Sarah Chamberlin, Flutist and Director

Sarah Chamberlin has been playing and studying the flute for 26 years, and has maintained her flute teaching studio for the past fourteen years. She graduated from Hofstra University with a BS in Music Merchandising and a minor in Dance, where she was the recipient of the Rhoda Pinsley Levin award for performance excellence. Her current teacher is Jan Vinci, (DMA, Julliard School), and she has also studied with Patricia Spencer, a specialist in the field of new flute music.

In 2003 Ms. Chamberlin founded Classical Chamberlin Ensembles, a group of chamber musicians that provide live classical music for weddings. Projects in the past few years have included an entrance in the prestigious International Haynes Flute Competition, and a recording of short pieces for her young nephew Ben. In 2006 Sarah was one of the judges for the Long Island Flute Club High School Competition. Ms. Chamberlin was accepted as a student in the 2008 woodwinds session at Domaine Forget, a music and dance academy in the province of Quebec. While there she studied with the principal flutists of the major Canadian symphonies. Study at Wildacres Flute Retreat in North Carolina followed, where she was selected to perform in masterclasses with Baroque flute master Stephen Preston, and with world renowned flutist, Goran Marcusson. Sarah has also performed in a master class with Keith Underwood.

Joanne Lin, Cellist

Joanne is an active performer of chamber music. She is a member of the mixed chamber group Transfiguration Ensemble, based on Long Island, as well as the New Century Chamber Orchestra, a conductorless group based in the San Francisco Bay Area. An avid proponent of new music, Ms. Lin was a founding member of Argento Chamber Ensemble, a contemporary music group that was featured in the Istanbul International Spectral Music Conference in November 2003. She has also participated in the Look & Listen Festival and the American Festival of Microtonal Music in New York, among others. Her string quartet, Momenta Quartet, is currently the ensemble-in-residence for the composition department of Temple University (in Philadelphia). Ms. Lin received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School in May 2000 as a student of Fred Sherry. She has a BA in Environmental Systems Modeling from Swarthmore College. Originally from San Francisco, she has been based in New York since 1998.

Ryoko Arai, Violinist

Japanese born violinist Ryoko Arai received a full scholarship and came to study the violin in the U.S. in 1997. Miss Arai has been performing various chamber music works including her performance with the Emerson String Quartet in 2000 at the Hartt School, where she was also selected to be a member of Hartt School’s honors chamber music ensemble “20/20 program”. In 2001, she was the first prize winner at the Paranov Concerto Competition and performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Hartt Symphony Orchestra. Miss Arai has participated in music festivals including the Yellowbarn Music Festival, the Kuhmo Music Course in Finland, and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.
As a violinist of the Vuillaume Trio which was founded in 2003, Miss Arai gave a New York Debut at the Carnegie Hall in November 2004.
She has previously studied with Philip Setzer, Katie Lansdale, Barbara Barber, and had masterclasses with Fradell Lack, Cho-Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, and Werner Hink. She received her masters degree in 2003 and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Stony Brook University under Ani Kavafian.

Tomoko Fujita, Cellist

Tomoko Fujita is the cellist and founding member of the Bryant Park String Quartet. She has presented solo recitals at many venues including the Staller Center for the Arts, Paul Recital Hall, and the Kosciusko Foundation. As soloist, she has appeared with the North Jersey, Springfield (MO), and the Queens (NY) Symphony Orchestras, the Long Island Philharmonic, the Sound Symphony, and the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. Ms. Fujita graduated summa cum laude from Rice University with a double degree: a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance as a student of Norman Fischer; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. She earned a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School while studying with Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins. She is currently working with Colin Carr in the Doctor of Musical Arts program at Stony Brook University. She is on the faculties of the Stony Brook University Pre-College Program and the Port Jefferson Music Academy, and also teaches cello privately.

Bethany Blyskal, Harp

Bethany has been working as a professional harpist on Long Island for nearly fifteen years. Her repertoire spans a wide range of musical genres, comprised mostly of classical pieces and Irish folk songs, but also including several popular movie themes and Broadway show tunes. Bethany has provided harp music for many different occasions across Long Island, from the North Fork and South Forks of Suffolk County into Nassau County and Queens. Such occasions include weddings, cocktail hours, rehearsal dinners, bridal and baby showers, Communion parties, office opening celebrations, and charity galas. 
Ms. Blyskal is also a public school music teacher. She has taught music and choir at both the elementary and secondary level (grades 1-5 and 9-12.) In addition, she has served as director and choreographer of numerous high school musical productions, including "Pippin", "Once on This Island", "The Music Man", "Anything Goes", and "West Side Story". Bethany holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre (Hofstra University, 1999) and a Master of Arts in Music Theory and Composition (Long Island University, 2005.) Her thesis composition, a four-movement choral work entitled "The Four Shakespearean Seasons", is currently being considered for publication in a number of choral catalogs across the United States. Ms. Blyskal is also an accomplished vocalist and pianist/accompanist, and she teaches voice and piano privately from her home studio.

Liza Zurlinden, Violinist

Originally from San Francisco, Liza holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, a Master of Music degree from Rice University and an Artist Diploma from SUNY Purchase. Her primary teachers have included Paul Kantor, Kathleen Winkler and Laurie Smukler. Liza has performed solo recitals in New York, San Francisco, Houston and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has performed chamber music with such respected chamber musicians as Robert Mann, Bonnie Hampton and James Dunham. She has played in professional orchestras such as the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera, and currently plays in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco and the Iris Chamber Orchestra in Memphis. She has attended the Aspen Music Festival, been a Fellowship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Center, where she led the Tanglewood Orchestra as Concertmaster, and spent summers at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival.

In 2002-2003, Liza was the Assistant Professor of Violin and a member of the Ceruti String Quartet at the University of Memphis. Liza now lives in New York City, where she is an active performer of chamber music and orchestral repertoire, and currently teaches at the Bergen Academy of Music and Art in Bergen, New Jersey.