Performers

Hailed as a “superb and mature musician with lots of technical mastery” by New Music Connoisseur, violinist Jennifer Leckie champions music by living composers in her performances as a soloist and chamber musician, and especially enjoys performing music by composers from under-represented groups. Chicago Classical Review praised her solo interpretation of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Cappricci as a “concentrated, acutely colored performance” that “provided impressive advocacy of this challenging music, surmounting the daunting technical hurdles to make a commanding whole” with “an array of nuanced dynamics and bravura.” As a founding member of the Grant Street String Quartet, Jennifer performed and recorded world premiere works by Chicago-area composers. She has also worked closely with composers Ornette Colman, Ursula Mamlok, Charles Wuorinen, Lukas Foss, and George Crumb. Dr. Leckie has performed as soloist with the Danville Symphony, the College of DuPage Symphony, and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, of which she’s also a regular member. Jennifer teaches at Lewis University and coaches youth ensembles at Downers Grove High School through a chamber music program she co-founded. Jennifer holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University, where she studied with Guarneri Quartet violinist Arnold Steinhardt.

Caroline Jesalva is a violinist and vocalist traversing the worlds of classical music, improvisation, and experimental music. Inspired by Dadaism, her music explores experimental theater, poetry, classical repertoire, and free improvisation. As a violinist, Caroline has most recently performed with A Far Cry, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Callithumpian Consort, and recently premiered a new opera by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding, entitled Iphigenia. She has held fellowships with YellowBarn Young Artists, Bang-on-A Can, Black House Collective; and is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied violin performance under the tutelage of Nicholas Kitchen (Borromeo String Quartet).

She is the founder of Blind Glass Ensemble, named the 2023 NEC Wildcard Honors Ensemble, which was created with the intention of building a collaborative space for musicians of all shapes and kinds. A passionate educator, she has taught at New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School and is currently on faculty at The People’s Music School in Chicago, IL.

Wilfred Farquharson is a violist from outside of Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys a multi-faceted performance career as studio, orchestral, and chamber musician. In addition, he also enjoys teaching violists and nurturing their love for music. Wilfred currently serves as a faculty member of the Merit School of Music. In the summer of 2022, Wilfred performed as a fellow with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. From 2020-2022, he was a Los Angeles Orchestra Fellow, where he mentored students of the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra while a graduate student at the University of Southern California. While in LA he also performed live and in studio sessions with the Re-Collective Orchestra, and performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as a substitute violist. Wilfred attended the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as a Premier Young Artist and Hudson and Holland Scholar. During his undergraduate studies at the Jacobs School he studied with Stephen Wyrczynski, Masumi Per Rostad, and was further mentored by Ed Gazouleas, Anne Epperson, and the Pacifica Quartet. Wilfred has also been selected to perform in many masterclasses for world-class artists, such as Pinchas Zukerman, the Dover Quartet, the Ritz Chamber Players, Carol Rodland, Jeffrey Irvine, Kirsten Doctor, and Melia Watres.

Originally from Lancaster, PA, Hanna Pederson, CBM violist for the 23-24 season, is a violist and teacher in the Chicago area. Hanna is a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra viola section and performs frequently with various orchestras around the Midwest. She has performed with orchestras in Carnegie Hall, The Cleveland Orchestra’s Blossom Music Center, Chicago Symphony Center’s Orchestra Hall, and Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion with conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Ken-David Masur, Brett Mitchell, Leonard Slatkin, and Larry Rachleff. Hanna’s recent chamber music performances include viola faculty at Manitou Springs Chamber Music Festival and guest violist with the KAIA String Quartet. Alongside her performance calendar, she maintains extensive educational activities including leading sectionals for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, coaching chamber music at area high schools, and maintaining a large private teaching studio in which she has helped students successfully audition into the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Elgin Youth Symphony, and ILMEA district and all-state festivals. Hanna’s primary teachers include Ivo-Jan van der Werff, Katherine Murdock, Ning Mu, and Nancy Levasseur. She has also had significant studies with Li-Kuo Chang, Peter Slowik, Joan Der Hovsepian, Daniel Foster, and Caroline Coade. She is a recent alum of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and holds degrees from Rice University and the University of Maryland.

Tom Clowes is a Chicago-area cellist and Founder of Crossing Borders Music. Tom was a student of internationally acclaimed cellist Wendy Warner, former Detroit Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist Italo Babini, and Lawrence University Conservatory of Music Professor Janet Anthony. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he played under conductors Riccardo Muti, Peter Oundjian, and Cliff Colnot. In the summers, he teaches at the Ambassadors Music Institute in Croix-des-Bouquets, Haiti. Before moving to Chicago, Tom was a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. He teaches at the Chicago West Community Music Center of Garfield Park.

Dr. Tatev Amiryan is an award-winning composer and pianist. A native of Armenia and now based in the US, her works have been performed around the world. Tatev won First Prize in the Abundant Silence Composition Competition, the Armenian Allied Arts Composition Competition, and the Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City’s Composition Contest. As a pianist, Tatev has performed extensively in Armenia, around the US, and in the UK.