Performer, Vocalist
Karen Leah Mason is a graduate of the University of Colorado and continued her musical studies in Tampa Florida before moving to New York. She has sung leading roles with the Village Light Opera, Encompass Theatre, 1010 Players, Sylvan Opera and Masque Theatre.
Favorite roles include Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, Elsie in Yeomen of the Guard, Mabel in Pirates of Penzance, Yum-Yum in The Mikado, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun and Susan in Home and the River — a world premiere performance.
An interesting sideline in her career has been the opportunity in a marketing venture for Ada Core Technologies portraying Lady Ada Lovelace in musical productions and recitals in London, Sweden, Spain, Berlin and throughout the USA.
Performer, Violinist
Curtis Macomber is recognized as one of the most versatile soloists and chamber musicians before the public today, equally at home and committed to works from Bach to Babbitt, and with a discography which includes the complete Brahms String Quartets as well as the Roger Sessions Solo Sonata.
A featured lecture/recitalist in the first American Violin Congress in June of 1987, he was Second Prize winner in the 1980 Rockefeller Foundation International Competition for the Performance of Twentieth Century American Violin Music.
Mr. Macomber has appeared in recital at Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theatre, and the Kennedy Center , and has been soloist with the Musica Aeterna Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, Great Neck Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, and at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.
As first violinist of the award-winning New World String Quartet for 11 years (1982-1993), Mr. Macomber performed most of the standard repertoire as well as numerous contemporary works in performances i11 major halls throughout the United States and Europe, and with the Quartet was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University from 1982-1990; with that group he also recorded 14 discs and performed numerous times on Public Radio and Television in this country, and the BBC in Great Britain.
A founding member of the Apollo Piano Trio and the Bridge Horn Trio, and a member of the 20th-Century music ensemble Speculum Musicae since 1991, Mr. Macomber has also appeared with the Sea Cliff Chamber Players, New York New Music Ensemble, Group for Contemporary Music, New York Chamber Soloists, and in chamber music series across the country and in Europe.
He has recorded for Nonesuch, Koch International, Vanguard, Pickwick, and Musical Heritage; CRI has recently released his second solo recording, entitled “Songs of Solitude”, which the New York Observer named one of 1996’s best instrumental solo discs; and the Violin-Piano Sonatas of Amy Beach and John Corigliano, with pianist Diane Walsh, are available on Koch.
Mr. Macomber is a member of the chamber music faculty of the Juilliard School and the violin faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, and has also taught at Utah State University, Montclair State College and Calvin College.
He holds his B.M., M.M., and D.M.A. degrees from the Juilliard School , where he was a scholarship student of Joseph Fuchs and winner of the Morris Loeb and Walter Naumburg Prizes. (October 28, 2001)
Performer, Tuba
Christopher J. Hall, Tubist for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, is currently in his seventh season at the Met Orchestra. Before joining the Met Orchestra Chris held the tuba position in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for two years. He was a fellow in the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in 1995.
Chris has appeared in a variety of performances including: Varese Deserts with Speculum Musicae. He can be heard on the Saving Private Ryan soundtrack of 1998 by John Williams.
In 1993 Chris was the winner of the United Musical Instruments International Solo Competition at the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute, Tempe, AZ, and in 1992 he was the winner of the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference Solo Competition, Open Division, in Lexington, KY.
From 1990 to 1991 he was the Tubist for the New Mexico Brass Quintet, and in 1989 he performed the Vaughan Williams Concerto for Bass Tuba with the University of Illinois Wind Ensemble.
In 1988 Chris performed and recorded Erik Lund’s Music for Tuba and Mallet Instruments, and in 1987 he recorded Sever Tipei’s Cuniculi for Five Tubas, on Centaur CD.
Chris thoroughly enjoys teaching. He has held positions at Montclair State University and is currently on the faculty at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music. He also enjoys teaching privately and is always interested in hearing from advanced tuba students.
Chris has studied with Arnold Jacobs, Eugene Pokorny, Daniel Perantoni and Fritz Kaenzig.
Performer, Pianist
Christopher Guzman, of San Antonio, Texas, has won top prizes in numerous competitions, given solo and chamber music recitals throughout America, Europe and Asia and performed with orchestras throughout the United States.
Mr. Guzman made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen and subsequently performed Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 3 in C Major with orchestras in Texas, North Carolina, and New Mexico. He has also performed with the EOS Orchestra of New York City, the Fort Worth Symphony and extensively with the San Antonio Symphony.
At The Juilliard School, he is the only current student to have performed with the Juilliard Orchestra three times: in Avery Fisher Hall under the direction of Andrew Litton, in Alice Tully Hall under Jeffrey Milarsky, and in Spoleto, Italy, under Jonathan Sheffer. In addition to these performances, Mr. Guzman is also a member of the school’s New Juilliard Ensemble; in November 2002, he performed John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra with the New Juilliard Ensemble at the Festival Whynote! in Dijon, France.
Mr. Guzman is an avid chamber musician, and has performed chamber music throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Recently he has performed with other musicians in the Juilliard Theater, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Alice Tully Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, as part of the Artists Ascending Concert Series of Memphis, Tennessee, the Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto, Italy, the Vancouver Recital Series, and San Francisco Performances.
He has toured Japan twice with acclaimed violinist Ilya Gringolts, including a debut in Suntory Hall, Tokyo. In October of 2002 he was featured with Gringolts on NPR’s “Saint Paul Sunday,” performing a recital of Bartok, Dvorak and Ravel. Mr. Guzman is currently studying with Jerome Lowenthal and Robert McDonald at The Juilliard School.
Bassoonist, Performer
Bassoonist Larisa Gelman has established herself as an exceptional and dynamic performer and teacher in the United States and abroad. This season she was featured as a soloist with the Brooklyn Symphony performing Richard Strauss “Duo Concertante.” Ms. Gelman’s solo concerts have included Carnival in Caroline, Denton, MD; Impromptu Concerts, Key West, FL; Mozart Festival at World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA; West Chester University, West Chester, PA; and Queens College, Queens, NYC. Upcoming engagements include recitals at the Flint Institute of Art, Flint, MI; Juneau Jazz and Classics in Juneau, Alaska and The Encore Programs at Elmira College, Elmira, NY.
Ms. Gelman is involved with educational events in the United States by collaborating with the Midori and Friends Foundation, the New York Philharmonic Outreach Program, Astral Artistic Services, Piatigorsky Foundation and Young Audiences of New York.
Her international teaching experience extends to the Oberlin Panama Project and the Carvalho International Music Festival and School in Brazil. Her innovative methods bring interdisciplinary involvement of music into the academic classroom.
As a performer, Ms. Gelman has served as the principal bassoonist of the Carolina Chamber Symphony and the Key West Symphony. In addition, she has frequently joined the Jupiter, Riverside, New Haven and Norwalk Symphonies, Bermuda Philharmonic as well as the New World Symphony and American Symphony.
Ms. Gelman is the founding member of the Atlantic Winds with which she performs in a multitude of venues in New York, including a recent appearance at the United Nations. Ms. Gelman has also performed chamber music with the New York Wind Soloists, Absolute, S.E.M. Ensemble, and the New Juilliard Ensemble and on many of New York’s finest stages.
Ms. Gelman has attended numerous festivals including the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Tanglewood, Aspen Music Festival, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute and Colorado Music Festival. The summer of 2000, she joined the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC where she recorded the American premiere of Kurt Weill’s opera “Die Burgschaft” with Julius Rudel under the EMI label.
Larisa Gelman holds degrees of Bachelor of Music (bassoon) and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences (biology) at the Oberlin College-Conservatory, and a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Frank Morelli. She currently resides in New York City with her husband, Igor Begelman.
Horn, Performer
Norwegian horn player Karl Kramer-Johansen was principal horn of the Jupiter Symphony for the last four years. During this period, he was regularly featured as soloist in the well-loved concerti of Strauss and Mozart as well as in neglected masterpieces by Reinecke, Dubois, Chabrier and others.
In addition to orchestral and solo work, Karl also maintains a busy chamber music schedule as artist-member and guest artist of numerous concert series and festivals, including Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Concerts in the Heights, the Lyric Chamber Music Society, and the New England Bach Festival. Chamber music partners include Adam Niemann, William Wolfram, Ruth Laredo and Philip Entremont.
Also sought after as recitalist/lecturer, Karl has toured the United States with composer/pianist Wolfgang Plagge and given master classes at several universities in the southeast. New music collaborations include those with Marc-Antonio Consoli – professor at New York University (Varie Azione III, Games for Three, Four Shades of Tango), and the world-premiere of Kile Smith’s triple concerto “The Three Muses” (with oboist Gerard Reuter and cellist Wolfram Koessel).
Karl is a top prizewinner in many international competitions and the recipient of several awards, such as the 1999 American Horn Competition and most recently the 2001 America-Scandinavian Society Cultural Award.
Performer, Violinist
Violinist DANIEL KHALIKOV has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkey, Kazakhstan and his homeland Uzbekistan. He has performed with numerous orchestras, at such venues as in Berlin Philharmonic Hall and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.
In 2004 Daniel won the 2nd prize and the “Composer’s” prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in London. He is also a winner of the Strad Violin Competition in Boca Raton and Concerto Competition at the Manhattan School of Music where Daniel is now a fifth-year student, completing his bachelor diploma in the studio of Patinka Kopec and Pinchas Zukerman.
Daniel was born into a musical family in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At age six, Daniel started taking violin lessons with Nathan Mendelssohn and entered the Uspensky School of Music. The year after, he gave his first public performance with the Beriot Violin Concerto at the Bakhor, the largest hall in Tashkent. In 1995, age eleven Daniel won 5th prize at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in England.
Daniel also studied at the Curtis Institute of Music and Toulouse National Conservatoire, has taken part in master classes with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Tokyo String Quartet, Ida Haendel. As a chamber musician Daniel has taken part at the Tanglewood, Verbier, Norfolk, Perlman Music Program, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music festival. Daniel�s major hobby is a 35mm photography. His Canon EOS Elan camera is always with him.
Today, Mr. Khalikov plays Januarius Galliano violin, made in Napoli in 1785.
Cellist, Performer
Cellist Rafal Jezierski made his New York City recital debut at the Polish Consulat, as a part of “Salon di Virtuosi” 2003-2004 Series.
He was awarded the Lotos Club Foundation Prize in the Arts for his achievements and promise. This honor came shortly after winning the Eisenberg Competition where he had competed against string players as well as pianists.
As the principal of both the Juilliard Orchestra and Symphony, he has worked with conductors such as Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, George Manahan and Steven Osgood. Mr. Jezierski has also appeared as a concert soloist with such orchestras as the Jeunesses Musicales, New Amsterdam and Manhattan School of Music Symphony.
Festival experience includes the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Simon’s Pond Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the New York String Seminar at Carnegie Hall. He has also collaborated in chamber music performances with such notable artists as Pinchas Zukerman, David Soyer, Lukas Foss, Eugene Drucker and Peter Frankl.
During the summer of 2003 he participated in the Spoleto Festival where together with Andrew Yee and Christopher Guzman was chosen to perform Gian Carlo Menotti’s Suite for Two Cellos and Piano for the composer’s 92nd birthday celebration (the performance was broadcast live on TV). The review by Michael Kennedy of the London Telegraph reads “they gave a spellbindingly virtuosic performance.”
Currently Mr. Jezierski is the cellist of the Paderewski Trio which has recently won the 32nd Artists International’s New York Debut Award auditions and therefore performed at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall on November 7th. The other engagements have included the opening gala concert of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chamber Music Series on October 31st which was broadcasted by WQXR. During the season he also serves as the principal cellist of the New England Symphonic Ensemble which performs regularly at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Jezierski earned his master’s degree from the Juilliard School in 2004 and his bachelor’s degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2002. His teachers have included Bonnie Hampton, Aldo Parisot, Harvey Shapiro and David Soyer.
He was selected to play in master classes for Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker.
Performer, Violinist
Since winning the 1998 Gold Medal of the prestigious International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, JUDITH INGOLFSSON has established herself world-wide as an artist of uncompromising musical maturity, extraordinary technical command and charismatic performance style.
A native of Iceland, Judith Ingolfsson made her debut as orchestral soloist in Germany, at the age of eight. In the United States, she has been heard with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra, as well as the orchestras of Austin, Binghamton, Dayton, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Memphis, New Haven, Omaha, Pacific, San Diego, South Carolina, Vermont, Victoria, West Virginia and Wichita; and she has collaborated with many of the acclaimed maestri of our time, including Jesus Lûpez-Cobos, Raymond Leppard, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Gerard Schwarz and Leonard Slatkin. Ms. Ingolfsson was also heard as soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra on its 2000 15-city North American tour, highlighted by a performance at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, while, abroad, her engagements have included the Czech Republic’s Bohemian Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Tokyo and Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, with which she recorded the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto for the orchestra’s BPO Live label.
Highlights of Judith Ingolfsson’s current season include performances with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, The Louisville Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Columbus (GA), Dubuque, Fairfax, Greenwich and Long Bay (SC). She also appears in recital with pianist Vladimir Stoupel on Brooklyn’s famed Bargemusic series.
Judith Ingolfsson’s recital performances have taken her throughout the United States and around the world: National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Cleveland Institute of Music, La Jolla Chamber Music Society, Reykjavìk Arts Festival, Pro Arte Musicale of Puerto Rico, La Asociaciûn Nacional de Conciertos de Panama, Macao Cultural Center and Tokyo Metropolitan Art Center. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Avalon and Miami String Quartets and the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared, both on tour and at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Alice Tully Hall, with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Her festival appearances include the Cape and Islands Chamber Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Finland’s Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival, Germany’s Bodensee Festival, Switzerland’s Menuhin Festival and the Orlando Festival in The Netherlands.
Judith Ingolfsson has frequently appeared on radio and television broadcasts, beginning with a performance on Icelandic TV at the age of five. Since then, she has been seen on PBS, “CBS Sunday Morning” and Japan’s National Broadcasting Company (NHK). In 1999, National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” named her “Debut Artist of the Year” for her “remarkable intelligence, musicality, and sense of insight.” She is also the recipient of the 2001 Chamber Music America/WQXR Record Award for her debut CD for Catalpa Classics, featuring a varied program ranging from Bach to Ned Rorem.
At the age of 14, Judith Ingolfsson was admitted to The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she pursued studies with the legendary violinist and pedagogue Jascha Brodsky. She went on to earn her Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of David Cerone, and continued her graduate studies at the same institution while working with Donald Weilerstein. Prior to her triumph at the Indianapolis Competition, Ms. Ingolfsson, who began violin studies at the age of three, was a prize winner at the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City and the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy.
Judith Ingolfsson makes her home in New York City.
Narrator, Performer, Vocalist
Nathan is not only a well-known Baritone in the New York opera world, but is a favorite amongst children as well, having appeared as Silas Barnaby in Babes in Toyland with the Little Orchestra Society at Avery Fisher Hall.
With the Bronx Opera, he has sung Sgt. Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard and Bartolo in The Barber of Seville. Mr. Hull is a frequent performer at the Amato Opera. This season alone he is performing Marcello in La Bohème, the four villains in The Tales of Hoffmann, Father in Hansel and Gretel and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Favorite recent New York roles include Figaro in both The Barber of Seville and Le Nozze di Figaro, Escamillo in Carmen, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and both Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte. Mr. Hull has also appeared as a soloist with the Broadway Bach Ensemble in Tubby the Tuba.
Mr. Hull has made something of a specialty of Gilbert and Sullivan. Recently, he was seen as the Sergeant in the Village Light Opera Group’s The Pirates of Penzance, and as Captain Corcoran in Amato Opera’s H.M.S. Pinafore. With VLOG, he has also been seen in many other roles such as Wilfred in The Yeomen of the Guard, the title role in The Mikado, both Lord Mountararat and Pvt. Willis in Iolanthe, and both Don Alhambra and Giuseppe in The Gondoliers. Mr. Hull has also performed Giuseppe with the Blue Hill Troupe.
He has also made an occasional foray into musical theatre, such as his appearance as Emile de Becque in the British American Light Opera production of South Pacific.
Mr. Hull works extensively as a director. This season, he directed The Mikado for Morgan State University in Baltimore — a production he has also done at Indiana State University, Seaside Music Theatre in Daytona and for the Village Light Opera. His production of H.M.S. Pinafore is currently in repertoire at the Amato Opera, and his production of A Gilbert and Sullivan Victorian Valentine will tour the Midwest this spring.
In addition to his work in the opera world, Mr. Hull is a long-time professor at New York University.
