Portland Chamber Music Festival Resident Performers and Composers 		 
     
  Performers in recent years have included members of the Vermeer, Mendelssohn, Borromeo, and Brentano String Quartets; the Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago Symphonies, and the New York Philharmonic. Resident Composers have included Grammy winner Osvaldo Golijov, internationally celebrated composer Earl Kim, retired Bowdoin Professor Elliott Schwartz, and many others.  
     
     
  2012 Resident Performers and Composers
  
     
  August 9, 11, and 12

  Tony Arnold, Soprano
  In 2001, soprano Tony Arnold was thrust into the international spotlight when she became the only vocalist ever to be awarded first prize in the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition. Since that time, Ms. Arnold has established a reputation as a leading specialist in new vocal repertoire, receiving consistent critical accolades. She has been a frequent guest at international festivals in the USA, Mexico, Germany, Armenia, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, and Korea. As the 2009 Howard Hanson Distinguished Professor of American Music at the Eastman School, Ms. Arnold shepherded the creation and premiere performances of new vocal music by 15 student composers. Since 2003, she has served on the faculty of the University of Buffalo.
   
  Natasha Brofsky, Cello
  As cellist of the Naumburg award winning Peabody Trio, cellist Natasha Brofsky performs regularly on chamber music series in the United States and abroad. She has also collaborated with ensembles including the Takács, Prazak, Borromeo and Jupiter Quartets as well as the Boston Chamber Music Society. During nearly a decade living in Europe, she was a member of the Serapion Ensemble and the String Trio Opus 3, and held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Brofsky is on the cello faculty and serves as Assistant Chair of Strings at the New England Conservatory, and is a faculty member at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival. Her recordings can be heard on the Aurora, New World and Artek labels.
   
  Jennifer Elowitch, Violin
  As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of PCMF, violinist Jennifer Elowitch has appeared on WGBH radio in Boston, NPR’s “Performance Today,” and at the Harvard Musical Association. She has been a guest artist with the Franciscan and Fidelio Quartets, the Winsor and Andover Chamber Music Series, the Williamstown and Walden Chamber Players, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Ms. Elowitch is the Assistant Principal Second Violinist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and performs often with the Boston Symphony. She is also a founding member of the Hikari Trio, which makes its debut in June, 2012.
   
  Frank Huang, Violin
  Violinist Frank Huang began his tenure as concertmaster of the Houston Symphony in September, 2010. First Prize Winner of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, Huang has established a major career as a violin virtuoso. Recently, Huang held the position of first violinist of the Grammy Award-winning Ying quartet and was a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music. He is concertmaster of the Sejong Soloists, a conductor-less chamber orchestra based in New York. His commitment to chamber music has taken him to the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, The Seattle Chamber Music Festival and the Caramoor Festival. He frequently participates in Musicians from Marlboro tours. He was selected by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be a member of the prestigious Chamber Music II program.
   
  Michael Kannen, Cello
  Cellist Michael Kannen has distinguished himself as a musician and educator of uncommon accomplishment who is comfortable in widely diverse musical situations and venues. He was a founding member of the Brentano String Quartet, with whom he performed throughout the world and on radio, television and recordings. He has appeared at chamber music festivals across the country and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has also been a member of the Meliora Quartet and the Figaro Trio. He is currently a member of the Apollo Trio and is the Director of Chamber Music at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he holds the Sidney Friedberg Chair in Chamber Music.
   
  David Leisner, Guitar
  Regarded as one of the world's leading classical guitarists, David Leisner is a featured recording artist for the Azica label, with 7 highly acclaimed solo recordings. Recent seasons have included his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony, a major tour of Australia and New Zealand, and appearances around the world. Currently, he is Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, a series featuring chamber music with guitar and presented at Symphony Space in New York. He has performed at the Santa Fe, Rockport, Vail Valley, Bargemusic, Bay Chamber and Angel Fire Chamber Music Festivals. Mr. Leisner is also a highly respected composer and distinguished teacher. He has served on the faculty of the New England Conservatory and is currently co-chairman of the guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music.
   
  Anna Lim, Violin
  Violinist Sunghae Anna Lim is a founding member of the Laurel Trio, which won the Nathan Wedeen Award at the Concert Artists Guild Competition. The trio has served as ensemble-in-residence at the Tanglewood Music Festival. As violinist of the New Millennium Ensemble, Ms. Lim won the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Honolulu Symphony and the Princeton Symphony, and has toured Japan. Ms. Lim has taught chamber music at the Yale School of Music and currently teaches violin at Princeton University.
   
  Daniel Panner, Viola
  As violist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Daniel Panner concertized extensively throughout the United States and Israel. As a member of the Whitman String Quartet, Panner received the 1998 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and served as teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet for two years. He currently teaches at the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music, and the Queens College Conservatory of Music. He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and he has taken part in numerous tours with Musicians from Marlboro and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He has served as the principal violist of such orchestras as the New York City Opera and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra.
   

August 16 and 18

  Rebecca Albers, Viola
  Rebecca Albers is the Assistant Principal Viola of the Minnesota Orchestra. Rebecca received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a student and teaching assistant of Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang. Prior to joining the Minnesota Orchestra in 2010, Rebecca was the youngest String Department faculty member at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre & Dance. She is currently on the faculty of the North American Viola Institute and is serving on the executive board of the American Viola Society. Rebecca has performed at such festivals as the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Bravo Vail Valley Music Festival and the Marlboro Music Festival.
   
  Elizabeth Anderson, Cello
  Cellist Elizabeth Anderson is currently performing with the New York City Opera and as cellist of the Carolina Piano Trio and the Hikari Trio. Formerly cellist of the Naumburg Award winning Meliora Quartet, she was also Associate Professor of Cello at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Elizabeth has been a guest artist/teacher at Kent Music at Colgate University and is on the faculty of RiverArts in Hastings, New York. This season she was a guest performer at Monadnock Music in New Hampshire and at Maine Mountain Chamber Music. She has recorded for Nonesuch, Telarc and RCA, and is also a performer of North Indian classical music both as a cellist and vocalist. Her newest CD, "Latifa Noor” includes improvisations on Indian Raga for cello and voice.
   
  Miranda Cuckson, Violin
  Sought after as a soloist and chamber musician, violinist Miranda Cuckson has been praised as "fiercely gifted" (Time Out NY) and “a brilliant young performer who plays daunting contemporary music with insight, honesty, and temperament" (NY Times). She has appeared internationally as soloist with many orchestras, including her recent debut with the Jerusalem Symphony. She made her recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall as winner of the Presser Award, and has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Marlboro and Lincoln Center festivals. A passionate champion of new music, she performs with the groups counter)induction, Argento Chamber Ensemble, and Sequitur. Her upcoming events include concerto appearances with the American Symphony Orchestra and a concert at the Library of Congress honoring Fritz Kreisler. She studied at Juilliard, where she received her doctorate. She teaches at Mannes College.
   
  Sebastian Currier, Composer
  Sebastian Currier is the 2007 recipient of the prestigious Grawemeyer Award. His music has been enthusiastically embraced by violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom he wrote Aftersong, which she performed extensively in the US and Europe. His violin concerto, dedicated to Ms. Mutter, was be premiered by the New York Philharmonic in the 2010-2011 season. He has received many prestigious awards including the Berlin Prize, Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has held residencies at the MacDowell and Yaddo colonies. He received a DMA from the Juilliard School; and from 1999-2007, he taught at Columbia University.
   
  Jennifer Elowitch, Violin
  As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of PCMF, violinist Jennifer Elowitch has appeared on WGBH radio in Boston, NPR’s “Performance Today,” and at the Harvard Musical Association. She has been a guest artist with the Franciscan and Fidelio Quartets, the Winsor and Andover Chamber Music Series, the Williamstown and Walden Chamber Players, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. Ms. Elowitch is the Assistant Principal Second Violinist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and performs often with the Boston Symphony. She is also a founding member of the Hikari Trio, which makes its debut in June, 2012.
   
  Yuri Funahashi, Piano
  Pianist Yuri Funahashi has been a guest artist at numerous chamber music festivals and has performed in Japan, Australia, Canada, throughout Europe and in many of the major halls in the U.S. including the Kennedy Center, the Music Center in Los Angeles, Orchestra Hall in Chicago. She is Co-Director of the Maine Mountain Chamber Music and is a performing member of the Festival Chamber Music Society in New York City. She has collaborated with the Verdehr Trio, the Brentano String Quartet and the Cassatt String Quartets and has recorded for Musical Heritage Society and John Marks Records. Funahashi received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. She is on the faculty of Colby College.
   
  Marc Johnson, Cello
  For thirty-five years, Marc Johnson performed as the cellist of the renowned Vermeer Quartet. The Quartet appeared regularly in the world's musical capitals and made extensive tours yearly in Europe and North America. They received three Grammy nominations and appeared regularly at the world's great music festivals. They also held residency positions at Northern Illinois University and at Rockport’s Bay Chamber Concerts. He and his wife, the pianist Katherine Johnson, are co-directors of Bay Chamber Concerts, the Next Generation, a series of free chamber music seminars for students from Maine. He joined the faculty of Boston University in September, 2007. His cello is a fine, old Italian instrument made c. 1730 by Francesco Stradivarius.
   
  Elizabeth Mann, Flute
  Elizabeth Mann is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the principal flutist of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Recent concert highlights have included a solo performance with Renee Fleming in Carnegie Hall and the U.S. premiere of a concerto for flute and violin in Carnegie Hall with Gidon Kremer and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road project and recently played principal flute with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. Miss Mann has performed at festivals including Santa Fe, Lochenhaus (Austria), Caramoor, Moab, and Mostly Mozart. She recently released a CD of Chopin transcriptions titled “Reflections” with harpist Deborah Hoffman, to critical acclaim.
   
  Adrian Morejon, Bassoon
  Adrian Morejon is co-principal bassoonist of the IRIS Orchestra and Miami Symphony and a member of Sospiro Winds, Talea Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, Dark & Stormy bassoon DUO, and the Gene Project. Mr. Morejon performs regularly with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Argento Chamber Ensemble, and has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Chamber Music Northwest. Mr. Morejon’s awards include a Theodore Presser Foundation Grant, 2nd prize of the Fox-Gillet International Competition, and a shared top prize at the Moscow Conservatory International Competition. Mr. Morejon is on faculty at the Boston Conservatory and the Praxis Youth Leadership Orchestra.
   
  Todd Palmer, Clarinet
  Clarinetist Todd Palmer happily returns for his twelfth season at PCMF. He has performed with many symphony and chamber orchestras, including those of Houston, Atlanta, St. Paul, Cincinnati, Montréal, and BBC Scotland. Palmer has collaborated with many of the world’s finest string ensembles, such as the St. Lawrence, Brentano, Borromeo, Daedalus and Pacifica quartets, and has shared the stage with sopranos Kathleen Battle, Renée Fleming, Heidi Grant Murphy, and Dawn Upshaw. Some of this season’s highlights include a performance at Carnegie Hall celebrating the music of American composer Christopher Rouse and chamber music performances in Tokyo and China. He also had his first arrangement, Debussy's Première Rhapsodie for chamber ensemble, published by Boosey & Hawkes.
   
  Harumi Rhodes, Violin
  Violinist Harumi Rhodes is a founding member of the 2009 Naumburg Chamber Music Award winning ensemble Trio Cavatina. Recent highlights include their European debut in Lithuania, U.S. performances with Musicians from Marlboro, and their debuts in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Ms. Rhodes was given the honor of having a solo violin sonata dedicated to her by composer Benjamin Lees and has recorded Milton Babbitt’s Sixth String Quartet on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and has premiered several works. Having completed her residency with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two, Ms. Rhodes was recently appointed the newest Artist Member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and as assistant violin faculty at the Juilliard School.
   
  Carol Rodland, Viola
  Violist Carol Rodland made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age seventeen. She presently enjoys an international career as a concert and recording artist and pedagogue. Recent performances have taken her throughout the Americas and Europe, and her solo recordings on the Crystal and Neuma labels have been critically acclaimed. She has held professorships at New England Conservatory, where she was recognized in 2005 with the “Krasner Award for Excellence in Teaching”, at the Musikhochschule “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, at Arizona State University, and as guest faculty at the Juilliard School. In 2008, she joined the viola faculty of the Eastman School of Music.
   
 
     
     

 
 

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