Well known as the former co-concertmaster and violin soloist of the Italian chamber group "I Solisti Venetia", Bettina Mussumeli is currently adjunct professor of violin and pedagogy at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Ms. Mussumeli has performed throughout Europe, Australia and the Far East, and has made numerous recordings for the Erato, RCA, Tactus and Concerto labels. She collaborated frequently as guest concertmaster with the Orchestra Toscanini of Parma, Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestra del Teatro di Cagliari and the Orchestra della Fenice. She holds B.M. and M.M degrees from The Juilliard School studying with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay. She studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Guarneri and Cleveland quartets. She has also studied with Kato Havas at Oxford, England, focusing on the elimination of tension in violin playing.

Violinist Tarn Travers regularly performs throughout the US and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. A member of the Chicago-based contemporary music group Ensemble Dal Niente and concertmaster of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, recent performances include solo and chamber music appearances throughout the United States, China, Austria, and Italy. He also performed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and gave a performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in Vienna’s Konzerthaus.

 As a recording artist, Travers has released numerous recordings, including an appearance on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s album Orphée, released in 2015 on the Deutsche Gramophone label. Other releases include an album of chamber music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Brooke Joyce, Maria Newman’s Triple Concerto, Randal Bauer’s Half String Quartet for violin and cello, and music by George Lewis, recorded as a member of Ensemble Dal Niente. Upcoming releases include music by Lori Laitman, transcribed for violin by the composer specifically for Travers, and an album of music for two violins featuring music by Eugène Ysaÿe, Sergei Prokofiev, and Paolo Marchettini.

An active pedagogue worldwide, Travers’ currently serves as resident faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School in China. Previous teaching appointments include faculty positions at DePauw University, AlpenKammerMusik in Austria, and the International Music Festival of the Adriatic in Italy. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a Doctorate from Stony Brook University in New York, where his primary teachers were Camilla Wicks, Philip Setzer, and Axel Strauss. He plays on a Joseph Curtin violin.

Jodi Levitz, Professor of Viola at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, boasts an international reputation as a consummate artist and a passionate advocate of exploring new musical possibilities for the viola. She brings that energy and experience to the classroom, having spent twelve years as principal viola and soloist with the critically acclaimed Italian chamber group I Solisti Veneti, a position she attained while still a student at The Juilliard School of Music.

Professor Levitz’s career has been built on stellar accomplishments. She has performed as soloist throughout Europe, South America, North America and Asia, and has recorded her music for such distinguished record labels as Concerto, Dynamic, Naxos and Erato. A highly regarded educator and pedagogue, she was on the faculties of the Ars Musica Academy at Imola and Progetto Orchestra, and she presently serves as co-artistic director of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival in Courmayeur, Italy. As Professor of Viola and Chamber Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she served as both Chair of Strings and Chair of Chamber Music.

A 2011 recipient of the Sarlo Family Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching, Professor Levitz has helped her students achieve a number of notable accomplishments. As a result of her guidance and encouragement, her students have claimed first prize awards from the Walter W. Naumburg and Fischoff chamber music competitions, while others have been recruited for positions in major orchestras and teaching institutions both here and abroad. In addition, her influence has motivated many of her students to become music activists throughout the world.

Professor Levitz herself was awarded first prize in the D'Angelo and Hudson Valley competitions, among many others. She entered The Juilliard School Pre-College Division at age 12, and holds a BM and MM from Juilliard. In addition to her principal teachers, Margaret Pardee, Paul Doctor, William Lincer and Dorothy DeLay, she studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard Quartet, Felix Galimir, and Josef Gingold.

Spencer Martin has performed and taught at music festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, Israel, and Europe as both violist and conductor.  An active chamber and orchestral musician, he has appeared as guest violist with the Pro Arte String Quartet and the Amelia Piano Trio.  His solo performances include Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Luther College Symphony Orchestra in venues in Austria, including Vienna’s Konzerthaus.  Spencer has served as Principal Violist in the Tuscaloosa Symphony, and also frequently performed in the viola sections of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.  Spencer’s solo, chamber, and orchestral performances have been featured in numerous radio broadcasts including National Public Radio, Canadian Brodcasting Corporation, Minnesota Public Radio, and Kansas Public Radio.

Spencer’s CD, “Gems Rediscovered,” was released to critical praise on the Delos label in 2012 and features lesser-known works for viola and piano by Ernest Walker, Paul Juon, Robert Fuchs, and Benjamin Dale.  Spencer can also be heard on the Innova label on the disc “Waves of Stone, Music by Brooke Joyce.” A former member of the music faculty at the University of Alabama, Spencer holds degrees from Butler University, Wichita State University, and the University of Minnesota.  His teachers include Korey Konkol, Catherine Consiglio, and Barbara Westphal. Also an avid proponent of Baroque music, Spencer performs frequently on Baroque violin and has studied in Berlin with Baroque violinist Bernhard Forck. To see and hear excerpts of Spencer's performances, or for further information, visit his website.

Cellist and Gambist Tulio Rondón performs throughout the United States, Europe, Middle East, and North and South America as a soloist and chamber musician.  Known for his vivid depth, passionate performances and strong leadership, he started his professional life early as principal cellist of the Aragua Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela. Tulio Rondón's performance career has taken him all over the world, sharing the stage with many internationally celebrated artists.

Tulio Rondón is in demand as a chamber musician and early music specialist. He is currently a faculty member of the IMFA (International Music Festival of the Adriatic) in Duino, Italy, and Cellistiko PR in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Born in Venezuela, Tulio Rondón began his cello studies through El Sistema, quickly moving up to the highest orchestra by age fifteen.  He received his Bachelor of Music from the Simón Bolivar Conservatory, his Master of Music from Miami University (Oxford, OH), and completed a Doctoral Degree in performance at the University of Arizona.  Pursuing his strong interest in historic performance practice, he continued his studies in The Netherlands, doing post-graduate studies on baroque cello and viola da gamba with Jaap ter Linden and Rainer Zipperling at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Mr. Rondón is currently the violoncello professor at the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire.