A native of Philadelphia, violinist Gabriel Schaff hails from a musical family. His mother was the acclaimed composer and musicologist Claire Polin, and an earlier musical ancestor was the revered 19th century Russian composer and pianist, Anton Rubinstein. At the age of 16, Gabriel was admitted into Philadelphia’s New School of Music before moving to New York City as a scholarship student of Erick Friedman at the Manhattan School of Music, later serving as his teaching assistant.

Mr. Schaff has performed with many professional ensembles in the New York area, and is a recognized teacher and lecturer on the secondary and college levels. With the Englewood Chamber Players, he performs interactive and historical concerts in diverse communities. Current programs include a retrospective of women composers in celebration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment and lectures on the music of Beethoven in celebration of his 250th anniversary year.

Mr. Schaff is an internationally recognized author of books and articles pertaining to the history of the violin family and the music written for it, most notably “The Essential Guide to Bows of the Violin Family” and “Rediscovering Haydn’s Three Original Violin Sonatas”. He is on the faculty of Essex County College as a lecturer in the Humanities division, evolving a course entitled “Music in Society”. He is also the curator and archivist at the Si-Yo Music Society Foundation and the creator of the Si-Yo Fine Instrument Registry, the first of its kind.

Pianist Melody Fader enjoys a busy career as a soloist, chamber musician, vocal and dance accompanist. She has performed in such iconic New York venues as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and internationally in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Guatemala, Chile, Canada and Italy. Ms. Fader is the founder, artistic director, and pianist for her Melody and Company Chamber Series ensemble, that recently won grants from both the Queens Council on the Arts and the Puffin Foundation. Her first commercial album, Music of Frederic Chopin, was released in February 2012 on Centaur Records and she is currently working on her second album. For two seasons Ms. Fader served as company pianist and soloist for Dance Theatre of Harlem, touring extensively with the company. She is the resident pianist with New Chamber Ballet for their annual performance cycle at New York’s City Center, and has also performed with Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Buglisi Dance Theater and the New York Theater Ballet and Stars of American Ballet. Ms. Fader was a prize winner at both the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and the Aspen Concerto Competition, leading to solo as well as chamber music performances throughout the U.S. She earned her Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music, and Master of Music in Collaborative Piano at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Margo Garrett.

For more information, please visit www.melodyfader.com