Violinist JAMES THOMPSON enjoys a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, educator, and lecturer. He performs regularly as a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Thompson considers himself fortunate to have been surrounded by superlative musical artists and educators from a young age. Through the preparatory program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, he was introduced to chamber music and was inspired to pursue a career performing and collaborating with artists from around the world.
Thompson has since performed for a variety of chamber music organizations across the country including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, ChamberFest Cleveland, Music@Menlo, the Four Arts Society, Parlance Chamber Concerts, the Perlman Music Program, and the Taos School of Music. Solo engagements include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra. He was invited to perform in Budapest as part of the First Bartok World Competition and in Sendai for the Seventh Sendai International Violin Competition.
Recently, Thompson’s abilities as a presenter have earned him invitations to speak at a variety of established concert series. His multimedia live-interview with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, was a recent career highlight. As artistic director of Music@Menlo’s Winter Residency, he curates diverse student and community programs in the Bay Area.
Alongside his performance career, Thompson enjoys his work with students as a private instructor and chamber music coach. From 2019 to 2023, he joined the faculty of Music@Menlo as both a coach for the Young Performer’s Program and a mainstage artist. He has recently served as a teaching fellow at both the Encore Chamber Music Festival and the Western Reserve Chamber Music Festival. He views his work with young people as a crucial aspect of his calling as a musician, and is grateful to have the opportunity to share with everyone the joy he has found making music.
Thompson holds Bachelor of Music, Masters, and Artist Diploma degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music; his primary teachers include Jaime Laredo, William Preucil, and Paul Kantor. He currently resides in Rochester, New York with his wife, violinist Jeanelle Thompson.
Violinist STEPHEN TAVANI joined The Cleveland Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in 2018. The New York Times commented about his playing that “…Tavani sometimes cooled his tone to the smoothness of frosted glass, adding a soft-focus filter to the chiseled melodies…” Mr. Tavani was featured playing Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade with The Cleveland Orchestra at the 2022 summer Blossom season. He will make his debut as soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra this August at Blossom Music Center, playing Bruch Concerto No. 2. He has appeared as guest concertmaster with the Houston Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic, and before joining The Cleveland Orchestra, he was concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He has performed as soloist with the Youngstown Symphony, the Orchestra of the Americas, and at the MasterWorks festival. 
Described as “superb” by The New York Times, violinist TAI MURRAY has established herself a musical voice of a generation.“Technically flawless… vivacious and scintillating… It is without doubt that Murray’s style of playing is more mature than that of many seasoned players…” (Muso Magazine)
Violinist AMY SCHWARTZ MORETTI has a musical career of broad versatility. Before becoming the inaugural Director of Mercer University’s McDuffie Center for Strings, she was concertmaster of the Florida Orchestra and Oregon Symphony. She has premiered concertos for GRAMMY® winner Matt Catingub and her Mercer colleague Christopher Schmitz, collaborated with James Ehnes for Prokofiev’s “Sonata for Two Violins” and Bartók’s “44 Duos” – both contributions to Chandos recordings receiving consecutive Juno Awards for Classical Album of the year 2014 and 2015 — and she performed the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets in Seoul, Korea with the Ehnes Quartet. They have recorded Barber, Sibelius, Shostakovich and Schubert quartets, in 2021, mid and late Beethoven quartets, and most recently in 2022, Dvořák’s “American” String Quintet with violist Paul Neubauer. Recognized as a deeply expressive artist, Moretti enjoys the opportunity to travel and perform concerts around the world. Her many festival appearances include Bridgehampton, ChamberFest Cleveland, Evian, La Jolla, Meadowmount, Seattle, Music@Menlo and Manchester Music Festival. She has served as guest concertmaster for the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Houston, Pittsburgh; the New York Pops and Hawaii Pops; and the festival orchestras of Brevard, Colorado and Grand Teton. The Cleveland Institute of Music has honored her with an Alumni Achievement Award, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music their Fanfare Award, and she was named to Musical America’s “Top 30 Professionals” in 2018. Director of the McDuffie Center since 2007, Amy Schwartz Moretti holds the Caroline Paul King Violin Chair and has developed and curates the Fabian Concert Series. She led the Center’s Young Artists in an ensemble performance at Carnegie Hall, was featured with a McDuffie Center student at the Supreme Court Grand Hall in Washington DC, and celebrates the many awards Center students achieve, including one of her violin students who won the 2022 MTNA National Young Artist String Competition. Moretti lives in Georgia with her husband and two sons, enjoying swimming and being at the soccer field and tennis courts with her boys. 
Winner of the 2023 Concert Artist Guild Competition, major prize winner at the at the 2022 Sibelius and Singapore International Violin Competitions, recipient of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and youngest ever to win the Windsor Festival Competition, violinist NATHAN MELTZER is establishing a holistic and multi-faceted career as both a soloist and chamber musician, with passions for both standard and contemporary repertoire. As a soloist, he has performed with the Aalborg Symphony, Orchestre national d’Île-de-France, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Finnish RSO, the Helsinki Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Charlotte Symphonies, among others, performing across Europe, Asia, and North and South America. And as a chamber musician, Nathan has performed with celebrated musicians at festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, Krzyzowa Music, Moritzburg Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia Festival, the Perlman Music Program, and Verbier Festival Academy. He is also the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of The Green Room Ensemble, a chamber music organization dedicated to new music and historically underrepresented works. A Juilliard graduate and student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman, Nathan plays on a Storioni violin on generous loan from the Rin Foundation.
DAVID MCCARROLL was appointed concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2022, holding the Rachel Mellon Walton Concertmaster Chair. He has appeared as soloist with many orchestras including the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tonkünstler-Orchester Niederösterreich (Simone Young, Grafenegg), Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Christoph Poppen), and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (Manfred Honeck). He regularly performs in major concert halls such as Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, 92nd Street Y, and Carnegie Hall. 
A renowned performer and teacher throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe, JOSEPH LIN is on the faculty of the Juilliard School where he teaches violin and chamber music. First violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet from 2011 to 2018, Lin’s special projects since then have included complete cycles of the Bach Sonatas and Partitas; period instrument performances of Beethoven, Schubert, and Bach; Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto; and Musicians from Marlboro tours on violin and viola. 
New Zealand-born violinist GENEVA LEWIS has forged a reputation as a musician of consummate artistry whose performances speak from and to the heart and who has been lauded for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and hailed as “clearly one to watch” (Musical America). 
As soloist YURA LEE has appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Tokyo Philharmonic, among others. A member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Boston Chamber Music Society, she regularly takes part in the Marlboro, Salzburg Verbier, Kronberbg, Aspen, and Caramoor festivals, La Jolla SummerFest, and Seattle Chamber Music Festival. She has collaborated with Gidon Kremer, Andras Schiff, Leonidas Kavakos, Mitsuko Uchida, Miklós Perényi, Yuri Bashmet, Menahem Pressler, and Frans Helmerson. Ms. Lee was the only first prize winner awarded across four categories at the 2013 ARD Competition in Germany. She took first prize and audience prize at the 2006 Leopold Mozart Competition, and first prize at the 2010 UNISA International Competition and 2013 Yuri Bashmet International Competition. At twelve, she was the youngest artist ever to receive the Debut Artist of the Year prize at National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” awards. She is also the recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant. She was represented by Carnegie Hall for its ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) series, giving recitals at Weill Recital Hall and major halls in Europe. Her recording with Reinhard Goebel and the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, Mozart in Paris, received the Diapason d’Or Award.
KRISTIN LEE