2025 ISSI Guest Artists
Laura Albers, violin
Colorado native Laura Albers is the Associate Concertmaster of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the violinist for the Albers Trio, a string trio with sisters Julie and Rebecca.
Laura began studying Suzuki violin with her mother, Ellie LeRoux, at the age of two and later spent a month in Japan studying with Dr. Suzuki. From an early age, she loved the stage and soloed with many Denver-area orchestras. Laura received her Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, where she studied with Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes.
In Cleveland she worked extensively with the Cavani Quartet and Peter Salaff in the Intensive Quartet Seminar and as an assistant music therapist in the Cleveland University Hospitals. While attending Juilliard, Laura toured with the Astor String Quartet and the Wild Ginger Philharmonic and taught Suzuki violin at the Diller-Quaile School of Music.
While pursuing her education, Laura returned to the mountains during summers for the Aspen Music Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge. She and her sister, cellist Julie Albers, performed the Brahms Double Concerto with the NRO. They also recorded the Kodaly Duo in Munich for the Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Laura spent several summers performing in the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island as an artist in the Newport Music Festival. Her more recent summer festivals include the Grand Tetons Music Festival in Wyoming, Festival Mozaic in California and the Strings Festival in Colorado.
Laura spends a month or more during each off-season living in Israel and performing with pianist, Batia Murvitz. Recent appearances include recitals at Felicia Blumenthal Music Center and the home of the Austrian Ambassador, and headlining International Violin Day at the Or Akiva Music Center. She and Batia will perform this spring at BYU’s Jerusalem Center, atop Mount Scopus. Laura is an age group triathlete and food lover. She grabs spare moments between work and motherhood to train and prepare delicious meals with her husband.
Rebecca Albers, viola
Rebecca Albers joined the Minnesota Orchestra as assistant principal viola in 2010 and won the position of principal viola in 2017. She has performed throughout the United States, Asia and Europe, making her New York debut at Lincoln Center, performing the New York premiere of Samuel Adler’s Viola Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, she performs often at such festivals as the Marlboro Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer and Winter Festivals, and Rome Chamber Music Festival.
Albers is a member of Accordo, a Twin Cities-based chamber ensemble whose members are present and former principal players from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. She has toured extensively with Musicians from Marlboro and with the Albers Trio, an ensemble formed with her sisters Laura and Julie Albers, and has been featured on many of the Orchestra’s chamber concerts, performing music by Schumann, Beethoven, Dvořák and Schubert.
Albers is a Distinguished Artist faculty member at Mercer University’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in Macon, Georgia, where she shares a viola studio with Victoria Chiang. She has also taught at such festivals as the Perlman Music Program and the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
Originally from Longmont, Colorado, Albers grew up playing violin and harp, picking up the viola at age nine for an ensemble her mother, a Suzuki teacher, was putting together. Albers received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang. Her childhood teachers were James Maurer and her mother, Ellie LeRoux.
Julie Albers, cello
Cellist Julie Albers is recognized for her superlative artistry, her charismatic and radiant performing style, and her intense musicianship. Born into a musical family in Longmont, Colorado, she began violin studies at the age of two with her mother, switching to cello at four. She moved to Cleveland during her junior year of high school to pursue studies through the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Richard Aaron. Ms. Albers soon was awarded the Grand Prize at the XIII International Competition for Young Musicians in Douai, France, and as a result toured France as soloist with Orchestre Symphonique de Douai.
Ms. Albers made her major orchestral debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the age of 17 and thereafter has performed in recital and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Past seasons have included performances with the symphony orchestras of Colorado, Grant Park Music Festival, Indianapolis, Munchener Kammerorchester, Rochester, San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra among others. In 2001, she won Second Prize in Munich’s Internationalen Musikwettbewerbes der ARD, and was also awarded the Wilhelm-Weichsler-Musikpreis der Stadt Osnabruch. While in Germany, she recorded solo and chamber music of Kodaly for the Bavarian Radio, performances that have been heard throughout Europe.
Ms. Albers was named principal cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in 2015, a position she currently holds. In addition, she regularly participates in chamber music festivals including ChamberFest Cleveland, La Jolla SummerFest, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music Society, and Toronto Summer Music. 2009 marked the end of a three year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Teaching has also held a very important place in Ms. Albers’ musical life from the age of 12 when she started teaching her first students. She held the position of Assistant Professor at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia from 2009-2022.
Ms. Albers’ debut album with Orion Weiss includes works by Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, Schumann, Massenet, and Piatiagorsky and is available on the Artek Label. Julie Albers performs on a N.F. Vuillaume cello made in 1872.
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
https://www.rachelbartonpine.com/
The acclaimed American concert violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills international audiences with her dazzling technique, lustrous tone, and emotional honesty. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music. She is a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks as well as groundbreaking contemporary music.
Pine performs with the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit symphony orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors that include Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson. As a chamber musician, Pine has performed with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield, Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker quartets.
Highlights of Pine’s 2024–25 season include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiere of José White’s Violin Concerto in F-sharp Minor; a tour of Israel with the Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble; Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra; the world premiere of Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis’ Violin Concerto with the Winnipeg Symphony; Billy Childs’ Violin Concerto No. 2 with the Rhode Island Philharmonic; and the French premiere of Earl Maneein’s violin concerto Dependent Arising with the Orchestre National de Bretagne. Over the season, Pine will also perform concertos by Brahms and Sibelius, in addition to other notable works by Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery, and Mark O’Connor, among other living composers.
She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.
Caleb Hudson, trumpet
https://www.hudsontrumpet.com/
Uniting virtuosity and musical sensitivity, Caleb Hudson has carved out a unique space in the world of classical trumpet. A long-standing member of the esteemed Canadian Brass for over a decade, he has captivated international audiences. Caleb, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, earned both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. The New York Times has praised his artistry as “brilliantly stylish.”
In March 2024 Hudson releases his debut solo album “Nothing Less,” a testament to the art of ensemble-driven dialogue. Featuring a distinct blend of solo trumpet, violin, cello, flute, and clarinet, the music allows virtuosity and collaboration to intermingle seamlessly. The album introduces fresh compositions by Remy Le Boeuf, Kyle Athayde, and Caleb Hudson himself, while also offering innovative takes on classics by Corelli and Philip Glass.
Caleb is acclaimed for his renditions of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, which he performs on both the modern piccolo trumpet and the historical baroque trumpet. This expertise has enabled solo engagements with renowned ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, and Philharmonia Baroque.
Caleb co-founded “Triple Cortado,” an innovative trio featuring Canadian Brass trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos and virtuosic pianist Ahmed Alom. This reimagined piano trio explores a diverse range of new compositions and arrangements, pushing the boundaries of brass chamber music.
Beyond performance, Caleb is deeply committed to expanding the brass repertoire. A prolific arranger and composer, his works are often performed by Canadian Brass. His original composition, “White Rose Elegy,” debuted at Lincoln Center, performed by the New York Philharmonic Principal Brass.
Caleb’s contributions also extend to educational literature; he was the recording artist for the groundbreaking Suzuki Trumpet School, Volume I. He credits his artistic growth to mentors such as Richard Byrd, Vincent DiMartino, Ken Larson, Raymond Mase, Mark Gould, and John Thiessen.
Currently, Caleb serves as the Associate Professor of Trumpet at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. He has previously taught at the University of North Texas and Colorado State University, where his students have achieved professional success in both academic and performance realms. Deeply grateful for the opportunities and insights his musical journey has provided, Caleb is committed to nurturing the next generation of musicians.
Rooted in a deep faith in Christ, Caleb resides in Texas with his wife, Amanda, and their three children.
Fry Street Quartet
https://frystreetquartet.com/
Touring music of the masters as well as exciting original works from visionary composers of our time, the Fry Street Quartet has perfected a “blend of technical precision and scorching spontaneity” (The Strad). Since securing the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the quartet has reached audiences from Carnegie Hall to London, and Sarajevo to Jerusalem, exploring the medium of the string quartet and its life-affirming potential with “profound understanding…depth of expression, and stunning technical astuteness” (Deseret Morning News).
With a discography that includes a wide range of works from Haydn and Beethoven to Stravinsky, Janacek and Rorem, the quartet is known for being “equally at home in the classic repertoire of Mozart and Beethoven or contemporary music.” (Palm Beach Daily News). Navona records recently released The Crossroads Project, which features commissioned works by Laura Kaminsky and Libby Larsen, and up next is a recording of Kaminsky’s lauded new chamber opera As One, which will be released on Albany Records.
The FSQ’s tour repertoire reaches many corners of the musical spectrum, including works of Britten, Schubert, Beethoven and Bartok, as well as programs of American women composers Laura Kaminsky, Amy Beach, Joan Tower and Libby Larsen. Recently, the Salt Lake City-based NOVA series presented the FSQ’s cycle of the six quartets of Bela Bartok paired with Haydn’s String Quartets Op. 76, highlighting a juxtaposition of masterpieces by two great innovators for the string quartet. In November 2018, the FSQ will proudly present a complete Bartok Cycle in the Russell Wanlass Performance Hall at Utah State University, featuring eminent Bartok scholar Peter Laki.
The FSQ premiered Laura Kaminsky’s chamber opera As One with soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Kelly Markgraff at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and has gone on to perform the work with Hawaii Opera Theater, Lyric Opera Kansas City, and Chautauqua Opera.
In addition to collaborations with acclaimed instrumentalists (including Joseph Kalichstein, Wu Han, Paul Katz, Donald Weilerstein, Misha Dichter, Andres Cardenes and Roger Tapping, among others), the Fry Street Quartet has commissioned and toured new works by a wide range of composers. Pandemonium by Brazilian composer Clarice Assad received its Fry Street premiere with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra; Michael Ellison’s Fiddlin‘ was co-commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Series and the Salt Lake City based NOVA series; and both Laura Kaminsky’s Rising Tide and Libby Larsen’s Emergence were commissioned especially for the quartet’s global sustainability initiative, The Crossroads Project.
After more than 30 performances in three different countries, The Crossroads Project: Rising Tide continues to resonate with audiences. This fresh approach to communicating society’s sustainability challenges draws upon all the senses with a unique blend of science and art, and has been featured on NPR’s joe’s big idea (aired during All Things Considered), as well as in publications by Yale Climate Connections, Reuters, and the New York Times.
The quartet’s significant touring history includes performances at major venues, festivals, and for distinguished series such as Carnegie Hall and the Schneider Series at the New School in New York, the Jewel Box series in Chicago, Chamber Music Columbus, the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, the DiBartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame, the Theosophical Society in London, and the Mozart Gemeinde in Klagenfurt, Austria. The quartet also enjoys a continuing residency with the Salt Lake City-based NOVA series. Projects have included the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony under the direction of Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer, the Utah premieres of string quartets by Michael Ellison and Andrew Norman, and frequent collaborations with members of the Utah Symphony.
The Fry Street Quartet is pleased to hold the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Endowed String Quartet Residency at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University.