A native of Louisville, Kentucky, cellist Anne Richardson began musical studies with Wayne Krigger and Louise Harris at the age of 6. Since then, she has embarked on a versatile and international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. A graduate of the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Richard Aaron, Anne made her Lincoln Center debut at the age of 19, performing Henri Dutilleux's Cello Concerto, "Tout un monde lointain..", with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert at David Geffen Hall. Additional solo appearances include concerts with the Louisville Orchestra, Massapequa Philharmonic, Bryan Symphony Orchestra, and Juilliard’s Pre-College Symphony, among others. She has been a featured soloist at the Juilliard in Aiken Festival, Lincoln Center’s Great Performance Circle, and Vail International Dance Festival. She was also named the Kentucky Center’s Gheens Artist in Residency in 2019 and was honored to be a guest faculty member and artist in residence at the 2018 Tennessee Cello Workshop. Anne has performed extensively as a chamber musician, collaborating with many inspiring colleagues at Nymphenburger Sommer in Munich, Tegernsee International Music Festival, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, United Nations Chamber Music Society, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. As an orchestral player, she has performed with the Aspen Chamber Symphony, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and enjoys regularly subbing with the Pittsburgh Symphony. From 2022-2024, Anne was an akademist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position which she held while simultaneously completing her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan. She held a temporary contract with the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig before recently moving back to the States. Anne is excited to join the San Francisco Symphony next season as their Associate Principal Cellist.

Praised for his “fluid virtuosity” and “soulful melodies,” Los Angeles native Brook Speltz is the cellist of the internationally renowned Escher String Quartet – Quartet-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University – and an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. An extremely versatile cellist, Mr. Speltz has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist throughout the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. First Prize winner of the prestigious Ima Hogg Competition, he has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, and International Contemporary Ensemble, and is a regular performer at England’s IMS Prussia Cove and on tour with Musicians from Marlboro. Mr. Speltz has been personally invited by Itzhak Perlman and Richard Goode to collaborate in chamber music recitals throughout the country, and as a result of these collaborations, has been nominated for the inaugural Warner Music Prize presented by Warner Music and Carnegie Hall. A lover of all facets of the music world, Mr. Speltz has enjoyed performing on tour with the cello rock band Break of Reality, whose recent U.S. tour raised funds and awareness for music programs in public schools all around the country. Mr. Speltz studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and at The Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, after his formative years of study with Eleanor Schoenfeld in Los Angeles. He performs on a 1756 J.C. Gigli on loan from his father, a cellist and his first inspiration in a family of professional musicians.

Described as “an assured soloist” with “fearless technique,” Dr. Cecilia Huerta-Lauf brings passion and heart to her performances as an accomplished cellist. Currently, Cecilia is the founder, director, & cellist of NouLou Chamber Players; substitute cellist with the Louisville Orchestra; and cordination manager & cellist of Derby City Chamber Music Festival. She also served as President of the Chamber Music Society of Louisville Board. A native of Dickson, Tennessee, she made her solo debut with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra at age 16. Cecilia has enjoyed tenures with groups such as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Discovery Ensemble, Florida Grand Opera, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra & founding String Quartet, and founding administrative director/principal cellist of the Boston Latin-American Orchestra. In 2012, Cecilia was a semi-finalist in the Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition. Cecilia has participated in music festivals across the United States, Canada, France, and Italy. Degrees include pre-college at Vanderbilt University, B.M. at DePaul University in Chicago, M.M. at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and her D.M.A. at University of Miami in FL. Her principal cello teachers include Steve Balderston, Brant Taylor, Paul Katz & Ross Harbaugh.

Julian Schwarz was born to a multigenerational musical family in 1991. Heralded from a young age as a cellist destined to rank among the greatest of the 21st century, Julian’s powerful tone, effortless virtuosity, and extraordinarily large color palette are hallmarks of his style.

 

After making his concerto debut at the age of 11 with the Seattle Symphony and his father Gerard Schwarz on the podium, he made his US touring debut with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2010. Since being awarded first prize at the inaugural Schoenfeld International String Competition in 2013, he has led an active career as soloist, performing with the symphony orchestras of Annapolis, Boise, Bozeman, Buffalo, Charlotte, Columbus, Des Moines, Hartford, Jacksonville, Louisville, Memphis, Modesto, Omaha, Puerto Rico, Richmond, Rochester, San Antonio, Sarasota, Seattle, Syracuse, Toledo, Tucson, Virginia, West Virginia, Wichita, and Winston-Salem, among others. Internationally, he made his Australian debut with the Queensland Symphony, his Mexican debuts with the Boca del Rio Philharmonic in Veracruz and the Mexico City Philharmonic with frequent collaborator Jorge Mester, and his Hong Kong debut at the Intimacy of Creativity Festival. He has also appeared at the Salzburg Mozarteum, and the Verbier festival in Switzerland.

 

As a chamber musician, Mr. Schwarz performs extensively in recital with pianist Marika Bournaki. In 2016 the Schwarz-Bournaki duo was awarded first prize at the inaugural Boulder International String Competition’s “The Art of Duo”, and subsequently embarked on an extensive 10-recital tour of China in March 2017. Mr. Schwarz is a founding member of the New York based Frisson Ensemble (a mixed nonet of winds and strings), and the Mile-End Trio with violinist Jeff Multer and Ms. Bournaki. He performs frequently at Bargemusic in Brooklyn with violinist Mark Peskanov, on the Frankly Music Series in Milwaukee with violinist Frank Almond, as a member of the Palladium Chamber Players in St Petersburg FL, and has appeared at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival. In addition, he is the co-coordinator of chamber music at Eastern Music Festival, running programming for the Tuesday evening chamber music series.

 

Julian Schwarz is an ardent supporter of new music, and has premiered concertos by Richard Danielpour and Samuel Jones (recorded with the All Star Orchestra for public television in 2012, subsequently released as a DVD on Naxos). In the 17-18 season, he gave the world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s first Cello Concerto with a consortium of six orchestras. Other premieres include recital works by Paul Frucht, Scott Ordway, Jonathan Cziner, Gavin Fraser, Alex Weiser, Ofer Ben-Amots, and the US Premiere of Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto. On record, he has recorded Bright Sheng’s “Northern Lights” for Naxos, the complete cello/piano works by Ernest Bloch for the Milken Archive of American Jewish Music, and an album of concertos with the Seattle Symphony.

 

A devoted teacher, Mr. Schwarz serves as Assistant Professor of Cello at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University (Winchester, VA) and on the artist faculty of New York University (NYU Steinhardt). He spends his summers teaching and performing at the Eastern Music Festival (Greensboro, NC). Past faculty appointments include artist-in-residence at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (Nova Scotia, Canada), faculty teaching assistant to Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School, and artist-In-residence at the pianoSonoma Festival.

 

Born in Seattle, WA, Mr. Schwarz studied at the Academy of Music Northwest and the Lakeside School. He continued to the Colburn School in Los Angeles under Ronald Leonard, and then moved to New York City to study with mentor Joel Krosnick at The Juilliard School (BM 14, MM 16). Other influential teachers include the late David Tonkonogui, the late Toby Saks, Lynn Harrell, Neal Cary, and chamber music mentors Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, Jonathan Feldman, Toby Appel and Paul Coletti. Julian plays a Neapolitan cello made by Gennaro Gagliano in 1743 and multiple American bows made by the late Paul Martin Siefried. He is an active contributor to Strings Magazine’s Artist Blog, edits cello editions for Carl Fischer Publishing, and sits on the music committee of the National Arts Club. A Pirastro artist, he endorses and plays the "Perpetual" medium and edition sets of cello strings. Julian also proudly endorses Melos Rosin.

A native of Texas, Lillian Pettitt began her musical studies at the age of 3 while studying piano at the Suzuki Institute of Houston. After three years of piano lessons and two years of violin lessons she went to hear Yo-Yo Ma perform with the Houston Symphony and immediately switched to the cello. After studying for many years with Chris French of the Houston Symphony she moved to San Francisco to continue her education. She received her Bachelors in Cello Performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while studying with Jean- Michael Fonteneau. She then moved to Chicago and received her Master’s in Music from DePaul University School of Music while studying with Stephen Balderston of the Chicago Symphony. Lillian has performed extensively across the United States and Europe. As an active orchestral musician, Lillian has performed under conductors such as Teddy Abrams, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Mark Elder, Susanna Mälkki, Daniel Boico, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Hans Graff. Lillian is currently Assistant Principal of the Louisville Orchestra and cellist in the Social Distancing Quartet

New Jersey-native Lindy Tsai began playing the cello at the age of four and has been a member of the Louisville Orchestra since 2019. She received her Master’s degree at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts under Yeesun Kim, and prior to that received her Bachelor’s degree and Performer’s Diploma at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under Eric Kim. She also briefly attended the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Steven Doane. Throughout her career, Lindy has performed with many world-renown musicians such as Joshua Bell, David Finckel, Yo-Yo Ma, Wu Han, Steven Isserlis, Fred Sherry, Timothy Eddy, Carter Brey, Paul Katz, Rafael Figueroa, Colin Carr, and Jian Wang. She has performed in dozens of concert halls around the United States and Asia, most notably when she made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 at the age of 15. Her performances have also been broadcasted on New York’s classical music radio station WQXR as well as NPR. Lindy also attended many music festivals over the years such as Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Music Master’s Course in Yokohama, Japan, run by the New York Philharmonic’s previous music director Alan Gilbert as well as the Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ryukyu Symphony Orchestra’s music director Naoto Otomo. Lindy currently plays on a 2014 Jason Viseltear cello from New York City.

A “long-admired figure on the New York scene” (New Yorker), cellist Michael Nicolas enjoys a diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, improvisor, and teacher. His eclectic tastes and adventurous spirit have led him to forge a musical path of uncommon breadth, where his activities range from performing the masterpieces of the past in the world's most prestigious concert halls, to free improvisation in downtown experimental venues, to working with contemporary composers of all styles, pushing the boundaries of musical expression and meaning.

The ensembles Michael plays in illustrate his commitment to that musical diversity. He is the cellist of the Grammy-nominated string quartet Brooklyn Rider, an intrepid and genre-defying group which has drawn praise from classical, world music, and rock critics alike. As a member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble, he has worked with countless composers from around the world, premiering and recording dozens of new works. Another group, Third Sound, which Michael helped found, made its debut with an historic residency at the 2015 Havana Contemporary Music Festival, in Cuba. Earlier in his career, he played for almost a decade with the wildly popular Korean chamber group Ensemble Ditto, and also held a post as Associate Principal Cellist of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal.

As a soloist, Michael has performed recitals and concertos across the globe. His album Transitions, available on the Sono Luminus label, was named Q2 Music Album of the Week at WQXR upon release, and it has since garnered critical acclaim across North America. His discography comprises over 50 recordings as soloist, chamber musician, and sideman.

Of mixed French-Canadian and Taiwanese heritage, Michael was born in Canada, and currently resides in New York City, where he is on the cello faculty at The Mannes School of Music at The New School. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School.

Since performing as a concerto soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 18, Nicholas Finch has established himself as an artist of great depth and diversity - as a solo cellist, recitalist, orchestral principal, chamber musician, conductor, founder, and curator. The 2024/25 season will see Finch lead the fourth year of the Derby City Chamber Music Festival as its Founder and Artistic Director, which over its past three seasons has featured musicians from the Dover Quartet, the Escher String Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and more. As part of the festival, he leads the Derby City Sinfonietta as its conductor, which has featured musicians from the Boston Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, and more. He has additionally been featured as a guest conductor with the Louisville Orchestra. A highlight of the upcoming 2024/25 season includes performing Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's "Double Concerto" as cello soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, and as cello soloist in Saint-Saens's Cello Concerto in A minor and as conductor in Beethoven's "Egmont" overture with the Melrose Symphony. Finch recently recorded his debut album "Nou Edition" with the NouLou Chamber Players, featuring three world-premiere cello concertos written for him, to be released in the spring of 2025. He recently performed as a secondary soloist with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Teddy Abrams' 'Mammoth', performed by the Louisville Orchestra inside Mammoth Cave National Park. He also performed the American premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy's concerto for cello and harp with the Skagit Symphony in Mt. Vernon, Washington. He served as cello artist-faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in the Summers of 2022-2024. In recent seasons, Finch has collaborated with musicians from the Louisville Orchestra and others in the role of conductor, in works by Strauss, Copland, Glinka, Saint-Saens, Elgar, Dvorak, and more. Just months prior to the onset of COVID-19, he appeared as cello soloist in Richard Strauss's "Don Quixote" with the Louisville Orchestra. Finch was appointed Principal Cellist of the Louisville Orchestra by music director Teddy Abrams. He has appeared with the Boston-based chamber orchestra ‘A Far Cry’ on numerous concerts and recordings, one recording having been nominated for a Grammy Award. He has additionally appeared numerous times with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City A native of Boston, Finch began his cello studies at the age of 12. He attended Harvard, Juilliard, the University of Michigan, and the Mannes College of Music, studying the cello with Andrew Mark, David Soyer, Harvey Shapiro, Richard Aaron, and Marcy Rosen. He has studied orchestral conducting with Kenneth Kiesler, Markand Thakar, Gerard Schwarz, and Michael Jinbo and Ludovic Morlot at the Pierre Monteux School. During the 2023-24 season, Finch was on leave of absence from the Louisville Orchestra to earn a second Masters Degree from the University of Michigan, this time in Orchestral Conducting.