Artists
Details of the musicians joining us for the 2021 festival will be posted as soon as the festival is finalized.
Artistic Directors, Music in the Vineyards
Daria Adams
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Violinist Daria Adams, the founding Co-Artistic Director of Music in the Vineyards, is a member of the world-renowned Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) where she has been featured in solo and chamber music performances. Since joining the SPCO, she has traveled the world on tours to Asia, Europe and across North America. In 2017, the SPCO won a Grammy for Best Small Ensemble Performance with violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja. At both MITV and the SPCO, Daria has earned a reputation for developing innovative concert presentations. Her “musical choreography” of both traditional and new music, has enhanced the listener experience in exciting new ways. Daria has maintained a robust teaching studio over 25 years. Earlier in her career, she spent four years playing in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, where she took an interest in a musician lurking suspiciously in the back of the pit, her current husband. His interest remains mutual. She lives in suburban Minneapolis with her husband, three children (27, 25 and 23) and one dog.
Michael Adams
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Violist Michael Adams has carved out a unique career that has lead down many roads: as an orchestral player, chamber musician, writer on music, radio host and producer, host of the Minnesota Orchestra’s Adventures in Music family concerts, and — along with his violinist wife Daria — the founding Artistic Director of Music in the Vineyards. As MITV’s concert commentator and emcee, his goal is to make the music sound so interesting − through insightful stories, musical explanations and analysis − that listeners can't wait to hear it!
Michael joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1988 at the invitation of conductor Edo de Waart following a successful stint as producer and host for classical WCAL-FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and later, for Minnesota Public Radio. Before landing in Minnesota, Michael passed through many different orchestras: The Rochester Philharmonic, Denver Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, The Tulsa Philharmonic and the Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra.
He is the father to three children, ages 27, 25 and 23 who are baffled that anyone would pay to hear their father speak. Michael is an avid bicyclist, enjoys canoe camping in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, sailing with friends on Lake Superior and planning fantasy vacation trips with his collection of maps. Someday, he will own a boat larger than a canoe.
2021 Summer Festival
ENSEMBLE: Escher Quartet
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Adam Barnett-Hart, Violin | Brendan Speltz, Violin | Pierre Lapointe, Viola | Brook Speltz, Cello
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its expressive, nuanced performances that combine unusual textural clarity with a rich, blended sound. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where it has presented the complete Zemlinsky Quartets Cycle as well as being one of five quartets chosen to collaborate in a complete presentation of Beethoven’s string quartets. Last season, the quartet toured with CMS to China.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Programme on Shelter Island, NY. The quartet has since collaborated with artists including David Finckel, Leon Fleischer, Wu Han, Lynn Harrell, Cho Liang Lin, Joshua Bell, Paul Watkins and David Shifrin, as well as jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman, vocalist Kurt Elling, legendary Latin artist Paquito D’Rivera and Grammy award-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux. In 2013, the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, performing at venues such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Auditorium du Louvre and Les Grand Interprètes series in Geneva. With a strong collaborative approach, the group has appeared at festivals such as Heidelberg Spring Festival, Incontri in Terra di Siena Festival, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival and Perth International Arts Festival in Australia.
ENSEMBLE: Miró Quartet
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Daniel Ching, violin | William Fedkenheuer, violin | John Largess, Viola | Joshua Gindele, Cello
Formed in 1995, the Miró Quartet is consistently praised for their deeply musical interpretations, exciting performances, & thoughtful programming. Each season, the they perform throughout the world on the most important chamber music series & on the most prestigious concert stages, garnering accolades from critics & audiences alike. Based in Austin, TX, the Miró Quartet took its name from the Spanish artist, Joan Miró, whose surrealist works — with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory and imaginative fantasy — are some of the most original of the 20th century.
Concert highlights of recent seasons include a highly anticipated and sold out return to Carnegie Hall to perform Beethoven’s complete Opus 59 Quartets; collaborations with award-winning actor Stephen Dillane as part of Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival; Miró Quartet took first prizes at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant
ENSEMBLE: Solideo String Quartet
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Heather Beckman, Violin | Joshelle Conley, Violin | William Satterfield, Viola | Jun Lee, Cello
Formed in 2019, the Solideo String Quartet has achieved growth through intensive study during breaks, as each member is from a different state. They each look forward to studying as a quartet at Peabody next year. Eager to reconcile relationships resulting from misunderstanding & injustice, Solideo String Quartet has a passion for providing opportunities for people from various backgrounds to come together. This has been achieved through concerts in schools, nursing homes & community venues, in which the quartet shares music with others who may have little access to chamber music concerts. Solideo String Quartet seeks to continue this mission, as it is vital to teach & influence the next generation. Solideo String Quartet looks forward to the opportunity to study at MITV, that they may gain a foundation allowing them to share music with others, providing further opportunities for positive change & reconciliation.
Edward Arron
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Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Arron made his New York recital debut in 2000 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since that time, he has appeared in recital, as a soloist with major orchestras, and as a chamber musician throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
The 2020-21 season marks Mr. Arron’s 12th season as the artistic director and host of the acclaimed Musical Masterworks concert series in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He is also the co-artistic director with his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Mr. Arron tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes Quartet, and he appears regularly at the Caramoor International Music Festival, where he has been a resident performer and curator of chamber music concerts for over a quarter of a century. In 2013, he completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, a chamber music series created in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Museum’s prestigious Concerts and Lectures series.
Edward Arron began playing the cello at age seven in Cincinnati and continued his studies in New York with Peter Wiley. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro. In 2016, Mr. Arron joined the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst, after having served on the faculty of New York University from 2009 to 2016.
Michael Brown
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Michael Brown has been hailed by The New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” His artistry is shaped by his creative voice as a pianist and composer, praised for his “fearless performances” (The New York Times) and “exceptionally beautiful” compositions (The Washington Post).
Winner of the 2018 Emerging Artist Award from Lincoln Center and a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Brown has recently performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony, the National Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids, North Carolina, New Haven, and Albany Symphonies; and recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and Caramoor. Brown is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing frequently at Alice Tully Hall and on tour. He was selected by András Schiff to perform on an international tour making solo debuts in Berlin, Milan, Florence, Zurich’s Tonhalle and New York’s 92nd Street Y. He regularly performs recitals with his longtime duo partner, cellist Nicholas Canellakis, and has appeared at numerous festivals including Tanglewood, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Gilmore, Ravinia, Saratoga, Bridgehampton, Bard, Sedona, Moab, and Tippet Rise.
has been described by The New York Times as a “young piano visionary” and “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers.” Michael will make debut solo recitals in Berlin, Frankfurt, Antwerp, Zurich, Florence, and New York’s 92nd Street Y. He recently joined the artist roster of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s “Chamber Music Two” program where he performs with the Society in Alice Tully Hall and on tour. His recent schedule includes a performance with Seattle Symphony, a Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Youth Symphony, recitals at Wigmore Hall, the Louvre, Alice Tully Hall, performances at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Caramoor, Mostly Mozart, and Music@Menlo festivals as well as concerts with his regular collaborators: cellist Nicholas Canellakis and violinist Elena Urioste. Among his recent compositions: a Piano Concerto for the Maryland Symphony Orchestra and works for the Look & Listen Festival, Bargemusic, Concert Artists Guild, and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series. A native New Yorker, He is the First Prize Winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Competition and was recently appointed Adjunct Assistant Professor of Piano at Brooklyn College...Read more...
Nicholas Canellakis
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Hailed as a “superb young soloist” (The New Yorker), Nicholas Canellakis has become one of the most sought-after and innovative cellists of his generation, captivating audiences throughout the United States and abroad. In The New York Times his playing was praised as “impassioned” and “soulful,” with “the audience seduced by his “rich, alluring tone.” In the spring of 2015, Nicholas made his Carnegie Hall debut, performing Leon Kirchner’s Music for Cello and Orchestra with the American Symphony Orchestra. Nicholas is an artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a member of The Canellakis-Brown Duo, in which he collaborates with the pianist/composer Michael Brown. He has been featured at the festivals of Santa Fe, La Jolla, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Verbier, Mecklenburg, Moab, Bridgehampton, Sarasota, Aspen and the Bargemusic series in New York City. Nicholas is on the faculty of the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music and is the Co-Artistic Director of the Sedona Winter MusicFest in Arizona.
Gabrielle Després
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Canadian-born violinist Gabrielle Després is the winner of numerous competitions, most recently first prize in the 2020 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. In 2020, she also competed as a semi-finalist in the Stulberg International String Competition and was on CBC’s annual list of 30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians under 30.
From a young age, Gabrielle has competed nationally, winning top prizes in the Canadian Music Competition in both violin and piano. In 2016, she was featured on Radio-Canada’s nationwide television show, “Virtuose,” placing second out of 24 young Canadian artists. In 2017, she was a top prizewinner in the national Shean Strings Competition, and in 2018, she was invited to perform as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton. Gabrielle was also the sole recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarship for Performing Arts in 2018.
Gabrielle began violin studies at the age of 3 and studied with James Keene for nine years. She was a student of Robert Uchida from 2016 to 2018 and began the Bachelor of Music program at The Juilliard School in September of 2018, where she currently studies with Masao Kawasaki and Joseph Lin. Gabrielle’s summer studies have included the Orford Summer Music Academy, the Morningside Music Bridge program, and the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival. In 2019, she was awarded the New Horizons Fellowship, a full-tuition scholarship to study at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Gabrielle gratefully acknowledges the generosity of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Anne Burrows Music Foundation and the Edmonton Community Foundation in supporting her education.
Kari Jane Docter
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Kari Jane Docter, is a native of Minneapolis, MN. She was a student of Eleonore Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California, and graduated magna cum lauda from Rice University, where she studied with Norman Fischer. Upon graduation from Juilliard, as a masters’ student of Joel Krosnick, Kari entered the professional orchestra scene, which took her from the New World Symphony, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Utah Symphony, to the Minnesota Orchestra, where she played two seasons. In the fall of 2002, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. A lover of chamber music, Kari has been heard at such prestigious music festivals as Marlboro, Tanglewood, and the Grand Teton Music Festival, as well as on the smaller stages of Carnegie Hall with the MET Chamber Ensemble. She can be seen on Wynton Marsalis’ PBS series, “Marsalis on Music” performing with Yo-Yo Ma.
Francisco Fullana
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The Spanish violinist Francisco Fullana, recipient of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, has been praised as a “rising star” (BBC Music Magazine) and “a paragon of delicacy” (San Francisco’s Classical Voice), while his thoughtful virtuosity has led to collaborations with such conducting greats as the late Sir Colin Davis and Gustavo Dudamel -- who described Fullana as “an amazing talent.” Beside his many appearances as a soloist performing internationally, and his commitment to chamber music -- he has been named a member of the prestigious Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two to start in 2018 -- he is making an impact as an innovative educator, having created the Fortissimo Youth Initiative, a series of baroque and classical music seminars and performances in partnership with youth and university orchestras, which explore and deepen young musicians’ understanding of 18th Century music.
Fullana’s first CD, Through the Lens of Time (released by Orchid Classics) showcases both his incandescent virtuosity and the range of his artistic inquisitiveness. The album is centered around Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, recorded alongside the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Richter’s work is intertwined with three other contemporary solo scores that all re-examine and take flight from masterpieces of the baroque.
A graduate of The Juilliard School and the University of Southern California, Francisco currently performs on the 1735 Mary Portman ex-Kreisler Guarneri del Gesù violin, on loan from Clement and Karen Arrison through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.
Scott Pingel
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Scott Pingel is an American bassist who is the principal bassist in the San Francisco Symphony. He had been the principal bassist with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 Pingel had the privilege of performing on the acclaimed Karr-Koussevitzky bass for his solo debut with Andrei Gorbatenko and the San Francisco Academy Orchestra. He currently serves as Professor of Music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Beyond his work with classical music, Pingel has also played jazz. His college bandleader said, "Scott could impress a great jazz bassist like Victor Wooten enough to get him to tutor him over a speaker phone and then turn around and win an orchestral performance fellowship at one of the country’s most prestigious music schools." In fact, Pingel had played with Jazz greats Michael Brecker and Geoff Keezer before becoming a strictly classical musician. Pingel was educated at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire where he received his Bachelor of Music degree. He received a Master's Degree in orchestral performance and a professional studies certificate from the Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship.
Masumi Per Rostad
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The Grammy Award-winning violist Masumi Per Rostad has been described by critics as an “electrifying, poetic and sensitive musician.” As a member of the Pacifica Quartet, Masumi performed and toured throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Masumi regularly appears at major summer festivals, including Spoleto, Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Music in the Vineyards and Rockport Chamber Music. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he received the Lillian Fuchs Award for outstanding violist. Rostad is currently on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music and is in high demand as a master class teacher, at the invitation of the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Colburn School, the New York Youth Symphony, the Sydney Conservatory, the Royal College of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Aspen and Bowdoin summer festivals.
Axel Strauss
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The first German artist to ever win the international Naumburg Violin Award in New York, Axel Strauss made his American début at the Library of Congress in Washington DC and his New York début at Alice Tully Hall in 1998. Since then he has given recitals in major North American cities, including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In 2007 he was the violinist in the world première performance and recording of Two Awakenings and a Double Lullaby, written for him by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis. Axel Strauss' discography include the Brahms violin concerto, the three last violin concertos by Kreutzer, the complete Caprices for solo violin by Pierre Rode and the complete works for violin and piano by George Enescu. Axel Strauss has performed as soloist with orchestras in Budapest, Hamburg, New York, Seoul, Shanghai, Bucharest, San Francisco and Cincinnati, among others, and has toured widely throughout the world as a recitalist and chamber musician. He has also served as guest concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Montreal Symphony. In 2012 AxelStrauss was appointed Professor of Violin at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, where he also serves as Chair of the String Area. Prior to that he served as Professor of Violin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Tanya Tomkins
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Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home on Baroque and modern instruments. She has performed on many chamber music series to critical acclaim, including the Frick Collection, “Great Performances” at Lincoln Center, the 92nd Street Y, San Francisco Performances, and the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal.
She is renowned in particular for her interpretation of the Bach Cello Suites, having recorded them for the Avie label and performed them many times at venues such as New York’s Le Poisson Rouge, Seattle Early Music Guild, Vancouver Early Music Society, and The Library of Congress.
Tanya is one of the principal cellists in San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Portland Baroque Orchestra. She is also a member of several groups including Voices of Music and the Benvenue Fortepiano Trio (with Monica Huggett and Eric Zivian). On modern cello, she is a long-time participant at the Moab Music Festival in Utah, Music in the Vineyards in Napa, and a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. As an educator, Tanya has given master classes at Yale, Juilliard, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and runs the Benvenue House Concert Series in Berkeley.
Jason Vieaux
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Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is the guitarist that goes beyond the classical. NPR describes Vieaux as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.” Among his extensive discography is the 2015 Grammy Award winning album for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Play.
Vieaux has earned a reputation for putting his expressiveness and virtuosity at the service of a remarkably wide range of music, and his schedule of performing, and recording commitments is distinguished throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Jason Vieaux has performed as concerto soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Toronto, Houston, Nashville, San Diego, Buffalo, Auckland Philharmonia, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Recent and upcoming highlights include performances at Caramoor Festival as Artist-in-Residence, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis Presents, Phillips Collection, National Gallery of Art, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York’s 92Y, Domaine Forget International Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, and Ravinia Festival...Read More...
Wei-Yi Yang
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Pianist Wei-Yi Yang has received worldwide acclaim for his captivating performances and imaginative programming. Winner of the gold medal in the San Antonio International Piano Competition, he has performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and across America, Asia, Europe and Australia. Most recently, he was praised by the New York Times as the soloist in a “sensational” performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie at Carnegie Hall.
In demand as a dedicated teacher, Wei-Yi Yang has presented master classes and performances in Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Serbia, and Montenegro, among other countries around the world. Mr. Yang’s performances have been featured on NPR, PBS, ARTE (Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne), the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company), and on recordings by Genuin, Ovation, Albany Records, Renegade Classics, and the Holland-America Music Society.
Eric Zivian
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Eric Zivian is both a seasoned composer and a performer, having studied composition with Ned Rorem and Oliver Knussen, and piano with Gary Graffman and Peter Serkin. Eric's compositions have been performed widely in the U. S. and Japan. As a pianist, Eric is a frequent guest artist on the San Francisco Conservatory's faculty chamber music series and a member of the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. Eric and his partner, cellist Tanya Tomkins, comprise the Zivian-Tomkins Duo, an ensemble specializing in music performed on period instruments. Eric is co-artistic director for the new Valley of the Moon Festival in Sonoma.
