Faculty

Violinist Sarah Kim has performed extensively as a chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. As a resident artist at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music from 2008 2013, Sarah performed internationally with the Apple Hill String Quartet, directed summer chamber music sessions, and taught master classes in universities such as UCLA, Colby College, Boston Conservatory, University of New Mexico, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Through Apple Hill’s innovative Playing for Peace program, Sarah has performed and taught chamber music workshops in major conflict areas of the world, including Israel/Palestine, Cyprus, and Ireland. From 2017-2023, Sarah was a Resident Musician with Community MusicWorks, a nationally recognized community-based music performance and education program. In addition to her work at CMW, Sarah taught violin at the College of Holy Cross in Worcester, MA, and from 2021-2023, Sarah taught violin and chamber music as a Teaching Associate at Brown University. Currently, Sarah teaches at Loyola University Chicago and is a Lecturer of Violin at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the Spring 2024 semester. Sarah has received degrees from Indiana University, Yale School of Music, and Stony Brook University, where her principal teachers were Josef Gingold, Miriam Fried, Peter Oundjian, Pamela Frank, and Phil Setzer.

Joseph Kromholz is Assistant Professor of Music at Luther College, where he teaches violin and coaches chamber music. He was previously head of strings at Youngstown State University and taught music theory at New England Conservatory. A founding member of the Dana Piano Trio and the Vesuvius String Quartet, he is now a member of the Luther College Piano Quartet.

As an orchestral musician, Joseph served in leadership positions in CityMusic Chamber Orchestra, Opera Western Reserve, the Warren Philharmonic, Youngstown Symphony, Hauptstadt Sinfonieorchester Berlin, and Orchestre Symphonique de Luxembourg.

Born in New York and raised in Reston, Virginia, Joseph studied violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music and economics at Case Western Reserve University, followed by a doctorate from New England Conservatory. His teachers include Paul Kantor, Miriam Fried, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Salaff, Violaine Melançon, Emil Chudnovsky, Ronda Cole, and members of the Cavani, Cleveland, Juilliard, and Takács string quartets.

A founding faculty member of Encore Chamber Music, he has served on the board and as its president. He lives in Decorah, Iowa and loves cats.

Sofia Levchenko, a native of Navoi, Uzbekistan, is a passionate advocate for classical music both in her homeland and internationally. She showcases her musical prowess through solo performances, ensemble repertoire, and orchestral settings on renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, and Orchestra Hall. Currently, Sofia holds the position of Concertmaster with the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra and is an active performer and dedicated teacher based in the New York area.

Her journey in music began with a public solo debut at the age of fourteen with the Young Soloists of Uzbekistan at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan. Since then, she has emerged as a soloist with major orchestras in her home country. Notable recent achievements include a captivating performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with the Wilmington Community Orchestra and her debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.

Apart from her impressive violin skills, Sofia brings over 14 years of intensive piano study to her musical repertoire. Her dual expertise not only enriches her performances but also enhances her ability to inspire and educate budding musicians.

Sofia’s international presence includes participation in festivals such as the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, Ensemble Academy Freiburg, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, and Wintergreen Summer Music Festival. She has had the privilege of working with renowned musicians such as Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, and Leonidas Kavakos.

A firm believer in the importance of contemporary classical music, Sofia joined the Omnibus Ensemble in 2011, the leading ensemble for contemporary music in Central Asia. In the U.S., she collaborates with composers and ensembles, curating unique recitals that bridge Uzbek and U.S. compositions. Notably, she joined The Future Tradition Orchestra at the Hellerau Festival in Germany, contributing to a collective composition during an experimental week-long project.

Sofia’s dedication to music education is evident through her work in outreach and state-funded music education projects. Starting at the age of twenty-two, she taught at the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, focusing on coaching chamber music ensembles and performing with conservatory students. Her educational journey continued with a Teaching Assistant position at Michigan State University under the internationally acclaimed violinist Prof. Dmitri Berlinsky.

Transitioning to the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Sofia served as a Teaching Assistant, supervising an undergraduate violin studio and conducting rehearsals with the University Orchestra. Currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree under the guidance of Professors Hagai Shaham, Arnaud Sussman, Jennifer Frautschi, and the Emerson Quartet, Sofia remains committed to shaping the future of classical music through her artistry and teaching.

A top prize winner of the 2015 Seoul International Music Competition and prize winner in the Sendai, Lipizer, and Szeryng International Violin Competition, violinist Suliman Tekalli’s performing career has taken him throughout the U.S., Canada, Central America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist and chamber musician.  He has toured as concertmaster with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sejong Soloists, and Sphinx Virtuosi.  

An exponent of chamber music, Mr. Tekalli has made appearances at numerous festivals including Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, and the Banff Centre. He has collaborated and performed with eminent musicians such as Gil Shaham, Cho-Liang Lin, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Watkins, Wu Han, and David Shifrin. He also concertizes as part of the Tekalli Duo, formed with his sibling, pianist Jamila Tekalli with whom he had recorded an album entitled “Duality”, including works of Messiaen, Ravel, and Michael Brown.  He is a current member of Sybarite5.

Mr. Tekalli commitment towards spreading a love and appreciation for music and the arts have made him a passionate educator.  As an alum of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, he has performed for classrooms at schools and various community centers throughout the New York/New Jersey area.  He also regularly works with talented youths through New York Youth Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music program. 

Suliman Tekalli was admitted to The Juilliard School in Bachelor’s Degree program studying with Hyo Kang, and received a Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with conductor and former violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet Joel Smirnoff.  He also holds an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music.  His early teachers include Lev Gurevich and Sergiu Schwartz.

Aundrey Mitchell, viola, has performed throughout the United States, South America, and Europe as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber musician. She has appeared at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully, Merkin Hall, and the Kimmel Center.  She attended the American Conservatoire at Fontainebleau, France and the Taos School of Music festivals. She graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with both her BM and her MM in addition to post graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music.  In 1998, she was awarded her DMA from Rutgers University.  Her primary teachers were Michael Tree, Karen Ritscher, and Lucian Joel.  She has taught at Moravian College, Eastern Music Festival, Westminster Choir College, and the PA Academy of Music.  She is an active chamber musician in the New York and Philadelphia areas.

Devin Cowan is an artist and performer currently living in Boulder, Colorado. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Currently, Devin is a DMA candidate at University of Colorado at Boulder studying with and working as a TA under Erika Eckert. He has appeared in concert halls across the United States and is an active chamber musician, formerly a member of the Cushman String Quartet and currently playing with the Solideo String Quartet. He has trained with the Cavani Quartet as well as with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the Attacca Quartet, and the Carpe Diem String Quartet. Devin has taught violin and viola at Clark University and was a guest chamber music coach with the Stony Brook Young Artists Summer Institute as well as the Chamber Music Center of NYC. He made his concerto debut with the Greater Connecticut Youth Orchestra in 2023. Some of Devin’s most important mentors have been Jinjoo Cho, Kirsten Docter, Carol Rodland, Tomoko Fujita, and the Cavani String Quartet. In his free time Devin loves riding his bike, hiking around the rockies, and is an avid New York Mets fan.

An alumnus of Kinhaven, Adam Grabois, cello, joins the faculty with great enthusiasm. He has a varied career as chamber musician, soloist, teacher and recording artist and is the founder of the record label Reflex Editions, about whose first recording the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, “Sometimes, the way he plays with the sound of a single note has enough emotional sustenance in it to launch a half-dozen distinct feelings in quick succession.” A second disc, DUOS: Martinu, Ravel, Kodaly, was released to critical acclaim in 2008. A resident of New York City, Adam Grabois is the cellist of the New York Chamber Soloists with whom he performs throughout the country. Recent appearances include the Metropoliltan Museum of Art and the Morgan Library in New York City, the National Gallery in Washington and the Getty Center in Los Angeles. He is the cellist of the Lile Piano Trio and also plays with the Finckel Cello Quartet. During the 2009-2010 season, he appears in five concerto performances around the country. Past collaborations have included performances with Menahem Pressler and Mikhail Baryshnikov. He has played many times in Vermont, including performances at the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, the Vermont Mozart Festival and at Kinhaven. Adam Grabois was educated at Swarthmore College. He studied with David Finckel and has taught as his assistant. His cello was made by Samuel Zygmuntowicz in Brooklyn in 1998 and his bows were made by Ole Kanestrøm in 2004 and 2008.

A native of Port Jefferson, NY, Tomoko Fujita is the founding cellist of the Bryant Park Quartet, Ensemble-in-Residence at the Stony Brook University Community Music Programs and recipient of a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Program grant.  Recent highlights with the quartet include the release of their debut CD titled BPQ; a tour to Abu Dhabi, UAE; an appearance at Arizona Music Fest; and performances of the Debussy String Quartet from memory and on stage with the dancers of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company at The Kennedy Center in Washington, CD, Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge, CA, and the Florence Gould Hall and The Joyce Theater in NYC. Tomoko has collaborated in chamber music performances with esteemed artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Jonathan Carney, Eugene Drucker, Donald Weilerstein, Larry Dutton, Kathy Murdock, Roger Tapping, Colin Carr, and Seth Knopp. Tomoko has also premiered and performed many contemporary works, as a soloist and in ensembles such as Argento Chamber Ensemble, Mimesis Ensemble, New Fromm Players, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players and New Juilliard Ensemble. On baroque cello, she has performed with the Aulos Ensemble, and at the Boston Early Music Festival and the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series.  Tomoko graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with a double degree: a Bachelor’s of Music in cello performance and a Bachelors of Arts in psychology.  Having earned a Master’s of Music at The Juilliard School, she received a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University.  In addition to being the Head Chamber Coach of the Stony Brook University Pre-College Program and coaching at the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, she maintains a private studio in New York City and Long Island.  Tomoko is on the faculty of Kinhaven Music School, and previously has been on the staff of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Course and Festival in Courmayeur, Italy, and The Perlman Music Program. 

Troy Rinker’s musical journey began in the public schools of Jacksonville, Arkansas at 10 years old. At age 15 he was playing professionally with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, their youngest full member to be appointed to a position. Mr. Rinker’s musical education continued at Indiana University, the University of Central Arkansas, and The Juilliard School, where he was fortunate to study from great bass luminaries Lawrence Hurst, James Hatch, and Homer Mensch.  An enthusiast of modern music, Mr. Rinker has been a participant in many world premier performances and recordings by composers such as John Corigliano, Sebastian Currier, Charles Wuorinen, David Brynjar Franzson, Frances White, Roscoe Mitchell, Richard Toensing, Peteris Vasks, Mark O’Connor, Brian Ferneyhough, and Peter Kotik, to name a few. As a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra member Mr. Rinker regularly appears on all of New York’s concert stages, including Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, the 92nd Street Y, BAM, and Carnegie Hall. A member of several ensembles, Mr. Rinker performs regularly with the West Side Chamber Orchestra, New York City Chamber Orchestra, New York Symphonic Ensemble, Oratorio Society of New York Orchestra, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, SONOS Chamber Orchestra, EOS Chamber Orchestra, SEM Ensemble, New York Pops, American Composer’s Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Stamford Symphony. In addition to Mr. Rinker’s busy performance schedule, he teaches double bass at The Third Street Music Settlement, the oldest public music program in the United States, and at the Noel Pointer Foundation. His summer festival credits include OK Mozart, Tanglewood, Spoleto, the Naumburg Bandshell concerts, the Kilkenny Arts Festival, and Caramoor. Mr. Rinker can be heard on labels Sony Classical, Telarc, Naxos, and North/South, in addition to several studio recordings for television and film. His instrument is a fine example of the modern bass maker Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand, of Iowa.

Peter Schultz, flute, is on the faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy, where he teaches music theory, coaches chamber music and conducts the Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. He completed his doctorate in flute performance at the Manhattan School of Music in 2002 as a student of Michael Parloff. He has been a winner of the New York Flute Club’s Young Artist Competition and the National Flute Association’s Professional Performer’s competition. After completing his Master’s degree at SUNY Stony Brook with Samuel Baron, Peter joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music’s pre-college division. He continued his study of the flute for many years with Eleanor Lawrence and as a regular participant in the seminars of Marcel Moyse. An active freelancer for many years, Peter has performed with the Bergen Philharmonic, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Bethlehem Bach Festival, and the New Hampshire Symphony. Peter teaches and performs at Kinhaven’s Adult Chamber Music Workshop, and both the Junior and Senior sessions. 

An alum of Kinhaven Junior Session ’98 and ’99 and Senior Session 2000 and ’01, Camille credits her summers in Vermont toward her lifelong love of music.  She studied at Indiana University, New England Conservatory, and the Curtis Institute of Music.  

In 2009, Camille moved to New Zealand to join the Auckland Philharmonia as Associate Principal Oboe. While maintaining her role in New Zealand, Camille has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.   Most recently, Camille was appointed as Acting Associate Principal Oboe of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 2024.  A passionate teacher, Camille has maintained a private oboe studio as well as leading a regular masterclass series for well over a decade.

“It’s a lifelong dream to return to Kinhaven as a faculty member.  I couldn’t be more excited to work with passionate, driven young musicians in the green hills of Vermont.  From fundamentals of oboe technique, to orchestral excerpts, to phrasing and musicality, we will dive right in (and we’ll have some fun, too!)”