Nathan Cole is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section. He has appeared in recent seasons as guest concertmaster in Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Houston, Seattle, Ottawa, and Portland. His debut recording "Rapid Approach", an unaccompanied disc featuring the works of Bach and Bartók, along with world premier recordings of Augusta Read Thomas, was released in 2007 through Bacchanale Records. Since helping found the UBS Chamber Music Festival of Lexington in 2007, Cole has served as Artistic Director and this summer welcomes Clancy Newman as composer-in-residence. Prior to his CSO appointment in 2002, Cole served for two seasons as principal second violin of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His solo debut came at the age of 10 with the Louisville Orchestra. Cole received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo. In 2007 he joined the violin faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. In addition, he is a regular coach for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Chicago Youth Symphony. Cole’s articles, on subjects from practice techniques to chamber music coaching, have appeared in Chamber Music, Strings and Symphony magazines. A portion of his teaching is online; his website contains stories and pictures from his life in music, as well as articles on violin study. Visit him at: www.natesviolin.com

Erin Keefe, Violin

Winner of the 2006 Avery Fisher Career Grant, violinist Erin Keefe will be a new Artist Member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center during the 2010-2011 season, and was formerly a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program.  A top prize winner of several International Competitions, she recently took the Grand Prizes in the Torun and Valsesia Musica International Violin Competitions, the Schadt Competition and the Corpus Christi International String Competition, and was the Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen, Sendai, and Gyeongnam International Violin Competitions.  Keefe has performed as soloist with orchestras in Korea, Japan, the United States and throughout Europe and has made recordings for the Naxos and Deutsche Gramophone labels.  She has appeared at the Marlboro, OK Mozart, Music@Menlo, Seattle and Bridgehampton chamber music festivals and has collaborated with artists such as Leon Fleisher, The Emerson Quartet, Edgar Meyer, Richard Goode, Paul Neubauer, David Soyer and Gary Graffman. Keefe attended The Curtis Institute and The Juilliard School where she studied with Arnold Steinhardt, Ida Kavafian, Philip Setzer and Ronald Copes.

Stephen Rose, Violin

Stephen Rose is Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra, a position he has held since 2001.  He joined the Orchestra in 1997 as a member of the first violin section.  He has also been heard in solo appearances and chamber music concerts throughout North America and Europe.  From 1992-96, Mr. Rose was the first violinist of the Everest Quartet, top prizewinners at the 1995 Banff International String Quartet Competition. 

Stephen Rose is a member of the violin faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he maintains a studio and directs the orchestral violin repertoire class.  He also serves on the faculty of Kent/Blossom Music, The National Orchestral Institute, and The New World Symphony.   A participant at many summer music festivals, Mr. Rose frequently appears at the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, Orcas Island (WA) Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Fort Worth, TX, Colorado College Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the Festival der Zukunft in Switzerland.

In 1994 Stephen Rose received the Masters of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he was also named winner of the 1993 Starling Foundation Competition for Violinists.  He received the Bachelor of Music degree in 1992 from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was a winner of the schools’ concerto competition.  He received the Alumni Achievement Award from CIM in 2005.

Curt Thompson, Violin

Founder and Executive Director of the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, Curt Thompson performs throughout North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in such prestigious venues as Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Salle Gaveau (Paris), Teatro Naçional de Costa Rica (San José), Shanghai Concert Hall, and others. Thompson’s debut recording on the Naxos label of the violin sonatas by Charles Ives has received outstanding reviews worldwide, including Gramophone, The Strad, The Wire, and The New York Times, where it was included in a listing of “Critics’ Favorites” and was called “…a hole in one…perfectly demonstrating [Ives’] spicy, earthy rawness and appeal...”  The recording has been broadcast world wide, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, WRR 101.1 FM (Dallas), and WGBH 89.7 (Boston).  Concerto appearances include the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra, Medellín Philharmonic Orchestra, the Corpus Christi and San Angelo Symphonies, and the Texas Chamber Orchestra.  Mr. Thompson has been a featured artist in the Copland/Shostakovich Festival (Rio de Janeiro), the Festival de Primavera (Oaxaca, Mexico), the Seventh Centennial Festival of Villarobledo, Spain, Inter-Harmony International Music Festival (Hinterzarten, Germany) and others.

Che-Yen Chen holds the principal viola position of the San Diego Symphony.  He began studying viola at the age of six and is a four-time winner of the National Viola Competition in Taiwan.  Che-Yen, also known as Brian, came to the United States where he studied at The Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School.  He was a member of the award-winning Avalon String Quartet, and he held a faculty position at Indiana University-South Bend, where he taught viola and chamber music.  He captured the first prize of the 2003 William Primrose Viola Competition and President Prize of the 2003 Lionel Tertis Viola Competition.  He made his New York concerto debut with the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra as the winner of NASO Concerto Competition.  Chen has performed throughout the United States and abroad in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordon Hall, Library of Congress, Kimmel Center, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Snape Malting Concert Hall.

Kirsten Docter is a member of the Naumburg Chamber Music award-winning Cavani String Quartet. She was the first prize winner of the 1991 Primrose International and 1992 American String Teachers Association Viola Competitions. As a member of the Cavani Quartet, Ms. Docter performs regularly in major series and festivals throughout North America and Europe. Appearances include the Carnegie Hall Centennial Series in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Festival de L’Epau in France. The Quartet records for the Azica Records label. Docter has collaborated with such musicians as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Mann, Donald Weilerstein, Franklin Cohen, Warren Jones and Stephanie Blythe. A member of the viola and chamber music faculties at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she also teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Docter has performed and taught at numerous summer festivals including Interlochen Arts Camp, Madeline Island Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Yale Summer School of Music and Art at Norfolk, Yellow Barn Music School and Festival and Perlman Music Program. She appears on the 2010 recording of Osvaldo Golijov's “The Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind” with clarinetist Franklin Cohen.  Major teachers include Karen Tuttle, Jeffery Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. Docter resides in Cleveland, OH with husband Paul Cox and their two sons.

Ms. Basrak joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra as associate principal cellist in 2001, served as acting principal cellist from 2002-05, and has been principal cellist since 2005, and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Texas.  In addition to her solo engagements, she is also an avid performer of chamber music and has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth and in the Cliburn Foundation's "Cliburn at the Modern" series.  Ms. Basrak has received several awards and recognition including prizes from the Illinois Bell/WTTW Young Performers Competition, National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, Irving M. Klein International String Competition, and Pasadena Young Artists Competition as well as serving as artist-in-residence at the Julius Stulberg International Auditions.  She was also invited to participate in the 2003 Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar in Los Angeles.  As an advocate of music education, she has performed in schools throughout the country; in recognition for her efforts she was awarded the key to the City of Greenville, South Carolina.  She has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe.  She has appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Harper Symphony Orchestra, Kishwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Winnetka Chamber Orchestra, Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Greenville Symphony Orchestra, Westchester/Marin Del Ray Orchestra and American Youth Symphony.  A native of the Chicago suburbs, she began her studies with Adele O'Dwyer, Gilda Barston and Richard Hirschl.  She received her Bachelor of Music in cello performance at the University of Southern California (USC), where she studied with Eleonore Schoenfeld.  While studying at USC she received numerous awards, most notably the Gregor Piatigorsky Award.

Born in New York, Brant Taylor began cello studies at age eight. His varied career includes solo appearances and collaborations with leading musicians throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as orchestral, pedagogical, and popular music activities. After five years as cellist of the award-winning Everest String Quartet and one year with the Saint Louis Symphony, he was appointed by Daniel Barenboim to the Chicago Symphony in 1998. 

Mr. Taylor has appeared as soloist with orchestras including the San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony (under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan), Raleigh Symphony, Racine Symphony, Lafayette Symphony and Midland-Odessa Symphony. He also performs with the band  Pink Martini, and has appeared in this role on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien",  “The Late Show with David Letterman”, at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with major orchestras across North America.  He can be heard on Pink Martini’s 2006 release, “Hey Eugene”.  Taylor is a faculty member at the DePaul University School of Music and has led pedagogy, repertoire and audition  training classes at Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, the University of Michigan and the New World Symphony. Taylor is a frequent guest at music festivals including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, Arizona Musicfest (principal cello), the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music Festival Santo Domingo, Michigan's Village Bach Festival and Music at Gretna. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University, where his primary teachers were Paul Katz and Janos Starker.

Pianist Alessio Bax, first prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu competitions, is a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient.  He has appeared as soloist with over 80 orchestras worldwide, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, Dallas and Houston symphonies, and the NHK Symphony in Japan.  He has worked with a number of esteemed conductors such as Marin Alsop, Sergiu Commissiona, Jonathan Nott and Sir Simon Rattle. Festival appearances include London’s International Piano Series (Queen Elizabeth Hall), the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Aldeburgh and Bath Festivals in England, the Ruhr Klavierfestival, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and BeethovenFest in Germany.  As a recitalist, Bax has been seen regularly at the main music halls in Rome, Milan, Madrid, Paris, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York, Washington and Mexico City. As an active chamber musician, he has collaborated with Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Nobuko Imai, among others.  He is currently a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two.  Bax recorded “Baroque Reflections” for Warner Classics, which won an Editor Choice’s award from Gramophone. He also participated in the “Barenboim on Beethoven” documentary that was released on EMI as a DVD set and he recorded the complete works of Ligeti for two pianos and piano four hands as part of Lucille Chung’s Ligeti project.  For his latest recording, “Bach Transcribed” for Signum Records, Gramophone magazine lauded his "stylistic perception and palette of tone-colours ... together with a level of technical control that gives new meaning to the word 'awesome.'" At the record age of 14, he graduated with top honors from the conservatory of his hometown, Bari, Italy, studied in France and Siena, and moved to Dallas in 1994 to continue his studies with Joaquín Achúcarro at Southern Methodist University, where he is now on the teaching faculty. He and his wife, pianist Lucille Chung, reside in New York City.

Born in Montréal, Canadian pianist Lucille Chung has been acclaimed for her “stylish and refined” performances by Gramophone. She is the First Prize winner of the Stravinsky International Piano Competition and was recently named “Honorary Professor” of the Jilin Arts College in China and is on the faculty of the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas.  She has also been receiving excellent reviews worldwide for her discs of the complete works of Ligeti as well as Scriabin piano works on the Dynamic label.  Recently, she signed an exclusive contract with Disques XXI/Universal and the first album featuring Saint-Saëns Piano Transcriptions was released in 2009.  Lucille debuted at the age of 10 with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and has since performed with over 50 leading orchestras around the world including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, KBS Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerífe, Staatskapelle Weimar, UNAM Philharmonic (Mexico), Lithuanian Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Flemish Radio Orchestra, Belgrade Philharmonic, and the Fort Worth Symphony as well as all the major Canadian orchestras.  Lucille has given solo recitals on the finest concert halls in over 30 countries including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Washington’s Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection, the Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Wigmore Hall in London, and Madrid’s Auditorio Nacional. Festival appearance include the Verbier Festival, Felicja Blumental Festival in Israel, ChangChun Festival in China, International Keyboard Institute and Festival in NYC, MDR Sommer Festival in Dresden, Bard Festival in NY, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, and the Santander International Festival.  Lucille has studied at the Curtis Institute, the Juilliard School, the “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” Weimar, and Accademia Pianistica in Imola, Italy.  She is the recipient of the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize by the Canada Council of the Arts and the Honors Diploma from the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy. Her primary teachers have been Maria Curcio-Diamand, Lazar Berman, and Joaquín Achúcarro.  She and her husband, pianist Alessio Bax live in New York City and are artistic co-directors of the Joaquín Achúcarro Foundation. For more information, go to: www.lucillechung.com

Grammy-nominated pianist John Novacek regularly tours the Americas, Europe and Asia as solo recitalist, chamber musician and concerto soloist. In the latter capacity he has presented more than 30 different concerti with dozens of orchestras. Venues include Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysees, London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, and most of the major concert halls of Japan. In addition he has appeared at Lucerne Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Wolf Trap, SummerFest La Jolla, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Stavanger in Norway, International Chamber Music Festival, Menuhin Festival Gstaad in Switzerland, and Ravinia. He has played on radio broadcasts worldwide and is often heard on syndicated programs such as NPR’s Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday, and as featured guest composer/performer on A Prairie Home Companion. A much sought-after collaborative artist, Novacek has played with Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Emmanuel Pahud, Truls Mork, and Leila Josefowicz. He has given numerous world premieres and worked closely with composers John Adams, George Rochberg, John Williams, John Harbison, and John Zorn. He studied piano with Peter Serkin, Bruce Sutherland and Jakob Gimpel. Novacek’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by the Pacific Symphony, The 5 Browns, Concertante, and the Three Tenors. He has recorded more than 30 CDs for Philips, Nonesuch, Arabesque, Warner Classics, Sony/BMG, Koch International, Universal Classics, Ambassador, Pony Canyon, Four Winds, Arkay, Virtuoso and EMI Classics.

Ana Victoria Luperi is the principal clarinetist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Caminos del Inka Ensemble. She was previously the principal clarinetist with the Winnipeg Symphony and performed as a guest with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Mainly Mozart and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras. She has also served as principal with National Repertory Orchestra, the Tanglewood Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Curtis Orchestra, with which she toured Europe under the direction of Andre Previn.  An active chamber musician, Ms. Luperi has performed at the Marlboro Music School, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Academie Musicale Villecroze in France, the Mainly Mozart Spotlight Series in California, the Ocean Grove series in New Jersey, the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society and the Basically Beethoven Series in Dallas. She has been featured on NPR Performance Today and on CBC Radio.  Ms. Luperi, a Buffet Crampon USA Performing Artist, is a graduate of the Curtis Institute where she studied with Donald Montanaro. She has been on faculty at Brandon University, the New York Summer Festival, the Buffet-Crampon Academy and currently serves as adjunct professor of clarinet at Texas Christian University.  Victoria resides in Fort Worth with her husband, FWSO Associate Conductor Andres Franco.