Creative Musicians Retreat Artists

Paula Matthusen, CMR 2025 Composer-in-Residence

Paula Matthusen is a composer who writes both electroacoustic and acoustic music and realizes sound installations. In addition to composing for a variety of different ensembles, she also collaborates with choreographers and theater companies. She has written for diverse instrumentations, such as “run-on sentence of the pavement” for piano, ping-pong balls, and electronics, which Alex Ross of The New Yorker noted as being “entrancing”. Her work often considers discrepancies in musical space—real, imagined, and remembered. Recent areas of creative inquiry include extensive field recording, which has led to compositions and sound projects in aqueducts, caves, and sites of historic infrastructure. Matthusen is currently Professor of Music at Wesleyan University, where she teaches experimental music, composition, and music technology, and founded the Toneburst Laptop and Electronic Arts Ensemble.

Read more about Paula and her work on her website.

David Friend, piano

The New York Times describes David Friend as “[one] of the finest, busiest pianists active in New York’s contemporary-classical scene.” With a primary focus on new and experimental music, he has performed at major venues in the U.S. and abroad including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, Royal Festival Hall (London), Museo Reina Sofia (Madrid), the Chan Centre (Vancouver), and the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Beijing). He has also performed extensively in alternative, underground, and DIY venues. He has recorded for the New Amsterdam, Harmonia Mundi, Albany, Cedille, Dacapo, Innova, a wave press, and New World labels, and his playing has been heard on radio stations across the country, including on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, WQXR’s Hammered!, and WNYC’s New Sounds. He records frequently with a wide variety of collaborators and is featured on Third Coast Percussion’s album of music by Steve Reich, which won the Grammy Award for best chamber music performance. His most recent recording, Post-, is an electroacoustic reimagining of what solo piano music can be in the 21st century, and was released on the New Amsterdam label in March 2021. More info at davidfriendpiano.net.

International Contemporary Ensemble

Members of ICE at the 2025 Creative Musicians Retreat are Kyle Armbrust (viola), Isabel Lepanto Gleicher (flutes), Rebekah Heller (bassoon), Dan Lippel (guitars), and Modney (violin).

Kyle Armbrust, viola

Violist Kyle Armbrust, praised by The New York Times as “assured, brilliant, and stylish,” has built a dynamic career as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. He made his New York solo debut with Kurt Masur and the Juilliard Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall and has since appeared with ensembles including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Kyle has worked with composers such as Steve Reich, Osvaldo Golijov, and Elliott Carter, and performs regularly with groups like the International Contemporary Ensemble, Argento Ensemble, and the Orchestra of the League of Composers. He is assistant principal viola of the New Jersey Symphony, principal of the Westchester Philharmonic, and a founding member of The Knights. His chamber music appearances span festivals from Marlboro to Verbier, and he has collaborated with artists across genres, including Sting and Sufjan Stevens. Kyle is a Juilliard graduate and records on labels such as Naxos, Sony, and Cedille.

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute
Flutist Isabel Lepanto Gleicher is a dynamic soloist, chamber musician, and educator acclaimed by The New York Times as “excellent” and praised by composer John Zorn for her “stunning musicality.” A member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Échappé, and ShoutHouse, and a founding member of SoundMind, Isabel performs internationally across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. She has premiered works by Steve Reich, Missy Mazzoli, John Zorn, and Augusta Read Thomas, and appears with ensembles such as Wild Up, Talea, and Imani Winds. Her project Song Sessions received a 2019 New Music USA grant, and she has performed at major festivals including Big Ears, Mostly Mozart, Sacrum Profanum, and MATA. Isabel is featured on a wide range of recordings, from contemporary classical to indie rock and hip-hop, and has collaborated with So Percussion, the Aizuri Quartet, and San Fermin. An advocate for equity in classical music, she champions work by women and artists of color, aiming to expand the canon and redefine representation in the field. Isabel holds degrees from SUNY Purchase, Yale School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music, and teaches through institutions including the Walden School and American Composers Orchestra.

Rebekah Heller, bassoon

Rebekah Heller is a bassoonist, conductor, composer, educator, and curator whose work centers on creating and sharing new music with openness and inclusivity. Hailed by The New Yorker as “an impressive solo bassoonist,” she made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic in 2018 and has performed with the Seattle Symphony, at the Born Creative Festival in Tokyo, TIME:SPANS, and more. A passionate advocate for new music, Heller has released two solo albums of works written for her and, in 2024, released Grand Street Counterpoint, a multi-track bassoon piece co-produced with Steve Reich, as well as her debut EP of original compositions, ONE, on Relative Pitch Records. Since 2008, she has been a core member and former Co-Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, collaborating with hundreds of composers to premiere groundbreaking works. Expanding her artistic reach as a conductor, she has led ensembles including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the New World Symphony, and Helsinki Metropolitan Orchestra, earning praise for her “crisp direction” and “turn-on-a-dime energy.” An influential educator, Heller has been on faculty at the Mannes School of Music at The New School since 2019, where she leads the bassoon studio, co-chairs the wind department, and teaches contemporary repertoire, improvisation, and new music practices.

Daniel Lippel, guitar
Guitarist Daniel Lippel, praised by The New York Times as an “exciting soloist” and by the Boston Globe as “precise and sensitive,” leads a dynamic career as a performer, recording artist, and educator. He has premiered over fifty solo and chamber works, many written for him, and records widely, including on his own label, New Focus Recordings. Recent highlights include Le Poisson Rouge, Sinus Ton Festival, and the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, as well as chamber performances at the Ojai, Mostly Mozart, and Ottawa Chamber Festivals. Lippel is a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble and has collaborated with leading composers such as Mario Davidovsky, Tyshawn Sorey, and Dai Fujikura. In addition to contemporary classical work, he performs improvised and original music with artists like Cory Smythe and Alejandro Florez and has toured and recorded with the indie band Mice Parade. As an educator, he has led masterclasses at institutions including the Curtis Institute, Sydney Conservatorium, Peabody, and the San Francisco Conservatory. Lippel holds a DMA from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with David Starobin.

Theo Ramsey, violin

Theo Ramsey enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, orchestral violinist, and teacher. Their favorite musical activities include playing in a chamber orchestra and listening to very quiet sounds. Much of Theo’s career centers around premiering and recording new and experimental chamber music. Since 2018, they are a violinist and violist with Ensemble Dal Niente. They have performed as principal second violin on the Chicago Symphony’s MusicNOW series and as a guest musician with Alarm Will Sound and other new music ensembles around the US. They are a member of the Grossman Ensemble, in residence at the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (University of Chicago). A sought-after orchestral player and chamber musician, Theo is a first violinist with the New Bedford Symphony and performs frequently around Boston with the Boston Lyric Opera, the Landmarks Orchestra, and other groups. They were featured as a soloist with the Chicago Sinfonietta and in recital on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series. Theo appears on albums with Ensemble Dal Niente, the Knights, and violinist Gil Shaham.