Orchestral songwriting featuring the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe

Ben Russell is a violinist, vocalist and composer who has played all over the world with all sorts of people. He is a member of American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and co-creator of the songwriting collective Founders.

Ben began his career in 2005 by winning the Principal 2nd Violin chair of Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine which he held for 8 years. In 2006 he co-founded Bryant Park Quartet, a classical string quartet dedicated to teaching chamber music to high school and college students around the country. In 2008 he became a member of ACME, a daring new-music group focused primarily on the work of living American composers. In 2017, ACME is releasing its first portrait album containing nearly all original music composed by members of ACME.

In the past 10 years, Ben has performed with several ensembles including International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Talea, A Far Cry, Wordless Music Orchestra and Mark Morris Dance Group. He has toured and recorded with several artists including Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, The National, Blonde Redhead, Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and has appeared on stage with Björk, Jonny Greenwood, and Paul McCartney.

After releasing his self titled solo album of original music for violin and voice in 2012, he co-created Founders which combines classical and folk musics with original compositions and pop arrangements. Founders released its debut album, You & Who, in early 2014. Their forthcoming album will include a song cycle utilizing the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.

Ben studied violin performance at BIOLA and Amsterdam Conservatory and received his Masters from New England Conservatory. He now lives in Peekskill, NY with his wife Anna and can often be found in his garden.

Brandon Ridenour is a winner of the 2014 CAG Victor Elmaleh Competition. His wide-ranging activities as a soloist and chamber musician, paired with his passion for composing and arranging, are evident in his versatile performances and unique repertoire.

At the age of twenty, Brandon became the youngest member ever to join the iconic Canadian Brass, a position he held for seven years. While with the group, he played in distinguished venues around the world, performed on television, recorded ten albums, and received three Juno Award nominations.

Brandon has appeared as a concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras. He has played with leading ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, the Knights, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Other solo performances include the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall, and Carnegie Hall, where he most recently appeared in a performance of Penny Lane alongside Sting and James Taylor.

Brandon is the winner of the 2006 International Trumpet Guild solo competition and a recipient of the Morton Gould ASCAP Young Composer Award. He is a 2016 National Composition Contest winner for the American Composers Forum, resulting in a commissioned piece for the cross-genre string quintet, Sybarite 5. He has recorded three solo albums; his latest release is Fantasies and Fairy Tales which features his own virtuosic arrangements of classical masterworks for trumpet and piano.

A graduate of The Juilliard School and an alumnus of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble ACJW, Brandon began playing piano at the age of 5 under the tutelage of his father, Rich Ridenour, with whom he still performs frequently in recital and with Pops Orchestras. Brandon is also a part of chamber groups Decoda, Founders, and USEFULchamber.
Brandon is also a Wedge Mouthpiece Artist.

Cellist Hamilton Berry’s eclectic taste has led him to pursue a variety of performing, arranging, and composing projects in the New York area and beyond. He has performed with A Far Cry, Novus NY, The Con Brio Ensemble, The Toomai String Quintet, Founders, Ensemble Connect, Decoda, and the Gotham Chamber Opera; collaborated with pop artists including Debbie Harry, Bjork, Becca Stevens, Vampire Weekend, Rostam, FUN., and Cults; and written and arranged music for Speed Bump, a string trio co-founded with violist Nathan Schram and cellist Eric Allen. He is on the faculty of Musicambia, which offers music lessons to inmates at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

A Nashville native, Hamilton has played at the Chelsea, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Olympic, and Yellow Barn music festivals. In 2009, he received his Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Timothy Eddy. His previous teachers include Felix Wang, Grace Bahng, and Anne Williams. During his fellowship with Ensemble Connect – a program of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education – Hamilton was a visiting teaching artist at IS61 on Staten Island.

Rapidly earning recognition as a young artist of uncommon musical depth and versatility, clarinetist Yoonah Kim is a winner of the 2016 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. The first solo clarinetist to win CAG in nearly 30 years, this Korean-Canadian artist joins the ranks of prominent solo clarinetists discovered by CAG, including David Shifrin, Michael Collins, Hakan Rosengren, and David Krakauer.

In 2016, Yoonah became the first woman to win first prize at the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, leading to her world premiere performance of Pocket Concerto by American composer Dag Gabrielsen at The Juilliard School. Earlier that year, she was a featured soloist at Juilliard’s Focus Festival, performing Donald Martino’s A Set for Clarinet at Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City.

Upcoming solo performances include Yoonah’s New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on the CAG New York Series, as well as recitals throughout the country, including the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY, as well as numerous other performance prizes resulting from her CAG victory.

Beginning in fall 2016, Yoonah became a member of Ensemble Connect (formerly known as Ensemble ACJW), a highly selective two-year fellowship program under the joint auspices of Carnegie Hall, The Weill Institute, and The Juilliard School. With Ensemble Connect, she performs regularly at Carnegie Hall, often in collaboration with renowned conductors and guest artists. One recent Zankel Hall performance was conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, and in December 2016, Yoonah performs in France at the Philharmonie de Paris, featuring soprano Natalie Dessay

As principal clarinetist of The Juilliard Orchestra and The Mannes Orchestra, Yoonah has performed at prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Symphony Space. Yoonah has also served as principal clarinetist of the New York Youth Symphony and the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, with whom she appeared in the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, televised across the world. Yoonah is also an active chamber musician and has attended several chamber music festivals, including the Sarasota Music Festival, The Banff Centre Music Festival, and Caroga Lake Music Festival.

In addition to her appearances on stage, Yoonah is also committed to teaching. Through her extensive educational outreach working with Ensemble Connect, she serves as an education ambassador for Carnegie Hall at New York City schools. She is also currently on the faculty of New York School of Music and Art and maintains a small private studio in New York City.

Born in Seoul and raised in British Columbia, Yoonah Kim holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from Mannes College The New School for Music, where she studied clarinet under Charles Neidich.

Kris Saebo leads a versatile musical life in New York City as a double bassist, electric bassist, composer, and teaching artist. Kris is a co-founding member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall and performs regularly with A Far Cry, NOVUS NY, New York Classical Players, The Chris Norman Ensemble, and the orchestra for the Broadway show Matilda.

Mr. Saebo is also a devoted teaching artist, and has worked in this capacity in the greater New York metropolitan area as well as internationally. Through his work with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program, Mr. Saebo has worked with all ages in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan. In the summers of 2012 and 2014, through a partnership between the Juilliard School’s Global initiative and Santa Marcelina Cultura, he traveled to São Paulo, Brazil to teach, perform, and collaborate with young Brazilian musicians. He has also been a visiting teaching artist at The Colburn School and at Skidmore College as part of the Decoda Skidmore Chamber Music Institute, where he has taught the last 3 summers and will return as faculty this summer.

A noted collaborator, Mr. Saebo has worked with artists such as Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, Jamey Haddad, and Nas. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where his teachers were Homer Mensch and Orin O’Brien. Mr. Saebo is an alumnus of Ensemble Connect, a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, which nurtures high level musicians who engage the communities in which they live and perform.