Rachel Barton Pine
Celebrated for her extraordinary ability to connect with audiences, violinist Rachel Barton Pine debuted with the Chicago Symphony at age 10 and was the first American and youngest-ever gold medal winner of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.

In both art and life, violinist Rachel Barton Pine has an extraordinary ability to connect with people. Celebrated as a leading interpreter of classical works, her performances combine her innate gift for emotional communication and her scholarly fascination with historical research. She plays with passion and conviction across an extensive repertoire. Audiences are thrilled by her dazzling technique, lustrous tone, and infectious joy in music-making.

Pine has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious ensembles including the Chicago, Montreal, Vienna, and Baltimore Symphonies; the Philadelphia Orchestra; the Royal Philharmonic, the Mozarteum, Scottish, and Israel Chamber Orchestras; and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie. She has worked with such renowned conductors as Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Neeme Järvi, John Nelson, Marin Alsop, and Placido Domingo.

Her festival appearances have included Marlboro, Ravinia, and Salzburg. Her recital performances have included the complete Paganini Caprices, all six Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Beethoven’s complete works for violin and piano, and the world premiere of the last movement of Samuel Barber’s long-lost 1928 Violin Sonata. She regularly plays and records with John Mark Rozendaal and David Schrader as the period instrument ensemble Trio Settecento.

Pine writes her own cadenzas to many of the works she performs, including concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, and Paganini. She is the first living composer to be published as part of Carl Fischer’s “Masters Collection” with the release of The Rachel Barton Pine Collection, including original compositions, arrangements, cadenzas, and editions penned or arranged by Pine. Pine is also music advisor and editor of “Maud Powell Favorites,” the only published compilation of music dedicated to, commissioned by, or closely associated with Powell, the first native-born American violinist to achieve international recognition.

Pine won the gold medal at the J.S. Bach International Violin Competition (Leipzig, 1992) and holds prizes from several other leading competitions including the Queen Elisabeth (Brussels, 1993), Kreisler (Vienna, 1992), Szigeti (Budapest, 1992), and Montreal (1991) International Violin Competitions. She won honors for her interpretation of the Paganini Caprices at the Szigeti Competition and Paganini International Violin Competition (Genoa, 1993).

Her Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation assists young artists through various projects including the Instrument Loan Program, Grants for Education and Career, Global HeartStrings (supporting classical musicians in developing countries), and a curricular series in development with the University of Michigan: The String Students’ Library of Music by Black Composers. She teaches chamber music, coaches youth orchestras, gives master classes, conducts workshops at universities, adjudicates music competitions, creates special programs for children and school groups, and offers spoken program notes or pre-concert conversations for audiences of all ages.

Anthony McGill
A highly sought-after soloist and chamber musician, Anthony McGill is principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, after having served for a decade as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Clarinetist Anthony McGill is one of classical music’s most recognizable and brilliantly multifaceted figures. He serves as the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, that orchestra’s first African-American principal player. Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), as well as for his “exquisite combination of technical refinement and expressive radiance” (The Baltimore Sun), McGill also serves as an ardent advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities. McGill was honored to take part in the inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams alongside violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Gabriela Montero.

McGill appears regularly as a soloist with top orchestras around North America including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, and is a favorite collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets, as well as Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute, McGill previously served as principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera and associate principal of the Cincinnati Symphony. He serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Bard College’s Conservatory of Music.