Page 14 – ChamberFest Cleveland

STEPHEN TAVANI

 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. 

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Tavani has collaborated with many great musicians, and has appeared at many music festivals and chamber music series, including the Marlboro Music Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Music From Angel Fire, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Colburn Chamber Music Society, Curtis Recital Series, and with Curtis On Tour. 

Tavani volunteers bringing string programs to Northeast Ohio inmates with the Cleveland based Renovare to help provide hope and healing through music. He is a member of Third Culture Ensemble, which serves diverse communities across Northeast Ohio through music. He also is involved with the MasterWorks Festival, which seeks to integrate Christian faith and life in the performing arts. Tavani resides on the East Side of Cleveland with his wife Amanda, a double bassist and music educator, and their two young sons. He grew up in Northern Virginia in a musical family of six brothers. His mother is a voice teacher and lyric soprano, his father a family physician and pianist. Learn more about Mr. Tavani at his website: stephentavani.com, and visit his youtube page at youtube.com/stavani1 to see many of his live performances.

JULIA SCHILZ

JULIA SCHILZ enjoys a wide range of musical endeavors as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. She recently completed her undergraduate studies at The Juilliard School with Donald Weilerstein and Catherine Cho, where she is currently pursuing a graduate degree. She won Grand Prize at the 2025 Klein International String Competition. 2025-26 season highlights include festival appearances at Music@Menlo and Music in the Vineyards, concerto solos with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and Master Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra, solo and chamber music recitals presented by Musical Masterworks, as well as engagements with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. Prior to attending Juilliard, Julia spent a year under full-time contract with the Houston Symphony. She frequently serves as concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, and appeared with the ensemble at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Alice Tully Hall.

About our Rising Stars
ChamberFest Cleveland’s Rising Stars are recognized for their extraordinary talent. They are invited to deepen their connection to the art of chamber music by immersing themselves in the festival, rehearsing side by side with the leading chamber musicians of our time, and performing in a professional concert setting for discerning audiences and critics alike.

The Rising Stars program is generously sponsored by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder.

MICHELLE BARZEL ROSS

MICHELLE BARZEL ROSS is a GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist and composer. Highlights include debuts in Carnegie Hall, with the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris. Michelle recently toured as guest first violinist with the Juilliard String Quartet, Avi Avital and Between Worlds Ensemble, and Musicians from Marlboro. Michelle often collaborates as guest concertmaster, with Orchestre de Paris, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and more. Praised for her album of Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach, Michelle is a featured artist with Jon Batiste on his GRAMMYTM winning Album of the Year, We Are. As a composer, Michelle’s works are known for their emotional power and imaginative textures. She has been commissioned by Lucerne Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Juilliard String Quartet, Jasper String Quartet, with recent premieres in Wigmore Hall, MusikVerein, Boulez Saal. Michelle is currently based between Paris and New York City.

BLAKE POULIOT

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned,” (ArtsAtlanta) violinist BLAKE POULIOT (pool-YACHT) has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenoms. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star).

As a soloist, Blake’s 2025-26 concerto highlights include a return to National Ars Centre Orchestra to open their season with Music Director Alexander Shelley, performing Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. He will make debuts with the Illinois Symphony, performing Rózsa’s Violin Concerto with Music Director Taichi Fukumura, and with Columbus Symphony, performing the Korngold Violin Concerto with Josep Vicent. Additional concerto appearances include Rochester Philharmonic, as well as a tour with the Prague Philharmonia in Spain and the U.S., culminating with a performance at Carnegie Hall, marking Blake’s Stern Auditorium debut. Recital appearances this season include Newport Classical, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Artist Series of Sarasota, and Portland Ovations with his long-time collaborator and pianist, Henry Kramer.

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many others. He has collaborated with many musical luminaries including conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthias Pintscher, Sir Neville Marriner, David Afkham, Pablo Heras-Casado, JoAnn Falletta, Marcelo Lehninger, Vasily Petrenko and Thomas Søndergård.

Pouliot has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series and has been NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota (2017/18), Hawaii (2018/19), and across Europe (2021/22). Prior to that, he won the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2018 and 2015 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.

Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.

TAI MURRAY

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)  

Appreciated for her elegance and effortless ability, Murray creates a special bond with listeners through her personal phrasing and subtle sweetness. Her programming reveals musical intelligence. Her sound, sophisticated bowing and choice of vibrato, remind us of her musical background and influences, principally, Yuval Yaron (a student of Gingold & Heifetz) and Franco Gulli. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2004, Tai Murray was named a BBC New Generation Artist (2008 through 2010). As a chamber musician, she was a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society II (2004-2006).  

She has performed as guest soloist on the main stages world-wide, performing with leading ensembles such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Symphony Orchestra, and all of the BBC Symphony Orchestras. She is also a dedicated advocate of contemporary works (written for the violin). Among others, she performed the world premiere of Malcolm Hayes’ violin concerto at the BBC PROMS, in the Royal Albert Hall.  

As a recitalist Tai Murray has visited many of the world’s capitals having appeared in Berlin, Chicago, Hamburg, London, Madrid, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Paris and Washington D.C., among many others.  

Tai Murray’s critically acclaimed debut recording for harmonia mundi of Ysaye’s six sonatas for solo violin was released in February 2012. Her second recording with works by American Composers of the 20th Century was released by the Berlin-based label eaSonus and her third disc with the Bernstein Serenade on the French label mirare.  

Tai Murray plays a violin by Tomaso Balestrieri fecit Mantua ca. 1765, on generous loan from a private collection.  

Murray is an Assistant Professor, Adjunct, of violin at the Yale School of Music, where she teaches applied violin and coaches chamber music. She earned artist diplomas from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and the Juilliard School.

AMY SCHWARTZ MORETTI

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.

NATHAN MELTZER

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

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.

Also an active chamber musician, he served from 2015 to 2022 as the violinist of the renowned Vienna Piano Trio with whom he toured and recorded extensively. The Trio’s recording of the complete Brahms piano trios was awarded the 2017 Echo Klassik prize and in 2020 the Trio’s Beethoven recording won the Opus Klassik award.

Recent performances have included Stravinsky Violin Concerto at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Pittsburgh premiere of Schumann Violin Concerto, touring with Musicians from Marlboro, and performances of György Kurtág’s “Kafka Fragments” for violin and soprano.

In demand as a teacher, David is on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music. He has previously taught at Salzburg’s Mozarteum University, and has given masterclasses in violin and chamber music at Ravinia’s Steans Institute, at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and at the San Francisco Conservatory.

David plays a 1761 violin made by A&J Gagliano.

JOSEPH LIN

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.

As a professor at Cornell from 2007 to 2011, Joseph Lin organized the inaugural Chinese Musicians Residency and led a project with Cornell composers to create new music inspired by Bach. Lin’s recordings include the music of Korngold and Busoni; an album of Debussy, Franck, and Milhaud; and the complete unaccompanied works of Bach and Ysaÿe. His recording of Mozart’s A major Concerto with original cadenzas was released in 2017. With the Juilliard Quartet, Lin recorded Schubert’s Death and the Maiden, Carter’s Fifth Quartet, as well as the JSQ’s album of Beethoven, Davidovsky, and Bartók.

KERSON LEONG

KERSON LEONG has been described as “not just one of Canada’s greatest violinists but one of the greatest violinists, period” (Toronto Star). Forging a unique path since his First Prize win at the International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in 2010, he continues to win over colleagues and audiences alike with “a mixture of spontaneity and mastery, elegance, fantasy, intensity that makes his sound recognizable from the first notes” (Le Monde).

His recent album for Alpha Classics featuring the solo violin sonatas by Eugène Ysaÿe was awarded the Diapason d’Or Découverte and the Choc de Classica, with Classica proclaiming him “more than a discovery, a veritable revelation” and Gramophone declaring that “his recording could be a happy first choice for any discerning listener”. His 25/26 season includes solo performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Missoula Symphony Orchestra, Puglia Symphony, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra della Toscana, and Les Violons du Roy among others. A sought-after soloist, he was hand-picked by Yannick Nézet-Séguin to be his artist-in-residence with the Orchestre Métropolitain during the 18/19 season.

Kerson performs on the ‘ex Bohrer, Baumgartner’ Guarneri del Gesu violin courtesy of Canimex Inc, Drummondville (Quebec), Canada.