Artists
Sasha Callahan – Violin:
Violinist Sasha Callahan has established a vibrant and diverse career as recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician. She has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Japan and is a founding member of Sheffield Chamber Players and the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival. Recent highlights include a sold out run as the violinist for the American Repertory Theater’s revival of Porgy and Bess, a performance as soloist on Brahms Double Concerto, and a solo Bach performance at the National Cathedral (D.C.). As an active chamber musician, Sasha can often be heard playing duos with her husband, cellist Leo Eguchi, as well as performances with groups such as the Aurea Ensemble, Walden Chamber Players, the Corigliano Quartet, the Lunaire Quartet, Trio Veritas, and ALEA III, and frequent chamber performances at the New Hampshire Music Festival (even on the occasional mountain top). Sasha is committed to sharing new music with audiences, and has worked closely with many composers such as Joan Tower, Nathaniel Stookey, Gabriela Lena Frank, Andrew Waggoner, Andrew List, Lukas Foss, and Gunther Schuller.
Sasha can be heard as a member of the Portland (Maine) Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and New Hampshire Music Festival, as well as with the Boston Pops, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, Odyssey Opera, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Ballet Orchestra. Upcoming concerts include several exciting solo appearances, including a concerto performance with the Portland (Maine) Symphony.
A native of Portland, Oregon, Sasha attended Wilson High School and went on to receive her Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance from Rice University and Master of Music from Boston University. Principal teachers include Lucia Lin, Sergiu Luca, Denes Zsigmondy, and Carol Sindell. She currently resides in Boston with her husband Leo Eguchi, daughter Freya and two rather sedentary cats named Max and Katya.
Emily Cole - Violin:
​Violinist Emily Cole has been a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2011. An avid chamber musician, Emily has performed with several Portland-area ensembles including 45th Parallel Universe, Third Angle, fEARnoMUSIC, and Northwest New Music, as well as with Chatter ABQ in New Mexico. She has been fortunate to premiere chamber works of Caroline Shaw, Kenji Bunch, Pierre Jalbert and James Shields. During the summer months, Emily has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival, Music in the Mountains, Seattle Opera, the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, and the Apollo Music Festival. Emily previously served on the faculty of Lewis & Clark College and has coached young chamber musicians with Portland Summer Ensembles and Seattle’s Music Northwest. She received her B.M. from the University of Texas at Austin as a student of Brian Lewis and her M.M. from the University of North Texas as a student of Emanuel Borok.
Leo Eguchi – Cello:
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Leo Eguchi has been described as “copiously skilled and confident” (New York Times) with performances that were "ravishing" (New Bedford Standard-Times) and "played with passion and vitality" (Boston Music Intellegencer).
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A native of Michigan, Leo has performed extensively across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. He enjoys an active and multi-faceted performance schedule – Leo can be heard in myriad chamber music settings, including the Willamette Valley Chamber Music Festival and Sheffield Chamber Players; in larger ensembles as principal cellist of the New Bedford Symphony, a member of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the New Hampshire Music Festival and the Portland Symphony; and frequent appearances with the Boston Pops.
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A strong advocate of new music, Leo has premiered dozens of pieces by, and worked closely with, many notable composers including William Bolcom, Bright Sheng, George Crumb, Lukas Foss, Joan Tower, Ken Ueno, Yehudi Wyner, Jessie Montgomery, Gabriela Lena Frank, Evan Ziporyn, Ketty Nez, Osvaldo Golijov, and Daniel Bernard Roumain.
Recent solo performing highlights include being a prize winner at the 2021 ProCello International Cello Competition, several GRAMMY nominated recording releases from Parma recordings, multiple concerto appearances, an artist residency and solo performances in Kabul, Afghanistan, and opportunities to share the non-classical stage with the likes of Pete Townshend, Queen Latifah, Melissa Etheridge, Demi Lovato, Brian Wilson, Kelly Clarkson, Peter Gabriel, Billy Idol, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Jonas, Josh Groban, and Audra McDonald, to name a few.
Leo is on the music faculty of Boston College, and is the Assistant Conductor of the MIT Symphony Orchestra. His degrees include a BM (Cello Performance) and BS (Physics) cum laude from the University of Michigan, and MM (cello performance) from Boston University, where he received the String Department Award for Excellence. Leo, along with violinist wife Sasha Callahan and cat-obsessed daughter Freya, live in Boston and spend their non-musical time time appreciating the outdoors, food, and wine.
David Goldblatt - Cello:
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David Goldblatt is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Orlando Cole, Felix Galimir, Mischa Schneider, and Isadore Cohen.
A versatile musician, Goldblatt has performed in symphonic, baroque, and rock ‘n’ roll ensembles. He has been a member of the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, The Skywalker Orchestra, and the Philly Sound, which won a 1973 Grammy for best instrumental rock ‘n’ roll recording.
Presently he is a member of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and appears regularly throughout the Bay Area in concert, including the San Francisco Symphony chamber music series. He is the director of Chamber Music Sundaes.
Charles Noble – Viola:
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Charles Noble has been assistant principal viola of the Oregon Symphony since 1995. He holds degrees from the University of Puget Sound, the University of Maryland, and the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, where his primary teachers were Joyce Ramée, Joseph de Pasquale, Michael Tree, and Roberto Díaz.
During the summer months Charles serves as principal viola of the Sunriver Music Festival. He has also played with the Oregon Bach Festival orchestra since 1996, and was a participant in the 2015 Bang on a Can Marathon in New York City. Past festival appearances have included the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, Cascade Festival of Music, the Mt. Angel Abby Bach Festival, and the Ernest Bloch Music Festival. In 2002, 2004, and 2006, Charles was a featured performer at the International Viola Society’s annual Congress.
In addition to his orchestral work, Charles is an active chamber musician. He is a founding member of both the Arnica String Quartet and the Pyxis String Quartet, which is part of the newly-created 45th Parallel Universe musical collective.
Away from the viola Charles can be found riding his bike, reading, watching movies, enjoying craft beer and local wines, and cooking with his wife Stephanie and their two cats.
He writes a classical music blog (soon to be joined by a podcast) at www.nobleviola.com and tweets @nobleviola.
He plays on a 1997 viola by Gabrielle Kundert and a 2018 bow by Darrell Hanks.
Catherine van der Salm - Soprano:
Catherine van der Salm is a versatile musician praised for her “agile, supple and richly expressive” voice (The Oregonian). She is an active collaborative artist singing with Cappella Romana, In Mulieribus, Cantores in Ecclesia, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Resonance Ensemble, The Ensemble of Oregon and Oregon Catholic Press. She has appeared as a guest artist with Portland Youth Philharmonic, 45thParallel, Newport Symphony Orchestra, Third Angle, Willamette Master Chorus, Musica Maestrale and BachCantata Vespers at St. James Lutheran Church. Catherine makes her home in Vancouver, Washington, with her husband, Ruud and their daughters Juliana and Annelies.
Megumi Stohs Lewis — Violin:
Raised in Portland, Oregon, Megumi Stohs Lewis started playing the violin at age three, but grew up with a dream of studying agricultural science. The summer she turned sixteen, she attended the Olympic Music Festival, held on a beautiful farm in Washington State, and realized that music and the countryside were a perfect combination. Since then, Megumi has soloed with orchestras throughout the US and Japan, and has toured with ensembles throughout Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Now residing in Boston, she is a co-founder of A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra; has been a guest with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the Radius Ensemble, the South Coast Chamber Players and the North Country Chamber Players. Starting in 2008, Megumi picked up the baroque violin and quickly fell for the gut strings and a variety of period bows. This love has led to performances with Boston Baroque, and the formation of Antico Moderno, a new ensemble actively commissioning contemporary works for period instruments. She also loves to fiddle and play rock and has regularly toured with Britain’s Jethro Tull. Megumi’s primary influences include her teachers Lucy Chapman at the New England Conservatory and Camilla Wicks and Ian Swensen at the San Francisco Conservatory. Especially in chamber music and period performance, Roger Tapping, Phoebe Carrai, Manfredo Kraemer, and Mark Sokol have been significant mentors. Her early studies were guided by Edie Bennett, Bette Boyer, and Kathryn Gray. Megumi is currently satisfying her longing for agriculture through heirloom vegetable gardening.
