individual bios

Rose Drucker is a versatile freelance violinist performing throughout New England with groups including Emmanuel Music, Rhode Island Philharmonic and the Boston Philharmonic, where she serves as principal second violin. An avid chamber musician and founding member of the Arneis Quartet she has appeared in Stanford’s Lively Arts Series, Music on Main in Vancouver, and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. Arneis has performed in Boston and New York and at summer festivals in Aspen, The Banff Centre in Canada, Stanford University, and Deer Valley, UT and as the Fellowship Quartet at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music. They were inaugural winners of the John Lad prize, awarded by the St. Lawrence String Quartet at Stanford University. With Emmanuel Music she has appeared as concertmaster and soloist and performed in the Chamber Music and Solo Bach series. In 2005-2006 she was a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow. Ms. Drucker has performed with members of the Vermeer and Muir Quartets and studied with Peter Zazofsky and Mark Rush. Prominent chamber coaches include members of the Muir, St. Lawrence, Brentano, Emerson, and Juilliard quartets. She holds degrees from Boston University and the University of Arizona.

Violist Daniel Doña has distinguished himself as an active international performer and pedagogue. His collaborations with musicians from multiple traditions has led him to explore the beauty of a polystylistic musical space, gaining praise for being “especially at home in this harmonic world” (San Francisco Classical Voice).  He serves on the viola faculty of the Boston University School of Music alongside his duties as Director of Undergraduate Studies and Coordinator of String Chamber Music. Daniel is also Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute String Quartet Workshop.  In addition to his teaching at BU, Dr. Doña serves on the faculty of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra Intensive Community Program.  Equally at home as a researcher and scholar he regularly writes program notes for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood, Caramoor Center for the Arts and other concert presenters.  His notes have gained praise for being “lucid and erudite” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).   An avid chamber musician, he is a member of TriChrome, BiND Ensemble, Susie Ibarra’s Fragility Ensemble, and the critically acclaimed Arneis Quartet.  

Recent and upcoming performance highlights include appearances at Composers Now Dialogues Series (hosted by Tania León),  the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, Beijing Modern Music Festival, Music on Main (Vancouver) and Stanford University’s Lively Arts series as well as broadcasts on CBC Radio 2, WGBH and WCLV. As part of Filipina-American composer and percussionist Susie Ibarra’s Fragility Ensemble he has performed at the Asia Society Triennial, MassMoCA, and at the Joudour Sahara Festival, where he collaborated with musicians from Ghana, Mali, and Morocco.  Daniel is featured on composer Ketty Nez’s CD Double Images.  He performs regularly with Emmanuel Music and other ensembles in the Boston area. Daniel has presented guest masterclasses at the American String Teachers Association National Conference, Central Washington University, University of Connecticut, Swarthmore College, Northwestern University Music Academy and Miami University. 

Daniel pursues interdisciplinary projects with a passion.  As a recipient of a Humanities Enhancement Project Award from the Boston University Center for the Humanities he curated concerts exploring relationships between poetry and music accompanied by lectures presented by members of the BU and Harvard English Departments.  As a member of the Banff Festival Quartet he performed in collaboration with dancers, presenting Hans van Manenʼs Grosse Fuge and a world premiere of Heather Myersʼs Dedications.  His META fellowship with the Mass Cultural Council focused on exploring connections between mindfulness practice and music pedagogy and performance.  As part of the initial cohort of BU’s Designing Antiracist Currucila Fellowship program he deepened his exploration of incorporating repertoire of underrepresented composers into the School of Music curriculum. 

Dr. Doña received his AB in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where he was awarded the inaugural David Fulton Award for excellence in instrumental performance. He received his MM in Viola Performance from the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Matthew Dane (viola) and Felicia Moye (violin). At Boston University he studied with Michelle LaCourse, Steven Ansell and Ed Gazouleas. He received his PD and DMA from BU and was a two-time recipient of the String Department Award and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda. 

In his spare time Daniel enjoys traveling with his husband Scott, which sometimes includes finding exotic places to run races and always involves the pursuit of culinary adventures.  He ran the Berlin Marathon on his honeymoon and has also completed the NYC and Chicago Marathons.  Bookstores are his Achilles heel.

Agnes Kim is a distinguished cellist known for her dynamic performances and wide-ranging musical engagements. Her work has earned her praise as a “hair-raising performer” in The Boston Musical Intelligencer. Kim is a dedicated chamber musician, serving as the cellist for the highly respected Arneis Quartet. The quartet’s recordings, including Elena Ruehr’s String Quartet No. 8 “Insect Dances” (Avie Records, 2022) and John H. Wallace’s pale reflection… : Arneis Quartet and Friends (Centaur Records, 2016), have been critically acclaimed.

In addition to her quartet work, Kim co-founded Echo Bridge Cello, a collective dedicated to providing cello ensemble concerts and educational resources to support young cellists and local communities. She was also a founding member of the award-winning Trio Eca and performed with Trio Sol, which was nationally broadcasted on MBC in South Korea.

Her soloist experience includes performances with the Hwaum Boston Chamber Orchestra and the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra. Kim has played with a variety of musical organizations, such as the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music, Boston Philharmonic, White Snake Projects, and Coro Allegro. Furthermore, she has held prominent positions as the principal cellist for the Haffner Sinfonietta and Philharmonia Boston.

Kim’s performance highlights span renowned venues and festivals, including the Beijing Modern Music Festival, Music on Main (Vancouver), Stanford University’s Lively Arts series, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Teatro Valli (Italy), and academic institutions like MIT, Boston University, Wellesley College, Smith College, Swarthmore College, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She has collaborated with esteemed artists including the St. Lawrence String Quartet, composers John Harbison, Elena Ruehr, Aaron Travers, Gabriella Lena Frank, Susie Ibarra, and Anthony Green, as well as violinist Peter Zasofsky, violist Michelle LaCourse, cellists Mark Johnson, Yeesun Kim, and Owen Young, pianist Victor Cayres, bandoneonist Julien Labro, and singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane.

As an educator, Kim serves on the faculty at Boston University and as a cello instructor and chamber coach for the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has also taught at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI), Point Counterpoint, and Lyceum Music Festival, and worked with students from various Boston schools and the Perkins School for the Blind through the Emmanuel Music Educational Outreach Program.

Kim earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University under the guidance of Leslie Parnas and holds degrees from the New England Conservatory (Master of Music) and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University (Bachelor of Music), studying with Yeesun Kim and Steven Kates. She has participated in esteemed programs such as the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, Deer Valley Music Festival, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar.

Kim has received numerous accolades, including the Artist International Audition winner, John Lad Prize, Aldo Parisot Scholarship, Eric Von Baeyer Scholarship, and prizes from the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition and Ibla Grand Prize. 

For more information, visit Agnes Kim Cello.