Pianist Benjamin Hopkins has performed across Europe and North America, including recent debuts at the Festival de Luis Vega in Asturias, Spain, Mexico’s Festival del Lago, and New York City’s Merkin Hall. He holds a doctorate from the University of British Columbia, where he was a member of the prestigious Public Scholars Initiative.

Dr. Hopkins is a two-time prize winner at the National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Auditions and has won first prize at the Susan Torres Award, the Rio Hondo Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition. He holds three degrees from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where the faculty twice selected him as the school’s Outstanding Graduate. His past teachers include Julian Martin, Corey Hamm, Lucinda Carver, Brian Preston, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

While at UBC he was chosen to perform concertos with the UBC Symphony an unprecedented three seasons in a row, won Grand Prize at the inaugural Silverman Piano Competition, and commissioned and premiered new piano works by composers Joel Thompson and Peter S. Shin.

Dr. Hopkins is a highly sought-after collaborator and teacher, and has held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival, Festival del Lago (Mexico) and the Gijon International Piano Festival (Spain) in recent summers. He has played in masterclasses for renowned musicians including Menahem Pressler, Stephen Hough, Roberto Plano, Yong-Hi Moon, Frederic Chiu, Vadym Kholodenko, and Anton Nel. His students benefit from his breadth of experience and regularly earn top marks and win prizes at festivals and competitions in Canada and the U.S.

Praised for “hypnotic lyricism, causing listeners to forget where they were for a moment,” Annie Jacobs-Perkins is known for “eras[ing] all kinds of boundaries” (USC Thornton School of Music) with her music.

Annie is principal cellist of the Phoenix Chamber Orchestra and cellist of the Callisto Piano Trio, the youngest group ever to medal in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. She has performed at venues such as the Library of Congress, Het Concertgebouw, Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Yellow Barn Festival, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest.

Annie was a 2021 artist-in-residence for NPR’s Performance Today and winner of the New England Conservatory’s 2019 Concerto Competition. She has performed as soloist with the Burbank Philharmonic, Penfield Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. In 2015 she appeared on NPR’s “From the Top.”

Annie was a 2018 Outstanding Graduate and Trustee Scholar of USC’s Thornton School of Music (BM) and the recipient of the Laurence Lesser Presidential Scholarship from NEC (MM ‘20, GD ‘21). Annie’s teachers include Troels Svane, Laurence Lesser, Ralph Kirshbaum, Kathleen Murphy Kemp, and Guy Fishman.

Violinist, Dylan Kennedy is the founder and director of the Keuka Lake Music Festival. A graduate of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, he also serves as Chief Operating Officer at Blue Sky Homes, a ‘Smart and Green’ real estate development company in Phoenix, AZ.

An avid proponent of the arts, Dylan was the first ever recipient of three Entrepreneurial Musicianship awards from the New England Conservatory, and as a performer, has been praised for his “exceptionally well crafted dynamics and phrasing” and for “not shying away from the challenges” (Sarasota Harold Tribune).

Dylan has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, Penfield Symphony Orchestra, Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, Hochstein Youth Symphony Orchestra, Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra, and at Bowling Green State University, and is looking forward to a solo appearance with the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra later this year. Dylan has won the Albright Award at the Rochester Philharmonic League Young Artist Competition, the David Hochstein Recital Competition, and gave live performances on the radio show ‘Live from Hochstein’ on WXXI in three consecutive years. He was also awarded 3rd prize in the Lewisville Lake Symphony International String Competition, and was a quarter-finalist in the Prague Spring International Competition.

Dylan received a Master of Music from New England Conservatory under Professor Ayano Ninomiya, and Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Professor Ivan Zenaty, with minors in Economics and Business Management from Case Western Reserve University. A native of Rochester, NY, he previously studied with the late Distinguished Kilbourn Professor, Zvi Zeitlin, at the Eastman School of Music.

When not performing or managing homebuilding operations, Dylan enjoys traveling, hiking, and spending time outdoors with his wife Amy and Nala, their standard poodle puppy.

Pianist Martha May has performed at many venues throughout the New York City-area, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern and Weill Recital Halls and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Having become interested in artistic collaboration from a young age, she eventually received a Master’s degree in Accompanying from The Juilliard School, and subsequently has worked in a variety of collaborative roles, including accompanying various musical theater shows, theatrical and singing groups, and directing the music at her church for six years. More recently, Martha’s favorite and most interesting job has been taking care of her two boys.

New York-based singer Robert May’s vast performance experience has included performing original songs in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall to, most recently, collaborating with members of the New York City Ballet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in Saratoga Springs. He was also recently seen singing a small role in Martinu’s The Key of Dreams with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. Robert sings with top choral ensembles such as the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Bard Festival Chorale and teaches voice to middle and high school students. Additionally, Robert has worked as a composer and arranger, orchestrating music in genres ranging from classical to pop. Robert received his training at The Juilliard School. When he is not singing or composing, he can be found preparing for an upcoming album recording, studying foreign languages, or spending time with his wife and two sons.

Canandaigua, NY native Evan Meccarello is committed to new explorations in classical music and engaging with communities across the Northeast. He is Music Director of the Binghamton Community Orchestra, Founder and Director of the Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, Conductor of Irondequoit Community Orchestra and the Thames Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra, in addition to serving as Vice President of the Keuka Lake Music Festival’s Board of Directors. He previously served as Conductor of the Nazareth College Chamber Orchestra and is Assistant Conductor of the Nazareth College Symphony Orchestra.

Meccarello’s conducting experience spans professional, collegiate, youth, and community ensembles. Summer 2019 included performances with professional orchestras in Bulgaria, while the 2019-20 season featured work with student, community, and university orchestras from Buffalo to Saranac Lake to Providence, RI. He appears as guest conductor and clinician at schools, including NYSSMA Area All-State and All-County Orchestras.

While music students could not play together during the pandemic, he developed and led Music Outside the Box, an all-virtual festival for high school musicians that featured live online ensemble rehearsal and performance. In collaboration with the Binghamton Community Orchestra and Broome County Music Educators Association, over sixty students from districts across Binghamton had the opportunity to connect and learn new techniques, playing contemporary classical music designed for internet video conferencing.

Meccarello’s training in conducting has included lessons and masterclasses with some of the most acclaimed conducting teachers, including Larry Rachleff, Benjamin Zander, David Effron, and Jorma Panula. He received his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting at Bowling Green State University and a degree in Violin Performance from Nazareth College, where he was a two-time winner of the school’s Concerto Competition. Uptown Tango is his ongoing project playing violin in an Argentine tango duo for dancers and listeners.