Faculty
Violin
Viola
Cello
Piano
Half-Day Program
Collaborative Pianists
Hailed as a “marvelous violinist” (France Musique) with “sensitive tone” (Pizzicato Magazine) and “tremendous ease, suppleness and beauty of sound” (Nice-Matin), violinist Ambroise Aubrun has performed extensively in Europe and North America and has shared the stage with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Scott St. John, Martin Chalifour, Clive Greensmith, Richard O’Neill, the Borromeo and Ebène string quartets among others.
His albums for the Editions Hortus and Navona Records have embraced a wide range of repertoire from Bach to Tanguy (b.1968) and received praise of the highest caliber (5 stars Pizzicato Journal, “coup de coeur” France Musique, and a nomination for the 2021 International Classical Music Awards).
Aubrun’s performances and albums have been broadcast on CBS, WFMT, France Musique, Klara Radio (Belgium), KPFK, WTUL New-Orleans and K-USC Los Angeles.
He has served as guest concertmaster of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, and is a regular guest of the Los Angeles Philharmonic violin sections.
Aubrun studied at the Paris National Superior Conservatory, UCLA and the Colburn Conservatory of Music. He is the winner of the Charles Oulmont Prize of the Fondation de France and laureate of the Langart Foundation in Switzerland.
Currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Aubrun has served on the faculty of UCLA and UC Santa Barbara as well as of several academies, and is regularly invited to give masterclasses around the world. He is the artistic director of the Bruman Chamber Music Festival at UCLA.
Aubrun plays a Matteo Goffriller violin, on loan from the Langart Foundation.
Hailed as “truly communicative” (New York Times) and an “impeccable and powerful soloist” (Neue Musikzeitung), Franco-American violinist Elissa Cassini captivates audiences worldwide through her expressive tone and engaging presence. Her innovative programs such as those created through her Duplexity Concerts organization have been praised as “an imaginatively conceived recital” (Strad Magazine).
Elissa’s most recent solo project Résonances inter-relates works by J.S. Bach, Kaija Saariaho and Missy Mazzoli, combined with visuals, electronics, improvisation and staging to create an immersive musical narrative; and was premiered in March 2023 at the Collégiale Saint Martin festival in Angers France.
After having served three seasons as concertmaster under maestro Isaac Karabtchevsky with the Orquestra Petrobras Sinfonica in Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Elissa has been invited as guest concertmaster with leading orchestra’s including the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Rouen Opera and as guest leader for new music ensembles such as Meitar Ensemble in Tel-Aviv.
Elissa’s passion for new music was sparked during her graduate degree at the Juilliard School when Pierre Boulez heard her perform his Anthèmes and invited her as concertmaster of his orchestra at the Lucerne Festival. She has since collaborated with internationally acclaimed composers, such as Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Georg Friedrich Hass and Tristan Murail.
Elissa’s latest commissions include a concerto by Theodore Wiprud on the theme of climate action to be premiered by the South Dakota Symphony and Conditions de Lumière, a spectralist concerto by Jérôme Combier, premiered with the Argento Ensemble in New York, the Cairn Ensemble in Paris, and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne in Montreal.
Elissa’s concerto appearances include Philip Glass’s American Four Seasons (Orchestre National de Bretagne), Philippe Leroux’s d’Aller (Camerata Aberta in Sao Paulo), Anders Eliasson’s concerto (Arcos Chamber Orchestra at the Berlin Konzerthaus) and Nicolas Bacri’s Winter’s Night (Orchestre de l’Opéra de Massy).
Sarah Kapustin’s musical activities have taken her across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia in performances as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Born in Milwaukee, WI, she has performed with such orchestras as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Vogtland Philharmonie and the Pro Arte Orchestra of Hong Kong. Sarah has received prizes and honors in numerous competitions, including 1st prize of the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen, resulting in solo appearances throughout Germany. She has appeared in such prestigious concert venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Mexico City’s Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and Capella State Hall in St.Petersburg.
A devoted and passionate chamber musician, Sarah has appeared at various international festivals, most notably the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France), Sitka Summer Music Festival (AK), El Paso ProMusica (TX), Peter de Grote Festival (Netherlands) and the Marlboro Music Festival (VT) where she has performed with such distinguished artists as Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, David Soyer, and Kim Kashkashian. She shows great interest in contemporary music, and has had the honor to work with several composers on their own compositions, including Henri Dutilleux, Kryzstof Penderecki, Jörg Widmann, Ned Rorem and Joey Roukens. For over a decade she has performed duo recitals with pianist Jeannette Koekkoek. In addition to covering a wide range of the violin/piano repertoire, they have performed all ten Beethoven sonatas in Italy and at Indiana University, and their 2010 recording of the complete cycle for the Olive Music label received international acclaim. Sarah was the 1st violinist of the renowned Rubens Quartet from 2008 until the group's final season in 2016.
Sarah received a Masters degree in violin performance at The Juilliard School with Robert Mann in 2005. She previously received a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University as a pupil of Mauricio Fuks, and formerly studied with Mimi Zweig and James Przygocki at the String Academy of Wisconsin. She has participated in masterclasses with Joshua Bell, Midori, Leonidas Kavakos, Mihaela Martin and Ruggiero Ricci, among others. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship, Sarah spent 2006 to 2008 in Paris as a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, studying chamber music with Michel Strauss and Vladimir Mendelssohn as member of the Trio Archiduc. She also served as concertmaster of the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire during the 2007-08 season.
Currently Sarah resides in Zwolle, the Netherlands, where she is active as a chamber musician and soloist, and in 2017 she joined the Noord Nederlands Orkest (Groningen) as first concertmaster. She also performs and tours regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Increasingly sought after as a teacher, she has been professor of violin and chamber music at the ArtEZ Conservatorium in Zwolle since 2011, a member of the chamber music faculty at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen since 2014, and in 2017 she joined the faculty of the Sweelinck Academie (preparatory department of the Amsterdam Conservatory). She has given masterclasses in the US, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Brazil, Columbia and Hong Kong.
Sarah plays on the ”Nico Richter and Hetta Rester” G.B. Rogeri, Brescia, ca. 1690, on loan to her from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds in Amsterdam.
Praised as “both an intrepid new music champion and a violin virtuoso” (textura music magazine), Sarah Plum has had a prolific career advocating for new music, commissioning composers and bringing contemporary music to a wider audience.
Personal Noise, Plum’s recent CD release of new music for violin and electronics, has been lauded as “a fantastic new release - a must have for everyone who loves meaningful sonic adventures” (Whole Note Magazine) and as “beguilingly imaginative with an engagingly adventurous sensibility” (Gramophone Magazine).
As a soloist Plum’s "consistently stunning” playing (Third Coast Digest) has been featured at festivals and venues worldwide, including Ankunft:Neue Musik Festival at the Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Quiet Cue Intermedia in Berlin, Center for New Music San Francisco, Spectrum NYC, Unruly Music at the Marcus Center (Milwaukee), Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics as well as at residencies at UC Davis, Duke, Cal State Fullerton, James Madison University and others and as the featured guest soloist at conferences such as Third Practice and Electronic Music Midwest.
Recent concerts include a solo CD release concert on Constellation’s Frequency Series in Chicago, solo performances at the Ear Taxi Festival in Chicago, New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival and chamber music performances with the Fulcrum Point Ensemble and the Zodiac Festival Ensemble in France.
Plum is in demand as a teacher and coach - recently as guest artist at Virginia Tech’s New Music and Technology Festival where she performed, taught and gave masterclasses for young composers and at Michigan State University where she presented masterclasses for soloists and chamber groups. This coming season she will be performing and teaching at residencies at the University of Iowa and Oakland University in Michigan.
Sarah Plum moved to Chicago in 2018 and since then has been active in local new music, playing with groups such as Dal Niente Ensemble, Fulcrum Point Ensemble and Access Contemporary Music as well as collaborations with numerous Chicago composers and performers. She is on the faculty at both the Music Institute of Chicago and their elite Academy program. Recently, the Luminos Trio, her group at the Academy, were semi-finalists in the Junior division of the 2023 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Plum was Professor of Violin and Viola at Drake University from 2007-2018.
Sarah Plum earned a DMA at SUNY Stony Brook, after graduate and undergraduate studies at Juilliard. Her gold medal at the International Stulberg Competition in 1983 launched her performance career.
Katrin Stamatis maintains an active career as a performer and educator. A native of New York City, she is currently principal second violinist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and a core member of the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble. She has held previous positions with the Albany Symphony and Vermont Symphony, and has served on the faculties of Drake University, the University of Oklahoma, the Calhoun School and the Larchmont Academy of Music.
Katrin attended Barnard College, where she was enrolled in the joint program with Manhattan School of Music. As an undergraduate she was a founding member and President of the Bach Society of Columbia University. She received her Master’s Degree from Mannes College of Music. Her primary teachers include Peggy Klinger, Ik-Hwan Bae, and Nina Beilina.
Before moving to Oklahoma, Katrin led a successful freelance career in New York City that included concerts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, a performance of the Brahms Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra with the Chelsea Symphony, and numerous engagements in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Miller Theater, the Guggenheim Museum and the Tenri Cultural Institute. In 2004, She was selected to perform under the baton of Charles Hazlewood in his award-winning production of U-Carmen at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Recent collaborations have included an appearance with new music specialist and cellist Madeleine Shapiro, as well as with clarinetist David Shifrin in the world premiere of Quasi Una Fantasia by Christopher Theofanidis. In 2016, she toured with the International Orchestra of Puerto Rico.
Dr. Misha Galaganov has premiered more than thirty compositions for viola alone, viola with piano, and viola in chamber music, written for him by composers from Israel, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Belgium, Italy, Uruguay, and the USA. As Principal Viola of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, he has also premiered many pieces written for a small symphony orchestra and for string chamber ensembles.
Galaganov is the founder of numerous chamber music programs. He is coordinates New Music Ensemble program at TCU and is the founder of the “NME at the Modern Arts Museum” concert series.
Teaching activities have taken Galaganov to major conservatories around the world, and he has taught and performed in numerous European and American Festivals. His former viola and violin students can be found as principal players in orchestras, university teachers, soloists and chamber music performers.
In addition to teaching and performing, Galaganov has written articles for major string publications, including Strad, has served as a reviewer for American String Teachers Association magazine, and has given lectures and presentations at professional conferences. He is working on several research projects and has made transcriptions and arrangements. His last album, Charm, Passion, and Acrobatics was received with enthusiastic critical acclaim.
Galaganov is Professor of Viola and Chair of Strings at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, TX. He has a violin performance degree from Russia; BM in Viola Performance from Israel; and Artist Certificate, MM, and DMA degrees from the USA. He plays on an old French viola by Mansuy a Paris with gut strings by Damian Dlugolecki.
Violist Roeland Jagers is a passionate chamber musician and was a founding member of the Rubens Quartet, laureate of several international competitions, including in Eindhoven (Tromp 2004), Prague (Spring Competition 2005) and Graz (Schubert Competition 2006). After completing its studies in Amsterdam and Berlin, the quartet enjoyed an active international career for 16 seasons in Europe, the United States and Israel. Currently Roeland is active as a member of the Rubens Consort, a flexible chamber music ensemble which has come into existence as a follow-up to the quartet.
Roeland performs regularly in concert halls such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Tonhalle Zürich, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and the Philharmonie in Berlin. He also appears as a guest in international festivals such as Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Schleswig Holstein (Germany), Larzac (France), Kuhmo (Finland), El Paso Pro Musica, Sitka Music Festival and Indiana University Festival of the Arts (US).
Roeland studied viola with Gisella Bergman and Ferdinand Erblich. In 2001 he received his Bachelor of Music diploma with honors, and continued on to receive a Master of Music in 2004 with Vladimir Mendelssohn, also with honors, at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
As a soloist Roeland has appeared with several Dutch ensembles. In past seasons he performed the Solo Sonata by György Ligeti throughout Europe and the US with great success; this sonata is one of the highlights of the viola repertoire, and yet is considered by many to be unplayable. In addition to the Rubens Consort, he is a member of Metamorphoses, a new trio made up of international chamber musicians (clarinetist Jean Johnson and pianist Ilona Timchenko) and the Dutch Harp Trio, with flutist Felicia van den End and harpist Gwyneth Wentink. Roeland is also principal violist of the chamber orchestra Sinfonia Rotterdam, and interim assistant principal violist of Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He also performs as guest principal of The Hague Philharmonic, and guest violist of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
Roeland is actively associated with the prestigious Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (Bloomington, US) as a regular chamber music coach of the Summer String Academy. He has extensive teaching experience, working regularly with all levels from amateurs and students to aspiring professionals. In 2014 he wrote a chamber music method specifically meant for amateur musicians, in which subjects such as score study, leadership and rehearsal techniques are addressed.
In addition to his activities as a violist, Roeland also studied piano at the Brabant Conservatory, where he received his Bachelor of Music diploma in 2003.
Roeland plays a Giovanni Pistucci viola, on loan to him from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds in Amsterdam, and a bow made by Joseph Henry (1865).
Dr. Mark Neumann
Professor of Music (Viola)
Email: mneumann@ou.edu
Dr. Mark Neumann joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma School of Music as viola professor in 2009. A native of Edmonton, Canada, his musical studies took place at the University of Victoria, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School in New York, from which he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1995. His principal teachers have included such eminent violists as Karen Tuttle (Professor, The Juilliard School), Robert Vernon (Principal Viola, The Cleveland Orchestra), and Jaroslav Karlovsky (Principal Viola, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). Other renowned violists with whom he has worked in festival and masterclass settings include Kim Kashkashian, Barbara Westphal, Heidi Castleman, Donald McInnes, Gerald Stanick and Eric Shumsky.
Dr. Neumann’s versatile performing career has included appearances as soloist with the Victoria Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic and Thunder Bay Symphony orchestras in Canada, the symphony orchestras of Big Spring (Texas) and Rome (Georgia) in the USA, the Cusco Symphony Orchestra in Peru, and the Collegium Musicum of Straubing, Germany. As a chamber musician he has performed at the International Performance Symposium in Goiania, Brazil; the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria; the Victoria International Festival, the Banff Festival of the Arts, and the Pacific Rim Summer Festival in Canada; and at the Sarasota Music Festival and the “Academy of Music” at Ramapo College (New Jersey) in the USA. Among the artists with whom he has collaborated in chamber music are Robert Chen, Daniel Heifetz, Peter Winograd, Levon Ambartsumian, and Jose Maria Blumenschein (violin); Edgar Meyer and Milton Masciadri (double bass); Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, David Geber and Joshua Roman (cello); and David Shifrin (clarinet). Additionally, he has participated in broadcast recordings of chamber music for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and for Deutschland-Funk in Munich, Germany.
As an orchestral musician, Dr. Neumann has performed extensively with many professional ensembles including the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (as Assistant Principal Viola), the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra (as Principal Viola), the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, Canada. During the course of these orchestral activities he has participated in concert tours to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and 8 European countries, and has performed under such internationally-renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Eduardo Mata, Sir Roger Norrington, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Zdenek Macal, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Eiji Oue, Gerard Schwartz, Mario Bernardi, Franz-Paul Decker, Trevor Pinnock, Hans Graf, and Krzysztof Penderecki among many others.
Dr. Neumann held previous faculty positions as viola professor at Texas Tech University and at the University of Georgia, and has presented numerous recitals and masterclasses in China, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and across the USA. He has been a frequent faculty artist at music festivals in South America, including the Vale Veneto Winter Festival and the Santa Catarina Strings Academy in Brazil as well as the Cusco Music Festival in Peru, and was also an invited solo performer at the International Viola Congresses in Adelaide, Australia (2007) and Rochester, New York (2012). Additionally, he appeared as a solo performer at the 2016 American Viola Society (AVS) Festival in Oberlin, Ohio and the 2018 AVS Festival in Los Angeles, California, and presented lecture-recitals at the 2 most recent AVS Festivals in Columbus, Georgia (2022) and Los Angeles (2024). Another recent highlight was a visit to China in September 2024 to undertake an 8-day guest artist residency at the invitation of the Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Dr. Neumann’s solo CD album, entitled “Romantic Showpieces for Viola”, was released by the ACA Digital label of Atlanta, Georgia in 2009 to critical acclaim.
Currently, Dr. Neumann performs regularly as the violist of the Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble of Oklahoma City and as Assistant Principal Viola of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra. He maintains a widely active schedule as a performer, teacher and clinician in Oklahoma as well as nationally and internationally.
- DMA - The Juilliard School (1995)
- Professional Studies Certificate – Cleveland Institute of Music (1992-93; conferred 2023)
- Advanced Certificate - The Juilliard School (1989)
- MM (Performance) - University of Victoria (1987)
- BM (Performance) - University of Victoria (1983)
Cellist Carl Donakowski pursues a international career in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Early in his career he was a finalist in the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. Since then, his recital performances have been enjoyed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Merkin Hall in New York City; and aired on WQRS Detroit, WQXR New York, and Südwestfunk Baden- Baden. He has performed at the Manitou, Fontana, Staunton, Tanglewood, Blue Lake, and Beethoven music festivals. Mr. Donakowski has performed on four continents, most recently (2017) in Guangzhou, China. As a member of the Arcos Trio, he was awarded an Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to perform and record piano trios by Latin American composers on the Centaur label. Of his performances at the Fontana Festival a reviewer wrote “Cellist Carl Donakowski is ideally suited to perform these romantic works. His tone is rich in resonance and passionate in approach, displaying the big sound that could sustain a charming longing.”
Donakowski is Professor of Music (Cello and Chamber music) at the James Madison University School of Music in Harrisonburg, VA where he received the distinguished teaching award. For over a decade he was Artist-in-Residence at the Bay View Music Festival. He has served on the faculties of Central Michigan University School of Music and Alma College. He is a frequent presenter at the American String Teachers Association national conference and a contributor to American String Teacher. He served as president of the Michiana Cello Society and currently edits the Cello Forum for the Virginia String Teachers Association. Donakowski was a student of Janos Starker at Indiana University. He also studied with Timothy Eddy Gary Hoffman and William Pleeth.
American cellist Jonathan Ruck maintains a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and pedagogue. Praised for his “virtuosic command” and “full-bodied tone,” he has performed throughout North America, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. Festival appearances include recent engagements at the Oregon Bach Festival, Sanibel Island Festival, OK Mozart, Unruly Music, and as principal cellist of the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico. Jonathan currently serves as the principal cellist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
An avid chamber musician, Jonathan Ruck is a core member of Brightmusic, Oklahoma City’s resident chamber music ensemble. He has performed as a guest cellist with the American Chamber Players and Penderecki String Quartet and given recent world-premiere performances of chamber works by Christopher Theofanidis and Sydney Corbett. As a founding member of the Dubinsky String Quartet, Jonathan was a prizewinner in the Fischoff and Coleman national chamber music competitions.
Jonathan Ruck joined the University of Oklahoma School of Music in 2006 as one of the youngest faculty appointees in the school’s history. Previous appointments include serving as the teaching assistant to both Janos Starker and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a visiting professorship at the Depauw University School of Music. During the summer, he has enjoyed teaching on the faculties of the Fresno Summer Orchestra and Opera Academy (FOOSA), the Zodiac Festival in Southern France and the Indiana University Summer String Academy. In 2018, he founded the University of Oklahoma Summer String Academy and continues as its director. Graduates of Jonathan Ruck’s cello studio have been accepted to continue their studies at schools such as Juilliard, Indiana University, Eastman, Oberlin, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and can be found in ensembles and on college and pre-college faculties throughout the world.
Jonathan Ruck currently lives in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife, violinist Katrin Statmatis, and their two daughters, Arianna and Galia.
Born in Taiwan, pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng has appeared on concert stages in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada, France, and Israel. She has been described by the New York Concert Review as a pianist whose “control of the keyboard is complete, technique easy and relaxed, with a wide range of touch.” Late pianist Claude Frank described her as “a brilliant, sensitive, imaginative and most beguiling pianist.” Amy’s performances have been heard on WGBH, KCSC, WHYY, La Radio Suisse Romande-Espace 2, WFMT, and NPR. Amy has presented recitals at venues such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, and National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as on concert series across the United States. Amy made her Boston concerto debut at the age of 17 in Jordan Hall under the direction of Benjamin Zander. Since then, she has appeared as a concerto soloist with the ‘Musica Viva’ Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Taichung Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Pines in Texas, University Symphony Orchestra (University of Michigan), and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, among others. In 2015, she gave the North American premiere of the Kaprálová Piano Concerto at the Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor as part of the week-long Kaprálová Festival, hosted by the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. In Summer 2017, she gave the US premiere of Improvisation on Misirlou, a single-movement piano concerto by Israeli-American composer Daniel Rein, with the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra during the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. In 2019, she gave the world premiere of the Double Concerto for YangQin and Piano by Taiwanese composer Chun-Da Huang, collaborating with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan (NCO), at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her recording of the Kaprálová piano concert was released in Summer 2021 on Naxos, with outstanding reviews. Her recent video recordings include solo piano works by French composer Fernande Decruck, released on the Éditions Billaudot’s youtube channel in fall 2022.
A dedicated chamber musician, Amy enjoys collaborating with others from a very young age. Amy is the co-Artistic Director of the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, a non-profit organization commissioning and presenting chamber music concerts since 2003. Formed in 1999, Duo Clarion (with clarinetist Chad Burrow) has performed in venues such as Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall and National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as venues across the US and Asia. Duo Clarion has released recordings through CDBaby, Albany, and WeiStudio. Duo Clarion’s recording of music by Brahms and Schumann received an outstanding review in the ICA publication. Violinist Sean Yung-Hsiang Wang joined the duo to form Trio Solari in 2006. Trio Solari released its debut CD through Centaur Record in 2016. Trio Solari has commissioned and performed trios by Edward Knight and Joseph Tyldesley. Amy has toured as a guest pianist with the American Chamber Players, and America’s Dream Chamber Artists, and performs frequently on the Detroit Chamber Wind and Strings concert series and Michigan Chamber Players Series at the University of Michigan. Amy has been part of many commissioning and premiering initiatives and has recorded chamber music works by composers such as Edward Knight, Laura Schwendinger, Stephen Rush, and Adolphus Hailstork on Centaur, Albany, and the Block M Record. Most recently she gave the world premiere of The Plus One (2022) for Two Pianos by Jorge Variego with pianist Stephen Beck at the 2022 Sewanee Summer Music Festival.
A highly sought-after collaborator, Amy has performed with artists such as Wenzel Fuchs, Sophie Shao, David Buck, David Halen, Yoonshin Song, David Shifrin, and Misha Quint, and has been Pianist in Residence for International Double Reed Society Convention in 2010 and 2011, as well as International Woodwind Festival in 2012, 2001, and 2002. Other festival chamber music appearances include the Maui Classical Music Festival, Interharmony International Music Festival in Germany, Sewanee Summer Music Festival since 2014, Brightmusic Chamber Music Festival since 2012, Quartz Mountain Music Festival, Taos School of Music, LaJolla SummerFest, OKMozart International Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounter.
Amy enjoys a career in teaching and has given piano and chamber music masterclasses across the USA, Brazil, Taiwan, and Germany for both college and pre-college students. Her university students have been awarded top prizes in MTNA competitions (Chamber Music), solo and concerto competitions, scholarships to graduate programs, and summer festival programs, and many of her former students hold college appointments in the US and abroad. Committed to piano education of the younger generation, Amy devotes her time to instructing young pianists. She has worked with young pianists and youth chamber music groups in summer festivals, at the Franklin School for the Performing Arts Massachusetts, and at the Community Music School of Ann Arbor. Currently, she maintains a small studio of private students in Ann Arbor.
A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music (BM), Yale University School of Music (MM and Artist Diploma), and the New England Conservatory (DMA), Amy holds degrees in Piano Performance. Her principal teachers were Claude Frank, Wha-Kyung Byun, Rolf-Peter Wille, and Yi-Hsien Chang. She studied chamber music with Robert McDonald, Peter Frankl, Michael Friedmann, and Boris Berman. Prior to moving to Ann Arbor, Amy was the Head of the Piano Area at Oklahoma City University Wanda L. Bass School (06-09), and the Assistant Professor of Piano at Oklahoma State University (02-06). After serving as a collaborative pianist for the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan for two seasons, Amy joined the Piano Department faculty in 2012 as a Lecturer in Piano where she teaches studio piano and coaches chamber music. Since fall 2022, she continues her college teaching career as an Assistant Professor of Music – Piano and Piano Chamber Music Coordinator. In the summer, Amy is on faculty at the Sewanee Music Center. Amy lives in Ann Arbor with her husband Chad Burrow, two children, and a family dog.
Kasia Bugaj is an Associate Professor of Music Education at The Florida State University. At FSU, Dr. Bugaj teaches string techniques, string methods courses, and historical research; She is the director of the FSU Summer Orchestra Camp and the conductor of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras Chamber Orchestra. Involved with the American String Teachers Association and the Florida Orchestra Association in many capacities, she is a frequent guest speaker, clinician, trainer, and conductor throughout the United States. In 2018-2019 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland. In 2018 she was selected as the Collegiate Educator of the Year by the Florida Music Education Association.
Dr. Bugaj received her Ph.D. in Music Education from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She also has degrees from Western Michigan University, The Peabody Conservatory, and is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy. Prior to her appointment at FSU, Dr. Bugaj was the director of a curricular elementary violin program in Attica Indiana, taught violin and viola on the faculty of the Indiana University String Academy, and was a member of the viola sections of several regional orchestras in the Midwest.
Kasia lives in Tallahassee, FL with her husband Renato and their two children.
A native of Taichung, Taiwan, Anna En-Chi Ho has performed extensively in her home country and in many parts of the United States. Her piano studies began at the age of five as a private student of her uncle, Rev. Ching-Dao Ho, and continued with various private teachers in Taichung until 1991. After a year of academic studies at National Chung-Hsin University, Dr. Ho entered the Piano Performance program at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa in 1992 as a student of Dr. James March, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1995. Her musical studies continued with Dr. Todd Welbourne in the Master of Music program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she majored in Piano Performance and was extremely active as an accompanist in many instrumental studios of the School of Music.
Dr. Ho graduated with her master’s degree in Madison in December 1997, and returned to Taiwan in 1998 to take a position as orchestral pianist for the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra in Wu-Feng and to concertize as a member of the Formosa Chamber Music Ensemble. In 1999, she returned to the United States to pursue studies in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where she majored in Collaborative Piano Performance as a student of Dr. William Westney. She received her DMA degree in December 2003.
Dr. Ho has collaborated in performance with many accomplished musicians from Canada, Taiwan, Korea, China, Venezuela, Brazil, Italy, Poland and the USA, and has performed in the master classes of such distinguished musicians as Charles Castleman, Paul Kantor, Emmanuel Pahud, Eugene Rousseau, Frank Morelli, Steven Isserlis, Philippe Quint and Gary Shocker. Dr. Ho now resides in Norman, OK, where she collaborates frequently as an accompanist with guest artists, and both students and faculty members of the University of Oklahoma School of Music.
Tatiana Stratenco is pursuing her Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at the University of Oklahoma in the studio of Dr. Igor Lipinski where she has previously earned her BMA in Piano and BA in Marketing. She was born and raised in the Republic of Moldova where she studied chamber music, accompaniment, and music theory classes. She competed in multiple piano and music history competitions in Moldova, Russia, Hungary, and Romania. She graduated high school from Republican Lyceum of Music “C. Porumbescu” in Chisinau, Moldova and United World College in Changshu, China. At the University of Oklahoma, she is a Graduate Assistant and has received numerous accolades including winning the Oklahoma MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition and the OU School of Music Concerto Competition. Tatiana learned from masterclasses with Alexander Paley, Michael Thomopoulos, Ioana Stanescu, Serghei Covalenco, Alan Chow, Sun Min Kim, Alexander Kobrin, and Jennifer Hayghe. Tatiana's teachers include Gaiana Teseoglu, Felix Biriucov, Cornelia Herrmann, and Christoph Genz.
Pianist Sarah Thune, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, holds degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder (M.M. Collaborative Piano), Syracuse University (M.M. Piano Performance), and Drake University (B.M. Piano Performance). Ms. Thune recently completed her DMA in Collaborative Piano at the University of Michigan studying under Martin Katz. Prior to coming to Michigan, Ms. Thune maintained an active teaching and freelance career, as well as repetiteur and rehearsal pianist positions at Ballet Arizona and Interlochen Arts Academy. She has performed in concerts given through the University of Alabama, Chandler-Gilbert Community College, the Civic Music Association of Des Moines, Iowa, Civic Morning Musicals in Syracuse, New York, the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Western Slope Concert Series in Grand Junction, Colorado, among others. Most recently, she was a vocal coach and répétiteur for the University of Michigan’s production of Don Giovanni and Brancaleoni International Music Festival’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro.
