Hailed by the New York Concert Review for its “excellent music making…uncommonly fine interpretation,” Serafin String Quartet debuted to a sell-out crowd at New York City’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 2004. The Quartet has consistently received superlatives in the press and ovations. New York Concert Review has lauded the quartet for "ensemble and intonation ... above reproach,” and described their Puccini as “suave and stylish!” their Debussy as “a shapely, finely conceived account” and their Haydn as having “rhythmic vitality and taut ensemble…”

Serafin String Quartet has recently recorded its first commercial disc for Centaur Records, now available on www.centaurrecords.com and scheduled for international release in September 2010. On September 25, 2010, the Quartet will present its overseas debut at St. John’s, Smith Square, London, UK. The Quartet has been featured on Philadelphia’s Chamber Music Now series, at Highlands (N.C.), Classicopia (V.T.), Fanfare (L.A.) festivals and the Advanced Chamber Music Institute at East Carolina University (N.C.). The Quartet often presents performances at colleges and universities and has recently appeared at Rutgers University, Dartmouth University, Emory University, Vanderbilt University, Lehigh, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania and University of Delaware.

Devoted to furthering new works for quartet, Serafin String Quartet is preparing to record the un-recorded chamber works for strings by Pulitzer Prize winning composer, Jennifer Higdon. In addition, the Quartet has premiered works by Mark Hagerty (2007), Richard Belcastro (2006), Drew Hemenger (2005) and David Laganella (2004). The Quartet’s repertoire includes recent works by Robert Maggio and Maurice Wright, and a special program of all American works. The Serafins also collaborate with poet, Kate Light in presenting her project, Einstein’s Mozart: Two Geniuses.

Since its founding, Serafin String Quartet has been applauded by audiences around the nation, including several sell-out crowds at repeat performances in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Serafin String Quartet works with young musicians through a variety of performances and lectures, including its previous role as Weinstock Ensemble In Residence for Lehigh University. The Quartet’s varied lecture-recitals feature Beethoven, Mozart, Bartok, Interpreting New Music, Romanticism, Chamber Music, The Voice of the American String Quartet and The Development of the String Quartet.

Reflecting their egalitarian viewpoint, Serafin String Quartet violinists share equally the responsibility for playing the first and second violin parts. Collaboration with artists is a frequent part of the Quartet’s activities, including programs with internationally acclaimed pianist Sandra Rivers; a special project with the Vega String Quartet; and performances with oboist John Dee, bass/baritone Grant Youngblood and clarinetists Igor Begelman and Marianne Gythfeldt. The individual artists of the quartet have been heralded around the globe for concerts and recordings, receiving critical acclaim in the press.

Serafin String Quartet takes its name from master violin maker, Sanctus Serafin, who in 1728 crafted the violin currently played by Kate Ransom. Timothy Schwarz and Ana Tsinadze play instruments by Carlo Antonio Testore - the violin dating 1741 and the viola from 1752. Lawrence Stomberg’s cello is attributed to the School of Testore, circa 1727. The Testore instruments are played by the Quartet thanks to generous support by Dr. William Stegeman.

Kate Ransom, violinist, currently maintains an active schedule of performances around the nation as chamber musician and recitalist. In over two decades as a performing artist, she has presented hundreds of concerts throughout the United States, and in Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Devoted to organizational advancement of music schools, she has held executive positions at music schools since 1990, and is currently President of The Music School of Delaware.

Ms. Ransom is violinist with the Serafin String Quartet, which has recently recorded its first commercial disc with Centaur, expected to be released this season. The Quartet has received superlatives in the press and is preparing for its overseas debut in London, UK in fall 2010. The Serafins regularly perform in locations throughout the United States and have been Ensemble in Residence at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

Prior to her work with the Serafins, her debut violin recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall received high praise in the New York Times, where the performance was described this way: “Impassioned… considerable flair…a beautifully regulated account of the Brahms…a suitably misty and dark Debussy… clear articulation and unity of purpose.” Ms. Ransom was a founding and six-year member of the Alexander String Quartet during its early prize-winning years and rise to international recognition.

In addition to her work with the Serafin String Quartet, Ms. Ransom frequently collaborates with other artists and has presented chamber music concerts with founding cellist of the Tokyo Quartet, Sadao Harada, with William Preucil (the Cleveland Orchestra’s concertmaster), with internationally acclaimed guitarist Eliot Fisk, and with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Cleveland, Atlanta and National Symphonies, the Empire Brass Quintet, and with the Lark, Ciompi, Blair and Vega String Quartets.

Her performances include those in major chamber music concert halls around the world, including New York’s Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and at Lincoln Center; at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Teatro Real in Madrid; Wigmore Hall and the Warwick Gallery in London; and in Washington, D.C. at the Library of Congress.

A regular guest artist at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival in North Carolina Kate Ransom has participated in numerous other festivals (including Bang on a Can, Garth Newel, Sewanee Summer Music Festival, Norfolk Festival, Fanfare Festival, and others). She is currently an adjunct faculty member at Lehigh University, and has been a visiting faculty member at University of Delaware, State University of New York-Potsdam, St. Lawrence University, and Brevard College. She often presents concerts, lecture-recitals and master classes at colleges and universities, having visited scores of locations around the country in this capacity.

Ms. Ransom earned degrees from Yale School of Music (M.M.) and University of Michigan School of Music (B.M., magna cum laude) and pursued post-graduate chamber music studies at The Juilliard School. She was a violin student of Paul Makanowitzky, Szymon Goldberg and Ivan Galamian and a chamber music protégé of the Tokyo String Quartet.

She has been featured on WQXR (New York), Radio London, Radio France, and National Public Radio. Her recording credits include those on Gallo and CRI Records, a recording of works for oboe and strings, Under a Near Sky on the Klavier label, and the Serafin String Quartet recording project with Centaur Records, soon to be released. Ms. Ransom plays a violin made in 1728 by the Venetian master, Sanctus Serafin.

Timothy Schwarz, violinist, has been hailed by critics around the world for his exemplary technique and passionate musicianship. Timothy began his violin studies at age four, and within nine months he had won his first solo concerto competition. Four years after that he was invited to solo with the Philadelphia Orchestra in their premiere of Kabalevsky’s Violin Concerto in C Major. In 1986 he began his studies with Dorothy DeLay at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music under a Starling Scholarship. He continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory, where the National Endowment of the Arts gave him an award for Best Individual Artist in Maryland in 1994. The next year Mr. Schwarz won the Artistic Ambassador Competition in Washington, D.C., which resulted in a nine-week solo tour throughout Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The concerts were a tremendous success, and resulted in several other tours between 1996 and 2001. During this time Mr. Schwarz performed over 75 recitals in 20 different countries, performed and spoke on dozens of television and radio stations, commissioned numerous works combining Arab and American melodies, and received accolades from American Ambassadors and Middle East Ambassadors for his contribution to the Peace Process.

Mr. Schwarz’s recording career spans ten years, with solo albums distributed by EMI, Marquis Classics, and Centaur Records. His latest CD (distributed by Centaur Records) was hailed by the American Record Guide as “Good enough to be the only recording in your collection if you can only have one”. In 2005 he joined the Serafin String Quartet, which performs regularly throughout the United States, including venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Highlands-Cashiers Festival in North Carolina. Their first CD release for Centaur Records will be available in 2010. In 2007 Mr. Schwarz completed his Doctorate in Violin Performance from Temple University, and that same year was appointed Head of the String Department at Lehigh University, where he currently teaches. He plays a violin by Carlo Antonio Testore (1741), generously on loan from Dr. William Stegeman.

Ana Tsinadze, Viola, is an active chamber musician, recitalist, soloist and orchestral player. She joined Serafin String Quartet in February 2007, and the quartet is a primary and central part of her varied artistic activities. She is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Temple University, and, in addition to her busy concert schedule, she also maintains a teaching studio and is devoted to the development of young musicians.

Ms. Tsinadze was born in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and began her music studies there at the age of six (first learning the violin). She benefited from intensive studies at the Zakharia Paliashvili Special Music School for exceptionally gifted children, where she worked with renowned Soviet musicians (including professors Alexander Begalishvili and Boris Chiaureli – desciples of the famed Yamploslki school). Graduating with the Gold Medal in 1987, Ms. Tsinadze performed with various ensembles, and was a prize-winner in numerous solo competitions, winning the Tbilisi Solo Instrumental Competition. These successes and training experiences established her resolve to choose music over her other passion, biology.

After entering Tbilisi State Conservatory, Ms. Tsinadze continued with viola studies from the celebrated Soviet Georgian pedagogue, Shota Shanidze. During the conservatory years (1987-93) she took another major prize, and performed with the State Symphony Orchestra (a viola transcription of Saent-Saens cello concerto). By 1989, Ms. Tsinadze had been offered assistant principal positions with the State Symphony Orchestra and the Tbilisi Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, both of which toured extensively throughout the world. In 1994, she accepted a full teaching position at the Tbilisi State Conservatory.

Ms. Tsinadze left her native country a year later due to the difficult economic situation in the Republic of Georgia, and moved to the United States to join the Honors String Quartet at Rowan University (NJ). Under the tutelage of Dr. Bertram Greenspan, this award-winning quartet performed extensively in the tri-state area. Her American education includes a Master of Music degree from Louisiana State University, where she studied with Dr. Jerzy Kosmala. Ms. Tsinadze plays a Carlo Antonio Testore viola from 1752, courtesy of Dr. William Stegeman.

Lawrence Stomberg, cellist, Cellist Lawrence Stomberg enjoys a wide ranging career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. In addition to his work with the Serafin String Quartet, he has also performed as soloist and chamber musician as faculty at the Eastern Music Festival and Texas Music Festival, and was a founding member of the piano trios Trilogy and the Johannes Trio as well as the Brightmusic concert series in Oklahoma City, OK.

In October of 1999, his New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was hailed in Strings Magazine for its "style and elegance" and "lyrical expressiveness". As a committed performer of contemporary music, Stomberg has premiered works at New York's Miller Theater and Merkin Hall, and, in 2000, released a debut recording of solo contemporary music entitled The American Cello. In addition to this disc, he has also recorded for the VAI and Centaur labels.

In 2006, Stomberg embarked on a concert tour of the United States and China, performing solo recitals of modern works and presenting master classes for conservatory students. As an orchestral performer, Stomberg served as Assistant Principal Cellist in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 2002 until 2004, after four years as a member of the Tulsa Philharmonic. He was a student of Shirley Trepel at Rice University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree, and continued his studies with Timothy Eddy, receiving his Masters and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.br>
An active and dedicated pedagogue, Stomberg served on the faculties at Truman State University in Missouri and Oklahoma State University before joining the music faculty at the University of Delaware in 2004 where he is Associate Professor of Cello. He lives in Delaware with his wife, cellist Jennifer Crowell Stomberg, and their three children.

Lawrence Stomberg plays a School of Testore cello, circa 1727, obtained with the generous assistance of Dr. William Stegeman.