Violist Amy Hess joined the Lyric Opera Orchestra in 2016 and the Grant Park Orchestra in 2017. She was formerly a principal viola of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a member of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. She recently performed the Stamitz viola concerto with Sinfonietta DuPage and collaborated in concert with bassist Edgar Meyer as part of the Aspen Salida concert series in Colorado. Amy also was part of the Chicago premiere of Joel Puckett’s string quartet concerto Short Stories with the Northwestern Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and performed the solo viola role in Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote with cellist Joseph Johnson and the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra.  

Amy Hess

Viola

Amy received her Master of Music in viola from Northwestern University and is a Phi Beta Kappa alumna of Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, where she earned degrees in French and violin. 
​While at Oberlin, she spent a semester in Paris, studying violin with David Rivière of the CNSM and musicology at the Sorbonne. Her interest in French music continued with a collaboration with Oberlin assistant professor and Ravel scholar Sigrun Heinzelmann on a presentation at the Music Theory Midwest Conference and several lectures at Oberlin. 

Amy’s principal teachers and mentors have included Karen Ritscher, Roland Vamos, David Bowlin, and Addison Teng, but it all began thanks to her mother, a Suzuki violin teacher in Lancaster, PA.

Addison Teng has given extensive solo and chamber music performances throughout Taiwan, Hong Kong, Italy, France, Philippines, and the eastern United States. He has performed as soloist with the Oberlin College Orchestra, Eastman String Fellowship Orchestra, and Sinfonia Academy in the Philippines.  Teng was invited to attend the Academie International de Courchevel and was chosen by the Dean of the Oberlin Conservatory to appear on Italian television to promote Oberlin in Italy. He was recently nominated for the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at Oberlin College and Conservatory and is recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus of the Meadowmount School of Music.

​A rising pedagogue of his generation, Teng joined the violin and chamber music faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago in 2013 and the faculty of the Montecito International Music Festival in 2014. Teng was also artist in residence at the Golden Chamber Music Festival in Michigan.

Addison Teng ​

Violin

Previously he was teaching assistant at the Meadowmount School of Music and Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, assisting Sally Thomas, Amy Barlowe, and Roland and Almita Vamos. He has given master classes and coachings at the Taipei American School, Conservatório Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro, Eastman Pre-College, Brighton Schools, and Lawrence University, as well as classes in Canada, Philippines and China.

 In the fall of 2016, Teng embarked on a tour to Cebu, Philippines with his students, where he gave masterclasses and concerts to benefit Sistema Pilipino. His students have recently won competitions both locally and nationally, including the Hellam Young Artists, Denver Young Artists National Violin Competition, Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, Indiana School of Music Concerto Competition, and Walgreens National Concerto Competition.

 His students have been admitted to Indiana University, Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music, and Mannes New School of Music, among others. ​Teng's students have soloed with Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony, and Montecito Festival Orchestra, and have been guest concertmaster of Fort Wayne Symphony. They have also been appointed Principal Second violin of Evansville Symphony and are members of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
 
Teng graduated with a Master of Music in Violin Performance and String Pedagogy from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music and received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers and mentors include Sally Thomas, Roland and Almita Vamos, Peter Takacs, Amy Barlowe,David Bowlin and Karen Ritscher. 

(c) copyright Addison C. Teng 2017

​Nick Photinos
Cello

​Nick Photinos, cellist, is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of the four-time Grammy Award-winning chamber music ensemble Eighth Blackbird. Formed in 1996, the group performs 50-60 concerts annually throughout the world and has been featured at the 2013 Grammy Awards, on CBS’s Sunday Morning, Bloomberg TV, and frequently in the New York Times. Recent accolades include being named Musical America's Ensemble of the Year for 2017 and the inaugural Chamber Music America Visionary Award in 2016. Highlights of the 2017-2018 include their debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Jennifer Higdon’s concerto for sextet and orchestra, On a Wire; debuts in Milan and Turin, Italy and Budapest, Hungary; performances with Cincinnati Ballet; and performances across 11 US States. The 2016-17 season included debuts in Paris, at Justin Vernon’s (Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner’s (The National) Eaux Claires Festival, with the San Francisco Symphony, a three-week return to Australia, as well as shows with indie-folk artist Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham) and world premieres by Holly Harrison, Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang, and Ned McGowan. In June 2017 Eighth Blackbird launched their annual summer festival, the Blackbird Creative Lab, a tuition-, room- and board- free chamber music festival. The ensemble has held multi-year residency positions at the Curtis Institute of Music, the University of Chicago, and currently holds an ongoing Ensemble-in-Residence position at the University of Richmond. 

As a solo artist, Nick has toured with Björk, recorded with Wilco on their Grammy-nominated album The Whole Love, and recorded with Autumn Defense on their album Once Around. He has performed and recorded with numerous jazz artists including vocalists Sheila Jordan, pianist Laurence Hobgood, violinist Zach Brock, and bassist Matt Ulery, with whom he has been featured on three albums. He has also served as section cellist with the Canton and Columbus Symphony Orchestras and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. He teaches at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival every July in North Adams, MA. Nick is a graduate of Northwestern University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He has recorded for numerous labels including the Cedille, Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Greenleaf, and Naxos labels. His debut solo album, Petits Artéfacts, featuring never-before recorded works by some of the most acclaimed names in new music, including David Lang, Andrew Norman, Bryce Dessner, David T. Little, Angélica Negrón, Florent Ghys, Molly Joyce, and Pascal Le Boeuf, was released on the New Amsterdam label in August, 2017.  For more information, go to nickphotinos.com.