SARAH KAPUSTIN’S musical activities have taken her across North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia in performances as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Born in Milwaukee, WI, she has performed with such orchestras as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Vogtland Philharmonie and the Pro Arte Orchestra of Hong Kong. Sarah has received prizes and honors in numerous competitions, including 1st prize of the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen, resulting in solo appearances throughout Germany. She has appeared in such prestigious concert venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Mexico City’s Sala Nezahualcoyotl, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and Capella State Hall in St.Petersburg.

A devoted and passionate chamber musician, Sarah has appeared at various international festivals, most notably the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Musique de Chambre à Giverny (France), Sitka Summer Music Festival (AK), El Paso ProMusica (TX), Peter de Grote Festival (Netherlands) and the Marlboro Music Festival (VT) where she has performed with such distinguished artists as Claude Frank, Joseph Silverstein, David Soyer, and Kim Kashkashian. She shows great interest in contemporary music, and has had the honor to work with several composers on their own compositions, including Henri Dutilleux, Kryzstof Penderecki, Jörg Widmann, Ned Rorem and Joey Roukens. Sarah plays recitals regularly with pianists Jeannette Koekkoek and Shuann Chai, and her recordings of the Beethoven sonata cycle (with Koekkoek) and solo works by Bartók, Bach and Fulmer, among others, have received international acclaim. Sarah was the 1st violinist of the renowned Rubens Quartet from 2008 until the group’s final season in 2016.

Sarah received a Masters degree in violin performance at The Juilliard School with Robert Mann in 2005. She previously received a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University as a pupil of Mauricio Fuks, and formerly studied with Mimi Zweig and James Przygocki at the String Academy of Wisconsin. She has participated in masterclasses with Joshua Bell, Midori, Leonidas Kavakos, Mihaela Martin and Ruggiero Ricci, among others. After receiving a Fulbright Scholarship, Sarah spent 2006 to 2008 in Paris as a student at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, studying chamber music with Michel Strauss and Vladimir Mendelssohn as member of the Trio Archiduc. She also served as concertmaster of the Orchestre des Lauréats du Conservatoire during the 2007-08 season.

Currently Sarah resides in Zwolle, the Netherlands, where she is active as a chamber musician and soloist. From 2017 to 2019 she played in the Noord Nederlands Orkest (Groningen) as first concertmaster. She also performs and tours regularly with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Increasingly sought after as a teacher, she has been professor of violin at the ArtEZ Conservatorium in Zwolle since 2011, professor of chamber music at the Prins Claus Conservatorium in Groningen since 2014, and in 2017 she joined the faculty of the Sweelinck Academie (preparatory division of the Amsterdam Conservatory). She has given masterclasses in the US, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Brazil, Columbia and Hong Kong, and is a faculty member of the Indiana University Summer String Academy.

Sarah plays on the ”Nico Richter and Hetta Rester” G.B. Rogeri, Brescia, ca. 1690, on loan to her from the Nationaal Muziekinstrumentenfonds in Amsterdam.

KINGS RETURN is a vocal band of brothers – Gabe Kunda, Vaughn Faison, J.E. McKissic & Jamall Williams. The Dallas, Texas-based a cappella group was formed unintentionally in 2016 after first singing together for Gabe’s college graduation recital. Their popularity grew when they began posting videos to social media from the stairwell where they rehearse. Avoiding the confines of a single genre, Kings Return’s sound is proudly born out of gospel, jazz, R&B, and classical music. “The name Kings Return is a reflection of ourselves. We are Kings who go forth to conquer but most importantly we return to give back to our community.”

New Zealand-born violinist GENEVA LEWIS has forged a reputation as a musician of consummate artistry whose performances speak from and to the heart. Lauded for the “remarkable mastery of her instrument” (CVNC) and hailed as “clearly one to watch” (Musical America), Geneva is the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Grand Prize winner of the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Competition. Other recent accolades include Kronberg Academy’s Prince of Hesse Prize and being named a Finalist at the 2018 Naumburg Competition, a Performance Today Young Artist in Residence, and Musical America’s New Artist of the Month.
 
After her solo debut at age 11 with the Pasadena Symphony, Geneva has gone on to perform with orchestras around the world, including recent and forthcoming appearances with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Sarasota Orchestra, Pensacola Symphony, Augusta Symphony, and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with a number of notable conductors, including Nic McGegan, Edwin Outwater, and Michael Feinstein, and looks forward to collaborations with Giordano Bellincampi, Sameer Patel, Peter Rubardt, and Dirk Meyer. In recital, recent and upcoming highlights include performances at Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Tippet Rise, Emory University, Purdue Convocations, Kravis Center, and Myra Hess, among others.
 
While Geneva’s claim to chamber music fame came early on as a member of the renowned Lewis Family Trio with her siblings Nathan (piano) and Rochelle (cello), she has since established the Callisto Trio, Artist-in-Residence at the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles. Callisto received the Bronze Medal at the Fischoff Competition as the youngest group to ever compete in the senior division finals. They were recently invited on the Masters on Tour series of the International Holland Music Sessions and performed at the celebrated Het Concertgebouw Amsterdam.
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Deeply passionate about collaboration, Geneva has had the pleasure of performing with such prominent musicians as Atar Arad, Efe Baltacigil, Glenn Dicterow, Miriam Fried, Ilya Kaler, Michael Kannen, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Marcy Rosen, Mitsuko Uchida, and the Borromeo String Quartet, among others.
 
An advocate of community engagement and music education, Geneva was selected for the New England Conservatory’s Community Performances and Partnerships Program’s Ensemble Fellowship, through which her string quartet created interactive educational programs for audiences throughout Boston. Her quartet was also chosen for the Virginia Arts Festival Residency, during which they performed and presented masterclasses in elementary, middle, and high schools.
 
​Geneva is currently in the Artist Diploma program as the recipient of the Charlotte F. Rabb Presidential Scholarship at the New England Conservatory studying with Miriam Fried. Past summers have taken her to the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Workshop, International Holland Music Sessions, Taos School of Music and the Heifetz International Music Institute.
 
Geneva is currently performing on a violin by Zosimo Bergonzi of Cremona, c. 1770 courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins, Chicago. 

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.
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American violist MATTHEW LIPMAN has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and by the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman has come to be relied on as one of the leading players of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber music performer.

Lipman will debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival in the summer of 2021. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Lipman has worked with conductors including Edward Gardner, the late Sir Neville Marriner, Osmo Vänskä, and Nicholas McGegan. Lipman was a featured performer with fellow violist Tabea Zimmermann at Michael Tilson Thomas’s 2019 Viola Visions Festival of the New World Symphony in Miami. His recent debuts include at the Aspen Music Festival, Seoul’s Kumho Art Hall, Wigmore Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and in recital at Carnegie Hall.

Ascent, his 2019 release by Cedille Records, was celebrated by The Strad as a “most impressive” debut album while Lipman is praised for his “authoritative phrasing and attractive sound.” The album marks the first ever recording of the recently discovered work by Shostakovich, Impromptu for viola and piano and of Clarice Assad’s Metamorfose for viola and piano, which Lipman commissioned for the recording. He has also been featured on the recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by the late Sir Neville Marriner. The album topped Billboard’s Classical Chart and has received praise by both the press and public.

Named the 2019 Artist-in-Residence for the American Viola Society, Lipman has additionally been featured on WFMT Chicago’s list “30 Under 30” of the world’s top classical musicians, and is a published contributor to The Strad, Strings and BBC Music magazines. He was featured on the second season of PBS’s ‘Now Hear This’ performing Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata with pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen.  He performs regularly on tour and at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at music festivals including the Morizburg Festival, St. Petersburg’s White Nights, Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bridgehampton, Seattle, Saratoga, and Kissinger Sommer festivals. His regular chamber music partners include Tabea Zimmermann, Mitsuko Uchida, Itzhak Perlman, Sir András Schiff, Jeremy Denk, Stella Chen, and Pinchas Zukerman. Dedicated to expanding the repertoire for the viola, Lipman has also performed the premieres of works for viola by composers Helen Grime, Clarice Assad, David Ludwig and the American premiere of Monochromer GartenVI by Malika Kishino.  

Lipman is the recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Kovner Fellowship, and the Jack Kent Cooke Award, and is also a major prize winner in the Primrose, Tertis, Washington, Johansen, and Stulberg International Viola Competitions. He studied at The Juilliard School with Heidi Castleman, and was further mentored by Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy. As an alum of the Bowers Program, Lipman occupies the Wallach Chair at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He performs on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola loaned through the generous efforts of the Pine Foundation.

NICOLE MARTIN is a clarinetist from Westbrook, Maine currently pursuing her undergraduate degree under the instruction of Franklin Cohen at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Nicole began her music career at Interlochen Center for the Arts, where she studied under Emil Khudyev and Bryan Conger. During that time she placed as a finalist in NPR’s “From the Top”. Nicole also premiered orchestral works while touring with the New York Philharmonic in 2016, and later performed chamber works alongside it’s members. Nicole has participated in multiple music festivals, most recently the Sarasota Music Festival in 2022. She has played in many local orchestras including the Mansfield Symphony and Youngstown Symphony, among others. Nicole is also an active chamber musician, and regularly performs around the Cleveland area with her group, the Cleveland Wind Trio, and her own jazz combo.

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.

Cellist GABRIEL MARTINS has established himself as one of the world’s most enthralling young artists, with a deep commitment to the timeless masterpieces of classical music. His artistry has already been recognized through an extensive list of accolades including the 2020 Concert Artists Guild – Young Classical Artists Trust Grand Prize, the 2020 Sphinx Competition Gold Medal, the David Popper International Cello Competition Gold Medal, the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians Silver Medal, the Schadt String Competition Gold Medal, the Orford Music Award, and the Prague Spring Czech Music Fund Prize. These successes have lead to a number of high-profile debuts including Wigmore, Carnegie, and Merkin Halls, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Maison Symphonique in Montréal, and the Arkansas, Memphis, Indianapolis, New Russian State, Pacific, and Phoenix Symphony Orchestras. According to legendary cellist Ralph Kirshbaum, he has “revealed heart, passion, intellect, and a finely-nuanced palette of colors in a compelling manner worthy of a seasoned artist.”
 
For Martins, great masterpieces require great patience and solemnity in order to reveal their true, extraordinary capabilities. His powerful belief in this is what drives his distinctive, emotive performances. In 2021, Martins gave his first complete Bach Suite Cycle, in collaboration with Kaufman Center and the Alphadyne Foundation, where he played all Six Cello Suites back to back in New York City. In the spring of 2022 he will debut his first complete Beethoven Cycle, in collaboration with pianist Audrey Vardanega and the Lakes Area Music Festival, performing and recording all of the works for Cello and Piano. In addition to his commitment to the great classics of the cello repertoire, Martins composes his own works and arranges many others. His “Songs of Solitude” received their World Premiere in the spring of 2021 in collaboration with the Brooklyn Public Library, and his new cello arrangements of Bach’s Solo Violin Sonatas and Partitas have received high acclaim and a feature in The Strad Magazine. Martins’ performances have been broadcast on NPR, WQXR, KUSC, WFMT, and more. He is also a passionate educator, teaching privately and giving a number of masterclasses. He served as a teaching assistant both at the IU Jacobs School of Music and the USC Thornton School of Music, and his students have gone on to achieve major success in competitions and performances around the world.
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Born of American and Brazilian heritage, Martins grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. He began playing the cello when he was five, studying with Susan Moses at the Indiana University String Academy. He went on to receive his B.M. as a Presidential Scholar at the USC Thornton School of Music with Ralph Kirshbaum. In his freshman year at USC, he won the school’s concerto competition as well as its Bach competition. He received his M.M. at the New England Conservatory of Music. His festival appearances have included Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, where he was also selected to tour with Miriam Fried, and the Aspen Music Festival, where he won the Concerto Competition. He plays on a composite Francesco Ruggieri cello made in Cremona, c. 1690 and a François Nicolas Voirin bow made in Paris, c. 1880. Martins resides in Boston, Massachusetts with his partner, violinist Geneva Lewis. 

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.