Ari Freed, cello (New York, NY), is an enthusiastic chamber musician, having spent his summers at Greenwood Music Camp and the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. In high school, his quartet received the 2023 NYYS Chamber Music Program Director's Award and won First Place in the Junior Strings and Piano division of the 9th Annual Coltman Chamber Music Competition. He has participated in masterclasses with distinguished chamber musicians such as Joel Krosnick, Astrid Schween, Hsin-Yun Huang, Rebecca Fischer, Ani Kavafian, and Orli Shaham.  Ari is deeply committed to community engagement and social justice—he has volunteered extensively with Music for Food and currently serves as a NEC Community Performances and Partnerships (CPP) Ensemble Fellow, where he brings chamber music out of the concert hall and into local underserved communities. Ari is a graduate of Hunter College High School and Juilliard Pre-College, where he studied with Natasha Brofsky. He has spent this past year completing his undergraduate performance certificate at the New England Conservatory under the guidance of Paul Katz. In the fall of 2024, he will return to New York to start his first semester at Columbia University. He plays on an early 19th century cello by Giacinto Santagiuliana. Previous Young Artists Program participant (2021, 2022)