Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio Artistic Director & Violin • Stephanie joined the Argenta Trio in the fall of 2007 as she began her new position as Assistant Professor of Violin & Viola and Director of the Orchestral Career Studies graduate program at the University of Nevada, Reno. Founder and Artistic Director of Cactus Pear Music Festival, Stephanie was the Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony for thirteen years, appearing annually as a soloist. Formerly First Assistant Principal Second Violin of The Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnanyi, she recorded and toured internationally with this acclaimed ensemble for eight seasons. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and in the countries of Canada, Estonia, Sweden, Ghana, Italy, Peru, Chile and Mexico. In addition to her active performing career over two decades, she is devoted to teaching serious young violinists, many of whom have successfully chosen careers in music. With her passion for chamber music, in 1996 Ms. Sant’Ambrogio founded Cactus Pear Music Festival, which presents chamber music performances, Young People’s Concerts, Kinder Konzerts, a Young Artist Fellowship Program, American composer commissions and master classes in the South Texas region. In the fall of 2009 she created L-Cubed, a lunchtime art and music collaborative concert series that takes place in the Rotunda of the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center and showcases the students and faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio has performed and taught at various festivals including: Semanas Musicales de Frutillar (Chile); Bach, Dancing and Dynamite Society (WI); Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (WA); Nevada Chamber Music Festival (NV); Music in the Vineyards (CA); Round Top Festival Institute (TX) and Tuckamore Festival (Newfoundland, Canada). Ms. Sant’Ambrogio studied with and was the graduate assistant to Donald Weilerstein at The Eastman School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree. Previously she received her Bachelor of Music degree with distinction from Indiana University as a scholarship student of Laurence Shapiro and James Buswell. Ms. Sant’Ambrogio plays a violin crafted in 1757 by J.B. Guadagnini of Milan, Italy and a viola by William Whedbee of Chicago, 1986.
Dmitri Atapine Cello • The First Prize winner at the 2004 Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition (Mexico), Mr. Atapine has since been recognized as an exciting cellist and accomplished chamber musician. Since 2007, Mr. Atapine has been the Artistic Director of the International Music Festival of Ribadesella (Spain). Other festival appearances as both soloist and chamber musician include such prestigious names as Banff (Canada), Great Mountains Music Festival (South Korea), Miguel Bernal Jimenez Festival (Mexico), the French Academy in Rome (Italy), Aldeburgh (England), Aix-en-Provence (France), Pacific Music Festival (Japan), and Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival (California). Recently appointed as a Cello Professor and cellist of the Argenta Trio at the University of Nevada Reno, Mr. Atapine is an avid soloist and recitalist, and has appeared on some of the world's most coveted stages including Zankel and Weill Halls at Carnegie Hall, National Auditorium of Spain, Juan March Foundation (Madrid), Prince Philip Auditorium (Asturias), among others.
Christina Scott Edelen Harpsichord • Hailed as a “superb harpsichordist,” she has performed on harpsichord, organ, clavichord, and fortepiano as soloist and in numerous ensembles and festivals including Opera Atelier, Sante Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Berkeley, San Antonio, and Bloomington Early Music Festivals. She is currently organist and Music Director at the Anglican Church of St. John’s in The Hague, Netherlands.
Fred Edelen Cello • Currently Assistant Principal cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Fred was formerly cellist with the Houston Symphony and Principal cellist of the San Antonio Symphony. He was a prize winner at the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition. He is an avid performer on Baroque cello and, as Duo Edelen, Fred and his wife Christina present recitals of the vast baroque repertoire in Europe and the U.S.
Dave Harding Viola • Appearing throughout Europe, the United States, Canada and Central America, in such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, Concertgebouw, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. His performances have been broadcast on BBC, NPR and Deutschland Radio. David is frequently featured on CBC Radio in Canada. He regularly performs at chamber music festivals throughout North America including amongst others the Seattle Chamber Music Society, Strings in the Mountains, CO, Sitka Chamber Music Festival, AK, Festival of the Sound, ON, and the Cactus Pear Chamber Music Festival, TX. David is a member of Trio Verlaine and the American String Project.
Timothy Jones Bass Baritone • Acclaimed throughout the United States, Canada, South America and Europe, Timothy Jones is rapidly emerging as one of the leading bass-baritones of his generation. His eagerly anticipated performances combine intelligent musicianship, commanding vocal technique and a unique ability to connect with audiences. He is a champion of opera, the concert stage, chamber music, solo recitals and the premieres of contemporary works. Mr. Jones has recently sung Handel's Messiah with The Cleveland Orchestra, Jake in Porgy and Bess with Opera Pacific, Alidoro in La Cenerentola with the Opera Birmingham, Eight Songs for a Mad King with the Utah Symphony, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Jacksonville Symphony, the St. John Passion with the Florida Bach Festival, concerts at the Cactus Pear Festival, a gala concert with the Marshall Symphony, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Wichita Symphony, and performances at Michigan State University and the University of Houston.
Stephanie Jutt Flute • As a lifelong champion of new music, Ms. Jutt has performed many premiere performances, such as the first Midwestern performances of Gunther Schuller Flute Concerto, the Christopher Rouse Flute Concerto, and the Lukas Foss Renaissance Concerto. In August, 2001, Stephanie Jutt premiered the David Maslanka Songbook at the National Flute Association conference in Dallas, Texas. Most recently, she has premiered new compositions by Ricardo Lorenz and Miguel del Aguila. Stephanie co-founded and is Artistic Director of the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, a Midwestern summer music festival now in its 20th year. Her many honors include the coveted Concert Artist Guild and Pro Musicis International Solo awards. Stephanie has performed in recitals throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Her All-Brahms recording, Stolen Moments, with Jeffrey Sykes, pianist, was released in 2005 on Centaur. New Brahms Transcriptions by Stephanie Jutt was recently published by International Music Publishing. Stephanie is on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin – Madison and is principal flute in the Madison Symphony Orchestra
Peter Miyamoto Piano • Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Missouri and head of the Piano Department at the New York Summer Music Festival, Peter has performed to great acclaim in Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, China, and Japan, and in major US cities such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. Named a Gilmore Young Artist in 1990, he also won top prizes in the American Pianist Association National Fellowship Competition, the D’Angelo Competition, the National Chopin Competition, the San Francisco Symphony Competition and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Competition. He holds degrees from the Yale University School of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, Michigan State University, and the Royal Academy of Music in London where his teachers included Maria Curcio-Diamand, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, and Ralph Votapek.
Dmitri Pogorelov Violin & Viola • Dmitri has appeared in solo recitals, and as soloist with orchestras in the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, and Russia, where he performed in the most prestigious concert halls of Moscow and St. Petersburg. As part of Dmitri’s interest in modern music, he recorded chamber music works by Eric Ewazen, Gunther Schuller, Yehudi Wyner, John Heiss, and Kati Agócs for Albany Records. In addition to his solo and chamber music activities, Dmitri has also worked under Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, Sir Mark Elder, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya as leader of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra. Dmitri plays a 1714 Vincenzo Ruggieri violin, on loan to him courtesy of long time mentor and friend Archimandrite Zinovy of Kursk.
Sherry Rubins Percussion • Director of the Percussion program at UTSA and currently acting Assistant Principal Timpanist with the San Antonio Symphony, Sherry is Principal Timpanist/Percussionist with the Mid-Texas Symphony and Principal Percussionist with the San Antonio Opera. She has been a member of the percussion faculty at the University of Houston, the Interlochen Arts Camp, and Texas Lutheran University, among others.
Ilya Shterenberg Clarinet • Principal clarinetist of the San Antonio Symphony and former principal clarinetist of the Charleston Symphony, Ilya has performed extensively in the United States and abroad, in broadcasts on National Public Radio and Chicago’s WFMT classical music network. As a soloist, his repertoire with orchestras have included such rarely heard clarinet concertos as those by Franz Krommer and Karol Kurpinsky, as well as the American premiere of Richard Strauss’s Serenade for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra. He has performed frequently as a recitalist and chamber music artist with Cactus Pear Music Festival, the Olmos Ensemble, Colorado Music Festival, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival – USA. Ilya teaches clarinet at the University of Texas San Antonio.
Craig Sorgi Education Director, Young Artists Fellowship Program • Since 1982, Craig has been a member of the San Antonio Symphony First Violin section and during the 2004/05 and 2005/06 concert seasons he was appointed the orchestra's Acting Assistant Concertmaster. Craig is also the Concertmaster of the San Antonio Opera, a position he has held since 1999. In 2005, he was invited by Maestro David Mairs to be the Concertmaster of the Mid-Texas Symphony. Craig is very active as a chamber music performer and solo recitalist in the South Texas area for over 25 years and is a frequent performer of new music.
Judith Lynn Stillman Piano • Renowned for her "sweeping, energy-packed temperament and never-failing vivaciousness," pianist Judith Lynn Stillman has dazzled audiences in the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. She has an extensive recording career. Her first disc on the North Star Music label has sold over 200,000 copies, her most recent disc won an Indie Award, is featured guest artist on the Borromeo String Quartet's "Living Archive" Series, and her SONY Classical recording with double Grammy award-winner Wynton Marsalis skyrocketed to the Top Ten on the Billboard charts and received rave reviews. Stillman has been a noted performer at major music festivals including Marlboro where she was selected for "Music for Marlboro" broadcasts. She received three fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Festival. Stillman has been featured annually since 1989 at The Grand Teton Music Festival, and is the pianist-in-residence for the Lancaster Music Festival. She has received critical acclaim at festivals in Switzerland, France, Costa Rica, and Israel. Stillman was featured at the Grammy's celebration in honor of Rostropovich and at the Oscar's "Academy Awards Uniting Nations" in Hollywood, CA. Judith Lynn Stillman is currently Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Rhode Island College, on the piano and chamber music faculties of New England Conservatory, and taught applied piano and chamber music at Brown University.
James Winn piano • James Winn, piano and composition professor at the University of Nevada, Reno since 1997, made his professional debut with the Denver Symphony at the age of thirteen, and has been performing widely in North America, Europe, and Japan ever since. With his duo-piano partner, Cameron Grant, he was a recipient of the top prize given in the two-piano category of the 1980 Munich Competition. Dr. Winn has been a solo pianist with the New York City Ballet, a member of the New York New Music Ensemble, and of Hexagon (woodwind quintet plus piano), as well as a frequent guest with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Speculum, the Washington Square Contemporary Music Series, the Chamber Music Society of Sacramento, the Group for Contemporary Music, and Bargemusic.
Well-known as a specialist in new music, he has been involved in numerous world premieres and premiere recordings by many renowned composers, among them 13 Pulitzer Prize winners (John Adams, Michael Colgrass, Mario Davidovsky, Norman Dello Joio, Jacob Druckman, Aaron Kernis, George Perle, Wayne Peterson, Mel Powell, Joseph Schwantner, Melinda Wagner, Charles Wuorinen, and Ellen Zwilich). He is currently a member of Argenta, UNR's resident chamber group, the pianist of the Telluride Chamber Music Festival, and performs regularly in recital with internationally acclaimed New York based violinist Rolf Schulte.
An active recording artist, Winn is featured in more than three dozen CDs as soloist, chamber musician, and composer. Dr. Winn's compositions have been performed internationally. He has received the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Liberal Arts' Mousel/Feltner award for creative activity, an Artist Fellowship Grant in composition from the Nevada Arts Council, the 2007 Award for Creative Activity from Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, and the 2009 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.
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