2023 Chamber Music Intensive Young Artists
Benjamin Adams, cello Cleveland Institute of Music
Ben Adams began playing cello at 4 and has been studying cello, music theory, and composition since then. Ben studied at the New England Conservatory Preparatory, Boston University Conservatory of Music (B.Mus.), and London’s Royal College of Music. He will begin graduate studies under Sharon Robinson at the Cleveland Institute of Music this fall. Previous teachers include Susanne Friedrich, Mark Churchill, Mihail Jojatu, Amanda Truelove, and Emmanuel Feldman. Ben has participated in numerous masterclasses, most recently with Amit Peled and Zlatomir Fung, and has played in several orchestras and chamber groups over the years. He has played in prominent concert halls throughout Europe, as well as at Boston’s Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall in NYC. Summer chamber programs include the Blue Mountain Chamber Music Festival and the Greenwood Music Festival. In addition to his cello performance, Ben is an accomplished composer, having studied with John Rodney Lister, Ketty Nez, Haris Kittos, John H. Wallace, and Martin Amlin. He also teaches several cello students and volunteers as music coordinator for a local church congregation.
Rosa Burke, piano Purchase College Conservatory
Rosa Burke is a pianist and teacher from Staten Island, NY who currently resides in Manhattan. She began playing piano at 16, studying intensively with Dr. Tereza Lee at the Church Street School of Music and Art, where she now teaches. She recently completed her bachelor’s in Classical Piano Performance at SUNY Purchase, studying under Stephanie Brown. She has performed publicly at the DiMenna Center and the Tribeca Film Festival, and in masterclasses for pianist Vanessa Perez as well as for cellists Caleb Van der Swaagh, Christine Lamprea, and Mihai Marica. Rosa has accompanied instrumentalists, vocalists, and school choruses. She is passionate about showcasing compositions by previously underrepresented women composers, performing such works as Rebecca Clarke’s Sonata for Viola and Piano and Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio Op. 17, as well as works by Nadia Boulanger, Lili Boulanger, and Louise Farrenc. Rosa has participated in the Ithaca (NY) Piano Festival and the Brevard Music Festival, where she also sang in the chorus under Conductor Keith Lockhart. She was a 2016 and 2017 prizewinner in the Rondo Young Artist Festival and received CSSMA’s Edith Hirshtal Award for Artistic Excellence in 2017.
Robert Feifan Hurley, cello Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
Robert Feifan Hurley is a Taiwanese-American cellist pursuing a Master’s of Music at Indiana University, where he studies cello with Eric Kim and chamber music with the Pacifica Quartet. Robert served as principal cellist of the UC Berkeley Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, and led Celli@Berkeley, the campus-wide all-cello ensemble. Robert has attended the summer festivals of Orford, Garth Newel, and Meadowmount. He has appeared in masterclasses for members of the Kronos, Danish, and Shanghai String Quartets, and appeared in workshops with composers Meredith Monk, Natalie Joachim, and Kamala Sankaram. Robert holds a BA from UC Berkeley, where he studied with and served as teaching assistant to Jonathan Koh. Robert attends the Jacobs School with the generous support of the Alfred Hertz Memorial Traveling Scholarship.
Olena Kaspersky, violin University of Southern California
L.A. native Olena Kaspersky received her bachelor’s degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, studying violin with Lina Bahn. She began violin instruction at 5 at the Colburn School of Performing Arts, where she received a merit scholarship and later spent two years as first violinist of CSPA’s Honors String Quartet. She has held principal positions in such ensembles as the Colburn Chamber Orchestra and American Youth Symphony, and was concertmaster of the USC Symphony and the Colburn Youth Orchestra. Olena recently won the USC Ofiesh Quartet Competition with the Gateway Quartet, with which she also performed at the Rencontres franco-américaines de Musique de Chambre in Missillac, France last summer. She has attended summer festivals at the Heifetz International Music Institute, Brevard Music Center, Meadowmount School of Music, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. In addition to her studies at USC, Olena frequently solos with and plays prima domra in the newly named Ukrainian Mosaic Orchestra.
Paula Lastra-Cancela, violin Arizona State University
Paula Lastra-Cancela began her violin studies at age 3 in her native Puerto Rico. In 2019, she completed her bachelor’s degree at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico under the tutelage of Francisco Cabán, and earned her master’s at the IU Jacobs School of Music, studying with Kevork Mardirossian. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Musical Arts degree at Arizona State University, where she studies with Danwen Jiang. Paula has performed as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, and has been awarded distinguished scholarships, including the Shirley Givens Memorial fellowship, where she had the opportunity to perform with the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico under Emilio Colón; and the Robert I. Ferdman fellowship, awarded by ProArte Musical. She has performed in masterclasses with Midori, José Francisco del Castillo, Federico Agostini, Elisabeth Adkins, and Frank Almond. Paula currently serves as rotating concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra of Arizona State University, and as a teacher for the Harmony Project in Phoenix, in addition to a roster of private students.
Rachel O’Connor, viola Montclair State University
Violist Rachel O’Connor is in the artist diploma program at Montclair State University’s Cali School of Music, where she is a member of the Graduate Quartet in Residence. Growing up on Boston’s South Shore, Rachel started her musical journey on the violin. In high school, she began studying the viola in addition to the violin, and performed with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. She double-majored in Violin Performance and Mathematics for her undergraduate degree at Gordon College, where she was participated in string chamber music outreach tours in Hong Kong, South Korea and Ukraine. She also won the Gordon Concerto Competition and performed Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen with the orchestra. Rachel earned her master’s degree in Viola Performance at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. At UMass, Rachel was part of the String Quartet Program, where she received full tuition remission and a teaching assistantship. She has attended such summer festivals as the Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, Aria International Summer Academy, and Credo Music. Rachel’s teachers have included Kathryn Lockwood, Ronald Gorevic, Elizabeth Chang, Sarita Kwok, Susan Kim, Megumi Lewis and George Vallatini.
Nathaniel Parker, violin Columbus State University Schwob School of Music
Oklahoma native Nathaniel Parker began studying the violin at age 3. He has been a prizewinner in several local and international competitions, including first prize at the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Music Competition and first prize at the OSU National String Competition. He has served as concertmaster of the Oklahoma All-State Orchestra and concertmaster of the Classen School of Advanced Studies Chamber Orchestra. Nathaniel is also a winner of the 2019 Samuel Fordis Concerto Competition organized by the Georgia Philharmonic and the 2019 Schwob School of Music Concerto Competition. Most recently, Nathaniel was named a prizewinner at the Salzburg Mozarteum Sommerakademie Competition, and performed Wieniawski’s Faust Fantasy at the Salzburger Fespeiele in 2022. In addition to violin, Nathaniel is a pianist and studies composition. He has been a prizewinner of piano competitions, including the International Odyssiad Keyboard Competition and Kuleshov Piano Competition. Past summer festivals include the Innsbrook Institute, Montecito, and Bowdoin music festivals, and the Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Salzburg. Nathaniel received his bachelor’s degree from the Schwob School of Music, where he studied as a Woodruff Scholar under Sergiu Schwartz.
Samantha Rehorst, viola Bard College and Conservatory
Samantha Rehorst is a rising fourth-year student at Bard College and Conservatory in New York, studying Viola Performance and Math. She grew up in Colorado, where she first began her musical studies on violin. After years of playing violin in lessons and in orchestras, she picked up the viola in order to fill a spot in a chamber group. She instantly fell in love with both the instrument and with chamber music, and hopes to have a future career playing viola in chamber groups. Throughout high school, Samantha played in chamber groups essentially as a freelance musician—playing gigs and festivals with the same group for all four years. This gave her practical insight on what it would be like to experience a career as a chamber musician. As an undergraduate, she has focused intensely on chamber music, playing in multiple groups and, at one point, on multiple instruments. She hopes to continue this intensity of work within the chamber music scene. Samantha currently studies with Melissa Reardon of the Borromeo String Quartet, and looks forward to continuing her pursuits in the intense world of chamber music.
Christina Shari, violin Purchase College Conservatory of Music
Christina Shari started playing violin at 5. She studied privately with Weini Tekeste till she was 14, and participated in local youth orchestra. She attended New York’s LaGuardia High School in 2017 as a violin major and Bloomingdale School of Music in 2018 as a Music Access Program student, studying with Naho Parrini. At LaGuardia, Christina received the Peter Bakstansky Music Award. In 2019, she won third place in the Bloomingdale Competition’s advanced instrumental category, and in 2020 she was selected to perform/compete in the New York City Regional Young Musicians Concert at CMS Rose Studio. At Bloomingdale, she also received the Mu Phi Epsilon NYC Alumni Chapter scholarship, the Achievement Award, and the Lawrence Davis Award. Christina currently studies Violin Performance with Deborah Buck at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College. She has been performing at The Greens at Greenwich, a memory care home, since December 2022. At Purchase, where she is on the dean’s list, Christina has been awarded the Billy Joel String Scholarship and E&E Grant Music School Scholarship.