NEW@NIGHT: Protégés United

Artists

Viano Quartet String Quartet

Lucy Wang, violin
Hao Zhou, violin
Aiden Kane, viola
Tate Zawadiuk, cello

Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet has quickly soared to international acclaim as one of the most dynamic and in-demand string quartets of their generation. The ensemble has captivated audiences worldwide ever since they were awarded First Prize at the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition, with appearances at renowned venues such as Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Hong Kong’s City Hall, and London’s Wigmore Hall. The Viano Quartet are Bowers Program Artists at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2024-2027.
Viano Quartet’s 2025–26 season includes debut performances at London’s Southbank Centre, the Frick Collection in New York, Dublin’s National Concert Hall, Vivo Performing Arts, Coast Live Music, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, Apex Concerts, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Fortas Series at the Kennedy Center, Premiere Performances HK, and a mainstage full recital debut at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. This season also features collaborations with Avi Avital, Sir Stephen Hough, Gilbert Kalish, Anthony McGill, Miloš Karadaglić, and Vienna Teng. The quartet will premiere a newly written piece by composer Reena Esmail in the summer of 2026.

In 2025, the quartet received the Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as released their first full-length album, Voyager, with Apple Music/Platoon Records.

The Viano Quartet was formed in Los Angeles at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2015. The quartet is grateful for the unwavering support from their mentors at the Curtis Institute and Colburn Conservatory.

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Tate Zawadiuk Cello

Canadian cellist Tate Zawadiuk is both an engaging soloist and founding member of the Viano Quartet. The ensemble won first prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and has performed internationally in venues such as Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Flagey, and Bremen Die Glocke.

As a soloist, Tate has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic, New Westminster Symphony, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax, James Ehnes, Marc-André Hamelin, Inon Barnatan, Clive Greensmith, Scott St. John, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, and Johannes Moser.

Tate is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music as a member of the Nina von Maltzahn Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence. He holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Clive Greensmith and Ronald Leonard.

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Anton Nel Piano

Anton Nel, winner of the first prize in the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, continues to enjoy a remarkable and multifaceted career that has taken him to North and South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. Following an auspicious debut at the age of twelve with Beethoven’s C Major Concerto after only two years of study, the Johannesburg native captured first prizes in all the major South African competitions while still in his teens, toured his native country extensively, and became a well-known radio and television personality. A student of Adolph Hallis, he made his European debut in France in 1982, and in the same year graduated with the highest distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He came to the United States in 1983, attending the University of Cincinnati, where he pursued his Master’s and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under Bela Siki and Frank Weinstock. In addition to garnering many awards from his alma mater during this three-year period, he was a prizewinner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition in England and won several first prizes at the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition in Palm Desert in 1986.

Highlights of Mr. Nel’s four decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, and London, among many others. (He has an active repertoire of more than 100 works for piano and orchestra). An acclaimed Beethoven interpreter, Anton Nel has performed the concerto cycle several times, most notably on two consecutive evenings with the Cape Philharmonic in 2005. Additionally, he has performed all-Beethoven solo recitals, complete cycles of the violin and cello works, and most recently, a highly successful run of the Diabelli Variations as part of Moises Kaufman’s play, 33 Variations. He was also chosen to give the North American premiere of the newly discovered Piano Concerto No. 3 in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn in 1992. Two noteworthy world premieres of works by living composers include Virtuoso Alice by David Del Tredici (dedicated to, and performed by, Mr. Nel at his Lincoln Center debut in 1988) as well as Stephen Paulus’s Piano Concerto also written for Mr. Nel; the acclaimed world premiere took place in New York in 2003.

As a recitalist, he has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum, the Frick Collection in New York, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Davies Hall in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Internationally, he has performed recitals in major concert halls in Canada, England (Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls in London), France, Holland (Concertgebouw in Amsterdam), Japan (Suntory Hall in Tokyo), Korea, China, and South Africa.

A favorite at summer festivals he has performed at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as at the music festivals of Aspen and Ravinia (where he is on the artist-faculties), Vancouver, Cartagena, and Stellenbosch, among many others. Possessing encyclopedic chamber music and vocal repertoire, he has, over the years, regularly collaborated with many of the world’s foremost string quartets, instrumental soloists, and singers. With acclaimed violinist Sarah Chang he completed a highly successful tour of Japan as well as appearing at a special benefit concert for Live Music Now in London, hosted by HRH the Prince of Wales.

Eager to pursue dual careers in teaching and performing, he was appointed to the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin in his early twenties, followed by professorships at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Michigan, where he was chairman of the piano department. In September 2000, Anton Nel was appointed as the Priscilla Pond Flawn Regents Professor of Piano and Chamber music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches an international class of students and heads the Division of Keyboard Studies. Since his return, he has also been the recipient of two Austin-American Statesman Critics Circle Awards, as well as the University Cooperative Society/College of Fine Arts award for extra-curricular achievement. In 2001 he was appointed Visiting “Extraordinary” Professor at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and continues to teach masterclasses worldwide. In January 2010 he became the first holder of the new Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Chair in Piano at the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2015, he has been presenting an annual series of masterclasses in piano and chamber music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York as Visiting Professor and also teaches regularly at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.

Mr. Nel is also an acclaimed harpsichordist and fortepianist. In recent seasons he has performed annual recitals on both instruments, concertos by the Bach family, Haydn, and Mozart with La Follia Austin Baroque as well as the Poulenc Harpsichord Concerto (Concert champêtre) with the Austin Symphony.

His recordings include four solo CDs, several chamber music recordings (including the complete Beethoven Piano and Cello Sonatas and Variations, and the Brahms Sonatas with Bion Tsang), and works for piano and orchestra by Franck, Fauré, and Saint-Saens. His latest release features premiere recordings of all the works for piano and orchestra of Edward Burlingame Hill with the Austin Symphony conducted by Peter Bay.

Anton Nel became a citizen of the United States of America on September 11, 2003, and is a Steinway Artist.

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Upcoming Concerts & Events

• Piano Masterclass with Anton Nel (2023)

Aiden Kane Viola

American violist Aiden Kane has performed in North America, Europe, and Asia as a current member of the Viano Quartet, First Prize Laureates of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and recipients of the 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

After leaving violin for the dark side, Aiden first studied viola with Daniel Foster through the National Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Fellowship Program. She subsequently earned a Bachelor’s and two Master’s degrees (in viola performance and chamber music studies, respectively) at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Paul Coletti. During her undergraduate years at Colburn, Aiden discovered her love for quartet life as the violist of the Calla Quartet, which received the Silver medal at the 2015 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and presented Colburn’s inaugural Musical Encounters outreach program. Since she joined the Viano Quartet, Viano has won international competitions, weathered a pandemic, moved from one coast to another, studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet-in-Residence program, and joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program—and Aiden loves quartet life even more for it all.

When she isn’t playing the viola, Aiden enjoys hiking, composing, and keeping an assortment of remarkably self-reliant houseplants.

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Lucy Wang Violin

Canadian violinist Lucy Wang has garnered praise as an artist whose “technical prowess, tonal mastery, and stage presence can come as no surprise to anyone who has seen her work” (Peace Arch News). A native of Vancouver, she is a founding member of the Viano Quartet—First Prize Laureates of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition and recent graduates of the Nina von Maltzahn Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence Program at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Lucy obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Colburn Conservatory and has performed as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician in venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall, Izumi Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Konzerthaus Berlin. Lucy has also given recitals with the Viano Quartet at Hong Kong’s Intimacy of Creativity Festival, the Banff International String Quartet Festival, Bravo!Vail Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, and Minnesota Beethoven Festival, among others.

In addition to touring with the Viano Quartet, Lucy maintains an active individual presence on social media, with over 50 million views on her videos and over 600,000 followers across various platforms. Reaching people across six continents, Lucy aims to craft a unique path as an artist that builds bridges across different musical and cultural communities.

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Hao Zhou Violin

“Personal, impassioned, courageous, and unostentatiously brilliant” (Musical America), American violinist Hao Zhou rose to international acclaim as both the Grand Laureate and Audience Favorite of the 2019 Concours Musical International de Montréal and a first-prize winner of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

An accomplished soloist and chamber musician, Hao made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 12. He made solo appearances with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Downey Symphony Orchestra, and Peninsula Symphony Orchestra alongside conductors such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alexander Shelley, and Thierry Fischer. Hao is a founding member of the award-winning Viano Quartet and has performed worldwide alongside such internationally distinguished artists as Emanuel Ax, Roberto Diaz, James Ehnes, Noah Bendix-Balgley, and Marc André-Hamelin. In 2023-24, Hao will be performing recitals all over the world in cities such as New York, Hong Kong, Nova Scotia, Buffalo, and Banff.

Hao is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music as a member of the Nina von Maltzhan Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence. He has been invited to perform at the Kronberg Academy Festival, Bravo! Vail, Bard Music Festival, and at Chamber Music Northwest. He was the first recipient of the Frances Rosen Violin Prize at the Colburn Conservatory, where he studied with Martin Beaver and received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

Hao plays on a 1783 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, on generous loan from the Aftergood Family.

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Alistair Coleman Composer

Alistair Coleman is a composer from Maryland and the 2023–25 Composer-in-Residence of Young Concert Artists. Recent commissions include concertos for violinist Soovin Kim and cellist Zuill Bailey, a trombone sonata for Joseph Alessi (premiered on tour in China and Japan), and Moonshot, premiered by the Abeo Quartet in collaboration with Glenstone Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.

The 2024–25 season features premieres at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall by percussionist Michael Yeung, a marimba concerto for Ji-Su Jung, and a commission from the New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. Other projects include a European tour of a new chamber work for Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen’s 200th anniversary and a bass quintet for the Viano Quartet and Nina Bernat, commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest.

Recent highlights include performances by the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and National Philharmonic; collaborations with pianists Alessio Bax, Gloria Chien, Avery Gagliano, and Janice Carissa in collaboration with Steinway; and commissions from Chamber Music Lexington and the Lake Champlain Festival. He has received three ASCAP Morton Gould Awards as well as prizes from Juilliard, American Composers Forum, the Society for New Music, and NPR.

In 2020, he founded a composition mentorship program with the Opportunity Music Project, in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s PlayUSA. He also serves on the Curtis Institute’s Musical Studies Faculty and teaches at Hidden Valley’s Emerging Composers Intensive.

A graduate of Curtis and Juilliard, Alistair begins PhD studies at Princeton University as a Roger Sessions Fellow in fall 2025.

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Kian Ravaei Composer, Protégé Alumni

Composer Kian Ravaei (b. 1999) takes tone painting to a new level, synthesizing diverse inspirations into evocative musical portraits. Whether he is composing a string quartet inspired by wonders of the natural world, electronic music that evokes the pulsating energy of late-night dance clubs, or a symphonic poem that draws from the Iranian music of his ancestral heritage, he takes listeners on a spellbinding tour of humanity’s most deeply felt emotions.

The 2025-26 season sees a variety of performances, including the New York premiere of Ravaei’s Gulistan at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as two new string quartets for the Abeo Quartet and Sheffield Chamber Players. He has been named a 2025-26 Classeek Ambassador Programme Artist, and will partake in a one-year career enhancement program alongside six of the world’s most promising classical musicians.

From Carnegie Hall to Pierre Boulez Saal, sought-after musicians such as Grammy Award winner Fleur Barron, Performance Today Classical Woman of the Year Lara Downes, and New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill have brought Ravaei’s music to global stages. The Alexander String Quartet capped their 44-year career with a farewell tour that featured Ravaei’s seven-movement string quartet The Little Things. His works have been commissioned by prominent chamber music organizations—among them Seattle Chamber Music Society and Chamber Music Northwest—as well as the American Composers Orchestra, where he is currently a resident CoLABoratory Fellow.

Notable honors include a Copland House CULTIVATE Fellowship—during which he participated in an emerging composers institute at Aaron Copland’s National Historic Landmark home—as well as commissioning grants from Chamber Music America, New Music USA, and the Barlow Endowment. Ravaei’s rapidly expanding catalog has earned him first prize awards in the New York Youth Symphony First Music Chamber Music Competition, the Foundation for Modern Music Robert Avalon Competition, and the Zodiac International Music Competition.

Born to Iranian immigrants, Ravaei maintains close ties to the Iranian community in his hometown of Los Angeles. Many of his works combine the ornamented melodies of Iranian classical music with the colorful harmonies of Western classical music. Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Kunal Lahiry commissioned Ravaei to compose a Persian-language setting of the feminist Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad for their U.S. tour, culminating in a sold-out Carnegie Hall recital. A passionate speaker, Ravaei was a featured lecturer at the UCLA Iranian Music Lecture Series, where he discussed his multicultural upbringing and its deep-seated influence on his music.

Just days into the COVID-19 lockdown, Ravaei began a daily ritual of playing a Bach chorale at the piano and composing an original chorale in response. What started as a way to ground himself during a period of emotional turbulence blossomed into an artistic reawakening. Over the course of one year and three hundred sixty-five chorales, Ravaei cultivated a “rich harmonic idiom” (Washington Classical Review) rooted in a centuries-long tradition.

As part of his residencies at chamber music festivals across the Western hemisphere, Ravaei engages with local audiences through educational presentations, musical performances, and community events. He was a resident composer at Chamber Music Northwest through their Protégé Project, and later became the inaugural composer-in-residence at Sunkiss’d Mozart. Through a trailblazing partnership between the Wyoming International Chamber Music Festival and the Tenby International Music Festival, Ravaei serves as composer-in-residence of both festivals, helping to foster musical dialogue between the United States and United Kingdom.

Millions of classical radio listeners have heard Ravaei’s music on the airwaves, from New York’s WQXR to Los Angeles’s KUSC. As part of Classical California’s 2024 Ultimate Playlist, the nation’s largest public radio listenership ranked Ravaei’s piece Latif in 26th place—sandwiched between Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto—making him the only living composer in the top 30. His music has been featured on award-winning radio programs such as APM’s Performance Today and WNYC’s New Sounds, as well as his personally curated streaming station for Classical Music Indy.

With numerous commercial recordings, Ravaei has earned critical acclaim from outlets including Gramophone, Bandcamp Daily, and I CARE IF YOU LISTEN. His compositions appear on albums such as Lara Downes’ This Land—a poignant reflection on American identity—and Tallā Rouge’s genre-bending debut Shapes in Collective Space. Fans of electronic dance music will hear Ravaei’s orchestration in the official orchestral arrangement of Wooli & Codeko’s “Crazy (feat. Casey Cook),” which has garnered over two hundred thousand views across streaming platforms.
Choreographers have tapped into Ravaei’s music as a source of inspiration, transforming his vivid sound worlds into dance. They include Marla Phelan—whose innovative fusion of dance and video projections set to Ravaei’s immersive electronic score premiered at the Juilliard Future Stages Festival—and Carly Topazio, who captivated audiences with her choreography to Ravaei’s Family Photos during a joint performance by Art of Elan and The Rosin Box Project. Most recently, Ravaei and choreographer Annie Kahane completed a three-year project to combine Persian and Jewish musical and dance traditions, which debuted at the San Francisco International Arts Festival.

Inspired by the generosity of his own teachers—celebrated composers such as Valerie Coleman, Richard Danielpour, and Derrick Skye—Ravaei pays forward his musical training by empowering others to embrace their creativity. He recently launched the Wales-Wyoming Workshops Composer Fellowship, a tuition-free program for early-career composers from the U.S. and U.K. to gain transatlantic exposure through performance and recording opportunities. In previous years, Ravaei taught composition to historically underserved students as a Composer Teaching Artist Fellow for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and also held a teaching position at the Indiana University Jacobs Composition Academy, where he mentored composers aged 17 to 70.
Ravaei’s own musical journey has led him eastward from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music to the heart of New York City, where he is currently a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School.

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