Musicians dedicated to civic engagement.

Violinist Becky Anderson has appeared worldwide as a recitalist and chamber musician. Known for her “incisive musicality” (The Oregonian), recent appearances include chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall, the alumni Continuum series at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and tours across Europe, Asia, and South America. 

Ms. Anderson’s passion for chamber music has led to festival appearances with Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Northwest, the Savannah Music Festival, Music From Angel Fire, and Verbier Festival. Performance highlights include collaborations with Ani and Ida Kavafian, Itzhak Perlman, Andre Watts, David Shifrin, Ben Folds, and Questlove. She has performed on concerts presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Library of Congress. 

Ms. Anderson's solo appearances have taken her across the country with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Olympia Symphony, and Columbia Symphony orchestras, and to Europe with a recital at the Conservatorio de Bologna in Italy. She was a first prize winner at the 2013 American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. Other awards include the bronze medal and Bach Award at the Stulberg International String Competition, as well as the youngARTS Gold Award, which led to being named a Presidential Scholar in both the Arts and Academics.

A frequent guest with conductorless chamber orchestras, Ms. Anderson has toured with A Far Cry, The Knights, and Orpheus chamber orchestras. She has served as Guest Principal Second Violin with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, and is concertmaster of the New Orchestra of Washington in Washington, D.C.

As an arts advocate and educator, Ms. Anderson spent two formative years with Ensemble Connect, a fellowship based at Carnegie Hall that combines artistic excellence with a focus on the social and community impact of the arts. She performed at Carnegie Hall and at community venues throughout New York City, including public schools, low income housing centers, and correctional facilities. In 2010, she was one of twenty individuals selected to take part in the Americans for the Arts National Arts Policy Roundtable at Sundance, an arts advocacy summit whose members included actress Kerry Washington. 

Through the 2020-21 season, Ms. Anderson is Interim Director of the Violin Program/Visiting Lecturer at Cornell University and Visiting Artist Faculty at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. Ms. Anderson also assists in teaching the studio of Ronald Copes at the Juilliard School. She was Lead Faculty for the Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard program in Switzerland in 2018, and has also served as a faculty member for the Bennington Chamber Music Conference. Ms. Anderson worked as a partner teacher for two years with the public school students at Brooklyn High School of the Arts, and has led workshops with students at Skidmore College and Wheaton College. 

Ms. Anderson co-founded the Anderson-Sasaki duo in 2019, creating residencies that strengthen community through varied interactive performances and presented recitals. The Anderson-Sasaki duo has recently commissioned composer Emily Cooley for a new work to be premiered in the 2020-21 season.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Ms. Anderson is an alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW). 

A native of San Diego, New York-based violinist Alex Fortes is recognized for his versatility and warmth. Recent performances have included concerts in France, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Indonesia, as well as throughout North America.  His playing is featured on A Far Cry's 2014 Grammy-nominated album, Dreams and Prayers, as well as on Law of Mosaics, which The New Yorker’s Alex Ross hailed as one of the top ten albums of 2014. He can also be heard on a forthcoming album with the Henschel Quartett and pianist Donald Berman featuring the music of Chris Theofanidis.

Fortes holds a strong interest in finding new contexts in which to experience familiar music. His arrangements of Schubert lieder and chamber music were hailed by the Boston Globe as “uniformly resourceful and complementary...smart, subtle.” In May 2016, A Far Cry premiered his arrangement with Sarah Darling of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein.

A strong advocate for the importance of social and civic engagement, Alex spent a year working as an administrator and playing for the Longwood Symphony, an orchestra associated with Boston’s medical community that uses its performances to raise funds and awareness for medical nonprofits. In May 2010, he was chosen by former U.S. Senator and New School President Bob Kerrey to be the student speaker at the New School’s commencement ceremony, where he spoke about the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation and civic engagement for fostering innovation and strong communities.

Alex has participated in educational residencies in both English and Spanish related to entrepreneurship, music performance and education,  at colleges and public schools throughout the United States. He holds music degrees from Mannes College and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College.