Jonathan Miller, Cello, Artistic Director
Jonathan Miller (Artistic Director, cello) studied literature at the University of California at Berkeley. After attending a Pablo Casals master class, he dropped out of school to study the cello. Two years later was accepted as a scholarship student at Juilliard School, and then became a pupil of Bernard Greenhouse. Mr. Miller has performed as soloist with the Hartford Symphony; The Boston Pops; The Cape Ann Symphony, North Shore Philharmonic, Newton Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Boston. Miller won the Jeunesses Musicales auditions, twice toured the US with the New York String Sextet, and appeared as a member of the Fine Arts Quartet. He performed as a featured soloist at the American Cello Congress in the spring of 1990 at the invitation of Rostropovitch, and also a soloist at the 1996 Congress. Miller has over the years collaborated in many chamber music concerts with distinguished musicians including: violinists Renaud Capucon, Eugene Drucker, Hillary Hahn, Daniel Phillips, Gil Shaham and Joel Smirnoff; violists Yuri Bashment, Roberto Diaz, Paul Doktor, James Dunham, and Kim Kashkashian; and pianists Emanuel Ax and Garrick Ohlson. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio, which has twice received glowing reviews in the New York Times for its New York City performances. The Gramercy Trio has recorded for Naxos, Navona, and Newport Classics labels. Miller has recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas with Randall Hodgkinson for the Centaur label. He performs on the ex-Pagannini-Piatti Goffriller cello which was made in Venice in 1700 and a bow by Boston maker Beniot Rolland.
Jonathan Bass, Piano
Pianist Jonathan Bass appears frequently throughout the US as soloist and chamber musician. He made his New York debut at Weill Hall as First Prize-winner of the 1993 Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, and has performed internationally in China, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Spain. Mr. Bass has appeared with the Boston Pops and with numerous orchestras across the country. Other awards include First Prize in the 1989 American Pianists Association Beethoven Fellowship Competition and First Prize in the 1984 American National Chopin Competition. Mr. Bass is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players, with whom he has toured extensively and made three recordings and is a regular guest of the BSO Chamber Players. He and his wife, BSO violinist Tatiana Dimitriades, appear frequently throughout New England as the Boston Duo. A Professor of Piano at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where he has served on the faculty since 1993, Jonathan Bass was previously Piano Chair at BU. He is also on the faculty of NEC Preparatory Division and the Walnut Hill School. Mr. Bass holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and a Doctor of Music degree from the Indiana University School of Music, where he was a student of, and teaching assistant to, Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio.
Jessica Bodner, viola
Jessica Bodner is the violist and founding member of the Grammy award-winning Parker Quartet. In 2014 she joined the faculty of Harvard University's Department of Music in conjunction with the Parker Quartet's appointment as the Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence. Jessica has appeared at the International Viola Congress, as a guest of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and been a finalist for a Pro Musicis Award. With the Parker Quartet, Ms. Bodner has recently appeared at Carnegie Hall, The Library of Congress, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Seoul Arts Center, and has appeared at festivals including Caramoor, Yellow Barn, Perigord Noir in France, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany. A native of Houston, Jessica began her musical studies on the violin at the age of two, and then switched to the viola at the age of twelve because of her love of the deeper sonority. She holds degrees from New England Conservatory, where her primary teachers were Kim Kashkashian and Martha Strongin Katz.
Katherine Chi, piano
Pianist Katherine Chi was accepted to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music a year after her debut recital at the age of nine. She continued studies at NEC, where she received her Master’s degree, Graduate, Artist Diploma and Doctorate. She later studied for two years at the International Piano Foundation in Como, Italy, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne. In 2000, Ms. Chi won first prize in Honens International Piano Competition and was the first Canadian to win this award. She was also a prizewinner at the 1998 Busoni International Piano Competition. Her debut recording, on the Arktos label, features works of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Ms. Chi has appeared with the Alabama, Calgary, Colorado, Columbus, Edmonton, Grand Rapids, Huntsville, Kitchener-Waterloo, Modesto, Nova-Scotia, Philadelphia, Quebec, Richmond, San Antonio, Saskatoon, Symphoria, Tallahassee, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria Symphony Orchestras, CBC Radio Orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, I Musici de Montreal, Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Mexico City Philharmonic, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Toronto Sinfonia. Festival appearances including Aldeburgh, Banff, Canada’s Festival of the Sound, Launadière, Domaine Forget, Marlboro, Osnabrück Kammermusik, Germany’s Ruhr, Santander Summer Music, and Festival Vancouver.
Tatiana Dimitriades, violin
Born and raised in New York, Tatiana Dimitriades earned her bachelor's and master's degrees, and an Artist Diploma, from the Indiana University School of Music, where she was awarded the Performer's Certificate in recognition of outstanding musical performance. A recipient of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, Ms. Dimitriades has also won the Guido Chigi Saracini Prize, and the Mischa Pelz Prize. Ms. Dimitriades joined the BSO in 1987. She teaches at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and is the concertmaster of the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Her solo performances have included a Carnegie Recital Hall appearance sponsored by the Associated Music Teachers of New York and an appearance as soloist in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Randall Hodgkinson - piano
Randall Hodgkinson won the International American Music Competition in 1981 and his October 1986 formal New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall under the competition’s auspices was greeted with critical acclaim. Mr. Hodgkinson has, in recent years, performed with orchestras including those of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Albany, Buffalo, Westchester, Oakland, and Caramoor and has collaborated with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Gunther Schuller. 1985 saw his European orchestral debut with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome. He is a featured artist on the Bosendorfer Concert Series aired over WNYC - FM in New York City and has recorded for the Nonesuch, CRI and New World labels. Mr Hodgkinson studied with Veronica Jochum and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory where he now serves on the faculty. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio.
Julianne Lee, violin
Julianne Lee is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and has recently been awarded the Presser Music Award. Ms. Lee made her solo debut at age 7 with the Lake Placid Symphonietta. She has appeared as soloist with the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Korea and the Baden-Baden Philharmonie in Germany. Ms. Lee has participated at the Marlboro Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and a European tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra as Guest Principal Violist. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in violin performance and a Diploma in viola performance from the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Victor Danchenko, Joseph Silverstein and Joseph DePasquale. Currently she is pursuing her Masters Degree as a student of Donald Weilerstein and Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Sharan Leventhal, violin
Sharan Leventhal has built an international reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Her more than 100 premieres include works by Schuller, Kraft, Oliveros, and Bainbridge. Her recordings include the entire violin and piano works of Virgil Thomson on the Northeastern Recordings label. Ms. Leventhal has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet and the Milwaukee and Vermont Symphonies. She was a founding member of the duo Marimolin, is a member of the Gramercy Trio and has served on the faculty of Michigan State University.
Lucia Lin, violin
Lucia Lin, violinist, made her debut performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven. Since then, she has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the 1990 International Tschaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Ms. Lin joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and served as assistant concertmaster from 1988 to 1991 and 1996 to 98. During the 1991-92 season, she was acting concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and during the 1994 to 1996 seasons, she served as joint concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra. She has performed in solo recitals throughout the U.S., making her New York debut at Weill Recital Hall in March 1991, and has appeared with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Oklahoma Symphony, the Festivalorchester in Graz, Austria, and the Moscow State Orchestra.
Dina Vainshtein
Russian-born pianist Dina Vainshteinhas degrees from the Gnesin Institute of Music in Moscow, the Cleveland Institute of Music and NEC. Her principal teachers were Boris Berlin and Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. She received a Special Prize for Best Collaboration at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1998): and also won prizes at the Schubert and Modern Music International Competition in Austria (1997) and the All-Union Russian Piano Competition (1993). She has performed at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Hall in New York City, Jordan Hall in Boston and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. She has also performed at the Ravinia Festival, Caramoor Festival, Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), Meadowmount and the Heifetz International Music Institute. Ms. Vainshtein has appeared as a soloist with I Musici de Montreal and as a guest artist with the Borromeo String Quartet. She has given live performances on WGBH (Boston) and for NPR’s Performance Today series, and her recording for the Naxos label with violinist Frank Huang. At present she is a collaborative pianist for the Walnut Hill School and the New England Conservatory.
Diane Walsh - piano
Pianist Diane Walsh, whose many awards include the top prizes at the Munich ARD Competition and the Salzburg Mozart Competition, has performed concertos, solo recitals and chamber music concerts worldwide. She has appeared with the Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin radio symphonies, the American, Indianapolis, Austin, Delaware, Syracuse and San Francisco symphonies, and Orpheus, St. Luke's and Prague Virtuosi chamber orchestras. She has given recitals in major venues in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Russia, and has made summer festival appearances at Marlboro, Santa Fe, Bard, Chesapeake and many others. She led the Skaneateles Festival as artistic director from 1999 to 2004. Ms. Walsh has performed Beethoven’s Variations on a Waltz of Diabelli well over 200 times, in the Broadway production of 33 Variations, a play by Moisés Kaufman starring Jane Fonda, and in three other productions in Washington, La Jolla and Los Angeles. She can be heard on eighteen recordings; her latest release is a selection of Bach keyboard suites. She was associate professor at Mannes College of Music for 32 years, and in the Fall of 2015 was Visiting Artist at Colby College. She is a Steinway Artist. Diane Walsh lives in Portland, Maine with her husband, the writer Richard Pollak.