Kayla Schultz is a violist, educator, and dedicated chamber musician based in Madison, WI. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2024, studying under Sally Chisholm and performing as a member of the Marvin Rabin String Quartet at the Mead Witter School of Music. Current member of the Galaxy Quartet and the Eastern Shore Trio, she finds immense joy in both teaching and exploring a wide range of musical genres. Notably, she was a finalist in the 2023 University of Wisconsin-Madison Symphony Concerto Competition and the 2021 Mead Witter Viola Competition. Kayla completed her Bachelor of Arts in Viola Performance at Cardinal Stritch University under Olga Tuzhilkov before earning her Master’s Degree and Performance Diploma at the Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she studied with Igor Fedotov. She has a deep passion for chamber music, cherishing the intimacy, collaboration, and artistic freedom it offers. When she’s not performing or teaching, Kayla is an avid artist and crocheter and runs her own small business making handcrafted pieces under the name Crafts and Whimsy.

Chadwick Thomas is a clarinetist, conductor, and educator based in Hartford, Connecticut. He is a member of Wa Sinfonietta in New York City and regularly performs with orchestras such as the Greater Bridgeport Symphony and Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Thomas has had the privilege of performing with artists including Vadim Gluzman, Donald Palma, James VanDemark, Robert Black, Lucy Shelton, and Ayako Oshima, and he is a regular guest artist at the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival. In 2026, Thomas founded Crystal Coast Chamber Music, a new concert series in Eastern North Carolina. Thomas won the Paranov Concerto Competition and performed Jean Françaix’s Clarinet Concerto with the Hartt Orchestra in 2023. He has also received first prize in the NOLA Chamber Fest Competition and awards from the International Clarinet Association’s Clareidoscope Competition. As a conductor, Thomas has led the Foot in the Door Ensemble, the Hartt Orchestra, and the Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble. Thomas is on faculty at The Hartt School, Hartt Community Division, Cheshire Academy, and Wesleyan University, and he previously spent three summers on faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp. Thomas holds degrees from the Peabody Institute (BM), the University of Michigan (MM), and The Hartt School at the University of Hartford (DMA). His principal clarinet teachers include Ayako Oshima, Charles Neidich, Chad Burrow, Daniel Gilbert, Alexander Fiterstein, Deborah Chodacki, and Douglas Moore-Monroe.