Thalea String Quartet
The Thalea String Quartet has performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, and China at the Kennedy Center, Massey Hall, and Carnegie Hall. (In Greek “Thaleia,” means “to flourish or blossom.”) Top prize winners at the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, they were Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in 2019/20. In 2021, they are touring a new arrangement of the Florence Price Piano Concerto with pianist Michelle Cann.
Toronto-born violinist Christopher Whitley, is also a composer. His primary focus is on expanding the solo violin’s potential, via technology, electronic music and interactive art with classical and popular music, and improvised styles.
Violinist Kumiko Sakamoto, from Alberta, has appeared with Emerson, Kronos, St. Lawrence, and Borromeo quartet members, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, Eighth Blackbird, violinist Leila Josefowicz, among others. Also a coloratura soprano, she has premiered new works for voice, including a piece with string quartet this season.
Violist Lauren Spaulding received her BM and MM in viola performance at the Oberlin Conservatory and studied chamber music with Takács, Cavani, Ying and Pro Arte Quartets, and Roger Tapping of the Juilliard String Quartet. is a member of Meredith Monk’s performance ensemble and a recording artist with award winning studios such as "Found Objects Music" in NYC. Lauren was invited, for summer 2021, to be a featured artist at Yellow Barn, Virtuoso Bel Canto, and the Menuhin Academy. Lauren’s quartet was invited to perform at the White House for President Obama to commemorate American composers as a “Champion of Change.”
Cincinnati-born cellist Titilayo Ayangade was an inaugural member of the CSO Nouveau Chamber Players. She holds a Bachelor of Music from CCM, where she studyied with CSO Principal Cello Ilya Finkelshteyn. “Titi” was a 2018 prize winner at both the Fischoff National Chamber Music and Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions. She appeared on Fox's hit TV show Empire.
