The artists we invite to join and sometimes lead us inspire and challenge us. We strive to bring you voices you know and love, as well as introduce you to some not often heard in Boston. These include world-renowned virtuosi, musicians who comprise the local and national musical fabric, and those who are newly entering our community.
Musicians
2026-2027
Dušan Balarin, lute
Shuann Chai, piano
Elisa Citterio, violin
Peter Ferretti, bass
Guy Fishman, cello; founder & artistic director
Stephen Goist, viola
Renée Hemsing, violin & viola; founder & executive director
Heather Miller Lardin, bass
Laura Lutzke, violin
Susanna Ogata, violin
Philip Rawlinson, viola
Shunske Sato, violin
Edson Scheid, violin
Ian Watson, Harpsichord
Dani Zanuttini-Frank, lute & guitar
Members of New England Conservatory’s Pratt Early Music Program
Darwin Chang, violin
Miranda Isbitts, violin
Kyle Pinzon, cello
Ingrid Tverberg, cello
Dušan Balarin
Lute
Known for his vibrant musical curiosity and interpretive depth, Peruvian-Croatian performing artist Dušan Balarin specializes in a wide array of historical lutes and guitars. His artistic versatility has made him a vital presence in today’s early music scene, bridging the gap between centuries-old repertoire and modern concert stages.
Based in the New York City area, Dušan maintains a rigorous performance schedule that takes him across North America and Europe. He frequently appears with premier organizations such as Opera Lafayette, The Handel & Haydn Society, The Newberry Consort, and Ruckus Early Music. His collaborative work extends to world-renowned ensembles including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants, and he has shared the stage with luminaries such as Masaaki Suzuki, Rachel Podger, Bruce Dickey, and Cécile McLorin Salvant. Locally and regionally, he is a core member of both the Washington Bach Consort and Sonnambula, the current ensemble-in-residence at The Frick Collection.
Dušan holds degrees from the University of North Texas and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he earned his Master of Music with highest honors under the tutelage of Nigel North. Following his time in Indiana, he completed his studies at The Juilliard School as a recipient of the Historical Performance Scholarship, performing extensively across North America and Europe with Juilliard415.
Shuann Chai
Pianos
Uniquely engaging and creative, Shuann Chai performs on a wide range of early to modern pianos. Recognised by critics as “a graceful virtuoso”, she has been praised for performances that are “sensitive and communicative, …full of warmth and emotion”.
Recent projects include collaborations with the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam as well as performances in Germany (Handelfestspiele Göttingen, Bachfest Münster), Canada (Chamberfest Toronto), Japan (Suntory Hall, Izumi Hall, and others), Taiwan (National Concert Hall), and throughout the Netherlands.
Her recent CD-recordings include Extemporize – Schubert’s Impromptus and early fugues (awarded a CHOC from Classica Magazine) and BEE1H0VEN, the complete Sonatas for Piano and Violin with violinist Shunske Sato (awarded the New Record Academy Award in Japan).
Shuann earned degrees in music as well as biology from Oberlin College, and completed her graduate studies at the New England Conservatory (USA). She is frequently invited to teach masterclasses and workshops, and is Professor of Piano at Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam. The Rosenberger fortepiano (1820) she plays in this recording is generously provided on permanent loan by the Netherlands Musical Instruments Foundation.
Alongside her musical life Shuann is a jigsaw puzzle enthusiast, and considers herself a reasonably capable cook of many cuisines. She lives in The Hague, Netherlands, with her husband and their lovely daughter.
Photo credit: Eduardus Lee
Elisa Citterio
Violin
‘Her splendid playing always delights. Yet it is in her invitational style of leadership that she brings the orchestra to perform with precision, joy and sparking musicality.’ David Richards, Toronto Concert Reviews.
The brilliant violinist Elisa Citterio joined Tafelmusik as Music Director from 2017 to 2022. She moved to Toronto from her native Italy, where she divided her artistic life between orchestral work and an intense schedule as a chamber musician. She has recorded, performed and toured, often as leader , soloists or concertmaster, with such ensembles as Dolce & Tempesta, Europa Galante, Accademia Bizantina, Accordone, Zefiro, la Venexiana, La Risonanza, Ensemble 415, Concerto Italiano, Orquestra del Monsalvat, Il Giardino Armonico, I Turchini, La Lira d’Orfeo,Orchestra Academia 1750, Vespri d'Arnadi, Thirteen Strings, Les Violons du Roy, Balthasar-Neumann Choir & Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock). From 2004 to 2017 she was a member of the Orchestra del Teatro della Scala di Milano.
Elisa’s arrival in Toronto has created much excitement. Just 18 months into her new position at Tafelmusik, she was awarded 2019 Leonardo Award for Arts, Science & Culture by the Italian Chamber of Commerce for her contribution to the cultural and intellectual life of Canada. With her arrival in Toronto, Elisa’s renown has spread through North America.
Elisa Citterio was born in Brescia, Italy, and grew up in a musical family, including her composer mother and brother, and sisters who are professional musicians. Elisa began playing piano and violin as a preschooler, and as a teenager played baroque sonatas with her mother and sister. At eleven she began formal studies in violin at the L. Marenzio Conservatory in Brescia, winning many prizes in national competitions and graduating in violin and viola with highest honours. She continued her post-graduate studies with Franco Gulli, Pavel Vernikov, Corrado Romano, Dora Schwarzberg, Matis Vaitsner, Ilya Grubert, and Dejan Bogdanovich.
In 2000, Elisa was selected as concertmaster and soloist with the orchestra of the Accademia del Teatro alla Scala di Milano, where she received intensive professional training in orchestral and chamber music repertoire, as well as violin technique. Soon after graduating, she began studying baroque violin, taking part in masterclasses with Enrico Onofri, studying with Chiara Banchini at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis and with Luigi Mangiocavallo in Rome.
Elisa Citterio’s discography includes more than 35 recordings with Tafelmusik (Vivaldi solo concertos ), I Turchini ( Neapolitan concerti grossi and first recording of a solo violin concerto by Barbella ), Accademia I Filarmonici (Vivaldi), Europa Galante (Vivaldi and Bach), Zefiro (Handel), Accordone (Storie di Napoli), Brixia Musicalis (Vivaldi Four Seasons and Gnocchi triosonatas), Accademia Bizantina (Handel and Corelli), Il Giardino Armonico (Handel and Haydn), La Venexiana (Monteverdi), Joachim Quartet (Schuster), Helianthus Ensemble (C.P.E. Bach trios), and a number of opera recordings with the Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala under such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Edward Gardner, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Lorin Maazel, and Riccardo Muti.
Elisa played with Stefano Montanari in Estravagante Ensemble, and from 2014 to 2016 worked alongside Stefano as co-chair of the baroque violin studies program at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado in Milan. She has given many masterclasses in Italy ( Urbino, San Vito al Tagliamento, Faenza, Modena, Brescia, Cremona, Siena, in Canada ( Toronto ), Switzerland ( Lugano ). She taught baroque violin at the Conservatory in Brescia, Udine, Florence, Campobasso, Rovigo and Ferrara.
In January 2020 she has been invited to give a masterclass at Juilliard School in New York and afterwards she has been invited again to repeat the masterclass and lead the Juilliard Baroque Orchestra.
In July 2024 she made her debut in NY as chef d'orchestra from the violin , leading the Teatro Nuovo historical Orchestra, choir and singers, playing an opera by Carolina Uccelli (1835). In July 2025 she led Sonnambula by Bellini and in July 2026 Il Turco in Italia by Rossini.
In November 2024 she starts her tenure as Baroque violin and viola teacher at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg.
Peter Ferretti
Bass
Always in search of the perfect tuning for the perfect occasion, Berlin-based American historical bassist Peter Ferretti enjoys a varied career that spans multiple continents. Since 2019, Ferretti has worked regularly with Jordi Savall and Le Concert des Nations, appearing on the orchestra's acclaimed recordings of the symphonies of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Schubert. Ferretti is also a regular guest of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with whom he has also toured and recorded extensively. Elsewhere in Germany, Ferretti can be heard performing as principal bass of Eroica Berlin, with VERITÁ Baroque, and as principal bass of Concerto Köln, leading the ensemble’s bass group in performances of classical and romantic-era repertoire.
In North America, Ferretti regularly performs with the Handel + Haydn Society, has appeared with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and, since 2019, has served as principal bass and orchestra manager of New York's Teatro Nuovo, a historically informed opera company focused on bringing nineteenth-century performance practice techniques to the Italian bel canto opera literature.
Ferretti holds a B.M. from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Don Palma, an M.M. in historical bass from The Juilliard School, where he studied the various historical bass instruments with Rob Nairn and G-violone with Heather Miller Lardin, and an M.A. in International Relations from Utrecht University, where he graduated cum laude.
Guy Fishman
Cello; Founder & Artistic Director
Guy Fishman is the artistic director of L’Armonia Boston. He is principal cellist of the Handel & Haydn Society, with which he made his Symphony Hall solo debut in 2005, and is in demand as an early music specialist in the United States and Europe. He hasperformed as principal cellist with Tafelmusik, Seraphic Fire, Les Violons du Roi, Arcadia Players, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Boulder Bach Festival, and Bach Charlotte, and with Boston Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, El Mundo, Emmanuel Music, Querelle des Bouffons, the Boston Museum Trio, and the Consone String Quartet among others. He has appeared in recital with Dawn Upshaw, Mark Peskanov, Eliot Fisk, Richard Eggar, Lara St. John, Gil Kalish, Kim Kashkashian, and Natalie Merchant. His playing has been praised as “plangent” by the Boston Globe, “electrifying” by the New York Times, and “beautiful....noble” by the Boston Herald, and “dazzling” by the Portland Press Herald. The Boston Musical Intelligencer related having “…heard greater depth in [Haydn concerto] than I have in quite some time.”
Guy has recorded for the Olde Focus, CORO, Telarc, Centaur, Titanic, and Newport Classics labels. Recordings of sonatas by Andrea Caporale and duos for cello & bass were warmly received. Vivaldi cello concerti with members of the Handel and Haydn Society were called “brilliant” by the Huffington Post and “a feast for the ears” by Early Music America, which also remarked on the “exuberance…adroit sense of phrasing and extraordinary technique…grace and agility” found in his recording with H+H of the cello concerti by CPE Bach.
Guy has taught at the New England Conservatory of Music since 2014 and since 2022 has led the expansion of early music activities through the Harold I. Pratt Early Music Program. He has overseen curricular programming, instrument acquisition, and guest-artist engagement. He has assembled a world-class faculty to teach period instruments at NEC, with whom he directed NEC’s inaugural Early Music Institute in June 2026.
Guy studied with David Soyer, Peter Wiley, Julia Lichten, and Laurence Lesser, with whom he completed Doctoral studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. In addition, he is a Fulbright Fellow, having worked with famed Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma in Amsterdam. He plays a rare cello made in Rome in 1704 by David Tecchler, previously owned by his teacher Richard Kay. He gratefully acknowledges the perseverance and generosity of those who reunited him with it, ending an unfortunate separation.
Stephen Goist
Viola
Stephen Goist enjoys a varied career as an orchestral player, chamber musician, and historical performance specialist based in New York City and San Francisco. In addition to his role with H+H, he is a member of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, principal violist of the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and principal violist of Teatro Nuovo. He has also been a member of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra.
As an active member of the early music community, Stephen has performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, India, and New Zealand with ensembles such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, The English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, Apollo’s Fire, New York Baroque Incorporated, Opera Lafayette, Seraphic Fire, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Upper Valley Baroque, and Juilliard415.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Stephen holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Juilliard School. His primary teachers were Catharine Carroll Lees, Masao Kawasaki, Cynthia Roberts, and Elizabeth Blumenstock. He loves playing tennis, cooking and baking (and eating), reading crime fiction novels, and exploring all the wonderful places where he gets to perform.
Renée Hemsing
Violin, Viola; Founder & Executive Director
Renée Hemsing is a multi-instrumentalist and educator whose particular interests in early music and chamber music have led her to perform in diverse capacities across the U.S. and abroad.
As a member of the Ajax Quartet, she held a residency at the University of Colorado and earned her doctorate. Advised by the Takacs Quartet, the Ajax were the Coltman Chamber Music Competition prize winners and finalists at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition. They enjoyed a residency at the Aspen Music Festival & School.
Other recent performances include a tour of the UK with Consone Quartet performing ‘The Bridges of Königsberg,’ a newly commissioned sextet on period instruments by Gavin Bryars, broadcast by the BBC and commercially available in fall 2026. Locally, Renée has appeared with the Handel + Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, ACRONYM, Musicians of the Old Post Road, Arpeggione Ensemble, Teatro Nuovo, Upper Valley Baroque, Seraphic Fire, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Arcadia Players, and Bach Charlotte. As part of Crescendo Productions’ historically-informed series, Renée has played in cultural sites across New England, including an online video release of Bach’s Ciaccona on viola.
Originally from Los Alamos, New Mexico, Renée received unconventional early tutelage from her violinist grandmother, an Oberlin graduate who swapped beginner violin books for string quartet scores and insisted Renée learn all the parts. As a result, Renée has played cello and viola alongside her primary studies on violin since childhood. She and her husband, cellist Guy Fishman, currently reside in Somerville, MA.
Photo credit: Shravan Elapavuluru
Heather Miller Lardin
Bass
Heather Miller Lardin is a historical double bassist, educator, and ensemble director. Though initially trained as an orchestral double bassist, she found her true artistic home in historical performance. In this world, bassists shape the music from a "generic" bass line, choosing the notes that best support the harmony and propel the ensemble forward. Known in the 18th century as the violone, the historical double bass reinforces the basso continuo an octave below instruments such as cello or bassoon, enriching the texture with clarity and momentum without weighing it down.
Historical bass playing demands a deep understanding of regional instruments and their tunings. Lardin performs on a range of violoni: from the six-string instrument familiar to early Bach, to the five-string models used by Haydn, to the popular three-string tunings of the 19th century. She brings these varied colors to her work as principal bassist of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society and, closer to her Philadelphia home, with Tempesta di Mare and Brandywine Baroque. With flutist Steven Zohn, she co-founded Night Music, a Philadelphia-based ensemble exploring music of the Revolutionary and Romantic eras. Their newest project, the Philadelphia Bach Collective, presents free midday cantata performances in Center City.
A committed educator, Lardin joined the faculty of Juilliard Historical Performance in 2025. She also directs the Temple University Early Music Ensemble and serves on the faculty of several summer festivals. Her original pedagogical materials include a self-paced Baroque Double Bass course for discoverdoublebass.com and her popular "Baroque Bass Bash" workshops, offered both online and in person. Recent masterclasses have taken her to Peabody Conservatory, Yale University, James Madison University, and Oberlin Conservatory.
Lardin has received the International Society of Bassists Special Recognition Award in both Historical Performance and Scholarship. She studied with Roger Scott at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Homer Mensch at Juilliard, and worked privately with Harold Robinson. She holds a DMA in Historical Performance Practice from Cornell University, where she studied viola da gamba and violone with John Hsu.
Laura Lutzke
Violin
Laura Lutzke earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School and a Master of Music with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Since 2006, she has participated in festivals throughout the US, Europe, the UK, and Asia, including Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Big Ears, Classical Tahoe, Teatro Nuovo, Musikfest Bremen, Beethovenfest Bonn, Dark Mofo, Enescu Festival, SXSW, and Festival Berlioz. She collaborates regularly with diverse artists and ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Berkshire Bach Society, Beirut, Björk, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Gabriel Kahane, the late Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Knights, Max Richter, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Paul McCartney, The Metropolitan Opera, The National, Roomful of Teeth, Seraphic Fire, Sigur Rós, and Theatre of Voices. She is currently a member of the critically-acclaimed American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and Co-Leader of Teatro Nuovo, Wordless Music Orchestra, and Le Cercle de l’Harmonie classical orchestra in France.
Photo credit: Jarita Hui
Laura Lutzke’s Tiny Desk Concert appearance with Philip Segway, drummer of Radiohead.
Susanna Ogata
Violin
Susanna Ogata enjoys an active performance schedule throughout New England and beyond. Her playing has been described as “warm, witty, responsive, making the tops of phrases gleam” (Gramophone Magazine), and possessing “electrifying energy, awesome technical command and rollicking dialogue,” with one performance named among the season’s best by The Arts Fuse. In a recent performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, The Times Argus praised her “easy virtuosity, but more interestingly a very personal musicality. Her performance felt more like storytelling … with an untethered but effective expressiveness.” Dedicated to exploring music on historical instruments, Susanna serves as Assistant Concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society and has been recently appointed Concertmaster of Upper Valley Baroque. She also serves as Concertmaster for The Henry Purcell Society of Boston and The Bach Project. In addition, she performs regularly with New England Baroque, Sarasa, Newton Baroque, and The Bach Ensemble under the direction of Joshua Rifkin. Recent solo appearances include performances of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the Connecticut Early Music Festival, St. Ann’s in Kennebunkport, and Upper Valley Baroque. Susanna has worked with leading early music specialists including Raphaël Pichon, Harry Christophers, Sir Roger Norrington, Bernard Labadie, Jonathan Cohen, and Filippo Ciabatti, among others.
With keyboardist Ian Watson, Susanna completed The Beethoven Project, a survey and recording of Beethoven’s complete sonatas for fortepiano and violin performed on period instruments. The recordings received wide critical acclaim, including recognition in The Boston Globe as one of the notable releases of 2017, as well as praise in BBC Music Magazine, The Strad, Gramophone, and Early Music Review. The New York Times commended the duo for “elegant readings that are attentive to quicksilver changes in dynamics and articulation,” noting that their performance of Sonata No. 4 in A minor was “darkly playful,” and their “Kreutzer” Sonata “brilliant and stormy.” The duo also completed a two-year residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, titled On Beethoven’s Piano, performing and engaging with students.
Susanna is also active as an educator and coach, working with students in early music performance at the New England Conservatory.
Philip Rawlinson
coming soon…
Shunske Sato
Violin
Shunske Sato is a violinist, conductor, chamber musician, soloist and teacher. The diversity of his activities reflects his versatile and resourceful nature. Historically informed performance practice is central to his identity and allows him to inhabit the music and communicate with audiences in dramatic, revelatory ways. Shunske directs and appears as soloist with period ensembles as well as symphonic orchestras around the world. He was artistic leader of the Netherlands Bach Society and has worked closely with Concerto Köln.
With his own PastForward Ensemble he devotes himself to the realm of 19th century performance practice. The ensemble, formed by experienced European-based musicians, seeks to revisit the music of the 19th century and to bring it back to its emotion-driven roots.
Shunske forms a duo with pianist Shuann Chai – the two have given acclaimed concerts in Japan, Canada, and Europe.Their album “BEE1H0VEN – The Complete Violin Sonatas” (2024) won the prestigious New Record Academy Award in Japan. Born in Tokyo, Shunske immigrated to the US at the age of four. Shunske studied at the Juilliard School in New York, Conservatoire National de Région in Paris and Hochschule für Musik und Theather in Munich.
Resident in The Netherlands, Shunske has been a faculty member of the Amsterdam Conservatory since 2013. Sharing his knowledge with young musicians is very important to him, which is why he enjoyed the projects he did with the European Union Baroque Orchestra and Juilliard415 (New York).
Photo credit: Eduardus Lee
Edson Scheid
Violin
Edson Scheid has been praised for his “polished playing” (The Strad), and for being a "virtuoso violinist" (The Boston Globe). His performance of Strauss’s song Morgen at Carnegie Hall alongside Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d'Oro was described as follows: “The concertmaster, Edson Scheid, proved a worthy foil as violin soloist” (The New York Times).
A native of Brazil, Edson is based in New York, where he is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and concertmaster for Opera Lafayette (Washington D.C./New York). He performs on both modern and period instruments with many ensembles around the country, and frequently tours in Europe, Asia, North and South America with such ensembles as Les Arts Florissants and Il Pomo d’Oro.
As concertmaster, Edson has led performances with Seraphic Fire, Washington Bach Consort, Il Pomo d'Oro, Music Sacra New York, Juilliard415, The Clarion Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Teatro Nuovo, Opera Lafayette, the American Classical Orchestra, and Opera Neo, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Sala São Paulo, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Harris Hall in Chicago, Rose Theater (Jazz at Lincoln Center), and Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center).
Edson Scheid’s many performances of Paganini’s 24 Caprices, on both period and modern violins, have been received with enthusiasm around the world. He has been featured live in-studio on In Tune from BBC Radio 3 and his recording of the Caprices on the baroque violin for the Naxos label has been critically acclaimed: “Far from being mere virtuoso stunts, Scheid’s Caprices abound in the beauty and revolutionary spirit of these works...” (Fanfare Magazine).
His second solo album, “On Paganini’s Trail… H. W. Ernst and more”, has been released under the Centaur Label – the first recording ever of this repertoire on a period violin. New York Concert Review writes that "Mr. Scheid is a superb violinist and a musician who can handle the fiendish challenges of this repertoire while finding the music in it.", and Early Music America praises Edson Scheid for taking "his time through these works, letting them breathe without losing sight of execution or musicality..."
Edson Scheid holds degrees from the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, the Yale School of Music and The Juilliard School, where he was the recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. He is a two-time winner of the Historical Performance Concerto Competition at Juilliard, and a recipient of the Broadus Erle Prize at Yale.
Ian Watson
Harpsichord
Ian Watson is internationally acclaimed as a leading interpreter of Baroque and Classical repertoire, enjoying a distinguished career as conductor, keyboard virtuoso, and specialist in historically informed performance. Equally at home on the concert platform and in the opera house, he has earned an international reputation as an operatic and symphonic conductor, period-instrument specialist, and virtuoso harpsichordist, organist, fortepianist, and pianist.
Since his appointment as Associate Conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston in 2016, Watson has become one of North America's foremost figures in early music performance. His work with the Society has included critically acclaimed performances of major orchestral and choral repertoire, appearances at Tanglewood, and innovative digital productions during the pandemic, most notably the nationally celebrated Messiah for Our Time in collaboration with WGBH.
As conductor and soloist, Watson has appeared with many of the world's leading orchestras and ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, English Baroque Soloists, The Sixteen, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Polish Chamber Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Bremen Philharmonic, Rhein-Main Symphony Orchestra, and the Handel and Haydn Society, among many others throughout Europe and North America.
A lifelong advocate of opera, Watson began his operatic career as a vocal coach and conductor at Glyndebourne before conducting hundreds of performances of more than fifty operas throughout the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Scandinavia. His appointments have included Principal Conductor of the Darmstadt State Opera, where his repertoire ranged from Monteverdi and Handel to Richard Strauss's Elektra and Janáček's The Makropulos Case. His acclaimed performances of Handel's Serse with Arcadia Players attracted international attention, with The New York Times drawing favorable comparisons with the celebrated New York City Opera production. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung described him as "a conductor of formidable ability," while Opernwelt praised him as "the spiritus rector" of an acclaimed production of Handel's Giulio Cesare in Bremen.
Watson's longstanding collaboration with Sir John Eliot Gardiner included serving as assistant conductor, continuo player, organ and harpsichord soloist for the landmark Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, performing all of J.S. Bach's sacred cantatas on their liturgical feast days in many of the churches associated with Bach's life and work—one of the most ambitious musical projects of modern times.
An internationally respected keyboard artist, Watson has appeared on numerous recordings and film soundtracks, including the Academy Award-winning Amadeus, Roman Polanski's Death and the Maiden, Restoration, Cry, the Beloved Country, Voices from a Locked Room, and the BBC's David Copperfield. His complete recording of Beethoven's Sonatas for Fortepiano and Violin with violinist Susanna Ogata has received widespread international critical acclaim.
Among his many notable performances, Watson conducted Beethoven's Ninth Symphony before an audience of approximately 6,000 in Boston's Copley Square as part of the Handel and Haydn Society's bicentennial celebrations. He also serves as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Early Music Festival, where he has developed imaginative programming spanning the Baroque through the early Romantic periods. Recent seasons have included performances with the Handel and Haydn Society, appearances at Tanglewood, a conducting debut with the Charlotte Symphony, and performances of Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert's Winterreise on period instruments.
Born in Wooburn Common, Buckinghamshire, England, Watson entered the Junior Academy of the Royal Academy of Music on scholarship at the age of fourteen. He graduated with the Academy's prestigious Artist Diploma, winning every major prize for organ performance as well as numerous awards for piano accompaniment, before continuing his studies with Flor Peeters in Belgium. In recognition of his distinguished contribution to music, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) and is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.
Dani Zanuttini-Frank
Lute
Lutenist Dani Zanuttini-Frank has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. He has performed with Twelfth Night, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Tiny Glass Tavern. As a soloist he is especially interested in the repertoire of the late sixteenth century, and has performed recitals of the music of Terzi, Molinaro and Dowland in the US and Italy. He most recently completed a Graduate Diploma in Historical Performance at Juilliard, studying with Charles Weaver and Daniel Swenberg. He completed his Bachelors and Masters at Yale, where he studied classical guitar and music theory. Outside of performance, Dani teaches and researches historical music theory. He is particularly interested in historical pedagogical methods, such as solfeggio and partimento, and their spread across musical cultures.
Members of New Engalnd Conservatory’s Pratt Early Music Program
Darwin Chang
Violin
Darwin Chang is a Violinist based in Boston. He is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory, studying with Donald Weilerstein. He previously earned his Bachelor’s degree also at NEC. Earlier training includes studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Ning Kam, Diana Galvydyte, where he received a full scholarship.
An active soloist, chamber performer and orchestral musician, Darwin has performed extensively across the United States and Europe, with appearances at venues including Jordan Hall, King’s Place London, and BBC Radio. As a soloist, he has collaborated with Joji Hattori and performed with Sinfonia Varsovia. His honours include being a prizewinner of multiple international competitions, including the Li Shu-De, Ysaye, Kloster Schöntal, and Postacchini competitions. He is also a recipient of the Borromeo Guest Artist award, and winner of both 2024-25, 25-26 Honours Ensemble Competition at NEC.
A dedicated chamber musician, Darwin has participated in major festivals such as the Perlman Music Program and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. He has studied chamber music closely with inspirational mentors including Ara Gregorian, Kim Kashkashian, Merry Peckham, Donald Weilerstein, Vivian Weilerstein, Paul Katz, Nick Kitchen, Itzhak Perlman, and the Brentano, Dover, and Parker String Quartets.
He has also appeared as concertmaster of the NEC Chamber Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and leader as principal violist of Menuhin School Orchestra, performing internationally in major halls across Europe.
With a strong passion for historical performance, Darwin studies baroque violin with Susanna Ogata from H+H and has taken part in the Connecticut Early Music Festival, as well as the Mahler Academy Orchestral Tour on Period Instruments.
Darwin currently plays a 1919 Carl Becker Violin, through the generosity of The Colburn School.
Miranda Isbitts
Violin
Miranda Isbitts is a 20-year-old violinist based in Boston, Massachusetts, pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance on a Dean’s Scholarship at the New England Conservatory, where she studies with Ayano Ninomiya. As a member of NEC’s Pratt Early Music Program, she also studies Baroque violin with Renée Hemsing.
Originally from Clearwater, Florida, Miranda began playing violin at age five and studied with renowned pedagogue Mimi Zweig throughout high school. She was a leading member of the Jacobs School of Music Violin Virtuosi, performing in concerts, masterclasses, and solo appearances throughout the United States.
Miranda is the recipient of numerous local, national, and international competition awards, including the 2026 Mark Zinger Memorial Scholarship Competition and the 2025 New England Conservatory Bales Violin Competition. She is also a recipient of a Maestro Foundation instrument loan. As a soloist, she has performed with The Florida Orchestra, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Carmel Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, and Adelphi Orchestra.
Her recent festival appearances include the Sarasota Music Festival and Virtuoso & Belcanto Strings Festival in Lucca, Italy. In summer 2026, she attended the Moritzburg Festival Academy, where she served as principal of the festival orchestra and performed across Germany. She has also held leadership positions with several orchestral ensembles, including the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, with whom she toured China and Japan.
In addition to performing, Miranda is passionate about music education, and maintains a private teaching studio. She is also an active Boston-area gig musician, performing for weddings, community engagement events, ceremonies, receptions, and other special occasions.
Kyle Pinzon
Cello
Currently pursuing graduate studies with Yeesun Kim at the New England Conservatory, Kyle Pinzon began his formal studies with Marion Feldman at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege as a Marion Feldman Endowed Scholar. Kyle earned his Bachelor’s from Vanderbilt University, where he was an Anne Potter Wilson Scholar studying with Felix Wang, frequently playing in the Nashville Symphony and recording for companies like Disney and Sony. Other musical mentors include Edward Arron and the Brentano Quartet. An avid chamber musician, he is currently the cellist of the Ardito Quartet, an Honors Ensemble at NEC, and has made numerous appearances across the country since being named a Lincoln Center CMS Young Musician at age 13, most recently performing the Walton Concerto with the NEC Philharmonia as winner of the 2026 Concerto Competition. He serves as the resident Cellist at musiConnects, a Boston-based nonprofit dedicated to the use of string teaching and chamber as a vehicle for social change and community building. Outside of music, Kyle holds deep interests in math and science, having completed award-winning research on renewable energy catalysts and COVID-19 drug development. Still a kid at heart, in his free time Kyle loves to draw and play Pokemon.
Ingrid Tverberg
Cello
Ingrid Tverberg is a cellist currently based in Boston where she is a graduate student at the New England Conservatory of Music. Tverberg has performed with the New England Conservatory Chamber and Philharmonia Orchestras and is a member of the student-led Early Music Collective.
As a chamber musician, Tverberg has performed with Rachel Barton Pine, Roberto Diaz, Sabina Thatcher, and the members of the Jasper Quartet; collaborated with pianist and composer Stephen Prutsman in a performance of Accordo with Silent Film; and was a quarterfinalist in the Fischoff Competition. As a soloist, she made her Minnesota Orchestra Hall debut as the winner of the Minnesota Youth Symphony’s annual Solo Competition, was twice named a Featured Artist by Minnesota Public Radio’s Minnesota Varsity competition, and performed for ProMusica Minnesota. Tverberg also won the Edith Norberg Award as a finalist in the Minnesota Orchestra Young People’s Symphony Concert Association Concerto Competition. She has performed in masterclasses with Paul Watkins, Natasha Brofsky, and Anthony Elliott.
As a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow, she performed with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra cello section and Yo-Yo Ma in a Tanglewood Recital Series Concert.
She earned fellowships with the Tanglewood Music Center in 2025 and 2026 and Madeline Island Chamber Music in 2023. She has also participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Stringwood Chamber Music Festival, and the St. Paul Chamber Music Institute.
Tverberg holds a Master of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she is currently pursuing a Graduate Diploma in the studio of Julie Albers. She has also been mentored by Guy Fishman through the Pratt Early Music Program at NEC. Her previous instructors include Tom Rosenberg and Tanya Remenikova.
When not playing cello, Tverberg enjoys reading, horseback riding, and spending time with her family in Minnesota.