Performing with flutist
Don Bailey
The National Flute Association, Inc.
2009 Annual Convention
Marriott Marquis · New York City
August 13-16, 2009

 

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Kelly Hall-Tompkins Sarah Geller

Surai Nesrine Balbeisi Tara Chambers

Kelly Hall-Tompkins (www.kellyhall-tompkins.com) is one of New York City’s most in-demand violinists, whose dynamic career spans solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. Ms. Hall-Tompkins was winner of a 2003 Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize as well as a Concert Artists Guild Career Grant in 1996, leading to numerous solo recitals in New York and the surrounding area. In the winter of 2007, Ms. Hall-Tompkins was invited by actress Mia Farrow and conductor George Matthew to be soloist in Carnegie Hall for a Benefit for the Victims of Darfur, hosted by Ms. Farrow. On stage behind her was an orchestra comprised of musicians from every major orchestra in the world to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Ms. Hall-Tompkins has been soloist with the Dallas Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of New York, Western Piedmont Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Philharmonic of Uruguay, Monmouth Symphony, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, the Festival of the Atlantic Orchestra, and the Atlanta University Orchestra and her performances in recital have been featured on several occasions on the McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase, broadcast in New York by WQXR. Her solo performances also include Washington, DC (National Academy of Sciences), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Series, broadcast live by WFMT Radio), Baltimore (Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust); and, through a special grant from the IBM Corporation, at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina. She commissioned a new work for violin and percussion from eminent German composer Siegfried Matthus, premiering the composition at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Michigan in the summer of 2002. Also in 2002 Ms. Hall-Tompkins released her debut CD recording, funded by the Mellon Foundation, featuring the Kodaly duo, Brahms d minor Sonata and the Ravel Tzigane. Ms. Hall-Tompkins released her second CD, entitled “In My Own Voice” in 2008 and was subsequently presented by Barnes and Noble Lincoln Triangle in New York and in Orlando, Florida. Press reviews tout the disc with “Chaconne by Johann Sebastian Bach...is an enthralling fifteen minute performance… mastery and remarkable versatility... The beauty of the artiste, the instrument she graces, and the music chosen positively radiates from the recording.” Jeff Perkins, Blog Critics Magazine. And “technically confidant and strongly shaped readings of challenging unaccompanied works”
-Anthony Burton, BBC Music Magazine

Ms. Hall-Tompkins is a member of the Florida-based Ritz Chamber Players, including concerts in residence at Jacksonville’s Times Union Center for the Performing Arts, New York at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room, Amelia Island and Madison Festivals and Baltimore in collaboration with BSO concertmaster and string principals. Live broadcasts include Chicago on WFMT’s Jewel Box Series, New York and worldwide on New York City’s WNYC and BBC, and historic Trinity Church at Wall Street. She has performed at Bargemusic, live on WNYC’s “Soundcheck”, and Raleigh Chamber Music Guild. Ms. Hall-Tompkins has performed and studied at many of the major festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including Tanglewood, Aspen, the Quartet Program, the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and the last New York String Orchestra Seminar under the direction of Alexander Schneider.

Ms. Hall-Tompkins’ distinguished orchestral career has included extensive touring in the United States and internationally with the renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, including performances in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Japan, Singapore, Scotland and a recording with countertenor Andreas Scholl. She has also performed over 150 performances as a substitute with the New York Philharmonic, under conductors including Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit and Valery Gergiev, stemming from her success as a finalist in auditions held by the orchestra in 1994. In Spring of 2007 Ms. Hall-Tompkins became the concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of New York which performed is debut concert in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall in the Fall ’07 with Ms. Hall-Tompkins also as soloist. In 1999 she won auditions held by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and was subsequently appointed to the orchestra’s First Violin section.

Passionate chamber musician and humanitarian, in 2005 Ms. Hall-Tompkins founded and directs a charity series called Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, bringing chamber music performances to NYC Homeless Shelters. She has presented over 30 concerts with over 50 artists including Emanuel Ax, Albrecht Mayer, Rene Marie and has been featured in Strings Magazine, Chamber Music America Magazine, Spirituality and Health Magazine, Columbia University Radio and cable’s Hallmark Channel.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Ms. Hall-Tompkins began her violin studies at age nine. She earned a Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music under the mentorship of Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. While there, she was concertmaster of both of the school’s orchestras. Prior to that, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in violin performance with a minor in French from the Eastman School of Music studying with Charles Castleman. While at Eastman she won the school’s prestigious Performer’s Certificate Competition, several scholarship awards from the New York Philharmonic, and was invited to perform chamber music on the school’s Kilbourn Concert Series with members of the faculty. An avid polyglot, Ms. Hall-Tompkins studies and speaks seven languages in conjunction with her active international performance career. She lives in New York City with her husband Joe and their dog Billy.

 
Performing to critical acclaim in many prestigious venues, violinist Sarah Geller (www.sarahegeller.com) has been hailed as possessing “the simple, poised, confident stage presence of a seasoned performer.” This past spring Geller made her debut in California on the West Coast Salon Series, in addition to continuing her extensive solo and chamber music appearances along the East Coast. At the invitation of Georgetown University, Sarah performed and conducted a masterclass on their Friday Music Series. Since 2004 she has been awarded an annual recital on the Donnell Library series in Manhattan.

This season’s highlights include the Gainesville Pro Musica in Georgia and Donnell at NYPL Performing Arts Library in Manhattan concert series, as well as a residency and culminating recital at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York. Geller returns to the Maryland area for an annual series of concerts, including return engagements at the Community
College of Baltimore County and Buckingham’s Choice. She performs regularly with pianists Wenhan Anderson and Sayaka Tanikawa.

In June 2002 Sarah made her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut as a winner of the Artists’ International Special Presentation Award. Upon invitation from their Alumni Series, she premiered Jeffery Story’s Driven for solo violin and dancer in a solo recital at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall. Committed to innovative programming, Geller founded SEGUE in 2005. The ensemble features various combinations of award-winning artists, musicians and dancers, often performing lesser-known works by mainstream
composers and premieres of new works.

In 2009 SEGUE will launch its newest project, a program for violin, guitar and flamenco dancer. Capturing the authentic essence of flamenco music, SEGUE will feature composers Granados, Albéniz and De Falla, as well as arrangements by SEGUE’s guitarist, Jared Newman. In recent seasons SEGUE has had the distinct honor of performing on the Heritage Hills Concert Series (NY), the Ramapo College York Room Salon Series (NJ) and the YM-YWHA of Washington Heights in Manhattan.

Receiving the Helen Airoff Dowling Award for “outstanding undergraduate violinist” upon graduation from the Manhattan School of Music, Sarah has gone on to captivate audiences in her hometown of New York City and beyond at An die Musik LIVE! (MD), the Washington D.C. Library, Bentley College (MA), Steinway Hall, the First Congregational Church of Greenwich (CT) and the University of Toronto. She is also presented regularly in her native Maine on the Arts Institute of Western Maine series at the University of Maine at Farmington.

Geller has soloed with numerous orchestras across the Northeast, most recently with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra (NJ), performing Mozart Concerto No. 4. Previous appearances have included the Chappaqua Orchestra, Collegium Westchester, the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, the Maine Chamber Ensemble, the University of Maine at Farmington Orchestra and the Baroque Aria Ensemble (NYC).

In addition to a busy performance schedule, Sarah is dedicated to educating the next generation of string players. Upon earning her Suzuki Certification from the highly regarded School for Strings (SFS) in Manhattan, she served as Director for six years and head violin teacher for nine at SFS at PS116, an outreach Suzuki violin and cello program. This fall Geller brings her passion and exceptional ability to reach, inspire and nurture diverse groups of children to her new Suzuki studio in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. She is also a faculty member at School for Strings. She furthers her own studies with Joey Corpus; her former principal teachers are Michael Gilbert, Patinka Kopec, Gregory Fulkerson and Lawrence Golan.

Surai Nesrine Balbeisi (Viola) is active as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician; television credits include The Today Show, The View, The Martha Stewart Show, Late Night with Conan O’brien, and Saturday Night Live. In addition to recitals and collaborative concert engagements in the US, Canada, and Europe, she is a dedicated teacher. She has taught at Penn State University, the Virginia Commonwealth University Community School for the Performing Arts, and is presently on the faculty of the Larchmont Music Academy. Ms. Balbeisi began her musical training in Amman, Jordan under the patronage of Queen Nour, holds a B.M. in violin performance from the Pennsylvania State University, a Professional Studies Diploma in viola from the Mannes College of Music, and a Master of Arts from New York University.

Tara Chambers, cellist, has toured throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Korea with New York City Opera National Co., Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Miss Saigon, Phantom of the Opera, Mettawee River Theater Company, and the rock group Ke.  Additional performances include Jupiter Symphony, New York Grand Opera and the Broadway shows Miss Saigon, Scarlet Pimpernel, Phantom of the Opera, Caroline or Change, Hairspray, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and The Sinatra Show at Radio City Music Hall.  She was a winner of Artists International Competition (NYC) and a finalist in both the Coleman and Carmel Chamber Music Competitions (CA) in 1995.  She received her Masters degree from Manhattan School of Music in 1994, and also teaches private piano and cello in Manhattan.