Bergafest 2022 Collaborators

Nicky Sohn

From ballet to opera to Korean traditional-orchestra, the wide-ranging talent of composer Nicky Sohn is sought after across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Characterized by her jazz-inspired, rhythmically driven themes, Sohn’s work has been described as “like John Adams’ ‘Short Ride in a Fast Machine’ on steroids” (YourObserver), “dynamic and full of vitality” (The Korea Defense Daily), and having “elegant wonder” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). As a result, Sohn has enjoyed commissions from the world’s preeminent performing arts institutions, including sold-out performances at the Stuttgart Ballet in Germany, The National Orchestra of Korea, Minnesota Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent highlights include an orchestral premiere by the St. Louis Symphony overseen by John Adams, orchestral commissions and performances from National Orchestra Institute and Festival with Marin Alsop, Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, Annapolis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, National Theater of Korea, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra under Hugh Wolff, and chamber commissions and performances from the Kinetic Ensemble as their composer-in-residence, the violinist Lucia Lin (Boston Symphony), the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Moody Center, Carpe Diem String Quartet, Southern Exposure New Music Series, and Atlanta Chamber Players. Nicky Sohn is currently pursuing a fully-funded doctoral degree at the The Shepherd School of Music of Rice University and holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Mannes College of Music.

Victoria Cheah

Victoria Cheah (b. 1988, New York, NY) is a multi-disciplinary composer interested in boundaries, sustained energy, and social-performance rituals. Her work has been commissioned and/or featured by ensembles and presenters including non-event, Switch Ensemble, Line Upon Line, Han Chen, andPlay, Yarn/Wire, Wavefield Ensemble, MATA Festival, Guerilla Opera, Ensemble Dal Niente, Vertixe Sonora, Marilyn Nonken, PRISM Quartet, and performed by others. Recordings of her music can be found on Dinzu Artefacts, New Focus Recordings, and XAS Records. Cheah currently serves as Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory, Director of Operations of Talea Ensemble, a board member (former co-director) of Score Follower, and a bartender at Winnie’s.

From 2011-2015, Cheah served as the founding executive director of Boston new music sinfonietta Sound Icon. She has worked with ensembles and festivals including Composers Conference, Manhattan Sinfonietta, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Composit Festival, and Cantata Profana towards the realization of contemporary music events in New York, Boston (USA) and Rieti (IT). Previously, she has taught music, research, and writing related courses as an instructor at Longy School of Music, Brandeis University, and as a teaching fellow at Harvard University. As a composer, she has attended academies including Sommerakademie Schloss Solitude, Darmstadt, Fontainebleau, VIPA, SICPP, The Walden School, and others. Cheah holds a B.A. in music from City University of New York Hunter College & Macaulay Honors College and a Ph.D. in music composition & theory at Brandeis University.

Eli Greenhoe

Eli Greenhoe (b. 1994) is a composer, songwriter, guitarist, and conductor hailing from Brooklyn, New York. His concert works have been commissioned and performed by such artists and ensembles as Contemporaneous, loadbang,, Aki Takahashi, S.E.M. Ensemble, and George Manahan, among others. His music has been programmed at the Bang on a Can, Chatter, Yellow Barn, Ostrava Days (CZ), and Tokyo to New York (JP) festivals. In 2018 he was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Recently, he was selected as a finalist in the Beth Morrison Projects “Next Generation” program. He has received additional recognition from ASCAP, American Composers Orchestra’s EARSHOT, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Yale School of Music.

As a songwriter, Greenhoe has led bands in New York City and elsewhere nearly his entire life. Currently he records music and performs as half of Airborne Charlie, a band and recording project he co-leads alongside composer/multi-instrumentalist Hans Bilger. He is also active in interdisciplinary collaboration: his film and commercial music has been featured in Vogue Magazine online and as an official selection of the 2020 Maryland Film Festival (with filmmaker Max Bowens). 

Mr. Greenhoe is also engaged as a performer in a multitude of musical spaces. Notable recent engagements as a guitarist include performances with Contemporaneous, the Yale Philharmonia, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. As a conductor, he recently premiered Adam O’Farrill’s For These Streets, a new evening-length work for improvising ensemble, at the Jazz Gallery in New York.

Eli is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Yale School of Music. Upcoming projects include a new string quartet for Bergamot Quartet, a collaboration with New York based improvising ensemble Stranger Days, and a forthcoming new album of music as Airborne Charlie.