NARDO POY, violist  has been a member of the world-renowned Orpheus Chamber Orchestra since 1978 and also performs with a number of ensembles, among them the Lighthouse Chamber Players, the Perspectives Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Recently, he has been appointed principal violist of the American Symphony Orchestra, a position he has also held with the Santa Fe Opera and the Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as with numerous other orchestras. He has also been a member of the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble and was Artist-In-Residence at SUNY at Potsdam with the Carnegie String Quartet. For many years he was a member and frequent soloist with the Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia (now the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia) and has also appeared as soloist with the North Carolina Symphony, the Kansas City Camerata and also with Orpheus throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan. Along with the over 60 recordings he has made with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon and Nonesuch labels, he has also collaborated with Dawn Upshaw on a recording of chamber music with voice (The Girl with Orange Lips), which won a Grammy Award. Other critically acclaimed recordings include chamber works by Dvorak with the Harmonie Ensemble on the Music and Arts label, music of Charles Tomlinson Griffes with the Perspectives Ensemble on Newport Classics, a string quintet by Taneyev with colleagues from the Bard Music Festival, Richard Danielpour’s Sonnets to Orpheus with the Perspectives Ensemble for Sony Records and The Unknown Piazzolla for Chesky Records, which includes Tanguango and La Noche for viola and piano.