Bios | Chamber Collective

Meet the Band

Eric Charnofsky enjoys a multi-faceted career as a pianist, composer, and lecturer. As a collaborative pianist, he has performed throughout North America, has concertized with members of major American orchestras, and has performed as an orchestral keyboardist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others. A graduate of The Juilliard School where he majored in piano accompanying, Mr. Charnofsky also holds degrees in solo piano performance and composition from California State University, Northridge. Originally from Los Angeles, Mr. Charnofsky has taught music history, music theory, and collaborative piano at the collegiate level in Cleveland. He has worked as a classical radio announcer, pre-concert lecturer for the Cleveland Orchestra, Associate Faculty member at the Music Academy of the West, rehearsal pianist for Lyric Opera Cleveland, convention accompanist for the National Flute Association, and he appears on recordings on the Capstone, Albany, and Crystal labels. His compositions have been performed in several major U.S. cities, and he has received composition commissions from Pacific Serenades, the Chamber Music Society of Ohio, the Cleveland Chamber Collective, and others.

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Violinist Emily Cornelius is an active freelance musician and a passionate
performer. She is currently a member of the Canton Symphony, the
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and the
Lancaster Festival Orchestra.

Emily has appeared frequently as guest concertmaster for the Erie
Philharmonic, and as acting concertmaster of the Canton Symphony, the
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. She has also served as concertmaster of
the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, as acting concertmaster of the
Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and as assistant concertmaster for CityMusic
Cleveland.

Emily has been a featured soloist with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra,
the Richmond Philharmonic, the Canton Symphony Orchestra, the
BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, the Heights Chamber Orchestra, the
Breckenridge Music Festival Orchestra, and the Euclid Symphony
Orchestra.

Emily holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin Conservatory, where
she studied with Gregory Fulkerson, and a Master of Music degree from
the New England Conservatory, where she studied with James Buswell.
She is also a dedicated violin teacher, maintaining a large private studio
from her home in Cleveland.

When not playing or teaching the violin, Emily can usually be found
reading, baking, working earnestly on National Public Radio’s weekly
puzzle, and bonding with dogs of all sizes.

Ty Alan Emerson has been presenting music in Cleveland since 2000. Following two terms as president of the Cleveland Composers’ Guild, he is currently Director for the Cleveland Chamber Collective. He has been commissioned by the Collective, No Exit, and ASSEM3LY, with other notable performances by Zeitgeist, Quorum, Gary Louie, and The Peabody Wind Ensemble. His work has been featured at music festivals from Bowling Green, OH to Huddersfield, England. In addition to his work for the concert hall, Emerson has composed and arranged works for the stage including several shows with The Musical Theater Project in Cleveland, and a season with the Texas Shakespeare Festival. Notable awards include: MTNA/OMTA Composer of the Year, two Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, and the ASCAP Morton Gould Award. His Prospero on the Beach was featured on a CD by ASSEM3LY, and is available through Albany Records. Most recently he was hired by Fader Music and Sound to help arrange the welcome trailer for the Cleveland International Film Festival No. 43.

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Dylan Moffitt, is often recognized for his versatility as a percussionist in the classical and world music genres. In 2009, Moffitt appeared as a soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra alongside renowned artists Alisa Weilerstein and Jamey Haddad in performances of Golijov’s, Azul for cello and orchestra. He currently serves as principal percussionist and frequent soloist with the Firelands Symphony where in 2013, founded his “Drumming with Dylan” educational outreach program. The program has since been recognized by the Cleveland Orchestra and was featured in the orchestra’s “At Home” residency this past summer season. Dylan performs regularly with the Wheeling Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera, Ohio Valley Symphony, Blossom Festival Band, Apollos Fire, the Cleveland Chamber Collective and has in past years appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra. Dylan specializes in various styles of world music, Brazilian percussion in particular. Following multiple trips to Brazil, Dylan began directing the Cleveland-based samba school, Samba Joia. In 2013, Moffitt joined the percussion faculty of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and has since joined the percussion faculty at Cuyahoga Community College. Dylan attended the Cleveland Institute of music for both his undergraduate and Master degrees. His principal teachers include Richard Weiner, Paul Yancich and Jamey Haddad.

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Violist Brian Slawta, hailing from Bethesda, Maryland, is a recent graduate of the
Cleveland Institute of Music. While at the conservatory, Brian studied with the renowned pedagogue Jeffrey Irvine, as well as with Lynne Ramsey, first assistant principal violist of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Brian is an avid chamber musician with a particular interest in string quartet. He was selected to participate in CIM’s Advanced String Quartet program for five years as part of his former groups: the Elara Quartet and the Corylus Quartet. The Corylus quartet was one of two quartets selected to participate in the 2019 Centrum Chamber Music Workshop, and in 2020 the Elara Quartet was accepted into the McGill International String Quartet Academy.

Before beginning his studies at CIM, Brian was a member of the Liedergeld Quartet,
which in 2016 was a semifinalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, a finalist in the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, and a winner of the Misbin Family Memorial Chamber Music Competition. In addition to being a dedicated chamber musician, Brian is also an accomplished soloist, having won first prize in the Advanced Viola Division of the 44th Annual Washington Performing Arts Feder Memorial String Competition in Washington, D.C. in the spring of 2015.

Since graduating, Brian has been a core member of Opus 216, and has made appearances in various chamber music series such as Stars in the Classics, City Music Cleveland, and Candlelight concerts.

A dynamic performer and versatile musician, flutist Linda White excels in an array of musical styles and plays the entire spectrum of flutes from the piccolo to the contrabass flute. Linda is an avid chamber musician and champion of contemporary music. She regularly collaborates with the composers of The Cleveland Composers Guild and performs on the annual Local 4 Musician’s Union She Scores series. Linda regularly performs with classical guitarist Robert Gruca as part of the Gruca White Ensemble. The duo stretches the boundaries of the standard classical concert with their improvisations and unique musical arrangements. In 2020, the Gruca White Ensemble released their debut recording A Different Take through PARMA Recordings Big Round label. Linda also enjoys performing with the flute quartet Idle Twittering along with fellow flutists Jane Berkner, Kyra Kester and George Pope. Linda is a founding member of the Blue Water Chamber Orchestra, and has also performed with the Cleveland Pops, Cleveland Ballet, Cleveland Opera Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Akron Symphony and Canton Symphony. Linda teaches at The Music Settlement where she teaches individual lessons, co-directs three flute ensembles and coordinates a program for adult amateurs to gather and play chamber music. She has been a guest clinician for the Interlochen Adult Flute Ensemble since 2020. Linda received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wyoming and a Master of Music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music.

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