Stephanie Pizza
Flutist Stephanie Pizza made her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2011 at the age of 13 as a winner of the Alexander and Buono International flute competition. Ms. Pizza has had continued success as a flutist performing in some of America’s and Europe’s most prestigious venues including: The Concertgebouw, The Mozarteum, The Musikverein, The Grand Ole Opry, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Merkin Hall, Lincoln Center and Symphony Hall. Most recently, she was a performer with the Professional Flute Choir at the 2023 National Flute Association Convention in Phoenix, Arizona where she performed with soloist Viviana Guzman at Phoenix’s Symphony Hall. In 2022, Ms. Pizza was named a finalist in the Music International Grand Prix Competition. In 2021, she was also recognized as the second-place winner in the American Protege Woodwinds and Brass Competition where she performed in the winners recital at Carnegie Hall in November 2022. Ms. Pizza is a 2022 graduate of The Mannes School of Music where she earned her master’s degree in flute performance with Ms. Judith Mendenhall and a 2020 graduate of Boston University where she earned her bachelor's degree in flute performance and music education under Ms. Linda Toote. Ms. Pizza is currently the Assistant Director of Mannes Prep.
Poppy Song
Elizabeth (Poppy) Song of Haworth, NJ studies with Dr. Masao Kawasaki at Juilliard Pre-College. Previously, she studied with Dr. I-Hao Lee. At the age of 13, Poppy made her orchestral debut in March 2023 with the Grammy-winning maestro Michael Repper and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. She was the first prize winner of the 2023 Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition, performing 3 concerts along the East Coast.
She was a prize winner of the Chicago Violin Competition (2022) and Adelphi Young Artists Competition (2024). Poppy was the first prize winner of the Juilliard Pre-College String Orchestra Concerto Competition (2023); and third prizewinner of the 2023 Il Piccolo Violino Magico Competition, taking place in San Vito Al Tagliamento, Italy. She was awarded first prize in the Riverside Symphonia Caprio Young Artists Competition (2024); NJ Capital Philharmonic Mary G. Roebling Youth Concerto Competition (2024); NJ Intergenerational Orchestra (NJIO)Young Artist Competition (2024); Bergen Philharmonic Young Artist Competition (2024).
Poppy was the 2023 concertmaster of the North Jersey Middle School Orchestra and then the 2024 concertmaster of the New Jersey All-State High School Orchestra. In 2023, Poppy attended Morningside Music Bridge, a full-scholarship summer program at the New England Conservatory in Boston. This summer, she will attend Tibor Junior International Competition in Sion, Switzerland.
Poppy loves playing violin with her peers and sharing music with the community. She has volunteered with Asian Women’s Christian Association(AWCA), Pro Sono, and Haworth Arts Committee to name a few.
She is the Principal of the Good Neighbor Ensemble, a community outreach group dedicated to performing in senior homes and hospitals. Poppy loves playing soccer and in her spare time, she loves to read.
Ron Levy
Ron Levy, internationally acclaimed pianist, has been called "first-class" by the New York Times. He regularly appears in major venues, both as a soloist and collaborative artist, and has been pianist and harpsichordist of many symphony orchestras. Ron has been Associate Artist of the venerable All Seasons Chamber Players; he was a frequent guest soloist with the resident chamber ensemble of the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. A resident of Vermont for over 20 years, Ron was a faculty and Board member of the Manchester Music Festival, Music Director and Conductor of the Opera Theatre in Weston, Program and Music Director at the historic Equinox Hotel, and impresario of the "Music On The Hill" chamber music series of the Southern Vermont Art Center. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory, he has taught at numerous colleges, and is currently on the faculty of Montclair University's Cali School of Music, as well as The Ridgewood Conservatory. In addition, he is Music Director of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, pianist & Assistant Conductor of the Orpheus Club Mens' Chorus, a founding member of the Arundo Trio, and pianist of the award-winning Palisades Virtuosi [2022 American Prize], of which he is also a founding member. A prolific recording artist, CDs by Mr. Levy are available on the Albany, Centaur, Eroica, 4-Tay, Great Kate, High Point, Koch International, Phoenix, South Mountain and Summit labels.
A two-term President of the Professional Music Teachers' Guild of NJ, Mr. Levy is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rockland [NY] and Monmouth [NJ] symphony orchestras; he is also a consultant to BIM Music Pulbications, Switzerland.
Ron is the unintentional star of the YouTube video "Five Top Worst Page Turn Fails," which has gone viral with over two million hits!
Emmanuel Feldman
Hailed by John Williams as “an outstanding cellist and truly dedicated artist,” Emmanuel Feldman is an award-winning cellist performing in the U.S. and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Described by Gramophone as “an artist who combines communicative urgency with tonal splendor,” his CD Our American Roots (Delos) includes Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker’s cello sonata and Feldman’s acclaimed arrangements of Gershwin pieces for cello and piano.
Revolutionizing modern cello playing, Feldman performs standing up using his patented TekStand™ pioneering a sensational new experience for listeners visually and sonically that engages fellow musicians and audiences alike. For collaborative concerts when sitting traditionally is needed, he uses his other invention, the TekPin™ vertical endpin that is used by cellists all around the world. He has been featured in articles in The Strad and in Strings Magazine and has been a presenter at the American String Teachers Conference.
His guest artist appearances include the Celebrity Series of Boston, Phillips Collection, Boston Pops, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Mozart Society Orchestra and Greensboro Festival Orchestra among others. Feldman concerts throughout Europe including appearances at Salle Gaveau Paris, Altes Raathaus Vienna, Palazzo Scopoli, Tonadico (Italy) and he has toured in Taiwan. An enthusiastic collaborator, he has partnered in a wide range of performances with artists including Gilbert Kalish, Paul Neubauer, Karen Dreyfus Richard Stoltzman, Elmar Oliveira, pop star Bobby McFerrin and groups including the Mark Morris Dance Group and Ballet Rhode Island.
As co-founder of Duo Cello e Basso, along with bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman, they have given numerous residencies at universities across the U.S. The duo’s recently released CD “Let’s Tango!” (2024) has been entered by Parma Records in consideration for a Latin Grammy for Feldman’s arrangement of the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires of Piazzolla. As a core member of the Aurea Ensemble and a guest artist with the Boston Public Quartet, Feldman, tours with these groups performing chamber music paired with poetry and the music of BIPOC composers. He also has performed as a guest with the Verona, Jupiter, Lark and Borromeo String Quartets.
An active advocate of new music, Feldman’s critically acclaimed recordings (Naxos, Delos, Albany and others) and world premiere performances have featured music by American composers John Harbison, Ned Rorem, Gunther Schuller, Steve Mackey and Richard Danielpour. Praised by the N.Y. Times as “exhilarating in this bracing and confident performance” Feldman’s “Rider on The Plains” CD earned a 2008 Grammy nomination for producer Blanton Alspaugh and features Virgil Thomson’s Cello Concerto along with the complete cello works of Thomson with pianist Joy Cline Phinney. Feldman’s own cello concerto “Standing Tall” that won a silver medal at the 2022 Global Music Awards was written together with the debut of his TekStand™.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Tufts University, he has taught at New England Conservatory and Brown University, is on the performance faculty of Tufts University and Project STEP and has given masterclasses at the National Taiwan Normal University (Taipei), Manhattan School of Music, Bienen School and Peabody Institute. He has been on the cello faculty of the International Cello Institute, Yellow Barn and Heifetz International Music Institutes and is a faculty member of the Trentino Music Festival (Italy) and Duxbury and Easton Chamber Music Festivals.
