The collaborative spirit … Zephyr … in action - 2004 MTNA National Conference Artists

American Music Teacher, Feb-March, 2004 by Sylvia Coats

Pianist Jonathan Feldman, recognized by colleagues and critics alike as an extremely accomplished ensemble player and accompanist, has performed on four continents with some of the world's greatest instrumentalists. Among these have been the legendary Nathan Milstein, Itzhak Pedman, Joshua Bell, Kyung Wha Chung, Zara Nelsova, Sarah Chang and Ani and Ida Kavafian. Feldman also enjoys an active solo career performing throughout the United States and Europe. As a chamber musician, he appears in concert regularly with members of the New York Philharmonic and Boston Symphony Orchestras. He has participated in the New York Philharmonic Chamber Ensembles concerts during the orchestra's tours of the Far East, South America and Europe. Feldman also has participated in many summer festivals, notably Tanglewood, Bridgehampton Music Festival and Music from Angel Fire in New Mexico.

A dedicated teacher, Feldman has given mister classes throughout the United States and has lectured on the "Collaborative Pianist" at the University of Maryland International Piano Festival and William Kapell Competition. In the fall of 1989, Feldman joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, where he now serves as chair of the collaborative piano department. He is a graduate of Juilliard, and his teachers have included Dorothy Taubman, Rosetta Goodkind and Irwin Freundlich. He has recorded for Angel/EMI, CALA, Columbia Masterworks, Naxos, Nonesuch, RCA Red Seal and Summit records. His most recent recording is with Gil Shaham for DGG. Feldman lives in New Jersey with his wife, Judith Leclair, who is the principal bassoonist of the New York Philharmonic, and their son, Gabriel.

Cellist Darrett Adkins has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting and versatile young cellists in America. Adkins's New York debut of Samuel Barber's Concerto, with Per Brevig conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Alice Tully Hall in 1999, prompted Strings magazine to call him "an adventurous champion of contemporary music."

Adkins has won numerous prizes, including the Presser Music Award and Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award, for which he appeared as soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic. He has performed as soloist with Tochio Soloisten, the North Carolina Symphony and the New Hampshire Symphony. Other performances include the 1999 American premiere of Franco Donatoni's cello concerto at Tanglewood, where he also performed Birtwistle's Meridian.

From 1997 until 2002, Adkins was a member of Flux, a string quartet dedicated to cutting-edge music. A 2001 recording Flux made of Morton Feldman's six-hour String Quartet No. 2 is available on the Mode label. In addition, he frequently steps outside the classical mainstream, collaborating with figures such as free-jazz legend Ornette Coleman and electronic pop wizard David Baron.

Adkins recently joined the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, from which he graduated in 1991 and studied with Norman Fischer. Adkins was on the faculty of the Juilliard School for seven years, where he also received his doctor of musical arts degree as a student of Joel Krosnick. Adkins earned a master of music degree from Rice University. He is originally from Tacoma, Washington.