Mr. Altenerger recently recorded Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic Orchestra, for Germany’s Bella Musica label.

The recent recipient of an S&R Washington Award, Ms. Matsuyama has also received top prizes from the 2005 Julliard/Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra Soloist Auditions, the 2005 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, the 2004 Sendai International Violin Competition, and the 2003 Hannover International Violin Competition. She was the recipient of the Tchaikovsky Prize in the II Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians. Ms. Matsuyama began violin studies at the age of two.

Winner of Astral Artists’ 2003 National Auditions and second-prize winner of the 2003 Walter W Naumburg Competition, violinist Ayano Ninomiya gave her highly acclaimed New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall under Naumburg’s auspices.

Ms. Ninomiya made her Boston Pops debut conducted by Keith Lockhart, and has been featured as soloist with the Boston Symphony and many others. She has presented in recital throughout Japan, including a debut recital in Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and has given debut recitals on the Ravinia Festival’s “Rising Stars” series, BankBoston’s “Emerging Artist” series and Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series. She recorded the complete works for violin by Larry Bell; Philadelphia’s City Paper placed the CD on its list of “Top 10 Classical Recordings of 2003.” As a recipient of a 2005 Frank Huntington Beebe Fellowship, Ms. Ninomiya spent the 2005-2006 season in Budapest researching the Bartok Archives and studying at the Franz Liszt Academy.

Pierre Lapointe is the violist of the Escher String Quartet, in residence as part of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two. With that ensemble, he played alongside esteemed artists such as Lawrence Dutton, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Jeffrey Kahane, David Shifrin and Pinchas Zukerman.

Violist Eric Nowlin has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as abroad. His orchestral solo appearances include the Springfield Symphony in Missouri, Santa Cruz Symphony and Peninsula Symphony in California, the Kumamoto Symphony in Japan, and the Julliard Orchestra.

He has given recitals in New York, Chicago (including the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts), San Francisco, and Mexico. In addition, he has been featured on National Public Radio, WQXR in New York, WGBH in Boston, and WFMT in Chicago.

In 2006, Mr. Nowlin won second prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Competition. Other awards include first prize in the 2003 Irving M. Klein International String Competition, first prize in the 2002 Hallam Young Artists Competition, and grand prize in the 2001 Naftzger Young Artists Competition. As the winner of the 2001 Julliard Viola Concerto Competition, he performed Hindemith’s Konzertmusik with the Julliard Orchestra and Maestro Roberto Minzcuk in Alice Tully Hall. Mr. Nowlin is currently serving as Associate Principal Viola in the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Efe Baltacigil, associate principal cellist in The Philadelphia Orchestra, came to the attention of the musical world in January 2005 when he and pianist Emanuel Ax performed a Beethoven cello sonata at a Philadelphia Orchestra concert with only ten minutes of most of the orchestra from reaching the concert hall Mr. Baltacigil was lauded by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a “highly individualized solo artist.

A winner of the 2005 Young Concert Artistes International Auditions, Mr. Baltacigil made his New York debut in the YCA Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, sponsored by The Peter Jay Sharp Prize, and his Washington, D.C> debut at the Kennedy Center, sponsored by YCA and the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize. In 2006 Mr. Baltacigil was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the following year he was featured on the cover of Symphony Magazine as one of six promising young artists to watch.

Mr. Baltacigil performs regularly as a member of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Society Two. Mr. Baltacigil performed the Brahms Sextet with Pinchas Zukerman and Yo-Yo Ma at Carnegie Hall and has participated in Mr. Ma’s Silk Road Project. In February 2007 he made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut, performing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations. Mr. Baltacigil was awarded a Jacqueline DuPre Scholarship from The Curtis Institute of Music in 2002.

Cellist Nicholas Canellakis continues to receive critical recognition for his performances. In The New York Times his playing was praised as “impassioned,” with “the audience seduced by Mr. Canellakis’ rich, alluring tone.” In The New York Sun he was noted for his “eloquence and fire.”

Recent concerts have taken Mr. Canellakis to Europe and throughout the United States. He has performed at the festivals of Sante Fe, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Sarasota, Verbier, Aspen, and Music from Angel Fire. He is a regular performer at Bargemusic in New York City, and has concertized in venues such as Weill and Zankel Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, and Disney Hall.

Mr. Canellakis was a founding member of the Vertigo String Quarter, which received First Prize in the Musiatri International Competition in Italy in 2006. Mr. Canellakis holds a Master’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where he was the recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Award.

Cellist Andrew Janss’ performances have taken him across four continents, to some of the most prestigious venues in the world, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and the Louvre.

Mr. Janss is the cellist of the Escher Quartet, one of the most highly acclaimed string quartets of its generation. The Escher Quartet is in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as part of Chamber Music Society Two. In recent years the quartet has given debuts at the Ravinia, Sante Fe, Music@Menlo, LaJolla Summerfest and Gold Coast Chamber Music Festivals.

As a soloist, Mr. Janss has been presented in recent years by numerous symphony orchestras. From 2007-2008, Mr. Janss held the position of Visiting Artist in Residence at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, as the youngest faculty member in the history of the School of Music.