Back to the Sources: Music from the St. Petersburg Society

Adam Millstein is a Los Angeles based violinist who holds an Artist Diploma and Masters of Music Degree from the Colburn School where he studied with renowned pedagogue Robert Lipsett. He attended the University of Michigan for his Bachelor of Musical Arts Degree. He is the Program Manager of the Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices. This is a unique resource at the Colburn School in Los Angeles that promotes the study and performance of music by composers suppressed by Nazi policies. He acted as curator for the Initiative’s 2021 Schulhoff and More project where he organized and performed on filmed recordings of composer Erwin Schulhoff’s music, some of which is on the album “Shapeshifter: Music of Erwin Schulhoff” for the Delos Label. He has also recorded music of Franz Schreker, Pál Hermann, and Mieczysław Weinberg. Mr. Millstein also actively curates and produces concerts including a filmed Recovered Voices performance for the Library of Congress. He has appeared as guest lecturer at Arizona State University’s Genocide Awareness Week in 2023.

As an orchestral musician, Mr. Millstein has acted as concertmaster of the Sequoia Symphony and Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra. He has played as guest associate concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony and Louisville Orchestra. He has performed as a substitute with the LA Opera and LA Chamber Orchestra and appeared as soloist with US and international orchestras.

Tiffany Wee is a violinist hailing from Southern California with a passion for education and sharing her music with audiences around the globe. Her formal education began at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where she pursued her Bachelor of Music under the guidance of professors Movses Pogossian and Varty Manouelian. Tiffany’s education continued at the Yale School of Music, where she earned both her Master of Music and Master of Musical Arts degrees, refining her artistry under the tutelage of Ani Kavafian.

Tiffany’s musical pursuits extend beyond academia to prestigious fellowship programs, including the Tanglewood Music Center, where she not only honed her skills but also distinguished herself as a New Fromm Player. Aside from solo performances, Tiffany has a strong passion for chamber music, working with established musicians such as Mark Steinberg, Andrew Jennings, Pamela Frank and Roberto Diaz.  As a seasoned orchestral musician, Tiffany has performed with renowned ensembles, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Pacific Symphony.

As Tiffany continues to evolve as a violinist, her artistry reflects the diverse influences of her upbringing and the invaluable guidance received from her esteemed mentors. Tiffany’s commitment to her art goes beyond performing. She is deeply dedicated to music education and giving back to her community. She has worked as a mentor and teacher, inspiring young musicians and sharing her knowledge and experience to nurture their growth. Aiming to leave a lasting imprint on the musical community, Tiffany strives to continually grow as a musician, both in skill and artistry, while sharing the timeless allure and influence of classical music with a wider audience.

Bay Area native Connie Song is a violist with a passion for chamber music, teaching, and community engagement. Her chamber music pursuits have led her to perform at the LACMA Bing Sundays Live Radio Broadcast and the UC Regent’s Reception. She was also invited by the Telegraph Quartet to participate in their inaugural Intensive Chamber Music Project and was nominated for the Gluck Foundation program at UCLA. Currently, she performs in orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the greater Southern California region. Her most recent appearances include performing Candlelight concerts and rehearsing with Grammy-winner Zedd.

Connie is an avid teacher of all ages and levels. Her current and former students have won competitions like the US International Music Competition and have also auditioned and performed with the California Orchestra Directors Association All-State Orchestra and the SCSBOA Middle School Symphonic Strings. They have also advanced in the American String Teachers Association Certificate Advancement Program evaluation, which assesses their technical and musical skills through scales, etudes, and standard repertoire. She also is a Teaching Artist for the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA), a music education program under the LA Phil which focuses on equitable access to the power of music-making.

Connie received her Graduate Certificate degree from USC, her Master of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and her Bachelor of Arts from UCLA. Her primary teachers include Yura Lee, Dimitri Murrath, Che-Yen Chen, Carla Maria Rodrigues, and Richard Yongjae O’Neill. During her educational career, she participated in masterclasses with Kim Kashkashian, Pamela Frank, Jennifer Stumm, Jessica Bodner, the Calidore Quartet, and the Quatour Diotima. Her orchestral experience includes leading as the principal and section violist for the USC Thornton Symphony, SFCM Large Ensemble and the UCLA Philharmonia and playing as a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra where she performed at some of the most prestigious halls in the world such as the Berliner Philharmonie, Het Concertgebouw, and Smetana Hall.

Chris is dedicated to bringing cello music to both conventional and unconventional spaces. Whether performing for audiences in large concert halls, intimate chamber music settings, or for the trees in the mountains, Chris strives to present a grounded and thoughtful sound for whoever is willing to listen.

As a freelance musician, Chris maintains a busy schedule of recording sessions and engagements with local orchestras. Recent performances include appearances at the Hear Now 2023 Festival as part of the UCLA Philharmonia Soloists, and at the Hammer Museum, performing George Crumb’s Night of the Four Moons, featured as part of the museum’s 2022 exhibit Drawing Down the Moon. In addition, Chris appears frequently as a guest artist at the San Gabriel-based Laós Chamber Music as a cellist, conductor, and arranger.

Chris is currently the Manager of Performance Activities at The Colburn School, where he manages administrative aspects of the Colburn Orchestra, the Colburn Conservatory’s chamber music programs, and the Colburn Chamber Music Society (CCMS).

Chris resides in the South Pasadena area with his wife and duo partner, Elizabeth, and their two cats, Jessie and James.

Pianist and composer Brandon Zhou is an LA-based recitalist and chamber musician with a broad range of musical interests spanning from traditional classical repertoire to works by living composers and his own arrangements. As a pianist, he has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Hila Plitmann and Tony Arnold and with organizations such as American Contemporary Ballet and Jacaranda Music. His playing can be heard in filmmaker Kerry Candaele’s recently released documentary, Love and Justice, a film exploring striking parallels between the tragic demise of composer Jorge Peña Hen during the 1973 Chilean coup d’état and the narrative of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. As the winner of the 2020 Atwater Kent Concerto Competition, his performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia in 2021 was met with an enthusiastic reception.

Additionally, Brandon’s solo and chamber compositions have been performed as part of events across the U.S. His arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ ‘Egyptian’ Concerto for piano and string quartet was premiered to great acclaim by Inna Faliks and the Lyris Quartet at Jacaranda Music in May 2023, and his often-performed duo Three Blues Miniatures was most recently played at the Thurnauer Chamber Music Series and Moab Music Festival. He has also had works performed at various universities in the country such as Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and UCLA.

Brandon earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he studied with Inna Faliks. Additionally, he has been a longtime student of composer Richard Danielpour. He currently serves as a coach and collaborative pianist at Mount Saint Mary’s University, organist at Panorama Presbyterian Church, and collaborative pianist at UCLA.

UCLA Professor and Director of Orchestral Studies NEAL STULBERG has conducted many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta, Houston, Saint Louis and San Francisco Symphonies, Netherlands Radio Symphony, West German Radio Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and Moscow Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared as opera and ballet conductor with New York City, San Francisco and Netherlands Ballets, Long Beach Opera, Norwegian National Ballet and Hollands Diep Opera Company, and has recorded orchestral works for West German Radio, and for the Naxos, Sono Luminus, Yarlung and Composers Voice labels.

An acclaimed pianist, Stulberg has appeared internationally as recitalist, chamber musician, concerto soloist and pianist-conductor.  His performances of Mozart concertos conducted from the keyboard are uniformly praised for their buoyant virtuosity and interpretive vigor.  He has performed the complete Mozart sonatas for violin and piano with violinist Guillaume Sutre at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall and at the Grandes Heures de Saint Emilion festival in France. In 2018, he performed throughout South Africa on a recital tour with saxophonist Douglas Masek.  In April 2022, he premiered Inclusion, a new work for piano and chamber orchestra by Hugh Levick, and in September 2022 performed as piano soloist with the Riverside Philharmonic, performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F.

A native of Detroit, Mr. Stulberg is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan, and attended the Juilliard School and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome.