Features

Nathaniel Rosen (violoncello, Brahms, Mendelssohn) began studying the cello at the age of six, and at 13 began studies with Gregor Piatigorsky, who became his teacher and mentor. At 29, in 1978, Mr. Rosen traveled to Russia, where he became the only American cellist ever to win the Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medal. He served as Artistic Director of the Interlochen Summer Chamber Music Series in 1988-89, is a founding member of the Sitka Summer Music Festival, and was Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony for two years, and of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for eight years. He has performed as guest soloist with the New York, Los Angeles, and Czech Philharmonics; the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Philadelphia, Minnesota, and Dresden State Orchestras; l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; and the London, Sofia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Kansas City, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Dallas, Houston, Spokane, Lincoln, Columbus, and Vancouver Symphonies. Mr. Rosen has recorded for John Marks Records, Vanguard Classics, Newport Classics, North Star, and Suoni e Colori. He appears on Stereophile's Encore CD courtesy of John Marks Records.

Sheryl Staples (violin, Brahms) has performed extensively in solo recitals and as soloist with orchestras nationwide, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Louisiana Philharmonic, and San Diego Symphony. She has also been a regular participant in the Santa Fe and La Jolla Chamber Music Festivals, and has performed with the Music for Mischa series, Round Top Festival, and Pacific Serenades, collaborating with such artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Lynn Harrell, David Shifrin, James Buswell, Carter Brey, Ruth Laredo, Paul Neubauer, and Young Uck Kim. She was also a founding member of the Novacek-Staples-Landauer Trio.

Sheryl Staples was appointed Associate Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, a position she accepted in February 1996. Previously she was Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra of Orange County, California. Ms. Staples plays a Joseph Guarnerius "del Gesu" violin on loan from a generous patron, arranged through the Stradivari Society at Bein & Fushi, Inc.

Sheryl Staples was the violin soloist in the Brahms Horn Trio on Serenade, the Stereophile CD featuring works recorded in concert at the 1995 and 1996 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals.

Nancy Uscher (viola, Mendelssohn), a professor of music at the University of New Mexico, has appeared in recital on six continents and recorded for most of the major radio networks of Europe. For five seasons she led the viola section of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Uscher has appeared at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Kennedy Center Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Round Top Festival in Texas, Venice Biennale, Montepulciano Festival, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, and the Moab Music Festival in Utah. In addition, she has performed and presented master classes at the Brazilian international festivals Oficina de Musica XIV in Curitiba and Campos do Jordao's Festival de Inverno. A corresponding editor of Strings magazine, she is the author of two books, The Schirmer Guide to Schools of Music and Conservatories Throughout the World and Your Own Way in Music: A Career and Resource Guide. She is director of the UNM Center for the Arts in Society, a unit of the Institute of Public Law that explores arts-related public policy issues. In viewing the arts as agents for social change, she has created an Arts-in-Prisons concert series, and recently completed the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded project "A New Mexico Conversation: Music as a Symbol of American Pluralism and Identity."

Geraldine Walther (viola, Brahms, Mendelssohn) has been Principal Violist of the San Francisco Symphony since the 1976-77 season, having previously served as Assistant Principal of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Miami Philharmonic, and the Baltimore Symphony. Ms. Walther was first-prize winner of the William Primrose International Competition in 1979, and appears frequently with Bay Area orchestras and chamber music ensembles. Among the works she has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony are Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Berlioz's Harold in Italy, Hindemith's Kammermusiken Nos.5 and 6, the viola concertos of William Walton, Walter Piston, Thea Musgrave, Bartok, Alfred Schnittke, and Penderecki, and Telemann's Concerto in G major. She performed the US premiere of Toro Takemitsu's A String Around Autumn in winter 1990, and has recorded Hindemith's Trauermusik and Der Schwanendreher for London Records with the San Francisco Symphony. She has performed with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival since 1987.

Maestro Ohyama, artistic director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival from 1992 through 1997, also serves as artistic director of La Jolla SummerFest and music director of the Asia America Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles and the Santa Barbara and Cayuga chamber orchestras. He was born in Kyoto, Japan, and studied at the Toho Music School, the Guildhall School in London, and Indiana University, where his teachers were Josef Gingold, Ruggiero Ricci, János Starker, and William Primrose. Formerly principal viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mr. Ohyama has appeared as a recitalist and chamber musician at the Casals Festival, Kuhmo International Chamber Music Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and Round Top Music Festival, and has recorded for CBS, Nonesuch, Sonic Arts, and RCA. He has conducted major symphony orchestras in this country and abroad, among them the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Kyoto Symphony and Orchestra of the Opera de Lyon.