2001-2002 Participating Artists

Janice Felty, mezzo-soprano

Janice Felty is recognized as a leading interpreter of the music of living composers, having premiered and recorded works by John Adams, Philip Glass, John Harbison, Lee Hoiby, Tod Machover, Judith Weir and Ellen Taffe Zwillich. She is equally well-known, and at ease, in traditional chamber music and recital repertory as well as opera. She appeared as Dorabella in Peter Seller’s film of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Orchestras with whom she has sung in solo roles are Brooklyn Philharmonic, Los Angeles, National, Seattle, and the Aspen Music Festival. This summer she will appear in the Lincoln Center Festival in a reprise of Philip Glass’ The White Raven. She has been heard in the Bargemusic series and with the Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera. Ms. Felty sang the premiere of the work which she sings tonight and subsequently recorded for Nonesuch Records with Boston’s Collage New Music. Other recordings appear on New World, Bridge, Decca and CRi labels.  


Rieko Aizawa, piano

Rieko Aizawa was born in Japan and brought to the attention of Alexander Schneider by the recommendation of pianist Mitsuko Uchida when she was13 years old. Schneider immediately engaged her at the opening concerts of Tokyo's Casals Hall; and in the same year he presented her in her U.S. debut concerts at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. She has since performed as soloist throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, such as at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, Boston's Symphony Hall and Chicago's Orchestra Hall. Highlights of appearances include the New Japan Philharmonic under Seiji Ozawa and, most recently, a performance with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Her chamber music collaborations have included performances with the Guarneri Quartet, and regular participation at the Marlboro Festival. Ms. Aizawa studied with Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Seymour Lipkin, and Peter Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, where she received her master's degree.  


Meg Bachman Vas, piano

Meg Bachman Vas has enjoyed innumerable prestigious associations as a chamber musician, recital accompanist, and vocal coach. Lynn Harrell, Pinchas Zuckerman, Mark Kaplan, Berl Senofsky, Sidney Harth, Mildred Miller, Shirley Love, and Paul Sperry are among those with whom she has performed in Canada, the United States and Europe. Following her studies at the Juilliard School with Beveridge Webster, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Her many solo performances include several with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. Ms. Vas’ recordings include: George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae for 3 Masked Players with the New York Camerata, two CDs with violinist Arturo Delmoni, several recordings of chamber works by such composers as Eleanor Corey, Michael White, and John Gibson, and Beethoven’s Quintet in E-flat, Op. 16, for piano and winds with New York Philomusica.  


Judith Mendenhall, flute

Judith Mendenhall is the Principal Flutist of the New York Chamber Symphony and of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra. She has been presented in thirteen nationwide "Musicians From Marlboro" tours, in recital at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at The 92nd Street Y in its Distinguished Artists series. She was a founding member of The Walter W. Naumburg Award - winning Aulos Wind Quintet and of the "Music Today" Ensemble. Ms. Mendenhall is on the faculties of The Mannes College, and the New England Conservatory in Boston. She has recorded for The Marlboro Recording Society, Columbia, Delos, Vox and CRI.  


Matthew Goodman, clarinet

Matthew Goodman made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut in 1986, as winner of the Artists International Competition. He has since performed as soloist in Japan and Hong Kong under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and the Hong Kong government, with the National Orchestra of El Salvador, and the Israel Sinfonietta, and at music festivals, including the Scotia Festival, the Jerusalem Music Festival, and at the Teatro Nuovo, Spoleto, Italy. Mr. Goodman has performed in numerous Broadway productions and is currently solo clarinetist for the Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Goodman has performed with The New York City Ballet, Long Island Philharmonic, Queens Symphony, Bronx Arts Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Westchester Philharmonic, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and is a member of the Northeast Pennsylvania Philharmonic. He performs with several contemporary music groups, including North-South Consonance, Musical Elements, and the New Music Consort.  


Alan R. Kay, clarinet

Alan R. Kay is the Principal Clarinet of the Riverside Symphony and a mainstay of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with which he has performed since 1985. He is in his third year as Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble. Last year, his quintet, Windscape, released its first CD, "The Roaring Twenties," portions of which were aired nationally on"St. Paul Sunday." The group was also featured in an all-Beethoven broadcast throughout Canada on the CBC. Mr. Kay has performed with Hexagon, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Da Camera of Houston. He has also performed dozens of premieres in recital and with Parnassus. Mr. Kay is on the faculties of SUNY at Stony Brook, Juilliard, and the Manhattan School of Music. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, violinist Karen Marx, and their two boys, Noah and Jonathan.  


David Krakauer, clarinet

David Krakauer, a member of New York Philomusica for over 16 years, is known throughout the world for his mastery of myriad styles, including classical, Eastern European klezmer, avant-garde, rock, and jazz. He performs Jewish klezmer music and his own compositions with his Klezmer Madness! ensemble. Mr. Krakauer has also played with Continuum, The Klezmatics, Music from Marlboro, Itzhak Perlman, the Tokyo, Arditti, and Kronos string quartets, and has been soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, R.S.O. of Berlin, and the Orquesta Sinfonica of Barcelona. Mr. Krakauer won the 1985 Concert Artists Guild Competition and the 1984 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. He can be heard on numerous recordings on the Tzadik, Piranha/Flying Fish, Angel, Musical Heritage, Eva, Xenophile, CRI, Opus One and NY Philomusica Records labels. He teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, the Mannes College of Music, and Queens College. Mr. Krakauer graduated from The Juilliard School, where he studied with the legendary Leon Russianoff.  


John Miller, bassoon

John Miller has been the Principal Bassoon of the Minnesota Orchestra and on the faculty of the University of Minnesota since 1971. As a soloist, he has performed with numerous orchestras, and presented master classes and recitals throughout the world. He is also active with the American Reed Trio, which has traveled throughout the U.S. and Norway. Mr. Miller, who made the premiere recording of the Hummel Bassoon Concerto on Cambridge Records, has been recorded on the Pro Arte CD label. He trained at the Peabody and New England conservatories. He holds a BS degree in humanities and engineering from MIT and was awarded a Fulbright grant for music study. His teachers have included Louis Skinner, Arthur Weisberg, Stanley Petrulis, Sherman Walt, Stephen Maxym, and Thom de Klerk.  


Andrew Clark, horn

Andrew Clark, principal horn player with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, is known for his stylish performances of Baroque and Classical repertoire on the natural horn. His solo recordings have been critically acclaimed, the Guardian saying of his EMI disc of chamber music for the horn by Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms: "This invigorating disc brings together masterly performances of some of the most important horn works in the chamber repertory." He is the first horn player to record the newly re-discovered Horn Concerto by Crusell and has recorded the complete works for horn and piano by Carl Czerny (both for Hyperion), the Sonata da Caccia by Thomas Ades (EMI) and Vivaldi’s Double Horn Concerto (Linn). After playing in the Edinburgh Festival in 1996 he was described in the Independent as "a staggering prodigy of the natural horn" and the Scotsman wrote: "On his natural horn he was hugely impressive, probably giving as fine a performance as will ever be possible outside the recording studio."  


Robert Johnson, horn

Robert Johnson is the Founder and Artistic Director of New York Philomusica. After graduation from The Juilliard School in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Degree, he played one year in the National Symphony of Washington, DC, before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the Seventh Army Symphony and Chamber Ensemble, based in Europe, for the duration of his duty in the army. Shortly before receiving his Honorable Discharge, he auditioned successfully for Leonard Bernstein, securing a position in the New York Philharmonic. During his seven-year tenure he was, for the last two-and-one-half years, Alternate Solo Horn. He founded New York Philomusica in 1971, following a succession of attempts that began with a hugely successful debut in the first Mozart Festival of 1966. His eventual success with the New York Philomusica has resulted in an ensemble renowned for finding the hidden beauties of the repertory and bringing them to life through recordings, national and international tours, and as a fixture on the New York musical scene through its subscription series. Mr. Johnson has performed extensively with the legendary jazz pianist, Sir Roland Hanna in the Hanna Trio, for flute, horn and ’cello, with Sir Roland as ’cellist and Frank Wess alternating on flute with Frank Perowsky. The trio made a tour of Japan in 1989. Sir Roland has been commissioned to write for the New York Philomusica and has performed with it in his own compositions and in the music of Mozart. In addition to playing the horn, Mr. Johnson’s other musical pursuits include composing and conducting. He owns de Neveu Publishing. Compositions and orchestrations by him include joint efforts with noted author and journalist, George Plimpton. Mr. Johnson performed in the longest running show in Broadway history, Cats from the opening to its close, a run of 18 years,. He played in the orchestra of many shows running through the 1970's, including those by Stephen Sondheim and Sugar Babies, in which Ann Miller and Mickey Rooney starred. Throughout these many varied activities, New York Philomusica has remained Mr. Johnson’s central interest.  


Barbara Allen, harp

Barbara Allen, since winning second prize in the Seventh International Harp Competition held in Israel, has appeared as soloist with the Caramoor and Waterloo festivals, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Greenwich Symphony and Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Ms. Allen is a member of Parnassus, the Perspectives Ensemble and L’Opera Francais and has appeared with Tashi, Orpheus, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and the New World String Quartet. She has also performed with numerous orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, and the American Symphony Orchestra. She is currently principal harpist with the American Ballet Theater orchestra and the Greenwich Symphony. She has recorded for the DGG, RCA, EMI, CRI, Koch, Angel, Chandos Nonesuch, Bridge and Arabesque labels. Ms. Allen holds a master’s degree from the Juilliard School, and a bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York at Purchase. She currently lives in Orangeburg, N.Y. with her husband, percussionist Daniel Druckman, and her two children Holly and Hannah.  


Soovin Kim, violin

Soovin Kim captured first prize at the 1996 Niccolo Paganini International Violin Competition. He has also been awarded the Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. These launched his international career as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Last season he made successful debuts with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, as well as with the KBS Orchestra in Korea. In past seasons he has been heard with such distinguished ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. He made his debut in Carnegie Hall last Christmas Eve with Jaime Laredo conducting the New York String Seminar Orchestra. He has also appeared in recital at Weill Hall, at the Kennedy Center, at Ravinia, in Herbst Theater in San Francisco, and in Casals Hall in Tokyo. His first CD, released on Koch-Discover, includes duo works with pianist Jeremy Denk. Mr. Kim plays on a Joseph Guarneri del Gesu violin of 1735, the "ex-Sennhauser." It is generously made available to him by the Stradivari Society of Chicago.  


Naoko Tanaka, violin

Naoko Tanaka was born in Tokyo and began her studies at the Toho School. Her career in the United States began at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Dorothy Delay and Felix Galimir and gave her debut recital in Carnegie Recital Hall as the winner of the Artists International Competition. She is a member of the Theater Chamber Players of the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and the St. Luke’s Ensemble, and is a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble she has led as a concertmaster in performance in Carnegie Hall, throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and on over 30 Deutsche Grammophon recordings. She has also performed in the Sitka, Caramoor, Ravinia, White Mountains, Saito-kinen (Japan), Aspen and Marlboro festivals. Ms. Tanaka is on the Assistant Faculty at The Juilliard School.  


Calvin Wiersma, violin/viola

Calvin Wiersma was a founding member of the Figaro Trio and the Meliora Quartet, winner of the Naumburg, Fischoff, Coleman and Cleveland Quartet competitions. The Meliora Quartet was the Quartet-in-Residence at the Spoleto Festivals of the US, Italy and Australia. He has appeared with Speculum Musicae and the New York New Music Ensemble and recently completed a European tour with Steve Reich. He has been featured in solo performances with the International League of Composers of Music and for National Public Radio. He has been an artist-in-residence at Middlebury College, the California Summer Arts Program and the Institute for Chamber Music in Israel. Mr. Wiersma has recorded for the New York Philomusica Records and Telarc labels. He is classical coordinator for Culturefinder, the largest Internet address for the Performing Arts.  


Ah Ling Neu, viola

Ah Ling Neu was born in Japan of Chinese parents. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory with Gennady Kleyman and in Holland with Nobuko Imai. Ms. Neu has played in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia, with the festivals of Marlboro, Chamber Music/West, Tanglewood, the International Musician's Seminar in England, Spoleto (Italy and South Carolina), the Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and Chamber Music at the Y in New York. A former member of the San Francisco Symphony and the Ridge String Quartet, she is presently principal violist of the EOS Orchestra and the Brandenburg Ensemble.  


Gregory Hesselink, violoncello

Gregory Hesselink leads a varied musical life as a chamber musician, soloist, teacher and interpreter of new music. He is a member of the Naumburg Award winning New Millennium Ensemble, New Band, Sequitur and the Locrian Chamber Players. He has performed throughout North America, Europe and Japan, and his active interest in new music has led him to the premieres of more than 90 works world-wide including concertos by Daniel Weymouth at Princeton University, and James Tenney at the Donaueschingen Music Festival in Germany (on the tenor violin). In 2003 he will give the premiere of a concerto being written for him by Ross Bauer. He is currently on the faculty of the Mannes Preparatory Division, and his recordings can be heard on CRI, Nonesuch, Wergo, Bridge, Koch, Albany, Innova, PPI and Point Records.  


Michael Kannen, violoncello

Michael Kannen was a founding member of the Brentano String Quartet and for seven years performed with that group on concert stages around the world, on radio and television, and on recordings. During those years, the Brentano Quartet was awarded the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and was the first participant in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II program. In addition to his work with the quartet, Mr. Kannen has been a member of the Figaro Trio and has appeared at chamber music festivals around the country. He has collaborated with such artists as Jessye Norman, Paula Robison, Donald Weilerstein, Hilary Hahn, Stephen Isserlis, Sergiu Luca and the Ridge, Mendelssohn, Ying and Lark String Quartets. Mr. Kannen is currently a member of the Apollo Trio and is on the faculty of Dartmouth College.  


Gail Kruvand, contrabass

Gail Kruvand graduated from Indiana University where she studied with James Buswell and Anthony Newman. In New York she studied with Julius Levine. She has performed in the Marlboro Festival and on its tours and is a member of the New York City Center Opera Company. In addition, she plays frequently with the American Composers Orchestra and a number of other ensembles that specialize in performing new music. She played in the Hofer Symphoniker (Germany) and toured Europe with Africanus Instructus, a Music Theater Group-Lenox Arts Center production. Ms. Kruvand has recorded for CRI, Bridge Records and the Marlboro Recording Society.