Guest Artists for the 2023-2024 Season

Julia Noone, Violin Soloist (Brahms Double Concerto)

Violinist Julia Noone is the Associate Concertmaster of the Louisville Orchestra. She has appeared as soloist with the LO on multiple occasions, including a performance of Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante during her first full season with the orchestra, and the Korngold Violin Concerto in 2022 with LO Music Director Teddy Abrams. In 2019, Julia performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with Teddy Abrams, Jim James, and several LO colleagues to promote the orchestra’s new album The Order of Nature.

Julia has performed as a guest Concertmaster of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Jacksonville Symphony, and Orchestra Kentucky, and as a guest Principal Second of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She has additionally performed with the Boston, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestras as an auxiliary musician. During the summer, Julia is a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Prior to Louisville, Julia was a Fellow at the New World Symphony in Miami, where she regularly performed as Concertmaster and was the featured soloist in Szymanowski’s Second Violin Concerto after winning the NWS Concerto Competition. Also while at New World, Julia traveled to Medellín, Colombia to perform Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto as part of the NWS’s exchange with Iberacademy.

Julia spent multiple summers performing with the Moritzburg Academy, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and the Tanglewood Music Center, where she was awarded the Jules C. Reiner Violin Prize and served as Concertmaster regularly. Other summer festival engagements include a performance as Concertmaster for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Spoleto Festival USA and two seasons as Assistant Concertmaster of Charlottesville Opera.

Julia received her bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory, where she was a student of Masuko Ushioda.

Nicholas Finch, Cello Soloist (Brahms Double Concerto)

Since performing as a concerto soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 18, cellist Nicholas Finch has established himself as an artist of great depth and diversity - as a soloist, recitalist, orchestral principal, chamber musician, conductor, and founder and curator. The 2022/23 season saw Finch lead the second year of the Derby City Chamber Music Festival as its Founder and Artistic Director, featuring some of the best musicians from Louisville and around the country, including members of the Escher String Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Manhattan Chamber Players, and many more. Finch also recorded his debut album "Nou Edition" with the NouLou Chamber Players, featuring three world-premiere cello concertos written for him, to be released in the spring of 2024. He performed as a secondary soloist with cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Teddy Abrams' 'Mammoth', performed by the Louisville Orchestra, and performed the American premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy's concerto for cello and harp with the Skagit Symphony in Mt. Vernon, Washington. He served as cello artist-faculty at the Eastern Music Festival in the Summers of 2022 and 2023.
 
In recent seasons, Finch has collaborated with musicians from the Louisville Orchestra and others in the role of conductor, in works by Strauss, Copland, Glinka, Saint-Saens, Elgar, Dvorak, and more. Just months prior to the onset of COVID-19, he appeared as cello soloist in Richard Strauss's "Don Quixote" with the Louisville Orchestra.

Finch was appointed Principal Cellist of the Louisville Orchestra during the 2013-2014 season by music director Teddy Abrams. He has appeared with the Boston-based chamber orchestra ‘A Far Cry’ on numerous concerts and recordings, one recording having been nominated for a Grammy Award. He has additionally appeared numerous times with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York City
 
A native of Boston, Finch began his cello studies at the age of 12. He attended Harvard, Juilliard, the University of Michigan, and the Mannes College of Music, studying the cello with Andrew Mark, David Soyer, Harvey Shapiro, Richard Aaron, and Marcy Rosen. He has studied orchestral conducting with Markand Thakar, Kenneth Kiesler, and Michael Jinbo and Ludovic Morlot at the Pierre Monteux School. During the 2023-24 season, Finch will study with Kenneth Kiesler further at the University of Michigan, attending a second time to earn a Masters Degree in Orchestral Conducting.

Pastor Dwain Lee, Narrator (Peter and the Wolf)

Warp Trio, Soloists (Brother Yasuke: The True Story of the Afro-Samurai)

Described in Free Times as, "A talented group that exemplifies the genre-obliterating direction of contemporary classical music," Warp Trio is NOT your typical piano trio. Lying at the intersection of a chamber music ensemble, rock band, and art project, Mikael Darmanie (Piano), Ju Young Lee (Cello), and Josh Henderson (Violin) are pushing the boundaries of music consumption through inter-disciplinary collaborations and eclectic programming that includes electrifying original material, dynamic interpretations of popular music, improvisation, and unique takes on classical repertoire. Whether performing in a nightclub, gallery space or concert hall, Warp Trio is transporting audiences to the next level of concert experience.

Since their inception at the beginning of 2014, Warp Trio has maintained a broad range of repertoire ranging from traditional classical to their own original compositions and virtuoso arrangements of music spanning several different genres. They have performed as individuals all over the planet, and as a trio have begun to make their mark on the classical music scene with their energizing performances throughout the U.S.