Atlantic Piano Trio, Trio

Biography

Lei Hou joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1997. Active as a soloist and chamber musician in
addition to her full-time duty with the CSO, Lei recently performed in an all-Mozart chamber music concert with Pinchas Zukerman at the
Ravinia Music Festival, and a string quartet concert tour in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy with fellow CSO members. She has
recorded chamber music works by Mozart and Hoffmeister for the Saarlandischer Rundfunk in Germany. Lei recently ended her tenure as
a violinist of the Manchester String Quartet in Washington, D.C. where she was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra from
1991-1997. A native of Dalian, China, Lei studied violin in the Music Middle School of the Shanghai Conservatory and graduated with
top honors. She continued her studies under full scholarship at the Peabody Conservatory. She also studied with Earl Carlyss, formerly
of the Juilliard Quartet, and Sylvia Rosenberg, and earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in violin performance from the Peabody Conservatory.

Born in New York and raised in San Antonio, Brant Taylor began cello studies at age 8.
He has collaborated with leading musicians throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and appeared as soloist with orchestras including
the San Antonio Symphony, New World Symphony (under the batons of Michael Tilson-Thomas and Nicholas McGegan), Raleigh Symphony,
Racine Symphony, and Midland-Odessa Symphony. After five years as cellist of the award-winning Everest String Quartet and one year
with the Saint Louis Symphony, he joined the Chicago Symphony in 1998. Mr. Taylor is a faculty member of Roosevelt University’s
Chicago College of Performing Arts, and has led pedagogy and repertoire classes at Northwestern University, DePaul University and
the University of Michigan. Mr. Taylor is a frequent guest at music festivals, including the Festival der Zukunft in Ernen, Switzerland,
the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Mimir Chamber Music Festival, Michigan’s Village Bach Festival, and Music at Gretna.
He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University, where his primary teachers were Paul Katz and Janos Starker.

Deborah Sobol is a pianist and music educator with a distinctive background and outlook. She attended Smith
College, where she studied with Lory Wallfisch, graduated magna cum laude and was inducted into the
Phi Beta Kappa Society. Her post-graduate studies were done in Vienna at the Hochschule für Musik with Hans Petermandl and at
London’s Royal College of Music with Carola Grindea. She has performed in solo and duo recitals, concerto performances, and
chamber music concerts with internationally renowned artists and has recorded for Cedille and Summit records. She is a much sought-after
teacher of piano and has been on the faculty of the Longy School of Music and the Northwestern University School of Music. Her
publications have appeared in Clavier and London’s Piano Journal. She was one of The Chicago Chamber Musicians’ original Artistic
Co-Directors and its founding Executive Director. Ms. Sobol is the founder and Artistic Director of the summer “Rush Hour Concerts” series at St. James Cathedral in Chicago.