Ronald Lowry is an active performer in many of Boston’s leading musical organizations. Called a “superb cellist” by the Boston Globe’s Richard Dyer, he is the principal cellist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the Boston Ballet Orchestra. Former principal cellist of the National Symphony of Costa Rica, the Handel and Haydn Society, and the Harvard Chamber Orchestra, Mr. Lowry performs frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and with the Boston Pops. As a soloist, he has been featured with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and the Boston Ballet Orchestra on several occasions as well as the Concert Arts Orchestra of Boston, the National Symphony of Costa Rica, the New England Symphony Orchestra, and several other orchestras in the greater Boston area. He has presented recitals in Jordan Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Worcester Museum of Art, on WGBH radio in Boston, and throughout the New England region. Mr. Lowry is heard frequently as a chamber musician. He has been a guest artist with the Boston Chamber Music Society, the Muir String Quartet, the Boston University Faculty Artists, and the First Monday concerts at the New England Conservatory. Mr. Lowry is currently the Artistic Director for the Needham Concert Society. He has premiered numerous compositions with contemporary ensembles such as Collage, Griffin Ensemble, NuClassix, Composers in Red Sneakers, and with Boston Musica Viva, with whom he was the cellist from 1990 until 2004. He is on the faculties of the New England Conservatory Extension Division, the Longy School of Music, and The Rivers School Conservatory. Mr. Lowry graduated with honors from Indiana University and the New England Conservatory. His teachers include Janos Starker, Lawrence Lesser, Aldo Parisot, Ronald Leonard, Gabor Rejto, and Rodney Farrar.

Following her Wigmore Hall debut, Israeli-born pianist Sally Pinkas has been heard in recital at Italy’s Villa Serbelloni (Bellagio) and Villa Aurelia (Rome), Bulgaria’s National Gallery (Sofia) and Mirror Hall (Dobrich), in Israel, France and throughout the USA. Described by Gramophone Magazine as “...an artist who melds lucid textures with subtle expressive detailing, minus hints of bombast or mannerism...” she has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops, the Aspen Philharmonia, Jupiter Symphony and the Bulgarian Chamber Orchestra. Summer credits include festivals at Apple Hill, Rockport, Marlboro, Tanglewood and Aspen, as well as Kfar Blum (Israel), Officina Scotese (Italy) and Pontlevoy (France). As a chamber musician, Pinkas explores a wide range of repertoire and genres. With husband Evan Hirsch (The Hirsch-Pinkas Piano Duo) she has toured China, Nigeria, Russia, Israel and Europe. With her long-time partner flutist Fenwick Smith, Pinkas has recorded the music of Gaubert and Martinu (Naxos). She is a member of Trio Tremonti (with violinist Saul Bitrán and cellist Jan Müller-Szeraws) and Ensemble Schumann (with oboist Tom Gallant and violist Steve Larson), and appears regularly with the Adaskin Trio, with whom she has released the Fauré Quartets (MSR). Pinkas’ solo releases include works by Debussy (Centaur), Christian Wolff (Mode), and Rochberg (Naxos). Her recordings of works by Fauré (Musica Omnia) and Schumann (MSR) have garnered significant critical acclaim. Trained in the USA, Pinkas holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Ph.D. in Composition and Theory from Brandeis University. Pianist-in-residence at the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, she is a Professor of Music at Dartmouth's Music Department.