Guest Faculty:
John Largess, viola
Miro Quartet | University of Texas Austin
Opus 360: Faculty
Dr. Marisa Ishikawa, Violin
Dr. Marisa Ishikawa is a performer, entrepreneur, and educator located in Houston, TX. She serves as the Second Violinist of the internationally recognized Carpe Diem String Quartet, a boundary-breaking ensemble that has earned widespread critical and audience acclaim for its innovative programming and electrifying performances. With the Quartet, she has performed in Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, and across Europe and China. She appears on multiple quartet recordings, including Dances of the Yogurt Maker, which was included in producer Judith Sherman’s 2023 Grammy win and received Gold Prize in the Global Music Awards. Dr. Ishikawa is also co-founder of the nonprofit chamber music organization Austin Camerata in Austin, TX. Since 2016, Austin Camerata has broadened the audience for chamber music through creative artistic collaborations, performances in unique venues, and inclusive concert experiences. She is also the co-founder of Opus 1 Chamber Music School, Houston’s chamber music program for pre-college and adult students.
Dr. Ishikawa holds Violin Performance and Business Administration degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Texas Austin. Her mentors include Charles Wetherbee, Brian Lewis, the Takács String Quartet, and the Miró String Quartet. Additionally, she has participated in the National Repertory Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival. In her free time, Dr. Ishikawa enjoys yoga and cooking her favorite recipes from NYT Cooking.
Daniel Kopp, cello
Daniel Kopp, co-founder and artistic director of Austin Camerata, is a dedicated cellist and educator in Austin, Texas. An avid chamber musician, he has performed across the U.S. at distinguished festivals including Tanglewood, Kneisel Hall, Aspen, and Colorado College. His notable orchestral performances include debuting at Carnegie Hall as principal cellist of the New York String Orchestra Seminar and at Seiji Ozawa Hall as principal cellist of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. In 2023, Daniel collaborated with the Grammy-winning choir Conspirare, contributing to their acclaimed album "House of Belonging," which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance. Through Austin Camerata, he fosters collaborations merging chamber music with dance and storytelling, showcased at venues throughout central Texas. Austin Camerata has been praised by the Austin American-Statesman for its “unadulterated beauty” and nominated by the Austin Critics Table for ‘best classical ensemble’.
Daniel graduated from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas. His teachers include Bion Tsang, Norman Fischer, Cathie Lehr-Ramos, and Mary Lou Gotman. He has had the honor of studying chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, and Miro Quartets. A devoted educator, Daniel has served on the faculty of the Manitou Chamber Music Festival, Stringwood Chamber Music Festival, and the Clavier-Werke School of Music.
Dr. Matt Lammers, Violin
Violinist Matt Lammers earned his DMA at Rice University, where he was the Itzhak Perlman Fellow. He remains on the Preparatory Violin Faculty of the Shepherd School of Music. His teachers include Paul Kantor, Carolyn Huebl, Christian Teal, and Ray Shows.
Matt is the newly appointed First Violinist of the Axiom Quartet. He also appears regularly with the Houston Trio, Kinetic Ensemble, Da Camera of Houston, Music in CONTEXT, Ventana Ballet, the Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Musiqa New Music Ensemble, and as a founding member of Austin Camerata.
In 2019 Matt was awarded the City of Houston’s generous Support for Artists and Creative Individuals Grant for commissioning the world premieres of composer Michael Alec Rose's exploratory chamber opera-ballet Lolly Willowes. Invested in historical performance as well as new music, he has self-published solo violin transcriptions of rarely heard Lute Sonatas by Sylvius Leopold Weiss, as well as J.S. Bach’s famous D-minor Toccata and Fugue for organ, proposing that it originated as a work for solo string instrument. The subject of his dissertation, A String Player’s Guide to Evaluating Sound and Playability, Matt also explores the effects of acoustical construction on the characteristics of violins with research partner and luthier Keith Hill (Nashville, TN).