Musicians 2012
Jacob Adams
Violist Jacob Adams made his solo debut with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra at age 17. His performing career has taken him across the U.S. and around the world, including all of the stages at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Boston's Symphony Hall, and the El Escorial Palace in Spain. As a chamber musician and recitalist, he has performed with members of the Muir, St. Lawrence and St. Petersburg String Quartets, on the prized instrument collection at the Smithsonian, and won top prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. From 2007-2009, he was violist of the critically acclaimed Vinca String Quartet, with whom he won special mention at the Borciani International Quartet Competition in Italy and co-founded the nonprofit organization Music Haven to serve underprivileged neighborhoods of New Haven, CT. A graduate of Oberlin College and Yale University, his principal teachers have included Jesse Levine, Roger Chase, Roland Vamos and Catharine Carroll. Jacob is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree with Hellen Callus and a Masters in Musicology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. At UCSB and previously at Yale, he also offers private lessons, coaches chamber ensembles, and teaches music appreciation courses. Jacob has worked and performed with many Southern California ensembles, including the San Diego Symphony, wild Up, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Santa Barbara. Jacob serves as strings teacher for ICAN (Incredible Children's Art Network), a Santa Barbara nucleo for El Sistema, and works as the Instrumental Program Coordinator at the Music Academy of the West. He also leads pre-concert talks and contributes program notes for concert series across the country. For more information on upcoming projects and performances, contact him at jacobviola@gmail.com.
A native of Massachusetts, Sage Cole received her BA in music, summa cum laude, from Barnard College, and her MM in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was the first violinist of the Graduate Fellowship Quartet. She has studied at the Manhattan School of Music, and the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan; her major teachers include Maria Benotti, Curtis Macomber, and David Perry. Sage has been a member of the Madison Symphony, the Madison Ballet, the Madison Opera orchestras, has performed with the Vinca Quartet and is a founding member of the Hudson Quartet. Sage completed Suzuki pedagogical studies with Allen Lieb and Ecaterina Gerson at the School for Strings. She lives in New York City, where she is on the faculty at the Lucy Moses School, the Diller-Quaile School of Music, and Silver Music.
Eliot Heaton
Eliot Reinhardt Heaton began violin lessons at age three through Ithaca, NY's Suzuki program, studying for many years with Jan Butler. During high school in Geneva, NY, Eliot worked with Linda Case in Ithaca and was co concertmaster of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. He has performed as soloist with the Finger Lakes Symphony, the Penfield Symphony, the RPYO and most recently, the Ithaca Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Lanfranco Marcelletti. First place winner of the RPO's Young Artist Audition Albright award, the David Hochstein Competition and the Jo Amish award, his Darwin String Quartet has also performed on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center and on the Smithsonian Institute's Stradivarius collection.. Eliot is in the double degree program at Oberlin, where he majors in history, and studies violin with Marilyn McDonald.
Momoko Matsumura
Originally from Osaka, Japan, Momoko Matsumura currently holds the position of Principal Second Violin with the Plymouth Philharmonic in Massachussetts. An experienced orchestral violinist, she is a former member of the Hartford Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Norwalk Symphony, and Haddonfield Symphony (Symphony in C) Orchestras, and has been a substitute violinist with the New World Symphony, the Osaka Philharmonic, and the Osaka Century Orchestras. In addition to orchestral performances, Ms. Matsumura enjoys a varied career playing chamber music, contemporary music and teaching. She has been invited to many music festivals on full scholarship including National Orchestra Institute, Kent/Blossom Music Festival and National Jeugd Orkest in Holland. She graduated from Kyoto City University of the Arts where she earned her B.A. and M.A. and received an M.A. and Artist Diploma from Montclair State University (John J. Cali School of Music) where she was a student of Yi-Wen Jiang of the Shanghai String Quartet. Winner of the Montclair State University concerto competition, she is a recipient of numerous scholarships and awards, including the Shanghai String Quartet Scholarship, first prize in the International Music Competition of Earth and Nature in Bulgaira, and second prize in the International Chamber Music Competition in Boston.
Conductor Julian Pellicano has recently been described as "stunningly expressive", exhibiting "impassioned and confident" conducting by the Boston Musical Intelligencer. This season includes guest engagements with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, New Britain Symphony and concerts with Boston's Dinosaur Annex Ensemble. Mr. Pellicano is currently on faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College where he serves as Principal Conductor of the Longy Conservatory Orchestra. An Artist in Residence at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Mr. Pellicano has been the conductor of the Norfolk New Music Ensemble since 2008.
Recognized for his work with living composers, Pellicano has premiered over 30 new works including the American premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Drei Geistliche Konzerte. He also recently conducted sold-out performances of Pascal Dusapin's chamber opera To Be Sung at the University of California San Diego, collaborating with soprano Susan Narucki and released a recording of Ingram Marshall's Peaceable Kingdom on New World Records (2010). He was awarded a fellowship from the Centre Acanthes in Paris to conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under the mentorship of conductor/composer Peter Eötvös and
conductor Zsolt Nagy and was also selected by Kurt Masur to participate in the 2009 Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar.
As assistant conductor of the Yale Philharmonia Orchestra he led numerous concerts, assisted music director Shinik Hahm and guest conductors including Sir Neville Marriner, Helmuth Rilling, Reinbert De Leeuw, Peter Oundjian and Jeremy Silver. He was a recipient of the 2008 Presser Music Award, he has been recognized with two stipends from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and Yale's Phillip F. Nelson Award.
Caroline Shaw
Read about Caroline Shaw on our Featured Composer page. Caroline Shaw, originally from North Carolina, is a musician of many sorts. She has performed, as violinist or singer, with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Roomful of Teeth, the Trinity Wall Street Choir, the Mark Morris Dance Group Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Wordless Music, Signal, The Yehudim, Victoire, Opera Cabal, and the Yale Baroque Ensemble. Her original music has recently been featured at Mass MoCA (with artist Jane Philbrick's permanent landscape installation "The Expanded Field"), the Ecstatic Music Festival, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, De Link (Netherlands), and on the upcoming Roomful of Teeth album (2012 release). She holds a B.M. (violin) from Rice and an M.M. (violin) from Yale, and she is currently a doctoral fellow in composition at Princeton. She is a former Thomas J. Watson Fellow.
Shay Rudolph
Shay Rudolph began studying the cello at age 8 and was playing recorder-and-cello trios with her parents as soon as she could play a part on her own. Thus began her love of chamber music, which stayed with her as she went on to play with the Boston Youth Symphony (where she met her future husband) and attended Boston University's College of Fine Arts. She is Assistant Principal Cellist with the New Bedford Symphony, is a member of the Orchestra of Indian Hill, and can often be seen with Portland Symphony, Cantata Singers, and Springfield Symphony. Recently Shay played for the North American tour of Star Wars: In Concert. Other highlights include performing with the Cleveland Orchestra and with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra in Los Angeles. In non-classical endeavors, she played backup instrumentals for hip-hop artist KanYe West and spent over two years playing electric cello with a rock band called The Cello Chix. Shay serves on the cello faculty at Clark University and on the chamber music faculty of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. (Photo credit: Jason Sundram)
Verena Sennekamp
Verena Sennekamp received her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music as a student of Aldo Parisot. She holds degrees from the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and the Amsterdam Conservatory. Her former teachers include Dmitri Ferschtman, Annemarie Speermann and Barbara Varsanyi. Ms. Sennekamp is a laureate of the 2008 New England Chamber Music Competition and has been awarded with the European Regio Culture Initiative Prize. She has appeared at various International Music festivals such as Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Banff, Accademia Chigiana Siena, Carl Flesch Akademie and London Masterclasses. In collaboration with the Embassy of Germany Ms. Sennekamp has given concerts at San Salvador, Sofia, Cracow and Geneva. Her appearance in Sofia was broadcasted in the Bulgarian National Radio. In 2009/2010 she was artist in Residence at the Gstaad New Year Music Festival. Verena Sennekamp is a dedicated performer of contemporary music. She is founding member of ensembleΩ and Chambre d'écoute with whom she regularly appears at festivals. This year her ensemble travels to the Philippines, Italy and Austria for workshops and concerts.
Caitlin Sullivan
Cellist Caitlin Sullivan enjoys a versatile career as a chamber, orchestral and contemporary music performer based in New York City. She regularly appears with ensembles ranging from the Knights to the New York Philharmonic, in venues from Lincoln Center to (Le) Poisson Rouge. Ms. Sullivan is also a member of the IRIS Orchestra in Memphis, TN, and contemporary music group Ensemble Signal. As a graduate of Carnegie Hall's fellowship program, The Academy, Ms. Sullivan has participated in numerous chamber music and teaching residencies nationally and abroad, including her role as residency project leader in South Africa in summer 2011. Ms. Sullivan received her Bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master's degree from the Juilliard School.
A native of Massachusetts, Lorna Tsai began her studies at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston at the age of five. Lorna has received recognition for her work, among them from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the New England String Ensemble, the Concord Symphony and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Upon receiving her Bachelor Degree in Violin Performance from Northwestern University, she continued her studies at Yale University School of Music where she earned her Masters in Violin Performance. Previous teachers include Magdalena Richter, Marylou Speaker Churchill, Roland and Almita Vamos and Ani Kavafian. Lorna is currently the Principal Second Violinist of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to joining the CPO, Lorna performed with ensembles such as the New World Symphony and Louisville Orchestra. Lorna has also performed as soloist with various orchestras including the New England String Ensemble, the Concord Symphony and Symphony Pro Musica. During the summers, she participates in music festivals which in the past have included the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Artosphere Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival and Aspen Music Festival.
Alexander Vavilov
Originally from Ukraine, violist Alexander Vavilov has earned recognition as a soloist, chamber music and orchestra player in the Boston area. In addition to performing orchestral and chamber music in venues such as Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall and Boston Symphony Hall, he had the honor of collaborating in a chamber music setting with such outstanding artists as the Borromeo Quartet, James Buswell, Barbara Westphal, Ronald Leonard, Rhonda Rider and Lynn Chang. He was a First Prize winner in the 2003 Massachusetts ASTA string players' competition and a finalist in a 2004 ASTA national competition. Alexander was also a winner of the 2009 Borromeo Guest Artist Award and a finalist in the 2007 Atlantic Symphony Orchestra concerto competition. Other achievements include Diplomas in the Ukrainian National Viola competition in Lviv and the New Names of Ukraine competition in Kiev. Alexander is currently a principal of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and performs regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Portland Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestra experiences include Boston Ballet, Kalistos Chamber Orchestra, Xanthos, Marsh Chapel Collegium, Indian Hill Symphony, associate principal in Plymouth Symphony, Worcester Collegium and Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. He makes regular appearances at the various concert series in the Boston area as a chamber and solo musician, as well as in duet with his wife, pianist Olga Talroze. In addition to Sarasota and Tanglewood he also participated in Meadowmount Summer School of Music, Bowdoin Summer Music Camp, Triple Helix chamber workshop and the Lydian String Quartet summer workshop. He also won the Boston Conservatory string honors competition in spring 2006 as well as chamber honors competition in both spring and fall of the same year. During the summers of 2008-2010 he was a faculty at Point Counterpoint Music Camp where he enjoyed teaching and coaching chamber music as well as participating in up to four faculty chamber concerts per summer. Currently Alexander is a faculty in Indian Hill Music School and Winchester Community Music School. Alexander earned his Bachelors and Masters degree from the Boston Conservatory where he studied with former BSO associate principal Patricia McCarty. He got his Graduate Diploma from New England Conservatory where he was a student of a renowned viola soloist Kim Kashkashian. Photo credit: Susan Wilson
Jacques Lee Wood
Combining a dynamic and expressive style with intelligence and sensitivity, cellist Jacques Lee Wood is gaining attention as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician of the highest caliber. A versatile artist, Wood's interest in teaching and research supplements an active performance career that covers a broad range of repertoire and interests: from historically informed performance of the Baroque, Classic, and Romantic periods to newly composed works. A top prizeswinner at the ARTS Competition and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, Mr. Wood most recently performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Seoul National Orchestra, the Schumann Cello Concerto with the Ureuk Symphony at Merkin Hall in New York, and the Haydn C major Cello Concerto (on period cello) with the American Baroque Orchestra. Other recent, noteworthy performances include a Carnegie Hall recital with the Yale Baroque Ensemble, the Asian premiere of American composer Russell Peck's Voice of the Wood with the Pohang Symphony Orchestra, a Tokyo debut recital at Sonorium Hall, and lecture-recitals at Yale University, Auburn University, and the University of Connecticut that discuss issues of historical performance practice in Beethoven's Cello Sonatas. Mr. Wood coaches chamber music at the Yale Department of Music and the Yale School of Music, and is the Program Coordinator of the Early Music Department at the Yale School of Music. He currently serves on the faculty at the Korea Philharmonic Summer Research Institute, Korea-Japan Summer Music Festival, Seoul National Symphony Orchestra Summer Academy, and the International Musical Arts Institute. Mr. Wood is a principal player with Bachsolisten Seoul, Trinity Baroque Orchestra in New York, CONTINEO, Sebastian Chamber Players, and the American Baroque Orchestra. Currently a Doctoral Candidate at Yale University, Mr. Wood received his Bachelor of Music at the New England Conservatory of Music and his Master of Music at Yale University under Laurence Lesser and Aldo Parisot, respectively. Mr. Wood is a Swiss Global Artist.
Ryo Yanagitani
Ryo Yanagitani has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most promising young concert artists. A laureate of many international competitions, his most recent success includes winning the gold medal at the 10th San Antonio International Piano Competition, where he was also given special recognition for a performance of the complete Chopin Ballades. Ryo has made concerto appearances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, among others.
In addition to many solo recitals, he has been in demand as a chamber musician. His most recent collaboration with cellist Dai Miyata has resulted in a concert tour of Japan, and they will be releasing a CD later this year. Ryo Yanagitani is presently an active member of the Musique a la Mode chamber ensemble in New York, specializing in the performance of new music and unusual works seldom heard in public. He is also pianist of Duo Chrysalis with cellist Jacques Lee Wood, and their collaboration has taken them on a tour of performances across the United States and Korea.
Ryo Yanagitani received his Masters of Music degree from the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, a Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan. He recently completed his residency requirement for the Yale School of Music Doctor of Musical Arts Degree, and was an instructor for the Chamber Music Program at Yale. Starting this fall, Ryo will be on faculty as Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
