Artists

• Anna Rabinova

  Violin

  Violinist Anna Rabinova performs nationally and internationally as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician, and recording artist. She joined the New York Philharmonic in 1994, two years after arriving in the United States from her native Russia; in the 2008–09 season she was a soloist with the Orchestra in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, led by Lorin Maazel.

  
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• Sheryl Staples

  Violin

  Violinist Sheryl Staples joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Associate Concertmaster, The Elizabeth G. Beinecke Chair, in September 1998. She made her solo debut with the Philharmonic in 1999 performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, led by Kurt Masur. She has since been featured in numerous performances, playing concertos by Mendelssohn, Mozart, Haydn, Bach, and Vivaldi with conductors including Philharmonic Music Directors Jaap van Zweden, Alan Gilbert, and Lorin Maazel, as well as with Sir Colin Davis, Jeffrey Kahane, and Kent Nagano. In addition, she has performed as soloist with more than 45 orchestras nationwide, including The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Diego and Richmond Symphony Orchestras, and Louisiana Philharmonic.

  
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• Alina Kobialka

  Violin

  Violinist Alina Kobialka joined the New York Philharmonic in 2022. She has been praised for her beautiful tone, effortless precision, and musical maturity beyond her years. Since her first appearance as soloist at age ten, she has toured and performed with many ensembles throughout the world. San Francisco Classical Voice described her as a “jaw-droppingly assured” soloist, who “made present and future converge,” and the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote, “Watch for her name. She appears to be bound for greatness.”

  
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• Andi Zhang

  Violin

  Violinist Andi Zhang joined the New York Philharmonic in January 2019 while studying at the Manhattan School of Music with Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec. She has appeared as soloist with the Beijing, Qingdao, Harbin, and Hong Kong symphony orchestras; Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra; and Munich Radio Orchestra. She has performed in recital in the US, Canada, Germany, and Austria; recorded for film and television, CDs, and the China Central Television program Music Tells You; and led master classes.

  
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• Leah Ferguson

  Viola

  Violist Leah Ferguson joined the New York Philharmonic in October 2018, having previously been a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 2016. Originally from Chicago, she began playing the violin at age five and switched to the viola at age twelve, studying with Roland Vamos.

  
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• Vivek Kamath

  Viola

  Violist Vivek Kamath has been a member of the New York Philharmonic since 1997. Growing up in Rochester, New York, he was a student of Lynn Blakeslee in the preparatory department of the Eastman School of Music.

  
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• Alexei Yupanqui Gonzales

  Cello

  Alexei Yupanqui Gonzales was appointed to the cello section of the New York Philharmonic in November 2012. He has served as the principal cellist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Boston Lyric Opera. He has also been a member of the Boston Ballet Orchestra and has performed with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Emmanuel Music under the late Craig Smith, and the Bach Ensemble with harpsichordist John Gibbons.

  
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• Patrick Jee

  Cello

  Cellist Patrick Jee joined the New York Philharmonic in July 2013, and currently serves as Acting Associate Principal Cello. A native New Yorker, he has toured extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia, making appearances at New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., London’s Wigmore Hall, Paris’s Salle Gaveau, and the Seoul Arts Center. He also performed on CNN’s American Morning as well as at the United Nations at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

  
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• Sumire Kudo

  Cello

  Sumire Kudo joined the Philharmonic as a cellist in June 2006. Previously she taught at Indiana University–South Bend and was the cellist of the Avalon String Quartet. Born in Tokyo, Japan, Kudo began cello studies at age four with her father, cellist Akiyoshi Kudo. She came to the United States in 2000, after establishing herself in her native country through solo performances and recordings. Her honors include the Hideo Saito Memorial Fund Award, which she received from the Sony Music Foundation after being chosen by Seiji Ozawa and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi as the most promising cellist in 2005, and prizes at the Sapporo Junior Cello Competition and 62nd Japan Music Competition. Kudo is a graduate of Tokyo’s Toho School and The Juilliard School. She has participated in the Nagano-Aspen Music, Aspen Music, Santa Fe, and Marlboro Music festivals. Record Geijutsu, Japan’s leading classical music magazine, named her second solo CD, Love of Beauty, Best Recording.

  
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• Nathan Vickery

  Cello

  Lauded as a “formidable cello soloist” (The New York Times), cellist Nathan Vickery appears regularly in solo and chamber music recitals and at music festivals around the country. In a 2016 performance of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, he was celebrated for his “talent and artistry” and his “fresh and appealing account” of the work (The New York Times).

  
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• Ru-Pei Yeh

  Cello

  Ru-Pei Yeh, cello, who joined the New York Philharmonic in September 2006, has performed regularly as a recitalist in her native Taiwan and in the U.S. A founding member of the Formosa Quartet, formed in 2003, she has served as acting principal cello of the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Opera, in addition to performing with a string quartet of principal players from the San Diego Symphony. She has made solo appearances with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony, Taiwan’s Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina School of the Arts’s International Music Program Orchestra, and Kuan-Jen School Orchestra, and is the winner of numerous competitions.

  
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• Max Zeugner

  Bass

  Associate Principal Bass Max Zeugner, The Herbert M. Citrin Chair, joined the New York Philharmonic in September 2012. Originally from Worcester, Massachusetts, he started studying classical guitar before transitioning to electric bass and finally to double bass and received lessons from the Joy of Music Program and Burncoat High School’s Music Magnet Program. After attending a summer chamber music workshop at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in Nelson, New Hampshire, he shifted his focus from jazz to classical. He began taking lessons at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School with bassist Deborah Dunham and studied with Richard Hartshorne. He joined youth orchestras in Boston and in 2001 he was runner up at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Young Artists Competition. He went on to become a scholarship student of New York Philharmonic bassist Orin O’Brien at The Juilliard School and Edwin Barker at Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, where he won the 2005 Concerto Competition.

  
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