Every musician you meet on our roster has been selected for their outstanding musical talent, as well as their commitment to offering our clients reliability, a great attitude, and absolute professionalism. Beyond that, we think they're all wonderful people as well! Please browse this page and get to know our musicians, then sign up to receive notification of when they are playing public concerts in your area. We work hard at our art, and we'd love for you to come hear us play!

David Yonan (Classical and Jazz Violin and Viola) was born in Berlin, and after winning the Berlin youth competition at age 10, he gave his recital debuts in Berlin, Moscow and St. Petersburg. At 12 he made his orchestral debut at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. At 15 he came to the United States to study with renowned violin teachers, Roland & Almita Vamos, and later with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School and the Aspen Music Festival. competitions. Winner of significant international competitions, he has made guest performances at major Music Festivals, and gave solo performances with major Symphony Orchestras in Europe, the U.S. and South America. He has performed for radio and TV productions for CBS and German TV networks. Mr. Yonan earned a M.M. and an Artist Diploma at the Berlin "Hanns Eisler" Music Academy. He completed post-graduate education at Northwestern University and the Juilliard School. He is the founder/artistic director of the Fine Arts Music Society NFP and serves as music director of the AUA Foundation.

James Baur (Classical Guitar) earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in music from Northwestern University, under the direction of Anne Waller. He is currently finishing his Doctorate of Music in Guitar Performance also at Northwestern. He has been awarded numerous prizes and honors for his performance, and has been heard on WFMT and at venues throughout Chicago, and recently released his second solo guitar album. Also active as a teacher, he is on the faculty of Lake Forest College, The Suzuki-Orff School for Young Musicians, The Lake Forest Symphony Music School, and the Music Institute of Chicago.

David Onderdonk (Classical and Jazz Guitar) has performed and recorded with a number of top names in jazz, including vocalists Kurt Elling and Cassandra Wilson, pianist Fred Simon, guitarist John McLean, saxophonist Von Freeman, jazz innovator Pharoah Sanders, and legendary folk-jazz artist Terry Callier. Onderdonk began studying guitar in 1974 when he was accepted into the classical guitar program at the University of Illinois. He took master classes with Manuel Barrueco, Elliot Fisk, and Eduardo Fernandez among others, and has taught at Ax in Hand guitar shop, Columbia College and at the Christopher Lauglin Guitar Studio. His CD Loose Contact received four stars in Down Beat magazine.

Kathy Cowan (Celtic Vocals) Kathy toured for five years with Kiltartan Road, a band she formed with Joseph Sobol to perform In the Deep Heart's Core. She received unanimous acclaim for the "raw, crackling energy" of her performances, her "luminous presence", and her "deep affinity for her material." Kathy has been the featured soloist with several major symphony orchestras, singing Irish songs from her Irish repertoire. She has appeared with Doc Severinsen and the Milwaukee Symphony, as well as the Buffalo and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras and the Toledo Symphony. She has toured as guest artist with the Paul Winter Consort, and has been featured on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center. Kathy is a core faculty member of The Old Town School of Folk Music and teaches at the Victory Gardens Theatre and Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

Alex Koffman (Classical and Klezmer Violin) was born in Minsk, Byelorus and received his Masters Degree from the Conservatory of Minsk. His musical positions included Concertmaster of the Byelorussian Pops Orchestra. In 1990, after immigrating to America, Alex studied with Albert Igolnikov of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Subsequently, Alex was introduced to the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band and became its violinist and arranger, as well as composer of the musical scores for productions of the Yiddish Arts Ensemble Theater. Alex is co-instructor of the Midwest Klezmer and Yiddish Music Institute. His non-klezmer credits include classical and show orchestras in Chicago including the Chicago Music Consortium and the Bill Porter Orchestra, the Steppenwolf Theater, movie and commercial soundtracks. In 1999, Alex was featured soloist in the world premier of "Klezmer Rhapsody" in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center. Alex has recorded three CDs with Maxwell Street and toured with the band in Germany, Austria, England and the Netherlands.

Kara Bershad (Harp) has studied music at the Eastman School of Music, Brown University, and the Paris Conservatory in Paris, France. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Symphony II (Lyric Opera Orchestra) & The Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra. In addition, Kara holds the position of principal harpist with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. Recent concert appearances include Johnny Mathis, Julie Andrews, The Moody Blues, and the band Kansas, to name a few. Broadway theatre performances include A Little Night Music (Goodman Theatre), Beauty and the Beast (Chicago Theatre), Carousel (Rosemont Theatre) and Showboat (Auditorium Theatre).Kara also has extensive recording studio experience. Among her credits are nationally recognized radio and television commercials for Princess Cruise Lines, Budweiser Beer, and McDonald's Corporation. Her performances on harp can also be heard in the Hollywood film scores, My Best Friend's Wedding, Home Alone II, and the Kodak Film documentary, Symphony. She is often seen at some of the city's finest venues including Chicago's premiere restaurant, Charlie Trotter's.

Chuck Bontrager (Violin and Viola) Chuck Bontrager graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelors degree in both violin and viola, and earned a Masters in Violin Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati . He currently plays with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Joffrey Ballet, the Lake Forest Symphony, the Northwest Indiana Symphony and Fulcrum Point New Music Project. Mr. Bontrager also teaches at the Merit School of Music and has played in several orchestras for the Broadway in Chicago series.

Doug Brush (Percussion) Doug Brush received a BM in Music with honors from Roosevelt University. He majored in classical percussion performance. He has studied with Patsy Dash of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Ed Poremba of the Lyric Opera. He is very active as a performer in the Midwest, writing and performing in a variety of settings including theatre, chamber music, world music and jazz. Some of the groups he has performed with include the Civic Orchestra, Cube, Rose Polenzani, The Weird Sisters, Las Guitarras de Espana, Ten Tongues, and Las Toallitas. Doug worked on A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Chicago Shakespeare Threater on Navy Pier. Other theatre credits include: A Clockwork Orange at Steppenwolf Theatre, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and living in Paris at the Royal George Theatre, and Once on this Island and Blade to the Heat at the Appletree Theatre (which won a Jeff Award for original Afro-Cuban music that he consulted on and co-arranged). Doug also did a national tour of the Broadway hit musical Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story. His composition credits and recordings include music for modern dance concerts, films, industrials and commercials. Doug also writes product reviews for Downbeat magazine. Doug collects and specializes in ethnic percussion instruments and presents unusual and interesting workshops in the use of these diverse instruments. He has studied and performed Hindustani, Middle-Eastern, African, Afro-Carribean, Brazilian, and Flamenco music. Doug is an active teacher in the Chicago area with students at Joan's Studio for the Arts and his own provate studio. He is a member of the Ravinia Festival Music Illumination outreach program. Doug is a founding member of the Rhythm Unity Ensemble, a percussion ensemble which has performed for tens of thousands of Chicago public school students in outreach programs for the International Musicians Foundation. Doug also works regularly with the family education center at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Kalyan Pathak is a composer, musician, drummer and a percussion player of a multi cultural experience covering a very vast base. Raised in a musical family in Ahmedabad, India, he began his formal training in Classical North Indian Tabla at the age of 9, and continued this rigorous regimen until he was 15. Soon thereafter, his passion for rhythm led him to broaden his musical horizons, and he spent 5 years in Bombay under the tutelage of Ranjit Barot, devoting himself to western drumset, while concurrently doing session work in the Bombay studio scene. Kalyan came to Chicago in the early nineties, and in addition to receiving a B.Mus. degree in Jazz studies with honors, he went on to study African, Afro-cuban, Latin and Middle Eastern genres of percussion. Since moving to the U.S., Kalyan has become one of the busiest tabla virtuoso and multi-ethnic percussionists in the country. Apart from numerous collaborations and recording projects, Kalyan has performed with the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, toured and performed in Europe and Brazil, and he plays regularly with Fareed Haque, the Chicago guitarist of world repute.Notable recent projects include, composing and performing original score live on stage with Fareed Haque, for production of Homeland Security, a play with reputed Contemporary American Theater Festival, and DVD and CD releases with the Fareed Haque Group in 2004. Leading his own group, Jayho Jazzmata, Kalyan has been performing his compositions blending jazz, blues with Indian ragas and folk influences.

Karim Nagi Mohammed is a native Egyptian who has lived in the Boston area for over 20 years. Karim performs primarily Arabic, Turkish and Andalusian hand percussion, including the Egyptian Tabla (goblet drum), Riqq (tambourine) and Segat (brass castanets). Karim leads the SHARQ Arabic Music Ensemble performing the classical Arabic instrumental and vocal repertoire. Karim developed and currently performs Turbo Tabla a music and dance show that combines traditional Arabic and Turkish music with modern Electronica and Techno. After graduating from Skidmore College with a degree in Psychology and three regularly performing bands, Karim traveled to India, Turkey, Eastern Europe and back to Egypt for an extended time. Karim returned to America in 1995 and began performing exclusively Arabic Music. His first teachers were Nabil Ata and Midhat al-Rashidi. Karim later studied with Simon Shaheen at the Arabic Music Retreat and learned advanced Riqq from Michel Baqlouq. Karim then formed the SHARQ Arabic Music Ensemble. In 1998 Karim began producing the Arabesque Mondays series at Club Passim and would bring Arabic performers from all over the USA to perform at this famous folk club in Harvard Square. Karim resumed studying Arabic Music, this time in Cairo with Dr. Alfred Gamil (Cairo Conservatory of Music) and Mohammed Al-Araby (percussionist for Umm Koulthoum and The National Orchestra of Egypt.) He currently teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Ann Dufek (Bassoon) holds a Bachelor of Music in performance from The University of Miami and a Masters of Music Education and Performance from Northwestern University. She has studied the bassoon extensively and has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Highland Park String Orchestra, and Lake Forest Symphony.

Janelle Jansen (Harp) obtained her Bachelors and Masters in Music from Northwestern University. She plays an extensive repertoire of music from Bach to the Beatles. Some performance highlights include playing at the opening at Miller Park Baseball Stadium, the Pabst Mansion, the musical "Once Upon a Mattress," the Milwaukee and Chicago Art Museums, Milwaukee's famous Pfister Hotel, and the Christmas Eve Service at Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago. She has also performed with many other ensembles throughout her career including the Racine Symphony Orchestra, the Iowa University Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Youth Symphony Orchestra, the University of Chicago Choir and Chamber Orchestra, and is currently the principal harpist for the Elmhurst Symphony.

Lisa Taylor (French Horn) completed a Bachelor of Music degree at New England Conservatory, a Master of Music degree at Peabody Conservatory and an Advanced Music Study program at The Banff Centre in Canada. She spent two summers at Chautauqua and one at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. Before becoming an official Midwesterner, she was a member of the Annapolis Symphony and played extra with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She also has degrees in mechanical engineering, and colleagues learn not to leave any instrument with moving parts unguarded around her.

Kinan Abou-afach (Cello and 'Ud) began his musical studies in his native Syria on the 'Ud (Arabic Lute), learning traditional Arabic repertoire and the maqam system. A year later (age 8) he began cello studies with Pavel Coupin at the Arab Institute of Music in Damascus, and later studied with Rasi Abdullaiev and Valery Volkov. At fifteen he became a full-time member of the Syrian Symphony and the Middle-Eastern ensemble and was invited to participate in domestic and foreign music events as both a classical musician and a traditional Arabic musician. He received his bachelor's at The Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, Syria, and has performed as a soloist with various orchestras throughout Syria and the Middle-East and has participated in master-classes with Francoise Baduell in 1997, Federico Romano in 1998, Yo-yo Ma in 1999, members of Alban Berg Quartet in 2002. He moved to Chicago in 2000 to pursue a Masters Degree at DePaul University School of Music. He is currently studying under Stephen Balderston, assistant principal of the Chicago Symphony, cello section. Kinan is a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Somerlie DePasquale (Oboe) received a Bachelor of Music degree in Oboe Performance from Vanderbilt and a Master of Music degree from Roosevelt University. She is a former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where she has performed under conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Lorin Maazel, Pierre Boulez, and Pinchas Zukerman . She was a featured soloist with the Civic Orchestra in Alfred Schnitke's Concerto Grosso No. 4 in November of 2004. She has also performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Mstislav Rostropovich conducting. Somerlie is on faculty at the People's Music School maintains private studios in the suburbs of Wheaton and Geneva.

Bob Sherman (jazz and classical guitar) has been a member of Fairwinds, a flute and guitar duo in the Boston area. He was selected to perform the debut of renowned composer Martin Rokeach's Fantasy on 12 Strings. In addition to various other solo and chamber group settings, he has performed with a variety of popular artists such as Mike Gordon (Phish) and Ziggy Marley. He has earned graduate degrees in both jazz and classical guitar from Indiana University under the tutelage of Ernesto Bitetti and Brazilian guitar virtuoso Marcos Calvalcante.

Anna Najoom (Clarinet) holds a master's degree in clarinet performance from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis where she studied with Burt Hara, principal clarinet of the Minnesota Orchestra. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Lawrence University Conservatory in Appleton, WI. She is a member of the Chicago based groups Claraconbrio, The Sapphire Woodwind Quintet and Symphony Sounds. She has performed with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, Ohio Light Opera, Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica UANL in Monterrery, Mexico and the Chamber Orchestra for the 2002 International Double Reed Society Conference in Banff, Canada in addition to many other musical organizations. She currently teaches for the Merit School of Music, Maine South High School, District 64 in Park Ridge, and in Wilmette and Kenilworth.

Hicham Chami (Qanun) has studied music for nearly twenty years, in Morocco and the U.S. Hicham is founder of the Mosaic Ensemble and the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble as well as Xauen Music, an organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of classical Arabic, Sephardic, Turkish, and Armenian music. Following graduation from business school in Casablanca, Hicham moved to Chicago to begin the MBA program at DePaul University's Kellstadt School of Business. Hicham has been performing with several ensembles in Chicago, including the Sharq Ensemble led by Issa Boulos and Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi's group, TiTiko.He is included in Chicago Magazine's "Best of Chicago" issue (August 2002) as "best instrumentalist". Hicham also conducts educational workshops and classes for children and adults.

Temple Schultz (Jazz Vocals) has been singing professionally since childhood and leading bands since graduating from the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL) where she received her bachelors in the internationally top-rated program for Music Business. As a backing vocalist, Temple has performed with pop icon Gloria Estefan and R&B legend Peobo Bryson. Her voice has been heard on jingles for Rio Bravo Restaurant chains, Henessy Cadillac (Atlanta region) and the Chicago Bears. Temple is the winner of multiple national songwriting competitions and has released two CDs of her original music and performs her original material on both guitar and piano through out the Chicago land area. She performs regularly in Chicago's top venues including the Green Mill, Green Dolphin Street, Jazz Showcase, Odyssey Dinner boat and is a first call vocalist for Brazilian bands in Chicago. Temple is also a graduate of the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy High School in Michigan, and currently teaches voice and piano at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Vijay Tellis-Nayak (Jazz and Classical Piano) holds a bachelors in music, masters in Communications and has completed post-graduate work in Communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. He gained national recognition while still in grammar school for orchestral compositions that won the Eastern Illinois University Young Composers Competition three years in a row and in high school won the prestigious Concerto Contest at Oak Park River Forest High School. Vijay has played in the orchestra pit for the "Lion King" at Chicago's Cadillac Theatre, "Wicked" at the Ford Oriental Theatre and "Imagine Tap" at the Harris Theatre in Millennium Park. He is a member of the original fusion band, "Kick The Cat" (www.KickTheCatMusic.com). Other performance credits include: multi-Grammy winning trumpeter, Randy Brecker; Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Jennifer Hudson; and Grammy award winner, Howard Levy. He has opened for James Taylor at Joe's Pub in New York City as part of the Emerging Artist Series sponsored by the New York Times. He performs regularly in Chicago's top venues including the Green Mill, Green Dolphin Street, House of Blues and the Jazz Showcase.

Betti Xiang (Chinese Erhu) Since her to the United States from China in 1996, Betti Xiang was immediately recognized as virtuoso of extraordinary ability, and was embraced by not only the World Music genre, but by classical audiences as well. This has led to numerous collaborations, notably the worldwide performances with Yo-Yo Ma with the Silk Road Ensemble. Her versatility has lead to chamber music performances with groups such as the contemporary ensemble CUBE, and the Amelia Piano Trio, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, violinist Rachel Barton, and the Newberry Consort. She performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia at such venues as the Ravinia International Music Festival, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Tanglewood and served as artist-in-residence at the Chicago Art Institute's Taoism and the arts of China exhibit in Chicago, where she led interactive musical lectures on the history of culture in China. She was also awarded the Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship in recognition of her outstanding musicianship. A frequent guest on Television and Radio, Betti has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Good Morning America, National Geographic, and National Public Radio. They are featured on Sony Records, numerous recording labels in China, and a Traditional Crossroads CD.

Phuong Pham (classical and jazz piano) holds Bachelor of Music Degree from Hanoi Conservatory of Music, where he won the second prize in the young talented student competition, and a Masters of Music from Depaul University. He will pursue M.M.Ed at Vandercook College of Music, Chicago. Pham is an accompanist for the School of Ballet Chicago and the Victoria Garden Theatre. Phuong has been collaborating with the jazz singer Keri Johnsrud and has played at Pete Miller's Steak House, the Zebra Lounge, the Hilton Hotel in Chicago., the Bebop Cafe at Navy Pier and Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Evanston. Pham is currently an active member of Chicago Area Music Teacher Association( CAMTA), Music Teacher National Association( MTNA) and Illinois State Music Teacher Association( ISMTA).