Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences across Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the United States, including performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Rudolfinum of Prague, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. 

Andrew’s orchestral engagements across the globe have seen him perform a sprawling repertoire of more than 50 concertos with orchestra. He has performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, Günther Herbig, Stefan Sanderling, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski and has appeared in solo recitals in chamber music concerts with the Elias, Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets and also as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. The 2021-2022 Season takes Andrew across the globe with concerts in London, Glasgow, Geneva, Dresden, and across the US, Canada, and Australia. Last season Andrew and violinist James Ehnes teamed up to release the complete cycle of 10 Beethoven Violin Sonatas to celebrate the master’s 250th birthday in 2020. The duo performed the cycle in cities around the world during the past two years and will continue the project through 2022. 

On top of his performance activities, Andrew serves as Artistic Director of two thriving series in South Carolina, the Columbia Museum of Art’s Chamber Music on Main and USC Beaufort Chamber Music. In 2020, Andrew founded New Canaan Chamber Music in New Canaan, CT and serves as Artistic Director of that promising new series. In Wisconsin, from 2017 through 2021, Andrew has drawn great fulfillment as Director of the Chamber Music Institute at Wisconsin’s Green Lake Festival of Music. 

Andrew’s debut solo CD featuring Rachmaninov, Scriabin, and Mussorgsky was released to great critical acclaim: “I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence” (American Record Guide). He followed that success with a disc on Cordelia Records of works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and the world premiere recording of Bielawa's Wait for piano & drone. 

He has released several award-winning recordings with his longtime recital partner James Ehnes -- most recently Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 7 & 10, to stellar reviews. 

Andrew is devoted to outreach programs and playing for children. In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio, Performance Today, and WQXR, New York City's premier classical music station. 

Mr. Armstrong lives in Massachusetts, with his wife Esty, their three children Jack (15), Elise (10), and Gabriel (4), and their two dogs Comet & Dooker. 

Alexander Fiterstein is recognized as one of today’s most exceptional clarinetists. He has been praised by the New York Times for possessing a “beautiful liquid clarity,” and the Washington Post wrote, “Fiterstein treats his instrument as his own personal voice, dazzling in its spectrum of colors, agility, and range. Every sound he makes is finely measured without inhibiting expressiveness.” A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, he performs with orchestras and chamber groups throughout the world. He appeared as a soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Czech Chamber Orchestra, Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center, Tokyo Philharmonic, and Vienna Chamber Orchestra. A dedicated performer of chamber music, he frequently collaborates with distinguished artists and regularly performs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Among the highly regarded artists he has performed with are Daniel Barenboim, Emanuel Ax, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode, Pinchas Zukerman, Steven Isserlis, and Elena Bashkirova. Mr. Fiterstein has made several recordings for Naxos and Bridge Records. He graduated from The Juilliard School and is now Chair of Winds and Professor of Clarinet at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

American violist Matthew Lipman has been praised by the New York Times for his “rich tone and elegant phrasing,” and by the Chicago Tribune for a “splendid technique and musical sensitivity.” Lipman has come to be relied on as one of the leading players of his generation, frequently appearing as both a soloist and chamber music performer.

Lipman will debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe at the Rheingau Music Festival in the summer of 2021. Highlights of recent seasons include appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Lipman has worked with conductors including Edward Gardner, the late Sir Neville Marriner, Osmo Vänskä, and Nicholas McGegan. Lipman was a featured performer with fellow violist Tabea Zimmermann at Michael Tilson Thomas’s 2019 Viola Visions Festival of the New World Symphony in Miami. His recent debuts include at the Aspen Music Festival, Seoul’s Kumho Art Hall, Wigmore Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall and in recital at Carnegie Hall.

Ascent, his 2019 release by Cedille Records, was celebrated by The Strad as a “most impressive” debut album while Lipman is praised for his “authoritative phrasing and attractive sound.” The album marks the first ever recording of the recently discovered work by Shostakovich, Impromptu for viola and piano and of Clarice Assad’s Metamorfose for viola and piano, which Lipman commissioned for the recording. He has also been featured on the recording of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with violinist Rachel Barton Pine and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by the late Sir Neville Marriner. The album topped Billboard’s Classical Chart and has received praise by both the press and public.

Named the 2019 Artist-in-Residence for the American Viola Society, Lipman has additionally been featured on WFMT Chicago’s list “30 Under 30” of the world’s top classical musicians, and is a published contributor to The Strad, Strings and BBC Music magazines. He was featured on the second season of PBS’s ‘Now Hear This’ performing Schubert’s ‘Arpeggione’ Sonata with pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen.  He performs regularly on tour and at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at music festivals including the Morizburg Festival, St. Petersburg’s White Nights, Music@Menlo, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bridgehampton, Seattle, Saratoga, and Kissinger Sommer festivals. His regular chamber music partners include Tabea Zimmermann, Mitsuko Uchida, Itzhak Perlman, Sir András Schiff, Jeremy Denk, Stella Chen, and Pinchas Zukerman. Dedicated to expanding the repertoire for the viola, Lipman has also performed the premieres of works for viola by composers Helen Grime, Clarice Assad, David Ludwig and the American premiere of Monochromer GartenVI by Malika Kishino. 

Lipman is the recipient of a 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Kovner Fellowship, and the Jack Kent Cooke Award, and is also a major prize winner in the Primrose, Tertis, Washington, Johansen, and Stulberg International Viola Competitions. He studied at The Juilliard School with Heidi Castleman, and was further mentored by Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy. As an alum of the Bowers Program, Lipman occupies the Wallach Chair at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He performs on a 1700 Matteo Goffriller viola loaned through the generous efforts of the Pine Foundation.

Florida born hornist, Kevin Rivard, is rapidly establishing himself as a soloist, orchestral performer and chamber musician. His earliest teacher and mentor was Carolyn Wahl, a member of The Florida Orchestra. Upon graduating from High School, Mr. Rivard received a full scholarship to attend The Juilliard School and further his studies with Julie Landsman, Principal Horn in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. During his second year at school, he won the position of Assistant Principal Horn with The Florida Orchestra. In 2005, Mr. Rivard returned to The Juilliard School to finish his performance degree.

As an active freelancer, Mr. Rivard has appeared with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Les Miserable on Broadway. Mr. Rivard has won numerous competitions and awards. Most recently he was awarded the Grand Prize along with the audience choice award at the 2008 Concours International d'Interprétation Musicale in Paris, France. He also won the Grand Prize at the 2007 International Horn Competition of America. He was the winner of The Juilliard Concerto Competition, the Farkas Solo Horn Competition, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) level 1 award, a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and was a recipient of the Music for Youth Foundation's highest scholarship award.

Mr. Rivard made his solo debut with the Houston Symphony in 2007, performing the Gliere Concerto, as the 2nd place winner of the Ima Hogg Young Artists Solo Competition where he also received the audience choice award. Mr. Rivard has participated in the Sarasota Music Festival, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Verbier Festival and the Santa Fe Opera. Prior to joining the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, Mr. Rivard held the position of Assistant Principal Horn with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.