Aminda Asher is an active performer of orchestral and chamber music in New York City. She has appeared in concerts at many of New York’s greatest performance venues including Carnegie Hall, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, Bargemusic and (Le) Poisson Rouge. She performs with several regional orchestras in the New York metropolitan area including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Arcos Orchestra and Distinguished Concerts International New York Orchestra. She has also performed and recorded with the Albany Symphony. Outside of New York, Ms. Asher has performed with the New World Symphony in Miami, Fl, the Santo Domingo Music Festival Orchestra in the Dominican Republic, the Arcos Orchestra on two European tours and has participated in the intensive summer study programs at the Music Academy of the West and the Banff Centre of the Arts Chamber Music Residency Program. As an avid performer of contemporary chamber music, Ms. Asher is a member of Cadillac Moon Ensemble and Periapsis Music and Dance and has performed with Talea Ensemble. Also a dedicated traditional and Suzuki teacher, Ms. Asher is currently on the faculties of 92nd Street Y, Turtle Bay Music School and Lucy Moses School. Ms. Asher holds a B.M in cello performance from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, and a M.M. in Orchestral Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

Aminda Asher is currently teaching the following classes:

Cello (Beginner)

Cello (Intermediate)

Adult Cello Ensemble

Cello (Continuing Beginner)

Cello (Beginner)

Ms. Bogardus earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and Master of Music degree from Northwestern University. While living in Mexico, she held several principal flute positions and appeared as a soloist regularly. Currently, Ms Bogardus holds principal flute positions with the Binghamton Philharmonic, Berkshire Opera Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, Buzzards Bay Music Festival and has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Gotham Chamber Opera, Teatro Grattacielo Opera Company, American Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Allentown Symphony, Dorian Quintet, several Broadway Shows and dozens of other NY area based orchestras. She can be heard on numerous TV and film sound tracks. Currently she teaches at The 92nd Street Y. Ms. Bogardus is a prizewinner of the Myrna Brown and Artists International Competitions and won first place in the Continuo Arts Foundation Young Artists Competition with her chamber group, Emerald Trio.

Photo credit: Matt Dine

Flutist Keith Bonner has performed in a wide variety of ensembles, ranging from symphony and opera orchestras to small chamber groups, Broadway pits as well as movies and television.

Mr. Bonner is currently principal flute of both the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and Riverside Symphony as well as a member of the Borealis Wind Quintet. He performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Symphony Orchestras of New Jersey, and Stamford, CT and the New York City Ballet Orchestra. As soloist, Mr. Bonner has performed concertos by Nielsen (Lincoln Center), Gluck, Telemann, Bach, Doppler and Mozart with various orchestras in the New York metropolitan area and across Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble. Keith has also performed much chamber music for flute with the Lenape Chamber Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players, Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Wind Soloists of New York.

Keith maintains an active freelance career in New York City and has played in the Broadway pits of over a dozen productions.

Mr. Bonner currently teaches at 92Y School of Music, Special Music School, and the New York Youth Symphony. He was a board member of the New York Flute Club from 2006 until 2012.

Mr. Bonner holds a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Violinist and Violist Lani King Chang has performed as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout the US, Europe, and Taiwan. Formerly a tenured member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, she was a prizewinner of the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and has participated in festivals including Apollo Chamber Players of London, International Musicians Seminar, Composers Inc., Dartington International Baroque Festival in the U.K., Chamber Music West, and Camerata Chamber Players in Westchester. She currently serves on the faculty of Hoff-Barthelson Music School, the 92nd Street Y School of Music, and formerly a faculty member at the Usdan Camp for the Arts for 12 seasons. Ms. Chang received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from San Francisco Conservatory, and attended graduate school at New England Conservatory.

Lani King Chang is currently teaching the following classes:

Partner Lessons for Kids: Beginner Violin / Ages 6-8

Violin (Beginner)

Elise is a New York-based violist who performs and records classical, contemporary, and popular music. Her performances have taken her across the country and to concert venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, The Beacon Theatre, SXSW, as well as downtown clubs and performance spaces. She has appeared on various major and independent label albums, as well as Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, America’s Got Talent!, and the Amazon Prime Original Series Mozart in the Jungle.

Elise has performed with a number of orchestras throughout the country including the American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony, the New Haven Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, among others. Artists she has performed with include Paul Simon, St. Vincent, Danger Mouse, Alessia Cara, Julia Michaels, Jon Batiste, Kygo, Halsey, Meghan Trainor, Andrew Bird, Pharaohe Monch, Jacky Cheung, Kelis, Shallou, Pink Martini, Shoshana Bean, Cynthia Erivo, Grace McLean, Santino Fontana, Nathan Gunn, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Falls, Landlady, Cassandra Jenkins, and the Airborne Toxic Event. She is a co-founder of Atlantic Collective with acclaimed Portuguese pianist Nuno Marques, a group that performs socially thematic programs with an emphasis on new and underperformed works by underrepresented composers. She is also the newest member of The Furies, a five-piece indie rock band comprised of all women.

Elise is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and NYU, where she served as Adjunct Instructor of Viola. She currently serves as an Executive Board member of AFM Local 802, where she is a passionate labor and political advocate for musicians in the workplace. She lives in Manhattan with her husband Nat and their son Noah.

Leonard Hindell began his bassoon studies while at the High School of Music and Art in New York. After graduation, he attended the Manhattan School of Music, where he won the Harold Bauer Award. Upon graduation in 1964 he joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In 1972 he became a member of the New York Philharmonic. He retired from the Philharmonic in 2005. Mr. Hindell has given recitals at Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall, where he premiered numerous pieces written for him. He served on the committee that established the Philharmonic Ensembles, a series of chamber music programs featuring members of the New York Philharmonic in its series at Merkin Concert Hall. In addition to being a distinguished member of the 92Y faculty, Mr. Hindell is on the faculty of the Steinhardt School at New York University. He has given master classes throughout the United States, South America and Europe.

James Jeter, bassoon, has an international reputation as a soloist and chamber musician, with various performances in Europe, South America and Asia. In 2010, he toured internationally as principal bassoon for Star Wars in Concert. Currently, principal bassoonist for the New Jersey Festival Orchestra and Cecilia Chorus Orchestra, he has often performed with the Metropolitan Opera, Opera Orchestra of N.Y., Berkshire Opera Company, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Alvin Ailey Dance Co., Jupiter Symphony, Colorado Music Festival, Atlantic Sinfonietta, various Broadway shows and orchestras in New York and abroad (Italy and Switzerland). As part of its “Debuts and Encores Series” The Carnegie Hall Corporation sponsored Dr. Jeter in a critically acclaimed solo recital. He has been a featured concerto soloist for the Arcady Music Festival (ME), Connecticut Chamber Orchestra and the Biel Symphony (Switzerland). In addition, he founded the Virtuosi Quintet in 1983 , he made a debut solo recording for Crystal Records. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook in May, 2000. Each summer he performs and teaches at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in western Michigan.

Her playing described as “elegant” in the New York Times, pianist Arielle Levioff has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. As a collaborative artist she has performed throughout the Eastern United States, as well as in London, France, and Italy. Her concerto engagements include the Rapides Symphony (LA), the Lower Merion Symphony (PA), the Astoria Symphony, the Christ Church Festival Orchestra in Oyster Bay (NY), and the Seniors Orchestral Society of New York. From 2005 to 2009 she was the artistic director of Goliard Concerts (Queens, NY), an organization dedicated to community outreach and the commissioning of new chamber works by young composers. Ms. Levioff was a finalist in the 2009 Sorel Medallion Competition in Collaborative Piano and was subsequently invited to join the coaching faculty of the Daniel Ferro Vocal Festival in Tuscany the following summer.

A dedicated educator, Ms. Levioff has taught undergraduate master classes at Stony Brook University and various colleges throughout the Southeastern United States. She has been a teaching artist at the 92nd Street Y School of Music in Manhattan since 2004, and also teaches piano and gives lectures and performances in the Art of Listening to Music series for the 92nd Street Y’s Himan Brown 60-Plus senior program. Ms. Levioff is the music director of the annual Point Counterpoint chamber music workshop for adults on Vermont’s Lake Dunmore, and also co-directs Point Counterpoint’s new “Pianos on the Point” workshop with her husband, Michael C. Haigler. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Phillip Kawin, and recently completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts at SUNY Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Gilbert Kalish. Find out more about her at www.ariellelevioff.com.

Arielle Levioff is currently teaching the following classes:

Himan Brown Piano Lessons

Born in Lisbon, Portugal, violist and violinist Joana Miranda is passionate about playing and coaching chamber music. In addition to coaching chamber ensembles for three summers at Point Counter Point Music Camp in Brandon, VT, she has also conducted and coached the string orchestra at Carroll College in Brookfield, WI, and served as an upper strings coach for the Greater Twin Youth Symphonies in Minneapolis, MN. As a chamber musician, she has performed extensively as both a violinist and violist. Joana was a member of a string quartet in summer residence at Banff (Canada), and has been a member of the Pioneer String Quartet in Des Moines, IA. She also appeared frequently on the Frankly Music Chamber Music series in Milwaukee, WI. Recent highlights of her chamber music concerts include appearances at Spectrum Music, concerts with members of the New York City Ballet and New York Philharmonic, and performances with musicians and guest artists at the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado.

As an active freelancer in New York and New Jersey, Joana has played with such ensembles as New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, New York Pops, New Jersey Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival, and on Broadway with Wicked. Joana moved to New York City in 2010 after being a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for ten years. Previously, she served as Principal Second Violin of Minnesota Opera and Assistant Concertmaster of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Joana holds B.M., M.M. Degrees and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where she was a violin student of Zvi Zeitlin and William Preucil. In 1993 she was a recipient of the prestigious Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Award. Joana has been a member of the Colorado Music Festival, Mainly Mozart, and Music in the Mountains festivals, in addition to playing operas at the Schlossfestpiele in Heidelberg, Germany. She has played recitals throughout the U.S. and in Europe. Joana is also a published cartoonist and illustrator.

Pianist Zach Mo has had a wide-ranging variety of performing and teaching experiences around the globe.  His performance engagements have taken him to Europe, Asia, as well as the United States, as a solo recitalist, a chamber musician, a choral accompanist, and an orchestral pianist.  An avid collaborator, Zach has served as faculty for music schools, festivals, and competitions, including 92Y School of Music, Point Counterpoint, and Weill Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall.  Additionally, he has been an adjunct faculty member of the Fine and Performing Arts Department at Baruch College in New York City.

As a teacher, Zach Mo has instructed students of all ages and skill levels, from pupils of age three becoming newly acquainted with music to advanced pianists preparing for auditions and competitions.  He has been invited to China as a guest instructor at the Piano Arts School in his home province of Hunan, teaching students and presenting recitals in the Yueyang city's new and only music school.  Zach has been teaching over 10 years and considers education the greatest gift a person can give.  He helps students discover and decode the magic and mystery in music while approaching it logically by developing solid practice habits, theoretical understanding, and musical creativity.

Mr. Mo is currently a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, studying under Alan Feinberg.  He has received his Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music in 2008 under the tutelage of Daniel Epstein.  He has also studied at Northwestern University, the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he the recipient of the Lucille Kimball Scholarship.  Furthermore, he has had the privilege of participating in master classes with such great pianists as Yefim Bronfman, Murray Perahia, and Barry Snyder.

Debbie Schmidt is the former principal horn of the Mexico City Philharmonic. In the New York area, Ms. Schmidt has made solo appearances with the Hofstra Orchestra, Westchester Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Center presents "Principally Poulenc" festival, Bard Festival, Orchestra of the Bronx, Vassar College Chorale, and Long Island Choral Society. With the Modern Brass Quintet Debbie has toured the Northeast, appearing in recital and school concerts reaching thousands of children. In this area, she has appeared in education and outreach programs for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Midori, Princeton Symphony and New Philharmonic of New Jersey. She has appeared with the Albany Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Princeton Symphony, Queens Symphony and Ridgefield Symphony, among others. Ms. Schmidt has students attending major university music programs and accepted to LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. Debbie studied with Dale Clevenger, Julie Landsman, Erik Ralske and Laurie Frink. She attended Peabody Conservatory and graduated from Northwestern University. Ms. Schmidt is on the faculty of the Mount Tabor Summer Band Program where she teaches horn and trumpet.

Steinway Artist Tania Tachkova has been praised by critics for performances that are “white-hot” and “very impressive.” She has appeared throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as a soloist and in chamber concerts at such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall New York, Wiener Saal at Mozarteum, Henri Selmer Hall in Paris, Grand Bulgaria Hall and the National Palace of Culture in Bulgaria, Centro de Bellas Artes and Museo del Arte in Puerto Rico to name a few. She has been featured as a soloist with the Orchestra of the State Academy of Music in Bulgaria, Shoumen Philharmonic, Razgrad Philharmonic, and the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra. Festival appearances include Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, and New Music on the Bayou Summer Festival. Tachkova’s performances have been broadcast on radio and television, including WQXR, WITF, WPRB, and Bulgarian National Television. Her recordings include two critically acclaimed chamber music CDs released by MSR records and extensive solo and four-hand repertoire for Steinway Spirio. As a chamber musician she has performed with members of the Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonic, Locrian Chamber Players, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Schweizer Oktett. Tachkova’s most recent project, duo per se (with clarinetist Scot Humes) has performed in recital in Washington D.C., New York City, Paris (France), as well as being a featured ensemble at the New Music on the Bayou Summer Festival. duo per se’ s recent engagements included recitals in Christchurch and Auckland in New Zealand as well as a recital and a master class at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia. Tachkova’s students consistently earn many accolades, winning various international and national competitions as well as receiving a national gold medal from the Royal Conservatory of Music Development Program. Her students have performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill and Zankel recital halls as well as Steinway Hall New York as competition winners. In addition, she has presented numerous master classes and has adjudicated various international and national competitions in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Tachkova holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from Stony Brook University.

Known for her exceptional technique, musicality and her programme versatility, Taiwanese-British musician Shu-Wei Tseng has won numerous prizes on both piano and cello. Concert performances have taken her across the UK, Europe, Russia, USA, and the Far East in major concert halls such as London‘s South Bank Purcell Room, Barbican Hall, St. John’s Smith’s Square, St.Martin-In-the-Fields, St James’s Piccadilly, the Wigmore Hall, and the Carnegie Hall in New York City, USA. Recent performances include visits to Australia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Thailand and Russia.

Alongside her performance career, Shu-Wei is also an avid educator, holding over 25 years of teaching experience across three continents, working with students of all ages from beginner to professionals. Previous teaching positions include working at the Royal institutions of the United Kingdom, The Yehudi Menuhin School, City of London School for Girls, Chamber Music course leadership at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Head of Keyboard and Strings, and Director of Music positions.

Shu-Wei holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder (She is also a Global Ambassador for the University sine 2022), previous degrees and LRAM on both piano and cello from London’s Royal Academy of Music, a permanent teacher qualification from the United Kingdom (PGCE + QTS), NPQSL, as well as a MSc. in Psychology. She arrived in the UK as a young student after winning first and second prizes at the National Taiwan competitions on the cello and piano where she received double scholarships to study at the Wells Cathedral School, one of the four specialist music schools in the United Kingdom.

Besides performing as a soloist, Shu-Wei specialises in Strings and Keyboard-related chamber music on both her instruments, as well as conducting string orchestras. With the ability to teach in English, Mandarin and German, Shu-Wei held residencies and fellowships, gave masterclasses and workshops, as well as serving as a juror member for competitions, working with beginners up to taught Masters degree in the UK, Central Europe, Russia, America, and the Far East.

Her playing has been described as radiating a “passionate, energetic, researched, and committed personality with a powerful, fluid and beyond reproach technique” and producing “characters, colours, dynamics …. seldom heard in concerts.”

She held a Research Assistantship and lectureships on the piano and cello at the University of Colorado at Boulder, during which she received various performance and research prizes for her research in the ensemble issues between strings and keyboard instruments in sonata partnerships. Upon her DMA completion in 2010, Shu-Wei started teaching in Germany and has joined the faculty of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland since September 2010.

Since 2016, Shu-Wei has represented the Taipei Consulate and Taiwan Ministry of Culture in the UK on various occasions, such as being the first featured musician at the Taiwan Cultural Salon music series, as well as the first artist to represent Taiwan for the Embassy and Cultural Institute Series at the St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. In 2019, Shu-Wei gave an Australian solo debut on her two instruments and opened the 75th D-Day Commemoration Concert at the Notre Dame de Coutances Cathedral.

Early 2023 highlight included solo piano and chamber music appearance at the award-winning New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck’s sold-out European debut week, Turn It Out with Tiler Peck & Friends, at London’s Sadlers Wells Theatre in March, followed by performances on her two instruments in the following week in New York. In September 2023, she appeared as a guest artist at the special event, celebrating Vietnam-UK 50th year diplomatic relationship before relocating to New York, where Dr Tseng has since performed as a solo cellist at the Consulate General of Poland as part of the XXV International Chopin and Friends Festival’s Final Promenade, and the National Opera Center on the piano.

Shu-Wei Tseng is currently teaching the following classes:

Piano

Piano (Beginner)

Flutist Reva Youngstein is an active performer throughout the New York area. She can be heard in Broadway pits of Wicked, and the most recent Les Misérables. She performs regularly at Carnegie Hall with Musica Sacra and with the Orchestra of the Oratorio Society of New York and is a flute substitute in the New Jersey Symphony. She has been on the music faculty of the Brearley School in Manhattan for twenty years, and co-heads the “River Edge Flute Experience” a summer flute camp. She was Woodwind Coach for eight years in New Jersey Symphony’s Youth Orchestra program, and has served as a substitute flute instructor at Manhattan School of Music’s pre-college division, and in the Juilliard School’s MAP program. Reva has students from age 8-68.

Reva Youngstein is currently teaching the following classes:

Flute Ensemble