Meet the extraordinary musicians who will perform in the Spring 2025 concert in the Four Seasons in Music series:
Kathryn Lockwood, Viola and Artistic Director originally from Down Under, leads an active career as Musician, Educator and Artistic Director. She initially traveled to the US to study for one year in Los Angeles at USC…that was 30 years ago and she is still here! Kathryn first moved to Chicago and then to New York which is now her home. Her childhood dreams to be a chamber musician came true first as the violist of Pacifica Quartet, then the Lark Quartet. And now the very unique viola and percussion duo with her husband, Yousif Sheronick. For the last five years Kathryn has been keeping busy as artistic director of the Four Seasons in Music concert series at the Sands Point Preserve, Long Island, NY, where duoJalal is in residence. Kathryn is currently tenured faculty at and at the John Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, previously serving on the faculty at University of Massachusetts/Amherst, Rutgers University in NJ, Northwestern University, University of Chicago, Music Institute of Chicago, and National Music Camp in Australia. Recently appointed Curator of the Immersive Residency Program at Montclair State University, she oversees weeklong residency visits of internationally renowned artists and groups.
Yousif Sheronick, Percussion grew up in Iowa in a Lebanese family. After graduating from Yale, he discovered the intoxicating sound of world music and frame drums. Now a master global percussionist, Yousif travels the world sharing his passion and knowledge performing with a diverse range of ensembles and musicians including Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Ethos Percussion Group, Lark Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Glen Velez and Paul Winter. A feature article in Drum! Magazine highlighted Yousif’s versatility in an article titled “At The Corner Of The World”. Eager to educate, Yousif’s online frame drum school www.framedrumschool.org boasts over 1000 students from 68 countries. His most recent endeavor is being appointed co-artistic director for the Telluride MusicFest.
duoJalal, Ensemble in Residence “are fearless seekers and synthesizers of disparate instruments and cultures” raves the Toronto Star. Like the marriage between Kathryn Lockwood and Yousif Sheronick, their music represents an organic amalgam of cultural traditions and musical styles. Audiences are enthralled as an Australian violist ignites her instrument with passion – one minute embodying a medieval rebec, the next a contemporary violist playing Philip Glass. Yousif, of Lebanese descent, dazzles as he manipulates multiple sounds on an array of hand drums followed by intoxicating melodies on vibraphone.
duoJalal moves from Classical to Klezmer, Middle Eastern to Jazz, with a skillful confluence that is natural, exploratory, and passionate. duoJalal has performed throughout the United States, Australia and Brazil regularly performing world premieres of works composed or arranged for the group by Philip Glass, Andrew Waggoner, Derek Bermel, Kenji Bunch, Evan Ziporyn, Eve Beglarian and John Patitucci. Kathryn and Yousif are co-artistic directors and ensemble in residence of the Telluride MusicFest. A festival housed in a gorgeous mountain home situated at 10,000 feet!
SPRING GUEST ARTISTS:
Raman Ramakrishnan (Cello)
For eight seasons as a founding member of the Horszowski Trio, and for eleven seasons as a founding member of the Daedalus Quartet, cellist Raman Ramakrishnan has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia, and recorded for Bridge Records and Avie Records. He is currently a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society and is on the faculty of the Bard Conservatory of Music. In the summers, he has performed at the Marlboro, Vail, and Kingston Chamber Music festivals, and served on the faculties of the Kneisel Hall and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals. Mr. Ramakrishnan was born in Athens, Ohio and grew up in East Patchogue, New York. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in music from The Juilliard School. His principal teachers have been Fred Sherry, Andrés Díaz, and André Emelianoff. He plays a Neapolitan cello made by Vincenzo Jorio in 1837.
Abigail Brodnick (Voice)
Abby is the first prize winner of the 2023 Camille Coloratura Awards Student Division. A finalist in the 2023 Sherrill Milnes Opera Idol Competition, she also graced the 2023 Savannah Voice Festival as a Study Grant Artist. Last summer, Abby performed as a Resident Artist with Opera North (Eurydice in Orphee aux Enfers, Rapunzel in Into the Woods). Recent credits include Soeur Constance in Dialogues des Carmélites directed by Malena Dayen, soprano soloist of Carmina Burana (Cali School of Music), and soprano soloist of Handel’s Messiah (South Orange Symphony). Currently finishing her graduate studies with Beth Roberts at the Cali School of Music, Abby earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with a musical theater minor at DePauw University, studying with Dr. André Campelo.
Rebecca Fischer (Violin)
Rebecca Fischer is sought after as a highly expressive, intuitive performer of solo, chamber music and chamber orchestra repertoire. Garnering attention for her compelling programs of solo violin and singing violinist music, Ms. Fischer has premiered solo works by composers Lisa Bielawa, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Mathew Fuerst, Augusta Read Thomas, Byron Au Yong, Pierre Jalbert and others. Recent solo recital engagements include Columbia University’s Miller Theater Pop-Up series, The Stone, and the University of Oregon. She is the concertmaster of Ensemble Baroklyn, a group run by pianist Simone Dinnerstein specializing in the music of Bach, and she performs regularly with other ensembles based in New York City. Ms. Fischer is also a member of The Afield, a multidisciplinary collaboration with visual artist/writer Anthony Hawley combining new and original compositions for violin, voice, and electronics with video and other media. The Afield has performed at the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, Carnegie Hall, and the Atlanta Contemporary Museum, and has published work in Art Papers.
Karla Donehew Perez (Violin)
Karla is a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Catalyst Quartet as well as an acclaimed soloist, educator, and creative collaborator with numerous world-class artists and ensembles. Since the 2010 founding of the Catalyst Quartet, Donehew Perez has dazzled audiences as a key contributor to the ensemble’s “intense vitality and finesse” (Gramophone). She has performed as a soloist with multiple major U.S. orchestras and chamber ensembles, earning honors including an MPOWER Grant from the Sphinx Organization, as well as grants from Chamber Music America and New Music USA. She is currently a professor of violin studies at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.