Thursday, May 21, 2026
Aubree Oliverson, violin
Claire Wells, violin
Brian Isaacs, viola
Matthew McDowell, viola
John-Henry Crawford, cello
The Olivier Music Barn, 5:30 PM
Program
HAWA KASSÉ MADY DIABATÉ: Funtukuru from Tegere Tulon
Oliverson, Wells, McDowell, Crawford
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Bourrées for Suite No. 3, BWV 1009
McDowell
PAUL WIANCKO: American Haiku
Far Away
In Transit
Home
Isaacs, Crawford
JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR: Gavotta and Presto from Sonata, Op. 3 No. 5
Oliverson, Wells
RHIANNON GIDDENS: At the Purchaser's Option with Variations
Oliverson, Wells, Isaacs, Crawford
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK: Quintet No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 97
Allegro non tanto
Allegro vivo
Larghetto
Finale. Allegro giusto
Wells, Oliverson, Isaacs, McDowell, Crawford
This concert, developed in collaboration with the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy, brings to Montana five exceptional artists drawn from its alumni. They will perform a remarkably diverse range of works inspired by handclapping songs of remote villages of Africa, Appalachian fiddling, Japanese folk music and 18th century court dances, ending with exuberant virtuosity of Moravian composer Antonín Dvořák's String Quintet, written during the summer he spent in Spillville, Iowa.
On May 21, Tippet Rise will open for concertgoers beginning at 3:00 PM, for a chance to explore the Cottonwood Campus before the concert. Dinner, prepared by chef Chris Lockhart, will be available for purchase after the concert in Will’s Shed.
The musicians are also performing the same program one evening earlier, on Wednesday May 20, at One-Legged Magpie in Red Lodge. This Tippet Rise Pop-Up event is free with an advance dinner reservation.
Aubree Oliverson, violin
Praised for her evocative lyricism and joyful, genuine approach, young American violinist Aubree Oliverson is proving to be one of the most compelling artists of her generation, distinguishing herself with clear, honest, and colourful performances, which have been described as “powerful… brimming with confidence and joy” by the Miami New Times.
Acclaimed as a “masterful” soloist (San Diego Story), Aubree’s 2025/26 season features debut performances with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (St. Clair), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Parnther), and Florida Orchestra (Watanabe), as well as return engagements with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (Milanov) and Pacific Symphony Orchestra (Shelley). A distinguished recitalist as well, she makes her debut at the Harrogate International Festival and returns to the Aspen Music Festival alongside Tony Yanfeng Bai.
A dynamic recitalist and sensitive chamber musician, Aubree recently toured Europe with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Clive Greensmith, and Tatjana Masurenko and collaborates this season with Anne Akiko Meyers and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County in duo works of Bach, Philip Glass, and Handel-Halvorsen. Other engagements include festivals such as the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival with Gil Shaham, the Rome Chamber Music Festival, Oropa Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, ChamberFest West, and recitals at the Grand Teton Music Festival and SOKA Performing Arts Center, among many others. Ms. Oliverson has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Robert McDuffie in Harris Hall at the Aspen Music Festival, Gil Shaham on tour in Mexico, Renaud Capuçon in France, Joseph Silverstein in Salt Lake City, and Lynn Harrell, Orli Shaham, Robert Chen, and Andrew Marriner in Los Angeles.
Claire Wells, violin
American violinist Claire Wells is emerging as one of the most exciting and original violinists of her generation. Recognized for her personal musical voice and vivid imagination, the soloist and chamber musician captivates audiences with her compelling interpretations, making her a young artist to watch.
In growing international demand, Claire has performed with orchestras including the Dallas Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Dima Solobodeniouk, and Andrew Litton. An avid chamber musician, Claire appears at leading festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Connects the World in collaboration with Christian Tetzlaff and Steven Isserlis, the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Festival in Cornwall, the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Kryzyowa Festival in Kreisau, Poland.
1st Prize Winner and Commission Prize Winner at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition 2021, Claire has won top prizes at internationally renowned competitions, including the Michael Hill, Sibelius, and Indianapolis international competitions. She was the 2023 scholarship winner of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, and most recently was the winner of the 2025 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
Claire is represented worldwide by Young Concert Artists. She currently resides in Berlin, and is studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Mihaela Martin, made possible by the Opel/Dr. Schaefer patronage.
Brian Isaacs, viola
American violist Brian Isaacs is a member of the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies program, studying with Tabea Zimmermann. He is the 1st Prize (ex aequo) laureate of the 79th Concours de Genève and a prizewinner of other international viola competitions including Rostal (2nd Prize, all special prizes), Markneukirchen (3rd Prize), and Nedbal (3rd Prize). He has also received awards and prizes from institutions such as the Verbier Festival Academy, Yale University, and Frank Huntington Beebe Fund. An avid chamber musician, Brian has participated in numerous festivals including Boscobel, Four Seasons, Gstaad, La Jolla, Marlboro, Methow Valley, NUME, CMS Palm Beach, Taos, Thy, Tonhain Kollektiv, Verbier, Viridian Strings, and Yellow Barn. During his two seasons as a scholar in the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, Brian participated in performances of the Berliner Philharmoniker, including tours within Europe and the USA. For the 2025-26 season, Brian played in the orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin as assistant principal violist. Before moving to Germany, Brian graduated from Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in sociology, and his Master of Music in the viola studio of Ettore Causa.
Matthew McDowell, viola
American violist Matthew McDowell is a distinguished chamber musician, rising pedagogue, and recently appointed violist of the internationally acclaimed Schumann Quartett. He has performed across the globe alongside renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Gary Hoffman, Stella Chen, Xenia Jankovic, Yura Lee, Miguel da Silva, Paul Watkins, Ivan Monighetti, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, playing chamber music in the world’s leading performance venues like Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Victoria Hall, The Phillips Collection, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the Curtis Institute of Music, and many others. Matthew’s engagements have taken him to the most important festivals throughout Europe and North America, concertizing at places like the Verbier Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Zermatt Festival, YellowBarn Festival, Schiermonnikoog Festival, Prussia Cove IMS, NUME Festival, Heidelberg Frühling, Zwischentöne Kammermusik Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, amongst others.
Matthew holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.
John-Henry Crawford, cello
Louisiana-born cellist John-Henry Crawford is acclaimed for his “polished charisma” and “singing sound” (Philadelphia Inquirer). In 2019, he won First Prize at the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and was named Young Artist of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation. He was later selected as the National Federation of Music Clubs’ 2021–2023 Young Artist in Strings and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2023 as recipient of the American Recital Debut Award.
His album Corazón: The Music of Latin America reached No. 5 on the Billboard Classical Charts and was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. His debut album Dialogo and Voice of Rachmaninoff also appeared on the Billboard Top 10 Classical chart. In June 2024, he released his concerto debut album featuring Dvořák and Tchaikovsky with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Martin West.
He has performed across the U.S. as well as in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, and the Philippines. He made his concerto debut at Verizon Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Crawford performs on a rare Homolka cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather Robert Popper weeks before Kristallnacht and a 1790 Tourte ‘L’Aîné’ bow.
Oliverson, Wells, McDowell, Crawford
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH: Bourrées for Suite No. 3, BWV 1009
McDowell
PAUL WIANCKO: American Haiku
Far Away
In Transit
Home
Isaacs, Crawford
JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR: Gavotta and Presto from Sonata, Op. 3 No. 5
Oliverson, Wells
RHIANNON GIDDENS: At the Purchaser's Option with Variations
Oliverson, Wells, Isaacs, Crawford
ANTONÍN DVOŘÁK: Quintet No. 3 in E-flat, Op. 97
Allegro non tanto
Allegro vivo
Larghetto
Finale. Allegro giusto
Wells, Oliverson, Isaacs, McDowell, Crawford
This concert, developed in collaboration with the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy, brings to Montana five exceptional artists drawn from its alumni. They will perform a remarkably diverse range of works inspired by handclapping songs of remote villages of Africa, Appalachian fiddling, Japanese folk music and 18th century court dances, ending with exuberant virtuosity of Moravian composer Antonín Dvořák's String Quintet, written during the summer he spent in Spillville, Iowa.
On May 21, Tippet Rise will open for concertgoers beginning at 3:00 PM, for a chance to explore the Cottonwood Campus before the concert. Dinner, prepared by chef Chris Lockhart, will be available for purchase after the concert in Will’s Shed.
The musicians are also performing the same program one evening earlier, on Wednesday May 20, at One-Legged Magpie in Red Lodge. This Tippet Rise Pop-Up event is free with an advance dinner reservation.
Aubree Oliverson, violin
Praised for her evocative lyricism and joyful, genuine approach, young American violinist Aubree Oliverson is proving to be one of the most compelling artists of her generation, distinguishing herself with clear, honest, and colourful performances, which have been described as “powerful… brimming with confidence and joy” by the Miami New Times.
Acclaimed as a “masterful” soloist (San Diego Story), Aubree’s 2025/26 season features debut performances with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra (St. Clair), Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Parnther), and Florida Orchestra (Watanabe), as well as return engagements with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (Milanov) and Pacific Symphony Orchestra (Shelley). A distinguished recitalist as well, she makes her debut at the Harrogate International Festival and returns to the Aspen Music Festival alongside Tony Yanfeng Bai.
A dynamic recitalist and sensitive chamber musician, Aubree recently toured Europe with Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Clive Greensmith, and Tatjana Masurenko and collaborates this season with Anne Akiko Meyers and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County in duo works of Bach, Philip Glass, and Handel-Halvorsen. Other engagements include festivals such as the Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival with Gil Shaham, the Rome Chamber Music Festival, Oropa Music Festival, Moab Music Festival, ChamberFest West, and recitals at the Grand Teton Music Festival and SOKA Performing Arts Center, among many others. Ms. Oliverson has collaborated with world-renowned artists such as Robert McDuffie in Harris Hall at the Aspen Music Festival, Gil Shaham on tour in Mexico, Renaud Capuçon in France, Joseph Silverstein in Salt Lake City, and Lynn Harrell, Orli Shaham, Robert Chen, and Andrew Marriner in Los Angeles.
Claire Wells, violin
American violinist Claire Wells is emerging as one of the most exciting and original violinists of her generation. Recognized for her personal musical voice and vivid imagination, the soloist and chamber musician captivates audiences with her compelling interpretations, making her a young artist to watch.
In growing international demand, Claire has performed with orchestras including the Dallas Symphony, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Dima Solobodeniouk, and Andrew Litton. An avid chamber musician, Claire appears at leading festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Connects the World in collaboration with Christian Tetzlaff and Steven Isserlis, the IMS Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music Festival in Cornwall, the Verbier Festival Academy, and the Kryzyowa Festival in Kreisau, Poland.
1st Prize Winner and Commission Prize Winner at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition 2021, Claire has won top prizes at internationally renowned competitions, including the Michael Hill, Sibelius, and Indianapolis international competitions. She was the 2023 scholarship winner of the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, and most recently was the winner of the 2025 Susan Wadsworth Young Concert Artists International Auditions.
Claire is represented worldwide by Young Concert Artists. She currently resides in Berlin, and is studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Mihaela Martin, made possible by the Opel/Dr. Schaefer patronage.
Brian Isaacs, viola
American violist Brian Isaacs is a member of the Kronberg Academy Professional Studies program, studying with Tabea Zimmermann. He is the 1st Prize (ex aequo) laureate of the 79th Concours de Genève and a prizewinner of other international viola competitions including Rostal (2nd Prize, all special prizes), Markneukirchen (3rd Prize), and Nedbal (3rd Prize). He has also received awards and prizes from institutions such as the Verbier Festival Academy, Yale University, and Frank Huntington Beebe Fund. An avid chamber musician, Brian has participated in numerous festivals including Boscobel, Four Seasons, Gstaad, La Jolla, Marlboro, Methow Valley, NUME, CMS Palm Beach, Taos, Thy, Tonhain Kollektiv, Verbier, Viridian Strings, and Yellow Barn. During his two seasons as a scholar in the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, Brian participated in performances of the Berliner Philharmoniker, including tours within Europe and the USA. For the 2025-26 season, Brian played in the orchestra of Komische Oper Berlin as assistant principal violist. Before moving to Germany, Brian graduated from Yale University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in sociology, and his Master of Music in the viola studio of Ettore Causa.
Matthew McDowell, viola
American violist Matthew McDowell is a distinguished chamber musician, rising pedagogue, and recently appointed violist of the internationally acclaimed Schumann Quartett. He has performed across the globe alongside renowned artists such as Martha Argerich, Gary Hoffman, Stella Chen, Xenia Jankovic, Yura Lee, Miguel da Silva, Paul Watkins, Ivan Monighetti, and members of the Berlin Philharmonic, playing chamber music in the world’s leading performance venues like Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Kölner Philharmonie, Dortmund Konzerthaus, Victoria Hall, The Phillips Collection, the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, the Curtis Institute of Music, and many others. Matthew’s engagements have taken him to the most important festivals throughout Europe and North America, concertizing at places like the Verbier Festival, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Zermatt Festival, YellowBarn Festival, Schiermonnikoog Festival, Prussia Cove IMS, NUME Festival, Heidelberg Frühling, Zwischentöne Kammermusik Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, amongst others.
Matthew holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel.
John-Henry Crawford, cello
Louisiana-born cellist John-Henry Crawford is acclaimed for his “polished charisma” and “singing sound” (Philadelphia Inquirer). In 2019, he won First Prize at the IX International Carlos Prieto Cello Competition and was named Young Artist of the Year by the Classical Recording Foundation. He was later selected as the National Federation of Music Clubs’ 2021–2023 Young Artist in Strings and made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2023 as recipient of the American Recital Debut Award.
His album Corazón: The Music of Latin America reached No. 5 on the Billboard Classical Charts and was selected as Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. His debut album Dialogo and Voice of Rachmaninoff also appeared on the Billboard Top 10 Classical chart. In June 2024, he released his concerto debut album featuring Dvořák and Tchaikovsky with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, conducted by Martin West.
He has performed across the U.S. as well as in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Mexico, Russia, Switzerland, and the Philippines. He made his concerto debut at Verizon Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Crawford performs on a rare Homolka cello smuggled out of Austria by his grandfather Robert Popper weeks before Kristallnacht and a 1790 Tourte ‘L’Aîné’ bow.