SEASON 4

Oboist Hsuan-Fong Chen (pronounced “SHUan-fong”) has garnered a reputation as one of New York City’s most versatile musicians, with a career spanning orchestral, Broadway, new music, and occasional administrative roles. Having performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia, she is sought after for a wide range of engagements—from appearances with the American Ballet Theater, to sharing the stage with Rihanna at the 2015 Met Gala, and performing as the lead oboist in the hit Broadway production of Rocktopia. She has also appeared as a substitute in Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, and Camelot at Lincoln Center. In Fall 2025, she will hold the Oboe/English horn chair for Ragtime, the Broadway revival at Lincoln Center. She was also the oboist for the world premiere of Watch Night in Fall 2023, a theatrical collaboration led by Tony Award-winning choreographer/director Bill T. Jones.

A seasoned orchestral player, Ms. Chen has performed with the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra in Alabama, Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, with whom she toured the West Coast. Other notable appearances include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, The Knights, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, New York Classical Players,  Novus NY, the Classical Music Institute in San Antonio, and the American Ballet Theater.

In new music, she appears regularly with Rocket City New Music, Talea Ensemble, Metropolis Ensemble, the Orchestra of the League of Composers, and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA. As a soloist, she has given recitals and performed concerti with orchestras in Taiwan, Germany, and across the United States. Her album debut came in October 2019 on the Naxos label, recording Beethoven’s Serenade for Winds alongside faculty from the Yale School of Music.

A musician since age four, Ms. Chen is a proud alumna of the Walnut Hill School for the Arts and has honed her craft through invitations to festivals around the world. In the U.S., she has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Bard Music Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, Phoenix Chamber Music Society, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, and Artosphere Music Festival, among others. Internationally, she has appeared at Schloss Beuggen in Germany and toured Japan with both the Pacific Music Festival and the New York Symphonic Ensemble.

As an educator, Ms. Chen teaches oboe at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY, and chamber music at The Juilliard School Pre-College. She has held positions at the Calhoun School and the Greenwich Music School, and maintains private oboe and piano studios. She currently serves as Personnel Manager for Rocket City New Music, working closely with her husband, percussionist Sean Ritenauer, the organization’s founder. Previously, she was Artistic Coordinator and Orchestra Manager for the inaugural 2017 season of the National Youth Orchestra of China, arranging performances with NPR’s From the Top, WQXR’s Artist Showcase, and their Carnegie Hall debut.

A native of Taiwan, Hsuan-Fong Chen holds degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M.), the Yale School of Music (M.M. & Artist Diploma), and the Manhattan School of Music (Orchestral Performance Diploma). She is a former competitive pianist, with highlights including a solo performance at Carnegie Hall after receiving first prize at the American Fine Arts Festival, and a documentary feature in the National Palace Museum’s historical film A Museum Without Walls, alongside her piano teacher Da-Ming Zu. She is grateful to her mentors, including Nathan Hughes, Elaine Douvas, Pedro Diaz, Linda Strommen, and Stephen Taylor. She is based in New York City, where she lives with her husband, Sean Ritenauer, their young son, Koby, and their cockapoo, Hiro.

Zachary Good is a multifaceted clarinetist, chamber musician, composer, and educator based in Chicago. He is the clarinetist of the sextet Eighth Blackbird, a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, and a founding Co-Artistic Director and member of the eccentric performance collective Mocrep. He is a frequent guest with Music of the Baroque Chicago, Present Music Milwaukee, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the puppet company Manual Cinema. As an improviser, he performs and records with the trio ZRL and the quintet Honestly Same, as well as regularly appearing on improvised music series throughout Chicago. His discography includes releases on Cedille Records, Moon Glyph Records, American Dreams Records, Carrier Records, No Index, Homeroom, Parlour Tapes+, ears&eyes, and his own record label Add Dye Editions. As a composer, Zachary explores contrapuntal possibilities on the soprano clarinet with small–interval multiphonics (“close dyads” or double stops), creating the illusion of multiple clarinetists playing simultaneously. 

He serves as the Visiting Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Northern Illinois University, Instructor of Clarinet at Harper College, and a woodwind chamber music coach with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Alongside the musicians of Eighth Blackbird, he was Visiting Instructor at the University of Richmond. Previously, he served as a middle school band director at the Chicago Waldorf School from 2015 to 2021. Zachary is a graduate of Northwestern University (DMA), Oberlin Conservatory, and DePaul University. He is the recipient of 

Hailed as “… a technical superstar and household name…” by Maestro Paul Haas, and “One of the most remarkable double (music) threats… a brilliant trumpeter and imaginative arranger" by David Srebnik of Sirius XM, internationally acclaimed trumpeter, Chris Coletti, is equally renowned as a trumpet soloist, for his work as principal trumpet of numerous top orchestras, chamber music, and as an arranger and music director. Chris has performed and/or recorded with top orchestras and conductors, from the Metropolitan Opera Brass, the New York Philharmonic Brass, and St. Louis Symphony, Pierre Boulez, to popular artists such as Jon Batiste, Kanye West, Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound, and Quincy Jones.

Chris was thrust onto the world stage when joined Canadian Brass at age 22, and toured the world for ten years with the group from 2009-2019; having performed over a thousand concerts in the finest concert halls in the world, his trumpet playing, singing and arrangements have been enjoyed by more than half a billion people across countless live TV programs and radio broadcasts. He regularly performs with and in front of major symphony orchestras, and has thousands of monthly visitors to his online videos, blog, social media accounts and newsletter. Coletti’s discography includes 10 full length Canadian Brass recordings and dozens of additional singles and music videos—many of which feature his original arrangements, plus countless recordings and music videos with other world-class artists and ensembles.

A proponent of new music, Chris conducts and directs the Contemporary Ensemble at Ithaca College where he is Assistant Professor. Chris also plays baroque and natural trumpet, has a plethora of published arrangements for orchestra as well as brass, and has produced, co-produced and/or directed a myriad of recordings and video projects in various musical styles, from classical and baroque to indie-rock, salsa and jazz. Chris is also a professional whistler, has recorded and performed on theremin, and lives with his wife and 2 children in Ithaca, NY.

Detroit-based violinist and violist Magnolia Rohrer (they/them/she/her) specializes in experimental chamber music and improvisation, and is curious about connective tissue between traditional classical forms and personal creative practices. Magnolia is the violinist ofHub New Music, a quartet described as “a prime mover of piping hot 21st century repertoire” (the Washington Post) dedicated to commissioning and touring new chamber works. Magnolia is also the violinist and violist inVirago, a Michigan-based quartet that explores the liminal space of improvised chamber music through deep listening practices and multimedia collaborations. With Hub and Virago, Rohrer has released four albums on US and Australian labels. Magnolia is especially interested in old and new musical traditions informing one another; their recent solo project is a long-form viola piece with fixed media exploring microtonal polyphony.

Rohrer shares violin and viola duties in the Kalkaska String Quartet with whom they frequently perform around Southeast Michigan. Magnolia has recently performed with New Music Detroit, the Detroit Opera Orchestra, and the Ann Arbor Symphony, and is a member of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra. International performance credits include concerto appearances with the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan and at the Thailand International Composers Festival. Upcoming international appearances include work in Melbourne with Virago in December 2025.

Magnolia earned their masters degree at the University of Michigan studying with Danielle Belen and Caroline Coade, and holds a bachelors degree from Northwestern University where they studied with Blair Milton. Magnolia grew up in New Mexico and California and is now embracing life as a Michigander. In their free time, Magnolia enjoys baking sourdough bread and attuning to the ever expanding Star Wars universe.

Joshua Burel is a violinist, composer, and educator whose career spans international performances, acclaimed recordings, and nationally recognized compositions. He made his international violin debut at age 15 with the Blue Lake International Youth Orchestra in Germany and France and, at 18, toured Mexico with the International Holland String Quartet, receiving a goodwill ambassador award for representing the City of Holland, MI in the Annual Festival Celebration of Santiago in Querétaro, Mexico. He has performed with the Huntsville, Tallahassee, West Michigan, Battle Creek, Southwest Michigan, Holland, and Kalamazoo symphonies and recorded an album of Ernst von Dohnányi’s music with the Florida State University Symphony Orchestra on the Naxos label.

For over a decade, Burel has been the violinist of the new music ensemble What Is Noise, touring extensively throughout the United States with performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the FSU Biennial Festival of New Music, Berklee College of Music, Longy School of Music at Bard College, Boston Arts Academy, University of Houston, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, George Mason University, and many other universities nationwide. The ensemble has held residencies at Furman University (2023–2026), The Parish School in Texas (2020–2021), the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County in Maryland (2018–2019), Webster University’s Young Composers Competition (2016), and the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra (2015). What Is Noise has collaborated with leading composers including Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Lansing McLoskey, David T. Little, Don Freund, Jennifer Higdon, and others. Their debut album, Equivocal Duration, was released on Centaur Records in 2019, with a follow‑up, Temporal Echoes, forthcoming in 2026.

As a composer, Burel’s work exploring underrepresented voices and social justice has been recognized with awards from the Theodore Presser Foundation and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. His music has been performed at major venues and festivals including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, the University of Tennessee Contemporary Music Festival, Florida State University’s Biennial Festival of New Music, the International Double Reed Society Symposium, and International Clarinet Association Conferences. He has collaborated with ensembles such as the Huntsville Symphony, Decatur Orchestra Sul Ponticello, Elicio Winds, Vuorovesi Trio, Konza Wind Quintet, Tennessee Valley Woodwind Quintet, Three Reeds Duo, Rintrah Duo, and Coreopsis Quintet. His works have been nationally honored by The American Prize—including third prize for Elegy: Beneath the Peddler’s Moon—and he received the 2020 Alabama Music Teachers Association State Commission Award for Bone Music. His music is featured on recordings including Jeffrey Jacobs’ Contemporary Eclectic Music for the Piano, Vol. 26, Elicio Winds’ Grammy‑submitted Convergence: Music & Cultural Legacy, Vuorovesi Trio’s Excursions, Amalia Osuga and Aimee Fincher’s forthcoming album of art songs, and both What Is Noise albums.

Burel holds a Doctor of Music in Theory and Composition from Florida State University, a Master of Music in Composition, and a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Music Education from Western Michigan University. He has held faculty positions at Webster University and the University of Puget Sound, and currently serves as Chair and Associate Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he received the University Distinguished Teaching Award in 2023.

Violist Maggie Snyder is the Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Viola at the University of Georgia, Principal Violist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, with whom she records for Naxos, is on the Artist-Faculty of the Brevard Music Festival and joined the artist roster of Classical Tahoe in the summer of 2025. She has performed solo recitals, chamber music, concertos and as an orchestral musician throughout the United States and abroad in such halls as the Kennedy and Kauffman Centers, all three Carnegie Halls, Merkin Hall, Spivey Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center, and in the UK, Greece, Korea, and Russia. She was a semi-finalist of the 2001 Primrose International Viola Competition, made her recital debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with her sister duo, Allemagnetti in 2009, and has released 5 solo recordings since 2013 on the Arabesque Label and an additional collaborative album on Parma. Most recently, she performed the opening selection on Peter Van Zant Lane’s recording Axils (Neuma)- an electroacoustic work for viola called “Decalcomanie 2.” All of her solo recordings feature world premiere commissioned works including works by Thomas Pasatieri, Garrett Byrnes, Kamran Ince, Libby Larsen, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Gity Razaz, all written for Snyder. Her newest recording (Women’s Work for Viola: Sounds of Discovery, released in 2025) features commissioned works by Mary Kouyoumdjian, Tessa Lark (her first commission), and Sakori Dixon Vanderveer and historical works by Ruth Gipps, Kalitha Dorothy Fox, and Rebecca Clarke. That album was shortlisted for the Grammy nomination process in the fall, 2025.

Ms. Snyder has given masterclasses, clinics, and performances at universities and music schools throughout the country and abroad and has served on the faculties of West Virginia University, Ohio University, and the University of Alabama. She was the recipient of the 2018 University of Georgia’s Creative Research Medal in the Humanities and Arts, a 2023 UGA Sandy Beaver Teaching award winner, and one of three UGA professors in 2025 to receive the lifetime title of Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor, UGA’s top honor for teaching. In October, she was named the 2^nd prize winner of the Ernst Bacon Award for the Performance of American Music by the American Prize.

Titilayo Ayangade is a multi-dimensional artist whose work as a cellist, photographer, and writer has earned recognition for its depth and advocacy for a more inclusive classical music world. The former cellist of the prize-winning Thalea String Quartet, Titilayo has continued to expand her artistry through collaborations that bridge genres and disciplines. A Strathmore Artist-in-Residence, she has performed and recorded with ensembles such as Sphinx Virtuosi and Alarm Will Sound, bringing her expressive voice to stages across the country.

Ever inspired by the intimacy of chamber music, Titilayo is the cellist of lō tones, a genre-bending duo with violist Edwin Kaplan. She is also a founding member of Chamber Orchestra of America, Joshua Bell’s visionary conductorless ensemble.

This season’s highlights include the release of Threat, an audio-visual work written for lō tones by Curtis Stewart, as well as mainstage performances at Lincoln Center, Caramoor, Steamboat Springs Music Festival, and Newport Classical. Based in New York City, she performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Novus NY, and Palaver Strings. Recent performances include appearances at the Morgan Library & Museum, the Library of Congress,  and on national television programs such as The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show.

A vocal advocate for BIPOC representation in classical music, Titilayo is passionate about contributing to a more open and collaborative musical community. She has received grants from the Sphinx Organization, Chamber Music America, and the Upper Manhattan Council for the Arts in support of her creative work. Beyond the stage, she photographs many of today’s leading musicians and has partnered with institutions including the New York Youth Symphony, the Colburn School, Next Fest, the Sphinx Organization, and the Black Orchestral Network.

Visitwww.titilayoandco.com for more.

Yegor Shevtsov is a solo pianist, writer, activist, recording artist, collaborator and educator. His performances have been singled out for their “Mozartean elegance,” “perfect lucidity” (The New York Times) and “superb musicianship” (The Miami Herald). His recording of the piano music of Claude Debussy and Pierre Boulez was selected by rhapsody.com as one of the top 25 classical albums of 2013. He is prominently featured on several recent recordings, Reiko Füting’s Gelöschte Namen (September 2015), Red Light New Music’s Barbary Coast (July 2015), Dmitri Tymoczko’s Rube Goldberg Variations (2017) and James Newton’s The Manual of Light (2018).

Yegor Shevtsov has been coached by some of the world’s finest musicians, such as Daniel Barenboim in his Beethoven Sonata Workshop at Carnegie Hall, Emmanuel Ax, Claude Franck, Garrick Ohlsson, James Levine, Ursula Oppens, Carol Wincenc, Martin Katz, Jeffrey Swann, Andre-Michel Schub, Craig Rutenberg, Dawn Upshaw, Christine Brewer and Yo-Yo Ma. Yegor Shevtsov’s most significant artistic associations have been with Red Light New Music, Mark Morris Dance Group, New World Symphony, American Ballet Theatre, and avant-garde composers Reiko Fueting, Yoav Gal, Andrew Noble and Scott Wollschleger. He has also appeared in concert with American String Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Talea, International Contemporary Ensemble, Bang on a Can, red fish blue fish, Alarm Will Sound, Argento Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble and Manhattan Sinfonietta, among others. Among the composers who have heard Yegor Shevtsov perform their works are Pierre Boulez, John Luther Adams, Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Georg Friedrich Haas, Kaija Saarjaho, Steve Reich, Louis Andriessen and George Crumb.

Yegor Shevtsov’s activism is at the intersection of LGBTQIA+ rights, Ukraine’s representation and visibility in the West, migrant and minority rights in Scandinavia, and the humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Yegor is a vocal advocate for queer artist voices coming from Ukraine and support of LGBT military servicepeople in Ukraine.  Since 2019, Yegor Shevtsov has been is a full-time member of Arktisk Filharmoni, an innovative chamber orchestra located in Bodø, Norway, just above the Arctic Circle. Since the beginning of the full-scale military aggression of Russia against Ukraine, Yegor has commissioned several prominent Ukrainian composers, has performed many existing works of Ukrainian classical music canon, and, in 2024, was president of the local Ukrainian Association, which he co-founded in 2022. 

Do-it-all percussionist Sean Ritenauer’s multi-genre fluency has led to an all-encompassing performance career. Particular highlights include on Broadway (Something Rotten!, Pippin), television and film (The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Moonrise Kingdom, A Dog’s Purpose), on tour with the New York Philharmonic, and even playing congas with Aretha Franklin. In performance, Ritenauer has been hailed for “mesmerizing dexterity” in a performance of Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto that earned “an immediate standing ovation” (The Huntsville Times). The Ohio native was named Principal Percussion of the Huntsville Symphony (AL) in 2016, and is the Percussion Instructor at Hofstra University, where he directs the Hofstra Percussion Ensemble. Alumni of his private studio in Manhattan have been admitted to the country’s top music programs, including Juilliard, Eastman, and the New England Conservatory.

Benjy Krauss is an internationally recognized percussionist and educator. In recent years, he won the Great Plains International Marimba Competition, served as head of percussion at Utah State University, and was awarded a place on the Faculty Honor Roll by the NU Associated Student Government. As an in-demand freelance artist, Benjy has performed with groups including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, Fulcrum Point Ensemble, Contemporaneous Ensemble, and Florida Grand Opera. Benjy is a proud alumni of Northwestern University (D.M.A. [abd], M.M.) and the University of Michigan (B.M., B.A.)

Dr. Bryan Wysocki (b. 1995) is a boundary-exploring percussionist, composer, conductor, and educator based in metro Atlanta. His artistic voice is rooted in curiosity and contrast, where defined structures meet intuitive spontaneity, and tradition confronts with the unexpected. With a compositional sound world shaped by improvisation, extended techniques, and a fondness for playful quotation, Bryan’s work celebrates the beauty of imperfection and the joy of creative risk.

As a percussionist, he moves seamlessly between realms - interpreting the nuance of orchestral repertoire, exploring the edges of new music, and championing bold, genre-defying collaborations. He has premiered numerous works and thrives in environments where innovation is both the method and the message.

Bryan currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Jacksonville State University, as Percussion Director at Duluth High School, and as Percussion Director of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, where he nurtures the next generation of musical explorers.

He is also the founder, Executive Director, and Music Director of the Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization devoted to promoting Atlanta as a hub for contemporary music by fostering dialogue between composers, performers, and audiences through adventurous programming and collaboration.

Bryan holds a Bachelor of Science in Composition from Hofstra University, a Master of Music in Composition and Percussion from Georgia State University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Georgia.

To learn more, please visit: bryanwysocki.com and/or tinyurl.com/WysockiVisualBio