Festival Artists

Daniel Gilbert, Clarinet – Masterclasses and Concert

Clarinetist Daniel Gilbert joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as Associate Professor of Clarinet in 2007. Previously, he held the position of Second Clarinet in the Cleveland Orchestra from 1995 to 2007. Mr. Gilbert taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and he also served as the Associate Professor of Clarinet at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from 2000 to 2001. A native of New York City, Mr. Gilbert received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and both a Master of Music degree and a Professional Studies Certificate from The Juilliard School. Before joining the Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Gilbert was active as a freelancer in New York City, appearing regularly with groups including: The Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theater, New Jersey Symphony, Solisti New York, the Stamford Symphony and the New Haven Symphony, where he played principal clarinet from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Gilbert was a member of the Quintet of the Americas in 1994-1995. The group toured throughout the United States and was in residence at Northwestern University. He has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Suburban Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Symphony, Solisti New York and the Aspen Mozart Orchestra. He is an active chamber musician, playing regularly on the Cleveland Orchestra Chamber Series, the Cleveland Museum of Art Chamber Series and the Oberlin Chamber Music series. Mr. Gilbert’s master classes and recitals have received critical acclaim throughout the world. His teachers have included David Weber, Robert Marcellus, Stanley Hasty, Richard Waller, Burt Hara and Judith Kalin-Freeman.

Jeff Lederer, Jazz Clarinet

Jeff Lederer is a jazz clarinetist and saxophonist who has been named in the Downbeat Magazine Critics poll for Jazz Clarinet each year since 2014. He leads his own ensembles including the “Shakers n’ Bakers”, “Sunwatcher”, the “Honey Ear Trio” as well as his project “Brooklyn Blowhards” which received critical acclaim worldwide including a full feature article in the NY Times. Lederer has recorded in duo on clarinet with Cuban piano legend Chucho Valdes and is a member of Bobby Sanabria’s grammy-nominated Multiverse ensemble. As a clarinetist he has pushed the instrument forward as a contemporary voice in Latin and new Jazz music. He was recently named as a “Musician to Watch in 2017” by JazzWise magazine in London. In 2018 Lederer performed at the North Sea and Molde Jazz festivals in Europe on clarinet/bass clarinet with Allison Miller and in 2017 he performed on clarinet/woodwinds with Matt Wilson at the Monterey, Chicago, Seattle and Azores Jazz festivals. Lederer was the 2017 artist- in-residence at the Guimaraes (Portugal) Jazz festival where he led his own group along with a large orchestra of students from the ESMAE conservatory. In the fall of 2018 he will perform and lead workshops at the Buenos Aires Jazz Festival in Argentina with the “Avantango” group.

Lederer is currently serving as professor of Jazz Saxophone/Woodwinds and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Long Island University, Post Campus and is a Vandoren woodwind artist.

More about Jeff Lederer.

Levana Cohen, Clarinet Choir Director

Seattle born clarinetist, Levana Cohen is an avid performer and music educator. Her performances have taken her to some of the most prestigious concert halls including, Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose hall, the Koussevitzky Music Shed and Ozawa hall of Tanglewood, Benaroya Hall, Symphony Space, The DiMenna Center, Flushing Town Hall and the 92ndY sharing the stage and performing with such artists as Frank Morelli, William Purvis, Steven Taylor, Shlomo Mintz and the Emerson String Quartet to name a few. Levana's life as a NY based freelance musician has made her into an extremely versatile musician performing and teaching in a multitude of different genres.

In performance, these genres include the ballet, pit orchestra, opera, chamber music (both in the concert hall and for house parties), studio musician (recording for TV and radio), and the occasional concerto. Currently, Levana perform as the Principal Clarinetist for the Astoria Symphony Orchestra and appears at universities nation-wide leading masterclasses, clinics and performing recitals and concertos.

As a committed and devoted music educator, Dr. Cohen enjoys teaching students of all ages. She is the clarinet professor and teaches the Woodwind Method class at Long Island University, Post campus. She also serves as the Clarinet Instructor at Suffolk County Community College, and operates her own private teaching studio in Port Washington NY. Apart from helping her students find their true, unique voice on their instrument, one of her highest priorities at the college level is to prepare her students for successful careers in music. Dr. Cohen is a Vandoren Regional Artist and through this program gives free clinics to music programs across Long Island. Additionally, Levana is a Woodwind Specialist and coach with the Metropolitan Youth Orchestras of New York, a chamber music coach for Stony Brook University, and is the director of the Port Washington Clarinet Choir.

Levana holds both a Master of Music degree and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University under the tutelage of Daniel Gilbert. She performs on Buffet Tosca clarinets and uses Vandoren mouthpiece, ligature and reed products.

More about Levana Cohen.

Anat Cohen, Jazz Clarinetist

Ever charismatic, prolific and inspired, Grammy-nominated clarinetist-saxophonist Anat Cohen has won hearts and minds the world over with her expressive virtuosity and delightful stage presence. The New York Times writes, "Ms. Cohen on the clarinet was a revelation. Using the clarinet's upper register, she could evoke infectious joy. In the lower register, her playing could conjure a deep, soulful melancholy. On up-tempo numbers, her improvisations weren't just bebop fast; they had a clarity and deep intelligence that is really quite rare. She made it look effortless, even as she was playing the most technically difficult of all the reed instruments… she took my breath away."

Anat has been declared Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association every year since 2007 and has also been named the top clarinetist in both the readers and critics polls in DownBeat for multiple years running. That's not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year. In 2009, ASCAP awarded Anat a Wall of Fame prize for composition and musicianship, among other honors. As The Chicago Tribune has said about Anat, "The lyric beauty of her tone, easy fluidity of her technique and extroverted manner of her delivery make this music accessible to all."

More about Anat Cohen.

Christine Altman, RES-CPT

Christine Altman, RES-CPT is known for her light-hearted but highly specific approach to mechanics-based structural analysis and restoration. She is a favorite teacher for those seeking guidance and knowledge on everything from an individualized route out of chronic pain, to unlocking the mysteries of a functional core. A dedicated student of Katy Bowman, Christine teaches and practices pure Restorative Exercise sprinkled with wisdom gained from years of clinical practice. She runs The Vital Gaitway, one of a handful of facilities in the world devoted to teaching this practice. She has gained a reputation amongst clients and colleagues for facilitating rapid results. She applies meticulous observation and rigorous training with the heart, hand and eye of an artist.

Christine teaches around the United States, and sees clients at studios in Northwestern Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut and Manhattan.

More about Christine Altman.

Christine Doré, Piano Accompanist

Pianist Christine Doré has received international acclaim as a chamber musician with wide interpretative capabilities. She enjoys an active and varied career as a chamber musician, accompanist, soloist and teacher. This season her performing travels have taken her to Connecticut, Iowa, Ohio and New York.

After receiving her early musical training in England, Ms. Doré continued her piano studies in Rhode Island, New York and Boston. She holds a BM with honors from the New England Conservatory and earned her MM from the Mannes College of Music, where she attended on a full merit scholarship.

Ms. Doré made her New York debut in 1996 as a collaborative pianist at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. As a chamber musician she twice toured Eastern Europe, including performances in the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Her chamber music performances have been aired on radio stations WNYC, WSHU and KSUI (Iowa Public Radio.) As a founding member of the Meridien Trio, she collaborates with cellist Anthony Arnone and violinist Suzanne Beia of the Pro Arte Quartet. Ms. Doré is also a founding member of the chamber music ensemble Chamberosity, which in the last decade has commissioned, premiered and recorded two exciting trios for violin, horn and piano: one by Eric Ewazen; the other by Peter Winkler. The ensemble's recordings of both commissions are available through iTunes, cdbaby and Amazon, as well as at www.chamberosity.org.

Ms. Doré has appeared as a soloist with the Camerata Orchestra of NY, the Stony Brook Summer Music Festival Orchestra, the Mannes College Orchestra, and the Long Island Philharmonic and the Huntington Community Band.

Ms. Dore ran the Music At Greenlawn concert series for the decade of its highly successful existence, ending in 2003. Her TV and film credits include Amazon Prime's Mozart in the Jungle, ABC's Loving and the documentary Death in the Wilderness.

Ms. Doré currently serves on the music faculty of LIU Post as Professor of Instrumental Coaching and Staff Accompanist; and is a faculty member of the LIU Post Chamber Music Festival. She was a member of the faculty of the highly regarded Stony Brook Summer Music Festival during its tenure. For several years she was a member of the chamber music faculty of the pre-college music program at SUNY Stony Brook. Ms. Doré is an adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers, and is regularly invited to judge piano competitions. She has been the accompanist for the Huntington Choral Society since 1994, and is in high demand as a choral accompanist. Ms. Doré believes in the highest standards of musical education and is devoted to her many students, both past and present.