The Cello Chronicles

Embark on a musical journey through time with the renowned Texas Cellos.
‘The Cello Chronicles’ will be an epic night of 4CELLOS playing in harmony, creating a symphony of sound that will transport you to another world. It's perfect for cello aficionados and newcomers alike!

6:15PM | NEW Cello 'Petting Zoo. Peak backstage and meet the musicians and their instruments before the show. Perfect for children and adults alike!

6:30PM | King Family Wine* and BYOP (Bring your own picnic!) to enjoy on the grounds

7:30PM | Concert in the Carriage House

*available for purchase

Marinus Vineyard Concerts (formerly Marinus in the Vineyard) welcomes the TexasCello Quartet to kick off our 2024 season. Four renowned cellists, who on other nights might be playing at New York’s Lincoln Center or the Kennedy Center, are joining forces to play a delightful collection of repertoire that journeys through the Renaissance and Classical, reaching not only to the romantic literature of Schubert’s Erlkönig and Elgar’s nostalgic Nimrod Variations, but beyond the classical tradition with Radiohead’s Karma Police and Mancini’s Moon River.

Praised for his “fluid virtuosity” and “soulful melodies,” Los Angeles native BROOK SPELTZ has been inspired since childhood by the long tradition of deep musical mastery of artists such as Jascha Heifetz, Pierre Fournier, and the Guarneri String Quartet. Mr. Speltz is the cellist of the internationally renowned Escher String Quartet, is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and a founding artist of the Manhattan Chamber Players.

An extremely versatile cellist, Mr. Speltz has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist throughout the US, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. First Prize winner of the prestigious Ima Hogg Competition, he has performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall, and International Contemporary Ensemble, among others, and is a regular performer at England’s IMS Prussia Cove and on tour with Musicians from Marlboro. An avid and sought after chamber musician, Mr. Speltz has been personally invited by musical giants such as Itzhak Perlman and Richard Goode to collaborate in chamber music recitals and tours throughout the country. As a result of these collaborations, he was nominated for the inaugural Warner Music Prize, a newly established prize presented by Warner Music and Carnegie Hall.

As a member of the Escher Quartet, Brook has enjoyed touring the world on five continents. The quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, Shanghai Concert Hall, Taipei National Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Center, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Alongside its growing overseas profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. The quartet has held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and the University of Akron, Ohio. Beyond the concert hall, Mr. Speltz is proud to announce the creation of a new non profit, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission as a non-profit classical music organization is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages.

A lover of all facets of the music world, Mr. Speltz has performed on extensive tours with the cello rock band Break of Reality, whose online video of the Game of Thrones cover immediately went viral and has already received over 27 million views. Their recent U.S. tour raised funds and awareness for music programs in public schools all around the country. Mr. Speltz studied at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music with Peter Wiley and at the Juilliard School with Joel Krosnick, after his formative years of study with Eleanor Schoenfeld in Los Angeles. He performs on a 1857 J.B. Vuillaume cello on loan from his father, a cellist and his first inspiration in a family of professional musicians.

Grammy nominated cellist, MICHELLE DJOKIC enjoys a versatile career as chamber musician, soloist and orchestral player. A 2018 review from Seattle’s SunBreak while appearing with Emerald City Music reads, “Bloch’s “Prayer” for cello and piano, from his Jewish Life No. 1 was a moving and beautiful evocation of Jewish life in the hands of cellist Michelle Djokic.... Her sound had warmth, depth and gentleness...” Michelle's lifelong passion for chamber music and the collaborative process of rehearsing was her inspiration for the launching of Musikiwest in 2017 based in Palo Alto, CA. Musikiwest harnesses the collaborative power of chamber music to engender empathic awareness, promote conflict resolution and build peaceable communities. Using scripted “open rehearsals” in a unique and creative format, Musikiwest addresses difficult issues in young people’s lives such as bullying, shaming and exclusion. The most sought after performing artists of today gather for this meaningful opportunity to share with adolescents through their incredible artistry and generosity of spirit. Hundreds of lives continue to be impacted by this powerful experience.

Michelle is also the founder and director of Concordia Chamber Players based in New Hope, PA since 1997. Concordia has commissioned and premiered new works by Clarice Assad as well as J.P. Jofre. Since its inception Michelle has presented the most gifted artists with creative programming in the bucolic setting of Bucks County. In addition to her Concordia appearances on the east coast, Michelle mentors young students of the Foundation Academy Charter Public School in Trenton, NJ through the Stand Partners program.

Michelle is the last of seven children born to survivors of WWII. Michelle's French mother lived in occupied France and her Serbian father, part of the underground forces, was liberated by the Americans from a concentration camp in occupied France. Despite neither parent having gone to college and Michelle's father having to work in a steel mill most of his life in the US, many sacrifices were made for all seven children to be provided with music lessons. Education was the most valued element of their upbringing. Music was only intended to be part of their education and so the eldest went on to pursue their studies at Rutgers, Harvard, Oberlin and Princeton. The love for music instilled in the children however, could not be denied. The last three children pursued their studies in music receiving their degrees at the Juilliard School of Music.

Michelle made her debut as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at 12 years of age and went on to win numerous competitions. She has worked as principal cellist with several orchestras throughout the country. She is currently a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra in San Francisco.

She is married to squash legend, Mark Talbott who is the founder and director of the squash program at Stanford University. They have two children one of whom is in medical school at Duke University and the other works alongside his father at Stanford as a squash coach. Music was always part of their lives and Michelle believes it very much contributed to their positive and empathic engagement with the world.

“Joseph Kuipers is one of the rare musical voices of today: the fresh sincerity of his playing, combined with technical sovereignty over the instrument. He draws a dark, singing sound out of his( Gobetti) Cello, and creates lines that seem to float effortlessly.”

-Berliner Abend Post

American cellist JOSEPH KUIPERS is renowned for his creativity and versatility in his captivating performances on both modern and gut strings. Appearing at festivals and music centers around the globe, he has performed at the Ravinia Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Les Festival International du Domaine Forget, Kronberg Academy, SXSW, Ascoli Pinceno Festival, Carl Orff Festival, and the World Cello Congress. Equally at home with modern and baroque performance styles, and often juxtaposing them in concert programs, Joseph is dedicated to the music of our time. He has worked extensively with living composers, among them Robert Cogan, Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann and Arvo Part.

Recent chamber music appearances include concerts with the Miró, Dover and Escher Quartets, violinists Chee-Yun Kim and Hye-Jin Kim, pianists Alex McDonald and Amy Yang and bandoneonist JP Jofre.

In 2020 he founded the TEXAS CELLOS™ a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that gives back to the community by inspiring and cultivating excellence in youth through music education, ensemble building, and through performance opportunities.

Since their debut the Texas Cellos have received much attention from press and audiences alike performing works from the Beatles, Radiohead to the world premier performance of Rachmaninoff Vespers transcribed for cello choir.

Joseph is the founder and creative director of MUSIC@MILL Music Festival™, “… great music in an old factory space”; TEXAS CELLO SCHOOL | an Int’l Institute™, “…a self-sufficient institute welcoming musicians to come and focus, create and grow”; and TEXAS CELLO GRAND PRIX INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 2024, a high-level event open to cellists of all nationalities aged 16–30. (born 1994-2008)

Teaching plays a large role in Joseph’s musical career. He has held positions at Washington and Lee University, Eastern University, Binningen School for Gifted Students in Switzerland, as well as numerous masterclasses at festivals worldwide, and maintains a private teaching studio of cellists in North Dallas, where he is based. His students regularly win prizes at Collin Country Concerto Competition, Dallas Symphonic Festival, MTNA, TMEA All-State & and All-Region, TPSMEA All-State &All-region and are members of the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and Fort-Worth Youth Orchestra among others.

Joseph completed his undergraduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where his primary teachers were Paul Katz for cello and Pozzi Escot for composition. In order to immerse himself in the European Music Tradition, he subsequently studied for six years in Germany and Switzerland. In 2008, Joseph received an Artist Diploma from the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim, Germany; where he studied with Michael Flaksman. He completed his Master of Musical Arts from the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel, Switzerland, where he studied with Thomas Demenga. Other important influences came from Anner Bylsma, Rainer Faupel, Bernard Greenhouse, Mstislav Rostropovich and Hong Wang, and in chamber-music from Rainer Schmidt of the Hagen Quartet.

He plays a cello from Francesco Gobetti, Venice ca 1710, a custom Tourte bow by Roger Zabinski, and baroque bow by Andrew Dipper.

Aside from his musical activities Joseph is a composer, painter, chess player, and avid fisherman. He can often be found in the great outdoors with his Australian Shepherd dogs, Yelka and Ronin.

For more than thirty years, cellist JAMES WILSON has nurtured and enjoyed an exciting and varied career as performer, educator, and composer, bringing the joy of music to audiences throughout the world, from small towns to the world’s most illustrious venues. Acclaimed for his singing tone, and intelligent and soulful approach to music, the Los Angeles Times described Wilson as a musician “with something to say and a commanding way of saying it.”

As recitalist and chamber musician, he has appeared in many of the world’s most illustrious performing spaces, including America’s Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Basilica of Notre-Dame in Montreal, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Musikverein in Vienna. He has performed at music festivals around the world such as the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the City of London Festival, the Deutches Mozartfest in Bavaria, the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in Finland, the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado.

The multi-faceted Mr. Wilson is a member and has been the Artistic Coordinator of the Grammy-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and regularly serves as guest principal cellist of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. A lover of period performance practice, Mr. Wilson performs on Baroque cello throughout North America and Europe. His performances have been broadcast on West German Radio and Bavarian Radio in Germany, CBC radio in Canada, BBC Radio in Britain, Finish Radio, and National Public Radio. He is currently on the faculty of the Music Performance Program at Columbia University in New York.

Chamber music forms the core of Mr. Wilson’s work. He is a former member of the Shanghai and Chester Quartets, and the DaCapo Chamber Players. In 2004, he founded the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia (CMSCVA) in Richmond and remains the group’s Artistic Director.

Praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “perfectly balanced” and offering “the virtue of variety” the MARINUS ENSEMBLE is a chamber music collective that draws on the best emerging international performers to bring music alive. At the heart of Marinus is a commitment to engage audiences with a distinctive concert approach, giving performances that are both searching and authentic. Our musicians have great training (Curtis, Juilliard, New England Conservatory) and are based out of outstanding organizations (the Metropolitan Opera, National Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, A Far Cry). Most importantly, they have a shared vision of making great music come alive for diverse audiences.

Marinus invites artists to team up on creative musical projects around a range of repertoire. Each project leads to a group of concerts that form our performance season. Through the juxtaposition of styles, composers, and instruments, each Marinus concert program reinforces the idea that when we stop to listen, all great music has the power to challenge and enrich our lives. Beyond the concert hall, Marinus is committed to educating all its listeners—creating space for learning through interactive concerts, accessible program notes, and teaching residencies at schools and universities.

Founded in 2010 by siblings Rachel Kuipers Yonan and Joseph Kuipers, the Marinus Ensemble has been ensemble-in-residence at Washington and Lee University and Eastern University, and performs regularly at concert halls and universities around the country. The ensemble is based out of Charlottesville with participating artists from Boston, Dallas, New York, Raleigh and Stuttgart. Recent performances include appearances on the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Curtis Presents, WRTI Performance Studio, and the Rochester Chamber Music Society.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

King Family Vineyards, 6550 Roseland Farm, Crozet, United States