Diane Phoenix-Neal

Violist Diane Phoenix-Neal enjoys a vibrant teaching and performing career. She performs nationally and internationally as a collaborative chamber musician and as a soloist, and her performances have taken her to concert venues and music festivals throughout the world to four continents, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Banff Centre, Bowdoin International Music Festival and the festivals of Evian and Spoleto. In France, she served as both the principal solo violist of Orchestre de Picardie and as violist of Quatuor Joachim. Her sound is described as “rich and sumptuous,” and “priceless as it was memorable” (Cultural Voice of North Carolina), and she is a longstanding principal performer and soloist with the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival as well as a collaborative performing artist and faculty member with the Eastern Music Festival. 

Originally from North Carolina, she received her training from the Juilliard School as a student of William Lincer and the Juilliard Quartet, from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, after a ten-year career as a performer and teacher in Portugal and France. An active member of the American Viola Society, she is passionate about teaching and exploring the broad kaleidoscope of viola repertoire to perform and introduce to her students.  

A champion of new music for viola and of music by underrepresented composers, her recitals and commissioning projects featuring contemporary music for viola have been featured at James Madison University’s Contemporary Music Festivals, the Northwestern University New Music Conference, the University of Wyoming, International Viola Congresses in Australia (IVC 35) and Poland (IVC 41 in and IVC 43), in the Music by Women Festival and the 50th Anniversary American Viola Society Festival. Her recent CD When the Spirit Sings, in collaboration with the chamber group Musica Harmonia, features the chamber music of Gwyneth Walker and explores American spiritual melodies and themes. 

Paulo Steinberg

Dr. Paulo Steinberg, NCTM, enjoys an active international career as a soloist and collaborative pianist, with performances across the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. He has appeared in prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo. In 2026, he was honored as an MTNA Foundation Fellow by the Music Teachers National Association, recognizing his significant contributions to the music profession and his ongoing commitment to excellence in piano pedagogy and performance. 

A sought-after adjudicator, master class clinician, and guest lecturer, Dr. Steinberg is deeply engaged in artistic and educational initiatives worldwide. Born in Brazil to Latvian parents, he has a particular interest in Brazilian and Latvian piano repertoire, frequently highlighting these traditions in his performances, research, and teaching. He also maintains an active presence on Instagram, where he shares insights on piano practice, pedagogy, and musicianship with a global audience. 

Dr. Steinberg holds degrees in Piano Performance from the Conservatório “Carlos Gomes” and the Universidade de São Paulo, as well as graduate degrees from Arizona State University (M.M.) and Indiana University (D.M.). His principal teachers include Elisabete Rezze Barthelson, Carlos Yansen, Paulo Gori, Gilberto Tinetti, and Evelyne Brancart. 

Actively involved with the Music Teachers National Association at the local, state, and national levels, Dr. Steinberg serves as Chair of Music in Every Home, a program that provides scholarships for underrepresented piano and guitar students. He is also a past President of the Virginia Music Teachers Association. 

His discography includes The Recital Clarinetist (with Dr. Janice Minor), Duos (with Dr. Šarūnas Jankauskas), Time, Place, Spirit (with Dr. Beth Chandler Cahill), and Alma Brasileira, which was featured in the Brazilian film As Cadeiras.