Kristen Pellegrino

Kristen is enrolled in the PhD music education program at the University of Michigan. Her previous degrees include a BM in Violin Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music and MM in Violin Performance (Chamber Music) from the University of Michigan. Kristen continued to study violin with the revered violinist, Camilla Wickes, as a fellowship student at LSU. She went on to perform with the Satory String Quartet, in residence at Kent State University, and then to be a founding member of the Chagall String Quartet. 

In 1996, the Chagall received a 2 year Rural Residence grant from Chamber Music America, the NEA, and the local communities of Johnstown, Indiana, and Somerset PA. The quartet rehearsed, performed, and went out into the community and schools to help make chamber music more accessible and relatable, believing that music and art are mediums that can bring all people together. During this time, Kristen toured both with the quartet and as a harp/violin duo with harpist, Min Kim. 

Kristen spent the next eight years as a full-time music educator; first teaching strings in the Fairfax County Public Schools and then returning to Warwick, RI in 1999 as String Teacher and Orchestra Conductor at Toll Gate HS, her alma mater. Other professional responsibilities included chairing the All-Eastern Orchestra in Providence, RI, President of RISTA, member of RIMEA executive board, and board member of the Warwick Music Festival.  Kristen presented at the Biennial Colloquium for Teachers of Instrumental Music Methods, RIMEA In-Service session, and for undergraduate classes at the University of Michigan. Her first article was published in the Michigan Music Educator in January 2007. 

Since the summer of 1992, Kristen has been performing chamber music recitals in Rhode Island. The Chrysalis Piano Trio was formed and played its first concert in 1999. Biennially, the trio has performed concerts in various venues around Rhode Island and continues to enjoy playing together and in mixed extended ensembles.

Kristen was born/raised in Warwick, RI and is a graduate of Toll Gate High School.

  Deborah Tien Price

Deborah was born in Warwick, RI and began studying the violin as a fourth-grader through the Cedar Hill Elementary School string program, created by Carol Pellegrino. She’ll always be grateful for the opportunities presented to her in her formative years by Pellegrino, private teachers Monica Lowry-Gerard and Jonathan Sturm, and youth orchestra conductors Ann Danis and Nedo Pandofi. Through the investment and efforts of these and other Rhode Island musicians, Deborah’s passion for orchestral, chamber, and solo music and her great love of teaching was born.

Since moving to the Bay Area in 1997, Deborah has become an active member of the music scene, performing with many local ensembles including the New Century Chamber Orchestra, Santa Rosa Symphony, SF Chamber Orchestra, SF Lyric Opera, Alexander String Quartet, California Symphony, Composer’s, Inc., and The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. Deborah’s move to the Bay Area was prompted by an invitation by famed violin teacher, Camilla Wicks. Prior to that, she earned degrees at the Eastman School of Music and Louisiana State University, studying with Lynn Blakeslee and Camilla Wicks. She then moved to Norway, where she performed as a leader in the BarrattDue Chamber Orchestra, and with the Norwegian Opera Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and on NRK, the national television network of Norway.  

Aside from classical music, she has also enjoyed playing with popular artists, among them Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Enya, Bjork, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow, Smokey Robinson, and Johnny Mathis. Deborah can also be heard on movie soundtracks and video games recorded at the Skywalker Soundstage. In addition, she has enjoyed being a part of innumerable Broadway musicals ranging from “The Phantom of the Opera” to “The Lion King” and “Wicked”.

Finally, a large part of Deborah’s professional life includes teaching and encouraging young and young-at-heart musicians through private study, classes, or chamber music. She has taught at the Crowden School, SF Community Music Center, the Marin Conservatory, Louisiana State University, and University of Colorado.

Deborah resides in Marin County in the town of Mill Valley with her husband, violinist and composer, Evan Price, of the Turtle Island Quartet and the Hot Club of San Francisco.

Deborah was born/raised in Warwick, RI where she is a graduate of Toll Gate High School.

Evan Price

Evan Price is steadily becoming one of the most well-respected jazz violinists of his generation. A native of Detroit, MI, his musical background includes some earnest dues-paying in a variety of genres. From square dance bands to string quartets, from jamming with blues bands to busking in Greektown, Evan’s youthful pursuits all informed his violin-playing and left him with a deep love of chamber music in all forms. 

As a young competitive fiddler he won his share of awards, having been named the U.S. Scottish Fiddling Champion, the Kentucky State Fiddle Champion, Canadian Junior Fiddle Champion, and Canadian Novelty Fiddling Champion. He also performed with some of the masters of fiddle lore—Stephane Grappelli, Johnny Frigo, Claude "Fiddler" Williams, Johnny Gimble, Mark O'Connor, Buddy Spicher, Vassar Clements, and Alasdair Fraser—as well as a diverse array of pop icons from Stevie Wonder and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to comedian, Steven Wright. 

Evan’s college career included stints at both The Cleveland Institute of Music and at Berklee College of Music, where he studied with renowned string pedagogue, Matt Glaser, and has himself served as a member of the music faculty at Wellesley College.

Evan is a ten-year veteran of the world-renowned jazz ensemble, the Turtle Island Quartet. During his tenure in Turtle Island, Evan gave over five hundred performances in concert venues from Latvia to Australia and had the opportunity to collaborate with many prominent artists, such as Cuban clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, The Ying Quartet, pianists Dr. Billy Taylor and Kenny Barron, and classical guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad. He recorded five CD’s with Turtle Island, one of which, “Four + 4”, received a 2006 Grammy award for Best Classical Crossover Album.

An accomplished composer, Evan has contributed compositions and arrangements to the repertoires of Hot Club of San Francisco, Turtle Island Quartet, Quartet San Francisco, Providence String Quartet, Irish fiddler Liz Carroll, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra. Since joining Hot Club of San Francisco in 1998, his talents have been featured on four Hot Club recordings. He lives in Mill Valley, CA, with his wife, violinist Deborah Tien Price." 

   Suzanne LeFevre

Suzanne LeFevre, a native of Wisconsin, began her formal education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music. Following, she spent one year at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam Holland, where she studied with the principal violist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra. She holds a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma from Yale University.

Suzanne has led an active orchestral career and chamber life music life, which has involved playing in numerous orchestras and ensembles in the US, as well as Europe, including: Principal Viola of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Assistant Principal Viola of the Charlotte Symphony, Nederlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Granada Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and New Haven Symphony. Suzanne has spent the summers participating in the Grand Teton Music Festival, Peninsula Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Madison Chamber Music Festival, and Colorado Music Festival.

After spending 20 months in Antwerp Belgium, in 2005, Suzanne moved to Houston Texas, where she is currently a member of the Houston Grand Opera, and Mercury Baroque. She is also a member, as well as personnel manager, of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra.

     Trevor Handy 

Cellist Trevor Handy was born in Boston and received his early musical training at the Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. As a teenager he performed twice as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and at age 17 enrolled at The Juilliard School where he graduated with B.M. and M.M. degrees, a student of Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, Joel Krosnick and Lorne Munroe. While a student he earned fellowships to Tanglewood and the Aspen Music Festival and attended the Yehudi Menuhin Summer Academy and Lausanne Academy of Music master classes with Maurice Gendron in Switzerland. In addition, he studied and performed baroque cello under the guidance of Albert Fuller and Jaap Schroeder,

While freelancing in New York City, he formed the Griffon String Quartet with friends. For three years the quartet gave concerts in the Northeast and Midwest and won grand prize at the 1991 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Trevor has taught cello privately and has served on the faculty of the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu and at Pepperdine University. He also was a teaching assistant in ear training at Juilliard, eventually serving on its pre-college Solfege faculty.

He has been a member of the Columbus, Honolulu, Jacksonville, New Haven, and Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestras and has presented both solo and chamber music recitals at Pomona College, the College of Wooster, Central Presbyterian Church in Columbus as part of its “Sundays at Central” Series, Ohio State University, the Duxbury Art Complex and the Longy School of Music in Massachusetts, and at the Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu.

Trevor currently pursues a freelance career in Los Angeles as a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and where he performs on Hollywood’s Motion Picture and Television soundstages. He also plays regularly for LA Opera, and on various area chamber music series.

       Elisa Kohanski

Elisa, a native of Warwick, Rhode Island, is principal cellist of the Wheeling Symphony and performs with several other orchestras, including the Erie Philharmonic and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. She serves as adjunct faculty at Grove City College and Seton Hill University along with maintaining a private studio, teaching students ages five to 60. Ms. Kohanski is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied with Pamela Frame. Elisa received her Masters of Music from Carnegie Mellon University as a student of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Anne Martindale Williams and David Premo. Elisa recently performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto at Mercyhurst College in Erie, PA and is looking forward to performing the Elgar concerto at Westminster College, where she will begin teaching in the fall.

Ms. Kohanski is an avid chamber musician and performs often with her fellow musicians in Warwick, Rhode Island and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Elisa is a founding member of the IonSound Project, a sextet who seeks to add to Pittsburgh's cultural life by programming innovative concerts, commissioning works of new music, collaborating with artists in a variety of disciplines, and exploring the boundaries between concert and popular music. In addition, she performs regularly with her two piano trios, Chrysalis in Rhode Island and her piano trio in Pittsburgh.

Elisa resides in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood but travels extensively, having performed in an array of local and international venues, including the Schlossfestspiele in Heidelberg, Germany; the AIMS Opera Festival in Graz, Austria; Royal Albert Hall in London, England; Carnegie Hall in New York City; Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh Playhouse, Hazlett Theatre and most recently toured China with the Montovani Orchestra. She has performed with artists including Olivia Newton John, Phil Keaggy, Garrison Keillor, Robert Shaw, and John Tesh.

Elisa was born/raised in Warwick, RI and graduated from Veterans Memorial High School. 

      Paul Kushious

Paul Kushious, a native of Rhode Island, received his Bachelor of Music Degree for Oberlin College Conservatory as a cello student of Richard Kapuscinski. He then continued studies with Leonard Rose and Joel Krosnick. Paul was a member of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra for eleven years before joining The Cleveland Orchestra in 1995.

The Rhode Island Musical community offered Paul many opportunities. He began his studies with Shirley Adams, then Principal Cellist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and faculty member at the the University of Rhode Island. He performed for eight years in the Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestras under the direction of his father, David Kushious, as well as Martin Fischer. During his high school years, Paul performed in the Rhode Island Philharmonic at the invitation of founding music director Francis Madeira utilizing an innovative apprentice program. Paul’s first professional engagement was at Newport’s Trinity Church playing continuo for John and Alice Pellegrino.

Paul has enjoyed a variety of chamber music experiences in addition to his traditional orchestral duties, including performances with the International, Philadelphia, and Miami String Quartets. He performs regularly with his Cleveland Orchestra colleagues and guest artists in the Reinberger Chamber Music Series at Severance Hall and at the Kent Blossom Music Festival. As a Tanglewood fellow, Paul was awarded the Haskell Gordon Chamber Music Award under the tutelage of Eugene Lehner and Joel Krosnick. Among other awards, he was twice a Fischoff Competition finalist.

Paul has a private teaching studio in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He and his wife, flutist Heidi Ruby-Kushious, tour as a duo called INNovation, performing at Inns and resorts worldwide. They have two wonderful children named Sara and Dustin.

Paul was born and raised in Warwick, RI and graduated from Pilgrim High School.

         Ron Leonard 

       John Mark Pellegrino  

John Mark Pellegrino is the Assistant Principal Bass of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Since joining the CSO in 1989, John has performed regularly in the Grand Teton Music Festival and in the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County. Frequent calls from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Cincinnati Symphony have allowed Mr. Pellegrino to play, tour and record with those ensembles. Other past orchestral appearances have included concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Alabama Symphony, the Lake Placid Symphonietta, the New York Virtuosi and the Philharmonia Virtuosi. Before moving to Ohio, John was a section member of the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra.

In second grade, John was introduced to the mono-lin by the instrument's inventor, Rhode Island College professor Robert Currier. After teaching a classroom full of youngsters on this one-string instrument, Currier assigned the cello to John. Private instruction began, shortly after beginning the cello, with his aunt, Carol Pellegrino. With the help of Carol, (and parents) John and Alice Pellegrino, a deep love and appreciation for music and teaching began -- ultimately leading to discovering the double bass in high school. After a few years of hard work and strong encouragement from Rhode Island Philharmonic Youth Orchestra conductor Nedo Pandolfi, John moved to New York to earn an undergraduate degree from Manhattan School of Music and a masters degree from the Juilliard School of Music.

John has enjoyed teaching on the faculties of Ohio Wesleyan University, the Eastern Music Festival, the Warwick Music Festival, Kinhaven Music Camp in Vermont and The Chamber Music Connection in Worthington Ohio. Some of Mr. Pellegrino's top students have gone on to win competitions held by the International Society of Bassists, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

John was born/raised in Warwick, RI and is a graduate of Toll Gate High School.

Anne Marie Gabriele

Anne Marie Gabriele joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in January 2000 as second oboist, the position she previously held in the Columbus Symphony Orchestra from 1993 to 1999, and in the Honolulu Symphony from 1990 to 1993. In addition to her duties in Columbus, she was Principal Oboist of the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Ohio from 1993 to 1999.

A native of Rhode Island, Gabriele credits her musical inspiration to an exceptionally strong public high school music program whose wind ensemble performed and competed internationally. At the Juilliard School in New York City, she earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees under the tutelage of John Ferrillo and Elaine Douvas of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. While at Juilliard, she performed at the nationally televised Kennedy Center Honors to William Schuman, and recorded several 20th-century works for the Juilliard American Music Recording Institute on New World Records.

Gabriele has participated in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen, Kent/Blossom, and Waterloo festivals, as well as the National Orchestra Institute and the Breckenridge Music Festival. Solo appearances have included performances with the Canton Symphony in 1996 and 1998.

Anne was born/raised in Foster-Glocester, RI where she graduated from Ponaganset High School.

 Daniel Gilbert  

Clarinetist Daniel Gilbert joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as Associate Professor of Clarinet in 2007. Previously, he held the position of Second Clarinet in the Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 2007. Donald Rosenberg, of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes "Mr. Gilbert plays with a musicianship that is reserved for very special occasions...with a warm resonant tone and an impressively fluid technique."

Before joining the Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Gilbert was active as a freelancer in New York City, appearing regularly with groups including: The Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theater, New Jersey Symphony, Solisti New York, the Stamford Symphony and the New Haven Symphony, where he played principal clarinet from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Gilbert was a member of the Quintet of the Americas in 1994-1995. The group toured throughout the United States and was in residence at Northwestern University.

Gilbert has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, Solisti New York and the Aspen Mozart Orchestra. He is an active chamber musician, playing regularly on the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Series, the Cleveland Museum of Art Chamber Series and the Oberlin Chamber Music series.

Mr. Gilbert has previously taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and served as the Associate Professor of Clarinet at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 2000 to 2001. A native of New York City, Mr. Gilbert received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and both a Master of Music degree and a Professional Studies Certificate from The Juilliard School. Mr. Gilbert’s master classes and recitals have received critical acclaim throughout the world. His teachers have included David Weber, Robert Marcellus, Stanley Hasty, Richard Waller, Burt Hara and Judith Kalin-Freeman.

   Michael Parker-Harley

Michael Harley is rapidly becoming known as one of the most dynamic young bassoon players and teachers in the United States. He is a founding member of the acclaimed chamber orchestra Alarm Will Sound, called “one of the most vital and original ensembles on the American musical scene” and “the future of classical music” by the New York Times. He has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, The Roxy (New York’s nightclub), the Library of Congress, universities across the country, and the 2005 and 2006 International Double Reed Society conventions. Harley teaches bassoon and music theory at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. He is currently finishing a D.M.A. at the Eastman School of Music, and previously studied at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Goshen College. His teachers include John Hunt, William Winstead, and Wendy Rose.  He lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife Jennifer, a flutist, and daughters Ella and Lucia.

Roland Pandolfi

Roland Pandolfi began his horn studies with Russell Leber, a member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Willem Valkenier, retired principal horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At fifteen, while a member of the Rhode Island Junior Philharmonic, he also played apprentice horn in the Rhode Island Philharmonic. The next year he became first horn in that orchestra, a position he held for two years before attending the New England Conservatory of Music.

In 1962 he was appointed principal horn of the Milwaukee Symphony. After four seasons with that orchestra, he joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as principal horn, a position he held for 35 years. During the 1980's he spent many summers at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada as a performer and teacher. He was a guest artist at the Affinis Seminar in Japan twice during the 1990's. While playing with the St. Louis Symphony in the 1990's he taught at Northwestern University for two years.

Mr. Pandolfi has appeared several times as soloist at the International Horn Society Workshops. His recordings include the Mozart Horn Quintet, the Beethoven and Mozart Quintets for piano and winds for VOX Records, the Saint Saens Morceau de Concert with Michael Kim for Summit Records, and dozens of recordings with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Upon retiring from the St. Louis Symphony in 2001 he accepted a position as Professor of Horn at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he currently teaches.  

Roland was born in Manville, RI and graduated from Mount Saint Charles Academy.

Christina Breindel

Christina Breindel, a graduate of the University of Connecticut with a degree in music education. She has lived in Spain, Connecticut, and South Dakota among other places. Christina is now an adjunct faculty member of Rhode Island College, where she accompanies student recitals and juries, teaches piano, and is the accompanist for their choirs and opera workshop.  Christina has accompanied the Rhode Island All-State and Honors Choruses, the North Kingstown Community and Ponaganset High School Choruses. She continues to be a much sought-after accompanist and piano teacher in the state of Rhode Island.

Upon her return to Rhode Island in 1999, Mrs. Breindel formed the piano trio Chrysalis with violinist Kristen Pellegrino and cellist Elisa Kohanski.  Since then the trio has performed on numerous occasions throughout the state of Rhode Island.  Christina and Kristen have presented duo concerts as well in venues including the Warwick Music Festival and the Chopin and Chaminade Clubs at the Music Mansion in Providence. Christina enjoys spending her spare time gardening and with her husband Jim, two daughters, Leah and Aimee and her granddaughter, Nicole.   

Jason Hardink 

Pianist Jason Hardink holds the position of Principal Symphony Keyboard/Opera Rehearsal Accompanist at the Utah Symphony and Opera. A native of North Smithfield, Rhode Island Jason attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying piano with Sanford Margolis. Hardink went on to receive his Master of Music in piano performance from Rice University, where he was awarded the Sallie Shepherd Perkins Prize for Best Achievement in Music. He has recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree as a student of Brian Connelly, also at Rice. His thesis “Messiaen and Plainchant” explores the varying levels of influence that Gregorian chant exerted on the music of Olivier Messiaen. As a performer he specializes in the music of Olivier Messiaen. Last season he performed the complete Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus in cities all over the United States, as well as Des Canyons aux Étoiles… with the Utah Symphony as a part of a festival which celebrated Messiaen’s historic visit to Utah in 1972. 

Hardink’s other performing interests range from recital programs given on period instruments to concerts devoted entirely to new music. He has been awarded fellowships at Aspen Music Festival, the National Orchestral Institute, as well as from the Brown Foundation in Houston. He has performed several concerti with the Utah Symphony, including Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat, Opus 19, Liszt’s Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “Age of Anxiety.”

Jason is much sought after as a chamber musician. He has appeared at the Grand Teton Music Festival, Music on the Hill, and the Cascade Head Chamber Music Festival. A strong advocate for new music, he served as the pianist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble for three seasons. During this time he premiered over 15 works by composers such as Thomas Osborne, Daniel Kellogg, Vache Sharafyan, Pierre Jalbert, and Stefan Freund, and was featured in Curtis Curtis-Smith’s Rhapsodies for bowed piano, as well as Jason Eckardt’s wildly virtuosic concerto A Glimpse Retraced. In Salt Lake City he performs with the Canyonlands New Music Ensemble.

Jason was born/raised in North Smithfield, RI and graduated from North Smithfield High School.