Musicians
Theodore Kuchar (Artistic Director and Viola)
Theodore Kuchar is in his seventh season as Music Director and Conductor of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, and his sixth as Artistic Director of the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. Maestro Kuchar is one of the most prolifically recorded conductors of his generation, appearing on over 100 compact discs on the Brilliant Classics, Naxos and Marco Polo labels. He currently holds the positions of Principal Conductor of the Janacek Philharmonic, Music Director and Conductor of the Fresno Philharmonic, Resident Conductor at Kent Blossom Music (the educational institution of the Cleveland Orchestra), and Conductor Laureate for Life of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. For ten years he served as Music Director of the Boulder Philharmonic, and for sixteen years as Artistic Director of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music, an annual event regarded internationally as the pre-eminent chamber music festival of the southern hemisphere. Maestro Kuchar also guest conducts widely throughout the world and is a noted chamber music performer, both in concert and recordings.
Mr. Kuchar’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Jill Winter.
James Buswell (Violin)
Active as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, conductor and educator, James Buswell is one of the most versatile musicians performing today. He has appeared with virtually all of the major orchestras in the United States and Canada, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, and has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, George Szell and Michael Tilson Thomas. James Buswell is as closely associated with new music as he has been with the standard repertoire. World premiere performances include works by Donald Erb, Charles Wuorinen, Gian Carlo Menotti, Ned Rorem, Leon Kirchner, John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, William Bolcom, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Yehudi Wyner. Recording credits include the violin concerti and chamber music of Walter Piston and a 2003 Grammy nomination for a recording of the Samuel Barber Violin Concerto. For many years an artist-member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Bach Aria Group, Mr. Buswell continues to appear as guest artist with many chamber music organizations. While pursuing an active concert career, James Buswell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University with a major in early Renaissance painting and sculpture. Currently a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music, he resides in Boston with his wife, cellist Carol Ou.
Mr. Buswell’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Sue and Dieter von Hennig.
Ya-Fei Chuang (Piano)
Pianist Ya-Fei Chuang has performed in major festivals around the world, including the Beethoven Festival (Warsaw) with Christoph Eschenbach, the European Music Festival (Stuttgart), the Bach Festival Leipzig, Schleswig-Holstein, Ravinia, Gilmore, Tanglewood, and the Celebrity Series in Boston. The Ruhr Festival (Germany) has released the CD of her May 2007 solo recital, which is also included as a premium in the leading German music magazine Fono Forum. She has appeared in venues such as Boston’s Symphony Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Schauspielhaus Berlin, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, and as a duo partner with Steven Isserlis, Kim Kashkashian, and Robert Levin. Her recent engagements include concerts and recordings in the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, with the Malaysian Philharmonic, at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, in South America, numerous appearances in the U.S. and Europe, and many returning engagements to festivals. She has current and pending CD recordings released by Naxos, Ruhr Festival, New York Philomusica Records, and ECM. Ya-Fei Chuang serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory, teaches piano performance seminars at the New England Conservatory SCE, and teaches master classes in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including Tanglewood, and annually at the International Summer Academy of Mozarteum Salzburg.
Ms. Chuang’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Nancy and Jack Rose.
Ellen dePasquale (Violin)
Widely acclaimed for the beauty of her playing and refined musicianship, Ellen dePasquale studied with Jascha Brodsky at the Curtis Institute of Music and Miriam Fried at Indiana University before being appointed concertmaster of the Florida Orchestra in 1996. Ms. dePasquale is a regular guest at leading music festivals throughout the United States and Europe, and has appeared at the Aspen Music Festival, the Caramoor Festival, the Evian Music Festival, Indiana University, the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival, La Musica in Sarasota, the Nevada Chamber Music Festival, the New World Symphony, and the Sangat Music Festival in Mumbai, India. A highly sought after pedagogue, Ms. dePasquale is currently on the faculty of Temple University in Philadelphia and is a former member of the faculties of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Encore School for Strings, the Kent/Blossom Music Festival and the University of South Florida. From 1999-2007, Ms. dePasquale served as associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. During her tenure with the orchestra, she was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio and made numerous solo appearances with the orchestra. Other recent solo engagements have included concerts with the Florida Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic.
Ms. dePasquale’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Christine and John Worthington.
Scott Faulkner (Bass)
Scott Faulkner has been Principal Double Bassist of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra since 1996. He is Executive Director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, a position he has held since 2001. In addition to his administrative duties, he is a member of the RCO bass section. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Pacific Lutheran University (cum laude) and the University of Nevada, Reno (Phi Kappa Phi) respectively. His primary teachers are Roma Vayspapir, Frank Diliberto, David Hoffman and John Lenz. Before moving to Reno, Mr. Faulkner was Principal Bassist of the Tacoma (WA) Opera Orchestra and Assistant Principal Bassist of the Tacoma Symphony. In addition to his wonderful NCMF colleagues, he has performed with the likes of Adolph Herseth, Edgar Meyer, Itzhak Perlman, Luciano Pavarotti, and The Captain and Tennille. Mr. Faulkner currently serves as Chair of the “Ford Made in America” commission project as well as the League of American Orchestra’s Group 5 orchestra managers (he also serves on the League’s Board of Directors). Mr. Faulkner plays a Hornsteiner-Mittenwald bass that was given to him by his uncle Stanley Fletcher.
Mr. Faulkner’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Mary Ann and James Kidder.
Amy Lee (Violin)
Amy Lee joined The Cleveland Orchestra as Associate Concertmaster in March 2008. Ms. Lee appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age fifteen at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. Three years later, she appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra again at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Following her debut, she has performed with Germany’s Baden-Baden Philharmonic, the Curtis Chamber Orchestra, National Gallery Orchestra and the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra among others. Amy Lee won first prize in San Francisco’s Irving M. Klein International String Competition and at the Corpus Christi International Competition for piano and strings. Ms. Lee has been invited to join the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program. She will begin the formal three-year residency in the 2009-10 season during the New York concert season; international and national tour appearances; recordings on both the CMS Studio label and Deutsche Grammophon’s digital concert series; and numerous educational outreach opportunities.
Ms. Lee’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Julie and William Douglass.
John Lenz (Cello)
John Lenz is professor emeritus of music at the University of Nevada, where he taught cello, French horn, theory, directed the orchestra, and performed with the Argenta Ensemble. A virtuoso performer on both cello and French horn, he currently serves as principal horn of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic, and the Great Basin Brass, and is the cellist (and horn when needed) of the Telluride Chamber Players. A resident of Reno since 1951, he received degrees from the University of Nevada and the New England Conservatory in Boston before joining the UNR faculty in 1972. He has performed throughout the western states, in Alaska, and in South Korea.
Mr. Lenz’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Julie and William Douglass.
Ruth Lenz (Violin)
Ruth Lenz is concertmaster of the Nevada Opera and acting concertmaster of the Reno Philharmonic and Reno Chamber Orchestra. She performs as recitalist, chamber musician, soloist and concertmaster in venues throughout the western United States. She has shared the stage with such notable performers as Itzhak Perlman, Edgar Meyer, Luciano Pavarotti and Natalie Cole. Ruth is a violinist with the Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado and with the Nevada Chamber Music Festival. She has also played in the Sunriver and Spoleto Festivals. Ruth began her violin studies with her mother at age 2, earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Nevada, Reno studying with Phillip Ruder, and her Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana where she studied with Sherban Lupu and Danwen Jiang. In addition to performing, Dr. Lenz has a passion for teaching and maintains a large studio of violin and chamber music students. In her free time, she is an avid equestrian and outdoor enthusiast. Ruth Lenz plays a Simone Fernando Sacconi violin.
Ms. Lenz’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Heidemarie Rochlin.
Ronald Leonard (Cello)
Ronald Leonard is best known as the former Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a post he held for 24 years. During that period he was guest soloist with the orchestra many times, performing under conductors like Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Simon Rattle, Michael Tilson Thomas, André Previn, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Leonard was also very active in the Philharmonic Chamber Music Society series. Prior to his appointment with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leonard had been Principal Cellist of the Rochester Philharmonic, and was professor of cello for 17 years at the famous Eastman School of Music. He has also been an artist/performer at many summer music festivals, including Aspen, Marlboro, Meadowmount, the Australian Music Festival, Musicorda, Bowdoin, Summerfest in La Jolla, and the Sarasota Music Festival. In his many years of chamber music performances he has played with many of the world’s leading musicians, and has been a guest artist with some of the world’s finest string quartets. Since retiring from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leonard has continued his solo and chamber music activities at an even more hectic pace, as well as maintaining a very busy teaching schedule. He is on the cello and chamber music faculty at the Colburn Conservatory of Music and is conductor of the Colburn Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Leonard’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Marsha and Les Cohen.
Meng-Chieh Liu (Piano)
Recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Meng-Chieh Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student at The Curtis Institute of Music when he substituted on short notice for André Watts at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music. The concert earned high acclaim and was followed by a number of widely praised performances, including a recital at Kennedy Center. But the stellar beginning of his career was abruptly halted by a rare and debilitating illness that affected his connective tissues. Hospitalized and almost immobile for a year, doctors believed his chances for survival were slim and, should he survive, playing the piano would be “absolutely impossible.” With arduous determination and relentless physical therapy, Mr. Liu has been restored to full health. He has performed concerts throughout the United States and in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Bulgaria, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and South America. A book on Mr. Liu’s life will soon be published. Born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at age thirteen Mr. Liu was accepted by The Curtis Institute of Music to study with Jorge Bolet, Claude Frank, and Eleanor Sokoloff. He received the 2002 Philadelphia Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award and first prizes in the Stravinsky, Asia Pacific and Mieczyslaw Munz piano competitions. Mr. Liu has been a member of The Curtis Institute’s faculty since 1993, the year of his graduation. In the fall of 2006, he joined the piano faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Mr. Liu’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Ursula and Richard Tracy.
Carol Ou (Cello)
Cellist Carol Ou is known for her “fiery”, “marvelous” and “meltingly melodic outpourings” (Boston Globe) and her “wonderfully pure cello tone and incisive technique” (The Strad). Solo and chamber music engagements have brought her to prestigious venues in New York, Boston, Taipei, and Kiev. She has collaborated with artists such as Hilary Hahn, Timothy Eddy, Midori, András Schiff, and Malcolm Bilson. Ms. Ou’s recordings, issued by the Naxos and CRI labels and Taiwan’s Chi-Mei Foundation, include beloved concerti by Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Elgar. Her Naxos recording of Walter Piston’s Chamber Music won Chamber Music America’s Best Chamber Music CD award in 2001. A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Ou received her BA magna cum laude from Yale College and her master’s and doctorate degrees from the Yale School of Music. She has taught students at Yale, MIT and Harvard University and was the director of strings, chamber music and orchestral studies at Gordon College. She is currently on the cello and chamber music faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music, and serves as chamber music director of the Heifetz International Summer Music Institute in New Hampshire. In addition to her regular teaching duties, Carol Ou has given cello and chamber music master classes around the world.
Ms. Ou’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Trudy Larson and Ron Luschar.
Andrew Picken (Viola)
Andrew Picken is Associate Principal Violist of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, under the direction of James Conlon and Placido Domingo. A California native, Mr. Picken is also Principal Violist of the Glendale Symphony and Associate Principal Violist of the L.A. Master Chorale Orchestra, where he has appeared as soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion and Britten’s Cantata Misericordium. Mr. Picken is regularly engaged as Principal Violist for Southern California performances by the American Ballet Theater, the Bolshoi Ballet, and the Joffrey Ballet. He is an avid chamber musician, and has performed in Europe, the former Soviet Union, and in Taiwan. These days he stays a bit closer to home, lending his talents to the Chamber Music Unbound Festival in Mammoth Lakes, California, MAHMA chamber music festival in Malibu, and Green Lake Music Festival in Wisconsin. He is also active in the television and motion picture recording industry, having performed on myriad soundtracks including: “Lost,” “Ratatouille,” and “Star Trek.”
Mr. Picken’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from IGT.
Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio (Violin)
Praised as “an expressive and passionate chamber musician” by the San Antonio Express-News, Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio serves as Assistant Professor of Violin and Viola and Director of Orchestral Career Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno and is a member of the Argenta Trio. Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony for thirteen years and Founder/Artistic Director of the Cactus Pear Music Festival, Ms. Sant’Ambrogio previously recorded and toured internationally for eight seasons with The Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi. As a chamber musician and soloist she has performed throughout the North America and in Estonia, Sweden, Ghana, Italy, Peru, Chile and Mexico. Concertmaster of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra (OH) since 2008, she performs and teaches at numerous other summer festivals. Her chamber music performances have aired on National Public Radio, and MSR Classics has released her CD, Late Dates with Mozart. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio studied with and was the graduate assistant to Donald Weilerstein at The Eastman School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree. Previously she received her Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University with James Buswell and Laurence Shapiro. She plays a violin crafted in 1757 by J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, Italy, and when it is not under her chin, she and her husband Gary Albright enjoy life with their daughters, Isabel and Gabrielle, who are budding musicians.
Ms. Sant’Ambrogio’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from The Kennedy Foundation.
Robert Vernon (Viola)
Robert Vernon is completing his 33rd season as principal violist of The Cleveland Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the Orchestra in more than 100 concerts, including world premieres of compositions written for him by Paul Schoenfield and Richard Sortomme. One of this country’s foremost teachers of viola, Mr. Vernon also chairs the viola department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, was appointed to the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music in 2008, and has presented lectures and master classes all over the world. His students hold major positions as chamber musicians and teachers, and have won positions with virtually every major orchestra – over 50 to date – in the United States and Canada. An active chamber musician, Mr. Vernon has appeared as a recitalist and chamber music performer at numerous music festivals. He has collaborated with many of the great conductors and performers of our time, including Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnányi, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Georg Solti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lynn Harrell, and Robert Levin. Mr. Vernon has recorded virtually the entire orchestral repertoire with The Cleveland Orchestra, including solo roles in works by Berlioz, Mozart, and Strauss. He has recorded Paul Schoenfield’s Viola Concerto, and can be heard on several chamber music recordings on Decca/London, Telarc and Innova. He has also written The Essential Orchestral Excerpts for Viola, the Keys to A Successful Audition.
Mr. Vernon’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous anonymous gift.
Wendy Warner (Cello)
Wendy Warner, hailed by Strings magazine for her “youthful, surging playing, natural stage presence and almost frightening technique,” has become one of the leading cellists in the world. After garnering international attention with a first-prize win in the Fourth International Rostropovich Competition in Paris in 1990, audiences have watched Warner perform on many of the world’s most honored stages, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall in Boston, Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Hall, Paris’s Salle Pleyel and Berlin’s Philharmonie. Warner has collaborated with such leading conductors as Mstislav Rostropovich, Vladimir Spivakov, Christoph Eschenbach, André Previn, Jesús López-Cobos, Joel Smirnoff, Charles Dutoit, Eiji Oue, Neeme Järvi, and Michael Tilson Thomas. She has recently performed with the Santa Barbara, Detroit, Colorado and New World Symphonies; the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Calgary Philharmonic. A passionate chamber musician, Warner has collaborated with the Vermeer String Quartet, the Fine Arts Quartet, and with esteemed violinist Gidon Kremer.
Ms. Warner’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous anonymous gift.
Orion Weiss (Piano)
Pianist Orion Weiss is one of the most sought-after soloists and collaborators in his generation of young American musicians. At age 26, he continues to demonstrate his gift for communication across boundaries of style and setting. The summer of 2008 saw Mr. Weiss perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of his 2008-2009 season included performances with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony. In spring 2008, he released his debut recording, a recital disc for Yarlung Records including works of Bach, Mozart, Scriabin, and Carter. In the past three seasons, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and in duo summer concerts with the New York Philharmonic at both Lincoln Center and the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival. He has also appeared with the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Phoenix, Rochester, Memphis, Albany, Annapolis, Louisville, and Omaha. In 2005, he toured Israel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Itzhak Perlman.
Mr. Weiss’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Ella C. and Edgar F. Kleiner.
James Winn (Piano)
James Winn, piano and composition professor at the University of Nevada, Reno since 1997, has performed widely in North America, Europe, and Japan. With his duo-piano partner, Cameron Grant, he was a recipient of the top prize given in the two-piano category of the 1980 Munich Competition. Dr. Winn has been a solo pianist with the New York City Ballet, a member of the New York New Music Ensemble and of Hexagon, as well as a frequent guest with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Group for Contemporary Music. Well-known as a specialist in new music, he has been involved in world premieres and premiere recordings by many renowned composers, among them thirteen Pulitzer Prize winners. Dr. Winn is a member of Argenta, UNR’s resident chamber group, the pianist of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, and performs regularly in recital with New York based violinist Rolf Schulte. He is featured in more than three dozen CDs, and his compositions have been performed internationally. He has received the UNR College of Liberal Arts’ Mousel/Feltner award for creative activity, an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Nevada Arts Council, the 2007 Award for Creative Activity from Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and the 2009 Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in the Arts.
Mr. Winn’s appearance at the 2009 Nevada Chamber Music Festival is made possible by a generous gift from Ingrid and George Ryst.
Family Concert Performers
Russ Dickman (tuba) has been with the Great Basin Brass Quintet for the past 25 years. He has also been serving as principal tubist with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra since 1969. Russ performs in the Reno Festival Ballet and the Nevada Opera Orchestras when needed. He is also a professional photographer and co-owns Hartung & Dickman Photographic Studios in Sparks.
Dr. Larry Engstrom (trumpet) currently serves as Director of the School of the Arts, Director of the Reno Jazz Festival, and as a teacher of Applied Trumpet at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a member of the Collective (which has recorded five compact discs to date) and the Great Basin Brass Quintet, and he performs regularly with many other Northern Nevada music ensembles.
John Lenz (French horn) is professor emeritus of music at the University of Nevada, where he taught cello, French horn, theory, directed the orchestra, and performed with the Argenta Ensemble. A virtuoso performer on both cello and French horn, he currently serves as principal horn of the Reno Chamber Orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic, and the Great Basin Brass, and is the cellist (and horn when needed) of the Telluride Chamber Players.
Paul Lenz (trumpet) holds the position of principal trumpet in the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, Reno Chamber Orchestra and the Nevada Opera Orchestra. He is on the trumpet staff at University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College, and is the Bach trumpet representative for Northern Nevada. He is also the founder and responsible for the name of the Great Basin Brass Quintet.
Leonard Neidhold (trombone) is Principal Trombone of the Reno Philharmonic, Reno Chamber Orchestra, and Nevada Festival Ballet orchestra, and recently became trombonist with the Great Basin Brass. He is in his tenth year as director of bands at B. D. Billinghurst Middle School, his eighteenth year teaching instrumental music for Washoe County School District, and is an adjunct member of the University of Nevada, Reno music faculty.
Greyson Boydstun (percussion) is a senior at the University of Nevada, Reno and will be graduating in May with his Music Performance Degree. He is an active performer, composer, and educator in Reno and the Bay Area.