MUSICIAN BIOS for the 2008-09 Season

 

Jonathan Miller- Artistic Director

Thomas Bloch, glass harmonica
Tatiana Dimitriades, violin
Edward Gazouleas, viola
Beth Guterman, viola
Randall Hodgkinson, piano
Jason  Horowitz, violin
Elita Kang, violin
Elizabeth Keusch, soprano
Sharan Leventhal, violin
Thomas Martin, clarinet
Kazuko Matsusaka, viola
Elizabeth Ostling, flute

Jonathan Miller (Artistic Director, cello) studied literature at the University of California at Berkeley. After attending a Pablo Casal’s master class, he was accepted as a scholarship student at Juilliard School, and later became a pupil of Bernard Greenhouse. Nine years later, Casals was to publicly acclaim Miller as an outstanding exponent of Bach. Mr. Miller held appointments as principal cellist of the Julliard, Hartford and San Diego Symphonies. He has performed as soloist with the Hartford Symphony, The Boston Pops, Cape Ann, and the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of Boston. Miller won the Jeunesses Musicales auditions. He twice toured the US with the New York String Sextet, and appeared as a member of the Fine Arts Quartet. He performed as a featured soloist at the American Cello Congress in the spring of 1990 at the invitation of Rostropovitch, and also a soloist at the 1996 Congress. Miller has over the years collaborated in many chamber music concerts with distinguished musicians including: violinists Renaud Capucon, Eugene Drucker, Hillary Hahn, Daniel Phillips, Gil Shaham and Joel Smirnoff; violists Yuri Bashment, Roberto Diaz, Paul Doktor, James Dunham, and Kim Kashkashian; and pianists Emanuel Ax and Garrick Ohlson. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio, which has twice received glowing reviews in the New York Times for its New York City performances. (Back to top)

Thomas Bloch specializes in the rare instruments ondes Martenot, glass harmonica, and Cristal Baschet. Receiving a a First Prize for ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique and a Masters Degree in Musicology at the University of Strasbourg, He has so far given over 2500 performances in 40 countries and taken part in more than 80 recordings all over the world. His performances range from classical and contemporary music to songs, jazz, rock, theatre music, film music, world music and ballet music. Mr. Bloch has appeared in well known movies, including Amadeus  and The March of Penguins He teaches ondes Martenot at the Strasbourg Conservatoire, is a musical director for music publishers, for the Evian Music Festival (France) and for the Glass Music International Festival 2005 in Paris Cité de la Musique (France). He was the recipient of fifteen Conservatoire awards, at Colmar, Strasbourg, including a First Prize for ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatoire He has recorded for Columbia, EMI, Erato, Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, Philips, RCA, Sony Classical, Toshiba and Naxos. (Back to top)

Born and raised in New York, Tatiana Dimitriades earned her bachelor's and master's degrees, and an Artist Diploma, from the Indiana University School of Music, where she was awarded the Performer's Certificate in recognition of outstanding musical performance. A recipient of the Lili Boulanger Memorial Award, Ms. Dimitriades has also won the Guido Chigi Saracini Prize, and the Mischa Pelz Prize. Ms. Dimitriades joined the BSO in 1987. She teaches at the Boston Conservatory of Music, and is the concertmaster of the New Philharmonia Orchestra. Her solo performances have included a Carnegie Recital Hall appearance sponsored by the Associated Music Teachers of New York and an appearance as soloist in the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto at the Grand Teton Music Festival. (Back to top)

Violist Edward Gazouleas joined the BSOin 1990. After viola studies with Raphael Hillyer and Steven Ansell at Yale University, he received his bachelor's degree in 1984 from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied viola with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle. He has been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony and has performed with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of New England, and as first-desk player with the New York String Orchestra. Mr. Gazouleas was winner of the Eighth International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France, as a member of the Nisaika Quartet  and made his Carnegie Hall recital debut as a member of the Cezanne Quartet in 1982. He has taught viola as an instructor at Temple University and privately at Swarthmore College.(Back to top)

A native of Belmont, MA, Beth Guterman has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia. As a member of the International Sejong Soloists, she has toured extensively in the US and Asia. Last November, radio audiences heard Ms. Guterman performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 live on NPR with this ensemble. Some of her past collaborators include Lynn Harrell, Masao Kawasaki, and Alexander Kerr. Ms. Guterman has performed concertos with the Spoleto USA Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, and Aspen’s Sinfonia Orchestra. She has performed as principal violist with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony and Orchestra, Aspen Sinfonia Orchestra, and the Spoleto USA Orchestra. She recently recorded Brad Lubman’s Quartet for strings and electronics for Tzadik, which will be released in October and can be heard on Naxos performing chamber works by Stephen Hartke. Ms. Guterman received top prize in the Juilliard Viola Competition and in the first-ever Aspen Nakamichi Lower Strings Competition. She was the recipient of the 1999 Eugene Lehner Chamber Music Award for Excellence from the New England Conservatory.(Back to top)

Randall Hodgkinson (piano) won the International American Music Competition in 1981 and his October 1986 formal New York recital debut at Alice Tully Hall under the competition’s auspices was greeted with critical acclaim. Mr. Hodgkinson has, in recent years, performed with orchestras including those of Philadelphia, Atlanta, Albany, Buffalo, Westchester, Oakland, and Caramoor and has collaborated with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein and Gunther Schuller. 1985 saw his European orchestral debut with the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome. He is a featured artist on the Bosendorfer Concert Series aired over WNYC - FM in New York City and has recorded for the Nonesuch, CRI and New World labels. Mr Hodgkinson studied with Veronica Jochum and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory where he now serves on the faculty. He is a member of the Gramercy Trio.(Back to top)

Violinist Jason Horowitz joined the BSO in 2006. Mr. Horowitz received the New England Conservatory's highest performance honor, the Artist Diploma, in 1998; he joined the Munich Chamber Orchestra shortly thereafter, working privately with music director Christoph Poppen in Berlin and Munich. Mr. Horowitz has participated in the Tanglewood, Norfolk, and Banff festivals, and has performed chamber music across America, Europe, and Asia. Formerly assistant concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony, he has also been guest concertmaster for the BBC, Baltimore, Hartford, and Rochester Symphonys. Recent solo engagements have included the Mendelssohn concerto in the Czech Republic; the Menotti concerto with the Charleston Symphony; concertos with the Breckenridge Chamber Orchestra; the concerto Distant Light by Peteris Vasks with Boston Ballet to choreography by Peter Martins; and a series of performances of Corelli violin sonatas also with Boston Ballet.(Back to top)

Elita Kang joined the BSO in 1997 and was appointed assistant concertmaster in 2001. Ms. Kang received her bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music; while at Curtis, she served as principal second violin and then concertmaster of the school’s symphony orchestra and was also a substitute player with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior to her work at Curtis, she studied at the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, where she served for two years as orchestra concertmaster. Her chamber music experience has included performances at Curtis and the Taos School of Music. Ms. Kang twice won the Juilliard Concerto Competition and in 1992 won the Grand Prize in the America String Teachers Association Competition’s pre-professional division. Her teachers include Arnold Steinhardt, Yumi Ninomiya-Scott, Pamela Frank, Felix Galimir, Norman Carol, and Louise Behrend.(Back to top)

Elizabeth Keusch’s BSO debut with conductor Robert Spano occurred with the 2000 American premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión Según San Marcos. Other orchestral performances include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Dallas, Baltimore, and Indianapolis Symphonies, George Benjamin’s Mind of Winter and Oliver Knussen’s Whitman Settings with the Berlin Philharmonic and New World Symphonies, Liszt’s Missa Solemnis with American Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with Minnesota Symphony, and the Mater Gloriosa in Mahler’s 2nd Symphony with Boston Philharmonic. Ms. Keusch is an avid champion of chamber music and new music. In 2006 she toured Portugal with Ensemble Contrapunctus performing Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Shostokovich’s Seven Block Songs. Ms Keusch has had successive collaborations on the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series and with Boston Musica Viva, Collage New Music (Boston), the Seattle Chamber Players and Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin. In 2005 Ms. Keusch has toured the northeast with both the Borromeo and Brentano String Quartets performing Schoenberg’s 2nd String Quartet, and she debuted at the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society in Alice Tully Hall with the Pacifica Quartet in Osvaldo Golijov’s Tenebre and How Slow the Wind.(Back to top)

Sharan Leventhal has built an international reputation as a champion of contemporary music. Her more that 100 premieres include works by Schuller, Kraft, Oliveros, and Bainbridge. Her recordings include the entire violin and piano works of Virgil Thomson on the Northeastern Recordings label. Ms. Leventhal has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet and the Milwaukee and Vermont Symphonies. She was a founding member of the duo Marimolin, is a member of the Gramercy Trio and has served on the faculty of Michigan State University.(Back to top)

Thomas Martin served as principal clarinet of the Alabama Symphony before joining the BSO in 1984 where he is now Associate Principal Clarinet and Principal Clarinet of the Boston Pops. Mr. Martin performs frequently as a recitalist and chamber musician and has been heard on Morning Pro Musica on WGBH. He has appeared in the Prelude Series at Symphony Hall, and Tanglewood and at Longy School of Music and the Gardner Museum.(Back to top)

Kazuko Matsusaka studied violin with Josef Gingold at the Indiana School of Music. A Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 1985, she holds a bachelor of music degree from Hartt College of Music where she studied with Charles Treger, and a master of music degree from the State University of New York, where she studied with John Grahm. Ms. Matsusaka was a prizewinner in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and has been a soloist with with several orchestras in the area. She was a member of the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble before joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1991.(Back to top)

Elizabeth Ostling joined the BSO in 1994 was named associate principal flute in the 1997-98 season. She is also principal flute of the Boston Pops. Ms. Ostling graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music , where she was a student of Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner. She was the featured soloist during Tanglewood’s annual Festival of Contemporary Music in Michael Gandolfi’s chamber concerto, Caution to the Wind. Ms. Ostling has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and was a featured soloist on the “Young Artists Showcase” over WQXR in New York. Ms. Ostling has premiered two works written expressly for her: Michael Gandolfi’s Geppetto's Workshop for flute and piano, and Dan Coleman’s Pavanes and Symmetries.(Back to top)