American pianist Mimi Solomon enjoys a multi-faceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. She has performed throughout the United States, China, Japan and Europe, has appeared as soloist with orchestras including Shanghai Symphony, Philharmonia Virtuosi, and Yale Symphony Orchestra, and has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts including the McGraw-Hill Young Artist’s Showcase, France 3, France Inter, and National Public Radio.

An avid chamber musician, she regularly appears at music festivals on both sides of the Atlantic such as Santander, IMS Prussia Cove, Lockenhaus, Rencontres de Bel-Air, Ravinia, Taos, Norfolk, Yellow Barn, Charlottesville, La Loingtaine, and Aspen.

Mimi is also an enthusiastic and dedicated pedagogue: she is co-artistic director of MYCO Youth Chamber Orchestra, she spends part of every year coaching and performing chamber music at Kinhaven Festival in Vermont, and she has taught at Cornell University, East Carolina University, and Ithaca College.  She is currently on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Mimi graduated cum laude in East Asian Studies from Yale, went on to receive a Master of Music from Juilliard, and then studied the fortepiano in Paris.  Her main teachers were Peter Frankl and Robert McDonald, and she has also played regularly for Ferenc Rados and studied the fortepiano with Patrick Cohen. Her studies were generously supported by a Beebe Grant and two Woolley Scholarships from the Fondation des États-Unis. She currently lives in Chapel Hill with her husband, violinist Nicholas DiEugenio.

Praised for the “rapturous poetry” in his playing (American Record Guide) and as an “excellent” and “evocative” violinist (New York Times), Nicholas DiEugenio leads a versatile performing life as a chamber musician, leader, and soloist in music ranging from early baroque to current commissions. He performs in venues such as Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg, Trinity Wall St., Freiburg’s Ensemblehaus, and Weill Recital Hall. Together with pianist and duo partner Mimi Solomon, Nicholas created the project “Unraveling Beethoven,” a cycle of all ten violin sonatas combined with response works from composers Tonia Ko, Jesse Jones, Robert Honstein, D.K. Garner, and Allen Anderson. The award-winning album "Unraveling Beethoven" was released in 2018 by New Focus Recordings. Other featured recordings include the complete Violin Sonatas of Robert Schumann (Musica Omnia) as well as a tribute to Pulitzer prizewinner Steven Stucky (New Focus). Nicholas is a core member of The Sebastians as well as Associate Professor of Music at UNC Chapel Hill.

www.nicholasdieugenio.com

Nonoko Okada is currently a violin instructor at Duke University String School in Durham. She regularly performs with both the North Carolina Symphony and Charlotte Symphony. She received Bachelor's degree in violin performance from the Mannes College of Music and later received her Master's degree from the Juilliard School. Nonoko enjoys cooking, knitting, running and spending time with her family. She lives in Chapel Hill with her husband Simon Ertz, who is a violist, and her two children Yuna (11) and Aki (9).

Simon Ertz is principal viola of the Winston Salem Symphony, North Carolina Opera and plays as a regular substitute in both the Charlotte and North Carolina Symphonies. He has appeared as soloist with the Winston Salem Symphony and regularly performs on the Greensboro Symphony Chamber Music Series. After graduating from the Royal Northern College of Music Simon worked with orchestras accross the UK including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Northern Chamber Orchestra. As a member of the Degas Quartet from 2002 until 2010, Simon has performed in venues across the country including appearing as guest artists at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Chamber Music Society and at the Library of Congress where he performed on the Tuscan Medici Stradivarius. Since moving to North Carolina, Simon completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and now teaches at Duke University and University of North Carolina. He plays a viola made by his brother, Neil Ertz

Cellist Nathan Leyland was born in Butler, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Lynchburg, Virginia and began his cello studies in their public school system at the age of nine. Nathan attended the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Tchaikovsky Competition gold medalist Nathaniel Rosen, a former student and teaching assistant to the late Gregor Piatigorsky. Mr. Leyland has performed as soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra , Manchester Symphony Orchestra, The Southeastern Ohio Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, and the Welsh Hills Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. Nathan began his professional career at the age of 20, becoming the cellist of the Pioneer String Quartet. In addition to that appointment, he was Principal Cellist of The Des Moines Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Leyland moved to North Carolina in 2001 and began performing regularly with some of the areas professional ensembles such as the North Carolina Symphony, Carolina Ballet, North Carolina Opera, North Carolina Master Chorale, and the Choral Society of Durham. Currently, he is the principal cellist of the North Carolina Opera, Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, Tar River Symphony Orchestra, and a member of The Mallarme Chamber Players. Along with these positions, Leyland is an avid chamber musician and recitalist, having performed in venues across the US.