Leah Bartell
Violin, Conductor
Leah Bartell is a passionate performer and educator, committed to bringing together young, aspiring musicians and seasoned professionals in meaningful collaborative concerts. After one such performance, one concertgoer raved, “the concert…was fabulous, moving, inspirational, complex, strong.” Ms. Bartell has performed recitals throughout the U.S. and Canada and completed a one-month residency in Calcutta, India, teaching violin and performing as a soloist with the Calcutta Foundation Orchestra, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of orphans through music education.
As a freelance violinist in the Boston area, Ms. Bartell has performed with symphonies and opera companies throughout New England, including the Vermont Symphony, Opera North, PORT Opera, National Lyric Opera, Emmanuel Music, Lexington Symphony, and Portland Ballet. Ms. Bartell discovered her passion for chamber music while studying with the members of the Lafayette String Quartet at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, where she completed her M.Mus. in violin performance in 1999. Since then, Ms. Bartell has collaborated with musicians throughout the Boston area, including members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Handel and Haydn Society. As a conductor, Leah Bartell has worked with young orchestras at New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. She is the music director at the Waldorf School of Lexington and is the founder and music director of the Great Meadows Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Bartell has taught privately in the Boston area since 2000, and she has a Suzuki violin and viola studio in Lexington. www.leahbartell.com/
Jessica Tunick Berens
Soprano
Jessica Tunick Berens is a soprano with broad musical experience, performing music ranging from Medieval through recently composed pieces for her own voice. She has performed at the Skirball Arts Center, RedCat, the Ojai Music Festival, Long Beach Opera, the Beach Cities Symphony, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Greek Theater. In Graz, Austria, Jessica was a finalist in the prestigious Meistersinger competition. Jessica is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in vocal performance, is a Transformational Voice Institute certified voice teacher, and is also an accomplished violinist. Jessica’s operatic roles include among many others, Susanna (The Marriage of Figaro), Philine (Mignon), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Adele (Die Fledermaus),and Pamina (The Magic Flute). Jessica is soprano section leader for the Halalisa Singers, Boston’s World Music vocal ensemble. In addition to performing, Jessica has 11 years of early childhood music education expertise with infants through middle school and is musical director for a children’s theater in Arlington. Jessica is a private voice teacher, and with her husband, pianist and composer Trevor Berens, runs the Berens Voice and Piano Studio. jessicatunickberens.webs.com
Trevor Berens
Piano
Trevor Berens is a pianist, composer, and music therapist. He holds degrees from Loyola Marymount University (BA: Music and Psychology, specializing in piano and composition), California Institute of the Arts (MFA: Performer/Composer), and Lesley University (MA: Expressive Therapies, specializing in Music Therapy). His former piano teachers include Tania Flesicher, Peter Miyamoto, and Vicki Ray, and his former composition teachers include Paul Humphreys, Stephen “Lucky” Mosko, Mark Saya, and James Tenney. As a pianist, he enjoys playing in a variety of styles, including avant-garde classical music, traditional classical music, and free improvisation and as a collaborator, he enjoys working with a wide variety of individuals and ensembles, including solo vocalists and instrumentalists, chamber groups, dancers, and choruses. From 2006-2008, Trevor ran the Los Angeles Wholesale Orchestra, which commissioned and premiered multiple new works and he is now the founder of the Boston based new music group, Sonic Liberation Players. Currently, Trevor runs the Berens Voice and Piano Studio out of Lincoln, MA, with his wife, Jessica. He works as a music therapist working with young children and with the elderly. He is also accompanist for the Halalisa Singers. www.trevorberensmusic.com
Andrea Lieberherr Douglass
Flute, Violin
Andrea Lieberherr Douglass holds degrees from Northeastern University in 2001 (BA in Music Literature and Performance, BA in Chemistry), the California Institute of the Arts in 2004 (MFA in Flute and Violin Performance), and Boston University (PhD in Ethnomusicology, 2015). She has performed in Switzerland, Italy, Brazil, and Mexico and has recorded at Skywalker Ranch and for Capitol Records. Performing a wide range of music, Andrea has played in many different types of ensembles ranging from Brazilian music to an all-woman mariachi band, from a California-based new music ensemble to classical orchestras. She was a violin teacher at the Renaissance Arts Academy and the Harmony Project in Los Angeles, as well as the Suzuki Institute of Boston. Her research interests include European folk music, the music of Brazil, and tourism studies, Her dissertation focused on how the rebranding of Streichmusik (a genre particular to the Appenzeller and Toggenburger region of Switzerland) is used to project an imaginary heritage and Swissness as a reaction to shifting politics and demographics. She is currently Associate Lecturer at UMass Boston and teaches violin and flute at the Waldorf School in Lexington as well as Kundalini yoga at Healthworks in Cambridge. https://www.umb.edu/academics/
Joshua Jade
Percussion
Percussionist Joshua Jade has a highly diverse background in the arts. As a musician he received his BFA in music and education from Lewis and Clark college, his MFA in multi-focus percussion from California Institute of the Arts, and did post graduate certificate work at New England Conservatory in the contemporary improvisation department. A passionate supporter of contemporary music he has commissioned and premiered many works for solo percussion. As well as freelance work on both coasts he has been the principal percussionist for the Rose City Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Concord Orchestra where he was also a featured soloist. He was a founding member of the improvisational chamber music ensemble NiceJaquet. Other notable performances also include the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Hankus Netsky’s Jewish Music Ensemble, Marcus Thompson’s M.I.T. recital, L.A. Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella New Music series, Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, Society of Composers Conference, and Lou Harrison’s 75th birthday celebration performance.
Joshua has taught for the Community Music Center of Boston, Conservatory Lab Charter School (where he was also the artist in residence to create a performance for their annual Jordan Hall recital), Creative Arts for Kids, Longy School of Music, Suzuki School of Newton, and more. He recently created an event of one-time new works for intentionally unprepared performers at Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA where he is currently the director.
Gabriel Solomon
Violin, Viola
Canadian violinist Gabriel Solomon made his solo debut with the Calcutta Foundation Orchestra in Calcutta, India, and has appeared as a recitalist in the United States, Canada, and India. He has toured in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Spain, Italy, England, and South Africa. Mr. Solomon earned a M.Mus and Graduate Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music, where he studied with Laura Bossert, Peter Cassino, Charlie Banacos, Ben Schwendener, and Dave Bryant. He received a B.Mus from the University of Victoria, Canada.
Mr. Solomon was a founding member of Shiki Group, a trio performing improvisation and collaborative compositions. In 2001, he co-founded the Mercury Consort, performing material from Hildegard von Bingen through Alfred Schnittke. Mr. Solomon is the founder and arranger for Zulu Time, his collaboration with World Champion Accordionist Cory Pesaturo and bassist Richey Tally. The band has an omnivorous musical appetite, with repertoire spanning genres from jazz, musette, tango, klezmer, folk music of Bulgaria and Macedonia, classical, and original compositions. www.gabrielsolomon.net/
Sonic Liberation Players 