MOZART BY THE MET

Hugo Valverde | French Horn

The second youngest musician ever appointed to the Met Orchestra, Hugo Valverde carries a professional orchestral and solo career in the United States and his native Costa Rica as a Horn Section member The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As an orchestral player he has performed with the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, the Classical Tahoe Festival Orchestra in Incline Village, Nevada, The Strings Music Festival Brass Ensemble in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, The Orchestra of the Americas on their Eastern Canada Tour, The Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, The New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Houston Symphony. A dedicated educator, Mr. Valverde has been involved in pedagogical programs in the United States and Latin America, giving masterclasses for the Orchestra of the Americas, Yale University School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, among others. During the pandemic he created the project “Lockdown Warmups”, which offered 40+ free masterclasses and professional online coaching from renown musicians from orchestras all over the world for young Latin American horn players. He currently on faculty at the Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Precollege Division at Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Valverde studied at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida and the National Music Institute in San José, Costa Rica. His main teachers are Daniel León, Luis Murillo, Gregory Miller and William VerMeulen.

Sarah Crocker Vonsattel | Violin

Violinist Sarah Crocker Vonsattel resides in New York City where she is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She leads an active life as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. She has appeared as concerto soloist with the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, the Syracuse Orchestra, the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, the musicians of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Ms. Vonsattel has appeared at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Weill Recital Hall, Parlance Chamber Concerts, the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, Classical Tahoe, and Bargemusic. As a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, Ms. Vonsattel was a Grand Prize Winner of the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, leading to concert tours in the U.S. and Italy with this ensemble. Also a proponent of new music, Sarah can be heard on the Bridge Records label performing the music of Poul Ruders and Tod Machover. Sarah Vonsattel has served as a faculty member at student festivals including the Orfeo International Music Festival (Italy), the Wellesley Composers Conference (Massachusetts), and the Musical Friends Academy (Tunisia). She has previously held positions in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony. Ms. Vonsattel holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Juilliard School.

Qianwen Angela Shen | Violin

Violinist Qianwen Shen joined The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in the 2019 Season. As an orchestra musician, Ms. Shen has been seen in performances with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Montclair Orchestra. Ms. Shen has served concertmaster, Principal Second, and other leadership positions for the New World Symphony, New England Conservatory Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, Mannes School of Music, and Tanglewood Music Center. She has appeared in ensemble and solo performances at Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall of Singapore, Hong Kong Art Center Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing China, Shanghai Music Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Shen has been invited to YellowBarn Music Festival in 2014 and 2015, and Perlman Music Program in 2015. She has performed with the musicians from Cleveland Quartet, Emerson Quartet, Julliard Quartet, Takacs Quartet, and Peabody Trio. Born in Bengbu, China, She began playing the violin at age of four. Her principal teachers have included Lei Fang, Donald Weilerstein, and David Chan. Ms. Shen received her bachelor of music degree from Shanghai Conservatory of Music, master of music degree and graduate diploma from New England Conservatory, and professional study diploma from Mannes School of Music.

Tal First | Viola

Tal First is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School as a student of Li Lin and Itzhak Perlman. During his years as a student, he has received scholarships from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ronen Foundation. As a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim, Tal performed in venues including the Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival, BBC Proms, Berlin Philharmonie, and Paris Philharmonie. In addition to his performing career, Tal is a devoted educator who has taught for the Perlman Music Program, New York University, and the Juilliard School and pre-college.

Julia Bruskin Wunsch | Cello

Since her concerto debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 17, cellist Julia Bruskin has established herself as one of the premiere cellists of her generation. She performed Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto with conductor Jahja Ling at Avery Fisher Hall and has also been soloist with the Nashville Symphony, Utah Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and Pacific Symphony among others. Her recent CD of music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Dohnanyi was praised by Fanfare Magazine for its “exquisite beauty of sound and expression”. A founding member of the critically acclaimed Claremont Trio, Ms. Bruskin won 1st prize in the 2001 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and was awarded the first ever Kalichestein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award. The trio tours extensively, including recent concerts for the Library of Congress, New York’s Lincoln Center and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Ms. Bruskin plays frequent solo recitals with her husband, Aaron Wunsch, and together they are artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival. She has also performed with Joseph Kalichstein, Miriam Fried, Gilbert Kalish, Ida Kavafian, Sharon Robinson, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. A frequent guest at summer music festivals, she has performed at La Jolla Summerfest, Mostly Mozart, Caramoor, Saratoga, Bard, and Norfolk, and toured with the Musicians from Ravinia.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Ms Bruskin began cello lessons at age four. Her teachers have included Timothy Eddy, Joel Krosnick, Andres Diaz, Norman Fischer, and Nancy Hair. She completed the five-year double degree program at Juilliard and Columbia University. She is a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and helps to program the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble series at Carnegie's Weill Hall.

Enriqueta Somarriba | Piano

Pianist Enriqueta Somarriba enjoys a versatile international career, as a performer and music educator. Praised by the New York Concert Review for her “aplomb” and her “natural, individual interpretation”, Somarriba performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Organization of American States in Washington D.C., Cervantes Institute of NY, New Jersey State Theatre, Richardson Auditorium, Zimmerli Art Museum, Roulette and in halls and concert series in her native Spain, such as the Festival de Música y Danza de Granada, Centro Nacional de Difusión Musical and Festival dels Horts. Her performances have been broadcasted in the Spanish National Radio, 98.7 WFMT Chicago, Veracruz Television-Radio (México), and she has recorded for MSR Classics the four-hand piano music by composer Paul Reale, in collaboration with The Center for Musical Excellence. Somarriba also recently recorded as a soloist for the soundtrack of the Netflix feature film “Dancing on Glass” by composer Iván Palomares, which was nominated for the Spanish Film Academy Awards (‘Goyas’) in 2023. As a chamber musician, she performs regularly with members of the Metropolitan Opera and Philadelphia Orchestras. With the mission to promote Ibero-American music in the US, Somarriba has delivered lecture-recitals with emphasis on new music by Spanish and Latin American composers in institutions like Cornell University, Manhattan School of Music, Rutgers University, Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Peabody Conservatory and dozens of K-12 schools. A devoted educator, Somarriba currently holds the position of Director of Education and Community at SpeakMusic Conservatory in NJ, where she focuses on developing educational music programs for a diverse community of students, while being part of the school’s piano faculty since 2015. She is an Official Steinway & Sons Educational Partner. Somarriba has earned degrees from the Madrid Royal Conservatory (B.M.), Chicago College of Performing Arts (M.M.) Manhattan School of Music (P.S.C.) and Rutgers University (D.M.A.).