Adria Benjamin performs as an orchestral musician, chamber musician and in NYC as a recording studio and Broadway musician. She is a nationally recognized music educator through her work at Mannes College’s Preparatory Division where she conducts three orchestras, teaches viola, and coaches chamber music and performance workshops. Her teachers include Mary Jane Metcalfe, Francis Tursi, Karen Tuttle, and Joey Corpus. While pursuing a Master’s Degree at the Peabody Conservatory, Adria served as Karen Tuttle’s teaching assistant and was awarded the Peabody Prize for Outstanding Viola performance. While at Eastman, Adria served as assistant to her conducting mentors, Gustav Meier and Robert DeCormier. Adria curates a chamber music series with the New York Chamber Music Co-Op, where she and her colleagues present an annual series of Concerts for Social Justice in NYC. Adria is thrilled to be returning to beautiful Craftsbury, Colchester and Hardwick to join friends and colleagues for wonderful and inspiring CCP concerts.
Pianist Sarah Bob, hailed as “sumptuous and eloquent” (Boston Globe) and that “dynamic player…superstar” (National Sawdust), is a soloist and chamber musician noted for her charismatic performances, colorful playing and diverse programming. The goal, her strong suit, is to introduce music in a loving, inclusive, and intoxicating way. Sarah is founding director of New Gallery Concert Series, a combination of new music and new visual art along with their creators, and Nasty Cooperative, dialogue driven artistic events created to build community and raise funds for organizations in need. Her accolades include top prizewinner of Holland’s International Gaudeamus Competition, New England Conservatory’s Outstanding Alumni Award, and instant world-wide acclaim for her most recent solo album …nobody move…. She is an original and active member of Radius Ensemble and Primary Duo, maintains a private studio, and is on faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College. More information: sarahbob.net
Mary Bonhag is an “extraordinary” singer (Classical Voice N. America) committed to the healing powers of song. She is both a new-music specialist and a singer deeply devoted to sacred music across the ages. Mary was featured on Resonant Bodies Festival, and has sung with 21st Century Consort, and San Francisco Contemporary Players. Mary recently premiered a new chamber opera by Susan Botti, River Spirits, an allegorical tale featuring Mary, Susan Botti, and Lucy Shelton.
In 2010, Mary co-founded Scrag Mountain Music, now in its 14th year of organizing chamber music residencies and innovative and affordable concerts around Vermont.
Collaborations and relationships are central to Mary’s professional life as a singer and she enjoys close partnerships with pianist David Kaplan, Aizuri Quartet, Aeolus Quartet, Decoda, conductor Filippo Ciabatti, Ruth Cunningham, and numerous composers. Mary is featured on the NPR show Performance Today and appears on Albany Records. In between travels, she lives and makes music with her children in Vermont amongst the pine trees and flowers.
Kenji Bunch writes music that looks for commonalities between musical styles, for understandings that transcend cultural or generational barriers, and for empathic connections with his listeners. Drawing on vernacular musical traditions, an interest in highlighting historical injustices and inaccuracies, and techniques from his classical training, Bunch creates music with a unique personal vocabulary that appeals to performers, audiences, and critics alike. With his work frequently performed worldwide and recorded numerous times, Bunch considers his current mission the search for and celebration of shared emotional truths about the human experience from the profound to the absurd, to help facilitate connection and healing through entertainment, vulnerability, humor, and joy. Mr. Bunch is widely recognized for performing his own groundbreaking works for viola. He currently serves as Artistic Director of the new music group Fear No Music and is deeply committed to music education in his hometown of Portland, Oregon.
Mezzo-soprano Katherine Growdon is known for her exceptional versatility on stage across an impressive range of three centuries of operatic roles, from Baroque through Mozart to Bizet, Puccini, and even Stephen Sondheim. Her performances have been praised as “incisively authoritative” (New York Times) and her voice is described as ranging from “sweet and creamy-toned” (Boston Classical Review) to “rich, rippling” and “full of dusky colors and pathos” (Boston Globe). She has made solo appearances with, among others, the Handel + Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, American Bach Soloists, Mark Morris Dance Group, Bach Collegium San Diego, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Albany Symphony. Notable recent operatic performances include Myrtle Wilson in the Boston premiere of Harbison’s The Great Gatsby and Dido/Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Katherine’s fellowships and awards include the Tanglewood Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. On disc she appears as a trio soloist in Kati Agócs Vessel on the critically acclaimed BMOP recording of The Debrecen Passion.
Violinist Joyce Hammann is celebrated for her versatility across genres and stages, with The New York Times praising her “splendid soloing” and “sweet, rich tone.” She began studying under Shinichi Suzuki at age seven and, by ten, became the youngest member of The St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin. She later studied with Fredell Lack at the University of Houston and at Juilliard with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay, winning the Berg Violin Competition and Peter Oundjian Award. Joyce has performed with artists including Paul McCartney, Sting, and Michael Jackson, and appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and Saturday Night Live. Her recordings span genres, featuring works by John Zorn, Uri Caine, and Michael Brecker. She is a member of The SQS, The Craftsbury Chamber Players, and The Meeting House Players. Joyce served as concertmaster for “The Phantom of the Opera” for a record-breaking 33 years.
With a sound palette ranging from a ‘commanding tone’ to ‘delicate sentiment’ (Calgary Herald), Taiwanese-American violinist Zenas Hsu enjoys a vibrant career filled with chamber music, orchestral leadership, and education. He is a member of A Far Cry, a Grammy nominated ensemble in Boston and second violin principal at the Boston Ballet. He has served as guest concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Brockton Symphony, Chorus pro Musica, and Monadnock Music Symphony Orchestra. Zenas also performs regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops and Esplanade, and as a tenured member of Boston Lyric Opera.
Zenas is a founding member of Chamber Music by the Bay, a California-based interactive music series designed for schools, libraries, and public spaces. He is on faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, and serves as a guest coach at Portland Summer Ensembles, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and Rivers Conservatory.
As an advocate of new music, Zenas has enjoyed personally working with composers such as Jorg Widmann, Carlos Simon, Philip Glass, and Lembit Beecher on commissioned or premiered works. He has premiered works also of Jungyoon Wie, Robert Honstein, Matthew Aucoin, and Jessie Montgomery.
A native of California, Zenas received his early training in the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He was accepted at age sixteen to the Curtis Institute of Music for his Bachelor of Music degree, and received his Master of Music and Graduate Diploma degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Wei He, Ida Kavafian, Nicholas Kitchen, and Donald Weilerstein.
The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Cellist Mimi Hwang was born and raised in Los Angeles. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music and a founding member of the Amenda Quartet. She is also Co-Artistic Director of Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program. Ms. Hwang was the cellist and a founding member of the Franciscan String Quartet, First Prize winner of the 1986 Banff International String Quartet Competition. She received the Master’s Degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction at the New England Conservatory of Music and studied with Laurence Lesser, Bonnie Hampton, and Eleanor Schoenfeld. In 2017 she was honored with the Philanthropy Award from the Rochester Area Community Foundation and serves as Chair of the Board of Chamber Music America.
Violinist Mina Lavcheva is a native of Sofia, Bulgaria, where she graduated from the National School of Music “L. Pipkov”. An active performer from an early age, Mina has performed throughout Europe and North America. She holds a Bachelor and a Master Degree in Music Performance from LSU School of Music and Boston University respectively. Mina is a sought-after and frequently engaged artist by numerous chamber and orchestral ensembles in the New England area. Currently, she performs as a member of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (Maine) and Rhode Island Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, she has performed at the Newport Music Festival, is a violinist/violist for the Zograf Strings Quarterly, and enjoys frequent performances with Castle of our Skins. Additional chamber projects include recordings and performances with Juventas and Aurea Ensembles. Mina has performed with Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Handel And Haydn Society, Boston Ballet, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and Landmarks Orchestra, among others.
Clarinetist Eileen Mack grew up in Australia and is now based in New York. She is a member of post-minimalist band Victoire and amplified ensemble Newspeak (which she also co-directs), and has performed with many other New York new music groups including Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound, Signal Ensemble, the Bang on a Can All Stars and the Wordless Music Orchestra. She has performed in venues around the world including Zankel Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and London’s Royal Albert Hall; with conductors including Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Brad Lubman and Alan Pierson; and has appeared as soloist at the Canberra International Chamber Music Festival and the Bang on a Can Marathon. Her discography ranges from work on the Crocodile Hunter TV and movie soundtracks to releases on New Amsterdam Records, Tzadik, Innova, and Warp Records. Eileen holds degrees from Stony Brook University, the Manhattan School of Music and the Queensland Conservatorium.
Pianist Monica Ohuchi maintains an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. She has appeared as guest soloist with orchestras across the country and abroad including the Col- orado Symphony Orchestra, the Marin Symphony Orchestra, and the New Millennium Symphony Orchestra of Spain. She is the Executive Director and Pianist for the Portland, Oregon-based new music ensemble fEARnoMUSIC, a founding member of the piano quartet, Thunder Egg Consort, and a member of the faculty at Reed College. Her debut CD, Monica’s Notebook, was released on the Hel- icon Records label in 2011. Monica holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School. After nearly two decades in New York City, she and her husband Kenji Bunch relocated to Portland with their two young Bunchkins and Pitbull-mix rescue. More information at monicaohuchi.com
Annie Rabbat is a member of the Boston Ballet Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Boston Lyric Opera, and is a former member of A Far Cry. She has performed with the Orpheus, St. Paul, and East Coast Chamber Orchestras, as well as with Castle of our Skins, Walden Chamber Players, and North Country Chamber Players. For three years, she served as Concertmaster of the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Annie has performed at Ravinia’s Steans Institute, Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music, and the Caramoor, Yellow Barn, and Virginia Arts Festivals. Her chamber music collaborators included members of the Cleveland, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Takacs and Orion Quartets and the Florestan, Peabody and Beaux Arts Trios.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and Indiana University, Ms. Rabbat completed her studies at the New England Conservatory with Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. Her mentors have also included Robert Mann, Pamela Frank, Paul Biss and Roger Tapping.
Cellist Frances Rowell was born and raised in Craftsbury Vermont. She got some of her earliest musical inspiration and instruction from the artists of the Craftsbury Chamber Players. She earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School before moving to Eastern Pennsylvania where she enjoyed a rich musical life as a teacher, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and recitalist. In 1995 she joined the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, retiring from that position at the end of the 2024-25 season. In addition to performances as a member of the orchestra, she performed chamber music concerts, conducted master classes, and performed school educational programs through the New Jersey Symphony’s Outreach program. Fran taught as an adjunct faculty member at Montclair State University and performed on the roster of Young Audiences of NJ. She has been the Music Director of the Craftsbury Chamber Players since 2016.
Mary Rowell, violin, grew up listening to CCP concerts as a child and went on to become a classically trained violinist. After receiving both BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School – where she studied with Sally Thomas and Ivan Galamian – she pursued many professional opportunities as soloist and chamber musician in contemporary, modern, classical and pop fields. She is known for her work with the Grammy Award® winning Tango Project, the indie band The Silos, pop icon Joe Jackson and she has carved an indelible place in the contemporary classical music world as co-founder of the post-classical quartet ETHEL. She was the long time concertmaster of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra and currently is involved with the Vermont new music group TurnMusic. Mary is an Affiliate Artist at Middlebury College.
Hailed as “superb”, “incisive” and “sonorous and panoramic” in The Boston Globe, David Russell maintains a vigorous schedule both as soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He was appointed to the teaching faculty of Wellesley College in 2005 and currently serves as Senior Lecturer and Director of Chamber Music. A strong advocate of new music, Russell has performed with such ensembles as BMOP, Firebird Ensemble, Callithumpian Consort, Music on the Edge, Dinosaur Annex, Collage, the Fromm Players at Harvard and entelechron. Recent projects include recordings of works by Eric Moe, Lee Hyla, Tamar Diesendruck, Donald Crockett, Chen Yi and Roger Zahab, premieres of chamber works by Barbara White, Daron Hagen, José-Luis Hurtado, Robert Carl and Gilda Lyons, premieres of works for cello and orchestra by Sam Nichols and Laurie San Martin, recordings of cello concertos by Chen Yi and Lukas Foss, and new works for solo cello by Andrew Rindfleisch and John Mallia. He is a busy performer in the Boston area, making regular appearances with such ensembles as Cantata Singers and Ensemble, the Worcester Chamber Music Society and Emmanuel Music. He serves as Principal cello of Odyssey Opera and has served as cello faculty at Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Russell has recorded for the Tzaddik, Albany, BMOPSound, New Focus, CRI, Centaur and New World Records labels.
Nashville native Brooke Quiggins Saulnier is an acclaimed violinist who has performed across the U.S. and Europe, earning top honors in solo and chamber music competitions. She currently serves as Assistant Principal Second Violin with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and performs with both the VSO Jukebox Quartet and TURNMusic. Formerly Principal Second Violin with orchestras including the Miami Symphony and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Brooke is also an accomplished recording artist, featured on labels such as Sony Classical, Naxos, Columbia, Blue Note, and Universal. She has shared the stage with artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and Gloria Estefan to Sufjan Stevens and Grace Potter. Brooke earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, studying under Sylvia Rosenberg and Lucie Robert.
Los Angeles native Amy Sims is a busy free-lance Classical and Baroque violinist living in Boston, collaborating with musicians from the region in a wide range of musical genres from string quartets and intimate Baroque chamber ensembles to large ensembles including Portland Symphony in Maine, where she is the Assistant Concertmaster. She is a member of Boston Baroque and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and performs regularly with Boston Ballet Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Handel and Haydn Society, and Rhode Island Philharmonic.
Before venturing to New England, Amy was the concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony from 2000-2010. With Bachelor and Master degrees in Violin Performance from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music with professor Eudice Shapiro, Ms. Sims held the position of principal second violin of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra from 1994 to 2000 while free-lancing on the west coast, performing and recording newly commissioned works with Southwest Chamber Music as well as studio recording for major motion picture soundtracks and television commercials.
Stefanie Taylor is the principal violist of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and violist for the orchestra’s Juke Box Quartet.. She has performed regionally with the Craftsbury Chamber Players, Taconic Chamber Players, Vermont Virtuosi, Williams Chamber Players, the Manchester Music Festival, and Capital City Concerts. She has been principal violist of both Middlebury Opera and Green Mountain Opera.
During twenty years in New York, Stefanie performed regularly with the New York Philharmonic, as guest principal violist of the American Symphony, in ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and was assistant principal violist of the Long Island Philharmonic. She premiered several chamber works in venues including Merkin Hall, Roulette, Miller Theater, and performed live on WQXR.
A graduate of Indiana University and Stony Brook University, Stefanie studied violin with Miriam Fried, viola with Caroline Levine,. She held fellowships at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Villa Musica (Germany), and Stony Brook University, where she was a member of the graduate string quartet.
Stefanie is a graduate of the School for Strings pedagogy program and has completed SAA training through violin Book 8. She teaches violin, viola, and chamber music at Berkshire Summer Music, and was formerly on the faculty of the Bay View Festival. She is an Affiliate Artist at Middlebury College and at Vermont State University/Castleton.
Praised by critics for playing that is “as exciting as it is beautiful,” and for “livewire intensity” that is both “memorably demonic” and “delightfully effective,” violinist Katherine Winterstein enjoys a wide range of musical endeavors, as a chamber musician, orchestral musician, soloist, and teacher. Ms. Winterstein is the concertmaster of the Vermont Symphony, the associate concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and she is co-concertmaster of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. In recent seasons she has performed as concertmaster of the Palm Beach Opera, the Boston Modern Orches- tra Project, and also performs regularly with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and A Far Cry. She is a member of the Hartt String Quartet, the Providence-based Aurea Ensemble, and the summer of 2018 will be her 17th with the Craftsbury Chamber Players. She has also performed with Boston-based Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Radius Ensemble, and Dinosaur Annex. She has appeared as soloist with several orchestras including the the Vermont Symphony, the Wintergreen Festival Or- chestra, the Charlottesville Symphony, the Cham- plain Philharmonic, and the Boston Virtuosi. She served on the performance faculty of Middlebury College in Vermont from 2002-2015, joined the faculty of the Hartt School of Music in September of 2011, and began teaching at Brown University in September of 2015.
Russian-born Inessa Zaretsky is an award winning pianist and composer whose performances have taken her around the world while her music has been performed in England, Norway, Canada, Australia, Italy, Russia and throughout the United States. She studied piano with Richard Goode and composition with Robert Cuckson at the Mannes College of Music in New York and has collaborated with many notable musicians, such as the Miro, Enso, Jasper, and Cassat String Quartets, Kent/Blossom Festival Orchestra, Chamber Music Series of the St. Lukes Orchestra, musicians of the Boston, Chicago, and Orpheus Orchestras, members of the Metropolitan Opera and many others. Ms. Zaretsky is on the Piano faculty of Mannes College The New School for Music in New York. She has been a pianist and composer-in-residence and was recently appointed Director of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival in Asheville, North Carolina. She is the Artistic co-director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York City.