Lily Rock Chamber Music Festival

Fourth Season, August 29-31, 2025

 

2025 Festival Artists

 

Praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his “glowing refinement,” violist Luke Fleming‘s performances have been described by The Strad as “confident and expressive…playing with uncanny precision,” lauded by Gramophone for their “superlative technical and artistic execution,” and by The Boston Music Intelligencer as “Luminous…Luke Fleming achieved a simultaneously meticulous and warmly mellow syntax.”

Festival appearances include the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Perlman Music Program, the Norfolk and Great Lakes Chamber Music Festivals, Bravo!Vail, and Festival Mozaic. Formerly the violist of the GRAMMY-winning Attacca Quartet, he has served as Artist-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and received the National Federation of Music Clubs Centennial Chamber Music Award.  He was awarded First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.

In 2015, Mr. Fleming became the Founding Artistic Director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival, and in 2024 he was named Artistic Program Director of Chamber Music Monterey Bay. He currently serves on the Viola and Chamber Music faculties of the University of New Orleans, Atlantic Music Festival, Festival del Lago, and The Woodlands Chamberfest.

He has performed as guest violist with the Escher, Modigliani, and Pacifica Quartets, the Eroica, Lysander, and Gryphon Piano Trios, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Decoda, Ensemble Connect, Sejong Soloists, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and has given masterclasses at UCLA, Louisiana State University, Colorado State University, Baylor University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ithaca College, Columbus State University, Syracuse University, and Melbourne University, among others.  Mr. Fleming has served on the faculties of the Atlantic Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute, Renova Music Festival, Festival del Lago, and Houston ChamberFest, and Fei Tian College and as Lecturer-in-Residence for Project: Music Heals Us.

Mr. Fleming holds the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts, Artist Diploma, and Master of Music from the Juilliard School, a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Louisiana State University. He is represented with the Manhattan Chamber Players by Arts Management Group.

Mr. Fleming performs on a tenor viola by Gasparo da Salò, ca. 1560, on generous loan to him from Steven Tenenbom.

lukefleming.com

 

NYC-based violinist Brendan Speltz, second violinist of the world renowned Escher String Quartet, has toured the globe with groundbreaking ensembles such as Shuffle Concert, the Manhattan Chamber Players, A Far Cry, and the Harlem Quartet. As founder of FeltInFour Productions, Mr. Speltz has produced innovative concert events across the New York City area that have been described by The New Yorker as “Thrilling, poignant, unexpected, and utterly DIY.” Most recently, Mr. Speltz co-created a cross-disciplinary presentation of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with aerial dance troupe ABCirque which was sponsored by Meyer Sound Labs.

In NYC he has performed as guest with the New York New Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Speltz plays a 1925 Carl Becker violin.

 

Soprano Faylotte Joy Crayton has performed at such festivals as the Marlboro Music Festival, Bard Music Festival, Bard Summerscape and the Aspen Music Festival.  She played the role of Masha in the world premiere of Elana Langer’s Four Sisters at the Richard B. Fisher Center, and made her American Symphony Orchestra debut singing the soprano solo in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, conducted by Leon Botstein. She has premiered many works, including pieces by Yunzhuo Gan at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and pieces by Conor Brown, John Boggs and Matthew Schickele, at the Morgan Library.

With a strong sense of community activism and empowerment, since 2007 Ms. Crayton has worked worldwide with the non-profit Artists Striving to End Poverty.  She has taught music to underprivileged youth with the Ubuntu Education Fund in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, at the Shanti Bhavan School in Tamil Nadu, India, and with Teach for India in Pune, India. As an artist-activist, Faylotte produces and stars in productions focused on social justice. Upcoming productions include “Occupy Music: Power to the People,” a theatrical recital about human needs in times of revolution and “An Emigrant’s Daughter,” a piece about the female immigrant experience in America.

The granddaughter of both an award-winning Arkansan yodeler and a Filipina-Pacific Islander traditional singer, Ms. Crayton has loved to sing since childhood. She began performing in musical theater at the age of five as the Munchkin Mayor in The Wiz, and later played the title role in Kiss Me Kate.  At sixteen, she was awarded a Rotary Youth Exchange Scholarship to Geneva, Switzerland, where, with the false notion that opera was Europe’s musical theater, she attended her first opera. Upon recommendation by a schoolteacher, the Geneva Rotary Club funded her lessons in Classical voice and Swiss yodeling. She returned from Switzerland with a strong interest in European languages, history, Classical and folk music, and humanitarianism.

At the University of California, Santa Barbara she dedicated herself to studying Classical singing and found that this was a way her interests could be united. She then transferred to the Juilliard School, where she subsequently received her Bachelor of Music degree. At Juilliard, Ms. Crayton performed the role of Tytania in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Lucia II in Paul Hindemith’s A Long Christmas Dinner. She also studied international song literature under the guidance of such coaches as Margo Garrett and J.J. Penna.

Ms. Crayton completed the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Under the tutelage of Dawn Upshaw and Kayo Iwama, she more closely explored song repertoire, including the folk traditions she has long loved, and contemporary music.

faylottejoycrayton.com

 

The violin has become Daniela Diaz’s most loyal companion throughout her musical journey. She started playing as part of “El Sistema,” the Venezuelan social foundation and music program that provided her with positive values for her life as a musician.

As part of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela, Ms. Diaz has travelled all over the world while meeting people from diverse backgrounds, connecting with places and communities through music.

Ms. Diaz is also an avid chamber musician, having studied with members of the Latino Americano, Cavani, and Dali String Quartets. She has taken part in chamber music competitions and important international festivals in Venezuela and the United States such as: The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio Music Institute; Dali Quartet International Music Festival; and Nuevo Mundo Festival.

Ms. Diaz holds performance degrees from Michigan State University, where she studied violin with Dmitri Berlinsky. In addition, she remains active premiering new music and enjoys collaborating with composers while exploring new musical horizons.

 

Grammy® Award-winning clarinetist Mark Dover is a man of many horns, maintaining firm roots in Classical music while ever-expanding into the vast world of improvised music. Since 2016 he has served as Clarinetist of Imani Winds, and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany Symphonies, and the American Composers Orchestra. Most recently, he was awarded a Grammy as a player and producer for “Best Classical Compendium” at the 2024 Grammy Awards for Imani Wind’s latest release, “Passion for Bach and Coltrane.” His debut album with Imani Winds, “Bruits,” was nominated for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

In 2023, Mr. Dover also joined the chamber ensemble yMusic. 2023 highlights include appearances at Carnegie Hall Presents with both Imani Winds and yMusic, NPR’s tiny desk with yMusic, and debuts at La Jolla Music Society and Tippet Rise Arts Center.

He joined the chamber music faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2021 and also serves on the clarinet faculty at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and at Queens College, CUNY.

Mr. Dover has an extensive background in improvised music. He is a frequent collaborator with Vulfpeck, an American funk band formed in his hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received his Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music and his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan. He is a Buffet Crampon and Vandoren Artist.

markdovermusic.com

 

Violinist/violist Connie Kupka, a native of Southern California, grew up in a music-loving family along with two siblings, both of whom are also performers. She attended UCLA, and after graduation won a scholarship to study chamber music with the Guarneri String Quartet at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut. The experience created a lifelong passion for chamber music, and inspired her and her future husband, cellist David Speltz, to form their own ensemble, the Arriaga Quartet. The group went on to win Grand Prize at the prestigious Coleman Competition and begin a touring career presenting the broad range of offerings from the magnificent string quartet repertoire.

Summers have found Ms. Kupka participating in many of the wonderful festivals throughout the U.S.  She has performed at the Santa Fe and Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festivals, the Mostly Mozart and Oregon Bach Festivals, and the Ojai, the Colorado, and the Sedona Festivals.  She also participates regularly at home in many of the chamber music series offered in Los Angeles and throughout the states. Connie and David have three sons, two of which are now busy touring with their own chamber ensembles.

 

Cellist Abigail Monroe has established herself as a sought-after solo performer, chamber music collaborator, and large ensemble musician throughout the United States. Her musicianship has been praised for “add[ing] a rich, resonant layer to the ensemble, enhancing the overall texture and emotional depth of the performance.” (For All Events)

Having formerly served as Principal Cellist with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Ms. Monroe holds additional orchestra positions throughout the country, including the West Michigan Symphony, Missouri Symphony, and Orchestra Iowa, and frequently performs with The Orchestra San Antonio, Louisiana Philharmonic, Des Moines Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, Illinois Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, and Northwest Indiana Symphony, among others. She is also cellist of the award-winning San Francisco Bay Area-based new music group Ensemble for These Times, and regularly collaborates with the Manhattan Chamber Players.

Recent solo engagements have included numerous World-Premiere performances of music by living composers with Ensemble for These Times, and concerto performances with the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and the New Mexico Philharmonic.

Ms. Monroe holds both a Bachelor’s Degree and a Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

 

Praised by The San Francisco Chronicle as being “fresh, different and exhilarating” and Strings Magazine as “intensely wrought and burnished,” violinist Grace Park captivates audiences with her artistry, passion and virtuosity. Winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition, she is one of the leading artists of her generation.

Ms. Park’s upcoming season includes her debut at the Colorado Music Festival and Bard Festival under the baton of Leon Botstein. Ms. Park’s most recent appearances include her concerto debuts at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and at the Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall in Prague, and recital debuts at the Krannert Center and Merkin Hall. This past year, Ms. Park recorded her first solo album with the Prague Philharmonia and their music director, Emmanuel Villaume, which will include concertos and solo works of Mozart and Dvořák. It is set to be released in the spring of 2024.

A devoted and passionate educator, Ms. Park is an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect and has taught masterclasses and coached at Conservatorio de Musica de Cartagena, Mannes School of Music, University of North Carolina, Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, and Skidmore College, among others.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Ms. Park began violin at the age of five, training at the Colburn School of Music. She continued her studies at Colburn Conservatory and New England Conservatory for her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Her principal teachers were Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Robert Lipsett. She now resides in New York City.

Ms. Park performs on a 1717 Giuseppe Filius Andrea Guarneri on loan from an anonymous sponsor.

graceparkviolin.com

 

Music in all of its various shapes, sounds, and forms has forever been a central force in the life of Kaila Potts-Smith, beginning with absorbing piano by ear from her mother, singing in choirs, and taking flute lessons in elementary school. At age 11, she picked up the viola, fell in love, and never looked back. A native of California and raised in Las Vegas, NV, she swiftly excelled as a violist under the watchful eyes of John Sullivan and was accepted into the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts. She then added violin to her studies under Rebecca Sabine and went on to win multiple command performances and international competitions, and began her work performing on stage with iconic mainstream recording artists in Las Vegas at age 15. Since then she has appeared as a violist on multiple albums with artists including Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and Celine Dion, had a six year residency with Celine Dion in Las Vegas, and continues to work with musicians such as Lady Gaga and Billie Eilish to this day.

Ms. Potts-Smith was the first violist to become a First Place Laureate of the esteemed Sphinx Competition, and has appeared as soloist and featured artist with orchestras across the US and abroad, including the Cleveland Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Puerto Rico Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony, among others. She has served as Assistant Principal for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Santa Barbara Symphony in addition to other Principal positions, has performed and toured with classical orchestras and chamber ensembles worldwide, and continues today with her extensive performance career with the TV, film, and recording industries in Los Angeles. Touring annually with the Sphinx Virtuosi, she has performed in Carnegie Hall numerous times, and made her Carnegie – Weill Concert Hall recital debut there in 2011.

Ms. Potts-Smith has presented multiple VIOL∀ibrational workshops for the Idyllwild Arts Academy and youth orchestras in Los Angeles and Washington DC, and has served a chamber music coach and viola coach for the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra. As Idyllwild Arts Music Department Chair, she looks forward to expanding her unique method to enrich the institution’s students, faculty, staff, and ensembles, continuing to teach musicians to use their talents as vehicles for transformation.

Ms. Potts-Smith holds degrees from the University of Southern California (MM and Graduate Certificate), and completed her BM at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music with a double performance major in Viola and Violin and a minor in Judaic Studies. Her mentors include Donald McInnes, Masao Kawasaki, Catharine Carroll, Rebecca Sabine, Midori Goto, Lynn Harrell, Sandra Rivers, and many others who have brought their expertise to her multifaceted career.

 

Praised as a “superb interpreter” (Fanfare) and for her “virtuosity… and sparkling sound” (Times Argus), pianist Mika Sasaki enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. She has performed across the U.S. and in the U.K., Italy, Japan, and Switzerland, appearing in notable venues such as the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Her performances have been broadcasted on WQXR, WFMT, WCRB, KQAC, and Radio Sweden. She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Sinfonia of Cambridge, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, 92Y Orchestra, and more recently, with the InterSchool Symphony Orchestra of New York, performing Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto.

Ms. Sasaki is the pianist of the powerhouse sextet Ensemble Mélange (formerly SHUFFLE) and a newly appointed core member of Decoda, the affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall. As a guest artist, she has performed with the Manhattan Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Connect (alum), Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Passionate about community and audience engagement, she has presented interactive performances at schools and community venues all around New York City and across the country. Together with violinist Becky Anderson, the Anderson-Sasaki Duo has been invited to Chattanooga, TN, for a Community Engagement Residency at String Theory at the Hunter (2022), and to Portland, OR, for an ongoing residency with Chamber Music Northwest (2022-25).

Ms. Sasaki is an alumna of summer programs such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Music@Menlo, Accademia Chigiana, Yellow Barn, Aspen, Icicle Creek, Mannes Beethoven Institute, and Taos School of Music, and has performed at festivals including the Focus!, Weekend of Chamber Music, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, Monadnock Music, Time:Spans, Shandelee, and the Rite of Summer Music Festival. She has also taught and performed at pianoSonoma, Rushmore, Omaha Conservatory SoundWaves, Taubman Piano Festival, WCYO Charles Ives Music Festival, Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard (Geneva, Switzerland and Orlando, FL) and Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute.

Based in New York City, Ms. Sasaki is a faculty member at the Juilliard School, where she is the Supervisor of Secondary Piano in the College Division and teaches keyboard skills, piano, and chamber music in the College, Pre-College, and Extension Divisions. She is an alumna of the Peabody Conservatory (B.M., M.M.), Ensemble Connect—a two-year fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Institute, in partnership with the NYC Department of Education—and The Juilliard School (D.M.A.), where she studied with Joseph Kalichstein and received the Juilliard Career Advancement Grant upon graduation. When not at the piano, she can be found tending to her houseplants, cooking, or chasing after her cat.

mikasasaki.com

 

Praised for his “fluid virtuosity” and “soulful melodies,” Los Angeles native Brook Speltz has been inspired since childhood by the long tradition of deep musical mastery of artists such as Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Fournier, and the Guarneri String Quartet. Mr. Speltz is the cellist of the internationally renowned Escher String Quartet—Quartet-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas–and an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

An extremely versatile cellist, Mr. Speltz has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist throughout the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. First Prize winner of the prestigious Ima Hogg Competition, he has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and International Contemporary Ensemble, among others, and is a regular performer at England’s IMS Prussia Cove and on tour with Musicians from Marlboro. An avid and sought after chamber musician, Mr. Speltz has been personally invited by musical giants such as Itzhak Perlman and Richard Goode to collaborate in chamber music recitals and tours throughout the country. As a result of these collaborations, he has been nominated for the inaugural Warner Music Prize, a newly established prize presented by Warner Music and Carnegie Hall.

A lover of all facets of the music world, Mr. Speltz has enjoyed performing on extensive tours with the cello rock band Break of Reality, whose online video of the Game of Thrones cover immediately went viral and has already received over 8.5 million views. Their recent U.S. tour raised funds and awareness for music programs in public schools all around the country. Mr. Speltz studied at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and at the Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, after his formative years of study with Eleanor Schoenfeld in Los Angeles. He performs on a 1756 J.C. Gigli on loan from his father, a cellist and his first inspiration in a family of professional musicians.

 

Cellist David Speltz began his formal studies with Eleanor Schoenfeld after being introduced to the cello by his father. Later he joined the Gregory Piatigorsky Master Class at USC. He earned a Masters Degree in Mathematics from UCLA, but soon realized that the cello was the path to follow. During this period, he co-founded the Arriaga Quartet, which went on to win Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition.

As a member of the ensemble Musical Offering, Mr. Speltz performed at the Library of Congress, Lincoln Center and the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and recorded for the Nonesuch label. He has been active for many years on many Los Angeles chamber music series, and has participated in summer festivals throughout the United States. David was a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Sir Neville Marriner, and served as Principal Cellist of the California Chamber Orchestra under Henry Temianka. In 1989, he served as Principal Cellist for the German conductor Helmuth Rilling at the Bach Collegium Stuttgart.

Mr. Speltz has been active in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles for over 44 years, playing in the studio orchestras for over a thousand movies—from the Godfather series to Star Wars!