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Daniel Avshalomov is the violist of the American String Quartet, which enjoys its fourth decade of international acclaim. Recently hailed by Strad magazine as “one of the finest occupants of that chair, both instrumentally and musically, of any quartet now active,” Mr. Avshalomov finds time each season for concerto appearances, recitals, and collaborative concerts, and returns as a featured performer to festivals across the country.

Before joining the Quartet, Mr. Avshalomov served as principal violist for the Aspen, Tanglewood, and Spoleto festival orchestras, as well as for the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Opera Orchestra of New York, American Composers Orchestra, and as solo violist with the Bolshoi Ballet. He was a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Ensemble.

His articles appear in Notes and Strings; he has edited several viola works for publication and contributed to the American String Teachers Association’s Playing and Teaching the Viola: A Comprehensive Guide. The subject of two articles in Strad and one in Classical Pulse, Mr. Avshalomov developed “Inside Passages,” a lecture-demonstration first presented to the New York Viola Society in 2000; gave the world premiere of Giampaolo Bracali’s Concerto per Viola and the American premiere of Alessandro Rolla’s Esercizio 3; and recorded the CD Three Generations Avshalomov with pianists Robert McDonald and Pamela Pyle, which was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered. He has been a member of the Manhattan School of Music faculty since 1984 and of the Aspen School faculty since 1976.

A talented clarinetist, David Hattner regularly performs in live radio broadcast on All Classical Portland, and has served as principal clarinet with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Cascade Music Festival Orchestra in Bend, New Jersey Opera Theater, and Key West Symphony Orchestra. Hattner is an honors graduate of Northwestern University, and was a Conducting Fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen for three summers.

Conductor David Hattner delivers “calmly authoritative” (The New York Times) performances that are “brilliant in all departments.” (The Chicago Tribune) Hattner’s high musical intelligence and phenomenal technique uniquely combine with a warm and cooperative disposition, allowing for an ease of execution which imbues confidence and expands possibilities. Although he is energetic and animated, an inner calm and polish characterizes Hattner’s presence on the podium, leading to concert experiences that are truly magical.

Hattner is the Portland Youth Philharmonic’s fifth Musical Director in its distinguished 96-year history, and the first to be born in the United States. Known for his encyclopedic knowledge of American repertoire, Hattner’s programming is relevant, thoughtful, and “especially attractive.” (The Chicago Tribune) Hattner’s recent seasons included his conducting debuts with the Phoenix Symphony, Olympia Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, and Chamber Music Northwest as well as appearances with the Oregon Symphony and the Musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony. Additional guest appearances include the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Interlochen Philharmonic, Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Eugene Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Sospeso, Kansas City Symphony, Oregon Mozart Players, and Massapequa Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

Pamela Viktoria Pyle has been recognized for her interpretations of the chamber music literature since Dorothy DeLay first engaged her at The Juilliard School. For nearly two decades, she served as a principal pianist in the studios of Miss DeLay and subsequently Itzhak Perlman.  This immersion in the piano and string repertoire led to collaborations with members of the Juilliard, American, Ying, and Mendelssohn String Quartets, including Joel Smirnoff, Joel Krosnick, and Daniel Avshalomov, as well as other soloists such as Robert McDuffie, Sarah Chang, Alan Harris and the Norwegian soprano Anne-Lise Berntsen. Ms. Pyle’s connection to the studio of Dorothy DeLay continues in concert appearances with many of her former students including Laurie Carney, Brian Lewis and Ittai Shapira.

As an award-winning soloist and chamber recitalist, Ms. Pyle has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and Brazil, at venues such as Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Jordan Hall, and Wolftrap, and at events such as the Lincoln Center Great Performers Series and the Casals Series in Puerto Rico. Ms. Pyle is regularly chosen as the pianist for nationally recognized summer music institutes, including the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at The Juilliard School, the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program in Ottawa, Kansas, and formerly at the Aspen Music Festival, and the Robert McDuffie Fall Festival of Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.  Recent summer appearances include performances with Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Keith Robinson, and Tara O’Conner at the Music from Angel Fire Festival in venues throughout northern New Mexico.

Ms. Pyle is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Director of the Collaborative Piano Program at the University of New Mexico.   Internationally, she was privileged to engage with Chinese students as a Visiting Professor at Shandong University in Weihai, China, and has made numerous trips to Brazil to teach and perform.

At UNM, she continues to bring in distinguished artists to further enrich the listening opportunities of her community.  Here, she has had the great honor of collaborating with inspiring, chamber music luminaries, including the American String Quartet, Ronald Copes, Joseph Lin, Phillipe Quint and Guillermo Figueroa.

She is the founder and Artistic Director of the New Mexico Chamber Music Festival, which debuted in 2013, and brings young pianists and string players from around the world for an intensive week of chamber music study and performances throughout New Mexico. 

Ms. Pyle began piano studies with her mother at the age of four and later studied with Patricia Zander at New England Conservatory, Ann Schein at the Aspen Music Festival, and Yoheved Kaplinsky, Samuel Sanders, and Jonathan Feldman at The Juilliard School. At these institutions, Ms. Pyle also devoted herself to chamber music under leading exponents Eugene Lehner, Louis Krasner, Joseph Fuchs, Robert Mann, Felix Galimir, and Benjamin Zander.

Ms. Pyle’s media recordings include CDs on the Albany and Prairie labels and numerous broadcasts, including programs on CBS Sunday Morning, the Charlie Rose Show, CNN, the Martha Stewart Show, National Public Radio, WGBH Boston, WNYC & WQXR New York, KHFM New Mexico, and a PBS special on Itzhak Perlman.  Coverage of the 2011 Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies by the online media site violinist.com, quoted N.Y. Philharmonic concertmaster Glenn Dicterow as saying that Ms. Pyle made the piano “sound like the heart of an angel”.  In print media, she was featured in Strad magazine in an article about collaborative pianists, which focused on the importance of a balanced partnership in musical collaborations.

Recently she appeared in the independent film, RawTuba, centered on the life of her collaborative partner, tubist Richard White, as they perform in their duo, Diversity Matters.

Ms. Pyle served as President of the UNM Faculty Senate, where she had the honor of representing the concerns and interests of the UNM Faculty for an unprecedented four terms. In this capacity, she reached out to the entire University to collaborate with members of different communities throughout the state, to share the intellectual, social, and cultural breadth of the University in new ways.

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