“ The Thunder Egg Consort is a small band of Oregon Super Stars! Not only do they play brilliantly, but the communicate their love of music to the audience more effectively than just about any group I know.”

-Alice Hardesty, Bacho Press

The Thunder Egg Consort is a group of seasoned performers who bring their individual talents together as a piano quartet comprised of violin, viola, cello, and piano. These graduates of some of the finest music schools in the country (Juilliard and Curtis) have won international competitions, have been mentored by wonderful musicians such as Isaac Stern, and have performed alongside artists such as Yo Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor and Harry Connick, Jr. They have recorded for Sony and Naxos, been featured on television and radio (in residence with NPR) and are able to compose and play in a variety of styles (classical, bluegrass and contemporary.) Having forged their varied careers in the New York area, these four musicians (three of whom originally hail from the Pacific North West) recently had children. They then realized that it would be much nicer to live in the Northwest again, and sold their houses and moved to Oregon. Taking their name and inspiration from the state rock, they have formed a consort and are forging new ground in their reclaimed homeland.

  • Violinist Anthea Kreston sometimes just needs to pinch herself. How did she get so lucky?  Currently first violinist of the Delgani Quartet, she was a member of a major European string quartet, Germany’s Artemis Quartet, the only American violinist to hold such a position. She travelled the world, performing on some of the most legendary stages a person could dream of, from Carnegie Hall to Wigmore - from the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam to Seoul. She was a Professor at the Universität der Kunste Berlin, where Clara Schumann and Schoenberg taught, a Master Teacher at the Queen Elizabeth Chapel in Brussels, and enjoys returning to teach at the Curtis Institute of Music, from where she graduated.  She loves to write - penning a classical music blog for the London based Slipped Disk which is one of the top-5 most read music blogs internationally, and has an awesome husband and two funny and generous daughters.

    Her recent release on Warner Classics received both the Echo Award (Europe's Grammy Award), and the Diaspason D’Or, France’s highest award from music critics.  She has hosted her own podcast from the Boulez Hall in the heart of Berlin and has played in the Berlin Philharmonic as well as concertmaster of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Her teachers include Ida Kavafian, Shmuel Ashkenasi, the Emerson Quartet and Isaac Stern. But most of all, she loves being with her family, growing tomatoes, and petting guinea pigs. 

  • Over the past thirty years, Kenji Bunch has established himself as one of America’s most engaging, influential, and prolific composers, with genre-defying music that has been performed on six continents and by over seventy American orchestras. Cited by Alex Ross in his seminal book “There Rest Is Noise” and dubbed “One of the new faces of new music” by the NY Times (A. Tommasini), Bunch’s unique compositional voice has earn acclaim from audiences, performers, and critics alike

    Recognized as a groundbreaking violist, Bunch was the first student to receive dual degrees in viola and composition from The Juilliard School and was a founding member of influential ensembles Flux Quartet (1996-2002), Ne(x)tworks (2003-2011), and Nurse Kaya String Quartet (2002-2005), as well as the bluegrass band Citigrass (1998-2013). Committed to a multi-style approach to the instrument that includes improvisation and modalities of playing beyond the conventions of western classical art music, Bunch has worked with a diverse array of prominent artists including Ornette Coleman, Lenny Kravitz, Mike Gordon (Phish), and vocalist Joan La Barbara.

    After several decades in New York City, Bunch returned to his hometown of Portland, Oregon in 2013 with his wife, pianist Monica Ohuchi, with whom he co-directs the new music group Fear No Music. Additionally, Bunch directs MYSfits, the Metropolitan Youth Symphony’s multi-style string ensemble, and teaches viola, composition, and music theory at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic. Most of all, he and Monica enjoy time with their two children and their dogs Marcie and Nutmeg.

  • Cellist Jason Duckles is from Vancouver, Canada, leads an active life as a chamber musician, and is a founding member of the Amelia Piano Trio which has toured extensively in the United States and abroad. Also a member of the Humboldt Streichtrio, with Volker Jacobsen and Anthea Kreston (both formerly of the Artemis Quartet), he was invited to perform in the inaugural week of the famed Elbphilharmonie Hall  Hamburg.  As a chamber musician, Jason has been presented with an ASCAP award (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) for adventurous programming, and top prize in both the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and the Munich ARD International Competition. Jason has performed as the solo cellist with the Mark Morris Dance group, and has toured with YoYo Ma’s Silk Road Project in concerts from New York to Kazakhstan.  He was a member of the Konzerthaus Orchestra in Berlin, Germany. Jason’s involvement in education has always been a central part of his musical life - he has taught at several universities across the United States.

  • Monica Ohuchi’s “commanding pianism” (The New York Times, Anthony Tommasini), performing “with beauty, clarity and drive…[offering a] warmth…expressiveness [that’s] irresistible and deeply moving” (The Times Argus, Vermont) allows her an active international career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. Her "scintillating" (The Arts Desk, United Kingdom, David Nice) playing, combined with “an overt virtuosity [and] deep sensitivity that makes her lines sing” (Rutland Herald, Vermont) has taken her around the globe, from Lincoln Center in New York City, to the remote village in Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria, to concert halls across Japan. A pianist “dutifully and gracefully” (San Francisco Classical Voice) attentive to musical depth and detail, Ohuchi is a frequent soloist with orchestras; recent engagements include the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and the Marin Symphony Orchestra. 


    Ms. Ohuchi is the pianist and Executive Director of the new music ensemble,Fear No Music, “…a classical ensemble with unimpeachable performance credentials, a love for local and contemporary composers, and a mature sense of social justice and responsibility” (Oregon Arts Watch).  Co-directed together with her Artistic Director husband, Kenji Bunch, the ensemble’s annual concert series is defined by bold and innovative programming, making an impactful contribution to the classical music landscape of Oregon.  She is also the Director of Music Performance at Reed College, where she teaches Piano and Chamber Music. 

    Ms. Ohuchi currently resides in the lush green forests of Portland, Oregon with Kenji, their two children, and two goofball pitbull-mix rescue dogs. In her spare time, she can be found running in the rain, devouring her daughter’s culinary creations, spending endless hours cheering on her son’s soccer games, or dancing solo in her kitchen.  Ohuchi holds advanced degrees from the Juilliard School.