2026 Educational Residencies
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The 2026 Educational Residencies for the Pierrot Chamber Music Festival for masterclasses and informal performances for Festival Participants include Katarina String Quartet on July 21st and Hydra Winds on July 23rd.
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Educational Residencies
Master Classes with Special Guest Artists
Each summer, guest artists present special master classes that focus on topics of interest to chamber musicians. Past special guest artists have included Lawrence Dutton, violist with the Emerson String Quartet, David Alan Miller, international known conductor and Music Director/Conductor of the Albany Symphony, and members of the Imani Winds. Past guest artists have included members of the Imani Winds; Erick Friedman, Elissa Lee Koljonen, Daniel Phillips, Todd Phillips, violinists and Timothy Eddy, cellist with the Orion String Quartet; Tara O’Connor, flutist with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Jeff Scott, hornist with Imani Winds, Erik Ralske, hornist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; Richard King, principal horn of the Cleveland Symphony and Charles Barker, principal conductor of the American Ballet Theatre. Special guest artists for 2026 to be announced.
Hydra Winds
Megan McCafferty, flute
Megan Strait, oboe
Danny King, clarinet
Chanelle Junio, bassoon
Keegan McCardell, horn
Hydra Winds is an emerging wind quintet based in New York City dedicated to championing works by underrepresented composers. Hydra Winds is composed of graduates from the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Valerie Coleman. Additional prestigious mentors have included Charles Neidich, Monica Ellis, and David Loud. During their time as an ensemble, Hydra Winds has been selected as winners of the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition performing Paul Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik. They were guest artists at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Wind Quintet Workshop where they performed an hour program in addition to providing private masterclasses and wind quintet coachings to talented high school students. Hydra Winds has performed across New York City and the Boston area. With a mission to perform works by living composers, Hydra Winds holds an annual Call for Scores competition and commissions new works.
Katarina String Quartet
Jeanel Liang, violin
Jérôme Chiasson, violin
Celia Morin, viola
Maya Enstad, cello
Grand Prize winner of the 2025 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and winners of the CAG Louis and Susan Meisel Prize, the Katarina String Quartet has quickly distinguished itself as one of North America’s most compelling young ensembles. The tightly-knit ensemble currently serves as the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School, where they explore all chamber music, from contemporary and canonized works to folk tunes. Known for their personable concert presentations and community leadership, they regularly perform in community centers around New York City as recipients of Juilliard’s Gluck Fellowship. The ensemble’s 2025/26 season includes tours in the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Europe; performances in and around New York City, including at Carnegie Hall; and a residency at the Avaloch Farm Institute. The KSQ regularly collaborates with Refettorio Harlem, a free fine-dining restaurant focused on building community, rescuing food waste and alleviating food insecurity in the New York City community. They have also appeared at Music for Food, a concert series raising donations for local food shelters. In the competition world, the KSQ are recent ProQuartet Prize and Drimnin String Quartet Academy Prize winners of the 2025 Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition; previously, they were Gold Medal and BIPOC prizewinner of the 2024 St. Paul Chamber Music Competition. The KSQ was founded in 2022 at McGill University under the tutelage of André Roy. Since then, the Katarinas have worked extensively with members of the Juilliard, Alban Berg, Danel, Dover, and Pacifica Quartets, and have participated in prestigious programs such as IMS Prussia Cove and McGill International String Quartet Academy (MISQA). The quartet takes its name from luthier Katarina Guarneri, wife of violin-maker Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu. Scholars believe that she worked on her husband’s violins during the most productive years of his career. Inspired by Katarina, the KSQ celebrates the countless people and communities behind the canonized figureheads of classical music that contribute to the art we enjoy.