A4 Collective presents Jay Julio, Sam Zagnit, and Po-Wei Ger | Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Clara Schumann - Piano Trio (arr. for viola, double bass, and piano)
Luis Fonseca - Sonata for Viola, Double Bass, and Piano

BIOS:

Originally from Uniondale, New York, 25-year old first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and composer-arranger currently based in NYC. Jay is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, a section member of the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony in C, substitute violist with the Phoenix, Memphis, Virginia, Fort Worth, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and has been invited to play with the American Composers Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, PROTESTRA, and the Metropolis Ensemble. They have shared the stage with Broadway singers, pop stars, and classical music’s hottest young talents in performances from Washington D.C. to the Philippines, and can be heard on Captured Tracks, Fiendish Endeavor, and Broadway Records. They appeared in the official collaborative music video for Major Lazer & Marcus Mumford’s single, Lay Your Head On Me, released as a fundraiser for COVID-19 research efforts, recently performed with Nigerian artist Burna Boy in his Hollywood Bowl debut, and have been invited by British icons Foreigner to join their California orchestral performances. Their compositions and arrangements have been heard at the Cannes Film Festival and at New York Fashion Week and performed by soprano-double bass duo confluss.

Jay has attended the Music Academy of the West, Orpheus@Mannes, the New York String Orchestra Seminar and the Aspen, Pacific, Thy, Spoleto and Lake Tahoe music festivals; they have also spent summers at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program and the National Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Music Institute as a Young Artist of Color. They have served as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, instructed at Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Stony Brook University Chamber Strings Camp, and worked as substitute viola & chamber music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division.

A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs and the Music Teachers National Association and recipient of a 2019 Juilliard Career Grant, Jay is indebted to the Virtu Foundation and the American Viola Society for their past support through instrument and bow loans. They were recipient of a 2020 Music Academy of the West Fast Pitch Award for their music-meets-prison-analysis organization Sound Off: Music for Bail, which was also recently awarded a 2021 Juilliard Career Grant to further an upcoming recording project highlighting string quartet music of Florence Price, George Walker, Yaz Lancaster, and Dorothy Rudd Moore.

After taking their first viola lesson at age 14 at the Mannes Preparatory Division, Jay graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy at 16 studying with Renee Skerik with their highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award, received their BM in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on full scholarship, and received their MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellowship under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Other important mentors include Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Lina Bahn. For rhythm, Jay studies poetry, and was a finalist in the 2021 Mississippi Review & Meridian poetry prizes. Their writing can be found in Room Magazine, Poetry Online, Winter Tangerine Review, Barrelhouse Mag, and more. Jay is a regular reviewer at Represent Classical, the only news site devoted entirely to covering artists of color in classical music.

They are a proud member of AFM Local 47, 33, 77 and 802, the Justice Committee, and the IWW.

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A versatile bassist, composer, and educator, Sam Zagnit is a New-York-based musician who enjoys a multifaceted career. Performing and composing contemporary music make up a large part of Sam's career, and he is dedicated to performing works by living composers and creating a more inclusive environment in every musical context. As a composer, his work focuses on self-reflection as a way to deepen connections and build intimacy with his audience and fellow musicians on stage. Sam has worked and studied with exemplary musicians from many generations, including John Adams, Marin Alsop, Orin O’Brien, Lucy Shelton, Jessie Montgomery, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Seth Parker Woods. Sam is part of the duo confluss with soprano Amber Evans, an up-and-coming chamber ensemble committed to the exploration of their unique timbre and sound through performing original compositions for their ensemble, some by Sam himself.

Since 2019, Sam has served as Acting Associate Principal Bass with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, where he plays alongside his former teacher, David Grossman. He has also performed as part of the American Composers Orchestra and Orpheus Chamber
Orchestra. As an educator, Sam is a teaching artist for the Harmony Program in NYC and leads workshops and residencies with the arts education program LEAP. Sam is a graduate of the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Don Palma. He is currently a candidate for the Performer/Composer MM at the New School.

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Born on December 6th, 1995, pianist Po-Wei Ger graduated from the Master of Musical Arts degree in Yale School of Music, under the guidance of Dr. Melvin Chen in 2021, and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Po-Wei began studying piano with Ms. Jia-li Shu at the age of seven. At the age of ten, he further continued his study with Dr. Ming-Hui Lin, piano faculty of the National Taiwan Normal University. He has been to the Annual Walnut Hill Music Festival in both 2009 and 2011. It was also a great honor for him to be selected to perform in the prizewinner concert of the Mozarteum University Summer Academy in 2012, as part of the program of Salzburg Festival. During his Bachelor of Music degree study with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky in Manhattan School of Music, Po-Wei collaborated with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra in both 2015 and 2016. He was also a prizewinner in the Panama International Piano Competition in 2016 and 2018. In April 2021, Po-Wei won the 2nd Prize, Chamber Music Prize, as well as the Audience Prize of the Premio Jaén competition in Spain.

An avid chamber musician, Po-Wei has played in a masterclass at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center under the guidance of Gilbert Kalish. He and his chamber partners have won the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition at Manhattan School of Music, and have performed in the Vista Chamber Music Series of Yale School of Music. He and his friends, Chao-Chih Chen and Tzu-Wei Huang, formed the clarinet trio Trio Astralis, and won the Youth Chamber Music Program of the Eslite Bookstore, the leading bookstore chain in Taiwan. He was one of three pianists at the 2019 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, performed in the Taos School of Music in New Mexico in summer of 2021, and in the summer of 2022 performed at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival once more.

As a teaching artist, Po-Wei has taught as a secondary piano lesson instructor, teaching music-major students piano as a secondary instrument in Yale School of Music from 2018 to 2020. He has worked with students ranging from children at beginner levels, amateur adults with good playing proficiency, to music conservatory students majoring in piano. Currently he is the piano instructor at Manhattan School of Music, teaching required/elective piano while pursuing his DMA. He is happy and dedicated to work with students at any age group or playing level.