Musicians

2026 Guest Musician: Gabriel Martins, Cello

Gabriel Martins (b. 1998) is an American concert cellist. He gained recognition after winning both the Sphinx Competition and the Concert Artists Guild Competition in 2020. In 2022, he was invited to make his New York recital debut on short notice, stepping in for Steven Isserlis in a program of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suites at the 92nd Street Y. The performance was praised by The Strad Magazine as “flawlessly played” and “a deeply moving experience”. Since then, his career has continued to grow, with debuts at Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco), Maison Symphonique (Montréal), Wigmore Hall (London), and with the Alabama, Allentown, Arkansas, Auburn, Augusta, Duluth-Superior, DuPage, Elgin, Houston, Indianapolis, Greensboro, Memphis, Mid-Atlantic, Omaha, Pacific, Phoenix, Santa Fe, São Paulo, Sedona, South Florida, Tallahassee, and Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestras. In 2025, he gave his first tour of Asia, with recitals in Bangkok, Chiayi, Manila, Taipei, and Tokyo.

Martins’ musical approach has been described as “a rare combination of intellectual clarity, emotional depth, and genuine humility,” and as that of “an artist grounded not in performance bravado, but in an unwavering commitment to honoring the music itself” (Cultural Attaché). His focus on the music of Bach culminated in his 2024 debut recording of the complete Cello Suites, followed in 2025 by the Violin Sonatas and Partitas in his own arrangements for cello. His performances have been broadcast on NPR, WQXR, KUSC, and WFMT, and his festival appearances include Aspen, Bard, Blairsville, Brevard, ChamberFest Cleveland, Four Seasons, La Jolla, Mainly Mozart, Ravinia, Sitka, and Yellow Barn. Among his additional honors are prizes at the David Popper International Cello Competition, the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, the Prague Spring International Music Competition, the Schadt String Competition, the Orford Music Award, and the American Recital Debut Award. In 2022 he was named to Classic FM’s “30 under 30” list.

Born to Brazilian and American parents, Martins grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. He began studying the cello at age five with Susan Moses at the Indiana University String Academy. He earned his Bachelor of Music as a Presidential Scholar at the USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Ralph Kirshbaum, and won both the school’s concerto and Bach competitions in his freshman year. He completed his Master of Music at the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Laurence Lesser. Martins now resides in Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to performing, he composes and teaches. He performs on a composite Francesco Ruggieri cello made in Cremona, c. 1690, and a François Nicolas Voirin bow made in Paris, c. 1880.

2026 Guest Musician: Konrad Kowal, Violin

Konrad Kowal is a Chicago-born Polish-American violinist. In May 2024, Konrad received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a recipient of the Hope and Stanley Adelstein Prize for Excellence in Orchestral Performance.

A committed orchestral musician, Konrad serves as concertmaster of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and the Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra. He frequently performs as a substitute musician with The Cleveland Orchestra and has also played with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

As a soloist, Konrad regularly performs recitals across the United States and appears as soloist with orchestras.

As a chamber musician, Konrad is a member of the BKW Trio with pianist Jacob Bernhardt and cellist Nora Willauer, a group that performs recitals around the United States, most recently presenting a recital at the Buffalo Chamber Music Society in March 2026. He has also collaborated with the Emerson String Quartet and with members of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Konrad’s mentors include Olga Kaler, Ilya Kaler, Malcolm Lowe, Stephen Rose, and William Preucil, and he has had masterclasses with renowned artists Vadim Gluzman, Phil Setzer, and Yo-Yo Ma among others. Konrad plays on a violin made by Joseph Curtin. He resides in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with his wife, Weronika.

2026 Guest Musicians: Les Délices

Debra Nagy, oboe
Shelby Yamin, violin
Rebecca Landell, cello and viola da gamba
Adam Cockerham, theorbo and baroque guitar

The Lexington String Quartet

Melody Wootton, first violin
Denice Anderson Turck, second violin
Janine Bradbury, viola
Irina Tikhonova, cello

The Lexington String Quartet performs annually at the Lexington Bach Festival. All are highly experienced and active in orchestras and other professional ensembles throughout Michigan. Initially, the quartet performed for area high school students. From 2011 to 2013, the quartet performed concerts in Sarnia, Ontario, and in Port Huron, Michigan. Since 2014, the quartet has performed two concerts in the Performing Arts Center of St. Clair Community College in Port Huron. In 2026, the ensemble play the Lexington Bach Festival with a free performance for the community on Wednesday evening at St. Denis Church in Lexington, a new tradition started in 2024. It also performed two concerts the next day, free to the public, at the St. Clair Community College in Port Huron.

John Thomas Dodson has served as Music Director/Principal Conductor of eleven American orchestras. He led concerts in the Dominican Republic, Greece, Hungary, Mexico, Poland and Russia; conducted in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Severance Hall, Eastman Theatre, Athens Megaron Hall and the Hungarian State Opera House; and his nationally syndicated concerts were broadcast on NPR stations through Public Radio International.

Dodson made five premiere recordings for the NAXOS label, led more than twenty-five world premieres, conducted numerous new modern dance, ballet and opera productions, and served for fifteen years as Artistic Director of Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo, an award-winning music festival in the Dominican Republic’s Colonial City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Atlanta Metropolitan Symphony and leads Mindfulness for Performers seminars in the United States and Europe.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Tennessee Technological University, Dodson studied as a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music School, holds a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Peabody Conservatory of Music, and received a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Siena Heights University.

Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra

The Lexington Bach Festival Orchestra is comprised of professional musicians located in the states of Michigan and Ohio. In addition to their artistic work with other professional orchestras in the region, many serve on the faculties of universities, colleges and other educational institutions throughout the area.