FSMA Faculty
Violin
Addison Teng
Director
Violinist Addison Teng is an internationally sought-after performer and teacher. He has given solo and chamber music performances across North America, Europe, and Asia and has performed as soloist with the Oberlin College Orchestra, Eastman String Fellowship Orchestra, Sinfonia Academy Orchestra in the Philippines, the University of Macedonia Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony Irvine. Teng is a founding member of the Fulton Chamber Players, who recently made their debut performance at Newport Classical in Rhode Island, and has played with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago. In 2018 he received the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at Oberlin College and Conservatory, which recognizes young alumni who have distinguished themselves in their professional careers and their service to humanity. A Distinguished Alumnus of the Meadowmount School of Music, he has also been inducted into Marquis Who's Who.
Teng is president and founder of the nonprofit Fulton Music Society and is the director of the Fulton Summer Music Academy, Fulton In Residence, and Fulton Conservatory of Music programs. He was previously on the faculty at DePaul University School of Music, the Music Institute of Chicago, and the Montecito International Music Festival. Teng began his teaching career as a teaching assistant at the Meadowmount School of Music and Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, assisting Sally Thomas, Amy Barlowe, and Roland and Almita Vamos. He has given masterclasses and coachings at Lawrence University, Eastman Pre-College, National Taiwan University of Arts, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, New World School of the Arts, Pacific University, Istituto Musicale Sammarinese in San Marino, Conservatorio Bruno Maderna in Cesena, Italy, Istituto Superiore di Studi Musicali "Pietro Mascagni" in Livorno, Italy, Taipei American School, and Conservatório Villa-Lobos in Rio de Janeiro. Prior to founding Fulton, he took students on tours to the Philippines, Greece, Italy, and San Marino, where he gave masterclasses and performed with his students.
Teng's students have recently placed at competitions both locally and nationally, including DePaul Concerto Competition, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Bach Double Competition, Rockford Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Hellam Young Artists Competition, Denver Young Artists National Violin Competition, Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Competition, Walgreens National Competition, Indiana School of Music Concerto Competition, Charleston International Music Competition, Confucius Music Festival Competition, and Sejong Music Competition. Many of his students have been admitted to top universities and conservatories, including Oberlin Conservatory, Juilliard School of Music, New England Conservatory, Indiana University, Northwestern University, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes New School of Music, and Berklee College of Music, and have been awarded Fulbright and Wells scholarships. His students have gone on to win jobs at the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Peninsula Music Festival, Evansville Philharmonic, Louisville Philharmonic, and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Teng’s students have soloed with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony, Denver Young Artist Orchestra, and Montecito Festival Orchestra, and have been guest concertmaster of Fort Wayne Philharmonic.
Teng graduated with a Master of Music in Violin Performance and String Pedagogy from Northwestern University Bienen School of Music and received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers and mentors have included Joey Corpus, Sally Thomas, Roland and Almita Vamos, Peter Takács, Amy Barlowe, and Karen Ritscher.
Learn more about Addison Teng at https://www.addisonteng.com/
Violin/Viola
American Violist Jeremy Kienbaum has been lauded for his “eloquent strength” (Well-Tempered Ear) and sound that “refracted like shards of light” (New York Times). He has appeared recently at Bargemusic, with Love from Lincoln Center, and as soloist with the Lowell Chamber Orchestra. He has been featured on the TODAY Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, Classical KING, WSMR, and can be seen in the documentary "Itzhak,” chronicling the teaching of Itzhak Perlman. He has performed around the world at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Paris and Berlin Philharmonies, and the Chan Centre in Vancouver, Canada.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Kienbaum performs in Baroklyn alongside pianist Simone Dinnerstein, and has concertized with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Players, Willy Street Chamber Players, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Harlem Chamber Players, and the Ansonia, Momenta, and Terra String Quartets. He has performed at the Paax Festival in Mexico, Music from Japan Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, Concerts on the Slope, Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival, and on the Charles Ives Concert Series. Strongly committed to performing works by living composers, Mr. Kienbaum has premiered works by Aaron Jay Kernis, Augusta Read Thomas, and Georg Friedrich Haas, and in 2016 he gave the world premiere of Theo Chandler’s string quartet concerto “Tragedy No. 2” with the New Juilliard Ensemble in Alice Tully Hall.
Mr. Kienbaum teaches at Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College, and Opportunity Music Project. He has previously taught for The Juilliard School Music Advancement Program and for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras. He has given masterclasses and coached chamber ensembles at Juilliard, Boston University, Frostburg State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, and for students of the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China. Additionally, he has mentored students and lead workshops at the Davos Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, and at the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program.
Mr. Kienbaum has been recognized internationally for his musical achievements as first prize winner in the Enkor International Chamber Music Competition and the National Federation of Music Clubs Student/Collegiate Competition, second prize in the Vršac International Competition, and a finalist in the Frances Walton Competition. He received the James F. Crow Viola Award from the University of Wisconsin and the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship from The Juilliard School.
Originally from Wisconsin, Mr. Kienbaum received degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Juilliard, and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is grateful for the mentorship of his teachers David Perry, Sally Chisholm, Samuel Rhodes, and Mark Steinberg.
Jeremy Kienbaum
Viola
Amy Hess is a member of the viola sections of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Grant Park Orchestra and is Artist Faculty at the Fulton Summer Music Academy. She was formerly principal viola of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a member of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, and she has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, and Music of the Baroque. Amy is a founding member of the Fulton Chamber Players, who have recently performed at Newport Classical, on tours to Taiwan and Japan, and across the US. She has also appeared on the Dame Myra Hess and Rush Hour concert series in Chicago. She has recently been a soloist with Sinfonietta DuPage and collaborated in concert with bassist Edgar Meyer as part of the Aspen Salida concert series in Colorado. She also was part of the Chicago premiere of Joel Puckett’s string quartet concerto Short Stories with the Northwestern Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and performed the solo viola role in Richard Strauss’ Don Quixote with cellist Joseph Johnson and the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra.
Amy received her Master of Music in viola from Northwestern University and is a Phi Beta Kappa alumna of Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, where she earned degrees in French and violin. While at Oberlin, she spent a semester in Paris, studying violin with David Rivière of the CNSM and musicology at the Sorbonne. Her interest in French music continued with a collaboration with Ravel scholar Sigrun Heinzelmann on a presentation at the Music Theory Midwest conference and several lectures at Oberlin. Amy’s principal teachers and mentors have included Karen Ritscher, Roland Vamos, David Bowlin, and Addison Teng, but it all began thanks to her mother, a Suzuki violin teacher in Lancaster, PA.
Amy Hess
Director of Student Life
Cello
Nicholas Mariscal
Weeks 1-2
A native of Tucson, Arizona, cellist Nicholas Mariscal has been a member of the cello section of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since May of 2023. Beginning in 2021, he held the position of Assistant Principal Cello of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and served as the orchestra’s Acting Principal Cello during the 2023-24 season.
Mariscal has appeared as guest principal cellist with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra on their 2019 tour of South Korea, and has performed as principal cello of the Fjord Cadenza Festival orchestra in Ålesund, Norway. A recent alumnus of the New World Symphony in Miami, Mariscal was a winner of the orchestra’s concerto competition, performing Khachaturian’s Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and orchestra. In 2018, he made his professional solo debut performing the same work with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he is a top prize winner in the Sphinx, Edith Knox, and Indiana University Latin American Music Center competitions.
As an ardent performer of new and lesser-known music, Mariscal has been involved in dozens of premieres of new works, and has performed extensively as a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Indiana University New Music Ensemble, and USC’s Thornton EDGE ensemble. A passionate proponent of Latin American music, he has recorded rarely-heard music for unaccompanied cello by 20th and 21st century composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Alberto Ginastera, and Paul Desenne, and is a frequent programmer and performer of music from Latin America. Also an avid chamber musician, Mariscal has performed with esteemed artists including Midori Goto, Jorja Fleezanis, Tamás Varga, Atar Arad, and Frank Almond.
Mariscal received his Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University under the tutelage of Eric Kim, and received a Master of Music degree and a Graduate Certificate from the University of Southern California, where he studied with David Geringas and Ralph Kirshbaum.
"A fine cellist with a well-developed sense of musical characterization, Michael Kaufman plays with intensity, commitment and deep understanding," says Robert Levin, internationally renowned Mozart scholar and piano virtuoso. An exciting cellist exploring the various facets of the classical music scene, Michael Kaufman was the soloist for the opening of the renovated Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater and has performed at prestigious venues such as Zankel and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has performed as soloist and chamber musician in the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland. He recently joined the Los Angeles Opera and the faculty of the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts.
Concerto highlights include Michael’s performance of Wandering Viewpoint by Yuan-Chen Li with the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra and the world premiere of Sean Friar's Dynamics for Cello and Chamber Winds with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. He also recently gave the west coast premiere of Dynamics with Thornton Edge.
"Helmut Lachenmann's solo, 'Pression,' played with rapt percussive presence by Michael Kaufman, explores sounds the cello isn't supposed to make, be they ethereal scraping of the strings or industrial level strumming and banging," said Mark Swed, LA Times. Passionately involved in contemporary music, Michael has premiered works written for him by composers such as BMI Competition winner Justin Hoke, Daniel Silliman, Jeffrey Parola and many others. He has worked with composers such as Thomas Adès, Jörg Widmann, John Adams, Donald Crockett and Stephen Hartke in interpreting their own music. After hearing Michael's performance of Lieux retrouvés, Thomas Adès (the composer) declared it to be "breathtakingly good." In April 2013, Michael participated in a Carnegie Hall professional training workshop with John Adams and David Robertson called American Soundscapes. In June 2014, he gave the west coast premiere of Sean Friar's piece Teaser. He has performed in the concert series Jacaranda, the Hear Now Festival, what's next? ensemble, and in the Callings out of Context series at RedCat.
Michael is a regular and avid chamber musician. He is a founding member of SAKURA, an ensemble of five cellists which has been described by the LA Times as "brilliant" and "superb." SAKURA has performed in Disney Hall as part of the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival and is currently Young Ensemble in Residence at the Da Camera Society. This season, it performs concerts in LA, Orange County, and the Bay Area.
In addition to regular chamber music groups, Michael has collaborated in concert with artists such as Leon Fleisher, Midori, Kim Kashkashian, Anthony Marwood, Donald Weilerstein, Steven Tenenbom, Roger Tapping, and the Calder Quartet. He has participated in music festivals such as Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, Verbier, Kneisel Hall, Norfolk and Sarasota. Michael is the founder and artistic director of Sunset ChamberFest, which looks forward to its sixth season in June 2019.
Michael loves teaching and is on the faculty of Colburn and Pasadena Conservatory, where he serves as Chair of Chamber Music. He formerly served on the music faculty of Loyola Marymount University for five years. He currently teaches privately in LA and has taught masterclasses at schools such as Bowling Green, UC Irvine, Caltech, Texas Christian University, and Saddleback College.
In an orchestral setting, Michael is a member of the Los Angeles Opera and frequent guest Principal Cello of the Pasadena Symphony. He’s the former Associate Principal Cello of the Redlands Symphony and he has also performed as guest Principal Cello of La Monnaie in Brussels. He was a founding member of the LA-based conductorless orchestra Kaleidoscope.
Michael is also passionate about baroque cello, for which he received a minor at USC, studying with William Skeen. He has frequently played principal cello with Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra of Los Angeles and enjoys other small projects on period instruments.
Born in 1987 in New York City, Michael moved to Cleveland at the age of three. One year later, he began cello lessons with teacher Pamela Kelly, and continued with her into his teens. By the age of seventeen, he was already participating in music festivals in Sarasota and Norfolk. In 2004, he was the only cellist to be accepted to the Young Artist Program of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Alison Wells. He then received a Bachelor of Music Degree with distinction and a Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, studying with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott. During this time, he had masterclasses with cellists such as Steven Isserlis, Frans Helmerson, Pieter Wispelwey and Miklós Perényi and chamber music coachings with Robert Levin, Pamela Frank, Daniel Hope and members of the Tokyo, Emerson and Orion String Quartets. Michael earned his Master’s Degree and Doctorate from the University of Southern California, studying with Ralph Kirshbaum.
Michael Kaufman
Guest Faculty FSMA 2025
Weeks 3-4
Piano
Peter Takács
Hailed by the New York Times as “a marvelous pianist,” Peter Takács
has performed widely, receiving critical and audience acclaim for his
penetrating and communicative musical interpretations.
Mr. Takács was born in Bucuresti, Romania and started his musical studies before his fourth birthday. After his debut recital at age seven, he was a frequent recitalist in his native city until his parents' request for emigration to the West, at which point all his studies and performances were banned. He continued studying clandestinely with his piano teacher until his family was finally allowed to emigrate to France, where, at age fourteen, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National de Paris.
Upon his arrival in the United States, his outstanding musical talents
continued to be recognized with full scholarships to Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, and a three-year fellowship for doctoral studies at the Peabody Conservatory, where he completed his artistic training with renowned pianist Leon Fleisher.
Mr. Takács has received numerous prizes and awards for his performances, including First Prize in the William Kapell International Competition, the C.D. Jackson Award for Excellence in Chamber Music at the Tanglewood Music Center, and a Solo Recitalist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He has performed as guest soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, as well as at important summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, ARIA International, Schlern Music Festival in the Italian Alps, Tel Hai International Master Classes in Israel, Sweden’s Helsingborg Festival, and Musicfest Perugia 2014. Since 2008, he has been a member of the faculty at the Montecito Summer Music Festival in Riverside, CA. He has performed and recorded the complete
cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, which was released on the CAMBRIA
label in July 2011, as well as the complete Beethoven piano-cello works
with Robert DeMaine, released in 2022 on the Leaf Music label. In 2015, he was selected to inaugurate a new series in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall
entitled “Key Pianists”, presenting three recitals of Beethoven solo and
chamber music to critical acclaim. In 2020, an endowed fund was
established for The Peter Takács Beethoven Prize in Piano. He is Professor of Piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he has taught since 1976.
Learn more about Mr. Takács at https://www.petertakacspianist.com/
A rising talent of her generation, AiTong Zhang has been a prize winner at the Hong Kong International Piano Invitation Competition and the IAC International Piano Competition, and has been awarded first prize at the 2021 SAE National Youth Competition and the 2017 Franz Schubert International Piano Competition. As a member of the Fulton Chamber Players, Zhang has given masterclasses and recitals at universities such as Taipei National University of the Arts, Hansei University, Chinese Culture University, Fu Jen University, and Aletheia University. She has performed on stages across the United States, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and China, and upcoming performances this year are scheduled in Paris, Ho Chi Minh City, Guangzhou, Hawaii, Florida, and Wisconsin. She began her piano journey at the age of five and soon after joined the studio of Professor Li Qi. Zhang later earned admission to the prestigious High School attached to Guangzhou Xinghai Conservatory of Music. There, she continued to study piano under the guidance of Professor Zhu Qing and later with Professor Peter Takács at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. She has attended the Gijón International Piano Festival, North Coast Piano Festival, Montecito International Music Festival and Fulton Summer Music Academy, where she is now Faculty Artist in Residence.
Aitong Zhang
张艾彤
Artist-In-Residence
Conductor
Ryan Tani
Now in his third season with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and his first as its associate conductor, Ryan Tani has earned a reputation for bold, insightful programming and a deep commitment to community engagement. At the MSO, he conducts a wide range of performances—including Education, Family, Pops, and Classics programs—while supporting Music Director Ken-David Masur and guest conductors. Highlights of his tenure include stepping in last-minute for Edo de Waart, as well as conducting sold-out performances in his official Classics debut in 2025. He has recently served as cover conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Bozeman Symphony.
A dedicated advocate for contemporary music, Tani served as Music Director of the Occasional Symphony in Baltimore, where he championed dozens of composers and commissioned over 20 new works. As Conducting Fellow of the Yale Philharmonia and Resident Conductor of the New Music New Haven series, he worked under the mentorship of Peter Oundjian and Aaron Jay Kernis, earning the Dean’s Prize for artistic excellence.
Tani is deeply committed to bringing music to local artistic ecosystems. During his time in Montana, he led a wide variety of ensembles, including the Bozeman Symphony as Chorusmaster and Assistant Conductor, the Montana State University Symphony Orchestra, and several community-based orchestras and choirs. His work there included founding and directing outreach concerts with amateur and student musicians, building curriculum for university-level conducting and appreciation courses, and facilitating meaningful collaborations between professional artists and the public. These experiences continue to shape his belief in the power of music to unite, uplift, and serve.
Tani holds degrees from Yale University, the Peabody Institute, and the University of Southern California, where he studied with Marin Alsop, Peter Oundjian, Markand Thakar, Larry Rachleff, and Donald Schleicher. In 2015, he was named winner of the ACDA National Undergraduate Conducting Competition.
He currently resides in Milwaukee, where he enjoys walking his dog, playing board games, reading at the library, or practicing his violin.
Each summer's faculty are subject to change.
