Violinist Rhiannon Banerdt made her solo debut at age 14 with the New England Symphonic Ensemble in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has since made solo and chamber music appearances at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, New York's Weill Hall at Carnegie, and Boston's Jordan Hall, among others, with performances hailed by Edith Eisler of Strings Magazine as “real music-making–concentrated and deeply felt.” Ms. Banerdt is a founding member of the Ulysses Quartet, winners of the First Prize at the 2018 Schoenfeld International Chamber Music Competition, Grand Prize at the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, First Prize at the 2017 American Prize Chamber Ensemble, and Silver Medal at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Ulysses has been named the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the Juilliard School for 2019-2022 academic years.

A recipient of the 2012 Borromeo String Quartet Guest Artist Award, Ms. Banerdt was invited to perform with the quartet in Jordan Hall. Other collaborations have included performances with the Chiara Quartet, Kim Kashkashian, Paul Biss, and Frans Helmerson. Ms. Banerdt has participated in numerous eminent chamber music festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Taos School of Music, and the Castleman Quartet Program.

Ms. Banerdt holds the position of Assistant Concertmaster with the Cape Symphony. She was one of two Violin Fellows for the 2013-2015 seasons with the flagship music education organization Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI, where she taught individual lessons and group classes for disadvantaged youth and performed regularly with the Fellowship Quartet and Community MusicWorks Players. Ms. Banerdt is currently a member of the violin faculty at the Bloomingdale School of Music on New York City’s Upper West Side and was a Graduate Teaching Fellow at Brooklyn College 2016-2019.

A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Banerdt attended the New England Conservatory, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with honors as a student of Lucy Chapman and Paul Biss, and is a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center studying with Mark Steinberg.

A native of Seoul, Korea, cellist Kee-Hyun Kim has been praised for his "assertive style... and vital musical spirit." (Pittsburgh Tribune) On faculty at Harvard University’s Department of Music, he is a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet, Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard since 2014. The quartet maintains a robust touring schedule, traveling extensively around North America, Europe and Asia, and has recorded for ECM, Naxos, Innova, Zig Zag and Nimbus labels.

Some awards and distinctions include 1st prize at the Bordeaux String Quartet competition, the Cleveland Quartet Award, and 2010's Grammy Award for "Best Chamber Music Performance.” Outside of the quartet, he has participated in festivals such as Mostly Mozart, Kronberg Festival, World Cello Congress III, Aspen, Kneisel Hall, Yellow Barn, and the Perlman Music Program.

Mr. Kim started his musical education at the Juilliard pre-college in 1992. Since then, he has attended the preparatory divisions of the Korean National University of the Arts, where he studied with Myung-Wha Chung; the New England Conservatory, and the Walnut Hill School. He holds a B.M. from the New England Conservatory, as well as two M.M. from the same institution, where his principal teachers were Laurence Lesser and Paul Katz.

Kee plays on an 1844 Giaccomo Rivolta cello made in Milan, as well as a custom-made bow from Benoit Rolland, made in 2007. He lives in Arlington, MA.

A former member of the Manhattan String Quartet, the Lark Quartet and Elements Quartet, Ms. Farina has toured extensively in North America and Europe, performing at some of the most prestigious venues and festivals including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, Schleswig Holstein Festival and the International Istanbul Music Festival. While with the Lark, Ms. Farina recorded Aaron Kernis' string quartets, music of Amy Beach, and music of Giovanni Sollima. While with Elements, she participated in the Tibor Varga Festival in Budapest, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, was in residence at Utah Valley State College, and premiered "Snaphots", a project commissioning dozens of composers from Regina Carter to Angelo Badalamenti, John Corigliano and more.

She performs regularly with a number of ensembles in the NY area and around the country, among them the Bedford Chamber Ensemble, Music from Copland House and the Palladium Chamber Players.

A proponent of new music, Ms. Farina premiered Peter Schickele's Viola Concerto with the Pasadena Symphony and recorded Viola concertos by Jon Bauman and Andy Teirstein in addition to Anthony Newman's Sonata on the Planets for Viola and Piano. Music of Robert Paterson, John Musto, and Eric Ewazen are also part of the discography, in addition to Morton Feldman's "Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello" and Pierre Jalbert's "Secret Alchemy" and "String Trio".

An active teacher, Ms. Farina is on the faculty of Vassar College and a former faculty member of The Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program and The Juilliard School’s Pre College Division.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Ms. Farina studied with Karen Tuttle, Joseph dePasquale, Stephen Wyrczynski, and Byrnina Socolofsky.

William Amsel is the principal clarinetist of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he also regularly appears as soloist. Before joining the BPO in 2017, he was the second and E-flat clarinetist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for five seasons. In addition, he has performed with many ensembles across the country, including as guest principal clarinet with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Oregon. He previously held positions with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and was principal clarinetist of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Buffalo Chamber Players, Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Marlboro Music Festival, First Monday at Jordan Hall, and the Borromeo String Quartet, among many others.

Amsel grew up in Texas, went to college at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and received a master’s degree from Temple University in Philadelphia. His primary teachers were Ricardo Morales, Thomas Martin, and Ilya Shterenberg. As a student, he spent two summers as a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was awarded the Gino B. Cioffi Memorial Prize, and received fellowships at the Pacific Music Festival (Japan), Aspen Music Festival, and New York String Orchestra Seminar. He has been on the faculty at SUNY Buffalo State College, and in addition to teaching privately, has given masterclasses throughout western New York, the US, and internationally.

He and his wife, bassoonist Natalya Rose Vrbsky, and their two daughters live in Amherst, New York.

Described as “the Celine Dion of classical” by The Huffington Post, MARIKA BOURNAKI is at once a world-class performer, dazzling pianist, vivacious young woman and one of the freshest faces on the classical music scene. Ms. Bournaki not only brings distinctive interpretations to favorite standards, but extends her passion for music by commissioning works from younger composers and collaborating with artists from various fields.

Marika Bournaki has appeared as guest soloist with the symphony orchestras of Bozeman, Duluth Superior, Richmond, Roanoke, Springfield (MO), Topeka, Montréal and St. Petersburg (Russia), along with Maryland’s Chesapeake Orchestra, The SYMPHONIA (FL), Romania’s Timisoara Filharmonica, Switzerland’s Verbier Chamber Orchestra and Canada’s Orchestre Métropolitain and Sinfonia Toronto. In addition to a benefit recital for the Glenn Gould Foundation at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, she has been presented in solo recitals and chamber music collaborations throughout the United States, Canada and the world, including Belgium, England, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, Switzerland and South Korea. Of special note was her survey of Beethoven’s complete 32-work piano sonata cycle, presented by the distinguished Bargemusic in Brooklyn.

A devoted chamber musician, Marika Bournaki performs regularly at Brooklyn’s Bargemusic, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival and the Frankly Music series in Milwaukee, while serving on the faculties of the Eastern Music Festival and Canada’s Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance. She tours internationally with duo partner cellist Julian Schwarz, and together won 1st prize in the 2016 Boulder International Chamber Music Competition’s “The Art of Duo.” Ms. Bournaki is also a member of the Mile-End Trio with Mr. Schwarz and violinist Jeffrey Multer.

The award-winning documentary “I am Not a Rock Star,” featuring Marika Bounaki and directed by Bobbi Jo Hart, has captivated international audiences of all ages. The feature-length film chronicles Ms. Bournaki’s evolution as an artist from the age of 12 to 20. A runaway success at multiple film festivals throughout the world, screenings of “I am Not a Rock Star” and solo performances were recently presented in Chicago, Dallas, Memphis, Miami, Napa Valley, Palm Springs, Toronto and Vancouver, as well as in Greece, México and Spain. The film has also been seen in Greece (ERT), The Netherlands (NTS), Norway (NRK), Sweden (SVT) the United Kingdom (BBC4), Australia (SBS) and New Zealand (Sky). The documentary is the recipient of awards for Best Arts Documentary and Best Editing from the 2014 Canadian Screen Awards.

Marika Bournaki’s innovative approach to her art and performance is reflected in a number of multimedia projects intended to reach out to new audiences. Additionally, her role as Ambassador to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal’s summer event, “A Cool Classical Journey,” afforded new and stimulating ways to share her music with the public.

Marika Bournaki holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where her principal teachers were Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. Since 2021, she is Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Performance at Shenandoah Conservatory at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA.

Julian Schwarz was born to a multigenerational musical family in 1991. He made his concerto debut at the age of 11 with the Seattle Symphony, and his US touring debut with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. Since being awarded first prize at the inaugural Schoenfeld International String Competition in 2013, he has led an active career as soloist, having made over 200 concerto appearances in the US and abroad. 

As a chamber musician, Julian performs extensively in recital with pianist Marika Bournaki. In 2016 the Schwarz-Bournaki duo was awarded first prize at the inaugural Boulder International String Competition’s “The Art of Duo”, and embarked on an extensive 10-recital tour of China in 2017. Julian is a founding member of the New York based Frisson Ensemble and the Mile-End Trio. He performs frequently at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, and as a member of the Palladium Chamber Players in St Petersburg FL.  

Julian is an ardent supporter of new music, and has premiered concertos by Richard Danielpour, Samuel Jones and Dobrinka Tabakova. In the 17-18 season, he gave the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s first Cello Concerto with a consortium of six orchestras. 

A devoted teacher, Mr. Schwarz serves as Associate Professor of Cello at Shenandoah Conservatory, on the artist faculty of New York University and the Eastern Music Festival, and has filmed pedagogical tutorials for the online platform Tonebase. Other faculty appointments include faculty teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School and cello faculty at the Eastern Music Festival where he runs programming for the Tuesday evening chamber music series. 

Born in Seattle, WA, Mr. Schwarz studied at the Academy of Music Northwest and the Lakeside School. He continued to the Colburn School in Los Angeles and then The Juilliard School to study with mentor Joel Krosnick (BM 14, MM 16). Other influential teachers include the late David Tonkonogui, the late Toby Saks, the late Lynn Harrell, and Ronald Leonard. Julian plays a Neapolitan cello made by Gennaro Gagliano in 1743. He is an active contributor to Strings Magazine’s Artist Blog, has a series of edited editions for Carl Fischer Publishing, and sits on the music committee of the National Arts Club. A Pirastro and Melos artist, he endorses and plays the Pirastro “Perpetual” edition set of cello strings and Melos light rosin.

Praised as “master of the strong lines”, concert violist Colin Brookes is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he made his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 17. A founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, Colin has taught in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, and the undergraduate programs of Yale University and SUNY Stony Brook.

Colin has performed regularly with A Far Cry, The Knights, and other critically acclaimed ensembles. Festival appearances include Kneisel Hall, Appalachian Chamber Music Festival, Geneva Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, and Tanglewood. In June 2013 he gave a solo recital with pianist Euntaek Kim for the St. Gaudens Concert Series in Cornish, NH.

Traveling and performing allow for many unexpected opportunities to capture moments in time. Colin is an avid photographer, both film and digital, and exhibits of his work have been featured at the Castleton Festival, Virginia and the Art Gallery at Valley Cottage Library, New York. Colin holds a Bachelor of Music from the Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale University. His mentors include Ettore Causa, Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, Nicholas Cords, Larry Dutton, Marylene Gingras-Roy, Roger Chase, Jeffrey Irvine, and Carolyn Hills. He currently plays a 19th-century Italian viola generously on loan from the Maestro Foundation, and a Thomas Tubbs bow.