Christopher Jenkins, viola

Chris Jenkins, Associate Dean for Academic Support at Oberlin Conservatory, is an educator, administrator, and performing violist. At Oberlin, he is a Deputy Title IX Coordinator and Conservatory Liaison to the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, as well as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Musicology. He was Deputy Director and professor of viola and violin at the Barenboim-Said Foundation in Ramallah, West Bank, from 2013-14, and served as Dean of the Sphinx Performance Academy the Sphinx Organization’s summer music program for minority youth. In 2005, he was a laureate of the Sphinx Competition. His international engagement has included performances and teaching in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Israel, China, Colombia, and South Africa, including a performance with the Jordan National Symphony at the World Heritage Site of Petra in 2016. In the summer of 2017, he served as a guest artist and teacher at the Afghan National Institute of Music in Kabul, Afghanistan.

He is currently earning a DMA in viola performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a PhD in Historical Musicology from Case Western Reserve, where his work focuses on the music of African-American composers. His alma maters include Harvard University, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music.

Dianna White-Gould, piano

Dianna White-Gould is an active soloist, accompanist, and
educator. She was born into a musical family. Her father was
a cellist with The Cleveland Orchestra and her mother a
composer, pianist and Oberlin Alumna. She began her early
piano studies with her mother, then was an active performing
member of The Fortnightly Music Club. In that organization
she was a Gold Cup recipient for outstanding piano
performances. She graduated from Oberlin College
Conservatory. She later received a Master’s in Piano
Performance from Cleveland State University. She attended
L’Ecole de Fontainebleau in France as a student of Gaby
Casadesus. She has also toured Germany and most recently
Budapest, Hungary performing as featured accompanist and soloist.

Ms. White-Gould has appeared as the soloist with The Cleveland Philharmonic
Orchestra, and twice as soloist with the Heights Civic Orchestra. Other performing
appearances include solo and collaborative performances at Severance Hall, Oberlin
College, Ursuline College, Cuyahoga Community College, The Music Settlement,
Cleveland State University, Cleveland Public Library, Wooster College and The
South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago. She is on faculty at The Music Settlement,
The Tri-C Vocal Arts Mastery Program and The Dike School of the Arts, where she
directs the Choir and Keyboard program.