Elizabeth Mann the Lawson Family Chair in loving memory of Martin Lawson.  She is a featured performer in concert halls throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East.  She is the Principal Flutist of the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the St. Lukes Chamber Ensemble and is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.  She has played Principal Flute with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under the baton of Valery Gergiev and recorded and performed with the New York Philharmonic.  In past seasons, she premiered a solo flute piece by Joan Tower and performed a commissioned Concerto by Peter Maxwell Davies with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Mann has been principal flute with the Santa Fe Opera, played with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the Dorian Quintet and Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. She has been featured at Caramoor, Santa Fe and the Lochenhaus Festivals and teaches at the Colorado College for their Summer Festival, and is Professor of Flute at Mannes at The New School.  

Ms. Mann attended the Juilliard School as a student of Julius Baker.  She can be heard on over 100 recordings, which include her critically acclaimed flute and harp CD with Deborah Hoffmann of Chopin transcriptions titled “Reflections”.  Ms. Mann is also an active teacher.

Melanie Feld is the Judith and Robert Hall Chair. Since 1980, Melanie Feld has been principal oboist of Orchestra Lumos.  She is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and American Composers Orchestra and is principal oboist of the Westchester Philharmonic.  She is the English Hornist of the American Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.  From 1992 to 2023 she was a member of the orchestra for the Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera.  For a number of years she was a member of the New York Pickup Ensemble, playing the annual Carnegie Hall P.D.Q. Bach programs.  Her recording credits include albums on the Music Masters, CBS, Telarc, Harmonia Mundi, Decca, EMI, Nonesuch and New World Records.

A native of the San Francisco Bay area, Ms. Feld moved to New York City to attend the Mannes College of Music and completed her graduate studies at the Juilliard School of Music.  Her teachers have included Leland Lincoln, Marc Lifschey, Stephen Adelstein and Ronald Roseman.

Melanie resides in Leonia, New Jersey with her music librarian husband David Carp.  Former members of the Carp household are son Joshua (father of Elliott Carp and the twins Caleb and Micah Carp) and daughter Elizabeth; current feline inhabitants are cats Sasha and Pickle.

A native of Colombia, Juan Esteban Martinez moved to the Dominican Republic at a young age, where he began to play the clarinet. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. In 2022, he was the 1st prize winner of Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions (SOPA) Excerpt Competition.

Juan has appeared as a soloist numerous times with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, making his official debut at the age of 15 performing Rossini’s Introduction, Theme and Variations in a traditional concert that was live-streamed on national television. He has been a featured soloist with the Caldas Symphony Orchestra in Colombia and the Coeur d’ Alene Symphony. In 2019, he was selected by concert pianist Gabriela Montero to form the Gabriela Montero Ensemble, a group that went on to perform a program of Montero’s original compositions at the prestigious Victoria Hall in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to joining the New Jersey Symphony, Juan was the acting second clarinetist of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra for the 2022-2023 season, and a member of The Orchestra Now. He participated in the New York String Orchestra Seminar for two years in a row giving sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall. He has also appeared with the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, Symphony in C, Princeton Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, the National Orchestral Institute + Festival and the Orchestra of the Americas, among others. His professional training includes study with David Shifrin and Anthony McGill.

Cynde Iverson is the Julie Forrester-Alexandre Chair in memory of Jay Forrester and Gil Alexandre.  She is recognized as one of the finest bassoonists today. She is Principal bassoonist with Orchestra Lumos and New Haven Symphony and a member of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra.  She performs with many of New York’s most prestigious ensembles, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the American Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist Ms. Iverson has toured the US, Europe, Japan and Asia with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Iverson is a founding member of the Wind Trio of New York. 

In the summer months she performs at the Caramoor Music Festival, North Country Chamber Players, Moab Music Festival and Chamber Music Northwest.

As an advocate for contemporary music, Ms. Iverson has performed and recorded numerous compositions with the chamber ensembles Continuum and Musical Elements and has explored the medium of Jazz with artists such as Steve Lacy, Anthony Davis and James Newton.  She was a member of the Jazz ensemble Episteme and toured extensively both locally and abroad. 

Cynde Iverson received her B.M. (cum laude) from Indiana University as a student of Leonard Sharrow and her M.M. (cum laude) from the Juilliard School as a student of Stephen Maxym.

Zohar Schondorf finished his Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School in 1995, Zohar Schondorf returned to his homeland of Israel for a total of six years to assume two positions, one as Associate Principal Horn with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra and the other as Principal Horn with the Israel Symphony/Opera Orchestra, a position he held from 1997 to 2001. Relocating back to NYC in 2001, Mr. Schondorf joined the American Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal horn and has been serving as Principal since 2012.

Also serving as Co-Principal of ABT and 3rd horn with Orchestra Lumos, Mr. Schondorf enjoys a prosperous career, performing in the studio as well as with numerous international, regional and local orchestras.

Recent appearances include Orpheus and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestras, Harrisburg Symphony, Greenwich Symphony, Westchester Philharmonic, American Composer’s Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, the KNIGHTS, NKO (in Israel), Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Pops, Encores and many more.

For his performance of Auf Dem Strom at the 2014 Bard Music Festival he was hailed “the star” by Harry Rolnick of ConcertoNet.com.

Mr. Schondorf has been featured as a regular member of high profiled Broadway shows like Spamalot, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Addams Family, Ghost, Fiddler on the Roof (2015), My Fair Lady (2017), West Side Story (2019) and was recently Principal Horn at Phantom of the Opera.

Mr. Schondorf joined Zephyros Winds in 2008 and is a member of Sylvan Winds since 2002.