DAVID EHRLICH
Violinist

Raised in Israel, violinist David Ehrlich started his professional career as concertmaster and soloist with the Tel Aviv Chamber Orchestra and toured as guest soloist with other Israeli chamber orchestras. In the US, after studying with Shmuel Ashkenasi, he served as concertmaster and soloist of the Colorado Festival Orchestra, Filarmonica de Caracas, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and was associate concertmaster with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Later, he joined the Audubon Quartet as first violinist, and toured for 17 years all over the world, performing on some of the most prestigious concert series, collaborating with many of the world’s great chamber musicians, and appearing on radio and television.

David conducted master classes/lectures at USC, New England Conservatory, Oberlin, Cleveland Institute of Music, Chautauqua-NY, Arizona State University, Tel Aviv University, Ireland, Venezuela, Prague, Beijing, and many others.

David is the head of Intensive Studies course at Ameropa, an international summer music festival in Prague, CZ. This highlighted in a series of performances at the prestigious Prague Spring Festival, where he was artistic director of a program dedicated to Schoenberg and Mahler. David also performs annually at the Red Rocks Music Festival, taking place in Phoenix, and Sedona, AZ. In 2013-2014, David helped mentor a new professional string orchestra in Hong-Kong, and conducted an intensive chamber music seminar in Beijing, China.

In 1993, he and his wife, Teresa, founded the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia, a nonprofit community music school located in Blacksburg, Virginia, which provides music lessons to children throughout all of southwest Virginia. In Blacksburg, David helped develop Virginia Tech’s Vocal Arts and Music Festival, where he is in charge of the instrumental chamber music program and intensive string quartet seminar. He is also the artistic director of Musica Viva, a chamber music concert series based in Blacksburg.

Since 2004, David has served as a Fellow of Fine Arts at Virginia Tech. He performs on a violin made by Carlo Bergonzi (1735), through the generosity of the Virginia Tech Foundation.

TERESA EHRLICH
Pianist

Ms. Ehrlich began her musical training at the age of four. Born and raised in the Midwest, she received her master of music degree in piano performance and pedagogy from Northern Illinois University as a student of Donald Walker. Ms. Ehrlich’s other teachers have included Gyorgy Sebok, Menachem Pressler, and Leon Fleisher. She has received critical acclaim throughout the United States, Israel and South America, where she has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras including the Sinfoica de Maracaibo and the Filarmonica de Caracas in Venezuela.

In addition to her solo and orchestral engagements, she is active as a chamber musician and has performed as a guest artist with the Audubon, Vermeer, Cassatt, and Vanbrugh quartets. Ms. Ehrlich has been a participant in the Banff Festival in Canada, Yale Chamber Music Festival, Music at Gretna Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, Chautauqua Festival in New York, and the Sanibel Island Festival. She has performed during numerous live broadcasts on radio station WFMT in Chicago and is also frequently heard on National Public Radio.

As well as being a founder of the Renaissance Music Academy of Virginia, Ms. Ehrlich is also the Executive Director of the school and a member of the piano faculty. She is a member of the chamber group Avanti Ensemble which performs throughout Virginia. Since 2005, Ms. Ehrlich has been a faculty member in “Ameropa” an international summer festival in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

SHLOMO MINTZ
Violin

Critics, colleagues and audiences regard Shlomo Mintz as one of the foremost violinists of our time, esteemed for his impeccable musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique alike. Born in Moscow in 1957, he immigrated to Israel and studied the violin with Ilona Feher. At the age of 11, he made his concert debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and at the age of 16 he made his debut in Carnegie Hall with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, under the patronage of Isaac Stern.

Since then he is a celebrated guest with orchestras and conductors on the international music scene, and has appeared with historical musicians like Sergiu Celibidache, Pablo Casals, Eugene Ormandy, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Mistislav Rosptropovich and Carlo Maria Giulini. In the 2012/2013 Season, he celebrated his 50th anniversary with the National Orchestra of France in a special concert at the Champs Elysées Theatre as a conductor and a soloist.

A regular President of Jury (Wieniawski, Sion, Buenos Aires and Munetsugu violin competitions) and Artistic Director of many International Music Festivals, he is currently sought after to conduct Master Classes all over the world. Mintz is also a co-founder of Violins of Hope, a project that aims to promote peace through music.

He has won several prestigious prizes including the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, the Diapason D’Or, the Grand Prix du Disque, the Gramophone Award and the Edison Award. In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba, Israel.

In 2015 and during two years Mintz was named the soloist in residence of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

In Autumn 2016 Shlomo Mintz has been awarded with the Cremona Music Award 2016. Next season includes performances in Europe, North and South America and Asia.

JAN SIMIZ
Cellist

A native of Romania, Jan Simiz studied at the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Buchares. In 1980, Mr. Simiz arrived in Los Angeles and won the principal cellist position with Neal Stulberg and the Young Musicians' Foundation "Debut" Orchestra. He received his master's degree in cello performance from the University of Southern California where he studied with Eleanor Schoenfeld.

In 1985 Mr. Simiz joined the Phoenix Symphony and became assistant principal cellist in 1989. He is also principal cellist for the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado. He frequently performs in chamber music ensembles.

DANIEL LINDER
Assistant Professor of Practice

Praised as a "pianistic chameleon" (Fanfare), Dr. Daniel Linder is a versatile pianist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. He has performed solo and collaborative recitals to high acclaim in venues across the United States and in the United Kingdom, France, and Denmark, and recordings of his performances have aired on KUAT Classical Radio in Tucson, AZ. Recent accolades include the Fresno Musical Club Susan Torres Award, and prizes in the James Ramos International Competition, the Seattle International Piano Competition, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, among others.

Daniel is an avid performer of 20th- and 21st-century works. Recent highlights include a duo piano recital with Dr. Fanya Lin at the 2021 London Festival of American Music, the 2020 world premiere of Dr. Kay He's multimedia work Lost in Colors, and collaboration with the Russian String Orchestra in a performance of Alfred Schnittke's Concerto Grosso No. 1. His recordings of solo and duo piano works by Daniel Asia are included on Ivory II, released by Summit Records in early 2021. He also appears with bassoonists William Dietz and Scott Pool on A Second Look (Soundset Recordings, 2022) and with oboist Sara Fraker and clarinetist Jackie Glazier on Johanna Beyer: Music for Woodwinds (New World Records, 2022).

Dr. Linder is an Assistant Professor of Practice in Piano at the University of Arizona's Fred Fox School of Music, where he serves as a keyboard area coordinator, teaches applied lessons and piano literature, and teaches honors seminars in music. He has presented lectures on piano pedagogy and music teaching and learning at state and national conferences of the Music Teacher's National Association (MTNA), and his article, A Multisensory Approach to Memorization was named 2018 'Article of the Year' by CAPMT Connect, the e-Journal of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). Dr. Linder is in demand as a master-class clinician and adjudicator throughout the United States.

Daniel was named Outstanding D.M.A. Graduate by the Keyboard Studies Department of USC's Thornton School of Music. Before moving to Los Angeles to complete his D.M.A. in piano performance, he earned an M.M. in piano performance from the University of Arizona, and both a B.M. in piano performance and a B.A. in history from Northwestern University. His principal teachers are Bernadene Blaha, Dr. John Milbauer, Alan Chow, and Dr. Rose Chancier. Daniel grew up in the Adirondacks of northeastern New York.

DANIEL ASIA
Professor of Music

Daniel Asia, b. Seattle, WA 1953, has been an eclectic and unique composer from the start. Over his long career he has enjoyed grants from Meet the Composer, a UK Fulbright award, Guggeneheim Fellowship, DAAD, MacDowell and Tanglewood fellowships, ASCAP and BMI prizes, Copland Fund grants, a Barlow Award, and numerous others. In 2010 he was awarded an Academy Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. From 1991-1994 he was Meet the Composer Composer-in-Residence of the Phoenix Symphony.

Asia's five symphonies have received wide acclaim from live performance and their international recordings. The Fifth Symphony was commissioned for the Tucson and Jerusalem symphony orchestras in celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary.

His various orchestral works have been performed by the Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.

His various orchestral works have been performed by the Cincinnati Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others.

The recorded works of Daniel Asia may be heard on the labels of Summit, New World, Attacca, Albany, Babel, lnnova, and Mushkatweek. For further information, visit the Daniel Asia website at www.danielasia.net.

THE VIANO QUARTET

Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention”(Boston Globe), the Viano String Quartet are First Prize winners of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. Formed in 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where they were Ensemble-in-Residence through the 2020-21 season, the quartet has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Place Flagey, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The quartet is in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music as well as Meadows School of Music at the Southern Methodist University through the 2022-23 season.

Summer of 2022 brings re-invitations to Great Lakes and Rockport Music Festivals, as well as performances at Chamber Music Northwest (Protégé Project 3-week residency), Tannery Pond under the auspice of Capitol Region Classical, Victoria Summer Music Festival, Bard Music Festival finished with a residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. In the fall Viano will be making their Lucerne Festival and Wigmore Hall debuts followed by performances in Oklahoma, California, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Delaware, Tennessee, Washington DC and Canada. March 2023 marks the beginning of their three year residency with Music in the Morning in Vancouver where they will create programming to include artist collaborations, extensive community engagement and masterclasses.

Recent highlights include performances on three continents, including debuts in Berlin, Paris, Bremen, Brussels, Vancouver, and Beijing, among other cities. They have collaborated with world-class musicians such as pianists Emanuel Ax, Marc-André Hamelin and Elisso Virsaladze, violists Paul Coletti and Paul Neubauer, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, vocalist Hila Plitmann and clarinetist David Shifrin.

The quartet achieved incredible success in their formative years, with an unbroken streak of top prizes at Osaka, Fischoff, Wigmore Hall, Yellow Springs and ENKOR chamber music competitions.

The name “Viano” was created to describe the four individual instruments in a string quartet interacting as one. Each of the four instruments begins with the letter “v”, and like a piano, all four string instruments together play both harmony and melody, creating a unified instrument called the “Viano”.

THE MILL AVE CHAMBER PLAYERS

For the past fifteen seasons, the Mill Ave Chamber Players have been dedicated to bringing engaging concerts to communities in the greater Phoenix area. Starting with our original series in Sun City, Arizona, MACP has partnered with libraries, public and charter schools, community organizations, and bookstores to hold concerts in unique settings, averaging 50 concerts a year. MACP has received local and national recognition for their work: City of Phoenix Mayor's Arts Awards nominee, Governor's Arts Awards nominee, and Chamber Music America recognition for work in community building at the annual national conference.

The ensemble is featured in a permanent exhibit at the Musical Instrument Museum, on KBAQ’s Arizona Encore, and is currently ensemble-in-residence at Phoenix College. The Mill Ave Chamber Players have performed in the Walled City Music Festival (Derry, Northern Ireland), the FAOT Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (Alamos, Mexico), the Downtown Chamber Series (Phoenix, Arizona), and the International CALA (Celebración Artística de las Américas) Festival, as well as given recitals and masterclasses at universities including Universidad de Sonora, Arizona State University, University of Arizona, and the University of the Pacific.

The Mill Ave Chamber Players has recorded three albums: Impressions (2018) with commissions by John Steinmetz, Kerry Turner, Thomas Breadon, Jessica Meyer, and Robert Springer; What the Birds Said (2016) with the music of John Steinmetz; and Mill Ave Chamber Players (2014).

DAVID AMRAM
Multi-instrumentalist Musician

David Amram is a pioneer multi-instrumentalist musician (35 instruments, so far), singer, improvisational rapper and scat singer, symphonic conductor, author, and a composer of Classical, Jazz, Latin, Afro-Cuban, and Global Folk music, along with composing for Opera, Film and Broadway. Over a career, that began more than seventy years ago in Washington, DC, where he played French Horn with the National Symphony Orchestra, he has composed more than 110 orchestral and chamber music works. He also pioneered the improvisational French Horn into Jazz, and has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Charles Mingus, Elia Kazan, Jack Kerouac, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Willie Nelson, Lionel Hampton, Joseph Papp, Allen Ginsberg, Stan Getz, Langston Hughes, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Patti Smith, Paquito d’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Thelonious Monk, Woody Guthrie, and Johnny Depp. In 2011, his docu-bio film DAVID AMRAM: the First 80 Years was released. In 2014, his album THIS LAND: Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie, which he composed and conducted with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, was released. In 2019, his five CD box set release, DAVID AMRAM’s Classic American Film Scores (1956 – 2016), includes his music from The Manchurian Candidate, Splendor in the Grass, and Pull My Daisy.

As the first Composer in Residence of the New York Philharmonic, the Lincoln Center Theatre Company, and Joe Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park, Amram is also the author of a 1968 autobiography, Vibrations; in addition to Upbeat: Nine Lives of a Musical Cat; and Offbeat: Collaboratin’ with Kerouac. Routledge Publishing Co., will be releasing The Many Worlds of David Amram: Renaissance Man of American Music in August, 2023, while his forthcoming memoire David Amram: @ 90: Promising Young Composer, will be released in 2024.

Amram’s latest jazz album DAVID AMRAM Live in Germany (1954 – 2013) was released in January, 2023. He holds many Lifetime Achievement Awards and eight Honorary Doctorates. As he approaches 93, he maintains a non-stop schedule traveling the world -- performing, conducting, teaching and lecturing in five languages.

Among Amram’s many honors and eight honorary doctorates, includes the New York’s “Highlight in Jazz Lifetime Achievement Award”; the “Jay McShane’s Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame; the “Pete Seeger Power of Song Award”, and the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Folk Alliance International.