Performing, Teaching, Inspiring
Bringing Nationally and Internationally Known Musicians Together in Small Ensembles
Classical Chamber Music for New England
"... what great music is meant to be: an immediate, transcendent experience."
Bringing nationally and internationally known musicians together in small ensembles, Camerata New England brings extraordinary chamber music to our region. Camerata New England is a favorite with audiences, who appreciate our virtuoso performers and approachable style.
Join Camerata New England for a season of amazing concerts throughout New Hampshire, Vermont, and beyond.
Mission Statement
Camerata New England is a non-profit professional chamber ensemble dedicated to sharing the inspiration and joy of classical music with the urban and rural populations of northern New England and beyond. Through a wide range of repertoire, and educational programs, especially in underserved areas, we will develop new audiences for classical music and enrich the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds.
ABOUT US
Bringing Chamber Music of the Highest Quality
Camerata New England is an ensemble bringing chamber music of the highest quality to audiences throughout New England. Camerata New England performers are distinguished in their own right, known nationally and internationally, as well as being superb ensemble players. Based in the Upper Connecticut River Valley, Camerata New England performs in chamber groups of different sizes in and around New England for deeply appreciative audiences. Camerata New England concerts are known for their quality, power, and beauty—and our performers are known for their expertise, their musicality, their approachability, and their gift for bringing audiences closer to the heart of extraordinary classical music.
MUSICIANS OF NOTE
Meet Our Performers
Omar Chen Guey
Violin and Viola
Brazilian violinist Omar Chen Güey has performed internationally as a soloist with orchestras, in recitals and chamber music concerts throughout Brazil as well as the United States, Europe, Taiwan, Kenya, and the Seychelles. He has been a featured soloist with the Brazilian, Campinas, Goiania, Minas Gerais, Claudio Santoro National Theater, Sao Paulo University, Sao Paulo Municipal, and the State of Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Amazonas Philharmonic, Petrobras Pro-Musica, Experimental Repertoire, Manhattan School of Music, Stony Brook University Symphony, Maidstone Symphony and the Seychelles International Music Festival Orchestras. Following a recital in Oslo, Norway, he had the honor of performing for the King of Norway, Harald V. He is a prize winner at both Tibor Varga and Lipizer International Violin Competitions in Switzerland and Italy, respectively.
Mr. Guey released the Bach Concerto for Two Violins on the Paulinas Label with the Brazilian soloist Elisa Fukuda and the Camerata Fukuda, of which he was also concertmaster. He premiered and released a work for solo violin of renowned French Lebanese musician Marcel Khalife on Nagan records. As an avid chamber musician, Mr. Guey performs with Camerata New England, and has played at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Semaine Musical in Portes du Solei in France, and the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Spain. He participated in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop in 1999. He has collaborated with such renowned chamber musicians such as Lynn Harrell, Ani Kavafian, David Finckel, Lawrence Dutton, and Colin Carr.
Mr. Guey received a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University, where he studied with Philip Setzer, Ani Kavafian and Pamela Frank. He also holds a Master’s degree from the Juilliard School as a student of Robert Mann and a Bachelor’s from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Sylvia Rosenberg. He was awarded a full scholarship for graduate studies from the Brazilian government as well as a scholarship from the Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival Fellowship.
He was assistant concertmaster of the Orquesta de la Comunidad Valenciana, in Valencia, Spain, under the direction of Lorin Maazel. He has served as concertmaster of the Jerusalem International Symphony Orchestra in Israel, and guest assistant concertmaster with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.
He has taught at several music festivals in Brasil, among them, the International Winter Music Festival of Campos do Jordão, the largest in South America, and the Juiz de Fora International Music Festival. He has also taught at the Buñol Music Festival, in Spain.
Linda Galvan
Cello and Director of the Camerata Strings Program
Linda Galvan has performed as recitalist, soloist, and principal cellist throughout Europe, Canada, and the United States. She holds a BMP and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Ronald Leonard. As a two-time Fulbright Scholar, she studied with Maurice Gendron in Germany and remained in Europe as first solo cello with the National Ballet and Dance Theater of the Netherlands, and as a member of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra.
Galvan has been on the faculty of the University of Victoria (BC) and performed with the St. Louis Symphony as well as nationally and internationally. She is well known as a private teacher of cello; her students have won important competitions and been placed in prestigious music schools and conservatories.
Hannah Shields
Piano
Hannah Shields has performed widely throughout the United States, both as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has appeared as a soloist in the Bach concerto for four keyboards at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Itzhak Perlman, and she has played chamber music in concert series across the country and abroad. Notable appearances include Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie’s Weill Hall and Zankel Hall, the Kumho Center in Korea, the Seattle Opera House, Boston’s Jordan Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Royal Academy of music in London.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she was a student of Daniel Shapiro, and a master’s degree from Yale School of Music, where she studied with Claude Frank. She completed her piano studies at the New England Conservatory of Music, with Vivian Hornik Weilerstein. Ms. Shields is a prizewinner of the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition, Fite Family Young Artist Competition, and Young Keyboard Artists International Competition, and has attended numerous music festivals, including the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Banff Chamber Music Festival, Perlman Music Program, and the Taos School of Music.
Ms. Shields has been a faculty member at the Kinhaven and Summertrios summer programs. An advocate of contemporary music, Ms. Shields has released several recordings for Parma Recordings and Navona Records, including premier recordings of works by John Bilotta, Paul Epstein, Quinn Dizon, Howard Quilling and Alan Beeler. She is the cofounder and organizer of two chamber music series, “Musique a la Mode” in New York and “Neighborhood Concerts” in Boston, both of which feature innovative programming for mixed ensembles.
Ms. Shields has performed in chamber music groups with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Barbara Stein Mallow, Andre Emelianoff, and Kyung-Wha Kim, and has played sonata recitals with Kyu-Young Kim, Beth Guterman Cho, Yura Lee, Christine Lamprea, Kristin Lee, and Robin Scott. She currently has a piano studio in the Boston area, where she teaches students ranging in age from 4 to 65. In her free time, she enjoys photography, silversmithing, and cooking South Indian food.
Ari Isaacman-Beck
Violin and Viola
Violinist Ari Isaacman–Beck has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across North America, Europe, and China. He has appeared as a guest violinist and violist with the Borromeo, Chiara, and Attacca String Quartets; larger groups including A Far Cry and the New York City Ballet Orchestra; and with Trio Cleonice, including forming Trio Cleonice and Friends, a monthly concert series with a focus on community engagement and expanding the audience’s musical knowledge and boundaries.
A devoted teacher committed to empowering and inspiring younger musicians, Isaacman–Beck was the 2018– 2019 Director of Orchestras and the 2017–2018 Visiting Assistant Professor of Violin at Gettysburg College. Beginning in the summer of 2018, he joined the faculty at the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, VT, and has served on the faculties of Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program, the New England Conservatory of Music’s Preparatory Division, The Rivers Conservatory, and Junior Greenwood Music Camp. He has given masterclasses at the Eastman School of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Bucknell University, the University of Hawaii, and Husson College. Isaacman- Beck received degrees from the Cleveland Institute, Juilliard, Mannes, and New England Conservatory.
Camerata Strings Program
When COVID first struck and the schools went to remote learning, so did the Camerata Strings Program. Our teachers and students quickly learned the technology to be able to keep lessons happening and students learning. Our CSP parents soon reported how much it meant to their kids to be able to keep playing the violin or cello, and that their CSP lessons had really become an island of stability in the storm of the pandemic.
Performance is at the heart of learning to play a musical instrument, but the school concerts where our CSP students usually perform had to be cancelled. The strength of the program was really demonstrated at the end of the school year, when
CSP Director Linda Galvan made an outdoor concert experience possible for our students. Masked and socially distanced, we met under a tent to play for friends and families.
Lessons were able to continue over the summer, as well, thanks to the generosity of much appreciated donors! In September, the school program began its 9th year. After meeting remotely and in a local church, our Camerata Strings Program students and faculty are so happy to finally return to Mount Lebanon Elementary School to play and learn together in person again!
Cellist Anna Brown has been sharing her love of music with Vermont and New Hampshire communities ever since her first childhood recital. Anna earned credits towards a degree in Cello Performance at Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Stephen Geber. Later she transferred to Norwich University to complete a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. In addition to her work in healthcare, Anna teaches with the Camerata Strings Program and performs throughout the VT/NH region as a freelance cellist.
Sean Larkin holds degrees in violin performance from the University of Maryland (BM) and Boston University (MM). He served as the teaching assistant to his teacher and mentor at BU, Bayla Keyes, for an additional two years after earning his degree. As her assistant he taught a weekly scale and technique class for both graduate and undergraduate music majors, in addition to providing private lessons to undergraduate students. He further developed his skills as a faculty member at Berklee City Music for four years, teaching group and private lessons and directing a string ensemble for students in grades 3-12. He has worked extensively with students of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels. He started teaching at South Shore Conservatory in 2019.
Help Support Our
Classical Music Programs
Camerata New England is dedicated to keeping our ticket prices as low as possible and to providing access to high quality, professionally performed concerts to people of all ages who might otherwise not be able to attend. A portion of our concert season and all of our outreach programs are supported by generous donations from supporters of Camerata NE's mission.
Camerata New England is very grateful to the individuals, corporations, and foundations who provide the resources to make all of this possible. The easiest way to support Camerata New England is to click on the Donate button and make your gift through Paypal. You can use your credit card or Paypal account. You don't have to have a Paypal account to use your credit card.
Or you can send a check payable to Camerata New England to:
Camerata New England
PO Box 5173
Hanover, NH 03755-5173
