Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
The Catalyst Quartet, known for “perfect ensemble unity” and “unequaled class of execution” (Lincoln Journal Star), has toured widely throughout the United States and abroad, including sold-out performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Chicago’s Harris Theater, Miami’s New World Center, and Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York. The quartet has been guest soloists with the Cincinnati Symphony, New Haven Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, and has served as principal players and featured ensemble with the Sphinx Organization’s featured ensemble, the Sphinx Virtuosi, on six national tours. They have been invited to perform at important music festivals such as Mainly Mozart in San Diego, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival, where they appear annually. The Catalyst Quartet was ensemble-in-residence at the Vail Dance Festival in 2016 and in the 2021-22 season were in residence with San Francisco Performances where they presented the complete series of works from their Uncovered Project. In 2014, they opened the Festival del Sole in Napa, California with Joshua Bell and participated in England’s Aldeburgh Music Foundation String Quartet Residency with two performances in Jubilee Hall. In 2022 the Catalyst Quartet was named ensemble in residence for the Chamber Music Northwest Festival in Portland and for the Met Museum's LiveArts series in NYC.
Recent seasons have brought international engagements in Cuba, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, and expanded tours throughout the United States. The ensemble’s New York City presence has included concerts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre, for Schneider Concerts at The New School, for Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series, at the 92nd Street Y, and six concerts with GRAMMY Award-winning jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant for Jazz at Lincoln Center, for which the subsequent recording won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album. The Catalyst Quartet launched its New York concert series CQ@Howl in 2018.
Highlights of past collaborations include Encuentros, featuring a commissioned work by innovative Cuban composer Jorge Amado Molina and other voices from across the Cuban diaspora; (Im)migration: Music of Change, a collaboration with the Imani Winds; and CQ Minute, a commissioning project of 10 miniature string quartets in commemoration of the quartet’s 10th anniversary with works by Andy Akiho, Kishi Bashi, Billy Childs, Paquito D’Rivera, Tania Leon, Jessie Montgomery, Kevin Puts, Caroline Shaw, Joan Tower, and two young composers selected from a national call for scores. The quartet premiered “Passage” a chamber ballet by Jessie Montgomery in celebration of Dance Theater of Harlem on their 50th anniversary with Kennedy Center honoree Tania Leon and was ensemble-in-residence for the Vail International Dance Festival, where they collaborated with members of the Silkroad Ensemble and some of the finest dancers in the world. Catalyst Quartet’s largest ongoing project, UNCOVERED, is a multi-volume set of albums on Azica records that celebrates composers of color whose works have been overlooked by the traditional canon. Volume 1, released February 2021, includes the string quartet and quintets of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Stewart Goodyear. Volume 2 features works by Florence B. Price and Volume 3, set to release February 2023, features Coleridge-Taylor, Perkinson, William Grant Still, and George Walker.
The Catalyst Quartet’s recordings span the ensemble’s scope of interests and artistry. Its debut album, The Bach/Gould Project, features the quartet’s own collaborative arrangement of J.S. Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations, the first ever 4-voiced version of the piece, paired with Glenn Gould’s rarely heard String Quartet Op. 1. The ensemble can also be heard on Strum (Azica 2015), the solo debut album of composer Jessie Montgomery, who was a member violinist from 2012-2020; Bandoneón y cuerdas (Progressive Sounds 2017), tango-inspired music for string quartet and bandoneon by JP Jofre; and Dreams and Daggers (Mack Avenue Records 2017), a 2-CD GRAMMY-winning album with Cecile McLorin Salvant.
The Catalyst Quartet combines a serious commitment to diversity and education with a passion for contemporary works. The ensemble has served as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Curtis Institute of Music. The Catalyst Quartet’s ongoing residencies include interactive performance presentations and workshops with Native American student composers at the Grand Canyon Music Festival. Past residencies have included concerts and masterclasses at The University Of Michigan, University Of Washington, Rice University’s Shepard School of Music, Houston’s Society for the Performing Arts, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, The Virginia Arts Festival, and Pennsylvania State University, and internationally at the In Harmony Project in England, The University of South Africa, and The Teatro De Bellas Artes in Cali, Colombia. The ensemble’s residency in Havana, Cuba for the Cuban American Youth Orchestra in January 2019, was the first by an American string quartet since the revolution.
The Catalyst Quartet members hold degrees from The Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and New England Conservatory. The Catalyst Quartet proudly endorses Pirastro strings
Two-time GRAMMY® award nominee for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album, soprano Laura Strickling was recognized by The New York Times for her, “flexible voice, crystalline diction, and warm presence.” Celebrated for her work in art song with an emphasis on new additions to the canon, she has been featured twice in Classical Singer Magazine for commissioning and recording new music, curated The New Music Shelf Anthology of Contemporary Art Songs for Soprano, and recently announced The 40@40 Project – her personal initiative to commission new music, which has surpassed original goals and continues to foster exciting collaborations between important contemporary composers and poets.
Equally acclaimed for her work on the concert stage, her “powerful and expressive voice across a large range, her variety of timbre and character,” (Classical Scene), make her a welcome guest soloist for a range of oratorio and concert works, from Handel to Britten and beyond. These include Fourth Symphony (Mahler) with the Knoxville Symphony and the San Antonio Philharmonic, Ninth Symphony (Beethoven) with the Seattle Symphony and the Elgin Symphony, Bachianas Brasileiras (Villa-Lobos) with the San Antonio Philharmonic, Exsultate, jubilate (Mozart) with the Cathedral Choral Society, Messiah (Handel) with the Indianapolis Symphony, the Pacific Symphony, and the Richmond Symphony, Gloria (Poulenc) with the Asheville Symphony, Mass in c minor (Mozart) with the Richmond Symphony, Cathedral Choral Society, and Berkshire Choral International, Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Barber) with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Stabat Mater (Dvorak) and Elijah (Mendelssohn) with Berkshire Choral International, Ein Deutsches Requiem (Brahms) with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and Chorosynthesis, Luonnotar (Sibelius) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and Les Illuminations (Britten) with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and Mexicoliederfest, and Pierrot Lunaire (Schoenberg) with the Chiarina Chamber Players and the Mid-Atlantic Reed Consort, as well as Carmina Burana (Orff), Requiem (Mozart), Credo Mass (Mozart), Dixit Dominus (Handel), Gloria (Vivaldi), Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), and Mass in C (Beethoven).
Nominated for GRAMMY® awards for Best Classical Vocal Solo Album for Confessions (2022) and 40@40 (2024), Ms. Strickling has received widespread critical acclaim for her recordings: “…a compellingly honest performer, whose rich, expressive soprano conveys vulnerability with a balance of shimmering tone and unaffected diction,” (Opera News Magazine). “This extraordinarily expressive and versatile singer…performs with an intelligent combination of restraint and letting go. Her voice is full and lustrous and then bright and nimble…” (Schmopera). "Strickling fulfills and FILLS this role, her voice as a siren-chameleon, changing shape and color and nature with total control as contexts switch and emotions bend ever so slightly from word to word,” (American Record Guide). She was also praised for the Naxos Opera Classics recording of The Parting by Tom Cipullo, “…deeply expressive, secure voice. Her exposed highs are managed wonderfully, with notable beauty,” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Her discography also includes Times Alone (James Matheson), The Vineyard Songs (Glen Roven), Edna St. Vincent Millay (Jake Heggie), and Of a Certain Age (Tom Cipullo).
Ms. Strickling created the role of Fanni Radnòti in the world premiere of Tom Cipullo’s opera The Parting with Music of Remembrance in Seattle and San Francisco in 2019 and revisited the role with Chelsea Opera in Syracuse in Spring 2022 and New York City in Fall 2022. She created the role of Dr. Slade in the nine-episode TV-opera film, Everything for Dawn with Experiments in Opera, which received its AllArts and Opera Philadelphia broadcast premiere in 2022. An alumna of the Berkshire Opera Company resident artist program, her performance of the Dew Fairy in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel was praised by Opera News: "Laura Strickling offered the creamy, clear, younger-sister-of-Eva-Pogner instrument ideal for singing the role over full orchestration." She appeared as Pamina in the Metropolitan Opera Guild's touring outreach production of The Magic Flute. Ms. Strickling’s operatic roles also include Countess Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Cleopatra (Julius Caesar), Mimi (La boheme), Dinorah (Dinorah), Elvira (L’Italiana in Algeri), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), and Micaëla (Carmen). She created the role of Muriel in the world premiere of Thomas Benjamin's The Alien Corn with the Peabody Opera Theater.
Ms. Strickling’s art song repertoire includes over 450 songs and vocal chamber works in 14 languages, performed with such organizations and institutions as the Brooklyn Art Song Society, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Mexicoliederfest, Chiarina Chamber Players, Liederfest in Suzhou (China), the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, Lyric Fest, Joy in Singing, Songfest, Calliope’s Call, Trinity Concerts at One, the American Liszt Society, Baltimore Lieder Weekend, Concerts on the Slope, SongFusion, National Sawdust, Art Song at the Old Stone House, and the Brooklyn New Music Collective. She has been a featured performer at the New Music Gathering, presented a radio broadcast recital of American songs on “Live from WFMT” in Chicago with pianist Daniel Schlosberg, and was an Artist in Residence at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, and has presented guest artist recitals, masterclasses, and lectures at the University of Georgia, San Antonio College, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Mercer University, College of William and Mary, Mercer University, University of Notre Dame, New World School of the Arts, Notre Dame University of Maryland, Pittsburg State University, McDaniel College, St. Mary’s College, and University of Richmond. She is on the New Music Advisory Board of the Brooklyn Art Song Society, and the Artistic Advisory Boards of Cincinnati Song Initiative and Calliope’s Call.
A Chicago native, Ms. Strickling is an avid traveler, having lived in Fez (Morocco) - where she studied classical Arabic at the Arabic Language Institute of Fez, Kabul (Afghanistan) - where her husband was the founding chair of the Department of Law at the American University of Afghanistan, and for the last nine years in St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands). She recently relocated to Wisconsin where she is learning to appreciate cheese, beer, and being cold.
Regino Madrid, from Los Angeles, CA, is currently the concertmaster of The American Pops Orchestra frequently featured on PBS and “54 Below” in NYC, the associate concertmaster of NatPhil at Strathmore, a member of Sound Impact, 21st Century Consort, and the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra. Regino was the associate concertmaster of “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Chamber Orchestra and played at the White House for 20 years. He currently plays with The National Symphony Orchestra and has played with the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Symphonies. He is a member of the tango band “Quintango” that holds a residency at Blues Alley in Georgetown. In 2021, he recorded Kyle Werner’s violin sonata for its premiere with The Washington Ballet on Marquee TV with a live performance at Wolf Trap. In 2024, he was a soloist with the NATO Symphony Orchestra at the Library of Congress. Regino received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music after pursuing a Physiological Science degree from UCLA. He currently plays a violin from 1845 by J.B. Vuillaume.
Ricardo Morales is one of the most sought after clarinetists of today. He joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as principal clarinet in 2003. Prior to this he was principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, a position he assumed at the age of 21. His virtuosity and artistry as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician has been hailed and recognized in concert halls around the world. He has been asked to perform as principal clarinet with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, and at the invitation of Sir Simon Rattle, performed as guest principal clarinet with the Berlin Philharmonic. He also performs as principal clarinet with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra and the Mito Chamber Orchestra, at the invitation of Maestro Seiji Ozawa.
A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Morales began his studies at the Escuela Libre de Musica along with his five siblings, who are all distinguished musicians. He continued his studies at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Indiana University, where he received his Artist Diploma.
Mr. Morales has been a featured soloist with many orchestras, including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic, and the Flemish Radio Symphony. During his tenure with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, he soloed in Carnegie Hall and on two European tours. He made his solo debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2004 and has since performed as soloist on numerous occasions. Ricardo performed the world premiere of the Clarinet Concerto by Jonathan Leshnoff, commissioned for him by the Philadelphia Orchestra.
An active chamber musician, Mr. Morales has performed in the MET Chamber Ensemble series at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Seattle Chamber Music Summer Festival, and the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, on NBC’s The Today Show, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has performed with many distinguished ensembles, such as the Juilliard Quartet, the Pacifica Quartet, the Miró Quartet, the Leipzig Quartet, and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. He has also collaborated with Christoph Eschenbach, André Watts, Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, James Ehnes, Gil Shaham, and Kathleen Battle. Mr. Morales is highly sought after for his recitals and master classes, which have taken him throughout North America, Europe and Asia. In addition, he currently serves on the faculty of Temple University.
Mr. Morales’s performances have been met with critical acclaim. The Philadelphia Inquirer hailed his appointment to The Philadelphia Orchestra, stating that “… in fact, may represent the most salutary personnel event of the orchestra’s last decade.” He was praised by the New York Times as having “ … fleet technique, utterly natural musical grace, and the lyricism and breath control of a fine opera singer.” Mr. Morales was also singled out in the New York Times review of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Berlioz’s Les Troyens, describing his playing as “exquisite” and declaring that he “deserved a place onstage during curtain calls.”
Mr. Morales’s debut solo recording, French Portraits, is available on the Boston Records label. His recent recordings include performances with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, with the Pacifica Quartet, which was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award, as well as the Mozart Concerto with the Mito Chamber Orchestra for DECCA. Ricardo is a sought after consultant and designer of musical instruments and accessories, and enjoys a musical partnership with F. Arthur Uebel, a world renowned manufacturer of artist level clarinets.
Described as “superb” by the Chicago Classical Review, violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious is a winner of the prestigious 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has been praised for her expressive tones and elegant playing, recently earning accolades for a “dazzling performance” with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, DC.
A passionate and versatile solo, chamber and orchestral musician, Njioma is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a winner of its John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic achievement. In 2023, Njioma won the Grand Prize of the Concert Artist Guild (CAG) and the Young Classical Artist Trust (YCAT) CAG Elmaleh Competition, as well as the Robert F. Smith First Prize and the Audience Choice awards in the Senior Division of the Sphinx Competition. In 2022, she was the winner of concerto competitions at the University of Delaware and the Newark Symphony Orchestra. Njioma was also a winner of the Music Academy of the West Keston-Max Fellowship to study and perform in the London Symphony Orchestra in November 2022. She won First Prizes for Performance and Interpretation in the 2018 Prix Ravel in Fontainebleau, France.
As a soloist, during the 2024/25 season Njioma debuted at Carnegie Hall with the Sphinx Virtuosi. In July she will debut at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Brussels Philharmonic. This season she also made her Wigmore Hall debut, undertaking a UK tour as part of the Young Concert Artists Trust. She also appeared with the Florence Symphony, in a return to the Chicago Philharmonic as the inaugural Artist in Residence and in solo and chamber music recitals across the United States that include the Strathmore Mansion, Cal Performances, the Mesa Arts Center, Kaufman Music Center, Pepperdine and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. Njioma has previously appeared with the Boston Pops, Minnesota Orchestra, Western Michigan Symphony and the Salisbury Symphony, among others.
A founding member of the Abeo Quartet, Njioma completed graduate studies with Ryan Meehan and the Calidore String Quartet at the University of Delaware where she was also a fellow in the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence Program. Abeo is the Third Prize winner of the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition. In 2022, Abeo won First Prize and the Audience Favorite Prize at the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition and was invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet was also a finalist in the 2022 Young Concert Artists competition and has been a winner of Silver Medals in the Chesapeake International and Fischoff chamber music competitions. Abeo has appeared on WQXR Midday Masterpieces and WETA Classical Radio as well as in performances in the Schneider Concert Series, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, Emerald City Music, in Montreal, and Oslo, Norway, and in residence at the Glenstone Museum, where they premiered “Moonshot” by Alistair Coleman. At Juilliard, the quartet studied under the tutelage of the Juilliard String Quartet and has also been coached by members of the Alban Berg, Quatuor Ebene, Takács, Artemis, Brentano, Miró and Emerson quartets.
Njioma is a member of New York City’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has been invited to perform in numerous series and festivals including the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla ChamberFest, Jupiter Chamber Players, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, North Shore Chamber Music Festival, Chiarina Chamber Players, CMSCV, ChamberFest Cleveland, Music@Menlo, Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Meadowmount, Fontainebleau Schools, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
For many years, Njioma was a scholarship recipient through Boston’s Project STEP string training program for Black and Latino youth and at the time also earned summer study scholarship assistance through Winsor Music. Her principal teachers have also included Ronald Copes, James Buswell, Irina Muresanu, Mariana Green-Hill and Farhoud Moshfegh. Njioma, who began studying the violin at the age of 4, has since performed in numerous volunteer concerts with her siblings and many others. As a Juilliard Gluck Fellow she performed regularly for the medically vulnerable, retirees and children. Njioma has taught composition and collaboration to NYC elementary and middle school students from underrepresented communities through the Opportunity Music Project. She has shared her knowledge and love of her craft with school children across the United States.
Njioma is the recipient of an outstanding violin by Pietro Guarneri of Mantua c. 1679 on generous loan from the Stradivari Society.
Meredith Riley is a Canadian-American violinist from Ithaca, NY, currently residing in Alexandria, VA. She graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and completed her graduate studies under violinist Andrés Cárdenas at Carnegie Mellon University. Riley studied with Linda Case, Laura Bossert, and Margaret Pressley during her pre-college years.
For five years, Meredith was Associate Principal second violin for the Richmond Symphony in Richmond, VA. While in Graduate school, she was Principal second of the Erie Philharmonic, and she performed as acting concertmaster for the Johnstown Symphony. In recent years, she has free-lanced with Pittsburgh Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly pops!, Richmond Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She has been a member of Sphinx Virtuosi for six National tours, recently serving as principal second. Meredith was also excited to join the Gateways Music Festival in 2022, participating in GMF's Carnegie Hall debut with Jon Batiste in 2022, and still continues to collaborate with the Gateways Festival. She joined the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC for a one year contract in the ‘22-’23 season, and will be joining the NSO on their upcoming European tour in 2024.
Riley’s solo performance experiences include solo appearances with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, New England String Orchestra, University of Texas Symphony Orchestras, and in 2022, the Wintergreen and Sunflower Festival Orchestras. Other awards include Young Artist for the Starling Delay Symposium at the Juilliard School, junior semi-finalist in the National Sphinx Competitions, second place in Young Texas Artists Competition. In 2022, and again in 2023, Meredith won first place in the strings division of the Sphinx Orchestra Partners for Auditions [SOPA] competition.
Meredith plays chamber music whenever she can and has appeared twice on the Smithsonian Chamber Players series, as well as on numerous CMSCVA events in Richmond. Her intensive chamber experiences include Wintergreen Music Festival, the Sunflower Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, NewPark Chamber Music Festival, Domaine Forget’s intensive chamber music program, Music by the Sea in Bamfield, BC, Steamboat Strings Music Festival Heifetz International Music Festival, Chautauqua MSFO, the International Music Academy of Plzen in Czech Republic, St. Lawrence String Seminar, the International Musical Enghien Encounters in Belgium, the Boston Festival Orchestra, and Encore School for Strings,
In 2021, Meredith was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Violin at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. She also teaches a small number of private students in Alexandria and Richmond. She will be joining the faculty of the 2023 Gingold Festival in Miami as part of the Artistic Advising team.
In her free time, Meredith loves to spend time with her husband, family, and dogs. She is constantly sampling new hot sauces, singing and laughing loudly, and improvising vocally or on her violin.
Equally at home in the solo, chamber, and orchestral stages, Sarah Frisof is a passionate flutist and educator. As a soloist, Ms. Frisof was the second-prize winner of both the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and the Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition, and she was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Kobe International Flute Competition. Ms. Frisof and her collaborative partner, Daniel Pesca, piano, have released two solo albums. Her most recent album, Beauty Crying Forth, a survey of music by female composers across time, was released in August of 2020.
In addition to Ms. Frisof’s work as a solo artist, she is an active orchestral and chamber musician, having worked with major symphony orchestras across the country, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and many others. Ms. Frisof is an active member of Sound Impact, a chamber collective of musicians dedicated to serving communities and igniting positive change in the US and abroad through live performance, educational programs, and creative collaborations with other artists and art forms.
She has taken her passion for education and community engagement to global audiences, including working with communities and students in both Zimbabwe and Brazil. A graduate of the Eastman School, The Juilliard School, and the University of Michigan, Ms. Frisof is currently the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Maryland.
Acclaimed a “marvelous violinist” by the Washington Post, violinist, composer, and arranger Domenic Salerni is a member of the two-time Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet. Attacca was featured on Billie Eilish’s most recent album “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” and can be heard on the soundtrack to Alfonso Cuarón’s seven-part film series on Apple TV+ “Disclaimer,” playing the music of Finneas. They are also featured, alongside Sō Percussion and Roomful of Teeth, in Caroline Shaw’s film score to Ken Burns’ newest PBS documentary, “Leonardo da Vinci.” Attacca released Maurice Ravel’s “String Quartet” in March on Platoon in honor of his 150th birthday.
Domenic arranged 60s Civil Rights era protest songs for the Palaver Strings’ album “a change is gonna come,” featuring tenor Nicholas Phan and jazz vocalist Farayi Malek, released on Azica Records, which was nominated for a Grammy Award this year. The Belvedere Series, Richmond, Virginia’s new salon series, commissioned Salerni’s “Seven Meditations” for piano trio last season thanks to a grant from the Allan and Margot Blank Foundation.
In 2022, Attacca created and recorded original music for the podcast “The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome,” which was featured in the New York Times’ Best Podcasts of 2023. Domenic’s first string quartet commission, “Trilobites: a Musical Excavation,” was made possible by the Appalachian Chamber Music Festival, founded in 2021 by cellist Katie Terrell, and is featured on West Virginia Public Television.
A graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Domenic regularly performs with the Chiarina Chamber Players in Capitol Hill, DC. Recipient of the 2020 CMA Commissioning Grant, Chiarina looks forward to its debut album in its 10th season of the music of Carlos Simon, including the commissioned work, “The Best Cuisine,” featuring co-artistic directors Efi Hackmey and Carrie Bean Stute and bass-baritone Carl DuPont.
Audrey Wright is a multifaceted artist across solo, chamber music, and orchestral realms. She joined the New York Philharmonic in 2022 and has been the concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra since 2018. She previously served as associate concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Wright has performed across the globe in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and the Vatican, and has been a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Cape Symphony Orchestra. With a passion for innovative programming and juxtaposing a wide range of musical styles, her repertoire spans the early 17th century to the modern day, and her performing experience includes the full spectrum of these musical styles, from period performance practice to the premiering of new and personally commissioned works. Her debut album, Things In Pairs, with pianist Yundu Wang, was released on Navona Records in 2022.
Originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Wright developed a love of ensemble and collaborative playing from a young age. During her high school years, she went on several international tours with youth orchestras in the Boston area, attended the prestigious Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts, and was on the national radio program From the Top. As a recurring participant in the Verbier Festival since 2012, she has performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra and Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, and has been concertmaster under the direction of Gábor Takács-Nagy, Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Iván Fischer, and Charles Dutoit. Wright was a Violin Fellow in the New World Symphony from 2013–14, and a member of the Excelsa Quartet from 2014–16. As the Fellowship String Quartet at the University of Maryland, Excelsa Quartet performed and competed internationally, working closely with members of the Guarneri, Emerson, St. Lawrence, and Juilliard quartets.
Wright has performed on such chamber music series as Meeting House Chamber Music, Jackson Hole Chamber Music, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, Great Lakes Summer Chamber Music Festival, and in many concerts in the mid-Atlantic area, including Chiarina Chamber Players, Community Concerts at Second, Pro Musica Rara, Hood College Chamber Music, and the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, where she has performed on a number of the exquisite instruments in the Smithsonian Instrument Collection. She has worked closely with musicians Mayron Tsong, Paul Watkins, Roberto González-Monjas, Russell Hartenberger, Roger Tapping, John Heiss, John Gibbons, and Yundu Wang, as well as chamber ensembles such as the Axelrod String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, Boston Trio, and NuDeco Ensemble. Having worked extensively with artists across other disciplines, she also regularly collaborates with multidisciplinary artist and husband Geoff Robertson on innovative projects that often incorporate dazzling displays of light and sound.
In addition to performing, Wright is a passionate teacher and chamber music coach, and has developed a specialty in coaching and giving masterclasses on orchestral audition excerpts. In 2020 she released a YouTube series of excerpt tutorial videos that has become a widely used resource for musicians worldwide. She was the Director of the Homewood Chamber Music Seminar at Johns Hopkins University from 2017–18, has coached chamber music at the University of Maryland, and maintains a small studio of private students.
Wright holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and a doctoral degree from the University of Maryland. Her primary teachers have included David Salness, Lucy Chapman, Bayla Keyes, and Magdalena Richter. She plays on a 1753 J.B. Guadagnini violin generously on loan from the Alsop Trust.
Sue Heineman is principal bassoonist of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Grand Teton Music Festival. Prior to joining the NSO, she held positions with the New Haven, Memphis, New Mexico, and New Zealand Symphony Orchestras and has performed as guest principal bassoonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. As a chamber musician she has played with the Kennedy Center Chamber Players, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Wind Quintet, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Summer Festivals include Aspen, Eastern Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, Mainly Mozart, and Bowdoin.
Originally from Philadelphia, Ms. Heineman holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastman and a master's degree from Juilliard. She also completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Rochester, graduating summa cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors, and was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to Salzburg. Her teachers include Shirley Curtiss, David Van Hoesen, Milan Turkovic, Judith LeClair, and Stephen Maxym.
Philip Kramp is a versatile performer and teacher whose playing has been heard worldwide. Praised by the New York Times for his “impressive” performances, he has participated in chamber music festivals at Marlboro, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Sarasota and many others.
Based in Washington, DC, Phil is a former violist in the Kansas City Symphony and a former faculty member of the University of Kansas. Currently, Phil is on the faculty at the University of Maryland and he plays regularly with the National Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony. He has performed on tours worldwide with many orchestras and can be heard on recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, Metropolis Ensemble and The Roots. Phil can also be heard on many motion picture soundtracks and television shows.
In chamber music settings, Phil plays regularly with the Chiarina Chamber Players, as well as in concerts with members of the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra. He is a past participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and has performed on several tours with Musicians from Marlboro. He is also a regular participant and the Twickenham Music Festival and the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colo. Phil has also enjoyed collaborating with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and has performed alongside many of the world’s greatest artists, such as Richard Goode, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, Arnold Steinhardt, Marcy Rosen, Miriam Fried and many others.
In competitions, Phil has won prizes in the Irving Klein String Competition, Chicago Viola Society Competition, NEC Concerto Competition and has participated in the Stulberg Competition and the HAMS Viola Competition. Phil received his formal training at the Curtis Institute and the New England Conservatory. His primary mentors include Michael Tree, Roberto Diaz, Kim Kashkashian, Roger Tapping, Joe DePasquale, Peter Wiley and Steven Tenenbom.
Violinist Angelia Cho's concerto debut was with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 11. Since then, she has enjoyed an exciting and versatile career as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, teaching artist, and orchestral musician across the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa.
As an orchestral musician, Cho performed in the Minnesota Orchestra for the 2014–2015 season and subbed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is also a former member of IRIS Orchestra as well as Boston Grammy Award®-nominated ensemble A Far Cry.
She received her Bachelor of Music degree in 2002 from The Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Ida Kavafian, and continued her education in Boston at the New England Conservatory with Donald Weilerstein, earning a master's degree and graduate diploma in performance.
In 2000, Cho won the National Society of Arts and Letters Violin Competition and first prize at the Rutenberg Chamber Music Competition and was also the winner of the Concerto Competition and was in Honors ensemble at New England Conservatory. In 2007, Cho became a fellow of the Academy, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Institute in New York City, currently known as ensemble Connect.
An avid educator and ambassador of music, Cho has been involved in several projects around the world, one of which included the building of the first national youth orchestra in Iraq. Though the orchestra is no longer in existence, the experience resulted in a book called Upbeat by author and conductor Paul MacAlindin, with whom Cho collaborated closely for four years during the project. Cho has since performed in numerous chamber music series and festivals, including Kneisel Hall, Yellow Barn, Verbier, Ravinia, Northwestern University Winter Festival, the Open Chamber Music Session in Prussia Cove in England, and the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in South Africa. She has collaborated with world renowned artists in chamber music and solos, such as Ida Haendel, Christian Tetzlaff, Shlomo Mintz, members of the Cleveland Quartet, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Minnesota Orchestra.
Cho is on faculty at The Concord Conservatory, the visiting faculty at Brandeis College, a guest coach at the NEC Preparatory, and on faculty at the Decoda/Skidmore College Chamber Music Institute as of 2018. Cho will be joining the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the 2018-2019 season in Washington D.C.
Peiming Lin joined the National Symphony Orchestra in September 2019. He was previously the associate principal second violin of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra but he played as acting principal second violin during his time there. He has also been a member of the New World Symphony. In addition to serving as concertmaster of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, New England Conservatory’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and its self-conducted Chamber Orchestra, he has been the assistant principal second violin of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra.
He has performed in festivals including New York String Seminar, Aspen Music Festival, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and Tanglewood Music Center. As a chamber musician, he has received mentorship from members of the Borromeo, Cleveland, Concord, Guarneri, and Juilliard quartets.
A native of Troy, Michigan, Lin received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan and spent his final semester abroad studying with Sylvie Gazeau at the Conservatoire de Paris. He holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, where he studied under former Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Malcolm Lowe. Other notable musical influences include Sylvia Rosenberg, Almita Vamos, and Sally Thomas.
Cellist Carrie Bean Stute is co-founder and co-artistic director of the Washington, DC-based Chiarina Chamber Players, a chamber music series and flexible ensemble that has won critical acclaim for its artistry and innovative programming. Carrie’s chamber music performances have been broadcast on Classical WETA’s Front Row Washington. In DC, she performs with the National Symphony Orchestra, has served as an adjunct professor of music at George Washington University, and is currently assistant principal cellist of “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, where she performs in such diverse settings as the White House, area public schools, and for events hosted by the United Nations and State Department.
A performer who seeks out the voices of today, she collaborates with a growing set of composers, including Reinaldo Moya, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Juhi Bansal, and Kennedy Center composer-in-residence Carlos Simon. Carrie authored a doctoral dissertation on the cello works of Pēteris Vasks and in 2021 performed as soloist in the North American premiere of his Cello Concerto No. 2. She took part in the Carnegie Hall workshop “New Voices, New Music” and has performed chamber music at such venues as the Phillips Collection, Zankel Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and an in-house educational residency at the 92nd Street Y.
Carrie holds degrees from The Graduate Center at the City University of New York (Doctor of Musical Arts), Indiana University, and the Eastman School of Music. She was a fellow at the New World Symphony and Tanglewood Music Center. Forthcoming in 2024-25 are recordings of chamber music by Carlos Simon (with Domenic Salerni, Efi Hackmey, and Carl DuPont) and clarinet trios by Brahms and Beethoven (with Robert DiLutis and Rita Sloan).
Pianist Steven Beck has recently appeared with the orchestras of Austin, Princeton, and Chattanooga, heard in chamber music in Chicago, and Oklahoma City, and repeated his annual Christmas Eve performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations at Bargemusic, which has become a New York institution.
As a soloist Mr. Beck has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the National Symphony and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress; summer concerts have been at the Aspen Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and Lincoln Center Out of Doors. As an orchestral musician he has played with the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet Orchestra, and Orpheus. An experienced performer of new music, Steven Beck has premiered works by Charles Wuorinen and Fred Lerdahl. He can be heard on over 40 CDs, including the first complete recording of George Walker’s piano sonatas, for Bridge Records. Mr. Beck is a member of the Knights, the Talea Ensemble, Quattro Mani, and the Da Capo Chamber Players. He is on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. A Steinway Artist, he is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he now teaches orchestral piano.
Taiwanese-Canadian cellist Loewi Lin grew up in Taiwan and moved to Calgary when he was seven. Loewi started playing cello at age 11 but always wanted to be a doctor; as a high school senior, he converted to music and has been a devout follower ever since.
Loewi attended the Cleveland Institute, the University of Ottawa, and New England Conservatory. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall in the New York String Orchestra as well as the Taos School of Music, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute
Loewi lived in Boston for 11 years where he helped found the unique conductor-less chamber orchestra A Far Cry. The group is now an established institution in the music fabric of Boston, with residencies at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the New England Conservatory. In the past, he has played with the Toronto Symphony, Canadian Opera Company, and the Boston Symphony, in addition to teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy. Currently, Loewi is the principal cellist of the Boston Lyric Opera and a member of the National Symphony Orchestra.
Praised for his highly personal interpretations and “feather-light pianism” (Washington Classical Review), Efi Hackmey is recognized for his lyricism and beauty of tone. As Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chiarina Chamber Players he performs regularly on Chiarina’s concert series, which has won critical acclaim for its artistry and innovative programming, called “some of the most compelling chamber programs in town” by the Washington Post. Efi has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, the Kennedy Center and Bargemusic, and in the Friends of Mozart series in NYC. In his native Israel he performed as soloist with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and Jerusalem Music Center. Efi is often featured on WETA Classical’s Front Row Washington.
A passionate chamber musician, Efi has collaborated with the Attacca Quartet, Imani Winds, clarinetists Ricardo Morales and Charles Neidich, baritone Randall Scarlata, cellist Marcy Rosen and violinists Catherine Cho, Todd Phillips and Nurit Bar-Josef, among others.
Efi’s recordings include the 2025 release of The Best Cuisine: Music of Carlos Simon on the Azica label, and the 2013 album Polish Violin Music on the Naxos label, among others.
Efi has served on the piano faculty at DePauw University, and he also taught at the Indiana University system. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and degrees in piano and conducting from Tel Aviv University. He studied with Menahem Pressler, Pnina Salzman and Dina Turgeman, and has had additional coaching with Lazar Berman, Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Janos Starker and Jaime Laredo.
Violist Dana Kelley is an active chamber musician and member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble. She is also a member of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra for the 2021-2022 season. Praised for her rich and beautiful tone, Dana has been a top prizewinner in the Sphinx Music Competition, the Irving M. Klein International String Competition, the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition. She also serves on the viola faculty of the Mannes School of Music at the New School.
Dana’s performance schedule has brought her to many prestigious venues and festivals, including multiple recitals at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Recital Hall at New York’s Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Ravinia Festival, and Bravo! Vail. Dana has collaborated with artists such as Ralph Kirshbaum, Nobuko Imai and Miriam Fried, pianists Leon Fleisher, Anne-Marie MacDermott and Misha Dichter, and cellist Astrid Schween of the Juilliard String Quartet.
Dana received an Artist Diploma in String Quartet Studies with the Argus String Quartet as the 2017-2019 Graduate Quartet in Residence at The Juilliard School. Dana was a 2014-2016 Fellow in Ensemble Connect - a performance and teaching program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute. She received her Bachelor’s of Music from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, studying violin with Cornelia Heard and viola with Kathryn Plummer, and completed her Master’s of Music degree at the New England Conservatory as a student of Kim Kashkashian.
National Symphony Orchestra Principal Violist Daniel Foster’s varied career encompasses orchestral, chamber and solo playing, as well as teaching. Since capturing the First Prize in both the William Primrose and Washington International Competitions, he has appeared in recital and as soloist with orchestra in Washington, DC and throughout the United States. After Studying with Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey at Oberlin Conservatory and with Karen Tuttle at The Curtis Institute, Mr. Foster joined the National Symphony’s viola section in 1993, and was appointed Principal by Music Director Leonard Slatkin in 1995. Mr. Foster has appeared frequently as soloist with the National Symphony since his appointment.
Mr. Foster was a member of the critically acclaimed Dryden Quartet, which he founded along with his cousins Nicolas and Yumi Kendall and National Symphony Concertmaster Nurit Bar-Josef. He is currently a member of the 21st Century Consort, and is a founding member of the Kennedy Center Chamber Players. Mr. Foster has performed chamber music at the Marlboro, Bowdoin, Killington and Alpenglow Festivals, and at Strings in the Mountains. Mr. Foster appears regularly on a number of chamber music series in the Washington, DC area.
Mr. Foster is on the faculty at the University of Maryland, where his former students have gone on to major orchestral and university positions, and he has been a faculty member at the Bowdoin and Killington festivals. Mr. Foster has given master classes at Oberlin and Peabody Conservatories, the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is a member of the “International Principals” faculty at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.
Mr. Foster comes from a musical family. In addition to his violinist and cellist cousins, his father William was also a violist with the National Symphony from 1968-2018, and his grandfather John Kendall was a renowned violin pedagogue. His wife Adria Sternstein Foster is the Principal Flutist of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
Lin Ma was appointed principal clarinetist of the National Symphony Orchestra by Gianandrea Noseda in 2018. Prior to joining the NSO, he has served as assistant principal and Eb clarinetist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2015. He also played a one-year position as second clarinet in the Houston Symphony. Ma won the 2014 Ima Hogg International Competition and performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Later, he appeared as soloist at the Baytown Symphony Orchestra’s 2014-15 season opener. In addition, Ma has soloed with National Repertory Orchestra at the NRO music festival in 2013.
Ma earned his Master of Music degree at Rice University, under the tutelage of Richie Hawley, and he holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Richard Hawkins. Ma has also studied at the Idyllwild Arts Academy with Yehuda Gilad, and the Middle School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Yuanfu Huang.
Ma is a Buffet Crampon Performing Artist, and he plays on Vandoren reeds and mouthpieces.
Violinist Wanzhen Li was appointed to the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C. by Christoph Eschenbach in September of 2015. The Boston Globe describes her playing: "Li established a sense of nostalgia... that provided a framework for the musical journey. Her tone seemed to cry. It was great playing; fun to hear." As a soloist, Ms. Li appeared with the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, Xi'an Symphony Orchestra, Binghamton Philharmonic, Guilford Symphony, Grosse Point Symphony, and Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra.
Ms. Li has performed frequently with violinist Itzhak Perlman, accompanying him to Israel, Florida, and Vermont for residencies with the Perlman Music Program. She has also performed solo recitals as part of the Perlman Music Program's Alumni recital series at the Clark Arts Center.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Li has been invited to prestigious festivals including Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall, The Perlman Chamber Music Program, and "Spannungen: Musik im Krafwerk Heimbach" in Germany. She has shared the stage with artists including Christian Tetzlaff, Lars Vogt, Peter Frankl, Laurence Lesser, Alban Gerhardt, Paul Katz, members of the Juilliard String Quartet, and musicians from the New York Philharmonic. Her solo and chamber performances have been broadcast on German radio “Deutschlandfunk”, IPRInterlochen public radio, and released on the Avi-Music record label.
Prior to joining the NSO, Ms. Li performed frequently with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the New York Chamber Soloists, and the Grammy Award-nominated ensemble A Far Cry. She has also led the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and New England Conservatory Philharmonia as concertmaster.
Ms. Li maintains a private teaching studio and is a chamber music coach and teacher for the NSO’s Summer Music Institute and Fellowship Programs throughout the year. In addition, she has served on faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in Wu Han, China.
Derek Powell joined the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) in 2020, appointed by Music Director Gianandrea Noseda. Each summer since 2018, Powell has performed in the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Jackson, Wyoming and has previously performed in the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in Verbier, Switzerland.
Powell is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians. He coaches and leads masterclasses with students from around the country for both the NSO’s Youth Fellowship program and the highly selective orchestral training program, Summer Music Institute. As a member of the Last Stand String Quartet, Powell co-created and performed “Math x Music,” a concert-length performance for grade school–age audiences and their families that explores the intersection of math and music. It premiered in the Kennedy Center’s Family Theatre in 2025.
As a versatile and sought-after musician, Powell frequently collaborates with esteemed chamber ensembles including the 21st Century Consort, National Chamber Players, Inscape, and Sound Impact, a pioneering music collective harnessing music’s transformative power to drive positive social change. Powell’s work with Sound Impact includes multiple transformative residencies with incarcerated youth combining music and youth driven artistic self-expression culminating in emotional collaborative performances.
Prior to joining the NSO, Powell served his country with distinction as a Staff Sergeant violinist in the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own,” where he performed at high-profile events, including White House state visits and congressional functions. Before his military service, Powell won a coveted position as a fellow in the New World Symphony, the nation’s most prestigious orchestral training program, under the guidance of visionary music director and founder Michael Tilson-Thomas.
Powell earned a Master of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he was awarded the coveted Distinguished Fellowship in Violin. He also attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in both neurobiology and music. Powell’s primary pedagogues include Kathleen Winkler, David Perry, Felicia Moye, and Eugene Purdue.
Carl DuPont believes the future is interdisciplinary. As an artist, innovator, and educator, he champions Transformational Inclusion in the arts and Care of the Professional Voice—bridging performance, pedagogy, and professional communication in groundbreaking ways.
DuPont's scholarly voice appears in The Laryngoscope, Voice and Speech Review, and the American National Biography of Oxford University Press, while his artistic voice resonates on world premiere recordings including the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, his solo album The Reaction featuring art songs by Black composers, and the 2025 chamber music release The Best Cuisine by Carlos Simon, Jr.
His operatic career spans prestigious venues from Leipzig Opera and El Palacio de Bellas Artes to New York City Opera, Carnegie Hall, and the Glimmerglass Festival. Recent roles include Colline in La Bohème, Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. Concert highlights feature the title role in Elijah with Baltimore Choral Arts Society, recitals at the Kennedy Center, and performances at Alaska's Anchorage Festival of Music.
As associate professor at Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, Executive Education faculty at Carey Business School, and artistic lead of the Kennedy Center's Washington National Opera Institute, DuPont specializes in unlocking vocal potential across contexts—from guiding singers to Metropolitan Opera contracts to coaching Fortune 100 executives in presence and leadership. Through DuPont Consulting, his interdisciplinary approach transforms how individuals and organizations harness their vocal intelligence.
Education: DMA, University of Miami; MM, Indiana University; BM, Eastman School of Music
Aaron Clay distinguishes himself regularly as a uniquely versatile double bassist. He commands great respect as a performer in both the classical and jazz worlds of bass playing, but it was The Washington Post that observed, "What sets [Clay] apart is elegant bowing ....His melodic lines have a cello-like glow and flexibility...."
A native of Fairmont, West Virginia, Mr. Clay began his musical training at the age of 10 when he taught himself to play jazz on the electric bass. He later pursued classical training on the upright double bass prior to attending West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he studied with Richard Manspeaker. After graduating in 1989, he was selected to join the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC. Upon completing one enlistment with the Navy, Mr. Clay auditioned for "The President's Own" United States Marine Band where he has been a member since 1993.
Mr. Clay is a founding member of the highly acclaimed string duo, Bridging the Gap, in which he performs with violinist Peter Wilson. Hailed by The Washington Post for "superior arrangements and uncommon musicianship," the unique duo performs works covering a wide range of musical styles. They released their first CD in 2003. Mr. Clay enjoys performing with Bridging the Gap for educational and community outreach programs throughout the United States.
Mr. Clay is also developing a reputation as a composer and arranger of works for the violin and bass duo as well as larger ensembles. Mr. Clay serves as Principal Bassist of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, and performs with other Washington area jazz and pop groups. Mr. Clay resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife, Cindy.