Violist Milena Pájaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation. In addition to appearing as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, and the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. She was the founding violist of the Dover Quartet, and played in the group from 2008 to 2022. In 2013 the Dover Quartet was the first-prize winner and recipient of every special award at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and won the gold medal and grand prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Her numerous awards also include first prize of the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, she was on faculty at Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. Pájaro-van de Stadt graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. She then received her master’s degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, as a student of James Dunham.

Cellist Edward Arron has garnered recognition worldwide for his elegant musicianship, impassioned performances, and creative programming. The 2023–24 season marks his 12th year as the co-artistic director with his wife, pianist Jeewon Park, of the Performing Artists in Residence series at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. In May 2022, he stepped down after 15 years as the artistic director and host of the acclaimed Musical Masterworks concert series in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He tours and records as a member of the renowned Ehnes Quartet, and appears regularly at the Caramoor International Music Festival, where he has been a resident performer and curator of chamber music concerts for over 25 years. In 2013 he completed a ten-year residency as the artistic director of the Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, a chamber music series created in 2003 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the museum’s prestigious Concerts and Lectures series. In January 2021, his recording of Beethoven’s Complete Works for Cello and Piano with Jeewon Park was released on the Aeolian Classics Record Label. The recording received the Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artists Award from the Classical Recording Foundation. He has participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project as well as Isaac Stern’s Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounters. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Arron studied in New York with Peter Wiley. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Harvey Shapiro. He has served on the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2016.