APPALACHIAN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
History, Nature, Culture
KATIE TERTELL
Artistic Director / Cellist
Cellist Katie Tertell lives in the UK and enjoys a rich and varied experience as a freelance artist in Europe and America. A former member of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Katie works with numerous European symphony and chamber orchestras. She is a current recipient of the prestigious Exceptional Talent visa awarded by Arts Council England and teaches cello at Durham University (UK).
Katie performs regularly in international music series and festivals and with her ensemble, Semibreve Collective, which received critical acclaim for their rural Autumn 2020 tour of North East UK that served communities left isolated and vulnerable by the Covid-19 pandemic. She is increasingly interested in folk and cross-genre collaborations and was awarded a competitive "Developing Your Creative Practice" grant from Arts Council England in 2021 to further explore her creative work.
Katie performs in live and recorded broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 and RTÉ Lyric FM on a regular basis, and enjoys reaching audiences both near and far through various broadcasts and recordings including a number of films and award-winning discs.
RACHELLE HUNT
Violinist
Since making her solo debut with orchestra at the age of nine, American violinist Rachelle Hunt has appeared as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. She is a member of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (hr-Sinfonieorchester) in Germany since 2011. Ms. Hunt has been a top prize-winner in numerous international and national competitions, including the Kingsville and Corpus Christi International Competitions. She has been presented as a soloist and chamber musician at such venues as the Concert Hall and Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, the Sendesaal of the Hessischer Rundfunk (Germany), the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, and Casa de la Música (Ecuador), as well as being featured on the nationally broadcast “From the Top” on NPR, several German radio stations, and TV in Venezuela and Colombia. Her recordings of chamber works appear in the Mozart and Beethoven Archives as well as the ARD Mediathek in Europe, and she is regularly featured on digital concert venues such as ARTE Concert and Stage@Seven. After graduating from Rice University, summa cum laude, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Germany, where she earned both the Konzertexamen Diploma and Chamber Music Certificate with the highest honors. She is adjunct faculty at the Conservatory in Frankfurt (Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium). Learn more at www.rachelleviolin.com.
AUDREY PRIDE
Violinist
Violinist Audrey Pride hails from Cincinnati, Ohio. She will join the Grand Rapids Symphony as the newest member of their violin section in January 2023. Before assuming this position, Audrey was a core violinist of the Knoxville Symphony, and in this role performed on many stages and in classrooms throughout East
Tennessee. Additionally, she is a former member of the Dayton Philharmonic, and taught in their after school El-Sistema inspired program.
Audrey attended Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and received her bachelor’s degree in violin performance studying with Mark Kaplan. She completed her master’s degree with fellowship at Northwestern University, studying with Blair
Milton, and at the same time, was a member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. Additional studies include the Aspen Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Maestro Lorin Maazel’s Castleton Music Festival, and the National Repertory Orchestra. Audrey has also performed with the Louisville Orchestra, New World and Utah Symphonies, and at the Torrey Chamber Music Festival (Torrey, UT), and Appalachian Chamber Music Festival (Harpers Ferry, WV).
DOMENIC SALERNI
Violinist
Violinist Domenic Salerni is a member of the New York-based Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet. He is also a member of the Chiarina Chamber Players, based in Washington, DC.
Domenic has recorded four new albums in his time with Attacca Quartet, including "Real Life" and "Of All Joys" on Sony Classical. As a member of the Chiarina Chamber Players, Domenic was a recipient of a 2020 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant.
In 2020, as part of his response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Domenic helped set up the Philadelphia Musicians Relief Fund as part of AFM Local 77’s efforts to provide for its community of musicians in times of need. The Fund has raised over $100,000 and is now fiscally sponsored by CultureWorks of Greater Philadelphia.
Domenic is also active as a composer and arranger and his works have been performed at venues such as Emory University and the inaugural Appalachian Chamber Music Festival.
Domenic was the first violinist of the Dalí Quartet from 2016-2020, and was the recipient of the Atlanta Symphony Talent Development Program’s Aspire Award in 2019. He holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Yale University School of Music. He has received numerous awards from institutions around the US and was a finalist in the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition and the M Prize.
DELCHO TENEV
Violinist
Delcho Tenev began his music education in the “Dobrin Petkov” school under Prof. Darina Dankova in his hometown of Plovdiv, Bulgaria. At age 14 he moved to the U.S. and attended high school at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California, studying with Prof. Todor Pelev. He received a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and then earned a Master’s degree and Professional Performance Certificate from Lynn University. He has performed in international festivals, including Lorin Maazel's Castleton Music Festival. Delcho joined the violin section of the Colorado Symphony in September of 2015 and is happy to be playing great music with such a wonderful orchestra, as well as exploring the beautiful city of Denver.
LAUREN NELSON
Violist
Boston-based violist and Korean Adoptee, Lauren Nelson is a versatile chamber and orchestral musician who is equally at home on both modern and historically informed instruments. As a Waldorf student growing up in rural southern New Hampshire, she fostered a love for the arts from an early age. Inspired by the collaborative spirit of chamber music, she quickly recognized that her viola would be a lifelong companion.
She appears regularly with some of the nation’s leading period ensembles including Boston Baroque and Handel + Haydn Society. In the 2018-19 season Lauren was a featured artist on Emmanuel Music’s Lindsey Chapel Series, where she performed John Harbison’s solo Viola Sonata (1961).
Dedicated to contemporary music, Lauren is the violist of the Semiosis Quartet, whose recent projects include a residency at Tanglewood and a program of works by female composers supported by the American Music Project. She also performs and records with Emmanuel Music, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Odyssey Opera, Cantata Singers, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and Monadnock Music.
Lauren has over a decade of experience teaching violin, viola, chamber music, group classes and music theory to students of all ages, levels, and backgrounds. In addition to maintaining her own private studio in Pepperell, MA, she also teaches at the The Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Intensive Community Program (ICP) and Waltham Public Schools.
Lauren holds degrees in music performance from New England Conservatory, the University of Kentucky School of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. Her teachers have included Roger Tapping, Deborah Lander and John Graham. On baroque viola she has studied with Adam LaMotte, Patrick Jordan, Marc Destrubé, Robert Mealy, Elizabeth Blumenstock and Julia Wedman.
When she’s not practicing or performing you can find Lauren deep in the woods, foraging for mushrooms with her husband, composer Steven Snowden, or studying Korean.
DANIELLE WIEBE BURKE
Violist
Mexican-Canadian violist Danielle Wiebe Burke began her musical studies on violin at an early age. At fifteen, she discovered her love for the viola, performing her solo debut with the Calgary Civic Symphony the following year. A prizewinning finalist in the 15th Sphinx Competition and in the Yale Concerto Competition, she has performed as a soloist throughout Europe and North America, most recently as a quarterfinalist in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition.
Danielle is a distinguished chamber musician. Her past festival appearances include Chamberfest Dubuque, where she was a guest artist, Wintergreen Music Festival, Staunton Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, and Yellowbarn Music Festival. Among her past chamber collaborators are members of the Brentano, Borromeo, and Takacs quartets, and soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Ax, Donald Weilerstein, Roger Tapping, and Gil Shaham. She has premiered works by Tracy Rush, Christopher Luna Mega, Ethan Braun, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Gilbertson. She holds the John C. Jamison Principal Viola Chair in the Williamsburg Symphony.
A former student of Kim Kashkashian and Ettore Causa, she has a Bachelor of Music from New England Conservatory and both Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Yale University. Danielle plays a 2009 Stefan-Peter Greiner viola.
Colin Brookes
Violist
Praised as “master of the strong lines”, concert violist Colin Brookes is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he made his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of 17. A founding member of the award-winning Ulysses Quartet, Colin has taught in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School, and the undergraduate programs of Yale University and SUNY Stony Brook.
Colin performs regularly with The Knights, A Far Cry, and other critically acclaimed ensembles. Festival appearances include Kneisel Hall, Geneva Music Festival, Manchester Summer Chamber Music, and Tanglewood. In June 2013 he gave a solo recital with pianist Euntaek Kim for the St. Gaudens Concert Series in Cornish, NH.
Traveling allows for unexpected opportunities to capture moments in time. Perspective and awareness guide Colin in his passion for photography, with a November 2022 exhibit in Castleton, Virginia showcasing daily life moments from around the world.
Colin holds a Bachelor of Music from the Juilliard School and a Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale University. His mentors include Ettore Causa, Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, Nicholas Cords, Larry Dutton, Marylene Gingras-Roy, Roger Chase, Jeffrey Irvine, and Carolyn Hills. He currently plays a 19th-century Italian viola generously on loan from Maestro Foundation, and an English Thomas Tubbs bow, circa 1845.
SCHUYLER SLACK
Cellist
Cellist Schuyler Slack has performed in orchestral, chamber music, and recital settings across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. The Alexandria, VA native was appointed to the Richmond Symphony’s Kenneth and Bettie Christopher Perry Foundation Cello Chair in 2016. Previously he held the joint position of Artist in Residence at the University of Evansville and Principal Cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Williamsburg Symphony, and is on the music faculty at Randolph-Macon College. He performs frequently in the cello sections of major orchestras such as the Cleveland Orchestra and the Baltimore and National Symphonies. His primary teachers were Cleveland Orchestra principal cellists Mark Kosower and Stephen Geber at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
A devoted chamber musician and lover of string quartets, Schuyler has studied with and performed alongside members of the Tokyo, Orford, Cleveland, Brentano, Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets, Alban Gerhardt, Nadia Sirota, and Donald and Vivian Weilerstein. He has performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and the Kennedy Center Concert Hall; as well as given recitals at some of the countries top music schools, such as the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan.
Equally committed to the music of living composers and crossover musical endeavors, Schuyler has commissioned new compositions for the cello by composers Douglas Boyce, Steven Snowden, and Heather Stebbins. He was praised by the Washington Post for his “excellent” contribution – noted for his “pluck and scrape effects!” – to a new music-theatre adaptation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis that was taken to the Prague Fringe Festival in 2015.
SAM SUGGS
Bassist
Applauded by The Strad for his “brilliant and compelling programming,” and by Oregon Arts Watch for his "mind-boggling" performance of original compositions, Sam Suggs was the first double bassist in a generation to win the Concert Artists Guild solo competition and has received first prize at the International Society of Bassists 2015 Solo Competition as well as awards at the Bradetich Foundation 2017 International Solo Double Bass Competition.
As a collaborative bassist, he has performed in Ghanain villages, medieval churches in Sweden, schools in Bermuda, at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Yellow Barn, Chamber Music Northwest, the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, and alongside PUBLIQuartet, the Dover, Escher, Rolston, and Argus Quartets. Sam is composer-in-residence and bassist with Frisson Ensemble (General Arts Touring) and was former principal bass of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago while pursuing a degree in music theory and cognition from Northwestern University.
A native of Buffalo (and relatively quiet member of Bills Mafia), and alumnus of the Yale School of Music doctoral program, he has led masterclasses at the Colburn School, New England Conservatory, the Peabody Institute, and at Juilliard's Summer String program in Shanghai. Sam spends the majority of his time between the Northeast and the Shenandoah Valley performing with various chamber, crossover, and contemporary groups and currently serves as Associate Professor of Bass at James Madison University and on the faculties of the Heifetz Institute, Yellow Barn, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and BassWorks. @s3suggs
EFI HACKMEY
Pianist
Pianist Efi Hackmey is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Chiarina Chamber Players, a concert series in Washington, DC, founded in 2015. A recipient of a prestigious 2020 Classical Commissioning grant from Chamber Music America, several grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the inaugural John Franzén Award for the Arts from the Capitol Hill Community Foundation, Chiarina has won critical acclaim for its artistry and innovative programming.
Mr. Hackmey is an active soloist and chamber musician. He has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, Kennedy Center (Terrace Theater and Millennium Stage), Bargemusic, Arion Chamber Music, and the Friends of Mozart series in NYC. He performed many additional concerts in Alabama, California, DC, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. In his native Israel he performed as soloist with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Jerusalem Music Center, and in special concerts presented by the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society. He has performed on Israeli TV Channel 2, and his recordings have been broadcast on the Israeli National Public Radio, and in the US on WETA, WTSU, WRWA and WTJB. His recordings include a 2013 album on the Naxos label, which includes several world premiere recordings (Polish Violin Music with violinist Kinga Augustyn).
A review of one of his New York performances quotes “excellent Israeli musician... under his fingers the piano sounded noble, and each phrase was full of character”, and further praises his “highly personal, thought-through interpretation.” (Roman Markowicz, “Nowy Dziennik”). A recent review of a Chiarina performance mentions that “Hackmey mastered the work’s challenges with aplomb, but the performance was just as notable for how sensitively he accompanied his musical partners…”(Charles T. Downey, Washington Classical Review).
Efi is also dedicated to performing for underserved audiences. He is on the artist roster of the Piatigorsky Foundation, and performed numerous tours with cellist Evan Drachman and with soprano Raquela Sheeran in North Carolina, Maryland, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Texas. These concerts included performances in nursing homes, retirement communities, public schools, public libraries, churches, and other community settings.
Mr. Hackmey has served on the piano faculty at DePauw University, and he also taught at the Indiana University system and Montgomery College in Rockville, MD. He holds a Doctor of Music degree in piano performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and degrees in piano and conducting from Tel Aviv University. He studied with Menahem Pressler, Pnina Salzman and Dina Turgeman, and has had additional coaching with Lazar Berman, Emanuel Ax, Richard Goode, Janos Starker, David Zinman, and Jaime Laredo.
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Photo Credit: Scott Suchman
PETER CAIN
Clarinetist
Peter Cain joined the National Symphony Orchestra as its bass clarinetist in 2016. He previously held positions with the Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestras. An avid soloist and chamber musician, Peter has performed at recitals, conventions, and festivals from Italy to China to Aspen. In the Washington area he has performed on the NSO’s Millennium Stage, Mt. Vernon, SoundHealth, and In Your Neighborhood chamber music series. He also has been on faculty at Lee University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp and regularly gives master classes at universities throughout the country. Peter attended Vanderbilt University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He studied clarinet with Richie Hawley, Burt Hara, and Cassie Lee, and bass clarinet with Ron Aufmann.
Dave Asti
Multi-Instrumental Bluegrass
including Banjo and Guitar
Dave Asti has been performing live music for over 25 years. As a founding member of the critically acclaimed group, The Hillbilly Gypsies, he has entertained audiences far and wide with a unique and energetic style. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist and entertainer, his versatile technique is influenced by many genres. In addition to performing, Dave shares his love of music with others by teaching private lessons to thousands of students of all ages over the last 25 years.
Dave is a notable and award winning musician, with accolades including: West Virginia State Banjo Champion, Vandalia 2008, 2018; West Virginia State Mandolin Champion, Vandalia 2018; voted Best WV Band 2014; and voted 2015 Most Innovative Musician by WV Division of Tourism.
His television credits include: WV Mountain Stage (PBS); Song of the Mountains (PBS); Ulster Scots Santer Documentary (BBC); and Woodsongs. Highlights of his live performance credits include: Poppy Mountain Bluegrass Festival (2005 - 2015); Outer Banks Bluegrass (2013 - 2014); Gettysburg Bluegrass; Carter Family Fold (2009 - 2015); and IBMA World of Bluegrass.
Dave released his debut solo album, Skunk in the Alley, in January 2020. Learn more at www.dabanjo.com.
