Hailed
as "sumptuous and eloquent" by The Boston Globe, pianist Sarah
Bob is an active soloist and chamber musician noted for her colorful
playing and diverse programming. A strong advocate for new music, she is
also the founding director of the New Gallery Concert Series, a series
devoted to commissioning and uniting new music and contemporary visual
art with their creators. Ms. Bob recently made her Carnegie Hall debut
with soprano, Caprice Corona, is an original member of Firebird and
Radius Ensembles, and actively performs as Primary Duo with
percussionist Aaron Trant. Recognized as a risk taker and cited for an
"ideal combination of all-stops-out abandon and sure-footed technical
control" by 21ST CENTURY MUSIC, she is a grant recipient of the
Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music, top prizewinner of the
International Gaudeamus Competition 2001 and the winner of the St.
Botolph Club Foundation's 2005 Grant-in-Aid Award. Ms. Bob presently
resides in Boston and can be heard playing the music of Lee Hyla on the
Tzadik label and Curtis K. Hughes on Cauchemar Records. For more
information, please go to
www.sarahbob.net.
Firebird flutist Alicia DiDonato was the first prize winner of
the 2005 Mid-South Young Artist Competition (Memphis, TN), and was
honored to give the U.S. Premiere of Stockhausen's Xi for solo
flute in the fall of 2004. Described as "wistful, fluent and full of
tone" and "splendidly versatile", she is an active freelancer in the
Boston area, specializing in microtonal music and performing regularly
with ensembles such as Boston Musica Viva and the Boston Pops Esplanade
Orchestra. A member of the New World Symphony from 1998 until 2001, Ms.
DiDonato has twice been a Tanglewood Music Center fellow and has also
participated in the Norfolk, Aspen, and Rockport Chamber Music
festivals. She is the former flutist for both the Pittsburgh New Music
Ensemble and the Remix Ensemble (Porto, Portugal), and was a 2005 New
Fromm Player at Tanglewood. She has appeared as concerto soloist with
the Santa Fe Symphony, the New World Symphony, and multiple ensembles at
the New England Conservatory; chamber music collaborations include
appearances with the Borromeo String Quartet and the Emerson String
Quartet. Additionally, Ms. DiDonato was the first prize winner of the
2003 Pappoutsakis competition and the 1999 Frank Bowen competition. She
studied at the Hartt School with John Wion and at New England
Conservatory with Fenwick Smith. When not performing, she can be found
knitting, gardening, horseback riding, and rock climbing. Check out her
concert schedule at:
http://homepage.mac.com/café_alicia.
David Russell,
cello, currently maintains a vigorous performance schedule both as
soloist and as collaborator in the U.S. and Europe. He performs with
numerous orchestras and ensembles in the Boston area including Cantata
Singers, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Fromm Players at Harvard
University. Mr. Russell was Assistant Principal cello with the Tulsa
Philharmonic, (2000-2002). A strong advocate of new music, Mr. Russell
has performed with such ensembles as Phantom Arts Ensemble, Dinosaur
Annex, Collage New Music, AUROS, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber
Players, Daedalus, Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard, and Music on the
Edge. He was a member of the Grammy-nominated Eaken Trio and a founding
member of Furious Band, an ensemble devoted to the works of young
composers. Mr. Russell has a DMA in cello from SUNY, Stony Brook and
also degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the University of Akron
and Brandeis University. His previous teachers have included Timothy
Eddy, Steven Doane, Michael Haber and Rhonda Rider.
Aaron Trant,
deemed by 21ST CENTURY MUSIC as a “fire-breathing” percussionist,
is both an active performer and composer. Cited for his “melodic, if
unpitched, voice” (Splendidezine), he has also received great
acclaim for his original score and solo percussion performance to the
Chris Marker film "La Jetée." His eclectic knowledge of classical,
jazz, rock, contemporary and improvised music has made him an asset to
many ensembles throughout the United States. Mr. Trant is the
co-founder, performer and composer for the After Quartet, an ensemble
devoted to promoting new music in the tradition of the Silent Film Era.
He is also the assistant director of Boston based group Firebird
Ensemble and Primary Duo (piano and percussion). Mr. Trant is an
original member of Endy Emby (trumpet and percussion), the Adam James
Wilson Quintet (NYC), High Street Percussion (Miami, Florida), and the
frequently touring Richard Grimes Collective. He also performs
regularly with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and the Fromm Players
(Harvard; Cambridge, MA), and was recently featured with the new music
group Alarm Will Sound. Mr. Trant has been seen in a variety of concert
venues including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall and Mexico’s Palacio de
Bellas Artes. Now residing in Boston, Mr. Trant can be heard on the
Boiled Jar, Cauchemar, Nepenthe and Stone Quarry labels. Upcoming
projects include original compositions for Firebird Ensemble and Primary
Duo.
Kate Vincent,
Director and Violist of the Firebird Ensemble, is originally from Perth,
Western Australia. Ms. Vincent is the Associate Principal Violist of the
Boston Modern Orchestra Project and has also performed as both Principal
and Associate Principal Violist with numerous groups, including Emmanuel
Music, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Opera Boston, Opera Aperta and Opera
Unlimited. As a chamber musician, she has performed with Alea 3, BMOP’s
Club Café series, Chameleon Ensemble, Emmanuel Music’s Chamber series,
the Euclid Quartet, Callithumpian Ensemble, Windsor Music, and the
Benten Trio, and was violist of the Arden Quartet from 1999-2003. She
has performed throughout Australia, Canada, US, Germany, Holland and
Russia. Ms. Vincent has premiered chamber and solo works by Luciano
Berio, John Harbison, John MacDonald, among other composers, and has
recorded for the Tzadik, New World, Oxingale and Steeplechase labels. In
2004, Ms. Vincent received an award from the St.Botolph Club Foundation
on behalf of the Firebird Ensemble and was recently appointed Director
of LONGITUDE, the new music ensemble at the Longy School of
Music.
FREQUENT
FLYERS
Rohan
Gregory, violinist, has cultivated a wide-ranging expertise in
chamber music, new music, and world musics. He is presently a member of
QX, a string quartet that is largely dedicated to the performance of new
music. Having concertized internationaly with the Arden Quartet, Rohan
has also played with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, the Ancora
Ensemble, the Calumet Quintet, and the international award-winning
Boccherini Ensemble. Rohan is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera, the
New England String Ensemble, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
His involvement with world music includes touring extensively in Europe
with the Klezmatics, in Thailand with the muti-ethnic flute player Abbie
Rabinowitz and the group Kaleidoscope, in India with the Indo-jazz group
Natraj, nationally with the Sophia Bilides Greek Folk Ensemble, and
throughout New England with the Flamenco guitarist Juanito Pascal. Rohan
coaches chamber music for the Walnut Hill School for the Performing
Arts, the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, for Music at Port
Milford in Ontario, Canada, and at the Apple Hill Chamber Music
Festival. His principal teachers were Marilyn McDonald at the Oberlin
Conservatory and Charles Treger at UMass.
Violinist
Gabriela Diaz, a Georgia native, began her musical training at five.
Shortly before her sixteenth birthday, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's
disease, a type of lymphatic cancer. She was treated with chemotherapy
and radiation at Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta and the
Columbus Medical Center. As a cancer survivor, Gabriela is committed to
cancer research and treatment. She has lent her talents to many
organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the Leukemia
Society, the Race For The Cure, and OnCare Inc. She runs a series of
concerts in cancer units at Boston area hospitals. Gabriela attended the
Aspen Music Festival, and has performed at the Kingston, Rockport, and
Vail Valley Bravo music festivals. She recently graduated from the New
England Conservatory of Music, studying with James Buswell. At
graduation, she received the Chadwick Medal, the highest award bestowed
on NEC undergraduates.
