Joshua has been championed for his captivating performances and continues to be recognized as one the promising young dramatic voices of today. In the 2022-2023 season, he makes his Opera Omaha debut as Reginald in X, a role he has also performed at Detroit Opera and Odyssey Opera/Boston Modern Orchestra Project. He also makes his English National Opera debut in Blue, which he has also performed with Seattle Opera, makes his Indianapolis Symphony debut as soloist in Handel’s Messiah, and returns to Brooklyn Art Song Society for a series of concerts. Other career highlights include Germont in La traviata with Washington National Opera, Jason in the world premiere of Matt Boehler’s 75 Miles, and his Carnegie Hall Debut in 2018 as the baritone soloist in Mozart’s Regina Cœli, K. 276, Vaughn Williams’ Serenade to Music.
Robert combines a deep commitment to the existing cello repertoire with what the New Yorker magazine calls an “adventurous” spirit in new music. With performance credits at Alice Tully Hall, Bargemusic, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and The Rose Studio at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, he has also appeared as a soloist throughout Japan as a member of the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and been featured in recital on WQXR’s “Young Artist Showcase.”
At the center of new music in New York, Robert has performed with the American Modern Ensemble, Argento New Music Project, Fireworks Ensemble, Newspeak, and SONYC. Recent collaborations include Uri Caine, Georg Friedrich Haas, Aaron Jay Kernis, Steve Mackey, Joan Tower, Charles Wourinen, and Chen Yi. He has performed the New York premiere of John Harbison’s Abu Ghraib for cello and piano, and was the soloist in Augusta Read Thomas’s Passion Prayers for cello and chamber ensemble at the New York Times Center.
Robert’s major teachers include Paul Tobias at The Mannes College of Music and Uri Vardi at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and he has worked with Timothy Eddy, Aldo Parisot, and Janos Starker at festivals and masterclasses. Robert has taught at Juilliard Pre-college, Mannes Prep, Syracuse University, and Music Conservatory of Westchester, and been artist-in-residence at Yale University and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. His recent CD “20/21: Music for Cello and Piano from the 20th and 21st Centuries,” features pianist Blair McMillen and the premiere of a work for cello and piano by composer Andrew Waggoner. Robert’s recording of solo Bach on the American Express commercial “Don’t Take Chances. Take Charge.” has garnered national attention.
Nick Kendall, violin; Charles Yang, violin; Ranaan Meyer, double bass
Bonded by an uncommon blend of instruments and vocals, Charles Yang (violin), Nick Kendall (violin), and Ranaan Meyer (double bass), have found a unique voice of expression. To experience Time For Three live is to hear the various eras, styles, and traditions of Western music fold in on themselves and emerge anew.
Earning praise from NPR, NBC, and The Wall Street Journal, Time For Three is renowned for their charismatic and energetic performances in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and The Royal Albert Hall. In 2020, the band partnered with cellist and composer Ben Sollee to put together the soundtrack to the new Focus Features’ film Land, starring and directed by Robin Wright. The film first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 31, 2021. They have collaborated with artists as diverse as Ben Folds, Branford Marsalis, and Joshua Bell, and have premiered original works by composers Chris Brubeck and Pulitzer Prize-winners Jennifer Higdon and William Bolcom. Their most recent commission by Pulitzer Prize-winner Kevin Puts, Contact, will be premiered with the San Francisco Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra in summer 2022. This concerto will be featured on their new album, Letters for the Future, alongside Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto 4-3, to be released June 2022 on Deutsche Grammophon.
Oleksiy has built a freelance performing and teaching career in New York City. Originally from Ukraine, Oleksiy’s credentials include receiving a master’s degree from The Julliard School, a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin Conservatory, and a post-graduate diploma in orchestral performance from Manhattan School of Music. From 2009 to 2015, he held the positions of acting associate principal bassoon with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and second bassoon with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. His festival participation includes Verbier and Schleswig-Holstein. Oleksiy is also a bassoon technician and specialist and typically spends his free time servicing, restoring, and repairing instruments on the East Coast.
Alice has been hailed for her sensitive musicianship, expressive nuance, and passionate commitment to teaching. She is Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival. She is a sought-after chamber musician and has performed with distinguished artists including Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Dénes Varjon, Donald Weilerstein, Pamela Frank, Miriam Fried, Midori Goto, Kim Kashkashian, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, Takacs, and Juilliard Quartets. Festival appearances include the Marlboro, Moab, and Ravinia Music Festivals, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, Caramoor, Perlman Music Program, VIVO Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, and IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music. She regularly appears on tour with Musicians from Marlboro and premiere ensembles including the New York Classical Players, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, and Grammy-nominated ensembles A Far Cry, The Knights, and Metropolis Ensemble. Passionate for new music, Alice has worked closely with composers Sophia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Hidgon, György Kurtág, Paul Wiankco, and John Harbison. She has given world premieres of acclaimed composers Samuel Carl Adams and Andy Akiho at Carnegie Hall. Recent recordings include Pierre Jalbert’s String Trio for Music at Copland House, music of the Tonight Show band The Roots, and works by Andy Akiho and Derek Bermel. Alice is currently on the chamber music faculty at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. A native of Bozeman, Montana, Alice lives in Denver and plays on a cello made in 2018 by Ryan Soltis.
Charles “plays classical violin with the charisma of a rock star” (Boston Globe). He received the Leonard Bernstein Award in 2018. The Juilliard graduate has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in concert in the United States, Europe, Brazil, Russia, China, and Taiwan. In 2016 Charles joined the crossover string band, Time for Three. His improvisational abilities on violin, electric violin, and as a vocalist have led him to featured performances in the Aspen, Moab, Schleswig-Holstein, Ravinia, and Crested Butte Music Festivals, the Cayman Arts Festival, the YouTube Music Awards, TED, Caramoor, the EG Conference, Google Zeitgeist, Interlochen, and onstage at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Metropolitan Opera House, David H. Koch Theater, Dizzy’s, David Rubinstein Atrium, The Long Center, Rudolfinum, The Royal Danish Theatre, Le Poisson Rouge, Highline Ballroom, Ars Nova, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Forbidden City in Beijing among many others. He has shared the stage with artists including Peter Dugan, CDZA, Steve Miller, Jesse Colin Young, Jake Shimabukuro, Ray Benson, Michael Gordon, Marcelo Gomes, Savion Glover, Twyla Tharp, Misty Copeland, and Jon Batiste. The Texas Observer has noted, “Mr. Yang is a true crossover artist, a pioneer who can hop between classical and popular music and bring fresh ideas to fans of both genres. Rather than maintaining an insular focus and simply assuming that an audience for classical music will always exist, he wants to actively create that audience, to persuade and seduce others into enjoying a type of music as passionately as he does.”
Derek is a soloist, collaborator, and communicator whose commitment to wholehearted listening informs his loving inquiry into both classic and new scores. This summer, Derek completed a three-year fellowship position as pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble at the Aspen Music Festival and School under conductors Donald Crockett and Timothy Weiss. In June, he returned to the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy to perform with violinist Robert McDuffie, with whom he also partnered in recital at Aspen. As the winner of the 2021 New York International Franz Liszt Piano Competition, Derek gave an all-Liszt recital in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. This fall, he will perform four programs at the Liszt Utrecht Festival in the Netherlands as one of ten semifinalists of the 2022 Utrecht International Liszt Competition. Derek holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he received the Peter Mennin and Joseph W. Polisi Commencement Prizes. He continues studies at the Yale School of Music this fall as an Artist Diploma candidate. Derek’s teachers have included Stephen Hough, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Matti Raekallio, and Boris Slutsky.
Frank is one of the most popular and sought after guitarists on the international music scene. His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.
Frank has recorded over 30 CDs as a leader and has been a guest on hundreds of recordings. He has written over 18 educational music books, recorded the critically acclaimed, “Vignola Plays Gershwin” CD, and recorded 2 DVDs for Mel Bay Publications. He has also produced 42 full length video teaching courses for TrueFire.com, for all levels. His online One on One private lessons and Jazz Studio continue to thrive, having reached thousands of jazz guitar enthusiasts throughout the globe.
Jason is a Grammy-winner described by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation”. His multiple appearances for San Francisco Performances, Caramoor Festival, Ravinia Festival, PCMS, 92Y, etc., have cemented his reputation as one of the world’s leading guitarists. Overseas performance venues include Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Seoul Arts Center, Shanghai Concert Hall, Sala Sao Paolo, and Teatro Colon. Jason has performed as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Toronto, Houston, Nashville, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, working with conductors such as Giancarlo Guererro, Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, and Michael Stern.
Recent recordings include his long-awaited “Bach Volume 2: Works for Violin” on Azica Records, “Shining Night”, featuring his duo with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, and Michael Fine’s “Concierto del Luna” for flute and guitar (with flutist Alexa Still) on Sony Classical. Jason also recorded Pat Metheny’s “Four Paths of Light”, a solo work dedicated to him by Pat, for Metheny’s 2021 album “Road To The Sun”.
Jason has performed world premieres from composers Jeff Beal, Avner Dorman, Vivian Fung, Pierre Jalbert, Jonathan Leshnoff, David Ludwig, Mark Mancina, and Dan Visconti, among others. Of his Grammy-winning 2014 solo album “Play”, HuffPost declared that “Play” is “part of the revitalized interest in the classical guitar.”
Jason’s regular collaborators include Escher String Quartet, Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, Grammy-nominated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro, and violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. He holds faculty positions at Curtis Institute of Music and Cleveland Institute of Music.
I am 26 years old and Navajo/Dine. I have been hoop dancing for 8 years and performed at the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian in Washington D.C and New York City. I have also performed for the tire company Big O Tires Corporation in Moab, UT. I have been on a TV commercial with a TV brand called Phillips TV. I have also been on a music video with Hip Hop artist “Taboo”, a member of the Black Eyed Peas. I did a week performance in Dubai at the 2020 Dubai World Expo showcasing our World Class Hoop Dancing. The hoop dance has gotten so competitive that now there’s a Worlds Championship Hoop Dance Contest, held every year in downtown Phoenix. Tribes from all of North America come to this competition to compete for the world title of hoop dancing. I am the 2022 top 6 hoop dancer in the world.
Hoop Dancing to me means that I am able to dance for those who can’t. The hoop dance is a healing and storytelling dance. I like to tell the story about the history of the Native American Race of what our ancestors went through. On the Navajo Nation in the late 1800s Navajos were forced to go to boarding schools “until we learned to live like the white men”. So they took away our long hair, our cultural dancing, and told us not to speak Navajo. So when I do hoop dance or speak Navajo, I dance for those who were told they couldn’t.