Co-Artistic Director

Applauded in London by the Sunday Times for performances of "great panache," pianist Gregory Martin has been featured throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, including performances at Carnegie Recital Hall; collaborations with members of the Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis Symphonies, the New York Philharmonic, and the Dresden Staatskapelle; and the premieres of unpublished compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi. He is an active composer, co-artistic director of the Ronen Chamber Ensemble (Indianapolis), and Head of Academics and Piano at Music Across the Pond (UK). He has lectured at the University of Berlin, the Grieg Academy, and Oxford University, and is assistant professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Co-Artistic Director

Jennifer Christen, a Buffalo, NY native is the Principal Oboist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She has performed as Guest Principal Oboe with the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Baltimore and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras and as Guest English Horn with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Christen studied at the Juilliard School with John Mack, Nathan Hughes and Elaine Douvas. Before her time in Indianapolis, Ms. Christen spent a year in Miami Beach with the New World Symphony under Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas.

She has also spent several summers with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, where she met her husband. As a former adjunct faculty at the University of Indianapolis, she has had the pleasure of working with students at the Verbier Music Camp, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and with students in various youth ensembles around Indianapolis. She enjoys traveling, good coffee, exploring local food, running, and creating memories with her husband and two little boys. She has an identical twin sister who plays the flute.

Co-Artistic Director

Alistair Howlett currently serves as Assistant Principal and Second Flute with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Prior to this, he held the positions of Principal Flute with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Utility Flute with the Opera Australia Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House. 

Howlett holds a Bachelor of Music from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and a Master’s in Performance from the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich, where he studied under Professor András Adorján.

In addition to his orchestral work, Howlett is the co-artistic director of the Ronen Chamber Ensemble, which performs throughout the Indianapolis area.

An experienced educator, Howlett currently teaches at Butler University. He has held teaching positions at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, DePauw and Anderson Universities. 

Outside of music, Howlett supports Liverpool FC and the Buffalo Bills, enjoys playing tennis, and spending quality time with his family.

Guest Musician

Originally from the greater New York area, violinist Kevin Lin has received international recognition for his musicianship and “soulful” playing (The Arts Desk). Lin currently serves as Concertmaster of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and co-Principal Guest Concertmaster of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Lin is a highly sought after Concertmaster, previously holding the position of Co-Leader in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His Guest Concertmaster appearances have included the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Taiwan Philharmonic. In addition to his Concertmaster duties, Lin has appeared as soloist with major orchestras throughout the United States, Asia and United Kingdom, having worked with renowned conductors such as Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Oundjian, Matthias Pintscher, JoAnn Falletta, and Michael Francis.

An equally active chamber musician, Lin has collaborated with Martin Beaver, Clive Greensmith, Cho Liang Lin, Mathieu Herzog, Edgar Meyer, Orion Weiss, Meng-Chieh Liu, Andrew Bain, and Roberto Diaz.

Lin spent his early years studying with Patinka Kopeck at the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to study with Robert Lipsett at the Colburn School and Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Lin is currently Artist-in-Residence at Butler University, Jordan College of the Arts and spends his summers at the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego and the Colorado Music Festival. Kevin performs on the 1683 Ex-Gingold Stradivari on loan to him from the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Guest Musician

Ziqing Guo joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in 2025. Prior to joining the ISO, he was pursuing a Doctor's degree at College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.

Born in China, Ziqing made his first public appearance at the age of nine, performing Saint-Saens’s violin concerto in Shanghai Concert Hall. In summer 2025, Ziqing served as concertmaster in a performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique under Andris Nelsons in Tanglewood Music Festival. Ziqing was invited to many competitions and has performed as chamber musician in many places such as Menuhin competition, Harbin competition and Fischoff competition, Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Gewandhaus, Leipzig and Suntory Hall, Tokyo. He has also appeared at Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Summit Music Festival, Shostakovich Festival, Heifetz Institute and Morningside Music Bridge. He has performed as guest violinist with Boston Symphony Orchestra at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota orchestra.

Ziqing spent his early years studying with Qing Zheng and Shisheng Zheng in The Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Ziqing Guo received his bachelor and master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music with Sylvia Rosenberg and Nicholas Mann and a doctoral’s degree from College Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, where he studied with Prof. Kurt Sassmannshaus and Kristin Lee. Besides playing violin, he enjoys photography and cooking.

Guest Musician

Known for his “beautiful control, tremendous energy and thoughtful musicality" (Violinist) and “tone projected miraculously” (Strings), violist Zhanbo Zheng was the first Chinese to win the Primrose International Viola Competition. He has also taken top prizes in other major competitions, including the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Washington International Competition for Strings. He was also a recipient of the Emerging Artist Award from the Saint Botolph Club Foundation.

An avid chamber musician, Zheng has collaborated with distinguished artists, such as Midori, Jonathan Biss, Anthony McGill, Gary Hoffman. He has been invited to perform at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society as a guest artist, and his music festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Verbier Music Festival Academy, Krzyżowa-Music Festival, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, and Cleveland ChamberFest. With his extensive touring experience, including the national tours with Musicians from Marlboro, Ravinia Steans Music Institute Spring Tour, and A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Zheng has performed in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and Kaufman Music Center.

As a soloist, Zheng has performed with orchestras such as the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, China Broadcasting Performing Arts Orchestra, and EOS Repertoire Orchestra of CCOM. In 2014, sent by the Ministry of Culture, he was selected for an exchange activity between China and Germany, hosted by China Education Association for International Exchange. He has also participated in the recording project “My Concert Hall — The Classical Music Appreciation,” which was proposed by Li Lanqing, the former Premier of the State Council of China.

Zheng earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, and Dominique Eade. He was a recipient of NEC’s prestigious Presidential Scholarship and graduated with top Academic Honors. He also holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School, where he was mentored by Paul Neubauer. In 2024, Zheng joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Viola.

Guest Musician

CJ Collins is currently acting section cello of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to joining the ISO, CJ was Principal Cello of The Orchestra Now in upstate NY and was a substitute musician with St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Sarasota Orchestra.

CJ received both his Bachelors of Music and Certificate of Advanced Performance Studies from East Carolina University and completed his Master’s degree in Music Performance at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.

Fun fact: CJ can be seen as principal cello in one of the scenes of the Netflix film Maestro.