Chad Burrow is recognized as one of the premiere clarinetists of his generation. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in concert halls across the globe. The European press has said that Chad performs with “brilliant technique and tonal beauty mixed with an expressive ferocity.” Danish critic, Henrik Svane, went on to describe a performance as filled with “virtuosity, energy, and power without compromise.” The New York Times recently called a Carnegie Hall appearance in Poulenc’s, Sonata, as giving a “strong impression” and being a “bright and genial account.”

In 2009, Chad was appointed to the clarinet faculty of the University of Michigan, where he teaches clarinet and chamber music, and has served as the director for the Michigan Chamber Players. Additionally, he serves as co-artistic director and clarinetist for the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma and is on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and also the faculty of the Alpenkammermusik Festival in Austria. Chad is the current principal clarinetist with the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Arizona Musicfest Orchestra.  He also regularly performs with the Michigan Opera Theatre Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings. Chad is the former principal clarinetist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, the New Haven Symphony, Quartz Mountain Music Festival, and the past Associate Professor of Clarinet at Oklahoma City University.

Chad’s recent concert engagements abroad have included concerts in Austria, Denmark’s Thy Chamber Music Festival, recitals in the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, concerts in Strasbourg, France, and Concerto appearances with the Taichung Philharmonic, the “Classic” Orchestra of Taichung and the Shin Sharn Ensemble in Taipei. Recent performances in the United States have included appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in Alice Tully Hall, Chamber Music Northwest, and performances on a series of Benny Goodman centennial concerts in Carnegie Hall and Yale University. Other performances have included venues at Rice University, the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, the University of Houston, three International Clarinet Association conferences, Northwestern University, the Music Mansion in Providence (RI), the Notre Dame University, Texas Tech University, University of North Texas, University of, Texas Christian University, the University of Texas, Louisiana State University and the University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, and others.  Chad has also performed with numerous orchestras, including the Ann Arbor Symphony, Cumberland Orchestra, and the Longview Symphony.  You can also find a recently released recording of William Bolcom’s, Clarinet Concerto with the University of Michigan Symphony Band on the Equilibrium label.

In addition to his own schedule of performances, Chad is the clarinetist for Duo Clarion, formed in 1999 at Yale University with pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng. Duo Clarion maintains an active series of performances throughout the United States, Europe, and the Far East. Duo Clarion’s work has been recorded and released by Albany Records, CD Baby, and Wei Studios in Taiwan. The Duo’s most recent recording features works of Brahms and Schumann on CD Baby. Violinist Sean Wang joins Duo Clarion to form Trio Solari. The trio has had a regular touring schedule around the world since 2006. Trio Solari released their first recording of eclectic repertoire on the Centaur label.  

Chad is the winner of prizes and awards from the 2001 Young Concert Artist International Competition in New York City, the 2000 Woolsey Hall Competition, the 2000 Artist International Competition, and the 1997 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University where he was a student of Russell Dagon, and a Master of Music degree from Yale University, where he was a student of David Shifrin.

Chad serves as an artist for Vandoren and Backun Musical Services. He plays exclusively on Backun, MOBA clarinets.

A native of Bulgaria, violinist Kristina Zlatareva is building a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, and arts entrepreneur. She has appeared on the international stage alongside artists Sarah Chang, Ray Chen, James Ehnes, and Rohan de Silva, and her performances have been broadcasted on NPR and Los Angeles’ KUSC. She has given recitals across the United States and Europe, including a 2016 performance at the Supreme Court of the United States, honoring 2016 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, Danielle Belen.

Ms. Zlatareva works alongside esteemed violin pedagogues Danielle Belen at the University of Michigan and Blair Milton at Northwestern University in mentoring a growing studio of superb young musicians in the Midwest. Ms. Zlatareva’s students have been accepted into prestigious institutions such as the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Northwestern University in Chicago, Indiana University in Bloomington, The Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Texas at Austin, String Academy at Indiana University, Center Stage Strings and Credo Festival at Oberlin. During the summer seasons, Ms. Zlatareva teaches at Center Stage Strings at UM’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance and at the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival in Alaska. In the summer of 2018, Ms. Zlatareva served on the violin faculty at the Luzerne Music Center in NY.

As a pedagogue dedicated to supporting a new generation of extraordinary classical musicians of color, Ms. Zlatareva has served on the faculty at the Sphinx Organization’s Overture Program in Detroit and Flint, MI where she has worked with under-represented students ages 7-10.

Ms. Zlatareva enjoys a parallel career in arts entrepreneurship and administration. In 2019, Ms. Zlatareva traveled to Cambodia with concert violinist & UN Messenger of Peace, Midori, for an outreach tour to over 20 NGOs as part of the International Music Engagement Program (ICEP). Every summer, Ms. Zlatareva comes back to Ann Arbor, MI to teach and serve as Executive Assistant to Prof. Danielle Belen at Center Stage Strings. She has held previous intern positions at Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Community Engagement & Outreach Department and at New York City’s leading management agency, Primo Artists.

Ms. Zlatareva is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree in Violin Performance at Northwestern University in Chicago under the tutelage of Prof. Blair Milton.

1st Prize winner of the 13th Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, 1st Prize winner of the 14th National Sphinx Competition, and Gold Medalist with High Distinction at the 5th Manhattan International Music Competition, violist Paul Laraia is enjoying the early stages of an international career as soloist and chamber musician. Acclaimed by the Strad for his “eloquent” and “vibrant” playing, Paul has been a soloist with Orchestras such as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Filharmonica de Bogata, New Jersey Symphony, Nashville Symphony, New Haven Symphony, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has been featured recitalist at London’s Wigmore Hall, the Shalin Lui Performance Center, and at the 40th International Viola Congress held at the Eastman School of Music.

As a principal member of the internationally acclaimed Sejong Soloists and as violist of the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet, Paul has given hundreds of performances globally in venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, the Kennedy Center in DC, Detroit’s historic Symphony Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series. Additionally, he has been an invited artist at major festivals such as the Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Vail International, Festival Del Sole, incheon music hic et nunc!, Hong Kong Generation Next Arts, Macau International, Sitka, Banff, Rockport, Grand Canyon, and Cornell’s “Mayfest”, where he has performed with artists such as Gil Shaham, Joshua Bell, Anthony Mcgill, Yo-Yo Ma, Jorg Widmann, Vadim Repin, Edgar Meyer, Donald Weilerstein, Cho-lang Lin, Anthony Marwood, and Paul Huang.

Paul comes from a Philadelphian viola lineage, beginning studies with Brynina Socolofsky, and then continuing with Choon-jin Chang (Principal, Philadelphia Orchestra) and Che-hung Chen, through Temple University’s Center for Talented Youth and the Settlement Music School. In 2007, Paul entered the New England Conservatory of Music with a full merit scholarship and began the most central stage of his training under Kim Kashkashian for 4 years, making musical friends and colleagues that continue to influence him to this day. Other major musical influences from his time at NEC include Dimitri Murath, Roger Tapping, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Katz, and after NEC, Steven Dann at the Glenn Gould School.

Paul believes that it is crucial to expose the highest level of classical music to all people, and actively engages in community performances, gives masterclasses, performs new music, and explores the boundaries of how classical music is traditionally presented. Paul has brought music to inner city schools, Native American Reservations, hospitals, and nursing homes, and has presented concerts to areas and communities with limited access to live concert music. Paul believes that music’s power to heal and connect people is a gift that everyone should have access to. Paul is also a recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s 2019 MPower artist grant for his innovative work in self-produced/engineered recording projects.

Paul performs on a beautiful Hiroshi Iizuka viola in the ‘viola d’amore’ style, a Belgian bow by Pierre Guillaume awarded by the Bishops Strings shop in London, and is a proud supporter of Pirastro’s Eva Pirazzi Strings.

An advocate for multifaceted musical diversity in the 21st century and a founding member of the Catalyst Quartet, Cuban-American cellist Karlos Rodriguez is an avid soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, clinician, recording artist, writer, and administrator. Rodriguez made his orchestral debut with the New World Symphony at the age of 13 to critical acclaim. 

The winner of several competitions and prizes, including Florida’s State Cello Prize and the Irene Muir Performance Prize, Rodriguez has appeared at many of the United States’ major musical venues, including Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The New World Center, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, And Radio City Music Hall, to name a few. Rodriguez has also had the honor of working with distinguished artists and members of the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, And Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, Zuill Bailey, Pieter Wispelway, Rachel Barton-pine, Awadagin Pratt, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Paul Neubauer, and Steven Isserlis. His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. 

A love of dance has led to collaborations with the Thomas/Ortiz Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, Vail International Dance Festival, and Chita Rivera. Rodriguez has attended and been a guest artist at the Encore School for Strings; the Sarasota, Strings, Aspen, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals; the Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society, and Napa’s Festival Del Sole. As an educator, he is the Director of Artistic Affairs for the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Curtis Institute of Music, and Juilliard School, and has given master classes domestically and abroad. 

Rodriguez has worked on various commercials and films, collaborated with pop artists such as Shakira, John Legend, and Pink Martini, contributed to numerous Broadway musicals, and is a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. He is a board member of the Aronson Cello Festival and former principal cellist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra in Miami. Rodriguez is also the author of Living and Sustaining a Creative Life-Music, published by Intellect Books UK. 

Karlos performs on cellos by award-winning maker Michael Doran, Seattle 2015, and the “ex-Laufer” Francesco Ruggieri, Cremona 1696.

Pauline Martin’s Washington debut captured the Washington Post headline “Pauline Martin’s Dazzling Debut”. The Canadian-born pianist has earned international recognition for her solo and chamber music performances and has been featured on national radio broadcasts in Canada, the US, and Europe.   She has performed as a concerto soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New American Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra London Canada, and the Florida West Coast Symphony, among others, including a live 2009 performance of Mozart’s Concerto K. 365 with the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra (Charles Burke, conductor), recorded for broadcast to an audience of over a billion viewers by Chinese National Television.

Pauline Martin´s credits include a first-round Grammy nomination for Hobson’s Choice (St. Clair Trio: works by Sir Malcolm Arnold, Koch International Classics) and a 2000 Chamber Music America-WQXR/FM award (Old Acquaintances St Clair Trio and Friends: works by Franz Waxman, also Koch). Her diversity in standard through contemporary repertoire is represented on the Naxos American Classics’ CD Imaginary Creatures (works by James Hartway) and Postcard from Europe with clarinetist George Stoffan (Kipling House Recordings).  Of her world premiere performance of ‘Configurations’ for piano solo, composer Leslie Bassett wrote that she “played [them] as I had always hoped they would be played. In my view… the definitive performance, upon which subsequent performances may be modeled”; similar praise from composers Sir Malcolm Arnold, George Crumb, Susan Botti, Gary Schocker, James Hartway, and Lawrence Singer speaks to her respect for every aspect of the individual composer´s intentions.

Ms. Martin has been active as a soloist and in collaboration with leading instrumentalists at a host of regional and international festivals, including the Ann Arbor, Sarasota, Summer Serenades (Rockville, Maryland), Grove (MI), Mackinac Island, Detroit Symphony Tchaikovsky and Meadowbrook Music Festivals, the Aria International Summer Music Academy, Winter Days Festival of Scandinavia and the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, as well as several Irving S. Gilmore Foundation Educational programs.  A dedicated teacher, she celebrates the achievements of her numerous Michigan State, Wayne State and Oakland University graduates, who now enjoy thriving careers in music. Her own training, beginning with her mother Lilja Martin, led her to Indiana University to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Piano Performance as a student of Menahem Pressler; she went on to complete a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan with Theodore Lettvin and resident artists Gary Graffman, and André Watts.

Pauline Martin is a Steinway Artist. She currently balances her performances and the artistic direction of Chamber Soloists of Detroit with private instruction at her West Bloomfield, Michigan home, where she resides with her husband, Haukur Ásgeirsson.