Mackinac Keys

Principal clarinetist of the San Antonio Symphony and Principal clarinetist of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Ilya Shterenberg balances a busy career as an orchestral musician, chamber music performer, and a soloist. Hailed by the press: “He possesses that miraculous gift of an innate musical sense…music seemed to flow toward the infinite, as if divinely ordained”, he has been featured as a soloist with San Antonio and Charleston symphonies, performing works by Mozart, Weber, Rossini, Debussy, and Strauss, as well as rarely heard clarinet concertos by Krommer and Kurpinsky. He has been featured as Principal clarinetist with Cincinnati and Seattle Symphonies and has collaborated with some of the most notable conductors of our time, including Roger Norrington, Seiji Ozawa, Dennis Russell Davies, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Barenboim, George Solti, Pierre Boulez and others. Mr. Shterenberg’s performances have been heard on National Public Radio stations throughout the country as well as Chicago’s WFMT nationwide classical music network. He performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber music artist with Cactus Pear Music Festival and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival.

Shterenberg is joined by Mark Kosower, principal cellist of  The Cleveland Orchestra since 2010. Described as “a virtuoso of staggering prowess” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he is a consummate artist equally at home internationally as a recital and concerto soloist. As an orchestral principal, he was formerly solo cellist of the Bamberg Symphony in Germany (2006-10).

Joining Shterenberg and Kosower on piano is American pianist William Wolfram, a silver medalist at both the William Kapell and the Naumburg International Piano Competitions and a bronze medalist at the prestigious Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. Wolfram has appeared with many of the greatest orchestras of the world and has developed a special reputation as the rare concerto soloist who is also equally versatile and adept as a recitalist, accompanist and chamber musician. In all of these genres, he is highly sought after for his special focus on the music of Franz Liszt and Beethoven and is a special champion for the music of modernist 20th century American composers.

Praised “The Supernatural Child of Music” (Xinhua News, SMG Shanghai television, Family Education Times, and others), Chinese-born pianist Chaojun Yang has impressed her audience around the world with her versatility and sensitivity on the piano, performing all genres of music from pre-Baroque to 21st century. Since the age of four, Chaojun’s performing career has brought her across Shanghai—her native city — France, Australia, Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, North Korea, Poland, the USA, Canada, Germany and other countries. She has received awards from numerous competitions such as first place in Shanghai Student Arts Festival Young Artists Competition, first place in the Morningside Music Bridge Chamber Music Competition in Calgary, Canada, top prize in the North American Round of Hastings International Competition, first prize in the Pearl River Kayserburg National Youth Piano Competition, where she was awarded a free piano of their latest model. In 2012, her piano trio won the silver medal in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She was also awarded prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award in May 2013, when graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy. In addition, Chaojun has won the concerto competitions in Shanghai Conservatory (Dean Prize winner), Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Bard College-Conservatory of Music. Yang is currently completing doctoral studies in piano performance at The Juilliard School.