Rick Quantz

Violist Rick Quantz enjoys the great diversity of musical activities in the New York area. Highlights include: being featured for the first season of ChamberMusicNY playing the complete string quartet works of Benjamin Britten over the course of 2013; a residency at Watermill Center with composer Gabrielle Herbst, and a continuing collaboration with her that included a recording project and performances at the New York Theater Workshop and other venues; playing with a new ensemble, Extinct Anatomies, dedicated to performing ancient music using contemporary improvisation techniques; and playing with Anti-Social Music for their 10th anniversary concert. Since the 2010-2011 season, Rick has been the principal violist of the Garden State Philharmonic. As a member of the Choi Fairbanks String Quartet, playing jazz standards, new compositions, and classical repertoire, he gave weekly performances at Fat Cat.

Rick has played with numerous orchestras, including Ensemble 212, Ensemble du Monde, Manhattan Symphonie, and The Sheep Island Ensemble. He has played Gospel-inspired pop music by Rob Mathes with the Knights, and has toured Korea with the New Jersey Philharmonic.

After attending the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with John Graham, Rick did graduate studies at Rice University's Shepherd School, with Karen Ritscher, and at New York University, with Stephanie Baer. In addition to his performance activities, he is a freelance web developer.

Roberta Michel

Flutist Roberta Michel is equally at home playing classical and new music. I Care If You Listen has extolled flutist Roberta Michel's "lush, full tones... even among the best professionals, not many flute players sound so compelling in a lower register." Praising her "extreme adventurousness," New York Concert Review said she "riveted with her performance, inspiring one to want a repeated hearing." Michel is a founding member of the Cadillac Moon Ensemble, a quartet of unusual instrumentation dedicated to commissioning and performing new works. To date, the group has commissioned over fifty pieces.

Michel has performed with groups including Duo RoMi (with pianist Mirna Lekic), the Portland String Quartet, SEM Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Wordless Music Orchestra, Ensemble Moto Perpetuo, Lunatics at Large, Kagel Nacht, Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, Cheyenne Symphony, and the Greeley Philharmonic in venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tulley Hall, Merkin Hall, The Kennedy Center, Bargemusic (with tenor Robert White), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a guest artist, Michel has appeared at Bloomsburg University and the University of Southern Maine. She has recorded on New Dynamic Records, Meta, Bridge, and Innova Records.

Michel has been a Bang on a Can Summer Institute fellow and a participant in the Institute and Festival of Contemporary Performance at Mannes College, as well as participating in festivals at Banff and Domaine Forget. Michel recently won the Artists International Special Presentation Award and was presented in her debut recital at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. Other awards include: Purchase College's Baroque Concerto Competition, Bay Chamber Summer Music Woodwind Prize, Dante Alighieri Society of Denver Music Scholarship, and the Emily K. Rand Award.

Michel holds a Bachelor of Music with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder, a Master of Music from SUNY-Purchase College, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Her teachers include Robert Dick, Tara Helen O'Connor, Alexa Still, and Jean Rosenblum. Michel resides in Brooklyn, New York and is on faculty at Great Neck Music Conservatory.