Atar Arad

Israeli-born violist and composer Atar Arad is a faculty member at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington. His summer activities include teaching at Keshet Eilon, Israel, Domaine Forget, Canada, Heifetz Institute and the Steans Music Institute (where he is serving as faculty since 1991).

A Cum Laude First Prize winner at the Geneva International Music Competition (1972), he has performed worldwide in recitals and as a soloist with major orchestras and, for seven years, as a member of the celebrated Cleveland Quartet. His recordings with the quartet and as a soloist for labels such as Teldec, Telarc, RCA and RIAX are widely acclaimed. His performance of Paganini’s Sonata Per La Grand’ Viola e Orchestra in particular is considered by many as a landmark in the history of the viola.

A “late bloomer” composer, Arad’s compositions include a Solo Sonata for Viola, two String Quartets, a Viola Concerto (which he premiered in Bloomington, Brussels and in Stockholm) and more. His Tikvah for Viola Solo was commissioned for the 2008 Munich International Viola Competition by the ARD. His Listen (three poems by W.S. Merwin) for tenor, clarinet, viola, cello and bass was written for the International Musicians Seminar’s concert tour in England with singer Mark Padmore. Epitaph for cello and string orchestra was written for cellist Gary Hoffman who premiered it in Kronberg, Germany, with the Kremerata Baltica Orchestra (Arad performed the viola version of this piece at the International Viola Congress in Rochester, NY). Arad performed and presented his Twelve Caprices for Viola on several USA, Canada, Israel and European concert tours. The Caprices are published by Hofmeister Musikverlag, Leipzig.

Recent performances include the Primrose Memorial Concert at BYU and, as a part of his services as the Lorand Fenyves Distinguished Visitor, in Toronto.
In November 2018, Arad was a featured artist at the International Viola Congress in Rotterdam, premiering his new concerto for viola and strings, titled “Ceci n’est pas un Bach”.

Atar Arad is a recipient of the American Viola Society’s Career Achievement Award (June 2018) and the International Viola Society’s Silver Alto Clef 2018 “in recognition for his outstanding contributions to the to the viola” (November 2018).

In 2021, Arad composed his Chaconne for solo viola, commissioned by the International Hindemith Viola Competition.

Arad plays on a viola by Niccolo Amati. He uses a set of PI strings by Thomastik.

Vadim Gluzman

Universally recognized among today’s top performing artists, Vadim Gluzman breathes new life and passion into the golden era of the 19th and 20th centuries‘ violin tradition. Gluzman’s wide repertoire embraces new music, and his performances are heard around the world through livestreams, broadcasts and a striking catalogue of award-winning recordings on BIS, Platoon and EuroArts labels.

The Israeli violinist appears with world’s leading orchestras and conductors, including Tugan Sokhiev with the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Bavarian Radio Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris; Neeme Järvi with Chicago Symphony and London Philharmonic; Riccardo Chailly with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Santtu-Matias Rouvali with Gothenburg Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestra, as well as with the Cleveland Orchestra under the batons of Hannu Lintu and Michail Jurowski. He appears at Ravinia, Tanglewood, BBC Proms, Grant Park and the North Shore Chamber Music Festival, he founded in 2011.

In the 2025/26 season Vadim Gluzman appears with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Israel Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie and the NDR Radio Philharmonie, as well as with the Seattle, Utah and North Carolina Symphony Orchestras. He tours with Gluzman, Moser, Korobeinikov Trio, and continues to lead performances with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, where he serves as a Creative Partner and Principal Guest Artist.

Mr. Gluzman has premiered works by Sofia Gubaidulina, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Moritz Eggert, Giya Kancheli, Elena Firsova, Pēteris Vasks, Michael Daugherty and Lera Auerbach. In 2025 he commences his role as Artistic Director of the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado.

Accolades for Guzman’s extensive discography include the Diapason d’Or of the Year, Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, Classica magazine’s Choc de Classica award, and Disc of the Month by The Strad, BBC Music Magazine and ClassicFM.

Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Peabody Conservatory, where he teaches a selected group of young violinists, Gluzman performs on the legendary 1690 ‘ex-Leopold Auer’ Stradivari, on extended loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago.

Wanxinyi Huang

Chinese violist Wanxinyi Huang, recently graduated from the Yale School of Music, where she earned both the Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts degrees under the mentorship of Professor Ettore Causa. Huang is now pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University under Professor Helen Callus.

A John White Awards winner at the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Huang is also a prizewinner of the Yale Woolsey Concerto Competition. She was a semifinalist in the 2024 Klein International Competition. Her other prizes include The ECSO Instrumental competition(2025), Paris International Music Competition (2021), the Hong Kong International String Competition (2019).

As a committed chamber musician, Huang has appeared at prestigious festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Gstaad String Academy, Kronberg Violin&Viola Masterclass(active),Villars Music Academy, NUME Music Festival, THY Chamber Music Festival, and the Cullovio Chamber Music Festival. She is the founder of Ensemble ClassiCORE, a group formed in Yale that is actively engaged in chamber music and has performed at the Kennedy Center and toured China in 2024.

Huang has collaborated with or performed in masterclasses for distinguished artists such as Tabea Zimmermann, Nobuko Imai, Nils Mönkemeyer, Walter Küssner, Misha Amory, Steven Tenenbom, Hsin-Yun Huang, Roberto Díaz, Midori Gotō, Emanuel Ax, Fabio Bidini, and David Grimal.

In addition to her solo and chamber work, Huang is an active orchestral musician. She currently serves as a tutti violist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, she toured Europe and China with NYO-China under the baton of Ludovic Morlot.

Huang plays a 1953 Igino Sderci viola, generously loaned by Jonathan Solars Fine Violins.