Players - The Red Door Chamber Players

Photo credit: Kylie Lynn photography

Lisa Casal-Galietta

Violin

Violinist, artistic director and founder of the Red Door Chamber Players, Lisa Casal-Galietta, continuously strives to bring her love and passion of music to everyone she meets. Lisa has earned degrees in violin performance from the University of Akron and Stony Brook University, studying with Alan Bodman and Dr. Linda Sinanian. She has played in master classes for guests who include Victor Yampolsky and Eric Ewazen. Some of Lisa’s accolades include working with Marvin Hamlisch, Randy Newman, Todd Reynolds, Jonathan Haas, Marvin Stamm, Bill Mayes, Lukas Foss, Julianne Moore and David Amram.

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.

Johnny Weizenecker
Violin

Johnny is a New York based violinist and graduate of the Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College where he earned a BM in violin performance studying with Dr. Yeon-Su Kim and Miss Rebecca Henry. He was a member of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and played various concerts at Carnegie Hall and has had the honor of serving as concertmaster at their first annual alumni concert. Through the years, Johnny has participated in numerous summer festivals including the New York State Summer School of the Arts, the International Interharmony Music Festival, Protégé Ireland and the College Light Opera Company. In addition, he is an active member of the Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra and has been playing in the ensemble since 2013. In preparation for graduate studies and the pursuit of an orchestral career, he currently studies with Dr. Linda Sinanian, with whom he first began taking private lessons with.

Kristin Nikaj
Viola

Kristin Nikaj, Violist, is an active chamber musician, orchestral player, recitalist and teacher. She has performed throughout New York's premiere concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall and Lincoln Center. Ms. Nikaj has also performed Internationally, touring throughout Italy and Switzerland in 2004. She has performed with numerous orchestras such as the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, Gateway Classical Society, New England Symphonic Ensemble and Charlottesville Virginia Consort.

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.

Photo Credit: Jiyang Chen

Gregory K. Williams
Viola

Gregory K. Williams is a violist with the Red Door Chamber Players. He is the Acting Principal Violist of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Principal Violist with the Berkshire Opera Festival, and is the founding violist for Rhymes with Opera. He has also performed with the Albany Symphony, Symphony in C, the Syracuse Symphony, and at the Aspen Music Festival. His recent performances include recitals in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, and throughout the United States.

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.

Photo Credit: Jaka Vinsek

Jennifer Girone-Virgilio
Cello

Jennifer Girone-Virgilio (cello) has performed in venues across the world, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. as the Principal Cellist with the Mid-Atlantic Foundation for Asian Artists Opera; in Italy, as a part of the Opera, Theater, and Music Festival of Lucca; and acting on stage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as the role of “cellist” in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.

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.

Photo Credit: Eddie Watkins

Diana Golden

Cello

Cellist Diana Golden has performed in chamber music festivals such as Quartet Program of the East, Killington Music Festival, Summit, Musicorda, Zephyr and Musica Lozzo. She has recently performed on chamber music series such as Firebrand Concert Series where she is the Founder and Artistic Director, Bushwick Chamber Concerts, Music and More Chamber Series, Standing Room Concert Series, and Union City Chamber Players. Dr. Golden performs in a range of musical styles, with ensembles throughout New York, New Jersey, and New England. Diana Golden holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Cello Performance from Rutgers University; a Master of Arts in Cello Performance, with Distinction, from the Royal Academy of Music in London; a Bachelor of Arts in English from Cornell University; and a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Sokol Nikaj
Cello

Sokol Nikaj, cellist, was born in Tirana, Albania. A National Cello Competition first prize winner, Mr. Nikaj also participated at the Summer Festival in Athens, and studied under Gjovalin Lazri in Artistic Lyceum “Jordan Misja”. He received his bachelor’s degree from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, and performed in the Eckelshausen Festival, Schott Verlag, Rathaus Mainz, and at the Brandenburg Gate under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich. He also toured with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Since arriving in New York, Mr. Nikaj has performed at venues including Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, Flushing Town Hall, Steinway Hall, and the Colden Center for the Performing Arts. He has performed as a guest cellist with the Corona Trio and was Goliard Concerts’ 2007 Herman De Jong Memorial Scholarship winner. Mr. Nikaj earned his master’s degree from Queens College in 2007. His principal teachers include Julius Berger and Marcy Rosen.

photo credit: Barbara Kovacs

Daniel Keene

Guitar

New York native Daniel Keene is a guitarist, lutenist, and chamber musician. He is currently on the faculty at Nassau Community College and Adelphi University teaching courses pertaining to performance and music theory. A multi-instrumentalist, Daniel plays on an array of plucked string instruments, including the Renaissance lute, Renaissance bandora, nineteenth century guitar, modern guitar, and mandolin. An active and versatile performer, Daniel has concertized extensively with a variety of ensembles and as a soloist in New York and along the East Coast. In addition to the Red Door Chamber Players, he is also a member of the Hudson Flute & Guitar Duo and the Samadi-Keene Piano & Guitar Duo. Daniel has performed with Long Island Baroque Ensemble, 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. He studied lute and guitar with William Zito and Jerry Willard, guitar with Stephen Leonard, composition with Sidney Boquiren, Joanne Metcalf, and Paul Moravec, and worked with tenor Jonathan Goodman, pianist Susan Sobolewski, and violinist Dr. Linda Sinanian on musical interpretation.

Fang-Yi Chu
Piano

Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Fang-Yi Chu is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in piano performance at the University of North Texas, where she studied piano with Gustavo Romero and collaborative piano with Dr. Elvia Puccinelli. She earned her master’s degree at New England Conservatory in Boston. Fang-Yi was invited to attend the International Keyboard Institute Festival in New York in the summer of 2010 and 2011. As an experienced collaborative pianist, she regularly performed in Denton, Texas with talented singers and instrumentalists. In summer 2015 and 2016 she was invited by AIMS and Musiktheater Bavaria as a collaborative pianist and performed in Austria and Germany.

Photo Credit: Madison Fender

William Roslak

Organ & Voice

William Roslak is an organist, choral director, and music educator. He is currently associate director of music at St Louis de Montfort R.C.C. in Sound Beach. William is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton where, during his studies, he was the organ scholar at the Cathedral of Ss. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. While enrolled at Westminster, he was the tenor section leader for the Williamson Voices and was featured in two Naxos label recordings with the ensemble, one of which was nominated for a Grammy Award. As an active choral singer, he has sung with several major symphony orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. He was a pupil of Thomas Faracco and Faith Esham.

Photo Credit: Alessio Romano

Morgan Pappas

Flute

Morgan Pappas is a versatile flutist, chamber musician, and music educator. She has performed at venues such as Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space, and has toured internationally throughout Europe, Africa, and North America. Morgan is a member of the Hudson Flute and Guitar Duo with guitarist Daniel Keene, and a professional member of the Westchester Band. She is currently a Resident Flutist at the Flute Center of New York.

Morgan graduated from the Aaron Copland School of Music with a Masters in Flute Performance, and received her Bachelor of Music from New York University. She was the recipient of several scholarship awards, and winner of the Queens College Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition.

In addition to performing chamber music and freelancing throughout the New York Metropolitan area, Morgan has an extensive private studio of flute and beginner piano students and consults for non-profit organizations in the performing arts.

Photo Credit: Rebekah Key

Joshua Vigran
Piano

An increasingly visible performer in New York, Mr. Vigran continues to collaborate with some of the greatest talents in the world. This persistently shapes and develops his unique musical voice in ways that appeals to audiences across the board. “As a performer, Josh is excellent… His technique, musicality and confidence make him one of the best pianists to graduate the School of Music.” Michael Lipsey, world-renowned percussionist. Mr. Vigran graduated summa cum laude with a Master of Music from Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and holds a magna cum laude Bachelor of Music from Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach.

Mr. Vigran made his Carnegie Hall debut in the Spring of 2016 as both a collaborative musician and solo performer. Recent awards for Mr. Vigran include 1st Place alongside clarinetist Tony Park and videographer Amanda Wai in the Burke and Bagley Prize for new compositions set to video. He is also the recipient of the Mayor’s Special Service Award from the Mayor of Hempstead, Long Island for his artistic contribution to the community in organizing a Summer Concert Series at Christ’s First Presbyterian Church in Hempstead.