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.
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, Trumpet
Kevin joined the American Brass Quintet in the fall of 1998, and with that appointment also became a faculty member of the Juilliard School.
Originally from Bowling Green, Ohio, he began trumpet studies at the age of ten. His first solo appearance was at age fifteen with the Toledo Symphony. After attending Interlochen Arts Academy, he graduated in 1993 with a bachelor of music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Frank Kaderabek; two years later he received a master of music degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Mark Gould.
Since his days at Curtis, Mr. Cobb has enjoyed touring and performing in Japan, Central America and Europe, as well as in the U.S. He also toured as solo trumpet with the Israel Camerata of Jerusalem, where he was praised for his “beauty of tone” by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. In New York Mr. Cobb is regularly active with such organizations as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Lukes, New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet.
He also performs with New York Big Brass and in Broadway shows, and can frequently be heard in radio and television commercials.
Performer, Vocalist
Soprano SARA CLARK is a New York City local. She was born on Long Island and is no stranger to the performing arts in this great city.
She recently graduated with honors from The Boston Conservatory and received her bachelor of music in vocal performance. While studying in Boston, she enjoyed many roles including Peasblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Ilia in Idomeneo, and Sor Isabel in With Blood, With Ink (a contemporary opera by Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask).
Upon moving back to New York City, Sara has performed with the Village Light Opera as Kate in Yeoman of the Guard and Rose Maybud in Ruddigore. She also got the chance to perform overseas in Buxton, England this past summer with the Actor’s Opera in productions of The Zoo and Trial by Jury.
Actor, Performer
As a writer, his books for musicals have been performed off-Broadway and around the country; he has also written five children’s books, published by HarperCollins. His adaptation of The Impresario is not a literal translation, but a very free acting version based on the plot outline of the original; it has also been performed in a longer version, incorporating music from other Mozart operas.
As a director, he has staged numerous productions for the Village Light Opera Group and others. As a performer, he has appeared frequently with the New York Grand Opera in Central Park for audiences of several thousand, playing such roles as Goro in Madama Butterfly, Bardolpho in Falstaff and Pang (or was it Pong?) in Turandot. He has specialized in the realm of Gilbert & Sullivan, having performed 31 different roles in the repertory as well as chorusing 10 of the 14 operettas.
He met his wife, the talented and beautiful mezzo Lynne Greene-Brooke, onstage at the Light Opera of Manhattan, where they were frequently married before they ever spoke to each other.
