Mark Rush enjoys a diverse musical career encompassing many interests. He has performed extensively on the concert stage and for radio and television in the United States, China, Canada and Europe. He plays a far-flung repertoire that ranges across many historical periods and musical genres.

Rush counts among his musical mentors many of the finest artists and teachers of the 20th century; he has studied with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay, Itzhak Perlman, Szymon Goldberg, Nathan Milstein and Arthur Grumiaux. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music (MM) and the University of Colorado (BM).

As a chamber musician, he has been a member of several successful chamber ensembles including the Rush-Gibson Duo, the Monticello Trio, the Lorenzo Trio and Coyote Concert. He has worked closely with many composers and performers premiering and performing numerous new works and has also participated in many summer festivals including the Bath International Music Festival, the Banff Festival for the Arts, the Killington Music Festival, Weekend of Chamber Music Festival, Bang on a Can Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, and the Sedona Chamber Music Festival. Concerto appearances include engagements with the Shanghai Radio Orchestra, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Tucson Chamber Orchestra, and the Mesa Symphony Orchestra. He has toured China twice where he both performed and taught master classes in cities throughout the country. He has recorded for ASV, CRI and Albany Records and was nominated for a Gramophone Award in 1994. His most recent recording, Playing the Edge (2010), features music for violin and percussion instruments.

Rush is a sought after violin teacher. Most recently, he accepted a teaching position at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music. He has taught at the University of Arizona and the University of Virginia. Rush is also an author and his book, Playing the Violin: An Illustrated Guide, enjoys brisk sales and critical acclaim.

In addition to musical endeavors, Rush pursues a long time interest in yoga and the Taoist arts, which informs both his teaching and playing. He is also an avid hiker and backpacker.

Canadian born pianist, Tannis Gibson, enjoys a career covering a wide range of solo and chamber music performances. She has appeared in major North American venues including Weill Recital Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and Boston’s Gardner Museum. Ms. Gibson has performed numerous times for the National Gallery Series and the Phillips Collection Series in Washington, D.C. She has appeared at many festivals including the Bath International Festival in England, Killington Music Festival in Vermont, New York’s Bang-on-a-Can Festival, Western Slope Music Festival in Colorado, Weekends of Chamber Music in NY, and others. Ms. Gibson’s recent concerto performances include appearing with the Shanghai Radio Orchestra in China and the French Woods Summer Festival Orchestra in Hancock, NY.

Ms. Gibson has performed live concerts for WGBH Boston’s Pro Musica and WQXR’s The Listening Room in New York. She has been heard several times on NPR’s Performance Today, and in 1992, as pianist in the Monticello Trio, appeared on NBC’s Today Show honoring the legacy of President Thomas Jefferson.

Ms. Gibson’s major studies began at the University of Regina in Canada where she studied with William Moore, and graduated with a B.M. (summa cum laude). At the Juilliard School, she graduated M.M. as a scholarship student of Sascha Gorodnitzki and Herbert Stessin. Ms. Gibson continued studies at the Banff Center for the Arts Winter Cycle Program for two years where she participated regularly in masterclasses with such noted artists as Gyorgy Sebok, Menachem Pressler, Janos Starker. A year of private study in Brussels, Belgium with Eduardo del Pueyo and Arthur Grumiaux followed.

Chamber music has formed an important part of Ms. Gibson’s career. In addition to her ten years as pianist with the Monticello Trio, Ms. Gibson has collaborated with distinguished ensembles and artists including the Muir, American, Lark, Miami and Shanghai String Quartets, as well as the Dorian Woodwind Quintet. She appears frequently in recital as duo partner with many of this country’s finest instrumentalists and singers. Her first recording, featuring the Charles Ives Piano Trio, was described by American Record Guide as ‘really remarkable - the Ives trio seldom has been heard with so much energy or panache.’ Other chamber music recordings include recently discovered piano trios of Richard Strauss and music of British composer, Nicholas Maw, both CDs released by ASV of London. The disc featuring Maw’s piano trio gained considerable critical acclaim throughout Europe and the U.S., and was nominated for a 1995 Recording of the Year Gramophone Award. Gramophone Magazine named it “Editor’s Choice - Recording of the Month” in the June issue. Summit Records has recently released “Breath in a Ram’s Horn” (2002), a CD of new song cycles by American composer, Dan Asia, with Ms. Gibson as pianist.

A continuing commitment to new music has resulted in Gibson’s collaboration with many of our country’s prominent composers. She has been active in commissioning significant new works through grants such as the Koussevitzky Foundation and the Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program. In addition to many first performances of new music, Ms. Gibson has directed the University of Virginia New Music Ensemble and has served as Co-Artistic Director of Coyote Consort, an ensemble dedicated to innovative programming of new and old music.

Ms. Gibson has given residencies, master classes and performances at universities and arts institutions throughout the U.S. From 1984-94, she was a member of the music faculty at the University of Virginia. Currently, Ms. Gibson is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Arizona where she teaches studio piano and coaches chamber music. She makes her home in Tucson, Arizona.