Violinist ALEXI KENNEY is forging a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras around the world, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of our time. Alexi is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.
Highlights of Alexi’s 2023/24 season include appearing as soloist with the Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee Symphonies, leading a program of his own creation with the New Century Chamber Orchestra, and debuting a new iteration of his project Shifting Ground at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and the Ojai Festival, in collaboration with the new media and video artist Xuan. Shifting Ground intersperses seminal works for solo violin by J.S. Bach with pieces by Matthew Burtner, Mario Davidovsky, Nicola Matteis, Kaija Saariaho, Paul Wiancko, and Du Yun, as well as new commissions by composers Salina Fisher and Angélica Negrón.
In recent seasons, Alexi has soloed with The Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Detroit Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Indianapolis Symphony, Gulbenkian Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, and l’Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, as well as in a play-conduct role as guest leader of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. He has played recitals at Wigmore Hall, on Carnegie Hall’s ‘Distinctive Debuts’ series, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, 92nd Street Y, Mecklenberg-Vorpommern Festival, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Winner of the 2013 Concert Artists Guild Competition and laureate of the 2012 Menuhin Competition, Alexi has been profiled by Musical America, Strings Magazine, and The New York Times, and has written for The Strad.
Chamber music continues to be a major part of Alexi’s life, regularly performing at festivals including Caramoor, ChamberFest Cleveland, Chamber Music Northwest, Kronberg, La Jolla, Ojai, Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Seattle, and Spoleto. He is a founding member of Owls—an inverted quartet hailed as a “dream group” by The New York Times—alongside violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabe Cabezas, and cellist-composer Paul Wiancko. Alexi is also an alum of the Bowers Program (formerly CMS 2) at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Born in Palo Alto, California in 1994, Alexi is a graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, where he received an Artist Diploma as a student of Miriam Fried and Donald Weilerstein. Previous mentors in the Bay Area include Wei He, Jenny Rudin, and Natasha Fong. He plays a violin made in London by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2009 and a bow by François-Nicolas Voirin.
Outside of music, Alexi enjoys hojicha, modernist design and architecture, baking for friends, and walking for miles on end in whichever city he finds himself, listening to podcasts and Bach on repeat.
American-Russian violinist MARIA IOUDENITCH captured the attention of music lovers worldwide in 2021 when she received first prizes in three international violin competitions – the Ysaÿe, Tibor Varga and Joseph Joachim – as well as numerous special prizes at these competitions, including Joachim’s Chamber Music Award, the prize for Best Interpretation of a Commissioned Work and the Henle Urtext Prize. In 2023, she won the Opus Klassik Award in the category “Chamber Music Recording of the Year” for her debut album, Songbird, on Warner Classics. 
Described as “superb” by the Chicago Classical Review, violinist NJIOMA CHINYERE GREVIOUS is an emerging, passionate and versatile solo, chamber and orchestral musician and performer. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a winner of its John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic achievement. In 2023, Njioma won the Robert F. Smith First Prize and the Audience Choice awards in the Senior Division of the Sphinx Competition and joint selection in the CAG/YCAT artist auditions. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Chicago Philharmonic, Western Michigan Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra and the Sphinx Virtuoso. As a chamber player, Njioma has performed in series including the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival and the Jupiter Chamber Players. She is a founding member of the award-winning Abeo Quartet, which has won prizes at Bad Tolz and Yellow Springs and was invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition. 
Canadian violinist JACQUES FORESTIER has delighted audiences in concert halls across North America, Europe, and Asia. Hailed by CBC Music as one of the “Top 30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30”, Jacques began his studies at the age of two under the instruction of his mother and currently holds the Thomas D. Watkins Fellowship at the Curtis Institute of Music studying with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank as well as Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program. A top prize winner at the Stulberg International Strings Competition, the Irving M. Klein International Strings Competition, the Johansen International Competition, the Shean Strings Competition, and the OSM Manulife Competition, among others, Jacques made his solo début with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Bill Eddins at the age of 11 and has since gone on to perform with orchestras and ensembles internationally. Jacques is grateful for the support of many including the Anne Burrows & Edmonton Community Foundations for their generosity in supporting his education. 
Canadian violinist GABRIELLE DESPRÉS has garnered numerous awards, including first prizes in the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Juilliard Concerto Competition. She also earned top prizes in the Michael Hill, Elmar Oliveira and Washington International Violin Competitions. As a soloist, she has performed with orchestras including the Juilliard Orchestra, the Spokane Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, and the Peninsula Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she recently performed at Music in the Vineyards, Schiermonnikoog Festival, and the Edmonton Summer Solstice Music Festival.
Celebrated for “sincerity, intensity, and individual voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer) as well as “immaculate and discreet phrasing” (Strad Magazine), violinist FRANCESCA DEPASQUALE is the first prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition, as well as recipient of the 2014-2016 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts and 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award. 
Violinist DIANA COHEN leads a multi-faceted career as a concertmaster, chamber musician, curator, and soloist. Appointed Concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra in 2012, she has served in the same role with orchestras all over the United States. She has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including Holland Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Rochester Symphony, and symphony orchestras including Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Charleston, among others. As a chamber musician, she has performed at some of the most prestigious festivals including Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, and La Jolla Chamber Music Festival, and collaborated with renowned artists including Garrick Ohlsson, Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Dover, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miro, Parker, and Cleveland Quartets.
GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist DANIEL CHONG is one of the most exciting and versatile musicians of his generation. Since 2002, as the founding first violinist of the Parker Quartet, he has garnered wide recognition for his performances in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein, and Wigmore Hall. Additionally, recent solo engagements include appearances at National Sawdust in New York City, Seoul Arts Center, and Jordan Hall in Boston. Mr. Chong has received several awards and prizes such as the Cleveland Quartet Award and top prizes at the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition. In the recording realm, he can be heard on the Zig-Zag Territoires, Naxos, and Nimbus Records labels. Mr. Chong’s newest album was released on the ECM New Series featuring the Parker Quartet and Kim Kashkashian.
Violinist DAVID BOWLIN is on the violin and chamber music faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he also serves as Chair of Strings. First prize winner of the 2003 Washington International Competition, Bowlin has performed extensively as a soloist, with premieres of violin concertos written for him at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and at the Aspen Music Festival. As a chamber musician, Bowlin has made many tours with Musicians from Marlboro, and performs regularly with both the Oberlin Trio and the Bowlin-Cho Duo with pianist Tony Cho. Bowlin is a founding member of the highly acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble and a former member of the Naumburg Award-winning Da Capo Chamber Players. 
MARK ALMOND joined the San Francisco Symphony as Associate Principal Horn during the 2020–21 season. He joined the San Francisco Opera Orchestra as Co-Principal Horn in 2016 and before that held the position of 3rd Horn with the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. Growing up in Bolton, England, Almond was taught to play horn primarily by Christopher Wormald, his local high school music teacher, and subsequently won principal horn positions with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and the European Union Youth Orchestra. He made his professional debut playing with the London Symphony Orchestra, at age 19, and has since performed as guest principal with numerous ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition to playing the horn, Almond is an experienced hospital physician and has a PhD in immunology and virology from Imperial College, London. He is currently researching COVID-19 as a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar at UCSF.