The Players

2005-2006 Season

Click on the musicians name to see a full biography

Barbara Allen

Harp

Barbara Allen, since winning second prize in the Seventh International Harp Competition held in Israel, has appeared as soloist with the Caramoor and Waterloo festivals, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Greenwich Symphony and Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Ms. Allen is a member of Parnassus, the Perspectives Ensemble and L’Opera Francais and has appeared with Tashi, Orpheus, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble and the New World String Quartet.

Janet Arms

Flute

Janet Arms has for the past 16 years been a member of the New York City Opera orchestra, where she plays assistant principal flute and piccolo. She has also performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, and as guest principal flutist with the St. Louis Symphony in the US and throughout Europe.

Kenneth Cooper

Harpsichord

Harpsichordist, pianist, musicologist and conductor Kenneth Cooper is one of the world's leading specialists in music of the 18th century, and one of America's most exciting and versatile performers. He is famous for his improvisations, which enable him to revive a long-forgotten 18th century art, lending extraordinary authenticity to his performances.

Cello, Artistic Director

Michelle Djokic is the artistic director and inspiration of the Concordia Chamber Players. "Djokic is indisputable when playing melody. Her sense of delivery and her mastery of technique have an instinctual rightness about them.”, hailed a critic of the Denver Post. Ms. Djokic made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of thirteen.

Marka Gustavsson

Viola

As violist of the award winning Colorado Quartet, Marka Gustavsson has been invited for several seasons to the Bard Festival, has performed twelve Haydn quartets for the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, and has presented the entire Beethoven Quartet cycle internationally and in the United States.

Mark Kosower

Cello

Mark Kosower is one of the outstanding and distinguished cellists of his generation. Hailed by musicians and critics alike for his extraordinary instrumental mastery, musical integrity, and purity of _expression he is the recipient of a 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant awarded to young artists by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Maria Lambros

Viola

Violist Maria Lambros has performed as a chamber musician throughout the world as a member of three of the country's finest string quartets in venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London's Wigmore Hall, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, New York's Lincoln Center and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C

Blair McMillen

Piano

Blair McMillen has established himself as one of the most versatile and sought-after young pianists today. The New York Times has described his playing as "riveting,” “brilliant,” and "prodigiously accomplished and exciting." Recent performance venues include the Moscow Conservatory and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His solo playing has been broadcast on CBS' "Sunday Morning," WQXR, WNYC, Fuji-TV (Japan), and National Public Radio.

Gail Niwa

Piano

Gail continues to thrill audiences as she did at the 1991 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, where she became the only woman ever to win the Gold Medal. She also captured two additional awards, the Audience Prize and the Chamber Music Prize. She made her New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in October, 1991.

Clarinet

Todd Palmer's virtuosity and ebullient stage presence have brought him a stellar reputation as a solo clarinetist that is attained by few artists on his instrument. He made his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall as a winner of the 1987 Artists International Competition, and in 1988, he won the Grand Prize in the Ima Hogg Young Artist Competition in Houston (the first wind player to win this prestigious competition!).

Dan Panner

Viola

Violist Daniel Panner enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician and teacher. He has performed at music festivals in Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Aspen, and has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, and Juilliard String Quartets. Mr. Panner currently serves as the Principal Violist of the New York City Opera.

Robert Rinehart

Viola

Robert Rinehart joined the New York Philharmonic's viola section in September 1992. Mr. Rinehart has an extensive background in chamber music; as a founding member of the Ridge String quartet, be toured extensively in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America beginning in 1979. The quarter was featured on all of New York's major chamber music series as well as the Spoleto, Schleswig-Holstein and Helsinki festivals.


Caterina Szepes

Violin

Since her recital debut on RAIS Berlin Radio in 1987, Caterina Szepes, a native of berlin, has appeared both as a soloist and as chamber musician throughout Europe, Australia, South America, and the United States. Her concerto performances include those with Rheinische Kammerphilharmonie Cologne, the Symphony Orchestra of Aue and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra.

James Wilson

Cello

James Wilson has appeared in America’s Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center, Casal’s Hall in Tokyo, and the Sydney Opera House. As recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed at music festivals around the world such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the City of London Festival, the Deutches Mozartfest in Bavaria, the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

Peter Winograd

Violin

As first violinist of the American String Quartet, Peter Winograd performs in annual chamber music tours of North America, the capitals of Europe and at the Aspen Music Festival. He has recorded extensively with the quartet, including a recent release of the complete string quartets of Mozart on the Musical Heritage Masters label.

 

Carmit Zori

Violin

Firmly established in her native Israel as an important young musician, violinist Carmit Zori was chosen at age 13 by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation to perform on the international television special "Music from Jerusalem". Two years Inter, at the recommendation of Alexander Schneider and Isaac Stern, she came to the United States to study at the Curtis institute of Music, where her teachers included Ivan Galamian, Jaime Laredo, and Arnold Steinhardt.

 

Players in the 2001-2002 Season

Players in the 2000-2001 Season

Players in the 1999-2000 Season