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Our Artists and Friends
Marcantonio Barone, piano, was a prizewinner at both the 1985 Busoni and 1987 Leeds International Piano Competitions, and made his debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1973 at the age of ten.  He performs with major symphony orchestra worldwide.  Since his 1986 Wigmore Hall debut in London, Mr. Barone has returned for numerous highly successful concert tours.  He is head of the piano department at the Bryn Mawr Conservatory of Music.  

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Nancy Bean is Artistic Director of 1807 & Friends and its first violinist. She has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1983 and is currently its Assistant Concertmaster. She is also first violinist with the Wister Quartet and the Amerita Chamber Ensemble.  
 

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David Booth has been a violinist and keyboard player in The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1973. He was a member of the Philarte Quartet for 14 years and is Co-Director and harpsichordist for the Amerita Chamber Ensemble. He was named harpsichordist of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1999.  
 

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Violist Che-Hung Chen joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in Spring 2001, the first-ever Taiwanese citizen to become a member of the orchestra. Mr. Chen was the first prize winner at the seventh Banff International String Quartet Competition as a member of the Daedalus Quartet. Mr. Chen entered The Curtis Institute of Music at age 14, where he studied with Joseph de Pasquale. He tours throughout the U.S. with Musicians from Marlboro and has participated in the Ravinia, Marlboro, and Music from Angel Fire festivals, and the Isaac Stern Chamber Music workshop at Carnegie Hall.  
 

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David Cramer, Associate Principal Flutist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, joined the orchestra in 1981. A former member of the Montreal and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, he teaches at Temple University.  
 

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Pamela Fay is the violist of 1807 & Friends. She is a substitute violist with The Philadelphia Orchestra and is a member of the Wister Quartet and the Chamber Symphony of Philadelphia. She has been a member of the Toronto Symphony and the LeClair String Quartet.  
 

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 Carol Jantsch, tuba Carol Jantsch's musical career started with piano lessons at the age of six, then euphonium lessons at nine, graduating to the tuba at age twelve. She attended the prestigious arts boarding school, Interlochen Arts Academy, for three years, earning her high school diploma as salutatorian of her class. She continued her studies at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Fritz Kaenzig. During this time, Carol was very active with auditions and competitions, winning first place in four international solo tuba competitions, and receiving laureates at several others. While still a senior in college, she won her position with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She then graduated with her BM from the University of Michigan, also receiving the Albert A. Stanley medal, the highest honor awarded to an undergraduate student in the School of Music. Carol began her appointment with the Philadelphia Orchestra in August of 2006 as the first female tuba player in a major symphony orchestra.  
 

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Cellist Yumi Kendall has been recently appointed Assistant Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Ms. Kendall entered The Curtis Institute of Music in 1999, where she was the recipient of a merit-based full-tuition scholarship and held the Jacqueline DuPre Fellowship. Ms. Kendall, who has been studying since age five, made her recital debut at age seven in Boulder, Colorado, and in 1998, made her orchestral solo debut with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC., under the direction of Elizabeth Schulze. She has also participated in master classes with renowned international concert artists including Lynn Harrell and Janos Starker. Ms. Kendall also is principal cellist of the Haddonfield (NJ) and has participated in summer festivals and institutes including Kent/Blossom Music Festival, Verbier Festival, Taos School of Music, and the Marlboro Festival. She is a founding member of the Dryden String Quartet (www.drydenquartet.com).  
 

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Allen Krantz, composer and guitarist, has received critical acclaim as a composer, solo guitarist and chamber musician. He has performed in concert throughout the United States with his diverse programs often featuring original compositions. Mr. Krantz heads the guitar program of The New School Institute at Temple University. International Music is currently publishing a series of his solo and chamber music arrangements for the guitar. His works have been featured on 1807 & Friends concerts.  
 

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Kerri Ryan, joined The Philadelphia Orchestra as assistant principal viola at the beginning of the 2007-08 season. She came to Philadelphia from the Minnesota Orchestra, where she was assistant principal viola for seven seasons. Following her graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music in 1998, she served as associate concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony. Ms. Ryan and her husband, violinist William Polk, are founding members of the award-winning Minneapolis Quartet.

In Philadelphia, while pursuing a violin performance degree at Curtis, Ms. Ryan began studying viola with Karen Tuttle. Ms. Ryan also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of its Young Artist Program. Her violin teachers include Lee Snyder, Jascha Brodsky, Rafael Druian, and Arnold Steinhardt.
 

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Lloyd Smith has been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra since 1967 and was its Acting Associate Principal cellist before retiring in 2003 to devote himself to chamber music and composing. He is cellist with the Amerita Chamber Ensemble.

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The Wister Quartet is the core group of 1807 & Friends. Formed in 1987, it has earned high praise from critics and audiences alike for its superb musicianship and memorable performances, including those with guest artists Emanuel Ax, Alicia de Larrocha, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Yo-Yo Ma. The Quartet’s first recording, for Direct-to-Tape Records, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996.
 

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 Pianist Natalie Zhu is the recipient of a 2006 Musical Fund Society Career Advancement Award, the 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2003 Andrew Wolf Memorial Chamber Music Award, and winner of Astral Artistic Services’ 1998 National Auditions. The Philadelphia Inquirer heralded Astral’s presentation of Ms. Zhu in recital as a display of “emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics”; selections from the recital were later broadcast on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” Ms. Zhu has performed throughout North America, Europe, and Asia as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In the U.S. she has appeared as soloist with many major symphony orchestras. Ms. Zhu made her European debut in 1994 at the Festival de Sully et d’Orleans in France and has also given solo recitals at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, New York’s Steinway Hall and Merkin Hall, Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Series in Fresno, Portland Piano Festival in Oregon, Munich’s Herkulessaal in Germany, and Beijing Concert Hall in China. She has performed with both the Vermeer and Miami quartets, and collaborated with members of the Guarneri, Orion, Mendelssohn, Ying Quartets, and the Beaux Arts Trio. Ms. Zhu toured with renowned violinist Hilary Hahn from 1997 to 2006. An active chamber musician, she has appeared in Marlboro, Amelia Island, Kingston, Great Lake, Tanglewood, Skaneateles, and the Bay Chamber Music Festivals . Natalie Zhu began her piano studies with Xiao-Cheng Liu at the age of six in her native China and public appearance at age nine in Beijing. At eleven she emigrated with her family to Los Angeles, and by fifteen was enrolled at The Curtis Institute of Music where she received the Rachmaninoff Award and studied with Gary Graffman. She received a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Claude Frank.  

 

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