Winterhaven's Co-Directors

An-Lin Bardin &
​Naomi Niskala

Greetings!  Winterhaven Chamber Music Retreat has been a dream for the two of us for more than a decade.  As active chamber musicians and teachers with over 30 years experience for each of us, we dreamed of hosting an annual retreat for adult amateur musicians in a location that would allow us to create a small but tightly-knit community of music lovers and curious learners who would relish creating and exploring music together.  Chamber music is an intimate conversation that grows, breathes, and changes with each player and each piece of music.  And teaching is a two-way street where both students and teachers learn from each other.  Come join us for a truly special week at Winterhaven Chamber Music Retreat.  Take a deep-dive into works of chamber music while treating yourself at a gorgeous facility complete with spacious rehearsal studios, beautiful private bedrooms, gourmet food, and tranquil views.  We hope to see you here in January 2026!

2026 Artist Faculty & Staff

Valerie Nuzzolo
Clarinet/Flute

A dynamic and versatile clarinetist, Valerie Nuzzolo has performed throughout the United States and abroad. Based in New York, she has played at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, and has performed with the Long Island Festival Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Ithaca New Music Collective, and Kingsport Symphony Orchestra. She also performs regularly as a
guest artist with Long Island's American Chamber Ensemble. As teacher, she maintains a consistent woodwind studio of clarinet, saxophone, and flute players that range from beginner through adult.
She is currently on faculty at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, New York, where she teaches Applied Clarinet and Jazz History. Each summer, she teaches at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan. At Blue Lake, she teaches clarinet majors and woodwind minor classes in clarinet, saxophone, and flute.
Valerie Nuzzolo earned a DMA in clarinet performance from Michigan State University under the instruction of Guy Yehuda. Other primary teachers are Richard Faria, Peter Cain, and Mindy Dragovich, with additional influence from Anthony McGill, Eric Mandat, Stephanie Zelnick,
Michael Galvan, and Mingzhe Wang. Valerie Nuzzolo is a D'Addario Woodwinds Educator Artist.

Emilie-Anne Gendron
Violin

Lauded by the New York Times as a “brilliant soloist” and by The Strad for her “marvellous and lyrical playing,” violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron enjoys a versatile career based in NYC. She is a member of Orpheus, the Momenta Quartet, and since 2011, the Marlboro Music Festival and Musicians from Marlboro. Ms. Gendron also appears with Talea Ensemble, A Far Cry, New Asia Chamber Music Society, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. In addition to frequently leading Orpheus, she has served as concertmaster of Iris Collective, Sejong, and Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, among others. She is a founding member of Ensemble Échappé, a new-music sinfonietta, and Gamut Bach Ensemble, in residence with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.  A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Ms. Gendron was trained at Juilliard where her teachers were Won-Bin Yim, Dorothy DeLay, David Chan, and Hyo Kang. She holds a B.A. in Classics from Columbia (magna cum laude and with Phi Beta Kappa honors), and a Master of Music degree and the coveted Artist Diploma from Juilliard.  Ms. Gendron plays on a 2016 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin on loan from the Five Partners Foundation, and a 1673 Jacob Stainer violin on loan from the Englewood Chamber Players.
​www.emilieannegendron.com
​

Ara Sarkissian
Violin

Ara Sarkissian began studying violin at the age of four and continues to teach and perform domestically and abroad. As a performer and advocate of contemporary music, he has collaborated with esteemed composers including Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, Helmut Lachenmann, Wolfgang Rihm, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, George Benjamin, and Kaija Saariaho. Ara has performed in ensembles including IRIS Orchestra, Callithumpian Consort, New England String Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Guerrilla Opera, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
Ara has over 20 years of teaching experience, having started teaching private lessons at an early age. He has served in a teaching capacity at the Pre-College Division at Stony Brook University, the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, the Community Music Center of Boston, the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra at Harvard University, and now at Interlochen Arts Academy. Ara received his Bachelors and Masters of Music degrees in Violin Performance with academic honors from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, his principal teachers were Marylou Speaker Churchill and James Buswell IV. Other important teachers include Paul Biss, Phil Setzer, and Soovin Kim.​

Alex Fortes
Violin

A native of San Diego, violinist Alex Fortes is recognized for his versatility and warmth. Recent orchestral and chamber music performances have included performances in France, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Indonesia, as well as throughout North America with groups such as the Henschel Quartett, Dalí Quartet, Franklin String Quartet, Momenta Quartet, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Knights, Quod Libet, and A Far Cry.  His playing is featured on A Far Cry’s 2014 Grammy-nominated album, Dreams and Prayers, as well as on Law of Mosaics, which The New Yorker’s Alex Ross hailed as one of the top ten albums of 2014. He can also be heard on a forthcoming album with the Henschel Quartett and pianist Donald Berman featuring the music of Chris Theofanidis.  Fortes holds a strong interest in finding new contexts in which to experience familiar music. His recent arrangements of Schubert lieder and chamber music were hailed by the Boston Globe as “uniformly resourceful and complementary…smart, subtle.” In May 2016, A Far Cry premiered his arrangement with Sarah Darling of Bach’s Goldberg Variations in collaboration with pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Alex holds degrees from Harvard College and Mannes College, and his teachers include Mark Steinberg, Peter Zazofsky, Hernan Constantino, Mary Gerard, and Michael Gaisler.​

Celia Hatton
Viola

Based in New York City, violist Celia Hatton has performed throughout the world. Hatton’s solos as Principal Viola of Experiential Orchestra can be heard on GRAMMY winning album “The Prison.” She is a member of A Far Cry and Co-Principal of Chamber Orchestra of New York. She has performed with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and toured with ECCO, The Knights, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Sphinx Virtuosi. She has given the world premiere of string quartets by Colin Matthews, Derek Bermel, and Felix Jarrar. She has appeared with the Blair String Quartet, Harlem Quartet, Manhattan Chamber Players, and North Country Chamber Players. As an Honorary Ambassador, she has performed throughout South Korea with the New York in Chuncheon Festival. An Adjunct Professor at Adelphi University, she has given masterclasses at Colburn Music Academy, Manhattan School of Music, New York University, and Vanderbilt University. Hatton earned degrees from New England Conservatory with Kim Kashkashian and Manhattan School of Music with Karen Dreyfus. ​

An-Lin Bardin
Cello

Described as “stunning,” by the New York Times, cellist An-Lin Bardin teaches cello and chamber music at Sarah Lawrence College and freelances in the greater NYC area.  As the cellist of the Vinca Quartet, she performed extensively throughout Europe and the US, including Carnegie’s Weill Hall.  She is a laureate of several international quartet competitions, including the Paolo Borciani Quartet Competition in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the Fischoff, Yellow Springs, and Chesapeake competitions in the United States.  She served as Artist-in-Residence for the Perlman Music Program in Florida. As a recipient of a DAAD fellowship, she studied with the Vogler Quartett in Stuttgart, Germany, and with Gunter Pichler and Valentin Erben of the Alban Berg Quartet, Walter Levine, and Heime Müller. She worked with the Emerson String Quartet through the Carnegie Hall Chamber Music Workshops and was a graduate assistant to the Takacs Quartet at the CU Boulder.  An-Lin helped found Music Haven, an intensive mentorship program in New Haven, Connecticut.  She holds a B.S. from Yale University in Geology and Geophysics, and an M.M. from the Yale School of Music, where she studied with Aldo Parisot and played with the Yale Cellos.

Naomi Niskala
​Piano

A soloist and chamber musician who has appeared in Europe, North America, Russia, Israel, Thailand, and Japan, pianist Naomi Niskala's performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio, Deutschlandradio, RTV Germany, and NPR’s Performance Today. Niskala performs regularly with Spectrum Concerts Berlin, one of Germany’s leading chamber organizations, and has also recorded two discs with them.  Performance highlights include the San Francisco Symphony Chamber Series at Davies Symphony Hall, soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic of Russia, and solo and chamber performances with Spectrum Concerts Berlin in the Philharmonie Kammermusiksaal of Berlin, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, in Thailand, and in Kosovo. Niskala has recorded solo and chamber music CDs for Naxos, Albany Records, and Bridge. Born to Japanese/Finnish-American parents, she began studying piano at the age of three, raised in Rochester, New York and then later in Tokyo, Japan.  Niskala holds degrees from the Yale School of Music, Stony Brook University, and the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Claude Frank, Gilbert Kalish, and Patricia Zander. Niskala is currently Professor of Music at Susquehanna University in Pennsylvania, where she teaches piano and theory, and leads a summer chamber music exchange program to Japan.

Andrei Lassonde
​Chef

Greetings from Andrei!  I have been cooking for 10 years in a mix of both restaurants and catering since high school, and joined the Avaloch Farm Music Institute's kitchen staff in 2024. I’m always a fan of experimentation and learning, branching out to as many aspects of culinary I can sink my claws into, and my recent years' exploration has been into ethnic food and culture. 
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We look forward to welcoming Andrei to Winterhaven in 2026!

Mickey Barr
​Licensed Massage Therapist

Mickey Barr is a Yoga Teacher and Licensed Massage Therapist in NH and MA. He specializes in both Orthopedic Massage and Thai Massage, having studied in the United States and Thailand. 

Mickey has extensively studied Ashtanga Yoga learning the 1st - 4th series. He has also studied Iyengar Yoga with a focus on therapeutic and restorative yoga. Most recently he has studied yoga therapy with Simon Borg Olivier.

Mickey sits Vipassana meditation and practices Pranayama.  Mickey's massage rates are $65 for 30 minutes, $120 for 60 minutes and $165 for 90 minutes.