Music Program
Three Old Viennese Dances by Fritz Kreisler for violin and piano
Liebesfreud" (Love's Joy)
Liebesleid" (Love's Sorrow)
Schön Rosmarin" (Lovely Rosemary
Sand and Shore, Poem/ Lyrics by Stephen Bouey, Music by Christina Bouey
Frühlingsglaube by Franz Schubert
Christina Bouey, violin
Paolo Bartolani, piano
TRADITIONAL arr. ULYSSES QUARTET: Songs of Ulysses Heritage
Wayfaring Stranger arr. Rhiannon Banerdt
Rakseet El Sabaya arr. Julian Seney
Dark Sky arr. Grace Ho
Swallowtail Jig/Bouey Reel arr. Christina Bouey
Ulysses Quartet
Rhiannon Banerdt, violin Julian Seney, viola Grace Ho, cello
Intermission
Piano Quintet in A major, D.667 by F. Schubert “The Trout”
- Allegro vivace
- Andante
- Scherzo. Presto — Trio
- Tema con variazioni. Andantino + 6 variations
- Finale. Allegro giusto
Ulysses Quartet
Christina Bouey, violin Rhiannon Banerdt, violin Julian Seney, viola Grace Ho, cello
Marguerite Cox, double bass
Paolo Bartolani, piano
The musicians
Marguerite Cox, double bassist
Marguerite Cox, a double bassist from northeast Ohio, is a versatile and in-demand collaborator in numerous musical settings throughout the United States.
A recent alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect fellowship, she performs regularly with A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and counts forthcoming appearances with The Knights, AMOC*, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Ruckus, Teatro Nuovo, and other chamber ensembles exploring music through the ages.
As a orchestral musician, she has appeared as a substitute with the Baltimore and Charleston Symphonies, held the principal bass position at Symphony in C from 2022 to 2024, and was a member of the 2023 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; she was also a member of the inaugural NYO All-Stars Orchestra.
In 2024, Maggie toured and recorded extensively with experimental folk band Big Bend in collaboration with producer and musician Shahzad Izmaily. In 2022, she was in residence at Avaloch Farm with composer Ted Babcock’s Dialogues Quintet.
Marguerite received her undergraduate degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School and her master’s at the Curtis Institute, where she was the first bassist to receive that degree. In 2016, inspired by studies within Rice’s Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities program, she founded the Ohio-based Artists for Action, through which she organizes community benefit concerts and other funding initiatives for local organizations. Based in New York, she instructs budding musicians of all ages across the city, lately at Brooklyn High School of the Arts through her Ensemble Connect placement.
Marguerite Cox, a double bassist from northeast Ohio, is a versatile and in-demand collaborator in numerous musical settings throughout the United States.
A recent alumna of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect fellowship, she performs regularly with A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and counts forthcoming appearances with The Knights, AMOC*, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Ruckus, Teatro Nuovo, and other chamber ensembles exploring music through the ages.
As a orchestral musician, she has appeared as a substitute with the Baltimore and Charleston Symphonies, held the principal bass position at Symphony in C from 2022 to 2024, and was a member of the 2023 Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; she was also a member of the inaugural NYO All-Stars Orchestra.
In 2024, Maggie toured and recorded extensively with experimental folk band Big Bend in collaboration with producer and musician Shahzad Izmaily. In 2022, she was in residence at Avaloch Farm with composer Ted Babcock’s Dialogues Quintet.
Marguerite received her undergraduate degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School and her master’s at the Curtis Institute, where she was the first bassist to receive that degree. In 2016, inspired by studies within Rice’s Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities program, she founded the Ohio-based Artists for Action, through which she organizes community benefit concerts and other funding initiatives for local organizations. Based in New York, she instructs budding musicians of all ages across the city, lately at Brooklyn High School of the Arts through her Ensemble Connect placement.
Paolo Bartolani
pianist & artistic director of Rites of Spring Music Festival
pianist & artistic director of Rites of Spring Music Festival
Paolo Bartolani is a pianist, musicologist and music manager, working in both classical and contemporary music. He graduated in 1989 from the Santa Cecilia Music Conservatory in Rome (Italy). He studied with Eduardo Hubert, and after graduation, with Charles Rosen, György Sándor and Andor Foldes. He also studied French piano repertoire with Germaine Mounier at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris. In 1994, he received his Master in Musicology of the 20th century degree under the direction of Hugues Dufourt at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in collaboration with IRCAM / Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Paolo performs as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles in Europe and United States. In 2024, Paolo earned an MBA in Arts Innovation from the Global Leaders Institute based in Washington DC, after a year of great achievements and building a global network of professionals in the arts.
He writes articles for the musicology journals Sonus-Materials for Contemporary Music and Music/Reality. In 2006, he created a Master Degree Program in Cultural Enterprise Administration at the University of Perugia, where he also teaches.
At the Venice Biennale, from 2008 to 2012, Paolo was the General Coordinator of ENPARTS - European Network of Performing Arts, which promotes the creation of new works in dance, music and theater by young artists. From 2009 to 2014 he was the Director of the Résonnance Italy, a nonprofit organization based in Switzerland, where he was responsible for its artistic and humanitarian program, "bringing music to places where it is not heard." The members of the organization – singers, instrumentalists, conductors – have performed more than two hundred concerts in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons in order to promote musical sensibilities and share the joy of music.
He has been the General Coordinator of Music Up Close Network at Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome. The Network includes seven European orchestras who promote new orchestral works and support a new generation of musicians to connect with young audiences.
In 2024, he received his DMA in Arts Innovation degree from Global Leaders Institute.
He founded the Rites of Spring Music Fest in 2016 to promote classical and contemporary music on the North Fork of Long Island, and to combine music, history and the natural environment. The festival currently is a non-profit organization 501c3 and he is the Artistic Director and Responsible for developing the festival’s program.
He writes articles for the musicology journals Sonus-Materials for Contemporary Music and Music/Reality. In 2006, he created a Master Degree Program in Cultural Enterprise Administration at the University of Perugia, where he also teaches.
At the Venice Biennale, from 2008 to 2012, Paolo was the General Coordinator of ENPARTS - European Network of Performing Arts, which promotes the creation of new works in dance, music and theater by young artists. From 2009 to 2014 he was the Director of the Résonnance Italy, a nonprofit organization based in Switzerland, where he was responsible for its artistic and humanitarian program, "bringing music to places where it is not heard." The members of the organization – singers, instrumentalists, conductors – have performed more than two hundred concerts in hospitals, nursing homes and prisons in order to promote musical sensibilities and share the joy of music.
He has been the General Coordinator of Music Up Close Network at Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome. The Network includes seven European orchestras who promote new orchestral works and support a new generation of musicians to connect with young audiences.
In 2024, he received his DMA in Arts Innovation degree from Global Leaders Institute.
He founded the Rites of Spring Music Fest in 2016 to promote classical and contemporary music on the North Fork of Long Island, and to combine music, history and the natural environment. The festival currently is a non-profit organization 501c3 and he is the Artistic Director and Responsible for developing the festival’s program.
Ulysses Quartet
The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad), as well as their “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (The Buffalo News). The quartet “promise to bring as much sophistication, imagination and vitality to Beethoven’s other quartets as they will to music by a panoply of composers from long ago and today” (Gramophone).
Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. They were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. Ulysses garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
The quartet’s members hail from Canada, the United States and Taiwan. They have performed in such prestigious halls as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Performance highlights have included their debut at Alice Tully Hall along with appearances at the Chautauqua Institution (NY), Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao (Spain), Ciclo de Cámara y Solistas in Salamanca, the Picasso Museum in Málaga, Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Highlands Cashiers Festival (NC), Music Mountain (CT) with pianist Tanya Bannister, Chelsea Music Festival and PS21 (NY), National Gallery of Art (DC), Jasper Arts Center (IN), and San Juan Chamber Music Festival (CO). Their past season featured their Mexico City debut at UNAM, along with performances for Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima, Gretna Music, Yale School of Music with guitarist Ben Verdery, Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, Fundación Juan March (Madrid), Sociedad Filarmonica de Vigo, Basel Kammermusik, and Chamber Music Society of Utica (NY). Other notable engagements have included the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (Istanbul).
From 2023 to 2025, the Ulysses Quartet was GBH Music’s first-ever quartet in residence, a season-long partnership made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation. Visiting residencies in recent seasons have included Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and Bucknell University. At Juilliard from 2019 to 2022, they were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, serving as the school’s Graduate Resident String Quartet for three years, and recipients of a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. From 2016 to 2019, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, working with composer Morris Rosenzweig.
Ulysses recently released their debut album, “Shades of Romani Folklore,” on the Navona label. The quartet also has two new collaborative albums out: “Sea Change Quartets” by Grammy-nominated composer Joseph Summer, and “A Giant Beside You” with guitarist Benjamin Verdery. They also appear on Clovis Nicolas’s album “The Contrapuntist.”
The Ulysses Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. This is the guiding principle of the Ulysses Quartet Foundation, dedicated to the performance and promotion of classical music of the past and present day to benefit the broadest possible audience of music lovers and potential music lovers by expanding their understanding and appreciation of the musical arts. Ulysses aims to use this platform to raise the voices of underrepresented BIPOC and female composers. The quartet also offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that serve to demystify the traditional repertoire while introducing audiences to diverse programming. Their programs enable participants to learn about the inner workings of a string quartet and to explore the connections between classical music and our world today. The group’s name pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his arduous homeward voyage, signifying the constant pursuit of artistic and personal ideals.
The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and University of North Texas. The musicians perform on instruments and bow graciously on loan from the Maestro Foundation and private donors. Ulysses is grateful for the support of Shar Music and Connolly Music as YSOA ambassadors.
Keep up with Ulysses Quartet on their website www.ulyssesquartet.com, as well as their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. They were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. Ulysses garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition.
The quartet’s members hail from Canada, the United States and Taiwan. They have performed in such prestigious halls as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Performance highlights have included their debut at Alice Tully Hall along with appearances at the Chautauqua Institution (NY), Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao (Spain), Ciclo de Cámara y Solistas in Salamanca, the Picasso Museum in Málaga, Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo in Bogotá, Highlands Cashiers Festival (NC), Music Mountain (CT) with pianist Tanya Bannister, Chelsea Music Festival and PS21 (NY), National Gallery of Art (DC), Jasper Arts Center (IN), and San Juan Chamber Music Festival (CO). Their past season featured their Mexico City debut at UNAM, along with performances for Sociedad Filarmónica de Lima, Gretna Music, Yale School of Music with guitarist Ben Verdery, Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, Fundación Juan March (Madrid), Sociedad Filarmonica de Vigo, Basel Kammermusik, and Chamber Music Society of Utica (NY). Other notable engagements have included the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Premiere Performances Hong Kong, National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall (Istanbul).
From 2023 to 2025, the Ulysses Quartet was GBH Music’s first-ever quartet in residence, a season-long partnership made possible by a generous contribution from the Mattina R. Proctor Foundation. Visiting residencies in recent seasons have included Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Syracuse University, and Bucknell University. At Juilliard from 2019 to 2022, they were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, serving as the school’s Graduate Resident String Quartet for three years, and recipients of a Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. From 2016 to 2019, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, working with composer Morris Rosenzweig.
Ulysses recently released their debut album, “Shades of Romani Folklore,” on the Navona label. The quartet also has two new collaborative albums out: “Sea Change Quartets” by Grammy-nominated composer Joseph Summer, and “A Giant Beside You” with guitarist Benjamin Verdery. They also appear on Clovis Nicolas’s album “The Contrapuntist.”
The Ulysses Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. This is the guiding principle of the Ulysses Quartet Foundation, dedicated to the performance and promotion of classical music of the past and present day to benefit the broadest possible audience of music lovers and potential music lovers by expanding their understanding and appreciation of the musical arts. Ulysses aims to use this platform to raise the voices of underrepresented BIPOC and female composers. The quartet also offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that serve to demystify the traditional repertoire while introducing audiences to diverse programming. Their programs enable participants to learn about the inner workings of a string quartet and to explore the connections between classical music and our world today. The group’s name pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his arduous homeward voyage, signifying the constant pursuit of artistic and personal ideals.
The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and University of North Texas. The musicians perform on instruments and bow graciously on loan from the Maestro Foundation and private donors. Ulysses is grateful for the support of Shar Music and Connolly Music as YSOA ambassadors.
Keep up with Ulysses Quartet on their website www.ulyssesquartet.com, as well as their social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Our Dedicated Musicians
