Blakeley Menghini holds the position of Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. At Luther, she teaches viola and several courses, including String Methods and chamber music, and directs the Philharmonia string orchestra. Blakeley is a Doctor of Musical Arts graduate of the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, where she studied viola with Sally Chisholm of the Pro Arte Quartet. While earning her DMA, Blakeley was a member of the Hunt Quartet, a competitive graduate scholarship ensemble which focused on both formal performances and educational concerts for children through the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Up Close and Musical program. Before her time at UW-Madison, she earned her Masters of Music and a Performer’s Certificate at Northern Illinois University, where she studied with Anthony Devroye of the Avalon Quartet.

Blakeley has performed in masterclasses with Alban Gerhardt, Nobuko Imai, Laurie Smukler, and the St. Lawrence, Arianna, Avalon, Pro Arte, and Verona Quartets. She has participated in the Arianna Chamber Music Festival, Northern Lights Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, LunArts Festival, Caroga Lake Chamber Music Festival, and spent time in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia under the mentorship of the Verona Quartet at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP).

From 2018 to 2022, Blakeley served Northeastern Wisconsin as a founding member and violist of the Griffon String Quartet, reaching audiences of all ages with the mission to Educate, Enrich, and Excite their community. In 2022, she co-founded the Kalara String Quartet, often featured in the Candlelight Series concerts in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. Passionate about chamber music for young people, the Kalara Quartet has offered masterclasses and chamber music camps in Wisconsin and Illinois. Blakeley has also held positions as principal violist of the Weidner Philharmonic (Green Bay, WI) and the Civic Symphony of Green Bay, and is a substitute violist in the Fox Valley and Madison Symphonies.

In her free time, Blakeley enjoys iced coffee, arts and crafts, organizing, running, and spending time with her husband Ben and grey cat Concs.

Dr. Hsin-I Huang, Taiwanese-American classical pianist, has captivated audiences the world over with his emotional virtuoso performances by evincing masterfully dexterous playing and profound musical sensitivity. Over his illustrious career and with his impressive range, he has won high acclaim and numerous awards performing across the United States, Europe and Asia. As both a soloist and chamber musician, he maintains a rigorous performance schedule with some 60 concerts each year. He has released two solo albums: his 2015 debut “Bach/Busoni-Brahms-Schumann” and his 2016 follow-up “Mighty Shadow – Rachmaninoff – Mussorgsky.” Both albums are available on Apple iTunes and in 14,000 retail stores worldwide. Dr. Huang’s third solo album is set to release next year.

Dr. Huang has also been invited and served as a jury member for many international competitions such as the Forte International Music Competition at Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Spectrum Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition in New York City and the Singapore Annual Music Talent Competition. In 2017, he was also invited to be on the board of directors and to launch the role of Concerto Competition Program Director for the non-profit Spectrum Symphony In New York. In 2019, Dr. Huang was further invited to serve as a Steinway Educational Partner as an ambassador for piano education in New York. Despite his demanding performance schedule, he has also been invited to conduct master classes at universities and conservatories in the U.S., Europe, Singapore and Taiwan.

Though widely acclaimed as a performer, Dr. Huang has also been an inspiration to his many students because of his passion for classical music. He is fervently committed to their success by leveraging strong discipline, positive encouragement and programmatic structure. His students have been accepted into world-renowned music schools including The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, Royal Academy of Music. They have also won top prizes from major international competitions including the Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition, Memphis International Piano Festival and Competition, Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition and American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition.

In 2023, Dr. Huang founded Vision Arts Foundation and it has emerged as a formidable force committed to promoting classical music with a profound focus on fostering creativity and supporting young, emerging talents. The VAF endeavors encompass a harmonious blend of concerts, exhibitions, grants, and educational programs. Simultaneously, our advocacy efforts aim to heighten awareness regarding the integral role of arts and culture in society, striving to garner public support and funding.

Dr. Huang began his piano studies at the age of seven in Taiwan and moved to Graz, Austria at the age of 14 on a merit scholarship to continue his musical studies and to learn the German language and European culture and history. He moved to the United States for high school and college and achieved his doctorate in piano performance from Stony Brook University in 2019. Dr. Huang taught as an adjunct professor at Queens College of the City University of New York at the Aaron Copland School of Music. Dr. Huang is currently teaching selectively and privately for promising, high-achieving students.

Stephanie Jutt is the Program Manager of Novel Voices at Project: Music Heals Us. She is the artistic co-director of the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, a summer chamber music festival in Madison, Wisconsin. As a flutist, her recordings are available on Albany, GM, and Centaur Records. Stephanie Jutt has been Professor of Flute at UW-Madison and Florida State University. She is principal flutist of the Madison Symphony and Madison Opera. Her many arrangements, transcriptions, and editions are published by International Music Publishing.

Shuguang Gong is a pianist from Shandong, China. He is currently working on his doctoral degree in piano performance with renowned pianist Kevin Kenner at Frost School of Music in Miami while working as an accompanying assistant for the school. As a solo and collaborative pianist, he performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing Concert Hall, and other major concert halls in China, and had recitals at the Knight Center for Music Innovation, Hamel Music Center and other venues. His past education includes studying with pianist Christopher Taylor at the University of Wisconsin, and pianist Lanlan Guo at Beijing Normal University. He also joined the exchange program at New England Conservatory, Boston University, and Birmingham School of Music. He was the winner of the 2021 Mead Witter School of Music Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Irving Shain Beethoven Competition, and Irving Shain Woodwind and Piano Duo Competition.

Born in Korea, Yujin Lee started her musical path in piano at the age of five. After graduating from Sunhwa High School of Arts, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degree from Seoul National University, where she studied with Soo-Hee Auh and Aviram Reichert. She won the teen piano competition, the Sunhwa music competition, and the Korean Piano Society Competition.

Yujin came to the United States in 2013 to further pursue her studies and to experience performing on an international scale. Recitals for Hartford Musical Club and as a finalist in the CT Young Artist Competition soon followed, in addition to concerts featuring her as a winner of both the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford and the Paranov Solo Concerto Competition at The Hartt School. She earned an Artist Diploma (AD) in Piano Performance and a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) at The Hartt School under David Westfall.

As an avid chamber music performer, Dr. Lee has enjoyed collaborating with numerous instrumentalists and performing on many duo recitals. She participated in the Atlantic Music Festival as a fellow pianist and performed with celebrated musicians. Currently, she has been working as a staff pianist at the Hartt School since 2020 and teaching at the Hartt Community Division as a faculty member.

Kayla Patrick is a violist from Chicago, Illinois currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the guidance of Sally Chisholm. She has been awarded a position in the Marvin Rabin String Quartet, the graduate quartet with which she will perform and teach alongside for the length of her time at UW-Madison. Kayla received her Bachelor of the Arts degree in Viola Performance under the instruction of Olga Tuzhilkov at Cardinal Stritch University and her subsequent master’s degree and performance diploma in viola performance in the studio of Igor Fedotov at The Chicago College of Performing Arts. She has a distinct passion for chamber music and enjoys the close collaboration and artistic freedom that comes with chamber repertoire.

Chadwick Thomas is a clarinetist active in chamber music, orchestral, and solo playing. He lives in Hartford, CT where he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Hartt School. Thomas has performed under conductors Marin Alsop, Carolyn Kuan, Joseph Young, and Edward Cumming. He has appeared with ensembles including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Symphony No. 1 (Baltimore, MD), and the Hartt Orchestra. Chamber music collaborations include performances with violinists Vadim Gluzman and Lina Bahn; soprano Lucy Shelton; double bassists Donald Palma and James VanDemark; and oboist Alex Klein. Recent projects include founding a reed quintet and clarinet trio, with upcoming performances in the Hartford area. Thomas regularly performs with pianist Yujin Lee in recitals and chamber music. Chad enjoys playing all sizes of clarinets, from E-flat clarinet to bass and contrabass clarinets. He is active in new music as a member of Foot in the Door Ensemble, the Hartt School’s contemporary music ensemble, and he held a fellowship with the Atlantic Music Festival’s Contemporary Music Ensemble in 2022. Recently delving into conducting, Thomas conducts the Hartt Clarinet Ensemble, has conducted the Hartt Orchestra, and studies conducting with Glen Adsit and Edward Cumming.

Thomas received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Peabody Institute and the University of Michigan, respectively. He has received prizes from the NOLA Chamber Fest Competition and the International Clarinet Association’s “Clareidoscope” competition. Major clarinet teachers include Ayako Oshima, Charles Neidich, Deborah Chodacki, Alexander Fiterstein, Douglas Moore-Monroe, Chad Burrow, and Daniel Gilbert.

Brazilian violinist Vinicius Sant'Ana began his musical studies at age 12 at Grupo Pão de Açúcar Music Institute in Brazil. Named concertmaster of the Pão de Açúcar Orchestra at the early age of 16, Sant’Ana has performed with them in the major concert halls of Brazil and abroad including the Sala São Paulo, Teatro Municipal of São Paulo, and Cultura Artística Hall. In 2014, Sant’Ana made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Pão de Açúcar Orchestra. In all, he has concertized across four continents. As a chamber musician and member of the Red River Trio and University of North Dakota String Quartet, he has toured China, Japan, the Czech Republic, Brazil, and the United States. Vinicius Sant’Ana has performed with leading Brazilian orchestras including the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, Mato Grosso Symphony Orchestra, and Municipal Theater Orchestra of São Paulo. He performs regularly with the Madison Symphony, La Crosse Symphony, Quad-City Symphony, and Dubuque Symphony. Vinicius was a founding member of the Griffon String Quartet, the string quartet in residence of Midsummers’s Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, where their primary goal was to provide music education to underprivileged communities while also bringing high quality chamber music to Northeast Wisconsin. A dedicated and passionate educator, Sant’Ana not only maintains a private teaching studio but also works with several teaching programs in the Madison area, such as Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, Farley’s House of Pianos, and Suzuki Strings of Madison. Previously, Vinicius served as a violin instructor for the Arioso School of Music and the Northern Valley Youth Orchestra in North Dakota. During his graduate studies, he served as Teaching Assistant for the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Up Close & Musical® program, introducing K-3 students to the basic elements of music. Vinicius Sant’Ana received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2016 from the University of North Dakota, where he studied with the Argentinian violinist Alejandro Drago. He then went on to earn his Master of Music degree in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin- Madison under the guidance of Dr. Soh-Hyun Altino. He is the winner of the Sao Paulo Young Artist Competition, Grand Forks Symphony Concerto Competition, and the Bismarck Symphony Concerto Competition, among others.