Noted for his “expressive warmth” [Chicago Classical Review] NYC based and Los Angeles born violinist Brendan Speltz has toured the globe as an in demand chamber musician. Recently appointed as second violinist of the prestigious Escher String QuartetHighlights this year include appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Aspen Music Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and Wigmore Hall, among others. He’s also toured with groundbreaking ensembles such as A Far Cry, Ethel, the Harlem Quartet, Shuffle Concert, and the Manhattan Chamber Players, and with members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Orion, and Dover Quartets. An avid believer in the power of classical music to reach young adults, Speltz has produced innovative concert events across the U.S. and Canada which have been described by The New Yorker as “Thrilling, poignant, unexpected, and utterly DIY.” Recent productions include curating the closing concert experience of the prestigious Chamber Fest Ottawa in 2018 and before that co-creating a cross-disciplinary presentation of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with aerial dance troupe ABCirque which was sponsored by Meyer Sound Labs in Brooklyn. In NYC he has performed as guest with the New York New Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, The American Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s and as a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California with Los Angeles Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and his Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music with Laurie Smukler. He plays a 1925 Carl Becker violin.

American-Israeli violinist Giora Schmidt has been captivating audiences with his “lyricism, tonal warmth, and boundless enthusiasm" over the span of his career. As featured guest artist, he has appeared with the globally renowned Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre. Giora Schmidt’s symphonic collaborations include those conducted by Andreas Delfs, Asher Fish, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Domingo Hindoyan, Jun Märkl, Itzhak Perlman, Carlo Rizzi, James DePriest, Grant Llewellyn, Alexander Mickelthwate, Thomas Wilkins, and since 2023 with Yaniv Attar, Dirk Kaftan, Tito Muñoz, Zbyněk Müller, Gerard Schwarz, Andrew Sewell and Yoel Levi. In 2024-2025, Mr. Schmidt will be featured by the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Haifa Symphony Orchestra in Israel. As violin soloist, Giora has also appeared in front of nationally renowned symphony orchestras in San Diego, Fort Worth, Knoxville, Naples, Louisville, Columbus (OH), North Carolina, Arkansas, Charleston, Anchorage, Santa Barbara, Sarasota, Las Vegas, Albany, San Luis Obispo and Bellingham (WA), as well as the ABT Orchestra; abroad, with Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Chile, and Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, Giora began playing the violin at the age of four. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, The Classical Recording Foundation's Samuel Sanders award, and was a Starling Fellow at the Juilliard School. As an educator, Mr. Schmidt is currently on the artist faculty at New York University (NYU Steinhardt). Giora plays a c. 1830 violin by Giuseppe Rocca and strings kindly sponsored by Thomastik-Infeld, Vienna.

Praised for his “sweet, luxurious” sound (Fanfare), and the “thoughtfulness and seriousness” (Nashville Scene) of his interpretations, Stephen Miahky is the Joseph Joachim Professor of Violin at Vanderbilt University and first violin of the Blair String Quartet. He has garnered acclaim for his performances throughout North America, South America, Europe, and Asia in concert halls and music festivals. Some of his recent engagements include performances at New York City’s Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Bargemusic, Atlanta’s ProMozart Society, the Princeton Chamber Music Society, the American Academies in Rome and Berlin, and NPR’s Performance Today. He has been featured in chamber music performances with musicians such as Lynn Harrell, Joseph Silverstein, Andres Cardenes, Glenn Dicterow, Steven Doane, and Jinjoo Cho. Miahky is a member of Brave New Works and a rotating concertmaster of the IRIS Orchestra, based in Memphis, Tennessee. He has also performed as guest concertmaster of the Illinois Symphony, the Columbus ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. As a recording artist, Miahky can be heard on numerous world-premiere recordings on the AMP, New Dynamic, Edition Modern, Albany, and Naxos record labels. Originally from Akron, Ohio, Miahky earned B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Michigan and a D.M.A. degree from Rutgers University. He studied violin with Arnold Steinhardt, Paul Kantor, and Alan Bodman, and chamber music with Andrew Jennings, Martin Katz, and members of the Cleveland, Brentano, Emerson, Juilliard, American, and Tokyo String Quartets. He received additional training at the Aspen Music Festival, Canada’s National Arts Centre, the Perlman Music Program, and the Meadowmount School of Music, where he was recently recognized as a distinguished alumnus. Miahky spends his summers teaching and performing at ENCORE Chamber Music in northeast Ohio and the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival in eastern Washington.