OUR MISSION
Phoenix Chamber Ensemble has been dedicated to making classical music highly accessible to all residents of the New York area, regardless of their financial limitations. The ensemble continuously strives to enrich lives by presenting world-class concerts in an intimate setting, nurturing a vibrant and inclusive community of concertgoers at the Center for Jewish History.
Meet the Founders
Vassa Shevel
Inessa Zaretsky
Vassa Shevel, piano
Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, Vassa Shevel won the Cappella Competition at age eleven performing the Bach Double Concerto and later began her undergraduate education at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, where she studied with Galina Orlovskaya. Immigrating to the U.S. with her family in 1978, she continued her studies at the New England Conservatory and SUNY Purchase and earned her master’s degree at the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Oxana Yablonskaya. She has studied piano with Jacob Maxin, Russell Sherman, Jerome Loewenthal, Gregory Haimovsky, and Karl Schnabel, and chamber music with Yehudi Wyner Jennifer Langham, Lawrence Lesser, Nancy Cirullo, Paul Doctor, and Robert Levin.
A finalist in the Murray Dranoff International Competition, Ms. Shevel has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Symphony Hall (Boston), as well as major venues and festivals in Europe. In addition to being artistic director of the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble, she is a member of the Philadelphia Piano Duo with Claire Belkovsky, and also maintains an active private teaching practice. Ms. Shevel is the Artistic Co-Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York and Co-Artistic Director of the recently relaunched Incontri di Canna Festival in Calabria, Italy.
Inessa Zaretsky, piano
Inessa Zaretsky, winner of Mannes Concerto Competition, Frina Auerbach International Piano Competition, Moscow Conservatory College Contemporary Music Competition, Gnesin School Concerto Competition, and Moscow Young Artists Piano Competition, has received scholarships from Mannes College, Yale, and the Exxon Corporation. Born in Russia, Ms. Zaretsky studied with Richard Goode at the Mannes College of Music in New York. She studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Julius Levine, and Claude Frank, and composition with Robert Cuckson.
As a pianist, her performances have been broadcast on WQXR, WNYC, and WNPR. Ms. Zaretsky performs extensively across the United States and around the world, including a special Millennium Concert in Havana, Cuba. As a chamber musician, she collaborated with the Miro, Cavani, Cassat, Phedrus, Parker, and Claring String Quartets. Known for her interpretation of Scriabin, she has recorded many of this composer's works.
As a composer, Ms. Zaretsky's music has been performed by many notable musicians, such as the Miro, Clarin, Phedrus and Cassat String Quartets, Paganini Duo, Kent/Blossom Festival Orchestra, Antara Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Center Chamber Music II, Chamber Music Series of the St Luke's Orchestra, members of the Boston, Chicago, City Opera, Orpheus Orchestras, members of the Metropolitan Opera, and many others. "Fireoptics," a CD of her music for viola, was released in 2005. Several commissions premiered over the last couple of seasons including a trio for voice, violin, and piano at Weill Hall and a Russian Song cycle on the poetry of Robert Rozhdestvensky in Princeton and New York. Her Piano and Wind Quintet was performed at the Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival. A one-act operetta commissioned as an opener for a rock group "Drozdy" premiered in December 2009 at Symphony Space. Ms. Zaretsky has received the ASCAP Annual Composition Awards for 1999 through 2004. She is the recipient of the "Commission: USA - 2000" grant from the Meet the Composer Foundation and was chosen as one of the composers for the Vocal Essence "Essentially Choral" Readings in 2006.
Ms. Zaretsky is on the piano faculty at the Mannes College of Music in New York. She is the Artistic Director at the Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas and the Artistic Co-Director of the Phoenix Chamber Music Series in New York.
Upcoming Artists
Risa Schuchter, violin
Born in Salzburg into a family of musicians, violinist Risa Schuchter began lessons at age six and studied with Professors Helmut Zehetmair (Mozarteum Salzburg), Gerhard Schulz (Vienna), and Shmuel Ashkenasi (Northern Illinois University), earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees summa cum laude and a Performer’s Certificate. A first prize winner of several international competitions, she is also a scholar of the Austrian Ministry, NIU, and the American Austrian Foundation. Risa has performed with renowned ensembles including Camerata Salzburg, the Mozarteum Orchestra, and the Wiener Kammerorchester, serving as concertmaster for Musica Vitae, Beethoven Philharmonie, and Oper Klosterneuburg. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, performing at major festivals such as Salzburg, Lucerne, and Rheingau, and in world-class venues like Teatro Colón and the Elbphilharmonie. Risa plays a 1695 Giovanni Grancino violin, sponsored by the American Austrian Foundation. Ms. Schuchter’s performance is sponsored by the American Austrian Foundation.
Joyce Hammann, violin
Breaking all Broadway records, Joyce Hammann led The Phantom of the
Opera orchestra as concertmaster for 33 years. She performs and records
classical, jazz, and pop, collaborating with Paul McCartney, Sting, Bruce
Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Michael Jackson, Uri Caine, and Fred Hersch.
Her discography includes compositions by John Zorn, Samuel Zyman, Uri
Caine, Gil Goldstein, Mark Feldman, Michael Brecker, and Chris Potter. She
is a member of the Harlem Chamber Players, Craftsbury Chamber Players,
Meeting House Players, SQS, and the Crosby String Quartet. Joyce
graduated from Juilliard, where she studied with Ivan Galamian and
Dorothy Delay. She was the youngest concertmaster of the St. Louis Youth
Symphony under Leonard Slatkin and studied under Shinichi Suzuki.
Daniel Panner, viola
Daniel Panner enjoys a varied career as a performer and teacher. As violist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, he concertized extensively throughout the United States and Israel. He has performed at numerous music festivals, including Marlboro, Ravinia, Tanglewood, and Aspen, and he has collaborated with members of the Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, and Juilliard string quartets. As a member of the Whitman String Quartet, Mr. Panner received the 1998 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and served as a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet.
Mr. Panner is co-chair of the string department of the Mannes College of Music, where he also teaches viola and chamber music. He has also taught at the Juilliard School, Rutgers University, SUNY Stonybrook, Queens College, and the Jerusalem Music Center, and he has given master classes at such schools as Peabody, Hartt, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; he has also toured with Musicians from Marlboro and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Jared Blajian, cello
Armenian-American cellist Jared Blajian has been praised for “speak[ing] through his cello” (Naples News). His accolades include First Prize in the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition and the Career Development Award at the Mondavi Center, and he has appeared in notable halls, including Cleveland’s Severance Hall, Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, and Carnegie Hall.
A devoted chamber musician, he has performed in concert series including El Paso Pro Musica, Northwest Bach Festival, the Strings Music Festival, and the Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas. He has collaborated with the Tesla and Argus string quartets, Zuill Bailey, Jinjoo Cho, and legendary violinists Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein. Additionally, he participated in the Heifetz Institute’s inaugural Ensemble-in-Residence program.
Blajian has attended festivals including Music@Menlo, the Perlman Music Program, the Heifetz Institute, the Music Academy of the West, ENCORE Chamber Music, and has participated in the cello masterclasses at the Sitka Cello Seminar and IMS Prussia Cove. His chamber music mentors have included David Finkel, Wu Han, Gilbert Kalish, Sharon Robinson, Jaime Laredo, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, and Cavani quartets. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute and USC, Blajian’s major cello teachers include Dr. Melissa Kraut and Ralph Kirshbaum. He pursued further study with Marcy Rosen. Passionate about sharing the joy of music with a variety of traditional and non-traditional audiences, Blajian frequently plays in hospitals, nursing homes, and shelters. He has participated in the Community Engagement Seminar at the Perlman Music Program and has extensive experience with public speaking and outreach projects.
Jeffrey Carney, bass
Jeffrey Carney is touring bassist for Barbra Streisand and jazz great Bobby McFerrin. He has performed with such jazz artists as Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, and Joe Henderson, as well as pop icons Sting, James Taylor, Elton John, and Andrea Bocelli. Jeff is principal bassist for the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Queens Symphony. On Broadway, he has played first chair for many productions, including The Secret Garden, Cyrano, Beauty and the Beast, Anything Goes, and Les Misérables. Studio and film credits include Gemini Man, The Greatest Showman, Hail, Caesar!, Carol, Mr. Holmes, True Grit, Julie & Julia, The Good Shepherd, Secret Window, Shaft 2, and The Producers, to name a few. Jeff was a member of the band for Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion on NPR. For over 20 years, he has been a professor of double bass and electric bass at the New School University.
Phoenix Chamber Ensemble 2023 ©