SEASON 3
2024 - 2025
Showcase Soirée: Wiedemann Hill Mansion
Photo by Devyn Glista
Violinist Evin Blomberg and cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn return to the Wiedemann Hill Mansion for an evening of music for strings.
DETAILS
Tickets: $35 (plus service fee)
7:30pm Performance
8:30pm Private reception with the artists
ARTISTS
Evin Blomberg, violin
Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello
PROGRAM
Program details will be announced by the artists during the performance.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Violinist Evin Blomberg currently plays in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and is the Founder & CEO of the Soli Music Society. Evin studied with Pinchas Zukerman at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where she earned a Master of Music degree, and before that studied with Robert Lipsett at The Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles where she earned both a Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma. Recently, Evin won the Bronze Award at the 2022 Singapore International Music Competition, a Laureate at the 2021 Chicago Violin Competition, and was a "Next Up" Alumni Grant winner in 2021 and 2022 in a proposal competition held by The Colburn School.
In 2023, Evin was selected as a finalist for the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center Upstander Awards and also received a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award for her arts advocacy and work around the community with the Soli Music Society. Evin is passionate about using her voice for positive change through leadership in the community, and is a recent graduate of the YWCA Rising Star Equity Leadership Program and The Wharton School Online Leadership and Management Certificate Program. In 2024, Evin was an award recipient at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Next Generation Leadership Awards in the Arts, Entertainment & Hospitality category.
Evin currently plays on a 1772 Joseph Gagliano violin from Naples, Italy.
—-
Ilya Finkelshteyn is Principal Cello of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Praised by the Washington Post as a "complete master of his instrument," he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Ilya was previously Principal Cello of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and prior to that played in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for five seasons. Ilya started his education at the Special Music School at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under the tutelage of Sergei Chernyadiev. After immigrating to the United States, Ilya studied with Tanya Remenikova at the University of Minnesota School of Music and then with Harvey Shapiro at The Juilliard School in New York City. Since 2004, Ilya has also been Principal Cello of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center in New York City (formerly known as the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra).
Prize-winner of such competitions as the Brahms International Competition, Concertino Praga, Russian Cello Competition, the WAMSO International Competition, the Aspen Concerto Competition and the Chautauqua Concerto Competition, Ilya Finkelshteyn has appeared as a soloist with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and many other world-class orchestras including the National Repertory Orchestra. Ilya frequently gives masterclasses and teaches and various schools and festivals across the country.
Ilya plays on a 1730 Domenico Montagnana cello courtesy of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Showcase Soirée: The Meshewa House
Music by the legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and more for flute, violin, viola, and cello.
DETAILS
Tickets: $35 (plus tax and service fee)
7:30pm Performance
8:30pm Private reception with the artists
ARTISTS
Amy Taylor, flute
Evin Blomberg, violin
Christian Colberg, viola
Ilya Finkelshteyn, cello
PROGRAM
To be announced.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Amy Taylor has held flute and piccolo positions with several major U.S. orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony and the Honolulu Symphony. Amy was the Acting Piccoloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra during the ’23-24 season, Guest Principal Flute with the Baltimore Symphony and Guest Piccolo with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, as well. Ms. Taylor was recently the winner of the 2nd flute position with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout her career she has played frequently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and joined the CSO on tours to Asia and Carnegie Hall. She has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras on both flute and piccolo. Other notable accomplishments of this Yamaha Artist include her performance as a soloist with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble at Chicago’s Grant Park. She was also the first place winner of the National Flute Association’s Orchestral Excerpts Competition and the Oklahoma Young Artist Competition. She is a frequent guest artist with the Arizona Music Festival and has the privilege to perform during summer months with the Sitka Summer Music Festival, Sun Valley Music Festival and the Bellingham Music Festival.
In addition to her active performing career, Ms. Taylor is a devoted teacher. She currently holds Flute and Piccolo teaching positions at the University of North Texas and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, respectively. She is also on the Flute faculty at the Interlochen Summer Arts Academy.
Originally from the Dallas area, she received her BM from the University of North Texas and her MM from Northwestern University. Her primary teachers include, Walfrid Kujala and Terri Sundberg.
—-
Violinist Evin Blomberg currently plays in the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and is the Founder & CEO of the Soli Music Society. Evin studied with Pinchas Zukerman at the Manhattan School of Music in New York where she earned a Master of Music degree, and before that studied with Robert Lipsett at The Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles where she earned both a Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma. Recently, Evin won the Bronze Award at the 2022 Singapore International Music Competition, a Laureate at the 2021 Chicago Violin Competition, and was a "Next Up" Alumni Grant winner in 2021 and 2022 in a proposal competition held by The Colburn School.
In 2023, Evin was selected as a finalist for the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center Upstander Awards and also received a Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award for her arts advocacy and work around the community with the Soli Music Society. Evin is passionate about using her voice for positive change through leadership in the community, and is a recent graduate of the YWCA Rising Star Equity Leadership Program and The Wharton School Online Leadership and Management Certificate Program. In 2024, Evin was an award recipient at the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Next Generation Leadership Awards in the Arts, Entertainment & Hospitality category.
Evin currently plays on a 1772 Joseph Gagliano violin from Naples, Italy.
—-
Christian Colberg is currently the Principal Viola of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Prior to joining the CSO, he was the Assistant Principal Viola of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Colberg is also an Artist-Faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and School, a Valade Fellow at the Interlochen Center for the Arts and is Principal Viola at the Bellingham Festival of Music.
Colberg began his musical studies at the age of four in his native Puerto Rico. Recipient of numerous awards including the Alpha Delta Kappa Foundation Fine Arts grant, Colberg was honored by the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico in 1985, and again by the Senate in 1994 for his achievements in the classical music field. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of Music, His main teachers include Alexander Schneider, Saul Ovcharov, Charles Libov and Shirley Givens. Mr. Colberg has also been on the violin faculty of the Peabody Institute of Music and on the viola faculty of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
As an active chamber musician, Mr. Colberg has collaborated with such artists as, Marvin Hamlish, Gary Karr, Milton Katims, Augustin Hadelich, Samuel Sanders, Joseph Silverstein, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, the Muir, Cypress and Ariel String Quartets and with the Silk Road Festival in China.
In October 2018, Mr. Colberg performed his own Viola Concerto, with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. He has performed this work with numerous orchestras, including the Puerto Rico Conservatory Orchestra and Música de Cámara in New York City. The second movement of his concerto was used as the competition piece for the 2014 Primrose International Viola Competition and the third movement was used in the Sphinx competition of 2023. In June of 2018, The Rant - For Two Violas, was also premiered at the International Viola Congress in Los Angeles. His newest compositions for string quartet and drums was released in September of 2022 on a new album titled Talking to Myself in which he also played all the parts.
—-
Ilya Finkelshteyn is Principal Cello of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Praised by the Washington Post as a "complete master of his instrument," he has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Ilya was previously Principal Cello of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and prior to that played in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for five seasons. Ilya started his education at the Special Music School at the St. Petersburg Conservatory under the tutelage of Sergei Chernyadiev. After immigrating to the United States, Ilya studied with Tanya Remenikova at the University of Minnesota School of Music and then with Harvey Shapiro at The Juilliard School in New York City. Since 2004, Ilya has also been Principal Cello of the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center in New York City (formerly known as the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra).
Prize-winner of such competitions as the Brahms International Competition, Concertino Praga, Russian Cello Competition, the WAMSO International Competition, the Aspen Concerto Competition and the Chautauqua Concerto Competition, Ilya Finkelshteyn has appeared as a soloist with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and many other world-class orchestras including the National Repertory Orchestra. Ilya frequently gives masterclasses and teaches and various schools and festivals across the country.
Ilya plays on a 1730 Domenico Montagnana cello courtesy of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Showcase Soirée: Mansion Hill Sanctuary
An evening of music with the Red Door String Quartet at Mansion Hill Sanctuary.
DETAILS
Tickets: $35 (plus service fee)
7:30pm Performance
8:30pm Private reception with the artists
ARTISTS
Red Door String Quartet
Philip Marten, violin
Rachel Charbel, violin
Gabriel Napoli, viola
Nicholas Mariscal, cello
PROGRAM
This program, curated by violinist Philip Marten, will feature two works for string quartet:
For centuries, comparisons have been drawn between musical composition and literary rhetoric. There are small-scale organizational patterns like sentences and phrases that are shared between the two mediums, as well as more macro-level concepts such as proposing a problem or question to the consumer and then leading them on a journey towards resolution (or not!). Both of the works on this evening’s programs lean into this connection between music and literature.
The first, String Quartet No. 1 by Leoš Janáček is nicknamed after the work that inspired it, The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy. Janáček uses Moravian and Russian folk tunes to illustrate the emotions and tensions of Tolstoy’s characters, evoking their struggles with love, jealousy, and violence.
The second work on this program follows the structure of an imagined one-act play, with each movement representing a different scene. The first movement introduces characters in their context, the second represents action and reaction, the third serves as an opportunity for character monologues (instrumental solos), and the fourth brings the characters together again in connection with all that has happened to them.
String Quartet No. 1 ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ ・Leoš Janáček
‘In One Act’ (World Premiere)・Philip Marten
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
The Red Door Quartet, comprised of Philip Marten and Rachel Charbel, violins, Gabriel Napoli, viola, and Nicholas Mariscal, cello, are all members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Going beyond their traditional roles as members of the CSO string sections, the Red Door Quartet was founded so members could collaborate in the more intimate manner afforded by the quartet repertoire. Named after their debut recital venue, the name pays homage to the red doors of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pleasant Ridge.
—-
Currently 1st Assistant Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony, Philip Marten joined the Kansas City Symphony in 2016 as a first violin section member, and served as Acting Assistant Concertmaster in 2017. Since arriving in Cincinnati, he has been active in the community with organizations such as Concert:Nova, The Response Project, and Ascent Festival, and in the 24/25 season, he is curating and performing in the newly established Red Door Series. During his time with the CSO, he has appeared several times as a soloist with the orchestra. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster with the Kansas City Symphony and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra.
Before his 2016 appointment in Kansas City, Marten worked as Concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony for the 2015/16 season. As an active chamber musician, he has collaborated with David Chan, Desmond Hoebig, Benny Kim, Scott Lee, Cho-Liang Lin, Jon Kimura Parker, and Ivo-Jan van der Werff. He is a founding member of the Rodin Trio, which participated in La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest in 2017. He has also been a member of Amicus Trio and Fairway String Quartet, the latter of which won fellowships to the Juilliard String Quartet Program, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy, among others festivals.
A Kansas City native, Philip Marten grew up participating in many local music organizations including the Kansas City Youth Symphony and Heartland Chamber Music Academy. He also studied violin with former Kansas City Philharmonic concertmaster Tiberius Klausner. After receiving an undergraduate degree from Rice University in 2015 under the tutelage of Cho- Liang Lin, he went on to University of Southern California where he completed a year of graduate studies with Glenn Dicterow.
—-
Raised in Bellingham, Washington, Rachel Charbel began studying the violin at the age of seven. As a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Rachel holds the Ida Ringling North chair. Past appointments include section positions in the Austin Symphony and Dayton Philharmonic, as well as Associate Concertmaster of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. In addition, Rachel has performed with the Detroit, Louisville, and Alabama symphony orchestras. Rachel received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Music degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her principal teachers include Gabriel Pegis, Jorja Fleezanis, and Walter Schwede. After serving as Adjunct Professor of Violin at the Northern Kentucky University, Rachel now maintains a private studio of promising young violinists. An avid chamber musician, Rachel has performed with several ensembles including the Winstead Chamber Series, Concert:Nova, Apollo Music Festival, Florestan Chamber Music, and the Austin Chamber Music Festival. During the summer, Rachel has performed with the Britt, Astoria, Festival dei Due Mondi (Italy), and Bellingham music festivals, and served as concertmaster of the Spoleto Festival (USA). In her spare time, Rachel enjoys gardening, hiking, board games, and exploring what greater Cincinnati has to offer with her husband and two daughters.
—-
Gabriel Napoli joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra viola section in the fall of 2022 and is currently the Acting Associate Principal Violist. Previously, he performed three seasons at the New World Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. A native of Cleveland Ohio, Gabe started violin lessons at age 4.
Gabe earned his Bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Northwestern University and his Master’s degree in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. His primary teachers include Almita Vamos, Robert Hanford, Robert Vernon, Mark Jackobs and Stephen Sims. During his graduate studies at CIM, Gabe was a member of the Akron Symphony, and has more recently performed as a substitute with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony.
Gabe studied chamber music with the Dover Quartet, the Cavani Quartet, Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet and Si-Yan Darren Li. As a member of Quartet Amí during his time at Northwestern, Mr. Napoli worked closely with Mathias Tacke and Shmuel Ashkenasi of the Vermeer Quartet, and won first prize at the WDAV Young Chamber Musicians competition at Davidson College.
During his first seasons in Cincinnati, Gabe has had the pleasure of performing on the CSO's Winstead Chamber Music Series, the Ascent Chamber Music Summer Concert Series, the Soli Music Society and the Linton Chamber Music Series.
—-
A native of Tucson, Arizona, cellist Nicholas Mariscal has been a member of the cello section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since May of 2023. Beginning in 2021, he held the position of Assistant Principal Cello of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and served as the orchestra’s Acting Principal Cello during the 2023-24 season.
Mariscal has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra on their 2019 tour of South Korea, and has performed as principal cello of the Fjord Cadenza Festival orchestra in Ålesund, Norway. A recent alumnus of the New World Symphony in Miami, Mariscal was a winner of the orchestra’s concerto competition, performing Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra. In 2018, he made his professional solo debut performing the same work with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he is a top prize winner in the Sphinx, Edith Knox, and Indiana University Latin American Music Center competitions.
As an ardent performer of new and lesser-known music, Mariscal has been involved in dozens of premieres of new works, and has performed extensively as a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and USC’s Thornton EDGE ensemble. A passionate proponent of Latin American music, he has recorded rarely-heard music for unaccompanied cello by 20th and 21st century composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Alberto Ginastera, and Paul Desenne, and is a frequent programmer and performer of music from Latin America. Also an avid chamber musician, Mariscal has performed with esteemed artists including Midori Goto, Jorja Fleezanis, Tamás Varga, Atar Arad, and Frank Almond.
Mariscal received his Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Eric Kim, and received a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Certificate from the University of Southern California, where he studied with David Geringas and Ralph Kirshbaum.