Originally from Montreal, Quebec, Celia Morin recently completed an Artist Diploma in Viola Performance at McGill University under the tutelage of André Roy, where she previously earned a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance with Jinjoo Cho. As a founding member of the Katarina String Quartet, which serves as Juilliard’s Graduate Resident Quartet, Celia is currently a Lisa Arnhold Fellow.
Displaying a natural musical intuition from an early age, Celia first showcased her talents as a soloist with the Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra and embarked on a Canadian chamber music tour at the age of 14. An avid chamber musician, she has participated in festivals such as Toronto Summer Music, Domaine Forget International Music Festival and ENCORE Summer Academy and has collaborated with renowned musicians such as Yura Lee, Andrew Wan and Josef Špaček. Celia’s studies at Juilliard are generously supported by the Fondation Jeunesses Musicales Canada.
She plays on a beautiful modern instrument made in 2019 by David Prentice.
Jérôme Chiasson — violin
Originally from Quebec City, violinist Jérôme Chiasson has performed across North America and Europe, and has been awarded several prizes and distinctions, most notably at the Prix d’Europe, the Golden Violin Award, the Canadian Music Competition Stepping-Stone, as well as the Festival-Concours de Musique in Sorel-Tracy and Sherbrooke. Jérôme has attended renowned music festivals such as IMS Prussia Cove, Kneisel Hall, Mozarteum Sommerakademie, and MISQA. He is also a founding member of the Katarina String Quartet, gold medalist and BIPOC prize winner of the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, grand prize winner of the McGill Chamber Music Competition and first prize winner of the Canadian Music Competition.
Jérôme holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Graduate Diploma in Violin Performance from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University where he studied under the tutelage of Violaine Melançon. He is currently pursuing his studies under Catherine Cho and Laurie Smukler at the Juilliard School. As a member of the Katarina String Quartet, which serves as Juilliard’s Graduate Resident Quartet, Jérôme is a Lisa Arnhold Fellow. He’s also grateful to the Fondation Jeunesses Musicales Canada for their generous support. Jérôme plays on an 1858 Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin and a François Nicolas Voirin bow, graciously loaned by Canimex Inc.
Karen Ouzounian — cello
Photo by Ebru Yildiz
Described as “radiant” and “expressive” (The New York Times) and “nothing less than gorgeous” (Memphis Commercial Appeal), cellist Karen Ouzounian creates music from a deeply personal place. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, collaborator and composer, she is the recipient of the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award and sought after for her open-hearted, vibrantly detailed and fiercely committed performances. An omnivorous musical spirit, she has premiered numerous works and collaborated with some of the finest musicians of our time, including Rhiannon Giddens, Augustin Hadelich and Kayhan Kalhor.
At the heart of Karen’s artistic practice is her love of unusual collaborations and the development of adventurous new works. Her current and recent projects include the creation of an experimental theater work with acclaimed director Joanna Settle; the world premiere of Lembit Beecher’s cello concerto Tell Me Again with conductor Eric Jacobsen and the Orlando Philharmonic; the world premiere of Anna Clyne’s Shorthand for solo cello and strings with The Knights, which she toured as soloist with The Knights throughout Europe and the US and released on Avie Records; the release of Kayhan Kalhor’s Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur for solo cello, kamancheh and tabla; the development, touring and recording of Osvaldo Golijov’s Falling Out of Time; the commissioning of a new piece for cello/voice, Bring Your Own Garden Party, by Christina Courtin; and the digital world premiere of Beecher’s A Year to the Day, filmed for The Violin Channel with Augustin Hadelich and Nicholas Phan. Additional recent and upcoming appearances include concertos with the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Sarasota Festival Orchestra, Greater Bridgeport Symphony, and Philharmonic Orchestra of Santiago, Chile, in repertoire ranging from the Elgar Cello Concerto to John Adams’s Absolute Jest. Her evening-length video work In Motion, an exploration of heritage, family history and migration through interviews, her own compositions, and collaborations with visual artists Kevork Mourad and Nomi Sasaki and composer-percussionist Haruka Fujii, was presented by BroadBand. Recent compositions include works for the Silkroad Ensemble, Noe Music, and an upcoming work for solo cello, Armenian instruments and choir for Cantori New York.
Dedicated to the art of chamber music, Karen was a founding member of the Aizuri Quartet for eleven years, during which time the ensemble was awarded major chamber music prizes on three continents, including Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, the Grand Prize at the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, and served as the MetLiveArts String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” — I Care If You Listen), nominated for a Grammy Award, and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums.
Karen performs around the globe as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble, the Grammy Award-winning group founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 that engages cross-cultural collaboration and understanding. Recent tours with the Silkroad Ensemble include Uplifted Voices, which included the world premiere of her composition Der Zor and appeared at Carnegie Hall, American Railroad, Phoenix Rising, and Kinan Azmeh and Kevork Mourad’s Home Within. She has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, appeared at the Ravinia, Caramoor and Ojai festivals, performed as guest principal of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and is a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber collective The Knights.
Passionate about nurturing the next generation of artists, Karen has worked with cello, chamber music and composition students at USC, NYU, Oberlin, the Royal Conservatory of Music and Glenn Gould School in Toronto, the Hartt School, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Sarasota Music Festival and Prairie Cello Institute; taught extensively at the collegiate and high school levels with the Silkroad Ensemble and Aizuri Quartet, and served as a mentor in The Juilliard School’s Mentoring Program. Born to Armenian parents in Toronto, Karen holds Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from Juilliard, where she was a student of Timothy Eddy, and a Post-Baccalaureate Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music. She resides in New York City with her husband, composer and animator Lembit Beecher.
Kresley Figueroa — soprano
Puerto Rican soprano, Kresley Figueroa, is a second-year Cafritz Young Artist with Washington National Opera. Her roles with WNO last season included Partenope in Handel’s Partenope, Berginella in an English adaptation of Offenbach’s La Périchole, and The Unicorn in Tesori’s The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me. This season, Kresley performs the roles of Chrisann Brennan in Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs and Bagheera in Tesori’s Jungle Book.
Other recent highlights include Nannetta in Verdi’s Falstaff, performing alongside Bryn Terfel in the title role and under the baton of Patrick Summers with The Aspen Music Festival, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni with OPERA San Antonio, conducted by Robert Tweten. Kresley has also appeared in concert and sung with Grammy Award winners Ana María Martínez, with Grammy-nominated pianist Myra Huang, and Susan Graham.
In 2024, Kresley was awarded First Place and the Audience Favorite prize in The James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, was named a winner of The Capital District of The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, won First Place in the Kyrenia Opera Vocal Competition, and awarded Third Prize in Florida Grand Opera’s National Voice Competition. In 2023, she was named a winner of the Duncan Williams Voice Competition for her performance in the Black and Latinx Song Presentation.
Kresley is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Rice University.
Michael Rusinek — clarinet
Michael Rusinek joined the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as principal clarinet in 1998. He holds the Mr. & Mrs. Aaron Silberman Chair. Born in Toronto, Canada, his early studies were with Avrahm Galper at the Royal Conservatory of Music and he later attended the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Donald Montanaro. Upon graduation, Rusinek served as assistant principal clarinet with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. In addition to his position with the Pittsburgh Symphony, he has performed as principal clarinet with the orchestras of Philadelphia, St. Louis, The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and The National Arts Center in Ottawa, Canada.
Michael Rusinek has performed as a recitalist across Canada, the United States, and Israel, as well as concerto soloist with many orchestras including appearances with the Czech Philharmonic, Concerto Classic Wien, Toronto Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Aspen Chamber Symphony, and the Symphony Orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music. He has additionally been featured as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra many times and, in May 2008, premiered a new concerto by composer Alan Fletcher that was commissioned for him by the orchestra. That performance was recorded and is available on the Exton label.
Rusinek has participated in numerous music festivals around the world including Internationale Wolfegger Konzerte (Germany), Instrumenta Verano (Mexico), Bay Chamber, Music in the Vineyards, New York’s 92nd Street Y, and returns regularly to the Grand Teton, Santa Fe Chamber, and Marlboro music festivals. He has toured with the acclaimed “Musicians from Marlboro”, and was featured on the Sony label celebrating Marlboro’s 50th anniversary. In summer 2000, he performed as principal clarinet in the Super World Orchestra, an ensemble comprised of musicians from orchestras around the world.
Dedicated to teaching, Michael Rusinek is a member of the faculties of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado. He has led master classes at some of the leading institutions around the world, including the Colburn Music School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Conservatories in Toronto, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin. He is a frequent guest at the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida and has served on the faculty of the Canton International Summer Music Academy in Canton, China, returning regularly to China to teach and perform. He often adjudicates competitions and appeared on the jury for the inaugural Jacques Lancelot International Clarinet Competition in Rouen France.
When he is not performing or teaching, you may often find him riding his bike, on the golf course or playing hockey in a non-contact league.
