Founded in 2003 by Jennifer Leshnower, a native of Odessa and member of the New York City-based Cassatt String Quartet. Cassatt in the Basin! brings the women of the Cassatt Quartet, artists with nearly forty years of teaching and performing experience on the international stage, to enrich our community through musical performance, community concerts, and interactive teaching. CIB! showcases West Texas as a leader in Fine Arts Education as participants learn life lessons via chamber music and orchestral playing such as teamwork, verbal and non-verbal communication, and respect for one another.

The program is the only known one of its kind. CIB! was featured internationally for Queen Elizabeth’s Sapphire Jubilee with Lee High School’s Strictly Strings and at Japan's Yamaha Music Foundation Building in a conference for regional music directors on how to connect to your community through music.

The Cassatt String Quartet has been invited to share its unique program at Texas A & M University and the Hot Springs Music Festival in Arkansas. CIB! alumnae have been accepted to Juilliard Tianjin, the North Carolina School for the Arts, Hot Springs Music Festival, University of Houston, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, West Texas A & M University, Washington and Lee University, Brooklyn College, and the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Select past guests include Benjamin Zander, noted conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, TED-talk motivational speaker and co-author of “The Art of Possibility”, Ursula Oppens, five-time Grammy-nominated pianist on the faculty of Mannes College of Music and Brooklyn College, Lawrence Dillon, former Dean from the North Carolina School for the Arts, David Jackson, trombone faculty at the University of Michigan and Brevard Music Center, Gerald Cohen, cantor and composer from the Jewish Theological Seminary and David Crumb, composer from the University of Oregon.

Long Bio

Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the Cassatt String Quartet has performed throughout the world for four decades, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall; Tanglewood Music Center; the Kennedy Center; Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; Centro National de las Artes; Maeda Hall; and Beijing’s Central Conservatory.

The Cassatt Quartet, founded in 1985, joyfully approaches its 40th year, to be celebrated with an array of collaborations, concerts, and contemporary music. Their anniversary calendar will include a busy schedule of performances in the U.S. and internationally, including an Italian tour alongside guitarist Eliot Fisk; recording the great quartet Modes by Dorothy Rudd Moore, alongside other string quartets by Black American women; teaching residencies at major universities and conservatories; and, in proud Cassatt Quartet fashion, premieres of important commissions, including a piano quintet by Victoria Bond and a new work for string quartet by Joan Tower, to be premiered at Maverick Concerts in September 2025.

The members of the Cassatt Quartet are violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower; violist Emily Brandenburg; and cellist Gwen Krosnick. The Quartet is named for Mary Cassatt, the great 19th- and 20th-century painter who – in addition to being the only American to exhibit in Paris alongside the Impressionists – did devoted, lifelong work in support of women’s equality and right to vote.

Oskar Espina-Ruiz has performed at major concert halls and festivals to high critical acclaim, including concerto performances at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia, and recitals in New York City, Washington DC, Moscow, Madrid, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. His chamber music collaborations include the American, Argus, Ariel, Cassatt, Daedalus, Escher, Shanghai and Verona quartets. Current projects include the release of a new album for clarinet and piano with pianist Victoria Schwartzman and the premier of a concerto by Alfonso Fuentes. He is associate professor of clarinet at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and serves as artistic director at Chamber Music Wilmington (from May 2020), Treetops Chamber Music Society, and Music Mountain Festival.

David Jackson, professor of trombone at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, enjoys an active career as a performer and teacher. He is a recognized and ardent supporter of new music who has commissioned and premiered numerous compositions for the trombone including Angel of Dreamers, by Eric Ewazen, for trombone, baritone voice and strings, and John Henry’s Big by Adolphus Hailstork for trombone and piano.

Jackson has been a guest performer with numerous orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, New World Symphony, as well as the Michigan Opera Theatre and the Cabrillo Music Festival. He is a member of the Detroit Chamber Winds.

In demand as a guest clinician and performer, Jackson has presented numerous guest recitals and master classes at institutions including the Juilliard School, Yale University, UCLA, University of Minnesota, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory as well as the conservatories of Shanghai and Beijing. His former students occupy performing and teaching positions around the world.

Jackson has been on the faculties of Baylor University, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Toledo, the Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Idyllwild ChamberFest. He spends his summers teaching and performing at the Brevard Music Center. Mr. Jackson is an S. E. Shires artist and clinician.

Dr. Mark Morton is Professor of Double Bass at Texas Tech University. He was principal bass of the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, in which he was a member for 23 years. Currently, he is principal bass of the Midland, Lubbock, and Abilene Symphony orchestras. First-prize winner of the 1990 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition in New York, Morton has soloed in Europe, South and Central America, Canada, Taiwan, and the U.S. He has been a featured double bass soloist on radio broadcasts including NPR's "Performance Today.” Earning his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Juilliard School in New York, Dr. Morton is only the second bassist to earn the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the history of Juilliard. His critically acclaimed Thresholds and Russian Rendezvous CDs have become reference recordings of standard double bass repertoire. He also shares a CD with bassist Gary Karr of double bass music by Paul Ramsier. Classical CD Reviews proclaimed him as “a most artistic representative of the new generation developed in the last half-century.” Additionally, Mark Morton is an accomplished pianist. His release on Albany Records, Bottesini Greatest Hits features Morton accompanying himself on piano, for which American Record Review says, “Mark Morton is a fine player on both instruments, and the music is lovely…” Though he has spent most of his career living in Ohio and New York City, Dr. Morton is originally from Texas and is a 4-year Texas All-Stater – 2 years a second chair of Symphony Orchestra, and two years as first chair Symphony Orchestra. The DrMarkMorton YouTube Channel contains over 117 videos of his performances of orchestral excerpts, etudes, and solos – even a number of Beatles covers - and is a go-to reference for TMEA All-State audition demonstrations, garnering over 5600 subscribers and more than a million views.

Ursula Oppens has premiered and/or commissioned works by John Adams, Luciano Berio, Carla Bley, Anthony Braxton, Elliott Carter, John Corigliano, Anthony Davis, Julius Hemphill, John Harbison, Laura Kaminsky, György Ligeti, Witold Lutosławski, Conlon Nancarrow, Tobias Picker, Charles Wuorinen, and many more. With five Grammy nominations to her credit, Ms. Oppens established her reputation early on with a classic recording of Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated. She has released Piano Songs, music by Meredith Monk, with pianist Bruce Brubaker; Winging It: Piano Music of John Corigliano; Oppens Plays Carter (complete Carter piano works); Piano Music of Our Time; Keys to the City, (complete Picker piano music); and, with pianist Jerome Lowenthal, Visions de l’Amen by Messiaen and Debussy’s En blanc et noir. As guest soloist, Ms. Oppens has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony, and London Philharmonic Orchestras, among others, and has collaborated with the Arditti, Cassatt, Juilliard, and Pacifica quartets.

Ursula Oppens teaches at Mannes College, and is a Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. In 2019, Ms. Oppens was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from The New England Conservatory.

Benjamin Zander started his musical life as a composer and cellist. At age twelve, he began studying composition under Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst. At fifteen, he left home to train for five years in Florence and Cologne with the great Spanish cellist, Gaspar Cassadó. After completing his degree at the University of London, he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship which brought him to the United States. In 1965, he settled in Boston where he began his journey as a conductor.

Zander founded the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra in 1978 and has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras around the world. His performances have inspired thousands of musicians, renewed their sense of idealism, and shed fresh, insightful, and sometimes provocative light on the interpretation of the central symphonic repertoire of the 19th and 20th centuries. Critics and the public have been united in their praise of Zander’s interpretations of the central repertory.

Shari Santorelli made her first concert appearance at the age of 16 with the

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Pittsburgh Youth

Concerto Competition. She has since appeared in innumerable concerto

performances, chamber music concerts, solo recitals and orchestral and

chorale concerts. From 1976-1984 she worked principally in Mexico,

appearing with orchestras and chamber ensembles including the Symphony

Orchestra of the Northwest, the Guadalajara Symphony, the Trio de Mexico

and Trio de Guadalajara, of which she was a founding member. She also

appeared in numerous contemporary music festivals and held the position of

Pianist for the Department of Fine Arts for the State of Jalisco. She has

performed extensively in Texas, having additionally served as staff

accompanist for various universities, including Texas Tech University and

Angelo State University. Ms. Santorelli has performed and toured with

many artists, chamber ensembles and choirs throughout Mexico, the United

States and Europe. She was Principal Keyboard Artist for the Midland-

Odessa Symphony & Chorale. Ms. Santorelli was Adjunct Music Instructor

at Midland College and piano lab instructor at Trinity School in Midland.

She is currently on adjunct staff at the University of Texas of the Permian

Basin and maintains a private piano studio in Midland.