Who We Are, What We Are, etc.

To see more about us, including all KINDS of useful stuff, please scroll down past the roster of musicians.

For a Listing of All Members (and Guests) of the Musica Bella Orchestra Who Have Ever Appeared in a Concert with Us, Click here. (Current through the end of December 2007.)

Who We Are: Members of the Musica Bella Orchestra for Our May 3 and 4, 2008 “Mostly Mozart” Concerts (Listed alphabetically)

Violin Rebecca Chiu Evonne Cho Nandita Gupta Reiko Kato, concertmaster Catherine Koh Alfiya Koval Cindy Lan Joanna Lundberg Adam Mirza,    principal second violin Hui Wang Chiaki Yoshida Cindy Yu Viola James Eng, principal Meredith Jensen Alfredo Ok

Viola (continued) Mark Peters Michael Wilson Violoncello Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill,    principal Luna Shyr Gardiner von Trapp Contrabass Morton Cahn, principal Flute Jennifer Chang Lauren Sileo Oboe Scott Brodie, principal Stacie Johnston

Clarinet Regan Nikol, principal Maria Suarez Bassoon Antonio Arosemena Phil Fedora, principal Horn Ellen Duncan David Moldenhauer Trumpet Andy Kozar Kenny Warren, principal Timpani Jerry Vetowich

Manager/Executive Director   Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill Stage Managers   Morton Cahn, Shoji Mizumoto Music Director/Conductor   Phillip Gaskill Chorusmaster   Aram Tchobanian

To see a similar roster of the musicians who played in each prior Musica Bella orchestra concert, go to the Our History page and choose a concert. These entries are sadly not up to date at the moment; we hope to be able to rectify that at some point in the future.       To see a list of all the musicians who have ever played in any Musica Bella orchestra concert, listed by instrument and then alphabetically by musician’s name, click here. Again, we apologize that this list is not up to date at the moment.       Some of the musicians’ bios indicate “CHARTER MEMBER OF MUSICA BELLA”; these, of course, are people who have been with us continually, or close enough to continually, since our very first concert in January 2002. However, there are instruments (clarinets, trumpets, trombones, tuba, percussion) that, because of our intentionally slow growth in our first year of existence, we didn’t use at all until our third, fourth, or fifth concert; thus, people who have been with us ever since we first used their instrument are listed as “ASSOCIATE CHARTER MEMBERS,” for lack of a better term. (If anybody can suggest a better term, please put me out of my misery and E-mail me quick.) There were also certain soloists on our two debut concerts who we knew were not going to be able to stay with us after those concerts; therefore, these instruments are also counted the same for this purpose.

What we are: The Musica Bella Orchestra of New York, Inc., founded in 2001 and incorporated in the State of New York as a Not For Profit Corporation in January 2004, is a very high-quality non-professional orchestra. Membership is by invitation or audition only. Why we exist: Click here to read our Mission Statement, which by law is part of our Certificate of Incorporation with the State of New York. How we sound, Part I: Read some testimonials from distinguished musicians who have heard us. How we sound, Part II: Listen to a brief recording of Musica Bella in rehearsal or concert! We apologize in that nothing new has been added recently—but that will change as soon as we can actually find some spare time to do it. A little about our history: The Musica Bella Orchestra of New York, Inc., was founded and organized by cellist Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill in 2001. The orchestra made its debut on January 20, 2002. We completed that first season (2001-2002) with another concert in January and one in June, and we now have five more seasons (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006, and 2006-2007) of four, six, eight, eight, and ten concerts, respectively, under our belt; and we are now almost to the end of our seventh season, 2007-2008, during which, if our calculations are correct, we will have played fifteen concerts. Please click on the “Our History” link at the left of any page for a more detailed look at our past concerts (sadly not quite up to date at the moment, sorry about that), and on the “Future Concerts” link for complete current information on our schedule for this season. Admission to our concerts is by donation only (we suggest a very reasonable $15.00, student/senior $10.00). By “by donation only,” we mean that we ask you to kindly make a donation of any size, but preferably of at least the recommended minimum size if you can afford it, in order to help us continue to present these concerts. Donations: Please feel encouraged to make a donation to Musica Bella, in addition to your donation at the door. You may donate as much — or as little — as you want; every penny is appreciated. It’s really not too dramatic to say that our very survival depends on your generosity, since putting on these concerts is incredibly expensive. For more details, click here or on the “Donations” link on the left of any page. Please note that your donation is tax-deductible, as Musica Bella is a 501(c)(3) organization. Management: The music director and conductor of Musica Bella (and the Webmaster of this Web site) is Phillip Gaskill. The chorusmaster, a position newly created for our January 2008 production of the Bach B-Minor Mass, is Aram Tchobanian. (We intend to do many more works with chorus in the future, so this is now a permanent position.) The founder, driving force, executive director, and manager of the orchestra is Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill. This site’s history: This Web site went public on Sunday, January 6, 2002, exactly two weeks before our very first concert ever, and moved to this location (musicabella.com) on Sunday, October 5, 2003, coincidentally exactly two weeks before our first Mahler concert. The “redesign” (moving the links to the left instead of the bottom) was launched on Tuesday, June 15, 2004. The last modified/updated dates are automatically displayed at the bottom of each individual page (except for the bios, where we’re interested in the date the bio itself was last updated, not the date the file was last saved with new concerts-played dates but no substantive changes to the information in the bio itself). TO CONTACT US: By phone, call 917-579-7535. Click here to send an E-mail to Musica Bella’s administration in general. Click here to send an E-mail to executive director/manager Anahit Harutyunyan Gaskill. Click here to send an E-mail to music director/conductor Phillip Gaskill. If you experience a problem with this Web site (or just want to give us some feedback or whatever), click here to send an E-mail to Webmaster Phillip Gaskill. Postal Address: The Musica Bella Orchestra of New York c/o Blessed Sacrament Church 152 W. 71st Street New York, NY 10023 JOIN OUR MAILING LIST: To join Musica Bella’s mailing list, click here to send an E-mail to us, or write to us at our postal address, listed just above here. Just mention that you want to join our mailing list. This page was last modified Saturday, May 03, 2008. The Musica Bella Orchestra of New York, Inc., a New York State Not For Profit Corporation, was incorporated in 2004 and became a 501(c)(3) organization the same year. For further information about becoming a donor, please visit our Donations/Support page.