Photo credit: Kylie Lynn photography  Lisa Casal-Galietta Violin Lisa is the resident violinist for the Impetus Dance Collaborative and frequently works with Rhymes with Opera. She actively performs as a recitalist and chamber musician throughout the New York and surrounding areas. Lisa balances her active performance schedule with teaching in her private violin studio and is an Adjunct Professor of Violin at Suffolk Community College.  Fang-Yi ChuPiano  Guitar & Lute New York native Daniel Keene is a guitarist, lutenist, arranger, composer, chamber player, and educator. A multi-instrumentalist, Daniel performs on an array of plucked string instruments, including the Renaissance lute, Renaissance bandora, Baroque guitar, nineteenth century guitar, modern guitar, mandolin, electric bass, and extended guitars. He has concertized extensively in New York and along the East Coast as a soloist and chamber musician, recently performing at The Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, Opera America, Shapeshifter Lab, Christ Church of Oyster Bay, Spectrum NYC, The Custer Observatory, The Staller Center for the Arts, The Buttonwood Tree, and at a multitude of other venues. Daniel is a member of The Red Door Chamber Players and The Samadi-Keene Piano & Guitar Duo. In addition, he has performed with Long Island Baroque Ensemble, The Golden Williams Duo, The Bacheler Consort, Impetus Dance Collaborative, and Musical Amoeba. An avid performer of new music, Daniel has collaborated with composers all over the globe, premiering many new works on guitar. A dedicated teacher, Daniel is currently on the faculty at SUNY Nassau Community College and Adelphi University, teaching courses pertaining to performance and music theory. Daniel began studying music at the age of nine. He studied lute and guitar with Jerry Willard and William Zito, guitar with Stephen Leonard, composition with Dr. Joanne Metcalf, Dr. Sidney Boquiren, and Dr. Paul Moravec, and worked with tenor Jonathan Goodman, pianist Dr. Susan Sobolewski, and violinist Dr. Linda Sinanian on musical interpretation. Photo Credit: Jaka Vinsek  Jennifer Girone-Virgilio Cello Ms. Girone-Virgilio recorded the soundtrack to “The China Question”, a documentary directed by Brook Silva-Braga, which has been featured on CNBC. Additionally, she can be heard on Warner Brothers’ singer/songwriter Matt White’s album, “Shirley”. Jennifer is a member of Rhymes with Opera, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and the Red Door Chamber Players. She studied at The Hartt School with Steven Thomas, and Mannes College of Music with Paul Tobias. Ms. Girone-Virgilio is on faculty at the School for Strings, Virtuoso Suzuki Academy, and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.  Cello A passionate performer and avid chamber musician, cellist Diana Golden performs regularly with the Red Door Chamber Players and the Golden Williams Duo, as well as having performed on chamber music concert series of the Mandarax Music Ensemble, Bushwick Chamber Concerts, Music and More, Union City Chamber Players, and Standing Room Only. The founder and Artistic Director of the Firebrand Concerts Series, Diana has also participated in chamber music festivals including Killington Music Festival in Vermont, Musicorda, and Italian summer music festivals Zephyr and Musica Lozzo.
Performing in Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall of Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, NYU’s Skirball Center, Davies Symphony Hall, St. David’s Hall and other renowned venues, Diana has worked with ensembles such as the Albany Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players, Distinguished Concerts International New York, Symphony by the Sea, Utica Symphony, Catskill Symphony, Cape Symphony Orchestra, and Binghamton Philharmonic. Dr. Golden has performed throughout New England, the Mid-Atlantic, California, and the United Kingdom.
Dr. Golden has taught cello and coached chamber music at Rutgers University as a Graduate Instructor, and at the Riverdale Country School, WHIN Music Project, Music Conservatory of Westchester, Union City Music Project, Tufts University’s Applied Music Program, Open Access to Music Education for Children, Newcomer’s Academy, Belmont Saturday Morning Music Program, Lincoln & Lexington Public Schools, BASICS Music Is Instrumental, Four Strings Academy, Vibo Music Center, and privately. She has also given masterclasses at The College of New Jersey, South Texas College, and Saint Francis Preparatory School, and served as a Guest Teaching Artist for the École de Musique Dessaix-Baptiste in Jacmel, Haiti. This is Diana's second year teaching at Mountain Springs Music Festival. She completed a Licentiate of Teaching at the Royal Academy of Music and has received Suzuki teacher training.
Diana holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Cello Performance from Rutgers University, where she completed her doctoral research on Haitian art music. She also holds a Master of Arts in Cello Performance with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Dr. Golden’s primary teachers were Jean Michel Fonteneau, Mark Kosower. Felix Schmidt, and Jonathan Spitz. Diana has also received instruction from renowned artists including Bernard Greenhouse, Colin Carr, Fred Sherry, Steven Doane, Alan Harris, Matt Haimovitz, Philip Mueller, and Sadao Harada.
She was awarded a Hill and Hollow Artist Residency in 2013, John Baker Career Development Award, Sir Stapley Educational Trust Award, and a Bursary Award from the Royal Academy of Music.
Diana’s recent projects have included performances at the United Nations, the Colburn School of Music and Montreal’s Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique du Québec, followed by recording an album of Haitian cello music in June 2018. Her article “Staging the Nation Through Mizik Savant: Art Music of the Haitian Diaspora” was published in the Fall 2018 issue of The Journal of Haitian Studies, Vol. 24, No. 2. This April, she has been invited to present a lecture recital of Haitian music at the 5th Symposium of Caribbean Art Music held at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico.  Kristin Nikaj Viola In 2009, Ms. Nikaj graduated with a Master’s Degree in Performance from Mannes College where she served as principal violist of the Mannes Orchestra & the Mannes Opera Orchestra. Although she primarily performs classical, Ms. Nikaj occasionally collaborates with popular artists. Recent collaborations include Adele and Kid Cudi and television performances including: CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman, ABC's The View, and BET's Rising Icons and The Monique Show. In addition to performing, she maintains a bustling private studio of talented young musicians. Cello Photo Credit: Madison Fender  Organ & Voice William Roslak is an organist, choral director, and music educator based in New York City. An honors graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, William studied organ and sacred music with Dr. Matthew Lewis, Peter Richard Conte, and Bruce Neswick. He has held posts in various churches, most notably at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, as organ scholar, and as director of music at Westhampton Presbyterian Church in the Hamptons (Long Island, NY). As an organ recitalist, he has performed in venues such as St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia), the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Garden City, NY), the Church of St. Mary the Virgin (Times Square, NYC), and St. Patrick's Cathedral (NYC). Will is currently the associate organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut, one of New England's largest churches, where he recently played for the U.S. visit of former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. In addition to his work as an organist, Will has extensively conducted both professional and amateur choirs. He is on the choral faculty at Kaufman Music Center's Special Music School, New York City's only school with a core curriculum in classical music. His students have performed with singers from the Metropolitan Opera and with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Caroline Shaw. Will graduated summa cum laude from the Aaron Copland School of Music, CUNY Queens College, where he studied choral conducting with Dr. James John, and was the recipient of the David Stahl award for excellence in conducting. Will is a native of Long Island's North Fork, and is an active boater and fisherman. Photo Credit: Jiyang Chen  Viola Mr. Williams is a candidate for the Doctorate in Viola Performance, at the Graduate Center, CUNY, under the direction of Karen Ritscher and Linda Sinanian, and is finishing his Dissertation on the unaccompanied viola works of Günter Raphael. Mr. Williams received his Master’s Degree at the Eastman School of Music, and his Bachelor’s Degree at Boston University. Mr. Williams currently teaches viola at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY Queens College. |
