FACULTY & GUEST ARTISTS
2024 Faculty
Violin: Lina Bahn, Lorenz Gamma, Joan Kwuon
Viola: Juan-Miguel Hernandez, Vicki Powell
Cello: Ben Hong, Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir
Piano: Enrico Elisi, Jean-Louis Haguenauer, Ming Tsu, Amy Yang
LORENZ GAMMA – violin (Co-Artistic Director)
Lorenz Gamma is professor of violin at California State University Northridge and has previously taught at University of California Los Angeles [UCLA], Indiana University in Bloomington and California Institute of the Arts. He is internationally active as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and teacher, and gives frequent master classes in the United States, Europe and Asia. His private and professional violin students have won top prizes at numerous solo and chamber music competitions and regularly go on to continue their studies at such institutions as the Juilliard School, Indiana University, the Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Southern California and the Colburn School. Having performed internationally a string quartet repertoire of over sixty composers, as well as a large part of the standard chamber music repertoire of over eighty composers, Mr. Gamma also dedicates himself enthusiastically to coaching chamber music.
As former co-leader of the Amar Quartet in Switzerland, Mr. Gamma performed a full-time concert schedule touring through many of Europe’s most important chamber music venues, including the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, the Residence in Munich, the Cologne Philharmonic, as well as venues in many other cities such as London, Paris, New York etc. For ten years, Lorenz Gamma served as first violinist of the Los Angeles based group Southwest Chamber Music. The ensemble’s recordings of the complete chamber music works of Carlos Chávez have been nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning two in 2004 and 2005.
Mr. Gamma has also served as concertmaster of the Northwest Sinfonietta in Seattle, and later as Principal of the Zurich Opera Orchestra.
As a soloist Lorenz Gamma has performed over twenty different concertos by Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Brahms, Bruch, Gubaidulina, Lutoslawski, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Piazzolla, Rubinstein, Schnittke, Schumann, Spohr, Tartini, Vivaldi, and Wieniawski. He also holds an extensive record of appearances on radio, both in Europe and in the United States. His radio broadcasts and CD recordings include Schubert’s String Quintet and Piano Trio in E-flat, the “Quartet for the End of Time” by Messiæn, the complete String Quartets as well as works for violin and piano and the Piano Sextet by Carlos Chávez, the Dvorák Piano Quintet, Mozart Clarinet Quintet, sonatas and partitas by Bach, Kodály, Lazarof, Mozart and Ravel, as well as string quartets by Brahms, Debussy, Dvorák, Haydn, Hindemith, Ives, Janácek, Mozart, Ortiz, Ravel, Shostakovich, Ullmann, Verdi and Wadada Leo Smith. Chamber musicians he has collaborated with include Heinz Holliger, Paul Katz, Ronald Leonard, Donald McInnes, Joseph Silverstein, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and many others. Composers that Mr. Gamma has been in collaboration with include Miguel del Aguila, Adrienne Albert, John Adams, Mark Applebaum, Alexandra du Bois, Thüring Bräm, Elliot Carter, Nancy Bloomer Deussen, Sofia Gubaidulina, Yalil Guerra, Heinz Holliger, Andrei Kasparov, Rudolf Kelterborn, Peter Knell, Panayiotis Kokoras, Ian Krouse, Christian Lauba, Henri Lazarof, Tomás Marco, Margaret Meier, Mark Menzies, Thea Musgrave, Maria Newman, Gabriela Ortiz, Robert Paterson, Deon Nielsen Price, Kurt Rhode, Thomas Daniel Schlee, Patricio da Silva, Wadada Leo Smith, Chrysanthe Tan, Vu Nhat Tan, Pham Minh Tang, Ton That Tiet, Stephen Westerhout and Gernot Wolfgang.
Lorenz Gamma was born in Switzerland, where he received his initial training as a violinist at the conservatory in Lucerne. His further studies took place in the United States, with Franco Gulli, Steven Staryk and Mark Kaplan.
Lina Bahn teaches at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she serves as Strings Department Chair. She is a violinist who has a keen interest in collaborative and innovative repertoire, and has been called “brilliant” and “lyrical” by the Washington Post.
As a committed educator, she was on the faculty at the University of Colorado-Boulder from 2008-2015, and has taught masterclasses and lessons throughout the world, including those at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, the Sydney Conservatory, Hong Kong University, Renmin University in Beijing, The Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, among others.
Intrigued by the relationship between art and social context, Bahn is one of four founding members of MoVE(Modern Violin Ensemble modernviolinensemble.org). MoVE is an innovative quartet of four violinists, committed to commissioning music and starting a canon of repertoire for this relatively unknown instrumentation. Along with MoVE, she has collaborated with cellist Matt Haimovitz to produce a program dedicated to ocean/water awareness at the National Gallery of Art.
Lina Bahn was a member of the award-winning CoriglianoQuartet, which held prestigious residency posts at The Juilliard School, Indiana University and Dickinson College, as well as on summer faculty at Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival, Marrowstone, Canandaigua Chamber Festival, and the Chicago Suzuki Institute. The quartet’s performances have brought them to such venues as The Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall, Ravinia Festival, Corcoran Gallery, Phillips Collection, Carnegie Hall, and the Library of Congress, and earned them the ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming. In 2007, their Naxos Records recording of quartets by John Corigliano and Jefferson Friedman was selected by The New Yorker magazine as one of the year’s “Best 10 Recordings.”
In the spring of 2010, she was on tour with the Takacs Quartet, performing at Carnegie Hall, the Southbank Centre, Concertgebouw, and the Mariinsky Theater. From 1992-1994 she toured extensively throughout Chile with the Bahn-Mahave-Browne piano trio as a recipient of national grants to teach and perform. In 2005, their piano trio was selected to perform for the president of Chile and the King of Indonesia, in Kuala Lumpuur.
In Washington, D.C., Lina Bahn was the Executive Director and violinist with the VERGE Ensemble for fourteen years, while it was the resident ensemble of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The VERGE Ensemble performed in Paris, New York, Cleveland and many other places. She is was a member of the National Gallery New Music Ensemble of the Smithsonian in 2010, which gave its inaugural performance in the East Wing, performing works of Xenakis, Antosca, and a premiere by Roger Reynolds. The National Gallery Ensemble participated in the 2012 Washington D.C. John Cage Centennial Festival, with performances at the East Wing, the NGA Auditorium, and at the Maison Française of the French Embassy. These included premieres of composers Christian Wolff, Beat Furrer, Robert Ashley, and George Lewis.
As a soloist, she has made appearances with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra, The Chicago Symphony Orchestraand many others. She has commissioned numerous new and arranged works including those by Benjamin Broening, Ken Ueno, Dan Visconti, Jeffrey Mumford, Adam Silverman, Steve Antosca, Keith Fitch, Daniel Wohl, Pamela Z, Morton Subotnick, Daniel Kellogg, among others.
Lina Bahn studied with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School for her undergraduate degree. She completed her Master’s degree as the recipient of the Jane Bryant Fellowship Award under the tutelage of Paul Kantor. Her Doctorate in Music is from Indiana University, where she was an Associate Instructor and studied with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss. Her early training in Chicago started with Lillian Schaber and she finished her high school years under the guidance of Roland and Almita Vamos.
Acclaimed for his elegant, yet passionate and powerful performances, beautiful tone, and extraordinary technical execution, violinist Bùi Công Duy, winner of the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 3rd International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (1997), is a musician with a growing international career as a soloist and pedagogue.
Mr. Duy has appeared as a soloist with orchestras worldwide including the Novosibirsk Philharmonic, Samara Philharmonic, Ịjhevsk Philharmonic, Saint-Petersburg Kapella Philharmonic, Moscow Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Trondheim Solisten, London Festival Orchestra, Brno Symphony Orchestra, Philippines Philharmonic Orchestra, Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Ho Chi Minh Symphony Orchestra, Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra, and Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra. He has made concert tours in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Macedonia, Poland, England, Croatia, Russia, Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam. He has been a featured soloist in many prestigious concert series and events such as “Concert in Berlin Philharmornie” with the Berliner Symphoniker, a “New Year’s Concert Tour” with the Trondheim Solisten, a concert tour at La Fenice in Venice, Teatro del Maggio in Florence, at the Italian President Palace in Rome, a “Mobifone Series Concert” with the Berliner Symphoniker, a concert tour in Denmark, at the Asian Orchestra Week in Tokyo and Osaka, at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, at the “Toyota Classic” events, a gala concert at the Bolshoi Zal, at the Festival in Samara, at Sony’s “Blue Sky,” and a gala concert in St. Petersburg.
Aside from the Tchaikovsky Competition, Mr. Duy’s competition successes include the First Prize at the Zakhar Bron International Violin Competition in Novosibirsk, Russia (1995), the First Prize at the Demidov International Violin Competition in Ekaterinburg, Russia (1993), and the First Prize at the Vietnamese National Music Competition “Autumn” in Hanoi (1990). Mr. Duy has served as a jury member of the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Astana (Kazakhstan) in 2017, in Moscow in 2014, of the 6th International Violin Competition in Kazakhstan in 2016, of the 42nd Demidov International Violin Competition in Ekaterinburg in 2009, and of the Vietnamese National Music Competition “Autumn” in 2007.
At present, Dr. Bùi Công Duy is Deputy Rector for Concert Activities at the Vietnam National Academy of Music. He has been Artistic Director of the Vietnam Classical Players and Executive Director of the Vietnam Connection Music Festival since 2015.
Igor Keller wurde 1973 im Elsass/Frankreich geboren. Er studierte bei Adelina Oprean, Sandor Vegh und an der International Menuhin Music Academy bei Alberto Lysy. Meisterkurse und musikalische Anregungen erhielt er u.a. von Walter Levin, Hatto Beyerle, Michel Strauss, Sigmund Nissel, Yehudi Menuhin und Joseph Silverstein. Von 1997 bis 2005 war Igor Keller 2. Konzertmeister des Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg und arbeitete in Konzertmeister- und Stimmführerfunktion u.a. mit dem Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, der Camerata Bern sowie dem Tonhalle Orchester Zürich zusammen. Als Solist trat er mit dem Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, dem Nouvel Orchestre de Radio France, dem Sinfonieorchester Basel, dem Württembergischen Kammerorchester und der Camerata Academica Salzburg auf. Seit 2011 ist Keller Konzertmeister des Sinfonieorchesters St.Gallen.
American violinist Joan Kwuon is widely recognized for her commanding interpretations, graceful flair and deeply communicative voice. Her artistry is committed to a diversity of musical periods and styles ranging from Bach and Beethoven to Stravinsky and Takemitsu.
Joan Kwuon, whom the New York Times describes as “fiery, intensely musical and impassioned,” made her Tanglewood Music Festival concerto debut at the invitation of Sir André Previn in 2000 and her recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall the following season. She has since appeared with leading orchestras of North America, Europe and Asia and in recital and chamber music internationally.
Celebrating Mozart’s 250th birthday, Ms. Kwuon toured the United States performing Mozart Violin Concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit and Matthias Bamert. She performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra and André Previn in Cardiff, Wales and with Maestro Previn and the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall performing Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3. She also appeared with the BBC Nation al Orchestra of Wales, NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, Seattle Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Bulgarian National Academic Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia of Finland, Moscow State Radio Symphony, Orchestra Europa, Busan Philharmonic, State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Louisiana Philharmonic, Amarillo Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and International Sejong Soloists.
Joan Kwuon made her Metropolitan Museum recital debut in 2006 and in 2008 returned to the Metropolitan Museum with pianist, André Previn in Sonata Recital. She also has enjoyed collaborations with Cho-Liang Lin, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, the Juilliard String Quartet, Bright Sheng, Heidi Grant Murphy, Cecile Licad, Vladimir Feltsman and Tony Bennett with whom Ms. Kwuon has performed in duet at Jazz Lincoln Center, Tanglewood and most recently at the MusiCares Grammy Awards Gala.
Born in Los Angeles, Joan Kwuon began her musical studies at the piano at age five and violin at age six. She attended Crossroads School and studied at Indiana University with Miriam Fried, The Juilliard School with Joel Smirnoff and CIM with Donald Weilerstein. She has taught at The Juilliard School and has been guest artist/faculty at numerous music festivals including Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea, La Jolla’s Summerfest, Bowdoin International Music Festival and this summer at the Heifetz International Music Institute. In 2009, Ms Kwuon was appointed to the violin faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music. She recently signed a multi-album contract with Azica Records.
Inès Morin was born in Lyon, France, in 1993 and received her first violin lessons at the age of four.
She studied at the Basel Academy of Music with Raphaël Oleg, at the Zurich University of the Arts with Nora Chastain, and at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts with Igor Karsko, where she completed her master’s degree as a soloist with distinction, just like in Zurich.
She has attended master classes with professors Mi-Kyung Lee, Stephan Picard, Gyula Stuller, Ferenc Rados and Hagai Shaham, as well as with the Talich Quartet, among others.
She was the winner of the Edwin Fischer Competition in 2019 and a prizewinner in the competition of the Schenk Foundation in 2020.
As a soloist, she played with the Lucerne Festival Strings at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL) in 2020, and, in 2021, with the argovia philharmonic, the Junge Zürcher Harmoniker and the Stadtorchester Zug.
Inès Morin plays as a guest musician in various orchestras, including the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, the Musikkollegium Winterthur, Camerata Zürich, the Zürich Opera, the Lucerne Festival Strings and Gstaad Festival Orchestra.
In addition to orchestral music, she has a great passion for chamber music and plays in several formations.
Inès Morin has been a member of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra since September 2017 and led the second violins in the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester in 2022.
During the last 2 years Dmitry was invited as a soloist by the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra Saint-Petersbourg, the Moscow Philharmonic State and the Chamber Orchestra of Moscow, the Lucerne Festival Strings, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Argovia Philharmonic and others with Concertos by Haydn, Mozart, Nielsen, Schumann, Stravinsky, Bartok, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Bernstein, Lloyd Webber.
He was among the “Jeunes Etoiles” at Gstaad Menuhin Festival 2019. In the season 2021-22 his schedule includes also the performance of Mozart Violin Concerto on historical instruments with Accademia Theresia conducted by Giovanni Antonini, chamber music with Sol Gabetta at SOLsberg Festival, the Debut recital with pianist Marco Scilironi in LAC for LuganoMusica on 21. April 2021 as well as a Debut solo recital during Lucerne Festival on 19. August 2021. Still in 2021 he releases his first CD with works by Bach and Bartok (FHR London).
He has been working with Heinz Holliger for “Swiss Chamber Concerts”, with Giovanni Antonini for “Haydn 2032 Project”, with the Kelemen Quartet and the ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro.
In 2018 he founded his own chamber ensemble, the “Camerata Rhein” in Basel for experimental and film music performances.
Dmitry was born in St. Petersbourg and studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Saint-Petersbourg State Conservatory (Elena Zaiceva), afterwards at the Lausanne Institute of Advanced Musical Studies (Pavel Vernikov) and at the Basel Music Academy (Rainer Schmidt).
Dmitry won prizes and awards of international music competitions among which are:
- ARD Musikwettbewerb München 2021 (2d Prize and Genuin Prize)
- Concours international Long-Thibaud-Crespin (Paris, 3d Prize 2018 and Prize Etienne Vatelot for best . interpretation of contemporary music)
- Concours international de violon Tibor Varga (Sion, Switzerland 2015) – 1st Prize and audience award
- Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists (Cardiff, 2008) – 2nd Prize
- International Oistrakh Competition (Moscow, 2006) – 1st Prize and Special Award
He is playing on a violin (2018) made by Philipp Bonhoeffer and a viola (2019) from the same maker.
Violinist Kyung Sun Lee captured a bronze medal in the 1993 Queen Elizabeth Competition, sixth prize in the 1994 Tchaikovsky Competition, first prize in the Washington and D’Angelo International Competitions, and third prize in the Montreal International Competition. Subsequently she has enjoyed ever-increasing popularity as a performer with high critical acclaim: “Exceptional tonal suavity and expressive intensity in equal measure,” commented The Strad. “Godard’s ‘Concerto Romantique’ could not have had a more outstanding soloist than Kyung Sun Lee,” proclaimed Harris Goldsmith in the New York Concert Review.
In recent years she has been in demand as a judge of violin competitions including the Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover, Seoul International Competition and Singapore International Violin Competition. She also serves as music director of the Changwon International Chamber Music Festival and Seoul Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.
Lee is an accomplished teacher and clinician. After becoming Assistant Professor of Violin at the Oberlin Conservatory in the fall of 2001 and Associate Professor at the University of Houston in the fall of 2006, she became Professor at Seoul National University in 2009. In January 2023, Kyung Sun Lee is joining the faculty at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Kyung Sun Lee studied at Seoul National University, Peabody Conservatory, and the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Sylvia Rosenberg, Robert Mann and Dorothy Delay. She plays on a violin by Joseph Guarnerius dating from 1723.
SCOTT ST. JOHN – violin and viola
Violinist Scott St. John, from London Ontario, is known for his joyful style of music-making and inspiring chamber music coaching. Scott is Concertmaster of the innovative ROCO Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas, and returns frequently to the summertime Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. From 2018 to 2021 he was Director of Chamber Music at The Colburn School in Los Angeles.
Early violin success with teacher Richard Lawrence in London Ontario gave Scott a path to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the chance to work with David Cerone, Arnold Steinhardt and Felix Galimir. After winning the Alexander Schneider Competition and playing a Carnegie Hall debut, NYC pulled Scott into its orbit, where Young Concert Artists gave him fabulous opportunities for performance. In addition to a magical year of working at the Disney Store in Times Square, Scott has been Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, and Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University as part of the St. Lawrence String Quartet.
Scott has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and won a Juno Award for recording Mozart with his sister Lara St. John. He has founded two chamber music awards for students: the Felix Galimir Award at University of Toronto and the Ida Levin Award at the Colburn School. Scott loves chamber music, Dvorak, new music, music by less-known composers, and a great espresso. He has been to all the Canadian provinces, 49 of the United States, and would prefer to travel by train when practical. He is married to violist Sharon Wei and they have a 10-year-old daughter named Julia.
Hannes Bärtschi erhielt mit sechs Jahren den ersten Violinunterricht und kurz darauf ebenfalls Klavierunterricht. Nach der Matura studierte er Viola bei Nicolas Corti in Zürich und im Anschluss bei Wolfram Christ in Freiburg im Breisgau. Beide Studien schloss er mit Auszeichnung ab.
Von 1999 bis 2017 war Hannes Bärtschi Bratschist des Amar Quartetts, mit dem er über tausend Konzerte im In- und Ausland gespielt und internationale Preise erhalten hat (Concours de Genève, String Quartet Competition London, Schubert-Wettbewerb Graz und Migros Kulturprozent Zürich).
In verschiedenen Orchestern ist er häufiger Gast, meist als Stimmführer. Er ist Mitglied im Ensemble tacchi alti, Solobratschist der Camerata Zürich und seit 2010 stellvertretender Solobratschist im Sinfonieorchester Basel.
Neben der Musik beschäftigt sich Hannes Bärtschi intensiv mit Informatik und führt ein kleines Unternehmen in diesem Bereich.
An artist defined by the critics as “…tender, lyrical, loaded with personality” (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Pierre Ruhe), violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez is also recognized for drawing “…the sweetest, most sonorous tone…” (Washington Post, Charles T. Downey). In September 2009, Juan-Miguel won the first Prize at the 16th International Johannes Brahms Competition, for which he is delighted to join as a juror for the 2017 edition, in Austria, adding to other top prizes won at the National Canadian Music Competition, and the 9th National Sphinx Competition in 2006, presented by J.P. Morgan Chase. As a featured guest soloist, Juan-Miguel has appeared with the Atlanta, Seattle, Colorado Symphonies, as well as the Rochester Philharmonic and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Performances in recent seasons have brought Juan-Miguel on tour throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America, Canada and the United States. In 2010, he was honored with the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec.
Juan-Miguel has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Harrell, Kim Kashkashian, Gérard Caussé, Nicolas Dautricourt, Misha Dichter, the Weilerstein trio as well as Jazz living legends Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Stanley Clark and Paquito D’Rivera. Recent festival and program appearances as guest artist and teacher include the Festival Pablo Casal (Prades, France), the Festival Des Arcs (France), the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy), Orford Academy (Canada), Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (South Africa), the Salzburg Festival, the Brevard Summer Institute, the Mozaic Festival, Festicamara (Colombia), Montreal Jazz & Panama Jazz Festivals and Musica Mundi International Festival (Belgium).
A dedicated chamber musician, Juan-Miguel is the newest member of the legendary Fine Arts Quartet and a founding member of the Harlem Quartet with whom he performed from 2006 to 2012. Juan-Miguel is also a founder and member of the “Trio Virado” (Flute, Viola, Guitar) as well as the “Boreal Trio” (Clarinet, Viola, Piano), both specializing in the creation of new repertoire. From 2005 to 2010, he was also an active member of the I Palpiti orchestra, a cast of international laureates forming a world class string orchestra based in Los Angeles. The 2017 summer season saw his return with the I Palpiti orchestra, this time as soloist, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in Disney Hall (Los Angeles), and the Mozarteum’s Solitaire Hall (Salzburg).
His strong commitment to educate and engage new audiences all around the globe have brought him to reach young musicians and various communities through art convoys in South Africa and Venezuela, various music festivals in South America and outreach projects in Europe and North America. In the Fall of 2016 Juan-Miguel was appointed to the faculty of the prestigious Royal Academy of Music (London) as Professor of Viola.
Juan-Miguel Hernandez was born in Montreal, Canada in 1985 and began studying the violin at age seven, then switched to viola at age twelve under the tutelage of Jean McRae. He received his Bachelor degree from the Colburn Conservatory in 2010 studying with Paul Coletti and Graduate Diploma in the Professional String Quartet program in 2012 with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory, working privately with Kim Kashkashian and Dimitri Murrath. He also worked with Pinchas Zukerman, Roberto Diaz, Paul Neubauer, Karen Tuttle, Steven Dann, James Dunham, Barbara Westphal and Robert Vernon. Juan-Miguel plays a beautiful 2008 Miralles viola from Altadena CA.
Praised by the New York Times for her “probing introspection”, and by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a star” with “a voluptuous tone,” violist Vicki Powell has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra, and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and has been a featured artist at the Verbier, Spannungen, and Marlboro Music Festivals, among others.
Vicki is the recipient of a Gold Award in Music from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Other awards include Third Prize and the Sonata Prize at the 2011 Primrose International Viola Competition, as well as First Prizes of the Philadelphia Orchestra Greenfield Competition, the Johansen International Competition, and the Aspen Low Strings Competition.
Since 2018 Vicki has held the position of Principal Viola of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also been invited to play as Guest Principal of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and Munich Chamber Orchestra..
An avid chamber musician, Vicki performs throughout Europe with the Boccherini String Trio (www.boccherinitrio.com). She has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, and appears frequently in chamber concerts at Konserthuset Stockholm. Recent highlights include performances at the AldeburghFestival with Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Korsholm Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, Zurich Tonhalle, and Berlin Konzerthaus. She has previously collaborated with such renowned artists as Anne Sofie von Otter, Janine Jansen, Christian Tetzlaff, Steven Isserlis, and Mitsuko Uchida.
In addition to her pursuits as a violist, Vicki has served as Director of the Verbier Festival Academy’s “Reaching Out” program, where she helped enable musicians to harness and broaden their outreach, business, networking, and leadership skills in order to be innovative and active participants within their own communities. Ms. Powell has also collaborated with the Medair organization (relief.medair.org), which helps people who are suffering in remote and devastated communities around the world survive crisis, recover with dignity, and develop skills to build a better future.
Vicki is a graduate of the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, Juilliard School, and Curtis Institute of Music, and studied with Máté Szűcs, Misha Amory, and Roberto Diaz. Her chamber music mentors include Rainer Schmidt, Pamela Frank, and Hatto Beyerle.
Christian Zgraggen studierte nach der Matura in Luzern bei Alexander van Wijnkoop (Violine) und Cornel Anderes (Viola). 1997 Lehrdiplom auf der Violine und Lehrdiplom mit Auszeichnung aus der Viola. 2000 Konzertdiplom (Viola) an der Musikhochschule Zürich bei Nicolas Corti. Meisterkurse bei Gérard Caussé und Hartmut Rohde. 2000 bis 2007 Gründungsmitglied im Mondrian Ensemble Basel. 1. Preis am Concours Nicati, zahlreiche Uraufführungen von Streichtrios und Klavierquartetten. Konzerte im In –und Ausland (u.a. Lucerne Festival 2005). CD bei Musikszene Schweiz /Grammont Portrait. 2008-2011 Mitglied und seit 2012 Gast im Collegium Novum Zürich. 2018 Initiant der Camerata Uri (variables Kammermusik-Ensemble). Christian Zgraggen ist Konzertmeister (TriEvent, Collegium Musicum Uri, Cäcilienverein Altdorf) und Stimmführer im Urschweizer Kammerensemble Brunnen. Christian Zgraggen unterrichtet seit 1995 an der Musikschule Uri Violine und Viola.
Venezuelan cellist Horacio Contreras has gained esteem through a multifaceted career as a concert cellist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and scholar. He has collaborated with prestigious institutions across the Americas and Europe as a concerto soloist, a recitalist, a chamber musician, and a master class clinician. Highlights of his career include solo performances with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Municipal Orchestra of Caracas in Venezuela, the EAFIT University Orchestra in Colombia, the Camerata de France in France, and the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra and the Music Institute of Chicago’s Chamber Orchestra in the US; chamber collaborations with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and members of the Detroit, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin; and master classes at Bloomington, Juilliard, Michigan, Oberlin and the ASTA National Convention, as well as at many renowned programs from Latin America.
Recent collaborations include the recording of the works for cello and piano by Ricardo Lorenz, the commission and premiere of Diáspora for cello and piano by the Schubert Club’s composer-in-residence Reinaldo Moya, and the recording of Shuying Li’s World Map Concerti with the Four Corners Ensemble. Horacio serves on the faculty of Lawrence University and the Music Institute of Chicago, and the University of Michigan’s MPulse summer institute Center Stage Strings. His students have made solo recordings, soloed nationally and internationally, attended festivals such as Aspen, Orford and Domaine Forget, and won awards at regional and national competitions. They have continued their education at institutions including the University of Michigan, the San Francisco Conservatory, the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland, and the Hochschule for Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Mannheim, Germany.
Some of his former students have pursued successful careers as orchestral musicians, chamber musicians, teachers, and freelancers. Others have devoted their energies to grow in other professional areas and enjoy a meaningful connection with music through the cello.
He is the coauthor of The Sphinx Catalog of Latin-American Cello Works, a comprehensive database with information about works for cello written by Latin American composers, created in partnership with the Sphinx Organization and CelloBello.org. His pedagogic book Exercises for the Cello in Various Combinations of Double-Stops has received recognition as a significant contribution to the instrument’s literature. He is a member of the Four Corners Ensemble and the Reverón Piano Trio. He started his musical studies in Venezuela through El Sistema, and holds degrees from the Conservatoire National de Région de Perpignan, France, the Escola de Musica de Barcelona, Spain, and the University of Michigan.
Concert cellist and recording artist, Allison Eldredge has been performing in the world’s premiere concert halls for more than 30 years. She is a recipient of the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, a National Grant awarded to American musicians demonstrating exceptional ability. Musical America, the world’s premiere performing arts resource, named Allison Eldredge “Young Artist of the Year”. Following Ms. Eldredge’s release of Saint-Saens’s and Lalo’s concerti with the Royal Philharmonic and conductor Hans Vonk, the American Record Guide wrote: “Hers is virtuosity wholly at the service of the music.”
Allison Eldredge gained national attention when, Conductor Daniel Barenboim, invited the Artist to make her debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing the Elgar Cello Concerto. The performances marked Daniel Barenboim’s first public performances of the Elgar Concerto since performing the work with his late wife, celebrated-cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, who had brought the Elgar Concerto to prominence. The artist performed on Jacqueline Du Pre’s 1972 Sergiu Peresson cello for the performances and was heralded as “a cellist afraid of nothing” by the Chicago Sun Times, and “a musician of remarkable gifts” by the Chicago Tribune.
As soloist, Allison Eldredge has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Academy of St. Marin-in-the-Fields and Royal Philharmonic in London, the Moscow Virtuosi, Berlin Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Budapest Symphony, Ukraine National State Symphony, Polish Radio Symphony and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland. In Asia, she has appeared with the China National Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic, among others.
Allison Eldredge has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Evgeni Svetlanov, Sergiu Commissiona, Joseph Silverstein, Keith Lockhart and Stanislaw Skrowacewski, among many others.
An advocate for living composers, Ms. Eldredge has toured the U.S., Europe and the Middle East with composer Krzysztof Penderecki performing his Viola Concerto transcribed for cello and orchestra. In 2013, she performed his Concerto Grosso No. 1 for 3 Cellos as first cellist with the composer at the podium in Poland. In 2008, Strad Magazine reviewed “Eldredge’s high-voltage performance” in New York celebrating American composer Paul Schoenfield’s works with the composer present. She has collaborated with composers Leon Kirchner, Shigeaki Saegusa, Lukas Foss, Marc O’ Connor, Andy Vores and performed the works of many other living composers including Joan Tower, Bright Sheng, George Crumb and Ellen Taafe Zwillich.
Allison Eldredge has released 7 solo albums including Saint-Saens and Lalo Concerti with the Royal Philharmonic and conductor Hans Vonk, a self-titled album of pieces for cello and piano for Canyon Classics, beloved Works of Chopin and Faure for cello and piano and the Elgar Concerto on Denon Records and Denon Essentials available on iTunes.
She has served on the Faculty of Harvard University from 2008-2011 and is currently on the cello faculty of New England Conservatory Preparatory School. She maintains a private teaching studio in Boston and in Connecticut. She studied at the Pre-College and College of the Juilliard School. Her teachers have included Harvey Shapiro, Eleanore Schoenfeld, Felix Galimir, Ardyth Alton, Joan Lunde, Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma.
She lives in Boston with her two daughters. She plays on the 2015 “Eldredge” Zygmuntowicz and a 1740 Carlo Antonio Testore cello.
Cellist Ben Hong joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1993 as Assistant Principal Cello, at age 24. He currently serves as Associate Principal Cello, appointed in 2015 by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel. Hong also performs frequently as soloist and as a member of chamber music ensembles and has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Janine Jansen, Lang Lang, Sir Simon Rattle, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. His concerto appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic include the L.A. premiere of Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Concerto and the U.S. premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s cello concerto Kai, with Simon Rattle conducting.
In 2009, Hong was hired by DreamWorks Pictures to train several members of the cast of the movie The Soloist, including Jamie Foxx. In addition, he was the featured soloist on the soundtrack, which was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Hong won his native country’s National Cello Competition three years in a row before leaving home, at age 13, for the Juilliard School. Later he studied with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California School of Music before joining the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2012, Hong joined the faculty of USC’s Thornton School of Music as adjunct professor. In addition, he frequently presents clinics and master classes in the U.S. and abroad. Ben’s other interests include working on and riding his three sports motorcycles, bicycling, scuba diving, martial arts, and West African drumming.
Jonas Iten was born into a family of musicians in Zug in 1972. He took his teacher’s diploma and concert examination with Markus Stocker at Winterthur Conservatory. He did his soloist’s diploma in 1997 with Stanislav Apolin and Marek Jerie in Lucerne. He has won a prize at the Rahn Competition in Zurich, as well as scholarships from the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, the Ernst Göhner and Kiefer Hablitzel Foundation and his home canton of Zug.
Jonas Iten is solo cellist with the Zurich Camerata and the Zug Sinfonietta and has performed as a soloist with the Musikkollegium of Winterthur, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and numerous Swiss chamber orchestras. He performs regularly as a member of the Swiss Octet and also writes adaptations of original Swiss folk music for the ensemble.
His first solo CD «Concert Spirituel» with sonatas of Jean-Baptiste Barrière on Sony Music’s Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label received excellent international reviews.
Jonas Iten teaches the cello and ensemble playing at the Zug Music School. He plays a cello by Giovanni Pistucci, Naples 1900.
“…The presentation of these pieces by the cellist Ángel García Jermann is impeccable….García Jermann, who is developing a growing career as a soloist, is in equal parts brilliant and expressive, subtle in nuances and right in phrasing.” Natalia Berganza, Doce Notas
Ángel is with no doubt one of the most outstanding cellists of his generation in Spain. He is professor at the Real Conservatorio Superior in Madrid since 2002 and served as principal cellist of the RTVE Symphony Orchestra for 11 years. He served as director of the Forum de Violoncello de España until 2016 and as vice-president and artistic director of the CelloLEON Foundation until 2022. He is a member of the faculty of the “Música en Compostela” music course, and he has joined the faculty of the Borromeo Music Festival in Switzerland for summer 2023 edition.
Ángel premiered in Spain C. Halffter’s work for solo cello “Solo”, as well as the Concerto Grosso nº 2 by A. Schnittke. He also premiered chamber music works by J. Torres, A. Guijarro and many others. He has made a series of recordings for the Spanish Musicology Society (Sociedad Española de Musicología) with music for cello and piano of the 19th and 20th century, earning great acclaim by the specialized press for his album “Melodías, Romanzas y Nocturnos”, a collection of Spanish romantic short pieces, and for his recording of sonatas by Antonio Torrandell and Manuel de Falla. His third album, dedicated entirely to cello and piano works by Joaquín Cassadó, will be released in mid 2023.
Ángel plays an extraordinary instrument made in Madrid in 1762 by José Contreras, known as “The Spanish Stradivari”.
A modern player with a “signature sound” and distinctive style of playing, cellist Mark Kosower embodies the concept of the complete musician performing as concerto soloist with symphony orchestras, in solo recitals, and as a much admired and sought-after chamber musician. He is Principal Cello of the Cleveland Orchestra, a scholar and teacher of cello at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Kent/Blossom Music Festival. Mark’s performance repertoire and discography are testaments to a deep devotion, not only to frequently heard repertoire such as Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and concertos of Haydn, Walton, Elgar and Dvořák but, significantly, to less well-known concertos of Alberto Ginastera, Miklos Rozsa, Frederich Gulda and Victor Herbert. Mr. Kosower has recorded for the Ambitus, Delos, Naxos International and VAI labels, including as the first cellist to record the complete music for solo cello of Alberto Ginastera (Naxos). He was described as a “powerful advocate of Ginastera’s art” by MusicWeb International, and Strings Magazine noted of his Hungarian music album (also with Naxos) that “the music allows Kosower to showcase his stunning virtuosity, passionate intensity, and elegant phrasing.”
During the 2019/20 season Mr. Kosower performs the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the Dayton Philharmonic, two recitals in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and performances of the Dvorak Concerto with the symphony orchestras of York, PA and Yakima, WA among other engagements. This season is also the final year of Bach for Humanity, an initiative and three-year commitment to bringing the message of Bach to different parts of the greater Cleveland area including the elderly, the underprivileged, students, and the general public. During these three years Mr. Kosower has performed the complete cello suites and his own transcriptions of the violin sonatas and partitas for cello of J.S. Bach to widespread acclaim.
Last season (2018/19) Mr. Kosower performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with both The Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival and Columbus Pro Musica with such artists as Vadim Gluzman. He additional appeared with Gerhardt Zimmrmann and the Canton Symphony performing the Victor Herbert Concerto No. 2 and with Gustavo Gimeno and again The Cleveland Orchestra performing the Ginastera Concerto No. 2.
Mark Kosower has appeared internationally as soloist with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra among others. In the United States he has appeared with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Florida, Grand Rapids, Houston, Milwaukee, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Seattle, Virginia, the Ravinia Festival and St. Paul chamber orchestras, and has given recitals at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the National Gallery of Art, and on the Great Performer’s Series at Lincoln Center. He has collaborated with Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Andrew Davis, Ton Koopman, Nicholas McGegan, and Bramwell Tovey. Mark Kosower is a frequent guest at international chamber music festivals including the Santa Fe, North Shore, and Colorado College of Music chamber music festivals and has appeared at the Aspen, Eastern, and Pacific Music (of Japan) festivals among many others.
Born in Goslar, Germany in 1974, Krebs is today one of the most interesting and multifaceted musicians of his generation. During his studies in Hanover, Madrid, Basilea and Cologne he won numerous prices and awards at competitions in Germany, Austria, England and the USA. Over the last decade, Krebs has developed an extensive career as a soloist, chamber musician and much sought after teacher. As soloist with orchestras he has performed under the baton of conductors like Ingo Metzmacher, Markus Poschner, Marko Letonja, Christopher Hogwood, Nicholas Milton and Wolfgang Schmidt and as a member of the STREICHTRIO LIRICO he has been appearing in concerts and recitals all over Europe and South America. In 1999 Krebs made the world premiere recording of the piece TROVA for cello and orchestra by the Spanish composer Enrique Granados for SONY. Furthermore, he recorded string trios by Beethoven and Schubert, as well as piano trios by Dvorák, Brahms and Shostakovitch, piano quartets by Mozart and Brahms, and the Janácek string quartets. Since 2016, the Streichtrio Lirico has been recording for the audite label. He was also invited for radio and tv productions in Germany (NDR) and Spain (Tele5, Radio nacional, Canal+, Radio Clásica). Krebs is a frequent guest at important music festivals such as the Casals Festival in Prades, the festivals in Santander and Albal, the Schleswig Holstein Festival and the Braunschweiger Kammermusikpodium. Additionally, Krebs has been fulfilling his duties as Principal Cellist of the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra since 2006. He greatly enjoys teaching his cello class at the University of Arts in Bremen, offers masterclasses in Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain and coaches regularly the cello sections of various German youth orchestras. In the academic year of 2015/16, he taught as guest at the Music Academy in Krakow, Poland. Recently, he has played cello concertos of the standard repertoire by Haydn, Tschaikowsky´s Rokoko Variations, the Brahms Double, Bruch´s Kol Nidrei, Saint-Saëns, Schumann and Dvorák, as well as such extraordinary concertos like Martinu, Tüür, Sallinen’s “Nocturnal Dances of Donjuanquixote” and the Gulda cello concerto.
In 2015 Krebs served as judge in the Tonali Cello Competition in Hamburg and was appointed Artistic Director of the Musikfest Goslar. Krebs plays a marvellous cello by Carlo Antonio Testore, Milano 1746.
Katrin Mettler wurde in Basel geboren und ist in Affoltern am Albis aufgewachsen. Im AlterSÆUNN THORSTEINSDÓTTIR – cello
Icelandic cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir enjoys a varied career as a performer, collaborator and artist teacher. She has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Iceland Symphony, among others, and her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the US, Europe and Asia. Sæunn has performed in many of the world’s prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Elbphilharmonie, Barbican Center and Disney Hall and the Los Angeles Times praised her performances for their “emotional intensity”.
Her most recent recording, Marrow: The 6 Suites for Solo Cello by J.S. Bach, was released in June 2023 and has already garnered international attention, the The Arts Desk (UK) noting “Thorsteinsdóttir’s poised, lyrical playing makes this set a front runner among recent recordings”. Other recent releases on the Sono Luminus label include Vernacular, a solo album of Icelandic music for cello, and the award-winning cello concerto, Quake, written for her by Páll Ragnar Pálsson, with the Iceland Symphony, which was nominated for a 2021 Grammy.
In 2022, Sæunn premiered Gemæltan, a new concerto by Canadian/Icelandic composer, Veronique Vaka, with the Iceland Symphony as part of her role as Artist-in-Residence of the 22-23 season, as well as performing chamber music and solo recitals in New York, Los Angeles, Reykjavík, San Francisco, Seattle, and Singapore.
In addition to collaborating with Daníel Bjarnason on his award-winning composition Bow to String, Sæunn enjoys working with composers of our time such as Valerie Coleman, Reza Vali, Þuríður Jónsdóttir, Halldór Smárason, Jane Antonia Cornish and Melia Watras. She has also given the world premiere of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir’s cadenza for Haydn’s D Major concerto that she wrote for Sæunn, as well as the US premiere of Betsy Jolas’ Wanderlied and the Hong Kong premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Canticle of the Sun, for cello, 2 percussionists and choir.
An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated in performance with Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and members of the Emerson, Guarneri and Cavani Quartets and has participated in numerous chamber music festivals, including Prussia Cove and Marlboro, with whom she has toured. Formerly Artist-in-Residence at Green Music Center’s Weill Hall in Sonoma as well as cellist of the Manhattan Piano Trio, she is currently cellist and founding member of Decoda, The Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall.
Sæunn has garnered numerous prizes in international competitions, including the Naumburg Competition in New York and the Antonio Janigro Competition in Zagreb, Croatia. She is an alum of Ensemble Connect— a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the New York City Department of Education—performing chamber music at Carnegie Hall and bringing classical music to students in the New York City Public Schools.
Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Sæunn serves on the faculty of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. For more information, please visit www.saeunn.com
“It takes a player of Sung-Won Yang’s Technical Brilliance and expressive boldness to make one feel The Kodaly’s Solo Sonata’s full grandeur.” – Gramophone –
Cellist Sung-Won Yang has performed throughout the world as a soloist and chamber musician. He has given solo and chamber music concerts in prestigious venues as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, the Salle Pleyel and Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Terrace Theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Opera City Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka and the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. His recitals have also brought him to other leading cities, such as London, Rome, Frankfurt, Madrid, Prague, Helsinki, Boston, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Shanghai, Sydney and many others.
While an exclusive artist for EMI-Korea, his first album entirely devoted to Kodály was the “Editor’s Choice of the Month” of Gramophone Magazine (February 2003) and the “Critic’s Choice of the Year” of Gramophone Magazine in the UK (December 2003). He was also nominated for Best Solo Album of the Edison Awards in the Netherlands (2003). His other recordings for EMI include works by Rachmaninoff and Chopin with pianist Ick Choo Moon (2002), the complete J.S. Bach suites for cello solo (2005), and the complete Beethoven Sonatas and Variations for piano and cello with pianist Pascal Devoyon (2007). These recordings have all been received with great acclaim from music lovers and critics alike. His Schubert album with violinist Olivier Charlier and pianist Emmanuel Strosser appeared under the Decca label in 2009; his recent recordings are the Dvorák Cello Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Znedek Macal) and Dumky Trio (2010); an album combining Jazz, Latin music and la variété française with the ensemble Les Bons Becs ‘Musical Get Away’ (2011); Beethoven’s ‘Archduke’ trio and op. 70 no. 2 with Trio Owon (2013); and the complete works by Brahms and Schumann for cello and piano with Enrico Pace (2014); two records for Decca / Universal by Trio Owon: the complete recordings of Beethoven trios (2015), and Olivier Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps (2016). Most recently, Sung-Won Yang released a second recording of J.S. Bach’s 6 suites for solo cello on Universal Music/Decca.
Sung-Won Yang has collaborated with such great musicians as Christoph Eschenbach, Myung Whun Chung, Peter Eötvös, Johannes Kalitzke, Laurent Petitgirard, Dong Suk Kang, and Pascal Devoyon. His interpretations of the Cello Concerto by Saint-Saëns, the Brahms Double Concerto, and Variations on a Rococo Theme by Tchaikovsky with the Orchestre Symphonique Français were broadcast by French TV in France and throughout Europe on Eurovision and are available on DVD (Goldline Classics). In addition, France Music, NHK (Japan), and KBS (Korea), among other radios, have broadcast many of his live concerts.
A regular performer of contemporary music, Sung-Won Yang premiered Peter Eötvös’ Concerto Grosso with the Seoul Philharmonic with the composer conducting, and in Austria with the RFO, Austrian Radio Symphoniker. He also regularly commissions new works from talented young composers, including piano trios by composers Min Jae Jeon (2014 and 2016) and Pierre Charvet (2006), and a work with Odaegum (traditional Korean wooden flute) by Jee Young Kim (2006).
Born in Korea, Sung-Won Yang graduated from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and was assistant to Janos Starker at Indiana University in the United States. He served on the juror of the International Competition of Chamber Music in Banff, Canada, the International Cello Competition André Navarra in France, the International Cello Competition Cassado in Japan, and the Tongyeong International Competition in Korea. A recipient of numerous awards, he is currently a professor of cello at the School of Music Yonsei University in Seoul, visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music and Artistic Director of the Festival Owon at Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire in France.
MING TSU – piano (Co-Artistic Director)
Pianist Ming Tsu is acclaimed for her imaginative and refined performances of both the standard and contemporary repertoire. She has appeared on concert stages in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and her CD recordings and live performances have been broadcast on over fifty radio stations across the United States and Europe. An avid performer of contemporary music and chamber music, Ms. Tsu hasbeen active in premieres of many new works and collaborations with a diverse range of composers including György Kurtág, Elliot Carter, Roger Reynolds, Chinary Ung, Morton Subotnick, Toshio Hosokawa, Wadada Leo Smith, Lei Liang, Miguel del Águila, Gabriela Ortiz, Javier Álvarez, Henri Lazarof, Maria Newman, Pham Minh Tang, Alexandra du Bois, Robert Paterson, Kurt Rhode, Karen Tanaka and Juhi Bansal. Shehas recorded chamber music works by composers Miguel del Águila, Rebecca Clarke, William Kraft, Henri Lazarof, Maria Newman, Gabriela Ortiz and Chinary Ung. In addition, she recorded the complete chamber music works for piano and strings by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez with Grammy Award-winning Southwest Chamber Music, for which she served as the principal pianist for ten years.
A passionate pedagogue, Ms. Tsu enjoys a stellar reputation as a teacher of both piano and chamber music. With her musical insight and analytical approach to piano technique, she has worked with countless students to attain greater freedom on their instrument and achieve a deeper sense of artistry. Ms. Tsu has formerly taught at CalArts and Pomona College. In 2018, she joined the piano faculty at California State University, Northridge.
Ming Tsu was born in Taiwan and received her degrees in piano performance from the New England Conservatory of Music (BM) studying with Patricia Zander, Indiana University (MM) with Edward Auer and Evelyne Brancart, and University of Washington (DMA) with Béla Siki and Craig Sheppard.
Praised for her brilliant technique, tonal beauty, and superb musicianship, Canadian pianist Angela Cheng is one of her country’s national treasures. She has appeared as a soloist with more than 100 orchestras, including the Israel Philharmonic, Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, St. Louis, Houston, San Diego, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Utah, and Colorado.
An avid recitalist, Cheng has performed solo and chamber recitals throughout North America, Asia, and Europe, including New York City (Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y), Wigmore Hall in London, Disney Hall in Los Angeles, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as well as venues in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Montreal, Toronto, Taiwan, Italy, and Australia. In 2012, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the Edmonton Symphony.
In 2009, at the invitation of Pinchas Zukerman, Cheng toured Europe and China with the Zukerman Chamber Players. She joined them again in the spring of 2010 for a U.S. tour, which included concerts at Kennedy Center and the 92nd Street Y in New York. Subsequent seasons have seen multiple tours of Europe and South America, including performances in Paris, London, Prague, Moscow, Warsaw, Budapest, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, at the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and at the Salzburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Verbier, and Ravinia festivals.
Cheng has been invited to give master classes throughout North America and in Asia, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Indiana University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Texas. She has served on the jury of many competitions, including the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Esther Honens International Piano Competition, the Montreal International Piano Competition, the William Kapell International Piano Competition, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the New Orleans International Piano Competition, and the American Pianists Association Competition.
A native of Hong Kong, Cheng studied extensively with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University and with Sascha Gorodnitzki at the Juilliard School. At Oberlin, she was honored with the 2011-12 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dang Thai Son was propelled to the forefront of the musical world in October 1980, when he was awarded the First Prize and Gold Medal at the Xth International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, Poland. It was also the first time that a top international competition was won by an Asian pianist.
He began piano studies with his mother in Hanoi, later at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with V. Natanson and D. Bashkirov.
Since winning the Chopin Competition, his international career has taken him to over forty countries, into such world-renowned halls as Lincoln Center (New York), Barbican Center (London), Salle Pleyel (Paris), Musikverein (Vienna), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Opera House (Sydney), and Suntory Hall (Tokyo).
He has played with numerous world-class orchestras such as the Philharmonia, Orchestre National de Paris, Staatskapelle Berlin, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Czech Philharmonic, Warsaw National Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Russian National Symphony etc., under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Pinchas Zukerman, Mariss Jansons, Paavo Järvi, and Vladimir Ashkenazy among others.
Other career highlights include a New Year’s Day concert (1995) with Yo Yo Ma, Seiji Ozawa, Kathleen Battle, and the late Mstislav Rostropovich, in a major international event produced by the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation NHK; on Chopin’s 200th Birthday, March 1st, 2010, he played at the Gala Concert in Warsaw. During the 2012-2013 season, Dang Thai Son toured around the world with all five Beethoven piano concertos.
He is now a piano faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the USA and also teaches as guest professor at the Université de Montreal (Canada.) In June 2019, he was invited to be the honorary professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.
He has sat on the juries of prestigious competitions such as the Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition (in 2005, 2010, 2015), the Cleveland International Piano Competition (USA), the Clara Haskil Competition (Switzerland), the Arthur Rubinstein Competition (Israel), The Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (Japan), the Richter International Piano Competition (Russia), the Montreal International Piano Competition (Canada), and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy), among others.
Dang Thai Son has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Melodya, Polskie Nagrania, CBS Sony, Analekta, Victor JVC, and the Fryderyk Chopin Institute.
He is the subject of the biography, “A pianist loved by Chopin – The Dang Thai Son Story”, published by Yamaha Music Media Corporation in 2003.
His recent release, selected as “La clef du mois” (Disc of the Month) by ResMusica (France,) devotes to Paderewski’s compositions which includes the Piano Concerto in a minor and a selection of Paderewski’s solo works. The Piano Concerto on this CD was recorded live in 2015 with the Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy.
In September of 2018, Dang Thai Son received the Gold Medal “Merit to Culture” from the Ministry of Culture of Poland. This is the highest level of distinction awarded to people for their distinguished contributions to Polish culture and national heritage.
In October 2018, Dang Thai Son’s recording of Chopin’s Nocturnes was selected by Deutsche Grammophone, in partnership with The Fryderyk Chopin Institute, for its special edition of “Chopin on period instruments” album.
Visit www.dangthaison.net for more information.
Enrico Elisi has established himself as one of the most passionate Italian pianists on the concert scene today and has been hailed for his mastery of elegance, refinement, and fantasy (La Nueva España). He regularly performs to acclaim throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia and his interpretations reveal “remarkable sensitivity, imagination, and polish,” (Baltimore Sun). He has appeared in historical settings such as La Fenice Theatre, Venice; Palazzo Vecchio, Florence; Bibiena Theatre, Mantua; and Pavarotti Opera House, Modena. Recent engagements include the Banff Centre for the Arts, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York Public Library, New York’s Morgan Library, Washington’s National Gallery of Art and the Italian Embassy, as well as the Centro Cultural de España in Lima, Peru. He performed with several orchestras in the US, Italy, Portugal, and as a chamber musician, at the Taos and Ravinia Festivals. Elisi’s recitals have been broadcast on radio and TV programs in the US and Europe. Among his awards are top prizes in the Premio Venezia (Italy) and the Oporto International Competition (Portugal). A champion of new music, Elisi has commissioned works from many composers and premiered Paul Chihara’s Two Images, at Weill Hall (subsequently recorded for Albany Records). He recently released an album of Mozart Sonatas and shorter compositions. A new recording of Bach’s selected Partitas and Preludes is forthcoming. Elisi is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto and was on the faculty of the Eastman School among other institutions. He conducted a myriad of master classes around the world and is sought-after at many music festivals and as an adjudicator. The rich tradition of his musical roots can be traced to the Conservatories of Bologna and Florence, the renown Imola International Academy, in Italy, and the Peabody Institute, in the US. His teachers included mentors such as Leon Fleisher, Lazar Berman, Alexander Lonquich, Boris Petrushansky, Franco Scala, and Giuseppe Fricelli. Enrico Elisi is a Steinway Artist.
Praised as a musician of “compelling artistry and power” by The Seattle Times, the gifted Hispanic-American pianist Julio Elizalde is a multifaceted artist who enjoys a unique career as a soloist, collaborator, curator, and educator. Since 2014, he has served as artistic director of the Olympic Music Festival outside of Seattle, Washington.
Julio has performed at many of the world’s major music centers including Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Davies Symphony Hall (San Francisco), Alice Tully Hall (New York, among many others. For nearly a decade, he has appeared with his recital partners, violinists Ray Chen and Sarah Chang, and has collaborated with artists such as Pablo Ferrández, Pamela Frank, and members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Takács, Kronos, Brentano, St. Lawrence, and Dover string quartets.
As a founding member of the N-E-W Trio with violinist Andrew Wan and cellist Gal Nyska, he performed for notable American politicians including President Bill Clinton and Secretaries of State Condoleeza Rice and Henry Kissinger. A champion of new music, Julio has collaborated with composers such as Osvaldo Golijov, Stephen Hough, Adolphus Hailstork, and Michael Stephen Brown. In 2013, Julio was a featured performer on the soundtrack of Jimmy P, starring Benicio Del Toro, and composed by Academy Award-winner Howard Shore.
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Julio is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School. He currently serves on the faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Coming from a rich tradition, pianist Andreas Haefliger “belongs to that elite group of interpreters…one of the most serious, questing pianists on the circuit today… breathtaking virtuosity…a complete Beethovenian” (Telegraph, May 2018).
He has won many plaudits for his Beethoven Perspectives recitals on disc and at major halls and festivals, and is also much sought-after as a chamber musician.
Haefliger was born into a distinguished Swiss musical family and grew up in Germany, going on to study at the Juilliard School in New York. He was quickly recognised as a pianist of the first rank, and engagements with major US orchestras followed swiftly – the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh, Chicago and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestras among them. In his native Europe too, Haefliger has appeared with the great orchestras and festivals such as the Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre de Paris, London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Symphony. He is well recognised as a superb recitalist, making his New York debut in 1988. He has ongoing regular relationships with the Lucerne and Edinburgh Festivals, Vienna Konzerthaus, and other major halls across North America and Asia. Together with violinist Hilary Hahn he will perform Beethoven sonatas on tour in Japan and Europe in 2021/22.
Haefliger is a regular visitor to London’s Wigmore Hall with his ‘Perspectives’ series, in which he performs the complete piano works of Beethoven alongside works by other composers from Mozart to Ligeti. This series has formed the focus of Haefliger’s solo recital appearances and recordings in recent years, the latest CD being volume 7 of the series, released by BIS in 2018.
Haefliger was in a cabin in the Swiss Alps when Coronavirus struck in March 2020. Even though regretting the concerts he could no longer play (which included Beethoven with the Philharmonia and Esa Pekka Salonen, a concerto tour to Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing, and festival appearances in Edinburgh, Luzern and Chicago) – he used this period of enforced reflection to work on Beethoven’s monumental Hammerklavier Sonata op.106, culminating in an art movie of his performance and the Alpine surroundings. The film is being taken up by cinemas and TV stations and received its world premiere streaming at the Aspen Festival 2020 in place of his planned live recital.
This Autumn BIS Records (with whom Haefliger has an exclusive contract) release the world premiere recording of Dieter Ammann’s Gran Toccata with Susanna Malkki and the Helsinki Philharmonic, coupled with concerti by Bartok and Ravel. Haefliger gave the first live performance of the Ammann at the BBC Proms 2019 with the BBC Symphony and Sakari Oramo, closely followed by the North American premiere with the Boston Symphony and Susanna Malkki. It was co-commissioned for Haefliger by Boston together with the Wiener Konzerthaus, Munich Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival and Taipei Symphony.
Haefliger began his career with Sony Classical recording Mozart sonatas followed by Schumann Davidsbündlertanze and Fantasiestücke, Schubert Impromptus, and music by Sofia Gubaidulina. Later Haefliger recorded for Decca with the Takács Quartet and also Matthias Goerne, winning the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for their disc of Schubert Goethe Songs. His next planned recording will be early Beethoven sonatas for BIS in Autumn 2020.
Jean-Louis Haguenauer has performed extensively throughout Europe and the United States. He has appeared as a soloist on virtually every important concert series in France and has performed often on Radio France and French national television. Haguenauer has also participated in numerous summer festivals in Europe and the U.S., including La Roque d’Anthéron, Radio-France Montpellier, Jacobins de Toulouse, Orangerie de Sceaux, les Arcs, Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival, and Kreeger Museum June Chamber Festival.
As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Fine Arts Quartet, Quatuor Ébène, Arriaga Quartet, the Percussions de Strasbourg, Ensemble Accoche-Notes; violinists Alexis Galpérine, Patrice Fontanarosa, Régis Pasquier and Joanna Maurer, violists Pierre-Henri Xuereb, Tasso Adamopoulos, Miles Hofmann and Arnaud Thorette; cellists Cecilia Tsan, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Alberto Parrini and Xavier Gagnepain; flutists Patrick Gallois, Andras Adorjan, Sara Stern and Michel Moraguès; clarinetists Loren Kitt, Michel Arrignon, Philippe Cuper, Armand Angster and Michel Lethiec; bassoonist Pascal Gallois; and horn player Gail Williams, among many others. He is a founding member of the Galpérine-Tsan-Haguenauer Piano Trio, launched in Paris in 1988. From 1991 to 1997, he was a member of the Florence Gould Hall Chamber Players, and from 2003 to 2007, he was the pianist of the American Chamber Players. He has been concertizing with Tenor Gilles Ragon for 20 years, successfully exploring both French and German repertoire.
Haguenauer graduated from the École Normale de Musique in Paris and the Geneva Conservatory, with Germaine Mounier, Louis Hiltbrand, and Jean Fassina as his principal mentors. In addition to his piano studies, he pursued composition and musical analysis with such luminaries as Nadia Boulanger and Henri Dutilleux. He is a Yehudi Menuhin Foundation Prize winner.
Renowned as an interpreter of the French repertoire, Haguenauer’s recordings of the complete piano music of Debussy are in progress. He has also recorded solo repertoire by Liszt (transcriptions of the first two Beethoven symphonies) and chamber repertoire by Weber, Bloch, Ropartz, Stravinsky, and many others. A Beethoven and Schumann CD (An die ferne Geliebte, Dichterliebe, Fantasy Op.17), with the French tenor Gilles Ragon, was released in 2010 (Saphir). The first complete recording of Debussy’s melodies, the four-CD Claude Debussy: Melodies Integrale (Complete Songs), with some of the best French singers of our time, was released in 2014. The project was supported in part by a New Frontiers in Arts and Humanities grant.
Haguenauer was the subject of the feature film La Spirale du Pianiste, which continues to be shown in theaters throughout France. Haguenauer has been a member of the piano faculty at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, Bloomington (USA) since 1998 and previously was professor of piano at the Strasbourg Conservatory.
Pianist Max Levinson is known as an intelligent and sensitive artist with a fearless technique. Levinson’s career was launched when he won First Prize at the Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, the first American to achieve this distinction. He received overwhelming critical acclaim for his two solo recordings on N2K Encoded Music, and was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Max Levinson has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, New World Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Utah Symphony, Boston Pops, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland among others. He has worked with such conductors as Robert Spano, Neemi Järvi, Uriel Segal, Joseph Swensen, Jeffrey Kahane and Alasdair Neale and has collaborated with such renowned artists as the Tokyo Quartet, Vermeer Quartet, Borromeo Quartet, Mendelssohn Quartet, the Jacques Thibaud String Trio, Benita Valente, Richard Stoltzman, Pinchas Zukerman, Joseph Silverstein, Stefan Jackiw, Young Uck Kim, Arnold Steinhardt, David Finckel, Daniel Phillips, Nathaniel Rosen, Carter Brey, Allison Eldredge, Alisa Weilerstein, Christopheren Nomura, and Heiichiro Ohyama.
Max Levinson garnered international accolades for his two recordings: his recording of Leon Kirchner’s “Five Pieces for Piano”, which was chosen for the composer’s complete works recording by Albany Records alongside recordings by Leon Fleisher and Peter Serkin, and his recent recording of the Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano with violinist Stefan Jackiw (Sony Classical). He has also recorded the Brahms Horn Trio with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for the Stereophile label, and the violin sonatas of Debussy, Janácek, and Prokofiev with violinist Andrew Kohji Taylor for Warner Classics. Upcoming recording projects include the complete piano music of Bruce Sutherland.
He has also taught master classes at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Harvard, MIT, Brigham Young University, Rutgers, the University of Washington, UCLA, the Colburn School, Boston University, the Music Teacher’s Association of California annual convention and in various cities throughout the U.S. In 1997, he was named “Best Debut Artist” by The Boston Globe and was added to Steinway’s distinguished roster of artists.
Max Levinson is Chair of the Piano Department at the Boston Conservatory, and is also a faculty member at the New England Conservatory.
Born in the Netherlands and raised in Los Angeles, Max Levinson began studying piano at age five. His first teachers were Bruce Sutherland and Aube Tzerko, and as a child he also studied cello, composition and conducting. He attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude with a degree in English Literature, and later completed his graduate studies with Patricia Zander at the New England Conservatory of Music, receiving an Artist Diploma and the Gunther Schuller Medal, an award given to the school’s top graduate student.
AGNÈS MELCHOIR – collaborative piano
She received her Artist Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music studying under Leon Fleisher and has performed with such renowned partners as Paul Meyer, Jennifer Gilbert and Nicolas Dautricourt. Her performances brought her to many prestigious venues across several continents such as the Lyon Auditorium in France, Japan, and many more.
Since 2000, Agnès Melchior has been an Associate Professor, Collaborative Pianist and Coach at the Conservatoire Nacional Supérieur de Musique in Lyon (CNSMD) and the Orchestre National de Lyon.
