX Houston Texas, Sound installation; 2023 Fall Premiere of new commissioned work for Chatter in Albuquerque, NM.
He was a Native Arts and Cultures Foundation 2021 Shift Award recipient, alongside Raven Chacon. He has been a NACAP composer-in-residence since 2006.
STEPHEN BENSON
SAGE BOND
She studied composition with Raven Chacon and Michael Begay. She is a graduate of Northern Arizona University where she studied composition with Bruce Reiprich. A guitarist, singer-songwriter, and composer of concert music, she has written for Arizona Opera’s “The Stories We Tell,” NAU’s Horizon’s Concerts, and film music. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in March 2023. She also appeared in the 2022 Whitney Biennial, part of a Raven Chacon installation.
She came on board as a Native American Composer Apprentice Project teaching composer in spring 2025.
ROBERT BONFIGLIO
MARK BERMAN
Pianist, composer, producer, conductor, music director and arranger, Mark Berman has performed with Aretha Franklin, Blood Sweat & Tears, Carole King, Gladys Knight, Hugh Jackman, Ben E King, Jackie McLean, Buster Poindexter, Leslie Gore, Richie Havens, Helen Reddy, Jennifer Holliday, Phil Ramone, Chita Rivera, Phoebe Snow, and Eartha Kitt. His piano and keyboard playing can be heard on the theme of the HBO series “Sex and the City.” He has also written music for “Nurse Jackie,” and a variety of network daytime series. On Broadway, he conducted Rent, Smokey Joe’s Cafe and played lead piano in the orchestras of Hairspray, Dreamgirls, Jesus Christ Superstar, 42nd Street, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and others. He has performed in jazz clubs around the world including The Blue Note, Rainbow Room, Birdland, The Cutting Room, B.B. King’s, the Supper Club and Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center. Berman has appeared at Weil Hall at Carnegie Hall, at Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center, and can be heard on numerous recordings.
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. 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 41 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 is currently on the faculty of Concordia 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.
ARIEL HOROWITZ
Hailed by The Washington Post as “Sweetly Lyrical,” violinist, composer, and activist Ariel Horowitz cannot remember life before loving music. In 2020, Ariel won the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and joined the CAG roster. She enjoys an active touring schedule as a soloist and chamber musician, and as one-half of Vision Duo, an ensemble formed with fellow CAG artist Britton-René Collins. In October 2024, Ariel released her debut album, Hearth, on the Bright Shiny Things label.
Ariel is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Ani Kavafian. She has received prizes at the Menuhin, Grumiaux, Klein, Stulberg, and other international competitions.
As a composer and improviser, Ariel’s original music centers themes of healing and community. She has performed her compositions around the world, including at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Ariel is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Heartbeat Music Project, which offers tuition-free music and Navajo (Diné) cultural education for young people in grades K-12 living on the Navajo Reservation. In 2022, HMP received the Lewis Prize for Music’s Accelerator Award, which granted HMP $500,000 to support their work.
GRANT HOUSTON
Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through performances of unbridled energy and emotional magnetism. Known for drawing in audiences with a uniquely compelling musical voice, he has been described as playing “as ethereally as mist… the audience kept so quiet that it seemed we were holding our breath throughout.” (Yale Alumni Magazine). Particularly devoted to chamber music, recent appearances have included the notable festivals of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Yale University’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, The Moritzburg Festival Academy and the Music Academy of the West. In addition to his career with Trio Gaia, Grant appears frequently with the conductor-less ensembles Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings, and most recently as a guest principal with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A keen proponent of contemporary music, Grant has worked with numerous composers to premiere works that span the breadth of the genre. Recent projects have included a recital focusing on solo violin works of living composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Salvatore Sciarrino, an appearance on the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s “What I Hear” chamber music series curated by composer Bernard Rands, and multiple performances as part of [nec]Shivaree, the avant-garde ensemble of New England Conservatory. He counts Donald Weilerstein, Ayano Ninomiya, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, and Merry Peckham among his primary mentors. Additional coaches include Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Hilary Hahn, Rachel Barton Pine, Martin Beaver, Inon Barnatan, and Stefan Jackiw, as well as chamber music guidance from members of the Brentano, Cleveland, Cavani, Juilliard, St. Lawrence, Prazak, Mendelssohn, and Miami string quartets. He performs on a 1757 Michel’angelo Bergonzi violin on loan from a private foundation.
NICHOLAS JOHNSON
Nicholas Johnson is a cellist and organizer that strives to create meaningful art at local levels with collaborations which cross genres. A recipient of the 2023 St. Botolph Club Foundation’s Emerging Artist Award, he performs and records in the New England area as a soloist, chamber partner, and orchestral player with groups including Semiosis Quartet, Sound Icon, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Odyssey Opera. In the 2022-2023 season Nick returned to their native state of Florida to join the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra as Guest Principal. Nick received their Bachelor of Music from University of South Florida studying with Scott Kluksdahl, as well as Master of Music and Graduate Performance Diploma from Boston Conservatory at Berklee with Andrew Mark. While at Boston Conservatory he was a member of the Honors Chamber Ensemble, was awarded first prize in the 2019 MA-ASTA String Masters Solo Competition performing Henri Dutilleux’s “Trois Strophes sur le nom de Sacher,” was a Concerto Competition winner performing Chen Yi’s “Suite for Cello and Chamber Winds,” and he studied and performed with members of the Silk Road Ensemble. He has since performed at Symphony Hall, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Tsai Performance Center, Jordan Hall, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, Mechanics Hall, and Carnegie Hall.
SILVAN NEGRUTIU
Hailed as “a startling and authentic pianist displaying rich imagination and brilliant vigor, whose precision and splendor of keyboard sound certainly inspire a transcendental reality” (The Musical News Journal, Bucharest), Silvan Negruţiu has performed on major international stages, from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to Ireland’s National Concert Hall, the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, the Xi’an Concert Hall in China, the Showa Recital Hall in Tokyo, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He enjoys commissioning new music, having most recently performed and recorded the world premières of Bruce Reiprich’s “When Evening Is Still,” Robert Chumbley’s Five Bagatelles & “Songs of the Siren,” and Zack Stanton’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Ensemble. His latest album, Bagatelles (Centaur Records, 2021), featuring works by Beethoven, Alexander Tcherepnin, Carl Vine, and Robert Chumbley, has garnered rave reviews by Fanfare Magazine and American Record Guide, and his collaboration with Japanese violinist Akemi Takayama on the album Carl Roskott: Works for Violin (Centaur Records, 2018) was recognized with a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement by Global Music Awards. He has appeared as soloist with prestigious orchestras, including the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra, Alicante Philharmonic, George Enescu Philharmonic, and Dublin Symphony Orchestra. In high demand as a performer, clinician, adjudicator, and speaker, he appears frequently as a conference presenter and an artist-teacher at international music festivals across Europe, America, and Asia. As an artist, a teacher, and a scholar, he embraces the exploration of rare piano literature, innovative pedagogy, and the advancement of arts entrepreneurship in higher education. He is an active promoter of new music and Romanian composers, with a primary focus on George Enescu and Constantin Silvestri. Silvan Negruțiu serves as the Kitt Endowed Professor in Piano and Director of Piano Studies in the Kitt School of Music at Northern Arizona University. Prior to this appointment, he taught at Millikin University, Shenandoah Conservatory, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
KARLOS RODRIQUEZ
An advocate for multifaceted musical diversity in the 21st century and a founding member of the GRAMMY award winning Catalyst Quartet, Cuban-American cellist Karlos Rodriguez is an avid soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, clinician, recording artist, writer, and administrator. Rodriguez made his orchestral debut with the New World Symphony at the age of 13 to critical acclaim. Laureate of competitions and prizes including Florida’s State Cello Prize, Sphinx Competition, Irene Muir Performance Prize, and the Bergamo Classic Music Award (Switzerland) Rodriguez has appeared at many of the United States’ major musical venues, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The New World Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Radio City Music Hall, to name a few. Karlos has also appeared as soloist with the Filharmonica de Bogotá, Cincinnati Symphony, New Haven Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Sphinx Virtuosi, and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Rodriguez has had the honor of working with distinguished artists and members the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, Takács, and Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Pieter Wispelway, Cécile McLorin Salvant, J’Nai Bridges, Julia Bullock, Rachel Barton-pine, Awadagin Pratt, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Paul Neubauer, and Steven Isserlis. His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. New music is central to Karlos’ work as a performer and has commissioned, premiered, and received grants engaging many of the most important composers of our time. A great interest in dance has led to collaborations with the Thomas/Ortiz Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, Vail International Dance Festival, Herman Cornejo, and Chita Rivera. Rodriguez has been a guest artist and artist in residence at the Encore music institute, Chamber Music Northwest, Music in the Vineyards, Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Sarasota, Strings, Sitka, Aspen, Ascent, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, Kneisel Hall, Lake Champlain music festivals; and Napa’s Festival Del Sole. As an educator, he has served as Director of Artistic Affairs for the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and has given master classes domestically and abroad. Rodriguez has worked on various commercials, films, collaborated with pop artists such as Shakira, John Legend, Pink Martini, contributed to numerous Broadway musicals, and is a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. Karlos is visiting assistant professor of cello and chamber music at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, a board member of the Aronson Cello Festival and former principal cellist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra in Miami. Rodriguez is also the editor of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life-Music, published by Intellect Books UK. Rodriguez performs on the ‘ex-Gérard Hekking’ Gustave Bernardel cello made in Paris, 1897 decorated ‘Premier Prix Décerné Par Le Conservatoire National de Musique’ and a ‘Col de Cygne’ Dominique Pecatte bow c. 1840. He is a Pirastro artist and endorses their Perpetual line of strings.
KAYLA WILLIAMS
Kayla Williams is a dynamic violist celebrated for her warmth of tone, genre-spanning collaborations, and vibrant presence on stage. Originally from Florida, Kayla began playing violin at the age of four and discovered her true passion—the viola—at ten. In 2018, she made her concerto debut performing Bartók’s Viola Concerto as a winner of the Lynn Concerto Competition.
She has been featured at a wide range of festivals, including the Grand Teton Music Festival, the 2024 Ode to the Black Fiddler Music Festival, the Florida Folk Festival, and the 2022 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. Kayla’s collaborative work spans both live and recorded performances with artists such as Grammy Award-winner Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo, Raye, The Jonas Brothers, Ben Platt, Vanisha Gould, and Halsey.
As a recitalist, Kayla has performed across the country in concert series such as the Lyric Chamber Music Society, Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, St. Lawrence University, the Island Concert Association February Festival (St. Simons Island, GA), Trinity Concert Series, Warner Robins Community Concert Association, Lakeside Society for the Performing Arts, Oxford College of Emory University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges Guest Artist Series, and Rejoicing’s in Mayesville, SC.
Kayla earned her Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the Lynn Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, FL, and her Master of Music from The Juilliard School in New York City. She is a 2021–2023 recipient of the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship and currently holds a violin chair in the Broadway production of Gypsy.
MANHATTAN CHAMBER PLAYERS
MCP was recently praised in Strings Magazine for “A fascinating program concept…It felt refreshingly like an auditory version of a vertical wine tasting.” The article went on to applaud MCP for “an intensely wrought and burnished performance…Overall, I wished I could put them on repeat.” At the core of MCP’s inspiration is its members’ joy in playing this richly varied repertoire with longtime friends and colleagues, with whom they have been performing since they were students. Building upon that foundation, new works commissioned from its composer members keep the ensemble firmly grounded in the music of both the past and present. Its roster allows for the programming of virtually all the core string, wind, and piano chamber music repertoire—from piano duos to clarinet quintets to string octets. While all its members have independent careers as soloists and chamber musicians, they strive for every opportunity to come together and again share in this special collaboration, creating “a mellifluous blend of vigorous intensity and dramatic import, performed with enthusiasm, technical facility and impressive balance, relishing distinctions…a winning performance.” (Classical Source)
Members of MCP are current and former members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and the Amphion, Attacca, Dover, Escher, Vega, and Ying Quartets, and the Lysander and Aletheia Piano Trios. They are top prizewinners in the Banff, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, Melbourne, Naumburg, Osaka, Primrose, Queen Elisabeth, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, Tertis, and Young Concert Artists Competitions, and are some of the most sought after solo and chamber performers of their generation. The Manhattan Chamber Players has been featured multiple times on NPR’s Performance Today, and is the Ensemble-in-Residence at both the Northern Lights Music Festival in Mexico and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans. In addition to its numerous concerts across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, MCP regularly tours in Asia and the Middle East, and has led chamber music residency programs at institutions throughout the U.S. and abroad. manhattanchamberplayers.com
Members of Manhattan Chamber Players
LUKE FLEMING
Viola. Praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his “glowing refinement,” violist Luke Fleming’s performances have been described by The Strad as “confident and expressive…playing with uncanny precision,” and lauded by Gramophone for their “superlative technical and artistic execution.” Festival appearances include the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Perlman Music Program, the Norfolk and Great Lakes Chamber Music Festivals, the Melbourne Festival, Bravo!Vail, and Festival Mozaic. Formerly the violist of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet, he has served as Artist-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and received the National Federation of Music Clubs Centennial Chamber Music Award. He was awarded First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. In 2015, Mr. Fleming became the Founding Artistic Director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players, a New York-based chamber music collective, and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. He has performed as a guest artist with the Pacifica, Solera, Serafin, and Canterbury Quartets, the Eroica and Gryphon Trios, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Sejong Soloists, Ensemble Connect, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the New York Classical Players, and has given masterclasses at UCLA, Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Columbus State University, Syracuse University, Melbourne University, and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, among others. He has served on the faculties of the Innsbrook Institute, Renova Music Festival, Festival del Lago, and Houston ChamberFest, and Fei Tian College and is Lecturer-in-Residence for the concert series Project: Music Heals Us. Mr. Fleming holds the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts, Artist Diploma, and Master of Music from the Juilliard School, a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Louisiana State University. He is represented by Arts Global, Inc.
lukefleming.com
CONNIE KUPKA, Violin and Viola. Connie Kupka, a native Angelino, grew up in a music-loving family along with two other siblings, both of whom are also performers. After graduating from UCLA, she won a scholarship to study chamber music with the Guarneri Quartet at the Yale Summer Festival in Norfolk, Connecticut. The experience created a lifelong passion for chamber music (and orchestras), and inspired her and her future husband, cellist David Speltz, to form their own ensemble, the Arriaga Quartet. The group went on to win the grand prize in the prestigious Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and was able to tour with a broad range of offerings from the magnificent quartet repertoire. Summers always find Connie participating in many of the wonderful festivals throughout the country. She has performed at the Oregon Bach and Mostly Mozart festivals; the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon chamber music festivals; and the Ojai, Colorado and Sedona Jam music festivals. In Los Angeles, she regularly performs on the South Bay Chamber Music Society and Pacific Serenades series. She and David are the proud parents of three sons who grew up attending Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concerts, two of them now pursue musical careers of their own. Connie loves performing with them at local chamber music venues.
ABIGAIL MONROE, Cello. Abigail Monroe has established herself as a sought-after solo performer, chamber music collaborator, and large ensemble musician throughout the United States. Her musicianship has been praised for “add[ing] a rich, resonant layer to the ensemble, enhancing the overall texture and emotional depth of the performance.” (For All Events)
Having formerly served as Principal Cellist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Ms. Monroe holds additional orchestra positions throughout the country, including the West Michigan Symphony, Missouri Symphony, and Orchestra Iowa, and frequently performs with The Orchestra San Antonio, Louisiana Philharmonic, Des Moines Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, and Northwest Indiana Symphony, among others. She is also cellist of the award-winning San Francisco Bay Area-based new music group Ensemble for These Times, and regularly collaborates with the Manhattan Chamber Players.
Recent solo engagements have included numerous World-Premiere performances of music by living composers with Ensemble for These Times, and concerto performances with the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and the New Mexico Philharmonic.
Ms. Monroe holds both a Bachelor’s Degree and a Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
GRACE PARK, Violin. Praised by The San Francisco Chronicle as being “fresh, different and exhilarating” and Strings Magazine as “intensely wrought and burnished,” violinist Grace Park captivates audiences with her artistry, passion and virtuosity. Winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition, she is one of the leading artists of her generation.
Ms. Park’s upcoming season includes her debut at the Colorado Music Festival and Bard Festival under the baton of Leon Botstein. Ms. Park’s most recent appearances her concerto debuts at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and at the Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall in Prague, and recital debuts at the Krannert Center and Merkin Hall. This Ms. Park recorded her first solo album with the Prague Philharmonia and their music director, Emmanuel Villaume, which included concertos and solo works of Mozart and Dvořák.
A devoted and passionate educator, Ms. Park is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and has taught masterclasses and coached at Conservatorio de Musica de Cartagena, Mannes School of Music, University of North Carolina, Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, and Skidmore College, among others.
A native of Los Angeles, California, Ms. Park began violin at the age of five, training at the Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Her principal teachers were Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Robert Lipsett. She now resides in New York City.
Ms. Park performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.
BRENDAN SPELTZ, Violin. NYC-based violinist Brendan Speltz second violinist of the world renowned Escher String Quartet, has toured the globe with groundbreaking ensembles such as Shuffle Concert, the Manhattan Chamber Players, A Far Cry, and the Harlem Quartet. As founder of FeltInFour Productions, Mr. Speltz has produced innovative concert events across the New York City area that have been described by ,The New Yorker as “Thrilling, poignant, unexpected, and utterly DIY.” Most recently, Mr. Speltz co-created a cross-disciplinary presentation of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with aerial dance troupe ABCirque which was sponsored by Meyer Sound Labs. In NYC he has performed as guest with the New York New Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Speltz plays a 1925 Carl Becker violin.
DAVID SPELTZ, Cello. David Speltz began his formal studies with Eleanore Schoenfeld after being introduced to the cello by his father. Later, he was invited to join the Piatigorsky masterclass at USC. He earned a master’s degree in mathematics from UCLA, but soon realized that the cello was the path to follow. In 1973 he co-founded the Arriaga Quartet, which went on to win first prize in the Coleman Competition. As a member of the ensemble Musical Offering, he performed at the Library of Congress, Lincoln Center, the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and recorded for the Nonesuch label. He has been active for years on many Los Angeles chamber music series in Los Angeles, and participated in summer festivals throughout the United States. David was a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Sir Neville Marriner, and served as the principal cellist of the California Chamber Orchestra under Henri Temianka. In 1989 he served as principal cellist for the German conductor Helmuth Rilling at the Bach Collegium Stuttgart. He has been active in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles, playing in the studio orchestras for over 500 movies, from the Godfather series to Star Wars! David has three sons, two of whom are professional string players in New York City. He is married to violinist Connie Kupka.
KWAN YI, Piano. Kwan Yi has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kimmel Center, Kennedy Center, Chicago Symphony Center, Mann Performing Arts Center, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, Library of Congress, Metropolitan and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museums, Großer Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks, Auditorium du Louvre, Suntory Hall, and Seoul Arts Center.
Yi has appeared as a soloist with the Russian National Orchestra and the Houston Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Miriam Fried, and Roberto Diaz on national tours. He was invited to perform at the Kronberg, Ravinia, Trondheim, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festivals and Carnegie Hall Presents and Peoples’ Symphony Concert series. He has recorded for FHR and Hänssler labels with violinist Itamar Zorman. His debut solo album, “The Last Look”, featuring late works by Haydn, Brahms and Dutilleux, was released on Centaur Records.
Yi’s awards include Mieczyslaw Munz Prize, National Federation of Music Clubs Award, and prizes in the Fourth Sendai International Piano Competition.
Yi is a graduate of the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School, and the Peabody Institute where he worked with Leon Fleisher and Robert McDonald. He has given masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Vivace International Piano Festival. His students have been granted scholarships at prestigious piano programs and won prizes in both regional and national competitions.
ED MELL
Visual artist. Born in Phoenix, Mr. Mell graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration. He began his career in New York as an art director for a prominent advertising agency. He also ran his own illustration studio in New York in the early seventies. After spending two summers working with children’s arts programs on the Hopi Indian Reservation, he developed his interest in Southwest landscape. Mr. Mell returned to Phoenix in 1973. He devoted his full time to working in oils, his main emphasis on Western landscapes and subject matter. In addition, he painted southwestern florals and sculpted western figures in bronze. His pieces are found in many corporate and private collections nationally and internationally.