Violinist Mary Beth Woodruff was educated at the Interlochen Arts Academy, the New England Conservatory of Music, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. Chemistry and Music) and Carnegie Mellon University (M.M. Violin Performance). At MIT, she studied composition with John Harbison and was a member of Emmanuel Music of Boston’s Bach Cantata Program. She studied with Andres Cardenes, concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, under a full graduate studies scholarship. She has been faculty at Biola University, Songfest International at the Colburn School, and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She has been co-concertmaster of the International Symphony Orchestra of Jerusalem, been assistant concertmaster of Santa Barbara Opera, and is currently concertmaster of the Santa Maria Philharmonic, a member of the Radian String Quartet, and Artistic Director of Santa Barbara Strings.  She has a not so minor obsession with Tristan und Isolde and feel deeply in love with opera because of this singular work.  

Caroline Cole (that’s me!) is a trombonist with 19 years of professional and diverse performing experiences, from Beethoven to Chicago (the band). When I’m not playing trombone in the orchestra, I can be found solving tech issues with the customer service team I run, playing trombone and sousaphone for the Army, or studying trapeze at New England Center for Circus Arts. I believe deeply in the importance of innovation and creativity, and it’s an honor to be collaborating with such talented artists to bring Tundi to life, and world-class opera to Brattleboro.

Rocío Mora has a bachelor's degree in music education from New York University and earned her master's degree in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Vermont. A classically trained percussionist specializing in timpani, Rocío received her training at Juilliard, NYU and LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts. Performing extensively in NYC before moving to Vermont 18 years ago, she currently performs all over New England and calls Brattleboro home. She has played with the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, Windham Orchestra, Opera Company of Middlebury, Champlain Philharmonic Orchestra, Burlington Civic Symphony, Green Mountain Mahler Festival, Montpelier Chamber Orchestra and Vermont Symphonic Winds. A native of Colombia, she is also fluent in Spanish.

Diane received her Bachelor's of Arts in music performance from Rowan University and her Masters of Music in music performance from The State University of New York @ Stony Brook. She studied with Arthur Weisberg, Ferdinand Del Negro, Kathleen White-Vigilante, Frank Ruggieri and Lawrence Stewart. She grew up in southern New Jersey  and moved to western MA in 1992 via Long Island. Many years of professional playing has consisted of a multitude of chamber groups such as The Atlantic City Woodwind Quintet, The Variable Winds and La Corrente Chamber Music. She plays first bassoon in the Windham Orchestra and played first bassoon in the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Commonwealth Opera for many years. She also plays in the Panopera orchestra and gigs around MA, VT and NH playing with such groups as The Williamstown Theater Festival, South Hadley Chorale, Keene Chamber Orchestra, Keene Chorale, Hampshire Chorale Society along with some of the choral groups affiliated with the Brattleboro Music Center. Diane also teaches bassoon at Keene State College. When she is not practicing or making reeds she might be brainstorming about new bassoon repertoire to explore or a chamber music concert to concoct and when she is away from music entirely she can often be found at her favorite gym in Easthampton, MA, walking in the woods or strolling around the neighborhoods in her town of Holyoke or reading and writing about a myriad of subjects. She is excited about taking on the challenge of this unusual opportunity to delve into the dramatic world of Richard Wagner with her friends and colleagues and coming out the better for it having done so. jontoobie@yahoo.com

Joe Jewitt, violin: I currently work as a teacher of violin and viola for the Putney School and for Camerata New England, a group lesson program in West Lebanon, NH. I have been teaching since 1984 and also teach fiddle, viola and cello. Some of my students have gone on to admittance at Eastman School, Oberlin College, Brigham Young University and Boston Youth Symphony. I have one former student, Katie McNally, who became a national Scottish fiddle champion and now has a prominent career as a fiddler. From 2000-2005 I taught at several Boston area community music school and private schools including Brookline, Powers, Indian Hill, Joy of Music Program, Lexington, Beaver Country Day and Lawrence Academy. From 2005-2007 I was the lead teacher in Holyoke Public Schools’ Children’s String Workshop, a full-time and summer program that was initiated by the renowned Roberta Guaspari-Tsavaras.

In my performing life I am a member of the Berkshire Symphony. I have frequently performed with the period instrument ensemble Arcadia Players and occasionally with the Springfield and Vermont Symphonies. I get many jobs with local choral societies and colleges, including recently as a featured performer with the Five College Contemporary Music Festival. I have my own chamber group, Florence Camerata, with which I present quartet, trio and duo concerts at local venues. The highlights: 11 years as member of the Cascade Quartet, Montana’s quartet in residence, including  joint concerts with the Ying Quartet and at studies at the Banff Music Festival. Nine summers of the Spoleto Festival Orchestra where I was a frequent concertmaster as well as assistant conductor. Part of the first class of fellows of the New World Symphony. With these groups and others I have been privileged to work with soloists Pavarotti, Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell and Peter Serkin and conductors Bernstein, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Neeme Jarvi, John Nelson and Marin Alsop.

Dr. Ben Smar is an active performer in the region on trombone, alto trombone, and euphonium. He is principal trombonist with the Pioneer Valley Symphony and Panopera Orchestra. He also performs frequently with the Windham Orchestra and Keene Chamber Orchestra. In addition he plays in several chamber ensembles and free-lances in the region. Ben is retired from the Music faculty at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he was Coordinator of and a professor of Music Education. He is excited about taking part in this TUNDI production of Tristan and Isolde because of his strong belief in the renewable, sustainable, and transformational power of the arts within a community. Performers and audiences are connected to each other and their community through the experience of shared live performance.

Mowgli Giannitti is a diverse Bassist, Vocalist, Composer, and Teacher, professionally engaged in a wide breadth of projects including Jazz, Opera, Bluegrass, Old Time, Afro-Cuban/Latin jazz and traditional music, West African, and original compositions consisting of all of the above and more! Mowgli studied Bass, Voice and Composition at Bennington College, and has since pursued further studies under composer/author W.A. Mathieu. Mowgli has collaborated with award-winning artists such as Amir Milstein, Souleymane Badolo, Edmar Colon, Bertramm Lehmann, and many more. He can currently be found performing around the greater Northeast in the bands Terrible Mountain String Band, The Melting Nomads, The Heavy Nettles, Satyrdagg, or as a sub in any number of ensembles.

JAKUB OMSKY 

“An extraordinarily talented and dedicated musician…” – Yo-Yo Ma

Jakub Omsky is a graduate of Oberlin College Conservatory and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Omsky has been called by Yo-Yo Ma an "extraordinarily talented and dedicated musician". Music critics have said he "sets a standard of contemporary interpretation" and have called him "Master of Cello". Cellist Jakub Omsky was chosen by the Santa Barbara Independent and recognized by the U.S. Congress as the Local Hero in 2001, and the Music Maker of the Year 2000 for original sound healing methods and innovative concert programming and performances in Santa Barbara, California. He is the first and only cellist ever to win the First Prize in the D'Angelo International String Competition in 2000.

Jakub Omsky was born in Warsaw, Poland where he started as a prodigy of Arnold Rezler and the youngest student in the history of the Fryderyk Chopin Music Academy. He continued his studies with Peter Rejto and Andor Toth, Jr. at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Ohio, graduating with Honors in 1995 (Bachelor of Music) and in 1997 (Artist Diploma). His mentor at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles is Eleanor Schoenfeld. Mr. Omsky has performed at prestigious summer festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival and Music Academy of the West. He has performed extensively in Poland, Germany and the United States. He has recorded as a guest artist on RCA Victor Red Seal, Summit Records, PlayBall Productions, and other labels. His album with a member of Los Angeles Philharmonic Michele Zukovsky called "Intermezzo" is available on Summit Records.

Omsky’s composition "For Martin" dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has received the Brilliant Retrievers of American Goals 2001 Award. For his compositions for "Danube", a play by Maria Irene Fornes, he was awarded 2001 Theater Music Award by The Independent. Recently Mr. Omsky performed his theater music for "The Prisoner" (a Holocaust inspired drama by Henryk Grynberg, adapted by Omar Sangare for cellist and actress) with Deborah Latz, at the Mazer Theatre in New York City. 

Jakub Omsky has been Artist in Residence at many schools and universities and founder of ecumenical Sound Prayer Project, Universal Harmony Dialogue Concerts and transformational sound healing methods. He was the principal cellist of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. His quest to become music continues

with expansion of his understanding of folk and spiritual music of variety of traditions. His vast repertoire spans many centuries of Western classical music, and his own improvisational music is inspired by the great traditions of the East and West. 

Jakub Omsky performs as a soloist with orchestras, composes music for theater and film and leads master classes and music workshops. His collaboration with Polish actor and director Omar Sangare, initiated in 2001 won critical acclaim. He won The Indy Prize for the best original theater music (Maria Fornes's "Danube"). Omsky currently lives in Boston, teaches cello, music, and deep listening techniques, and offers sound and water therapy throughout Massachusetts. He has worked as a teacher at many universities and schools. Omsky loves creating alternative church services and spiritual development seminars, combining art, singing, movement, and the sacred scriptures in interactive, inspiring formats. He performs and works at hospitals, retirement homes, clinics, and hospice organizations.

Francesca began studying the bassoon at the age of 16.  She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawai'i, studying with Paul Barrett, in 2013. She went on to earn her master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts, studying with Stephen Walt, in 2015.  Francesca played as the second bassoonist with the Sarajevo Philharmonic for the 2017-18 season.  Most recently, she has been working as a free-lance bassoonist and contrabassoonist based in the western Massachusetts area. In addition to her interest in large, orchestral repertoire, Francesca particularly enjoys working with composers to bring new music to life.

Melanie has a violin performance degree from the Eastman School of Music and an MBA with concentrations in Economics and Marketing from Cornell University.  She got the opera bug while playing many summers with the Heidelberg Schlossspiel and Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi.  She's a former member of the Puerto Rico Symphony, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Pennsylvania Sinfonia and a few she's probably forgetting.  Currently, she performs regularly with the Vermont and Berkshire Symphony Orchestras.  In 2015, for some reason, Melanie was elected Town Treasurer of Shaftsbury, on the other side of the Greens.  She has two beautiful chickens and three equally beautiful sons.  

David Gruender is an avid runner. He graduated from the Syracuse University School of Music, where he also played in the Syracuse Symphony. While teaching in the Berkshires, He was a long-time member of the Albany Symphony; summers had him at Tanglewood, where he was the music librarian and took part in a number of concerts. He eventually became a full-time major orchestra librarian working for the Baltimore Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, and the Boston Symphony/Boston Pops. While in Baltimore he was a frequent sub with the orchestra and Assistant Principal Bass for the Baltimore Opera. He continued to play with local orchestras as he moved around and is currently Principal with the Keene Chamber Orchestra. He teaches music courses for the CALL program at Keene State College.

Rebecca caught the music bug as a young student at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, PA.  High school summers were spent at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music (Nelson, NH) and Boston University Tanglewood Institute.  She has remained actively playing ever since. Until recently moving to New Hampshire, she performed in the New York area with the Broadway Bach Ensemble, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Rye Country Day School Festival Orchestra, St. Thomas Orchestra, and Wednesday Winds (quartets and quintets), and sang in an all-female, 16-member a cappella group.  She now plays with the Windham Orchestra and, since 2005, has been a summer participant in the Bennington Chamber Music Conference.

Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from Harvard and a master’s in international and comparative education from Columbia University.  She takes an interest in the social history of the arts and recently wrote “From Women’s Clubs to MeetUps: Social Influences on Amateur Music-Making in America,” an article slated for publication in American Music Teacher.  

A seasoned arts administrator, Rebecca is Development Officer at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.  She resides in Westmoreland, NH with her husband. They have two grown, musical daughters.

She is delighted to embark on this creative TUNDI journey.

Shannon Merciel is an American cellist with a passion for travel, teaching, and collaboration. She earned her bachelor’s degree in cello performance from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2016 and her master’s from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018.

During her time in the UK, she won apprenticeships with Scottish Opera, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She performed in London’s West End with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s musical theatre department and performed Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2017. 

For the past several years, Shannon has attended summer music festivals including the Meadowmount School of Music, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Montecito Festival, and Festival MusicAlp in Tignes, France. She played in the orchestra for the Mediterranean Opera Studio and Festival in Sicily in 2017 and 2018, where she performed in multiple productions of Così fan tutte, La bohème, Tosca, Le nozze di Figaro, L’elisir d’amore, Il barbiere di siviglia, and Madama Butterfly. Shannon has also served on the faculty of the Eduardo Ocón International Music Festival in southern Spain. This summer (2019), she returned home to Missouri as a full-time member of the Missouri Symphony for the Hot Summer Nights Music Festival.

As an avid chamber musician, Shannon co-founded Trio Doyenne, an emerging piano trio which has performed across Europe for organizations such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Festival Musique et Patrimoine, and the Eduardo Ocón Festival. In 2018, the trio won first prize in the Josep Mirabent i Magrans Chamber Music Competition in Sitges, Spain. She will join her trio again in Scotland to perform recitals in April of 2020.

Shannon currently studies with Edward Arron at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she holds a teaching assistantship and a position in the graduate string quartet program.

Originally from Athens, Georgia, Lisa grew up in a musical family and began playing flute in the 5th grade.  She remained active in band, orchestra, and chorus through high school, studying flute and piano privately.  She later received her Bachelor of Music in Flute & Voice, and Master of Arts in musicology from the University of Georgia, where she continued her flute studies under Ronald Waln.  She also attended graduate school at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied voice with Laurence Bogue and Performance of Early Music with Daniel Pinkham.  Returning to Georgia after her graduate studies, she continued her flute studies under Paul Brittan.  While living in Atlanta, she was a member of the Atlanta Telemann Society, playing baroque flute, recorder, and singing, and she was also soprano soloist at the Cathedral of Saint Philip.  Before moving to New Hampshire, Lisa and her husband spent many years in New York City, where she worked full time for UNICEF, but continued performing as a  free-lance soloist in the New York City area.  From NYC, they moved to Winston-Salem, NC, where she was principal flutist with the Piedmont Wind Symphony as well as a member of the Piedmont Wind Quintet.  While in Winston-Salem, she founded Flutes on 4th, a professional flute choir, played regularly as a pit musician with several local theater organizations, and taught flute privately.  After moving to New Hampshire, Lisa has enjoyed playing in a variety of ensembles, including the Windham Orchestra, the Keene Chamber Orchestra, PanOpera, Raylynmor Opera, and with the Monadnock Chorus.  Lisa lives in Walpole with her husband Stephen.  They have one grown daughter who lives in New York City.  

Lisa is excited to be working with Hugh, Jenna, and the other artists in bringing this TUNDI production to life.

Aidan Woodruff has been playing the cello since he was three. He has attended the National Cello Institute for 9 years, the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and was selected as the youngest of 25 cellists to participate in the International Cello Institute this summer in Minnesota. He has been a scholarship winner with the Santa Barbara Music Club for 5 years both as cellist and pianist. In the fall of 2018, he advanced through three rounds of the Southern California Junior Bach Festival as a pianist and was selected as one of the winners in the final round performing a Bach Prelude and Fugue. He performed the Haydn C major Cello Concerto last summer at Interlochen and recently performed the Saint Saens Concerto in Los Angeles at the National Cello Institute. He has had the good fortune to play in masterclasses for Julia Fischer, Ray Chen, Leila Josefowicz, Ani Aznavoorian, Anthony Elliot, and Andrew Smith.

He has played chamber music in the form of trios or quartets since he was 5 years old both as pianist and cellist. As co-principal cellist of Santa Barbara Strings, he has performed both the Vivaldi Double Concerto and the Monn Concerto as winner of the concerto competition therein. He plans on pursuing a career as professional cellist, music educator and conductor, yet, aside from his musical studies, he is an extremely loyal fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers and would do just about anything to get family and friends to take him to Dodger Stadium for a game. When not following the Dodgers or practicing, he loves to spear-fish in the Pacific Ocean - a past-time for which he, initially, concocted his own spear out of a curtain rod and a piece of metal fencing. He has been known to arrive home with a bag full of sea urchins, a few spiny lobsters caught by bare hand, and a calico bass or two. He also has been known to tell others that he has 'converted to Asian' because of his love of sushi and any and all Asian food. He will enter high school this coming fall in Santa Ynez, California.

Jake Charkey started playing violin at the age of 6. After a year of suffering the scratchy cacaphony of beginning violin, his father mercifully gave him a cello to try, and and he took it up like an old friend.

Jake studied cello in the Western Classical tradition under Zon Eastes, Paul Cohen, Leopold Teraspulsky, and finally with Norman Fischer at the Shepherd School of music at Rice University in Houston, TX. Seeking to broaden his musical skills and vocabulary after conservatory training, he took an interest in Hindustani music. His studies began in Toronto with the sarangi player, Aruna Narayan, who urged him to adapt Hindustani music to cello rather than learn an Indian instrument. He continued in Los Angeles where he took up intensive training with Jagan Ramamoorthy, a senior disciple of the violin virtuoso Padmabushan Dr. N. Rajam. He completed his M.F.A. at CalArts in Hindustani music under the guidance of Aashish Khan and Swapan Chaudury and with additional instruction on cello and contemporary techniques from Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick. While at CalArts he also incorporated other modalities of improvisation into his playing with Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, and Charlie Haden.

After grad school Jake moved to Montreal, where continued to perform Hindustani music, both as a soloist and accompanist for Kathak dance and was a occasional collaborator with tUnEyArds. In 2010 he travelled to India with an arts fellowship from the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute to support formal study under Padmabushan Dr. N. Rajam with whom he continued to learn for the 6 years he stayed there.

In India he recorded and performed with many of the most celebrated musicians in Bollywood. His unique sound can be heard on season 2 of MTV's Coke Studio, multiple episodes of MTV Unplugged, and in a number of Bollywood soundtracks.

Since returning to the USA in 2016 Jake has joined the Slipstream Ensemble at Marlboro College, a composer/performer ensemble in residence and performs with Layale Chaker and Sarafand. He also performs with Adam Rudolph’s GO Organic Orchestra and is a frequent collaborator with the Brooklyn Raga Massive. He has been an advocate for new music for solo cello which he programs in recital alongside Hindustani music. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Belchertown Massachusetts native, oboist Aaron Lakota has a vested interest the local arts culture in New England, and hopes to promote music and the arts through performance, education, and community involvement. Aaron performs throughout New England as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. He regularly performs with Pioneer Valley Symphony, Valley Winds, Pan Opera, and Juno Chamber orchestra.
Aaron holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in oboe performance from the University of Massachusetts. His primary mentors are Fredric T.Cohen and Tamara Field. He acts as a professional reed maker when he is not performing or teaching. A.Lakota Reeds supplies reeds to hundreds of oboists throughout North America

AaronLakota.com
ALakotaReeds.com