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the Yardarm Trio

Performer Biographies

Anthony Scelba | Victoria Stewart | Allison Brewster Franzetti | Terese Stewart

Anthony Scelba, double bassist, is unusual for his specializing in chamber music. He is responsible for creating most of the Yardarm Trio repertory. Through arranging, composing, and inspiring others to write for the Trio, he has added significantly to the double-bass chamber-music repertoire. For his biography, click here.

Victoria Stewart, violinist, has appeared as concerto soloist in Korea with the Pusan Philharmonic, with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra on MBC Television Broadcast, and with the Colonial Symphony of New Jersey. She has performed numerous solo and chamber-music recitals in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and remains in demand as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, clinician, and teacher.

Ms. Stewart studied at the University of Houston, Baylor University and the Juilliard School, and is a 1983-1984 and a 1984-1985 winner of the Fulbright Performing Artist Awards for Seoul, Korea.

She has performed at numerous music festivals including the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, the Festival Casals in San Juan, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Lake George Opera, and the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. As a free-lance musician she performs regularly with the New York City Opera, the New Jersey State Opera, the Colonial Symphony, the Westfield Symphony, the Wayne Chamber Orchestra, and the Garden State Arts Center Orchestra. Her latest recording of the Octet written by Max Bruch in 1920 performed with the Bronx Arts Ensemble is on the Premier Recordings label. Ms. Stewart is an Affiliate Artist at Kean University and also teaches at Drew University, Madison, New Jersey. She performs on a violin made in Rome in 1925 by the distinguished luthier, Simone Fernando Sacconi (1895-1973).

Allison Brewster Franzetti, pianist and Affiliate Artist in Chamber Music, received a BM degree from the Manhattan School of Music and an MM degree from the Juilliard School. She has gained international acclaim for her recordings and performances of repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music. She won a First Prize from the Paderewski Foundation, and awards from the Kosciuszko Foundation and the Denver Symphony. As an accompanist and chamber musician, Ms. Franzetti has collaborated with James Galway, Ransom Wilson, Eugenia Zukerman, and Julius Baker, and her latest CDs include recordings of chamber works by Astor Piazzolla and Manuel De Falla with the Bronx Arts Ensemble. She was appointed to the Kean faculty in 2001.

Terese Stewart (1950-2002), widely acclaimed pianist, performed solo and chamber music recitals in Germany, Austria, Canada, and throughout the United States. She was Principal Pianist of the Denver Chamber Orchestra and performed with the Colorado Music Festival, Colorado Singers, Colorado Mahlerfest, and the National Touring Company of Les Miserables.

She participated in master classes with numerous pianists and singers of renown including Leon Fleischer, Lorin Hollander, Martin Isepp, Martin Katz, Gerard Souzay, Judith Raskin, and Elly Ameling. A graduate of Texas Tech University where she studied with Thomas Redcay, she held a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado, where she joined the faculty as staff accompanist performing some 600 faculty and guest recitals.

Dr. Stewart served as official accompanist for both the Metropolitan and San Francisco Opera Auditions and was on the artistic staff Opera Colorado She performed frequently with esteemed tenor, Scot Weir. She was an artist of remarkable sensitivity and accomplishment.