AMiE Trio with Colette Valentine

Violinist Ara Sarkissian has collaborated with esteemed composers including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, and George Benjamin. Among the many highlights of his career to date, performing under the direction of Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland holds a special place for him. He has distinguished himself as an experienced teacher and mentor for aspiring young artists who seek acceptance to competitive conservatories and universities. His students have garnered acceptances into top conservatories and universities such as New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and numerous others. Mr. Sarkissian is Instructor of Violin and String Orchestra Conductor at the Interlochen

Michael Ouzounian was born in Detroit, where he studied viola with Ara Zerounian and Nathan Gordon of the Detroit Symphony. After studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music with Abraham Skernick and James Levine, Ouzounian joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra as principal viola at age 21. 45 years and over 6000 opera performances later, Ouzounian retired with his wife Patricia Rogers, principal bassoon of the Met for 40 years, to Leelanau County.

Evelyn Elsing is professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been an active participant in the chamber music scene in the Washington, D.C. area, and a founding member of Ecco Trio and The Left Bank Quartet. She won prizes in several international competitions including the Munich and Tchaikovsky Competitions, and she has enjoyed concert tours and summer festivals in Europe, the former Soviet Union, Japan, and the United States.

The American String Teachers Association awarded her both Outstanding Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Service to Strings awards from the DC/MD Chapter, and a national Citation of Exceptional Leadership and Merit.

Pianist Colette Valentine, one of the most active professional collaborative pianists in the United States, joined the faculty of the newly created Collaborative Piano Department at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music in the fall of 2008. She completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the State University of New York at Stony Brook with Gilbert Kalish after earning Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the University of Maryland where she studied with Nelita True. From 2000-2008 she was on faculty at Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus, as an instrumental repertoire coach and faculty recital partner. She was also a faculty member at New Jersey City University from 1996-2008 where, in addition to coaching students and performing with faculty and guest artists, she taught courses in The Application of Theory in Performance and The Art of Accompanying. In the summers, she joins other professional colleagues as a coach at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp in Michigan.