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Festival Artists
INESSA ZARETSKY
Inessa Zaretsky is the Director of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.
Ms.Zaretsky is an award winning pianist and composer whose performances have taken her around the world while her music has been performed in England, Norway, Canada, Australia, Italy , Russia and throughout the United States. She studied piano with Richard Goode and composition with Robert Cuckson at the Mannes College of Music in New York and has collaborated with many notable musicians, such as the Miro, Enso, Jasper and Cassat String Quartets, Kent/Blossom Festival Orchestra, Chamber Music Series of the St. Lukes Orchestra, musicians of the Boston, Chicago and Orpheus Orchestras, members of the Metropolitan Opera and many others.
Ms. Zaretsky is on the Piano faculty of Mannes College, The New School University, and is the Artistic co-director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York City.
Described by Strad magazine as “thrilling,” and praised by the Washington Post for its “glorious sonorities,” the Enso String Quartet has won numerous awards, including top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In the words of Classical Voice, it is “one of the eminent string quartets of our era.” Founded at Yale University in 1999, the Enso has in short time risen to the front rank of string ensembles.
2015 marks the Enso String Quartet’s 5th year in residence at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.
Enso String Quartet
MAUREEN NELSON, violin
KEN HAMAO, violin
MELISSA REARDON, viola
RICHARD BELCHER, cello
Jasper String Quartet
J FREIVOGEL, violin
SAE CHONABAYASHI, violin
SAM QUINTAL, viola
RACHEL HENDERSON FREIVOGEL, cello
Winners of the prestigious CMA Cleveland Quartet Award, Philadelphia's Jasper String Quartet is the Professional Quartet in Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians.
The Jaspers have been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad) and "powerful" (New York Times). They “match their sounds perfectly, as if each swelling chord were coming out of a single, impossibly well-tuned organ, instead of four distinct instruments." (New Haven Advocate)
They record exclusively for Sono Luminus and have released three highly acclaimed albums - Beethoven Op. 131, The Kernis Project: Schubert, and The Kernis Project: Beethoven. From 2015-2017, the Quartet will premiere their commission of Mr. Kernis’ 3rd String Quartet across the world, including at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall in London.
Jasper String Quartet
Dubbed “technically superb” by The Strad, the Tesla Quartet has garnered top prizes at numerous international competitions, including the Gold Medal at the 2012 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Third Prize and the Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work at the 6th International Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in Vienna, Third Prize at the 2012 London International String Quartet Competition, and the Prize for the International Summer Academy for Chamber Music Niedersachsen at the 2013 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.
The Tesla Quartet was formed at The Juilliard School in 2008 and quickly established itself as one of the most promising young ensembles in New York, winning Second Prize at the J.C. Arriaga Chamber Music Competition only a few months after its inception. The London Evening Standard called their rendition of the Debussy Quartet “a subtly coloured performance that balanced confidently between intimacy and extraversion.”
Tesla String Quartet
Ross Snyder, violin
Michelle Lie, violin
Edwin Kaplan, viola
Serafim Smigelskiy, cello
Itamar Zorman
The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award, Itamar Zorman was also joint winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Other competition successes include first prize at the 2010 International Violin Competition of Freiburg and the Juilliard Berg Concerto Competition in April 2011.
This season Itamar Zorman has appeared as a soloist with Orchestras including the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony and Novosibirsk Philharmonic. Recital appearances for 2015-16 include the Muziekgebouw Frits Philips in Eindhoven, The Barns at Wolf Trap, Virginia, the People’s Symphony Concerts in New York and the Rheingau and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern festivals in Germany.
Zorman is a founding member of the Israeli Chamber Project and a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, winners of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition. In November 2014, he gave his Carnegie Hall recital debut, as part of the ‘Distinctive Debuts’ series in Weill Recital Hall. His first solo CD recording, entitled ‘Portrait’ was released in 2014 by Profil - Editions Günther Hänssler.
A graduate of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and The Juilliard School, Zorman is a recipient of scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. He currently plays on a Guarneri Del Jesu from 1734, from the collection of Yehuda Zisapel.
David Ordovskiy
David Ordovskiy was born in 1989 in Kiev, Ukraine, and grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Prize-winner of many competitions in Russia and Europe, David moved to California to attend Idyllwild Arts Academy on a full scholarship. He then moved to New York to attend Mannes College. He is currently pursuing his Professional Studies Diploma. Throughout his years in New York, David has performed at such venues as the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie, the Met Opera, Alice Tully Hall, and as a soloist at Weill Hall, Metropolitan Club, The Union Club, Bohemian National Hall and German Consulate, among others. David has made his New York concerto debut in 2014 as the winner of the Mannes Concerto Competition. In 2015, David received 1st prize in the New York Flute Club Competition.
David Ordovskiy
David Ordovskiy was born in 1989 in Kiev, Ukraine, and grew up in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Prize-winner of many competitions in Russia and Europe, David moved to California to attend Idyllwild Arts Academy on a full scholarship. He then moved to New York to attend Mannes College. He is currently pursuing his Professional Studies Diploma. Throughout his years in New York, David has performed at such venues as the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie, the Met Opera, Alice Tully Hall, and as a soloist at Weill Hall, Metropolitan Club, The Union Club, Bohemian National Hall and German Consulate, among others. David has made his New York concerto debut in 2014 as the winner of the Mannes Concerto Competition. In 2015, David received 1st prize in the New York Flute Club Competition.
LYNN HILEMAN
LYNN HILEMAN is assistant Professor of Bassoon at West Virginia University and principal bassoonist of the Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra. Lynn also plays in the Laureate Wind
Quintet and has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, New Haven Symphany, and Buffalo Festival Orchestras. Lynn is a lifelong been a champion of contemporary music and experimentation in concert programs.
2015 marks her 7th year in residence at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival.
Raman Ramakrishnan
Cellist Raman Ramakrishnan is a member of the Horszowski Trio with violinist Jesse Mills and pianist Rieko Aizawa. The trio has performed across the United States, Japan, India, and in Hong Kong, and records for Bridge Records. He is also an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is on the faculties of Columbia University and the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers have been Fred Sherry, Andrés Díaz, and André Emelianoff.
Raman Ramakrishnan
Cellist Raman Ramakrishnan is a member of the Horszowski Trio with violinist Jesse Mills and pianist Rieko Aizawa. The trio has performed across the United States, Japan, India, and in Hong Kong, and records for Bridge Records. He is also an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is on the faculties of Columbia University and the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers have been Fred Sherry, Andrés Díaz, and André Emelianoff.
KEVE WILSON
Oboist Keve Wilson is a past winner of Concert Artists Guild and solo oboist with theGrammy nominated Absolute Ensemble. Former oboist of Opera Pacific in Los Angeles, Keve has toured with Alarm Will Sound, Wind Soloists of New York, and performed many world premieres, including After Hearing Bach by Peter Schickele. Hailed by the New York Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” Keve can be heard on Stephen Sondheim’s 2013 cast recording Passion and is currently oboist in the Tony winning Broadway show A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. She recentlyreturned from the Makuleke Village in South Africa thanks to the Clifford-Levy Creativity Grant. Her album Pure Imagination was released on Composers Concordance Records/NAXOS in 2011. Keve is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Richard Killmer.
William Hoyt
William Hoyt recently retired as Professor of Horn at the University of Akron. He is also the former Music Director of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. He performed regularly with the Paragon Brass Quintet, the Solaris Quintet, the Jazz Unit and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra. His primary teachers have been John Barrows, Barry Tuckwell, and Paul Ingraham. Mr. Hoyt was the winner of the coveted Concert Artists Guild award and as a result performed a debut recital in Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. Mr. Joseph Horowitz of the New York Times reviewed the recital and declared Mr. Hoyt, "clearly a poised, sensitive horn player." Mr. Hoyt can be heard with the NFB Horn Quartet on Crystal Records and GM Recordings, with the Solaris Quintet on Capstone Records, and with the Jazz Unit on the Go Bop label.
Andrew Janss
The New York Times has hailed cellist Andrew Janss for his "glowing tone", "insightful musicianship", and "sumptuous elegance”. Janss has collaborated in concert with a long list of the world’s greatest artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon Fleisher, and Richard Goode(at the Marlboro Music Festival). He has performed as principal cellist of the renowned Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and was a CMS 2 artist at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Andrew also loves collaborations that take him outside of the concert hall. In 2015 he joined the cello rock band Break of Reality for tours of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Brazil, and Haiti. Janss’ arrangement of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon for string quartet and singer was attended by over 5,000 concertgoers in Los Angeles to rave reviews. Janss is Program Director of the Omega Ensemble, which hosts a concert series of the best emerging classical artists.
Mario Gotoh
Mario Gotoh has distinguished herself in dual roles as a violinist and a violist with an active and remarkably versatile performance style. Mario has been invited to perform chamber music with many prominent musicians including: Leon Fleisher, Anton Kuerti, Frans Helmerson, and Nobuko Imai, and is the violinist and violist on the Grammy-winning Broadway show and album, "Hamilton." She was concertmaster of the orchestra at Radio City Music Hall's spring show, "Heart & Lights" and principal violist on their "Christmas Spectacular" show with the Rockettes. She frequently performs with pop stars on TV and worldwide, including Stevie Wonder, Adele, Katy Perry, Brian Wilson, Sting, and has performed on Letterman, Stephen Colbert shows, and The Grammys. She holds two doctorates in violin and viola performance from Stony Brook University. www.mariogotoh.com