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.
Martine
Martine Kinsella Thomas is a violist, performing internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, improviser, and composer collaborator. She has appeared at the Berliner Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Mariinsky Theatre, Disney Hall, the KKL Lucerne, the Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts, and at the BBC Proms, Mariinsky White Nights Festival, Donaueschingen Festival, and Lucerne Festival. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Bergamot Quartet, Tyshawn Sorey, Kim Kashkashian, Marcy Rosen, and Claire Chase. Martine has a special interest in contemporary music and working with composers, which has led to recent collaborations and premieres with Vijay Iyer, Camila Agosto, Raven Chacon, Rebecca Saunders, George Lewis, Catherine Lamb, Sarah Davachi, Miya Masaoka, Kebra Seyoun-Charles, and Nicole Mitchell. Martine received her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard and her Master of Music from New England Conservatory, where she studied in the Harvard-NEC Dual Degree program. She is currently working on her doctorate in viola performance at CUNY Graduate Center and teaches viola performance and chamber music at Brooklyn College Conservatory, Harvard University, and Point CounterPoint. For more of her music and writing, please visit martinethomas.com.
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. 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.
headshot photography by Corey Hayes for Ledah, Sarah and Irene