MUSIKOS | Μουσικός
Our Team
Daniel Knapp
Founder and Director
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Daniel started his cello studies at age three in the MacPhail Center For Music, eventually studying privately with renowned cellist and Alexander Teacher, Käthe Jarka. As a graduate of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies and Artaria Chamber Music School Daniel has developed a love for chamber music and gotten the opportunity to perform vast arrays of repertoire, most recently recording the North American premiere of Guido López-Gavilán's work, “Mojito con Saoco.”
Daniel collaborates frequently with composers Evan Judson and Samuel Mutter and through his studies with Rhonda Rider at Music From Salem’s “The Cello Seminar” has premiered many of their works with the goal of expanding the accessibility of classical music in our changing world today. Throughout his training, Daniel has traveled to New York, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, and Český Krumlov and has been a two time prizewinner at the SPCO Chamber Music Competition.
Aaron Lieberman
Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Aaron Lieberman is a cellist and composer from New York City. He began his studies at age five and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s in performance at Oberlin Conservatory under Darrett Adkins. Aaron has also studied composition with Jihyun Kim, Jesse Jones, Michael Frazier, and Elizabeth Ogonek, and participated in masterclasses with Natasha Brofsky, David Geber, and Brooklyn Rider, among others. At Oberlin, Aaron has sat principal in both Oberlin Orchestra and Contemporary Music Ensemble and has been featured multiple times as both a composer and performer at the Oberlin-based Sacred Heart Concert Series.
A founding member of the Orb Quartet, Aaron is an active chamber musician and is passionate about contemporary chamber music. He is interested in broadening the role of the performer in concert music by engaging more with both composers and the audience, as well as other genres of contemporary music and art.
Diana Reid
Co-Founder and Director of Marketing
Diana Reid is a first-year student at Oberlin College and Conservatory studying cello performance with Dmitry Kouzov. Her musical journey began with the piano, which she has studied since she was 5. After seeing the cello in a OneRepublic music video when she was 10, she fell in love with the instrument and started taking lessons.
In high school, she spent three years as a leader of the Carmel Valley Summer Symphony, a non-profit, student-run summer music intensive. Throughout these three summers, she raised more than $5,000 for local music programs, served over 300 student musicians, and successfully transitioned the non-profit to distanced and virtual settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Diana was awarded the assistant principal chair in the San Diego Youth Symphony’s Ovation Chamber Orchestra, played as a principal cellist with the San Diego City Ballet Orchestra, and was the principal cellist and president of the Canyon Crest Academy Orchestras for three years. She attended Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute in 2021 and currently serves as a BUTI Ambassador. Furthermore, she has been accepted to the Idyllwild Chamber Orchestra Festival, the Idyllwild Symphony Orchestra Festival, and the Marrowstone Music Festival, and has played in masterclasses with esteemed cellists such as Mickey Katz, Walter Gray, and Evangeline Benedetti. She has also played as a cellist in California’s All-Southern Symphony and as a member of the Sunroad Quintet, the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus’ student-ensemble-in-residence.
On the piano, she has completed all 10 levels of the MTAC Certificate of Merit and was awarded the California State Honor for her performances and theory scores, in addition to receiving the Superior rating at the San Diego MTAC Romantic Festival four times. She believes that all art – whether it is music, acting, painting, or otherwise – tells a piece of a story, and that the full story is revealed when these art forms work together. As such, she is passionate about crafting multi-disciplinary performances that stretch across artistic borders and engage both performers and audiences alike.
Anna "Misha" Stout
Director of Pop-Up Concerts
Anna Stout is a violinist from Warsaw, Indiana. She began playing the violin at the age of five and is currently working on her Bachelor's in Violin Performance at Oberlin Conservatory under the direction of Sibbi Bernhardsson
Anna has done extensive community and fundraising work with her music, including volunteering in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana middle and high schools to help with their music programs. She has also done extensive volunteer concert work in nursing homes, and has raised over $4,000 for charity and humanitarian efforts through benefit concerts.
Anna has soloed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Youth Symphony and the Symphony of the Lakes. She was a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and is currently a contracted first violinist of Symphony of the Lakes. Anna has toured and performed in Russia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, and the Czeck Republic. She was also a part of "Winged Creatures" an album produced by Cedille Records featuring Anthony and Demarre McGill that was nominated for a Grammy.
Anna is currently completing her degree at Oberlin; actively involved in orchestra and chamber music, she is working to create more performance spaces for her fellow conservatory students. Anna also is an active advocate for mental health awareness within the conservatory.
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