Violaine Melançon, violin
Natasha Brofsky, cello
Seth Knopp, piano

Violinist VIOLAINE MELANÇON, is from Quebec, Canada.  After receiving First Prize in violin at the Conservatoire de Musique she continued her studies with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music and with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory.  While at Curtis, she was a member of the Nisaika Quartet, prize winner of the 8th International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France.  Ms. Melançon is also the recipient of many awards for solo performance including the 1984 Prix d’Europe.  Since then, her activities as a chamber musician, soloist with orchestras, and teacher have taken her to many major Canadian and American music centers, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan.

Cellist NATASHA BROFSKY grew up in New York City.  With degrees from the Eastman School and Mannes College, her teachers have included Marion Feldman, Robert Sylvester, Paul Katz and Timothy Eddy.  In 1987 she was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study with William Pleeth in London, and while there she won the Muriel Taylor Cello Prize.  She subsequently held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.  An active chamber musician, Natasha Brofsky has played with many fine ensembles in the USA and Europe, including the Takacs, Cassatt, and Norwegian quartets, and the Colorado Chamber Players.  She has performed regularly in Scandinavia, Austria, and Germany as a member of the string trio opus 3 and the Serapion Ensemble, and she recorded Olav Anton Thommessen’s cello concerto with the Oslo Sinfonietta for Aurora Records.  She has been a frequent guest at numerous international festivals, including Prussia Cove, Oslo, Music from Salem, Crested Butte, and Portland.  She is also a committed teacher, having served on the faculty at Barratt-Due’s Music Institute in Oslo, and as guest faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  Ms. Brofsky joined the cello faculty of the New England Conservatory in 2004 and was recently appointed Assistant Chair of Strings at the school.

Pianist SETH KNOPP studied at the New England Conservatory and San Francisco Conservatory.  His teachers have included Leonard Shure and Leon Fleisher.  He has performed with symphony and chamber orchestras in the United States and has collaborated in concert with such artists as Bonnie Hampton, Nicholas Mann, Kurt Ollman, and the Cavani Quartet.  In 1983, Mr. Knopp and violinist Violaine Melançon formed the Knopp-Melançon Duo, an artistic collaboration which began when both performers were students.  Since that time, this husband and wife team has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Egypt.  In 1987, as a result of having been appointed USIA Artistic Ambassadors, the Knopp-Melançon Duo toured abroad extensively and made their Washington debut at the Kennedy Center.  Currently, Mr. Knopp is Artistic Director of the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival in Putney, Vermont, and is on the piano and chamber music faculties at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.