Woodwinds

Benjamin Baron has been praised by the American Record Guide for his “clean, incisive clarinet playing”, “evok[ing] sounds of nature” (NY Times), and the NY Sun said his Messaien Quartet was “played with reverence”. Career highlights include performances with the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New York Pops, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, American Composer’s Orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, and a European tour with the London Winds. Baron has also toured Japan playing the concertos of Mozart and Weber, and has recorded as soloist for Naxos and Orange Mountain Music. He was the clarinetist for the Broadway revival of Bernstein’s On The Town and the critically acclaimed cast album, and has also played The King and I, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, My Fair Lady, The Great Comet of 1812, and Mary Poppins. He is a faculty member at Montclair State University, previously teaching at Lehman College and was in residence at New York University with the Quintet of the Americas. Baron has been a guest at many schools, often facilitated through his artist relationships with Buffet Crampon Clarinets and D’Addario Reeds. Please visit www.benjaminbaron.com for more information.

Flutist Janet Arms made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall as a prizewinner of the Concert Artists International competition while completing her Masters degree at the Juilliard School. She is a member of the New York City Opera orchestra and has also performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Ballet, Metropolitan Opera, as guest principal flutist with the St. Louis Symphony, and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She had a long-standing association with the Bard Festival Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra, has worked with the NYC Ballet, American Ballet Theater, New Jersey Symphony, as well as subbed on Broadway in The King and I, Finding Neverland and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Also active in commercial recording, Janet can be heard on PBS film documentaries including Jewish Americans, The Kennedy Years, and The Roosevelt Years. She is a Senior Artist Teacher and Associate Chair of Chamber Music of Winds and Brass at the Hartt School (CT). She has been a faculty member of the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy – PRISMA in Powell River, BC and has spent several summers in Brazil, teaching and performing with the faculty of the Festival Eleazar de Carvalho in Fortaleza

Alexander Davis is a New York City based freelance bassoonist whose artistic practice centers healing, connecting, and community within classical music. An advocate of creating cross-cultural influences in the arts, Alexander is the founder and artistic director of the Sugar Hill Salon Chamber Music series based in the culturally robust community of Harlem, NY. This live-streamed series was created in response to the lack of black and brown woodwind representation within chamber music. He has played with orchestras and series such as Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and CityMusic Cleveland to name a few. He has performed in summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Banff Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Maine Chamber Music Seminar, and Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. In addition to performing, Alexander is faculty at the Maine Chamber Music Intensive and Usdan Summer Arts, administrative manager for the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and a teaching artist at the Park Avenue Armory. He studied with Laura Koepke, Frank Morelli, Bob Williams, and Michael Ma.

KeriAnn DiBari is currently a member of the Little Orchestra Society, Greenwich Symphony, and Erie Philharmonic. She has performed as principal clarinetist and as a member of the clarinet/saxophone section in many orchestras including the New Jersey Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Choral Society, New York Virtuosi and American Symphony. She has performed with Matchbox 20, the Moody Blues, Joni Mitchell, Michael Feinstein, Crystal Gale, Mandy Patinkin, Peter, Paul and Mary, and the Manhattan Transfer. She has won many competitions and performed as soloist in concertos by Creston, Etler, Mozart and Weber. She has performed solo works of Debussy and Poulenc on New York’s WQXR radio and chamber music at Weil Recital Hall. She can be heard on many television commercials and in movies including Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pocahontas, Hercules, and The Presidents (PBS). Her performances on Broadway include Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, A Christmas Carol, Ragtime, and Crazy For You. She is heard on the original Broadway cast album of Beauty and the Beast, and on albums by Cy Coleman and the Gotham Wind Symphony. She has spent summers performing in Aspen, the Grand Tetons and Altenburg, Germany. Ms. DiBari was a student of Burt Hara, Bil Jackson, John Moses, Peter Simenauer and David Weber.

Raised in Austin, TX, Alice Jones welcomes new listeners into the world of music through music creation, education, and collaboration. She was praised by Mario Davidovsky as “the flute player who could really play” and Fanfare Magazine called her 2017 album with Ensemble 365 “pretty music faultless… required listening.” Her composition projects include the #tinyeffortsseries, as well as recent commissions from Gaudete Brass, Decoda, Amity Trio, Millikin University, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the Phoenix Orchestra (Boston). In 2018 she was named to the inaugural CreateNYC Leadership Accelerator cohort by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Alice teaches flute in Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program and Luzerne Music Center. In 2020, she became the Assistant Dean of Community Engagement and Career Services at The Juilliard School. Alice graduated from Yale University, SUNY Purchase, and the CUNY Graduate Center. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, where, when she’s not musicking, she’s likely walking her dogs or making ice cream.

David Sapadin is the principal clarinetist of the New York Pops and is a New York City based freelance musician known for his lyrical clarinet playing and engaging teaching style. He has played with the Metropolitan Opera, American Ballet Theater, The American Symphony Orchestra, The New York City Opera, The Knights, The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Albany Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Stamford Symphony, and internationally with the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Mr. Sapadin’s recording of the Brahms Sonata for Clarinet and Piano is available on all streaming platforms.

David considers teaching central to his work as an artist. He is on the faculty at Montclair State University, The Mannes School of Music, and Kinhaven Music School. As a pedagogue, he has led masterclasses across the country and teaches clarinetists from 1st grade to graduate school.

Harry Searing is an active freelance artist on both bassoon and contrabassoon in the New York City area and has been for over 30 years. Most notably, he has performed many concerts with the New York Philharmonic with such great conductors as Bernstein, Boulez, Mehta and Leinsdorf. In addition to performing with practically every classical organization in the New York – New Jersey area, he has performed with several distinguished groups while on tour, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2002 he performed nine concerts with three different organizations on Heckelphone, an extremely rare instrument. He can be heard as bassoon soloist in the soundtrack to Brian DePalma’s 2004 film, Femme Fatale. In addition to performing, Mr. Searing has an extensive career in music publishing, having worked for such publishers as Boosey & Hawkes, Schott, and G. Schirmer. In 2003, he started his own publishing firm, LRQ Publishing, devoted to the bassoon music of the great Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone. He is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where is studied with Stephen Maxym.

Chad E. Smith‘s talent with multiple woodwind instruments has made him sought after as a Broadway, recording and concert performer from New York to Los Angeles. He has been a member of the Broadway orchestras of Wicked, Legally Blonde and Follies and has substituted in countless shows including 42nd Street, Spamalot, A Chorus Line, The Producers and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. He has performed with numerous prestigious orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, American Ballet Theatre, New York Pops, Boston Pops, American Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Albany Symphony and L’ Opera Francais. He has also shared the stage with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, John Pizzarelli, The Temptations, Arturo Sandoval, Lady Gaga, Frankie Valli, Bernadette Peters and Audra Macdonald to name a few. His movie credits include Star Wars: The Last Jedi, West Side Story, Secret Life Of Pets 2, Little, The Informant!, Ted 2, Extremely Close and Incredibly Loud, I Saw the Light and Monsters University. Mr. Smith has been featured on television in Legally Blonde on MTV, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Grease on Fox, The Wiz and Hairspray on NBC, the Tony Awards on CBS and the Academy Awards on ABC. Chad’s woodwind talents can be heard daily on the Family Guy, American Dad, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The Flash, Lucifer, Smash and The Simpsons and Fosse/Verdon. An award winning musician in various woodwind competitions, Chad has performed at music festivals all over the world, most recently the 15th World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, where he premiered SAX-O-PHILM: Sounds and Sights of the 20’s. SAX-O-PHILM highlights the music of sax pioneer Rudy Wiedoeft accompanied by piano, harp and silent films. Some other appearances include the IRDS, College Music Society, Adolph Sax Centennial, Eastman Saxophone, Montclair State Film Forum, World Saxophone Congresses in Strasbourg and Slovenia, North American Saxophone Alliance, Greenwich Concert Series, Delaware Recital Series, Clarion University, San Diego State University, San Diego State, University of Northern Colorado, Millersville University Single Reed Day, West Chester Saxophone Festival, Newark Concert Series and The Craftsbury Chamber Players. He currently is an adjunct professor of saxophone at Montclair State University and founder/director of the Masters in Woodwind specialization program. Chad E. Smith earned a B.S. in Music Education from West Chester University where he was a student of Ted Hegvik. He later pursued a Master’s in Saxophone and Woodwind Performance from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Ramon Ricker. Chad also studied briefly with the late woodwind virtuoso, Al Gallodoro and considers him an inspiration and mentor. He is honored to be a Selmer Artist and D’Addario Clinician. He proudly performs on Al Gallodoro and Ted Hegvik’s gold plated saxophones.

Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz earned her Bachelors of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master’s and Professional Studies degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. 

Hailed by the Washington Post for her “smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique,” Toyin has performed concertos with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and with the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra. 

An original member of Imani Winds, Ms. Spellman-Diaz has built her career as a champion of contemporary chamber music. Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble and Camerata Pacifica. She is on faculty at New York University and the Curtis Institute of Music, and is on the Board of Directors of American Composer’s Orchestra.

John Upton is a freelance oboist in New York City, where he can most often be heard performing with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He also performs frequently with The Knights and APEX Ensemble. Before moving to New York, Mr. Upton was principal oboe of The Florida Orchestra for five seasons. He was also a member of the New World Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Other orchestras with which he has performed include the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada) and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Upton began his studies at the Eastman School of Music, earning a Bachelor of Music degree. Upon graduation he was awarded the prestigious Performer’s Certificate, the school’s highest performance prize. Mr. Upton continued his studies at The Juilliard School, where he received his Master of Music degree. After receiving first-prize in the International Double Reed Society’s biennial Young Artist Competition, Mr. Upton was awarded a solo recital at the 2010 International Double Reed Society conference. He has participated in many summer festivals, including the Verbier Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, and the Mainly Mozart festival in San Diego.

Stacy Wilson has won top prizes in many national and international competitions. In 2009, she became the first American saxophonist to win one of the top prizes as a saxophone/piano duo in the Gaudeamus International Interpreters Competition in Amsterdam, widely considered as one of the most prestigious competitions in the world for the interpretation of contemporary music. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia with recent concert appearances in Japan’s Izumi Concert Hall, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw and Mahidol University in Thailand. She was recently featured as a guest concerto soloist with the United States Army Band in Europe. Dedicated to chamber music, she is the soprano saxophonist with the award-winning Zzyzx Quartet. Zzyzx was featured at the NASA Biennial Gala Concert at the Tempe Center in Arizona and at the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews, Scotland. In 2012, they commissioned an original work for saxophone quartet by American composer, John Mackey, which is featured on their newest CD Intersections. Stacy is a saxophonist with the West Point Concert Band in New York and holds degrees from Indiana University Bloomington and the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Tanya Dusevic Witek is a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Ms. Witek has performed with American Ballet Theater, Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus and Musicians from Marlboro. Ms. Witek has been the recipient the McGraw-Hill Company’s Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach, National Arts Club’s Tilden Prize, a Fulbright Grant, the Sony ES Award for Excellence, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and multiple Canada Council Grants. Ms. Witek, who has worked as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, is a Juilliard Summer Winds faculty member and is Co-Artistic Director of BridgeMusik in Rockland County, NY. Ms. Witek was educated at The University of Calgary, The Banff Center, and she received her master and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School where she studied with Carol Wincenc. Ms. Witek lives in Tappan, NY with her husband and two children.

Tanya Dusevic Witek is a member of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Ms. Witek has performed with American Ballet Theater, Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus and Musicians from Marlboro. Ms. Witek has been the recipient the McGraw-Hill Company’s Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach, National Arts Club’s Tilden Prize, a Fulbright Grant, the Sony ES Award for Excellence, the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and multiple Canada Council Grants. Ms. Witek, who has worked as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, is a Juilliard Summer Winds faculty member and is Co-Artistic Director of BridgeMusik in Rockland County, NY. Ms. Witek was educated at The University of Calgary, The Banff Center, and she received her master and doctoral degrees from The Juilliard School where she studied with Carol Wincenc. Ms. Witek lives in Tappan, NY with her husband and two children.