2024 Artists in Residence

Our Artists in Residence are dynamic and innovative professional musicians on the cutting-edge of the classical musical field today. Artists collaborate with festival participants in guided chamber music and duo rehearsals, perform in public concerts together, and lead performance and other creative classes. Learn more about our Artist in Residence Program here. 

Peter Dugan, Head of Artist in Residence Program, piano

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New York, NY – April 18, 2019 – Pianist Peter Dugan photographed at the Yamaha Salon in Manhattan

Pianist Peter Dugan’s debut performances with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony were described by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning” and by the SF Chronicle as “fearlessly athletic.” He is heard across America as the host of NPR’s beloved program From the Top.  He has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician across North America and abroad, and can be heard as the piano soloist on a new release of Ives’ Fourth Symphony from Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.  In 2020, he joined violinist Joshua Bell for At Home With Music, a national PBS broadcast and live album release on Sony Classical. Prizing stylistic versatility as the hallmark of a 21st century musician, Peter is equally at home in classical, jazz, and pop idioms.

A sought-after multi-genre artist, Peter has performed in duos and trios with artists ranging from Itzhak Perlman and Renee Fleming to Jesse Colin Young and Glenn Close. The Wall Street Journal described Peter’s collaboration with violinist Charles Yang as a “classical-meets-rockstar duo.” This season Charles and Peter are Artists in Residence at New York’s Kaufman Music Center and the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University.

Peter has been presented in chamber music recitals by Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, Music at Menlo, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and the Moab Music Festival.  He was a 2021 featured recitalist and lecturer for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and has soloed with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and New World Symphony.

His latest album with baritone John Brancy – The Journey Home: Live from the Kennedy Center – was released on Avie Records in 2021 along with an accompanying documentary film from WNET’s AllArts.  Together John and Peter won first prize at the 2018 Montreal International Music Competition and second prize at the 2017 Wigmore Hall International Song Competition.

Peter advocates the importance of music in the community and at all levels of society.  As a founding creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for children, he has traveled to dozens of schools in the greater New York area, performing for students and encouraging them to use their talents – their superpowers – for good.  He is head of the Artist in Residence program at pianoSonoma and a founding faculty member of the Resonance and Soundboard Institutes at Honeywell Arts Academy.

Peter holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied under Matti Raekallio. He resides in New York City with his wife, mezzo-soprano Kara Dugan, and serves on the piano faculty at The Juilliard School Extension. Peter is a Yamaha Artist.

Gabrielle Chou, piano & violin

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Gabrielle Chou is a New York-based pianist and violinist seeking to defy genres and break barriers in music education and performance tradition. On both instruments she performs solo, chamber music, and in large ensembles, teaches and lectures, coaches chamber music and gives masterclasses, improvises, collaborates with composers and dancers, and is active in community engagement and activism. She studied at the Colburn Music Academy and received her B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School, as well as her D.M.A from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, writing her dissertation on play and game elements in music. She has studied piano with Jerome Lowenthal and Richard Goode, violin with Lewis Kaplan, and chamber music with Emmanuel Ax, Timothy Eddy, Joseph Kalichstein, Matti Raekallio, and Sylvia Rosenberg.

Gabrielle performs throughout the country and internationally, including appearances as both a piano and violin soloist with orchestras in the US, Europe, and Asia. She is the winner of the Center for Musical Excellence’s 2018 International Performing Arts Grant and regularly serves as artist-in-residence and faculty at festivals, most recently at the Sphinx Performance Academy and the Altenburger Musik Akademie in Austria. While she plays the breadth of repertoire for either instrument, Gabrielle is particularly passionate about chamber and contemporary music and enjoys all forms of collaboration with musicians of any genre and artists of any medium. She has premiered piano, violin, and chamber works at Juilliard, the Yale School of Music, National Sawdust, the Avaloch Music Institute, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Currently in New York Gabrielle serves as professor of music history at Baruch College, chamber music coach at the New York Youth Symphony, and staff pianist at The Juilliard School. She is a founding member of the contemporary chamber collective Away From Keyboard and is on the rosters of Metropolis Ensemble, Nu Deco Ensemble, Protestra, Sound Off: Music for Bail, After Arts Featured Artists, the Center for Musical Excellence, and Concerts for Compassion. In her free time she enjoys frequenting art museums and aquariums, playing board and video games, birding, and reading science fiction. Her website is gabriellechou.com.

Michael Dahlberg, cello

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Photo credit: Zoe Lin

Cellist Michael Dahlberg, noted for his “sensitivity and coloristic playing” (The New York Times), has built a portfolio career of community-building, education, and performance projects that carried him from local gallery spaces, to schools, to international concert halls.

During his years in Boston, Michael helped establish and lead the Discovery Ensemble, Juventas New Music Ensemble and Phoenix Orchestras, ensembles aimed at revitalizing classical music for the modern era. He stewarded contemporary chamber works as a New Fromm Player at the Tanglewood Music Center, performing alongside artists including Pierre-Laurent Aimard, John Zorn and the Mark Morris Dance Group.

His string quartet, the Boston Public Quartet (BPQ), presented concerts and workshops as the Celebrity Series’ first “Artist in Community.” As teaching artists, the BPQ founded the non-profit musiConnects, providing Boston Public Schools access to music instruction, forums for creative collaboration, and free performances. Michael brought his learning to the education team of NPR’s “From the Top,” where he designed and hosted over 80 interactive music events across 40 cities for more than 11,000 audience members of all ages.

Since relocating to the Bay Area in 2017, Michael has served as an Artist in Residence at the pianoSonoma summer festival, performed with regional ensembles including the San Jose Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Silicon Valley and Modesto Symphony, and teaches privately and as cello faculty at San Jose State University.

A native of Philadelphia, Michael began musical studies in a public school Suzuki program. He was fortunate to receive formative training from many of the city’s accomplished performers and educators thanks to institutions like the Settlement Music School and the scholarship programs they provided. He studied with Gloria dePasquale of the Philadelphia Orchestra before pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at the New England Conservatory (NEC) under the tutelage of Yeesun Kim.

Michael now resides in the Sacramento area with his wife, daughter and 13-pound cat, Gus, enjoying a triple life as Product Manager for a tech startup, musician, and father.

Learn more on his website: www.mikedahlberg.com.

Kara Dugan, mezzo-soprano

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Mezzo soprano Kara Dugan has been praised by The New York Times for her “vocal warmth and rich character.” Her diverse career ranges from baroque oratorio to world premieres. Her work with living composers has included the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’ Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind, a production of John Musto’s Bastianello at Festival Napa Valley with the composer at the piano, and an appearance with the Albany Symphony performing Michael Daugherty’s This Land Sings, a multi-genre tribute to Woody Guthrie. Recently, she won first place in the Rochester International Vocal Competition and was selected to be a member of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab.

Her work as a baroque concert soloist began during her studies at The Juilliard School and has taken her on three international tours with Juilliard415 and conductors Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, and Nicholas McGegan, culminating in a performance as the Soprano II soloist in Bach’s Mass in B minor at the Boston Early Music Festival. Operatic highlights include Cherubino in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Zaida in Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia, and Nireno in Handel’s Giulio Cesare. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Aspen Music Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, and at venues ranging from National Sawdust to Alice Tully Hall.

As a passionate recitalist she performs often with her husband Peter Dugan, pianist and host of NPR’s From the Top. The husband and wife duo were recently featured on PBS Great Performances’ “Now Hear This” and have performed across the United States, including at the Joye in Aiken Festival, Charles Ives Concert Series, Moab Music Festival, Portland Chamber Music Festival, and most recently at WQXR’s Greene Space. The duo’s eclectic repertoire has brought them to a wide range of venues including Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, where they joined genre-defying string group Time for Three. Kara received her Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from The Juilliard School. She is a proud recipient of the Novick Career Advancement Grant.

Sasha Kasman Laude, piano

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Pianist Sasha Kasman Laude’s playing has been described by the Palm Beach Arts Paper as “powerful and vivid” and having “such an abundance of intelligence that it can only be described as relentless” (Ludwig van Toronto). Sasha is in demand as a guest artist and teacher at such festivals as IKIF, Vivace, IKOF, Southeastern, Utah State University Summer Piano Festival, Fry Street Chamber Music Festival, Busan International Music Academy (South Korea), and PianoCity Milano (Italy). She has given solo recitals at major venues including Steinway Hall in New York City, Yamaha Ginza Hall in Tokyo, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. Sasha has been a soloist with over a dozen symphony orchestras in the USA and abroad, including the Juilliard Orchestra, Calgary Symphony, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. She is an advocate and experienced performer of contemporary music, premiering works of Stewart Goodyear, Marc Migó, Nathan Daughtrey, Zachary Detrick, and Eric Mobley. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Sasha has collaborated with such esteemed players as Martin Beaver, Blake Pouliot, the Viano, Aeolus, and Fry Street String Quartets, and the New York Chamber Players. She and her father Yakov Kasman have been a touring piano duo for close to fifteen years.

Sasha was one of three finalists in the 2022 Honens International Piano Competition (broadcast worldwide) and has captured top prizes in numerous international competitions. In 2019, she became a Young Artist-in-Residence of NPR’s Performance Today hosted by Fred Child. Her recent engagements include performances for the Birmingham Chamber Music Society, Eisendrath Series of Ann Arbor, MI, InConcert Series of Apalachicola, FL, and as soloist appearances with the Dayton and Ann Arbor symphony orchestras and Luminous Voices Ensemble.

A native of Moscow, Sasha began musical studies with her parents, acclaimed pianists and pedagogues Yakov and Tatiana Kasman. She holds degrees from University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Juilliard School (studying with Yakov Kasman and Robert McDonald, respectively). In 2023, Sasha received a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, where she was the studio assistant of Logan Skelton and received the School of Music, Theater, and Dance’s top graduation honor, the Earl V. Moore Award.

This past fall, Sasha joined the faculty of Utah State University’s Caine College of the Arts as Assistant Professor of Piano. She has previously guest taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Calgary, Lee University, Bowling Green State University, and Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. She is regularly invited to adjudicate competitions and give masterclasses for local and regional music teachers organizations. She is passionate about music outreach and has given over one hundred educational performances in schools and community venues in large part as a Fellow of PianoArts of Wisconsin. Sasha’s teaching emphasizes stylistic clarity rooted in academic study and values the expressive traditions of the Russian school, as well as a deep awareness of pianistic health based in the Taubman approach and Alexander technique.

 

Riley Mulherkar, trumpet

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Photo credit: Zenith Richards

Riley Mulherkar has been recognized as a “smart young trumpet player” by The New York Times, praised by The Wall Street Journal as a “youngster to keep an eye on,” and is a 2020 recipient of Lincoln Center’s Emerging Artist Award for his work as “an original bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, community activist and advocate for jazz and the arts.”

Riley works with a number of leading artists of our time, including Wynton Marsalis, Anna Deavere Smith, and Alan Cumming, and is a founding member of The Westerlies, a new music brass quartet that creates the rarest of hybrids: music that is both “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music). Riley also serves as Artistic Director at Joye in Aiken, bringing leading young talent to the historic city of Aiken, South Carolina.

Born and raised in Seattle, Riley moved to New York in 2010 to study at The Juilliard School, where he completed his Bachelor’s Degree in 2014 and his Master’s in 2015. Riley is actively engaged in educational initiatives, founding the Joye in Aiken Jazz Camp in 2021, directing the Summer Advanced Institute at Seattle JazzEd from 2017-2019, and serving as an ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Jazz for Young People” program in New York and St. Louis from 2016 – 2018. Riley is also a faculty member of The College of Performing Arts at The New School in New York, NY. Riley is an Edwards Artist and performs on Edwards trumpets.

 

Doori Na, violin

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Known for his sweet and “sumptuous tone” (New York Times), American-born Doori Na took up violin at the age of four and began his studies with Li Lin at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. In the fall of 2018, he made his debut with The San Francisco Symphony performing Bach’s Double Violin Concerto with Itzhak Perlman and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Currently living in New York City, Doori plays with numerous ensembles around the city. He has played with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with tours in the US, Japan, and Europe performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York and the Musiverien in Vienna. Doori is also a member of Argento Chamber Ensemble performing works of living composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Beat Furrer, Tristan Murail, and many more. New Chamber Ballet is where you can find Doori regularly performing solo works for dance and he has been a part of the company since 2013. Recent tours include performing in Lake Tahoe, Germany, and Guatemala.

Chamber music has also been an integral part of Doori’s musical career. He has collaborated with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Orion String Quartet, New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera and has been fortunate to tour with Itzhak Perlman at venues such as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Other notable experiences include performing at the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach with the Bonhoeffer Trio and Les Amies trio. In addition to performing, Doori has been active in teaching and doing outreach at schools. He has worked at the Juilliard School as a teaching assistant to Catherine Cho as well as working as a coach for the Pre-College Orchestra. Outreach to schools include going to Sarasota, Florida with the Perlman Music Program/Suncoast, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates with Juilliard Global Ventures, and the British International School of Chicago with The Juilliard School President, Joseph Polisi.

Doori attended the Juilliard School with the Dorothy Starling and Dorothy Delay scholarships and holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree where he studied under Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Donald Weilerstein. He was concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra and was fortunate to play on a Guadagnini and Vuillaume violin from the Juilliard School’s prestigious violin collection.

 

Christine Wu, piano

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American pianist Christine Wu has performed in concert venues throughout North America and Europe, including in Merkin Hall, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Petit Palau de la Música Catalana, and Théâtre du Châtelet.

Praised in The New York Times by chief music critic Anthony Tommasini for her  “arresting” playing, Christine’s performance of Oliver Knussen’s Variations, Op. 24, was  described as “one of the highlights of the program” at Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. Christine is the third prize winner of the Ettore Pozzoli International Piano Competition, and has performed both solo and chamber music in festivals including Music Academy of the West, Tanglewood Music Center, and Aspen Music Festival.

As someone who believes in the importance of playing both classical and contemporary music, Christine has a wide range of experience as a solo and ensemble player of new music. She is a former member of the Frankfurt-based International Ensemble Modern Akademie, and has played in major new music festivals including the Lucerne Festival, ManiFeste Paris, and Time of Music Festival in Viitasaari, Finland, and premiered over 20 new works.

Christine received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she was a student of Hung

Kuan Chen and Julian Martin. She also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Peter Frankl, Christopher Elton, and Peter Serkin. Christine is currently based in Cologne, Germany, where she studies with Pierre-Laurent Aimard.

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