40th Anniversary
Spring Festival
April 24 - May 9, 2026
2026 Artists
Zuill Bailey, widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world, is a Grammy Award winning, internationally renowned soloist, recitalist, Artistic Director and teacher. His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality has made him one of the most sought after and active cellists today.
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Mr. Bailey has been featured with symphony orchestras and music festivals worldwide. He won the Best Solo Performance Grammy Award in 2017, for his recording of Michael Daugherty’s “Tales of Hemingway,” with the Nashville Symphony led by Giancarlo Guerrero. His extensive discography includes his newest release – the world premier recording of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Cello Concerto with the Santa Rosa Symphony. In 2021 he released his second recording of the Bach Cello Suites for PS Audio’s Octave Records label, recorded and mixed in stereo and multichannel sound.
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He appeared in a recurring role on the HBO series “Oz,” and has been heard on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Tiny Desk Concert,” “Performance Today,” “Saint Paul Sunday,” BBC’s “In Tune,” XM Radio’s “Live from Studio II,” Sirius Satellite Radio’s “Virtuoso Voices,” and his latest disc of Bach Suites was the disc of the week on Sirius’ Symphony Hall.
Mr. Bailey received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Peabody Conservatory where he was named the 2014 Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumni, and received a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School. He performs on the “rosette” 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet.
He is the Artistic Director of El Paso Pro-Musica (Texas), the Sitka Music Festival and Cello Seminar, (Alaska), Juneau Jazz and Classics, (Alaska), the Northwest Bach Festival (Washington), Classical Inside Out Series- Mesa Arts Center (Arizona) and is Director of the Center for Arts Entrepreneurship and Professor of Cello at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Pianist Natasha Paremski made her major orchestral debut at age fifteen with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Born in Moscow in 1987, she began piano studies at age four, moved to the United States at eight, and later trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Mannes College of Music, graduating in 2007.
Her early prodigious talent led to recordings with the Moscow Philharmonic and prestigious awards, including the Gilmore Young Artists prize at eighteen and the Classical Recording Foundation’s Young Artist of the Year in 2010.Paremski has since established herself as a dynamic soloist with major symphonies worldwide, including frequent collaborations with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2008, in venues like Royal Albert Hall), Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, and European ensembles such as the Bournemouth Symphony, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchester, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and Moscow Philharmonic, under conductors like Thomas Dausgaard, Peter Oundjian, and Andrew Litton.
She has also toured with Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, performed recitals at Wigmore Hall, Auditorium du Louvre, Verbier Festival, and Teatro Colón, and appeared in chamber music festivals like Sitka Summer Music and Lockenhaus.
A passionate chamber musician, she is a regular partner of cellist Zuill Bailey, with their Britten album topping the Billboard Classical Chart. Paremski contributed to the Schumann-inspired project Twin Spirits, filmed for BBC and starring Sting and Trudie Styler, and has performed it live in New York and the U.K. She extends her reach beyond traditional venues through new music premieres, dance collaborations, and her role as Artistic Director of the New York Piano Society, a nonprofit supporting pianists in non-musical professions. Based in New York City, she continues to captivate audiences with her virtuosity and interpretive depth.
The Vega String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University, is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic performances and innovative community engagement. The New York Times raved that "[the Quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along…the musicians took real risks in their music making" and the L.A. Times praised their “triumphant L.A. debut.” Winners of four of the top six prizes at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, including the International Critics Prize, the Vega Quartet tours extensively throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Their live broadcast credits include NPR’s Performance Today, WABE’s City Lights, as well as Radio France, National Radio of China and the National Radio of the Czech Republic. The Vega Quartet has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Royal Academy of Music in London, Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Vienna’s Musikverein and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, among others. The Vega Quartet performs frequently at numerous music festivals, including Amelia Island, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Sitka Summer Music, Brevard and Kneisel Hall.
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Their unique “Beethoven and Bluegrass” program alongside Mark and Maggie O’Connor has brought them to Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, Amelia Island, FL and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2025. Other recent concert appearances include the National Gallery in Washington, DC, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.
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The Vega Quartet can be heard on labels such as Naxos and Artek, notably releasing the first recording of John Alden Carpenter’s String Quartet and Piano Quintet under the American Classics series for Naxos. The Vega Quartet has collaborated with many of the world’s finest musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Andres Cardenes, Zuill Bailey, Robert Spano, Jon Kimura Parker, Richard Stoltzman, Robert McDuffie, Soovin Kim, David Coucheron, James Dunham, the Juilliard Quartet and Eroica Trio.
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Celebrating 20 years at Emory, their 2025-2026 season will feature a series of commissions, special projects and concert appearances throughout the Emory University community. The Quartet’s collaboration in a project with PBS called “Songs about Buildings and Moods,” featuring newly commissioned works, will be released in early 2026.
The ensemble’s major performing projects at Emory University have included multiple presentations of the complete Beethoven cycle, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola and cello with the six quartets of Bela Bartok.In addition to a full calendar of performances as the core members of the Emory Chamber Music Society, the Vega Quartet collaborates with professors across the curriculum at Emory University, presenting music as a catalyst for interdisciplinary discovery. The quartet’s lecture performances regularly take them to different departments, including Law, Medicine, Environmental Science, Literature, Biochemistry, Philosophy, Neurobiology, and Anthropology, among many others.The Vega Quartet’s vast performance experience and their passionate devotion to musical ideals and to building connections with audiences are a driving force behind the quartet’s three-decade career.
​Dottie Kelly sang in a Baptist church, which is where she developed her talent for singing. She would later follow her Aunt Betty Padgett, a well-known singer out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, to her various shows. Aunt Betty Padgett eventually asked Dottie to sing background with her and Joey Gilmore.
From that point on, Dottie has traveled to various states, and opened for many artists from around the world. Those experiences mixed with pure raw talent, have made her a bona fide soul singer.
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Dottie released her 1st promo CD in 2012, Single Dec 2020. "I Don't Want No Man Like You". Now released CD in Mar 2022 “Dancing Shoes” and released another Single July 2024
“Why You Treat Me Mean”
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​Dottie Kelly was born in West Palm Beach, FL. She later moved to Clearwater, FL, where she attended St. Pete Junior College and earned her Associates degree in accounting.
She has been requested to perform on several occasions with Darrell Raines, Otis Cadillac, TKBlu Band, Ladies of Soul and Legendary Joey Gilmore band, just to name a few. Her soulful voice and natural stage presence is a force to be reckoned with. ​
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Dottie Kelly is a powerhouse blues singer, with over 20 years of performing experience.
Biribá Union
Borrowing its name from a Brazilian wild sugar-apple, Biribá Union features Mike Block (cello, vocals), Christylez Bacon (beatbox, guitar, rhymes) and Patricia Ligia (electric bass, vocals). The trio met through Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop, initially bonding over their shared love of Brazilian music. They quickly began co-writing new music that draws on the freestyle theatrics of hip-hop and Go-go music; the effortless beauty of Brazilian forró and choro; the earthiness of American roots music, and the improvisational spontaneity of jazz.
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MU2 Wes Carroll – trumpet
MU2 Carrie Blosser – trumpet
MU2 Chandler Davis – saxophone
MU3 Michael Petty – saxophone
MU1 Steven Hooper – trombone, unit leader
MU3 Alex Mayhew – trombone
MU3 Brady Robinson – tuba
MU1 Sam Stewart – percussion
Matt Herskowitz
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Matt Herskowitz Trio
Jazz/Crossover Piano & Jazz Trio
Uniquely combining the superlative technique of a classical virtuoso with his prowess in jazz, world music and free improvisation, pianist, composer and arranger Matt Herskowitz has carved out a unique and personal voice in music. Over the course of the last decade, Matt has produced a series of critically-acclaimed recordings, premiered his works in settings from New York’s Central Park to Germany’s Köln Philharmonie, collaborated with top classical, jazz and pop artists, and has performed at music festivals across the globe.
A classical pianist for over 20 years, Matt’s interest in jazz began while studying at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he ‘apprenticed’ with seasoned jazz musicians performing in bars and jazz clubs. At age 30, Matt moved to Montreal and decided to focus on jazz, with a detour into pop music along the way with the celebrated pop diva Lara Fabian. His focus soon shifted to his own compositions, combining his experience in jazz, pop and “World” music with his skills in contemporary classical composition and performance. But his love for classical music never left him, and in 2013 he began making innovative arrangements of classical pieces in a variety of jazz styles, all while retaining the integrity of the original pieces, something uniquely suited to him as being equally versed in both genres.
