Colin Roshak
Conductor, Clarinetist and Entrepreneur
Concert Program
Kinetic Reflection 5'
Woodwind Quintet no. 1 15'
In this moment everything is fine 5'
Summer Showers 7'
Tree of Life 4'
Manar Hashmi
Santiago Mieres
Magdalena Teisler
Zeke
Jayla Smith
COMPOSERS
Kinetic Reflection
Manar is a composer from Amherst, Massachusetts. She is in her second year at Bard College and is having a fantastic time. Manar has written music for all sorts of occasions, including films, plays, concerts, orchestra readings, unexpected profound moments, and walking to Kline. As a composer, Manar believes that her life has a soundtrack that might as well be an original score. She plays violin as well, and enjoys that…but what a joy it is to be a composer! And to be at Bard! The community of musicians here is unbelievably inspiring.
Manar studies contemporary classical composition with Joan Tower and Jessie Montgomery.
Manar Hashmi
Santiago Mieres
Woodwind Quintet no. 1
I am Santiago Mieres, Venezuelan and a student of composition and violin. I am part of the
Class 2027 of Bard Conservatory In Caracas-Venezuela I studied violin at the Conservatory of
the Emil Friedman School, with teachers Alfonso López Chollet and Daniela Leventu and four
with teacher Félix Crudele. There I was in orchestras directed by Alfonso López and Ulyses
Ascanio, among others, occupying the position of concertmaster and principal of 2nd violins. I
also studied Solfeggio and Harmony at the Mozarteum Caracas Music School and at the Jorge
Serrano Conservatory and I was in concerts in the violin row of the OSV. At Friedman I
graduated with an average of 19/20 and I was the General Secretary of the MUN (REDEMIL) in 2019.
I attended Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan where I started composition lessons with Cynthia Van Maanen and studied violin with Paul Sonner. At the end of 2021 I started
composition lessons with Andrés Eloy Rodríguez Mireles. In August 2022, I started at the Bard Conservatory where I have received composition classes with Jessy Montgomery and violin lessons with Helena Baillie.
Magdalena Teisler
In this moment everything is fine
Magdalena Teisler is a composer and pianist from Red Hook, New York. Born in Guangzhou China she was adopted at 14 months and has lived in America all her life. She is just starting her musical journey at Bard College’s music program and is trying to find where her path lies.
She studied at Bard’s Preparatory Division for 13 years for Piano, Composition, and Voice under the guidance of many great musicians. There she found her love for music and decided that she wanted to further her studies in music.
Writing her first piano composition at the age of 16 she found herself seeing that composition is a something that she wants to pursue. Since then she has been actively writing trying to find her own style and learn from her mentors. Her mentors are Dr. Kyle Gann and Martha Sullivan. Her hopes in the future is that she will be able to study her Chinese roots and eventually start writing for Chinese instruments and start combining western and eastern sounds.
Zeke
Summer Showers
Zeke is a composer and violinist from Jackson, Mississippi and a student in the Bard Conservatory of Music. He has been actively writing music since the summer of 2018 when he attended a composition seminar at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. Since then, he has engaged in many different types of music-making including electronic music and improvisation, and has participated in many different ensembles within the Bard community.
Zeke also studies written arts and is especially interested in how the nature of a voice and/or instrument can change the interpretation of a text. Much of his inspiration comes from the natural world and his own personal experiences. He often performs his own music and has had his work played and read by Bard conservatory students and the Da Capo ensemble. His teachers and mentors include Joan Tower, Missy Mazzoli, and Stephen Redfield.
Tree of Life
Jayla Kai Smith grew up near Woodstock New York, placing her in a rich community of
musicians and artists who she cites as key mentors. After studying violin and then picking
up guitar, Jayla first tried writing songs at age 10, which quickly developed into a huge part of
her life. Her background in violin and classical/folk music combined with her obsession for
songwriting creates unique work and constant exploration.
After releasing her debut EP Epitome in 2021, Jayla is preparing to release a new project in
early 2023. She is currently studying composition and songwriting at Bard College, playing
shows, writing and recording new music, and getting ready for her next release.
Jayla Smith
PLAYERS
David Keringer
Clarinet
Born into a musician family in Budapest, Hungary, David Keringer is a versatile player with notable international experience. After his graduation at the University of Music Vienna, Austria he was awarded with the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and continues his postgraduate studies at Bard College in the Advanced Performance Studies program. He is the winner of the Danutubia Talents Competition 2020 in Vienna, Austria. As a soloist, he played in Hungary and Austria in various concert halls, at the Expo Milano and in Japan as well. He performed both with clarinet and saxophone in the talent show "Virtuosos" on Hungarian national TV. He was also part of several high level symphonic orchestra, theatre and musical productions.
Katriel Kirk
Bassoon
Katriel Kirk is a second-year bassoonist in the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where she studies with bassoonist Marc Goldberg. She comes from Washington state, where she played with both the Seattle Youth Symphony and Cascade Youth Symphony. She studied with bassoonist Mona Butler. She hopes to graduate in 2026 with bachelor degrees in both Music Performance and Environmental & Urban Studies.
Eliza Karpiak
Flute
Eliza Karpiak is a second-year, double-majoring in poetry and flute in Bard College
Conservatory, currently studying with Dr. Tara O’Connor. Her past teachers include Jeffrey
Khaner and Dr. Lynne Cooksey. From 2019-2021, she attended several camps, including
Domaine Forget all three years, and played in masterclasses for Emmanuel Pahud, Denis
Bouriakov, Mario Caroli, Leone Buyse, Ransom Wilson, Keith Underwood, and Susan
Hoeppner. Eliza and her brother co-founded Appassionata Ensemble, which had several recitals throughout her hometown in a local venues.
Outside of playing flute, Eliza has composed several pieces for various types of ensembles. She plays piano, having begun her studies at the same time as flute, and began studying organ in her senior year of high school. In her free time, she participates in active sports like biking, hiking, and swimming.
Kamil Karpiak
Oboe
Kamil Karpiak, a fourth-year conservatory student at Bard, is from Douglassville, PA. Before
enrolling at Bard College, he participated in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Domaine Forget
Music Academy, and Hidden Valley Music Seminars. He has played the oboe for eleven years.
In addition to his oboe studies, Kamil is an accomplished pianist. As a student of the Dual
Degree Program, his second major will be in German Studies.
Mohammad AbdNikfarjam
Clarinet
Mohammad AbdNikfarjam is an Iranian musician and clarinetist experienced in both solo and
chamber music performances. He started learning clarinet as a music student at Tehran Music
Conservatory. Second prize winner of the Art and Culture music competition in 2014, he began his undergraduate studies in clarinet performance at the University of Tehran and currently, he is studying at Bard Conservatory under the tutelage of David Krakauer and Pascual Martinez for APS program (Advanced Performance Studies) to pursue further musical education.
He has several experiences as soloist and principal clarinetist with different orchestras in Iran.
Mohammad has performed a wide array of repertoire in a variety of ensembles and finds great
joy in working with other musicians. With his trio ensemble he won First prize for their
performance at Saba music festival in 2019. He received full scholarships from Curtis Institute of Music to attend two mentor network courses in Summer and Fall of 2021. In the summer of 2022, he participated in AIMS summer music festival in Spain to expand his experiences.
Passionate about teaching and helping young generations of music students, he taught clarinet
at Tehran Music Conservatory for seven years before his immigration to the United States.
Alberto Arias Flores
French Horn
Alberto Arias Flores is a Fifth-year French studies and music performance student from
Venezuela studying at Bard College Conservatory of music under the tutelage of Julia Pilant,
Barbara Jöstlein Currie and Hugo Valverde. He began his musical studies in 2010 at the
Conservatory Vicente Emilio Sojo and El Sistema in Barquisimeto, Lara. He was a member of
the National Children's Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela in 2013 where he participated in the Salzburg Festival under Sir Simon Rattle, the Lara Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2014 and Lara Symphony Orchestra in 2017 where he has worked with great conductors like Gustavo
Dudamel and Christian Vásquez. Alberto has also participated in the Miami Music Festival 2019 edition where he studied with the former empire brass horn player Gregory Miller.
Dávid Bánóczi-Ruof
Violin
Violinist and conductor Dávid Bánóczi-Ruof (DAH-vid BAH-NO-tsee RUE-off) is a graduate of
Bard College and the Mannes School of Music Pre-College Program. They studied violin with
Erica Kiesewetter and Marka Gustavsson at Bard, Khullip Jeung in New York City, and Jörg
Heyer in Frankfurt, Germany. They studied conducting with James Bagwell at Bard and Scott
Jackson Wiley in NYC. As a violinist, Dávid has performed extensively in the United States and
Europe, including most recently touring the Hudson Valley with Jazz and Classics for Change as part of their Young Artists Series, and as a soloist with the Bard Chamber Orchestra, the Bard College Community Orchestra, and The Orchestra Now.
Passionate about performing works by historically ignored composers, Dávid won the 2022 Bard Concerto Competition playing Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s rarely heard Violin Concerto. A
believer in the collaborative powers of new music, Dávid has commissioned and premiered
works by Sasha Paris-Carter, Mikalah Jenifer, Kyle Gann, and others. They premiered But Even
So by Kyle Gann with the Bard Sinfonietta Project in November, and are excited to be back to
perform new works by Bard student composers. Dávid's favorite color is a blue that doesn’t
exist. You can follow them on Instagram at @prinzessin_davidella.
Esteban Ganem
Percussion
Esteban Ganem is a percussionist from Houston, Texas with a passion for playing new music. He has premiered works by composers Annika Socolofsky, Andrea Mazzariello, and Jasmine Galante, and has also collaborated with So Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, Michael Burritt, Ivan Trevino, Doug Perkins, Christopher Cerrone and Amy Petrongelli. Mr. Ganem graduated from Baylor University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education. While at Baylor, Esteban studied with Todd Meehan, Chris Sies, and Edward Taylor, and was a part of the award-winning Baylor Percussion Group. While he was a member of the Baylor Percussion Group, the ensemble was a winner of the International Percussion Ensemble Competition, and was invited to perform at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Esteban was also a member of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra’s American Prize-winning performance in 2019. Also in 2019, he was a finalist in Baylor’s Semper Pro Musica chamber music competition and was invited to participate in the So Percussion Summer Institute.
He currently studies at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Graduate Instrumental Arts Program with teachers Jason Treuting and Eric Cha-Beach. While at Bard, Esteban hopes to focus on playing contemporary chamber music and collaborating with Bard’s composers.
Alexander Levinson
Cello
Alexander Levinson, 22, is an all around music lover. Currently at Bard College, NY, Alexander
has been immersing his cello playing into many genres of music including classical, the
Broadway Musical, improvisatory Klezmer and Jazz / Blues style, modern, and Traditional
Chinese. He is pursuing two degrees in Bard College, New York's 5 year program where he is
currently a 5th year working towards a B.A, studying cello performance with Peter Wiley, and a
B.S, studying computer science.
Growing up in Chicago in a musical family, Alexander has been playing chamber music with his
parents and brother and has given many concerts in the Chicago area. In the spring of 2017,
Alexander was a part of a quartet put together through his highschool orchestra. The Cerulean
Quartet had a great season, winning 2nd place in the 22nd annual Rembrandt high school
chamber music competition, 3rd place in the Barnett Chamber Music Competition, and making it
to the 44th annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. It was with this group that
Alex’s passion for chamber music blossomed. Currently at Bard, he has also had the pleasure
of leading the cello section for a few of the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra concerts.
Other than his studies, Alex loves to DJ (any genre of music) and often spins for
gatherings/parties. He also loves to read, code programs/games, play games, play chess, go
skiing, compose music, and, of course, play the cello.
Shao-Chu Pan
Piano
Shao-Chu Pan, as a collaborative pianist from Taiwan, has collaborated with many outstanding artists for various concert settings in native Taiwan, including collaborative piano and vocal recitals, musical, opera, chamber music and choir. In 2020, Shao-Chu was invited by Association of Vocal Artists of R.O.C. and performed with brilliant singers at National Recital Hall in Taiwan, as well as invited by Taipei Chamber Singers and performed at National Concert Hall in Taiwan. He also held a collaborative piano recital in the Winter of 2022 and collaborated with Taiwanese renowned lyric mezzo-soprano Hai-Yun Cheng and distinguished violinist Flora Hua, the violinist of Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Shao-Chu has performed in masterclasses for several outstanding artists including Albert Lotto, Nicholas Carthy, Wei-En Hsu, I-An Amber Chen, Chia-Chi Hsu.
Shao-Chu received a Bachelor’s degree in Solo Piano Performance from Department of Music in 2019, as well as a Master of Fine Arts degree in Collaborative Piano in 2022 from Graduate Institute of Performing Arts, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), where he studied under Professor Yen-I Lee, director of Graduate Institute. During his life as a graduate student, Shao-Chu was admitted to GIPA in the first place in 2019 and won the scholarship of Master’s Programs with Outstanding Academic Performance.
Shao-Chu is currently studying in the Advanced Performance Studies program at Bard Conservatory of Music, where he studies collaborative piano under Frank Corliss.