Violinist/violist Ida Kavafian recently retired after 35 successful years as artistic director of Music from Angel Fire, the renowned festival in New Mexico. She leaves a legacy of over 40 world premieres commissioned by the festival. Her close association with The Curtis Institute continues with her large and superb class, the endowment of her faculty chair by former Curtis Board President Baroness Nina von Maltzahn, and the awarding of the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, which is presented in recognition of outstanding service in stimulating and guiding Curtis students. In addition to her solo engagements, she continues to perform with her piano quartet, OPUS ONE and Trio Valtorna. Co-founder of those ensembles as well as Tashi and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (which she ran for ten years), she has toured and recorded with the Guarneri, Orion, Shanghai, Harlem, and American string quartets (as violist); as a member of the Beaux Arts Trio for six years; and with such artists as Chick Corea, Mark O'Connor, and Wynton Marsalis. A graduate of The Juilliard School, where she studied with Oscar Shumsky, she was presented in her debut by Young Concert Artists with her long time chamber music partner, pianist Peter Serkin. Kavafian and her husband, violist Steven Tenenbom, have also found success outside of music in the breeding, training, and showing of champion Vizsla dogs, including the 2003 Number One Vizsla All Systems in the US, the 2007 National Champion, and a recent Gold Grand Champion as well as a master hunter. She has performed with the Chamber Music Society since 1973.

Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today's classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is described by NPR as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.”

His appearances at San Francisco Performances, Caramoor Festival, Ravinia Festival, Round Top Festival, PCMS, 92nd St Y, CMS, Wolf Trap, and others, have cemented his reputation as one of the world’s leading guitarists. He has performed as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Toronto, Houston, Nashville and St. Louis, working with renowned conductors such as Giancarlo Guererro, Jahja Ling, Gerard Schwarz, and David Robertson.

His strong presence on radio and streaming services continues with his long-awaited Bach Volume 2: Works for Violin, released in April 2022 to rave reviews from Gramophone and others. Shining Night, a CD featuring his duo with acclaimed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, was released in May 2022 on Avie Records to great acclaim. He recorded Pat Metheny’s Four Paths of Light (dedicated to Jason) for Metheny’s 2021 album Road to The Sun on BMG Modern. Of his Grammy-winning 2014 solo album Play, the Huffington Post declared that the album is “part of the revitalized interest in the classical guitar.”