Sven Arne Tepl - Viola

Pianist Wayman Chin has performed widely throughout the United States and Asia. Within the United States, his concerts include performances at Princeton University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Honolulu Academy of Arts. In the Far East, Mr. Chin has appeared at Tsuen Wan Town Hall in Hong Kong, and in the Philippines, on the Sala Foundation concert series, and at the residence of the US Ambassador in Manila. His playing has been called, “ferociously concentrated….intense, focused, and musically astute,” (the Boston Herald) and “sheer magic….every note is colored.” (the Freeman, Philippines).

Devoted to chamber music playing, Wayman Chin has collaborated with artists such as the Cassatt String Quartet, flutist Aralee Dorough, violinist Asako Urishihara, violist Toby Appel, and members of the New York Woodwind Quintet. For twelve seasons he appeared regularly as a member of the artist faculty at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival. Also an advocate of new music, Mr. Chin has premiered a number of works by noted composers, including those of Meyer Kupferman, and Longy faculty composer Paul Brust; he has also introduced several works of Aaron Jay Kernis to Boston audiences. Of Chin’s performance of Kernis’ Valentines, with Karyl Ryczek, David Cleary of 21st Century Music wrote, “Wayman Chin traversed the formidable challenges of the piano part with conspicuous success. His highly demonstrative performing style excellently suited the work’s forthright nature.”
Wayman Chin earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School and a Master of Music degree from Yale University. His principal teachers were Donald Currier and Anne Koscielny. A committed teacher, Mr. Chin is Chair of the Chamber Music Program at the Longy School of Music and also serves on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.

After gaining a first class GGSM degree, Miriam went on to study at the Robert Schumann Hochschule, Düsseldorf with Johannes Goritzki where she obtained both a performing diploma and first class masters degree. She has attended master classes with Steven Isserlis, Ralph Kirshbaum, Robert Cohen, Dorothy De Lay, Menahem Pressler, the Takacs Quartet, Trio Fontenay and Norbert Brainin.

By the time Miriam finished her studies she was already a regular freelance musician with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Towards the end of her studies in Germany she joined the Deutsche Kammerakademie as co-principal cellist and was a member until starting her current position as cellist in the Residentie Orkest, The Hague where her principal conductors have been Evgeny Svetlanov, Jaap van Zweden and now, Neame Järvi. Miriam is involved in the orchestra’s education programme leading music workshops for primary schools in The Hague and introducing local school children to the world of the symphony orchestra. She also plays regularly with Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

Miriam has always loved performing chamber music and is currently cellist of Duo Verve with violinist Sarah Oates and The Hague String Trio with violinist Justyna Briefjes and violist Julia Dinerstein. She has also joined the Utrecht String Quartet as guest on a tour of England with the violist Vladimir Mendelssohn. Miriam teaches the cello privately and plays an instrument built by Bronek Cison in Chicago in 1996

Víctor C. Cruz has developed an intense and diversified career in the United States and Europe. As a soloist, he has toured with the University of South Carolina Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Ceske Budegovice Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Extremadura, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Camerata del Prado, Orquesta de Cámara de Badajoz and Orquesta “Reina Sofía”.

He has been awarded several prizes as a chamber musician, while integrating the “Urman Piano Trio” and the “Argenta String Quartet”: First Prize at the Jeuneesse Musicales Competition; first Prize at the Villa de Madrid Competition; finalist at the 4th International Quartet Competition in Cremona (Italy). He has been invited to play in major Festivals in Spain (Sociedad Filarmónica de Canarias, Festival Ibérico, Fundación March, Cultural Albacete, Festival de La Rioja, Ministry of Culture National Tour, Caja Madrid, Grupo Vocento) and has participated in several editions of the South Eastern Music Festival of South Carolina.

He has recorded music programs for the Spanish National Public Radio and has been broadcasted nationwide presenting Schubert´s complete works for Violin and Piano and a selection of Contemporary American Chamber Music. He has premiered pieces dedicated to him by spanish and american composers such as Juan P. Ribes, José L. Valderrama, Joaquín Borges, Bik Lee and Samuel O. Douglas.

As an orchestral musician, he has been concertmaster of the University of South Carolina Symphony, Spanish Radio Television Orchestra, Madrid Philharmonic, Orquesta de Zaragoza, Orquesta de Extremadura, Camerata del Prado, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid and Orquesta de Cámara de Badajoz. He has also leaded two of the most relevant Contemporary Music ensembles in Spain: Plural Ensemble and Grupo Enigma.

Born in Spain, Víctor C. Cruz earned his degrees in Violin and Chamber Music at El Escorial and Madrid Conservatories. He was also a Violin student at Indiana University (USA) where he finished his master´s degree as a student of Yuval Yaron and Nelli Shkolnikova, and participated in both Joseph Gingold and Franco Gulli´s master classes. Mr. Cruz also attended doctoral courses at the Escuela Superior Reina Sofía (Madrid) being a student of Zakhar Bron for two years. He has been guided at international workshops by other teachers such as: Uri Pianca, Lorand Fenyves, Ruggiero Ricci, Menahem Pressler, Gyorgy Sebok, Rostislav Dubinski, Georges Janzer, Piero Farulli and the Brodsky String Quartet. His interest in orchestral conducting made him move to South Carolina in 2003 where he earned a doctoral degree in Conducting. As an assistant regularly taught by professor Donald Portnoy, he attended master classes by Paul Vermel and Samuel Jones among others. At that institution he was awarded the “Manuel and Rose Mary Alvarez” prize in conducting.

Dr. Cruz is currently the chair of the String Quartet Department at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Salamanca (Spain) and teaches Violin in Madrid. Along with his academic activities he keeps developing an intense artistic career.

Daniel Leetch studied the viola in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Frederick Applewhite and at the Royal Academy of Music with Ian Jewel. After graduating with honours he worked as a freelance player with the Ulster Orchestra and as principal viola with the European Chamber Opera and the London Pareschi Players. In 1992 he moved to Bermuda where he taught viola and violin for the Menuhin Foundation as well as performing regularly with the Menuhin Foundation Quartet. Returning to the UK in 1994, he performed widely as a freelance player and as a member of the English Camera Quartet undertook an extended tour of Spain performing in twelve major cities.

Since 1995 Daniel has held the post of Head of Strings at Stamford School where he teaches viola and violin and coaches chamber groups and ensembles. In 2000 he completed a masters degree in music psychology at Sheffield University in which he focused on issues surrounding the development of young musicians. In 2003 he trained as a strings examiner for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In addition to his teaching commitments he plays regularly as principal viola with the Stamford Chamber Orchestra and the Boston Sinfonia. He has recently taken part in masterclasses with the Alberni String Quartet and is also a member of Orphicon, a string quartet specialising in contemporary repertoire.