Musicians

David Felberg
Albuquerque native, violinist and conductor David Felberg is Artistic Director of Ensemble Music New Mexico and co-founder of EMNM's three series: Chatter 20-21, Chatter Sunday and Chatter Cabaret. He is Concertmaster of the Santa Fe Symphony, Music Director of the Albuquerque Philharmonic, and instructor of music at NM School for the Arts. He also teaches contemporary music at the University of New Mexico, and is the associate concertmaster of the New Mexico Philharmonic. His robust conducting career includes conducting the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, and many performances of contemporary music with Chatter. David performs throughout the southwest as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He made his New York violin recital debut in Merkin Hall in the spring of 2005. He received a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Arizona and a Master of Music in Conducting from the University of New Mexico, and has taken advanced string quartet studies at the University of Colorado with the Takacs Quartet. He studied conducting at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, and has worked with Harold Farbermann at the Bard Conducting Institute. David plays an 1829 J.B. Vuillaume violin.

Melissa Peña
Oboist Melissa Peña joined the faculty of the University of Northern Colorado in the fall of 2010 after holding the position of Associate Principal Oboe/English Horn with the NMSO from 2002-2010. Prior to joining the NMSO, Ms Peña held oboe positions in the Sarasota Orchestra and the Southwest Florida Symphony. Additionally, she has performed with the Kansas City Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, The Florida Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angelfire and the Astoria Music Festival among others. Peña has been featured as a soloist with the New Mexico Symphony and the Southwest Florida Symphony. She received her Master of Music degree from University of Missouri–Kansas City and her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois.

Conor Hanick
A pianist that “defies human description” for some (Harry Rolnick, Concerto Net) and recalls “a young Peter Serkin” for others (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times), Conor Hanick has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia and collaborated with some of the world’s leading conductors, including Pierre Boulez, David Robertson and James Levine. A vehement proponent of contemporary music, Conor has worked with composers as diverse as Mario Davidovsky and David Lang and premiered dozens of works at venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to (le) Poisson Rouge. Currently a doctoral candidate at the Juilliard School studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio, Conor resides in New York City.

Teddy Robie
Praised for his "striking pianism" (Cleveland Plain Dealer) and being "a poet at the piano" (New York Sun), pianist Teddy Robie has performed extensively both as soloist and chamber musician in Canada, Taiwan, Italy, and across the United States.  He has won prizes in numerous competitions, including Juilliard's Gina Bachauer Scholarship competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music competition, the North Carolina Symphony competition, and the Stony Brook concerto competition.  Robie holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal and Yoheved Kaplinsky. He is now a doctoral candidate at SUNY Stony Brook, where he studies with Christina Dahl.

James T Shields
James Shields, an active chamber and orchestral musician, is currently the principal clarinet of the Canadian Opera Company. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School (B.M. 2006, Clarinet Performance), where he studied with Ricardo Morales, the principal clarinet of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has appeared as soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Texas Wind Symphony, and Chatter~A Chamber Ensemble, and has performed as principal clarinet with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, the Astoria Music Festival (Astoria, OR), and the Interlochen Arts Festival's World Youth Symphony Orchestra. James is co-artistic director of Albuquerque's Chatter Sunday and Chatter Cabaret. In the summer of 2010 he received his masters degree in Composition from the University of New Mexico.

Eric Walters
Eric Walters is a native of Albuquerque. He holds music degrees from the University of New Mexico and Indiana University. Eric has been a featured composer at the University of New Mexico's Composers Symposium and with The New Southwest Orchestra, a composer in residence with the Santa Fe Opera's Student Produced Opera Program, and has presented recitals of his chamber compositions in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. He has also written a commissioned work for the Albuquerque Youth Symphony. A dedicated teacher, Eric is Orchestra Director at Rio Rancho High School and an arranger for the Hey Mozart! New Mexico youth composition program. He is a tenured cellist of the Santa Fe Symphony.