Virtual Berkshire Chamber Players Concert

About the musicians:
Ronald Feldman  Twice winner of the American Symphony League’s ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music, Ronald Feldman has achieved critical acclaim for his work as conductor and cellist. He has appeared as guest conductor with major orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, and Quebec Symphony. In August 2016 Mr. Feldman recorded three albums of music by Kevin Kaska with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Mr. Feldman joined the Boston Symphony at the age of 19. He has appeared as cello soloist with many orchestras performing a wide range of concerto repertoire from Dvorak to Ligeti. His many chamber music affiliations have included performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Collage New Music Ensemble, the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players, and the Williams Chamber Players. His performances include collaborations with artists Peter Serkin, Emmanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, and Yo Yo Ma.

After successful appearances as guest conductor for three consecutive seasons at Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s summer home, Composer and Conductor John Williams appointed Mr. Feldman Assistant Conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. He served as assistant to John Williams from 1989-1993.

In addition to the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Feldman currently directs the award winning Berkshire Symphony. Mr. Feldman is on the faculty of Williams College where he is Artist in Residence, Lecturer in Music, and Chamber Music coordinator.

Natalie Kress Praised by the New York Times for her “splendid playing,” Natalie Rose Kress enjoys a varied career as both a modern and Baroque chamber musician based in Washington, D.C. Following three summers as a Tanglewood Fellow, working closely with Malcolm Lowe and other Boston Symphony members, she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize from the Tanglewood Music Center and performed with Yo Yo Ma and Pamela Frank at the Kennedy Center Honors.

Natalie is co-founder, director and executive advisor of Musicivic Inc., a national non-profit arts network supporting local chamber music residencies in towns nationwide.

With a wide-ranging chamber and orchestral repertoire, Natalie performs frequently with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society; Shanghai Camerata at the Shanghai Conservatory; and La Grande Bande in Minnesota. She has most recently collaborated with William Christie’s Les Arts Florissants and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco.

Natalie received her Bachelor of Arts in Music and Psychology and Master of Music from Stony Brook University where she studied violin performance with Soovin Kim and Philip Setzer and chamber music with the Emerson String Quartet.

She is currently a full-tuition scholarship student at The Juilliard School studying Historical Performance with Rachel Podger, Cynthia Roberts, and Elizabeth Blumenstock, and tours extensively with Juilliard415.

In her free time she enjoys attempting to cook, drinking tea, going on walks, and imagining her next big project!

Robyn Quinnett  Born on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean, Robyn Quinnett began playing violin at eight years old.  She has won several competitions including the National Mariam Hayes, Ruth Kern Competitions, and the Concerto Competition of the Colorado College Music Festival. Robyn earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School, studying with Naoko Tanaka and the late Stephen Clapp.  Robyn completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2019 at Stony Brook University as a student of Hagai Shaham.  She has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, the Festival Internacional de Inverno de Campos do Jordão in Brazil, and been a concertmaster at the Tanglewood Music Center.

Robyn is dedicated to community engagement and pedagogy.  She founded the Montserrat Music Festival, a summer teaching and performing festival, bringing music education and live chamber music to the island of Montserrat. She is the violin instructor at The Chapin School, teaching artist at Opus 118, and maintains a joint private teaching studio with Chihiro Fukuda in NYC. Robyn’s violin is generously sponsored by Darnton and Hersh Violin Shop in Chicago.

John Perkel serves as Music Coordinator for the series.  Mr. Perkel has spent the past 35 years as an orchestra librarian for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.  In addition, during summers, John served as Orchestra Librarian at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he had the privilege of working with some of the most talented and wonderful young musicians from all over the world.  After the 2016 Tanglewood season, John retired from the Boston Symphony and moved with his wife, Barbara, back to the Berkshires.  Prior to his employment in the orchestra world, John was a music teacher at the Berkshire Hills Regional School District and also was employed as a psychiatric worker at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge.