Meet the Musicians

​Eva Cappelletti Chao, violinist, performs with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. She is Concertmaster for Concert Opera of Washington as well as for many DC-area choral groups. Prior orchestral positions have included Concertmaster and soloist with the Washington Chamber Symphony, Assistant Concertmaster of the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera, and a member of the New World Symphony in Miami. As a chamber musician, teacher and guest soloist, she enjoys a successful collaboration with violist husband Philippe Chao as The Cappelletti-Chao Duo and has performed with the American Festival for the Arts, Wintergreen Music Festival, and Eastern Music Festival. Over the past 13 summers she has enjoyed performing with the Grand Teton Music Festival.

​Jon Nazdin, bass, is a native of Washington DC. A graduate of The Berklee College of Music, he plays all genres of music on double bass and electric bass.  Noteworthy highlights include working with Barbra Streisand, The Three Tenors, George Benson, Doc Severinson, Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road project, Denise Graves, Branford Marsalis.  Mr. Nazdin has appeared on numerous "indie" recording projects.

Susanna Mendlow, cellist, has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Central Asia. A versatile musician, she enjoys playing a variety of styles, including classical, ethnic folk, pop, and improvisation. Her projects have brought her to such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Theatre, Symphony Space, Le Poisson Rouge, the Verizon Center, the National Gallery, and the National Cathedral. Susanna has collaborated with numerous artists, including Alan Kay, Frank Morelli, Dmitri Berlinsky, Philip Setzer, and Larry Dutton. She also has worked with composers Kaija Saariaho, Marc Neikrug, Frank Stemper, Stacy Garrop, and Judith Shatin, premiering works by the latter three. As a member of Moyindau, a semi-improvisational experimental jazz ensemble, she traveled to Kazakhstan and the remotest parts of the Kyrgyz Republic in order to establish cross-cultural connections via music. She currently plays in the Kassia Music Collective and Noam Faingold’s Burning City Orchestra. Susanna received her DMA from SUNY Stony Brook, her MM from Michigan State University, and her BA in both psychology and music from Columbia University. She studied cello with Suren Bagratuni, Misha Quint, and Colin Carr.
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​Joan Singer, violin, is the founder and music director of QuinTango.  She has performed in concert in England, France, Mexico, Italy, Holland, Germany, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Sikkim, Uruguay and Argentina, as well as throughout the United States.  Since founding QuinTango, she has become a record producer, tour director, grant administrator, arts panelist, Master Teaching Artist, and international lecturer on tango, realizing her dreams of combining music performance, travel, and writing.

​Jeffery Watson, piano, has appeared as soloist with the Honduran National Symphony, Pan American Symphony, Rosario (Argentina) Chamber Orchestra, Alexandria Symphony and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, with additional performances in Croatia, Alaska, Uruguay and Peru.  Dr. Watson was associate conductor for the Kennedy Center’s award-winning production of” Sunday in the Park with George” as part of the Center's 2002 Sondheim Festival and music director and coach for the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland. He recently conducted a TEDMed Talk performance involving 12 pianists and one piano at the Kennedy Center. He is on the faculty of the Washington Conservatory of Music in Washington, DC and teaches at George Washington University. Before giving his heart to tango, Dr. Watson served as the Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW).  

QuinTango Members Emeriti

Founding Members
Libby Blatt, double bass
Irma Field Cripe, cello
Rachel Schenker, violin 
Bruce Steeg, piano 

Other Emeriti
​Paula Akbar, violin
Luisa Casasnovas, violin
Jorge Espinoza, cello
Phil Hosford, piano

​Jennifer Rickard, violin
Lukasz Szyrner, cello
Kerry Van Laanen, cello

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