Artist Faculty
The Summer Music Festival features experienced Teaching Artists from all over
the globe who have collaborated for many years in the training of young musicians.
the globe who have collaborated for many years in the training of young musicians.
Directors
Gene Wie, Festival Co-Director
Gene enjoys an international career as a conductor, performer, and educator. With over twenty years of experience as a full-time K-12 teacher, he directs the Orchestra Program at Choate Rosemary Hall, where he conducts the Symphony, and Concert orchestras, coaches chamber music, and teaches music history. His professional appearances across North America, Europe, and Asia on violin, viola, clarinet, and saxophone include collaborations in a diverse range of fields including classical and contemporary ensembles as well as musical theater, modern dance, ballet, and electronic music, and he currently serves as Concertmaster of the New Haven Chamber Orchestra. His former students can be found throughout the world in a diverse range of careers as conductors, composers, educators, and professional symphony musicians. In March 2022, he organized and conducted the Violins of Hope Concert in Santa Ana, California, presenting the recovered works of composers who lost their lives in the Holocaust. Gene's musical mentors include William Fitzpatrick, Yoko Matsuda, Haroutune Bedelian, William R. Kennedy, Hong Cheng, Lori Franke, Robert Becker, Peter Marsh, Nina Scolnik, Margaret Parkins, Amanda Walker, and Dorea Tate. He earned MFA Music and BS Information and Computer Science degrees from the University of California, Irvine.
Gene enjoys an international career as a conductor, performer, and educator. With over twenty years of experience as a full-time K-12 teacher, he directs the Orchestra Program at Choate Rosemary Hall, where he conducts the Symphony, and Concert orchestras, coaches chamber music, and teaches music history. His professional appearances across North America, Europe, and Asia on violin, viola, clarinet, and saxophone include collaborations in a diverse range of fields including classical and contemporary ensembles as well as musical theater, modern dance, ballet, and electronic music, and he currently serves as Concertmaster of the New Haven Chamber Orchestra. His former students can be found throughout the world in a diverse range of careers as conductors, composers, educators, and professional symphony musicians. In March 2022, he organized and conducted the Violins of Hope Concert in Santa Ana, California, presenting the recovered works of composers who lost their lives in the Holocaust. Gene's musical mentors include William Fitzpatrick, Yoko Matsuda, Haroutune Bedelian, William R. Kennedy, Hong Cheng, Lori Franke, Robert Becker, Peter Marsh, Nina Scolnik, Margaret Parkins, Amanda Walker, and Dorea Tate. He earned MFA Music and BS Information and Computer Science degrees from the University of California, Irvine.
Chika Wie, Festival Co-Director
Chika is a prominent string pedagogue and founder of the music education non-profit Musissho, and has appeared as a violin soloist in the United States and Europe. From 2012-2020 she served as Executive Director of the non-profit Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California and launched trend-setting early childhood string music programs in Southern California. Chika began playing the violin with the Suzuki Method in Nagoya, Japan and moved to Los Angeles at the age of ten to attend the prestigious Colburn School in Los Angeles. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach. She also earned a California teaching credential in Mathematics and a Connecticut Certificate in Mathematics, and most recently a Master of Education degree in SPED at the University of Hartford. She currently teaches Math at the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) in New Haven, Connecticut, where she has leads the award-winning MathCounts team. Her extensive pedagogical training includes Suzuki and Dalcroze, and her students have included laureates of the Classics Alive Young Artist Auditions and participants in the Aspen Music Festival. During the height of the global pandemic, she developed an innovative and free online ensemble play-in for violin students that brought together hundreds of musicians of all ages from all over the world to make music together each week, supported by symphonic backing tracks that she composed/arranged, a project featured in the American Suzuki Journal article Suzuki Community's Beautiful Heart Shines Through Tough Times.
Chika is a prominent string pedagogue and founder of the music education non-profit Musissho, and has appeared as a violin soloist in the United States and Europe. From 2012-2020 she served as Executive Director of the non-profit Community Youth Orchestra of Southern California and launched trend-setting early childhood string music programs in Southern California. Chika began playing the violin with the Suzuki Method in Nagoya, Japan and moved to Los Angeles at the age of ten to attend the prestigious Colburn School in Los Angeles. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance from the Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach. She also earned a California teaching credential in Mathematics and a Connecticut Certificate in Mathematics, and most recently a Master of Education degree in SPED at the University of Hartford. She currently teaches Math at the Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) in New Haven, Connecticut, where she has leads the award-winning MathCounts team. Her extensive pedagogical training includes Suzuki and Dalcroze, and her students have included laureates of the Classics Alive Young Artist Auditions and participants in the Aspen Music Festival. During the height of the global pandemic, she developed an innovative and free online ensemble play-in for violin students that brought together hundreds of musicians of all ages from all over the world to make music together each week, supported by symphonic backing tracks that she composed/arranged, a project featured in the American Suzuki Journal article Suzuki Community's Beautiful Heart Shines Through Tough Times.
Instructors
Artemis Simerson, Violin
Artemis served as the Assistant Concertmaster of both Orchestra New England and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra for four decades, where she also frequently appeared as concertmaster and soloist. In 1986, she made her New York debut premiering Bruno Walter’s Violin Sonata in two concerts in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art’s “Vienna: 1900” exhibition. Since then she has performed a broad range of chamber music throughout the US and Europe at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, with renowned violinists such as Eric Friedman and Paul Kantor, performed and recorded Arabic violin with virtuoso Palestinian oudist and violinist Simon Shaheen, and was the onstage solo violinist for Long Wharf Theater’s five-week run of the off-Broadway show I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. A regular member of the Wall Street Chamber Players for over thirty-five years, she remains a frequently invited guest chamber musician and concertmaster. Ms. Simerson has recorded for the Koch International Classics, Nimbus, and Naxos labels, and her solo lines have been featured in various commercial recordings, television specials, and documentaries. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has studied violin with Syoko Aki, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Szymon Goldberg. Previously a faculty member at the Neighborhood Music school in New Haven, her students have attended prestigious conservatories and gone on to have subsequent successful professional careers in music. She now serves on the string faculty at Choate Rosemary Hall, and maintains a private studio at her home in North Branford, Connecticut.
Artemis served as the Assistant Concertmaster of both Orchestra New England and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra for four decades, where she also frequently appeared as concertmaster and soloist. In 1986, she made her New York debut premiering Bruno Walter’s Violin Sonata in two concerts in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art’s “Vienna: 1900” exhibition. Since then she has performed a broad range of chamber music throughout the US and Europe at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, with renowned violinists such as Eric Friedman and Paul Kantor, performed and recorded Arabic violin with virtuoso Palestinian oudist and violinist Simon Shaheen, and was the onstage solo violinist for Long Wharf Theater’s five-week run of the off-Broadway show I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change. A regular member of the Wall Street Chamber Players for over thirty-five years, she remains a frequently invited guest chamber musician and concertmaster. Ms. Simerson has recorded for the Koch International Classics, Nimbus, and Naxos labels, and her solo lines have been featured in various commercial recordings, television specials, and documentaries. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and has studied violin with Syoko Aki, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Szymon Goldberg. Previously a faculty member at the Neighborhood Music school in New Haven, her students have attended prestigious conservatories and gone on to have subsequent successful professional careers in music. She now serves on the string faculty at Choate Rosemary Hall, and maintains a private studio at her home in North Branford, Connecticut.
Mary Ellen Goree, Violin
Mary Ellen Goree, Principal Second Violin of the San Antonio Philharmonic, began playing the violin at age five in the Suzuki class of Alice Joy Lewis. following studies with Helmut Braunlich, she earned the BM in violin performance and BA in mathematics from Oberlin College, where she studied violin with Stephen Clapp, piano with Sanford Margolis, and chamber music with Marilyn McDonald, Stephen Clapp, and Denes Koromzay. She continued her education at Indiana University as a student of Paul Biss, receiving the MM with distinction in violin performance. In 1988, she joined the San Antonio Symphony as a member of the second violin section, moving to the assistant principal second chair in 1989 and was appointed as principal second violin in 1991. Mary Ellen taught violin at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and previously served as Co-Concertmaster of the Shreveport Symphony (Louisiana), Associate Concertmaster of the Yamagata Symphony (Japan), and Principal Second Violin of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra from 1994-2022. Her solo playing has been described as "delicate, inspired work" in the Shreveport times, and as "highly polished, confident solo work" in the San Antonio Express-News. Mary Ellen has been an SMF faculty member for four seasons.
Mary Ellen Goree, Principal Second Violin of the San Antonio Philharmonic, began playing the violin at age five in the Suzuki class of Alice Joy Lewis. following studies with Helmut Braunlich, she earned the BM in violin performance and BA in mathematics from Oberlin College, where she studied violin with Stephen Clapp, piano with Sanford Margolis, and chamber music with Marilyn McDonald, Stephen Clapp, and Denes Koromzay. She continued her education at Indiana University as a student of Paul Biss, receiving the MM with distinction in violin performance. In 1988, she joined the San Antonio Symphony as a member of the second violin section, moving to the assistant principal second chair in 1989 and was appointed as principal second violin in 1991. Mary Ellen taught violin at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and previously served as Co-Concertmaster of the Shreveport Symphony (Louisiana), Associate Concertmaster of the Yamagata Symphony (Japan), and Principal Second Violin of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra from 1994-2022. Her solo playing has been described as "delicate, inspired work" in the Shreveport times, and as "highly polished, confident solo work" in the San Antonio Express-News. Mary Ellen has been an SMF faculty member for four seasons.
Timothy Paek, Cello
Tim's current appointments include principal cellist of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, as well as section cellist of the Boston-based Phoenix Orchestra. He also appears regularly with the Unitas Ensemble, Palaver Strings, Cape Symphony, Juventas New Music Ensemble, New Bedford Symphony, and the CODA Ensemble. He was a founding member of the Meadowlark Piano Trio (2012-2020), who were semifinalists in the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition, and artist fellows for the Music for Food organization, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in local communities. Tim completed his Suzuki teacher training at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has studied with Mihail Jojatu, Anne Martindale Williams, Melissa Kraut, Gregory Beaver, Jermone Carrington, and Andre Emelianoff. In his earlier years he attended the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division Music Program. An enthusiastic performer and educator, he also holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and he studied chamber music with members of the Cavani, Cleveland, Chiara, Orion, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.
Tim's current appointments include principal cellist of the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, as well as section cellist of the Boston-based Phoenix Orchestra. He also appears regularly with the Unitas Ensemble, Palaver Strings, Cape Symphony, Juventas New Music Ensemble, New Bedford Symphony, and the CODA Ensemble. He was a founding member of the Meadowlark Piano Trio (2012-2020), who were semifinalists in the Fischoff International Chamber Music Competition, and artist fellows for the Music for Food organization, a musician-led initiative to fight hunger in local communities. Tim completed his Suzuki teacher training at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has studied with Mihail Jojatu, Anne Martindale Williams, Melissa Kraut, Gregory Beaver, Jermone Carrington, and Andre Emelianoff. In his earlier years he attended the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division Music Program. An enthusiastic performer and educator, he also holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and he studied chamber music with members of the Cavani, Cleveland, Chiara, Orion, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.
Past Artists (2012-2024)
Jay Tilton, Cello
Jay's multifaceted performance career includes appearances under the world's leading conductors including Bernard Haitink, Andre Previn, Sir Andrew Davis, Oliver Knussen, Herbert Blumstedt, and John Williams, with ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and New England Symphonic Ensemble, as well as popular artists including The Carpenters, Casting Crowns, Imagine Dragons, One Republic, Kid Cudi, Bobby McFerrin, Ricky Skaggs, and Josh Groban. He was the cellist for the past National Tour of the Tony-award-winning Broadway musical theater production of Miss Saigon, and performed throughout New York City and Los Angeles as a freelance orchestral musician. A graduate of Rice University and Vanderbilt University and alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Festival, he has played in masterclasses for Yo-Yo Ma, Ron Leonard, Joseph Silverstein, and Lynn Harrell, and trained in chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Orion, Turtle Island, and Emerson String Quartets. With his extensive private teaching background and experience as a Suzuki Method Cello instructor, Jay has been a faculty member with SMF in California and Connecticut for seven seasons. www.jaytilton.com
Jay's multifaceted performance career includes appearances under the world's leading conductors including Bernard Haitink, Andre Previn, Sir Andrew Davis, Oliver Knussen, Herbert Blumstedt, and John Williams, with ensembles including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and New England Symphonic Ensemble, as well as popular artists including The Carpenters, Casting Crowns, Imagine Dragons, One Republic, Kid Cudi, Bobby McFerrin, Ricky Skaggs, and Josh Groban. He was the cellist for the past National Tour of the Tony-award-winning Broadway musical theater production of Miss Saigon, and performed throughout New York City and Los Angeles as a freelance orchestral musician. A graduate of Rice University and Vanderbilt University and alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Festival, he has played in masterclasses for Yo-Yo Ma, Ron Leonard, Joseph Silverstein, and Lynn Harrell, and trained in chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Orion, Turtle Island, and Emerson String Quartets. With his extensive private teaching background and experience as a Suzuki Method Cello instructor, Jay has been a faculty member with SMF in California and Connecticut for seven seasons. www.jaytilton.com
Lisa Quispe, Violin/Viola
Lisa Quispe is a native Long Islander who started her formal training as a Suzuki school student and continued in later years as a pupil of the Russian school of playing, which focuses on the motor skills of both hands, quality of sound (richness, colorfulness, purity), and the belief in full executive freedom in interpretation. During college and after graduation, Lisa traveled extensively with numerous orchestras and chamber groups performing abroad, and also interned with the Carnegie Hall Archives. She lived in California and worked as a freelance musician, taught private lessons, and coached youth orchestra violins while performing with The Golden State Pops Orchestra. She is the music librarian at a private school in New York and teaches all over Long Island while playing with local community symphonies. She continues to be excited about sharing her love of music history, musical theater, and all things musically dramatic with her students. Lisa is a graduate of the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam, where she earned her BM Violin Performance degree, and Queens College of the City University of New York, where she earned her Master's degree in Library and Information Science. Lisa has been an SMF faculty member for three seasons.
Lisa Quispe is a native Long Islander who started her formal training as a Suzuki school student and continued in later years as a pupil of the Russian school of playing, which focuses on the motor skills of both hands, quality of sound (richness, colorfulness, purity), and the belief in full executive freedom in interpretation. During college and after graduation, Lisa traveled extensively with numerous orchestras and chamber groups performing abroad, and also interned with the Carnegie Hall Archives. She lived in California and worked as a freelance musician, taught private lessons, and coached youth orchestra violins while performing with The Golden State Pops Orchestra. She is the music librarian at a private school in New York and teaches all over Long Island while playing with local community symphonies. She continues to be excited about sharing her love of music history, musical theater, and all things musically dramatic with her students. Lisa is a graduate of the Crane School of Music of the State University of New York at Potsdam, where she earned her BM Violin Performance degree, and Queens College of the City University of New York, where she earned her Master's degree in Library and Information Science. Lisa has been an SMF faculty member for three seasons.
Warren Hagerty, Cello
Warren is Principal Cello of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. He was the founding cellist of the Verona Quartet, which earned top prizes in international chamber music competitions including the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Concert Artists Guild’s Victor Elmaleh Competition. He was involved in commissioning and premiering composer Michael Gilbertons's first string quartet, which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in music, and also premiered works by Richard Danielpour and Sebastian Currier. Warren holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and his primary mentors have included members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Eric Kim and Sharon Robinson. His teaching engagements have included positions at the The Juilliard School, Indiana University String Academy, Oberlin String Quartet Festival, and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles. He also served as Director of Junior Chamber Music Los Angeles.
Warren is Principal Cello of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra in Orange County, California. He was the founding cellist of the Verona Quartet, which earned top prizes in international chamber music competitions including the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Concert Artists Guild’s Victor Elmaleh Competition. He was involved in commissioning and premiering composer Michael Gilbertons's first string quartet, which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in music, and also premiered works by Richard Danielpour and Sebastian Currier. Warren holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and his primary mentors have included members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Eric Kim and Sharon Robinson. His teaching engagements have included positions at the The Juilliard School, Indiana University String Academy, Oberlin String Quartet Festival, and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles. He also served as Director of Junior Chamber Music Los Angeles.
Sifei Cheng - Orchestral Excerpts Sessions (Viola)
Born in Taiwan and raised in California, violist Sifei Cheng joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1995. He has served as principal viola of the Charleston Symphony, New World Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra and has led sections under Michael Tilson Thomas, Eiji Oue and Christoph Eschenbach. Cheng has recorded with the late legendary Prince and his backing band 3rdEyeGirl. He was also principal viola of the Game of Thrones in Concert Orchestra that debuted in 2017 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. He holds a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and has also studied at The Juilliard School in New York. His past teachers include Karen Tuttle, Michael Tree and William Kennedy.
Born in Taiwan and raised in California, violist Sifei Cheng joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 1995. He has served as principal viola of the Charleston Symphony, New World Symphony, Juilliard Orchestra and has led sections under Michael Tilson Thomas, Eiji Oue and Christoph Eschenbach. Cheng has recorded with the late legendary Prince and his backing band 3rdEyeGirl. He was also principal viola of the Game of Thrones in Concert Orchestra that debuted in 2017 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. He holds a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and has also studied at The Juilliard School in New York. His past teachers include Karen Tuttle, Michael Tree and William Kennedy.
William Fitzpatrick - The Art of Teaching (Violin)
William retired in 2021 following a long and distinguished teaching career as the Temianka Endowed Professor of Violin at Chapman University. From Founder and First Violinist of the New York String Quartet, to Director of Chamber Music at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, he has taught many of today's leading violinists and chamber musicians. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he studied with Dorothy DeLay and served as teaching assistant to Robert Mann and Claus Adam of the Juilliard String Quartet. Prior, he was a student of Stephen Clapp at the Blair School of Music in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Fitzpatrick has recorded for Jubal, CRI, Sine Qua Non and Delos record labels, as well as for the BBC and FR2 broadcasts. His premiere performance of Albert Glinsky’s “Rhapsody“ for Violin solo and Orchestra, choreographed by Leslie-Jane Pessemier in “Flights” for the Joffrey II ballet company gave more than 100 performances across the United States and Hong Kong. Having published numerous pedagogical works through his firm MusiShare, Inc., he continues to share his incredible knowledge and lifelong experiences with violinists all over the world through his YouTube channel, Bill Fitzpatrick's Videos for Violinists.
William retired in 2021 following a long and distinguished teaching career as the Temianka Endowed Professor of Violin at Chapman University. From Founder and First Violinist of the New York String Quartet, to Director of Chamber Music at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, he has taught many of today's leading violinists and chamber musicians. A graduate of the Juilliard School, he studied with Dorothy DeLay and served as teaching assistant to Robert Mann and Claus Adam of the Juilliard String Quartet. Prior, he was a student of Stephen Clapp at the Blair School of Music in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Fitzpatrick has recorded for Jubal, CRI, Sine Qua Non and Delos record labels, as well as for the BBC and FR2 broadcasts. His premiere performance of Albert Glinsky’s “Rhapsody“ for Violin solo and Orchestra, choreographed by Leslie-Jane Pessemier in “Flights” for the Joffrey II ballet company gave more than 100 performances across the United States and Hong Kong. Having published numerous pedagogical works through his firm MusiShare, Inc., he continues to share his incredible knowledge and lifelong experiences with violinists all over the world through his YouTube channel, Bill Fitzpatrick's Videos for Violinists.
The Telegraph Quartet - Chamber Music
The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) was formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire and contemporary, non-standard works alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Interlochen Arts Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet was on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for many years and recently began a new role as faculty at the University of Michigan. www.telegraphquartet.com
The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) was formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire and contemporary, non-standard works alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Interlochen Arts Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet was on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for many years and recently began a new role as faculty at the University of Michigan. www.telegraphquartet.com
