Raised in Portland, OR, Megumi Stohs Lewis grew up with the dream of studying agricultural science. The summer she turned sixteen, she attended the Olympic Music Festival, held on a beautiful farm in Washington State, and realized that chamber music and the countryside were a perfect combination. She immediately went home and started a quartet, and ever since, chamber music has been the avenue for her most euphoric musical experiences.
Megumi has soloed with orchestras throughout the US and Japan, and has toured with ensembles to Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In the New England area she is a co-founder of A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, has been a guest with the Radius Ensemble, the Andover Chamber Music Series, and the North Country Chamber Players and regularly plays with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Opera Boston, the Rhode Island Philharmonic and has served as concertmaster for the National Lyric Opera. Starting in 2008, Megumi picked up the baroque violin and quickly fell for the gut strings and a variety of period bows. She also loves to fiddle and play rock and regularly tours with Britain's Jethro Tull.
During the summers, Megumi is able to satisfy her longing for the country in many beautiful places, including the Olympic, Yellowbarn, Kneisel Hall, Taos, Marrowstone, and Aspen Festivals. She hikes, swims, and spends time outdoors as often as possible during the year. Listening to vinyl, cooking for friends and reading also give great pleasure.
Megumi received her musical training at the San Francisco and New England Conservatories studying with Camilla Wicks, Ian Swensen, and Lucy Chapman.
Violinist Ethan Wood has been praised by The Columbian as
"sensational" and "in full command of his instrument," performing with
"flair and sensitivity" by ArtsEditor, and "riveting" by The Boston
Globe. He has appeared around the United States and abroad as guest
artist, recitalist, and chamber and orchestral musician. His
high-school string quartet appeared on From the Top, and he was part
of a New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble for the '06-'07 academic
year. Much of his time is spent interpreting contemporary and new
works, having collaborated with various groups such as Radius
Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, Mimesis Ensemble, and as a member of the
Callithumpian Consort. As a pianist, he has accompanied in recitals
and performed chamber music; as a mandolinist, he recently was part of
the NEC Elliot Carter festival and a Tanglewood Music Center
production of Don Giovanni. Also a composer, he has had works performed
across the US and recently had a work premiered at the International
Holland Music Sessions. Currently living in the Boston area, he serves
on faculty at the Arlington High School Private Music School as violin
and viola teacher, is a member of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and
the Neponset Valley Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a frequent substitute
with A Far Cry. Mr. Wood has had undergraduate studies at the
Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
where he studied with David and Linda Cerone and Vartan Manoogian,
respectively, and holds BM, MM, and GD degrees from the New England
Conservatory, where he studied with Eric Rosenblith and Lucy Chapman.
Sarah Darling, violist and baroque violinist, enjoys a diverse musical
career that spans many centuries and styles. Sarah studied at Harvard,
Juilliard, Amsterdam, and Freiburg (as a recipient of the Beebe,
Paine, and DAAD grants) and is currently in the doctoral program at
NEC with Kim Kashkashian. She is the the director of the Arcturus
Chamber Ensemble, concertmaster and assistant director of the Harvard
Baroque Chamber Orchestra (winner of last year's Bodky prize), and a
member of the Rosetta Trio, the Sanssouci Quartet, Musicians of the
Old Post Road, and the unconducted chamber orchestra A Far Cry. She
also performs regularly with the BSO, Boston Baroque, Cambridge
Concentus, La Donna Musicale, Les Bostonades, the Callithumpian
Consort, Sarasa, Radius, and the Portland and Rhode Island Symphonies.
Sarah has participated in the Carmel, Ravinia, Lucerne, Norfolk,
Sarasota, and Yellow Barn festivals, and has collaborated with members
of the Juilliard, Takacs, Borromeo, Ying, Orion, and Cleveland
quartets. She is the winner of the NEC, Harvard Bach Society,
Arlington, Marlboro, and Freiburg concerto competitions. A passionate
advocate of new music, she has been involved in the premiere of more
than 100 works, and just released a critically acclaimed solo
recording featuring American composer Leland Smith on the Naxos label.
Josh Packard decided to be a cellist at the age of four, upon hearing a performance of "Turkey in the Straw" at his pre-school. A few years later (his musical tastes having already matured substantially), he heard a performance of Brahms B major trio, and a lifelong passion for chamber music was ignited. Josh received his BA in music from Harvard University, where his activities included composing double fugues, improvising continuo realizations, and analyzing a wide range of music, in addition to performances with a plethora of campus ensembles. Major musical mentors have included Bill Rounds, Michael Reynolds, Robert Levin, Daniel Stepner, Robert Merfeld, Robert Mealy, and John Stewart. Josh currently resides in Cambridge, MA, where he enjoys performing music ranging from Renaissance consort suites to newly composed works. When not playing music, he stays busy with a day job as a business analyst at Harvard, and enjoys cooking, hiking, photography, and web design.
