Bringing Broadway's incredible musicians from the pit to the stage!
David Gotay, composer
David Gotay (1972-2015) was a cellist and composer born in the Bronx, New York as a descent of Puerto Rican and Irish. As a cellist he had performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and the White House. TV: “Saturday Night Live,” “MTV’s Unlugged,” and “The Jimmy Fallon Show”, “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Last Play at Shea” with Billy Joel. He had collaborated with such artists as Jay Z, Alicia Keys, Nas, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin, k.d. lang, David Sanborn, Billy Ocean, and Little Jimmy Scott. He was a founding member of Sweet Plantain, a string quartet whose mission is to give voice to a contemporary, urban, Latino sound. Since 2013 Mr. Gotay had turned his efforts to composing full time. At age 42 in 2015 his life was shortened by kidney cancer.
“Nostalgia” was Mr. Gotay’s last composition written in November 2014.
Yuko Naito-Gotay, violin
Yuko Naito-Gotay, a native of Tokyo Japan, is one of New York's most sought after violinists and performs with leading orchestras such as The New York City Opera, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, and the Long Island Symphony. She is a former member of the first violin section of the St. Louis Symphony.
Yuko’s Broadway credits include performing on shows such as Something Rotten, Kinky Boots, The King and I, and Hamilton. Currently, Yuko serves as a regular violinist/violist at Anastasia.
Yuko arrived in the United States in 1989 to study with legendary violinist Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music. Yuko holds advanced degrees from both Yale and the Manhattan School of Music.
Hiroko Taguchi, violin
Hiroko Taguchi (Violin/Viola) has performed on stage since the age of four. She graduated a Bachelor of music at the Juilliard School and Master of music at Manhattan School of Music. She has toured with the Dixie Chicks, Jimmy Cobb Quintet, the RUSH and Sam Smith. She also appeared live on stage with such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Josh Groban, Harry Connick Jr., Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, and many others.
Hiroko has performed in many Broadway musicals, including Wicked, Spring Awakening, West Side Story, Next to Normal, The Addams Family, Spider-man, Ghost, Amelie, and Prince of Broadway and She was a concertmaster of the Kinky Boots Orchestra. She is currently playing at Frozen the Musical.
Orlando Wells, viola
Mr. Wells attended the State University of New York at Purchase as a double major on violin and viola where his primary teachers were Yuval Waldman, and Emmanuel Vardi. He continued his studies at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in New Jersey in the studio of Michael Tree.
Among the many ensembles he’s played with are; the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra, Radio City Christmas Spectacular orchestra, Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, Bronx Opera(concertmaster), Orchestra of the Bronx(concertmaster), Antara Chamber orchestra(principal viola), and the Ritz Chamber Players in Jacksonville, Florida. He has appeared as soloist with Manhattan Virtuosi, the Harlem Symphony, and Antara Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Wells has performed and recorded with great artists such as Mariah Carey, John Legend, Rihanna, Harry Connick Jr., Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, and many others. He also has performed with many of the greatest shows on Broadway.
Currently, he is the violist of the critically acclaimed Sweet Plantain String Quartet, violinist and violist in the award winning Emerald Trio, and holds the viola chair at the hit Broadway show, SpongeBob SquarePants.
Alon Bisk, Cello
Alon Bisk is a freelance musician working in and around the New York metropolitan area. On Broadway, Alon presently holds the 1st cello chair on the current revival of Carousel, and has held chairs at Natasha Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and Spring Awakening. Alon was an orchestra member for the first national tour of Spring Awakening, Les Miserables (25th Anniversary Tour), American Idiot (First National Tour), The Last Goodbye (Williamstown Theater Festival) and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Off-Broadway).
Alon has also worked on NBC's show Smash (Season 2) as well as promotion for HBO's Game of Thrones (Season 3). Other TV credits include the Today Show, Good Morning America, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Late Night with Seth Meyers.
Alon holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Master of Music in Orchestral Performance degree from the Manhattan School of Music (under the guidance of NY Philharmonic's associate principal cellist, Alan Stepansky). Alon's main objective is to focus on proper technique, musicality, formidable sight reading and building a strong ear.
Keve Wilson, Oboe
Hailed by the New York Times for her “magnificently sweet tone,” oboist Keve Wilson would skip music theory and history as a kid to practice Irish jigs and reels instead. Currently oboist with the Broadway revival Carousel, Keve inspires visiting high school band and orchestra students from around the country with her original show Believe NYC---from the Band Room to Broadway.
A past winner of Concert Artists Guild and solo oboist with the Grammy nominated Absolute Ensemble, she has performed in Amsterdam, Argentina, Austria, Dubai, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Mexico, Panama, New Zealand, and South Korea. A two-time recipient of the Clifford-Levy Creativity Grant, Keve traveled to Makuleke Village in South Africa where she participated in learning and teaching folk songs of the region. From Hyde Park, NY and a graduate of Eastman School of Music, she studied oboe with Richard Killmer, piano with Judith Handman and dance with Elizabeth Clark. She lives in New York City with her husband Kerry and Portuguese water dog Stella.
Setsuko Otake, Oboe
Oboist Setsuko Otake enjoys a diverse career as a chamber musician, orchestral performer, and teacher. As a soloist, she has performed with the New York Symphonic Ensemble on a tour of Japan and Southeast Asia, and gave the premiere performance of Yoshihro Kanno's Water Leaf 4 for oboe and chamber orchestra with the North/South Consonance.
Throughout the U.S. and Japan, Setusko has presented chamber-music recitals with various woodwind quintets and trio groups—including a 2002 recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. She currently holds the second oboe/English horn position with the Riverside Symphonia in Lambertville, New Jersey, and, as a freelance oboist, has regularly appeared with a number of Broadway shows, including Miss Saigon, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, On the Town, Les Misérables, The King and I, Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Aida, Wicked, Ragtime, Porgy and Bess, and Mary Poppins.
Ms. Otake received her bachelor's degree from the Toho Gakuen School of Music, and her master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with former New York Philharmonic oboist Joseph Robinson. During the summer, she is an oboe and chamber-music coach at the Summerkeys Music Festival in Lubec, Maine. Ms. Otake is also the oboe instructor at the Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn.
Nuno Antunes, Clarinet
Born in Portugal, clarinetist Nuno Antunes performs extensively with a variety of ensembles in and around New York City. Nuno is currently a member of Sylvan Winds, IRIS Orchestra and acting Principal Clarinetist with Opera Saratoga. He is a frequent collaborator with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, Miami Symphony Orchestra and New York City Opera.
He played clarinet and bass clarinet for the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, and has been a substitute clarinetist for the productions of The King and I, Sunset Boulevard and Sweeney Todd.
Nuno has appeared as a soloist with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, performing Strauss’s Duett Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon and Orchestra. Other solo performances include Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra and Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes. He was invited to present a recital at the XX Lisbon International Clarinet Meeting. Nuno holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra.
Nick Gallas, Clarinet
Clarinetist, Nicholas Gallas has performed as a guest with a diverse range of artists and ensembles, including NOW Ensemble, the Imani Winds, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble Signal, the Knights, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater, the Britt Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the Stamford Symphony, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, the Princeton Symphony, Onsite Opera, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Symphony in C, Chamber Orchestra of New York, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, the Metropolis Ensemble, Sylvan Winds, and the Broadway Chamber Players! He has also taught and performed in Mexico with Cultures in Harmony, an international cultural diplomacy project.
Gallas is currently a member of the American Modern Ensemble, a group devoted to celebrating American contemporary classical music. From 2009-2014 he was a member of the Quintet of the Americas, a woodwind quintet that was founded in 1979 in Bogotá, Columbia.
He has performed on Broadway in the orchestras for My Fair Lady, The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, and Sunset Boulevard, and has toured the U.S. with singer-songwriter, Duncan Sheik. Additionally, he can been heard on the soundtracks for the films Besa, scored by Philip Glass and the Spike Lee film, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, scored by Bruce Hornsby.
Gallas received his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School and his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Damian Primis, Bassoon
Damian Primis a native of Eagle River, Alaska, has quickly gained a reputation as one of the most versatile bassoonists and multi-instrumentalist in the New York Metropolitan area, performing on both modern and period instruments. Mr. Primis performs extensively with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Absolute Ensemble, Barge Music, the Handel and Haydn Society, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Orchestra of the 18th Century in Amsterdam, American Ballet Theater, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Tafelmusik in Canada, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular! Mr. Primis was a member of the South Pacific, King and I, and Sunset Blvd orchestras, and is currently the bassoonist of the My Fair Lady orchestra at Lincoln Center Theater.
Gilbert Dejean, Bassoon
Bassoonist Gilbert Dejean is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Leonard Hindell and Steve Maxym. He is a member of the American Symphony Orchestra, Chappaqua Orchestra, and Saratoga Opera, and regularly performs with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony, New York City Ballet, and the New York Philharmonic.
Dejean performed in the orchestra for the Broadway productions of The Scarlet Pimpernel and West Side Story. He has recorded for BIS, Telarc, and Albany Records, and is a member of the Moose Hall Chamber Ensemble, which performs annually at the Inwood Shakespeare Festival.
Gili Sharett, Contrabassoon
Bassoonist and clinician Gili Sharett has performed with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, American Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Israel Opera Orchestra and The Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta. Ms. Sharett is a member of Ariel Winds woodwind quintet.
Her Broadway show credits include chairs at The Frogs and The Light in the Piazza at Lincoln Center. She currently performs at The Phantom of The Opera and has also performed at Beauty and the Beast, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, King and I, South Pacific, 110 in the Shade, A Little Night Music and Encores! at City Center.
Numerous summer festival appearances include Verbier, Brevard, and Bard Summerscape.
As a recording artist Ms. Sharett recorded with pianist David Greilsammer and Suedama Ensemble for Naïve, The Light in the Piazza for Nonesuch (Grammy nomination), Water with Grammy award winner Rafi Malkiel for Tzadik and Broadway Carols for a Cure.
Rheagan Osteen, French Horn
Rheagan Osteen, formerly principal horn of the Amazonas Philharmonic in Brazil, has played with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Westchester Philharmonic, The New York Pops, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Stamford Symphony Orchestra, American Composer’s Orchestra, and in musicals on Broadway including Miss Saigon, Follies, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera, The King and I at Lincoln Center, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She recently completed the latest revival of Bernstein’s On the Town at the Lyric Theater and also played the premiere run of Maury Yeston’s Death Takes a Holiday. Rheagan played Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 2, Haydn’s Horn Concerto No. 1, and the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 as a soloist with The Chelsea Symphony. Rheagan can be heard on the latest cast recording of On the Town, the original cast album of Death Takes a Holiday, and Celebrating the American Spirit with Kelli O’Hara and Ron Raines.
Jon Carroll, French Horn
Described by the New York Times for having “impressive confidence” Jon Carroll is forging a path as an in-demand performer. Very active in the New York freelance scene Jon has performed in such Broadway shows as Cinderella, On the Town, The Lion King, Honeymoon in Vegas, Les Miserables, The King and I, Miss Saigon, Wicked, and Carousel. Jon is also a member of C Street Brass and tours nationally with the group.
Jon received his Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School and his Bachelor’s degree from Mannes College.
Aaron Korn, French Horn
Aaron Korn is a graduate of the Yale School of Music, where he received his Master of Music degree, and received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Korn has held the positions of 2nd horn with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra in Israel and the Princeton Symphony, NJ, as well as 4th horn with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, PA. Aaron has previously held chairs at Cinderella on Broadway, Rocktopia, and the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. He is an active freelance musician who is currently playing in the pit orchestras of Aladdin, Anastasia, Carousel, Frozen, and My Fair Lady. Aaron frequently performs with local orchestras including the American Symphony Orchestra, American Ballet Theater Orchestra, and the Stamford Symphony. Mr. Korn is currently on faculty at Hunter College, The Juilliard School - Music Advancement Program, and Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts.
Ray Kilday, Bass
Ray Kilday is currently the bassist for the Broadway production of Carousel. His numerous Broadway credits include Bandstand, Holiday Inn, Newsies, Follies, Dr. Zhivago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Marie Christine, Blood Brothers, and Grand Hotel. Ray has had a the pleasure of performing and recording with many fine singers including a twenty year run with Blossom Dearie which included performing at The White House for the program In Performance at The White House for PBS. He has also performed with Leslie Uggams, Bernadette Peters, Donna McKechnie, Tommy Tune, and Audra McDonald. Other Television credits include The Today Show, Smash, and Mozart In the Jungle. Ray's recording credits also include numerous cast albums, film scores, and jingles.