BISQC 2025 Competitor Information

Hailed for her "magnetic, wide-ranging tone" and her "rock solid technique" (Philadelphia Inquirer), violist Ayane Kozasa is a sought-after chamber musician, collaborator, and educator. Since winning the 2011 Primrose International Viola Competition—where she also captured awards for best chamber music and commissioned work performances—Ayane has appeared on stages across the world, from Carnegie, Wigmore, and Suntory Hall to Ravinia, Aspen, and the Marlboro Music Festival. She is a passionate advocate for the expansion of viola repertoire, and has commissioned multiple new works featuring the viola, including “American Haiku” by Paul Wiancko and “K’Zohar Harakia” by Judd Greenstein.

Ayane has developed a career that revolves around the art of chamber music. She is currently a member of the duo Ayane & Paul with composer and cellist Paul Wiancko, with whom she collaborated on Norah Jones’ album “Pick Me Up Off the Floor.” The duo has appeared at several festivals, including Spoleto Festival USA, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar. Ayane’s most recent passion project Owls is a quartet collective with violinist Alexi Kenney and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko. Owls share an uncommonly fierce creative spirit, weaving together new compositions with original arrangements of music ranging from the 1600s to the present, and have played at series such as the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC and The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This season, Ayane is the guest violist of the Cavani String Quartet. The quartet boasts several original educational presentations with the string quartet as the catalyst, and they have presented their work at institutions such as the Cleveland State University and the University of Michigan. Beginning fall of 2024, Ayane joins the Kronos Quartet as their new violist.

As a founding member of the Aizuri Quartet for 11 years, she developed her skills of launching a brand new ensemble. The quartet was the 2018 quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum and the grand prize winners of both the Osaka International String Quartet Competition and MPrize Chamber Arts Competition. The Aizuri Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting—which features the music of 5 American composers, all commissioned by the quartet—was nominated for a Grammy Award and named one of NPR’s top 10 classical albums of 2018. With collaboration being a deep part of their identity, they performed with artists such as Wilco, Marcy Rosen, Jonathan Biss, and Maeve Gilchrist. Their devotion to education brought them to young musicians around the world, and they crafted a unique student composer workshop format that they implemented at institutions such as the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and New York Youth Symphony. In 2020, the quartet launched AizuriKids, an interactive web series for children that explores relationships between music and themes ranging from astrophysics to cooking. Their dedication to the art of the string quartet for 11 years was recognized by Chamber Music America, and in 2022 the quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award.

Other collaboration highlights include performances with world-renowned artists such as Tessa Lark, Steven Banks, Nobuko Imai, and the Kronos Quartet. As a seasoned orchestral performer, Ayane has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, Philadelphia Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, where she served as principal violist from 2012 to 2016.

Much of Ayane’s current work involves mentoring aspiring young musicians through programs like the Meadowmount School of Music, Green Lake Chamber Music Camp, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar. She is currently on the viola faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and has been guest faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Northwestern University. Taking inspiration from her mentors the Cavani Quartet, Ayane has developed several education-based music shows curated especially for the youth in a festival’s community including Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts and Spoleto Festival USA. Ayane is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Kronberg Academy in Germany, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied viola with Misha Amory, Roberto Díaz, Nobuko Imai, and Kirsten Docter. Aside from music, she enjoys hiking, doodling, and creating animation.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Guillaume Sutre was only eighteen years old when he won the Alberto Curci International Violin Competition in Naples, Italy and the International Piano Trio ARD Competition in Munich. The list quickly fills out with a first prize at the European Chamber Music Competition FNAPEC (1989), first prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition (USA 1990), winner of the Prix de la Fondation Charles Oulmont (1989), first prize at the Lily Laskine Competition (1991) and winner of the Prix Georges Enesco de la SACEM (1994). In 1999, he was named Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government.

Mr. Sutre was attracted to chamber music early in his career. In 1986, he founded the Trio Wanderer; ten years later he became the first violinist of the Ysaÿe Quartet, a post he held for almost twenty years until their farewell concert in 2014 in Paris’ Cité de la Musique. His vast repertoire of over 600 works features all the string chamber music of Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann, all Mozart Violin sonatas and all 68 Haydn quartets. He has performed at many of the most prestigious venues around the world, Carnegie Hall in New York, Philadelphia PCMS, Washington Library of Congress, Jerusalem YMCA, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, La Roque d'Anthéron, Les Grandes Heures in Saint-Emilion, Berlin Philharmonie, Herkulessaal in München, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Wigmore Hall in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Milano Società del Quartetto, Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli, Lisbon Gulbenkian Foundation, Bilbao Sociedad Filarmónica, Zurich Tonhalle, Addis Abeba Music School, Amazon Theatre in Manaus, Hanoi Opera House, with such performers as Gautier Capuçon, Renaud Capuçon, Gérard Caussé, Ana Chumachenco, Valentin Erben, Nelson Freire, Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Leonidas Kavakos, Martin Lovett, Yo-Yo Ma, Sabine Meyer, Enrico Pace, Jean-Claude Pennetier, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Michel Portal, Pascal Rogé, Janos Starker. With his wife Kyunghee Kim-Sutre, they form a violin and harp duo and continue to explore and enrich the existing repertoire for this group, conducting extensive research in music libraries around the world while commissioning works from young composers.

In addition to his activity as a chamber musician, he also plays as a soloist with the Sinfonia Varsovia, Berlin RIAS Orchestra, Göttingen Symphony Orchestra, RAI Orchestra in Napoli, Franz Liszt Orchestra of Budapest, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France, Orchestre National de Montpellier, Orchestre National d'Auvergne, Orchestre National de Bretagne, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal (Liège) and with conductors such as Christophe Coin, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sheldon Morgenstern, David Robertson, Stefan Sanderling, Arie Van Beek.

His recordings for Sony Classical, Decca, Harmonia Mundi, Naïve, Aeon, Ysaÿe Records, Hortus and Sonarti have received the highest distinctions in France and internationally. His live recording of the complete duets of Haydn and Mozart with violist Miguel da Silva has been hailed by critics as definitive, his CD featuring the quartets of A. Boucourechliev was awarded the Charles Cros Academy’s Grand Prix du Disque, and his two recent albums, J. Woelfl: The Paris Years (Sonarti) and Pensés Intimes (Hortus / WWI), received the 5 of Diapason.

Before joining the Faculty of Music of the University of Montreal in 2021, he was professor of a string quartet class at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris, professor of violin and director of chamber music for strings at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in Los Angeles, and was part of the inaugural faculty of The Tianjin Juilliard School in China. He has taught master classes at Juilliard, IU Bloomington Jacobs School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of South California, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, McGill Schulich School of Music, Jerusalem Music Center, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears Foundation, Zeister Muziekdagen, Festival Internacional de Inverno in Campos do Jordão, Seoul National University, Villecroze Musical Academy.

Mr. Sutre is passionately committed to imparting his knowledge upon musicians of younger generations. He regularly performs with his students and in 2014 he co-produced the Calidore Quartet's debut CD. He regularly serves on juries of prestigious competitions, such as the Long-Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris, the A. Postacchini International Violin Competition in Italy and the International String Quartet Competition in Bordeaux.

Guillaume Sutre began his studies in Douai, France; he then entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris at age fourteen with Gérard Poulet and Jean-Claude Pennetier. After finishing his studies in France, he attended Indiana University at Bloomington to study with Josef Gingold, Franco Gulli, Menahem Pressler and Janos Starker. He subsequently studied in Cologne with the Amadeus Quartet.

Photo by Amelie Philiberte

Cellist Joshua Gindele, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his cello studies at the age of 3 playing a viola his teacher had fitted with an endpin. As cellist for the Miró, Josh has taken first prizes at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.

He has shared the stage with some of the classical worlds most renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Philharmonic, Pinchas Zuckerman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Andre Watts and Menahem Pressler. He continues to perform across four continents and on some of the world's most prestigious concert stages.

In 2006 Joshua co‐founded www.classicallounge.com. This is an online networking site where you can meet musicians, both professional and amateur, discover new talent or get discovered, share music, post and get concert information, share opinions, post classified ads and much more. The site was sold to www.classicalconnection.com in August of 2009.

Deeply committed to music education, the Miró has been the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin since 2003  and he maintains an active studio of cellists as a professor there.

An active gym rat and tennis player, Josh and his wife, Rebecca Gindele, have a son and daughter, George and Nora.

More information can be found at: miroquartet.com and music.utexas.edu/about/people/gindele-joshua

Photo by Jeff Wilson
 

As a founding member he marked the characteristic profile of the internationally acclaimed Artemis Quartet throughout three decades. In 2019 Eckart Runge decided to endeavour for new artistic challenges.

Prestigious concert series such as ‘Glocke’ Bremen (2021-24), BASF Ludwigshafen (2022/23) and Carinthischer Sommer (2024) have appointed him Artist in Residence.

His first solo-album was released in 2020 with the radio orchestra Berlin (RSB), featuring the world premiere recording of Nikolai Kapustin’s jazzy cello concerto op. 85 was awarded the prestigious ‘Prize of German Music Critics’.

Since 26 years, his Duo Runge&Ammon performs in international festivals, series and clubs alike. In 2021 the Duo released a new album ‘Revolutionary Icons’ (Berlin Classics), exploring Beethoven in the reflexion of iconic rock-pop-jazz like Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa and Miles Davis. Their juxtaposition of baroque and jazzy music ‘Baroque in Blue’ (2023) was hailed by the press. In 2025 the duo’s Album ‘Opium’ reflecting freedom and creativity between the two world wars, but also its shadow of catastrophy, and its referral to our present decade.

Eckart Runge studied with David Geringas in Lübeck and the Alban Berg Quartet in Vienna. Further artistic inspirations include Lynn Harrell, Alfred Brendel, Walter Levin and György Kurtag. Several awards in international competitions in Cremona, Geneva and Munich initiated his international career on stage.

Eckart Runge held professorships at the University of Arts in Berlin and the Chapelle de la Reine Elisabeth in Brussels. In 2023 he was appointed professor for chamber music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.

Photo by Nada Navaee

Marie Chilemme was born in Toulouse, France and began playing the viola at the age of three. In 2005 she was admitted to the CNSM of Paris, to study with Jean Sulem. Each year from 2008 to 2013 she was selected for The Academy Ozawa in Switzerland (IMAS), where she received coaching from Paméla Franck, Robert Mann, Sadao Arada, Nobuko Imai and Seiji Ozawa. In 2010, she obtained her Master’s degree from the CNSM of Paris. Next, Marie attended the Hochschule Hanns Eisler of Berlin in Tabea Zimmermann class as well as being admitted to String Quartet's Class of the Artemis Quartet. In 2012, Marie and her brother formed Quatuor Cavatine, winning prizes at two prestigious competitions, the International Competition of Chamber music of Hamburg and the 2nd Prize at the Banff International String Quartet, in Canada. Marie was then admitted to the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels as a resident in the Viola Class of Miguel Da Silva. In October 2017, she joined the Quatuor Ébène. In January 2021, the quartet was commissioned by the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich to establish a string quartet class as part of the newly founded Quatuor Ébène Academy. Marie plays on ‘the Gibson’ 1734 Stradivari, an exceptionally generous loan from the Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger.

Photo by Natacha Colmez

One of Canada’s brightest talents, violinist Jonathan Crow exudes “masterful coolness” (The Montreal Gazette) as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University, at which time he joined the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal as Associate Principal Second Violin. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan was engaged as Concertmaster of that symphony, and notably during his tenure, was the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra. In 2011 he was appointed Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Filarmonia de Lanaudiere and Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil). Jonathan has also performed as a soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, the Victoria, Nova Scotia and Kingston Symphonies, and Orchestra London, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Gustavo Gimeno, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Oundjian, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins.

Jonathan joined the Schulich School of Music at McGill University as an Assistant Professor of Violin and was appointed Associate Professor of Violin in 2010. Current and former students of Mr. Crow have received prizes at competitions around the world, including the Menuhin International Violin Competition, Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Shean Competition, CBC Radio's NEXT competition, Eckhardt-Grammatte Competition, Canadian Music Competition, and Stulberg International String Competition, and work regularly with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Camerata Salzburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Verbier Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Kammerphilharmonie and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.

In 2016 Jonathan was named Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music, which has enjoyed record attendance and rave reviews in all of his first six seasons. An avid chamber musician, he has performed at chamber music festivals throughout North America, South America and Europe including the Banff, Ravinia, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Sienna, Alpenglow, Festival Vancouver, Pernambuco (Brazil), Giverny (France) and Strings in the Mountains festivals. He is a founding member of the Juno Award-winning New Orford String Quartet, a project-based new ensemble dedicated to the promotion of standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire throughout North America. As an advocate of contemporary music he has premiered works by Canadian composers Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, Gary Kulesha, Tim Brady, Francois Dompierre, Vivian Fung, Ana Sokolovic, Marjan Mozetich, Christos Hatzis, Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan. He also includes in his repertoire major concerti by such modern composers as Ligeti, Schnittke, Bernstein, Brian Cherney, Rodney Sharman, Vivian Fung and Cameron Wilson.

Jonathan has recorded for ATMA, Bridge, CBC, Oxingale, Skylark, and XXI-21 labels and is heard frequently on Chaîne Culturelle of Radio-Canada, CBC Radio Two, and National Public Radio, along with Radio France, Deutsche Welle, Hessischer Rundfunk and the RAI in Europe. One of Canada’s brightest talents, violinist Jonathan Crow exudes “masterful coolness” (The Montreal Gazette) as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A native of Prince George (British-Columbia), Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University in 1998, at which time he joined the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan was the Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, becoming the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Filarmonia de Lanaudière and Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil).

Jonathan has performed as a soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, the Victoria and Kingston Symphonies and Orchestra London, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Oundjian, Gustavo Gimeno, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins.

An avid chamber musician, Jonathan has performed at many chamber music festivals in Europe and North America, and is the Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music. He is a founding member of the Juno Award-winning New Orford String Quartet, a new project-based ensemble dedicated to the promotion of standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.

Photo by Sian Richards

Praised by Strad magazine as having "lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines," Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearances as soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, theTokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony in C, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which was described in Strad as being "fleet and energetic...powerful and focused."

Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the twice-Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008-2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize-winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2013, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Also during her tenure, the Dover Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her numerous awards also include First Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is now a member of the newly formed piano quartet “Espressivo!” along with acclaimed artists Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.

Photo by Eva Ravel Photography

Honggang Li is a founding member of the Shanghai Quartet, which is now in its 38th season and has performed nearly 3,000 concerts in 35 countries and recorded over 30 albums.

Mr. Li began studying the violin with his parents at age seven. When the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing reopened in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Li was selected to attend from a group of over five hundred applicants. Among his teachers were Li-Na Yu and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

He co-founded the Shanghai Quartet with his brother while studying at the Shanghai Conservatory. The ensemble soon became the first Chinese quartet to win a major international chamber music competition (the London International). Mr. Li received a master’s degree from North Illinois University and served as a teaching assistant at The Juilliard School in New York. In 1987, he won the special prize (a 1757 DeCable violin) given by Elisa Pegreffi of the Quartetto Italiano at the First Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition in Italy.

Mr. Li started his teaching career at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1984. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence and faculty member at the Montclair State University. He also is a resident faculty member at the recently opened Tianjin Juilliard School and viola professor at the Bard Conservatory. He has been a guest professor of both the Shanghai and Beijing’s Central Conservatory for the past two decades. Mr. Li has also been the guest principal violist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra since 2009.

Photo by Sophie Zhai

Violinist Eugene Drucker, a founding member of the multiple Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet, is also a soloist. He has appeared with the orchestras of Montreal, Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, Hartford, Richmond, Louisville, and Jerusalem, as well as with the American Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Chamber Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic. A graduate of Columbia University and the Juilliard School, where he studied with Oscar Shumsky, Mr. Drucker was concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra, with which he appeared as soloist several times. He made his New York debut as a Concert Artists Guild winner in the fall of 1976, after having won prizes at the Montreal Competition and the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Mr. Drucker has recorded the complete unaccompanied works of Bach, reissued by Parnassus Records, and the complete sonatas and duos of Bartók for Biddulph Recordings.

His first novel, The Savior, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2007 and later appeared in a German translation called Wintersonate. A second novel, Yearning, was published in 2021. Mr. Drucker's suite for string quartet, Series of Twelve, was commissioned by the New Music for Strings Festival in Denmark. It was premiered in Copenhagen and Reykjavik in August 2018 and was later performed by the Escher Quartet in the U.S. He has also composed several settings of poetry by Shakespeare and Denise Levertov for voice and strings.

Eugene Drucker has taught at Stony Brook University since 2002, and recently joined the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. He became Music Director of the Berkshire Bach Society’s "Bach at New Year’s” Concerts in 2017, and was appointed year-round Artistic Director for that organization in 2024. He lives in New York City with his wife, cellist Roberta Cooper.

Photo by Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

David Ying is cellist of the Grammy award winning Ying Quartet. With the group he has performed widely throughout North America, and abroad, in traditional venues from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. In addition, the quartet’s interest in making music a part of everyday life has led to performances in schools, hospitals, restaurants, correctional facilities and the White House. From its earliest years in a National Endowment for the Arts residency in Jesup, IA, the quartet has explored every opportunity to share music, and sought to communicate music’s expression of shared humanity.

The quartet also shares music through its recording activities. The Ying Quartet’s recording projects range from standard string quartet repertoire to its Lifemusic commissions to unusual collaborations with distinguished artists. Its recording of the Tchaikovsky Quartets is among its four Grammy nominations, and a collaboration with the Turtle Island Quartet won a Grammy. In addition three volumes of their LifeMusic commissions have received praise including an Editor’s Choice commendation from Gramophone magazine.

Apart from the Ying Quartet, David was a prizewinner in both the Naumburg International Cello competition and the Washington International Competition. In addition to performances with orchestra, he has played numerous recitals with pianist Elinor Freer, also his wife. Besides concertizing together, for ten years they also were artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival. The Festival received an ASCAP award for adventurous programming as well as the Chamber Music America Acclaim award during these years. David is presently co-artistic director of the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

As a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, David enjoys working with cellists and chamber music groups. His students and former students include members of orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and the Utah Symphony, teachers, string quartet players, lawyers, and the cellist Alisa Weilerstein. David resides in Rochester NY, with Elinor and their children Alina and Nathaniel.

Photo by Kate Lemmon