BIOGRAPHIES

The Ensemble was founded by Colin Pip Dixon and Arnaud Ghillebaert. It has performed in Paris, London, Edinburgh, New York, Montreal, Boston, Belgium, Lyon, Lebanon. These are biographies of anyone who has worked with the Elsewhere Ensemble since it’s creation, or during the years when it was being formed.

COLIN PIP DIXON (composer, violinist & actor – U.S.A.)

Originally from NYC, Colin lived and worked in Paris, France for many years. Upon returning to NYC he produced, composed music, and performed in His Majesty, the Devil – a play with music at 59E59 Theaters, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2013) and FringeNYC (2014). As a violinist, he has performed throughout France, as well as in Brussels, Geneva, London, Turin, Yerevan (Armenia), Montreal, Beirut, Boston, and New York. For many years he has composed and performed, both on stage and off, with the French theater company Théâtre de l’Arc-en-Ciel. His compositions include: Invocation (soprano, violin & viola), Chekhov Triptych, Suite Khamush, (based on the poetry of Rumi), I Have a Dream (soprano & string trio based on Martin Luther King Jr.), The Velveteen Rabbit (orchestra & narrator), as well as more classic forms including a sonata for violin & piano (The Bells) and a trio for violin, viola & piano. Music for theater includes: Etty Hillesum (toured France, Switzerland, Quebec and Belgium), The Tolstoy Diaries (Paris, Lyon), La Première Seconde (Paris). As a musician/actor: The Cherry Orchard, Primo Levi, Pinocchio (marionettes), Dancing Color Box (circus show), Cyrano de Bergerac (at Unesco). His compositions have received grants from the French institutions SACEM & SPEDIDAM, and he was part the Artward Bound residency (The Field 2015). In 2010 he was invited to perform Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata at Les Invalides, Paris in honor of the 100th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy’s death. “…in God’s Flower Garden” (his book of short stories) was published by Pocol Press (2006) and during the past two years he has written music, lyrics and book for a musical: Underground. His violin teachers have included Barbara Krakauer, Carol Stein Amado and Patricia Reibaud; he has a BA in music from Haverford College and was a musician/scholar on full scholarship at the European Mozart Academy in Poland. Since arriving in Oregon he has played in the Eugene Symphony and with Harmonic Laboratory’s production of Tesla: Light, Sound & Color.

http://www.colinpipdixon.com

ARNAUD GHILLEBAERT (violinist & violist – France/U.S.A.)

Arnaud Ghillebaert

Originally from Paris, Arnaud Ghillebaert has performed as an orchestra musician with The Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields (Sir Neville Mariner) and the London Symphony Orchestra. He toured Europe for two summers with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra under the baton of Sir Colin Davis and Herbert Blomstedt in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall in London or the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and is now a member of the New Haven Symphony and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra (Corrado Rovaris, musical director). He played in the Southbank Sinfonia in England for one year and appeared in London’s National Theatre production of Tom Stoppard’s and Andre Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. A founding member of the Elsewhere Ensemble, in 2013 he created the role of the Shadow in His Majesty the Devil-a play with music. The show, inspired by Dostoyevsky, was performed at 59E59 Theaters in New York City, FringeNYC, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. A dedicated chamber musician, he was invited to perform at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans and in the “Starry Nights” music series at the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University alongside Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker (Emerson String Quartet) and Nick Cords (Silkroad Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider). He received his Masters from the Royal College of Music in London and completed his Doctorate in Violin and Viola performance at Stony Brook University in 2016. He has just been named as viola instructor at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (Eugene, OR). Since arriving in Oregon he is the guest principal violist of Oregon Mozart Players, and has been playing concerts with Chamber Music Amici, Microphilharmonic and with the Eugene Symphony (viola section).

KATHRYN BRUNHAVER (cellist –  USA)

Cellist Kathryn Brunhaver currently lives in Eugene, OR where she is a member of the Elsewhere Ensemble and Eugene Symphony. She has appeared as a guest artist with Chamber Music Amici, microphilharmonic, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, Columbia River Chamber Music Festival, Icicle Creek Chamber Music Festival, Astoria Music Festival Orchestra, and as Principal Cello with Orchestra NEXT, among others. She completed a Doctorate in Cello Performance at the University of Oregon in 2017 and was named Outstanding Graduate Performer. Kathryn enjoys exploring innovative ways of playing the cello and has earned a reputation for specializing in new music, which has included premiering works for solo vocalizing cellist, as well as composing works for herself. This interest in new music extends across genres and has led her to join two regionally-acclaimed bands—Satori Bob and Halie and the Moon. She also performs as a solo singer-songwriter under the name Queen of Cups. Kathryn holds a Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Peabody Institute, where she was the recipient of the Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Orchestral Scholarship and the prestigious Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: The Happy Prince, Letter to Brahms, If there are any heavens, Handel Aria, Beethoven Cavatina

CYRIL SIMON (cellist –  Belgium)

Cyril Simon

Based in Brussels, French cellist Cyril Simon is a versatile artist who shares his activity between concertizing and teaching.  He is an active freelance player in the Belgian. A dedicated string quartet player, he was part of the Amôn Quartet between 2010 and 2012. He studied under artists such as the Artemis Quartet at the Queen Elizabeth Royal Chapel, and Valentin Erben from the Alban Berg String Quartet in the Proquartet masterclasses, performing regularly in France and Belgium at Flagey Hall and the Brussels Royal Conservatory Recital Hall, among others. Cyril is a founding member of the Cello Quartet TetraCelli. The Quartet performs regularly in Belgium and France and seeks to revive repertoire that was composed for their predecessors, the Brussels Cello Quartet which existed between 1935 and 1939. TetraCelli has found unedited pieces which bear witness to the Belgian musical life of that era, the legacy of which was mostly lost during the war. Cyril also arranges and edits already existing pieces to enrich the cello quartet repertoire; and the group commissions new pieces. TetraCelli was selected to be part of the Propulse Festival in 2016 – a festival which aims at helping to launch young professionals’ careers. Since then the group has been broadcasted on the Belgian radio (music’3) and TV (RTBF 3). He is also regularly invited to be part of the cello section of the Wallonie Royal Chamber Orchestra (which played for the 2017 semi-finalists of the Cello 2017 Queen Elizabeth International Competition), as well as the Belgian National Orchestra and the Wallonie Royal Opera Orchestra, playing in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Holland and South Korea. Cyril’s arrangements have been commissioned by “La Symphonie de Poche” (French chamber orchestra) and Paris Philharmonie pedagogy project “Demos”, and are performed throughout France; as a cello teacher, he teaches in various French and Belgian conservatoires. He strives to makes classical music more approachable for wider audiences, which led the Leuven Student Symphony Orchestra to invite him to perform as a soloist the Cassol grosso concerto for cello and DJ in 2014. Cyril has been part of the Elsewhere Ensemble since 2016, performing in France, Belgium, Lebanon and is very excited to join the Ensemble in New York! He graduated from Brussels Royal Conservatory  (Masters ’10 and pedagogy diploma ’11) under Marie Hallynck.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Chekhov Triptych, Letter to Brahms, The Happy Prince

MacIntyre Dixon

MACINTYRE DIXON (actor – U.S.A.)

MacIntyre Dixon has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in regional theatres all over the country, and in films and television. He most recently finished eight years in The Fantasticks in New York. Some of his Broadway performances were in Cyrano de Bergerac (with Kevin Kline, also PBS Great Performances), The Tempest (with Patrick Stewart), The Crucible (with Liam Neeson), Gypsy (Bernadette Peters), The Threepenny Opera (with Sting), Beauty And The Beast, 1776, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, and the National Tour of Guys and Dolls. At Shakespeare in the Park and The Public Theater: As You Like It (2012), Kevin Kline’s Hamlet (also PBS Great Performances), The Winter’s Tale (dir. James Lapine), Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming Of The Shrew, Off-Broadway he was seen in Comic Potential, Arms And The Man & Room Service (Roundabout Theater), and Second City. He also co-created and performed in the comedy Stewed Prunes at the Circle In The Square. FILMS include It’s Kind of a Funny Story, School of Rock, In And Out, A River Runs Through it, Secret Of My Success, Popeye, and Reds.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Mozart & the Happy Prince; Chekhov Triptych; His Majesty, the Devil

JUDY PANG (Pianist – China/U.S.A.)

Judy Pang ©2014 Erika Kapin Photography

Ms. Judy Pang has concertized frequently as both solo and chamber musician in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Australia and China. Ms. Pang’s most recent solo appearances in New York have taken place at Steinway Hall, Yamaha Piano Salon, Greenfield Hall, Staller Recital Hall and Bargemusic. As a devoted chamber musician, she has collaborated with Hai-Ye Ni, principle cellist of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, as well as the celebrated erhu player Hongmei Yu and guzheng player Xiaohong Zhang. Most recently she collaborated with Polish cellist Evva Mizerska on a two-week concert tour of the Mediterranean. Ms. Pang obtained her Bachelor’s of Music degree with honors in 2006 from the University of Melbourne where she studied with Igor Machlak. During that period, she was awarded first prize in the Melbourne University Aria and Concerto competition, the Alumni Chamber Music Competition and the Piano Duo Competition.  After relocating to New York, she developed her Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Nina Svetlanova at the Manhattan School of Music where she was a recipient of the President’s Award and Dean’s Award. She has also studied with the pianist Bernard Flavigny, a protégé of Olivier Messiaen and Alfred Cortot. In May 2015, Ms. Pang completed her Doctor of Musical Arts course at Stony Brook University after presenting an all-Russian virtuoso final dissertation recital. Her teachers there were Gilbert Kalish and Christina Dahl.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: The Happy Prince; Concert: Shadows & Light; Concert: What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye; Broken Hearts concert.

Libby Skala

AVERY WAITE (cellist – U.S.A.)

Avery Waite

A graduate of The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, American cellist and composer Avery Waite is an active performer and international music education advocate. Avery has performed in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Alice Tully Hall, and has performed alongside many renown artists including Itzhak Perlman. He has also performed and taught at music programs in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Jamaica and El Salvador. In his current role as program manager for MusAid, a music education non-profit, he works to support socially-minded music projects in countries emerging from poverty and conflict by leading teacher-training and orchestral workshops. Avery is also on faculty with American Voices, a US state department organization at the forefront of cross-cultural engagement. Most recently, he was a recipient of a 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant to assist and develop music programs and youth orchestras all over India.

 

JEREMY LAMB (cellist – U.S.A.)

Jeremy Lamb is currently the Assistant Principal of NE Pennsylvania Philharmonic and

Jeremy Lamb

plays in the Broadway musical Aladdin. As an orchestral musician, he travels throughout the Northeast performing with the New Haven Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, Orchestra Now, Binghamton Symphony, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, and Sonos Chamber Orchestra. He is also a regular guest musician in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Jeremy Lamb is the Artistic Advisor and a frequent performer on the NE Pennsylvania Philharmonic Chamber Series. This season he was featured on their opening concert with violinist Erica Kiesewetter and pianist Spencer Myer, broadcast over WVIA, Scranton. As a recitalist, he has performed in numerous venues around New York and Boston with pianists Andrew Goodridge and Wei-En Hsu. He is also a member of the Aaron Teitelbaum Ensemble, traveling around New York and New Jersey for contracted events and recordings. This year, he joins the Amadeus Conservatory Quartet for their series in Chappaqua, NY, and the Chamber Music Workshop in Scotland.  Lamb received his B.M. from the Peabody Conservatory with Alan Stepansky, former Associate Principal of the New York Philharmonic. He has performed in masterclasses with David Finckel, Lynn Harrell, Rafael Wallfisch, Philippe Muller, Matt Haimovitz, Clive Greensmith, David Geber, Alan Harris, Michael Mermeggen, Brian Manker, and many others. He has attended music festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including Tanglewood, Pacific, Aspen, Brevard, Bowdoin, International Musical Arts Institute, and spent four summers at the beautiful Domaine Forget International Music Festival in Quebec, Canada. In 2005, he was the principal cellist of the Oaxaca International Festival Orchestra in Mexico. In 2006, he toured with Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra on their summer and winter tours of Spain, Germany, and The Netherlands.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: The Happy Prince, Letter to Brahms, Broken Hearts

MIRIAM LESKIS (pianist – Russia/Israel/U.S.A.)

Miriam Leskis

A musician praised for her “high sensitivity and musical intelligence”,  Miriam Leskis is a versatile chamber pianist collaborating with singers and instrumentalists. Miriam has performed in chamber music and art song festivals in Europe, North America and Israel including the stages of the Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, Weill Carnegie Hall in New York, the Recanati Auditorium at the Tel Aviv Museum and the Jerusalem Theatre in Israel among others. Miriam received her Master’s in piano accompaniment at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama with high distinction and a Concert Recital Diploma, also winning the Cunard Carpathia Accompanist Prize and the Cunard Prize for English Song Accompaniment. She also holds a BA in Philosophy and MA in Cultural Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since 2012 Miriam resides in New York City, where she maintains a private studio and works as freelance collaborative pianist, regularly performing in the NY and NJ areas.

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Letter to Brahms

DOMINIQUE ROZAN (actor – France)

Dominique Rozan

He is laureate of the National Conservatory of Dramtic Arts in Paris (1956). Member of the legendary Renaud-Barrault theater company from 1953–1960, he made his debut in Paul Claudel’s Christophe Colomb. He performed in all of the company’s shows, among others: Duel of Angels (Giradoux), The Cherry Orchard (Chekhov), The Castle (Kafka), The Satin Slipper and Tête d’Or (Claudel). He sang the role of the Brazilian in La Vie Parisienne (Offenbach), and was part of all the company’s international tours. In 1960 he played King David (A. Honegger) at the Paris Opera Garnier, then the role of Joad in d’Athalie (Racine) at the Sarah Bernhardt Theater. He played and sang the title role in The Apothicary, comic opera by Haydn and Goldoni. He then went on to direct and perform in several plays by Pirandello and was part of the company “Théâtre Vivant”. He acted in Le Vicaiare and Le Dossier Oppenheimer under the direction of Jean Vilar, who named him director of a tour in Africa in 1968, sponsored by the “Ministère de la Coopération”. Pierre Dux invited him to join the Comédie Française in 1971. In 1976, he played the clown Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelth Night and was made a “Sociétaire” of the Comédie Française. In 1996 he decided to leave the Comédie Française and adapted and performed Le Comfort Intellectul by Marcel Aymé. In film he acted in five movies with Alain Resnais: La Guerre set Finie, Je t’aime Je t’aime, Mon Oncle d’Amerique, On Connate la Chanson, Les Herbes Folles (2009), and a film directed by Dominique Moll – Harry, un ami qui nous vet du bien (With a Friend like Harry). He was named Officier des Arts et Lettres (Knight of Arts and Letters). wikipedia (in French)

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Mozart & the Happy Prince; Chekhov Triptych 

LIAM VEUVE (cellist – USA)

Liam Veuve

Born and raised in Brooklyn, cellist Liam Veuve is an active performer and freelancer.  Liam has concertized across North and South America and Europe, in a wide array of settings including orchestral and chamber music in Carnegie Hall, a solo performance in Avery Fisher Hall, and concerts in Severance Hall in Cleveland.  He recently appeared as a guest artist with the North Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Canyonlands New Music Ensemble, and the Manchester Music Festival, among others.  He was selected as a fellow of the Louis Moreau Institute for New Music, which held its inaugural season in New Orleans in March 2015.  As an orchestral musician, Liam has worked under conductors such as Giancarlo Guerrero, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Benjamin Zander, and has held the principal cello position in the Purchase Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and YOA Orchestra of the Americas’ 2012 tour of Chile.  As a chamber musician, he is a founding member of the Puck String Quartet, which recently performed the world premiere of a new work for string quartet “Ascension” by Jason Eckardt and attended the prestigious Robert Mann String Quartet Institute. Liam holds a BA from New York University, an MM from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and an Artist Diploma from SUNY Purchase.  He is currently on cello faculty at the Mahanaim School in Huntington NY, and assistant faculty at the Manhattan in the Mountains summer festival.

www.liamveuve.com/

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: The Happy Prince;  Concert: What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye.

ROBERT THOMPSON (pianist – U.K.)

Robert Thompson

Robert Thompson is in great demand as a chamber musician and piano accompanist having performed with a large range of instrumentalists and singers including Natalie Clein, Julian Bliss and Romanian soprano Leontina Vaduva.

He has twice appeared in the Rimscha Recital Series in Boston, Massachusetts and has given numerous concerts in London including at the Wigmore Hall. In recent years Robert has been heard on BBC Radio, performed as soloist in charity concerto performances and given concerts in Finland, France and in series throughout the UK. He was also recently invited to appear at the Casa da Música in Portugal as part of the 2010 Harmos Festival.

Robert held the Gilbert and Eileen Edgar Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music 2006-8. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Clifford Benson and Julius Drake where he was supported by the St Marylebone Educational Trust and at Trinity College of Music with Hilary Coates. As a student he was the recipient of several prestigious awards including twice receiving the Elisabeth Schumann Duo Prize. He has taken part in masterclasses with Rudolf Jansen, Michael Roll and with Pierre Amoyal and Bruno Canino at the Academie Lausanne in Switzerland.

Robert has worked as piano teacher and accompanist at the Junior Departments of Trinity and the Guildhall School and taught piano at a school in Oxfordshire where he has coached chamber groups who have been prize-winners in both regional and national competitions.

 http://robertthompsonpiano.com

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Concert: A World Tour through Music

MARIAM TAMARI (soprano – Japan & Palestine)

Mariam Tamari

Mathilde Schennen

Mathilde Schennen is an actress/director originally from Brussels, Belgium. She moved to New York in 2010 and pursued a one year program at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Since coming to New York she acted in Lorca Peress’ production of The Three Penny Opera, and Folie Pure (directed by the Swiss director Eléonore Dyl at the Theatre for a New City). She directed Waiting for Godot last November at the Kraine Theatre in the East Village and most recently Gogol’s Diary of a Madman at Under St. Marks. She was also assistant director to Mary Kate Burke for the play the Middle of the Night.  In Belgium she studied at the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Mons and enjoyed a career in contrasting roles from Suzanna in Beaumarchais’ the Marriage of Figaro, to Zazie in Zazie in the Metro, by Raymond Queneau and many other roles in both contemporary and classical theatre.  She has also performed in successful pieces in Brussels based on the poetry of Pasolini and Norge.  She also was assistant director to many Belgian directors such as Guy Theunissen and Laurent Capelluto.

www.mathildeschennen.com

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: His Majesty, the Devil – a play with music

RAFAEL SVARIN (actor & director –  Switzerland)

Rafael Svarin

NATHALIA MILSTEIN (pianist –  Russia/France)

Nathalia Milstein

Nathalia Milstein was born into a family of musicians in 1995 . She began the piano at age 4 with her father, Serguei Milstein. In 2009 she entered her father’s piano studio at the Geneva Conservatory of Music where she graduated with honours in 2012. In 2013, Nathalia began studies with Nelson Goerner at the Geneva Hochschule of Music. Her international career was launched in May 2015 when she won  1^st Prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition. First female winner since the Competition’s foundation, Nathalia has received engagements all over Europe and North America in some of the most prestigious halls, such as the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Carnegie Hall in New York,  Wigmore Hall in London, and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. Other competitions include: First Prize at the « Flame » Youth Competition in Paris; First Prize with distinction at the Geneva Conservatory of Music competitions (2010, 2011 and 2012). In 2011, Nathalia received the First Prize in the category « 16 and under » in the Fourth Manchester International Concerto Competition for Young Pianists, performing Chopin 1^st Piano Concerto in E minor with the Manchester Camerata. Second Prize in the Grand Concours International de Piano in Corbelin (France) in 2013, and First Prize in the category “Young Pianists” of the Adilia Alieva Piano Competition in Gaillard (France) in May 2014.  Nathalia Milstein has followed masterclasses with renowned pianists and professors such as Elena Ashkenazy, Krzysztof Jablonski, Jean-Marc Luisada, Vladimir Tropp, Mikhail Voskressensky, Jan Wijn, Menahem Pressler, and Nelson Goerner. She concertizes in France and abroad, both as soloist and chamber musician; she has also performed for the French television and the Dutch radio. For several years she has been performing in duo with her sister, violinist Maria Milstein. Nathalia Milstein is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at the Geneva Hochschule of Music in the class of Nelson Goerner. www.nathaliamilstein.com

with the ELSEWHERE ENSEMBLE: Quand les Poilus Etaient Poètes (When Soldiers were Poets) produced by Théâtre de l’Arc-en-Ciel, and Letter to Brahms, The Happy Prince)

MEGHANN WU (associate producer – USA)

Meghann is a writer, photographer, and producer from Chicago, IL. She completed the screenwriting program at The New School in May 2016. Her feature script “Wall Huggers” was a finalist in Voice/Over, a selection of the best work from current students and alumni. Previously, she was the senior vice president of strategy and business development at a major media company where she led investments, strategic planning, and new ventures related to hit shows such as South Park. Meghann also holds an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and her first novel. And her right brain is much happier. She currently lives in New York, NY.