Emily Barkakati

Violin

Violinist Emily Barkakati is an active freelancer in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, performing regularly with several ensembles including Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia Ballet, and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and as violinist of Gestalt Quartet. She received her doctorate from the University of Michigan, where her dissertation recital project, entitled “Indie Loves Classical,” explored cross-genre programming and non-traditional concert formats. She also holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park. Influential teachers include Aaron Berofsky, Stephen Rose, Gerald Fischbach, and Joseph Gatwood.

Emily has had a lifelong interest in storytelling, interdisciplinary collaboration, and creating access to the arts for everyone. She previously worked as the program coordinator for the University of Michigan Medical Arts Program where she organized arts experiences for medical students and residents as a vehicle for discussing humanistic patient care. Through the performing arts organization UMS she ran the Reading Culture Book Club Series and held pre-concert talks. She developed interactive presentations for children on emotional expression and literacy through organizations like America Reads and worked for the inaugural SphinxConnect in 2013.

Emily recently left the Detroit Opera after 13 years as a tenured violinist in the orchestra to focus on a more settled family life in Philadelphia with her two kids, husband, and cat. When she’s not playing violin she enjoys cooking, photography, birding, playing video games, and learning ballet. She hopes to one day learn to trust her feet enough to consistently land her pirouettes.

Violin

Lorenzo Raval

Praised for his "beautiful tone" and "exceptional quality of nobility in his playing," Filipino violinist and violist Lorenzo Raval is acclaimed for his versatility and dedication to the numerous aspects of his instruments - as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. Lorenzo’s playing can be heard on the 2018 GRAMMY Winning recording of Lansing McCloskey's Zealot Canticles with Donald Nally and The Crossing, and in the 2018 Netflix movie Candy Jar. Recently Lorenzo was violinist for the Philadelphia and Baltimore shows of Stevie Wonder’s 2024 US Tour.

Lorenzo is an active performer in the Philadelphia region, as violinist of Gestalt Quartet, as well regularly playing both violin and viola with the Bay Atlantic Symphony, Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey, and Bucks County Symphony Orchestra. Lorenzo is also a violinist for musical productions with the Arden Theatre Company.

Born and raised in Quezon City, Philippines, Lorenzo received his Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Master of Music degree in Viola Performance from the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University. He also attended the University of the Phillipines as a violin and music education major, and was a scholar at the Philippine High School for the Arts.

His teachers include violinists Alfonso Bolipata, Helen Kwalwasser and Odin Rathnam, and violist Che-Hung Chen. His chamber music coaches have included Charles Abramovic, Alfonso Bolipata, Rhonda Rider, Jeffrey Solow, Valissa Willwerth and Lambert Orkis, and he has performed at the masterclasses of violinists Pamela Frank, Oscar Yatco, Alexandru Tomescu, Thanos Adamopoulos and Takako Nishizaki, violist Kim Kashkashian, and the Emerson, Alexander, St. Lawrence and Ying Quartets.

A two-time prizewinner at the Philippines' National Music Competition for Young Artists in 1999 and 2002, Lorenzo has appeared as soloist with the Metro Manila Concert Orchestra, the University of Santo Tomas Symphony Orchestra and the Pundaquit Chamber Players, and has given recitals at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Francisco Santiago Hall, and Corpus Hall at Casa San Miguel. He was first violinist of the Corpus String Quartet and was violinist and violist with the Pundaquit Chamber Players, performing chamber music in concert halls and non-traditional performance spaces in Manila, Zambales, Ilocos, Boracay, and Davao.

A dedicated and enthusiastic teacher, Lorenzo was Resident Artist at Casa San Miguel in Zambales, Philippines from 2000 to 2006, where he taught violin and viola, and coached and conducted the Pundaquit Virtuosi, an ensemble composed of the best young string players from the Zambales community. Lorenzo was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Temple University's Community Music Scholars Program, and was a faculty member at the Leopold Mozart Academy in Elkins Park and Community Music School in Trappe, Pennsylvania.

Lorenzo plays on a fine contemporary violin modeled after the 1740 Ysaÿe Guarneri del Gesu, made for him in 2020 by R. Alex Wilson of Salt Lake City, and an innovative Tête-Bêche bow made in 2025 by Gilles Nehr. He lives in South Philadelphia where he maintains a small studio of dedicated students and, along with his wife, takes care of their adorable border terrier Zoey.

Shannon Merlino

Viola

Philadelphia-area native Shannon Merlino began violin lessons at nine years of age. Immediately upon receiving her rental instrument (and before having had a lesson), she declared that she would become a professional musician, and the rest, as they say, was history. Dr. Merlino completed her Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance at Rutgers University as a student of Matthew Reichert and Lenuta Ciulei. She received her Master of Music degree in violin performance as a scholarship student at the Mannes College of Music as a student of Lewis Kaplan, and in 2012 she completed coursework at Rutgers University for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance in the studio of Mikhail Kopelman.

Soon after completing studies at Rutgers, she was invited to play for a freelance orchestra job – but on viola. Much like when she picked up the violin for the first time, she had a gut feeling and knew that it was time to make the switch, ultimately earning a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in viola performance from Temple University as a student of Kerri Ryan.

Her work as both performer and academic lead her to perform and present in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, and the Library of Congress. Her research interests encompass a wide range of musical topics, most notably violin/viola technique and also musical exoticism, on which she wrote her doctoral monograph (and which she cautions people not to ask her about, unless they have plenty of free time to listen and perhaps plenty of coffee). She performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician, including engagements with the Old York Road Symphony, the Temple University Symphony, the Temple University Contemporary Ensemble, the Media Arts Council, and many more. She also performs and has performed regularly as a member and substitute with several area orchestras, including Opera Philadelphia, Vox Ama Deus, the Bay Atlantic Symphony, the Curtis Symphony, and Symphony in C.

She is passionate about violin and viola pedagogy as well and maintains an active private teaching studio. Shannon also is a trained yoga teacher and a dedicated practitioner: having spent many years teaching Ashtanga yoga and ultimately earning her RYT-500 certification, her teaching and practice often influence her strings teaching. When not practicing, performing, teaching, or on her yoga mat, she can usually be found engaging (or info-dumping) with one of her many interests - plants, cats, books, video games, and nature, among others.

She is eternally grateful to her luthiers, John Safian and Duana George of Wamsley Violins in Haddonfield, NJ, who not only put up with her perfectionism with whichever instrument she’s playing on, but manage to exceed her expectations with every adjustment.

Cello

Chen Chen

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