KIRSHBAUM ASSOCIATES - Key Persons
Amaris Smith is a Sarah Lawrence College graduate with a Bachelor's in Fine Arts with a Music concentration. She is primarily a vocalist, singing mostly jazz and contemporary, but has also studied music production and piano. In her time at SLC, she was also granted an opportunity to study voice and opera history in Milan, Italy. Prior to joining Kirshbaum Associates, Amaris has worked in other creative industries such as set design and arts education. Her passions outside of the arts include activism, travel, and working with children. Outside of work, you can find her at a concert, skateboarding/roller skating, or eating.
Ashley Baier joined Kirshbaum Associates in 2007 shortly after moving to New York City. As a percussionist and drummer, she has performed on Broadway with Six and The Lightning Thief, and with artists including PitchBlak Brass Band, The Bengsons, Brass Queens, and Kermit the Frog. She holds an MM from the Mannes School of Music and a BM from the University of Maryland. A native of Cumberland, Maryland, she now resides in Brooklyn. Her favorite composers are Debussy, Stravinsky, and Trey Anastasio. www.ashleybaier.com
Benjamin Hochman is a musician of exceptional versatility who regularly performs as orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and, in recent years, as conductor. His wide range of partners and projects is matched by his curiosity, focus, and ability to communicate deeply with audiences.
Since his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, Hochman has enjoyed an international performing career, appearing as soloist with the New York, Los Angeles, and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras, and the Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Jerusalem Symphonies under conductors including Gianandrea Noseda, Trevor Pinnock, John Storgårds, Joshua Weilerstein, and Pinchas Zukerman. A winner of Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Career Grant, he performs at venues including Konzerthaus Wien, Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Louvre in Paris, Liszt Academy in Budapest, Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, New York's 92NY, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Festival highlights include IMS Prussia Cove, Israel Festival, Klavierfestival Ruhr, Lucerne, Marlboro, Spoleto, and Verbier.
In the 2023-2024 season, Hochman's engagements include Debussy's four-hand Petite Suite for Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Bartok's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Boston Philharmonic, and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony arranged for piano quintet with Orchestra of St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie Hall. Other collaborations include Schumann's Piano Quintet in E-flat with the Rosamunde Quartet for People's Symphony Concerts, Schubert and Brahms with violinist Benjamin Bowman for Kosciuszko Foundation's Lyric Chamber Music, and a U.S. tour with cellist Zlatomir Fung featuring works by Schumann, Marshall Estrin, Britten and Tsintsadze. Hochman returns to Bard College in New York to conduct Kurtág's Messages of the Late Miss R Troussova, and also conducts the world premiere of Gilad Cohen's Concerto for Harp, String, and Horn with Roosevelt Island Orchestra. International engagements include an all-Mozart program at Kronberg Academy in Taunus, Germany; and Schumann and Chausson with Berlin's Deutsche Symphonic Orchestra.
Highlights of the 2022-2023 season included performances at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Eden-Tamir Music Center in Jerusalem, and Symphony Pro Musica in Boston. He conducted and performed as soloist with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony in Connecticut, and conducted Kurtág at Bard in New York. Chamber music collaborations of last season included performances at the Schubertiade Festival in Austria with the Emerson String Quartet and Dominik Wagner, and with an array of colleagues at the Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Seattle Series, the Deutsches Symphonic Orchestra chamber series in Berlin, and in Wesserling, France. He toured North America and Europe with cellist Zlatomir Fung, including performances at London's Wigmore Hall, University of Chicago, and Vancouver Recital Society.
Born in Jerusalem in 1980, Hochman is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank, and the Mannes College of Music, where he studied with Richard Goode. His studies were supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
A graduate of The Juilliard School's conducting program, where he received the Bruno Walter Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Award, Hochman trained under Alan Gilbert from 2016-2018. Hochman was shaped by his early experiences at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, as a member of The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and at Isaac Stern's Chamber Music Encounters.
In 2019, Hochman recorded Mozart Piano Concertos No. 17 and No. 24, playing and directing the English Chamber Orchestra (Avie Records). Hochman's first two recordings for Avie Records were Homage to Schubert (works by Schubert, Kurtág, and Widmann) and Variations (works by Knussen, Berio, Lieberson, Benjamin, and Brahms), selected by The New York Times as one of the best recordings of 2015.
His chamber music partners have included the Casals, Jerusalem, and Tokyo Quartets, Lisa Batishvili, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Jonathan Biss, Jaime Laredo, Miklós Perényi, and David Soyer. Conducting highlights include the English Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic, The Orchestra Now at Bard Music Festival, and the Juilliard Orchestra.
Benjamin Hochman is currently a Lecturer at Bard College Berlin. He is a Steinway Artist and his website is www.benjaminhochman.com.
Job Titles:
- Director of Public Relations
Beverly was Director of Public and Media Relations for nearly a decade at New York's 92nd Street Y, where she spent 17 years in the communications department. As one of 92Y's senior staff, she advised and collaborated with colleagues across the organization on messaging and communications strategy. She led a PR team that was responsible for securing media coverage of 92Y's vast array of programs, including classical, jazz and popular music concerts. Beverly was a singer-songwriter on the New York folk scene of the 1980s and ‘90s, and two of her songs were recorded on "Fast Folk" compilations. During the same period, she also booked the storied Postcrypt Coffeehouse at Columbia University. More recently, Beverly was the proud winner of a story slam at The Moth, where she enjoys both telling and listening to stories. She has one grown offspring, is an avid figure skating fan, and lives in Jersey City with her husband and two cats.
Jason Belz joined Kirshbaum Associates in 2000, having graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Arts Management and Arizona State University with a Masters in Oboe Performance. He is an active member of APAP's Classical Connections Committee, YPCA (APAP's Young Performers Career Advancement program). Jason has served as juror for YPCA and is a frequent guest speaker at universities and conservatories, leading lectures aimed to strategize career paths for young aspiring musicians. Besides music, Jason is an avid gardener and he loves to travel, having been to all lower 48 states and 4 continents so far.
Jennifer Johnson Cano has garnered critical acclaim for performances of both new and standard repertoire; lauded by the New York Times for her "rich-toned mezzo-soprano" voice and by Opera News as a "matchless interpreter of contemporary opera."
In summer 2023, Cano performs Mozart's Requiem with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Bravo! Vail Festival Chorus under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and can be heard in concert with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Soceity and Music from Angel Fire. Her 2023-2024 season highlights include performances as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Houston Grand Opera; appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco Symphony, and National Symphonies; the Philadelphia premiere of Marc Neikrug's A Song by Mahler with the FLUX Quartet. Next summer, she inaugurates the role of Michele in the world premiere of Gregory Spears's The Righteous with Santa Fe Opera.
Cano undertakes a balance of orchestral, opera and chamber music performances each season. She has collaborated on numerous projects with the Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in both the US and Europe. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic in both New York and Vail; Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck; Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin; the Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti; and Atlanta Symphony under Nathalie Stutzman.
Highlights of Cano's operatic career have included performing the roles of Donna Elvira, Carmen and Offred with the Boston Lyric Opera; The Fox in The Cunning Little Vixen with the Cleveland Orchestra; the Mother, Dragonfly, and the Squirrel in L'enfant et les sortilèges with the San Francisco Symphony; performances of El Niño with John Adams and the London Symphony Orchestra; Carmen with the New Orleans Opera; and Orphée with the Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. She has appeared in more than 100 performances on the stage at The Metropolitan Opera since her debut in the 2009-2010 season, most recently in the roles of Nicklausse, Emilia, Hansel, and Meg Page. Cano debuted the role of Virginia Woolf in the world premiere of Kevin Puts's The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra about which The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "Every word was clear both in content and intention, and her mezzo-soprano tone was deeply alluring."
John Matthew Myers has garnered acclaim for his "lovely, warm tenor of considerable promise" (Opera News), "insightful and beautifully nuanced performances" (Fort Worth Star-Telegram), and "remarkable emotional depth and range" (Opera Magazine) in recent collaborations with companies such as the New York Philharmonic, Verbier Festival, Santa Fe Opera and LA Opera. Myers made his surprise Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in 2017 as Mao in John Adams's Nixon in China conducted by the composer. In 2023, he reprised the role with the Opera National de Paris under Gustavo Dudamel, "handling Mao's tessitura with seeming ease and limning a convincing portrayal both imposing and humorous" (Classical Voice North America).
Highlights of Myers' 2023-2024 season include the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall under Maestro Fabio Biondi, debuts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck and the Rhode Island Philharmonic with Patrick Dupré Quigley singing Handel's Messiah, performing the roles of Der Tenor/Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos at Teatro La Fenice, Froh in Das Rheingold with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, and tenor soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the Santa Barbara and Oregon Symphonies. He debuts at Teatro alla Scala singing Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings conducted by Vakhtang Kakhidze with Cameristi della Scala.
Recently, Myers has covered roles for the Metropolitan Opera in productions of Britten's Peter Grimes, Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, Tchaikovsky's Queens of Spades and Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. The 2021-2022 season included singing an Offstage Voice in the Metropolitan Opera's premiere of Brett Dean's Hamlet.
Myers made his New York Philharmonic debut in the 2018-2019 season in the world premiere of David Lang's fully staged opera, prisoner of the state. Directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer, prisoner of the state was released as an album on Decca Gold in June 2020. His debut solo album Desiderium with pianist Myra Huang was released on AVIE Records in 2022.
Highlights of Myers' extensive opera repertoire include Pollione in Norma (LA Opera), Cavaradossi in Tosca (Arizona Opera), Don Jose in Carmen (Music Academy of the West), Cassio in Otello (Portland Summer Fest), Flavio in Bellini's Norma (Teatro Regio di Parma), Trin in La Fanciulla del West (Santa Fe Opera), Valerio in Mercadante's Virginia (Wexford Festival Opera), Der Kaiser in Die Frau Ohne Schatten (San Francisco Opera), Aufide in Rossini's Moïse et Pharaon (Collegiate Chorale/Carnegie Hall), Steve Wozniak in the workshop of Mason Bates's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Santa Fe Opera), and Junior/Charlie in Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain (Santa Fe Opera). As a Resident Artist at the Academy of Vocal Arts, Myers sang Duca di Mantua in Verdi's Rigoletto, Prince Sinodal in Rubinstein's The Demon, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Prince in Dvorak's Rusalka. He has collaborated with Long Beach Opera to perform Michael Gordon's Van Gogh, Gabriela Ortiz's Camelia la Tejana: Unicamente La Verdad, Stewart Copeland's Tell-Tale Heart, and a co-production of Tobias Picker's Thérèse Raquin with Chicago Opera Theater. He also sang in John Cage's Europeras 1 & 2 in with the LA Phil in collaboration with The Industry and Yuval Sharon.
Myers has been seen as a soloist in Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Mozart's Mass in C minor with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra and St. Louis Symphony, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with Colorado Springs Philharmonic, Mahler's Symphony No. 8 with the Canterbury Choral Society, Britten's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Mozart's Requiem with Southwest Florida Symphony, Britten's War Requiem with the Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall and in the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music with the Wexford Festival Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Fairfield Chorale, and Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes with Performance Santa Fe. He recently performed Dvořák's Stabat Mater at the Grant Park Music Festival, about which the Chicago Tribune wrote, "He astonished from his thrilling entrance…and kept listeners at the edge of their seats whenever he appeared, his voice a thing of poignance and power."
Myers has had the pleasure of performing in concert with composer Ricky Ian Gordon on three occasions: at the Chautauqua Institute Music Festival, Opera America's Salon Series: "Exploring American Voices," and "Cliburn at the Modern," the Van Cliburn Foundation's contemporary music series in Fort Worth, TX. He was a soloist with the Mark Morris Dance Group in their performances of The Muir, and with the American Musical Theatre Ensemble in September Songs: The Legacy of Kurt Weill. He has sung in concert with the Allentown Symphony alongside soprano Angela Meade and was awarded a recital at the Kennedy Center as a winner of Vocal Arts DC's 2017 Art Song Competition.
Originally from southern California, Myers received his graduate and undergraduate degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, was a Gerdine Young Artist with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera, an alumnus of the Verbier Festival Academy, and a fellow with Music Academy of the West. He won Third Prize and the Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder at the 2022 Wigmore Hall Bollinger International Song Competition.
Sir András Schiff is world-renowned as a pianist, conductor, pedagogue and lecturer. Called "one of the most penetratingly serious masters of the keyboard before the public today" (Boston Globe), Sir András continues to awe audiences and critics alike. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1953, Sir András studied piano at the Liszt Ferenc Academy with Pal Kadosa, György Kurtág, and Ferenc Rados; and in London with George Malcom.
He has performed cycles of complete Beethoven sonatas and the complete works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Schubert and Bartók, which constitute an important part of his work. Having collaborated with the world's leading orchestras and conductors, he now focuses primarily on solo recital, play-conducting appearances, and exclusive conducting projects. In the 2022-2023 season, he was named Artist-In-Residence by the New York Philharmonic, with whom he performed nine concerts. His Bach has become an annual highlight at the BBC Proms, and he regularly performs at the Verbier, Salzburg and Baden-Baden Festivals as well as Wigmore Hall.
In the 2023-2024 season Sir András plays recitals presented by Carnegie Hall, Celebrity Series of Boston, Chicago Symphony Presents, Washington Performing Arts, Club Musical de Québec, Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, and Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City. Sir András now prefers announcing each recital program from the stage; as The New York Times has pointed out, "he has an impish streak and likes to surprise." Schiff joins the Philadelphia Orchestra to direct and perform piano concertos by Haydn and Mozart and conducts Schubert's second symphony.
Vicenza is home to Cappella Andrea Barca, his own chamber orchestra founded in 1999, comprised of international soloists, chamber musicians and friends. He curates an annual festival in Vicenza at the Teatro Olimpico. Sir András enjoys close relationships with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Budapest Festival Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. In 2018 he accepted the role of Associated Artist with the OAE, complementing his interest in performing on period keyboard instruments; in 2024 he conducts the complete symphonies of Mendelssohn, directing the composer's two concertos from the keyboard.
With a prolific discography, he established an exclusive relationship in 1997 with producer Manfred Eicher and ECM New Series. Highlights have included the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas recorded live from Zurich; solo recitals of Schubert, Schumann and Janáček; and J.S. Bach's Partitas, Goldberg Variations, and Well-Tempered Clavier. His most recent discs, a two- CD set of works by J.S. Bach performed on the clavichord, were released in early 2023.
He continues to support new talent, primarily through his "Building Bridges" series, which offers performance opportunities to promising young artists. He also teaches at the Barenboim-Said and Kronberg Academies and gives frequent lectures and masterclasses. In 2017 his book "Music Comes from Silence," essays and conversations with Martin Meyer, was published by Bärenreiter and Henschel.
Sir András Schiff's many honors include the International Mozarteum Foundation's Golden Medal (2012), Germany's Great Cross of Merit with Star (2012, the Royal Philharmonic Society's Gold Medal (2013), a Knighthood for Services to Music (2014) and a Doctorate from the Royal College of Music (2018). He was awarded the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance in 2021 from The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University.
Markus Stenz has held several high-profile positions including Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and most recently Conductor-In-Residence of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He was General Music Director of the City of Cologne and Gürzenich-Kapellmeister for 11 years, conducting Mozart's Don Giovanni, Wagner's Ring cycle, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, as well as Janáček's Jenůfa and Katya Kábanová and Eötvös's Love and Other Demons. His widely recognized ability to communicate a score with both enthusiasm and profound musicality produces memorable performances for musicians and audiences alike.
Stenz made his opera debut in 1988 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where he has returned for numerous successful concert weeks with the Orchestra. Last season he conducted a new production of Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and will return in subsequent seasons for Ariadne auf Naxos and Lohengrin.
In 2018, Stenz conducted Schreker's Die Gezeichneten at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich and led the world premiere of Kurtág's Fin de partie at Teatro alla Scala Milan, where he also conducted Strauss's Elektra that same season. This was followed by performances of the Kurtág work for Dutch National Opera, and its French premiere at Opéra National de Paris.
This season he returns to Dutch National Opera to conduct Weill's Mahagonny, travels to Hangzhou, China, for Die Walküre and conducts a special performance of Fin de partie in Kurtág's hometown of Budapest before touring to Hamburg and Cologne. Elsewhere in Germany he conducts the MDR Leipzig, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Staatskapelle Halle.
The 2023-2024 season also sees Stenz's return to Orchestre National de Lyon and, following a very successful debut with the CBSO in Mahler Symphony No. 2 in 2022, he returns this season for Bruckner Symphony No 7. He conducts both Orchestra della Toscana and Fondazione Haydn di Bolzano in Italy, returns to the New Jersey Symphony on a program featuring Anna Clyne's Atlas, and makes his debut with Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida.
Recent symphonic engagements in North America include appearances with the Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Colorado, and Oregon Symphonies. A regular guest at the Aspen Music Festival, Markus returned in July 2023 to conduct Donnacha Dennehy's Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich. Overseas highlights have included his debut with the Orchestra dell'Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, multiple appearances with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and regular visits to three orchestras where he previously held positions: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln.
While with the Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Stenz received the prize for ‘The Best Concert Programme of the 2003-2004 Season' as well as initiating a number of youth and educational projects such as ‘Experiment Klassik', ‘3. Akt' and the concert live-recording project ‘GO live.'
His extensive discography includes many prize-winning recordings including the Gürzenich Orchestra's complete cycle of Mahler symphonies, for which Symphony No. 5 received the German Record Critics' Award; Strauss's Don Quixote and Till Eulenspiegel alsoboth received unanimous critical acclaim, followed by an equally celebrated release of Schönberg's Gurrelieder which received the Choral Award at the 2016 Gramophone Awards.
Markus Stenz studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne under Volker Wangenheim and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. He has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and the ‘Silberne Stimmgabel' (Silver Tuning Fork) of the state of North Rhein/Westphalia.
Job Titles:
- Conductor
- Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony
Michael Stern is Music Director of the Kansas City Symphony, Founding Artistic Director & Principal Conductor of the Iris Orchestra and recently named Music Director of the Stamford Symphony and the NRO.
Conductor Michael Stern has long been devoted to building and leading highly acclaimed orchestras known not only for their impeccable musicianship and creative programming, but also for collaborative, sustainable cultures that often include a vision of music as service to the community. He also is passionate about working with young musicians not only in music making, but also to incorporate the idea of "service" into their experiences as they become the artists and advocates of the future who will take classical music into the 21st century and beyond.
Stern currently holds three Music Director positions: with the Kansas City Symphony, where he will be concluding his 19-year tenure at the end of the 2023-2024 season; with the National Repertory Orchestra, a summer music festival in Breckenridge, CO which, for over 60 years, has provided an intensive, unique fellowship program for aspiring young musicians, and whose alumni populate every major orchestra across the United States; and with the newly rebranded Orchestra Lumos (formerly the Stamford Symphony). Stern was recently named Artistic Advisor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, one of Canada's foremost orchestral ensembles. And, following a 22-year tenure as founding Artistic Director of Iris Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee, he now serves the newly reimagined Iris Collective as Artistic Advisor.
During Stern's tenure with the Kansas City Symphony, he and the orchestra have been recognized for their remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development, stability, and extraordinary audience growth. Under Stern's leadership, the orchestra explored a wide range of repertoire and commissioned a number of new works. Stern and the KC Symphony also partnered with GRAMMY® Award-winning Reference Recordings for a collection of very well-received CDs that includes commissions by American composer Adam Schoenberg and by Jonathan Leshnoff, whose Symphony No. 3, inspired by World War I soldiers' letters home, was premiered by the KC Symphony at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City. The orchestra's Reference Recordings releases also include Gustav Holst's "The Planets"; a pairing of music Elgar and Vaughan Williams; "Miraculous Metamorphoses," with music by Hindemith, Prokofiev and Bartók; and a disc of works by Saint-Saëns. In 2021, Stern and the orchestra put out another widely praised recording, bringing together three one-movement symphonies by Sibelius, Barber, and Scriabin. The orchestra's next recording will be released in the fall of 2022, featuring three works by Brahms arranged for orchestra by Bright Sheng, Virgil Thomson and Arnold Schoenberg.
Stern co-founded Iris Orchestra in 2000 and was Founding Artistic Director and Principal Conductor until 2021-22, when he had planned to step down from his post. With his departure, staff, community and musicians joined together to reinvent the orchestra as the Iris Collective, devising a new way for a 21st-century organization to offer a spectrum of events, from chamber music and smaller ensemble programs to full orchestral performances, while also prioritizing a variety of community engagement initiatives. This new model of the Iris Collective is built on the strong foundation created during Stern's 22-year tenure, when the orchestra was widely praised for its musical virtuosity; programming that included acclaimed new commissions by American composers; a flexible, non-hierarchical structure; and the active partnership of its musicians. The Iris Collective will team up with a number of creative partners, including Stern, who will also continue his involvement as Artistic Advisor.
As part of his ongoing activities to engage and mentor young musicians, he was asked by Yo-Yo Ma to be the Music Director of YMCG, Youth Music Culture Guangdong, where he and Ma worked with students and young professionals in partnership with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra. He has also been invited to the National Orchestral Institute, Music Academy of the West, and has been a regular guest at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he also worked with students at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen.
Michael Stern lives in Connecticut with his two teenage daughters.
Rivera has worked closely with John Adams throughout her career and received international praise portraying Kumudha in the world premiere of A Flowering Tree directed by Peter Sellars at Vienna's New Crowned Hope Festival. Under Adams's baton, she has sung the role with the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's at Lincoln Center, and London Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed Kumudha with the Berlin Philharmonic, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon and Cincinnati Opera. Rivera made her European operatic debut as Kitty Oppenheimer in Sellars's production of Adams's Doctor Atomic with the Netherlands Opera, a role that also served for her debuts at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Finnish National Opera and Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville, Spain. She joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Doctor Atomic under the direction of Alan Gilbert. Rivera has also performed Nixon Tapes with the Pittsburgh Symphony; and El Niño with the Boston and Saint Louis Symphony Orchestras, San Francisco Symphony, and at the Edinburgh International Festival with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Director of Artist Services
Peri Stedman joined Kirshbaum Associates in 1993 after graduating with honors from Smith College with a French Language & Literature major and a Music minor. Through her on-the-job experience in artist services she has honed her skills as a travel and event planner, program coordinator, immigration consultant, uncertified CPA and all-around concierge to our eminent roster of artists whom she is honored to represent. Outside of the office she enjoys traveling, attending concerts and cheering on her beloved Boston sports teams.
Job Titles:
- Conductor
- Visiting Professor at Yale University 's School of Music
A dynamic presence in the conducting world, Peter Oundjian is renowned for his vibrant collaborative spirit and engaging musicality. His musical career spans five decades, beginning as a solo violinist and first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet, followed by an international conducting career leading preeminent orchestras in many of the world's major musical centers.
He is currently Principal Conductor of the Colorado Symphony and Music Director of the Colorado Music Festival (CMF), where he has continued to program and conduct concerts that delight audiences with beloved masterpieces alongside music written by living composers. Over the course of his 14-year tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, which concluded in 2018, he reinvigorated the orchestra with acclaimed innovative programming, artistic collaborations, extensive audience growth, national and international tours and several outstanding recordings, including Vaughan Williams' Orchestral Works, which garnered a Grammy nomination and a Juno award. Under his leadership, the Symphony underwent a transformation that significantly strengthened its presence in the world.
From 2012-2018, Oundjian served as Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, where he led the RSNO on several international tours, including North America, China, and a European festival tour with performances at the Bregenz Festival, the Dresden Festival as well as in Innsbruck, Bergamo, Ljubljana, and others. His final appearance with the orchestra as their Music Director was at the 2018 BBC Proms where he conducted Britten's epic War Requiem.
Oundjian was Principal Guest Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2010 and Artistic Director of the Caramoor International Music Festival in New York from 1997 to 2007. He was also the Music Director of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta from 1998-2002. Throughout his conducting career, Oundjian has appeared as guest conductor with the country's leading orchestras, including Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and San Francisco Symphonies, among others.
After opening the 2023-2024 season in Denver, Oundjian will return to Seattle, Dallas, Toronto, and Sarasota. His season culminates with a Carnegie Hall concert in the spring with students from the Royal Conservatory in Toronto.
Oundjian has been a visiting professor at Yale University's School of Music since 1981.
Conductor | North American Representation, Public Relations
Robert Spano, conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher, is known worldwide for the intensity of his artistry and distinctive communicative abilities, creating a sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences that is unique among American orchestras. After twenty seasons as Music Director, he continues his association with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as Music Director Laureate. An avid mentor to rising artists, he is responsible for nurturing the careers of numerous celebrated composers, conductors, and performers. As Music Director of the Aspen Music Festival and School since 2011, he oversees the programming of more than 300 events and educational programs for 630 students and young performers. Principal Guest Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra since 2019, Spano began his tenure as Music Director in August 2022, and will continue there through the 2027-2028 season. He is the tenth Music Director in the orchestra's history, which was founded in 1912. In January 2024, Spano was appointed Principal Conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School. In February 2024, Spano was appointed Music Director of the Washington National Opera, beginning in the 2025-2026 season, for a three-year term; he is currently the WNO's Music Director Designate.
During the 2023-2024 season, Spano leads the Fort Worth Symphony symphonic and chamber music programs, as well as a gala concert with Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry, in addition to overseeing the orchestra and music staff and shaping the artistic direction of the orchestra and driving its continued growth. Additional engagements this season include the Atlanta and New Jersey Symphonies, Denver, Naples, and Rhode Island Philharmonics, multiple weeks at Curtis and Rice University, and a recital in Napa with Kelley O'Connor.
Maestro Spano made his highly-acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut in 2019, leading the US premiere of Marnie, the second opera by American composer Nico Muhly. Recent concert highlights have included several world premiere performances, including Voy a Dormir by Bryce Dessner at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor; George Tsontakis's Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Dimitrios Skyllas's Kyrie eleison with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; the Tuba Concerto by Jennifer Higdon, performed by Craig Knox and the Pittsburgh Symphony; Melodia, For Piano and Orchestra, by Canadian composer Matthew Ricketts at the Aspen Music Festival; and Miserere, by ASO bassist Michael Kurth.
Spano recently returned to his early love of composing. His newest work is a song cycle on Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus that he wrote for mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor. In 2016, he premiered his Sonata: Four Elements for piano at the Aspen Music Festival, and a song cycle, Hölderlin-Lieder, for soprano Jessica Rivera.
The Atlanta School of Composers reflects Spano's commitment to American contemporary music. He has led ASO performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Ravinia, Ojai, and Savannah Music Festivals. Guest engagements have included the Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras, New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New World, San Diego, Oregon, Utah, and Kansas City Symphonies. Internationally, Maestro Spano has led the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, BBC Symphony, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Orquestra Sinfonica Estado Sao Paulo, Wroclaw Philharmonic, the Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies in Australia, and the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan. His opera performances include Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and the 2005 and 2009 Seattle Opera productions of Wagner's Ring cycles.
With a discography of critically-acclaimed recordings for Telarc, Deutsche Grammophon, and ASO Media, Robert Spano has garnered four Grammy™ Awards and eight nominations with the Atlanta Symphony. Spano is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory and has received honorary doctorates from Bowling Green State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Emory University, and Oberlin. Maestro Spano is a recipient of the Georgia Governor's Award For The Arts And Humanities and is one of two classical musicians inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He makes his home in Atlanta and Fort Worth.
Shirley Kirshbaum founded the company Kirshbaum Associates in 1980 and quickly established a reputation for distinguished and personalized artist management as well as creativity in public relations and marketing. She is privileged to work with a dedicated team, renowned leading artists, and exceptional new talents. Shirley has given arts related presentations, participated on panels, advised young musicians, has been an active member of industry organizations for decades, and has served on the board of Chamber Music America. Born into a musical family, she graduated with honors in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Her passion for classical music brought her to London where she began her career at Harold Holt and Ingpen and Williams before joining ICM Artists in New York during its formative years. Guilty pleasures include reading, films, chocolate, wine, Lady Gaga, and Patsy Cline.
Shoshana Klein is an oboist, contemporary musician, and arts administrator. She has a Bachelor's of Music and Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Master's in oboe from McGill University. In addition, she was part of the 2021 Global Leaders Program Cohort and a co-founder and co-director of zFestival, a virtual new music festival. She likes improvisation, different types of folk music, books, and plants. You can find more information about Shoshana's performance work at https://shoshanaklein.wordpress.com/.
As well as bringing insight and virtuosity to the central concerto repertoire, Hagner is an ardent advocate of new, neglected and undiscovered music, championing composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Witold Lutoslawski. The dedicatee of Unsuk Chin's Violin Concerto, she gave its world premiere in 2002 with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and Kent Nagano, and has since performed the work across Europe, the US and as far afield as Brazil. Last season she gave the Polish premiere with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and also returned to the George Enescu Festival for the Romanian premiere with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hagner dedicates herself to outreach activities for audiences of all ages. She is a founder and Artistic Director of Krzyżowa-Music, an ambitious festival promoting the exchange of ideas and culture while allowing young and aspiring musicians the opportunity to rehearse and perform with internationally acclaimed artists. Residing in Berlin where she grew up, she has been Professor at the Mannheim Conservatory of Music and Performing Arts since 2013.
Zoltán Fejérvári has emerged as one of the most intriguing pianists among the newest generation of Hungarian musicians. Winner of the 2017 Concours Musical International de Montréal and recipient of the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in 2016, Zoltán Fejérvári has appeared in recitals throughout the Americas and Europe, at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Canada's Place des Arts, Gasteig in Munich, Lingotto in Turin, Palau de Música in Valencia, Biblioteca Nacional de Buenos Aires, and Liszt Academy in Budapest. He has performed as soloist with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hungarian National Orchestra, Verbier Chamber Orchestra, and Concerto Budapest, and collaborated with such conductors as Iván Fischer, Gábor Tákács-Nagy, Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi, and Zoltán Kocsis. Fejérvári's solo recording debut, Janáček, released in January 2019, earned rave reviews as "the most sensitive and deeply probative recording" of that composer's work (Gramophone). His latest recording, Schumann, was released for the Atma Classique label in May 2020 and was again praised by Gramophone: "Fejérvári is a deeply communicative artist who combines an imperturbable yet magisterial command of his instrument with impeccable musicality. Those who have yet to hear him are in for a rare treat."
Fejérvári's 2023-2024 season includes Strauss's Burleske with Naples Philharmonic, a return to La Jolla Music Society featuring works by Mendelssohn, Gluck, Szymanowski, and Stravinsky, as well as a return to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bartók. He also participates in the Open Chamber Music seminar at IMS Prussia Cove. In Europe, he performs with Concerto Budapest, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra with works by Takács, Dohnányi, and Schubert; and he performs a solo recital at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary.
Highlights of the 2022-2023 season included performances at Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Impromptu Classical Concerts (Key West, FL), Capitol Region Classical (Schenectady, NY), Music for Galway in Ireland, Wigmore Hall and the Nicholas Yonge Society in the UK. He also performed with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Markus Stenz.
Fejérvári's notable orchestral collaborations include appearances with the Budapest Festival Orchestra; Chamber Orchestra of Europe; San Antonio Symphony with Kensho Watanabe; Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra with Matthias Bamert; Concerto Budapest Orchestra with András Keller; Hungarian Symphony Orchestra Miskolc with Mátyás Antal; and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, as well as performances at the Liszt Academy, Warsaw Philharmonic, and KKL Lucerne.
Past seasons' recital highlights have included Classical Spree, the festival of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra; contemporary and Baroque concerti at Lucerne Festival at the request of Sir András Schiff, a longtime mentor to Fejérvári; Gilmore Keyboard Festival Rising Stars series; and Vancouver Recital Society in British Columbia. Schiff chose Fejérvári to participate in "Building Bridges," a series established to highlight young pianists of unusual promise. Under this aegis Fejérvári gave recitals during the 2017-2018 season in Berlin, Bochum, Brussels, Zurich, Ittingen, among other cities.
Fejérvári has performed chamber music with the Elias Quartet presented by the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, with Joshua Bell and Nicolas Alsteadt presented by the Liszt Academy, and with violinist Diana Tishchenko in Aix-en-Provence and La Chaux-de-Fonds. Fejérvári has also collaborated with the Keller and Kodály Quartets; violinists Joseph Lin and András Keller; cellists Gary Hoffman, Christoph Richter, Ivan Monighetti, Frans Helmerson, and Steven Isserlis; and horn player Radovan Vlatković. Fejérvári has appeared at Kronberg's Chamber Music Connects the World program; Prussia Cove's Open Chamber Music; Lisztomania at Ch teauroux, France; the Tiszadob Piano Festival in Hungary; Encuentro de Música in Santander, Spain; and the Brooklyn Chamber Music Festival. At the invitation of artistic director Mitsuko Uchida, he participated in the Marlboro Music Festival in the summers of 2014 and 2016. Fejérvári also toured throughout the United States with Musicians from Marlboro in the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons.
Zoltán Fejérvári's solo recording debut, Janáček, was released on the Piano Classics label in 2019. It features performances of On an Overgrown Path, In the Mists, and Piano Sonata 1.X.1905. In 2013 his recording of Liszt's Malédiction with the Budapest Chamber Symphony, for Hungaroton, was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. The recording was followed by a CD of four Mozart sonatas with violinist Ernő Kállai, issued in 2014 on Hungaroton. Fejérvári was also featured on a 2020 Warner Classics release of sonatas by Ravel, Enescu, Ysaÿe and Prokofiev in collaboration with violinist Diana Tishchenko entitled Strangers in Paradise.
Fejérvári currently holds a professorship at the Hochschule für Musik FHNW, Musik Akademie Basel in Basel, Switzerland, where he teaches piano and chamber music classes.
"Fejérvári's playing is multi-layered and precise, requiring full concentration on the part of the audience. Every note has its own particular dynamic, character, and expression." - Kulturvollzug
"Fejérvári's rendition of Schumann was tender, philosophical, and somewhat introspective, but he played with great passion where necessary. He interpreted the slow movement with a speaking rubato and showed us his Florestanian temperament in the last movement, which made the performance truly authentic." - Muzsika
"[Fejérvári] evidenced dazzling technique that can rank with the best piano virtuosi and his interpretive instincts were consistently revelatory. He imbued even the most overt display pieces with subtlety and aristocratic insight." - South Florida Classical Review