The Ives Collective presents powerful live music experiences through fresh and informed interpretations of established masterworks and underappreciated gems. With core members and Artistic Co-Directors Susan Freier and Stephen Harrison, the Collective wants to share their joy in bringing together old friends and new in a variety of combinations to perform the widest possible spectrum of chamber music.
Icelandic violinist Hrabba Atladottir studied in Berlin, Germany with Professor Axel Gerhardt. After finishing her studies, she worked as a freelancing violinist in Berlin for five years, regularly playing with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsche Oper, and Deutsche Symphonieorchester. Hrabba also participated in a world tour with the Icelandic pop artist Björk, and a Germany tour with violinist Nigel Kennedy.
In 2004, Hrabba moved to New York, where she played on a regular basis with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Orchestra of St. Luke’s and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra among other orchestras. Since August 2008, Hrabba has been based in Berkeley, California, where she has been performing as a soloist as well as with various ensembles, such as The New Century Chamber Orchestra, The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, The Empyrean Ensemble, The ECO ensemble and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players to name a few.
Susan Freier, violin/viola, and co-Artistic Director of the Ives Collective, earned degrees in music and biology from Stanford University as a Ford Scholar and continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music where she co-founded the award-winning Chester String Quartet. The Chester went on to win the Munich, Portsmouth (UK) and Discovery Competitions and were the quartet-in-residence at Indiana University, South Bend.
In 1989 Susan returned to her native Bay Area and joined the Stanford faculty and the Stanford String Quartet. She performs with the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has been an artist/faculty member at the Newport Music Festival, Garth Newell, Music in the Mountains, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Schlern and Orfeo Music Festivals (Italy). Susan teaches and performs at the Mendocino Music Festival, the SoCal Music Workshop and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival.
Melissa Matson is a versatile chamber musician and the principal violist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She is Artistic Director of First Muse Chamber Music (an annual series of concerts at First Unitarian Church in Rochester), and is a frequent performer with Chamber Music Rochester and the Skaneateles Festival (NY). She is a founding member of the Amenda Quartet, whose acclaimed 2015-16 Project Ludwig performed the complete string quartets of Beethoven in the Rochester area. Her solo appearances with the RPO include Berlioz’s Harold in Italy (with conductor Andreas Delfs) and two performances of Mozart’s Sinfonie Concertante (with violinists Juliana Athayde and David Brickman).
Before joining the RPO in 1983, Melissa performed throughout the U.S. as a founding member of the Chester String Quartet (along with Susan Freier), top prize winners at the Munich and Portsmouth (England) international competitions. Originally from Chico, California, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastman, where she studied with Martha Katz and was awarded the coveted Performer’s Certificate. Aside from teaching orchestral excerpts at Eastman, she devotes her extra time to the visual arts – including dyeing artisan fabrics.
Stephen Harrison, cellist has been on the Stanford University faculty since 1983. A graduate of Oberlin College and Boston University, he has been solo cellist of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players since 1985.
Stephen has been on the faculty of the Pacific Music Festival, the Orfeo and Schlern International Music Festivals (Italy) and the Rocky Ridge Music Center. He is currently principal cellist at the Mendocino Music Festival, and performs and teaches at the SoCal Chamber Music Workshop and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival.
Keisuke Nakagoshi, pianist, began his piano studies at the age of ten, arriving in the United States from Japan at the age of 18. Mr. Nakagoshi earned his Bachelors degree in Composition and Masters degree in Chamber Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Graduating as the recipient of multiple top awards, Keisuke was selected to represent the SFCM for the Kennedy Center’s Conservatory Project, a program featuring the most promising young musicians from major conservatories across the United States.
Mr. Nakagoshi has performed to acclaim on prestigious concert stages across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. He has received training from some of the most celebrated musicians of our time – Emanuel Ax, Gilbert Kalish, Menahem Pressler, Robert Mann, Paul Hersh, David Zinman – and enjoys collaborating with other accomplished musicians such as Lucy Shelton, Ian Swensen, Jodi Levitz, Robin Sutherland, Lev Polyakin, Axel Strauss, Mark Kosower, Gary Schocker and also conductors such as Alasdair Neale, George Daugherty, Nicole Paiement, Michael Tilson Thomas and Herbert Blomstedt. Mr. Nakagoshi is Pianist-in-Residence at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the award-winning Opera Parallèle. He resides in San Francisco.
Oakland-based oboist and electronic musician Kyle Bruckmann’s work extends from a Western classical foundation into gray areas encompassing free jazz, post-punk and the noise underground. He is a member of sfSound, SFCMP, Splinter Reeds, Eco Ensemble, Stockton Symphony, and Quinteto Latino, and can be heard on more than 80 recordings. Since relocating from Chicago in 2003, he has performed with the San Francisco Symphony and most of the area’s regional orchestras while remaining active within an international community of improvisers and sound artists. Significant collaborative projects he leads or co-founded include Degradient, EKG, Lozenge, and Wrack. He is a professor at University of the Pacific, and also teaches at UC Santa Cruz, Davis, and Berkeley.