Exciting young American cellist Ben Capps enjoys a versatile performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. His artistry has been praised as “most appealing” by the New York Times, “virtuosic and impassioned” by the Barre Montpelier Times, the Holland Times hailed Capps as a “young cello phenomenon from New York” with “dazzling technique and a fearsomely meaty tone”, and the Epoch Times proclaimed that “Capps has it all . . . cello playing of the very highest standard.” He has performed in varying capacities at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Mann Hall in Tel Aviv, Meyerson Hall in Dallas, and the Auditorio Nacional, the Palace of Fine Arts and Sala Nezahualcoytl in Mexico City. Capps has appeared as soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the New York Concerti Sinfonietta, the Manchester Music Festival Orchestra, Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, and the Manhattan School of Music Composer’s Orchestra. Recent performance highlights include an unaccompanied recital tour in the Midwest , a recital tour of China (Xiamin, Fouzhou and Gulangyu), and recital appearances in New York, Greece and Spain as well as a performance of all five Beethoven sonatas and more in Vermont.

In September 2014 LP Classics released Ben Capps’ newest disc: Ossia, music of Bach, Schumann & Fitzenhagen for solo cello & company. Ben Capps can also be heard on Innova Records with two discs of music for solo cello by contemporary composer Andrew Violette & on Tzadik Records with a collaborative cello & electronics piece by Anna Clyne called Fits & Starts which was featured for a week on WQXR in New York.

At age 21, Capps was appointed principal cellist of Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, a dynamic New York based symphony orchestra founded by conductor Alondra de la Parra, whose highly regarded premier Sony Classics recording Mi Alma Mexicana attained high international status.

An avid chamber musician, Ben attended festivals such as Bowdoin, Schlern Int’l (Italy), Burgos Int’l (Spain) and Summit Summer Festivals, the Perlman Music Program, and the ChamberFest and FOCUS! Festivals in Lincoln Center. Ben made numerous appearances on Manhattan’s Tactus Series, and has performed on Trinity Church’s Music at One series, as well as numerous appearances at Bargemusic.
More recently Capps has appeared as guest artist with Manchester Music Festival, Summit Int’l Festival, the Burlington Ensemble, and the International Chamber Soloists, Lyrica and Lumina Chamber Music. He is the founding member of the Olympus Piano Trio which offered an evening of piano trios at the Athens Megaron Concert Hall in January 2013. He has been heard on American radio on the McGraw Hill Young Artists’ Showcase, and was recently the subject of an hour-long special on VPR which documented his 2012 solo (unaccompanied) cello tour of Vermont. Additionally, Capps was heard performing the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas with interviews and commentary on Vermont Public Radio in 2013, as well as in concert. Then Capps was heard performing the complete sonatas by Mendelssohn & Brahms in 2014 on VPR, as well as live in concert.

An ardent performer of new music, he is committed to presenting music of today’s composers and has given numerous performances of new cello works, including Daniel Vezza Pulsations for Cello and Chamber Orchestra (composed for Mr. Capps), Marcus Paus Cello Sonnets, Anna Klein Fits and Starts, Daniel Vezza Circles, Reiko Futing Kaddish: The Art of Losing, and Robert Karpay’s Cello Concerto.

A native of New York City, Ben Capps began playing the cello at age four with Nellis DeLay at New York’s School for Strings. At 10 he was admitted to Juilliard Pre-College, where he studied for seven years with Anne Alton, Andre Emelianoff, and Fred Sherry.

He received a Bachelor’s degree at Manhattan School of Music, and a Master of Music Degree from Juilliard in May 2010, both under the guidance of the great David Soyer of the Guarneri String Quartet. He recently earned a Graduate Diploma at New England Conservatory in Boston, where he was a student of Laurence Lesser.

He is the recipient of many awards, including the New York State Association of Music Teachers Scholarship Competition 1999; Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, Concerto Competition, 2001, the Lillian Fuchs Award, 2004, the Francis Goelet Scholarship (Juilliard 2008-2009), the Irving Mulde Scholarship (Juilliard, 2009-10), and the Piatigorsky Scholarship (New England Conservatory 2012-13). He has coached with numerous cellists, including Bernard Greenhouse, Ko Iwasaki, Paul Katz, and Nathanial Rosen, and has performed in master class for Steven Isserlis, Alexander Rudin, Mischa Maisky, Natalia Gutman, Peter Wylie, and Timothy Eddy. Ben Capps plays a William Forester cello built in 1782 in England.

Hailed as “an exceptional cellist” (Dallas Morning News), “an artist of the first rank, who commanded a huge range of volume, timbre and emotions” (Fort Worth Star Telegram), and praised for his “rich and warm tone, with lots of variety of inflection and nuance” (New York Concert Review), cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi brings a dynamic presence to the international stage, as a much sought-after soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, mentor, and adjudicator.

Performance highlight include features at the Lincoln Center Festival, Symphony Space and 12 appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York City, five visits to China, concerts at Leipzig’s famed Gewandhaus, and at prestigious venues in Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Latvia, Mexico, and Peru, in recitals and as a soloist with the Aarhus, Aguascalientes, Cannes, Dallas, Fort Worth, Leipzig MDR, and Xalapa Symphony Orchestras, the Mexico City and the UNAM Philharmonic Orchestras, and the National Symphony in Lima.

His favorite repertoire spans from the Bach Solo Suites, concerti by Haydn and Boccherini, the great romantics Dvorak and Elgar, to modern masters Dutilleux and Lutoslawski, while reserving a special place to chamber music and new music. To date, he appears in 16 compact discs and has presented 47 world premiere performances and recordings, including of 20 works written for him by Esteban Benzecry, Martin Blessinger, Blaise Ferrandino, Robert Garwell, Luis-Jorge Gonzalez, Till Meyn, Andrés Posada, Robert Rodríguez, Edgar Valcárcel, and Samuel Zyman. In 2014-14, he premieres Lord of the Air, a new concerto for cello and orchestra written for him by Jimmy Lopez, and records it with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Miguel Harth-Bedoya for Harmonia Mundi. Jesús Castro-Balbi is the cellist of the Lin / Castro-Balbi Duo, of the Clavier Trio, and of the music project Caminos del Inka. Among other distinctions, Mr. Castro-Balbi is the winner of the Aldo Parisot Prize, the Salon de Virtuosi Award in New York, and of the First Prize at the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition.

Jesús Castro-Balbi is the first full-time cello professor at the Texas Christian University School of Music in Fort Worth, Texas, where he has developed a first rate studio of talented cellists from around the world. At TCU, he is also the founding artistic director of the TCU Cello Ensemble, the biennial TCU Cellofest, and of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series. He received the 2008 Dean’s Research and Creativity Award and the 2012 College of Fine Arts Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar. In addition to his work at TCU, he presents master-classes and lectures at Beijing’s Central Conservatory, The Juilliard School, Paris Conservatoire, Leipzig’s Hochschule, at the Yale School of Music, and teaches at Conservatory Music in the Mountains in Durango, Colorado, where he is also Associate Dean. He has adjudicated for the Sphinx Competition, the Carlos Prieto and the Lutoslawski International Cello Competitions.

Of Peruvian heritage, raised in France and now a US citizen, Jesús Castro-Balbi is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur at Lyon, Indiana University at Bloomington, Yale, and earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at The Juilliard School. He studied with Iseut Chuat, Marc Coppey, Jean Deplace, Aldo Parisot, Janos Starker, and members of the Amadeus, Borodine, Juilliard, Ravel and Tokyo String Quartets. Please visit www.jcbcello.com and www.cello.tcu.edu.

Prizewinner of the Aleksander Glazunov International Competition (Paris), Dr. Elena Chernova-Davis has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster in her native Uzbekistan and throughout the United States. After graduating with honors as a full-scholarship student from the Tashkent State Conservatory, she came to the United States to continue her studies with Elmar Oliveira and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

She is a recipient of the Concertmaster Fellowship and the Irene Alm Memorial Award for Excellence in Performance and Scholarly Research and has worked with conductors such as Bernard Haitink, Esa Pekka-Salonen, Gerard Schwarz, Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Jeffrey Tate to name but a few. Collaborating with various New York ensembles including musicians from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, MET Opera Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony, her recent performing venues include Carnegie Hall – Isaac Stern Auditorium, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Madison Square Garden, and Radio City Music Hall.

An avid chamber musician, Dr. Elena Chernova-Davis has organized and performed in faculty chamber music recitals at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts with guest performers from the faculties of Montclair State University, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes,and Eastman School of Music. She regularly performs with the Riverside Chamber Players, Con Vivo Music, and the Pedro Giraudo Tango Ensemble.

As a passionate and dedicated teacher her philosophy is to guide development and tailor an individual approach to each student that encourages growth, curiosity and motivation. She is currently on the faculty at Mason Gross where she heads the Chamber Music Program and lectures in violin performance and chamber music.

Lauded for her “particularly lovely” playing and “boundless creativity”, pianist Candace Chien is an versatile performer and teacher in the New York City area. Comfortable as both soloist and collaborator, Candace’s diverse performing life includes recent recitals with New Jersey Symphony concertmaster Eric Wyrick, chamber music performances at Kimmel Center Perelman Hall and Academy of Music, Trinity Wall Street St. Paul’s Chapel, as well as solo concerto appearances with Chelsea Symphony, Temecula Valley Symphony, and Accord Symphony. Candace maintains relationships with many independent New York City opera companies as repetiteur, and has appeared as part of On Site Opera’s collaboration in Caramoor’s 2022 summer season alongside Stephanie Blythe and Laquita Mitchell. Candace also splits her time between New York and California as one of the orchestral pianists for San Diego Symphony. She was also chosen as Music for Autism’s Spotlight Artist of 2022, advocating for neurodiverse classical music experiences with “extraordinary artistry and humanity”.

Passing on her love of classical music to the next generation is a particular passion for Candace. She has held piano faculty positions at Summit Music Festival, Burgos International Music Festival, International Music Academy in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Usdan Center of Creative and Performing Arts and Point Counterpoint Chamber Music Festival, as well as music teaching positions in the public schools of Westfield, New Jersey and Queens, New York. She appears as a master clinician for Anemone Music Studio, and Main Line Music Teachers Association. Along with acceptances to LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts, West Chester University, University of North Texas, and Temple University, Candace’s students are also prize winners at various competitions, performing at Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Academy of Music, and more.

Candace is a graduate of The Juilliard School, studying with Jonathan Feldman and Margo Garrett, and continues on at Juilliard as one of their staff pianists. She received her Master’s degree in piano performance at the Manhattan School of Music with the guidance of Jeffery Cohen and obtained her undergraduate degree in piano performance and music education at Temple University under Professor Harvey Wedeen. In her spare time between teaching and performing, one can also find Candace in the kitchen. Her personal connection to music and food can be seen on Food Network tv show, Cooks Versus Cons, Season 4 in the episode “Fry, Fry Again!”.

Adventure, artistry, and collaboration define the career of violinist Dr. Sharon Gayoung Cho, whose performances span the world’s foremost concert halls, celebrated festivals, and collaborations with many of today’s most respected musicians.

Praised for her expressive musicianship and commanding stage presence, Dr. Cho has appeared as guest concertmaster with the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra and as a featured soloist with The Discovery Orchestra. Recent seasons have brought solo appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus, and the Presidential Palace in Vienna, along with chamber performances at Alice Tully Hall, Sprague Hall, Woolsey Hall, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Zimmerli Art Museum. She has led from the concertmaster chair of the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, Yale Philharmonia, and Vienna’s Anton von Webern Orchestra.

Her artistry has been recognized with First Prize – Rutgers Concerto Competition (broadcast on WWFM), First Prize – New York Artists International Competition, Grand and First Prize – Vivo International Music Competition, Second Prize – Premio Città di Padova International Competition (Italy), and Second Prize with the Governor’s Prize – Gavrillin International Competition (Russia). In her native Korea, she earned multiple national titles, including Hanmi, Yejin, Youngnam, and Hangookilbo competitions.

Dr. Cho earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from Rutgers University, Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and Postgraduate Certificate, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna—entering at age 15 as the youngest in her class. All of her undergraduate, master’s, postgraduate, Yale, and doctoral studies were awarded with full scholarship. She also holds a Pre-College Diploma from the Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien and began her formal training at Yewon Arts Middle School in Seoul.

Her artistic lineage includes principal teachers Dora Schwarzberg, Ani Kavafian, and Todd Phillips, and chamber music mentors such as the Tokyo Quartet, Peter Frankl, Alan Stepansky, and the Artis Quartet. She has also worked closely in masterclasses with Midori Goto, Cho-Liang Lin, Peter Winograd, Donald Weilerstein, Boris Garlitsky, Pavel Vernikov, Eugene Drucker, Steve Tenenbom, Koichiro Harada, Taras Gabora, and members of the Hagen and Keller Quartets.

An in-demand educator, Dr. Cho serves on the violin faculty at the Summit Music Festival and Rutgers Community Arts – Mason Gross School of the Arts, with previous appointments at Rutgers University and the Yale School of Music. She is a sought-after adjudicator, most recently serving as a judge for the NJMTA Spring Recital Audition. Festival appearances include the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (USA), Mendelssohn Summer School (Hamburg), Internationale Konzert-Arbeits-Wochen (Goslar), International Summer Music School (Croatia), Accademia di Musica d’Estate (Italy), Cuarto Curso Internacional (Spain), and Accentus Musical Festival (Slovenia)—reflecting a career devoted to artistry, cultural exchange, and inspiring the next generation of musicians.

Emil Chudnovsky (B.M., Mannes College of Music, Certificate of Performance, Yale University) is an expert teacher and coach with over a decade of experience teaching violinists of all levels, from beginner to very advanced competition-level performers. Mr. Chudnovsky is a nine-time international competition winner and laureate. An experienced soloist, he has recorded six CDs, performed recitals and concerts in over 30 countries, and has been frequently invited to give master-classes in the United States, Mexico, South America, New Zealand, China and Japan.

In September of 2009, Mr. Chudnovsky joined the adjunct faculty of the Catholic University of America and, in the summer of 2010, the faculty of the San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival in Mexico. His private studios in the greater DC area have produced students who have won admission to the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Central Music School in Moscow, the Mannes College of Music in New York, and to Catholic University. Mr. Chudnovsky’s students have been frequently chosen for principal seats in the greater DC area’s top youth orchestras, such as the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, the American Youth Philharmonic and the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra. His students have also won prizes at such prestigious area competitions as the W.P.A.S. Feder Competition, the Owings Mills Young Artist Competition, the Young Artists’ Awards of Gaithersburg and the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic Competition.

Mr. Chudnovsky continues to be sought out as a juror for local, regional, and international competitions. In November 2011, he will serve as a member of the jury at the XVI Curci International Violin Competition in Naples, Italy and, in June 2011, at the National Federation of Music Clubs biennial competition, in McLean, VA. He also has the honor of co-chairing the Potter-Hood competition in the 2010-2011 season, and of serving as a juror in March 2011 at the Levine School of Music competition in Washington, DC. In 2009, Mr. Chudnovsky  served as a state-level judge of the Music Teacher’s National Association Violin Competition and, in 2008, as a string coach for the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Chudnovsky’s students have performed as soloists with orchestras in the greater DC area and successfully auditioned for Maryland’s All-State and All-County orchestras. In recital, they have performed in Russia, Bulgaria, and in the DC area at such prestigious venues as the Embassy of the Russian Federation and the Embassy of the Ukraine, as well as in special appearances before His Majesty, the King of Norway and before His Excellency, the Ambassador of Romania.

Violist and violinist Yoram Youngerman is the director of the Israel Music Institute (IMI) in Tel Aviv. Prior to his return to Israel in 2012 he served as a faculty in at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill,  Duke University, Northern Kentucky University, East Carolina University and University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music – where he was the violist of the internationally award winning Amernet String quartet. Yoram  has performed in major venues worldwide including the Lincoln Center, New York; Barbican Center, London; and other venues in Washington, Toronto, Amsterdam, Zurich, San Francisco, and Berlin. As a quartet member he performed extensively around the country in recitals and performed the Martinu quartet concerto with the Cincinnati orchestra and Alan Gilbert conducting.  In 2005, Mr. Youngerman founded MYCO @ UNC Youth Chamber Music program, a project for advanced studies in chamber music for talented pre-college musicians. Recognized for its excellence, MYCO chamber groups has been advancing annually to the final rounds of the Fischoff national chamber music competition. Yoram continues to serve as the Artistic Director of the organization, and its summer chamber music workshop at UNC. Mr. Youngerman is a regular participant at the Summit Music Festival in New York, where he also conducts the Festival Orchestra since 2005.

An internationally-renowned artist and pedagogue, Victor Danchenko graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where he studied with David Oistrakh. His numerous awards include the gold medal in the Soviet National Competition and the Ysaye Gold Medal. Also to his credit are recordings under the Melodiya label, as well as live radio and television broadcasts. Prior to his emigration to the West he enjoyed a distinguished solo career, appearing with orchestras and in recitals throughout the U.S.S.R. and abroad. Since then, he has performed as a soloist in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America to high critical acclaim while developing an immensely successful teaching career. His students have won major awards and competitions and appeared with concerts and recitals on all continents. Among his many successful students there are concert masters of various orchestras, first violinists of major string quartets, members of major orchestras and various conservatories. Recognized as one of the leading teachers of today, he is currently on the faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. In addition to these duties, he participates as a jury member of major international competitions. Mr. Danchenko also continues to conduct master classes in the USA, Canada, Japan, South America, Israel, and Europe, where he remains in great demand.

Born in Israel and raised on a kibbutz, David Krieger took first prize in the cello competition at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. He then became principal cellist in the Israel Orchestra of the Kibbutzim and soloist for three seasons. Coming to the United States on scholarship, he received his Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory and continued his graduate work at Yale as a student of Aldo Parisot. He pursued doctoral studies at Indiana University where he studied with Janos Starker and became principal cellist with the university symphony orchestra. After moving to the New York area, he served as principal cellist of the Westchester Symphony. He has toured extensively in Europe and the U. S. As co-founder of the prestigious Emelin Trio, he has performed extensively in Westchester. Mr. Krieger presently serves on the music faculty of the Music Conservatory of Westchester, Fordham University, and is affiliated with Columbia University and Purchase College (SUNY). Cello Faculty.

Born in Russia, Mr. Briskin studied at the prestigious Leningrad Conservatory where he received his D.M.A. with Distinction. Upon completion of his studies, he became Professor of Piano at the Petrozavodsk branch of the Leningrad Conservatory. His concert calendar included solo appearances with orchestras, chamber music and recital tours of the U.S.S.R., as well as television and radio broadcasts throughout Eastern Europe and Russia.

After emigrating to the USA in 1979, Mr. Briskin continued to pursue an active performing career. As a soloist and a member of the Emelin Trio he has performed in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Venezuela and S. Africa. Mr. Briskin is a founder and artistic director of the Summit Music festival. Presently he serves on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and the Music Conservatory of Westchester.