2025-26 V E N T I C O R D I
M U S I C I A N B I O S
All Concerts Oboist and VentiCordi Director Kathleen McNerney has been hailed by critics for her ‘rich, full bodied tone’ and ‘attention to the natural, and enticing timbre of the instrument’. Kathleen finds chamber music to be the ideal outlet for her music making. The founding of VentiCordi has fulfilled a lifelong dream.
She currently teaches oboe at Bowdoin and Bates Colleges and is the woodwind chamber music coach at Bowdoin. She also teaches at the Portland Conservatory of Music. Kathleen has performed with many New England and Maine based performing organizations such as the Portland Symphony, PortOpera, Bay Chamber Concerts, Portland String Quartet, Maine Music Society, Maine Chamber Ensemble, New Hampshire Symphony, New Hampshire Bach Festival and New Hampshire Summer Music Festival.
Before moving to Maine, Kathleen lived in Los Angeles for nineteen years. During those years Kathleen enjoyed a prolific and varied playing career, working in many regional orchestras, playing all positions and appearing as soloist several times. In 2004, she premiered a commissioned piece for English horn, written for her, as a long standing member of the Orchestra of St. Matthews.
She was oboist for two woodwind quintets, Imbroglio and Calico Winds and recorded with both groups. Her recording with Calico Winds was praised in the Los Angeles Times as ‘proceeds from Bach to Zappa…projecting solid musical values all the way…crossed all the style lines and gotten away with it.’ Additional playing experience includes opera, ballet, movie soundtracks and musical theatre. Some of Kathleen's favorite work while in Los Angeles was playing for silent movies and with local pop artists.
While in California, Kathleen held teaching positions at Azusa Pacific University, La Sierra University and Glendale Community College.
Kathleen is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music, where she studied with Humbert Lucarelli, and the University of Southern California. Further studies were with Allan Vogel, former Principal Oboe with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
All Concerts Violinist and VentiCordi Director Dean Stein has performed throughout the world in recital, with orchestras, chamber music ensembles, and as soloist. His performances frequently garner critical acclaim, as in a recording of which ‘The Strad’ magazine wrote, “Dean Arthur Stein excels in the first violin’s improvisatory cadenza, his fierce yet luxuriant tone setting the mood...”
A passionate performer and advocate for chamber music, Mr. Stein was honored to be chosen as first violinist of the Portland String Quartet in 2012, the first change of personnel in the distinguished PSQ’s history since it’s formation in 1969.
Recent performance highlights include performing Elvis Costello's, The Juliet Letters with the Rose Quintet, string quartet concerts with the PSQ on the Seine River in France, as well as Budapest and eastern Europe, a collaboration with Iraqi Oud virtuoso Rahim-al-Haj, and performing the 10 Beethoven Sonatas with pianist Chiharu Naruse at Bates College.
In 2009, Mr. Stein, together with oboist Kathleen McNerney, created VentiCordi Chamber Music, focusing on combining wind and string instruments, and programming lesser known treasures of the chamber music repertoire. Their performances throughout Maine have been enthusiastically received and critically acclaimed.
From 2003 - 08 Mr. Stein directed the Arcady Music Festival in Bar Harbor, Maine. At Arcady, he performed in chamber ensembles, brought internationally renowned artists to perform in Down East Maine, and gave high priority to educational programs, bringing musicians to perform directly for Maine schoolchildren. His passion for the solo violin music of Bach has resulted in many performances of Bach’s masterpieces, which one reviewer acclaimed as “a superb and impressive performance of the unaccompanied Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2...”
Chamber music audiences have heard Mr. Stein in performances throughout Maine from Ogunquit to Orono, at Music Mountain, Eastern Music Festival, Harvard’s Paine Hall, Bowdoin and Bates Colleges and many more venues.
A highly sought after teacher and clinician, Mr. Stein is on the faculty of Bowdoin and Bates Colleges, coaches string quartets with the PSQ at Newagen Seaside Inn, St. Joseph’s College and Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, and has taught at New England Conservatory’s Preparatory Division, and University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He studied first with Margaret Berend at the Henry Street Settlement, then at the Juilliard School with Lewis Kaplan and Ivan Galamian, and at University of Maryland, College Park, with Gerald Fischbach and members of the Guarneri String Quartet.
Encounters Bassoonist Wren Saunders received a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern Maine and a Master of Music. from New England Conservatory of Music in bassoon performance. While at New England Conservatory she studied with Richard Svoboda, other teachers include Richard Ranti, Ben Kamins, and John Hunt. Ms. Saunders is currently a member of the Orchestra of Indian Hill (MA), is principal bassoon of the Bangor Symphony and is a former member of the Knoxville Symphony (TN). In 2007 she was a concerto soloist with the Bangor Symphony.
An active freelancer she has played with the region’s top orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, BMOP, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, Rhode Island Philharmonic, PORT orchestra, Vermont Symphony, and the ProArte Chamber Orchestra of Boston among others. Ms. Saunders can be heard playing principal bassoon with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra performing Violin Concerto No. 6 “Old Brass” on Mark O’Connor’s CD “Americana Symphony” on the OMAC label.
Ms. Saunders has a vibrant and successful bassoon studio where her students are regularly accepted into the Maine All-State and District festivals, the USM Youth Ensembles as well as New England Conservatory’s Youth Orchestras and the Boston Youth Orchestras in Massachusetts. She is currently on the faculty of the University of Southern Maine, Gordon College and the Portland Conservatory of Music.
Encounters Violist Julia Eiten grew up in Gorham, Maine. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from USM and then went on to get a Masters of Music in viola performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Graduate Performance Diploma in viola from Peabody Conservatory.
Julia plays often with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, as well as, Opera Maine, the Maine State Ballet orchestra and Portland Ballet orchestra. She enjoys having a small studio of violin, viola and piano students in her home.
Julia and her husband Jonathan, an oil painter, and their two sons feel blessed to be the fourth and fifth generations to live in the family home in Gorham.
Encounters and Imagine Fred Edelen has performed throughout the US and Europe on both modern and Baroque cello as orchestral cellist, chamber musician, and recitalist. From 2003-2022 he was Assistant Solo Cellist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and was formerly cellist with the Houston Symphony and Principal Cellist of the San Antonio Symphony. Described as a “masterful soloist” with “astonishingly expressive style and gorgeous tone,” he has appeared as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony, the San Antonio Symphony, and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, and was a prize winner at the National Society of Arts and Letters Cello Competition. An avid performer on Baroque cello, Fred studied at the Early Music Institute at Indiana University and continued his Baroque studies as a Fulbright scholar in The Hague. He has given masterclasses in London, Lucerne, Houston, and Amsterdam. Fred now lives in Bath, Maine, where he and his wife Christina enjoy making music, gardening, and viniculture.
Imagine Pamela Mia Paul is a Steinway Artist and Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas in Denton. A brilliant pianist and dedicated teacher, she received the doctor of musical arts, master of music, and bachelor of music degrees from the Juilliard School.
In 2017 she was chosen to be a member of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition screening committee that traveled around the world auditioning and selecting the top pianists to compete in the event. Pamela has performed with the world’s great orchestras and has given concerts and masterclasses throughout the United States, Europe, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea and Turkey, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. She has also commissioned and premiered works for piano and orchestra that received critical acclaim.
Dr. Paul has appeared in the world’s major concert halls, including Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam. As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz festivals in Austria, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and the Music Mountain Festival in Connecticut. In addition, she has taught at prestigious summer programs, including the Prague International Master Classes, the Institute for Strings, and the Vienna International Piano Academy. A much sought-after teacher, her award-winning students have won many prestigious competitions and hold teaching positions throughout the United States and Asia.
Imagine Helen Goode-Castro has performed regularly with many symphony orchestras throughout Southern California and Europe. Notably the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Long Beach Opera, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Santa Barbara Symphony. She is a member of the California Philharmonic Orchestra.
While in Europe. Ms. Goode-Castro performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and The Sud- Bayerische Philharmonie.
As a soloist she recorded the Tone Poem for Clarinet by Charles Fernandez with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London. She performed Brooklyn Bridge by Michael Daugherty with the Vanderbilt Wind Symphony and again with the Los Angeles Winds in Austria. She performed Black Dog by Scott McAllister with the BCCM Wind Symphony on tour in Seoul, South Korea. She also performed, Concerto#2 by Oscar Navarro with the BCCM Wind Symphony on their UK tour.
As an active studio musician, she has performed on many film and tv productions. Most recently she performed on the hit series, Only Murders in The Building.
Ms. Goode-Castro holds degrees in performance from the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, The Royal College of Music, London and an MFA from UCLA where she studied with Gary Gray. She begin studies on a DMA at the University of Southern California and her teachers there included Yehuda Gilad, Michele Zukovsky and David Howard.
In addition to performing, Ms. Goode-Castro is an active educator. She is currently on the woodwind faculty at the BCCM. She is very proud of her students and their many accomplishments.
Cloud Songs Pianist Chiharu Naruse holds a Master’s Degree in Music Performance and a Master’s Degree in Music Instruction from the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. In Berlin, Naruse studied piano under Klaus Bäßler and Lied Accompaniment under Wolfram Riegar. Naruse has performed throughout the world in recitals and piano competitions including a piano concert to benefit Amnesty International in Germany, the Hyogo Piano Competition in Japan (silver prize), the Clara Haskil piano competition in Switzerland, the Pescara Academie Piano Competition in Italy and the International Mozart Wettbewerb in Salzburg Austria.
In the spring of 2002, Naruse moved to the United States to study under Frank Glazer. Since her arrival Naruse has given several recitals at Bates College, collaborated with the Portland String Quartet, DaPonte String Quartet and Frank Glazer, performed Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, Mozart Piano Concerto K 466 and the Rachmaninoff Second Piano Concerto with the Augusta Symphony and concert toured Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Maine Pro Musica ensemble under conductor Janna Hymes. Naruse appeared as a featured artist at the Ocean Park Music Festival and the Franco-American Heritage Center. 2012-13 seasons Naruse performed all 10 of Beethoven's sonatas for violin and piano with violinist Dean Stein at Bates College. In 2014 Chiharu was invited to perform at the Parma Music Festival. Her solo performance of a work by Sergio Corvertti was released in 2015.
In addition to maintaining a regular performance schedule Naruse is also a well-respected music teacher, chamber music coach, music competition adjudicator and accompanist, with many of her students receiving competition prizes. Naruse currently is a member of the applied music faculty at Bates College and is also a faculty member at the Portland Conservatory of Music.
Cloud Songs TBA, Flute
Cloud Songs Nathan Varga maintains a vibrant career as a double bassist on the New England coast. His experience ranges from orchestral and chamber music to period performance, opera, and theater.
Nathan holds degrees from Boston University and Baldwin Wallace College. Desiring to engage a diverse audience, he also enjoys playing original music and arranging covers with friends.
Other interests include cycling, woodworking, synthesis and electronic music, and bicycle and auto-mechanics. Nathan has recently begun his study of bow maintenance, restoration, repair, and rehairing.
Spring! Soprano Elisabeth Marshall was praised by OPERA NEWS as “radiant” and “sensuous” for her recording of Four Romantic Songs by James Kallembach on Brooklyn Art Song Society’s debut album “New Voices” (Roven Records). A passionate art song performer and advocate, she has collaborated with numerous composers including Libby Larsen, Scott Wheeler, and the late Richard Hundley. In demand as a concert soloist, solo highlights include her Chicago Symphony Center debut in Handel’s Messiah (Apollo Chorus), J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Helmuth Rilling (Oregon Bach Festival), and Beethoven’s Chorale Fantasy with CPE Raymond Leppard (Indianapolis Symphony). On the opera stage, she was hailed for her “precision” and “technical skill” as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Merry Opera Company, London) and has also been seen as Frasquita (Carmen), Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus), Elisetta (Il matrimonio segreto), and Rosabella (The Most Happy Fella). In addition to her solo career, Ms. Marshall is also a
professional choral singer with ensembles such as the Handel & Haydn Society, The Thirteen, Carmel Bach Festival, and London Philharmonia Chorus, and has sung with conductors including Masaaki Suzuki, Harry Bicket, and Leonard Slatkin. A Fulbright Scholar to Leipzig, Germany, she holds a Doctorate in Music from the Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music where her principal teacher was legendary soprano Carol Vaness. Ms. Marshall is the Director of Vocal Studies at the University of Chicago and teaches voice
and diction at Elmhurst University.
Spring! Hailed as a “superb harpsichordist” by the Kansas City Star, Christina Scott Edelen brings a depth of experience, knowledge, and virtuosity to keyboard performance and teaching. On organ, harpsichord, clavichord, and fortepiano, Christina has performed as soloist and in numerous ensembles, concert series and festivals, including the Early Music Festivals of Bloomington, Berkeley, and Boston, and the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. She studied at the Indiana University Early Music Institute and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and was a finalist at the Bodky International Competition. Christina is a popular teacher and lecturer and has served on the faculties of Baylor University and the University of Houston. She holds a PhD in 17th century English Musical philosophy and has published articles in both the US and Sweden. Recordings include An Early Keyboard Sampler, Early English Organ Concertos, and the Sonatas for Flute and Harpsichord by Boismortier. Christina is currently organist and choirmaster at St Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Yarmouth, Maine.
Spring! As a soloist, and chamber musician Erin Lesser has been described as “superb”, “excellent”, “elegant” (The New York Times), “brilliant” (NY Concert Review) and “a multi-tasking virtuoso” (The New Yorker). She has performed at prestigious venues around the world including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ (Amsterdam), and the Kennedy Center. She performed the American premiere of Morton Feldman’s For Flute and Orchestra with the Janáček Philharmonic at Alice Tully Hall. As a recording artist, Erin can be heard on over 40 releases on labels including: Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Carrier, Hat[now] Art, New Focus, Aeon, New Amsterdam, New World, Neuma, Albany and Capstone.
Erin has been a member of Wet Ink Ensemble since 2001. The group was named “the best ensemble of 2018” (NYT), and has been described as “thought-provoking and expansive and fearless in testing the limitations of what instruments or musical forms can be." Erin is also a member of Alarm Will Sound, a group that has been awarded the ASCAP Concert Music Award for “the virtuosity, passion and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century” and which has been called the “future of classical music”(NYT). A founding member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Erin was featured on the group’s award-winning recording Winter Fragments; music of Tristan Murail. She won the 2008 National Flute Association chamber music competition with her flute and percussion duo, Due East.
Lesser completed a two-year fellowship with The Academy (now Ensemble Connect), a program run by Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute. She is now a member of Decoda, an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall, whose work often takes them beyond the concert hall and into the broader community.
A graduate of the University of Ottawa (BM) and the Manhattan School of Music (MM, DMA), Erin is proud to serve on the faculty at Lawrence University as Professor of Flute. In 2019, she was awarded the Lawrence University Award for Excellence in Teaching. Erin is co-founder of Music for All, a program which brings music into new and/or underserved venues throughout the Fox Valley community in Wisconsin.
Ms. Lesser is a Pearl Flute Performing Artist.
Spring! Cellist Katherine Cherbas has performed with 35 Broadway shows and is currently a member of the orchestra for Spamalot at the St. James Theatre. She appears regularly with the Encores! Orchestra at New York City Center, the New Jersey Symphony, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Orchestra, and other area ensembles. As a chamber musician her interests span the gamut, from Baroque continuo playing to collaborating with composers on new works. Her world-premiere recording of Milton Babbitt’s String Quartet No. 6 with the Milton Quartet (Tzadik Records, 2003) was critically acclaimed for its “impeccable tuning, timing and precision of color and phrasing” (New York Times) and “staggering…technical control, understanding, depth, passion, and brilliance” (Tempo).
After studying at the Indiana University School of Music while finishing high school, Katherine moved to New York City and completed an undergraduate degree at Columbia University, a master’s degree at The Juilliard School, and a Doctor of Musical Arts at SUNY-Stony Brook. She is certified as a teacher in the Suzuki method, and works with private cello students ranging in age from 4 to 80.
Katherine lives in New Jersey with her husband, teenage son, and two dogs. When not performing or teaching, she can often be found at a baseball game.