ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, David Yang

Recipient of an artist fellowship from the Independence Foundation awarded to a small number of exceptional artists, American violist DAVID YANG has been called “a conduit for music” and his playing described as “lithe and expressive” in the Strad Magazine. David has been heard in collaboration with members of the Borromeo, Brentano, Miro, Pro Arte, Vermeer, and Tokyo String Quartets and Apple Hill Chamber Players, Trio Solisti, and Eroica Piano Trios. As an active advocate of new music he has commissioned dozens of works. Artistic Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival (Boston) and Director of Chamber Music at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), he is also a member of string trio Ensemble Epomeo based in the the United Kingdom, their premiere recording was designated “Critic’s Choice” in Grammophone Magazine. Their second CD included the music of Schnittke, Penderecki, and Kurtag (“…remarkable intensity and elegant assurance throughout… bristles with detail – there are finely balanced chords moving from glowing diatonicism to harsh dissonance, and carefully shaped melodies with beautifully expressive vibrato – yet they never lose sight of the work’s broader architecture, nor of its poignant, increasingly bleak mood” – The Strad Magazine). 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Andy Williamson

Sax player and vocalist ANDY WILLIAMSON is as happy reading the dots in a big band, recording session, or horn section, as he is busking head arrangements with other musicians. He has shared the stage with Jamie Cullum, Stacey Kent, MoBo Best Jazz Act 2012, Zoe Rahman, Joanna Eden, and Mama Tokus, with his bands the Honkin’ Hep Cats and Big Buzzard Boogie Band on BBC Radio 2, 3, and 4, at Buckingham Palace. He has played with BBC 6 music’s Tom Robinson and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, and sung duets with Suggs from Madness.  Andy created the Jazz Activists – a loose group of musicians who perform at political demonstrations around liberty and the destruction of our ecosystem. In 2012, he was commissioned to write a Jazz Mass which was performed for the Bewdley Jazz Festival. He established Ashburton Live, convening eclectic musical performances at the historic St Lawrence Chapel in the Devon stannary town of Ashburton. 

Born in Russia, violinist MARIA IOUDENITCH immigrated with her musical family to the U.S. at the age of two and grew up in Kansas City. In 2021, she received first prizes in the Ysaÿe International Music Competition, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition and the Joseph Joachim International Competition. She also received numerous special prizes at these competitions, including Joachim’s Chamber Music Award, the prize for Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work, the Henle Urtext Prize, and a recording contract with Warner Classics. In recent months, Maria Ioudenitch has made her debuts with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (at Berlin’s Philharmonie), MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and Münchner Symphoniker. Other recent engagements have taken her to the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Lithuania Chamber Orchestra and Utah Symphony. She is an active chamber musician and has taken part in multiple chamber music tours with Ravinia Steans Music Institute and Marlboro Music Festival.

Violinist STEFAN HERSH has a diverse background, having served as Principal Second Violin of the Minnesota Orchestra, Associate Concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony, and as a member of the Callisto Ensemble, the Chicago String Quartet, and the Chicago Chamber Musicians. He has appeared as a featured guest artist and soloist in venues across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He was Associate Professor at De Paul University before joining the faculty of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2003.

Stefan Hersh is the founder and Artistic Director of Guarneri Hall NFP, a Chicago organization that produces a curated mix of live performances, original music videos, and other digital content. Hersh is also an expert appraiser of rare violins and bows and evaluates rare antique string instruments and bows all over the world as a partner at Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins in Chicago.

Born in Paris, cellist TRISTAN CORNUT is laureate of many international competitions, notably the ARD Competition in Munich, the Domnick Competition in Stuttgart and the Gaspar Cassado Competition in Hachioji (Japan). He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Roland Pidoux and at the Musikhochschulen Stuttgart and Freiburg with Jean-Guihen Queyras. He has appeared as a soloist with Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Resonanz and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra among others. Since 2012 he is the principal cellist of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and teaches at the Musikhochschule Freiburg. As a passionate chamber musician, Tristan has shared the stage with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Giuranna, Antonio Meneses, Miguel Da Silva and Daniel Hope and won top prizes at the Melbourne, Trondheim and Joseph Haydn (Vienna) chamber music competitions.

Surrounded by a family of choral musicians and teachers, local composer GABRIELLE MILLS grew up singing, playing the piano and the violin. As a graduate of Leeds University her degree in biology led to a career in medical publishing in London where she played with the Corinthian Chamber Orchestra and Fulham Symphony. After moving to South Devon a decade ago, Gabi fell in love with Dartmoor: its special flora, fauna and ancient historical landscapes. An active chamber musician and piano teacher, Gabi also composes chamber and orchestral music inspired by the natural world and by English folk music. In 2023 “Marsh Fritillary” for flute and piano was premiered by Margaret Fingerhut and Ruth Molins at the Newton Abbot & District Society of Arts. Later that year her orchestral work, “Dart RNLI” was performed by the Royal Northern Sinfonia at the Glasshouse, Gateshead and also featured on BBC Spotlight. In 2025 Gabi’s music will feature on the new album by Duo Tutti and in a concert of new music hosted by Lyric Chamber Orchestra.