Chamber Music Dolomiti

Faculty

Yen Yu - Violin

Yen Yu grew up in Wuhan, China into a musical family. She studied violin with her father at an early age, and at age 14 entered the Wuhan Conservatory of Music to study under the tutelage of Professor Xin-Min Zhou.

In 1982, Yu was chosen by world renowned violin pedagogue Ms. Dorothy Delay, as a full scholarship student, to study with her at the University of Cincinnati-College-Conservatory of Music and later at The Juilliard School in New York City. Yu also studied with Kurt Sassmannshaus, Masao Kawasaki, and Robert Murray, and has spent many summers at the Aspen, Grand Teton, and Tanglewood Music Festivals.

Before moving to Montclair, New Jersey, Yu worked more than 10 years as a core member with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra in Richmond, Virginia. Yu also taught at both Virginia Commonwealth University and University of Richmond in Virginia. Yu has performed as soloist with orchestras in China, Europe, Mexico, and in the United States. Yu is an active chamber musician and solo recitalist.

Yu is passionate about her mission as a teacher and classical music messenger to foster the next generation of musicians. Since 2014, she is the Director of Chamber Music Dolomiti in San Gregorio nelle Alpi-Belluno, Italy and founder of the Montclair Arts Center in Montclair, New Jersey, USA. Yu is currently a professor at Rutgers University.

Massimiliano Baggio - Piano

Massimiliano Baggio was born in Naples in 1961. He studied at the “G. Verdi” Conservatory of Milan where he graduated with full marks cum laude.
He continued his advanced musical studies with Sergio Fiorentino, attending master classes at Città di Castello with Antonio Ballista and at Fiesole with Maureen Jones and Dario de Rosa.

Since 1975, he has played in piano duo with Cristina Frosini performing in hundreds of concerts, including orchestral recitals radio and television recordings for RAI and WDR, and recordings for Sarx Records. They are the only artists, in Italy, to have ever performed the complete works of Franz Schubert for piano four hands.

Together they have won many international awards, including the ‘Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition 1982’ in Vercelli and the 1986 International Competition ‘Concorso Sergio Lorenzi’ in Trieste. Currently they are playing for the most important musical societies in Italy including the ‘Settimane Musicali di Stresa’, the ‘Istituzione Universitaria dei Concerti’ in Rome, the ‘Festival dei due Mondi’ in Spoleto, the ‘Società dei Concerti’ and the ‘Grande Orchestra Sinfonica “G. Verdi”’ in Milan, the ‘GOG’ in Genoa, the ‘Unione Musicale’ in Turin, the ‘Amici della Musica’ in Palermo, along with many others. Recently, they have played in Berlin, Stockholm and the US.

In 1996 they made their debut at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan where they were again invited for a recital in 1999.

In 2000 the musical magazine “Amadeus” published a CD in which they play music by Franz Schubert for piano duo.

Massimiliano Baggio is a professor at the Conservatory “G. Verdi” of Milan, and regularly holds advanced master classes for piano duo. Recently he has been invited by the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre of Vilnius, the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst of Stuttgart, the Iceland Academy of the Arts of Reykjavik, the Kansas University School of Music, the John J. Cali School of Music – Montclair State University, NJ, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana of Lugano and the Conservatorio Superior de Musica de La Coruña.

Since 1988 he has been responsible for the musical activities of the Società Umanitaria of Milan. In 2000 he conducted musical broadcasting programs for RAI RadioTre.

Luca Braga - Violin

Luca Braga studied at the G. Verdi Conservatory of Milan with Umberto Oliveti. Then he specialized with Felice Cusano, Zinaida Gilel's, Alexandre Brussilovsky, Maya Jokanovich. For chamber music he specialized with Mariana Sirbu and Franco Rossi. He began a brilliant solo and chamber career which also led him to collaborate with prestigious ensembles and illustrious musicians performing in the most important halls around the world.

Numerous recordings (Decca, Velut Luna, Tactus, Teldec...). In 2004 he received 4 stars for the CD, published by Tactus, on the works of Martucci and Sgambati for violin and piano with the pianist Lucia Pittau.

He has collaborated as first chair violin with important national orchestras such as: Iomeriggi Musicali, Toscanini Orchestra of Emilia Romagna, Teatro municipale di Bologna, Bergamo Musica Festival Teatro Donizetti, Musica Riva Festival and many others.

From 2002 to 2020 he worked as soloist or as first part with I Solisti di Pavia led by Enrico Dindo.
He is the first violin of the QuartettOCMantova, a quartet of the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, an italian excellence in the world.
He has been invited to give masterclasses and recitals in some american universities such as Montclair University, Kansas University and Rutgers University. He is often invited as a member of the jury in national and international music competitions.
He currently teaches chamber music at the G. Verdi Conservatory of Milan.

Ning Feng* - Violin

Established at the highest level in China, Ning Feng performs regularly in his native country with major international and local orchestras, in recital and with the Dragon Quartet which he founded in 2012. Now based in Berlin and enjoying a global career, Ning Feng has developed a reputation internationally as an artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.

Born in Chengdu, China, Ning Feng studied at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, the Hanns Eisler School of Music (Berlin) with Antje Weithaas and the Royal Academy of Music (London) with Hu Kun, where he was the first student ever to be awarded 100% for his final recital. The recipient of prizes at the Hanover International, Queen Elisabeth and Yehudi Menuhin International violin competitions, Ning Feng was First Prize winner of the 2005 Michael Hill International Violin Competition (New Zealand), and in 2006 won first prize in the International Paganini Competition.

Recent successes for Ning have included debuts with the LA Philharmonic debut as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester/Iván Fischer as part of the Konzerthaus’s Bernstein celebrations, concerts with Singapore and Macao Symphony orchestras, a tour of China with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko and a major European tour with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra/van Zweden which included performances in Berlin, London, Zurich and at the Musikverein, Vienna. In recital and chamber music he performs regularly with Igor Levit, amongst others, in many of the major festivals in Germany and elsewhere, and he performs every year at the Kissinger Sommer Festival where he was an Artist-in-Residence in 2014.

Highlights of Ning’s 2015/16 season include debuts with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony/Grazinyte-Tyla and at the Schubertiade with Igor Levit, and return engagements with the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester/ Ivan Fischer, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Weilerstein, Western Australian Symphony/Yamada and Auckland Philharmonia orchestras. Following his debut with the Liszt Chamber Orchestra last season, he returns to them for a play/direct programme at the Liszt Academy, Budapest , he joins the jury of Menuhin Competition in London and in the US he makes his debut at La Jolla Music Society, California.

http://www.ningfengviolin.com/

Duo Gelland - Violin

For over two decades Duo Gelland has been a full-time permanent internationally hailed violin duo, one of few in the world. With musicians and music students on every level, they love to share their musical passion, experience, expertise and their repertoire spanning four centuries. Their teaching focuses on developing the facets of instrumental technique while stimulating the student's own musical voice to support personal growth and the freedom to thrive in an ensemble and as a solo player.

As a duo, they performed in the Grand hall and the Chamber Music Hall of the Berliner Philharmonie, in Tonhalle Zürich and Musikverein Wien, Stockholm Concert Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, universities including the Manhattan School of Music, SUNY Buffalo, CCM Cincinnati, California Berkeley, Stanford, CalArts and at festivals such as Huddersfield and Darmstadt in Europe. They are guest lecturers at Musikhochschule Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Leipzig. Composers from around the world have composed over 300 duos and concertos for them, many of which can be heard on their over twenty CD albums released on European and American labels. They received the prestigious Annual German Record Critic's reward.

Violinist/violist Cecilia Gelland grew up in Stockholm, attending the Royal Academy of Music at University of Stockholm, Musikhochschule Köln/Cologne in Germany and University of Cincinnati CCM where she was a full scholarship student for a total of five years with the members of the LaSalle Quartet, champions of the old and the new Vienese School, and Kurt Sassmannshaus. As a violist Cecilia premiered several solo works dedicated to her and she is recording and performing in different concert halls and chamber music venues in Europe and in the US.

Violinist Martin Gelland grew up in Munich, Germany where he studied with two concert masters of the Vienna Philharmonic, Gerhart Hetzel, Musikhochschule Munich and legendary soloist and former Carl Flesch Student Ricardo Odnoposoff, Musikhochschule Stuttgart. Martin was a returning master course participant of David Oistrach's student Valery Klimov and of Franco Gulli. For two years he studied with Max Rostal in Bern, Switzerland.
 
Cecilia and Martin met in the Danish Radio Orchestra, fell in love and founded Duo Gelland. They live in northern Sweden near the mountains as well as in the German marsipan city of Lübeck. Their two children are now college students.

www.duogelland.com

Roberto Giordano* - Piano

Born in 1981, Roberto Giordano graduated in 1999 at the Ecole Normale de Musique “A. Cortot” in Paris, with unanimity and the special commendation of the jury and, in the same year, at the Conservatory "G. Rossini "of Pesaro with the highest rating and the honorable mention. Later he graduated in the International Piano Academy in Imola, where he received his diploma with the honorary title of MASTER. Here he studied with Piero Rattalino and later with Leonid Margarius (pupil of Regina Horowitz), whom Roberto considers to be the most influential figure in his musical formation. In Imola he also met Vladimir Ashkenazy, who was “impressed with his virtuoso ability". From 2015 to 2022 Roberto Giordano has been professor and vice-director at the Imola Piano Academy.

He is a regular guest of some of the most important stages and festivals in the world, such Teatro alla Scala in Milano, Palais Des Beaux Arts in Brussels, the Hermitage Theatre in St. Petersburg, Konzerthaus in Berlin, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Great National Theater and the Forbidden City Concerthall in Beijing, Xi’an Concerthall, Stadt Opern in Frankfurt, Teatro dal Verme and Teatro Manzoni in Milan, Minato Mirai Hall in Yokohama, Seoul Arts Center in South Korea, Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Theater Politeama in Palermo, Filarmonica Romana, Istanbul Music Festival, Festival MiTo, Ravello Festival, Asia Performing Arts Festival in South Korea, Stresa Festival, Musical Afternoons in Milan, Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music in New York, Ravello Festival and many others. In 2010 he was invited to give a recital at the EXPO in Shanghai.

He has also been soloist with major orchestras, including the Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, Camerata of St Petersburg, Orchestre National de Lille, Orchestra dei Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, Filarmonica Marchigiana, Orchestra di Padova e Veneto, Orchestra del Teatro “Carlo Felice” of Genova, Gwangjiu Symphony Orchestra (Korea), collaborating with conductors such, Vasily Petrenko, Rumon Gamba, Paul Mann, Gilbert Varga, Pavel Kogan, Anton Nanut, Markus Bosch, Domonkos Héja, Hansjöerg Schellenberger, Marco Guidarini, Patrick Davin, Ronald Zollman, Alvise Casellati e Francesco Di Mauro.
In 2015, he is appointed Yamaha Artist by the Yamaha Music Europe. He has also built an important experience in chamber music, through regular partnership with Josè Van Dam, wich who he worked for more than ten years, Feng Ning, in addition to the contacts with Danilo Rossi, Lorenzo Gatto, Yossif Ivanov, Marie Hallynck.

In 2015, he is appointed Yamaha Artist by the Yamaha Music Europe. He has also built an important experience in chamber music, through regular partnership with Josè Van Dam, wich who he worked for more than ten years, Feng Ning, in addition to the contacts with Danilo Rossi, Lorenzo Gatto, Yossif Ivanov, Marie Hallynck.

Appreciated teacher, for years he devoted himself with passion to teaching, with a rethinking of musical pedagogy, both in terms of concertism and teaching. Former professor at the Institut de Musique et Pédagogie in Namur (Belgium), and at the Conservatory of Reggio Calabria, he holds masterclasses in Europe, China, Japan, Mexico and is regularly invited to take part in the juries of international competitions.

In Calabria, his native region of Italy, he has conceived and realized the Cantiere Musicale Internazionale.

Clive Greensmith* - Cello

Clive Greensmith, cellist, joined the Tokyo String Quartet in 1999 and has performed with the quartet at the most prestigious venues and concert series across the Globe. Previously, he has held the position of principal cellist of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a soloist has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, and the RAI Orchestra of Rome among others. He has collaborated with distinguished musicians such as Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Alicia de Larrocha, Midori, András Schiff and Pinchas Zukerman. A regular visitor to many international festivals, Mr. Greensmith has performed at the Marlboro Music festival, The Salzburg Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Pacific Music Festival, and the Sarasota Music Festival. Mr. Greensmith's recording of works by Brahms and Schumann with Boris Berman was recently released on the Biddulph label. Recordings with the Tokyo String Quartet include the complete Beethoven quartets, and the Mozart 'Prussian' quartets. Mr. Greensmith has served on the faculties of the Royal Northern College of Music, Yehudi Menuhin School and San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is currently the co-director of chamber music and professor of cello at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, and is a a faculty member at the Sejong International Music Festival and the Meadowmount School of Music. A new recording of clarinet trios with Jon Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse will be released this October by Harmonia Mundi USA. Clive Greensmith won second prize in the inaugural 'Premio Stradivari' held in Cremona in 1991.

www.colburnschool.edu/cf_directory/dirprofile.cfm?p=1941&id=887

www.colburnschool.edu/page.cfm?p=1941

www.tokyoquartet.com

Matthew Hunter - Viola

American violist Matthew Hunter won his position with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 1995. As founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Stradivari Soloists, he regularly tours with a collection of eleven Stradivari instruments, with the Philharmonic Stradivari Sextet, and the Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet, which has recorded for SONY- Classical.

Formative teachers include Julian Olevsky, Roman Totenberg (former assistant to Carl Flesch in Berlin), Michael Tree and Jaime Laredo. In 1986 he became the Assistant of Prof. Masao Kawasaki. He holds degrees in Philosophy (Dartmouth College), a Master of Music and a Graduate Artist Diploma. A versatile musician, who has performed classical guitar internationally in performances of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, or ‘Eclat’ of Pierre Boulez, for example, he also creates arrangements for string ensemble.

An active teacher, he has been a guest at Harvard University, the Blair School, festivals in Japan and Brazil, and the Manhattan School of Music. He has been Artistic Director of Family Concerts, creating events for the Berlin Philharmonic’s Education Series, and initiates workshops and performances with student ensembles in Berlin and abroad.

His chamber music partners have included the Emerson, Arditti, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, and luminary violists Karen Tuttle and Raphael Hillyer.

Chizuko Ishikawa - Violin

Violinist Chizuko Ishikawa began her musical studies at the age of 3 and graduated from the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. She went on to pursue graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts and the Royal College of Music in London. During her time in London, Ms Ishikawa enjoyed diverse and successful career as a soloist, chamber musician and educator. She has worked with extensive array of orchestras and ensembles such as the English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Classical Players, the New London Consort and the King's Consort. Her work with these orchestras and ensembles was recorded by companies such as EMI, Sony BMG, Decca, Phillips, Virgin and Hyperion. She also undertook regular international tours performing all over Europe, North America and Asia.

She now resides in Dobbs Ferry with her husband Clive Greensmith, cellist of the Tokyo String Quartet, and their 15 year old daughter Hanako.

Zoran Jakovcic - Violin/Viola

A native of Croatia, Zoran Jakovcic made his solo orchestral debut at the age of 12 and was a winner of a top prize at the National Competition in Zagreb. He has performed in recital and as soloist with orchestras in Europe, Japan, China and the US. Mr. Jakovcic was first violinist of the Essex Quartet (1988-98), winner of numerous competitions and awards with residences at Juilliard, Yale, Rutgers, Meadowmount, Banff and Aspen.

In 2005 Mr. Jakovcic joined the Maia Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Iowa. The Maia Quartet performed throughout the US, Japan and China, collaborated with leading chamber musicians including Joel Krosnick, Andre-Michel Schub, Cynthia Phelps, Daniel Avshalomov and Wendy Warner, and premiered and recorded works by Pierre Jalbert, Magnus Lindberg, Dan Coleman, Vivian Fung and Ronn Yedidia. Mr. Jakovcic taught and performed at the Great Wall International Music Academy in China, Up-Beat Festival in Japan, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Killington Music Festival and the Austin Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Jakovcic graduated from the Juilliard School as a student of Dorothy Delay and served as teaching assistant to Robert Mann of the Juilliard Quartet. An accomplished teacher and administrator, Mr. Jakovcic has founded the Arcady International Music Camp and the Thurnauer Chamber Music Camp, and served on the faculty of the University of Iowa and Columbus State University. Currently, Mr, Jakovcic is professor at Ball State University in Indiana.

Martina Cukrov Jarrett - Piano

A German based Croatian-American pianist Martina Cukrov Jarrett has been heard as a soloist or chamber musician in Europe, North America and Asia, in venues from the Weill Hall at Carnegie, New York, UNESCO Paris, Central Conservatory in Beijing, Busan Arts Center, South Korea, to the Schumannhaus in Leipzig, Germany, to The Croatian Music Institute Zagreb or the Philharmonic Hall in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Mrs. Cukrov Jarrett is a graduate of Zagreb University, Croatia and The Mannes College in New York City, and studied privately in Germany and Italy, for a time also at the Piano Academy in Imola,Italy.Her major teachers include Branko Sepcic, Jerome Rose, Marina Horak and Konstanin Bogino. At Mannes she studied theory with Carl Schachter.

From 1998-2011 Ms. Cukrov Jarrett was based in New York City, first as a graduate student, later as a freelance artist, accompanist, chamber musician and educator. She was a collaborative pianist of the Mannes College in New York, from 2005-2011 she served as an adjunct faculty and collaborative pianist of the Montclair University in New Jersey.

Ms. Cukrov Jarrett collaborated with violinists Urara Mogi, Zoran Jakovcic, Alejandro Mendoza,Boris Kucharsky,Rachel Castro,cellists Wendy Warner,Johannes Nauber, Hannah Holmann, among others.Whether solo or chamber music, her repertoire spans from the early baroque to the most contemporary.She often performs works written by her husband Chris Jarrett.

In 2004 Ms Cukrov Jarrett co-founded Terra Magica Festival, (with her sister, pianist and a duo-partner Terezija Cukrov) an international music festival and summer music school which took place in Porec, Croatia from 2004-2010.The festival grew into a major cultural event in the area and had students and teachers from more than 30 countries participating during a period of 7 years.She served as artistic director and faculty member.

Ms Cukrov Jarrett has been teaching masterclasses in Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Hong Kong, and gave lectures on Croatian piano music in the US and Beijing, China.

She has been living in Germany since 2012 and is presently a member of the advisory board and a guest piano faculty of The International Music Institute of China, based in Beijing.

Chamber music has long been a central point of Ms. Jarrett's educational interests. Over a period of more than 20 years, she has been active as a coach, working with students of all ages, including little children, in workshops or music camps.

Ching Juhl* - Viola

Educator, violist, and media producer, Ching Chen Juhl has taught, performed and worked in North and South America, Europe and China.

Ching Chen Juhl directs and teaches at Music Studio Manhattan. She has taught violin, viola, Suzuki strings, chamber music and orchestra studies at Bloomingdale School of Music, Chamber Music Institute, Jiao Tong University, Long Island University and Shanghai Conservatory of Music. A senior lecturer, she has been teaching Music Appreciation, Jazz and Chinese Music at St. Joseph's College since 2004.

As an orchestral musician, she has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, Central Philharmonic Orchestral of Beijing, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Grand Teton Music Festival, Phoenix Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Ching Chen Juhl is a founder and the manager for the Jade String Trio. The ensemble has commissioned and premiered many living composers's works based on Chinese folk songs. She has backed up for Rod Stewart, toured with Perry Como and performed in Broadway Production of My Fair Lady.

A student of Xidi Shen at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she also studied with Csaba Erdelyi, Kim Kashkashian, Robert Vernon and Yushen Wu. She earned a Master’s of Music and Artist Diploma degrees from Indiana University. Ching Chen Juhl won the 2nd prize at the B. Giuranna International Viola Competition.

As a media producer, she has been creating documentary films, promo and live concert videos for more than 18 years. She produced, directed, filmed and edited works for musicians, artists and organizations, such as, American Viola Society, Canta Libre, Chamber Music Dolomiti, Face the Music, New York Youth Symphony and Shanghai Conservatory of Music, among others. She has published more than 300 videos on YouTube and Vimeo. That Moment, a documentary short, was world premiered at SR Socially Relevant Film Festival NY in 2017. The Only One won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for the Kaufman Center. She is a certified Digital Video Producer from New York University.

www.jadestringtrio.com
www.juhlmedia.com

Ágnes Kállay - Cello

Ágnes graduated at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest in 2006. In the following year she earned DAAD scholarship and moved to Cologne (Germany) to study under Maria Kliegel at the Hochschule für Musik. In 2008 she continued her studies with Nick Tzavaras and the Shanghai Quartet at Montclair State University (USA). In 2013 she completed her doctoral studies with Colin Carr at Stony Brook University (USA).

In 2004 she won the Alpe Adria International Violoncello Competition in Gorizia, Italy.
In 2007 she placed first at the Beethoven Chamber Music Competition, London, UK.
In 2010 she was selected among the best 13 cellist at the 5th Unisa International String competition in South Africa.
In 2010, 2011 and 2012 she three times won the Ackerman Chamber Music prize at Stony Brook University.

She participated in the master classes of Ralph Kirshbaum, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Philippe Muller, Guido Schiefen, Alberto Portugheis, Martin Lovett, Déri György, Gulyás Márta, Ida Kavafian, Leon Fleisher, Pieter Wispelwey, Joel Krosnick and Emanuel Ax.

In 2010 she was invited to the Tanglewood Summer Music Festival, where she had the chance to work with Steven Ansell, Norman Fischer, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Herbert Blomstedt, Stefan Asbury, Robert Spano and John Williams.

In 2011 she was qualified for the final round with her flute trio at Coleman Chamber Music Competition, in Los Angeles.

In 2013 with her piano trio, Trio Artica, she received Special Recognition at Plowman Chamber Music Competition in Columbia, Missouri.

As a baroque cellist, she performs with Camerata Hungarica, Mandel Quartet, Excanto and Marquise early music ensembles. She has given master classes at Renaissance and Baroque Week in Gyor (Hungary), and at Silicon Valley Music Festival in California. From September of 2013 she has become a professor at the Bela Bartok Conservatory and at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Yoko Kawabata - Piano

Yoko started learning the piano at the age of four. She graduated from Toho Gakuen School of Music. She also took specialized courses and performed in places like Nice, France, and Salzburg, Austria. After graduation, she continued studying solfège at Toho and taught at the Toho Gakuen Music School for Children until 1994.Yoko began to perform professionally while she was at the college and had a chance to play as an accompanist at an international competition held in the Netherlands. In 1997, She took part in a music festival in Spain 1997 and Taiwan, 2013 & 2014.
In Japan she often performs with violinist Koji Morishita and her musical talent is widely recognized. She has also played at a number of other national concerts including NHKTV&FM concerts. Yoko has been giving concerts featuring female classical music composers’ pieces, as well as introducing pieces of Alxandre Tansman, Anton Arensky among others that are rarely played in Japan. Appearances in Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfreisland (Germany) every summer and a duo concert in Moscow, 2019. Piano studies with Satoko Tokumaru, B. Siki, G. Johannesen and J. Fassina, chamber music studies with H. Puig-Roget, Miyoko Y. Goldberg and Akira Miyoshi.

Boris Kucharsky* - Violin

Boris Kucharsky is a solo violinist, chamber musician, recording artist and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide including the Slovak Philharmonic and Radio Symphony, Dortmund Philharmonic, Karlsbad Symphony, European, Vienna and Prague Chamber Orchestras as well as the Gulf Coast Symphony. Kucharsky collaborated with the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin, playing Bach's Double and Triple Concerto with him and Beethoven's Violin Concerto as soloist with Menuhin conducting. This series of concerts across Germany first laid the foundation for Boris Kucharsky's reputation as one of the most outstanding violinists of his generation. In the last 20 years he has performed extensively in chamber ensembles, (for instance with members of the Munich and Berlin Philharmonic) and collaborated with pianists such as Markus Schlemmer, Melissa Marse, Per Rundberg, Elizabeth Hopkins and Helge Kjekshus in concerts across Europe, the US and Far East. He was featured as soloist in numerous television and radio broadcasts for the Bavarian Radio Munich, Klassik Plus, WDRCologne, BBC, Deutschlandfunk, Radio Stephansdom, Austria, Slovak National Radio and Television, WQXR and WNYC, USA.

He has recorded for Trevak, Ars, StarArts, Vipro Classic, KC Classics and Paladino labels.

His recording of all 10 Beethoven Sonatas, released in 2010, won widespread critical acclaim. Since 2008 he has performed all chamber works written for the violin by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert and Schumann. His repertoire spans from early baroque music to the great works of the 20th century. Recent performances have also included works by the Slovak composer Eugen Suchon, the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke, the contemporary American composer Robert Aldridge and the German composer Jörg Widmann. In 1999 Kucharsky's recording of Suchon's Violin Concerto Fantasia and Burleskawas awarded "Best Classical Recording of the Year" by the National Slovak Radio.

Kucharsky completed his studies for a Master of Music degree with the legendary violinist Erick Friedman at Yale University in 1997. Kucharsky and Friedman shared the stage on many occasions. A highlight was their rendition of Brahms's Double Concerto in 1996, with Erick Friedman conducting and Kucharsky and cellist Ole Akahoshi as soloists.

As a teenager, Boris Kucharsky studied chamber music at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London with Peter Norris, Sidney Griller (Griller Quartet) and Hans Keller. From 1989-1994 he studied at the Musikhochschule in Cologne with Igor Ozim and was coached by the Amadeus and Alban Berg Quartet.

Boris Kucharsky served on the faculty of the J.J.Cali School of Music at Montclair State University from 2008-2013 and Rutgers University from 2012-2013, where he taught violin, chamber music and orchestral studies. From 2002-2008 he taught at Munich's Music Academy, a class for especially talented young violinists and received the L.O.B. award in 2008 for his extraordinary achievements as a violin pedagogue.

In September 2013/14 he was appointed "Principal Teacher" at the Yehudi Menuhin School and Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, England.

He plays the "Baron Knoop", made by Carlo Bergonzi in Cremona, 1735.
    
                                   
                

Honggang Li* - Viola/Violin


Honggang Li is the founding member of The Shanghai Quartet, now in its 31st season. He has performed over 2,000 concerts in 30 different countries and can be heard on more than 30 CD albums.
                
Over the past three decades, Mr. Li has performed chamber music with many great artists such as cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell, pianists Menahem Pressler, Yuja Wang, Peter Serkin and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
              
Mr. Li began studying the violin with his parents at age seven. When the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing reopened in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Li was selected to attend from a group of over 500 applicants. He continued his training at the Shanghai Conservatory and co-founded The Shanghai Quartet with his brother Weigang while in his senior year at the Conservatory. The Quartet soon became the first Chinese Quartet to win a major international chamber music competition (the London International) and came to the United States in 1985.
                
He received a Masters of Music at North Illinois University and served as a teaching assistant at The Juilliard School in New York. In 1987, he won the prized 1757 DeComble Violin given by Elisa Pegreffi of Quartetto Italiano at the First Paolo Borciani International Competition in Italy.
                
Mr. Li is currently an artist-in-residence and faculty member at Montclair State University and held the same title at the University of Richmond in Virginia from 1989 to 2003. He has been the guest professor of both the Conservatories of Shanghai and Beijing. Mr. Li has also served as the guest principal violist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra since 2009.
                
www.shanghaiquartet.com         
    
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Mongda Lu* - Violin

French-Chinese Violinist,Mongda Lu admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1973, under the tutelage of Mr. Wang Ren Yi.

From 1979-1989 Ms. Lu served as faculty of Shanghai Conservatory. Over the years, she has cultivated a large number of outstanding students around the world's major orchestras and music schools.

In 1989, Ms. Lu studied at the " Ecole Normale Superieure" in Paris, later at "PAUL DUKAS" Conservatory, under the tutelage of Mr. GOULARD and Mr. MOULIN. She was awarded the Advanced Diploma Violinist.

In 1992, she established The JANUS String Quartet. They have actively performed in the Paris region and played several concerts of composer Emery's Quartet No.1,which was created for the Quartet. The premiere was held in DOURDAN City Culture Center.

From 1993-2004 Ms.Lu worked in The Orchestra des Concerts Lamoureux, served as the band's historic performer. Together with it's permanent Conductor Yautaka SADO, the orchestra's popularity enjoyed by audiences and colleagues alike in Europe. In addition, she has worked with"The Orchestre Picardi",took part in the album recordings and works of French Composer, F.Poulenc. She has toured with the orchestra to Belgium, Britain, Spain and Switzerland. Ms. Lu worked as a member of The Orchestre de Marai's'ChamberOrchestra' and recorded Haydn's Organ Concerto.

Ms. Lu has been invited to participate in the Mont'dor Music Festival;Besancon Music Festival; Music Festival Watson and La Romaine Nantes Music Festival. Other activities include 2003 for the benefit of Israeli Children's Fund Concert. Ms. Lu also taught at "Scriabine" Conservatory; "NAVARO" Conservatory. She performed as Concertmaster of Paris International Symphony Orchestra for two times to Algeria, and was awarded the UNESCO Peace Prize.

In September 2005, she moved back to China as Professor of Violin at Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Koji Morishita - Violin

Koji started his musical career early learning to play the violin at the age of four. He graduated from a prestigious college named Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. He studied under Kenji Kobayashi, Chikashi Tanaka, Toshiya Eto and his wife Angela Eto, among others.
While in college, Koji received a scholarship to study at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in USA with Dorothy DeLay and was awarded an honorable prize. He then returned to Japan and spent four years (1988-1992) playing in a string quartet of a renowned cellist by the name of Kenichiro Yasuda. During this period, he also performed as a soloist and member of chamber music groups, as well as with a leading pianist Michio Kobayashi on numerous occasions throughout Japan, featuring Beethoven’s sonatas.
From 1994 to 2000, Koji recited annually in Tokyo, Sendai, and Kyoto as well as was the concertmaster of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1996, he gave a series of recitals for a decade, which led him to a start of a new series of recitals in 2007. His activities and musical talent have made him become widely recognized in the musical scene. He was then able to start new concert series targeting a much larger audience, with his focus on ‘classical music for all’.
In 1999, Koji made a tour to twelve different cities in Japan with a famed guitarist by the name of Shinichi Fukuda, with whom he played a few tunes which had never or rarely been played in Japan, and their concerts were highly applauded.
Koji has been invited to perform in Taiwan (2013~16), and participated in Gurk Music Festival in Austria (2014) and Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfreisland, Germany (2011-). He has also performed as a guest concertmaster of the Balkan Chamber Orchestra in Serbia (2015), and played in Moscow with Maestro Vasily Valitov (2018). Recital in Moscow and as a gala concert soloist with the Mariinsky orchestra in Saint Petersburg (2021).
Koji’s musical talent was officially recognized by Hamamatsu City and Miyagi Prefecture in 1997 and 2004 respectively. Since 2013, he has been a specially appointed professor at Osaka College of Music, as well as playing as a soloist and as the principal solo concertmaster of the Osaka Symphony Orchestra since 2001. Koji plays the 1680 Antonio Stradivarius “Reichardt” on loan from Mr. H. Hiruma who resides in Hamamatsu City, Japan.



























Hai-Ye Ni - Cello

An exceptional musician renowned for her fluid technique, gorgeous tone, and brilliantly expressive performances, Hai-Ye Ni enjoys a distinguished career as principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and as a sought-after soloist and chamber musician. Praised by the press as “soulfully expressive” (Washington Post), Ms. Ni has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Her recital credits include the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, and Alice Tully Hall. She has collaborated with pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yefim Bronfman, and violinists Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, and Leonidas Kavakos. Among her festival credits are Ravinia, Marlboro, Aspen, Spoleto, and Kuhmo.

In the summer of 2023, Hai-Ye will perform at the Sarasota Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida. In 2022, Hai-Ye performed at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and taught at the Meadowmount School of Music.

Ms. Ni has performed the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations, the Brahms “Double” Concerto, Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto, and John Williams’s Memoirs of a Geisha with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior highlights include a Baroque concerti program with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra as soloist and conductor, and the Tchaikovsky trio with Lang Lang at Carnegie Hall.

Hai-Ye Ni has recorded a solo CD on Naxos and a chamber CD Spirit of Chimes on Delos.

Hai-Ye Ni won the prestigious Naumburg International Cello Competition in 1990. Other awards include first prize in the 1996 International Paulo Cello Competition in Finland, and second prize in the 1997 Rostropovich Competition. Ms. Ni was associate principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic from 1999 to 2006.

Ms. Ni has been featured on ABC’s “20/20,” on NPR, and in The Strad magazine. She has given masterclasses at Curtis, Manhattan School, and Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories. She served on the jury of the Fifth Paulo International Cello Competition in 2013 and the Naumburg Competition.

She began her study with her mother and at the Shanghai Conservatory. She also studied at the San Francisco Conservatory and the Juilliard School.

Arabella Pare* - Piano

Arabella Pare, born in New York City, began her piano studies with Ruth Kotik and Ena Barton Bronstein in New Jersey. In 2005 she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Music in London to study with Professor William Fong. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree recital with first class honours. She commenced an Aufbaustudium at the Musikhochshule Lübeck in 2010. In 2011 she began studying with Ulrike Meyer at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe and received a Masters degree with distinction in 2012. In the same year she began her doctorate in musicology, on the unfinished piano sonatas of Franz Schubert, with Doktor Matthias Wiegandt in Karlsruhe as advisor. Arabella has participated in master classes with Pascal Devoyon, Emanuel Krasovsky and Cyprien Katsaris, among others. Major musical influences include Earl Wild and Péter Nagy. She is an active chamber musician and accompanist performing often in Karlsruhe, Stuttgart and Saarbrücken. She is the official accompanist for the class of Professor Ingrid Haubold in Karlsruhe.

As a soloist, Arabella has given many concerts in the USA (including regular performances at Montclair State University), London, Lübeck, Blonay, Karlsruhe, and other European cities. Among her recordings is a 2012 performance of the Webern Variations for a broadcast of the Suedwest Rundfunk in Baden Baden.

Lionel Party* - Piano

A native of Santiago, Chile, Lionel Party studied with Elena Waiss at the Escuela Moderna de Musica, graduating in 1965. In 1966 he was awarded a Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst scholarship by the West German government to study piano with Rosl Schmid and harpsichord with Hedwig Bilgram at the Musikhochschule of Munich.

In 1970 Mr. Party came to The Juilliard School to study harpsichord with Albert Fuller first as a Fulbright scholar and then as recipient of a Juilliard Alumni grant. He obtained his doctor of musical arts from Juilliard in 1976. Mr. Party has played solo recitals in New York City's major concert halls including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frick Collection, Alice Tully Hall, Abraham Goodman House, 92nd St. Y - as well as Boston, Washington and other U.S. cities. He has made numerous appearances with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Waverly Consort, Solisti New York, among other ensembles.

Celebrating Bach's 300th anniversary, he played Concertos for one, two, three and four harpsichords with the Handel and Haydn Society at Boston's Symphony Hall. In November 1991, he was soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Erich Leinsdorf in Poulenc's Concert Champêtre and in 2001 under Sir Colin Davis in Frank Martin’s Petite Symphonie Concertante. He was a member of Aulos Ensemble, the Y Chamber Symphony, and Aston Magna. Currently he is a member of the New York Philharmonic.

Abroad he has performed with the English Chamber Orchestra, German Bach Soloist, South German Chamber Orchestra, Collegium Instrumentale of the Gewandhaus of Leipzig, and has given solo recitals in Leipzig, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Geneva, Saint-Saphorin, Vevey, Chateau de Coppet, Ottawa and Santiago. In addition Mr. Party has presented broadcast concerts over the RAI of Rome, the East and West German radio networks and U.S. public radio and television.

Lionel Party has made numerous recordings for Desmar, Musical Heritage Society, Smithsonian, Titanic, Olufsen, and Orion record labels. Mr. Party has remained at The Juilliard School as a faculty member teaching baroque music and harpsichord. He also is a member since 1989 of the faculty of The Curtis Institute teaching baroque music and harpsichord.

Ulf Prelle - Cello

Ulf Prelle was born in Germany in 1964. He began his studies of the Violoncello with the La Salle-Quartett and Zara Nelsova in the USA. He continued them in Switzerland with Thomas Demenga and Boris Pergamenschikow in Germany and concluded his studies as a member of the "Karajan-Academie" of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Several times he won the first price in university-competitions and was soloist with well known orchestras as the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra (USA), the Basel Symphonie Orchestra (Switzerland) and the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany).

Since 1992 he has been the principal cellist of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and the principal cellist of the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra Dresden. He is member of the Philharmonic String-Trio Dresden and the Collenbusch-Stringquartett.

In 1995 he obtained a teaching assignment at the conservatory of music Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden for the subjects of Violoncello and chamber music. Since 1998 he has given lectures on methodology of playing the Violoncello.

In 2015 he published a book by Schott Verlag entitled "The easiness of playing a string instrument".

Silvio Righini* - Cello

Silvio Righini studied with Alfredo Riccardi at the Civic Music School, graduating brilliantly at the Conservatory "G. Verdi" in 1981.

While carrying out occasional soloist, his main interest is directed to chamber music, chamber orchestra. From an early age he has given concerts and tours in Italy, in almost all European countries and Japan. He founded several groups, including the Milan Quartet (strings), Johannes Trio (violin, cello and piano), the Chamber Orchestra of the Teatro Litta in Milan and Harmonia Ensemble directed by Giuseppe Grazioli.

For six years he worked as artistic director of musical seasons at the Teatro Carcano in Milan.

His musical education was influenced by musicians of great value such as Sandor Vegh (for three years he was part of the famous Camerata Academica Salzburg Mozarteum he directed), Paul Szabo, Louis Kentner, Gyorgy Sebok, Laura Alvini, Roberto Gini, Walter Grimmer, Piero Milesi and others. He also devotes himself to the study and performance of the baroque repertoire, classical and romantic with original instruments. Mr. Righini is playing an instrument belonged to the famous cellist Enrico Mainardi.

Among the many recordings include: 1979/85, various contemporary chamber pieces for British and American record companies; 1989, Concertino for cello, horns and other Chamber pieces of early twentieth century, in three CDs recorded with Harmonia Ensemble (ASdisc Monte Carlo); 1990 Italian chamber music of the eighteenth century (with original instruments) as a continuo (New Era Milano), directed by Roberto Gini; The complete works of Felix Mendelssohn for cello and piano with Laura Alvini, (Giulia Records Milan) has received, in December '92, the first prize of the critics as the best Italian album of the year (Music & Discs).

Mr. Righini also taught at the Conservatory of Vicenza; The Conservatory of Rovigo, and The "Monteverdi 'Institute of Cremona.

Since 1987, he is professor of cello the quartet classes at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado.

Sandra Rivers - Piano

Pianist Sandra Rivers enjoys a reputation today as one of the foremost performing artists of her generation. She has concertized throughout the world and has appeared at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Aspen, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the Kennedy Center and on the Great Performers Series at Lincoln Center.

In addition to her solo career, Ms. Rivers has become widely known for her concert partnerships with many of the world’s leading soloists including Itzhak Perlman, Kathleen Battle, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Anne Akiko Meyers, Sarah Chang and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, among others.

In recent seasons Ms. Rivers was the featured pianist for the launch of Steinway Spirio, the high-resolution player piano, in Cincinnati, Ohio and in Florence, Kentucky. She gave a piano masterclass and adjudicated three competitions at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. She was a guest artist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players. She played three concerts at the Phoenix Chamber Music Society Winter Festival, stepping in for Andre Watts for two of them.

This season Ms. Rivers is a guest artist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players.She will be featured at the Placitas Artists Series in Placitas, New Mexico, the Presidential Chamber Music Series in Socorro, New Mexico and the President’s Chamber Music Series in Silver City, New Mexico. She will perform concerts with David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra and with cellist, Wendy Warner.

She has recordings on the following labels: Teldec, RCA Victor Red Seal, EMI/Angel, Pony Canyon, CBS Masterworks, Musical Heritage and Zafiro (Spain).

Ms. Rivers is currently on the keyboard faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is the artistic coordinator for the CCM/Steinway Recital Series which takes place at Steinway Hall in New York City. She is a Steinway Artist.

Qian Tu* - Cello

Chinese-born cellist Qiang Tu enjoys a multi-faceted career as a performer, teacher, and advocate for classical music. Now in his third decade as a member of the New York Philharmonic, he has also concertized as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician in Australia, Belgium, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. In the United States he has performed at major venues in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Honolulu, and Princeton. He has shared the stage with numerous distinguished artists including pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Lukas Foss; former New York Philharmonic Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow; and former Principal Clarinet Stanley Drucker. As a recording artist, Tu has released multiple solo albums on the China Record Corporation label and chamber music recordings on the Bridge Records, Cala Records, and EMI labels. A dedicated teacher, he is a member of the orchestral performance faculty at the Manhattan School of Music; early in his career he taught at the Beijing Central Conservatory.

Qiang Tu was raised in a musical family and began cello studies with his father, Zeguang Tu. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Beijing Central Conservatory and a master of music degree from Rutgers University. He is an alumnus of the Music Academy of the West. His major cello teachers have included Bernard Greenhouse, Zara Nelsova, and Paul Tortelier. 


When not at work Tu is a gourmet chef and enjoys the study of rare Chinese art.

Haiben Wu - Viola/Violin

Violist/violinist Haiben Wu was born in Shanghai, China, where he began his study of the violin at the age of four with his father and two of his uncles.
Wu attended Shanghai Conservatory of Music and received his bachelor’s degree in viola performance. As a principal player with the Conservatory Orchestra, Wu has toured in Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Wu has participated in the Pacific Music Festival in Japan as an honored young artist. He was featured in the documentary PMF, THE MEETING ’94, to perform with the principal players of the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach. Haiben Wu has been invited to the Norfolk Music Festival in Quebec, Canada and the Tanglewood Music Festival in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, working with luminary musicians such as Claudio Abbado, Seiji Ozawa, Andre Previn, Yo-Yo Ma, and Yuri Bashmet. Wu received his Master of Music degree from Rutgers University where he studied with Michael Tree and Paul Neubauer. 

As an active performer, Wu played with orchestras such as Boston Symphony Orchestra, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Princeton Symphony Orchestra, Plainfield Symphony Orchestra, Edison Symphony Orchestra, and Tim Keyes Consort.
As a teacher, he taught at Westminster Conservatory of Rider University. Since 2007, Wu is a devoted teacher at Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart. 

Le Yi Zhang - Violin

Born in Shanghai China, violinist Le Yi Zhang was a first prize winner of the Violin Competition in Aspen Summer Music Festival. In 1980, Le Yi Zhang was among the first group of Chinese students to be chosen to study with Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Maestro Alberto Lysy, and Ana Chumachenco at the prestigious International Menuhin Music Acadmy in Gstaad, Switzerland.

Le Yi Zhang made a triumphal return to her homeland performing Bach, Telemann double violin concertos with Lord Yehudi Menuhin and solo concerts with the Central Philhamonic Orchestra in the People's Hall in Beijing two years later. In 1984, she received a diploma with distinction from the IMMA.

After winning the violin competition in Aspen, Le Yi Zhang has been awarded a full scholarship to study with the eminent pedagogue Ms.Dorothy Delay at the College Conservatory of Music in University of Cincinnati, and the prestigious Juilliard School in New York.

Shortly after receiving her Masters degree from the Juilliard School, Ms. Zhang was appointed as assistant concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, a position she held for many years. While working with the orchestra, Ms. Zhang also performed regularly in solo and chamber music concerts through out North America. Her performances have been recorded on CBC classical music radio programs in Montreal.

In 2003, Ms. Zhang created the “Music in the woods” open air concert series in Limburg, bringing classical music into the beautiful nature of woodland in south of the Netherlands. Her performances with great artists such as the famous Dutch bariton John Brocheler and soprano Angelina Ruzzafante have received high acclaim from the public.

In 2009, Ms.Zhang was invited as guest concert-master of the Shanghai Sinfonietta, performed at the Shanghai Dong Fang Art Center and made a well received concert tour in seven cities in France.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Zhang also actively engages in teaching. She taught at the McGill Conservatory of Music in Montreal Canada for many years and is frequently invited to give master classes and lectures in China. She has taught at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Summer Music Academy in Huangshan and Lin An. Her lecture “Body balance in instrument playing” has received high acclaim among musicians, teachers and students, her students have won prizes at international violin competitions, as well as taking leading positions in symphonic orchestras in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and China.

Zita Zarbok - Viola

She started the viola with István Polónyi (member of the Budapest Festival Orchestra) at the St. Stephan Music High School in Budapest, Hungary. She had continued her studies at the Liszt Academy where her teacher was Géza Németh (violist of Bartók String Quartet), 2003-2010. Meanwhile, she won a scholarship at Montclair State University (New Jersey, USA), where she spent two years under the supervision of Honggang Li (violist of Shanghai Quartet). She also attended at several master courses (Maria Tchaikovskaya, Kronos Quartet, Rebel baroque ensemble). She has been the principal violist of Zugló Philharmonic Orchestra since 2002 where she also performed as soloist. She is a member of several chamber ensembles (Orfeo Baroque Orchestra, Erdődy Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Chamber Symphony). She currently teaches at the St. Stephan Music High School.

Jin Zhou - Violin

Borned into a musical family, Zhou Jin was admitted to the Middle School Affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2003 and due to excellent credits, she was advanced to university department through special program in 2007, her main teachers were Professor Zheng ShiSheng. In 2011, Zhou was awarded a government scholarship for oversea studies, receiving her Master Degree in Hochschule fuer Musik Hamburg.

In 2009 Zhou was invited to join “Asia Youth Orchestra” as the concertmaster, performing in 09 Asia Tour. And she established the “Yùe” String Quartet in 2012. Pro.Jensen Horn SinLam is their teacher. Later Yùe Quartet won the first prize of a national chamber music competition in Shanghai. And they were selected to represent Shanghai conservatory for various International Festivals, such as “International summer academy ”in Austria, and “Dvorak chamber music Festival”in Prag, etc.

Zhou has got Master Degree both from Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Hamburg Hochschule. Now she is a violin teacher in the Music School of SuZhou University of Science and Technology.
* = leave of absence