Artistic director Peter Rejto is committed to presenting the finest chamber music, both well-loved works and new, unfamiliar ones, performed by some of the world’s finest musicians. Highlights of his international career as a cellist include the world premiere of Gerard Schurmann’s Gardens of Exile with the Bournemouth Symphony broadcast live over the BBC, and the recording of Miklós Rózsa’s Cello Concerto in Hungary. Mr. Rejto is a founding member of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and a former professor of the University of Arizona School of Music as well as professor emeritus at the Oberlin College Music Conservatory. He has directed the programming and selected the musicians for every Festival, beginning with the first in 1994.

Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in The Washington Post, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for interpretations that are elegant and refined, yet intensely poetic and uncommonly expressive. He garnered international attention as laureate of the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv, where he was further distinguished by the Chamber Music and Mozart Prizes. Mr. Fung is the first piano graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, where he studied with John Perry, and later worked with Claude Frank and Peter Frankl at Yale University, and Arie Vardi at the Hannover Hochschüle für Musik. He is also a Steinway Artist.

The Sitkovetsky Trio has established itself as an exceptional piano trio of today. Their thoughtful and committed approach has brought the ensemble critical acclaim and invitations to renowned concert halls around the world including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Palais des Beaux Arts, Musée du Louvre, l’Auditori Barcelona, Wigmore Hall or Lincoln Center New York. Recently the Sitkovetsky Trio received the Chamber Music Award of the BBC Music Magazine. Furthermore they are first prize-winners of the International Commerzbank Chamber Music Award and recipients of the NORDMETALL Chamber Music Award at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, as well as the Philharmonia-Martin Chamber Music Award.

Created in 1994 by five eminent woodwind soloists, Windscape has won a unique place for itself as a vibrant, ever-evolving group of musical individualists, which has delighted audiences throughout the North America. Windscape's innovative programs and accompanying presentations are created to take listeners on a musical and historical world tour -- evoking through music and engaging commentary vivid cultural landscapes of different times and places.

Nelson Lee is first violinist of the Jupiter String Quartet which has performed extensively throughout North America and abroad. As a soloist, Nelson has appeared with the Cleveland Institute Symphony Orchestra, Yale Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, and Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra. He also performs regularly with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a conductorless string orchestra comprised of soloists, chamber musicians, and orchestral musicians from around the country.

Meg Freivogel McDonough, second violinist and founding member of the Jupiter String Quartet, grew up playing chamber music with her siblings. She attended the Cleveland Institute of Music for a Bachelor of Music degree, studying with Donald Weilerstein and participating in the flourishing chamber music program run by Peter Salaff and the Cavani Quartet. From there, Meg moved to Boston and the New England Conservatory where she obtained her Master of Music and Master of Chamber Music degrees, acting as teaching assistant to Donald Weilerstein and studying closely with Lucy Chapman, Paul Katz and other members of the Cleveland Quartet. Since finishing her studies, she has traveled the world concertizing and teaching with the Jupiter String Quartet. Her husband, Daniel McDonough, plays cello in the quartet, and her sister, Elizabeth Freivogel, plays viola.

Liz Freivogel is the founding and current violist of the Jupiter String Quartet. She won prizes in the Primrose International Viola Competition, Oberlin Concerto Competition, American String Teachers Association Competition National Solo Competition, and the Wendell-Irish Viola Competition, and has given masterclasses at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Peabody Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New England Conservatory Preparatory Program, SUNY Buffalo, Northwestern University, University of Toronto, and many others.

Cellist Daniel McDonough has performed across the U.S. and abroad as a chamber musician and recitalist. He is best known as a founding member of the award-winning Jupiter String Quartet, with which he concertizes extensively. In addition to his regular appearances with the Jupiter String Quartet, Daniel is a founding member of the innovative East Coast Chamber Orchestra, a democratically-run, self-conducted chamber orchestra comprised of some of the nation's finest string players. A passionate teacher, Daniel has given lessons and guest masterclasses at some of the country’s leading institutions including The Peabody Institute, The Eastman School of Music, The Cleveland Institute of Music, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Boston Conservatory.

Qian is also a founding member of the Sitkovetsky Trio, with which she has performed all over the UK and Europe, including the Beethoven Triple with the Munich Symphoniker and the Orchestra of the Swan. The trio was awarded the prestigious 2009 NORDMETALL-ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival and the 1st prize at the Kommerzbank Trio competition in Frankfurt.

Russian-born, British-trained violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky founded the Sitkovetsky Trio, which plays and records to stellar reviews, and he performs regularly in other chamber music projects as well as being a concerto soloist. Music is truly in his blood; among his most celebrated relatives are great-aunt Bella Davidovich and uncle Dmitry Sitkovetsky.

A dynamic artist in search of new-concepts and works for the violoncello. Recently he made his debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra, enjoyed collaborations with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker and Stavanger Symphony orchestras and performs regularly with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra.

Returning to the Winter Festival as a member of Windscape, flutist Tara Helen O’Connor is a charismatic performer noted for her artistic depth, brilliant technique, and colorful tone spanning every musical era.

Randall Ellis has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and the American Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Ellis has appeared as a guest artist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and has concertized and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. He has been a soloist with the New England Bach Festival, the International Bach Festival of Madeira, the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York, and Chamber Music at the 92nd Street Y. Mr. Ellis has freelanced with the Ensemble Wien-Berlin, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the New York Philomusica and the Orchestras of the Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and the American Ballet Theatre dance companies.

Praised by the New York Times for his “spellbinding” performances and “infectious enthusiasm and panache,” Alan R. Kay is Principal Clarinetist and a former Artistic Director of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as Principal Clarinet of New York’s Riverside Symphony and the Little Orchestra Society. He also appears as Principal with the American Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. Mr. Kay is a founding member of Hexagon and Windscape Quintet.

Frank Morelli, bassoon soloist, chamber musician and teacher, studied with Stephen Maxym at the Manhattan and Juilliard Schools of Music and was the first bassoonist awarded a doctorate by the Juilliard School. A member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the woodwind quintet, Windscape, he has also made nine appearances as a soloist in Carnegie Hall. He serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Yale School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Stony Brook and was recently named Distinguished Lecturer in Woodwinds at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY. He performs exclusively on the Leitzinger Bassoon.

David Jolley has thrilled audiences throughout the world with his “remarkable virtuosity” (New York Times), and has been hailed as “a soloist second to none” by Gramophone Magazine. He has traveled extensively in North and South America, Europe, East Asia, and Japan, sustaining an active performance career. A chamber artist of unusual sensitivity and range, Jolley has frequently collaborated with such groups as the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, the Guarneri Quartet, the American String Quartet, the Beaux Arts Trio, Musicians from Marlboro, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.