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The first benefit for Opus 118—Harlem Center for Strings was the Fiddlefest concert in Carnegie Hall. Ms. Guaspari received support from some of the biggest stars of the music world, including Quincy Jones, Dave Grusin, Mark O’Connor, Itzhak Perlman, Arnold Steinhardt, and Isaac Stern. A documentary, Small Wonders (Allan Miller), and a feature film, Music of the Heart (Miramax, starring Meryl Streep as Roberta) soon followed, depicting Ms. Guaspari’s passionate struggle to keep music in the Harlem Schools. Both films were nominated for the Academy Awards.

A dynamic and devoted teacher, Ms. Guaspari has received numerous awards and honors including the Petra Foundation’s annual award to “recognize and encourage unsung individuals who are making distinctive contributions to human freedom.” Manhattan Borough President, C. Virginia Fields issued a proclamation recognizing Ms. Guaspari “for her dedication in unlocking the potential for academic and artistic achievement in her students.” She was named Woman of the Year in 1994 by CBS This Morning and also was the recipient of the Heroes for Today Award by Readers Digest and the Outstanding Achievement Award by SUNY Fredonia Alumni Association. She will receive the Arison Award in 2003 presented by NFAA for her “significant influence in the development of young American artists.”

Opus 118 Harlem School of Music has grown to include a Community Music School, a teacher training program, and an annual String Training Workshop for teachers.

Lynelle Smith, violin,
Master Teacher and Head of the String Department

Ms. Smith holds a Bachelor of Music Degree from the New England Conservatory and a Performance Diploma in Violin from The Juilliard School as well as an Associate Degree in Nursing from Atlantic Union College. She has performed across Europe and in Mexico as well as in the United States including performances at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and Notre Dame Cathedral. She has participated in master classes and chamber coaching with Itzhak Perlman, Dorothy DeLay, Joel Smirnoff, Eugene Lanier and Louis Krasner. She teaches at the Third Street Music Settlement and the Lucy Moses School of Music and Art concurrent with her position as Master Teacher at Opus 118—Harlem Center for Strings, teaching in both the school programs and the Community Music School.

Scott Anderson, guitar

Scott Anderson was born and raised in Minnesota in a musical family. He started playing guitar as a teenager and having found his musical voice, went on to get a bachelors degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Minnesota and a masters degree in Jazz Studies at Depaul University in Chicago. Shortly after moving to Chicago in 1994, Scott became enamored with Brazilian music and culture. He traveled to Brazil numerous times to record and perform, including a 2004 state-sponsored trip to Sao Paulo to perform concerts and give clinics in several favela (shanty town) community centers. In addition to performing and teaching, Scott also enjoys an active career as a composer for film.

Charlene Bishop, violin

Charlene Bishop, an alumni of Opus 118, started her studies at the age of six with Roberta Guaspari. Soon after she was accepted to the Juilliard MAP (Music Advancement Program) program and began attending when she was eight years old. At eleven, Charlene participated at Kinhaven and Fredonia summer music camps and continued to attend for the next two years. She attended the Mannes Pre-College division at thirteen and then continued at the Mannes College of Music where she received her bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance. During the course of her musical studies at these various programs, Charlene remained in touch with Opus 118 and has participated in performances with them in Germany, Switzerland, the Kennedy Center, Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium, VH1’s Save the Music with Madonna and N’Sync, and more. Charlene is currently a member of the One World Symphony and continues to be both a performer and teacher in the New York City community.

Annette Espada, Musicianship

Annette Espada has received a Doctorate in Cello Performance from the University of Miami, master's in music education and Kodaly Certification from New York University and bachelor's degree in cello performance from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. Dr. Espada is also a dedicated cello/music teacher and a published author of two books on cello playing: "The Evolution of Cello Playing in Puerto Rico-The Legacy of Pablo Casals" and "Tips About Cello Playing I Learned From a Ladybug." She is currently teaching at PS 189 in Manhattan and is part of the faculty at Concordia Conservatory, Concordia College. Dr. Espada was inducted into the National Honor Roll’s for Outstanding American Teachers.

Nora Friedman, violin

Nora Friedman began studying the violin with Roberta Guaspari at Central Park East I Elementary School when she was six years old. When she was 13, she attended the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division, where she studied with Anna Pelekh through High School. She was a member of the New York Youth Symphony, the Inter- School Orchestras, and participated in a number of Ms. Guaspari's Fiddlefest Concerts, including Fiddlefest, Zurich. Ms. Friedman received her BA in Latin American studies from Wesleyan University in 2001. At Wesleyan she continued her musical training with Perry Elliot, and was an active member of the Wesleyan Orchestra, and chamber music program during her four years there. After graduating she went on to implement the violin program at the High School for Violin and Dance in the the South Bronx, where she taught for four years. She also taught at the Elizabeth Morrow School Summer String Festival for students ages K-6th grade, under the direction of Amelia Gold. Ms. Friedman currently teaches at the Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant, and she will be beginning an MA in Performance at Montclair State University in the fall.

Chihiro Fukuda, viola

Violist Chihiro Fukuda has performed with orchestral and chamber music ensembles in Japan, the United States, and Europe.  She has appeared as a guest soloist with the Geidai Philharmonia of Japan performing Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher in Sogakudo Hall.  In 2002, Ms. Fukuda was the first-prize winner of the International Gee Scholarship Competition.  During her studies at the Juilliard School she has performed Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante with conductor James DePriest and the Juilliard Orchestra.  As a winner of the New York Japanese-American Society Music Award competition, she made her Carnegie hall recital debut in 2006.

For six summers, Ms. Fukuda has attended the Aspen Music Festival as a fellowship recipient where she was also awarded 2nd prize in the lower strings competition.  In Tokyo, she has participated in Viola Space 2004 under the direction of Nobuko Imai, in collaboration with Garth Knox.  Ms. Fukuda has also performed at the Miyazaki International Music Festival, Martha Argerich’s Music Festival in Beppu, the Geidai Orchestra’s England tour, and the Juilliard orchestra’s Europe tour 2005, and as a member of the Saito-Kinen Orchestra under music director Seiji Ozawa.

An avid chamber musician, Ms. Fukuda has appeared in concerts at Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Juilliard Theater in New York City.  At Juilliard, she has collaborated with flutists Carol Wincenc and Robert Langevin in the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital.  In Japan, Ms. Fukuda has been featured at the Saito-Kinen Chamber Music Festival, the Tokyo Geidai Chamber Music Subscription Concerts, and the Okhotsk Music Festival.Born in New York City and raised in Japan, Ms. Fukuda began playing the violin at the age of six and the viola at the age of seventeen.  In 2003, she received her Bachelor of Music degree at Tokyo Geidai as a student of Junji Suganuma, and her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School as a student of Masao Kawasaki in 2005.  She has served as assistant principal viola of the Orquesta Comunidad de la Valenciana in the 06-07 season, and has been faculty at Opus 118 Harlem School of Music since 2005

Renana Guttman, piano

Ms. Guttman has studied with the pianist Natasha Tadson, and now with Prof. Victor Derevianko in the "Rubin Music Academy" in Tel-Aviv. Renana is a regular recipient of the "America-Israel Cultural Foundation" scholarships since 1992. From 1994 to 1998 was a member of the "Young Musicians Group", which consists of the top young performers in the country, and all scholars of the "America-Israel Cultural Foundation" with the distinction "excellence". Within the group, this piano virtuoso played a lot of chamber music, and recorded to the Israeli radio. Furthermore, she had played as a soloist with the orchestra of the group ( in a summer course) under the conductor David Shallon, and worked with : Asher Fish, Henry Maier, Peter Kamnitzer, Sigmund Nissell, Hillel Zori, Haim Taub and Jonathan Zak.

Cordelia Hagmann, violin

Violinist Cordelia Hagmann grew up in Switzerland, where she studied at the conservatory in Winterthur-Zürich with Nora Chastain (BM with honors) and Rudolf Koelman. In 2002 Cordelia moved to the USA and completed her studies with Miriam Fried at Indiana University in Bloomington (Performer Diploma). While at Indiana University Cordelia was a member of the Moirae Piano Trio under the guidance of Menahem Pressler.

Cordelia appears frequently as a chamber musician and recitalist, and has also served as concertmaster in orchestras in Switzerland, at Indiana University and New York City in Carnegie Hall. As concerto soloist Cordelia has performed works by Bach, Beethoven, Chausson, Dvorak, Mozart, Sarasate, Saint-Saens and Vivaldi with orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Bloomington and Texas. She has won many prizes and scholarships including the Saint-Saens concerto competition in Winterthur (concert broadcasted by the Swiss radio Station). With the Moirae Trio she received third prize and audience prize at the Chesapeake chamber music competition. Cordelia has lived in NYC since 2004.

Benjamin Hochman is achieving widespread acclaim for his performances as orchestral soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. The pianist made his first major orchestral engagement with the Israel Philharmonic in spring 2004, resulting in an immediate re-engagement with the orchestra in December for his Carnegie Hall debut. Mr. Hochman’s continues his relationships with Lincoln Center's “Chamber Music Society Two” program, participates in chamber music projects at the 92nd Street Y and Vancouver Recital Society and performs with the Zukerman Chamber Players at McCarter Theater in Princeton, New Jersey. Mr. Hochman tours with the Jerusalem String Quartet throughout the northeast to include performances at the 92nd Street Y in New York. Mr. Hochman is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with Claude Frank, and of the Mannes College of Music in New York, where he studied with Richard Goode.

Christopher Jenkins, viola

Christopher Jenkins, violist and NYC native, is an active chamber musician in the New York area and beyond.  Having played three seasons with the African-American string octet The Young Eight, Chris is also the newest member of Invert, an alternative string quartet performing at venues such as CBGBs and the Knitting Factory, and which engaged in its first extended U.S. tour last fall opening for indie-rock band Rachel’s. Semifinalist in the 2003 and 2004 Sphinx Competitions and Third-Place Laureate of the 2005 Competition, Chris has served as violist for the Sphinx Quartet, and performed at the Quartet’s Carnegie debuts in both Stern and Weill halls in 2005.  In May of 2005, the Sphinx Quartet performed with the Guarneri Quartet at the University of Michigan’s Ford Honors Concert. 

Performers with whom Mr. Jenkins has collaborated include Itzhak Perlman, Ron Leonard, the Guarneris, Mikhail Kopelman of the Borodin Quartet, Sanford Allen, Jesse Levine, and David Geber of the American String Quartet.  As an orchestral musician, he is currently a substitute player with the New York Philharmonic, and performs with the Soulful Symphony in partnership with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  In less classically-oriented arenas, Mr. Jenkins has worked as a jazz violinist, playing solo on a tour of England with jazz great George Russell and his Living Time Orchestra, with whom he performed in Manchester and at London’s Barbican Hall.  He has also performed with the band Rachel’s in Merkin Hall and with singer Sufijan Stevens at Lincoln Center, and recorded with the band Beat Circus.

Stephanie A. Matthews, violin

Stephanie Matthews is a young concert violinist who has distinguished herself as a consummate musician. She has toured in North America, Central and South America, and Asia. In August 2005, she performed at Queens Hall in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, under the patronage of Trinidad’s President George Maxwell Richards. Other recent solo performances include the 2006 Links Benefit Concert at the Dundas Centre in support of a Safe House for Women in Nassau, Bahamas and a guest performance at the 2005 National Symphony Orchestra Competition. A prize winner in numerous competitions, Miss Matthews was the first place winner of the National Symphony Orchestra Young Soloist Competition and the 90.9 FM Bill Cerri Award. Miss Matthews has been featured as a guest soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Takoma Park Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington Symphony Orchestra.

She is a founding member of the Ebony Strings which was established at The Juilliard School in 2005. The Ebony Strings made their Lincoln Center debut in March 2006. In December 2006, the Ebony Strings debuted a choreo-comp dance piece for string quartet, double bass, and piano at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at The Juilliard School. This past summer the quartet was chosen to participate in the Chamber Music Institute at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where they had the opportunity to work with the acclaimed Chiara String Quartet. Miss Matthews was invited to participate in the Youth Orchestra of the Americas East Coast Chamber Music Tour in May 2005. She has also participated in the Gateways and Sphinx Music Festivals.   

In addition to performing, Miss Matthews is also a music educator, composer, and recording artist. She currently serves on the violin faculty at Opus 118 Harlem School of Music in New York City. She has conducted numerous masterclasses and seminars for young musicians, both within the United States and abroad. She is also a composer and songwriter with ASCAP and has written and recorded for numerous classical, gospel, R&B and hip hop music projects. She has collaborated with such artists as Richard Smallwood, Yamama'nym, Soular Evolution, Q-tip, Tony Williams, PJ Morton, Kanye West, Karen Clark-Sheard, and Kim Burrell.

Robert Prester, piano

Robert Prester’s first recording, Trillium, released on Island Records in 1988, was nominated for the Grammy Awards quarter-finals. The Rob Prester Group performs his original music in New York, Hawaii, West Palm Beach, and has appeared in Los Angeles, Boston, and jazz festivals throughout the country. The most recent recording, “Complex Carbohydrates”, presents Robert’s newest compositions, featuring his jazz and latin-jazz piano work.

One of Robert’s early projects on the New York scene was a commission to compose and produce the soundtrack for the CityKids Foundation show, which premiered in the St. James Theater on Broadway. As Musical Director for the production he appeared with Herbie Hancock and Grover Washington Jr. on the Phil Donahue show. Pursuing his talents as performer, composer and arranger, he was fortunate to work alongside such artists as Branford Marsalis, Ranker, and Dick Oats. At the same time he was also on the faculty of the Rockland Conservatory of Music, teaching piano and theory.

Laura Metcalf, cello

Laura Metcalf, cellist, has performed recently at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the French Consulate of New York, and the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France. She is the cellist of the Stella Trio, which gave its recital debut in Weill Recital Hall in November of 2006. During the summers, she has performed at the Taos School of Music, Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Festival-Institute at Round Top (Texas), and the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France). She has also performed with Michael Tilson Thomas’s New World Symphony in Miami, Florida and is a member of the Haddonfield Symphony.

Claire Smith, violin

Clare Smith was born in Victoria, TX. She attended Southwestern where she received a BA degree. She also attended the University of Texas; where she received her Masters in Music. She has studied with David Kim, Lynn Chang, Magdalena Richter, Ronan Lefkowitz. Chamber master classes: Bernard Greenhouse, Manhattan String Quartet, Lydian String Quartet. She has participated in solo and chamber music performances in Boston and New York including chamber music performances which include Boston trio on the concert series at Harvard University, and at the Gore Place Museum. Orchestra performances include Boston Metropolitan Orchestra, Fidelio Chamber Orchestra, MIT Summer Philharmonic Orchestra, Civic Symphony of Boston, Connecticut Grand Opera, One World Symphony, others. Recordings of new music and film scores. She is on the faculty of Opus 118, Harlem School of Music, Third Street Music School Settlement, The Spence School, and Bank Street School.

Yonah Zur, violin

An avid promoter of new music, Yonah Zur has given world premieres of works by Lukas Foss, Kaija Saariaho, Claudio Spies, and by his father, composer Menachem Zur, as well as many US premieres including works by Elliot Carter and Mrs. Saariaho. In addition, he regularly premieres works by promising young composers. He is a member of the String Orchestra of New York City. Mr. Zur has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall, and Merkin Hall in New York, and has performed at the Tanglewood, Yellow Barn, and Marlboro music festivals, as well as the Cité de la Musique in Paris and throughout his native Israel. Having spent numerous summers at the Tanglewood Music Center, he was the recipient of the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize 2001, and in the following summer he was a member of the New Fromm Players—a group created solely for the performance of new music. Mr. Zur was a participant at the Academy of 20th Century Music of the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris in 1999. Mr. Zur received his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School in May 2001, having studied with Robert Mann. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in 1999 from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance having studied with Avi Abramovich, while serving three years in the Israeli Army as a member of the unit for outstanding musicians.