2025 Young Artists

Irén Hangen Vázquez graduated in May from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) with a B.Mus. in Cello Performance and Music Theory, and a minor in Mathematics through Case Western Reserve University. She will begin a master’s program in Cello Performance at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in the fall, studying with Elizabeth Dolin.

Irén previously studied with Melissa Kraut, Nathaniel Parke, and Karlos Rodriguez. She has participated in summer festivals and programs including Orford Music Academy, Domaine Forget, Kinhaven Young Artists Seminar, and Sphinx Performance Academy, among others. She has received several awards, including the Agnew Prize for Bach at the 25th Annual Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition (2023); prizewinner of the 30th Annual Darius Milhaud Performance Prize (2024); and the 2025 Drs. Richard and Beth Nelson Award in Music Theory from CIM. She was a member of the Advanced Piano Trio Program at CIM under the tutelage of cellists Sharon Robinson and Si-Yan Li.

Irén is dedicated to programming and performing works by underrepresented composers. When not with her cello, she enjoys reading, knitting, playing with her cat, and spending time outside with her parents and friends.

Bethlehem Kelley is an Ethiopian American violinist born in Addis Ababa and raised in Lenexa, Kansas. She earned her bachelor's degree with honors from the University of Michigan as a student of Danielle Belen.

Betti is a 2024 Sphinx Competition Laureate and First Prize winner in the Kansas City Symphony Young Artist Competition. She has soloed with the Sphinx Honors Orchestra, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Midwest Chamber Ensemble, Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Civic Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Bethlehem is a founding member of the Mia String Quartet, which participated in Delaware’s Calidore String Quartet Seminar, was a finalist in the senior division of the Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, Texas, and received the Audience Choice award at the St. Paul String Quartet Competition.

Betti has spent summers touring abroad as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and studying and performing at various summer festivals around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival as a fellowship recipient, Sphinx Performance Academy, Center Stage Strings, the Summer Academy at ENCORE, and the Conservatoire Américaine at the Fontainebleau Schools. As a recipient of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis scholarship at the Encore Chamber Music Institute, she performed recitals in Cleveland and Indianapolis alongside violinist Jinjoo Cho.

Amina Knapp is a violinist and Master’s student at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where she studies with Jinjoo Cho. Amina’s previous teachers include Sibbi Bernhardsson, Natsuki Kumagai, Aaron Janse, and Leslie Shank. At the heart of Amina’s work is a commitment to creative collaboration, musical outreach, and equity in representation. She currently holds a Graduate Assistantship at Northwestern, serving as both the String Chamber Music Administrative Assistant and the Orchestral Conducting Seminar Assistant, and holds multiple appointments as concertmaster of both Northwestern’s and Oberlin’s top orchestras. 

Her experience spans chamber, orchestral, and contemporary performance. Festival participation and programs include Madeline Island, Domaine Forget, Encore Music, New Music on the Point Fellowship Program, and Taconic Music’s Chamber Music Intensive. Amina is a founding member of the Eris Quartet, with whom she has completed major touring projects, including a 23-performance East Coast tour across seven cities. The ensemble’s recent highlights include George Crumb’s Black Angels and collaborations with Kirsten Docter, Ross Karre, and Juraj Kojs. They were recently the Quartet-in-Residence at New Music on the Point, working closely with the JACK Quartet.

Amina has worked extensively with composers and improvisers, including an ongoing album project with Wendy Eisenberg. She has performed at the Bang on a Can Long Play Festival with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble and spent two years teaching in the Grafton Correctional Institution’s all-men’s prison chamber orchestra program. She currently teaches private and group classes at Music House and was recently appointed to the faculty of the Chicago School of Musical Arts.

Outside of her music pursuits, Amina enjoys going to cat cafés, sight-reading chamber music, munching “Off the Eaten Path” veggie chips, journaling, and singing karaoke with her friends.

Daniel Knapp, originally from Minnesota, is a cellist and arts manager dedicated to expanding the boundaries of classical performance and supporting contemporary artists. Praised for his “strikingly beautiful” playing (I Care If You Listen), Daniel brings passion and innovation to every aspect of his work.

Recent performance highlights include collaborations with Eighth Blackbird, Bang on a Can All-Stars, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. As cellist of the Eris Quartet, he is featured on a forthcoming collaborative album with Wendy Eisenberg and has toured extensively, engaging audiences in prisons, parlors, libraries, galleries, and community spaces. Most recently, the quartet served as the Ensemble in Residence for New Music on the Point, collaborating with the JACK Quartet.

Daniel’s Carnegie Hall debut was with the Oberlin Orchestra for the United Nations General Conference, and he has since returned to New York City for Bang on a Can’s Long Play and Loud Weekend festivals. He currently serves as the Executive Director of The Musikos Collective, a community-led organization that has "grown into a staple of Oberlin life" (The Oberlin Review) through its multidisciplinary programming and collaborative performances. Daniel is also the digital coordinator for NYC-based record label Bright Shiny Things and Director of Touring Productions for Sybarite5. His favorite color is somewhere between a blood orange and a mango—and a pomegranate.

Born in Urumqi, China, Qiaochuhan Li began her piano studies at age four and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, studying with Anthony Padilla. Recent performance highlights include George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae and a solo recital featuring the music of Crumb, Zhou Long, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Johannes Brahms.

Awarded the Marjorie Irvin Prize for Excellence in Piano Performance and the Miriam Clapp Duncan Award in Organ and Harpsichord Literature, Qiaochuhan holds an Accompanying Fellowship at Lawrence, working with voice studios and serving as a rehearsal pianist for Lawrence’s Mainstage Opera. She was a finalist in the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition as a member of a harpsichord quartet, performing Bach’s A Minor concerto for four harpsichords. Concurrent with her music studies, Qiaochuhan is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies and East Asian Studies. In her free time, she is a runner, an alpine skier, and a coffee enthusiast.

Qiaochuhan is a Burr and Burton alumna and is beyond grateful for the music experience the Manchester community has offered her.

Born in Singapore and raised in California, Waverly Long is a violinist and violist with a B.Mus. in Viola Performance and a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University. She will attend the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in a Master's program this fall.

In 2023, Waverly toured Italy as a guest soloist on viola performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed in Spain, Portugal, France, Austria, Canada, and various locations across the U.S., as soloist and in chamber ensembles and orchestras.

In recent summers, Waverly has studied at Écoles d'Art Américaines de Fontainebleau and the Bowdoin International Music Festival. For the past five years, she has coached chamber music as a fellow at the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra Summer Workshop. In high school, Waverly was concertmaster of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra and her string quartet earned awards in several competitions including First Place in the American Protege International Competition. She was a 2018 winner of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra's Concerto Competition and performed "Tzigane" by Ravel with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. Her primary teachers include Desirée Ruhstrat, Robert Hanford, and Peter Zazofsky.

Currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance at the Lamont School of Music, Sebastian Saiz-Harrison began playing viola in fifth grade through his public school music program in Colorado. He studied independently until his senior year of high school, when he began lessons with Basil Vendryes, principal violist of the Colorado Symphony and his current teacher.

Sebastian previously served as principal violist of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra and now holds the principal seat at Lamont. He has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall through various youth orchestral programs, and studied with David Rose at Rocky Ridge, deepening his commitment to orchestral and chamber music.

Gisselle Sanchez-Diaz is a Dominican violinist whobegan music studies at 7 and was awarded academic excellence honors during her four years of music school. She entered the Dominican National Conservatory of Music in 2012, participating in numerous chamber music programs and festivals, as well as both local and international ensembles. She was awarded a chamber music scholarship for her undergraduate studies at Western Illinois University, where she was a member of the President’s International String Quartet, the leading chamber group of the music school, for all four years. At WIU, Gisselle won an international competition and a concerto competition before graduating summa cum laude. She earned her master’s degree in violin performance at Arizona State University, where she studied under Danwen Jiang. As a chamber music teaching assistant for ASU’s distinguished Visiting Quartet Residence Program, Gisselle worked closely with the members of the Brentano and Borromeo string quartets, and was first violinist in ASU’s Herberger String Quartet.

Cara Wunder recently completed her bachelor's degree in Violin Performance at the University of Michigan, where she studied with Danielle Belen. While at Michigan, she also studied viola privately with Caroline Coade. Cara was previously in a quartet coached by Annie Fullard and Matt Albert, and was a founding member of the Ophelia Trio, coached by Amy I-Lin Cheng and Ryan Meehan. For the past two years, Cara has attended Bowdoin Music Festival where she has worked with YooJin Jang, Sergiu Schwartz, and Meg Freivogel. In the summer of 2023, Cara attended Encore Summer Academy, working with Jinjoo Cho and Paul Kantor. Cara has spent four summers at Center Stage Strings, studying with Danielle Belen, Elbert Tsai, Simon James, and Fabiola Kim and, in 2022, performing in a quartet with Ryan Meehan. She is also a two-time attendee at Sounding Point Academy. In the fall, Cara will begin graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music with YooJin Jang. In addition to Taconic Music’s Chamber Music Intensive, 2025 summer highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, The Collaborative Piano Institute, and Talis Music Festival.