Cellist Lillian Yim, 21, is a versatile musician striving to instill a love for music to her audiences. Lillian discovered her passion for music while studying cello with Katie Kennedy at the Hartt School in Connecticut, where she began performing in orchestras and chamber ensembles. She was awarded the principal cello position of the Connecticut Youth Symphony as one of the youngest members in the orchestra. Ever since then, Lillian quickly became an avid orchestral musician.  While at Farmington High School Lillian participated in NAfME’s selective All-National and All-Eastern Festival Orchestras as well as numerous Connecticut Regional and All-State festival orchestras as principal and assistant principal. Her high school chamber music groups were recognized as the Hartt School of Music’s Honor Ensemble. Lillian was a part of the Malovani Piano Quintet which was selected to play in HarttWorks, a concert at the Hartt School of Music to showcase their best ensembles.
 
Her passion for orchestral playing has continued throughout her time in college, where she has served as principal and assistant principal of the New England Conservatory Symphony and Philharmonia Orchestras. Outside of conservatory orchestra, she was selected for the New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2022, and performed two concerts in Carnegie Hall. This summer, she will be attending the Tanglewood Music Center as a fellow for the summer of 2023.

Chamber music is a valuable part of Lillian’s career. Throughout her time at the New England Conservatory, Lillian’s quartet was selected for the Borromeo String Quartet’s Beethoven Seminar and performed Beethoven’s String Quartet, op. 74 no. 10 “Harp” in Jordan Hall.
 
Lillian made her soloist debut at age 17 where she performed with the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Hartford Music Teachers Alliance Concerto Competition. The orchestra invited her back in 2020 to perform Elgar’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra as the second prize winner of the CT-ASTA Solo Competition. Lillian is the first prize winner of the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition for 2019 and 2020.
 
Lillian studies at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Yeesun Kim, She is a recipient of the Cornelia Lombard Scholarship and the Dean’s Scholarship.

Zhanna Alkhazova
Dramatic soprano Zhanna Alkhazova’s voice has been described as “masterful” and “effortless…with an exquisite ease.” Praised by Opera News for her “bright, sword-flashing sound” her notable recent engagements include the title roles of TURANDOT and MANON LESCAUT, ELIZABETTA in Don Carlos and DONNA ELVIRA in Don Giovanni. Her operatic credits include Title Role in TOSCA, Title Role in AIDA, LEONORA in Il Trovatore, TAMARA in Demon among others.  She is an active performer on concert stages in the United States, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and is a frequent collaborator with the Refugee Orchestra. This season’s engagements include a Connecticut Opera debut as NEDDA in I Pagliacci, debuts at Bard Music Festival and First Coast Opera as a featured artist. Ms. Alkhazova will also appear in concert with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Beth El Symphony Orchestra and the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Alkhazova was awarded top prizes in the NJ Verismo Opera Competition, the Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition, the Arkadi Foundation Competition and received an Encouragement Award from the Wagner Society of New York. She was named semi-finalist in The Montserrat Caballé International Singing Competition and the Elizabeth Connell International Competition for Dramatic Sopranos.

Originally from Moscow, Russia, Ms. Alkhazova grew up in the New England area where she completed her studies, graduating with a Master of Music Degree from Boston University.

Sarah Armstrong                                                                            
Sarah Armstrong is a multi-talented musician, educator, and director who is passionate about the performing arts. With over two decades of experience, Sarah has established herself as a respected figure in the music and education communities. Sarah began her career as a professional opera singer and spent over a decade as a soloist with companies such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Metropolitan Opera, and Connecticut Opera before returning to the classroom. She is currently the Performing Arts Chair at Canterbury School where she directs both the choral and theatre programs. Sarah is also an avid musician and performer. She is one half of the Halcyon Duo with Dr. Thomas Schuttenhelm, a critically acclaimed guitar and voice duo. She also sings with Voce, New England’s Chamber Choir. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Education from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley Colorado and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Education with an emphasis on Choral Studies from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
 
This will be Ms. Armstrong’s second performance with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra.

Jack Pott
Jack Anthony Pott is a highly respected soloists, conductor, voice teacher, and clinician throughout Connecticut. He has been a featured tenor soloist with many ensembles in Connecticut, including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, CONCORA, Voce, Inc., Hartford Chorale, GMChorale, Con Brio, and the Mystic River Chorale. Mr. Pott has soloed in numerous performances of Handel’s Messiah, as well as Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Magnificat, various Cantatas, and as the Evangelist in the St. Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio. In 2022 he made his Carnegie Hall debut as the tenor soloists in Handel’s Messiah. In 2013, he sang the role of Dr. John K. Meneely in the world premiere of the dramatic oratorio, Letter from Italy, 1944, and was featured in a 2015 Emmy-winning documentary of the same. He reprised that role in 2017 with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at The Bushnell Performing Arts Center. Additionally, he is a featured soloist on albums of the music of Morten Lauridsen, Paul Mealor, and Patrick Hawes, by the Hartford-based professional choir, Voce, for which he serves as Principal Tenor. Having been a member of the voice faculty for both Central Connecticut State University and the Hartt School Community Division, Mr. Pott now teaches privately. Equally comfortable on the other side of the podium, he has conducted the CMEA Northern Region HS Choir, as well as other high school choral festivals throughout Connecticut. He is currently the Director of Music & Arts at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, and the Interim Music Director for the Hartford Chorale. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from The University of Michigan, and did graduate studies in choral conducting and voice performance at the University of Connecticut.

Chai-lun Yueh
A dramatic baritone with a rich and powerful voice, Mr. Chai-lun Yueh is an internationally acclaimed performing artist, music director, voice educator. He is the first Chinese-born classical musician nominated for the Grammy Awards; winner of The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions of the New England Region; Finalist at The Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition; Grant recipient of New York Women Composers; Golden award and Best Male Voice in Classical category from the Global Music Awards and The Prestige Music Award for his CD album of “24 Italian Songs and Arias”, and the finalist of The American Prize.
 
Mr. Yueh currently teaches at the Hartt School and has been awarded as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Voice (twice) from The University of Hartford; he is a long-time voice faculty at Wesleyan University; and served as Chairman of Voice department at the Hartford Conservatory for three executive terms.
 
Receiving Artist Diploma and Master of Music degrees from The Hartt School after graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music of China, Mr. Yueh continued his advanced studies with Professor Marlena Malas at The Julliard School.
 
He has worked  closely with world renowned artists, directors, and conductors such as Sir. Yehudi Menuhin, Gino Bechi, Sherrill Milnes, Anton Guadagno, Yves Abel, Benton Hess, and Adelaide Bishop. He has performed in many leading/major roles in opera such as Tonio, Rigoletto, Giorgio Germont, Escamillo, Figaro, Beron Scarpia, Marcello, Sharpless, Count Almaviva, Valentine, and Don Giovanni. His voice has been heard at The National Opera of China, Austin Lyric Opera, Baltimore Opera, Connecticut Opera, Hawaii Opera, Opera Theater of Connecticut and among many others.
 
Mr. Yueh has performed at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium for over six times, also at Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, Chicago and Boston Symphony Halls, The Strathmore Music Hall in Washington DC, Jordan Hall in Boston, Woolsey Hall at Yale University. Mr. Yueh has worked closely with Mr. Richard Coffey, Dr. Christopher Shepard of the Hartford Chorale and CONCORA, and Ms. Carolyn Kuan of the Hartford Symphony. His repertoire extended from Bach’s B minor Mass, St. John and St. Mathew’s Passion, to Mozart, Brahms, Verdi, Faure Requiems, Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Dvorak’s Mass in D, Te Deum, op.103, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Mr. Yueh has also performed extensively in Europe in Vienna, Salzburg, Paris, London, Prague, and China.
 
Mr. Yueh served as Music Director and conductor for Connecticut Women’s Chorale (2006-2021), two terms of the Board of Directors of CONCORA and the Chairman of its Concert Committee,  also the Music Director for the Yellow River Cantata project at The Carnegie Hall, and The Kanghua Singers of Greater Hartford.
 
A former Visiting Assistant Professor at University of Texas, Mr. Yueh is a full member of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and The National Music Honer Society (Pi Kappa Lambda), he’s a frequent lecturer at his Alma Mater, The Central Conservatory of Music, China, and a Visiting Professor at the Conservatory of Music, Ningbo University, China.
 
This will be Mr. Yueh’s fifth appearance with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra.

Holding degrees in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy from Wheaton College and The Hartt School, Cynthia Knotts is an active performer and teacher in Connecticut. Cynthia serves as concertmaster for the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, and has also played with a number of orchestras in Connecticut, including Hartford and Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestras. She has been operating a private Suzuki studio since 2003 and has enjoyed the privilege of bringing music into the lives of many young people. One of her greatest delights is providing a classical education at home for her four delightful children, whom she plans to homeschool all the way through high school. They help support her music career in part by folding laundry while she is at rehearsals. Cynthia’s performing and teaching career and homeschooling efforts are made possible by the incredible support of her husband Tim who is also invested in homeschooling and oversees the laundry folding on rehearsal nights. Cynthia lives in Windsor and has more books than her bookshelves can hold.

A concert soloist, Dongbin Shin gives concerts home and abroad. He has previously served as the concertmaster at the Hartt Symphony Orchestra and the Waterbury Chorale. Winner of the 2011 Central Washington University Concerto Competition, Dongbin was appointed as the violin technique class instructor at The Hartt School in 2012.

Not only does Julie Asuma Levene perform with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, she is a member of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra. Julie frequently performs with touring shows at the Palace Theater in Waterbury and with new musical productions at Goodspeed Opera House’s Terris Theater. Julie is an adjunct instructor of clarinet at Sacred Heart University and Choate Rosemary Hall, and is a faculty member at Neighborhood Music School in New Haven where she teaches clarinet and coaches chamber ensembles

William Beecher is a bassoonist, contrabassoonist, and teacher based in the Hudson Valley. He has performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, and will be recording an album for the Naxos Label in March. William is faculty at the Juilliard School Pre College Division, and working on his doctorate at the Hartt School.

Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra horn player Roger Caruk has performed for over 20 years throughout New England with numerous groups, including the Thayer Symphony, New Philharmonia, Emmanuel Music and the Hartford, Eastern CT, Waterbury and New Britain Symphony Orchestras. He is currently Principal Horn with the CT Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, CT Lyric Opera Orchestra, and Hartford Pops Band. He graduated from the University of Connecticut.

Jan Oliver Homann teaches oboe at Central Connecticut State University and the University of Bridgeport, as well as coaching woodwinds and teaching music theory at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. He performs as a freelance oboist throughout Connecticut and is Principal Oboe of the New Britain Symphony Orchestra. Oliver holds degrees from Northwestern University (BM), Yale University (MM) and City University of New York (DMA). Hiss doctoral thesis covered the life’s work of Franz Joseph Rosinack (1748-1823), an eighteenth century oboist and arranger who worked for the Fürstenberg Court in Donaueschingen, Germany. He has additional studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim. Before coming to Connecticut Oliver performed for several years in Mexico, with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Aguas Calientes and the Filarmonica del Bajio in Guanajuato.

Tracy Norkun studied at the Hartford Conservatory, Hartt School of Music and Syracuse University. In addition to being Principal Flute of the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, she holds the same title with the West Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Tracy teaches and performs throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts and is a regular adjudicator for CMEA regional and all state festivals. Past concerto appearances with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra have included works by Mozart, J. S. Bach and Connecticut composer Joseph Russo.

As well as being a freelance trombonist, Jackie Harris-Stone serves as Music Drector of Burlington Congregational Church, chamber music coach at the Hartt school, and teaches early music, cardio drumming, and a large and varied personal studio. Jackie has a MA from Juilliard, and spent 7 years as the bass trombonist (and sometimes principal trombonist) of the La Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, northern Mexico’s premiere full- time orchestra

Jens Larsen’s degrees in trumpet performance are from Old Dominion and Rice Universities. Along with performing with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra, Jens is widely engaged by other Connecticut orchestras including the New Haven, Waterbury, Ridgefield, and Wallingford Symphony Orchestras, as well as Berkshire Jazz Orchestra.

Jens has previously served as Co-Principal Trumpet of the Greenville Symphony and Principal Trumpet of the Augusta Symphony and performed extensively in the Southeast with many other orchestras and ensembles. Jens was Trumpet Instructor at Newberry and Converse Colleges and has performed with many popular and classical artists and groups such as Yo-Yo Ma, Aretha Franklin, and Art Garfunkel. He frequently performs in pit orchestras of Broadway shows on national tours as they stop in the area.

Julia Cavagnaro is a part of the award winning Nautilus Brass Quintet and regularly performs in the Connecticut and New England area. Julia maintains a robust private studio and teaches clinics and sectionals in local middle and high schools. After completing her DMA coursework from the Hartt School. She and her family are residents of Canton.

Mark Flegg is enjoying his 25th season with the Flint Symphony as Principal Trumpeter.

Mark has a Bachelor of Music Education from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Music in Trumpet from Arizona State University. While in Arizona, Mark performed with the Tucson and Sun City Symphonies, Arizona Opera and Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM.

In 1995 Mark returned to Michigan and became Principal Trumpet of the Flint Symphony Orchestra. He has been Principal Trumpet of the Saginaw Bay Symphony and substituted with the Detroit, Toledo, Windsor and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestras. He has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Michigan State University and performed seven summers with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA. Mark had an active studio in his Farmington Hills home and served as trumpet instructor at both Wayne State and Saginaw Valley State University.

In 2017 Mark relocated to Connecticut. He still performs in Michigan and is becoming equally sought as a performer in Connecticut. Mark has created the Structured Practice Journal, a web based music practice journaling application (www.structuredpracticejournal.com), and has a full schedule of freelance web and mobile development projects.

Peter Coutsouridis is Associate Professor of Percussion and Music Theory at Westfield State University in Massachusetts where he performs with a faculty jazz ensemble. He is currently principal timpanist with the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in Waterbury, Connecticut and is a drummer with the worship team ministry at Westfield Evangelical Free Church. He holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music, Central Washington University and received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Peter lives in Westfield, Massachusetts with his wife Karin and their six children.

Walter Gibson currently manages the Performance Library and Musical Instrument Collection at the Hartt School, University of Hartford. The Vietnam era veteran has followed his musical path from high school, the US Army, Mannes College, to the Hartt School from where he has a Bachelor’s of Music. Walter performs with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra and also the Waterbury, Wallingford and New Britain Symphony Orchestras. Walter is the personnel manager of the New Britain Symphony and teaches euphonium and tuba at the Hartt Community Division and Central Connecticut University. Walter was the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra Person of the Year 2016-2017 he recognition of his active support of orchestras in Connecticut.