Musicians of the Harvest Arts Chamber Ensemble

Flute, Artistic Director

Madeline Cawley

Madeline is the Founder of Harvest Arts. She earned her Masters of Music from the New England Conservatory and her Bachelors of Music from the University of Alabama. She has appeared as a concerto soloist with multiple orchestras and been a prizewinner of several national young artist competitions. She studio records with the Nashville Film Scoring Orchestra in Nashville, TN and is becoming a prolific arranger with the Harvest Arts Hymn Tour.

Violin

Rachel Aguilar

Rachel earned her Master and Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a founding member of the Callisto Quartet, she has won top prizes in nearly every major chamber music competition, including Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Rachel plays on a 1850 Chanot violin generously on loan from the Maestro Foundation, and a bow generously on loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation.

Viola

Daniel Wang

Daniel Wang is Principal Viola of the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra after winning the national audition in 2025. He has performed frequently with orchestras all over the US including the Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras, and was a member of San Antonio Symphony for six seasons. He has also performed internationally at music festivals such as the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Salzburg Festival, Pacific Music Festival, and Sarasota Music Festival, and has given recitals and performed with many ensembles in Taiwan. He got his Bachelor’s from Indiana University where he studied with Alan de Veritch and Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and Master’s from Rice University where he studied with James Dunham. Daniel hails from Lake Jackson, Texas and grew up in Taipei, Taiwan.

Cello

David Dietz

Cellist David Dietz has performed across three continents and is experienced in a variety of

settings as a performer, educator, and administrator. His belief in classical music’s ability to

strengthen communities and bring people together has driven his involvement in many creative

projects, including the Houston Music Festival, as co-founder, and Monarch Chamber Players,

as a core member. David is a founding member of Trio Menil, a piano trio that performs

extensively throughout the United States and was the Grand Prizewinner at the 2023 Plowman

Chamber Music Competition. He is looking forward to upcoming performances as soloist with

the Brazos Valley Symphony and a recital tour across the US with pianist Jonathan Mak. David

serves on the faculty of Lone Star College as an Adjunct Instructor of Cello and maintains a

robust private studio in Houston, Texas.

Harp

Rebekah Hou

Rebekah has acquired several notable awards including the first prize of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony’s Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition and the CIM Concerto Competition. She also received the Anne Adams Award from the American Harp Society’s National Foundation competitions in 2022. She has appeared as a concert soloist with the Asheville Symphony. She has appeared as guest principal harpist of several orchestras including Akron Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, Firelands Symphony, Ashland Symphony, and Mansfield Symphony. She completed both her Bachelors and Masters degrees in harp performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Yolanda Kondonassis, graduating with honors and receiving the Alice Chalifoux Prize in Harp.

Violin

Victoria Stjerna

Swedish-Hungarian violinist Victoria Stjerna is an award-winning violinist and chamber musician. She holds degrees from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and an Artist Diploma from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Milan, Italy.

She has toured widely around Europe and performed in major concert halls including the Musikverein Vienna, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, La Scala and the Concertgebouw. She has played with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and served as Associate Concertmaster of sweden’s premiere Chamber Orchestra Musica Vitae from 2020–2023.

Since relocating to the U.S. in 2023, Victoria performs regularly with the Atlanta, Nashville and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestras, and is a member of the Florida Chamber Music Project. Recent highlights include a CD recording of rediscovered works by swedish composer Laura Netzel. Victoria plays on a 1750 Michele Deconet violin generously on loan from the swedish Handelsbanken Foundation.

Viola

Elton Tai

Elton Tai, currently studying at Rice University with James Dunham in the Master’s Degree for

viola performance, is a violist based in Houston. He started his musical training on piano at the

age of five years old and eventually began playing the violin at the age of eight. He participated in many local competitions in both violin and piano. He later switched to a focus in viola at the age of seventeen. Elton graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music, studying with Marcus Thompson, and currently studies at Rice University Shepherd School of Music with James Dunham. During his undergraduate studies, he played in many orchestras in the New England area, which included leading the Boston Youth Symphony as the principal violist for two years and playing in the Boston Philharmonic. During his time in Boston, he has been able to tour with orchestra, playing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Athens Concert Hall,

the National Taiwan Concert Hall in Taipei, the National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, and the

National Taichung Theater. He also was invited to participate in many esteemed summer programs such as the Pacific Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Festival

Rostad.

Viola

Angela Rubin

Angela Rubin is an acclaimed violist whose performances have taken her to leading international stages, including Carnegie Hall as principal violist of the New York String Orchestra Seminar and Suntory Hall in Tokyo with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra; she has also served as principal violist with the Syracuse Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Sarasota Music Festival. A 2024 American Viola Society Competition finalist in Los Angeles, she has earned numerous honors such as first place in the Nazareth College Community Music Program Music Competition, and the Rush-Henrietta Arts Alive Scholarship. She holds a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University, and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts at Eastman under Masumi Per

Cello

Steven Schumann

Steven is a cellist and composer based in Nashville, TN, where he regularly performs live and in the studio. His trademark is blending both classical and folk/jazz/bluegrass styles. He earned his Master of Music from Belmont University and his Bachelor of Arts in Cello Performance from Marshall University. Steven also composes music for film and TV.

Harp

Rachel O'Brien

Rachel is the 2019 Gold Medal winner of the Houston Symphony's Ima Hogg Competition and is in top demand as a harp soloist and chamber musician. Praised for her "fluid technique...and expressive musicality," she has also appeared as a concert soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony. She earned her Master and Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Viola

Kyung LeBlanc

Kyung LeBlanc, a graduate of University of Michigan, is a violinist and violist, and a music contractor in Washington, DC. She has shared the stage with Katy Perry, Idina Menzel, Lauren Hill, The Eagles, Josh Groban, Wale, and many more. Over the last decade, Kyung has been working as a local hire for touring Broadway shows including, &Juliet, The Book of Mormon, Hadestown, Beetlejuice, Mean Girls, Les Miz, and many more. She was most recently featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk. During daytime, Kyung works a homeschool teacher.

Viola

Tyler Sieh

Tyler has served as the Associate Principal Viola of the Omaha Symphony since 2022. Prior to this, Tyler was a member of the Louisiana Philharmonic and Associate Principal Viola with the South Dakota Symphony. He is the violist with Maverick String Quartet, faculty artists-in-residence at the University of Nebraska Omaha. As an educator, Tyler serves on the viola faculty at the University of Nebraska Omaha and Creighton University; during the summers, he is a faculty member at the MasterWorks Festival in Virginia.

Viola

Paul Aguilar

Paul is hailed by audiences across North America and Europe for his commanding and expressive performances. He is a section viola member of the Houston Symphony, and he has also been a prizewinner of nearly every major international chamber music competition as a founding member of the Callisto Quartet. Paul plays on a very fine viola commissioned from master luthier Kevin Lee.

Harp

Hannah Cope Johnson

Hannah is Principal Harp of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She was previously Principal Harp of the Sarasota Orchestra. She has appeared with many ensembles in New England including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, and Rhode Island Philharmonic among others. Recent career highlights include a guest artist feature with Boston Chamber Music Society and performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Hannah earned first prizes at the American Harp Society National Competition, the Lyon and Healy Awards, the Grandjany Memorial Competition, and most recently took 2me Prix at the 2022 Concours International de Harpe Félix Godefroid in Belgium.

Viola

Yvonne Smith

Based in Houston, TX, Yvonne Smith is an accomplished performer of modern and historical violas. In 2016, Yvonne founded La Speranza, a Houston-based ensemble that presents historically informed performances of chamber music from the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition to her performances with La Speranza, Yvonne appears regularly with American Bach, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, La Follia Austin Baroque, and Ars Lyrica Houston. She has been a contracted substitute violist with the Houston Symphony for three of the past four seasons. Yvonne’s baroque viola was made by Timothy Johnson in 2017 after Andrea Guarneri, 1676, and her modern viola was made by Van So in 2009. Born in Ames, Iowa, Yvonne earned her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in Viola Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University under the tutelage of Joan DerHovsepian and James Dunham.

While musicians vary from tour to tour due to the musicians' demanding schedules, Harvest Arts strives to bring the highest possible quality of artistry to every tour.