Liz Ames is a celebrated pianist who is passionate about performing and working with instrumentalists, vocalists and composers. She has concertized worldwide, including in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, Peru and France. Ames has served as a staff pianist for the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference and the United States Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium. Her publications and projects include piano reductions of large-scale works, including Wynton Marsalis’s Tuba Concerto, Henry Brant’s Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra, and concertos and oratorios by Steven Bryant, Joel Puckett, Donald Grantham, David Biedenbender, and John Mackey. Ames completed her doctorate in collaborative piano at Arizona State University and is currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, performing with musicians throughout the Midwest and serving on the collaborative piano staff at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance. She has recorded for Neuma Records, XAS Records, and Naxos Records, among others.

Pamela Ashmore has had an active and extensive performing career in the Northwest Ohio Area since early 1990. She has enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate and perform with Michigan Opera Theatre (now Detroit Opera), Toledo Opera, Toledo Symphony, Michigan Bach Festival, and Toledo Symphony Chorale. Ms. Ashmore has also been Coach/Pianist for the Toledo Opera Summer Opera Camp, Music Director for Toledo Opera’s Family Concert Series at Wildwood Metro Park, and Music Director and Pianist for Piccolo Opera of Michigan.

Pamela performs most often at Bowling Green State University in collaboration with Undergraduate, Graduate and Doctoral students presenting their degree recitals. She has also had the opportunity to perform with many Guest Artists sponsored by BGSU’s Brass Area. These guests include Hornists Bruce Bonnell, Julie Gephart, Bruce Hudson, Johanna Yarborough; Trombonists Brian Hecht, Kenneth Thompkins, Sam Woodhead; Euphonists Matthew Emmerik, Derek Fenstermacher; Tubists Craig Knox, Øystein Baadsvik, Tim Buzbee, the Israel Tuba Duo, and Tony Kniffen.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Ashmore served on the Piano Faculty at Ohio Northern University for 21 ½ years. She also teaches as a Professional Artist within the Creative Arts Department of Bowling Green State University (1998-present). Pamela served as Music Director for St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Sylvania, Ohio (1996- 2009), often coordinating and hiring musicians for Special Occasions and religious holidays. She is currently in her third year as Organist/Pianist at St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Rochester, Ohio.

Ms. Ashmore received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and her Master of Music degree from BGSU.

Francisca de Castanheiro de Freitas, a Brazilian pianist based in Bowling Green, is currently pursuing a DMA in contemporary music performance at Bowling Green State University. She earned her MMus in Piano Performance under the mentorship of acclaimed pianist Solungga Liu. Notable achievements include 2nd prize at the 2022 Marjorie Conrad Art Song Competition, where she collaborated with singer Keri Lee Pierson, and 2nd prize at the 23rd Piano Competition in Ituiutaba, MG, Brazil. She has also appeared in music festivals in both Brazil and the US, such as the Brazil-Germany Festival, the 56th Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival and the 42nd MAACM New M

Stephen Eckert is a pianist and new music advocate, from Newfoundland, Canada, now based in Bowling Green, Ohio. As a soloist and chamber musician, their programming engages aesthetic and aural lineages between the canon and 21^st century works to incite public music appreciation. Dedicated to new music and experimental sound, Stephen has premiered dozens of new and original works in VERSFest, the Newfound Music Festival, the Orford Contemporary Workshop, soundSCAPE Festival, and with Ensemble Allure, a contemporary music ensemble they co-founded in 2020, which recently released its debut album, Dual.

Appearing at venues such as the Ottawa Art Gallery for Pique: Winter Edition 2021, the National Arts Centre of Canada’s 4^th Stage, NUNC!5, the MACCM New Music Festival, Sound Symposium, CMS Great-Lakes Conference, the Wintertide Festival, the Gros Morne Summer Music Festival, and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, Mx. Eckert has established themselves as an emerging voice in the contemporary art music community. Other performance honours include first prizes in the Nicole Senécal Emerging Artist Prize, the BGSU Concerto Competition, the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music competition, and the Marjorie Conrad Art Song competition. Stephen graduated summa cum laude, receiving Memorial University’s Medal for Academic Excellence in Music and was named on CBC’s “Hot 30-under-30 classical musicians” in 2022. Mx. Eckert made their concerto debut in 2023, performing Witold Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto with the BGSU Philharmonia, conducted by Dr. Emily Freeman Brown.

Stephen holds a Graduate Diploma and MMus in Piano Performance from the University of Ottawa where they studied with David Jalbert and Leopoldo Erice, and a BMus (Hons) in Piano Performance and Composition from Memorial University of Newfoundland where they studied with Dr. Kristina Szutor and Dr. Andrew Staniland. Currently, they are pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Music Performance at Bowling Green State University under the mentorship of Dr. Solungga Liu.

Amy Ige is a free-lance pianist based out of Michigan. When she is not working her day job in financial services, she enjoys collaborating with instrumentalists (primarily brass players), walking in nature, and spending time with animals

Elaine Lin

Joshua Marzan is a pianist, opera coach, and chamber musician based in Ann Arbor. He is a staff pianist at Wayne State University and plays for Detroit Opera. He plays in countless rehearsals, lessons, studio classes, guest master classes, recordings, performances, degree recitals, and many more projects with students and faculty.

An active performer outside of Wayne State University, he gives concerts and recitals with many local musicians, including members of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. A frequent audition and competition pianist, he plays for the organizations such as the Southeast Michigan Flute Association, Detroit Youth Symphony Orchestra, William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition, George Shirley Competition, Verdi Opera Theatre, Michigan Opera Theatre, and the Metropolitan Opera Regional and District competitions.

Before coming to Michigan, he completed an MM and GD in collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory and a BM in piano performance at Virginia Commonwealth University. He has also attended Music Academy of the West and Tanglewood Music Center as a vocal piano fellow and served on faculty at the Castleton Festival. In 2017, he graduated with a DMA in collaborative piano from the University of Michigan, studying with Martin Katz.

Eva Panagou is a pianist from Piraeus, Greece. She holds a Master's degree from Bowling Green State University, a Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from the Ionian University (Corfu, Greece) and a Piano Diploma from the Municipal Conservatory of Piraeus. She has premiered several new works and enjoys performing both solo and in chamber music settings. During her Master’s degree, she was awarded third place in the Marjorie Conrad Art Song Competition with soprano Sofia Vassiliadou. Recently, she has commissioned and performed several new works for bass and piano with double bassist Adam Har-zvi. Among the festivals she has performed for are Classical Music Festival of Xanthi (Xanthi, Greece), the “Winter Clavier” (Athens, Greece), Festival of Pianist Art (Lefkada, Greece), Kilkis Piano Festival (Kilkis, Greece), Skiathos Piano Festival (Skiathos, Greece), International Music Days Brache (Hamburg, Germany), Great Lakes Regional Conference (Bowling Green, OH), and the Pellegrini Festival of New Music (Muncie, IN). She has worked as an Adjunct Instructor of Class Piano at Bowling Green State University. Next fall, she will begin her doctorate in Piano Performance at the University of Georgia studying with Liza Stepanova. She is a former student of pianists Lambis Vassiliadis and Solungga Liu.

Originally from Wisconsin, pianist Abigail Petersen studies Music Performance and Latin at Bowling Green State University. A student of Dr. Yevgeny Yontov, Abigail is a 2021 recipient of the Hansen Fellowship for BGSU undergraduate musicians. In 2023, she made her concerto debut with the BGSU Philharmonia as the winner of the university’s concerto competition, and she has also received first prizes in the Dr. Majorie Conrad Art Song Competition and the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition. Abigail has appeared as soloist with the Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra and performed in masterclasses for distinguished pianists including Anton Nel, Robert McDonald, Terrence Wilson, Kathleen Kelly, Rita Sloan, and Ana Maria Otamendi. Abigail is an alumna of Brevard Music Center, where she studied under Norman Krieger and Michael Chertock. A three-time recipient of the C. Elizabeth Cobb Memorial Scholarship for her efforts in collaborative piano, Abigail attended the 2023 Collaborative Piano Institute at Louisiana State University to study duo, chamber, and art song literature with artists including Howard Watkins, Warren Jones, and Martin Katz. As the current president for Praecepta, a BGSU student organization devoted to the creation and performance of new music, Abigail enthusiastically premieres the works of her composer colleagues and fiercely advocates for female representation in the modern musical landscape. She is a Presidential Scholar in the BGSU Honors College and a 2021 Georgia-Pacific Foundation Scholar.

Ron Stabinsky, piano, received his first musical lessons at the age of five from Michael Hoysock, his grandfather. Since 2000, Ron has been studying the Taubman Approach to piano playing with Edna Golandsky in New York City with additional study of classical repertoire with concert pianist Ilya Itin. His mentors in the art of free improvisation have included Bill Dixon and Joel Futterman. Each July, Ron presents a series of workshops demonstrating to jazz pianists the practical application of the Taubman Approach to piano playing at the Golandsky Institute, an annual symposium held at Princeton University. In addition, an ongoing interest in solo piano improvisation, he enjoys working on music in a stylistically diverse array of situations throughout the United States and Europe with free improvising saxophonist Jack Wright, bass trombone virtuoso Dave Taylor, Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood, and NEA Jazz Master David Liebman. Recent festival appearances include Newport Jazz Festival (USA), North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Moers Festival (Germany), and Jazz and More Festival Sibiu (Romania). He is currently a member of the new music ensemble Relâche, and the Peter Evans Quartet, Quintet, and Octet.

T.O. Sterritt

Yevgeny Yontov has established himself as one of the leading Israeli pianists of his generation. As finalist in the 2017 Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, he received the Prize for Best Performance of Chamber Music, and the Prize for the Best Israeli Pianist. Other international top prizes include gold medals at the Wideman International Piano Competition and Berliner International Music Competition, as well as additional prizes at the Boesendorfer International Piano Competition, the Olga Kern International Piano Competition, and the Pinerolo International Piano Competition, among others.

A founding member of icarus Quartet, an award-winning 2piano/2percussion group, from 2015 to 2022, Mr. Yontov holds chamber music close to heart. He has performed chamber music in Israel, Europe, Asia, and North and South America, in venues that include Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Chamber colleagues include distinguished artists, such as David Shifrin, Roberto Diaz, Tara Helen O’Connor, Fred Sherry, and many others, including members of established string quartets like the Orion, Dover, Aviv, and Miro Quartets. Mr. Yontov has also performed in numerous chamber festivals, most notably returning visits to Chamber Music Northwest.

As a soloist, Mr. Yontov has performed on stages across Israel, the US, China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and many European countries. Orchestral engagements include numerous orchestras in the US, including orchestras in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas, and all major Israeli orchestras. He also performed on Israeli national TV, and recorded for Israeli, US, Portuguese and Spanish radios.

Mr. Yontov’s playing can be found on a number of commercial CDs, including his own debut CD, “Schubert: Piano Variations,” released on Naxos Records in 2017, “Big Things,” icarus Quartet’s debut album released on Furious Artisans in 2022, “Samuel Adler: A Celebration of Sam @ 95” released on Toccata Classics in 2022, and “Turning into Song” released on Musica Solis in 2023.

Mr. Yontov began his musical studies at the age of six with Adela Umansky, and later received his B.Mus degree summa cum laude from the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel-Aviv University, where he studied with Prof. Arie Vardi. He then moved to the US to study with Prof. Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, from which he received his M.M. and D.M.A. degrees.

Mr. Yontov has given masterclasses across the US, Israel, and China. In 2018, he joined the faculty of Bowling Green State University, where he serves as Assistant Professor of Piano.