A string quartet of four exemplary musicians present Summit Lines, which explores the evolving landscape of chamber music through works that span more than two centuries. Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Trio in C Minor opens the program with dramatic intensity and bold ambition, while Caroline Shaw’s Entr'acte refracts Classical tradition through a contemporary and deeply imaginative voice. The program culminates in the radiant lyricism and soaring energy of Felix Mendelssohn’s Quartet in D Major, Op. 44. Like mountain ridgelines stretching across changing terrain, these works trace connections between past and present, intimacy and expansiveness, reflection and exhilaration

Liesl Doty (Violin) - What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle? For crossover violinist Liesl Schoenberger Doty, the answer is simple: not much. Praised for her “magnetic presence,” Liesl has performed throughout North America and Europe at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Musikverein, and the Grand Ole Opry, and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras across the United States. A versatile artist, she has released three commercial fiddle albums with Buddy Spicher and David Grier, toured nationally with composer Eric Genuis since 2009, and spent nearly a decade performing and recording with Boston’s Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra, A Far Cry. 

Liesl holds degrees from Indiana University and Yale School of Music and is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the Crane School of Music

Catherine Beeson (Violin) has served as a Teaching Artist and as a performer with Colorado Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Friends of Chamber Music - Denver, Lenape Chamber Ensemble (PA), Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Santa Fe Pro Music Chamber Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra (CA) and Loon Lake Live.  In addition to her artistic administrator role with Loon Lake Live, Catherine has served in administrative roles as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Colorado Symphony, Artistic Director of Ensemble Faucheux, Executive Director of the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, and as a speaker, workshop facilitator, and consultant to education, chamber music, and symphonic organizations.  Catherine is a proud advocate for inclusion practices in the musical arts, lately focusing on concert and performance opportunities for the neurodiverse community.  She enjoys connecting diverse groups of people through community and school residency programs that encourage music composition and performance. In service to this, Catherine has designed and published teachers' guides and lesson plans to support the education and outreach endeavors of the New York Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Up Close and Musical orchestra (Denver) and Friends of Chamber Music (Denver). Catherine has also been a facilitator for adult lectures through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, led workshops at the Colorado Music Educators' Association conference, and presented as a panelist at the League of American Orchestras conferences and at Denver Comic Con.  Catherine serves on the board of The Primavera Fund, a Philadelphia based organization offering support to develop young musicians into agents of change in communities as future performers, teachers, leaders, and role models. Catherine also completed a year of study and growth in the inaugural cohort of the Anne Parsons Leadership Program, a mentorship and training program led by the League of American Orchestras.    Believe it or not, Catherine has spare time during which she enjoys playing board games, reading, being outside, and having random adventures. This summer, just like all the rest of the summers previous and hence, you can find Catherine on Saturday mornings at the Saranac Lake Farmers Market shopping for the yummiest possible things even if it's pouring rain.

Marie-Elaine Gagnon (Cello) - Performer and pedagogue at heart, French-Canadian cellist Marie-Élaine Gagnon has taught at the University of South Dakota from 2007 to 2017 before joining the Crane School of Music of SUNY Potsdam in 2017. Earlier on, she taught at the Université de Montréal for the Preparatory Program and, at Barry University in Miami. Her students have won first places in concerto competitions and held principal chairs in New York, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania States. Some have gone to prestigious music programs in Europe, Canada, and graduate conservatory programs in the US. Others have developed and enriched string programs in the Mid-West and on the East Coast. Dr. Gagnon is a first prize-winner of numerous music competitions in Canada, which led to many solo performances in her natal home. In 2000, she was chosen amongst many young candidates to perform a solo recital for the prestigious Canadian Broadcasting Company program: “Jeunes Artists.” Gagnon has participated and performed in many music festivals, including Le Festival International du Domaine Forget, The Penderecki String Quartet Chamber Workshop, Orford Music Center, and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In 2002, she was the first cellist to win a scholarship from the D. Robinson Foundation to study at the Aspen Music Festival. Her participation in these many music festivals allowed her to study with well-known cellists such as Sharon Robinson (Indiana), Desmond Hoebig (Cleveland), Janos Starker (Indiana), Philippe Muller (Paris), Roland Pidoux (Trio Pasquier), Paul Watkins (London), and David Ellis (Quatuor Saguenay). 

An avid chamber music player, Gagnon was a member of the Rawlins Piano Trio from 2007 to 2017, in residence at the University of South Dakota.  The trio formed a reputation as a preeminent interpreter of 19th and early 20th-century American music. Owing to its expertise, the ensemble has recorded four CDs of these works on the Albany Records label. The third disc– American Romance–was declared, “A real find!” by reviewer J. Scott Morrison. The fourth, American Discoveries, released in July 2009–is “…another winner from the Rawlins Trio…they continue their work of bringing us American composers’ music that is worth hearing…Their playing is artful, suave, and pleasing.” (Morrison) During her tenure with the Rawlins Piano Trio, the group has toured in Taiwan, South Korea, and Panama.  They have also performed to prestigious music conferences such as the Chamber Music Society in New York and the College Music Society National Conference in San Diego. On many occasions, Gagnon has performed the Beethoven “Triple Concerto” with the Rawlins Piano Trio. 

In 2021, Dr. Gagnon was awarded a Lougheed Applied Learning Grant from the State University of New York for her project “Teaching Music through Mindful Mindset and Neuro-Associative Conditioning”. The project allowed her to develop a focus mindset approach in the studio and the classroom with Founder and Coach Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier of the Music Mastery Experience Method. Raised in Chicoutimi, Dr. Gagnon began her conservatory training with Leslie Snider in her native hometown. She later received her Diplôme d’Étude Supérieur I at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, her Diplôme d’Étude Supérieur II from the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec, her M.M. from Florida International University and finally her D.M.A from the University of Miami. She has been principal cellist of the Sioux City Symphony for ten years prior to joining the Orchestra of Northern New York as principal in 2017. She owns a cello made in 1904 by the French Master luthier Paul Bailly.

Shelly Tramposh (Viola) – A Professor of Viola at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where she teaches viola and Irish fiddling, Dr. Tramposh is the founder and director of the Crane Mariachi ensemble, “Mariachi los Osos del Norte”.  She is a well-known recitalist and frequent presenter at ASTA national conventions and American Viola Society events, where she performs and speaks about issues such as practicing, hypermobility, the pedagogy of bow strokes, and the inclusion of non-Classical music in the schools.  Her articles have appeared in The Strad, and her CD “Sprezzatura” is available on Spotify.  

Dr. Tramposh holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory, Eastman, and the University of Colorado at Boulder and prior to joining the faculty at Crane, held positions in the Colorado Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the Berkeley Symphony, as well as the National Repertory Orchestra and the Taos Chamber Music Festival. Her mariachi studies include private vihuela and guitarrón lessons with recording artist Francisco Hernández and Jessie Vallejo, Crane alumna and former member of the Grammy-nominated Mariachi Tesoro, as well as working as a violinista for mariachi performances in California during her recent sabbatical