IonSound Project comprises flutist Peggy Yoo, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, violinist Laura Motchalov, cellist Elisa Kohanski, pianist Rob Frankenberry and percussionist Eliseo Rael, seeks to add to Pittsburgh's cultural life by programming innovative concerts, commissioning works of new music, collaborating with artists in a variety of disciplines, and exploring the boundaries between concert and popular music. The members represent some of the most in demand young musicians in the Pittsburgh area. Collectively, they perform with such ensembles as the Pittsburgh Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Wheeling Symphony, Erie Philharmonic, and have also appeared with the Columbus Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Akron Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Since giving its first concert in 2004, the ensemble has presented more than 80 works by 20th and 21st century composers, demonstrating an ongoing dedication to presenting the work of established and emerging composers from the Pittsburgh region as well as from across the country. In 2006, IonSound Project expanded its activities to include workshop readings, rehearsals and performances of works by University of Pittsburgh composition students, which led to an official appointment in 2008 as ensemble-in-residence of the music department, the first appointment of its kind in the history of the University. Innovative and experimental collaborations with artists in other disciplines is an essential part of IonSound Project's programming and performance. Collaborators have included poet Barbara Edelmann, actor Benjamin Greenstone, filmaker Chris Ivey, dancers from Attack Theater and KNOTDance, photographer Charles Biddle, environmental artists Lauren Braun and Amy Rappa, and singer/songwriters Heather Kropf and Mark Dignam.
Praised by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for “exemplary taste” in programming and for playing that “generates sparks,” the ensemble has sought to include a commissioned work or premiere on almost every program; the past year has included premieres of works by Roger Zahab, Philip Thompson, Jeremy Beck, Jonathan Kolm, Daniel Perttu, Nizan Leibovich, and Jed Distler, as well as premieres of new orchestrations of Satie's Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, and Ravel's Mother Goose Suite. During the summer of 2009, IonSound Project was presented by the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Pittsburgh as part of their Bach, Beethoven, and Brunch series on the Rose Garden Lawn in Mellon Park. October, 2009, saw the group's New York debut presented by the Phoenix Concerts at the Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy.
