ledah
Ledah Finck is a violinist, violist, improviser, and composer who currently resides in NYC. A passionate creator, performer, and curator of contemporary classical music, she is a member of the contemporary-music string quartet Bergamot Quartet, who recently completed a graduate degree as the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the New School where the group was mentored by the JACK Quartet. Her pursuit of contemporary music is strongly supplemented by performing and collaborating in other genres such as jazz manouche, Appalachian and Celtic folk, and experimental music. Compositional projects include commissions by Imani Winds, Alarm Will Sound/Now Hear This, the Bridge Ensemble, The Peabody Community Chorus, and a work for the Bergamot Quartet and percussionist Terry Sweeney, which received a New Music USA grant. She released her first solo album, Mayfly, in 2020 and her second, outside songs, in 2022.
She has completed studies at the Banff Centre, the Lucerne Festival, Ensemble Moderne’s Klangspuren Academy in Austria, New Music on the Point, the Aspen Music Festival, and Bang on a Can among others. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in violin performance and composition from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Herbert Greenberg, Oscar Bettison, Judah Adashi, and Mike Formanek. She has played a violin made by David Finck, her father, since 2012.
sarah
Violinist Sarah Thomas is a performer and educator based in New York City driven by collaboration and connection with both performers and audiences. Making music meaningfully requires community, where all involved have an opportunity to listen, share, and connect. Whether she’s performing “old” or “new” music in someone’s living room or a large concert hall, Sarah strives to create an environment for everyone present to share the experience of loving music together.
In addition to being part of the Bergamot family, Sarah has collaborated with a variety of ensembles and artists including Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, arx duo, earspace ensemble, Ensemble Klang, S.E.M. Ensemble, Claire Chase, Dan Trueman, Dan Lippel, Courtney Orlando, and Terry Sweeney. During her graduate studies at the Peabody Conservatory, Sarah was a co-director of the Peabody String Sinfonia, a conductor-less string orchestra whose mission is to bring healing and beauty to people in the Baltimore community.
An educator as well as a performer, Sarah is on staff at the Peabody Conservatory’s LAUNCHPad Office and is an Adjunct Lecturer in Peabody’s Professional Studies Department. She also regularly coaches chamber music and presents workshops and lectures with the Bergamot Quartet in settings ranging from elementary schools to doctoral programs.
Sarah holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Violaine Melançon, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music, where the Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet in Residence studying with the JACK Quartet.
amy
Violist Amy Huimei Tan is dedicated to exploring the boundaries of artistic experiences through performing and collaborating across a wide range of musical styles and artistic disciplines.
An avid chamber musician based in NYC, Amy is a member of the Bergamot Quartet with whom she has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and New York City Center. Amy has also brought new works to life through collaborative performances and recordings with Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can, arx duo, Claire Chase, Dan Trueman, Terry Sweeney, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble for the Kaufman Center’s Luna Composition Lab. This season’s engagements includes being a featured artist with the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana, and upcoming appearances with Bergamot Quartet at Roulette Intermedium, and on Kaufman Center’s Ecstatic Music series.
Amy has completed programs including the Aspen Music Festival and School, Chautauqua Institution Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute, International Music Festival of the Adriatic, the Banff Centre, the Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Aigues-Vives en Musique Festival, New Music on the Point, and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute. Born and raised in Singapore, Amy received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan studying viola with Yizhak Schotten and composition with Paul Schoenfeld, Evan Chambers and Bright Sheng, and her master’s and performance diploma degrees from the Peabody Conservatory where she studied viola with Victoria Chiang and received the Israel Dorman Memorial Award for strings. Amy recently completed her residence at the Mannes School of Music as the Cuker and Stern Graduate String Quartet with the Bergamot Quartet, studying with members of the JACK Quartet.
irene
Cellist Irène Han is a dynamic and versatile musician with a deep passion for exploring diverse genres of music. She has performed at venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and New York City Center. Irène is a member of the Bergamot Quartet, a New York-based string quartet committed to advocating, creating, and educating audiences about music by living composers. She also co-leads a chamber project with pianist Chelsea de Souza, dedicated to commissioning works by Asian-American composers, most recently funded by New Music USA. Additionally, she is a member of the Tal Yahalom Quintet, an eclectic group of performers from NYC's jazz, contemporary classical, and Brazilian music scenes. Upcoming highlights include performances at Merkin Hall and Roulette, as well as serving as faculty at the Creative Music Institute of Arts, Letters, and Numbers. She plays “Pierre,” a cello crafted by luthier David Finck.
All headshot photography by Corey Hayes