Brian Thornton
a native of Colorado, became a member of the cello section of The Cleveland Orchestra at the beginning of the 1994-95 season. As cellist and conductor, he has performed in hundreds of venues across the world, from The White House in Washington D.C. to the Great Hall of the People in Beijing,China. He has performed as a soloist with more than 30 orchestras across the United States, as well as in many chamber music collaborations with different ensembles. With his special interest in modern music has led him to premier works by composers including Donald Erb and John Adams. Mr. Thornton has taken part in premiering more than 100 new works of music as a soloist or in chamber ensembles, as well as participating in many Cleveland Orchestra premieres. He especially enjoys taking part in concerts that benefit special causes, including the Muscular Dystrophy Society, and took part in concerts in Cleveland for the Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan. Brian has been a Yamaha Artist since 2010, and makes frequent trips to Japan to teach and play audience engagement concerts there. Brian Thornton and his wife, Jennifer Woda, a mezzo-soprano, have two daughters, Maya and Madelyn.

Callisto Quartet
Praised for their “lush intensity and bravado” and the “cohesion and intonation one might expect from an ensemble twice their age” (Third Coast Review), the American-Canadian Callisto Quartet brings together four musicians who share a deep passion for bringing chamber music to audiences around the world. Since their inception at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2016, Callisto has garnered top prizes in nearly every major international chamber music competition and has been hailed by audiences across the globe. Grand Prize winners of the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Second Prize Winners of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Callisto Quartet has also taken home prizes from the Bordeaux, Melbourne, and Wigmore Hall competitions. Currently the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at Yale University, Callisto has previously held residencies at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain. From 2020-2022 Callisto was the Ernst Stiefel Quartet in Residence at Caramoor Center for Music and Arts, where they were the first quartet to perform all six string quartets of Bartòk.

The Callisto Quartet maintains an active touring and performing schedule, which has included notable appearances in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Schneider Concert Series, Ravinia Festival, and the Heidelberg String Quartet Festival. Additionally, Callisto has been invited to perform at renowned chamber music festivals throughout North America and Europe, such as the La Jolla Music Society Summerfest, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Emilia Romagna Festival, the Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland Chamber Music Campus, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy. At the invitation of Gerhard Schulz, they attended the 2018 Prussia Cove International Musicians Seminar where they also worked with Gidon Kremer and Thomas Adès. In 2021, Callisto performed a series of concerts in Berlin and Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, at the Musethica International Chamber Music Festival, where they collaborated closely with Avri Levitan. Callisto has been honored to collaborate with many legendary artists, including cellist David Geringas at the Cleveland Cello Society’s 20th anniversary concert and clarinetist Franklin Cohen on the ChamberFest Cleveland Series. Over the 2018-2019 seasons at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival they have shared the stage with musicians such as Paul Watkins, Lawrence Power, and Gilles Vonsattel. In 2021, Callisto recorded Schubert’s Cello Quintet with Desmond Hoebig for the 2021 Banff International String Quartet Festival.

The Callisto Quartet is committed to continually broadening their musical horizons by drawing inspiration from a plethora of mentors and musical approaches. They are also dedicated educators and believe in the importance of mentoring students and connecting with audiences in a meaningful way. Callisto most recently developed a unique chamber music curriculum entitled “Chamber Music Deconstructed: a Comprehensive Curriculum developed by the Callisto Quartet”, which they implemented during their 2021-22 teaching residency at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC, and are currently bringing to other schools across the United States. Currently, Callisto is the Quartet in Residence at the Suzuki Music School of Westport, where they head the chamber music program.