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Shanghai Quartet
Quartet Website

The Shanghai Quartet came to Montclair State University in 2002 as ensemble-in-residence. They serve as the core faculty in the strings program, teaching individual lessons, coaching chamber ensembles, and performing for the university and surrounding communities. Cellist Nicholas Tzavaras is coordinator of the strings program.

Yi-Wen Jiang
Artist-in-Residence
Shanghai Quartet
Violin
973-736-7212
yiwenjiang@gmail.com

Born in Beijing, Yi-Wen Jiang has appeared as a soloist with the Victoria Symphony and the Montreal Symphony. He has also performed for NBC and PBS television specials, National Public Radio, CPB in Beijing, WQXR in New York, and KFUO in St. Louis. He made his concerto debut with the Central Opera House Orchestra in Beijing when he was 17. In 1981, after winning a top prize at the First China Youth Violin Competition, he was accepted into the class of Professor Han Li at the Central Conservatory of Music. In 1985 he came to the United States on a full scholarship to the St. Louis Conservatory, where his teachers included Taras Gabora, Jaime Laredo, and Michael Tree. He also spent two summers in Dallas participating in master classes with Pinchas Zukerman. In 1990, with the support of the Ken Boxley Foundation, he went to Rutgers University to work with Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri Quartet. A prizewinner at the Mae M. Whitaker and Montreal competitions, Mr. Jiang has appeared at many international music festivals, collaborating with such prominent artists as Alexander Schneider, Michael Tree, Jaime Laredo, and Lynn Harrell. He has recorded for the Record Corporation of China.

Weigang Li
Artist-in-Residence
Shanghai Quartet
Violin
973-655-7212
weigangliviolin@yahoo.com

A native of Shanghai, Weigang Li has been a featured soloist with the Asian Youth Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony. Mr. Li began studying the violin with his parents at the age of five and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory at age 14. He then came to the United States in 1981 to study at the San Francisco Conservatory through an exchange program between the sister cities of San Francisco and Shanghai. Upon graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory in 1985, Mr. Li was appointed assistant professor of violin at the school. Shortly thereafter he left China to continue his education at the Northern Illinois University. From 1987-1989, Mr. Li studied and taught at the Juilliard School as teaching assistant to the Juilliard Quartet. His other teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Pierre Menard, Shu-Chen Tan, and Isadore Tinkleman. Mr. Li was featured in the film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China.

Jesse Mills
Visiting Specialist
Violin
973-655-7212

Grammy-nominated violinist Jesse Mills performs music of many genres, from classical to contemporary, as well as his own compositions and improvisations. In 2004, he made his professional concerto debut with the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and Salsa trombonist, Jimmy Bosch. This concert combined a classical performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, and a Salsa band arrangement of the same piece, with Bosch and Mills as improvising soloists. Mr. Mills has performed chamber music at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie's Weill Hall, Columbia University's Miller Theater, Boston's Gardner Museum, the CooperArts Series at Cooper Union, and at the Marlboro Music Festival.  An avid performer of contemporary works, Mr. Mills was a member of the FLUX Quartet for two years.  His collaboration with cellist Fred Sherry has included performances and recordings of works by Zorn, Wuorinen, Webern, and Schoenberg.  He can also be heard on New Spirit - a new recording for the Verve label by jazz pianist, Makoto Ozone.  Mr. Mills is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he was a student of Robert Mann.

Honggang Li
Artist-in-Residence
Shanghai Quartet
Viola
973-736-7212
shangva@yahoo.com

Honggang Li began his musical training studying the violin with his parents at the same time as his brother, Weigang. When the Beijing Conservatory reopened in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Li was selected to attend from a group of over five hundred applicants. He continued his training at the Shanghai Conservatory and was appointed a faculty member there in 1984. Mr. Li has also served as a teaching assistant at the Juilliard School and has appeared as soloist with the Shanghai Philharmonic and the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra. In 1987 he won a violin as a special prize given by Elisa Pegreffi of Quartetto Italiano at the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy.

Nicholas Tzavaras
Artist-in-Residence
Shanghai Quartet
Cello
Strings Program Coordinator
973-736-7212
tzcello@gmail.com

Cellist Nicholas Tzavaras has been an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States. He made solo appearances with the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, SUNY Stonybrook Symphony, and the East Iowa Symphony, as well as at Fiddlefest at Carnegie Hall and at the Tonhalle in Zurich. Mr. Tzavaras has previously appeared at the Isaac Stern International Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem, and also at the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Taos, Sarasota, and Musicorda music festivals. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory, and a Master of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has studied with Laurence Lesser and Timothy Eddy. In addition to his performing schedule, he is active in music outreach and education. Mr. Tzavaras has taught at many different music schools including the Opus 118 Music Center in East Harlem, where his mother, Roberta Guaspari, is the Artistic Director. Mr. Tzavaras' family was portrayed in the movie Music of the Heart starring Meryl Streep.

Linda McKnight
Visiting Specialist
Double Bass
973-655-7212
lindamcknight@optonline.net

Linda McKnight has taught double bass at MSU for over a decade, as she has at Manhattan School, Columbia University, and Columbia Teachers College. She studied with Frederick Zimmermann at the Juilliard School and with Stuart Sankey, Joseph Cascelli, Warren Benfield, Henry Portnoi, and Homer Mensch. She has performed extensively in orchestras and chamber groups throughout New Jersey and New York, including Wayne (NJ) Chamber Orchestra, Colonial Symphony of New Jersey, Masterwork Messiah productions at Carnegie Hall, and Opera Orchestra of New York. She has been a featured guest artist in workshops and clinics across the United States. She succeeded her teacher, the late Frederick Zimmermann, as Master Teacher of Double Bass for the New Jersey Summer Conference of the American String Teachers Association, a position she has held for two decades. She is published in String Tones, Tempo, American String Teacher, and International Society of Bassists magazines. Her edition of Paul Ramsier's Pieces for Friends is available through Boosey and Hawkes.

André Tarantiles
Visiting Specialist
Harp
(973) 655-7212

André Tarantiles received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University School of Music. He has concertized throughout the United States and performed as soloist in all the major concert halls in New York City. He has appeared on national television accompanying opera stars including Aprile Millo, Benita Valente, Renée Fleming, Marcello Giordani, Ramon Vargas, and Christine Goerke. Currently principal harpist for several ensembles including the Metropolitan Opera Guild, New York City Opera National Company, Glimmerglass Opera Festival, Arizona Opera Wagner Festival, New Jersey State Opera, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Teatro Grattacielo, and the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He has also performed in orchestras backing up headliners as diverse as Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Shirley Jones, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Connie Francis, Roberta Flack, John Denver, Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole and Patti Lupone. He has performed in The Fantasticks (the world's longest running musical), Radio City Musical Hall and on Broadway (harp and synthesizer). Mr. Tarantiles is featured on CDs for several labels and he is also the official harpist of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

Dennis Cinelli
Assistant Professor
Guitar - Lute
Program Coordinator
973-655-7212
dcinelli@nyc.rr.com
Dennis Cinelli - Website

Dennis Cinelli is active as a soloist and chamber musician on early guitars, lutes and mandolins. He has performed with the American Symphony, Bach Aria Group, Artek, Ars Antigua, the Barros Classical Consort, New York Collegium, Lord Chamberlain's Consort, Ivory Consort and his own Cinelli Duo playing concerts throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared on artists' series at Yale, Ohio, Wake Forest and Appalachian State Universities. Presented in recitals sponsored by the Philadelphia and Piedmont Classical Guitar Societies, Mr. Cinelli has also accompanied Robert Osborne, Louise Wohlafka, Jeffrey Gall and Pino de Vittorio on lutes and early guitars. Dennis currently performs with the O'Brien/Cinelli Duo. With noted performer and teacher Patrick O'Brien, he has done many recitals throughout North America while researching and developing repertoire for early plucked instruments. Featured in concerts at the Festival de Wallonie in Belgium and the Caramoor and Boston Early Music Festivals, Mr. Cinelli has also spent summers teaching and performing at the International Toscanini Early Guitar Festival/Competition in Stresa, Italy and the Lute Society of America's Summer Seminar.

Stephen Benson
Visiting Specialist
Jazz Guitar
973-655-7212
stephenbenson@earthlink.net

Guitarist Stephen Benson is a freelance performer who has remained active on the studio, jazz and broadway scene for twenty years. He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT, and a Masters from Manhattan School of Music. He has taught at Hartt School of Music and the Turtle Bay Music School in New York. Benson toured Europe as a member of the Giora Feidman Trio, performed at the Carnevale in Venice, Italy, for two years and at the Grand Canyon Music Festival in Arizona. He has worked extensively on Broadway in such shows as The Lion King, 42nd Street, and Wicked. He performs many styles of jazz from bebop to fusion to blues and R & B and has worked with artists including Phoebe Snow, John Sebastian and Evelyn Blakey.

Darren O'Neill
Visiting Specialist
Guitar
Research Methods
973-655-7212
darrenini@yahoo.com

Darren O'Neill is that rare combination of performer and scholar. His achievements as performer have included a Carnegie Hall debut as the result of winning the 1997 Artists International New York Debut Competition. His achievements as scholar have included principal editorial control over the re-engraving of the complete works of Fernando Sor. Mr. O'Neill holds a Masters Degree in classical guitar performance from Montclair State University and a Masters Degree in Library Service from Rutgers University. His library career has taken him to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts where he served as the Administrator to Special Collections in the Music Research Division.