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It's all about the music
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Dominic Cheli, Pianist
Pianist Dominic Cheli embraces the role of an artist-citizen in his multifaceted career as performer, educator, composer, and director. He is described as an “inspired keyboardist” (artsfuse) whose playing is “spontaneous yet perfect, the best of how a young person can play.” (Symphony Magazine). His rapidly advancing career has included his Walt Disney Concert Hall Debut with the Colburn Orchestra, where he was described as “mesmerizing, [he] transfixed the audience.” (LA Times). In 2017, Mr. Cheli was named First Prize winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City. He gave his Carnegie Hall Recital Debut in 2019 and has had a busy performing and recording career ever since.
A native of St. Louis, Mr. Cheli has performed with orchestras across the country and abroad, including the San Diego Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Colburn Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Adrian Symphony, and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (Germany). He has worked with conductors James Conlon, Gerard Schwarz, Valery Gergiev, and many others. Dominic debuted at several major festivals across the United States, including the Ravinia Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Virginia Arts Festival. Upcoming engagements include appearances with the Seattle Symphony, a debut at Alice Tully Hall, and his fourth appearance at Carnegie Hall.
With a fascination and appreciation for the benefits of technology especially in our new virtual age, Mr. Cheli was appointed LIVE Director of Tonebase Piano in 2021. As a result, he is the host and presenter of numerous virtual lectures, performances and workshops each month to the 5,000+ subscribers on the platform. His mission is to share personal knowledge and invite guests to democratize high-level music education, allowing everyone to learn from and be inspired by the best.
Mr. Cheli has received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and the Colburn School, studying with Zena Ilyashov, Andre-Michel Schub, Peter Frankl, and Fabio Bidini. He is a Yamaha Artist and a recently appointed faculty member of the Colburn Community Music School.
In his spare time, Dominic enjoys cooking and training for Ironman triathlons.
Luke Fleming, Co-Director and Violist
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,” and lauded by Gramophone for their “superlative technical and artistic execution.” 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, the Melbourne Festival, Bravo!Vail, and Festival Mozaic. Formerly the violist of the internationally acclaimed 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, a New York-based chamber music collective, and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Viola at the University of New Orleans School of the Arts. He is also a founding member of the Delaware-based Serafin Ensemble. 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, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the New York Classical Players, and has given masterclasses at UCLA, Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Columbus State University, Syracuse University, Melbourne University, and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, 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.
Connie Kupka, Violinist
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.
Grace Park, Violinist
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 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.
Kaila Potts-Smith, Violist
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.
Brendan Speltz, Co-Director and Violinist
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.
Brook Speltz, Cellist
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.
David Speltz, Cellist
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!
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