Saarburg Festival Invited Faculty

 Invited Faculty for 2023 (subject to change)

The faculty formation is an ongoing process. This page lists only a selection of invited faculty!!

Please check back periodically for updates

Former distinguished faculty:

Eleonore Schoenfeld (violin), Zvi Zeitlin (violin), James Buswell (violin), Zakhar Bron (violin), John Perry (piano), Gabriel Chodos (piano), Boaz Sharon (piano), Bradley Garner (flute), Humbert Lucarelli (oboe), Caroline Hartig (clarinet), Guy Yehuda (clarinet), David Jolley (horn)

Chamber music/Piano: Lauren Schack Clark

Lauren Schack Clark is Director of Keyboard Studies and Professor of Piano at Arkansas State University.  She has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout the United States, Europe, and China. Read more>>

 

Violin/Viola: Thomas Christian 

Thomas Christian was born in Linz. He currently lives in Vienna. He received his first violin lessons from Franz Toifl (a student of Jan Mařáks), at the age of seven. At the age of eleven he was the winner of an Austrian violin contest in Vienna. Read more>>

 

Violin: Chiao-Ling Sun

Dr. Chiao-Ling is a violin professor and the Music Department chair at the National Taiwan University of Arts. She currently teaches violin performance, chamber music, and thesis writing.
After graduating from National Taiwan University of Arts in 1981 with a diploma in music, she went on to obtain the Bachelor of Music Degree and Master of Music Degree from Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1986. Read more>>

 

Cello: Jennifer Lee

Cellist Jennifer Lee, a native of South Korea, had her undergraduate and graduate studies at Manhattan School of Music in NY with Marion Feldman and under guidance of the coaches such as Arnold Steinhardt, Nathaniel Rosen, Peter Winograd and Karen Ritscher. She played under the conducting of Gerard Schwarz at The Waterloo International Music Festival Camp. After she finished her studies in the US, she was invited as the principal cellist of Cheong-Ju City Philharmonic Orchestra. Read more>>

Cello: Ka-Wai Yu

Dr. Ka-Wai Yu is Asssociate Professor of Music at Utah Tech University, where he teaches cello and string chamber music.  He previously taught at Eastern Illinois University and Indiana Wesleyan University.  In great demand as a clinician, Dr. Yu has given master classes in numerous universities and institutions in North America and Asia.  He is the Co-Director of the Castle Rock Music Camp. Read more>>

 

Flute: Brian Dunbar

Dr. Brian Dunbar is the Assistant Professor of Flute at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. He obtained a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University, Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, and Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University.  Read more>>

 

 

Clarinet: Patricia Shands

Clarinetist Patricia Shands has appeared to popular and critical acclaim throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. Her performances have been applauded by the critics of such publications as The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Il Giornale (Milan), Fanfare, and The American Record Guide. Read more>>

Bassoon: Dale Clark

Dr. Dale Clark is retired Instructor of Bassoon at Arkansas State University, having served from 2004-2021. He is also Artist Faculty at the Saarburg, Germany International Chamber Music Festival and School where his student bassoon quartet has served as the “Festival Bassoons” for three summers. Dr. Clark has also served as Artist Faculty at the Sewanee Music Festival.  His student quartet performed on the John Miller Master Class at the International Double Reed Festival in Columbus, Georgia in 2016.  Read more>>

Bassoon: Jessica Kunttu

Dr. Jessica Kunttu is a highly sought after performer and educator based in Raleigh, NC. As an orchestral player, Dr. Kunttu plays bassoon and contrabassoon regularly with the North Carolina Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Charlotte Symphony, Carolina Ballet, and North Carolina Opera, among others, and has appeared as Guest Principal Bassoon with the North Carolina and Charlotte Symphonies. Read more>>

Bassoon: Staci A. Spring

Based in Chattanooga, TN, Dr. Staci A. Spring enjoys a versatile career as a professional bassoonist, music educator, and arts advocate. An active freelancer, she can be heard playing bassoon and contrabassoon as a frequent guest musician with the Knoxville Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Huntsville Symphony, Nashville Symphony orchestras, and in other creative collaborations with musicians across the region. Dr. Spring maintains a private bassoon studio, and teaches at UT Chattanooga, Lee University, and the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. Read more>>

 

French Horn: Juli Buxbaum

Dr. Juli Buxbaum is the Assistant Professor of Horn at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Arkansas where she works with applied horn students, teaches graduate writing classes, conducts chamber music and horn ensembles, and performs as a member of the Arkansas State Faculty Brass and Woodwind Quintets. Dr. Buxbaum is also the state representative for the International Horn Society in Arkansas.  Read more>>

French Horn: Jordan Redd

Originally from Fayetteville, North Carolina, Dr. Jordan Redd obtained a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from Southeast Missouri State University, a Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and graduated from UNL with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Dr. Redd is currently Assistant Professor of Music – Horn at the University of North Alabama. Additionally, Dr. Redd has held teaching positions at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lindenwood University, and Murray State University. Read more>>

French Horn: Scott Smith

Scott Smith joined the School of Music, Ohio University in Athens, Ohio in 1992 where his is Associate Professor of Horn and Theory and founding member of two faculty quintets: OhioBrass and OhioWinds.  Mr. Smith has recently been appointed Associate Music Director and Arranger for Central Ohio Brass Band (COBB). Read more>> 

Trumpet: Brianne Borden

Dr. Brianne Borden joined the faculty at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam in the Fall of 2020 and serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet. She is a member of the Potsdam Brass Quintet and Principal Trumpet of the Orchestra of Northern New York. Read more>>

Trumpet: Nairam Simoes

Originally from Brazil, Dr. Nairam Simoes enjoys a multifaceted international career as a performer, music educator, and clinician with a wealth of knowledge particularly in chamber and Brazilian music. Currently he holds the position of Assistant Professor of Trumpet at Arkansas State University. Read more>>

 

Piano: Phillip Bush

Acclaimed as “a pianist of poetry, elegance, and power” (American Record Guide),  “a pianist of exceptional, cherishable finesse” (Los Angeles Times), and “one of those rare pianists who combine structural intelligence with a hundred color gradations” (Village Voice),  Read more>>

Piano: Wai Cheng

Steinway artist Dr Cheng Wai, Vivian is a renowned Hong Kong pianist who has been critically acclaimed as “Beethoven’s Fifth Generation Successor” and a “Piano Poetess”. Dr Cheng obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, a master’s degree and artist diploma from Yale University, and ultimately a doctoral degree from New York State University at Stony Brook.

Read more>>

 

 

Piano: Ru-Lin Lai

Pianist Dr. Ru-Lin Lai received the Doctor of Music Art degree from the Eastman School of Music. An acclaimed chamber musician, vocal accompanist, and a soloist, Ms. Lai is a full professor at the National Taiwan University of Arts. She also teaches at the professional music program at the Affiliated High School of National Taiwan Normal University. Read more>>

 

Piano: Yoon-Wha Roh

Acclaimed as “a pianist who lets her piano work do the talking, who transports her audience not only to a clearly defined place but also into a colorful adventure” (Hyde Park Herald) and praised for her “splendid and subtlety plus beautiful, refined sound & phrase” (Russell Sherman), Yoon-Wha Roh has been acknowledged for her versatile and sophisticated performances. Read more>>

Piano: Paulo Steinberg

Paulo Steinberg has performed as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist across the U.S., Canada, South America, and Europe, including venues such as the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo in Brazil, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. In the spring of 2017, he undertook a European recital tour stretching from the U.K. to Latvia including Ireland, Scotland, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, and Sweden. Read more>>

 

Vocal Coach/Conductor: Semyon Rozin

Semyon Rozin´s international conducting engagements have included appearances with Minsk Chamber Orchestra and Chamber Chorus of Minsk State Conservatory (Belorussia), the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and St. Paul Civic Orchestra (Minnesota), Rheinisches Kammerorchester, West Germany Radio Orchestra and Chorus of Cologne, the Dutch Radio Chorus (Hilversum), the Israeli Chamber Choir, Flamish Radio Chorus, Belgian Radio Chorus (BRTN) among the others. Read more>>

Guest Organ: Paul Kayser

Born in Luxembourg in 1979, Paul Kayser began studying violon and solfège in 1986 and organ in 1989 (class of Pierre Nimax jr.) at the National Conservatory of Music at Luxembourg-City. Read more>>

 

Guest Harp: Adi Alice Petre

Born in 1982 in Romania, Adi-Alice Petre began studying the harp at the age of 8 at the G. Enescu High school G. Enescu in Bucharest in the class of Ion-Ivan Roncea.

In 2001 she won the first prize of the Luxembourg Conservatory to study in the harp studio of Liane Coljon Hames. Read more>>