Rendez-vous Musical #38

William McClain Cravy graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Southern California where he was a student of David Allen Moore. A tenured member and acting Principal Bass of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Will has played as a soloist with numerous orchestras including the Colorado and Culver City Symphonies, and was featured in a 2015 Aspen Music Festival Student-Spotlight Recital. As an orchestral musician, Will has appeared with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (UK), the New World Symphony (Miami), the Las Vegas Philharmonic, the Juneau Symphony, as principal bass of Aspen Opera under Robert Spano and alongside his teacher in the Aspen Chamber Orchestra. Will has performed chamber music with members of the LA Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony and has participated in the Aspen, Lake George, Domaine Forget, Wabass Institute, and Colorado College music festivals.

Jossalyn Jensen, American violist, began playing music at the age of four. Her solo debut with orchestra was at the age of 9 and she has since appeared in concert across the United States and in Europe. She completed her studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School where she was a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Artist Award. Ms. Jensen continues post-graduate work in Paris, France at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique and as a Fellow at the Fondation des États Unis. She was honored to spend her summer this year in the academies of the Verbier Festival and the Lucerne Festival. She is a laureate of the 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant.

Sarah Clarice Ghandour, an honored recipient of a full five year scholarship, graduated May 2017 from Bard College and Conservatory with a Bachelor of Art in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance, having studied under Cellist Peter Wiley.  An avid chamber musician, Sarah has collaborated with artists including Peter Wiley, Peter Serkin, Daniel Phillips, and Dawn Upshaw.  As principal cellist of the Bard Conservatory Orchestra, she has performed in New York, Eastern Europe, Russia, and most recently in Cuba, including collaboration with Camerata Romeu, a female Cuban string orchestra.  Sarah was a finalist in the 2016 Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition, and in May 2017 had the pleasure of performing the Korngold Cello Concerto with The Orchestra Now. Following her study in the Fall of 2015 at the American University of Paris, and cello studies with Xavier Gagnepain, Conservatoire Boulogne-Billancourt, Sarah had the distinct pleasure of performing the Rachmaninoff Sonata for Piano and Cello, and the Brahms Clarinet Trio, at the Royal Castle of Warsaw, Poland on invitation by Bard Conservatory.  Sarah has also delighted in participating in Music at Menlo, Yellow Barn, and Encore String Quartet Intensive Summer Chamber Music Festivals.  After her 2017-2018 artist residency at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, France, Sarah will pursue a master’s degree at Stony Brook University, New York, under the tutelage of cellist Colin Carr.