Praised for his "vibrant intensity," ( The Times, London) and playing "supremely convincing in its vitality," (Cleveland Plain Dealer) violinist Kevin Lawrence has consistently elicited superlative responses for his performances throughout the United States and Europe. His assertive style and strong musical personality have thrilled audiences at Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and in Houston, Chicago, London, Frankfurt, Rome, Prague, St. Petersburg, and Amsterdam, where the Dutch press described him as "simply miraculous." (Het Vaderland) In the fall of 2003 he made an extensive recital tour of Europe, including concert appearances in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy. His release of the complete violin works of the American composer Arthur Foote on the New World label was "highly recommended" as "beautifully played" by the Washington Post, and heard on the Ken Burns series “Not for Ourselves Alone,” broadcast on PBS; his second CD of American violin sonatas, released recently by New World, was hailed as “vital playing” and “a labor of love” by Classics Today.com.

Kevin Lawrence received his musical education at the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Ivan Galamian and Margaret Pardee. While at Juilliard he also studied chamber music with Felix Galimir and continued his chamber music study with Josef Gingold at the Meadowmount School in Westport, New York. Appointed to the Meadowmount faculty by Ivan Galamian in 1980, he taught there each summer until 1994, when he became the Dean of the Killington Music Festival in Vermont. He served as Killington's Artistic Director from 1997 through 2004, when he founded the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. Mr. Lawrence has given master classes throughout the United States, and in Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Russia and Venezuela. He currently serves as chair of the string department at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, where he has taught since 1990.

Described as "possessing a technical mastery and keen sensitivity while bringing the works of the composers to a living and breathing reality" (Amberieu, France) Sophie Arbuckle is a co-founding director of the Port Jefferson Music Academy and a member of the Braude Ensemble. She also serves on the violin faculty at the Preparatory Division of the Mannes College of Music and at the School for Strings in New York City. Besides teaching at the Green Mountain Music Festival she is member of the artist-faculty of the Sulzbach-Rozenberg International Music Festival in Germany.

Throughout her career, Ms. Arbuckle has appeared as a member of various ensembles in all of the major concert halls in New York, in addition to having performed extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. She has appeared in several chamber music festivals, including Music@Menlo (California), where she co-directed the 2004 chamber music workshop, the Killington Music Festival (VT), Patrimoine en Musique des pays de l'Ain, and Fetes musicales de Savoie (France) as a member of the Braude Ensemble. She has served as guest concertmaster of the Sudbury Symphony (Canada), with whom she performed as a soloist on numerous occasions.

As a member of the Braude Ensemble, Ms. Arbuckle has performed in many prestigious venues such as the Royal Flemish Philarmonie Chamber Music Series (Antwerp), Philarmonique de Namur (Theatre Royal, Ghent), Series Pont Rouge (Ghent), Astoria Concerts (Brussels), Festival des Arcs (France) where the ensemble was in residence in the summer 2004, and Fetes Musicales de Savoie (France) where the ensemble was featured on France 3 television. The Braude Ensemble is presently in residence at the Port Jefferson Music Academy and is the core of the "Academy Concerts" Series.

Ms. Arbuckle holds the Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. Her major teachers include Sally Thomas, Josef Gingold, Mauricio Fuks, Edith Peinemann and Arnold Steinhardt.

"...flamboyantly responsive, flexible and supple viola playing." Marie Louise Scharf, Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany

Praised for "sophisticated, warm intensity, radiant timbre and well-balanced, harmonious performance style in the best chamber music tradition," (Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Germany) violinist Arik Braude currently serves on the faculty of the Aaron Copland Conservatory of Music at Queens College in New York as well as the Mannes College of Music Preparatory Division. Besides teaching at the Green Mountain Music Festival he is member of the artist-faculty of the Sulzbach-Rozenberg International Music Festival in Germany. His students have won numerous competitions, and have performed as soloists and concertmasters with many student orchestras in New York City and the metropolitan area.

Elizabeth Chang has given solo recitals throughout the United States as well is in Europe and South America, and has appeared as soloist with orchestras both in the US and in Europe. She has been a guest artist and master teacher at the Sao Paulo International Chamber Music Festival in Brazil, and as a chamber musician has collaborated with many of today's most prominent artists including Bernard Greenhouse, Paul Neubauer, Anne-Marie McDermott, Aaron Rosand, and Robert White. A native New Yorker, Ms. Chang studied in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School with Louise Behrend and Joseph Fuchs, and at Harvard University, where she was a violin student of Roman Totenberg and a chamber music student of composers Leon Kirchner and Luise Vosgerchian. Upon graduation from Harvard she continued her violin studies in Switzerland with Professor Max Rostal. Ms. Chang was the recipient of the Presidential Scholar in the Arts Award and the Beebe Fellowship for Study Abroad awarded by New England Conservatory.

Ms. Chang enjoys a busy performing and teaching career in New York and Massachusetts. She plays regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and has performed, recorded, and toured with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra both in this country and abroad. She has appeared as a guest with the Perspectives Ensemble, Ensemble Sospeso, Sequitir and many other groups in New York City, as well as with the Walden Chamber Players and the Smith Chamber Players in Massachusetts. Ms. Chang is Artistic Director and founding member of the Lighthouse Chamber Players, a chamber music festival on Cape Cod. She has been an artist faculty member at New York University and co-founded an intensive chamber music workshop at NYU in the summer of 2002. She has been on the violin and viola faculties at the Mason Gross School of the Arts in Rutgers University, and she is currently on the violin and viola faculties of the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School as well as on the violin faculty of The School for Strings in New York, where she launched an intensive chamber music workshop in the summer of 2003. In 2005 she was appointed to the position of Visiting Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Stephanie Ezerman has appeared in concert across the United States and Canada as a soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with the Memphis Symphony, New World Symphony, Pine Mountain Music Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. Active as a chamber musician, she performs regularly with her husband, Alex Ezerman, as part of the Ezerman Duo. She has participated in numerous premiers, most recently a recording of Theresa LeVelle's The Shadowlands, released on the Innova label in 2005. She studied with Sally O'Reilly, Mark Bjork and, most recently, John Gilbert.

Violinist John Haspel Gilbert has been praised by legendary performers such as the late Josef Gingold ("I have great admiration for this superb violinist"), Glenn Dicterow ("Obviously we are dealing with a very high level of artistry"), Camilla Wicks, Arnold Steinhardt and the late Joseph Fuchs. An active soloist, recitalist and chamber music collaborator, he regularly performs throughout the United States, having appeared from coast to coast in prestigious venues from Weill Recital Hall in New York City, to Abravanel Hall in Santa Barbara(CA). In recent seasons he has performed concerti of Brahms, Bruch, Corigliano, Peter Fischer (world premiere), Vivaldi, and Kurt Weill, and has been heard in broadcasts on National Public Radio. European solo and chamber music appearances have included performances in France, Iceland, Italy, England and Ireland, and masterclasses at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, the Cork School of Music, and the Royal College of Music in London. Appointed to the faculty of the Texas Tech University School of Music as Artist-Performer and Professor of Violin in 1995, he is a sought after clinician and adjudicator and has been heard in concert in every major city in Texas. His students hold university positions and have won auditions with the Baton Rouge Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (New Orleans), Memphis Symphony, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony Orchestra, and the Phoenix Symphony.

From 1990-1995 Gilbert was the teaching assistant to Sally O'Reilly at both the University of Minnesota and Louisiana State University. A member of the artist-faculty of the Schlern International Music Festival in Italy, he has performed and taught at summer festivals around the world, including the BRAVO! Summer String Institute, Eastern Music Festival, Heidelberg Castle Festival, Killington Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival.

Gilbert's principal studies were with Sally O'Reilly and Charles Castleman. He holds degrees from the University of Minnesota, the Yale University School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music, and has held fellowships at the Aspen Music School in both chamber music and orchestral performance. His chamber music coaches are current or former members of the Juilliard, Tokyo, Cleveland, Fine Arts and Yale string quartets, and the Eastman and Rafael trios.

Acclaimed for his deep musicality and virtuosity, Chin Kim, one of the most versatile, and sought-after violinists of our day, has been concertizing extensively throughout North America, Asia and Europe as guest artist with orchestras as those of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montreal, and Atlanta with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Myung Whun Chung, and Sixten Ehrling. As recitalist, Mr. Kim has appeared in major halls of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Brussels, and Seoul. Prizewinner in several of the most prestigious international violin competitions including the Concours International de Musique de Montreal, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Paganini Competition, and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Mr. Kim's recent concerts include the performance of Bernstein's Serenade with the Atlanta Symphony, Barber Concerto with Wayne Chamber Orchestra, and the Glazunov Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic.

Mr. Kim's debut recording of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Russia) under the baton of Paul Freeman, and the Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 in D Major with pianist David Oei, was released on the ProArte/Fanfare label. His second CD consisting of the Mendelssohn c minor, and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio with the Starr-Kim-Boeckheler Piano Trio was released on the Mastersound label, and his most recent CD, containing the Glazunov and Tchaikovsky Concertos was recorded and released by Intersound/Fanfare label following the performances of these concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. " Virtuoso," "musically assertive," "rich, golden tone" and "perceptive" are the words of critical acclaim describing Mr. Kim's performances of the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 compact disc. "Kim's deep, into-the-strings tone," with "more than enough technique to master these piece..." are critics’ comments describing his recording of the Tchaikovsky and the Glazunov concertos.

Mr. Kim is the recipient of the Nan-Pa Prize awarded by the Nan-Pa Foundation in Korea, which is one of the highest honors given to a Korean-born musician. He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and, subsequently from the Juilliard School where he received the Petschek Award, and won the Concerto Competition which led to the performance of the Glazunov Concerto with the Juilliard Philharmonia in Lincoln Center. With his busy performing schedule, he also teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York. His major teachers included Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay and Josef Gingold. He serves on the faculty of The Mannes College of Music in New York.

Violinist Kyung Sun Lee captured sixth prize in the 1994 Tchaikowsky Competition, a bronze medal in the 1993 Queen Elizabeth Competition, first prizes of the Washington and D'Angelo International Competitions, and third prize in the Montreal International Competition, where she also won the Audience Favorite and the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work prizes.  Subsequent to winning these awards she has enjoyed ever-increasing popularity as a performer.  She has received high critical acclaim: "Exceptional tonal suavity and expressive intensity in equal measure," commented The Strad. "Godard's 'Concerto Romantique' could not have had a more outstanding soloist than Kyung Sun Lee," proclaimed Harris Goldsmith in the New York Concert Review.  "Fluidity and grace; pathos and emotion," raved the Palm Beach Post.  "Lee is the most musical, the most intelligent soloist to have played with the orchestra in quite a while," maintained the Tuscaloosa News.  "Penetrating clarity, a strong sense of style and a technical supremacy that conquered all difficulties with unruffled ease," announced the Miami Herald.  "Beyond superb execution, she conveyed [Vieuxtemps's Concerto no. 5]'s particular Romanticism expertly," remarked Dennis Rooney in The Strad.

In great demand as a soloist, Kyung Sun Lee also performs frequently in duo with husband Brian Suits, with whom she is one of the newest members of the Community Concerts roster.  For years a highly sought after teacher in Seoul, Lee became professor of violin at the Oberlin Conservatory in the fall of 2001.  In summers she teaches at several chamber music festivals in both the United States and Korea.  Lee is a former member of the acclaimed KumHo/Asiana String Quartet of Korea, with whom she performed worldwide.

Lee has recorded two CDs with pianist/husband Brian Suits, "Salut d'Amour" with pianist HaeSun Paik on EMI, several recordings with KumHo/Asiana String Quartet, "Spanish Heart" with German pianist Peter Schindler and guitarist Sung-Ho Chang on Good International, and a CD in trio with Suits and soprano Jennifer Aylmer.  Her latest album, with cellist Tilmann Wick, was released in January of 2004 on Audite Records.  Kyung Sun Lee studied at Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory and The Juilliard School.  Her teachers have included Nam Yun Kim, Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann, Dorothy Delay and Hyo Kang.

Kathryn Lucktenberg's performance credits include solo appearances with the Honolulu, Savannah, and Augusta Symphonies, and, as a member of the Kasimir String Quartet, a highly acclaimed tour of England, France, and Italy. She has concertized extensively in the western United States and Asia, with concerts in Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, New Zealand and Hawaii. She has given recitals at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center, and the Musician's Club of New York, and she has performed on the popular Bargemusic series in Brooklyn. In addition to solo engagements, Lucktenberg concertizes extensively in the Pacific Northwest with the Oregon String Quartet and as a member of Trio Pacifica. She has recorded for CRI and Koch labels.

A fourth-generation violinist, Kathryn Lucktenberg entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 15. She completed high school there and earned her Bachelor of Music from Curtis in 1980, studying with Jascha Brodsky, Jaime Laredo, and Ivan Galamian.

Lucktenberg's professional debut was with the Philadelphia Orchestra, performing the Barber Violin Concerto. She was a national winner in the competition arena and a semifinalist in the Indianapolis and Flesch International Competitions. She now serves frequently on adjudicating panels, and regularly sends her own students to major competitions.

Lucktenberg has taught master classes internationally, in the Pacific Northwest, and in the southeastern United States. She has also served on the faculty of the Grand Teton Orchestral Training Seminar. While in Hawaii, she co-founded and co-directed the Honolulu Academy of Arts' "Academy Camerata" series. During a recent tour of Asia, she served as a visiting professor for the University of Otago in New Zealand. Prior to joining the violin faculty of the University of Oregon in 1993, she was concertmaster of the Honolulu Symphony for 11 seasons.

Violinist Janet Orenstein has enjoyed an active performing career both in the United States and abroad as a chamber musician, soloist and advocate of contemporary music. After winning the 1996 USIA Duo Competition, Ms. Orenstein toured seven African countries, giving recitals and master classes with pianist Christina Dahl. As a member of the Persichetti String Quartet she has also appeared in New York's Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Hall, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She is a founding member of the Guild Trio which won the 1988 USIA Artistic Ambassador Competition, and has toured with this ensemble extensively in Canada, Europe and the United States. Her trio career has included residencies at the Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY, the Stony Brook Medical Center (funded by Chamber Music America), and the University of Virginia, where she was a performing and teaching member of the faculty for five years. In North Carolina she has taught violin at UNC-Greensboro and Wake Forest, and coached chamber music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She has recorded on the Centaur, CRI and Innova labels.
A recipient of the Hannah and Leonard Stone Foundation Award from The Juilliard School, Janet Orenstein received both bachelors and masters degrees from that institution. Continuing her studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, she received her doctoral degree as a student of Joyce Robbins. Other principal teachers include Szymon Goldberg, Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier.

David Russell was appointed to the violin faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1985, was a charter faculty member of the ENCORE School for Strings, and has taught at numerous summer festivals, including Keshet Eilon International Violin Mastercourse in Israel, ARIA International Summer Music Academy in Canada, Blue Mountain Festival in Princeton, New Jersey and the Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. He has given master classes and recitals in China, Israel, Canada and the US, and has been a distinguished member of the jury at the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition in Switzerland, as well as many other national and international competitions. His former students have distinguished themselves as competition winners, chamber and orchestral musicians, teachers and soloists with orchestras, and have been heard at venues including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Mr. Russell has performed frequently as recitalist and soloist with orchestra, including the Cleveland POPS at Severance Hall. He has been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today and has performed at the Glenn Gould Studio of the CBC in Toronto. He is the founder and former artistic director of The Pensacola Chamber Music Festival in Florida and a member of the board of trustees of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.

Violinist Carolyn Stuart has been acclaimed as a performer of "astonishing effectiveness, radiant inspiration, deep sensitivity, and colossal temperament" (Musical Horizons, Sofia). She is heard regularly as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in prominent North American and European centers, including her recent appearances in New York, Washington DC, Toronto, Paris, Sofia, Athens, and Zurich. Carolyn Stuart has performed on national radio and television broadcasts in the Netherlands and Bulgaria, as well as NPR stations throughout the United States. A member of the acclaimed new music group Quorum, she also maintains an active concert schedule as a member of the Stuart-Ivanov Duo, established in 1997 with pianist Svetozar Ivanov. She records for Gega and Albany labels.

Carolyn Stuart is a frequent performer at various festivals including those at Chautauqua, Interlochen, Killington, Hot Springs, Pine Mountain, and Fox River, and abroad in the Netherlands (Peter de Groote), Bulgaria (Salon des Artes, Sofia), and France (Association Philomuses, Paris). An eloquent interpreter of modern music, Ms. Stuart avidly collaborates with current composers, and has accepted invitations as guest artist for the Cleveland Composers' Guild, the American New Arts Music Festival, and the International Alliance of Women in Music. Selected concerts for the 2006/07 season include appearances at the Robert Helps Festival (New York City), University of Toronto Guest Artist Series, University of Wisconsin Chamber Arts Series, Fox River Chamber Music Festival (Wisconsin), Steinway Artists Series (St. Petersburg, Florida) as well as concert engagements in Italy and the Netherlands.

Carolyn Stuart currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at the University of South Florida. She has presented master classes at the Universities of Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Eastern Michigan, and Akron; at Interlochen Arts Academy, Ohio University, Arizona State University, and Pennsylvania State University; and abroad at the North Netherlands Conservatorium, the International Youth Music Festival (Bulgaria), and the Vicenza Conservatory.

Carolyn Stuart holds degrees from the Juilliard School, the University of Michigan, and from SUNY Stonybrook (DMA). Her principal teachers have included Mitchell Stern, Paul Kantor, Stephen Clapp, Margaret Pardee, Mark Rush, and Kevin Lawrence.