Ensemble for the Romantic Century

Since it was founded in 2001, the Ensemble for the Romantic Century has collaborated with a host of excellent musicians and actors from all over the United States and from abroad, who have contributed immeasurably to the success of our productions. We continue to expand our roster, enriching our experience through many wonderful artists who bring their insights and special talents to the group.

Performing Artists 2008-2009 Season: Max Barros, Jesse Blumberg, C.J. Camerieri, Escher String Quartet, Simon Fortin, John Hellweg, Dmitry Kouzov, Wayne Lee, Gianni de Luigi, Robert Ian MacKenzie, Lynne McCollough, Quartetto di Venezia, and Eve Wolf.

Performing Artists 2007-2008 Season: Jennifer Aylmer, Maurycy Banaszek, Max Barros, Biava Quartet, Jonathan Epstein, Scott Kuney, Robert Ian Mackenzie, Ayano Ninomiya, Karen Ouzounian, Katie Schlaikjer, Dale Soules, Arnaud Sussmann, Eve Wolf, Sarah Wolfson, Elizabeth Zins.

Performing Artists 2006-2007 Season: Ole Akahoshi, Jennifer Aylmer, Denise Bahous, Max Barros, Biava Quartet, Jeff Biehl, C.J. Camerieri, Simon Fortin, Vesselin Gellev, Beth Guterman, Christina Jenkins, Michael Lewis, Robert Ian MacKenzie, Michael Milligan, Michael Nicolas, Dennis Parker, Karen Bentley Pollick, Randall Scarlata, Andy Simionescu, Benjamin Sosland, Svetoslav Stoyanov, Yaakov Sullivan, Eve Wolf, Mark Zeisler, Elizabeth Zins, Garrick Zoeter.

Eve Wolf, pianist and author, Founder and Executive Artistic Director of ERC, (www.evewolfpianist.com) received her BA in Art History from Columbia University and an MA in Piano Performance from New York University. She has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals in the U.S. and Europe and has won numerous awards, including prizes in the V. Bellini International Competition in Italy and the Houston Symphony Orchestra's Concerto Competition. For the past eight seasons in New York, as Executive Artistic Director of the Ensemble for the Romantic Century, Ms. Wolf has written scripts and performed in productions such as Paderewski in Paris (2001), The Young Arthur Rubinstein (2003), None but the Lonely Heart: The Story of Tchaikovsky & Nadezhda von Meck (2004), Dora: A Case of Hysteria (2005), Tolstoy's Last Days (2005), and Van Gogh's Ear (2006), which was also performed in a bilingual (French and English) version at the Festival Musique de Chambre de Montréal. Ms. Wolf was the scriptwriter for Fanny Mendelssohn: Out of her brother's shadow, which was commissioned by the Jewish Museum of New York and performed in 2006, as well as for the audio guide of the Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Salon in the Exhibition The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and their Salons at the Jewish Museum in New York City – an exhibition that received international acclaim. In 2006 Ms. Wolf was commissioned to write Cara, Cara Compagna for the Italian Cultural Institute of New York; she wrote the script in Italian and English, and it was performed in both languages. In the 2006-07 season Ms. Wolf wrote and performed in The Dreyfus Affair and Peggy Guggenheim Stripped Bare by her Bachelors; the latter was ERC's largest multimedia work to date. In 2008, she wrote and performed in Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon – the final concert in a series called Imaginings; this multimedia production, presented at the Florence Gould Hall, was the first ERC concert to include video design. In June 2009, she performed in Toscanini: Nel mio cuore troppo di assoluto at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice; this production played to a sold-out audience in an Italian version of the script that she had originally written for ERC's 2008-09 season, dedicated to Artists in Exile.

Ms. Wolf has taught piano and coached chamber music in New York City for the past 25 years. She is currently an instructor of piano at Teachers College-Columbia University and a staff accompanist at Mannes College The New School of Music.

This season marks the initiation of a new seminar given by Ms. Wolf, Confronting Memory: A seminar in memorization techniques for pianists, which will be held at Klavierhaus in New York City. She has studied and taught memorization techniques for over 25 years and is currently writing a book on the subject.

Max Barros, (pianist, co-artistic director of ERC), has won wide acclaim as one of South America’s foremost pianists. Born in California and raised in Brazil, Mr. Barros was presented with the “Soloist of the Year” Award by the Sao Paulo Music Critics Association. He is also a dedicated champion of Brazilian music, having premiered and recorded several works by the nation’s foremost composers. He is the president of Ponteio Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to the publication and promotion of Brazilian music. He just recorded Amaral Vieira’s Piano Quintet with the Ensemble Capriccio and is recording for Naxos the complete piano concertos by Camargo Guarnieri with conductor Thomas Conlin and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Mr. Barros has recently toured South America with the Virtuosi di Praga and has been a guest artist with the American String Quartet and the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. In 2008 Mr. Barros made his debut at the Caramoor Festival performing Guarnieri’s Concertino for piano and orchestra with the St. Luke’s Orchestra under Michael Barrett.

Ole Akahoshi began studying cello at the age of four in Berlin, and at eleven he was the youngest pupil ever to be accepted by the late Pierre Fournier. He holds a B.A. from Juilliard School, and a Master of Music from Yale School of Music. He has been a soloist with the Orchestra of Saint Luke's, the Symphonisches Orchester Berlin, the Czechoslovakian Radio Orchestra, and the International Sejong Soloists, among others. He has performed at major concert halls in Germany, Japan, Israel, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Korea, Canada, and the United States. He was top prize winner in numerous national and international competitions, including Concertino Praga, Wettbewerb Jugend Musiziert, and the Luis Sigall International Cello Competition. He joined the faculty of the Yale University School of Music in 1997 and is the principal cellist of the International Sejong Soloists in New York. Since 1998 he has been also a member of Seiji Ozawa's Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra. His collaborations with ERC include The Singing Flame: The Soul of Spanish Music (2002), The Young Arthur Rubinstein (2003), The Vibrant Palette: Van Gogh and Music (2004)

Jennifer Aylmer (soprano) saw debuts at the Metropolitan Opera: Bella in the Tobias Picker opera An American Tragedy; Utah Opera: Pamina in Die Zauberflöte; as Rose Maurrant in Street Scene with Opera Theater of St. Louis; with the New York Festival of Song in their “Fats and Fields” program, and in Fauré’s Requiem with Utah Symphony. Her 2006-2007 season began with her return to New York City Opera as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, and the Metropolitan Opera as Papagena in Die Zauberflöte. Other season engagements include a return to Utah Opera as Rosasharn in The Grapes of Wrath and debuts with the Phoenix Symphony as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel and with San Diego Symphony in Mozart’s Exultate, Jubilate, Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Additional upcoming engagements include the title role in Rodelinda with Portland Opera and her Atlanta Opera debut as Gretel in Hansel und Gretel.

The Biava Quartet, winner of the 2003 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, is recognized as one of today’s top young American quartets. Having established an enthusiastic following in the United States and abroad, the Quartet captured top prizes at the 2005 Premio Paolo Borciani and 2003 London International String Quartet Competitions, impressing audiences with its sensitive artistry and communicative powers. The members of the Biava Quartet—violinists Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko, violist Mary Persin and cellist Jacob Braun, are recent recipients of Artist Diplomas from the Yale University School of Music. Highlights of the Quartet’s 2005-2006 season included performances at the 25th Anniversary Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Chautauqua Institute, New York’s Look and Listen Festival, Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C and the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival as ensemble in residence. This season will include the Chicago debut of Stacy Garrop’s Second String Quartet “Demons and Angels” with upcoming CD release in the spring of 2007. Return engagements include Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

C.J. Camerieri received his bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance in 2004 from Juilliard, where he studied with Mark Gould. In his first year at Juilliard he gave a “brilliant performance” (NYTimes) of a concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra and placed first in the National Trumpet Competition’s Jazz division. At Juilliard C.J. performed with faculty members including Mark Gould, Ray Mace, Fred Sherry, Joel Sachs and attended festivals including The Spoleto Festival (Italy) and the Music Academy of the West. Since graduation C.J. has joined The Burning River Brass and the New York Trumpet Ensemble. He also plays regularly with the Argento New Music Project, Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, The Orchestra of St. Lukes, The Riverside Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Long Island Philharmonic, Lincoln Center Festival, American Composer’s Orchestra, The Absolute Ensemble, The Manhattan Brass, and on broadway shows. He has appeared with the artists Dave Douglas, Diana Ross, Dave Taylor, and Bernadette Peters, and he has recently begun touring and recording with singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. He is presently touring with Rufus Wainwright for his 2007-2008 World Tour.

Jonathan Epstein is a principal actor and director with Shakespeare & Company of Lenox, Massachusetts. Since 1990 he has also been responsible for the Sonnet work at the Company's month-long workshops for professional actors. As an actor, his roles with that company have included Benedick and Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, Brutus in Julius Caesar, both Puck and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, and the title roles in Macbeth, Richard III and, most recently, in Tina Packer's production of King Lear. He has performed on and off-Broadway, in London's West End (as Goethe's Faust) and at many regional theaters, including the Intiman, American Repertory Theater, The Shakespeare Theater, and Actor's Theater of Louisville. Musical credits include a variety of roles in the Boston Pops/Shakespeare & Company co-production Brush Up Your Shakespeare, several national tours of Man of La Mancha, and most recently Frosch in the Boston Lyric Opera production of Die Fledermaus. He has twice been honored with Boston's Elliot Norton Award for outstanding actor. Mr. Epstein’s collaborations with ERC include Schubert’s Dream (2004), None but the Lonely Heart: The Story of Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von Meck (2004), Dora: A Case of Hysteria (2005), and Tolstoy’s Last Days (2005).

Escher Quartet Adam Barnett-Hart (Violin); Wu Jie (Violin); Pierre Lapointe (Viola); Andrew Janss (Cello). The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its individual sound, inspired artistic decisions and unique cohesiveness. The Quartet has performed at prestigious venues and festivals across the United States including Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y and Symphony Space in New York, Boston's Gardner Musuem, the Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, Music@Menlo and La Jolla SummerFest; and has collaborated with eminent artists such as Lawrence Dutton, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Jeffrey Kahane, Joseph Kalichstein, David Shifrin and Pinchas Zukerman. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be the quartet-in-residence at each artist's summer festival: The Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre and The Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. During the 2008-2009 season the Escher debuts at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Louvre in Paris as well as in New Orleans, Orange County, CA, and San Jose. In addition, the Quartet continues its CMS Two residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and travels to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The Escher began the season with appearances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo and the Gold Coast Festival in California. Last season, the Escher began its Chamber Music Society Two Residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, served as the 2007-2008 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence in Caramoor—where the Escher recently performed its first commissioned work by Pierre Jalbert—and joined the faculty of Stony Brook University as Visiting Artist-in-Residence in a unique relationship with the world-renowned Emerson String Quartet. The ensemble also performed at the Ravinia, Green, Great Lakes, Music @ Menlo and La Jolla Festivals. Additional 2007-2008 appearances included Symphony Space and the New School in New York; Boston’s Gardner Museum; Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society; Concordia College; and University of Idaho. The Quartet has also performed with guitar luminary Pepe Romero for a New Year's Eve performance at the 92nd Street Y, and with pianist Wu Han at the Greenwich Library Concert Series. Nightclub engagements at Tonic and Union Hall saw the Escher in joint concerts with pop-folk singer-songwriter Luke Temple. The Escher String Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. "The individual and sometimes concertolike playing of the four musicians was notable for its polish and tonal beauty."

Simon Fortin, Son and grandson of actors, Mr. Fortin was born in Canada where he trained at the Conservatoire d‚Art Dramatique du Québec and then in England, at Drama Studio London (Canadian Arts Council Grant and Actor of the Year Award). Fortin has worked in Canada and the U.S. in nearly sixty productions of, among others, Shakespeare, Tremblay, Chekhov, Offenbach, Stoppard and Rogers & Hammerstein (Nicky Roy Prize; Janine Angers Prize; Prix des Abonnés du Trident). His one-man shows (Lost & Found in Translation and Of Frogs & Princes) have been produced in Canada, the U.S. and South Africa. Recent film and television work include: A Very Serious Person, Sex and the City; René Lévesque II (starring role - 2008). As a playwright, Fortin has written eight plays and translated four. The Country in her Throat has been produced several times in major Canadian theaters in both French and English, and was made into a television film for CBC (Le Pays dans la Gorge). His latest play, Some Exhibition, is in pre-production. In 2005, Fortin received a Masters‚ degree from New York University in Shakespeare Studies (Class Representative Award) and is currently completing his PhD at CUNY Graduate Center in the same discipline.

Vesselin Gellev Praised by the New York Times for his “warmth and virtuosic brilliance”, Bulgarian-born violinist Vesselin Gellev has performed throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and the US. Since his concerto debut at age 9, Mr. Gellev has been a featured soloist with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, Plovdiv Philharmonic, Manhattan Virtuosi, and the Idyllwild International Chamber Orchestra, a.o. Mr. Gellev is a member of Antares, a piano-clarinet quartet, winner of the Grand Prize at the 2002 Concert Artists Guild competition in New York. Antares' debut CD entitled "Eclipse" was released in 2005 on the Innova label. As concertmaster of Kristjan Jarvi's Absolute Ensemble, a Grammy-nominated, genre-blending "classical band" dedicated to the breakdown of musical barriers and categorisation, Mr. Gellev has recorded numerous CD's and performed worldwide to audience and critical acclaim. Mr. Gellev has also been concertmaster of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy and The Juilliard Orchestra, guest concertmaster of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and since 2002 serves as concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. His performances have been broadcast live on WNYC, NPR's Performance Today series and MPR's St. Paul Sunday. Mr. Gellev holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School in New York, and has served on the violin faculty at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Mr. Gellev has been a core member of ERC since 2003, when he performed in the production The Young Arthur Rubinstein in São Paulo, Brazil.

Beth Guterman is one of the most sought-after young violists of her generation. This past summer she became a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center program and will start there in the 06-07 season playing in Alice Tully Hall with performers Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Joseph Silverstein, Paul Neubauer, David Finckel and Wu Han, among others. She received her Masters degree in May from Juilliard studying with Masao Kawasaki. Ms. Guterman received top prize in the Juilliard Viola Competition and in the first ever Aspen Nakamichi Lower Strings Competition. She made her New York debut in Avery Fisher Hall performing a concerto under the baton of James DePreist. She collaborated with ERC in the production Van Gogh’s Ear (2006).

John Hellweg is a professor of theatre at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He has performed in principal roles in over thirty productions, most recently as Sy Turner in Delicious Rivers (Ellen Maddow), directed by Paul Zimet; as Jabber/Chilli in a reading of In the Blood (Suzan-Lori Parks), directed by Suzan-Lori Parks; as well as in traditional Javanese performances: as Menak Jingga in The Death of Menak Jingga, as Garuda in the Ramayana, and as the prince in Gambir Anom. John has directed over forty productions, including plays by Ionesco, Bruno, Shawn, Shakespeare, Vogel, Ende, Lucas, Jarry, Kobo Abe, Mrozek, Chekhov, Molière, Bidart, Ayckbourn, Churchill, Euripides, Coward, Calderón de la Barca, Arrabal, Ghelderode, and O’Casey. His productions have been at the Galaxy Theatre in Los Angeles, The Magic Theatre in San Francisco, the Santa Cruz Art Center, and A.P.E. Theater Center, Northampton, MA. Recent work includes two one-woman performances: Mother Maroon (Hart), presented in Cairo, Copenhagen, and Poland; and I Used to be One Hot Number (Blair), presented at the Big D Festival of the Unexpected at the Dallas Theatre Center.

Christina Jennings is praised for virtuoso technique, rich tone and command of a wide range of literature featuring works from Bach to Zwilich. The Houston Press declared: “Jennings has got what it takes; a distinctive voice, charisma and a pyrotechnic style that works magic on the ears.” Winner of numerous competitions including the Concert Artists Guild Competition, Ms. Jennings has performed as soloist with the Houston and Utah Symphonies, the Avalon String Quartet, the Zephyros Winds, So Percussion, and soprano Lucy Shelton. Cross disciplinary performances include collaborations with the David Parson Dance Company, choreographer Austin Hartel and Actress Jennifer Timm. Her recordings include several solo CDs as well as discs for Albany Records alongside jazz great Marian McPartland and Shulamit Ran’s flute concerto Voices. Based in Boulder, Colorado Ms. Jennings is Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Colorado.

Lynne McCollough Lynne appears in the film Missing Person, which premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival. On television, she played Moira O'Melvaney on Showtime Network's The Brotherhood. She was most recently seen on stage as Esther in Steven Gridley's Twelfth Labor at Columbia University, as Mary in Adam Boch's The Thugs at SoHo Rep, and also appeared as numerous women of Cayro, GA in Kate Moira Ryan's Cavedweller, directed by Michael Greif for New York Theatre Workshop.

Michael Milligan has performed Shakespeare around the country, most recently as Mark Anthony in Julius Ceasar in Milwaukee and as Orlando with Shakespeare and Company. Other Shakespeare: Hamlet, Romeo, Mercutio, Dromio, Cassio, Benedik, Edgar, and various spear carriers and shrub movers with the Cincinatti Playhouse, St. Louis Rep., the Alabama, Colorado, Utah, St. Louis, Illinois, and Sedona Shakespeare festivals. Non Shakespeare: Candida at the McCarter, Glass Menagerie with Penny Fuller at Charlotte Rep, The Golem with Robert Prosky at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater, and Murray in A Thousand Clowns at Buffalo's Studio Arena Theatre. Michael trained at Juilliard where he received the John Houseman Prize. Mr. Milligan has collaborated with ERC in the productions Fanny Mendelssohn: Out of Her Brother’s Shadow (2005) and George Sand: Letters from Majorca (2005).

Michael Nicolas Canadian cellist Michael Nicolas has performed as chamber musician and soloist in cities across Canada and the United States, in collaboration with many renowned musicians, including Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Kim Kashkashian, Charles Neidich, Fred Sherry, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Muir, and St. Lawrence string quartets. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, he made his concerto debut in 1999 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and returns regularly to perform recitals and concerts. He is a prizewinner in the Canadian Music Competitions, and has received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. He has been heard on CBC Radio Two, and has recorded the music of Schoenberg for Naxos. He also plays regularly with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Also an advocate for new music, Michael has worked closely with many distinguished composers, including Charles Wuorinen, John Harbison, and Mario Davidovsky, in the latter case giving the world premiere of Mr. Davidovsky’s Quartet No. 4. Upcoming highlights for Mr. Nicolas include the New Paths Festival in New York in June, the Ravinia Festival in July, as well as a recording for Espace Musique, the classical music branch of French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada.

Dennis Parker (Professor of Cello and Coordinator of String Chamber Music). Inspired by a variety of musical activity, Parker appears frequently as soloist, recitalist, collaborator and guest professor at numerous universities and festivals. Parker has been on the LSU faculty since 1988. He was principal cellist of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1998. Parker is a former member of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and served as Principal Cellist of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Mr. Parker received his early training with Channing Robbins of the Juilliard School in New York City. He later was a pupil of Janos Starker at Indiana University (BM; Performers Certificates 1982) and Aldo Parisot at Yale (MM 1986) where he served as Mr. Parisot's teaching assistant. In recent years, Parker has researched, performed and recorded works of composers who perished in the Holocaust. He is always involved with the expansion of the existing cello repertoire, and has many transcribed many works for his instrument. He is presently working on a first recording of David Popper's Studies for Cello, as well as recordings of a selection of his sonata transcriptions. During the past two seasons, Parker has been guest professor at universities in Santiago, Chile, Mexico City, San Jose, Costa Rica, Istanbul and Izmir, Turkey. He lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife, Jacqueline, a writer and painter and their two children, Roland and Zoe.

Karen Bentley Pollick pursues a unique career as a violinist, violist, conductor, and pianist. She attended Indiana University and graduated with a Masters of Music Degree in Violin Performance in 1987. She has concertized as soloist throughout the capitols of Europe, Asia, United States, Canada and Russia and has several recordings of original music, including Electric Diamond, Angel, Konzerto and Succubus, Ariel View, and Dancing Suite to Suite, which was awarded second place in the Just Plain Folks 2004 Record Awards Best Classical Soloist Album category. She collaborates with percussionist Ian Dogole of Global Fusion Music in a variety of musical styles merging violin, viola and Norwegian hardangerfele with percussion instruments from around the globe. Pollick has toured with the New York Philharmonic, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, the Bolshoi Ballet, Barbra Streisand, and recorded with the Dave Matthews Band and Evanescence, as well as numerous film scores at Skywalker Ranch. She is currently the violinist in Paul Dresher’s Electro-Acoustic Band, which performed at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall as part of the In Your Ear Festival, hosted by John Adams. She has also collaborated with the Seattle Chamber Players in their Icebreaker II: Baltic Voices Festival, which was featured on St. Paul Sunday. Pollick currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama, where she is First Lady of Birmingham Southern College. For more information: www.kbentley.com

The Quartetto di Venezia delights audiences with its distinctively Italian playing style and sparkling repertoire. Founded more than a decade ago, when its members were students at the Venice Conservatory, the artists have studied with the Quartetto Italiano and Vegh Quartet, and have developed an exquisite quality of sound and a unique voice which emphasizes the characteristics of individual instruments. Through live performances around the globe, broadcasts on Italian State Television and radio stations including WQXR in New York City, and numerous recordings on the Dynamic, Koch, Ermitage, Musical Heritage Society, Fonit Centra, and CD Classic labels, the Quartetto di Venezia is continuing and revitalizing the extraordinary Italian tradition of string quartet playing. The Quartetto di Venezia performed in the ERC production L’Innocente (2006).

Randall Scarlata, baritone, has won first prize at the 1999 YCA International Auditions, the 1997 Das Schubert Lied International Competition in Vienna, the 1997 Joy in Singing Competition in New York, and second prize at the 1999 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation International Vocal Competition. Last season, Mr. Scarlata debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and has been heard in recitals in Vienna, Salzburg, Hamburg, Nice, and in Italy's Spoleto Festival. Mr. Scarlata performs with Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society II, and has given world premieres of works by several contemporary composers. Mr. Scarlata has spent several summers under the tutelage of the great French baritone Gérard Souzay. He has recorded for the Albany, Gasparo, and CRI labels. Mr. Scarlata has performed with ERC in Secret Messages and Dedications: Music from the Circle of Brahms and the Schumanns (2002), Robert and Clara Schumann: A Love Story in Music (2002) Schubert’s Dream (2004), and My Heart, My Serpent: Thus Spoke Zarathustra (2006).

Andy Simionescu was born in Romania and is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he completed his studies with Szymon Goldberg. He was awarded the Silver Medal and the Prize for the Commissioned Work at the 1987 Montreal International Violin Competition and was a 1st prize winner in the Concert Artists Guild and the Washington International competitions. Andy’s solo appearances have taken him to the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Musikverein, Tokyo’s Casals Hall and throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. Recital highlights include performances at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, New York’s 92nd Street Y and Alice Tully Hall, as well as a six-recital series at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. A prolific chamber musician, he is a member of the Raphael Trio and Artistic Director of the Performers of Westchester. Mr. Simionescu performed in the ERC production Van Gogh’s Ear (2006).

Benjamin Sosland. Recent engagements for tenor Benjamin Sosland include performances at the Spoleto (Italy) and Aldeburgh (England) Festivals, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the St. Bartholomew’s Orchestra, the title role in Britten’s St. Nicolas with the Choral Society of the Hamptons, the Evangelist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes in Chicago and Los Angeles. In recital, he has appeared at the Morris Jumel House, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and Center City Concerts in Philadelphia. Mr. Sosland, a doctoral candidate at the Juilliard School, has been the guest of the Marlboro, Bowdoin, Aspen, and Ravinia music festivals. He won First Prize in the 2006 Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation Art Song Competition. Mr. Sosland has collaborated with ERC in the production Van Gogh’s Ear (2006).

Svet Stoyanov Recently praised by the New York Times for his “understated but unmistakable virtuosity” along with a “winning combination of gentleness and fluidity,” Bulgarian-born Svet Stoyanov, winner of the April 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, made his New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. As a co-soloist, he premiered the Phillip Glass Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra with The American Symphony Orchestra, led by Leon Botstein. Featured in Symphony Magazine’s annual “Emerging Artists” issue, Svet Stoyanov has performed solo recitals, concertos with orchestra, and ensemble concerts throughout the country, including numerous appearances in all of New York’s major concert halls. He has been a soloist with the Chicago, Seattle, and American Symphony orchestras to name a few.

Garrick Zoeter Garrick Zoeter’s passionate and exciting way with the clarinet has been acknowledged around the world. The Boston Globe has described him as an artist who “makes every note go through major life changes.” Mr. Zoeter has his Bachelors from Juilliard School under Charles Neidich and his Masters from Yale under David Shifrin. He made his solo debut at the age of seventeen in Weber’s Concerto #1 with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center. He has won competitions including the International Clarinet Society International Clarinet Competition and the Yamaha Young Artist Competition. He has collaborated with artists such as clarinetist David Shifrin, violinist Juliette Kang, oboist Washington Barella, pianist Paulo Alveres, and Trio Solisti. Mr. Zoeter is a founding member of the award winning Antares quartet, which performs at venues such as The Kennedy Center, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Zoeter performs extensively with his wife, soprano Mariana Mihai-Zoeter, in concerts throughout South America, and he currently serves on the music faculty of Wesleyan University. Mr. Zoeter has recorded for the CRI, Newport Classics, Bridge, and Innova CD labels. [back to top]