Walden Chamber Players is comprised of twelve dynamic artists in various combinations of string, piano, and wind ensembles. The wide variety of instrumental groupings possible with this ensemble allows for great versatility and eclectic programming, a hallmark of the Walden Chamber Players. Members of the ensemble are versatile chamber artists and soloists who often perform at leading festivals throughout the United States and abroad. They are also sought-after teachers and lecturers and serve on the faculty of some of the country’s premier musical teaching institutions, such as the New England Conservatory of Music, University of Michigan, Boston University, Longy School of Music and the Boston Conservatory.
Tatiana Dimitriades, violin, was born and raised in New York and attended thePre-college Division of the Julliard School. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music, and an Artist diploma from the Indiana School of Music,where she was awarded the Professor's Certificate in recognition of outstanding musical performance. A recipient of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award,Ms. Dimitriades has also wonthe Guido Chigi Saracini Prize presented by the Academia Musicale Chigiana of Siena, Italy, on the occasion of the Paganini Centenary, and the Mischa Pelz Prize of the National Young Musicians Foundations Debut Competition in Los Angeles. Ms. Dimitriades joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 1987-88 season. An active chamber musician, she is a member of the Boston Artists' Ensemble, and of the Boston Conservatory Chamber Ensemble. She now teaches at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players. She was concertmaster of the Newton Symphony Orchestra, withwhich she often appeared as a soloist, and continues to perform frequently in recital and chamber music throughout New England. Other solo performances have included a Carnegie Recital Hall appearance sponsored by the Associated Music Teachers of New York and an appearance as soloist in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the Grand Teton Music Festival.
Irina Muresanu, violin, has won international acclaim as an outstanding young soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician having achieved top prizes in numerous international violin competitions. These include the Montreal International, Queen Elizabeth Violin, UNISA International String, Washington International, and the Schadt String Competitions. She is the winner of the Pro Musicis International Award, the Presser Music Award and the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association. Her engagements as soloist include concerts with the Boston Pops, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Syracuse Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), the Transvaal Philharmonic (Pretoria), the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the Boston Philharmonic, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony Orchestra among others. Irina Muresanu’s talents have been sought out for collaboration with such noted performers as Kim Kashkashian, Cynthia Phelps, Sharon Robinson, Ronald Thomas, Andres Cardenes, Ilya Kaler, and Nathaniel Rosen. An active chamber musician, Ms. Muresanu has appeared in such festivals and venues as Bargemusic in New York; the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts; Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival in Maine; the Strings in the Mountains festival in Colorado; Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, Reizend Music festival in Netherlands; Festival van de Leie in Belgium; and the Renncontres des Musiciennes festival in France. Ms. Muresanu's discography includes the Guillaume Lekeu and Alberic Magnard late Romantic violin and piano sonatas (with the pianist Dana Ciocarlie) for the AR RE-SE French label. She has also recorded the world premiere recording of Marion Bauer's Sonata for Violin and Piano (with pianist Virginia Eskin) on Albany Records, a CD with works of Andy Vores, and a CD featuring chamber works of Erich Korngold released by the VPRO Radio Amsterdam. Irina Muresanu currently serves on both the faculties of the Boston Conservatory and the Music Department at MIT. She was appointed Artist-in-Residence as a member of the Lewin-Muresanu Duo at the Boston Conservatory, as well as at the New England Conservatory’s Preparatory Division as a member of the Boston Trio. A native of Bucharest, Romania, she received the prestigious Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory in 1999, where she is currently a candidate for her Doctorate in Musical Arts.
Alexander Velinzon, violin, is a native of St. Petersburg, Russia and Assistant Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Velinzon started playing the violin at the age of six, and graduated from the Leningrad School for Gifted Children. After coming to the United States he continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music as a scholarship student of Albert Markov. Mr. Velinzon received his Bachelor’s degree in 1996 from the Julliard School, and received his Master’s degree from Julliard as well. He won The Artist International 1996 Young Artist Auditions and was presented in his New York recital debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Velinzon often appears as a soloist with orchestras, including The Rondo Chamber Orchestra on its tour to Venezuela, The Absolute Ensemble and The Metamorphoses Orchestra of New York. Mr. Velinzon has been heard at the City Center playing J.S. Bach Violin Concertos for the Paul Taylor Dance Company on its critically acclaimed New York season. Prizewinner of The Heida Hermann Competition in Pennsylvania and the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland, Mr. Velinzon has appeared in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia, as well as throughout the USA. Mr. Velinzon joined the Walden Chamber Players in 2001.
Yehonatan Berick, violin, was a prizewinner at the 1993 Naumburg Competition and a recipient of the 1996-97 Prix Opus. He has performed with the symphony orchestras of Quebec, Winnipeg, Jerusalem, and Haifa, and the Israel, Cincinnati, Montreal, and Manitoba chamber orchestras. He has played recitals with such pianists as James Tocco, Louis Lortie, Stephen Prutsman, and Michael Chertock, and collaborates with artists including members of the Guarneri Quartet, and cellists Peter Wiley and Stephen Isserlis. Berick’s festival credits include Marlboro, Ravinia, Seattle, Great Lakes, Vancouver, El Paso, Maui, and Bowdoin; Currently Professor of Violin at the University of Michigan, his studies were at Tel Aviv University’s Music Academy and at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Christof Huebner, viola, Artistic Director of the Walden Chamber Players and a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra was born in Vienna, where he attended the Vienna Conservatory and subsequently the Wiener Musikhochschule. Mr. Huebner studied with Hatto Beyerle, violist of the Alban Berg Quartet, and was the recipient of a grant by the Alban Berg Foundation. Continuing his studies with Michael Tree at the Saint Louis Conservatory as a Fulbright Scholar, he received his artist diploma. Before coming to the US, he played with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. He is a frequent performer at music festivals such as Marlboro Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Salzburg Festival, Wiener Festwochen and he is on the faculty of the Killington Music Festival in VT. Mr. Huebner has performed with members of the Guarneri Quartet, Alban Berg Quartet and the Boston Chamber Music Society. He has appeared as a guest artist with the American String Quartet and the New World String Quartet and frequently tours with Musicians from Marlboro. He has recorded for BMG/Harmonia Mundi, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Koch International and Nonesuch Recording Co. Mr. Huebner is currently a member of the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra and has performed with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, Concert Royal and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra of Canada. Christof Huebner is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players.
Ashima Scripp, cello, has performed with orchestras, ensembles, and in recital in major concert halls around the world. Ms. Scripp has received top prizes and distinctions at many prestigious competitions. In recent years she has won the First Prize in competitions held by the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation, the Skokie Valley Symphony, the North Shore Musicians Club, the Eleanor Thaviu Foundation, and Northwestern University, among others. Ms. Scripp has also recently been featured on Los Angeles’ KMozart, Boston’s WGBH, Chicago’s WFMT and in the Pioneer Press. In addition to her performances with Walden, Ms. Scripp also performs in recital and as a member of the Zefira Trio at venues across the country. In past seasons Ms. Scripp has been invited to perform at the Phillips Collection’s Sunday Concert Series, at the Faculty Performing Artist Recital Series at Longy School of Music and as part of the live recital series run by Chicago’s WFMT. In the summer Ms. Scripp serves on the faculty of the International Music Festival in Regensburg, Germany and is co-director of Longy’s Cellobration Festival. She is also a frequent guest artist with the North Country Chamber Players in Franconia, NH, VentiCordi in Kennebunk, ME and the New Hampshire Music Festival. Ms. Scripp holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Northwestern University and is on the cello and chamber music faculty of the Longy School of Music and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. Ms. Scripp has been a member of the Walden Chamber Players since 2005.
Donald Palma, bass, is a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He received his formal education at the Juilliard School and joined Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra at the age of twenty. At age twenty-four, he joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and later joined Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra as principal bass. He recorded the complete Wagner Ring Cycle with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera, and has made over fifty recordings with Orpheus for Deutsche Grammophon including a Grammy award winning Stravinsky CD. Palma was principal bassist for Leonard Bernstein in his recoding of West Side Story, and was a featured artist on Kathleen Battle's CD Grace. As a chamber musician, he has appeared in recital with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jan DeGaetani and Jorge Bolet, and has performed with the Nash Ensemble, the Juilliard Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Da Camera Society of Houston. Palma was music director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and won two ASCAP-Chamber Music America Awards for adventurous programming. With the contemporary music group Speculum Musicae, he serves a double function as bassist and conductor, having appeared in both capacities at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Geneva Festival, the Miami Festival, the New York Philharmonic Horizons Festival, and the Library of Congress. He has conducted critically acclaimed recordings of works by Poul Ruders, Lee Hyla, Elliott Carter, Peter Lieberson, Stephen Jaffe, and has recorded over thirty CDs of contemporary works. Palma has given master classes at Rice University, the Hart School, the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College, and the Toho School.
Marianne Gedigian, flute, was appointed Associate Professor of Flute at The University of Texas at Austin in 2004. Prior to that, Ms. Gedigian was a regular performer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, including several seasons as Acting Principal Flute under Seiji Ozawa. As Principal Flute with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and Guest Principal Flute with the Boston Pops, Ms. Gedigian has been heard on dozens of recordings and Evening at Pops television broadcasts as well as the nationally broadcast Fourth of July specials. She has also been heard on several John Williams’ movie scores, including Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. In the 2000 - 2001 season, Ms. Gedigian was invited by Mariss Jansons to perform as Acting Principal Flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She has appeared twice as soloist with the Boston Pops under the directions of John Williams and Bruce Hangen performing Ibert’s Concerto for Flute and Aram Khachaturian’s flute adaptation of his Concerto for Violin. She has appeared numerous times as a soloist, including performances in Japan and in Erevan, Armenia where she performed with the Armenian Philharmonic under the direction of Loris Tjeknavorian. She was featured, in Boston, with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in a performance at the Berklee College of Music. Ms. Gedigian has been first-prize winner in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition and the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. She keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician as a founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. Ms. Gedigian has served on the faculties of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, The Boston Conservatory, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and the Round Top Institute.
Laura Ahlbeck, oboe, studied with Elaine Douvas at the Manhattan School of Music after completing her undergraduate studies with William P. Baker at Ohio State University. She is principal oboe of the American Symphony Orchestra, the Bard Festival Orchestra, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, and the Boston Lyric Opera. From 1984 to 1990 she was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She performs frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players. She has been a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfónica de Maracaibo. She is the chair of the woodwind department at the New England Conservatory of Music, and teaches at Bard College, Boston University, and Boston Conservatory. Recent concerto appearances include the Strauss oboe concerto at Carnegie Hall with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and a performance of Penderecki's Capriccio with the Chamber Orchestra of Boston.
Thomas Martin, clarinet, served as Principal Clarinet of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the fall of 1984. He is currently Assistant Principal Clarinet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal Clarinet of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Mr. Martin graduated from the Eastman School of Music, where was a student of Stanley Hasty and Peter Hadcock. He participated in master classes with Guy Deplus of the Paris Conservatory. Mr. Martin performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician and has been heard on "Morning Pro Musica" on WGBH radio. He has appeared on the Supper Concerts Series at Symphony Hall, on the Friday Preludes at Tanglewood, at the Longy School of Music
Richard Ranti, bassoon, joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 1989-90 season; he is Associate Principal Bassoon of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal Bassoon of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Born in Montreal, Mr. Ranti started bassoon at age ten, studying with Sidney Rosenberg and David Carroll. After graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy, he studied with Sol Schoenbach at the Curtis Institute of Music. At the age of nineteen he won the Second Bassoon position in the Philadelphia Orchestra; he spent six years with that orchestra, the last as Acting Associate Principal. A 1982 Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, Mr. Ranti has also participated in the Spoleto and Marlboro Festivals. He won second prize in the 1982 Toulon International Bassoon Competition and is the recipient of two Canada Council grants. Mr. Ranti is a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players.
Jonathan Bass, piano, a founding member of the Walden Chamber Players, appears frequently throughout the United States as soloist and chamber musician. As First Prize Winner of the 1993 Joanna Hodges International Competition, Mr. Bass gave his New York debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has also performed in Canada, Israel, Poland, Russia, and Spain. Highlights of recent seasons include several appearance with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, a Steinway Society Series recital in San Jose and recitals with violinist Joseph Silverstein in Salt Lake City and Boston. He has been featured on "Performance Today" on National Public Radio and is frequently heard on WGBH in Boston. Other awards include First Prize in the 1989 American Pianists Association Competition and First Prize in the 1984 American National Chopin Competition. Chair of the Piano Department at the Boston University School of Music from 2006 to 2008, he is now Chair of the Piano Department at the Boston Conservatory, where he has been a member of the piano faculty since 1993. He has both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied with Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio. His Americus Records CD entitled "Jonathan Bass Plays Bach, Chopin, Scriabin and Pinkham" received high praise from Gramophone Magazine. He has also recorded Larry Bell's "Reminiscences and Reflections", an hour-long solo piano work consisting of twelve preludes and fugues, and a CD entitled "New England Legacy" with Walden Chamber Players violinist Joel Pitchon. Chamber Players, the Boston Artists Ensemble, and the Boston Conservatory Chamber Ensemble.
Tatiana Dimitriades
Irina Muresanu
Alexander Velinzon
Yehonatan Berick
Christof Heubner,
Artistic Director
Ashima Scripp
Donald Palma
Marianne Gedigian
Laura Ahlbeck
Thomas Martin
Richard Ranti
Jonathan Bass