Faculty & Guest Artists
Meta Weiss
Artistic Director & Co-Founder
American cellist META WEISS (pronounced MAY-ta) made her international debut at the age of seven in Utrecht, Holland, and has established herself as one of the leading artists of her generation. An acclaimed soloist and chamber musician, her performances have taken her to venues throughout the US and internationally, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, The Kimmel Center, Royal Albert Hall, The Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, and Teatro Britanico (Peru).
Top prize-winner in numerous competitions, she has been hailed as “magnetic” (ArtsJournal) and “luminous” (Sydney Arts Guide) by critics and audiences around the globe. As a member of Break of Reality, she was selected by the US Department of State as a “musical ambassador,” touring across America, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Brazil. Weiss has also served as guest assistant principal cello of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She has been featured on NPR on many occasions, including as guest artist on the shows A Prairie Home Companion, Performance Today, and Northwest Focus Live. Her album Entendre (Sono Luminus) is the winner of the Violoncello Foundation Listener’s Choice Award. Other albums include A Dué Celli, recorded with cellist David Requiro, and a forthcoming album on the Decca Label with the Streeton Trio.
Weiss serves as Chamber Music Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder. Previous faculty appointments include the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University and the University of Puget Sound. She received her BM from Rice University, and her MM and DMA from The Juilliard School.
Weiss performs on a Gioffredo Cappa cello, c. 1690, generously provided for her by an anonymous supporter.
David Requiro
Co-Founder
First Prize winner of the 2008 Naumburg International Violoncello Competition, DAVID REQUIRO (pronounced re-KEER-oh) is recognized as one of today’s finest American cellists. After winning First Prize in both the Washington International and Irving M. Klein International String Competitions, he also captured a top prize at the Gaspar Cassadó International Violoncello Competition in Hachioji, Japan, coupled with the prize for the best performances of works by Cassadó.
Mr. Requiro has appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and numerous orchestras across North America. His Carnegie Hall debut recital at Weill Hall was followed by a critically acclaimed San Francisco Performances recital at the Herbst Theatre. Soon after making his Kennedy Center debut, Mr. Requiro also completed the cycle of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Cello at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and is a founding member of the Baumer String Quartet. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center recently appointed Mr. Requiro to its prestigious Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) beginning in the 2018-2019 season.
In 2015, Mr. Requiro joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Boulder as Assistant Professor of Cello.
Alice Yoo
Cellist ALICE YOO has warmly been hailed for her sensitive musicianship, expressive nuance, and passionate commitment to chamber music and teaching. Co-founder and Co-Artistic director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival, Alice is a sought after chamber musician and has collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, Midori Goto, Miriam Fried, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, Takács, and Juilliard Quartets. Festival appearances include tours with Musicians from Marlboro and Marlboro Music Festival, Caramoor, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Moab, and Music@Menlo. Passionate for new music, she has worked closely with esteemed composers Sophia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Hidgon, Andy Akiho, Samuel Carl Adams, and John Harbison. Top prize wins include the USC Concerto Competition, Holland-America Music Society, Schadt, and Klein International String Competitions. Solo appearances with orchestra include USC Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, and more. Alice's teachers include Ralph Kirshbaum, Dr. Ilse-Mari Lee, Richard Aaron, and Paul Katz. She holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and USC's Thornton School of Music and was a member of Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the NYC Department of Education from 2012-2014. As educator, she has been guest teacher at the University of Colorado-Boulder, Guest Teacher and Artist at the Intermountain Suzuki String Institute, Moab Music Festival's Winterlude, and many more. She is currently on the chamber music faculty of University of Denver's Lamont School of Music and plays on a cello made by Ryan Soltis.
Matthew Zalkind
Praised for his “impressive refinement, eloquent phrasing, and singing tone” by The New York Times, cellist MATTHEW ZALKIND performs regularly as a recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. As a soloist, Mr. Zalkind has performed concerti with such organizations as the Utah Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Players, the Albany Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra, and orchestras in the United States and abroad. Solo recital venues include the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Tongyeong Arts Center in Korea, Dame Myra Hess series in Chicago, Moscow Conservatory, and Beijing Concert Hall. Mr. Zalkind is a regular at numerous chamber music festivals, including Marlboro and “Musicians from Marlboro” tours, and is the Co-Artistic Director of the Denver Chamber Music Festival with cellist Alice Yoo. As a former member of the Harlem String Quartet, Mr. Zalkind toured to Japan, England, Ethiopia, and every region of the United States with jazz musicians Chick Corea, Gary Burton, and Stanley Clarke. He garnered top prizes in the Washington International Competition, Isang Yun International Competition, Beijing International Competition, and the Juilliard School Concerto Competition. Mr. Zalkind is a passionate educator and serves on the faculty of University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music. He plays on a rare Italian cello made by Florentine maker Luigi Piatellini c. 1760, and a bow by John Dodd c. 1800.
Guest Artists
Darrett Adkins
Masterclass: June 10, 2021
DARRETT ADKINS has appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, Tochio Soloisten, National Symphony of Brazil, Suwon Philharmonic, and the New Hampshire, North Carolina, Greenwich, and Monadnock Music Festival orchestras. He made his New York concerto debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center and gave the American premiere of Donatoni’s Cello Concerto with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. An AMFS alumnus, Mr. Adkins made his Aspen debut in 2002 in Boulez’s Messagesquisse under James Conlon. He gave the world premieres of concertos by Philip Cashian and Andrew Mead with the Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble, the world premiere of Jeffrey Mumford’s Concerto with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and the American premiere of Rolf Wallin’s concerto, Ground, at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. He gave the first New York performance of Berio’s Sequenza XIV and recorded it for Naxos. From 1997–2002, Mr. Adkins was a member of the Flux Quartet, and he joined the Lion’s Gate Trio in 2012. He recorded Jay Greenberg’s Cello Quintet with the Juilliard Quartet, commissioned and recorded Philip Cashian’s Cello Concerto in 2014, and released his solo CD, Hypersuite 2, in 2013. Mr. Adkins joined the Juilliard faculty in 2002 and the Oberlin Conservatory faculty in 2003.
Timothy Eddy
Masterclass: June 13, 2021
TIMOTHY EDDY has earned distinction as a recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician, recording artist, and as a winner in numerous national and international competitions. Mr. Eddy received top honors at the Gaspar Cassado International Violoncello Competition and has also won prizes in the Dealey Contest (Dallas), the Denver Symphony Guild Competition, the North Carolina Symphony Contest, and the New York Violoncello Society competition. In addition to numerous solo and chamber recitals throughout the U.S., he has appeared as concerto soloist with many U.S. orchestras, including the Dallas, Denver, Stamford, Jacksonville, and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras.
Mr. Eddy received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees with honors from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Bernard Greenhouse. Mr. Eddy has spent his summers participating in numerous Festivals: Marlboro, Santa Fe, Sarasota, Ravinia (Steans Institute), Portland (Oregon), Domaine Forget (Quebec), La Jolla, and the Heifetz Institute.
Timothy Eddy teaches cello at the Juilliard School and he is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He appears regularly in duo recital with pianist Gilbert Kalish. As cellist of the Orion String Quartet, he is in residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. With the Orions, he has appeared in major musical centers across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Far East. Mr. Eddy has recorded for Koch International, Sony Classical, Delos, Arabesque, Albany, Columbia, Angel, Vanguard, Nonesuch, C.R.I., New World, Vox, and Musical Heritage.
During the 2003 – 2004 season, Mr. Eddy began presenting the complete Six Suites of J. S. Bach for Solo Cello, the realization of a lifelong ambition and the culmination of years of study and performance of these landmark works, as well as extensive performance of Bach’s cantatas, chamber music, and orchestral music.
Norman Fischer
Masterclass: June 12, 2021
NORMAN FISCHER has concertized on five continents and in 49 of the 50 United States. He was cellist with the Concord String Quartet through its 16-year career and winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, two Grammy nominations and an Emmy. In over 1000 concerts the quartet performed 18 Bartok cycles, 36 Beethoven cycles and premiered 50 works. They also recorded 40 works for RCA Red Seal, Vox, Nonesuch and CRI. Mr. Fischer’s chamber music expertise has led to performances with the American, Audubon, Bair, Cavani, Chester, Chiara, Ciompi, Cleveland, Dover, Ensø, Emerson, Jasper, Juilliard, Mendelssohn and Schoenberg string quartets, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Banff, Chamber Music International, Context (including a complete Beethoven piano trio cycle on period instruments), and Houston’s Da Camera Society. He has also served on many competition juries including the Paolo Borciani and Banff International string quartet competitions.
Mr. Fischer is the cellist with the Fischer Duo, a group with pianist Jeanne Kierman that was founded in 1971 and specializes in both the classical masterworks of Beethoven, Brahms and Schumann as well as music of our own time. They have over a dozen recordings. Most notable are: Imaginées: Music of French Masters, American Music in the 1990s, Complete Music for Cello and Piano of Chopin and Liszt, and Complete Cello Music of William Bolcom. The most recent album is Beethoven Cello and Piano Complete on the Centaur label that is the most comprehensive collection of Beethoven’s music for the two instruments. The Duo has premiered over 30 new scores by composers such as George Rochberg, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Sirota, Pierre Jalbert, and Richard Wilson. They continue to actively perform throughout the United States and twice have served as Artistic Ambassadors for the USIA with tours to South America and South Africa.
Mr. Fischer continues to be committed to music for solo cello. His 1983 New York solo debut of the Bach Six Suites in one evening was hailed by New York Times critic John Rockwell as “inspiring”. During the 1994 season, Mr. Fischer’s recording of William Bolcom’s unaccompanied cello score was featured on Broadway as incidental music for Arthur Miller’s most recent play, Broken Glass. Mr. Fischer was honored by being invited to open the 1995 Tanglewood Music Center season with a performance of Henri Dutilleux’s Trois Strophes sur le nom Sacher, and during the 1996 Tanglewood season was similarly honored in presenting the world premiere of Mr. Bolcom’s Suite in C Minor He has performed the standard concerto classics with conductors such as Lukas Foss, Robert Spano, Larry Rachleff and Efrain Guigui. He has also championed new works for the genre, such as the Robert Sirota Cello Concerto (Tanglewood 1985), the Augusta Read Thomas Vigil (Cleveland Chamber Symphony, recorded on the GM label), Steven Stucky Voyages (recorded for Opus One in 1991), and Ross Lee Finney’s Narrative (with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, recorded for New World Records).
Mr. Fischer is currently Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Cello and Director of Chamber Music at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston. Before accepting this position in 1992 he held positions at Dartmouth College and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Mr. Fischer also holds the Charles E. Culpepper Foundation Master Teacher Chair at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he has been on the summer faculty since 1985. He is currently on the board of directors of Chamber Music America.