Dale Stuckenbruck – Grammy-nominated artist, is immersed in the diverse musical life in New York as a soloist, concertmaster, chamber musician and teacher. His mentor of three decades was the great violinist Erick Friedman, with whom he has appeared as soloist in recording and in chamber music. He has performed as soloist/concertmaster with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Philharmonia Virtuosi, New York Virtuosi, New York String Ensemble, Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra, Taipei City Symphony Orchestra, Music at St. Ignatius, Dance Theater of Harlem, Queens Symphony, Masterworks, and the Long Island Philharmonic. He recorded the "Concerto for Violin and String Choir" for Opus One by Louis Pelosi, with Erick Friedman on Kultur Video, and for countless commercial recordings and films. Recognized as one of the premier artist of the musical saw, receiving international acclaim for "Sawing to New Heights", "Ancient Voices of Children" by George Crumb on Bridge Records, and for his performances of the "Divination by Mirrors" by Michael Levine with the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the New York Virtuosi. He has performed the saw in chamber music with Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and for the New York Philharmonic. As a mandolinist he has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, ABT, and with Paula Robison at the Metropolitan Museum and in a recording with her and the Charleston Symphony. He has been featured in Strings Magazine, Wuolgang Umak (Korea), Newsday, Sarasate (Japan) and the New York Times. He has been a guest lecturer for the Juilliard School of Music (musical saw and Baroque violin), and the Long Island Guitar Festival. He created the music for the films "Shadows" and "Fresh," featured at the Whitney Museum and the Israeli Museum. He and Heawon Kim are founders of unique string ensemble for young talent, Kammermusik, the ECO orchestra of the Waldorf School of Garden City, and the Long Island Vegetable Orchestra. He is the violinist the chamber groups L'Ensemble and the Pierrot Consort and in chamber ensembles such as the Clarion Concerts, Leaf Peeper Concerts, and at the Caramoor Festival. Since 1975 he has toured with Heawon Kim, pianist, in recitals in Asia, Europe and South America. Adjunct full professor at LIU since 1986. Music Director at the Waldorf School of Garden City since 2011. Faculty: Oyster Bay Music Festival and Songe d'Été en Musique. D.M.A. from MSM, 1984. www.violin-saw.com.
Veronica Salas, a native of Chile, has performed as a soloist with Mostly Mozart, Aspen Music Festival, USC Symphony, CW Post Orchestra, Colonial and New Jersey Festival Orchestra. Under the auspices of the State Department, she has given recitals and master classes in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan as well as touring the Greek Isles as violist of the Elysium String Quartet. Additional international venues include Japan with Mostly Mozart and New York Pops, Italy as principal violist of the Spoleto Festival and Europe with Barbra Streisand. She has performed chamber music with Yoyo Ma, Eric Friedman, Lawrence Dutton, Joseph Fuchs, and Stanley Drucker. Ms. Salas is a member of Pierrot Consort, Elysium Ensemble, Canta Libre, and Bronx Arts Ensemble. CDs include: Ge Gan-Ru String Quartets with Modern Works, which was chosen by The New York Times as a notable recording of 2009, a Virgil Thomson CD where Ms. Salas is featured, an all Mozart CD with Stanley Drucker, the Bach Brandenburg concerti featuring Lukas Foss and "Hobgoblinary" for viola and harpsichord written for her by Kenji Bunch and The Queens Chamber Band. Ms. Salas has performed at the White House as acting principal of the Eos Orchestra and is presently principal violist of American Composers Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, and New Jersey Festival Orchestra. She is on the faculties of "Song D'ete en Musique" in Quebec, Long Island University, and Bennington Chamber Music Conference. Salas received her BMA, MMA, and DMA from the Juilliard School where she studied with Lillian Fuchs.
Maureen Hynes is Adjunct Professor of Cello and Director of Orchestral and String Studies at LIU Post. She is the conductor of the LIU Post Orchestra, the conductor and creator of the LIU Post String Ensemble, co-founder of the LIU Post Chamber Music Festival, and Director of the LIU Post Merriweather Consort, which specializes in Renaissance music.
Ms. Hynes enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, conductor and educator. She performs regularly with the American Ballet Theater, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of New York, American Composers Orchestra, the Bard Festival Orchestra, New York Virtuosi, the Westchester Philharmonic and the Queens Symphony. She has also appeared with the Royal Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, at the Spoleto and Aspen Festivals, at the Lake George Opera Festival and with the Bard Festival Chamber Players. Her work in New York has also included substitute work in many Broadway shows and for the Radio City Christmas Show.
Her solo and chamber music appearances have included performances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., the Kennedy Center, the New York Society for Ethical Culture and the Bayside Historical Society. A winner of the Concert Artist Guild Award with the Janus Ensemble, she is currently a member of the Pierrot Consort. She has performed in Europe, Canada, Ireland, Korea and Hong Kong both as cellist and on the viola da gamba.
In May of 2011, she conducted the LIU Post String Ensemble on its first European concert tour in Italy. Since the summer of 2011, she appears as soloist, chamber musician and faculty at Songe d'été en musique in Québec, Canada. In the spring of 2014, she performed as cello soloist with the LIU Post Chorus and conducted performances of the LIU Post String Ensemble on tour in Ireland.
She was also the creator and director of the LIU Post Pre-College Music Program. She has been guest conductor for the Nassau All-County Festival at Tilles Center, the SCMEA Festival, the Long Island String Festivals in Nassau and Suffolk Counties and the Area 1 All-State String Orchestra. She has conducted string sectional rehearsals at the Manhattan School of Music, including preparing the strings for the Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar. She is an adjudicator for Worldstrides Heritage Festivals.
In 2009, she received the Adjunct Faculty Recognition Award from LIU Post for her contributions to the Department of Music and in addition, she is listed in the Marquis "Who's Who of American Women." She is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, where she received her B.M. and M.M. degrees. Ms. Hynes has given Cello Master Classes in Seoul, Korea and on Long Island and she has coached at the Mannes Pre-College Division. She has recorded for the Albany label. She recently conducted the Queens Symphony Orchestra as a finalist for the Music Director position. In the fall of 2015, she became a member of the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music where she teaches Introductory and Advanced Conducting classes.
She is a member of Chamber Music America, Early Music America, NAFME, the American String Teachers Association and the College Orchestra Directors Association.
Karen Hansen Gellert has been involved in many facets of music performance and education on Long Island. She received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in Double Bass Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. The majority of her studies were with David Walter, who even today is a constant source of inspiration to her. Ms. Gellert performed at the Aspen Music Festival as well as the International School of Double Bass at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, working with such notable bassists as Barry Green, Paul Ellison and Francois Rabbath. Ms. Gellert has been a member of the Westchester Symphony, Queens Orchestral Society and the Nassau and Stamford Symphonies. As a freelance performer, she plays with the Long Island Choral Society and Mineola Choral Society, among others. Teaching music has been the focus of her career thus far. She is presently the Orchestra Director at Elwood-John Glenn High School, where most recently her students performed at Universal Studios as part of the Stars Performance Series. She has been the Lead Teacher for Music in the Elwood Public Schools. Most recently, she has presented seminars on approaches to teaching the Double Bass at Music Education Symposiums in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. She is actively involved in organizations that propel excellent music programs. She is past president of the Long Island String Festival Association (LISFA). She was the Double Bass Instructor at the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts for 13 years. She is also past State Chair for the NYSSMA All-State Orchestras and is a frequent NYSSMA adjudicator and guest conductor for SCMEA and LISFA. Ms. Gellert is currently the adjunct professor of classical double bass, and on the music education faculty at LIU Post.