Kinhaven has an experienced and dedicated, world-class music faculty, many having taught at Kinhaven for 20 years or longer. We choose teachers as much for their sensitivity to students as for their professional excellence. When not at camp, most of our faculty members teach in universities and colleges or concertize in world-renowned chamber ensembles and professional orchestras. All are graduates of major conservatories and are active performers and teachers. When not fulfilling their professional duties at camp, they might be on your softball team or join you on the “sitting-hill.” Most students find their teachers are more than teachers; they are also friends, companions, and mentors. Kinhaven’s faculty perform weekly at concerts that are open to the public.
Senior Session
Senior Session Director:
Senior Session 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.
Violinist Hannah MacLean is an avid performer of solo, chamber, and orchestral music and has given performances across the United States and Canada. As a devoted chamber musician, Hannah is a founding member of the Cheng-MacLean duo, who made their debut at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2022. Hannah has performed chamber music with a variety of esteemed musicians such as Rachel Barton Pine, Philip Chiu, and Marina Thibeault. Currently, she can be seen performing with orchestras including the Naples Philharmonic, the Virginia Symphony, and the Des Moines Symphony.
Hannah holds a Doctorate of Music from Florida State University, where she taught violin and coached chamber music. She received her Master of Music from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, and her Bachelor of Music Education from Wheaton College. Her primary teachers were Shannon Thomas, Violaine Melançon, Felicia Moye, and Paul Zafer. As a dedicated mentor to young musicians, Hannah has served as artist-faculty for the Prizm Music Festival and the Tutti Chamber Music Festival.
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!)”
David Valbuena was born and raised in Queens, New York and has established himself as an avid teacher and performer. His love for both modern and classical music has led him to perform in a wide variety of venues such as The Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space among many others. He earned a Bachelors Degree from Queens College and is currently pursuing a Masters Degree at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Charles Neidich. In 2014, he took part in an exchange program with the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he studied with Lee Morgan. David’s most recent musical endeavor has been performing with ShoutHouse, a collective of 14 NYC based musicians from diverse musical backgrounds who are dedicated to performing thought-provoking music that combines elements of jazz, hip-hop, and classical music.
Isaac Schultz is the associate principal bassoonist of the Houston Symphony. Isaac earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Rice University, where he studied with Benjamin Kamins. While at Rice, Isaac was a fellow at the Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Music School. As a chamber musician, Isaac has performed with Jon Kimura Parker, Jorja Fleezanis, and the Pacifica Quartet. Isaac was a prizewinner at the Fischoff competition and a finalist at the Coleman competition. A seven-time Kinhaven alumnus, Isaac is overjoyed to return as a member of the faculty. Away from music, Isaac enjoys rock climbing and other outdoor activities.
Carolyn Wahl, french horn, graduated from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and studied with Dale Clevenger, Martin Morris and Lowell Shaw. She was a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. She is currently a member of the Florida Orchestra and is on the faculty of St. Petersburg College, Pinellas County School for the Arts, and coaches brass quintets.
Trumpeter Paul Murphy has worked frequently as a musician and educator at The Juilliard School, Carnegie Hall, the New York Philharmonic, and on Broadway. His work as a musician and teaching artist has taken him to hundreds of cities and 26 countries throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Paul spent several seasons as a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Knights, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. Paul is a co-founder and former Artistic Director of Decoda, an artist-led collective seeking to create a more compassionate and connected world through music. Decoda is the first and only independent ensemble to be recognized as an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall.
An inaugural recipient of the Yale Distinguished Teaching Artist Award, Paul is committed to expanding the role of what it means to be a 21st-century musician. He proudly served on the teaching-artist faculty of the New York Philharmonic for 14 years, where he appeared both as a soloist on stage in front of the orchestra, as well as in hundreds of classrooms throughout New York City. He has also helped to design projects and programming for Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program, which sends artists into community centers, hospitals, and correctional facilities. Paul has also worked as a global K-12 curriculum specialist for The Juilliard School, helping to develop curriculum and to support music educators and school administrators to grow stronger performing arts programs. Paul previously served on faculty at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music where he directed the brass choir and led an advanced career seminar for graduate students. In the summers Paul teaches at the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont.
Prior to living in New York, Paul served as the Principal Trumpet of the Daejeon Philharmonic in South Korea. He has earned degrees from the Yale School of Music and St. Olaf College, and was an Ensemble Connect Fellow at The Juilliard School and Carnegie Hall from 2007-2010. He is currently pursuing an Ed.D. degree in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Gabriel Rice is bass trombonist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and Vermont Symphony Orchestras and the Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass. His diverse performing career has included the Boston Symphony, Boston Ballet Orchestra, and most of the professional orchestras in New England; the Louisiana Philharmonic, Alabama Symphony, Naples (FL) Philharmonic, and Spokane (WA) Symphony; and on tours with the Boston Pops, Burning River Brass, Linda Ronstadt, and noted contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. Mr. Rice serves on the faculties of the Boston University College of Fine Arts, Wellesley College, and the Kinhaven Music School, and has served on the faculties of the Longy School of Music, the University of Rhode Island, and Brown University, as well as the summer festival faculties of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, and Boston Youth Symphonies. As a recitalist, he is especially interested in new music for bass trombone and has been involved in commissions from composers John Stevens, Raymond Premru, Norman Bolter, Jeremy Howard Beck, James Stephenson, Gregory Fritze, and others. Mr. Rice has performed on recordings with the Boston, Albany and Vermont Symphonies, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Symphony Principal Trombonist Ronald Barron, Norman Bolter’s Frequency Band, the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol’s Whatsnext?, the Indigo Invention Group, and the Thompson Brass Project led by renowned trumpeter James Thompson. Educated at the Oberlin and New England Conservatories, his teachers have included Raymond Premru, Norman Bolter, Matthew Guilford, and Per Brevig.
John Bannon, percussion, is Principal Timpanist with The Florida Orchestra, and conducts orchestra, band, and teaches conducting at St. Petersburg College. He was formerly Principal Timpanist with the Anchorage Symphony, the Oklahoma Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria in Mexico City, the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, and the Honolulu Symphony. He earned degrees in Percussion Performance from the University of South Florida (BA) and the University of Michigan (MM), and in Instrumental Conducting (DMA) from the University of Miami. Dr. Bannon has taught for thirty years as an adjunct to his performing career, and counts among his former students numerous professional musicians.
Praised for his passionate, sensitive, and thoughtful musicianship, pianist Arunesh Nadgir has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. He has performed in venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre, and Jordan Hall, and has participated in several international music festivals including the Millennium International Piano Festival, The Moulin d’Ande Festival, and the Kneisel Hall Summer Music Festival. He has performed on Nashville Public Radio and WNYC in live radio broadcasts.
An accomplished teacher, Nadgir is the Coordinator of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of Piano at Middle Tennessee State University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate piano students. He also maintains a private piano studio and is on the faculty of the Dow Street Community Music School, a nonprofit music school committed to providing high quality and affordable music education for music students in the Murfreesboro area. He has previously held teaching positions at New England Conservatory’s Preparatory and Continuing Education Departments, the Eastman School of Music, the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and the Point CounterPoint Music Camp. His students have been accepted to music festivals and college music programs across the country and have won top prizes at pre-college and college level music competitions including the University of Rochester Concerto Competition, the MTNA Tennessee Young Artist Piano Competition, and the Tennessee Music Teachers Association Solo Piano Competition. A sought-after clinician, Nadgir frequently presents master classes, performances, and lectures for university and pre-college programs, music organizations, and private piano studios. He is currently serving as President of the Tennessee Music Teachers Association.
Nadgir holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, The Juilliard School, and the Eastman School of Music where he studied under Wha Kyung Byun, Robert McDonald, and Natalya Antonova, respectively.
Hannah Shields has performed widely throughout the US both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has appeared as a soloist in the Bach concerto for four keyboards at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Itzhak Perlman, and she has played chamber music in concert series across the country and abroad. Notable appearances include Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall and Zankel Hall, the Kumho Center in Korea, the Seattle Opera House, Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Royal Academy of music in London. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of Daniel Shapiro, and a Master’s degree from Yale School of Music, where she studied with Claude Frank. She completed her piano studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, with Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. Ms. Shields is a prizewinner of the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, Fite Young Artist Competition, and Young Keyboard Artists International Competition, and has attended numerous music festivals, including the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Banff Chamber Music Festival, Perlman Music Program, and the Taos School of Music. She has been a faculty member at the Kinhaven and Summertrios summer programs. An advocate of contemporary music, Ms Shields has released several recordings for Parma Recordings and Navona Records, including premier recordings of works by John Bilotta, Paul Epstein, Quinn Dizon, Howard Quilling and Alan Beeler. She is the co-founder and organizer of two chamber music series, “Musique a la Mode” in New York and “Neighborhood Concerts” in Boston, both of which feature innovative programming for mixed ensembles. Ms. Shields has performed in chamber music groups with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Barbara Stein Mallow, Andre Emelianoff, and Kyung-Wha Kim, and has played sonata recitals with Kyu-Young Kim, Beth Guterman Cho, Yura Lee, Christine Lamprea, Kristin Lee, and Robin Scott. She currently has a piano studio in the Boston area, where she teaches students ranging in age from 4 to 65. In her free time, she enjoys photography, silversmithing, and cooking South Indian food.
Nicholas Diaz joined the Kinhaven faculty as choral director in 2016. A passionate and dedicated music educator, Mr. Diaz has taught choir, music theory, and music production in public high schools since 2004, and is currently the choir director at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. Mr. Diaz has been a vocal judge, clinician, and guest conductor for various high school and middle school choral festivals in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. In 2017, Mr. Diaz served as interim director of the University of Connecticut Men’s Glee Club. Mr. Diaz earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Michigan, and his Master’s Degree in Orchestral Conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Max Grafe writes music characterized by “jagged declamations and muffled filigree” (Gramophone) with the aim of exploring the untapped dramatic and narrative potential of modernist musical vocabularies. Max’s collaborations include numerous prominent ensembles and institutions, including the New York Philharmonic, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, RED NOTE New Music Festival, and Kent State University.
Max is a founding member of New York-based composer collective ICEBERG New Music and teaches at Montclair State University’s John J. Cali School of Music and the Kaufman Music Center. He holds degrees from the Juilliard School (MM, DMA) and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (BM). Further studies have taken place at Mannes College of Music, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Max lives in New Jersey with his wife and three cats.
Junior Session
Junior Session Director:
Kenneth Bean earned a BM in Trumpet Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and a MME from Jackson State University. He has performed with Mannheim Steamroller, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Soulful Symphony Orchestra, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and Pennsylvania Sinfo-nia Orchestra. He currently serves as Associate Director of the Primavera Fund, an initiative to fund music education for youth in Philadelphia. Kenny has held the position of Music Director/Conductor of the Junior String Philharmonic of the Lehigh Valley since 2011. He also serves as the Conductor for the Symphony in C Youth Orchestra and as Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
Junior Session Faculty:
Hubert Chen, Violin, a native New Yorker, received his BA from SUNY Geneseo after 8 years at Juilliard Pre-College. His primary teachers have been Margaret Pardee, Laura Balkin and Eric Lewis, and has been coached in chamber music by the Manhattan String Quartet, Tremont String Quartet, Edward Melkus, and Mark Steinberg. He completed his Suzuki teacher training at The School for Strings and Kodaly Methodology certification at NYU. Hubert is on faculty at the Diller-Quaile School of Music for violin, musicianship/music theory, and chamber music; and at St. Luke’s School. He serves as the concertmaster of the New York Repertory Orchestra, and is a board member and musician with Anti-Social Music, a new chamber music ensemble, which recently completed a tour of Ukraine with a grant from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
A “versatile violinist” (LA Times) – Los Angeles-based violinist Rachel Iba has established a diverse career as a musician, composer, conductor and educator, working within a broad range of musical traditions spanning the classical, contemporary, jazz, folk and cross-cultural repertoire. Rachel can be heard on numerous film scores and studio recordings, has been featured on NPR with world-folk band Primero Sueño, and performs with a wide range of ensembles in Southern California including Wild Up, Synchromy New Music Collective, Vitamin String Quartet, and is the concertmaster of the award-winning Bridge to Everywhere ensemble. She is also an accomplished baroque violinist, and has played with Jeannette Sorrell and members of Apollo’s Fire. As an educator, Rachel is the Artistic Director of the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra. She has lectured extensively in music history and has appeared as an instructor and guest lecturer with organizations including California Institute of the Arts, Mount St. Mary’s University, Ventura College, Longy School of Music, and is on the faculty of the Walden School, and Kinhaven Music School. She is also a regular pre-concert lecturer for the LA Philharmonic and her lectures can be heard on the Upbeat Live podcast. She holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts and Oberlin Conservatory, where she was awarded the Marilyn McDonald Scholarship and the Louis and Annette Kaufman violin prize.
Caeli Smith, called “intense, precise, and full of personality,” is a chamber musician, educator, and facilitator in high demand across New York City and beyond. She has performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia as a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and her quintet Sybarite5; and with the New York Philharmonic, The Knights, Sejong Soloists, and the Verbier Chamber Orchestra.
Known among students and colleagues for her exuberance and curiosity, Caeli (pronounced “Chay-lee”) is on the faculty of the Heifetz International Music Institute and Kinhaven Music School. She works weekly with pre-college, college, and graduate students at The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music as a teaching assistant/adjunct professor for several viola studios.
Caeli is the former interim viola professor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is an alum of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, the post-graduate performance, education, and leadership program of Carnegie Hall and The Juilliard School. She has led educational workshops for the fellows of Ensemble Connect and the teachers of Musical Mentors Collaborative.
Caeli holds two degrees from The Juilliard School: a bachelor’s degree in violin performance and a master’s degree in viola performance. Upon graduating, she received the William Schuman Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. In 2022, Caeli graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a Masters in Education, Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship; with a concentration in Arts and Learning.
As a teenager, Caeli was a reporter and regular cast member on NPR’s “From The Top.” Caeli has written for radio, TV, and print, and her articles have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as Strings, Teen Strings, and Symphony magazines.
Amber McPherson, Violin, completed her undergraduate studies at North Carolina School of the Arts and later earned a degree in early music performance practice at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Leipzig, Germany where she has lived since 1999. There she is active as a freelance Baroque violinist performing and recording primarily in Germany and the Czech Republic with ensembles such as the Dresdner Instrumental Concert, Telemannisches Collegium Michaelstein, Chemnitzer Barock Orchester, and Hofmusici.
Multi-instrumentalist Adaiha MacAdam-Somer is highly sought after as a teacher, chamber and orchestral musician across the United States and Europe. She splits her time and passion equally between cello, baroque cello, and all branches of the viola da gamba family. From her home base in Portland, Adaiha performs with a variety of ensembles including Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and Voice of the Viol, which she is Artistic Director of. She will be making her chamber music debut with 45th Parallel in the 2021-2022 Season. As an educator she is Adjunct Professor of cello at Linfield University, maintains a studio of private students, coaches the Bridgetown Baroque Ensemble, Trillium Baroque Orchestra, and substitute teaches for youth orchestras and chamber ensembles across the Pacific Northwest. Adaiha is regularly sought after as a guest instructor of workshops nationwide. Miss MacAdam-Somer holds a Masters in Chamber Music and a Professional Studies Diploma in cello performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While in attendance she had the opportunity to work and perform with such esteemed artists as Kim Kashkashian, Robert Mann, Menahem Pressler, Ian Swenson and Joseph Swensen. While completing her undergraduate degree in cello performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Adaiha taught for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and was tenured into Madison Symphony Orchestra as their assistant principal cellist. Her primary teachers include Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Elisabeth Reed, Uri Vardi, and Laszlo Varga. In the summer you can find her performing with various festivals and teaching chamber music and cello at Kinhaven Music School. Adaiha is forever grateful to Indre Viskontas and Adam Bristol for facilitating the acquisition of her bass viol, made by master luthier Francis Beaulieu.
A passionate music educator and performer with a versatile background in solo, chamber, and orchestral music, Dr. Jordan Enzinger currently serves as cello professor at Seton Hall University, and maintains his prestigious private cello studio in East Brunswick, New Jersey (masteringthecello.com). He has served as guest lecturer for collegiate music classes at Rutgers, as cello faculty at the Princeton String Academy and Rutgers Extension Division, and as chamber music instructor at the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) Chamber Music Institute of New Jersey and the Rutgers Young Artist Program. Dr. Enzinger’s students frequently win competitions to perform in major venues in New York City such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Lincoln Center, and have received numerous collegiate music scholarships. Dr. Enzinger is a Section Cellist with the American Symphony Orchestra, and regularly performs with some of the finest ensembles including the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and American Ballet Theatre, among others. He has a rich experience with summer music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival and School, Caramoor, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Bard Music Festival. Dr. Enzinger received his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Performance Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and his Doctorate from Rutgers. His principal cello instructors were Janos Starker, Peter Stumpf, Eric Kim, Helga Winold, and Jonathan Spitz. Dr. Enzinger is a certified cello instructor with the Suzuki Association of the Americas.
Marza Merophi Wilks is a Peruvian-born cellist, performing/recording artist, and educator living in Los Angeles, California.
Marza is passionate about performing and collaborating in non-traditional settings and venues. Performing all over the world, Wilks has had the pleasure of collaborating with Take3Trio, Dallas String Quartet, Leah James, Stephen Kramer Glickman, as well as Doja Cat at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards and Gryffin at Coachella 2019. Wilks collaborates regularly with producer Johan Lenox to add cello to albums by Yung Pinch, 070 Shake, Landon Von Cube, YAS, and Zoya to name a few.
Featured as SCALA Radio’s “Young Artist of the Week,” Marza has been a soloist with many orchestras including Symphony New Hampshire, the Genesee Symphony, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, World Civic Orchestra, and the Orchestra of the Southern Fingerlakes to name a few. An alum of the Sphinx Competition, she has toured with the Sphinx Virtuosi, performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Marza has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and Kaleidoscope Orchestra.
Passionate about diversity in classical music, Marza has worked closely with the Sphinx Organization through collaborations with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and National Orchestral Institute and Festival. These partnerships focused on featuring Black and Latino musicians, programming Black and Latino composers as well as providing scholarships and apprenticeship programs to young students.
Marza is thrilled to be teaching at Kinhaven Music School as an alumni herself. She has also been on staff at Funsincopa in Panama with Sound Impact, the Pacific Music Institute as a featured artist, and the National Orchestral Institute and Festival as the Inaugural Sphinx Orchestral Futurist Fellow. In addition to her performance career, Wilks is a sought after lecturer who coaches upper level company management in metacognitive problem solving through classical music.
During the year, Marza is a recording artist, maintains a private studio, and is a cello advisor at the Renaissance Arts Academy in Los Angeles, a school which brings together a cross-section of the city’s diverse ethnic, economic, and cultural populations in an ensemble-based environment. Marza holds a Masters Degree from The Juilliard School as well as a Graduate Diploma and Masters Degree from The New England Conservatory of Music. Her primary teachers included Natasha Brofsky, Paul Katz, and John Haines-Eitzen.
Diane Taublieb is on the faculty of Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, Turtle Bay Music School, and Hunter College and Kinhaven Music School—summer, junior session—in addition to maintaining an active private flute studio. She has played with The Queens Symphony, Solisti New York, New Jersey Symphony and the Village Light Opera Group. Diane was a winner in the concerto competition at SUNY Albany and was the recipient of a fellowship while a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the coordinator of the Adult Chamber Music Program at Lucy Moses and, in addition, she teaches music theory and history in their adult division. As a flutist, she has performed with orchestras and in chamber groups throughout the United States. Diane’s repertoire covers music from the baroque up through contemporary works. Her primary teachers are Samuel Baron, Julius Baker, Thomas Nyfenger, Keith Underwood, and Trudy Kane.
Born into a family of classical musicians, Noah Kay began playing the oboe at age fifteen. After three fast-track years of private instruction, he enrolled at the Eastman School of Music in 2012, completing his Bachelor of Music degree there in 2016, having studied under Richard Killmer. He went on to receive his Master’s from Yale in 2019, having studied with Stephen Taylor. In 2017, after his first year at the Yale School of Music, Noah joined the Colorado Springs Philharmonic as principal oboe, taking a leave of absence from Yale to undergo a trial period with the orchestra. Noah returned to Colorado Springs in fall 2019, resuming his work with the Philharmonic and is continuing to build his private teaching studio. He has toured and performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sarasota, Washington D.C., and most recently at Carnegie Hall in New York, as well as recorded an album of Mendelssohn’s piano concerti on the Deutsche Grammophon label with soloist Jan Lisiecki. Noah recently appeared as a fellow of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, and in past summers, he has participated in the Manchester Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, and Cape May Music Festival.
Shawn Coleman is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the University of Colorado Graduate School. Shawn is a Kinhaven Senior Session Alumni and has been on the Junior Session staff since 1996. Shawn served on the faculty of Music Advancement Program of the Juilliard School and was the Principal Clarinetist of the Wyoming Symphony. He left the symphony to join the Legislative Staff of U.S. Rep Jared Polis in Washington D.C. Currently he is the president of the Denver based lobbying firm 36 Solutions. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Youth Symphony.
Nicole (Nikki) Daley, trumpet, is a trumpet player in the U.S. Army Bands. She received her bachelor’s degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of South Florida where she studied with Dr. Jay Coble. Nikki then went on study with John Rommel at Indiana University where she received her Master’s in Music. While in the Army, Nikki has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including playing as a featured soloist multiple times in the Heidelberg Castle in Germany, rendering the honors of Taps at several D-Day Remembrance Ceremonies in France, and performing in an all-women Army brass quintet at the International Women’s Brass Conference in Arizona. Nikki has also studied with Brian McWhorter, Tony Plog, and Tom Hooten, and considers them greatly influential on her playing.
Nate Reit is an active teacher and dynamic performer in Vermont, New York City, and all over the country. He brings a focus to improving the fundamentals of great brass playing, as well as developing musicianship and listening skills. He received his BM in 2009 from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Mark Kellogg and Dr. John Marcellus. Nate has taught and coached young musicians of all ages at the Bloomingdale School of Music, Brooklyn Music School, New York’s Harmony Program, the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, and the University of Vermont. He is an alumnus of both Kinhaven Sr. and Jr. sessions and began as Head of Brass in 2013.
Over the past 15 years Nate has enjoyed a diverse performance schedule with symphony orchestras, brass quintets, creative jazz ensembles, musicals, and just about everything in between, performing with ensembles such as the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Opera Company of Middlebury, and nationally touring rock band, Gang of Thieves. Nate now resides in New York City, continues to perform in Vermont, and recently recorded a full-length album of original music with his septet, Collage!
Sandy Dennis, Piano, received her BM and MMT degrees from Oberlin Conservatory, and her MM from The Juilliard School. Her teachers include Beveridge Webster, Arthur Dann, and Bonnee Hendricks Hoy. Sandy currently teaches at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA, and privately, and performs regularly throughout the New England area.
Semester Program
Semester Program Faculty / Staff:
Comprised of violinists Sommer Altier and Judith Kim, violist Sydney Link and cellist Amelia Smerz, the Trillium String Quartet formed in September 2022. Trillium is the Graduate Quartet in Residence at Montclair State University and members of the group hold performance degrees from renowned music schools including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Mannes School of Music, and McGill University. As a quartet, Trillium has worked with both Calidore and Attacca Quartet, as well as received masterclasses and coaching from members of Emerson, Brentano, Lark, Aizuri, and Harlem Quartets. The Quartet has also had the privilege of performing in concert alongside artists such as the Attacca Quartet and Bela Fleck. TSQ is passionate about performing music in our communities, valuing education and outreach as a foundation for increasing access to the arts. The quartet seeks out frequent opportunities to perform outreach and education in the surrounding communities of New Jersey and New York by presenting masterclasses, free concerts and presentations through its various partnerships with Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO), Music for All Seasons and private studios. Above all, TSQ seeks to form genuine connections with their music and their audiences.
The members of the Quartet shared: “We can’t wait to meet and work with our students this fall! We’re looking forward to the opportunity to introduce our students to the inherent intimacy of playing in string quartet that directly led us to pursue this career. We’re excited about building new programs for the community and putting together exciting performances that we’ve been imagining since we came together as a group.” Visit the Trillium String Quartet website
Annie is thrilled to be joining the team for the Semester Program. She has experienced Kinhaven throughout multiple sessions and roles, including Senior Session (Student 2016-2017, Activities Staff 2021, Campus Administrator 2022-2025) and Young Artist Seminar (2019).
In addition to her work as an administrator, Annie is a freelance musician throughout the southeast. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Flute Performance from the University of South Carolina with Dr. Jennifer Parker-Harley, and a certificate of study with Trevor Wye.
In addition to his role as Senior Session Director, Billy Hughes will bring his dedicated leadership to support the students, faculty and staff participating in the Semester Program. A member of the Kinhaven community since 2008, Billy has experienced multiple Kinhaven programs in varied capacities: as a student (Tuba; Senior Session, 2008), young artist (Young Artist Seminar, 2013) and staff member (Junior Session Activities, 2014; Senior Session Activities, 2012-2015, 2019; Senior Session Administrative, 2023-2024).
Billy is a musician and educator who has spent the past fifteen years working in a wide array of learning environments. His work as a freelance musician and educator has brought him all across the East Coast. He is dedicated to enriching the lives of the students he works with. Currently, he works at the Center School and the Miracle Project, both serving the special needs population.