Mozart and Beethoven:
Echoes in Motion

Violinist Deborah Buck is equally at home in recital halls, symphony stages, recording studios, opera houses—and even on Saturday Night Live. A versatile chamber musician, recitalist, concertmaster, and educator, she was recently named Artist in Residence for the 2026–27 season with Pro Musica Detroit and has served as the tenured concertmaster of Orchestra Lumos since 2022. Recent highlights include recitals with pianist Orli Shaham at BargeMusic (NYC), concertmaster appearances with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall/Zankel Hall and Palm Beach Opera, and masterclasses at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is also a regular performer at Reflections in Music (NYC), Telluride Chamber Music Festival, and Four Seasons in Music, NY. In June 2026, her recording of September by Curtis Stewart will be released on the Bright Shiny Things label, followed in May 2027 by her debut solo album, Tracing a Legacy, on AVIE Records. In addition to her performing career, Buck serves as Co-Executive Director and Artistic Advisor of Kinhaven and is on the faculty of Montclair State University.

Photo by Aestheticize Media

Violinist and violist Zoë Martin-Doike is a compelling and versatile artist whose career moves fluidly between the intimacy of chamber music and the grandeur of the world’s leading orchestral stages. Equally at home in both roles, she brings a rare combination of precision, warmth, and expressive depth to her playing—qualities that have made her a sought-after collaborator across a wide range of musical settings.

Zoë first came to international attention as a founding violinist of the Aizuri Quartet, an ensemble celebrated for its vibrant interpretations and adventurous programming. During her time with the group, the quartet earned top prizes at the prestigious Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and held notable residencies at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.

A dedicated chamber musician, Zoë is currently a member of the Iris Trio, where she continues to explore the rich and nuanced dialogue of small ensemble playing. Her festival appearances include the Steans Institute at Ravinia as well as the Sarasota, Norfolk, Taos, and Marlboro Music Festivals—each experience contributing to a musical perspective that is both refined and adventurous.

In addition to her achievements as a violinist, Zoë is an accomplished violist, having earned top prizes in both disciplines, including the Primrose International Viola Competition and the Lennox International Young Artist Competition. Her artistry was further recognized when she won the 2019 Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Competition, leading to a featured solo appearance with the ensemble the following season.

Zoë’s orchestral career is equally distinguished. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, one of the world’s most esteemed ensembles, where she performs regularly in the uniquely demanding and collaborative environment of opera. She also frequently joins the Philadelphia Orchestra on international tours, contributing to performances that span the core symphonic repertoire and beyond.

Her musical foundation was shaped by extraordinary mentorship. She studied violin with the renowned Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she served as concertmaster during the 2011–12 season. She later completed her master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, pursuing a rare double major in violin and viola under the guidance of Mimi Zweig and Atar Arad.

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 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 is Music Director of Orchestra Lumos (formerly Stamford Symphony) and the National Repertory Orchestra, a unique fellowship program for aspiring young musicians, and whose alumni populate every major orchestra across the United States. He is Music Director Emeritus of the Kansas City Symphony where he just concluded his 19-year tenure and is Artistic Advisor of Iris Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee.

During Stern’s acclaimed tenure with the Kansas City Symphony, he and the orchestra were recognized for their remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development, stability, and extraordinary audience growth. The orchestra explored a wide range of repertoire and commissioned a number of new works and partnered with GRAMMY® Award-winning Reference Recordings for a collection of acclaimed recordings that includes commissions by American composers Adam Schoenberg and Jonathan Leshnoff as well as Gustav Holst’s The Planets, and works by Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Bartok and more.

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, teaming up with a number of creative partners, including Stern who continues his involvement as Artistic Advisor.

North American conducting engagements for Stern have included the orchestras of Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the National Symphony. He debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1986 in a program titled, “Leonard Bernstein and Three Young America Conductors” and has conducted them several times since. Internationally he has led major orchestras in London, Stockholm, Paris, Helsinki, Budapest, Seoul, Israel, Moscow, Taiwan, and Tokyo. Stern has been Chief Conductor of Germany’s Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lyon in France, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre National de Lille, France.

Stern received his music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and is a 1981 graduate of Harvard University.