THIS YEAR AT NCF

THIS YEAR AT NCF

NOLA CHAMBER FEST

NOLA Chamber Fest is an annual chamber music festival and competition presented collaboratively by Lyrica Baroque, the New Orleans Friends of Music and the University of New Orleans. The festival aims to inspire and motivate musicians through the unique experience of tight-knit collaboration and artistic independence that only chamber music can offer. NCF offers aspiring musicians access, opportunity, and exposure to perform, compete, and learn alongside their peers.

NCF-_About-26

Our five-day festival includes performances by world-renowned chamber ensembles, a national chamber music competition, masterclasses, and Creativity Day for local musicians.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

ARTISTS

GUEST ARTIST ENSEMBLES

The City of Tomorrow >

Decoda >

TEACHING ARTISTS

Tucker Fuller >

Mia Rotondo >

Judges

Christopher Pell

Robyn Quinnett >

The City of Tomorrow

Type to search

The City of Tomorrow

Elise Blatchford, flute

Stuart Breczinski, oboe

Rane Moore, clarinet

Nanci Belmont, bassoon

Leander Star, horn

The City of Tomorrow is both a wind quintet and a ritualistic concert experience. Interpreting the sound worlds of living composers while following narrative traces onstage utilizing lighting and movement, the group performs concerts throughout the United States and has no particular home base.  

The City of Tomorrow has performed concerts at Trinity Wall Street, Spectrum, and IN\TER/SECT, (co-presented by Bryant Park and Chamber Music America) as well as the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Series in Chicago, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan, and Red Note New Music Festival in Illinois. The quintet’s work has been supported by residencies at the Banff Center for the Arts & Creativity and the Avaloch Farm Music Institute. 

Their 2021 release Blow on New Focus Recordings (FCR294) features music by Esa-Pekka Salonen and Franco Donatoni and the world premiere recording of a work by Han Lash, which was supported by a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant. The City of Tomorrow’s first album, Nature, released on PARMA/Ravello in 2014, wrestled with questions of human involvement in the natural world and included music by David Lang, Luciano Berio, Nat Evans, and Denys Bouliane.

The City of Tomorrow’s members are in demand as new music specialists, curators, collaborators, and teachers. As an ensemble, they have been in residence at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Berklee College of Music, Indiana University, Tufts, and Yale. Members of the ensemble are on faculty at Boston Conservatory, Louisiana State University, University of Oregon, and University of Memphis.

Decoda

Decoda is an artist-led collective seeking to create a more compassionate and connected world through music. By thoughtfully curating outstanding performances of live chamber music and facilitating creative community projects, Decoda strives to inspire the next generation of musical artists to rethink and reimagine their role in society. Praised by the New York Times as “refreshing in the extreme” and by luminary Eric Booth as “the ninja musical artists the 21st century requires,” Decoda’s versatile musicians are equally committed to virtuosic performance and audience engagement. Its flexible instrumentation, from duos to large mixed ensembles, allows for unique, inspiring and engaging concert experiences for a vast array of audiences, from concert halls to schools, hospitals, shelters, and correctional facilities. The only affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall, Decoda seeks to engage, inspire, and create a more compassionate and connected world through music. Decoda’s work is anchored by creative programming and performance of mixed ensemble chamber music repertoire. DECODA, the ensemble’s debut album, was released on the Bright Shiny Things label in spring of 2024 and features a panoply of musical perspectives – including a Grammy-nominated, world premiere recording of “Revelry” by Valerie Coleman (a Carnegie Hall commission for the group), new arrangements by Decoda members of William Bolcom’s “Ghost Rags”, and Reza Vali’s “Folk Songs No. 9” for flute and cello. Past engagements have included performances, creative community projects, and artist training residencies at Southbank Centre and the Barbican (London), the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (London), Royal College of Music (Stockholm) Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Germany), Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Festival (UAE), Mainly Mozart Festival (San Diego), Við Djúpið Festival (Iceland), Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Caramoor Music Festival, National Center for the Performing Arts (Mumbai), Decoda Institute (South Africa), Suntory Hall (Japan), Programa de Educación Musical Fomento Cultural Banamex & Carnegie Hall (Mexico), Curtis Institute of Music, Yale School of Music, Peabody Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Decoda’s creative community projects are a vital component of its artistic vision, and have been recognized by CNN, CBS News, Huffington Post, the Washington Post, and the White House. At home in New York City, Decoda has partnered with Mount Sinai Hospital, WQXR, the Police Athletic League, Beth Abraham Hospital, and the Administration for Children’s Services to make music with, and for, a diverse cross-section of the city. Decoda’s songwriting workshops in correctional facilities empower vulnerable and disenfranchised voices of incarcerated individuals at facilities around the country. An album featuring music by Xiao Bao He, a composer incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York, is planned for the 2024-25 season. Decoda was founded in 2012 by musicians who first collaborated as members of Ensemble Connect, a two-year fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Its work as an ensemble has grown out of this collective training, which is focussed on developing skills as exemplary perform

Tucker Fuller

Tucker Fuller (b. 1980) was born in the rural plains of North Dakota and grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Since arriving in New Orleans in 2010, Tucker has written a number of award-winning ballets, song cycles, and symphonic works for the Marigny Opera House/Ballet, New Resonance Orchestra, and the Louisiana Philharmonic (among others). He studied composition with composers Joan Tower, Christopher Theofanidis, Evan Chambers, Bright Sheng, and Michael Daugherty, and holds degrees from Bard College, The Peabody Institute of Music, and the University of Michigan.

Mia Rotondo

Mia Rotondo is an activist educator with 20 years of experience in the classroom serving students whose needs are often not met in the general education setting. Mia works closely with fellow radical educators, students, and community members to build and facilitate flexible, child-led learning spaces. In 2007, she co-developed an award-winning theater education program in Philadelphia focused on elevating neurodiverse perspectives. Over the past several years she has partnered with KID smART and The Kennedy Center to develop and provide professional development around creating more joyful and just spaces that provide arts-integrated experiences for ALL learners. 

Christopher Pell

Christopher Pell is the Principal Clarinetist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Second Clarinetist of The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, and the former Principal Clarinetist of The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. Christopher has performed with The Toronto Symphony, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, The Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería (Mexico City), The Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and The American Ballet Theatre. He has appeared as a soloist with The Cincinnati Symphony, The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, The Ohio Valley Symphony, The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, The U.S. Army Band at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall, and The Long Island Sound Symphony. He has also won first prize in the Vandoren Emerging Artists Competition.

As a chamber musician, Christopher often performs with the Linton Chamber Music Series and has performed with Concert Nova, the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Twickenham Fest, Lyrica Baroque, The Orlando Chamber Soloists, the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival, NOLA 360, and the Lake George Music Festival. Also, he has given recitals and masterclasses at The University of Miami (OH), University of South Carolina, and the University of Kentucky. Christopher teaches at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, has taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp and the University of New Orleans. Christopher graduated from The Juilliard School in 2013 and has twice been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center. Christopher is a performing artist for Vandoren and is also a board member for Lyrica Baroque. 

Robyn Quinnett

Born on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean, Robyn Quinnett began playing violin at eight years old.  She has won several competitions including the National Mariam Hayes and Ruth Kern Competitions.  She can be heard as the principal Second Violinist on the 2023 Deutsche Grammophon recording Songs for Our Times and the 2021 Grammy ® winning recording with the Experiential Orchestra.

 Robyn earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School studying with Naoko Tanaka and the late Stephen Clapp.  In 2019, Robyn completed her DMA from Stony Brook University studying with Hagai Shaham.  She is an alum of The Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, and Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil.  She has performed with ensembles such as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Glimmerglass Festival Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Princeton Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, and toured internationally as Principal Second of the Sphinx Virtuosi. 

 Robyn is dedicated to community engagement and pedagogy.  She is a teaching artist and board member of Living Arts Collaborative, an organization of performing artists who aim to bring an accessible and interactive approach to the musical arts in schools.  Prior to her role as Programming Director of Lyrica Baroque she founded The Montserrat Music Festival, a summer festival, bringing music education and live chamber music to her home island of Montserrat.  She has also served as a Violin Faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, Roosevelt University, and Cleveland Institute of Music.  In the fall of 2023, Robyn began her fulltime violin teaching position at Smith College.

 

Jaren Atherholt

The founder of Lyrica Baroque, Jaren Atherholt is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and principal oboist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. She previously served as principal oboist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra for eleven seasons. A native of Alaska, Jaren has performed to stellar reviews as a featured concerto soloist and has been guest principal oboist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico, as well as guest associate principal oboist with the Pittsburgh and Atlanta Symphonies. Jaren spent four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and currently performs each summer with the Grand Teton Music Festival. She has served on the faculty of John Mack Oboe Camp, Interlochen Arts Camp, the Wintergreen Music Academy, and the Vianden International Music School. Jaren plays Loree oboes. Contact Jaren at jaren@lyricabaroque.com

Trio Virado

Trio Virado is a unique collaboration of three of the most distinguished artists on flute, viola, and guitar. Flutist Amy Porter, violist Jaime Amador, and guitarist João Luiz are widely sought after for their musical performances on recordings and the concert stage. Joining together, they form a concert trio that radiates electricity and love of music. 

João Luiz

Guitarist, educator, and composer João Luiz began to play the popular music of his native Brazil professionally as a child, and was later trained in classical guitar by his mentor Henrique Pinto. A member of the critically acclaimed Brasil Guitar Duo, he has performed extensively in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He has recorded more than fifteen albums as a soloist or as member of a duo, trio, or quartet; most have featured his arrangements of classical or Brazilian works. Mr. Luiz holds a Master’s degree from Mannes College The New School for Music and a Doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music. He is currently director of chamber music at the City University of New York’s Hunter College, and also teaches guitar at Stony Brook University and Mannes. Mr. Luiz’s most recent solo album features 20th-century guitar works by Brazilian composers such as Radamés Gnattali, Camargo Guarnieri, and Egberto Gismonti. As a performer and composer Mr. Luiz is equally at home with classical, Brazilian, and world music. 

Amy Porter

In a versatile and distinguished career as a concert performer, she has become one of the most skilled and creative muses for composers of our time. Winner of the Kobe and Paris/Ville d’Avry international flute competitions, Ms. Porter has served on national and  international jury panels.  Formerly a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Porter is Principal Flute of North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center, where she performs as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. Since 1999 she has served as Professor of Flute at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. She is host of the podcast PorterFlute Pod and Founder of Anatomy of Sound LLC and AOS-Wellness brand. Born in Wilmington, DE, Ms. Porter graduated from The Juilliard School and pursued further studies at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg. She plays a 14K white gold flute with rose gold engraved keys, made for her by the Wm. S. Haynes Co.

Jaime Amador

Hailed by The Washington Post for his “sophisticated and precise playing,” Jaime Amador has distinguished himself among the latest generation of musicians to emerge from Puerto Rico.  Since 2012 has been the violist of Harlem Quartet, which tours widely and recently began a teaching and performance residency at Montclair State University in northeast New Jersey. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Mr. Amador has appeared in prestigious venues across the United States and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Kurhaus of Baden-Baden.  Before joining Harlem Quartet Mr. Amador was a member of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, which also awarded him First Prize in its Solo Competition for his interpretation of Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto. Following studies at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music he continued his training at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and New England Conservatory. His instrument is a Ryan Soltis 2010 viola. 

Sybarite5

Equal parts passion, grit, and musical ecstasy, Sybarite5 is an intoxicating cocktail of genre-breaking artistry expressed through the virtuosity of violinists Sami Merdinian & Suliman Tekalli; violist Caeli Smith; cellist Laura Andrade; and double bassist Louis Levitt. It’s the first ensemble of its kind to win the prestigious Concert Artists Guild competition and the group is constantly evolving, defying categorization, and keeping audiences on their toes.

The group has performed in 44 states and counting, from the Library of Congress, (Washington DC) to Anchorage Concert Association, (Alaska) as well as concerts in Sybarite5’s home of New York City at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, Le Poisson Rouge, the Cell Theatre, and in late 2023, as part of Death of Classical’s “The Crypt Sessions” series. Sybarite5 has also appeared at festivals including Ravinia, Grand Teton, Aspen, Caramoor, Wolf Trap, Interlochen, Chautauqua and many others. International appearances include Canada’s Tuckamore Music Festival and ChamberFest Ottawa, the New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina, and the Osaka Festa in Osaka, Japan. 

Dubbed “the millennial Kronos” (Theater Jones), Sybarite5 is chamber music’s most dynamic ensemble taking listeners on a musical journey of staggering breadth and depth with new works by living composers, as well as the group’s favorite selections from Radiohead, Coltrane, Komitas, Piazzolla, and Pete Seeger… but as Strings Magazine says “that doesn’t even begin to describe the range of their eclecticism or the depth of their repertoire. “ 

 

 In October 2023 Sybarite5 released their latest studio recording Collective Wisdom which received global acclaim and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Charts.  The ensemble’s discography includes four other critically-acclaimed recordings: Live from New York It’s Sybarite5 (2020); Outliers (2018); Everything in its Right Place (2012) and Disturb the Silence (2010). 

Decoda Ensemble

As an artist-led collective, Decoda seeks to create a more compassionate and connected world through music – thoughtfully curating outstanding performances of live chamber music, facilitating creative community projects, and inspiring the next generation of musical artists to rethink and reimagine their role in society. 

Decoda continues to deepen its commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the performing arts. The ensemble is a proud founding member of the Cross-Country Chamber Consortium, created in partnership with Atlanta Chamber Players (Atlanta), Fifth House Ensemble (Chicago), Musiqa (Houston), and SOLI Chamber Ensemble (San Antonio), which aims at increasing diversity in modern chamber music repertoire – continuing its first annual “Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Emerging Composer Commission.” Music for Transformation, a long-standing partnership with the community of incarcerated musicians at Lee Correctional Institute in Bishopville, SC, has resulted in the creation of hundreds of original songs and pieces of new music. The Obama administration honored this initiative with an invitation “Innovation & the Arts” at the White House. Music for Transformation has also been recognized by major outlets including CNN, the Washington Post, and the Huffington Post.

Decoda was founded in 2012 by musicians who first collaborated as members of Ensemble Connect, a two-year fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Its work as an ensemble has grown out of this collective training, which focused on developing skills as exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and passionate advocates for music in communities around the world. As alumni of Ensemble Connect and in recognition of its members’ ongoing success as artists, educators, and advocates for music, Decoda is the only independent ensemble to be
recognized as an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall. To learn more about Decoda, visit www.decodamusic.org

Loki Karuna

A proud native of Memphis, TN, Loki Karuna (formerly Garrett McQueen) is a bassoonist who has performed with ensembles including the South Arkansas Symphony, Jackson Symphony, American Youth Symphony, Memphis Repertory Orchestra, the Eroica Ensemble, and the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony, the Artosphere and Gateways Festival Orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Loki has been featured as both a performer and host on “Performance Today” and “Music Through the Night” from American Public Media, and has appeared in a wide array of television programs, including Oxygen’s “Snapped: Killer Couples”, TV One’s “Fatal Attraction”, and Fox’s “Glee”. 

In addition to remaining active in performance spaces, Loki is the host and producer of local and nationally-syndicated radio programs including “The Sound of 13”, “Noteworthy”, “Gateways Radio”, and  “The Sounds of Kwanzaa”. Away from the airwaves, Loki offers guest lectures, presentations, and trainings at the intersections of race, culture, Black liberation, and classical music, with past collaborators including the Gateways Music Festival, the Sphinx Organization, the Kennedy Center, the Apollo Theater,  Black Music Experience, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, New Music Gathering, and the MacPhail Center for Music. In the press, Loki has been noted as not only a “classical agitator”, but also “a Black talent in public media that you may not know, but should”. In 2021, the New York Times noted his weekly podcast, TRILLOQUY, as a standout and one that is “required listening for industry leaders and listeners alike.”

Loki holds a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Memphis, where he studied with Lecolion Washington, and a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from the University of Southern California, where he studied with Judith Farmer. Alongside working as a performer, the Executive Producer and co-host of the TRILLOQUY podcast and President of TrillWerks Media, Loki is the Director of Artist Equity for the American Composers Orchestra. He serves on the board of directors for the American Composers Forum, the Beethoven Festival Orchestra, Lyrica Baroque, and the Cedar Cultural Center, and maintains leadership and artistic advisory positions with the Black Opera Alliance, the Gateways Music Festival, the Lakes Area Music Festival, and Soka Gakkai International. 

Jerusalem Quartet

Alexander Pavlovsky, violin
Sergei Bresler, violin
Ori Kam, viola
Kyril Zlotnikov, cello

“An absolute triumph. Their playing has everything you could possibly wish for.” —BBC Music Magazine

“Passion, precision, warmth, a gold blend: these are the trademarks of this excellent Israeli string quartet.”

Such was the New York Times’ impression of the Jerusalem Quartet. Since the ensemble’s founding in 1993 and subsequent 1996 debut, the four Israeli musicians have embarked on a journey of growth and maturation. This experience has resulted in a wide repertoire and stunning depth of expression, which carries on the string quartet tradition in a unique manner. The ensemble has found its core in a warm, full, human sound and an egalitarian balance between high and low voices. This approach allows the Quartet to maintain a healthy relationship between individual expression and a transparent and respectful presentation of the composer’s work. It is also the drive and motivation for the continuing refinement of its interpretations of the classical repertoire as well as exploration of new epochs.

The Jerusalem Quartet is a regular and beloved guest on the world’s great concert stages. Recent appearances include a Beethoven quartet cycle at Wigmore Hall in London; a Bartok cycle at the Salzburg Festival; their annual String Quartet seminar in Crans Montana Switzerland, and a residency at the Jerusalem Academy of Music.

Highlights of the upcoming 2023/2024 season include tours of Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland; and appearances in the quartet Biennales in Paris, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. Alongside the quartet’s regular programs, they will bring back the “Yiddish Cabaret,” and will perform a Bartok Cycle in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. Their upcoming North American tours include concerts in Montreal, Pittsburgh, Providence, Portland (Maine), Houston, Tucson, Palm Beach, Miami, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles, Carmel, New York, and other locations. In Ann Arbor, they will be joined by pianist Inon Barnaton. 

The Jerusalem Quartet’s recordings have been honored with numerous awards, including the Diapason d’Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award for chamber music. They have recorded the string quartets of Haydn; Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden”; an album of Dvorak’s String Quintet Op.97 and Sextet Op.48, and the quartets by Ravel and Debussy.

In 2019, the Quartet released a unique album exploring Jewish music in Central Europe between the wars and its far-reaching influence, featuring a collection of Yiddish Cabaret songs from 1920s Warsaw, as well as works by Schulhoff and Korngold. The second installment of their Bartok quartet recording was released in 2020.

Benjamin Atherholt

Benjamin Atherholt is the Programming Director with Lyrica Baroque, and the Contrabassoonist and Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also the Contrabassoonist with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra performing each summer in upstate New York. His specialty as a Contrabassoonist has engaged him in performances with orchestras including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony, where he is featured on the 2013 Grammy Award winning recording of Berg’s Wozzeck. A passionate educator, Ben is the Instructor of Bassoon at Tulane University and frequently teaches as a featured guest artist in masterclasses and residencies across the country. Ben grew up in Houston, Texas and holds a B.M. in performance and composition from Oberlin Conservatory studying under the tutelage of George Sakakeeny and Jeffrey Mumford respectively.

Aizuri Quartet

Miho Saugusa & Emma Frucht, violins
Ayane Kozasa, viola
Karen Ouzounian, cello

The Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing all of its music-making with infectious energy, joy and warmth, cultivating curiosity in listeners, and inviting audiences into the concert experience through its innovative programming, and the depth and fire of its performances.

Praised by The Washington Post for “astounding” and “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was named the recipient of the 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award by Chamber Music America, and since its inception in 2012 has received major chamber music prizes on three continents and been in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” —I Care If You Listen), nominated
for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums of 2018. 

In 2022, the Aizuri Quartet makes its major concerto debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in performances of John Adams’s Absolute Jest, open for and perform with the legendary indie band Wilco in 5 performances at New York City’s United Palace, and are featured with Wilco on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Throughout 2022 the Aizuri Quartet is a fellow of the Artist Propulsion Lab at WQXR, New York City’s classical music station.

Roadmap Quartet
1st Prize 

Zachary Tucker, soprano saxophone
Connor Cyrus, alto saxophone
Sheridan Mackey, tenor saxophone
Jackson Fussell, baritone saxophone
Johnny Salinas, coach