Performers

Alex Lipowski, percussion

Alex Lipowski Alex Lipowski is the co-director of the East Coast Composers Ensemble. An advocate of contemporary music, he has performed in such ensembles as the Second Instrumental Unit, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Ikarus Chamber Players, and the Arete Ensemble. He has collaborated with many composers, and as a soloist and chamber musician has premiered works by Denisov, Huang Ruo, Malpica, Chasalow, and Aylward. He is also the coordinator for the Juilliard Pierrot Ensemble and the Maintenant Duo. David Cleary of "New Music Connoisseur" calls his playing "...remarkably demonstrative and pleasing."

Aaron Wunsch, piano

Aaron Wunsch Pianist Aaron Wunsch has appeared on concert stages throughout the U.S., Europe, and the Far East, including Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Halls at Lincoln Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and as soloist with the Yale and High Mountain symphonies. He has appeared at the Norfolk, Sarasota, Great Lakes, and Yellow Barn chamber music festivals, collaborating in performance with Peter Frankl, Lynn Harrell, Andrew Jennings, and the New York Woodwind Quintet. A proponent of contemporary music, he is a member of the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Axiom Ensemble, and has performed works by Kaija Saariaho and John Adams during Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. Mr. Wunsch received his Bachelor’s degree cum laude from Yale University. He then received a Fulbright Grant for further studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where he studied piano under Karlheinz Kämmerling. He completed his Master’s degree at The Juilliard School and is continuing there as a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow, studying under Robert McDonald. Mr. Wunsch is currently an adjunct faculty member at Juilliard.

Emily Popham, violin

Emily Popham Emily Popham was born in Dayton, Ohio and began violin studies in Louisville Ky. She has been a featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, the Starling Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indiana University. Emily has received prizes in the Corpus Christi and ASTA competitions and was recently awarded First Prize in the Balsam Duo Competition with pianist Young-Kyung Hyun. As a chamber musician she has performed at the Ravinia, Taos, and Kneisel Hall festivals, and at the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove. This past summer she was a faculty member at the Summer-trios Music Festival and a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Emily completed degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard School where her teachers were Miriam Fried and Robert and Nicholas Mann. Most recently she completed a Professional Studies Diploma at Manhattan School of Music with Sylvia Rosenberg and was honored with the Pablo Casals Award at graduation.

Victoria Bass, cello

Victoria Bass Cellist Victoria Bass is establishing herself as a strong voice for new music. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review agrees saying, “Bass is a remarkable young talent who plays contemporary music with much tonal beauty and expressive assurance.” Other critics have raved exclaiming, “She played as if her heart would break” (LiveMusic-Minnesota Orchestra Magazine), “(Bass) delivered a fierce level of passion” (The Post and Courier), and calling her “Astonishingly talented” (San Antonio Express-News). As a soloist Victoria has been featured by The Stone, the Society for Composers, Inc., the Foundation for Modern Music, and the Music in Time series at Spoleto Festival USA. In 2004 Victoria joined the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, a group with whom she has appeared in both the US and Canada, been featured as a soloist, and already performed a dozen commissioned world premieres. In 2005 Victoria helped found Vox, a flute, cello, and percussion trio. Vox’s inaugural season included premieres of 4 commissioned works in a tour of Louisiana, Texas, and Pennsylvania. In addition, Victoria has performed new chamber works with the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Axiom Ensemble, Future In Reverse (FIRE), and on the Syzygy: New Music at Rice series. This season she will give the Texas premiere of the Berio Sequenza XIV, and will also appear as a soloist at Roulette, NYC. In the summer she will return to the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, as well as be in residence with FIRE at the Greenwich Music Festival, and participate in the Lucerne Festival Academy. As a performer of the standard repertoire Victoria has won the Bohemians of Detroit Concerto Competition, a silver medal from the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the Interlochen Arts Academy Young Artist award. She has also performed chamber music at the National Arts Center in Ottawa. Victoria is currently a student of Darrett Adkins at The Juilliard School where she is pursuing a Master’s of Music degree. She received her Bachelor’s degree (cum laude) from Rice University where she studied with Norman Fischer. Victoria is also an alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy.

Daria Binkowski, flutes

Daria Binkowski Daria Binkowski, flute, is currently pursuing her Master's Degree at McGill University in Montreal, studying with Timothy Hutchins. She completed her undergraduate studies in 2005 at the Eastman School of Music with Bonita Boyd and also had post-graduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Daria was a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble from 2004-2006, working with Sydney Hodkinson, Steven Stucky, Marc-Andre Dalbavie, and Robert Spano. She has also appeared with members of the St. Louis Symphony at the Pulitzer Foundation for Contemporary Art with conductor Pascal Rophe. In addition to her contemporary music activities, Daria was a member of the 2006 Spoleto Festival Orchestra and has soloed with the New Jersey Symphony, the Brockport Symphony, and the New Amsterdam Symphony. She was also on the administrative board of Eastman's student-run new music ensemble, OSSIA, and was recently an intern with National Public Radio's Performance Today in Washington, D.C.

Jeff Anderle, Clarinets

Jeff Anderle Jeff Anderle is a recent graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory, where he received his Master of Music degree. He studied clarinet with Luis Baez and bass clarinet with Ben Freimuth. Equally active on clarinet and bass clarinet, he has given numerous solo and chamber music recitals on each. In addition, he performs regularly around the San Francisco Bay Area with his bass clarinet duo, Sqwonk, and with Edmund Welles, a bass clarinet quartet. Jeff holds a B.A. from UCLA, where he was a Gluck Fellow and studied clarinet with Gary Gray. He has also studied clarinet in Budapest, Hungary with József Balogh. This past summer, Jeff attended the Aspen Music Festival, where he was a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.