Paul Wiancko

Paul Wiancko has led an exceptionally multifaceted musical life as a composer and cellist. As a performer, he has collaborated with Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Richard Goode, Mitsuko Uchida, Nico Muhly, and members of the Guarneri, Takács, JACK, Parker, Orion, and Juilliard quartets. Chosen as one of Kronos Quartet’s “50 for the Future”, Paul’s own music has been described as “dazzling”, “compelling” (Star Tribune) and “vital pieces that avoid the predictable” (Allan Kozinn). His 25-minute quartet LIFT is featured on the Aizuri Quartet’s Grammy-nominated album Blueprinting, one of NPR’s top 10 classical albums of 2018.

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Topu Lyo

Topu Lyo

Topu Lyo is a Korean-American multi faceted composer, producer, and cellist. He uses cello and electronics as his primary tool to compose and perform. He has been a co-leader of two piece band Live Footage for over 12 years touring throughout Europe, Asia, and the US. The band has scored documentaries for HBO, BET, VICE, UNICEF as well as done commercial work for many other brands including BMW, VOLVO and Arpel. He has held a 10 year residency at NYC's Apotheke every Sunday night.

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Gal Nyska

Active as a soloist and chamber musician, cellist Gal Nyska has been praised as an "agile" (New York Times) "prodigious," "spellbinding," and "technically assured" performer (Classical Voice of North Carolina) possessing "a deep and moving purity of sentiment" (the Ellsworth American). One of the leading Israeli cellist of his generation, he most recently triumphed at the Aviv Competitions, Israel's most prestigious contest for emerging musicians, winning both the Rachel and Dov Gottesman cello prize as well as the Meira Gera Audience Prize. Mr. Nyska also recently made his New York solo debut with the Juilliard Orchestra at Avery Fischer Hall under Dennis Russell Davies. Additional performances include solo, chamber music, and recital appearances at the Grand Salle des Invalides (Paris), Metropolitan Museum of Art, Merkin Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Jerusalem Music Center, Henry Crown Theatre, and concerto engagements with the Las Vegas, North Carolina, Bangor, Raleigh, and Durham symphony orchestras, among others.

Committed to the commissioning and performance of new works, Mr. Nyska has performed world and New York premieres of works by some of his generation's most promising composers including Michael Brown, Gilad Cohen, Huang Ruo, Noam Sivan, and Avner Dorman. This year he also collaborates with Michael Brown on a new work for cello and piano, with composer Ronnie Reshef on a work for cello and narrator, and with composer Hadas Pe'ery on a work for cello and electronics, all to be premiered in 2009.

Festival and workshops attended include the Olympic Music Festival, International Musicians' Seminar in Prussia cove, Accademia Chigiana, Kronberg Academy, Aspen Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute and Festival, the Quartet Program, Music in the Valley Institute and Festival, Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall, and Itzhak Perlman's Chamber Music Workshop. A recent graduate of the Master's degree program at the Juilliard School, Mr. Nyska serves as a teaching assistant to Juilliard String Quartet cellist Joel Krosnick.

Earl Lee

Winner of the 2022 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Earl Lee is a renowned Korean-Canadian conductor who has captivated audiences worldwide. Currently Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra his appearances in the 21/22 season include leading the San Francisco Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, and Ann Arbor Symphony in subscription; the New York Philharmonic in its annual Lunar New Year Gala; debuts with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at New York’s Lincoln Center, the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood, and with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam as a participant in the Ammodo masterclasses led by Fabio Luisi. Next season includes a return to the San Francisco Symphony and his Boston Symphony subscription debut.

Beginning with the 22-23 season, Earl joins the Ann Arbor Symphony as Music Director.

Earl recently concluded his position as the Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony where he led various concerts and its programming. He also served as the Resident Conductor of the Toronto Symphony from 2015 to 2018.

In all of his professional activities, Earl seeks ways to connect with fellow musicians and audiences on a personal level. His concerts to date in Canada, the U.S., China and South Korea have often been accompanied by outreach events beyond the concert hall in the community at large. He has taken great pleasure in mentoring young musicians as former Artistic Director and Conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, and as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a regular guest conductor with the orchestras of North America’s top music schools such as Manhattan School of Music and the New England, San Francisco, and Royal Conservatories.

As a cellist, Earl has performed at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Caramoor Rising Stars, and Ravinia’s Steans Institute and has  toured as a member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), with Musicians from Marlboro, with and Gary Burton & Chick Corea as a guest member of the Harlem String Quartet.

Earl has degrees in cello from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School and in conducting from Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory. He was the recipient of the 50th Anniversary Heinz Unger Award from the Ontario Arts Council in 2018, of a Solti Career Assistance Award in 2021 and has been awarded a Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship by Kurt Masur and the Ansbacher Fellowship by the American Austrian Foundation and members of the Vienna Philharmonic. He lives in New York City with his wife and their daughter.

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Song-Ie Do

A native of Korea, the 22 year old cellist Song-Ie Do has been described by critics as a "demonstrative cellist... featured the controlled ability of the finest performers." She has recently finished her Bachelor's degree at the New England Conservatory studying with Paul Katz and is going to continue her study in the Master's degree with Laurence Lesser in the same institution. In the past two years, Ms. Do was a recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship at NEC and has also been informed to receive the Presidential Distinction Award for the upcoming year.

Ms. Do made her solo debut with Seoul Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14, only three years after starting her cello study in Korea, and soloed with the Millennium Chamber Ensemble at Seoul Arts Center's Concert Hall in the following year. She has also appeared in numerous Young Artists Concert series in the country. Since coming to the States in 2000, Ms. Do has performed in venues such as Jordan Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Sanders Theatre, Zeitgeist Gallery, Chapin Auditorium, and Cowles - Kruidenier Auditorium. Ms. Do has also won prizes in the Klein International Competition, Corpus Christ International Competition, Boston Symphony Orchestra Competition, Kyung Hyang- Ewha Music Competition, and Chunchu Music competition.

As an active and passionate chamber musician, Ms. Do is currently a member of the Laurel String Quartet, a winner ensemble of NEC Honors Competition. The quartet has appeared in several Boston venues including a full recital in Jordan Hall, and was recently invited to give a concert and outreach programs in the Virginia Arts Festival. Ms. Do has also performed alongside such artists as Natasha Brofsky, Bonnie Hamton, Michael Kennen, Kathie Murdock, Anthony Marwood, Maria Lambros, and Roger Tapping.

Ms. Do has participated in several music festivals including the World Cello Congress III, Manchester Cello Festival, International Music Academy of Meissen, Musicorda, Perlman Music Program and Yellow Barn. She has also participated in Master classes given by various artists including Alexander Bailey, Anner Bylsma, Timothy Eddy, Natalia Gutman, Matt Haimovitz, Anssi Karttunen, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Mann, Alto Noras, Janos Starker, Donald Weilierstein, and Peter Wiespelwey. Ms. Do plays a Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano cello made in Naples, Italy.

Michal Korman

Michal Korman was born in Jerusalem in 1983 and is currently completing her M. Mus. degree with Timothy Eddy at The Juilliard School. She gained her Bachelor's degree at the Buchman- Mehta School of Music in the cello class of Hillel Zori. Michal has performed as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, and has recently been invited to perform as soloist with The Tivoli Festival Orchestra, Copenhagen in May 2007, and in Lima, Peru in September.

Michal has participated in various festivals in the U.S. and Europe including the West-Eastern-Divan directed by Daniel Barenboim, the Yellow Barn Festival and the Manchester International Cello Festival, in which she will participate again as the representative selected by The Juilliard School. She has also been invited to participate at the Marlboro Music Festival in this coming summer.

Michal is an active chamber musician. She is a graduate of the Jerusalem Music Center Young Musicians Group, has performed various concerts in live and recorded broadcasts on Israel National radio and has collaborated with musicians including Itamar Golan, Bonnie Hampton and members of the Peabody Trio. During her musical studies she has been instructed by numerous artists including Anner Bylsma, Bernard Greenhouse, Franz Helmerson, Martin Lovett, Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Mischa Maisky, Janos Starker, Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein and Garry Hoffman.

Caleb van der Swaagh

Praised for his “entrancing” performances (National Sawdust Log), cellist Caleb van der Swaagh is a versatile chamber musician and soloist. He is an alumnus of Ensemble ACJW (now known as Ensemble Connect) – a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education. Caleb is the recipient of the Tanglewood Karl Zeise Memorial Cello Prize and the Manhattan School of Music Pablo Casals Award, and was also a grant recipient from the Virtu Foundation.

In demand as a chamber musician, Caleb is member of Exponential Ensemble, a mixed instrumentation chamber ensemble. He is a first prize winner in the SAVVY Chamber Competition and has performed with such ensembles as The Knights, A Far Cry, Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Borromeo String Quartet, Metropolis Ensemble, Ensemble LPR, and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. Recent festival appearances include appearances at the Chelsea Music Festival, Ottawa ChamberFest, Garth Newel Music Center, Music from Montauk, 23Arts Summer Music Festival, Edelio Festival, and Birdfoot Festival. As a recording artist, Caleb’s recent releases include the Against Method with counter)induction on New Focus Recordings and Elliott Carter’s Clarinet Quintet with Phoenix Ensemble on Navona Records. Additional appearances include albums on Albany Records, Bright Shiny Things, Supertrain Records, Linn Records, and Avie Records.

An advocate of contemporary music, Caleb is a member of counter)induction, Ensemble Échappé, and Ensemble Ipse. He also performs regularly with leading contemporary music ensembles including Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Either/Or, S.E.M Ensemble, and Hotel Elefant. He has premiered works by such composers as Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Christian Wolff, Roscoe Mitchell, and Iancu Dumitrescu, among others, as well as performing his own compositions and arrangements.

A native New Yorker, Caleb graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University as part of the Columbia – Juilliard Exchange program with a degree in Classics and Medieval & Renaissance Studies. Caleb received his master’s degree with academic honors from New England Conservatory and later studied at the Manhattan School of Music. His primary teachers are Bonnie Hampton, Laurence Lesser, and David Geber. Caleb plays on a cello made by David Wiebe in 2012.