The Artists
Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has made worldwide appearances as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician.
Mr. Arron completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the critically acclaimed Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert. He also succeeded Charles Wadsworth as the artistic director, host, and resident performer of the Musical Masterworks concert series in Connecticut, as well as at the Festival Series and Chamber Music on Main series in SC. Additionally, Mr. Arron curates his own series at the Caramoor International Music Festival, and he is the co-artistic director of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Mr. Arron has performed throughout New York’s most prestigious venues, and he has appeared at such respected festivals as Ravinia, Salzburg, Mostly Mozart, BRAVO!, Tanglewood, Bridgehampton, and Spoleto USA, among many others.
A violinist who combines outstanding musicianship with dazzling technical command, a tone of exceptional purity, and a magnetic stage presence, Maria Bachmann has received critical accolades throughout her career. She has forged a unique profile as a soloist, recording artist, and an eminent proponent of new music.
Ms. Bachmann has made acclaimed debuts with The National Symphony at The Kennedy Center, Orchestra of the Hague, The Saint Louis, Taipai, Shanghai, and MAV Symphonies, working with such conductors Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano and Marin Alsop. Since her critically acclaimed recital debut at New York’s Town Hall, Maria has performed solo recitals in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Opera Comique in Paris, Villa Medici in Rome, The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., New York's Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Boston's Jordan Hall.
Maria Bachmann has recorded extensively for Sony Masterworks, Koch, Naxos, Allegro, and Bridge Records. She is the Artistic Director of Telluride Musicfest and the founding violinist of Trio Solisti.
Taiwanese violist Che-Yen Chen has established himself as an active recitalist, chamber musician, new music commissioner, recording artist, and educator. He is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, recipient of first prize and the Amadeus Prize of the 10th London International String Quartet Competition. As a first prize winner of the 2003 Primrose International Viola Competition and recipient of the "President Prize" of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Chen has been described by Strad Magazine as a musician whose “tonal distinction and essential musicality produced an auspicious impression” and by San Diego Union Tribune as an artist whose "most impressive aspect of his playing was his ability to find not just the subtle emotion, but the humanity hidden in the music."
Currently teaching at University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, Chen has previously served on the faculties of Indiana University South Bend, UC San Diego, San Diego State University, and McGill University. He has participated in educational programs such as National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Camp, Interlochen, and Mimir Festival, and has given master-classes across USA and Asia, including schools such as Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan University of Arts, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and The Juilliard School.
Hsin-Yun Huang firmly established her position as one of the world’s leading violists in 1993, the year in which she won the top prizes in the ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the prestigious Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award. Ms. Huang was also the youngest-ever gold medalist in the 1988 Lionel Tertis International Competition on the Isle of Man.
She has made concerto appearances with such luminary ensembles as the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Berlin Radio Symphony, London Sinfonia, National Symphony of Taiwan, Naumberg Orchestra, Russian State Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Zagreb Soloists, to name a few.
She actively participates in various prominent chamber music festivals around the world, and has collaborated with many of the world’s most celebrated artists and string quartets. She is currently a founding member of the Variation String Trio with violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Wilhelmina Smith. Her passion for new music is expressed through commissioning projects involving the viola, including performances throughout the U.S. and a new CD release on Bridge Records entitled “Viola Viola.”
Possessing an established international career and an encyclopedic repertoire that spans more than sixty concerti, American pianist Adam Neiman has performed with many of the world’s celebrated conductors as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Belgrade, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Minnesota, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Slovenia, Umbria, and Utah, as well as with the New York Chamber Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C. A highly-acclaimed recitalist, Neiman has performed in most of the major cities and concert halls throughout the United States and Canada. His engagements abroad include solo appearances throughout Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom.
Neiman has recorded extensively for Sono Luminus, Bridge Records, Lyric Records, VAI, and Naxos. Ongoing projects include a monumental recording of the complete 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, a DVD release of the complete Liszt Transcendental Études live in Los Angeles, and a triple-disc recording of the complete Preludes and Études-Tableaux of Rachmaninoff. Adam Neiman is the Artistic Director of the Manchester Music Festival in Vermont, and he serves on the full-time Piano Performance faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Harpsichordist Takae Ohnishi has performed extensively as a soloist, chamber musician and continuo player. The Gramophone remarks that "Ohnishi's brilliant artistry immerses the listener in the creative and emotional narratives Bach unfolds with incomparable mastery." Classics Today described her performance as "masterful," and praises its "vitality and impressively differentiated articulation."
Ms. Ohnishi is a prizewinner at the International Early Music Harpsichord Competition in Japan. Her solo disc “Goldberg Variations” was released on Bridge Records to critical acclaim. Her CDs “A Harpsichord Recital” and “Goldberg Variations” were both selected as International Special Prized CDs by the Japanese leading music magazine Record Gei-jyu-tsu. Ms. Ohnishi graduated from Toho Gakuen School of Music, and holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University. Her teachers include Arthur Haas, Peter Sykes, John Gibbons and Chiyoko Arita. Since 2007, Ms. Ohnishi has been Lecturer of Harpsichord and Baroque Chamber Music at the University of California, San Diego; she also taught at the University of San Diego.