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Biographies
AARON PACKARD, VIOLIN
Aaron Packard maintains a varied career as a violinist, performing music of many genres and periods. He is an avid improviser and proponent of new music, having worked closely with many contemporary composers such as Ellen Lindquist, Elizabeth Adams, Ted Hearne, Henryk Strindberg, and John Luther Adams to find and experiment with new sound ideas. He currently teaches at the Joy of Music Program in Worcester, MA, and at the Groton School in Groton, MA. Performance collaborators include Orfeo Duo, Avery Ensemble, Mantra Percussion, rapper Self Suffice, harpsichordist Gabe Shuford, violinist Vita Wallace, violist David Yang, and bassist Nick Walker. He is a founding member of the Hartford-based Cuatro Puntos Ensemble (cuatropuntos.org), with whom he can be heard on many recordings on the Arkadash and Métier labels. He is also a member of the New England Repertory Orchestra, the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, and the Worcester Symphony Orchestra. Since 2007 Aaron has been honored to perform in and around Saranac Lake, NY as a part of the Loon Lake Live concert series.
Major violin teachers include Greg Fulkerson, Mark Steinberg, and the late Mitchell Stern, but he is proud to say he was really started on the path toward becoming a listener by the incomparable pianist Gil Kalish, and cellist Tim Eddy of the Orion String Quartet. When he’s not teaching or performing, you can probably find Aaron chopping wood, reading a book (mostly sci-fi, etymology, and history!) or doing a crossword puzzle.
ANNIE TREPANIER, VIOLIN
Violinist Annie Trépanier is a captivating performer and recording artist as well as a passionately dedicated teacher. The Boston Globe has hailed her playing as “supercharged, clear-headed, yet soulful” and her travels have included concerts in Brazil, Bolivia, Turkey, and throughout Europe. She has been heard regularly in national broadcasts on Radio-Canada, CBC and NPR and has recorded for Toccata Classics, Navona, Ablaze, Arkadash, Metier, CRI and Ongaku. She has been a member and Co-Executive Director of Cuatro Puntos–a Connecticut-based musical collective dedicated to bringing people together through musical partnerships around the world, including activities in New England, South America, Afghanistan, Turkey, and England–since 2013.
Trépanier and her husband, violist Steve Larson, perform together regularly both as a duo and as part of Cuatro Puntos Ensemble. Previously they played together for twenty years as members of Avery Ensemble, producing a regular concert series as well as recordings which were celebrated by highly regarded publications such as The Strad: “The Avery Ensemble’s musicians’ great love for this music shines through in every bar, thanks to the eloquence of their tone and phrasing.”
Each summer Trépanier is invited to perform for two wonderful communities of music lovers – at Loon Lake Live in upstate New York, and at the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. She is a former member of the New World Trio and the Diabelli String Quartet and has appeared as a guest with such ensembles as the Copenhagen and Adaskin String Trios. Trépanier was a teaching artist for ten years at The Hotchkiss School and now teaches from her home in beautiful Northwest Connecticut. Visit www.violinviolaetc.com for more information.
STEVE LARSON, VIOLA
Steve Larson has been described as an "exemplary virtuoso" (Audiophile Audition) and “superb” (Classical Voice of New England), while the Montreal Gazette has praised his "singing tone, eloquent phrasing, expressive dynamics and flawless intonation." He is a Senior Artist Teacher at The Hartt School of the University of Hartford, where he has taught since 1998 and has served both as Chair for Strings and Chair of Chamber Music.
Larson has performed extensively as the violist of the Adaskin String Trio since 1994, and with the oboe, viola & piano trio, Ensemble Schumann, since 2005. The Adaskin’s landmark recording of the complete String Trios of Beethoven for Musica Omnia was hailed by Gramophone as “riveting” and “intoxicating”, while their MSR Classics release of the two piano quartets by Gabriel Faure with pianist Sally Pinkas was enthusiastically welcomed as “splendid,” “worth celebrating” and “ferociously gorgeous.” Ensemble Schumann’s Romantic Trios recording (also on MSR Classics) was described by Fanfare Magazine as making “some of the most blissful sounds this side of nirvana. Truly, this is exquisite music, exquisitely played.”
In addition, Larson and his wife, violinist Annie Trépanier, perform together as a duo, at the Wintergreen Festival & Academy in Virginia (where Larson serves as Principal Viola and Chair of Viola), and as members of Cuatro Puntos Ensemble, a group renowned for its dynamic performances & recordings as well as its dedication to using music as a stimulus for social change & cultural awareness. Previously Larson & Trépanier also played together as members of Avery Ensemble for twenty years, presenting a regular concert series and releasing several critically acclaimed recordings.
Larson has performed as a guest with groups such as the Emerson Quartet and the Lions Gate Trio, is a former member of the Alcan String Quartet and has performed with orchestras such as the Montreal Symphony and National Arts Center Orchestra. Originally from Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada), Larson holds degrees from McGill University, l’Université de Montréal and The Hartt School. At the 1997 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in the United Kingdom he won second prize and received the special award for his performance of the commissioned work. He studied violin with Ernest Kassian, Elman Lowe, Howard Leyton-Brown, and Mauricio Fuks, viola with Jutta Puchhammer and Steve Tenenbom, and chamber music with members of the Emerson and Orford String Quartets. He plays an exceptional 17-3/8 inch viola made by Helmuth Keller in 1981. Visit www.violinviolaetc.com for more information.
BECKY PATTERSON, CELLO
The New York Times describes Ms. Patterson as having an "uncommonly warm and rounded tone," and the Washington Post praises her for “a stunning account of the movement “Praise to the Eternity of Jesus” from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. As a founding member of the award-winning ensemble Antares, Rebecca dedicated over fifteen years (1996-2012) to chamber music, contemporary music, commissioning new works, and teaching.
Ms. Patterson co-founded Antares while a student at Yale, and took the top prizes the following year in the Fischoff, Coleman, Yellow Springs, and Carmel National Chamber Music Competitions. In 2002, Antares was awarded the top prize in the prestigious Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York City. Under their five-year management, the ensemble performed throughout the US and Canada and also recorded and commissioned numerous works for the piano-clarinet quartet genre. In 2007 they joined Sciolino Artist Management until they disbanded in 2012 to pursue other interests. Their last CD release in 2011, revisited two significant yet previously unrecorded works from 1978: Shadowed Narrative by Roger Reynolds and Tashi by Peter Lieberson. This CD was featured as “Choice of the Month” in the January 2012 issue of BBC Music Magazine. Other recordings with Antares include, Eclipse with Innova Recordings, and Red River by Mason Bates with MSR Classics label.
In recent years, Ms. Patterson has turned her focus to the Connecticut community. She was awarded the Principal Cello position of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 2012, and served as Instructor of Cello at the University of Connecticut, Storrs between 2014-2018. In 2019, she was awarded a Ford Foundation Award in Community Service through education work in the NHSO. She continues to be a dedicated teacher and chamber music coach of all ages through the Neighborhood Music School, in addition to her private studio. She has also acquired a Baroque Cello and is exploring repertoire with this sound.
Ms. Patterson received her B.M. from the Eastman School of Music and her M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Paul Katz and Aldo Parisot, respectively. While at Eastman she was winner of the Gibbs Chamber Orchestra Concerto competition, as well as the recipient of the full-merit Lois Smith Rogers Scholarship. At Yale she was a recipient of the Ender Scholarship, which goes to a cellist with excellent promise. She currently lives in Woodbridge, CT.