Co-artistic Director

Applauded in London by the Sunday Times for performances of "great panache," pianist Gregory Martin has been featured throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, including performances at Carnegie Recital Hall; collaborations with members of the Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis Symphonies, the New York Philharmonic, and the Dresden Staatskapelle; and the premieres of unpublished compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi. He is an active composer, co-artistic director of the Ronen Chamber Ensemble (Indianapolis), and Head of Academics and Piano at Music Across the Pond (UK). He has lectured at the University of Berlin, the Grieg Academy, and Oxford University, and is assistant professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Co-artistic Director

Violinist Jayna Park joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2001. In 2013, she was acting Assistant Concertmaster for the ISO and joined the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra in 2015. Born in South Korea, she began her violin studies at the age of 6 and by age 7, Jayna won a concerto competition in Daegu, Korea which led to her orchestra solo debut with Daegu Philharmonic that same year. Since then she has won numerous competitions both in Korea and in the USA where she came to study violin at age 11 with the renowned violinist Berl Senofsky at the Peabody Conservatory.

Jayna has won first prizes in the Korean Times National Competition, American String Teachers Association National Competition, Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and the Philadelphia Concerto Soloists Young Artist Competition taking the Grand Prize. She was a finalist at the International Music Competition of Japan and a semifinalist at the Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition in England. That same year in New York, Jayna won the Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition leading to a solo engagement with the Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia conducted by Marin Alsop.

An active soloist and chamber musician, Jayna has performed as soloist with the Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, the Suwon Symphony, the Netherlands National Radio Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. She has also appeared in recital and chamber music concerts around the world with performances in France, South Korea,Canada, and the US – including a concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall. Jayna received a Bachelor of Music and an Artist Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music where her teachers included Sylvia Rosenberg, Victor Danchenko, and Ik-Hwan Bae.

Co-artistic Director

Jennifer Christen, a Buffalo, NY native is the Principal Oboist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She has performed as Guest Principal Oboe with the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras and as Guest English Horn with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Christen studied at the Juilliard School with John Mack, Nathan Hughes and Elaine Douvas. Before her time in Indianapolis, Ms. Christen spent a year in Miami Beach with the New World Symphony under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas.

She has also spent several summers with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, where she met her husband. As a teacher, Ms. Christen is on adjunct faculty at the University of Indianapolis, and has had the pleasure of working with students at the Verbier Music Camp, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and with students in various youth ensembles around Indianapolis. She enjoys traveling, good coffee, exploring local food, running, and creating memories with her husband and two little boys. She has an identical twin sister who plays the flute.

Co-artistic Director

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Alistair Howlett received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He later completed his Masters in Performance at the Hochschule for Music and Theater Munich with Flute Professor András Adorján. Before moving to the US, he was Utility Flute with the Opera Australia Orchestra, which performs at the iconic Sydney Opera House.

Howlett is currently Acting Assistant Principal and Second Flute with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He has served as Adjunct Lecturer in Flute at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University in 2016 and is currently Adjunct of Flute at Butler University. Howlett has played with professional orchestras in four continents and is eagerly waiting for an orchestra to be started in Antarctica.

In his time off, you can find Alistair supporting Liverpool FC and the Buffalo Bills, playing tennis and spending time with his wife and two highly energetic boys.

Composer

Ben Hoadley is a bassoonist and composer based in Australia. A graduate of the University of Sydney and New England Conservatory, Ben has performed with orchestras including the Sydney Symphony, Opera Australia, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, New World Symphony, New Zealand Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. A former principal bassoonist of the Hartford Symphony, Ben currently serves as principal bassoonist with the Canberra Symphony.

Ben was Lecturer in Music at the University of Auckland, where he taught for 15 years. He now serves on the teaching staff at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Australian National University. Recent masterclasses include Miami University, Bowling Green State University, University of New Hampshire, University of Madison-Wisconsin and Conservatoire Aix-en-Provence.

Ben’s compositions are performed worldwide. They include concertos for double bass, organ and clarinet, chamber opera, commissions from Chamber Music NZ, Australian National Academy of Music, Australasian Double Reed Society, and others. He has received first place in the New South Wales Flute Society Competition Award, the SOUNZ/Brass Band Association of NZ Composition Award and the Philip Neill Memorial Award from the University of Otago, and the Lilburn Composition Prize.

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Guest Musician

A native of the Chicago area, violinist Vincent Meklis is a prizewinner of several national and international competitions, including the Corpus Christi, Sorantin, Stulberg, and Fischoff competitions. He has performed as a soloist across the United States including at Chicago’s Symphony Center, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, and the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His international solo appearances include performances at various venues in Germany, such as the Johannes Brahms Museum in Hamburg, as well as in the Netherlands, Norway, the Czech Republic, and Mainland China. Meklis was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he served as concertmaster in a performance of Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben and was a recipient of the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize. He has also performed at the Aspen, Chautauqua, and Sarasota festivals, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the International Holland Music Sessions.

As a recipient of a Dorothy Richard Starling Fellowship in Violin, Meklis received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Distinguished Professor Midori Goto, and he received a Masters of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University under Artist Faculty Almita and Roland Vamos. His teachers have also included Tanja Becker-Bender, Daniel Röhn, Thomas and Allegra Wermuth, and Suzanne Rickman. Other major musical influences include Ilya Kaler, David Taylor, and Bing Wang. When not playing the violin, he enjoys cooking, baking, reading, and watching baseball and hockey.

Guest Musician

Known for his "beautiful tone and control, tremendous energy and thoughtful musicality" (Violinist), violist Zhanbo Zheng was the first Chinese to win the Primrose International Viola Competition. He has also taken top prizes in other major competitions including the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Washington International Competition for Strings. He was also a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Saint Botolph Club Foundation. Recently, Zheng has joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Viola.

An avid chamber musician, Zheng has collaborated with distinguished artists, such as Jonathan Biss, Anthony McGill, Pamela Frank, Gary Hoffman, and others. He has been invited to perform at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society as a guest artist, and his music festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Verbier Festival Academy, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, and Cleveland ChamberFest. Zheng has performed in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and Kaufman Music Center.

As a soloist, Zheng has performed with orchestras such as the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, China Broadcasting Performing Arts Orchestra, and EOS Repertoire Orchestra of CCOM. In 2014, sent by the Ministry of Culture, he was selected for an exchange activity between China and Germany, hosted by China Education Association for International Exchange. He has also participated in the recording project “My Concert Hall — The Classical Music Appreciation,” which was proposed by Li Lanqing, the former Premier of the State Council of China.

Zheng earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, and Dominique Eade. He was a recipient of NEC’s prestigious Presidential Scholarship and graduated with top Academic Honors. Recently, he received his Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School under the mentorship of Paul Neubauer.

Guest Musician

Austin Huntington was appointed principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2015 at the age of 20, making him one of the youngest principal musicians in a major American orchestra. He was recently the runner-up for the San Francisco Symphony’s principal cello position in March 2022 and a finalist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s principal cello position in March 2018, as well as the winner of the Utah Symphony’s principal cello position in May 2023. He has been featured as guest principal cello with the San Francisco Symphony, Utah Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Quad City Symphony Orchestra. During the summer, Austin serves as principal cellist for the Mainly Mozart Festival and Colorado Music Festival Orchestras.

Austin is a former first prize winner of the Stulberg and Irving M. Klein international string competitions and is a top prize winner of the Schadt national cello competition. He has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, Marin Symphony, Colburn Orchestra, Santa Cruz Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and the Salomon Chamber Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, Austin has collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Augustin Hadelich, Wu Han, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Garrick Ohlssohn, and Edgar Meyer. He was previously a faculty member at Indiana University and the University of Indianapolis as well as president of the Indianapolis Suzuki Academy’s Board of Directors.

Austin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Colburn School Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music degree from Indiana University, where he studied with Ronald Leonard and Eric Kim respectively.

Guest Musician

Stephen Hawkey won a position in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s cello section in November of 2019. Since moving to Indianapolis the following summer, he has remained busy as performer and teacher in a variety of capacities. Stephen is currently adjunct professor of cello at the University of Indianapolis and Anderson University, where he teaches private lessons and chamber music courses. In addition, Stephen regularly performs in other venues, including Fever’s Candlelight series.

Prior to his time in Indianapolis, Stephen attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, earning his master’s degree in 2020. While at CIM, Stephen was a prize-winner in the concerto competition and performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the CIM Orchestra as a result. Outside of school, he maintained a busy performing schedule as principal cello of the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, and section cello in the Akron, Ann Arbor, Canton, and Firelands Symphony Orchestras. Prior to attending the Cleveland Institute of Music, Stephen received his bachelor’s degree from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. In his sophomore year, he won the university’s concerto competition and performed Bloch’s Schelomo with the school orchestra. While in school, he performed with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra as a member of the cello section.

Throughout his undergraduate experience, Stephen was privileged to attend multiple summer music festivals, including the National Repertory Orchestra twice and the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy, where he was a concerto competition prize-winner and performed Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the academy orchestra.

Stephen is married to ISO violinist Sophia Cho, and together they are the proud parents to three cats: Simba, Peppo, and Maxie. He is the youngest of five musical children and the proud uncle to thirteen wonderful nieces and nephews. Outside of music, Stephen is an avid runner who has completed seven marathons, and is also a fan of soccer and tennis.