Catalog #: TROY1814
Release Date: May 1, 2020OrchestralTwo works honoring Earth Day comprise this distinctive recording. The first, by composer John Harmon, is a symphonic setting of the words of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, and Earth Day Founder Sen. Gaylord Nelson with descendants of these men as narrators. The second, Hymn to the Earth by Edward Joseph Collins, is a secular cantata for soloists, choir, and orchestra, praising Mother Earth and the beauty of the four seasons using text set by the composer. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day's founding in 1970, this recording was undertaken by a non-profit: Earth/Art Resources as part of their educational and cultural mission to foster Earth Day values.
Catalog #: TROY1813
Release Date: April 1, 2020VocalFrench composer Charles-Marie Widor is best known for his works for organ, but he also wrote operas, a sizable body of ballet music, and various other vocal and orchestral works. This recording highlights some of his forgotten songs, performed by soprano Rebecca Wascoe Hays, bass Allen Saunders, soprano Nicole Leupp Hanig, and pianist Susan McDaniel. Ms. Hays, who champions American composers in her performances, is on the faculty at Texas Tech University and is artistic director of Music in the Marche, an opera training program for young singers located in Mondavio, Italy. Saunders, in addition to his active performance schedule, is on the faculty at Northern Arizona University School of Music. Ms. Hanig has performed in the U.S., as well as Europe and Japan, and now is artistic director of Opera on the Bluff and on the faculty at the University of Portland. McDaniel, also on the faculty at the University of Portland, has appeared widely as a solo and collaborative pianist.
Catalog #: TROY1812
Release Date: April 1, 2020ChamberComposer/performer Kurt Rohde is artistic advisor with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and the Composers Conference, as well as a curator at the Center for New Music. A professor at University of California-Davis, Rohde received the Rome and Berlin Prizes as well as awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Barlow, Fromm, Hanson, and Koussevitzky Foundations. The sequence of poems Rohde chose for the first work on the recording (It wasn't a dream ) are by Diane Seuss and is written for soprano (Charlotte Mundy), tenor (Andrew Fuchs), and piano four hands (Michael Brofman and Miori Sugiyama). The second work, Treatises for an Unrecovered Past is for string quartet and was inspired by music treatises and is performed by the Lydian Quartet.
Catalog #: TROY1809
Release Date: April 1, 2020VocalWith this recording, soprano Michelle Murray Fiertek presents a collection of songs lovingly grown in the American tradition, which audibly draw influence from domestic genres like folk and musical theatre. The diverse selection of poetry channels American landscapes, both great and small, and these images illustrate not only America's unique topography, but also a steadfast cultural appreciation of its singularity. Ms. Fiertek is an active performer and teacher of wide-ranging musical styles. An accomplished recitalist, Fiertek specializes in Spanish and American art song. A member of the faculty at The Hartt School and Manchester Community College, she also serves as executive director of the Hartford Opera Theater. Her collaborator, pianist Michael Korman, performs in opera productions and recitals as well as coaching classical singers and directng music at a church.
Catalog #: TROY1808
Release Date: April 1, 2020Wind EnsembleSamuel Zyman, a long-time New York-based Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at The Juilliard School, is acknowledged as one of the leading Mexican composers on the international scene today. Zyman's music is characterized by intense and vigorous rhythmic energy, expressive lyricism, and the frequent use of near-jazzy imitative counterpoint. Flutist Jonathan Borja enjoys a varied career as a performer and Educator. Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Borja was a member of the Topeka Symphony Orhcestra and the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. A graduate of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and Principia College, Borja began his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in his native Mexico City. He has performed throughout the United States and Mexico at distinguished venues including Steinway Hall, Powell Symphony Hall, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Singapore.
Catalog #: TROY1811
Release Date: March 1, 2020OperaLucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena is a children's opera with music by Evan Mack and libretto by Joshua McGuire. The concept was conceived at a National Opera Association Convention when Mack, McGuire, and director Anthony Radford agreed that operas for children were missing from new American opera. Subsequently California State University at Fresno commissioned a 45 minute opera that could tour schools and be performed in opera houses. The result is Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena -- a multicultural Christmas opera for all ages. Since its premiere in Fresno, Lucinda has been produced all over the United States and seen by more than 20,000 children. Composer Evan Mack, a member of the faculty at Skidmore College, has devoted much of his compositional life to opera and song. Mack was named 2018 Professional of the Year by Musical America and was a composing fellow at the John Duffy Composers Institute. Librettist Joshua McGuire has collaborated with Evan Mack on numerous operas. He was commissioned in 2015 to write a libretto for Washington National Opera's American Opera Initiative. His is an author as well as being on the faculty at Vanderbilt University.
Catalog #: TROY1810
Release Date: March 1, 2020InstrumentalViolins of Hope is an artistic and educational project composed of instruments that were owned by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. Violins in the collection were played in the concentration camps and ghettos, providing a source of comfort for some and a means of survival for others. Above all, the instruments represented strength and optimism for the future during mankind’s darkest hour. The project was founded by Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, Israeli luthiers who collect and refurbish the instruments and bring them to communities around the world. Violinist Niv Ashkenazi was invited to join other musicians performing on instruments from this collection and now holds one of the instruments on a long-term loan. This violin, made between 1900-1929 in Eastern Europe or Germany, was used by Ashkenazi for this recording. Ashkenazi has chosen Jewish repertoire from throughout the lifetime of the violin. Like the instruments in the Violins of Hope collection, most of these composers were affected by the Holocaust. Virtuoso violinist Niv Ashkenazi has captivated audiences with his heartfelt musicianship and emotional performances. An accomplished soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School. Pianist Matthew Graybil has performed throughout the United States and Canada since making his orchestral debut at age 14. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes, he is a graduate of The Juilliard School.
Catalog #: TROY1805
Release Date: March 1, 2020ChamberAcross the Ages features cello works written by the prolific American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911-200). Inspired by elements of ancient Armenian, Japanese, and Indian music, the collection of works reflects Hovhaness' renowned ability to synthesize different musical traditions. Utilizing the cello's rich and expressive nature, Hovhaness' music reveals the timeless connection we have to past civilizations, to nature, and to one another. Cellist Christina Gullans is an avid performer with an interest in music semiology. A former member of the Boston String Quartet, she has participated in numerous festivals, including Aspen, Spoleto, and Music Without Borders. She plays an American cello made by Charles Albert in 1886.
Catalog #: TROY1807
Release Date: February 1, 2020Wind EnsembleScott Sandberg performs a concert of works for tenor saxophone and piano ranging from new works by Catherine McMichael, to music by French and American composers written in the 1970s and 1980s. Sandberg is on the faculty at the University of North Dakota and maintains an active schedule as a performer, clinician, and adjudicator. He has toured China three times, including performing as a featured soloist with the East China Normal University Orchestra and is a regular performer at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences and International Saxophone Symposiums. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and the University of Iowa. He has presented clinics at the North Dakota Music Educators Association, the Northeast Texas Saxophone Symposium, and numerous universities and high schools.
Catalog #: TROY1806
Release Date: February 1, 2020VocalLet Evening Come: American Songs Old and New collects the songs of three American composers, stretching across time and a variety of styles. The early 20th-century pianist Frank La Forge was an accompanist to the greatest singers of his era, but also found time to write beautiful and effective art songs for his collaborators to perform in concert. Robert Spillman is a modern counterpart to La Forge, having worked for years as a pianist and opera conductor before returning to composition in retirement. His songs lie at the heart of this disc, capturing the inspiration of an intriguing group of poets. From the nature-inspired ruminations of Sara Teasdale and Jane Kenyon to the comic world of Alice N. Persons, Spillman's songs are moving, and in some cases, sly and amusing. Well-known opera and song composer Lori Laitman is represented by two stirring arias from her 2016 opera The Scarlet Letter.
Catalog #: TROY1804
Release Date: February 1, 2020ChoralThis is a recording of five cantatas written by 20th century Latvian composers, some of whom grew up outside of Latvia, while othrs lived under the Soviet regime. From the forced emigration of 1944 up until 1988, when the Iron Curtain started to collapse, composers living outside Latvia were omitted from the music history books of the Soviet Union. They were treated as invisible, despite the fact that for more than 40 years they created a significant number of important works. After Latvia regained its independence, there was an opportunity to introduce these works to Latvian audiences. The music on this recording was written beteen 1960 and 1980, at a time when Latvians around the world, although in foreign lands, felt open and free, but Latvians living in their homeland felt oppressed and morally humiliated. In addition to the four cantatas composed by Latvians living outside Latvia, the work of Imants Kalnins, who was living in Latvia, is included as it was composed at a time when the stirrings of overcoming the Soviet Union were in the air.
Catalog #: TROY1803
Release Date: February 1, 2020Wind EnsembleThe Atlanta Chamber Winds is the premiere ensemble of its type in the Southeastern United States. Founded by Robert J. Ambrose in 2006, the group comprises many of the finest professional wind players in Atlanta. The ensemble is committed to promoting and recording lesser-known works for the chamber wind medium, as demonstrated by this recording of 20th and 21st century works by composers Robert Spittal, Leslie Bassett, Tim Jansa, Esther W. Ballou, Daniel Pinkham, and Ezra Laderman. The compositions range from an octet for winds to a double woodwind quintet, to a wind sextet and a wind trio.
Catalog #: TROY1800
Release Date: January 1, 2020VocalThis recording emerged from a series of personal Scottish connections of tenor Justin Vickers; his Scottish heritage; his collaboration with Scottish pianist Geoffrey Duce; and his scholarly work with Jennifer Oates on the composer Hamish MacCunn. The first recording of MacCunn's Cycle of Six Love-Lyrics, is paired with a selection of his other songs, along with works by Scottish composer Judith Weir, and Britten's cycles set to the poetry of Robert Burns. Justin Vickers has a distinguished career as a recitalist, opera singer, chamber musician, and educator. He is on the faculty of Illinois State University, Normal. His collaborator Gretchen Church is on the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington. Pianist Geoffrey Duce is on the faculty at Illinois State University.
Catalog #: TROY1797
Release Date: January 1, 2020ChamberThis recording of works for strings by women composers includes two works for string trio by Victoria Bond and Julie Mandel; a work for solo cello and two works for violin duo by Rain Worthington; and a composition for violin and cello by Adrienne Albert. The performers include Anna Cromwell, assistant professor of violin and viola and the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point; Lisa Nelson, who is instructional professor of viola, violin, and string pedagogy at Illinois Wesleyan University; and Mira Frisch, associate professor of cello and director of string chamber music at the university of North Carolina at Charlotte. Both Anna Cromwell and Mira Frisch appear on Albany Records performing as a violin/cello duo.
Catalog #: TROY1802
Release Date: December 1, 2019VocalAs African Americans commemorate 400 years of Afrcans in America, the presence of the Negro Spritual remains a strong symbol and a significant tool through which Africans made their voices heard throughout these years of struggle. This CD is a compilation of many of these Spirituals, releases previously on Albany Records, which still stand strong even in today's world where in many instances it seems as if time has stood stil and the need for these precious gems still toll the bells of freedom. Bass-baritone Oral Moses performs regularly throughout the United States and Europe singing oratorio and recitals with special emphasis on a wide variety of Negro Spirituals and art song repertoire by African-American composers.
Catalog #: TROY1799
Release Date: December 1, 2019InstrumentalThis recording covers more than 60 years of compositions and contains some of the very best French music for bassoon and piano. All but two of the composers were born in France and the two that were not (Tansman and Mihalovici) were profoundly influenced by French music and lived the majority of their lives in France. Bassooist Timothy McGovern is on the faculty at the University of Illinois, in addition to serviing as principal basson of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Chamber Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Sympony Orchestra, as well as being a member of the Prairie Winds Woodwind Quintet. The receipient of numerous awards and honors, McGovern's discography includes more than 30 recordings of orchestral, chamber music, and solo repertoire. Pianist Cara Chowning is on the faculty at Ball State University and has a very active career as a pianist and music director.
Catalog #: TROY1798
Release Date: December 1, 2019ChoralThis live recording of the Atlanta Music Festival 2016 comprises a unique combination of music, literature, and history, addressing the African American journey from slavery to an as yet unachieved dream of a "more perfect union." Beginning with Atlanta school children singing Lift Every Voice and Sing, the CD proceeds with music and spoken dialogue extolling "liberty and justice for all" through the words of Barack Obama, James Dickey, Robert Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Langston Hughes. Of special note are the performances of the beloved Jessye Norman singing songs by Duke Ellington and spirituals. The Atlanta Music Festival has its origins in the Atlanta Colored Music Festival, begun in 1910, four years after the Atlanta race riots, by Rev. Henry Hugh Proctor to promote racial reconciliation through the arts.
Catalog #: TROY1792
Release Date: December 1, 2019ChamberTrio Accento (Limor Toren-Immerman (violin); Garik Terzian (cello); Nora Chiang Wrobel (piano) is known for its advocacy of contemporary compositions. This recording features five varied works, one of which was commissioned by the ensemble. All three members of Trio Accento have distinguished performing and teaching careers and as a trio have performed to critical acclaim. Jeff Beal's Almost Morning is a dance work composed for choreographer Claudia Schreier. Russell Steinberg's Paleface was inspired by the acclaimed paintings of "psychological pop" artist Jerry Kearns, while Gernot Wolfgang's Jazz and Cocktails was inspired by the goings-on of an imaginary cocktail party. Juhi Bansal's Wings evokes a day in the montains and the image of a solitary bird flying through a rain-filled sky. Kenneth Froehlich's Polarized is a study of contrasts, conceived as a response to our ever-increasing polzarized society.
Catalog #: TROY1776
Release Date: December 1, 2019OrchestralWar & Peace is a video production released in Blu-Ray format and conceived as a total entertainment concept. The production combines artistic resources from other cultures with advancing techinologies in order to create music that impacts our senses in a manner seldom achieved before. Art, dancing, music, western and eastern cultures all combine to push the boundaries of musical entertainment by using new combinations of musical instruments, new multicultural art direction and new dance styles. War & Peace provides an entirely different visual and auditory impact to the audience. Entertaining sounds and rhythms, beautiful and meaningful visual imagery, and culturally diverse creative expressions are the hallmarks of War & Peace.
Catalog #: TROY1795-96
Release Date: November 1, 2019InstrumentalComposer/pianist Grigor Khachatryan is an Armenian-American who was born and raised in the post-Soviet Union Armenia. He was taught from childhood that life holds no meaning without freedom. Both of his piano sonatas are based on stories that honor men and women who have given their lives to preserve human freedom and elevate the value of human life. Khachatryan came to the United States as a teenager, living in Bedford, Indiana where he finished high school, taking piano lessons at Indiana University at the same time. He went on to do his undergraduate and graduate work there, completing a Doctorate degree in Piano Performance. A winner of many awards and competitions, Khachatryan is active as a concert artist and composer. He is on the faculty at Concordia College, Moorhead.
Catalog #: TROY1794
Release Date: November 1, 2019ChamberDon Walker's esthetic stems from the example of Charles Ives. Like Ives, Walker prefers to embrace all styles, as long as they produce music that is original, expressive, and involving for the listener. Many of the works on this recording date from the 1980s. During this time, Walker was often influenced by the Post Modern esthetic, which seemed to be taking over from Serialism and Chance Music. The music is lyrical, tonal, and often manifests jazz and world music influences. This is Walker's fourth recording for Albany Records.
Catalog #: TROY1791
Release Date: November 1, 2019InstrumentalViolinist Martha Walvoord and double bass player Jack Unzicker are both on the faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington with notable performing and teaching careers. This recording of new works for violin and double bass has as its centerpiece Michael Daugherty's The Diaries of Adam and Eve. The work was inspired by a novella of the same name by Mark Twain, which was published in 1906. Divided into seven movements, the music animates Twain's witty reimagining of the biblical tale of the first woman and man to inhabit the earth and the Garden of Eden. Other works written by George B, Chave, Andrea Clearfield, Tom Knific, and Daniel M. Cavanagh round out this program of new music for this unusual ensemble.
Catalog #: TROY1793
Release Date: October 1, 2019InstrumentalOri Barel is an inquisitive composer who works in a variety of mediums and styles. Barel works extensively with electronics, specializing in both electro-acoustic and electronic music. His electronic works combine algorithmic technique with an intuitie musical approach. He is a graduate of UCLA, the California Institute of the Arts and the University of California. Centrifugal Force is inspired primarily by robotic art. Barel has created a piece that explores aspects of our culture using elements of traditional and free jazz as well as silent film music, culminating in a musical fusion of today's technological world with pieces of the past. The use of a player piano means that rhythms and tempos can be used that would be impossible to be played accurately by a performer.
Catalog #: TROY1790
Release Date: October 1, 2019InstrumentalHeidi Louise Williams performs piano sonatas by American composers with the oldest work written in 1919 and the most recent in 1991. Charles Tomlinson Griffes, George Walker, Carlisle Floyd, and Samuel Barber all used their art to explore imponderable realities that could be more fully accessed within the realm of music. These artists absorbed a variety of musical languages into their own, foreshadowing, in many cases, the postmodernist aesthetic of stylistic coexistence. From Walker's inclusion of folk tunes to Barber's gripping sincerity, from Floyd's devotion to human narratives to Griffes' persuasive fusion of styles, these works rely in some way or another on the power of human empathy, nobly representing the United States as an essentially diverse nation. Praised by critics, pianist Heidi Louise Williams has appeared in solo and collaborative performances across North America and internationally, having won numerous awards. A graduate of Peabody, she is on the faculty at Florida State University. This is her second solo album for Albany Records.
Catalog #: TROY1789
Release Date: October 1, 2019ChamberThis recording features six chamber works by Donald Reid Womack combining East Asian and Western string instruments. Intertwined, the title of this album, offers just the right combination of simple imagery and layered meaning, not only with the intertwining of Eastern and Western string instruments, but also with Womack's compositions interlock and meld rhythmically, motivically, and stylistically. Womack, the composer of almost 100 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, chorus and voice,has concentrated on compositions for Korean, Japanese, and Chinese instruments. His music has been performed and broadcast around the world and his composition appear on more than a dozen recordings. A faculty member at the University of Hawaii since 1994, Dr. Womack has chaired the music department and presently serves as professor of composition and theory, as well as a faculty member of both the Center for Japanese Studies and Center for Korean Studies.
Catalog #: TROY1788
Release Date: October 1, 2019InstrumentalCritically acclaimed clarinetist Christopher Nichols has recorded a cd of some of his favorite individual and consortium commissioning project, which are core pieces of his repertoire. In addition to works for clarinet and piano, there is a composition for woodwind quartet and one for countertenor, clarinet, and piano. Nichols is on the faculty at the University of Delaware. He performs regularly with orchestras such as the Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist at national and international conferences and in 2015, was recognized with an Established Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. His collaborators include pianist Julie Nishimura, who is also on the faculty at the University of Delaware; countertenor Augustine Mercante, who performs to great critical acclaim; composer/pianist Jennifer Margaret Barker; and the Christiana Winds.
Catalog #: TROY1785
Release Date: October 1, 2019InstrumentalAmerican composer Byron O'Keefe's second recording for Albany Records is a disc of his music for piano. The composer says that "These pieces, with one exception, were composed over a ten year period between 2009 and 2019. While they obviously show the influence of Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and other composers of that era, I would hope that a certain quality peers through them so that the listener, whether hearing them with 19th century ears, or through more modern sensibilities, would tend to want to say something along the lines of that sounds American'." The pianist is Kateryna Ulezko, a 2007 graduate of the Tchaikovsky National Academy in Kiev.
Catalog #: TROY1787
Release Date: September 1, 2019VocalThis recording of songs by Asian and Asian-American composers who include Ke-Chia Chen, who is on the faculty at the Curtis Institute; Taiwanese-American Chihchun Chi-sun Lee, the receipient of numerous honors and awards; Asako Hirabayashi, winner of the Alienor International Harpischord Composition Contest; Yangzhi Ma, faculty member at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing; and Chen Yi, Distinguished Professor at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Tenor Brian Arreola is on the faculty at UNC Charlotte and has been a featured performer with opera companies around the United States. Baritone Kelvin Chan divides his time between the U.S. and the Netherlands, where he has an active career as a performer, director, theatre-maker, and singer-actor. Pianist Wei-En Hsu, a graduate of Juilliard, is now on the faculty of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Catalog #: TROY1786
Release Date: September 1, 2019InstrumentalThe compositions on this album range from little-known miniatures to two of the most revered sonatas in the repertoire. From virtuosic flights of fancy to quiet reflection, they explore the gamut of expressive possibilities that the combination of cello and piano has to offer. Cellist Jameson Platte maintains an active career as a performer and teacher. He is principal cellist of The Orchestra of Northern New York, Chelsea Opera, and Bachanalia Virtuosi, among others. On the faculty at Skidmore, Platte works extensively as a clinician, guest conductor, and cello coach. Pianist/composer Matthew Quayle is on the faculty at NYU Abu Dhabi. He has performed widely as a solo pianist and chamber musician and he has received commissions from numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles. This is his second recording for Albany Records.
Catalog #: TROY1782
Release Date: September 1, 2019InstrumentalOboist Dan Willett can't resist transcribing works written for other instruments for the oboe and this recording is a testament to not only his transcription abilities but also to his fine performances of repertoire not originally intended for oboe. Three works by Mozart, Grieg, and Prokofiev make up this recording the Mozart and Grieg originally written for violin and the Prokofiev for flute. Willett is a professor at the University of Missouri School of Music. In addition to frequent solo and chamber recitals, Willett has performed with numerous orchestras and at festivals. His collaborator is Natalia Bolshakova, who enjoys and active performing career.
Catalog #: TROY1779-80
Release Date: September 1, 2019Vocalof death and the planets is a large song cycle by composer Jim Lahti, setting a poetry collection of the same name by John McEveety Woodruff. The work is, essentially, a 15-movement journey and over the course of approximately an hour and a half the listener will be transported through the solar system with occasional stops along the way for five departed souls with personal connections to Mr. Woodruff. Both the poems and the music are at times dramatic, poignant, sad, loving and periodically whimsical. Passionate about music, di.vi.sion is an exciting group that seeks to move audiences. Formed in 1997 by violinist Kurt Briggs, the name is inspired by the group's flexibility to divide forces as needed and by their predisposition to commission new works using the musical form of division. Composer Jim Lahti's music has been heard in concerts in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London, and France as well as on radio stations in the U.S. and Canada. He is the 2018 recipient of the BRIO Award for excellence in music composition from the Bronx Council on the Arts. English-German tenor Rufus Müller has an active career performing for oratorio and opera and has worked with many of the world's leading conductor. Soprano Timothy Maureen Cole is a graduate of Westminster Choir College and Ithaca College. She has extensive performance experience in classical as well as musical theater repertoire.
Catalog #: TROY1784
Release Date: August 1, 2019OrchestralAcclaimed composer Michael Torke has brought fresh life to an old, but popular form, as these four concertos demonstrate. For Sky, a concerto for violin, Torke imposed classical forms on Bluegrass, evoking the music of the people who settled Kentucky. The other three concertos (for bassoon, oboe, and clarinet) test the limits of the instruments with unstale musical expression. Torke's music has been commissioned and performed by organizations such as the New York Philharmonic, the English National Opera, the London Sinfonietta, and the New York City Ballet, among many others. He has created a substantial body of works in virtually every genre. Award winning violinist Tessa Lark is a budding superstar in the classical realm and a highly acclaimed fiddler in the tradition of her native Kentucky. Bassoonist Peter Kolkay is on the faculty at the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt. The recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, he is an active soloist and chamber musician. Oboist Ryan Roberts is a member of the New York Philharmonic and has performed as guest principal oboe with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Weixiong Wang is principal clarinetist of the Albany Symphony and the winner of several international competitions.