"ferocious and focused" — The New York Times

David Bloom (he/him) is a conductor equally at home in orchestral repertoire, opera, and new music, noted alike for his "rockstar energy" (Urban Milwaukee) and "graceful sensitivity" (I Care If You Listen), leading "ferocious and focused" (The New York Times) performances lauded for their "rhythmic precision and dynamic forward motion" (The Wall Street Journal) and their "breathtaking and inspired programming" (Shepherd Express). He dedicates his work to collaborating with artists and communities to inspire creativity, empathy, and joy.

In the 2022-2023 season, his orchestral repertoire includes music by Margaret Bonds, Brahms, Britten, Debussy (La mer), Dvořák (Symphony No. 8), Mahler (Symphony No. 4), Nina Shekhar, and Julia Wolfe. He also leads two Mozart operas (Don Giovanni and Idomeneo), the world premiere of the orchestral version of Philip Glass' La Belle et la Bête with film, and the world premiere of Dylan Mattingly's six-hour opera Stranger Love at Disney Concert Hall. He is founding Co-Artistic Director of Contemporaneous, a 23-member New York-based ensemble he co-founded in 2010, and has been Co-Artistic Director of Present Music, Milwaukee's long-running new music ensemble since 2019. In 2023, he becomes Artistic Director of New York's Queer Urban Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the orchestras at New York University, where he also teaches conducting.

In such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, MoMA, and Park Avenue Armory, Bloom has been a guest conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Jacaranda, The Crossing, NOW Ensemble, Ensemble Connect, Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and Kronos Quartet and worked with soloists Dashon Burton, David Byrne, Helga Davis, Isabel Leonard, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Courtney Love, Hila Plitmann, Dawn Upshaw, and many more. As a cover conductor for the New York Philharmonic, he has worked with such conductors as Susanna Mälkki, Santu-Matias Rouvali, and Dalia Stasevska and soloists Brandford Marsalis, Anthony McGill, and Golda Schultz.

Especially active as an opera conductor, among the productions Bloom has led are Don Giovanni with Teatro Grattacielo, Philip Glass' Les enfants terribles for Opera Omaha, Michael Gordon's Acquanetta and Jeremy Schonfeld's Iron & Coal for Beth Morrison Projects, Kamala Shankaram's Miranda in virtual reality for Tri-Cities Opera and Opera Omaha, Dido and Aeneas for Kaufman Music Center, Judd Greenstein's A Marvelous Order, Matt Marks' Mata Hari for PROTOTYPE Festival, and numerous productions for the American Opera Project, Opera on Tap, and Experiments in Opera, for whom he conducted Everything for Dawn, an opera by 10 composers created as a 10-episode TV series currently streaming on WNET. He has premiered over 30 operas, including the orchestral version of Glass' La Belle et la Bête with Jean Cocteau's 1946 film.

He has conducted over 400 world premieres and collaborated with such composers as Donnacha Dennehy, Du Yun, inti figgis-vizueta, Michael Gordon, Judd Greenstein, Nathalie Joachim, David Lang, Tania León, Andrew Norman, Emma O'Halloran, and Julia Wolfe. In 2021, he conducted Present Music in the world premiere of Raven Chacon's Voiceless Mass, which went on to win the 2022 Pulitzer Prize.

Bloom has served as an artistic advisor for activist orchestra The Dream Unfinished since the organization's founding in 2015. He taught at Kaufman Music Center for eight years, serving as conductor of new music youth orchestra Face the Music and launching the orchestra program at the Center's public high school, Special Music School. He has been a clinician for Carnegie Hall's Music Educators Workshop and led residencies at such institutions as Princeton University, Mannes School of Music, City University of New York, Williams College, and his alma mater, Bard College.

He has recorded for Sony Masterworks, Cantaloupe, New Amsterdam, Innova, New Focus, Starkland, Kairos, and Navona and is co-host of Imagination Radio, a Contemporaneous podcast on the significance of music in our lives. Also known as a "vividly creative arranger" (Shepherd Express), Bloom has created a significant library of arrangements for a variety of forces, including music by Julius Eastman, Alhaji Bai Konte, Jeremy Schonfeld, Henry Threadgill, and songs by Gladys Knight and En Vogue for Up Until Now Collective's performances in American Sign Language.

Georgian-American pianist Dr. Liana Pailodze Harron is a bold performer, recognized for her passionate and striking interpretations of contemporary classical music. She has appeared at leading venues across the United States and Europe, including Carnegie Hall, Benaroya Hall, Arsht Center, Lincoln Center, the New World Center, and the United Nations. Musical collaborators include Maestro Zubin Mehta and Maestro Leon Botstein, as well as Joshua Bell, Julian Rachlin, Sting, and Steven Tyler.

A champion of contemporary music, Liana cultivates diverse collaborations guided by artistic curiosity. As a soloist, Liana has performed with the Shilakadze Chamber Orchestra, the Georgian Television Orchestra, the Georgian Symphonic Orchestra, the Frost Symphony Orchestra, and the Frost Wind Ensemble. Most recently, she has worked with saxophonist Dr. Thomas A. Giles, honing works of Györgi Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen among others, with an album to be released in Spring 2022. Liana's work in Vesna Duo with percussionist Dr. Ksenija Komljenović garnered rave reviews at the 2022 Chamber Music America Conference. Their recording of Igor Stravinky's The Rite of Spring for marimba and piano arranged by Komljenović will be released in Spring 2022.

A prolific recording artist, Liana has embodied contemporary works by composers such as Alexej Gerassimez and Archil Giorgobiani, beloved classics of Hindemith and Respighi, and modern repertoire from John Adams and Ólafur Arnalds, the latter of which she arranged for piano and Loopstation. Her most recent solo album Light-Year is a heart-rending collection of intimate pieces, cast from cinematic and contemporary composers Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter, Philip Glass, Ólafur Arnalds, and Kris Lennox.

Currently a faculty member of the prestigious 92nd Street Y School of Music, Liana teaches applied music lessons and groups classes to a wide array of students. She is also an in-demand clinician, holding masterclasses and workshops at universities around the United States. She holds her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.

A "fearless, visionary and tremendously talented artist" (Sequenza21), Miranda Cuckson delights listeners with her playing of a remarkably wide range of music and styles, from older eras to the newest creations. Known for her organic expressivity, dexterous virtuosity, imagination, insight, and love for music, she is acclaimed internationally as a soloist and collaborator. A violinist and violist, she performs at venues large and small, concert halls, and informal spaces.

As soloist these have included the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall, Casa da Musica Porto, Teatro Colón, Cleveland Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Strathmore, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series, National Sawdust, and the Bard, Marlboro, Portland, Music Mountain, Ojai, West Cork (Ireland), SinusTon (Germany), Wien Modern (Austria), and LeGuessWho and Soundsofmusic (Netherlands) festivals. Miranda made her Carnegie Hall debut playing Piston's Concerto No. 1 with the American Symphony Orchestra. She recently premiered concertos written for her by Georg Friedrich Haas in Tokyo, Stuttgart and Porto, and by Marcela Rodriguez in Mexico City. Her upcoming solo performances include the Grafenegg Festival and San Francisco Performances.

While remaining dedicated to the Western classical repertoire, Miranda has played countless concerts and premieres of new works and has played a far-reaching inspirational role bringing new creations to the center of concert life. Reflecting her deeply felt perspective as a multiethnic American, Miranda works with an array of artists from many backgrounds. Composers who have written major works for her also include Jason Eckardt, Reiko Füting, Michael Hersch, George Lewis, Wang Lu, Jeffrey Mumford, Aida Shirazi, Steve Lehman, Rand Steiger, Harold Meltzer, Dongryul Lee, and Stewart Goodyear. In addition to collaborating with many of today's emerging artists, she has worked with celebrated composers including Dutilleux, Adams, Carter, Sciarrino, Boulez, Crumb, Iyer, Glass, Saariaho, Davidovsky, Ran, and Murail. She is a member of the interdisciplinary collective AMOC, and founder/director of non-profit Nunc.

She has released eleven albums, all to great praise, including the Ligeti, Korngold, and Ponce concertos; music by American composers Finney, Shapey, Martino, Sessions, Carter, Eckardt, Glass, Hersch; her ECM Records album of Bartók, Schnittke and Lutoslawski sonatas; Melting the Darkness, an album of microtonal and electronics pieces; and Nono's La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura, which was named a Best Recording of the Year by the New York Times.

Miranda teaches at the Mannes School of Music at New School University. She is an alumna of The Juilliard School, having studied there from Pre-College through her doctorate. She won Juilliard's Presser Award and Richard French Prize.

At age 20, virtuoso flutist Maron Anis Khoury became the youngest musician to join the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Born in the village of Tarshiha, Galilee, to a musical family, Khoury started playing the flute at the age of 11. Three years later, he was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with renowned flutist Jeffrey Khaner.

Prior to his enrollment at Curtis, Khoury studied with Eyal Ein-Habar and Uri Shoham (Israel Philharmonic), Sara Andon (Idyllwild Arts Academy), and David Shostak (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.)

Khoury is a recipient of several grants from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Charles M. Kanev Memorial Fellowship. In addition, he is a winner of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship and the Schoen Fellowship Grant in honor of Charlotte White. He performed under many notable conductors including James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Simon Rattle, Christoph Eschenbach and Daniel Barenboim.

Khoury has performed numerous concerts and recitals throughout the U.S. and Europeand has a long list of invitations to lead workshops. He has performed with The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the direction of the renown conductor Daniel Barenboim. Maron has also participated in the New York Mostly Mozart festival, The Lake Tahoe summer festival, and has performed as soloist with iPalpiti Festival among others.

Maron has a wide range of repertoire which includes operatic, symphonic, solo and chamber music repertoire. He has performed many of the most challenging flute pieces such as Rodrigo, Ibert, Jolivet concertos, In living memory by Ichyanagi. In addition he performed Daphnis and Chloe, afternoon of the faun with the Curtis institute orchestra. Maron can regularly be heard performing in operas at the Met, which include Bizet's Carmen, Rossini and Verdi operas among many others.

Little known fact about Maron is that he can play the piano with as much passion, as he does playing the flute. Maron has developed the passion to play the flute at an early age after hearing Jean Pierre Rampal's recordings of J.S.Bach and Handel's Sonatas.

Maron's older brother, Hanna Khoury, is a renown violinist and is currently the Artistic Director of the Arabesque Music Ensemble, as well as former Artist-in-Residence and Music Director with Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture in Philadelphia for many years.

During the summer of 2016, Maron started to work on his album Showpieces with the talented pianist Patrick Kreeger and is anticipated to be released in the beginning of 2017.

Georgian born pianist Inga Kashakashvili is "a fine example of a world class performer at the top of her game" (Matt Warnock, Reviewyou.com). Acclaimed reviewers have praised her performance as "excellent" (New York Concert Review) , "stellar soloist" (Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone), "persuasive, authoritative—much to the delight of the audience" (Charles Adams, Hudson Falls). She has performed at major venues around the world, among them Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, Steinway Hall, Merkin Hall at Kaufman Center, Nicholas Roerich Museum, Lyric Opera (Chicago), Tradegar House (Newport, UK), Gewandhaus (Leipzig), Djansug Kakhidze Tbilisi Center for Music and Culture (Georgia).

In October of 2018, NAXOS records released a new CD album "Wanderer" worldwide, on which Ms. Kashakashvili plays a major role as a performer of recorded and premiered George Oakley's Sonata for cello and piano, F our Songs based on Shakespeare Sonnets for mezzo soprano and piano and Toccata for solo piano. Her performance of George Oakley's Toccata have been broadcasting on WQXR classical radio in New York since 2018.

In addition to frequent performances of the classical repertoire, Ms. Kashakashvili actively promotes contemporary music. Her recent performances include music of Grammy-winner American composers Robert Aldridge and Richard Danielpour.

Ms. Kashakashvili is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the Artists International Auditions and the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition in New York and the Newport International Competition for Young Pianists in Wales. She has participated in prestigious music festivals including the Fête de La Musique in conjunction with the French-American Piano Society and Steinway & Sons at Sofitel in New York, the United Sounds of America in Chicago, PianoSummer at New Paltz in New York, Hudson River Music Hall Series in Hudson Falls, Oracle Piano Series in Arizona, and the Leipzig Music Festival in Germany.

"I am very impressed with her passion for music, pianistic abilities and a tangible stage presence" , said Vladimir Feltsman.

"Eteri Andjaparidze writes, "Ms. Kashakashvili's talent is truly unsurpassed as she equally awes both broad audiences and professional musicians. "

Since her solo debut at the age of 16 with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (one of the most prominent orchestras in her native country, Korea), cellist Mira Kang has been acclaimed by the audience for her passionate performance and beautiful tone. Her past performance venue is found throughout the Northeastern US, South Korea, and Germany for both solo and chamber works. She currently teaches at Young Artist Program of Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University and serves Veritas Youth Orchestra as Artistic Director. Dr. Kang holds degrees from Seoul National University, Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University.

A devoted chamber musician, cellist Kirsten Jermé has performed internationally from Harlaxton College in England to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to the Pieve di Gropina in Arezzo. Based in New York City, Kirsten served as guest cellist of the Cassatt String Quartet for the 2022 Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music and has recently appeared with the Harlem Chamber Players, North Country Chamber Players, Atrikk Ensemble, and as a soloist with the Bar Harbor Music Festival. Formerly cellist of the Larchmere String Quartet, she performed across the U.S., in Canada and Italy and recorded for Naxos while serving for several seasons as Eykamp String Quartet Faculty Artist-in-Residence at the University of Evansville and Principal Cellist of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra. She has appeared as a chamber musician with the Carolina Ballet, Battleworks Dance Company at the Joyce Theater, and with members of the Louisville Ballet at the Speed Art Museum, and on series such as Electric Earth Concerts, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Raleigh Sights and Sounds Series, and the Strad for Lunch Recital Series. Her eclectic freelance life in New York has brought her to stages ranging from Carnegie, Weill and Zankel Halls to Madison Square Garden, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Roulette, and the United Nations, and she has taken part in several recent film score recordings.



Kirsten served as cello faculty at North Carolina State University and has given masterclasses at UNC-Chapel Hill, Otterbein and Western Kentucky University. A passionate proponent of chamber music pedagogy, she helped launch a chamber music course at the University of Evansville and run a string quartet mentorship program for the youth orchestra, and has taught chamber music and cello for numerous institutions, including two El Sistema programs. Kirsten received her M.M. at Eastman School of Music and her B.A. from Stony Brook University, and is currently a D.M.A. candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Her primary teachers include Colin Carr, Steven Doane, and Marcy Rosen.

Cellist Jichen Li is an experienced performer and educator. He is a substitute cellist in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and cello professor at Drew University right now. He was the principal cellist of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Orchestra, the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, the China Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, and the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra. Li went to the Tianjin Conservatory of Music and the China Conservatory of Music to study the cello. He then went to the United States to continue his education. At the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, he studied with Stefan Kartman and got a master's degree in chamber music performance and cello solo performance. He is currently a doctorate candidate at Rutgers University, where he studies with Jonathan Spitz. Li has experience teaching students of all ages and levels. In the past, he has served as a faculty member at the String Academy of Wisconsin, where he taught private lessons, group lessons, and ran the outreach program. While at the University of Wisconsin, he taught university-level students and was involved in the University Cello Ensemble. He taught pre-college students in Milwaukee and conservatory middle and high school students in China.

Acclaimed by the critics to have a very strong technique and powerful tone, pianist Rachel Yunkyung Choo has appeared as both soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Asia. At the age of 12, Ms. Choo gave debut public solo recital as part of the Prodigy Concert series in Korea and later made her U.S. debut at the Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center with the Juilliard Orchestra under maestro James Colon. Her performances have included solo recitals and chamber concerts at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, the Kumho Art Hall, the Seoul Arts Center, the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the LOTTE Concert Hall. Rachel has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras, including Korean National University of Arts Orchestra, Gangnam Symphony Orchestra, Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Orchestra, and TBC Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Choo has completed her undergraduate and Master's studies with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio at the Juilliard School, and Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Institute with Yong Hi Moon. An active chamber musician, Rachel is a member of piano ensemble At65. Rachel is a co-founder of a non-profit organization, gatchi where she focuses on promoting new music of Asia and America. Ms. Choo currently teaches at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Classical pianist, active chamber performer, hymn and church vocal music arranger and educator, Sojung Lee of South Korea has proven herself to be a versatile musician.

Sojung was awarded a scholarship to Chung-Ang University where she studied piano performance with Okbin Lim, Hyekyung Lee and Chiho Cho, and where she received her Bachelors in piano performance, having graduated with highest honors. She received her M.A. from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey where she studied under Min Kwon and William Wolfram. She is currently studying for her Doctor of Musical Arts under Daniel Epstein.

A participant in several musical festivals, including the Yong-Pyung Music Festival and the Center for Musical Excellence festival, Sojung has been able to work with acclaimed pianists such as John O'Conor, Min Kwon, and Jerome Lowenthal.

She has been invited to play for Mendelssohn's 200^th birth year celebration at New York University and has also participated in Rutgers University's birth year presentation projects "Mendelssohn" and "Debussy."

In 2018, Lee was selected to collaborate with the Harlem Quartet at Rutgers and perform with Trio Eoulim for the 90^th anniversary of the Music Educators Association of New Jersey.

Sojung has won Grand Prize at the Korean Christian Association Piano Competition and has competed and won in the Chamber Music Honors Competition at Rutgers University.

She is currently a member of Trio Fontēs and a pianist for the Philomusica. As a recitalist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician, she has performed in various venues such as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, New Jersey Performance Arts Center, Watchung Arts Center, as well as in local churches and nursing homes in the Greater New York area.

Singer, conductor, and pianist, Giorgi Margvelashvili is based in Georgia. Among the many accomplishments of his distinguished and varied career are: "Premio Roma" scholarship from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory conducting competition and N. Sulkhanishvili's Stipend (2010-2011)


The creation of the "Young Symphony Orchestra of Georgia," of which he served as primary conductor, in 2008 was one of the high points of his career. His Tbilisi-based "Baroque" choir was established in 2016. In 2017 in Tbilisi, Georgia, he famously conducted the State Choir in a performance of Mozart's "Requiem" with the National Symphony Orchestra of Georgia.

Among his many accomplishments as a pianist are performances with the Tbilisi State Conservatory Orchestra of Rachmaninov's First and Third Piano Concertos.

In 2012, he was the subject of a documentary.

Since the year 2000, Paata Tsetskhladze has performed as a soloist with the illustrious Georgian State Folk Singing Ensemble "Basiani." Taken part in the ensemble's extensive tour, which has taken them to some of the most prestigious venues in Europe and the United States. In his career, performing at the "Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival" stands out as a high point.

He has performed as a chorister (soloist) with the Trinity Cathedral Choir in Tbilisi, Georgia. In 2010, he conducted a concert performance of Henry Lolashvili's film compositions with the Georgia State Symphony Orchestra.

He graduated with a Master of Composition, Interpretation, and Music Education from the Academy of Music in Krakow, Poland and earned a Master's degree in Choral Conducting from the Tbilisi State Conservatory.