ERIN SVOBODA, Clarinet An active orchestral and chamber musician and an advocate for contemporary music. She has recorded Tibetan Dances on Naxos with Cho-Liang Lin and Bright Sheng on the album Spring Dreams and has been a member of contemporary chamber groups such as the New Fromm Players at Tanglewood, the Mimesis Ensemble, and the New York Chamber Virtuosi. She has worked closely with composers such as John Harbison, Bright Sheng, Yehudi Wyner, Mohammed Fairouz, John Heiss, and Augusta Read Thomas and has performed with the Daedalus Quartet and members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Cleveland orchestra, and National Symphony. Erin holds the position of Second Clarinet in the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and performs often with the Metropolitan Opera. She has attended the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Pacific, and Aspen Music Festivals and has performed as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician in the United States, South America, and Asia. Erin holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Temple University, and the Manhattan School of Music and has studied with Ricardo Morales, Mark Nuccio, and Thomas Martin.

MARTHA CARGO, Flute Ms. Cargo embraces innovative interpretations within various genres of music, including chamber, classical, and contemporary repertoire. She has premiered works by Travis Reuter, Stephen Lewis, Ellen O’Meara, Zosha di Castri and Beavan Flanagan, among others, and has performed at numerous summer music festivals, including Centre Acanthes (France), Colorado College (USA), Orford (Canada), and Domaine Forget (Canada). Winner of the Columbia Orchestra Young Artist Competition and a finalist in the Encore Orchestra Young Artist Competition, Ms. Cargo worked as Director of Administration for the League of Composers/ISCM (US) and the Look&Listen Festival (NYC). She studied Chemistry and Flute Performance at Oberlin, Musicology and Art History at the Sorbonne (Paris, France), holds a Masters degree in Classical Flute Performance from SUNY-Purchase, and is currently a Masters candidate at Manhattan School of Music in the Contemporary Performance Program, where she studies with Tara Helen O’Connor. Upcoming projects include Pierre Boulez’s Marteau sans maître, an original composition by Anne Goldberg for flute and live electronics with dancers, and a live electronics collaboration with experimental jazz composer Travis Reuter with Lisa Dowling, bass.

MASHA LANKOVSKY, Violin Born in Moscow, Masha Lankovsky grew up in New Zealand and Australia where she first began studying music. She went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music and at Indiana University in Bloomington, where she completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees in performance under the guidance of Nelli Shkolnikova. Masha Lankovsky earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the City University of New York in 2009. In the spring of 2010 she will be featured as soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Brooklyn Conservatory Orchestra. She has performed at various international festivals including Schleswig Holstein in Germany, Britten-Pears in England, and the American Conservatoire at Fontainebleau, France. Highlights of the past season have included chamber collaborations with the pianist Byron Schenkman and the composer David Amram. Masha Lankovsky is on the faculty of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music where she also serves as Director of the Classical Division.

AMINDA ASHER, Cello Aminda has been involved with several regional orchestras in the New York metropolitan area including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Riverside Symphonia, The Chelsea Symphony, and Astoria Symphony, and has also played for several musical theater productions with the Prospect Theater Company and Making Books Sing. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Asher has appeared in concerts at many of New York’s greatest performance venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, The Chamber Music Society’s Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, Bargemusic, and (Le) Poisson Rouge. A dedicated teacher, Ms. Asher is currently on the faculties of the 92nd Street Y and the Herald Music School in Flushing, Queens, as well as maintaining a private studio. Ms. Asher holds a B.M. in cello performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music where she studied with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Sharon Robinson. She received her M.M from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Alan Stepansky.

KATYA MIHAILOVA, Piano Born in Kyrgyzstan in 1983, Ms. Mihailova was awarded the 1st Prize at the National Young Pianists Competition in Kyrgyzstan in 1997 and received the President’s Scholarship Award. She performed all around the US and received the Martha Lithmann Music Scholarship Award and Rotary Scholarship. Her debut performance in New York was with the Italian chamber orchestra Italiani Virtuosi. Further performances included venues such as Weill Hall, Poisson Rouge, Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, Ethical Culture Society and New York Public Library. She has recently received her Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Arkady Aronov. Ms. Mihailova is a dedicated performer of the contemporary repertoire and has premiered works of numerous contemporary composers. Her performance with Beirut in the Wordless Music Series was broadcast on WNYC. In the summer of 2009, Ms. Mihailova taught piano in Afghanistan at the National Institute of Music as well as at Kabul’s University. Her performance for President Karzai was broadcasted on Afghan National TV.