Conor Nelson
FlutePraised for his “long-breathed phrases and luscious tone” by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Canadian flutist Conor Nelson is established as a leading flutist and pedagogue of his generation. Since his New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, he has frequently appeared as soloist and recitalist throughout the United States and abroad.
Solo engagements include concerti with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other orchestras. In addition to being the only wind player to win the Grand Prize at the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, he won first prize at the William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition. He also received top prizes at the New York Flute Club Young Artist Competition, the Haynes International Flute Competition as well as the Fischoff, Coleman, and Yellow Springs chamber music competitions.
Prior to his appointment as Professor of Flute at UW-Madison, he taught at Bowling Green State University and Oklahoma State University in similar capacities. He also serves as Principal Flutist of the New Orchestra of Washington in Washington, D.C.
With percussionist Ayano Kataoka, he performed at Merkin Concert Hall, Tokyo Bunka Kaikan Hall, and Izumi Hall. A recital at the Tokyo Opera City Hall received numerous broadcasts on NHK Television. Their CD, Breaking Training was released on New Focus Recordings (NYC). In addition to several other releases on New Focus, he has also recorded for the Centaur, Albany, Toccata Classics (London), Blue Griffin, and the paladino music label (Vienna).
He has collaborated with Claude Frank on the Schneider concert series in NYC and appeared at numerous chamber music festivals across the country including the OK Mozart, Skaneateles, Yellow Barn, Cooperstown, Salt Bay, Look and Listen (NYC), Norfolk (Yale), Green Mountain, Chesapeake, and the Chamber Music Quad Cities series. CMC since 2012.
He received degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and Stony Brook University where he was the winner of the schoolwide concerto competitions at all three institutions. He is also a recipient of the Thomas Nyfenger Prize, the Samuel Baron Prize, and the Presser Award. His principal teachers include Carol Wincenc, Ransom Wilson, Linda Chesis, Susan Hoeppner, and Amy Hamilton. Conor is an artist with Powell Flutes and the flutist with the with the Wingra Wind Quintet at UW-Madison, one of the longest standing quintets world-wide.
Stephen Key
Oboe - ComposerStephen Key is an Oboist, Composer, Arranger, and Pedagogue in the Washington DC Metro area. A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Professor Key began his studies on piano and voice with his mother when he was only three. He landed on studying the oboe in the public school band program in Ada, Ok. Like many young oboists, at 11 he didn’t want to play an instrument that everyone else was playing.
Mostly an oboist, Stephen is the Principal Oboe for the New Orchestra of Washington, adjunct Associate Professor of Oboe at Shenandoah Conservatory, and Principal Oboist for the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival where he has been invited as a featured soloist on Bach’s Concerto for Oboe d’Amore. In addition to concerto performances with NOW, Key arranged and performed Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin about which New York critic, Oberon’s Grove, said, “gorgeous performance... terrific, notable solos... rich, warm tone.” As a soloist, he has performed with the New Orchestra of Washington, Washington Chamber Orchestra, The Washington Chorus, Washington Master Chorale, University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, and Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, Key partnered with Swiss-based, Italian Pianist, Matteo Cardelli to record Lili Boulanger’s song cycle, Clairières dans le Ciel, now available on streaming.
Orchestral work includes regularly performing with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, and recently playing with the Arizona MusicFest at the request of Maestro Robert Moody. He regularly serves as the Guest Principal of the Maryland Symphony, and has also played with the National Symphony, Austin Symphony (TX), Richmond Symphony, Roanoke Symphony and Opera, Virginia Opera, the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, and the New World Symphony. Also, he has recorded with Grammy Award-winning studio Sono Luminus, the Centaur Label, DF-Recording in Switzerland, and Albany Records.
As a chamber musician, Stephen coaches many groups in the Washington DC area and is frequently performing with the Van Buren Winds through his conservatory position, but has performed on recital series in the United States and Europe. He recently served as a faculty performer for the Chamber Music Conference of the East from 2023-2025.
As an arranger, much of his work has been for the New Orchestra of Washington. While as a composer, Key seeks to increase chamber and solo repertoire for the oboe with multiple other combinations of instruments. Inasmuch, his works have been performed numerous times throughout the Washington DC region, from the Shenandoah Valley to New York City, and even in Europe.
Key studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked with Rebecca Henderson, James Caldwell, Rudolf Vrbsky, Carol Stephenson, James Moseley, Richard Killmer, Elaine Douvas, and Katherine Needleman.
Giacomo Cardelli
Cello
Giacomo Cardelli, born in Ferrara in 1994, graduated in cello with top marks and honors in 2013 under the guidance of Maestro Luca Simoncini at the Conservatory of Rovigo. In 2016, he earned a Master of Arts in Music Performance and subsequently in 2018 a Master of Arts in Specialized Music Performance (Soloist Diploma), both at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland under the guidance of Maestro Enrico Dindo.
From 2021 to 2023, he attended the Postgraduate Program at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg under the guidance of Maestro Giovanni Gnocchi. He was the winner of one of the Swiss Confederation ESKAS Excellence Scholarships (2015-16) and of numerous national and international competitions.
For years he has been actively performing as a soloist and in chamber music groups in Italy and abroad, performing recitals at major music festivals including the Società dei Concerti-Palazzo Pirelli in Milan; EXPO 2015, Ravenna Festival, Lingotto Musica, Ravello Festival, RSI Lugano, Sobrio Festival, Palazzo dei Congressi Lugano, LAC Lugano, Swiss Foundation for Young Musicians in Basel, Biennale Musica in Venice, Museo del '900 in Milan, and Accademia Filarmonica Romana.
He has also performed as a soloist with the string orchestra conducted by Maestro Piero Toso, the Orchestra dei Musici di Parma, the Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, the Wind Ensemble of the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland, the Orchestra of the Nice Opera, Orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa; collaborating on these occasions with musicians such as Vladimir Verbistky, Michel Tabachnik, Gyorgy Rath, Francesca Dego, Vincent Larderet and Wayne Marshall.
He has collaborated with Italian and foreign orchestras such as the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, the Orchestra of the Teatro Regio in Turin (as second cello), the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano as first cello and the Orchestra of the Teatro la Fenice in Venice and the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, always as first cello. In March 2024 he won the first cello competition and became a permanent member of the Orchestra of the Teatro la Fenice in Venice.
He plays a 1927 Ansaldo Poggi cello, kindly loaned by a private individual.
Matteo Cardelli
Piano
Matteo Cardelli is an award-winning, Italian pianist who is frequently engaged as both soloist and collaborative musician. Currently based in Basel, Switzerland, he is the assistant teacher for Filippo Gamba at the Basel Hochschule für Musik, and is the piano teacher at the Musikschule Allschwil. He has performed in prestigious venues across Europe, North America and Asia while organizing concerts for international audiences.
Mr. Cardelli has won top prizes at multiple international competitions as a solo pianist. Among this list is the Donato De Rosa Special Prize at the Antonio Casagrande International Piano Competition, as well as other awards and top placements at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, Concours Géza Anda 2021, XXVIII Premio Venezia, “Alfredo Speranza” International Piano Competition, Julian Cochran Piano competition, Euregio Piano Award International Competition, Orbetello Piano Competition, Massarosa Piano Competition, and the XXVIII Concorso Internazionale “Città di Albenga”.
As a concert pianist, he gave his debut in the Basel Musical Theatre playing Brahms Second Piano Concerto with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, conducted by Joseph Bastian. Additionally, he recorded Mozart Concerto K. 271 “Jeune-Homme” with the Roma Tre Orchestra in the Teatro Palladium (Rome, Italy), conducted by Sieva Borzak.
Equally comfortable as a collaborative artist and concert organizer, he performed the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas in Basel for the Swiss Foundation For Young Musicians in a duo with his brother, Giacomo Cardelli, principal cellist for the Orchestra del Teatro Fenice. The “Duo Cardelli” also recorded documentaries and interviews for RAI and Radio3; working with Giovanni Bietti and Andrea Penna. He has also collaborated with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra Soloists, Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza, Orchestra delle Cento Città, and is the founder and artistic director of the Ensemble Musik Festival concert series, which takes place annually in his hometown of Ferrara. Cardelli is regularly invited as visiting professor at Music Fest Perugia international masterclasses, directed by Ilana Vered.
Matteo got his Diploma in 2010 with Fabrizio Lanzoni at the Conservatory of Ferrara, and his Masters Degree in Piano Performance and Specialized Piano Performance-Soloist, with high distinction, at the Musik Akademie Basel with Filippo Gamba and Anton Kernjak. Further studies include masterclasses with internationally renowned pianists such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Ference Rados, Gabor Takacs, Andrej Gavrilov, Sir Andras Schiff, Boris Petrushansky, Pasquale Iannone, and Ilana Vered. He also studied with Mauro Minguzzi and Konstantin Bogino.