Current Season Guests, Performer, Violinist
Polish-born and New York City-based violinist Kinga Augustyn has been described as “an adventurous performer valuable to New York’s scene” (NY Concert Review), “a violinist for whom nothing seems too difficult” (Nowy Dziennik Polish Daily News), “stylish and vibrant” (The Strad Magazine).
She has performed as a soloist with orchestras in the United States and Europe. Among them are the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, the Empire State Sinfonia, the Gateway Classical Music Society Orchestra, the Broadway Bach Ensemble, the Glacier Symphony, and the Augusta Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to her many orchestra appearances, she maintains a busy concert schedule as a recitalist and chamber musician with appearances at Carnegie Hall (in both the Stern Auditorium and the Weill Recital Hall), Alice Tully Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Hall, The Kosciuszko Foundation, 7 World Trade Center, Bargemusic, Polish and Hungarian Embassies in Washington, DC, The Aspen Music Festival, and the Ethical Society in Philadelphia. She has also performed as a featured artist at music festivals such as the Paderewski Festival, the Sevenars Music Festival, and the Chopin & Friends Festival.
Her recent prestigious collaborations include solo performances with The Jose Limon Dance Company at the Joyce Theater in NYC. Ms. Augustyn is also a member of pianist Jeffrey Biegel’s Trio 21 with cellist Robert deMaine. The ensemble has recently recorded Glen Roven’s Runaway Bunny CD for GPR Records, with Catherine Zeta- Jones as a narrator, as well as Kenneth Fuchs’ Falling Trio for Naxos. Ms. Augustyn’s Album of Polish music, was just released in June 2013 on Naxos.
Ms. Augustyn is committed to increasing awareness of music by Polish composers, as well as promoting contemporary music. She has premiered Michael White’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and his Trio Sonata, which were composed especially for her. She has also recorded his Quartet for Piano and Strings. Ms. Augustyn’s new album of contemporary music is coming out very soon on GPR Records. Her former discography includes a CD of Niccolo Paganini 24 Caprices for Solo Violin.
Ms. Augustyn has won international awards, including First Prizes at the Alexander & Buono International String Competition (NYC), Artist International Presentations (NYC), J.S. Bach String Competition (Zielona Gora, Poland), and Ackerman Chamber Music Competition at Stony Brook, NY. Other top honors include prizes at the Kosciuszko Foundation Wieniawski Violin Competition (NYC), the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Poertschach, Austria), and the Kloster Schoental International Young Artist Competition (Kloster Scheontal, Germany).
Kinga Augustyn began her music studies at the age of seven in her native Poland. She eventually went on to study at The Juilliard School, where she worked with Dorothy DeLay, Cho-Liang Lin and Naoko Tanaka, and earned both the bachelor’s and the master’s degrees. She also holds a doctorate from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where she took lessons from Phil Setzer and Pamela Frank.
As a teacher, Ms. Augustyn has served as a Violin Faculty for The Alexander & Buono Festival of Music. She has also conducted various violin and chamber music masterclasses and workshops in the United States and Poland.
Kinga Augustyn is thrilled to perform again with the Broadway Bach Ensemble!
Current Season Guests, Performer, Pianist
Pianist DANIEL EPSTEIN received international acclaim in 1973 with his performances of the Yellow River Concerto – the first piece of Chinese classical music to be performed in the United States – in a series of concerts and RCA debut recording with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, he has become recognized as one of the most vital and versatile solo and chamber pianists of his generation, as well as an articulate communicator and educator.
Winner of the prestigious Kosciuszko Chopin Award, the National Arts Club Prize, the Prix Alex de Vries at the Marguerite Long Competition, in Paris, and the Concert Artists Guild Award — which afforded him his Carnegie Hall debut recital — Epstein was also selected for an NEA Recitalist Grant to perform recitals throughout the US. He has appeared as guest soloist with such eminent American orchestras as Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Detroit, and Rochester. He has given recitals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y as well as in major cities throughout the US, complemented by master classes and intensive seminars for pianists at colleges and universities. He has also toured in China, Japan and Europe.
As pianist and founding member of the famed Raphael Trio, since 1975, he has performed virtually the entire piano trio repertoire. The Trio has appeared regularly in New York’s Carnegie and Town Halls, The Kennedy Center in Washington, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna, Paris, Geneva, Budapest, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, as well as numerous other musical centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. The Trio’s recordings of Beethoven, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, and Wolf-Ferarri have received wide critical and public praise. He has collaborated with many renowned string quartets, including the Ying, American, and Talich, and has played with members of the Juilliard and Guarneri quartets as well as many other distinguished chamber musicians and soloists.
In the fall of 2004, Mr. Epstein was invited to Shanghai, China, serving as visiting faculty at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He has visited China since then at least annually, performing and teaching in the conservatories of Shanghai, Beijing (Central) Xi’an and performing recitals and concerti. In the summer of 2017 he performed the Yellow River Concerto for the first time in China at the Xiamen International Piano Festival.
Additional recent performances have included the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Broadway Bach Ensemble in May, 2017, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in September of 2017 with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in March of 2018 with the Bartlesville OK Symphony.
Mr. Epstein has been a member of the piano faculty of the Mason Gross School of Music at Rutgers University since 2007 and Manhattan School of Music since 2001. In February of 2018 he was appointed Head of Keyboard at Rutgers.
Daniel Epstein’s unique and comprehensive teaching style has made him one of the most sought-after teachers in the United States. Among his current and former students are major competition prizewinners, performers with major conductors and symphony orchestras throughout the world, and recording artists on major record labels.
Recordings: RCA, Sony, Albany, Sonar, Nonesuch, Newport Classic, ASV, Unicorn-Kanchana and EMS.
Performer, Violinist
Logan Chiang is a Taiwanese violinist based in New York currently studying at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development as a doctoral student, majoring in violin performance with a sub-specialization in concert composition. From the age of six he was trained as a classical pianist and frequently performed and competed across Taiwan, and at 9 years old he became champion at the 18th PIARA International Piano Competition in Hamamatsu, Japan, performing works by Burgmüller and Rachmaninoff. In 2018, he was one of the youngest students to ever be accepted to New York University at age 14, where he studied neuroscience, programming, and violin performance.
As an undergraduate, he studied diverse repertoire under the tutelage of Kurt Nikkanen and Giora Schmidt while maintaining a double major in neuroscience. In masterclasses he has played for Grace Shim, Peter Herresthal, and Qianqian Li. He was briefly assistant concertmaster of the NYU orchestra, playing works by Mahler and Viet Cuong. As a master’s student he served as concertmaster for both the NYU Baroque Ensemble and Steinhardt’s production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera Amahl and the Night Visitors. He regularly collaborates with NYU’s Screen Scoring department by premiering new music from student composers, and also serves as a graduate adjunct violin faculty member.
In March 2023, Chiang won the NYU Strings Concerto Competition and performed the Korngold Violin Concerto with the NYU orchestra the following year. In his most recent appearance he performed Saint-Saëns’ 3rd Violin Concerto in Thessaloniki with the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Macedonia, conducted by Georgios Vranos. Chiang is also the youngest laureate in the senior division of the 2024 edition of the Chicago Violin Competition.
Performer, Trumpet
Clyde Daley is a freelance trumpeter and teacher based in the NYC Metropolitan area. He has played at many of the city’s prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Trinity Church Wall Street, and Riverside Church. In addition to playing with orchestras and opera companies, He has held chairs on several Off-Broadway shows and regularly subs on Broadway.
Clarinetist, Performer
Adrian Gutiérrez began the clarinet for his middle school band at the age of 11. Gutiérrez continued the clarinet and attended the LaGuardia High School (2018-2022) where he was principal clarinet of the senior orchestra, wind ensemble, and pit orchestra. In the summer of 2020, Gutiérrez joined the New England Music Camp where he participated in the Chamber Intensive, then, in the summer of 2021, joined again for the entire 6-week session where he received lessons from Ben Chen and Jo-Ann Sternberg, was principal of the top orchestra and wind ensemble, pianist one of the jazz bands, and was a semifinalist for their concerto competition.
From 2020-2022, Gutiérrez attended the Mannes Preparatory Program under the tutelage of David Sapadin. Here he was principal of the orchestra, participated in chamber music, and had music theory and ear training. During the summer of 2022, Adrian Gutiérrez attended the Kinhaven Music School’s 6-week program where he was principal and second clarinet of the orchestra, played in various chamber groups and sang baritone in the choir.
In the summer of 2024, Adrian Gutiérrez attended the Prague Summer Nights Youth Festival where he was the principal clarinetist for multiple orchestra concerts, two performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and participated in chamber music.
Currently, Gutiérrez is studying for his bachelor’s degree in clarinet performance and certification in music education at the Aaron Copland School of Music as a student of Mark Dover. He is principal of the ACSM Orchestra and is a winner of the 2023 ACSM Concerto Competition.
Performer, Violinist
18 year-old violinist Hyerin Ella Eom was born in South Korea and moved to Palisades Park, New Jersey at the age of 6. She attended the Juilliard School’s Pre-College from 2019 to 2024 where she learned under Ms. Elizabeth Chang. She will be attending both Columbia University and Juilliard starting fall 2024 through the BCJ cross-registration program, where she will be studying under Ms. Laurie Smukler.
As a soloist, Hyerin garnered top prizes at local and international competitions, such as the first prizes at the 2021 IGMC, the 2021 Bravura Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the 2023 Adelphi Young Artists Competition in senior division, second place in the strings division at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, an alternate in the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra Korngold Violin Concerto Competition in 2022, and was a semifinalist in the Stulberg International String Competition 2023. She is also a 2024 YoungArts Winner. She attended Mozarteum Summer Festival in 2019 as a young artist under the tutelage of Pierre Amoyal and attended Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2021 and 2022.
Hyerin is an avid chamber musician as well, and is one of the violinists of the FaMa Quartet, which won 2nd place in the 2022 Coltman Chamber Music Competition junior division and won the Gold Medal at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition junior strings division.
In her free time, Ella enjoys snowboarding in the winter and spending time with family and friends.
Oboist, Performer
Hailed by the New York Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” oboist Keve Wilson would skip music theory and history as a kid to practice Irish jigs and reels instead. She recently wrapped up production on Broadway as oboist for the celebrated revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. Other Broadway shows she’s held chairs in are Carousel with Renee Fleming as well as the 2014 Tony Winner A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Keve inspires visiting high school band and orchestra students from around the country with her original show Believe NYC — from the Band Room to Broadway. A winner of Concert Artists Guild and solo oboist with the Grammy nominated Absolute Ensemble, she has performed in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, Dubai, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, Panama, New Zealand, Sicily, and South Korea. She plays oboe for Encores! at City Center and recently recorded for Bruce Springsteen and Stone Temple Pilots. Keve spent 6 years in Los Angeles as 2nd oboist of Opera Pacific, recorded for TV commercials and films, and premiered After Hearing Bach by Peter Schickele for oboe and string quartet. During the pandemic, Keve performed numerous shows with her duo partner and childhood friend Rachel Handman along with their band. The group played at the Javits Center every Sunday for vaccinations as well as at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Chelsea Table & Stage, The Culinary Institute of America, and at Mt. Sinai in NYC.
From Hyde Park, NY and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, Keve studied oboe with Richard Killmer, piano with Judith Handman and dance with Elizabeth Clark. She lives in New York City with her husband Kerry and Portuguese water dog Bugsy.
Performer, Violinist
Ashley Horne, violinist and native of Los Angeles, has performed professionally around the world. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Ashley is known for his “bright tone and fine overall sense of style” (Dennis Rooney of Strad Magazine.) His artistic integrity and flexibility have placed him in a diverse range of musical experiences, from recitalist at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall to performances with Portishead, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, and Oliver Lake.
As principal violinist and soloist of The Harlem Chamber Players, performance highlights have included the Sibelius Violin Concerto at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, the Bernstein Serenade at Merkin Hall, a Harlem walking tour video memoir of Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson, and performances at WQXR’s The Greene Space. He is also a founding member of the newly-formed Harlem Chamber Players String Quartet, which recently performed during the reading of names at the World Trade Center’s Ground Zero 20th year memorial tribute.
Mr. Horne is known for championing works by Black composers, such as Noel DaCosta, George Walker, Nkeiru Okoye, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. In 2019, he was a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall’s sold-out event, Two Wings: The Music of Black America in Migration. He appeared in Le Mozart Noir, the PBS documentary about the life of violinist and composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and his recordings of Perkinson’s Louisiana Blues Strut (A Cakewalk), Henry Cowell’s Fiddler’s Jig and William Grant Still’s Mother and Child with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra (Koch International) can be heard on WQXR. Mr. Horne is a member of the American Symphony, and has performed with Brooklyn Philharmonic, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and New York City Opera. He was recently appointed the new Music Director of the Antara Ensemble. Broadway credits include Carousel, Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime, Follies, Chicago, On the Town, and The Producers. Filmgoers can also see Mr. Horne in Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America.
Performer, Pianist
NICO GIACALONE, PIANO, started his musical career under the direction of Ana Maria Trenchi Bottazzi and Bruno Bottazzi in Manhasset, New York. With the Bottazzis he debuted as a performer in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He showed promise as a musician when he gave his first solo recital at the age of 10. Nicolas continued his studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music under professor Jeffrey Biegel and professor Nina Lelchuk, where he completed his undergraduate degree in piano performance. Following this he studied in Italy with Massimiliano Ferrati.
He won the Aaron Copland School of Music Concerto Competition and performed Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the ACSM Orchestra the following year. He also performed Rhapsody in Blue with the ACSM Wind Ensemble and later with the Conservatorio di Musica Agostino Stefani Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Ernest Hoetzl and Maestro Roberto Zarpellon in Castelfranco Veneto and Treviso. He has also performed various Mozart, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff concerti with the Circle Symphony Orchestra.
Nico has performed many times in different halls in New York City, New England, and abroad. He has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Cami Hall, Steinway Hall, the Goethe Institute, St. Peter’s Church, the National Arts Club, Flushing Town Hall, and the House of the Redeemer in New York City; in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts; in Padua, Cittadella, Castelfranco, Treviso and Villa Contarini in Italy; in Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria; and Taipei, Taiwan.
From 2014-2019 and 2023, Nico studied at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival. He was awarded a scholarship and studied under pianists Jerome Rose, Jeffrey Swann, Ilya Yakushev, and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.
Nico has been recording music for the past four years. His most notable releases include the Bach C minor Toccata, the minor Mozart Sonatas, Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 109, Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor with violinist Cameron Zandieh, Liszt’s Funérailles, the Four Ballades of Chopin, and his own original composition entitled ‘Floating Thoughts.’ His recordings can be found on Spotify and YouTube.
Nico Giacalone recently won second prize in the International Mozart Competition in Vienna. He also graduated with a master’s degree from the Mannes Conservatory and was awarded the Steinway Award for outstanding work as a performer and supportive classmate. This past year, he performed Totentanz, one of Franz Liszt’s most virtuosic pieces, with the Broadway Bach Ensemble under the baton of Maestro Michael Tietz.
Conductor, Current Season Guests, Performer
Conductor Audrey J. Edelstein brings sensitivity, power, and connection to the podium, championing a compassionate experience between herself, ensemble, and audience. Incorporating a background in classical dance in her conducting, Audrey shapes soundscapes with fluidity and grace in a variety of settings including the Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, a fully staged production of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat, and Musical Passport with the Arcadian Chorale featuring choral pieces in eleven languages and original orchestrations for string quartet. Actively engaged in programming women and underrepresented voices, Audrey blends the richness of the classical tradition with perspectives of the next generation of creators.
Previous positions include Assistant Conductor of the Oratorio Society of Queens and Northwinds Symphonic Band. Audrey is a founding member of the New Conductors Orchestra, a NYC-based civic orchestra committed to showcasing emerging conductors. Audrey earned a MM in Orchestral Conducting at the Aaron Copland School of Music, and a BA at Swarthmore College. Learn more at www.audreyjedelstein.com
