Pianist Lara Downes has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News and “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). An iconoclast and trailblazer, her dynamic work as a sought-after soloist, a Billboard Chart-topping recording artist, a producer, curator, arts activist and advocate positions her as a cultural visionary on the national arts scene. She was honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today.

Downes’ recent and upcoming onstage adventures include guest appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, with recitals and residencies at Ravinia, the Gilmore Festival, Washington Performing Arts, Caramoor, and the Cabrillo Festival, among many others.

Her creative collaborations with diverse artists including Rhiannon Giddens, Thomas Hampson, Judy Collins, Daniel Hope, Yo-Yo Ma and the Miró Quartet explore shared creative perspectives across genres and traditions. Lara’s forays into the broad landscape of music have created a unique series of acclaimed recordings, including her most recent release Love at Last on the Pentatone label, which debuted at the top of the Billboard and Amazon charts and was featured on an NPR Tiny Desk concert. Downes’ transformative album America Again was selected by NPR as one of “10 Albums that Saved 2016” and hailed as “a balm for a country riven by disunion” by the Boston Globe.

Lara is a highly visible media presence in her role as the creator and host of AMPLIFY with Lara Downes, an NPR Music video series soon launching its third season in partnership with Classical California. She is the creator and curator of Rising Sun Music, a label dedicated to making first recordings of music by Black composers from the 18th century to the present day.

Daniel Ching, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his violin studies at the age of 3 under tutelage of his father. At age 5, he entered the San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory Division on a full twelve‐year scholarship, where he studied violin with Serban Rusu and Zaven Melikian, and chamber music with Susan Bates. At the age of 10, Daniel was first introduced to string quartets. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Daniel studied violin with Kathleen Winkler, Roland and Almita Vamos, and conducting with Robert Spano and Peter Jaffe. He completed his Masters degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with former Cleveland Quartet violinist Donald Weilerstein. He also studied recording engineering and production with Thomas Knab of Telarc, and subsequently engineered the Miró Quartet’s first promotional disc. Daniel is on faculty at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches private violin students and coaches chamber music. He concurrently maintains an active international touring schedule as a member of the Miró Quartet.

Daniel is a discerning connoisseur of all things cinematic and electronic. Before he became a busy parent, Daniel was an avid skier and a dedicated reader of science fiction—he looks forward to returning to those passions, some day. In his free time, Daniel enjoys hosting happy hours with friends and lounging at home with his wife Sandy, their two sons, and two cats.

William Fedkenheuer is widely respected as a performer, teacher, and consultant. Uniquely drawing on two decades of experience onstage and off as a member of three internationally renowned string quartets (The Miró, Fry Street, Borromeo Quartets), he dedicates his life to serving others through performance, teaching, personal and professional development.

Growing up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, William became the youngest member of The Calgary Fiddlers in 1983 and was named a Canadian national fiddle champion in 1989 before making his solo debut with the Calgary Philharmonic in 1994.

As a soloist and chamber musician, William performs on the world’s most prestigious stages including Carnegie Hall, Esterhazy Castle, Suntory Hall, and the Taipei National University of the Arts and appearances in the media include NPR, PBS, NHK, and the Discovery Channel as well as Strings and Strad magazines. Recipient of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Martin E. Segal Award, collaboration highlights include commissions and premiere’s of major new works by Kevin Puts, Osvaldo Golijov, and Gunther Schuller and performances with Leon Fleisher, Sasha Cooke, Colin Currie, Wu Han, Jeffrey Kahane, Audra McDonald, Midori, David Shifrin, and Dawn Upshaw. William serves as an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music and oversees its Young Professional String Quartet Program.

William also maintains an active schedule as a consultant and professional development coach. Drawing on his past twenty-five years of experience developing highly effective strategies, principles and tools for how to thrive as a classical musician, ensemble, and organization, his mission is to empower each individual to give permission to be their most impactful, creative, and alive self.

An active hiker, fly-fisherman, and burger connoisseur, William has two sons, Max and Olli who share his love of curiosity, discovery, innovation and chocolate. William performs on a violin by Peter and Wendy Moes, and bows by Charles Espey and Ole Kanestrom.

Violist John Largess began his studies in Boston at age 12 in the public schools, studying with Michael Zaretsky of the Boston Symphony, and later as a student of Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1995, he graduated from Yale University to join the Colorado String Quartet as interim violist with whom he toured the United States and Canada teaching and concertizing. The following year he was appointed principal violist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, a position he held until joining the Miró Quartet in 1997.

Also an active speaker and writer about all things chamber‐musical, in 2004 Mr. Largess was invited to give a week‐long audience lecture series as a part of the Eighth International String Quartet Competition at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada; he repeated this series in 2007 and again in 2010.

With his training in Greek and Latin Literature and his Bachelor’s degree in Archeology from Yale University, as well as studies at the Hebrew University in Israel, he has participated in excavations in Greece, Israel, and Jordan. John loves to cook gourmet cuisine, particularly French pastry and fine desserts; luckily, he also enjoys exercising. John is a trained yoga instructor, having studied Vinyasa Power Yoga with Baron Baptiste. He also practices Kundalini, Bikram, and Astanga styles, and teaches yoga at 24 Hour Fitness and the Bodhi Yoga studio in Austin, Texas where he lives. When not standing on his head, he enjoys making his Tibetan Singing Bowl sing.

John serves as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of String Chamber Music at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music.

Cellist Joshua Gindele, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his cello studies at the age of 3 playing a viola his teacher had fitted with an endpin. As cellist for the Miró, Josh has taken first prizes at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. 

He has shared the stage with some of the classical worlds most renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Philharmonic, Pinchas Zuckerman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Andre Watts and Menahem Pressler. He continues to perform across four continents and on some of the world’s most prestigious concert stages. 

 In 2006 Joshua co‐founded www.classicallounge.com.  This is an online networking site where you can meet musicians, both professional and amateur, discover new talent or get discovered, share music, post and get concert information, share opinions, post classified ads and much more. The site was sold to www.classicalconnection.com in August of 2009. 

Deeply committed to music education, the Miró is currently the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin. 

 An active gym rat and tennis player, Josh and his wife, Rebecca Gindele, have a son and daughter, George and Nora.