New York Chamber Soloists

Acclaimed as an outstanding ensemble of distinguished virtuosi, performing widely diverse repertoire in creatively programmed concerts, the New York Chamber Soloists have maintained a unique niche in the chamber music world for nearly five decades. Founded in 1957, the ensemble will celebrate its 50th anniversary in the fall of 2007. This 12-member ensemble of strings, winds and keyboard can increase to as many as 20 with the addition of guest artists, giving it the flexibility to offer many works that are seldom heard due to the unusual instrumental combinations for which they were written.

With more than 250 works in their repertoire, the Chamber Soloists have made a valuable contribution to the musical life of this country, and have helped to expand the audience for chamber music. Their programming innovations have included Bach’s complete Brandenburg Concerti in a single concert; “Paris in the ‘20s;” an American Classics program; the complete Mozart horn concerti; and song cycles, cantatas, and operas from Monteverdi to Aitken.

They have added substantially to the catalog of 20th century chamber works, with more than 25 compositions written for them by such significant composers as Gunther Schuller, Mario Davidovsky, Ezra Laderman, and Mel Powell. Most recently, the group has commissioned a new works for children, Ferdinand the Bull, from noted American composer Hugh Aitken.

The ensemble has compiled an impressive record of repeat engagements in North America and abroad, including eleven European tours, six Latin American tours, and numerous tours of the Far East and South Pacific.

In the United States, the Chamber Soloists have appeared frequently in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center, in Washington at the Library of Congress, the National Academy of Sciences, the Kennedy Center and the National Gallery of Art, at major universities across the country from Boston to Berkeley, and at the Mostly Mozart, Sun Valley and Caramoor Festivals. They have been in residence at the Vermont Mozart Festival every summer since its inception in 1974.

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Oriana Singers

In 1981 nine singers, two readers, one harpsichordist and a conductor performed a concert of words and music from Elizabethan and Jacobean England in the University of Vermont's Fleming Museum Marble Court. Over the years these Oriana Singers, named in honor of Queen Elizabeth I, have evolved into the present choir of just over 30 people. They have performed a capella and accompanied music from the 12th to the 20th centuries, including many of the greatest choral masterworks of Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Notable is their practice of drawing soloists - Jill Hallett Levis, Marjorie Drysdale, Jo Ann Maguire, Linda Radtke, Wayne Hobbs, Gary Moreau and many others from their own choral ranks.

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Paris Piano Trio

These three great French soloists (Regis Pasquier, violin; Roland Pidoux, cello; Jean-Claude Pennetier, piano) have been connected by their love of chamber music since they were students together at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris. In fact, they made their first tour together when Régis Pasquier was just 13 years old. Each graduated with top honors from the Conservatory (where they are all now professors) and rapidly established a major solo career.

In all the years since, they have consistently made time to tour together on the continent, in England and in Canada. At the peak of their individual careers, they are making an increased commitment to the Trio, where they have the opportunity to express simultaneously their musical individuality and their total musical rapport. The Trio's first major tour of the United States, in January 1998, won superlatives from critics and presenters across the country, and it has since been re-engaged in major cities from Washington to Los Angeles. A very successful debut tour of Latin America in June 2000 has been followed by several return visits.

The Trio's recordings include Tchaikovsky and Shostakovitch on the Lyrinx label in 1998, the trios of Schubert and Brahms, and the chamber music of Chausson on the Harmonia Mundi label, all released under the name "Les Musiciens," by which they are known in Europe.

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The Amelia Trio

Formed just six years ago, the Amelia Trio (Anthea Kreston, violin; Jason Duckles, cello; Rieko Aizawa, piano) has already established an international reputation. Called "remarkable" by Strings and "exemplary" by Strad, the group almost immediately became one of the world's most sought after ensembles. In its short history the Amelia has been grand prize winner at the Yellow Springs National Competition and recipient of the prestigious ASCAP award for Adventurous Programming.

This year the trio was asked by National Public Radio to be the Young Ensemble in Residence. This exciting week of live concerts and interviews put the Amelia firmly in the foreground of classical music in America, reaching an estimated 1.5 million listeners. Performing 15 works that spanned the centuries - from a Bach trio sonata to a sneak-peek of John Harbison's new trio written for them, the Amelia has forged a lasting relationship with NPR.

The Amelia Trio members have quickly made their mark as performers and commissioners of new music. Notably, Pulitzer Prize winning composer John Harbison has written his first Piano Trio for the Amelias. Other commissions for the Amelia include Augusta Read Thomas’s A Circle Around the Sun; and Adam Silverman’s “Sturm”.

The trio has performed extensively in North America and abroad, including France, Italy, the Caribbean, and Panama. They are releasing CDs on the labels Koch, Cedille Records, and the world music label Traditional Crossroads. In addition, members of the trio have toured North America and Central Asia with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project.

The Amelia Piano Trio is actively involved in arts education and dedicates much time to educational projects, master classes, and coaching children and adults. Summer 2004 marked the trio's sixth year at the Green Lake Chamber Music Camp, where they teach gifted high-school and college students the art of chamber music.