Cellist Caroline Stinson is the Naeem and Susanah Fayyaz Chair.  She is a native of Canada and has made her career across North America and Europe as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician in traditional, 20th century and contemporary repertoire. Cellist of the internationally acclaimed Ciompi String Quartet and Associate Professor at Duke University in North Carolina, Ms. Stinson’s concert invitations include Carnegie’s Weill and Zankel Halls, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Museum of Modern Art’s Summergarden Series, Bargemusic and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Boston’s Gardner Museum, Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian; the Koelner Philharmonie, Lucerne Festival and Cité de la Musique in Europe, and the Centennial and Winspear Centres in Canada.

An active recitalist and chamber musician, Caroline is invited regularly as guest and has appeared at the Rencontres d’été Strasbourg, France, Rudersdal Sommerkoncerter, Denmark, Manchester Music, Newburyport and Caramoore Music Festivals in the USA. Since joining the Ciompi Quartet in 2018, she has performed with the group across the US, in Taiwan and Italy and has given solo recitals in New York City presented by the League of Composers and in Denmark. In 2022 she toured Lithuania with pianist Gabrielius Alekna performing Dialogues with Beethoven including a premiere by Žibuoklė Martinaityte.

Together with her husband, Andrew Waggoner, Caroline is co-artistic Director of the Weekend of Chamber Music, a summer music festival of concerts and events in the Southern Catskill Mountain Region of New York State. Now in their 9th year as directors and the festival’s 30th, WCM hosts multiple events over 3 weeks, featuring a composer-in-residence, and the select group of artists perform vivid, intimate concerts in rural spaces and unusual village sites across multiple counties. WCM also brings in graduate fellows in composition and performance to collaborate on new works and present as part of the festival itself.

Caroline’s close work with composers has been essential in building her understanding and communication of new music, and she is privileged to have worked closely with Bill Bolcom, Pierre Boulez, John Corigliano, George Crumb, John Harbison, Aaron Jay Kernis, Harold Meltzer, Shulamit Ran, Steven Stucky, Joan Tower, Andrew Waggoner and Anna Weesner; Peter Eötvös in Germany, and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen in Denmark, among many others. At the composer’s recommendation, she performed Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “YTA III”, for solo cello at Scandinavia House in New York, and performed Elliot Carter’s Triple Duo on two continents and for Swiss Radio with Pierre Boulez conducting, working with the composer on multiple occasions. Caroline has commissioned cello concerti, solo cello works and pieces with electronics, and chamber music, premiering dozens of works over a decade with the Lark Quartet and Open End Ensemble (a new music and improvisation group), and performing and touring with the Bang On a Can All-Stars, ISCM League of Composers, the Cassatt Quartet, CELLO, Continuum of New York City and Accroche Note of France.

Ms. Stinson has an extensive chamber music discography of almost two dozen CDs, including three recordings on Bridge Records with the Lark Quartet, featured and praised on the BBC, in Gramophone Magazine, WQXR and in the NY Times. She released her solo recording on Albany Records linking European masters to multiple generations of American composers in 2011. In radio, her performances have been broadcast on Swiss Radio, Performance Today in the USA, and on CBC Radio Canada.

Caroline was a student of Tanya Prochazka in Edmonton and earned degrees with honours from the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Cleveland Institute of Music under Alan Harris, the Hochschule für Musik Köln (First Prize) as a student of Maria Kliegel, and completed her Master’s Degree and Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick. While living in Germany, she took courses with Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson, Boris Pergamenschikow, Siegfried Palm and Janos Starker. She is the recipient of the J.B.C. Watkins Prize in Music from the Canada Council, first prize in the Hohnen Foundation Cello Competition of Germany, and the American Music Award from the Seventeen/GM National Concerto Competition in the United States. She has been awarded prizes, grants and scholarships from the Alberta Heritage Fund, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Winspear Fund, the Anne Burrows Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts, and fellowships from the Aspen, Lucerne, Verbier and Sarasota Festivals.

Eliot Bailen has an active career as an artistic director, cellist, composer and teacher. Strings Magazine writes, “At Merkin Hall ‘cellist Eliot Bailen displayed a warm focused tone, concentrated expressiveness and admirable technical command always at the service of the music.” Founder and Artistic Director of the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, now in its 36th year, whose performances the New York Times has described as “the Platonic ideal of a chamber music concert,” Mr. Bailen is also Founder and Artistic Director of Chamber Music at Rodeph Sholom in New York and Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Ensemble. Principal cello of the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, New York Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra New England, Teatro Grattacielo and the New Choral Society, Mr. Bailen also performs regularly with the Saratoga Chamber Players, Cape May Music Festival, Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival as well as with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York City Opera and Ballet, American Symphony, Orchestra Lumos and New Jersey Symphony. Heard frequently in numerous Broadway shows, in 2015 he was the solo cellist for Allegiance. Among Mr. Bailen’s commissions are an Octet, a Double Concerto for Flute and Cello, Perhaps a Butterfly and the Saratoga Sextet.  His musical, The Tiny Mustache, has recently received a third grant for further development from the Omer Foundation. Mr. Bailen has also received over thirty-five commissions for his “Song to Symphony” for schools (subject of a NY Times feature article Sept. 2006 and winner of a Yale Alumni Grant). In 2002, he received the Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking. Mr. Bailen received his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) from Yale University and an M.B.A. from NYU. He is on the cello and chamber music faculty at Columbia University and Teachers College.

Sarah Carter has enjoyed tremendous versatility in her career as a performing artist. She has been a member of Orchestra Lumos for nearly three decades and always looks forward to playing with this wonderful orchestra! Other orchestral affiliations include the American Symphony, the Westchester Philharmonic, the American Composer’s Orchestra, the Oratorio Society of NY, and the Riverside Symphony. She was a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra for 30 years and the principal cellist for twelve of those years. She has been a member of many Broadway Show orchestras such as Damn Yankees, The King and I, Parade, The Music Man, Oklahoma, Never Gonna Dance, South Pacific, The Visit and Kid Victory. Currently, she is subbing on Wicked, Lion King, and Once Upon a Mattress.

At home in Cresskill NJ, she enjoys teaching her private students and playing chamber music whenever possible. Her three amazing children are well on their way to doing great things.

Peter Sanders, cello, is a native New Yorker and a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Sanders has been a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 1999 (for which he has served as Acting Principal), performs with the Riverside Symphony, Orchestra Lumos and has performed and recorded as a guest artist with the Perspectives Ensemble. He has toured Southeast Asia twice with the New York Symphonic Ensemble and as concerto soloist with the group performed in concerts in Taipei and Singapore. He is Artistic Director of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival which had its inaugural season in 1993. Mr. Sanders was a winner of the 1998 Artists International award as a member of the Hollaender Ensemble and is currently a member of the Ariadne Trio. He has participated in many summer festivals including the Colorado Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival (faculty position), CVCMF, Lancaster Festival, Ohio (where he was principal cello from 1992-98), Windham Chamber Music Festival, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, the Park City & SLC Autumn Classics Music Festival and the Moab Music Festival. As a studio musician Mr. Sanders has recorded for a variety of popular artists including Pat Metheny, Jewel, Kathie Lee Gifford, Andy Bey and Carlinhos Brown. He can be heard on the Delos, Muse, Bridge, RCA Victor-Red Seal, New World, On the Lamb and KOCH International Classics labels. Radio and television broadcasts include WQXR, APM’s “Performance Today”, PBS and Vermont Public Radio.

Peter Sanders, cello, is a native New Yorker and a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Sanders has been a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra since 1999 (for which he has served as Acting Principal), performs with the Riverside Symphony, Orchestra Lumos and has performed and recorded as a guest artist with the Perspectives Ensemble. He has toured Southeast Asia twice with the New York Symphonic Ensemble and as concerto soloist with the group performed in concerts in Taipei and Singapore. He is Artistic Director of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival which had its inaugural season in 1993. Mr. Sanders was a winner of the 1998 Artists International award as a member of the Hollaender Ensemble and is currently a member of the Ariadne Trio. He has participated in many summer festivals including the Colorado Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival (faculty position), CVCMF, Lancaster Festival, Ohio (where he was principal cello from 1992-98), Windham Chamber Music Festival, the Sherman Chamber Ensemble, the Park City & SLC Autumn Classics Music Festival and the Moab Music Festival. As a studio musician Mr. Sanders has recorded for a variety of popular artists including Pat Metheny, Jewel, Kathie Lee Gifford, Andy Bey and Carlinhos Brown. He can be heard on the Delos, Muse, Bridge, RCA Victor-Red Seal, New World, On the Lamb and KOCH International Classics labels. Radio and television broadcasts include WQXR, APM’s “Performance Today”, PBS and Vermont Public Radio.

Matthew Goeke, cellist, performs as soloist, chamber musician and orchestra player in a broad range of musical styles.  His experience with contemporary music spans the SEM Ensemble, Cross Town Ensemble, North/South Consonance, the Kitchen House Blend and Glass Farm Ensemble. Matt is a member of the di.vi.sion piano trio, and the award winning flute, viola, cello trio, Eight Strings & a Whistle, and is an active free-lance musician throughout the metropolitan area.  Solo performances with orchestras around the New York area include many from the standard repertoire.  Recent recordings include releases with Eight Strings & a Whistle (Albert’s Window, 96 Strings and 2 Whistles (dedicated to the music of Scott Brickman) and Chamber Symphonies 2, 3 & 4 (the Music of Doug Anderson, all on PARMA Records), the di.vi.sion piano trio (Dream Forms (dedicated to the music of Steven Burke), the Music of Merrill Clark (both on Albany Records) and the Glass Farm Ensemble (Bruhaha, on the Innova label).  He has also recorded with North/South Recordings and 4Tay, Inc., Opus One Records, Polygram, Elektra, Tzadik and Koch International Classics labels.

Matt can also be found “rocking out” in the band ‘GIANTfingers’, based in New York City.

Matt coaches with the New York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music Program, and is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, part of the City of University of New York.