Stella Trio was formed by three students at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. After having played together in various configurations with other musicians (piano quintet, string quartet, sonata duo) in venues such as the French Consulate, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute and the Union Club in New York, and the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the group came together as a trio in the fall of 2005. Under the guidance of violinist Todd Phillips of the Orion string Quartet, the Stella Trio gave its debut in February 2006 at the Lang Center at New School University playing Shostakovich's Trio No. 2. They presented numerous performances throughout the year, culminating in a recital at Greenwich House Music School in New York City in June. During the summer, they worked with renowned musicians such as Pamela Frank, Colin Carr, and others at the Mannes Beethoven Institute. Highlights of next season include their formal New York debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as winners of the Artists International auditions, and a concert on Trinity Church Wall Street's “Concerts at One” series.

Jannina Barefield received her Masters of Music degree in May 2006 from the Mannes College of Music in New York where she continues post-graduate work studying with Lucie Robert. She received her undergraduate degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Jannina made her concert debut at the age of 11 at Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall for the Detroit Chamber Music Society's 50th Anniversary Concert, in a concert featuring performances by the Beaux Arts Trio, Cleveland String Quartet and Guarneri String Quartet. At 13, she made her solo debut with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; she again soloed with the DSO at age 17. From 1998-2000, she was selected to study at the Perlman Music Program in New York under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman. As part of the program, she performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and traveled to Israel to join musicians from the Israeli Conservatory of Music in Tel-Aviv to study and perform with Mr. Perlman. She has also been a soloist with the Tuesday Musicale, Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra. In 2005, she made her international solo debut performing Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins, twice at the Casalmaggiore International Festival in Italy. Jannina was the grand prize winner of the MASTA State Chamber Music and Solo Competitions, 1st prize winner of the 2005 Bohemian Competition, and she was a senior division semi-finalist in the 2006 Sphinx Competition.

Other notable performances include the Detroit Symphony's Unisys Composers Forum; Gala opening of Detroit's Museum of African American History; Steamboat Springs Music Festival; Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival with the Spencer Barefield Jazz Ensemble; a television appearance on VH1's “Save the Music;” Mostly Mozart at Lincoln Center as part of the Perlman Music Program; and the 2004 Michigan Governor's Arts Awards performing with jazz legendary Marcus Belgrave. This past summer she was part of the resident faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy.


Cellist Laura Metcalf has been heard recently in such venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Chateau de Fontainebleau in France, the French Consulate of New York, the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, St. John the Divine Cathedral, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Laura received her Masters of Music degree in May 2006 from the Mannes College of Music, where she is a scholarship student studying with Timothy Eddy. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where, as recipient of the prestigious Trustee Scholarship, she was a student of Michael Reynolds and the winner of the 2003 Solo Bach Competition.

During the summers, Laura has performed at the Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Festival-Institute at Round Top (Texas), the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau (France), and the Quartet Program at Bucknell University. Her teachers during these summers included Alan Harris, Nathaniel Rosen, Anthony Elliott, Stephen Geber, Emilio Colon, and Andre Emelianoff. This summer she performed at the Taos Chamber Music Festival.

In October 2005, she was selected to perform at the opening meeting of the New York Violoncello Society in a masterclass for Bernard Greenhouse, and has also played in masterclasses for Ronald Leonard, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Norman Fischer, Ronald Thomas, and others. She has been coached in chamber music by Philippe Entremont, Joseph Silverstein, Sylvia Rosenberg, James Buswell, and Robert Vernon, and the Orion, American, Ying, and Muir Quartets. In November 2005, she appeared as a member of Michael Tilson Thomas's New World Symphony in Miami, Florida. An experienced orchestral musician, she has served as principal cellist for numerous organizations, including the Paramount Festival Orchestra, the Mannes Orchestra, and the Texas Festival Orchestra.
Laura is dedicated to seeking out and performing new music, having premiered numerous works of both solo and chamber music. In addition to performing, Ms. Metcalf teaches cello in the New York area.


Monica Chung made her orchestral debut at the age of 11 with the North Carolina Piedmont Triad Symphony Orchestra performing Mozart Piano Concerto K.246, as a result of winning first place in the audition. She has also performed with orchestras in Hungary, London, and New York City. In the summer of 2001, Ms. Chung traveled to Russia to perform Samuel Barber's Concerto with the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra.

Under the guidance of the Estherwood Summer Music Festivals of '95 and '97, Ms. Chung has given solo performances at the Godollo Chopin Society in Hungary, Kromeritz Hall in Austria, and various venues in the United Kingdom. Monica has received numerous awards and top honors including top prizes at the Bartok-Kabelevsky International Piano Competition, the Corpus Christi Young Artists Competition, the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition, and the Mannes pre-college Concerto Competition. Ms. Chung has participated in the Piano Summer at New Paltz from 1997-99 where she worked with artists Edward Aldwell, Eteri Andjaparidze, and Vladimir Feltsman. There she participated in a master class given by the New York Times critic, Harold Schoenberg. As an active chamber musician, she attended the Banff Summer Chamber Music Festival in 2000, as well as Fontainebleau American Conservatoire, France in 2005. In 2003, Monica was accepted to participate in the Shandelee Music Festival, where she received the C.J. Huang Scholarship.

Her past instructors include Eric Larsen at the NC School for the Arts, Olegna Fuschi at the Juilliard School pre-college division, Yuri Kim at the Mannes pre-college, and teacher-mentor, Alexander Slobodyanik. Ms. Chung is presently on piano faculty at the Greenwich House Music School in NYC. She was the recipient of the Dean's Award and gave the commencement speech at her graduation in the spring of 2004. In 2006, she received her Masters of Music degree from Mannes College of Music, studying with Pavlina Dokovska.