Calvin Ray Shawler fell in love with the performing arts from an early age as a means of personal expression and radical imagination. They pursue it unswervingly through music and theatre, writing and directing many full length theatre pieces including The Transit Trilogy (2024), a triptych musical exploring environmental concerns, trans identity, and grief through through different modes of transportation; Mirror Mirror (2023), an intimate musical experience using fairy tales and love songs to explore how we’ve been taught to love others and ourselves; and [INSERT future HERE] (2022), which garnered a Tri-Valley Innovators Award for high schoolers in the Bay Area.

Recent onstage roles include Peter in Wolf Play and Baz in A Bright Room Called Day. They have also written and directed experimental short films “Things I Should Probably Throw Out” (2022), and “one step at a time orpheus and eurydice draw closer to the morning sun” (2024), which have garnered awards from the Las Po Film Festival in Livermore, California.

They are the Bay Area Creative Foundation’s 2023 Creative Youth Award recipient, and their prolific classical composition catalog has acquired awards from United States Open Music Competition and from the MusicIN Artist Competition. Their piece “Order” was commissioned and premiered by the Poiesis Quartet and has additional performances scheduled in New York and at the Louvre in Paris. They currently study Music Composition at Oberlin, and work as Conservatory Editor for the Oberlin Review.

Gabriel Campos Zamora, a native of San José, Costa Rica is the Principal Clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra. Before joining the orchestra, Gabriel was the Associate Principal Clarinet of the Kansas City Symphony and has appeared as guest Principal Clarinet with the Cleveland Orchestra and Seattle and Houston Symphonies, in addition to serving as the Virginia Symphony's Principal Clarinet. 

A passionate teacher, Gabriel has served as a clarinet instructor at Saint Olaf College and has taught masterclasses extensively throughout the United States at the Indiana, Minnesota, and Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, DePaul Universities, and the Interlochen Arts Academy, among others. He has also been on faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Carnegie Hall's NYO2 Program. 

Gabriel regularly participates at the VIVO Chamber Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio; the Lakes Area Music Festival; and has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival. A laureate of several competitions, he received first prize at the 2008 Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition, in addition to winning concerto competitions at the 2009 Aspen Music Festival, 2010 Music Academy of the West, and 2011 National Repertory Orchestra. 

Gabriel began his musical training at the Instituto Nacional de Musica as a student of Jose Manuel "Cheche" Ugalde. He then came to the United States to study at the Interlochen Arts Academy with Nathan Williams and later received his bachelor's degree in music from the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he studied with renowned professor Yehuda Gilad. He has been a participant at the Aspen, Music Academy of the West, National Repertory Orchestra, Spoleto, and the Tanglewood Music Center festivals.

Lydia Roth plays Second Flute and Piccolo with the Columbus Symphony. Previously, she held the position of Principal Flute with Symphony in C and has appeared as a substitute musician with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and Lansing Symphony, among others.

In addition to her orchestral work, Lydia enjoys regular solo and chamber music appearances. She has presented flute and harp duo recitals in Palm Beach and Longwood Gardens, toured from California to London with a Mozart Flute Quartet (including a live broadcast on BBC Radio 3), and enjoyed a flute and piano residency in Fayetteville, AR, where she also provided lessons and masterclasses for local students. As an educator, Lydia has also presented classes for Play On Philly, Philadelphia All-City Orchestra, and the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra, in addition to maintaining a thriving private studio.

A native of Grand Rapids, MI, Lydia grew up in a musical home playing flute, oboe, and piano as well as studying composition. She holds degrees in flute performance from the Curtis Institute of Music and Lynn Conservatory, studying with Jeffrey Khaner, and with additional study in counterpoint, improvisation, and musicology under Ford Lallerstedt. She has spent summers studying and performing at festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, and Lake George Music Festival.

When she's not performing, you can find Lydia drinking a mug of tea, reading a book, or solving a crossword puzzle. She lives with her wife and their two cats.

Jesse Schartz brings a wealth of experience to share with his students as The Ohio State University bassoon professor. Prior to this appointment, Schartz served two decades in the U.S. Air Force Bands as principal bassoon of concert band and music director of chamber ensembles. He has toured extensively in the USA, and has performed in over 20 countries across Europe and the Middle East. Schartz is currently principal bassoon with the Central Ohio Symphony, and has performed with a variety of ensembles to include the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Musical Theatre, Opera Columbus, Broadway in Columbus, and the Columbus Symphony. Schartz inspires a team atmosphere in his studio and encourages his students to explore their creativity and say “yes” to unexpected opportunities!

Pei-An Chao is a cellist with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and a member of the artist faculty at the Brevard Music Center in the summers. A native of Taiwan, Pei-An immigrated to the United States at age 12 with her family where she received her musical training in New York and later in San Francisco on cello and piano. After completing her graduate studies, she was a member of the New World Symphony prior to joining the CSO. Pei-An is one of the cellists in the UCelli Cello Quartet and was formerly with the Cygnus String Quartet. With UCelli, they have performed over 20 pieces written specifically for the group. As an active chamber musician, she appears regularly on the Sunday at Central concert series in Columbus. She has also performed in other chamber music festivals around the country such as Music on the Hill in Rhode Island and the Ariel concert series in St. Louis. As a diverse musician, enjoying music from different eras, she has performed with Early Music in Columbus as well as advocating for contemporary music, performing with the Central Ohio Discovery Ensemble. Her teaching includes positions at Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein University and Ohio University over the years. She has a private studio of students and she coaches Columbus Symphony Orchestra’s youth orchestras regularly. Outside of her musical life, Pei-An enjoys playing tennis, hiking, and doing jigsaw puzzles.

Double Bassist Rudy Albach has served as the Principal Bassist of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra since 2016. The son of two classical musicians, Rudy was born in New York City and grew up nearby in New Jersey. Originally a saxophonist, Rudy picked up the double bass after finding one in his high school's band closet. From there, he studied with Linda McKnight and attended the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. Enthralled by orchestral music, Rudy decided to pursue a performance degree and achieved his undergraduate degree from the Peabody Institute studying with Paul Johnson. After Peabody, he was fortunate to earn his master's degree from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music studying with Paul Ellison. Rudy spent a year and half as a co-principal of the Houston Ballet Orchestra before moving north to Ohio to start his current position. He has had the pleasure of performing as a substitute with many orchestras such as Atlanta, Baltimore, National, St Louis, and Cincinnati Symphonies. As an educator, Rudy has established himself in Central Ohio as a private teacher as well as being the bass professor at both Denison and Ohio University. When not performing or teaching, Rudy enjoys studying Columbus history, cooking plant based meals, playing video games, kayaking, and advocating for public transit and bike lane improvements.

Alicia Hui, currently Principal Second Violin of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, began her musical studies at the age of four and made her orchestral debut at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Maryland at age nine. Since then, she has soloed with numerous orchestras including the Arlington Symphony, Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony, the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, the Nationals Repertory Orchestra, the Zurich Symphony Orchestra, the Latvian Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.  

Ms. Hui was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age 11 where she studies with Victor Danchenko and received her Bachelor’s Degree at sixteen. She received her Master’s Degree, Artist Diploma, and Professional Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of David Cerone, Paul Kantor, and William Preucil. In addition to her current position, Ms. Hui is also a member of the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble and a regular performer and Development Director of the Vivo Music Festival.

Siwoo Kim is an “incisive” and “compelling” (The New York Times) violinist who plays with “stylistic sensitivity and generous tonal nuance” (Chicago Tribune). Siwoo performs as soloist and chamber musician, and he is the co-founding artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

As soloist, Siwoo gave the world premiere performance of Samuel Adler’s violin concerto which was written for him. His recording of the work on Linn Records was praised by the BBC Music Magazine for its “notable fire & impassioned playing.” Siwoo made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the Juilliard Orchestra and has since performed with orchestras around the world such as the Staatsorchester Brandenburgisches Frankfurt, Houston Symphony, Johannesburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Royal de Chambre, and Seongnam Philharmonic.

As chamber musician, Siwoo regularly collaborates with Concordia Chamber Players, Music From Copland House and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Siwoo’s engagements with Quartet Senza Misura, Ensemble DITTO, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and Decoda have led to international debuts and residencies. Highlights include summers at Marlboro Music Festival, Kennedy Center debut, serving as faculty at Stellenbosch Music Festival and collaborating with veteran artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce DiDonato, and Susan Graham. 

Siwoo received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied under Robert Mann and Donald Weilerstein with full scholarship.

Violinist Aki Tsai maintains a vibrant career performing throughout France and internationally. She regularly performs with orchestras and ensembles such as the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre National d'Ile de France, Ensemble Intercontemporain, as well as the San Diego and Baltimore Symphonies. As a chamber musician, recent highlights include performances of Steve Reich's Different Trains and Violin Phase at Festival POTE in Besançon, France and Bach's Goldberg Variations interpolated with György Kurtág's Signes, Games and Messages in celebration of Kurág's 100th birthday.

Ethan Cavanac (b. 2003) is a composer, performer, and improviser from Charlton, Massachusetts. He is currently a senior at Harvard College, where he concentrates in Music and Philosophy.

He has studied composition with Chaya Czernowin, Michael Gandolfi, John Harbison, and Julian Anderson, and violin and viola with Joel Smirnoff, Malcolm Lowe, and Genevieve Strosser. 

Recent and upcoming projects include the premiere of his commissioned orchestral work cloud of unknowing with the Apollo Ensemble of Boston; new works for loadbang at Divergent Studio and the United States premiere of his Blodgett Composition Prize–winning string quartet MIXED SIGNALS— by the Parker Quartet in October 2026. He will also be featured at Bang on a Can at MASS MoCA this summer and will be in residence as a fellow at TAK LAB in New York City with the TAK Ensemble.

Cavanac has attended the Valencia International Music Festival and the Darmstadt Ferienkurse, where he studied with Georges Aperghis and Genevieve Strosser and performed in Tyshawn Sorey’s Autoschediasms improvisation orchestra. 

His honors include the 2026 Louis Sudler Award, the 2025 Robert Levin Award—Harvard’s highest honor for an undergraduate musician— and first prize in the Bach Society Orchestra Composition Competition. Additional distinctions include the Bohemians Club Award for Composition, the Davison Fellowship for Travel in Music, and recognition from the American Viola Society and National YoungArts.

Cavanac has appeared as a performer across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Recent highlights include Hans Tutschku’s einst mit dir at the Goethe-Institut Boston with soprano Tony Arnold and performances at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse. He is also active as an improviser, often performing on instruments of his own construction, including CAN.space (2025) for four amplified Diet Dr. Pepper cans.

John Stulz is a member of the Paris-based new music group Ensemble Intercontemporain and co-artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Recent career highlights include a recording of György Ligeti's Viola Sonata as part of the Ensemble Intercontemporain's critically acclaimed double disk honoring the centenary of the composer, performances at Paris Fashion Week and the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, as well as the publication of his 20 Études for solo viola by Éditions Henry Lemoine. In addition to an international performing career, John is an active and devoted pedagogue, having served as professor of Viola at the Conservatoire national supérieur in Lyon since 2021. He has taught around the world at institutions like the Tokyo College of Music, the Conservatorio di Milano "Giuseppe Verdi", Fondazione Stauffer in Cremona, the Écoles d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau, the Juilliard School, the 2026 International Viola Congress and Academy Ravel. 

Violist James Kang is a founding member of the Abeo Quartet which was formed at Juilliard in 2018, featured at Alice Tully Hall and The Kennedy Center, and received an Anderson Career Development Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. James is currently pursuing his DMA studies at Northwestern University as the Teaching Assistant to Prof. Helen Callus, and is a graduate of the Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship.

As a soloist, James won the American Opera Society of Chicago Centennial Award ($15,000 prize), 2nd prize in the American Viola Society Solo Competition, and competed in the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. In 2023, he performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher Viola Concerto with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra. James performs with orchestras such as ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and Chicago Philharmonic, and has served as Principal Violist for the Juilliard and Symphony in C orchestras. As an avid chamber musician, James has collaborated with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, KAIA String Quartet, and Dover Quartet. 

James is devoted to teaching and is currently on the Violin/Viola and Chamber Music Faculty of Music Institute of Chicago. He has also participated in engagement concerts with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Meet the Music!, “If Music Be the Food…,” and United Nations Chamber Music Society. His festival appearances include Music@Menlo, Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, NYO-USA, Yellow Barn YAP, and La Jolla SummerFest.

Cellist Alice Yoo has warmly been hailed for her sensitive musicianship, expressive nuance, and passionate commitment to chamber music and teaching. Yoo is the Co-Artistic director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival; the festival features the world’s most celebrated chamber musicians in world-class chamber music summer concerts all around the city. Festival appearances include the Marlboro/Musicians from Marlboro Tours, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, VIVO, Olympic, IMS Prussia Cove, and Moab Music Festivals. A sought after chamber musician, Yoo has collaborated with artists such as James Ehnes, Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, Midori Goto, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, Takács, and Juilliard Quartets. She has worked closely with composers Sophia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Higdon, Andy Akiho, Samuel Carl Adams, and Tessa Lark. Previous teaching positions include cello and chamber music faculty at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, Bard Conservatory’s Preparatory Division, and guest cello professor at Colorado State University and CU-Boulder College of Music. Yoo is currently on the string faculty of the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute, and Boulder Cello Festival. She is a member of the celebrated Colorado Cello Quartet. Yoo holds degrees from New England Conservatory, Royal Northern College of Music, and University of Southern California. She currently resides in Madison, Wisconsin, and plays on a cello made for her in 2018 by Ryan Soltis.

Eliot Goldmund (né Euntaek Kim) is a New York-based American pianist, composer, and conductor, whose musical prowess has been lauded as “nimble” and “colorful” (Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times) and a “real pianistic talent.” (Roy Westbrook, MusicWeb International)

Native of Incheon, South Korea, Eliot moved to the U.S. at the age of 13, after sweeping all of the major piano competitions in his native country. Eliot went on to become prizewinner and participant in numerous competitions, including The 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition, The 4th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, The 2001 Oberlin International Piano Competition, and The Center for Musical Excellence Grant. Eliot was also the main feature of the 2005 PBS documentary, titled “Euntaek Kim and Performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy."

Eliot received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied under Jerome Lowenthal. Upon the admission to The Juilliard School at the age of 16, Eliot was awarded the “Presidential Distinction,” awarded to the candidate with the highest ranking. He went on to complete his Artist Diploma on a full scholarship at Yale University under the tutelage of Boris Berman. Eliot also studied privately under the legendary Chinese pianist Yin Chengzong and was coached by Samuel Adler, Audrey Axinn, Ronald Copes, John Corigliano, Mario Davidovsky, Ilya Itin, Joseph Kalichstein, Joel Krosnick, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Seymour Lipkin, Robert McDonald, Charles Neidich, Matti Raekallio, and Mark Steinberg.

As a concert pianist, Eliot has made solo appearances in venues across the globe, including Belgium, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, and the United States.As an avid chamber musician, Eliot has collaborated with members of Aeolus, Calidore, Enso, Escher, Parker, and Ying quartets. Eliot’s collaborations with Heartbeat Opera and Cantata Profana, based in New York City, in their modernized renditions of Beethoven’s "Fidelio" in May 2018 and Samuel Barber's "Vanessa" in July 2025 and May 2026 was praised by The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Eliot’s tantalizing appearances in June 2018 at the catacomb of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY, as a part of the world premiere of David Hertzberg’s new chamber opera The Rose Elf, were lauded by WQXR as “the best opera event of 2018.” Eliot’s exquisite performances can be heard in his debut solo album, “Debut - CME Presents Vol. 3: Russian Piano” under the MSR Classics label, as well as in “Hertzberg: The Rose Elf” (under Meyer Media LLC) and “The Wake World” (under Tzadik label).A

s a conductor, Eliot has worked on opera productions such as Cracked Orlando, dramma per musica e fractal by Jonathan Dawe (2010), and NY-based Heartbeat Opera’s production of Fidelio! (2018). He was mentored by Michael Gilbert, Benjamin Loeb, Jeffrey Milarsky, Otto-Werner Mueller, and Carl St. Clair.