MUSICIANS

Adria Benjamin, violist, currently resides in New York and is a member of many of the city’s outstanding orchestras, such as the American Symphony Orchestra, Stamford Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops, Solisti New York and Eos. Adria has performed as a recitalist on National Public Radio, at the 92nd Street Y and participated in numerous orchestra and chamber music recordings,
documentaries, commercial and film score recordings. Adria performs annually at the OK Mozart Festival and the Bard Festival, and is a faculty member of the Mannes College Music Preparatory Division, serving as the chairperson of the String Department, and teaching violin, viola, and chamber music, as well as conducting three of the Preparatory Division orchestras.

Violist David Cerutti appears regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. For several years a member of the Smithson String Quartet, he is a founding member of the Trigon String Trio. He has performed with the Cygnus Ensemble and the Brentano String Quartet, and performs frequently with New York's Helicon Series. He has collaborated with members of Archibudelli on Stradivarius instruments for SONY in a recording of Gade and Mendelssohn Octet, and has recorded solo and chamber works on the Koch International and Harmonia Mundi labels.

Susannah Chapman is active as a chamber musician, soloist, teacher, and performer in leading chamber orchestras. She has appeared with the Mark Morris Dance Company in works developed for and performed by Yo-Yo Ma, and has performed several contemporary concerti with the Bang-on-a-Can All Stars and the Australian Chamber Orchestra in the Sydney Opera House. A former member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, she currently performs regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and plays principal cello under Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival. She is a member of the Cygnus Ensemble which has residencies at CUNY and Sarah Lawrence College, and she teaches cello at Sarah Lawrence and Princeton University.

Richard Clark is the principal trombonist with the American Symphony Orchestra as well as many others. He has played in virtually every New York Orchestra, some of Broadway’s pits and is much sought-after as a chamber musician and teacher.

Jon Deak, the composer, bassist and education specialist, is associate principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic and creative education advisor of that orchestra. Most of the major symphonies and chamber groups of the U.S. have played his works, but his greatest delight is encouraging and getting to perform the musical creations of kids. He is founder and director of the Very Young Composers program, a national award winner.

Arthur Fiacco enjoys a career on both period and modern cello. As soloist he has appeared with Patti LuPone, Igor Kipnis, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris and on the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space series in New York City. His recording of the Mozart-Gummel Symphonies for piano quartet garnered praise as 'definitive' by The New York Times. Mr. Fiacco has participated in the Mostly Mozart, Lincoln Center, Caramoor, Ravinia and Tanglewood Festivals.

Katherine Hannauer is an active freelance violinist in and around New York City, performing regularly with such groups as the Brooklyn Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers' Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Solisti New York, and in various Broadway pit orchestras. She is the principal second violin in the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic, and in the summer can be found in the same role in the Glimmerglass Opera orchestra in Cooperstown, NY. She has appeared frequently in recitals and chamber music concerts, and in 1996 made her New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Shelley Holland-Moritz is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, where she was a scholarship student of William Lincer. She loves playing chamber music, and has attended many chamber music festivals, such as the Blossom Festival, the Orono Chamber Music School, and the Hungarian String Quartet Festival. She freelances in New York, and also is the founder and director of the Spring School Suzuki Program and the Spring School Summer Violin Camp.

As a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Joanna Jenner has toured four continents and recorded more than fifty discs. Interested in expanding the scope of the violin in concert, she has commissioned “performance art” works from Jon Deak, Larry Bell, and Elizabeth Brown and introduced them to audiences from New York to Alaska. She has performed in chamber music festivals throughout the U.S. and founded the Riverrun Chamber Players, in residence in Vermont for six summers.

Violinist Erica Kiesewetter is the concertmaster of the American Symphony Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, NY Pops, Solisti NY, Stamford Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. She is also a member of the new music group the Columbia Synfonietta, and has in the past toured and recorded with the Leonardo Trio, Colorado Quartet, and many other chamber ensembles. This season she will perform the Berg Violin Concerto with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony in Israel.

Since his critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut in 1994, cellist Wolfram Koessel has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls throughout the world. In 2004 Mr. Koessel was appointed musical director of the Mark Morris Dance Group, a company he has performed hundreds of concerts with worldwide, to resounding acclaim. Based in New York City, Mr. Koessel appears with a wide range of ensembles and chamber music groups, most notably with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Leona Nadj is a freelance violinist in the NYC area. She performs with many different ensembles and venues, such as the Glimmerglass Opera, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. She also appears with different chamber music groups and in the pits of various Broadway shows. She came to the United States from Dubrovnik, Croatia and finished her Master's Degree at Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Mr. Glenn Dicterow.

Nardo Poy, violist, has been a member of the world-renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1978 with whom he has made over 50 recordings. He also can be heard performing with a number of chamber music groups and orchestras in the New York area and elsewhere, among them the Perspectives Ensemble, the Lighthouse Chamber Players, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He is also principal violist with the American Symphony Orchestra.

Roger Shell, a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Harvey Shapiro, has served as principal cellist with the American Symphony Orchestra, Solisti New York, American Theater Orchestra, New York Pops, and Philharmonia Virtuosi. He has performed concerti and chamber music extensively, performs regularly on Broadway, and has appeared on National Public Television and Radio, Live from Lincoln Center, Great Performances, A&E and MTV, and has toured four continents.

Tenafly High School freshman Gabriella Spitz started playing the cello at the age of 4 with her father Jonathan Spitz and the Tenafly resident Jacqueline Stern. She currently studies with Barbara Stein Mallow at the Mannes College of Music. Gabriella is the cellist and lead vocalist with her eclectic rock group.

Jonathan Spitz serves as principal cellist of th New Jersey Symphony and the American Ballet Theatre and is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. A dedicated teacher, he is on the faculty of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and teaches privately in Tenafly. He performs tonight on th "ex. Prince Gursky" Stradivarius cello on loan from the New Jersey Symphony.

Lisa Tipton, violinist, has toured internationally with the Meridian String Quartet. As a devoted interpreter of new music she has established the "Made in America" series at Weill Recital Hall and her recording of the Violin and piano Sonatas of Charles Ives will be released on Capstone this spring. She is the Director of the NY Youth Symphony Chamber Music and on the chamber Music faculty of School for Strings.

VIDEO- Producer/Director/Writer Jay Dorfman is the founder and principal of Medialand Productions, a NYC based production company specializing in Corporate Communications, Sales & Marketing Presentations, Documentary, and Broadcast Development.