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MusicFest 2023
June 24th – July 2nd
Dear Friends,
We are eagerly anticipating MusicFest 2023 this coming June and July! MusicFest 2023 will offer another chance for the Telluride music loving community to enjoy performances in both the gorgeous home of Anne & Vincent Mai, a restored barn with unparalleled views of Mt. Sunshine, as well as the Palm Theater in downtown.
Join us for our opening Gala performance at the Mai’s on Saturday June 24!
Last summer we were overwhelmed and humbled by the audience response to our first season as Co-Artistic directors and we are proud to be presenting our “Summer Soirees” again, teaming up with Telluride Chamber Music Association. “Summer Soirees“ embodies a moment in time when a group of friends assembles for the purpose of listening to and enjoying music. Each program features traditional classical, modern and world influenced chamber music. And with the addition of dance, there will be something for dance and music lovers alike.
MusicFest 2023 brings back your favorite musicians from MusicFest 2022. Violinists Deborah Buck and Min-Young Kim, cellist Caroline Stinson, pianists Inessa Zaretsky and Orion Weiss. And the amazing dancers Casey Howes and Jake Warren formerly of PILOBOLUS Dance Company!
There could not be a more fitting place than 10,000 feet to raise our spirits with the joyful reunion of the Telluride community at the Mai’s house and the Palm Theatre, through the shared love of music and dance.
Festival Artists
Kathryn Lockwood
Viola & Artistic Director
Kathryn Lockwood, Viola
Australian violist Kathryn Lockwood leads an active and varied career as performer, teacher, and artistic director. Kathryn’s career launched straight out of graduate school as founding member of the Pacifica Quartet where she traveled the world concertizing and recording. After moving to New York in 2001 Kathryn soon claimed the viola chair of the internationally renowned Lark Quartet. Always evolving and thinking out of the box, Kathryn formed the innovative group duoJalal with percussionist and husband Yousif Sheronick. Kathryn’s creative mind led her to be appointed Artistic Director for the Four Seasons in Music at the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy – a very special series presenting four magical concerts with unique themed programs of chamber music and poetry. Kathryn is also the Artistic Director for the “Music@MoMA” Series – an intimate salon style chamber music series and is newly appointed as co-artistic director of the Telluride MusicFest. She has recorded for Innova, Bridge, Cedille and Endeavor records. Kathryn is currently on faculty at University of Massachusetts/Amherst and at the John Cali School of Music at Montclair State University where she was recently appointed Curator of the Immersive Residency Program overseeing weeklong residency visits of internationally renowned artists and groups. www.kathrynlockwood.com
Yousif Sheronick
Percussion & Artistic Director
Yousif Sheronick, Percussion
Hailed by the New York Times for his “dazzling improvisations” and his “wizardry on a range of humble frame drums” Yousif Sheronick enjoys an active career as percussionist, composer, producer and educator. Having studied classical percussion through a Masters degree at Yale, Yousif went on to study music from Brazil, India, Africa and the Middle East which he seamlessly incorporates into his playing. Yousif’s unique skills in both World and Classical music have led him to perform with a diverse range of ensembles and musicians including Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Ethos Percussion Group, Lark Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Cindy Blackman Santana, Glen Velez and Paul Winter. A feature article in Drum! Magazine highlighted Yousif’s versatility in an article titled “At The Corner Of The World”. His many musical influences are showcased in duoJalal, his venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood. Kathryn and Yousif are the new co-directors of the Telluride MusicFest which is a yearly summer festival in the gorgeous mountains in CO. A firm believer in the power of education, Yousif recently established an online school FrameDrumSchool.org and now has over 700 enrolled students from 54 countries around the world. www.yousifsheronick.com
duoJalal
Violin & Percussion
duoJalal
duoJalal “are fearless seekers and synthesizers of disparate instruments and cultures” raves the Toronto Star. Like the marriage between Kathryn Lockwood and Yousif Sheronick, their music represents an organic amalgam of cultural traditions and musical styles. Audiences are enthralled as an Australian violist ignites her instrument with passion – one minute embodying a medieval rebec, the next a contemporary violist playing Philip Glass. Yousif, of Lebanese descent, dazzles as he manipulates multiple sounds on an array of hand drums followed by intoxicating melodies on vibraphone. duoJalal moves from Classical to Klezmer, Middle Eastern to Jazz, with a skillful confluence that is natural, exploratory, and passionate. duoJalal has performed throughout the United States, Australia and Brazil regularly performing world premieres of works composed or arranged for the group by Philip Glass, Andrew Waggoner, Derek Bermel, Kenji Bunch, Evan Ziporyn, Eve Beglarian and John Patitucci.
As the ensemble in residence for the Four Seasons in Music concert series, the duo have the luxury of collaborating with an array of top tier artists including string players, vocalists, clarinets, dancers and more! Known for their outstanding teaching skills, duoJalal offers masterclasses and clinics for string soloists and ensembles as well as drumming workshops to both children and adults. Recent masterclasses were held at Manhattan School of Music, New York University and the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention. Kathryn and Yousif are proud to announce a new position as co-artistic directors and ensemble in residence of the Telluride MusicFest. A festival housed in a gorgeous mountain home situated at 10,000 feet!
duojalal.org
Deborah Buck
Violin
Deborah Buck, Violin
Deborah Buck has built a rich and varied musical career as chamber musician, concertmaster, professor, soloist, and artistic leader. For seventeen years, Ms. Buck was a member of the Lark Quartet where she concertized, commissioned, and recorded works by many of America’s most celebrated composers. As an active recitalist, in 2020, Ms. Buck received two commissions: one for solo violin by John Harbison entitled DeBut, and another for violin and piano entitled Fantasia on Beethoven’s Spring Sonata by Bruce Adolphe. Subsequently, in October 2021, Ms. Buck recorded the Suite for Solo Violin by John Harbison. Most recent performances have been with pianist, Orli Shaham for the Kauffman Center’s Musical Storefront series (NYC) and at the Music for Food series (NYC). For the past five years, Ms. Buck has led the Stamford Symphony (CT) as its Acting Concertmaster and was the tenured Concertmaster of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 2008-2013. Ms. Buck is Assistant Professor of Violin and Head of Strings and Chamber Music at SUNY Purchase. She is also Co-Director, and Faculty Concert series curator of the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont. She is a graduate of both the Juilliard School and the University of Southern California where she studied with Dorothy DeLay, Masao Kawasaki, and Robert Lipsett.
Min-Young Kim
Violin
Min-Young Kim
A founding member of the acclaimed Daedalus Quartet, violinist Min-Young Kim enjoys a career that highlights her versatility as a performing musician. As first violinist of the Daedalus Quartet, she performs regularly throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia, and has been presented by many of the world’s leading musical venues including Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Musikverein in Vienna, and the Concertgebeouw in Amsterdam.
In addition, she has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and East Coast Chamber Orchestra and has performed in chamber music festivals across the US, France and Singapore. An advocate for the music of our time, Ms. Kim enjoys working closely with composers and has commissioned and premiered many new works including those of Fred Lerdahl, Anna Weesner, Huck Hodge, and Wolfgang Rihm. She can also be heard on historical violin on tour with Tempesta di Mare and Apollo’s Fire.
A dedicated teacher, Ms. Kim holds degrees from Harvard, Juilliard and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and currently teaches at Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.
Caroline Stinson
Cello
Caroline Stinson
Canadian-born Caroline Stinson is cellist with the Ciompi String Quartet and Associate Professor at Duke University. Ms. Stinson performs widely as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, appearing at Zankel Hall (Carnegie), The Gardner Museum (Boston) and The Smithsonian (DC); the Koelner Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival and Cité de la Musique in Europe, and the Centennial Centre in Canada. She is Principal Cello of the Stamford Symphony in CT and performs regularly in Canada and Europe in recital. Ms. Stinson has premiered dozens of works for solo cello, concerti and chamber music, and her many recordings include the solo CD Lines on Albany Records. Ms. Stinson studied with Alan Harris, Maria Kliegel in Germany and Joel Krosnick at Juilliard, where she received the Artist Diploma. She taught at Juilliard from 2008-2018 and was a member of the Lark Quartet in NY before moving to Durham. With her husband, composer Andrew Waggoner, Caroline is Co-Artistic Director of Weekend Chamber Music in the Catskill Region of NY State.
Inessa Zaretsky
Piano
Inessa Zaretsky
Inessa Zaretsky is the Director of the Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas, based in Asheville, North Carolina and is the Artistic co-director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York City with pianist Vassa Shevel. For the past 10 years she’s been performing with Craftsbury Chamber Players in Vermont.
2 years ago she launched a Music on the Hudson chamber music series, of which she is the Artistic and Executive director.
Inessa Zaretsky is on the Piano faculty of Mannes College, The New School University.
Ms.Zaretsky is an award-winning pianist and composer whose performances have taken her around the world while her music has been performed in England, Norway, Canada, Australia, Italy , Russia and throughout the United States.
She studied piano with Richard Goode and composition with Robert Cuckson at the Mannes College of Music in New York and has collaborated with many notable musicians, such as the Miro, Enso, Jasper, Tesla and Cassat String Quartets, duoJalal, Kent/Blossom Festival Orchestra, Chamber Music Series of the St. Lukes Orchestra, musicians of the Boston, Chicago and Orpheus Orchestras, members of the Metropolitan Opera and many others.
Orion Weiss
Piano
Orion Weiss
One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber music collaborators of his generation, Orion Weiss is widely regarded as a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post). With a warmth to his playing that outwardly reflects his engaging personality, Weiss has dazzled audiences with his passionate, lush sound and performed with dozens of orchestras in North America including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and New York Philharmonic.
Recent seasons have seen Weiss in performances for the Lucerne Festival, the Denver Friends of Chamber Music, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center’s Fortas Series, and the 92nd Street Y, and at the Aspen, Bard, Ravinia, and Grand Teton summer festivals among others. Highlights also include his third performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a performance of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the release of his recording of Christopher Rouse’s Seeing, and recordings of Gershwin’s complete works for piano and orchestra with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and JoAnn Falletta.
Casey Howes & Jacob Warren
Dancers
Casey Howes and Jacob Warren
Casey Howes and Jacob Warren met while working with Pilobolus Dance Theater in 2017, where they performed, taught, and choreographed all over the world. After it became clear that they were inseparable, the two began creating their own work together. With sensibilities and partnering technique deeply rooted in the Pilobolus tradition, the two began expanding their horizons, exploring new material, and forging a choreographic language that was uniquely their own. In early 2020, amidst the pandemic-fueled industry-wide shutdown, the duo seized the opportunity to continue working in isolation, sharpening their partnering language, and began utilizing digital spaces to showcase their work. Numerous dance-films and digital-collaborations later, Jake and Casey continue their journey into the world of choreography, performance, and film, and are thrilled to be working alongside the prestigious duoJalal.
Casey Howes
Dancer
Casey Howes
Casey Howes is a Brooklyn-based dancer and choreographer. After graduating from the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, she joined Pilobolus Dance Theater and began touring internationally. Casey has performed works by renowned companies and choreographers such as Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Vim Vigor, Batsheva, and Jiri Kylian. Over the past few years she has embraced a multimedia approach to her work and has appeared in Facebook campaigns, television, music videos and short dance films as well as live performance. Casey made her immersive theater debut last summer in a one-woman show entitled “Endure,” a New York Times Critic’s Pick. Whether she’s surfing, juggling, rock climbing, or bragging about herself in a bio, Casey is a dedicated storyteller and her passion lies in character creation and exploration.
Jacob Warren
Dancer
Jacob Warren
Jacob Michael Warren hails from New York City, where he spends most of his time trying to be a ninja. He can’t decide if he’s a musician, an actor, or a dancer, and as a result he has been blessed with a wonderfully diverse, and continually evolving career. After graduating from Marymount Manhattan College, Jake went on to perform with numerous world-renowned dance companies, and finally arrived at Pilobolus Dance Theater, where he had the pleasure of choreographing, teaching, and dancing all around the world for almost a decade. Jake left Pilobolus in 2019 and went on to create and collaborate on multiple immersive and experiential theater projects including NYC-smash-hit Queen of the Night, and direct and choreograph productions for stage and film. When he’s not dancing, he’s most likely playing funk/soul hits with his band The Harmonica Lewinskies, eating, or trying to prove that gravity is a myth.