Artist Bios (scroll down)

Amadi Azikiwe, Violin/Viola

Amadi Azikiwe, violist, violinist, and conductor, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, including an appearance at the US Supreme Court. Mr. Azikiwe has also been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall and the Kennedy Center. Abroad, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, Nigeria, India, Japan, and Hong Kong. As a soloist, Mr. Azikiwe has appeared with the Prince George’s Philharmonic, Delaware Symphony, Virginia Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Fort Collins Symphony, Virginia Beach Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Western Piedmont Symphony, Salisbury Symphony, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, the City Island Baroque Ensemble of New York, the National Symphony of Ecuador, and at the Costa Rica International Music Festival. Currently, Mr. Azikiwe is Music Director of the Harlem Symphony Orchestra. He is also Community Engagement Director of the Harlem Chamber Players and a member of the Pressenda Chamber Players. As an orchestral musician, he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as guest principal violist of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra. A native of New York City, Mr. Azikiwe first studied music with his mother, after which he began training at the North Carolina School of the Arts as a student of Sally Peck. His studies continued at the New England Conservatory with Marcus Thompson and at Indiana University as a student of Atar Arad.

Nina Ferrigno, Piano

Amadi Azikiwe, Violin/Viola

Nina Ferrigno, pianist, is a collaborative artist at home in a multitude of diverse musical settings. Described by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as “a magnificent pianist,” her playing is said to be, “...always precise with superb accentuation and warmth of feeling...”. Nina is a founding member of the Boston-based Calyx Piano Trio. She has performed with such ensembles as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony/Pops, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Her festival appearances include Tanglewood, Banff, Norfolk, and the Skaneateles Festival. She has also appeared at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival and Missouri Chamber Music Festival where the Calyx Piano Trio has held residencies.

Victoria Knudtson, Horn

Minnesota-born horn player Victoria Knudtson joined the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as assistant/utility horn during the 2019/2020 season. Born to a pianist mother and singer father, Knudtson found her artistic voice on the horn when she was 16 years old after a coincidental meeting with her first teacher, Wayne Lu. In 2014, Knudtson began studying with Jeffery Nelsen at Indiana University. Thanks to the horn department at the Jacobs School of Music, she also benefited from the orchestral pedagogy of Dale Clevenger and studied early music performance on the natural horn with Richard Seraphinoff. Knudtson also spent six months in Vienna, Austria, studying with Wolfgang Vladar of the Vienna Philharmonic. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, she served as principal horn of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic. She successfully completed her studies in December 2017. In March 2018, Knudtson joined the St. Louis Brass (a quintet started in 1964 by then-members of the SLSO) with whom she occasionally tours the country giving performances and teaching masterclasses. Knudtson began an artist diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music under Jennifer Montone and Jeffery Lang before winning the position with the SLSO in September 2019. While in Philadelphia, Knudtson held a core horn position with the ensemble Symphony in C, and performed frequently throughout the city with various chamber groups. As a soloist, she performed with the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra and the Yale New Music Ensemble, and frequently appeared in recitals on the Curtis stage. She ardently enjoys collaborating with composers and performing new music, especially with friends. Knudtson was a horn fellow of the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center in 2019, and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan with music director Valery Gergiev in 2018. Knudtson plays a leader/teacher roll as a staff member at Kendall Betts Horn Camp. When not on stage or in the practice room, Knudtson enjoys spending time outside, gardening, writing, and painting.

Xiomara Mass, Oboe

Victoria Knudtson, Horn

Oboist Xiomara Mass was appointed to the position of Second Oboe of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 2020 by Music Director Stéphane Denève. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she began her musical training at the age of four and made her solo debut with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra when she was 13. Two years later she was accepted into the “Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico” where she studied with David Bourns, former Principal Oboe of the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and Pedro Díaz, solo English Horn of the Metropolitan Opera. She has also worked with such renowned oboists as Elaine Douvas, Hansjörg Schellenberger, and Scott Hostetler. Mass has been invited to participate in many prestigious music festivals, including the John Mack Oboe Camp, “Tercer Festival de Dobles Cañas” in Panama, The Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Domaine Forget, St. Barth's Music Festival, The Sunflower Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland and The New Hampshire Music Festival. She was selected to participate in the 2011 YouTube Symphony Orchestra during its residency at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, which included a live Internet simulcast to over 30 million viewers worldwide. In 2014, Mass won The Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship award at the Musicians Club of Women Competition in Chicago. She is also the first prizewinner of the Tuesday Musical State Scholarship Competition in Akron, Ohio, and the first Chamber Music Competition at the “Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico” as a member of her woodwind quintet. Mass is a former member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and was a featured soloist with the Civic Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Concerto for Oboe and Violin. During her years in Chicago she was an active freelancer in the area and often performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Winds as a substitute oboist as well as with many orchestras in the area, among them Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She also played as a substitute with the San Francisco Symphony and has performed with them as assistant principal. In addition to working as a performer, Mass taught as an adjunct professor at the DePaul University School of Music. Currently, she teaches at Washington University in St. Louis along with maintaining a small private studio. She holds a BM in Oboe Performance and an Artist Diploma from Oberlin Conservatory, where she graduated with highest honors under the tutelage of Alex Klein and Robert Walters. After relocating to Chicago, she studied privately with Eugene Izotov, principal oboe of the San Francisco Symphony. In addition to music making and teaching, she enjoys the outdoors, mountain biking and Mario Kart.

Anna Reinersman,Harp

Anna Reinersman, harpist, began her harp studies at the age of 7, holding her first position as Principal Harp for the Rocky Mountain Symphony in Utah, in the United States, at the age of 14. Praised by The New York Times as “an elegant harpist”, she performed extensively throughout New York and Boston before relocating to London. She has played the complete Ring Cycle with the Royal Opera House, London, and with the Metropolitan Opera, New York on their Grammy winning recording, as well as touring Japan with the Metropolitan Opera, playing “La Boheme”. UK adventures included "Sleeping Beauty" on tour with the Birmingham Royal Ballet and her 6-month-old daughter, and "Tosca" with Placido Domingo conducting at Covent Garden. Before that Ms. Reinersman was in the Broadway pit for the revival of “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever” starring Harry Connick, Jr., and was the harpist for the entire run of the Broadway smash hit “The Producers”. She has toured the United States with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and maintains an active career as a chamber musician. Comfortable in a variety of musical settings, she has performed with such contemporary pop artists as Joni Mitchell, Diana Krall, Alicia Keyes, and the indie band Hem. Ms. Reinersman is also cofounder of the Carolina Chamber Music Festival and served as codirector for 11 years. She can be heard on the soundtrack of the most recent “The Producers” movie, the cast album for the Broadway revival of “Finian’s Rainbow”, and various other commercial recordings. She currently lives and works in Basel, Switzerland, although as the Principal Harpist for the New York Pops, she regularly returns to New York City.

Keiko Sekino, Piano

Anna Reinersman,Harp

Pianist Keiko Sekino enjoys an active career as a solo recitalist and chamber musician in the United States and abroad, having performed at such venues as Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Steinway Hall, Bennett-Gordon Hall at Ravinia Park, and Palacio de Festivales de Cantabria in Santander, Spain. She has participated in festivals including Ravinia, Norfolk, and Yellow Barn in the United States and Kuhmo, Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander, La Gesse, and Pontino in Europe. In 2006, Keiko Sekino was one of four pianists invited to participate in the Carnegie Hall Professional Workshop with Thomas Quasthoff. As a duo with soprano Awet Andemicael, she worked with baritone Thomas Quasthoff and pianist Justus Zeyen on Lieder by Schubert, Wolf, and Strauss in public masterclasses and was presented in a recital at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Her performances have also been featured on WFMT (Chicago)’s From Ravinia's Steans Music Institute series and on WDAV (Davidson, North Carolina). An accomplished chamber musician, Ms. Sekino has shared the stage with violinists Ana Chumachenko and MinJung Kang, and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Daedalus Quartet, and Enso Quartet. In 2016, her recording of Schumann’s complete works for cello and piano with cellist Emanuel Gruber was released from Delos label. Keiko Sekino completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and holds additional degrees from Yale University in economics and music. Among her teachers are Peter Frankl and Robert McDonald. She has also worked closely with Elisso Virsaladze, Claude Frank, Boris Berman, and Margo Garrett. She serves as Associate Professor of Piano and Director of Applied Piano Studies at the East Carolina University School of Music in Greenville, North Carolina.