The Glenn Gould School Chamber Competition

Violinist Aaron Boyd has established an international career as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral leader, recording artist, lecturer and pedagogue. Since making his New York recital debut in 1998, Boyd has appeared at the most prestigious venues throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and Asia and has participated in the Marlboro, Tippet Rise, La Jolla, Rockport, Aspen and Hong Kong and [email protected] festivals. Boyd has been a regular season artist of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012. A member of the Escher String Quartet for five seasons, Boyd was a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Martin E. Segal prize from Lincoln Center. As a passionate advocate for new music, Boyd has been involved in numerous commissions and premieres in concert and on record, and has worked directly with such legendary composers as Milton Babbitt, Elliott Carter and Charles Wuorinen. Recently featured on Live From Lincoln Center’s “ODYSSEY: The Chamber Music Society in Greece”, Boyd has been broadcast in concert by PBS, NPR, WQXR and WQED, and was profiled by Arizona Public Television. Formerly on the violin faculties of Columbia University and the University of Arizona, Boyd now serves as Director of chamber music and Chair of Strings at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University and makes his home in Plano, Texas, with his wife Yuko, daughter Ayu and son Yuki. Boyd plays on violins crafted by Matteo Goffriller in Venice, 1700, and Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn, 2018. 

Pianist Wayman Chin has performed widely throughout the United States, Asia, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, his concerts include performances at Princeton University, the Curtis Institute of Music, Jordan Hall and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco. In the Far East, Mr. Chin has appeared at Tsuen Wan Town Hall in Hong Kong, and in the Philippines, on the Sala Foundation concert series, at the residence of the US Ambassador in Manila and at Soochow University in Taipei.

Wayman Chin’s playing has been described as, “transcendental, long lines spun like glorious gold thread,” “ferociously concentrated, intense, focused, and musically astute” (Boston Herald), “vividly characterized and atmospheric,” (Stamford Mercury, U.K.) and “sheer magic….every note is colored.”(the Freeman, Philippines).

Devoted to chamber music playing, Mr. Chin has collaborated with artists such as the Pacifica Quartet, Cassatt String Quartet, violinist Eric Rosenblith, violist Masumi Rostad, cellist Thomas Kraines, sopranos Nancy Armstrong and Maria Jette and baritone Thomas Meglioranza.  For twelve seasons, he was a member of the artist faculty at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival and also performed and taught at the Stamford International Music Festival in England.

An advocate of new music, Wayman Chin has premiered a number of works by noted composers, including those of Scott Wheeler, Marti Epstein, Meyer Kupferman, Jeremy Van Buskirk, and Paul Brust; he has also introduced several works of Aaron Jay Kernis to Boston audiences. Of Chin’s performance of Kernis’ Valentines, David Cleary of 21st Century Music wrote, “Wayman Chin traversed the formidable challenges of the piano part with conspicuous success. His highly demonstrative performing style excellently suited the work’s forthright nature.”

A committed teacher, Wayman Chin has been a member of the faculty since 1994 at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where he was awarded the George Seaman Award for Excellence in the Art of Teaching.  At Longy, he also served as Dean of the Conservatory from 2008-2020; in 2020, he was named Dean Emeritus. 

Mr. Chin earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors from the University of Hartford’s Hartt School and a Master of Music degree from Yale University.  His principal teachers and mentors were Anne Koscielny, Donald Currier, Joan Panetti, and Raymond Hanson. Previously, Chin has  served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and on the Music Program Faculty of the Winter Cycle at the Banff Centre in Canada.

In recent years, Wayman Chin has performed recitals at Dickinson College, Wesleyan College, Bard College, Arkansas State University, Rhode Island Chamber Music Concerts, and at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York City. He has also given master classes in Taiwan (National Taichung University of Education; Soochow University); Hong Kong (Hong Kong Baptist University); the Philippines (University of Santo Tomas),  Canada (Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto) and Florida State University. Wayman Chin has been a contributing writer to Opera News and has served on the juries of the CS Music International Piano Competition in Guangzhou, China (2018) and the Boston International Piano Competition (2017, 2019, 2022).

James Sommerville retired as Principal Horn of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in December of 2022, after a glittering 25 year tenure, capping an orchestral career that included seasons with the Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and as acting solo horn of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. The winner of the highest prizes at the Munich, Toulon and CBC solo competitions, Mr. Sommerville also pursued a career as a French Horn soloist that spanned over 35 years, and has brought immensely successful appearances with major orchestras throughout North America and Europe.  His disc of the Mozart Horn Concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra won the JUNO Award for Best Classical Recording in Canada.  Other award-winning CBC recordings include the Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, and Britten’s Canticle.  Mr. Sommerville has recorded chamber music for the Deutsche Gramophon, Telarc, CBC, Summit, and Marquis labels.  He toured and recorded regularly as a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He is heard regularly on the CBC network and has recorded all of the standard solo horn repertoire for broadcast.

As an educator, Mr. Sommerville has been a long-standing member of the New England Conservatory faculty. He has also taught at The Longy School, University of Toronto, Oberlin College, McGill University, the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, and Dalhousie University. He has presented master classes worldwide, including at: CNSM de Paris, Karajan-Akademie Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhausakademie, The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New World Symphony (Miami), Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo), Shanghai Conservatory, and throughout Canada and the USA. He has been a recitalist and master teacher at several IHS conventions and regional meetings. Mr. Sommerville brings a profound understanding of, and experience with, pedagogical approaches and techniques of the American, German, and French schools. Former students are pursuing successful orchestral careers throughout the USA, Canada and Europe, including first chair players in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony (Washington), Atlanta, Kansas City, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Columbus, etc.; and in Shanghai, Lisbon, Singapore, Winterthur, among others.

In the role of conductor, Mr. Sommerville has led many first-rate professional orchestras and ensembles throughout Canada and the USA.  He led the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra to great critical acclaim in his seven seasons as Music Director. Recent engagements include appearances with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Edmonton, London (Ontario) and Québec Symphony Orchestras. Internationally, Mr Sommerville has been conductor of the US National Brass Ensemble in concert and on their award-winning CD of music of Gabrieli and Williams, as well as a variety of ensembles throughout the USA, Europe and Asia.

As a guest artist and faculty member, Mr. Sommerville has performed at many chamber music festivals throughout Canada, the USA, Europe, Oceania and Asia.  Solo performances of note include the world premiere of Christos Hatzis’ Winter Solstice in Yellowknife, NWT; the North American premiere of Ligeti’s Hamburg Concerto with the BSO; and the John Williams Horn Concerto. In 2007, he performed the world premiere of Elliot Carter’s Horn Concerto, commissioned for him by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has commissioned solo and chamber works from many young Canadian and international composers, including Kati Agócs, Vivian Fung, Nicole Lizée, Kelly-Marie Murphy, Slavic Popovic, Abigail Richardson, Jocelyn Morlock, Roger Bergs, and many more. In recent seasons, Mr. Sommerville has appeared as a soloist in London (with the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields), and in Costa Rica, Holland, Quebec, Ottawa and Italy.