Chinese-American violinist Sherri Zhang started playing the violin at the age of five. She  recently just received her Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance from the New England Conservatory. She will continue her Master Degree in Violin Suzuki Pedagogy/Violin Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her primary teachers include Joseph Gatwood, Paul Biss, and Stephen Rose. Sherri has attended several prestigious summer festivals such as the Meadowmount School of Music, Heifetz International Music Institute, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Orford Music Academy and the Fontainebleau Music Festival. As well as playing with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra during her years at Interlochen Academy, she has also played in many masterclasses for Joseph Silverstien, Atar Arad, Elmar Oliveria, Tong-Wei Dong, Lucy Chapman, Ian Swensen the Emerson Quartet, the Ariel String Quartet, and the Borromeo String Quartet. Sherri served as an intern at Musiclaunch Boston and as a solfege and theory tutor at the New England Conservatory. As both a violinist and pianist, she has spent the past few summers teaching piano and violin at the Kentlands Music Studio Summer Camp in Maryland.

Samuel Bobinski is an adventurous and versatile musician, teacher, arranger, composer, and double bassist who thrives on collaboration and creating exciting live musical experiences across genres and styles, from classical music and jazz to rock, bluegrass, heavy metal, bossa nova, disco, and almost everything in between. Performance highlights include a double bass concerto performance at Rutgers University in 2012, performing with the Yale Philharmonia as principal bass under John Adams in 2014, premiering four new works at the Norfolk New Music Workshop in 2016, and performing on the main stage at MAGFest in 2016. He performs in and arranges for a variety of ensembles, including Symphony By The Sea in Massachusetts and the video game music band DiscoCactus. He served as a Teaching Artist for both MusAid’s workshop in Belize and in the Music in Schools program at Yale University. He graduated from the Yale School of Music with a Master’s degree in 2015, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, CT. In addition to his performance and teaching obligations, Sam is the assistant manager of the Yale Philharmonia Orchestra.

Marissa Honda is a freelance oboist and teacher in the Los Angeles, CA area.   She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New West Symphony, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Fresno Grand Opera, Opera San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles Musicians Collective and others.  In 2014, she won the English Horn position with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra and she also currently holds the position of English Horn in the American Youth Symphony.  She has spent summers performing at the National Orchestral Institute, the Atlantic Music Festival, and others. 

  A passionate teacher of students of all ages, Marissa coaches woodwinds and double reeds at high schools and middle schools across Los Angeles.  She has taught recorder and general music to elementary school students as a mentor for the USC Thornton Outreach program, and was the recipient of the 2013 Thornton Outreach Program Award.  During the summer, she has returned to the Central California area to teach recorder and Orff at KidMunity Music camp.  She has also taught basic music theory and appreciation at A Place Called Home—an after-school activity center in South Central Los Angeles.  She maintains a private oboe studio in Los Angeles and since 2014, has been an oboe faculty member at Bocal Majority/Operation OBOE oboe and bassoon camp at Pepperdine University.  Marissa is professor of oboe at The Masters College in Santa Clarita, CA.

She holds a Bachelors of Music degree from USC in Oboe Performance with a minor in communications, and a Masters of Music degree in Oboe Performance from USC.  She is currently pursuing a DMA at USC in oboe performance.  Her primary teachers include Marion Kuszyk, Joel Timm, David Weiss, Allan Vogel and Rachel Aldrich.

Zach works as a trumpet performer and educator in Salt Lake City, where he is a doctoral candidate and teaching assistant at The University of Utah. Zach has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He can be heard on numerous recordings in classical, jazz, rock, soul, and funk styles. He currently performs as a substitute with the Utah Symphony and freelances throughout the region. Zach is a former member of the Round Rock and Waco Symphonies. He has also performed with orchestras in Macao, Austin, Brazos Valley, and Longview, as well as The Dallas Winds, Imperial Brass, and Utah Wind Symphony. As an educator, Zach has served as a high school band director and maintains a large private teaching studio. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Music from Baylor University. His principal teachers include Tim Andersen, Ray Sasaki, Wiff Rudd, and Travis Petersen.

The Belgian violinist Yanou Vanermen is a multi-facetted musician. From childhood on she has played different instruments, including violin, piano, and clarinet, and she took singing lessons. She studied at LUCA School of Arts in Leuven (BE) where she obtained Master’s Degrees in music pedagogy and classical violin. Afterwards she specialized in World Music at the conservatory of Rotterdam (CODARTS) in the Netherlands. As a violinist she is an active player in the tango group Orquesta Típica Bélgica, the rock formation Vigilante, and the duo The Rodeo Roses (country/pop). She is the concert master and co-conductor of the symphonic youth orchestra Musilene and she conducts a choir for asylum seekers that has as main goal stimulating social integration. As a music pedagogue she has been working together with the European Association for Music in Schools (EAS) for the organization of an international student forum and an international conference on music education. Yanou is a creative and enthusiastic teacher who loves challenges and adventure.

Diana is an Australian cellist, currently pursing her Doctoral in Music Performance on Cello. She is the Graduate Assistant to renowned cellist and distinguished cello professor, Emilio Colon. In addition to performing solo, chamber, and orchestra concerts, she works closely with Mimi Zweig and other renowned pedagogues to research and develop new and innovative cello teaching methods.

Diana began her musical education at the age of 6 learning the piano. It was not until age 11 when she began learning the cello. After a short 3 years of study, she won youth cello competitions at many state eisteddfods and received a music scholarship at a renowned private school, Wesley College. Diana continued to study both instruments and received her AMEB Licenciate Diploma in both Piano (2002) and Cello (2003), Awarded Dux in Arts & Academics in 2004. She studied a double degree at the University of Melbourne in 2005, and participated in the exchange program to study at Sibelius Academy, Helsinki. In 2009, she graduated with Bachelor in Music Performance (Hons) and Bachelor in Commerce.

Diana was the recipient of the Donovan Johnson Travelling Scholarship awarded by the University of Melbourne in support and encouragement of her graduate music studies in the UK. She was also the 2012 recipient of Thornton Foundation Award by Tait Memorial Trust. Whilst in the UK, she performed in recitals and concerts in local venues; and has participated in highly acclaimed master class courses such as Aurora Masterclass Sweden and ISA Music Festival. In 2011, she graduated Masters in Music Performance with Distinction, under the tutelage of internationally renowned cellist, Raphael Wallfisch and Nicholas Trygstad. She has also played for many other distinguished cellists: Ralph Kirshbaum, Gary Hoffman, Hannah Roberts, Martti Rousi, and Arto Noras. In 2012,she was offered the Manchester Orchestral Fellowship position, working as a member of the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in New Zealand. During her time, she also went on tour with the inaugural Aldeburgh World Orchestra, which included performances at BBC Proms, and Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam.

Aside from cello, Diana enjoys travelling and exploring cultural wonders of the world.

Violist Stephen Fine is a dedicated music educator, who maintains an active orchestral, chamber, and solo career based in Gainesville, Florida.  He runs the after school strings program at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, is co-principal viola of the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra, and his private viola and violin students regularly win state and national awards.  He is a core member of The Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, a concert series dedicated to bringing Art Music to underserved communities, and he has performed several times with the New Music group, ensemble: Périphérie, including for their 2013 Carnegie Hall tour.  His performance career has taken him across the United States, to Canada, China, Finland, Italy, France, and Switzerland.

Mr. Fine was trained from the age of 4 by Suzuki-pioneer Sonnhild Frey Kitts in the small southern college town where he lives today.  By the age of 7 he was playing in a string orchestra, and by 10 he had a regularly rehearsing string quartet and a seat in the county youth symphony.  He attended the Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas for his undergraduate degree and then the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for his masters.  He studied viola with Karen Ritscher, Jodi Levitz, and Katherine Murdock, and chamber music with Norman Fischer, James Dunham, Mark Sokol, Philip Setzer, and Eugene Drucker.

Mr. Fine not only performs on his modern viola by Emilio Celani, but he also owns a large Baroque tenor viola strung with gut strings for period performance.  In an effort to augment north central Florida’s concert scene, in 2016 Mr. Fine founded the Hogtown Chamber Music Series and recently presented concerts featuring Britten’s Lachrymae and Brahms’ Sonata in f with pianist Kimberly Kong.

Mr. Fine is 33 years old; he lives with a big fluffy dog named Thorin.

Marçal Pàmies Sans (1990, Spain) began his musical training at the age of 5, when he received his first violin and piano lessons. After studying at the Professional Conservatoire of Music in Vila-Seca (Spain), in 2011 he started the Bachelor in Classical and Contemporary Music, specializing in violin, at the ESMUC (Barcelona, Spain). There he had the opportunity to work with prestigious teachers such as Eva Graubin, Kai Gleusteen and Quartet Casals. In 2015, he furthered his education with a Master’s Degree in Advanced Performing Studies at the ESMUC (Barcelona, Spain). He has played in several orchestras under the musical direction of Lutz Köhler, Pablo González, Karl Anton Rickenbacher, and George Pehlivanian. In parallel to his performing activities, he holds a Master’s Degree in Music Education and Pedagogy at the Valencian International University (Spain), and he is trained in musical mental training. At the moment, he is doing a postgraduate study in violin performing at the University for Music and Arts of Vienna (Austria).

Esther Nahm is a second-year Viola Fellow at the New World Symphony. She previously played as assistant principal of the Richmond Symphony for two seasons. Other orchestral positions include the Canton Symphony and principal of the Erie Philharmonic. An avid chamber musician, she has performed alongside artists such as Carol Winsenc, Peter Zazofsky, Bayla Keyes and Marc Johnson, and has received chamber coachings from members of the Brentano, Emerson, Muir, Cleveland, Juilliard and Cavani Quartets. She has participated in various music festivals including the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, Spoleto Festival U.S.A., National Repertory Orchestra, Castleton Music Festival, Banff Centre and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She earned a bachelor’s degree and a performance certificate from Boston University as a student of Bayla Keyes, Steve Ansell and Ed Gazouleas and a master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Lynne Ramsey.

Ukrainian-born Mexican cellist, Jenia studied at the Stolyarsky Music School-Lyceum with Pavel Kupin and Valentina Balon. In 1995, she moved to Mexico, where she continued studying cello with her mother, Elena Befani. At the same time, she was taking master classes and courses with well-known cellists. In 2007, Jenia returned to Europe to get her Bachelors degree. Jenia worked in multiple orchestras, starting from a very young age. She also performed as a soloist with the San Diego Young Symphony, Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Chamber Orchestra of Palace of Fine Arts, UANL Chamber Orchestra and others. She is also an active chamber performer throughout Mexico and the United States.

Jenia currently holds the position of co-principal cellist in the Orchestra of Baja California, and she works as an adjunct cello faculty at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC). Jenia also works as a cello teacher at the Music Art Center, participating in a program “Talents of Baja California” and as an artistic director of an ensemble “Cellofornia”.

Clara Vázquez was born in La Coruña, Spain, in 1989. She started playing the violin when she was four years old.

In 2006, Clara won the first prize in the chamber music competition "Acordes Caja Madrid". In 2008 she received a full scholarship to attend the Young Artists Festival Bayreuth in Germany, an orchestra and chamber music program for talented young musicians.

As part of her undergraduate studies, she studied abroad with Mariana Sirbu in Leipzig, Germany, where she also received orchestral repertoire lessons with one of the Concertmasters of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Henrik Hochschild.

She finished her undergraduate studies in 2011 in Madrid, Spain, with the highest grades. She was a member of the Youth National Spanish Orchestra (Jonde) from 2008 until 2011 and she held a two year contract with the Academy Orchestra of the Royal Theater in Madrid (Orquesta Escuela del Teatro Real de Madrid) from 2009 to 2011.

In 2011, Clara was accepted to continue her graduate studies in the Jacobs School of Music, in Bloomington, Indiana, with Professor Kevork Mardirossian. In 2013, she receives a Fellowship for Graduate Courses in Universities from the Fundacion Especial Caja Madrid to cover all expenses of her second year of Masters.

In 2014, she receives a Fellowship from The Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona, "la Caixa", a social, non-profit institution, to cover the first two years of Doctorate studies at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana University.

She has taught violin private lessons extensively and worked as a violin teacher for organizations like MusAid, Habitat for Music, The Fairview Violin Project (Bloomington, Indiana) and Indiana University String Academy.

Clara is currently continuing her Doctoral studies at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She plays a Nicholas François Vuillaume’s violin from 1850.

Skillful and creative percussionist interested in all “states of music”, Alejandro Ferández strives to use music to improve the lives around him. His main goal is to help people and himself to find their personal and authentic performance styles, making it easier to express their ideas.

In his teaching, Alejandro is always looking for new ways to develop musically. He enjoys experimenting with mental and physical exercises, improvisation, and games to help students improve the five majors: tempo, musicality, sound, intonation and technique.

A freelance percussionist, Alejandro has degrees in general music teaching from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and orchestra percussion performance from Musikene, Basque country. Alejandro is currently pursuing a Masters in percussion performance from the Royal Danish School of Music, Copenhagen under the tutelage of Johan Bridger and Gert Mortenssen.