Kyle Barrett Price, Artistic Director and Founder of the Caroga Lake Music Festival, is a summa cum laude graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance under the tutelage of Merry Peckham. As a soloist, Mr. Price was named a winner in the 2015 Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, finalist in the 2015 G. Gershwin International Music Competition and semi-finalist in the 2016 Naftzger Young Artist Competition. He studied chamber music at the Chamber Music Connection and has attended numerous prestigious music festivals. Recently, he studied with Zuill Bailey and Melissa Kraut at Sitka Cello Seminar. A medalist in the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, Mr. Price was featured on NPR’s From the Top! radio show and has recorded with artist Alyson Stoner. Mr. Price has also received acclaim for his composition Requiem in memory of his aunt, cellist Constance E. Barrett and his work, Serenade, premiered by the Calidore String Quartet and the Chamber Music Connection this past winter. Mr. Price recently completed his Master’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison this past spring and will return to pursue his Doctorate of Music in the fall under the mentorship of Uri Vardi.

 

Cara Samantha is a NYC based vocalist whose original music is the love child of Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones and Carole King. Cara got her professional start in the musical theater world, but has spent the past several years in the recording industry as a singer-songwriter, session singer, background vocalist and voiceover artist. She plays all over the tri-state area doing private events, weddings, proposals, restaurant gigs and more.  Most notably, she got to sing for Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson who gave her a golden ticket to Hollywood Week on Season 12 of American Idol! You can hear Cara’s voice on the Grammy award winning children’s album “Home” by Tim Kubart.  She is also featured as the singing voices of Adele, Elsa, Ellie Goulding and Madonna in The Key of Awesome’s viral music parodies on YouTube. This is Cara’s third summer with the Caroga Lake Music Festival and she’s very grateful to the Price family for welcoming her husband and son back again!

 

Jeannie Im has performed extensively in operas and concerts in the U.S. and throughout Europe.  She was recently noted by Opera News for her “gorgeous line and touching intensity”as Fiordiligi. Her operatic roles performed include Queen of the Night, Fiordiligi, Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Cleopatra, Zerlina, and Pamina.  She has sung at the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Altenburger Musikfestival, Elysium Festival Bernried, Bel Canto at Caramoor, California Music Festival, among other venues. Her concert work includes several performances at Carnegie Hall, in addition to numerous concerts in New York and throughout Europe under the auspices of Elysium-Between Two Continents.  She has also been a regularly featured soloist both as a singer and a bass violist da gamba, with the Center for Early Music at NYU.

 

Andy Liang is an accomplished violinist in solo, orchestral, and chamber music playing. After making his solo debut with the Oregon Symphony at the age of 11, Andy went on to perform in Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, and Jordan Hall by the age of 15. Andy has been a featured soloist with orchestras such as the Oregon Symphony, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, and the National Repertory Orchestra. He has also served as concertmaster of the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra, the Butler School Symphony Orchestra, and as the Assistant Concertmaster of the National Repertory Orchestra. Andy recently completed his Artist Diploma from the University of Texas at Austin as a member of the Cordova Quartet, the Young Professional String Quartet in Residence, where he studied with the Miró Quartet. Andy received both his Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University where he studied with Cho-Liang Lin.

 

David Wong has been called a “Rock Star” in the violin world. Using both electric and acoustic violins, and sometimes his voice, he arranges rock, pop, and other top 40 hits into improvisation filled orchestrations. With over 3,700 Facebook fans, 20,000 Twitter followers, and 23,000 YouTube subscribers, David has attracted the attention of people around the world. He’s been discussed in Time Magazine, Huffington Post, MSN, Good Morning America and even had his videos featured on the YouTube Home Page. He currently has over 3.7 million YouTube views and you can find many of his recordings for purchase on iTunes. David has performed in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to Hotel Café, and collaborated with artists such as rising indie rock band Air Traffic Controller and throwback cover song group, Scott Bradlee and Postmodern Jukebox. David began playing violin at age 4 and still loves his Bach and Brahms as much as his Katy Perry and Bruno Mars. He graduated from Amherst College in 2008 with a double major in Music and Asian Studies.

 

Stephanie Price is currently the Assistant Artistic Director and Fellowship Program Director of the Chamber Music Connection based in Worthington, Ohio. Starting this fall, she will be the Adjunct Viola Professor at Ohio University. In addition to her work in Ohio, Stephanie travels each July to Sonoma County to work for California Summer Music as the Administrative Assistant and Outreach Coordinator. As a violist, she has performed recitals in the United States and Europe, notably at the Kennedy Center, Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Anglican Church in Nice, France, and on National Public Radio’s From the Top! series. Stephanie has been a performing artist at the Caroga Lake Music Festival since it’s founding in 2012. Stephanie received a Master of Music in Viola Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music with a certificate in Arts Leadership. In 2012, she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was the recipient of the Alumni Jim Hall Graduate Studies Scholarship. Stephanie is also an Andover Educator Trainee working to fulfill her certification in Body Mapping through the Andover Educators. Stephanie currently resides in Columbus, Ohio where she enjoys teaching privately, spending time with her Miniature Australian Shepherd, Bridget, and performing gigs with her fiancé, electric/acoustic violinist, David Wong.

 

Eliza Wong, a rising sophomore violin performance major at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, currently studies with Carolyn Huebl as a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar.   She has formerly studied with Lucie Robert, Stephen Miahky, and Louise Behrend. She has performed in solo and chamber music masterclasses with esteemed pedagogues such as Soovin Kim, Ani Kavafian, the Brentano Quartet, and Joel Krosnick. In addition, she has collaborated with artists such as cellist Andrès Diaz. An avid chamber musician, she has participated in festivals such as Greenwood Music Camp and Music@Menlo, and the Madeline Island Fellowship Program.

 

 

Deborah Barrett Price Deborah Barrett Price is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Connection, Inc. (CMC). She also serves on the faculty of Denison University teaching viola and chamber music, and is a Yamaha Certified String Educator Clinician.  In recognition of her work as Artistic Director of CMC, Debbie received the 2013 Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Alumni Achievement Award and was named the 2004 Columbus Symphony Orchestra Community Educator of the Year receiving commendations from the Ohio State Senate and House of Representatives. During summer seasons, Debbie serves on the faculties of several festivals including CMC, Columbus Suzuki Institute, OSU Midwest String Teachers Conference, Cincinnati Young Artists (OH), Green Lake Music Festival (WI), and Midwest Young Artists Chamber Music Workshop (IL).  In past summers, she has directed performance tours in Austria and the Czech Republic, and in 2010 directed CMC Italia, an extension program of CMC, Inc., performing and conducting in Bonefro and Rome, Italy.  She has prepared and mentored numerous chamber ensembles featured on NPR’s From the Top and placing in national competitions including St. Paul, Fischoff, Discover, and Coltman. She serves as principal viola of Opera Project Columbus (OH) and the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra (OH).

 

Twenty-three year old violinist, Aaron Schwartz is currently studying at Carnegie Mellon University with Andres Cardenes.  In addition to being an award winning classical violinist and chamber musician, he is also an accomplished fiddler and jazz musician, performing with his group Sounds Like Purple in the summers.  Mr. Schwartz has participated in master classes with Rachel Barton Pine, Peter Salaff, Michael Tree, Joseph Silverstein and the Cavani String Quartet.  In addition to soloing with the Danville Symphony, he regularly performs in orchestras all around Illinois, including the Peoria Symphony, Heartland Festival Orchestra, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, and The Prairie Ensemble.  He recently completed his Bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Daniel Lim, a Los Angeles native, is 23 years old and currently pursuing his Master of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Stephen Geber. Mr. Lim received his Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. Previous teachers have included Yeesun Kim, Joon Sung Jun and Richard Naill.

 

 

 

 

Born in 1992, cellist Julian Müller began playing the cello at age five. Mr. Müller earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and will pursue his Master’s degree at Mannes College The New School for Music this fall studying with Timothy Eddy. Past teachers have included Sharon Robinson, Ronald Feldman and Georg Faust. In 2013 and 2012, Mr. Müller was a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar (NYSOS) and performed at Carnegie Hall under maestro Jaime Laredo. Mr. Müller placed first prize at the Uel Wade Music Competition in 2011 and at the Stefan Concerto Competition in 2010. Mr. Müller has held positions as principal cellist numerous times for the CIM Orchestra and was a member of the Berkshire Symphony from 2008-2011 under the direction of maestro Ronald Feldman. Mr. Müller has also collaborated with Armenian pianist, Sergei Babayan, artists from the Cleveland Orchestra, Carolyn Warner, Stephen Rose, Robert Vernon and Peter Salaff from the Cleveland Quartet. At the Cleveland Institute of Music, Mr. Müller participated in Intensive Quartet Seminars led by Peter Salaff and the Cavani Quartet. Mr. Müller has attended the National Summer Cello Institute, the Heifetz International Music Institute, the Caroga Lake Music Festival, the Young Artist Program at Yellow Barn, the Manchester Music Festival and Meadowmount Music School. He has served as the Assistant Artistic Mentor at the Chamber Music Connection since 2013.

 

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, violinist Deborah Song now actively performs and teaches in her home in New York. It was her discovery of the late Beethoven string quartets as a teen that began her love of music. It remains to be such works that inspire and move her in the creative process. Deborah is a member of Solisti Ensemble and performs regularly with various groups including the New Asia Chamber Music Society, MidAtlantic Opera and Ensemble 212. She enjoys teaching and has a private violin studio in Scarsdale. Her degrees include a Bachelor of Music and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology magna cum laude from the University of Rochester and a Masters in Music from The Juilliard School, where she studied with the late Stephen Clapp and Laurie Smukler.

 

 

Alix Raspé attended Juilliard Pre-College and graduated from New York University in 2015 with a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance and a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. She is currently pursing her Masters degree in Harp Performance at the New England Conservatory studying with Jessica Zhou, Principal Harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Winner of the 2015 NYU String Competition, Alix co-founded a flute and harp duo, kairos. She has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Symphony Hall among others and attended Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the National Orchestra Institute. You can hear Alix on IHeartRadio, WMNR Fine Arts Radio, the soundtrack of RuPaul’s Drag Races(Season 5) and the film Reservation Road.

Chris Agar, born and raised just north of Detroit, is an electric and upright bassist with a passion for all styles of music. He attended the University of Michigan where he studied jazz acoustic bass with the esteemed Robert Hurst, and upon graduation Chris began a four-year stint on cruise ships, including time as the musical director on the world’s largest. Now a NYC resident, Chris uses his knowledge and passion for all styles of music to provide the foundation in musical settings ranging from folk to jazz to Broadway.

 

 

Praised by the New York Times as “polished and spirited,” cellist Ken Kubota began playing at the age of eight in Columbus, Ohio. Since then, he has gone on to study privately with Richard Aaron, Anthony Elliott, and Alice Ann O’Neill, and has had the opportunity to participate in master classes with greats such as Yo-Yo Ma, Frans Helmerson, and more. Before earning his Bachelor of Music (2014) and Masters of Music (2016) degrees from The Juilliard School, Mr. Kubota performed as principal cellist with the Detroit Symphony Civic Youth Orchestra. Throughout his lifetime, he has been the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards and has been selected as the first place winner of several state- and nation-wide competitions. Mr. Kubota has a passion for chamber music; during his time at Juilliard, he performed as principal cellist in the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, and participated in the weeklong intensive Juilliard ChamberFest four times.

 

Winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, Graeme Steele Johnson is pursuing a Master of Music Degree at the Yale School of Music under the guidance of David Shifrin. Graeme won the Second Prize in the Individualis International Music Competition and the Silver Medal at the Young Texas Artists Music Competition. He has studied and performed at The Banff Centre in Canada, the Aurora Chamber Music Festival in Sweden, and the Murcia International Clarinet Seminar in Spain, all under the tutelage of Yehuda Gilad. Other festival appearances include the Norfolk Festival Orchestra at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Brevard Music Center and Eastern Music Festival. Graeme completed his Bachelor of Music degree at The University of Texas at Austin, where he studied under Dr. Nathan Williams.

 

 

Violinist Sophia Cho began her musical studies at the age of three in Chicago, Illinois and has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician across North America and Europe. She is the recipient of many awards and honors from numerous organizations including the Society of American Musicians, Sejong Music Society, YoungArts Foundation, and Chicago Youth Concert Orchestra. Sophia has performed in venues such as the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center, Turin Performance Hall, College of Charleston Sottile Theater, and the Chicago Cultural Center. In addition to her performances, she has participated in many distinguished summer festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival and School, Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, Fontainebleau School of Music, and Keshet Eilon Violin Mastercourse. As a chamber musician, Sophia won the Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Junior Division as a member of Quartet Danae and was featured with the group on NPR’s From The Top. Sophia received her Masters of Music degree from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of David Chan and Catherine Cho and her Bachelor of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Her former teachers include Paul Kantor, Almita Vamos, and Roland Vamos.

 

 

Geoffrey Saunders, originally from Simsbury, CT, is a versatile performer who is experienced in a range of styles and genres. Geoff has received degrees from the Eastman School of Music (BM, Jazz Bass Performance) and the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (MM, Jazz Pedagogy). He is currently pursuing his DMA in Jazz Studies at the Frost School, where he is a Teaching Assistant and member of the award-winning Concert Jazz Band. Also at Frost, Geoff is a fellow at the Henry Mancini Institute where he has worked closely and performed with such notable artists as Mark O’Connor, Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Gloria Estefan, Steve Miller, Larry Rosen, Phil Ramone, Dave Grusin, Terence Blanchard, and James Newton Howard.

 

 

Japanese born pianist Mayumi Tsuchida began piano at the age of 3 and gave her first solo concert at the age of 7. She moved to the US in 1996, and since then has been based in California and New York. Mayumi has participated in many summer festivals including Verbier Festival Academy, The International Holland Music Sessions, Euro Music Festival, Yellowbarn (YAP), Heifetz International Music Institute and Music@Menlo (YAP). In 2012, she helped launch the Colón Music Festival in Venezuela, where she participated as a faculty member and performer. That following summer, she won the Piano Award at the Spaincellence International Music Festival. Mayumi made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Luna trio in 2008, for the PBS television show ‘From the Top’. As an advocate for contemporary music, Mayumi became a member of Contemporaneous in 2009 and was a featured artist in their debut CD released by Innova Records. She has also collaborated with Grammy-Award winning American composer Joan Tower, performing in her semi-annual new music concert series, ‘Music Alive’, from 2009-2015 at Bard College. As a winner of the 2016 Mannes Concerto Competition, Mayumi will be performing William Bolcom’s piano concerto in November at the New School. Mayumi graduated with a B.M. in Piano Performance and a B.A. in Chinese Literature and Language from Bard College, where she studied with Peter Serkin and Matti Raekallio. Previously, she studied with John McCarthy. Mayumi is currently a second-year Masters student at Mannes School of Music studying with Pavlina Dokovska.

 

 

Violinist Isaac Allen is a founding member of the award winning Hausmann Quartet. Mr. Allen attended Manhattan School of Music and received his Undergraduate Diploma from The Longy School of Music, Masters of Music in Chamber Music Performance from Kent State University and an Artist Diploma from San Diego State University. Mr. Allen has studied violin with Ivan Chan, Laura Bossert, Terry King, Patinka Kopek and chamber music with Robert Mann, Earl Carlyss, Silvia Rosenberg and members of the Juilliard, Orion, Vermeer, Emerson, Alexander, Miami and Alban Berg String Quartets. Mr. Allen has performed throughout Canada, the U.S., China and Taiwan performing frequently at arts hubs such as Lincoln Center and the Chicago Cultural Center. With a strong dedication to teaching and coaching chamber music, Mr. Allen has given master classes throughout the United States and served as a violin instructor and chamber music coach at various schools, universities and festivals including San Diego State University, San Francisco State University, Brookline Music School, Villa Musica, The San Diego Chamber Music Workshop and the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar.

 

 

Violinist Clayton Tillotson earned his Master of Music from University of Wisconsin-Madison this spring as a student of David Perry. He completed an Artist Diploma from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, where he studied with Paul Kantor and Barry Shiffman, and received a Bachelor of Music from UW-Madison in 2011. Originally from Iowa, Mr. Tillotson has performed as first violinist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, Quad City Symphony, and Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. He has spent many summers studying and performing at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Meadowmount School of Music, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival. He has performed as soloist with the Southeast Iowa Symphony and appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Midday” as a member of the Hunt Quartet. Clayton plays a violin from 1863 by Nicholas Eugene Simoutre and a bow by Joseph Arthur Vigneron circa 1895. This is his second summer at the Caroga Lake Music Festival.

 

Violinist Janice Lee has performed as soloist with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra and East Carolina University Symphony Orchestra.  Ms. Lee has played with CityMusic Cleveland, Erie Philharmonic, Firelands Symphony Orchestra and other regional orchestras.  While completing her masters in Violin Performance at Cleveland Institute of Music, she taught private students at Cleveland School of the Arts Upper Campus and gave sectionals at The Orchestra Program at Tri-C. Ms. Lee taught at CSA Lower Campus as an Artist in Residence and has traveled to El Salvador as a teaching fellow of MusAid. Recently, she spent two weeks working with students of Orquesta Juvenil Sodre in Montevideo, Uruguay. Studies with her principal teachers, renowned Czech violinist Ivan Zenaty, Ara Gregorian and Wanchi Huang were supplemented with masterclasses which included working with Elina Valhalla, Axel Strauss, and Yehonatan Berick.  Ms. Lee will be attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the fall to pursue her doctorate.

 

 

Angela Choong, violist, has performed throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and Asia. As a member of the Hausmann Quartet she is an Artist-in-Residence at San Diego State University, where she teaches viola and chamber music. She has collaborated with distinguished artists such as cellist Gary Hoffman, violists Toby Appel, Cynthia Phelps, and Paul Neubauer, pianists James Tocco and Jeremy Denk, and the Alexander String Quartet. Past engagements include Mainly Mozart, Rockport Music, La Jolla SummerFest, San Francisco Performances, Aspen Music Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Blossom Music Festival, Grachtenfestival and Ojai Music Festival. Ms. Choong plays a d’amore style viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka in Philadelphia in 2006.

 

 

Pianist Mei-Hsuan Huang is Assistant Professor of Piano at Iowa State University and a member of the Amara Piano Trio. Ms. Huang was a prizewinner of the USASU International Piano Competition, the 57th Wideman Piano Concerto Competition, and the International Chopin Piano Competition. She regularly performs over fifty solo and chamber recitals every year in Europe, the United States, Canada and Taiwan. Recently, Ms. Huang was presented in a piano recital in National Taiwan Concert Hall, as a result of being nominated for the prize of “Excellent Musician Series” by ProArtist. Ms. Huang received her Bachelor’s degree at The National Taiwan Normal University, where, she won the prestigious Xing Tang Temple Piano Competition Prize. She received her Master’s degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music and her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at The Ohio State University under full-scholarship. Ms. Huang has been a Steinway & Sons Artist since 2014.

 

 

Annalisa Boerner is the violist of the Haven String Quartet, in residence at Music Haven (New Haven, CT).   The HSQ’s four members represent the nation’s top conservatories and bring world-class chamber music to the region each year through their full season of recitals, workshops, and impromptu pop-up performances.  Prior to her time at Music Haven, Annalisa’s interest in the connection between music and service led her to the Community MusicWorks fellowship in Providence, R.I., where she performed as a member of the Community MusicWorks Players and taught a full studio. During her time at CMW, Annalisa was part of world premiere performances of music by Gonzalo Grau and Kareem Roustom. She has collaborated with such artists as the Kronos Quartet, the Cavani String Quartet, the Claremont Trio, and members of the Cleveland Orchestra in concert. Annalisa earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has performed with various orchestras throughout New England and Ohio.

 

Violinist Janny Joo is a multifaceted musician who is equally at home in chamber, orchestra, and solo recital settings. She is the founding member of the Meadowlark Piano Trio. An active chamber musician, Janny has performed with such artists as Bayla Keyes, Cho-Liang Lin, Hsin-Yun Huang, Desmond Hoebig, Allison Eldredge, William Fitzpatrick, and Norman Fischer. She has served as the concertmaster of numerous orchestras, and is currently the Associate Concertmaster of the Phoenix Orchestra. She also plays professionally with Boston Ballet, Boston Philharmonic, and Symphony Nova.
Janny teaches violin as well as theory and pedagogy classes at the Boston University where she is currently pursuing her Doctorate degree in Violin Performance. She received her M.M degree from Shepherd school of music at Rice University and her B.A degree with minors in Math and History from University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Her primary teachers include Bayla Keyes, Cho-Liang Lin, Julie Yoon of the Chiara String Quartet, and Hal Grossman.
In her free time, she enjoys ballroom dancing, horseback riding, traveling, and photography.

 

 

Ling Ling Huang started violin at the age of 4 with her mother Lilan Z. Huang. She continued studying violin with Fredell Lack from the age of 10 until her admission into the undergraduate program at the Cleveland Institute of Music at the age of 15. There, while studying with Paul Kantor, she won the concerto competition and performed the Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the C.I.M. Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Ling Ling won the Milhaud Prize with her trio and participated in the Intensive Quartet Seminar at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a member of the Ariadne String Quartet. The Ariadne String Quartet won the 2012 bronze medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Barstowe String Prize at the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition. Most recently, Ling Ling won the Concerto Competition in 2014 at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music where she is continuing her studies with Paul Kantor. In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching movies, listening to music, and writing about these things on her website www.linglinghuang.com.

 

 

Violinist and Violist Heawon Shin has received B.M violin performance from the Juilliard School where she studied with Professor Naoko Tanaka. Later, she attended Peabody Institute of Music pursing M.M viola performance under Professor C.J Chang. She is currently taking break from her studies. She was prizewinner at Kennett Symphony Instrumental Competition. During her studies at Juilliard, she participated annual Chamberfest. She also attended Aspen Music Festival and Encore School for Strings.

 

 

Ray Kim has been a prize winner of numerous competitons, including Korean Music Concours, Pho-Ne Competition, Cleveland Institute of Music Competition, and Eastman School of Music Cello Competiton. He has performed at Young-San Art Hall, Kitara Hall, Suntory Hall, Severance Hall, Kodak Hall and other well-known venues. Festival appearances include Banff, Pacific, Mozaic, and Caroga Lake.

 

 

 

Timothy Paek, cellist, recently graduated from a Performance Diploma in cello performance at the Carnegie Mellon University.  He received his M.M degree from Cleveland Institute of Music and his B.M degree from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His primary teachers include Dr. Melissa Kraut, Gregory Beaver of the Chiara String Quartet, Andre Emelianoff, and Jerome Carrington. Timothy has cherished participating in masterclasses for distinguished artists such as Peter Salaff, Ronald Copes, Joel Krosnick, and Roger Tapping. He has performed in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the New York City Opera, the Lied Center of Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Recital Hall. Aside from music, Timothy loves cooking, basketball, baseball, frisbee, soccer, hiking, dancing, and playing his favorite board game, Pictionary.

 

 

Born in Queens, New York, Ryan Louie began studying the cello at the age of ten. Since then Mr. Louie has performed in venues in England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Korea, and the United States. Throughout his studies, Ryan has garnered scholarships from various institutions such as the Cleveland Cello Society Agnew Bach Prize, Marion Feldman Scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, Long Island Arts Alliance Scholar­Artist Award of Excellence, the Associated Music Teacher’s League Henry Levine and Blanche S. Levy Award, the Mary and George Wilkins Memorial Cello Scholarship at Carnegie Mellon University and the Max Pirani Prize, Wolf Wolfinsohn String Quartet Prize and Bache Fund at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. Ryan Louie has attended music festivals such the Pacific Music Festival, Cello Akademie Rütesheim, Amsterdam Cello Biënnale, Meadowmount School of Music, Great Mountain Music Festival, New Conservatory of Dallas Music in the Mountains, the New York University String Quartet Program and Eastern Music Festival. A member of the Aestus Piano Quartet, Ryan has completed degrees at Carnegie Mellon University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. His teacher included Mark Kosower, Dr. Melissa Kraut, Anne Martindale Williams and Marion Feldman. Ryan has also studied at the Manhattan School of Music and Royal Academy of Music in London. This is Ryan’s fourth summer at Caroga Lake Music Festival.

 

 

Quickly emerging as an exciting double bassist, Jonathan Borden won his first audition with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra at the early age of twenty years old. Prior to his start in the professional world, Mr. Borden earned his Bachelor of Music degree as a scholarship student with Albert Laszlo at the Juilliard School. During his tenure at Juilliard, he earned opportunities to play as a full-fellowship student with highly esteemed ensembles such as the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra based in Sapporo, Japan, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony. His performances have been featured on PBS’s Great Performances and APM’s Performance Today. Outside of the orchestra, Mr. Borden is an avid chamber musician and has performed and studied the canon of double bass chamber repertoire under the tutelage of influential musicians such as Sylvia Rosenberg, Kurt Muroki, and Lara Lev. His interests include teaching, cooking, and table tennis.

 

 

Flutist Seung Jeon began studying at age of 11. He had his first solo debut at the age of 18 with the National Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Piotr Gajewski. He made his very first Carnegie Hall debut after winning the American Fine Art Festival competition in Washington D.C. His notable orchestral experience includes playing second flute position in the Fort Worth Symphony for their 2016 summer season. He has studied with many of the famous flutists like Bart Feller, Elizabeth Rowe, Jeffrey Khaner, Joshua Smith, and Julien Beaudiment. Before attending pre-college at the Juilliard School, he was selected as a member of National Symphony’s Youth Fellowship program, and currently he is pursuing Bachelor of Music at the Colburn School with Jim Walker.

 

 

A native of Bozeman, Montana, pianist April Sun will transition into her doctoral studies in collaborative piano performance with Anita Pontremoli and Dr. Daniel Shapiro at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she recently completed her master’s degree. Her primary teachers have included Henry Campbell, Susan Keith Gray, and Paul Barnes. April has received top prizes in numerous solo, chamber, and concerto competitions, and has performed with the Bozeman, Great Falls, South Dakota, and UNL symphonic orchestras, and with the Chiara and Skyros string quartets.  April completed her Bachelor of Arts in music with minors in both English and Art History at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and was invited to perform in China as a cultural ambassador.  Away from the piano, she enjoys hiking, board games, travel, and food with spirit(s). She is also fond of fainting goats.

 

 

Michael Tsang began his piano studies in Pittsburgh with Marina Lupinacci. His passion for music developed with numerous performances and competitions since age 5. In 2011, Mr. Tsang appeared as a soloist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for its outreach education programs. He also performed as a soloist with the Butler Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Philharmonic Orchestra, and Ithaca College Symphony. In 2014, Mr. Tsang was a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Artists Competition. In the same year, he was the recipient of the Presser Scholar Award and the William Kurzban Prize for piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Mr. Tsang was selected as a Teaching Assistant of the CIM Summer Sonata Piano Festival from 2014-2016, and this is Michael’s second season at the Caroga Lake Music Festival. Mr. Tsang completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees at CIM under the tutelage of Paul Schenly, Kathryn Brown, andDaniel Shapiro.

 

 

Celebrated for a “tone like toasted caramel. Amazing.” (Musical Toronto), Eric Wong is the violist of the Cavani Quartet, ensemble-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM).  He was also a member of the JUNO-nominated Afiara Quartet and the Linden String Quartet. Mr. Wong is a frequent guest educator and has given masterclasses and lectures in many institutions of higher learning in North America and Europe including Yale University, American University, the University of Iowa, the Royal Academy of Music of Århus, Middlesex University, and the University of Toronto. He is also active in collaborating with directors of several up-and-coming chamber music festivals including the Geneva Music Festival (genevamusicfestival.com) and the humanitarian initiative “Music Feeds Us” (musicfeedsus.org). Mr. Wong has performed on the most iconic stages around the world including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Severance Hall, Kings Place, Koerner Hall, and as a featured guest artist at the Aspen Ideas Festival. His chamber music collaborators have included the Tokyo Quartet, Sharon Isbin, Itzhak Perlman, Richard Stoltzman, Donald Weilerstein, and pianist and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, among others. He received both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the CIM, studying violin with Paul Kantor and viola with Kirsten Docter and Lynne Ramsey. Other coaches and mentors have included Peter Salaff and the Cavani and Tokyo Quartets.

 

 

Canadian violinist Dorothy Ro is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School as a member of the acclaimed Verona Quartet. Previously, she studied at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University with Alexander Kerr and the Pacifica Quartet. Ms. Ro is a graduate of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University (M.M) as a recipient of the Michael P. Hammond Prize where she studied with Paul Kantor, and the Cleveland Institute of Music (B.M) where she received the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Scholarship. At CIM, she worked with David and Linda Cerone as well as Mr. Kantor. As a member of the Verona Quartet, she is a winner of the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Elmaleh Competition along winning top prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. Upcoming projects include concerts at La Jolla SummerFest, Kneisel Hall Music Festival, teaching and performances at the Indiana University String Academy, as well as her Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall debuts.

 

 

Nicolina Dante has a long work history as a teacher, performer, production manager & World Class FX Artist. Holding her Masters from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (London) in Movement Direction & Teaching. Born and raised in the heart of the New York City, A Graduate of the “Fame School,” she has performed in such places as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Vegas, Macau China, Off-Broadway, Las Vegas and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theatre.Nicolina has been teaching Dance and performance for over 10 years. Her coaching is designed for various bodies, skill levels & ages.

 

 

Wes Luke is a violinist, conductor, and educator who performs and teaches across the upper Midwest.  He currently serves as the Concertmaster and Assistant Conductor of the La Crosse (WI) Symphony Orchestra and as a section violinist in the Madison (WI) Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.  He is also the Principle Second Violinist of the Dubuque (IA) Symphony Orchestra and regularly plays in the Wisconsin Philharmonic and has led both ensembles as Concertmaster. In recent seasons he has appeared as a concerto soloist with the UW-Platteville Symphony Orchestra and the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra. A frequent recitalist, he performs regularly with the critically-acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players and is (after several years subbing the position), the recently-appointed first violinist of the Ancora String Quartet.  Both groups are based in Madison, WI.  He is also a violinist with the Kipperton String Quartet, which has served as quartet-in-residence at UW-Platteville and is based in Dubuque, IA. He is currently on the teaching faculties of the University of Dubuque, Loras College, and Beloit College.  He has performed at music festivals in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Japan, and holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied under Boston Symphony Concertmaster Malcolm Lowe, and the University of Wisconsin- Madison, under Felicia Moye.  His principle early studies were with Suzuki Viola School author Doris Preucil.

 

 

Michelle Shin, violin, is a Master of Music degree candidate at the Colburn Conservatory of music, where she studies with Martin Beaver. Previous teachers include Masao Kawasaki and Stefan Milenkovich at Juilliard Pre-College, and Victor Danchenko at the Peabody Conservatory where she was granted a full scholarship. As First Prize winner of the Yale Gordon Competition for Strings, she presented recitals on the Music in the Great Hall Series in November 2015, the Discovery Series of the Shriver Hall Concert Series in January 2016, and appeared with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in February 2016. Earlier achievements include First Prize in the New York Music Competition resulting in her Weill Recital Hall debut in 2003. 2006 marked her Merkin Concert Hall debut as soloist with the Ureuk Symphony, as well as appearances with the Sewanee Festival Orchestra. She was a featured soloist with the St. Petersburg Symphony in Russia in 2010 and 2011.

 

 

Violinist Mark Chien, a Connecticut native, made his debut at the age of 13 with the Greenwich Symphony and was concertmaster of the Colorado College Music Festival Orchestra. Mark has also served in principle positions with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. He has performed in recital alongside James Dunham, Kathleen Winkler, David Ying and Scott Yoo among others. Mark has performed in some of America’s most renowned concert halls and festivals including Lincoln Center’s David Koch Theatre, Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, and Carnegie Hall. He recently made his Kennedy Center debut representing Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as part of the Kennedy Center’s “Conservatory Project” series. Mark has participated in the Bowdoin International Music Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, New York String Orchestra Seminar, and University of Mozarteum Summer International Academy. His chamber music studies were under artists Frank Almond, Steven Copes, Desmond Hoebig, Frank Huang, Stephen Rose, Scott Yoo, and members of the Cleveland, Concord, Enso, Juilliard and Ying Quartets. Mark has studied violin with Spring Berv, Lewis Kaplan, and is currently studying at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Ms. Kathleen Winkler.

 

 

Originally from St. Paul, MN, Adam Dorn has performed extensively in the US as both a solo and chamber musician, including appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and world-renowned pianist Ignacio “Nachito” Herrera. He debuted as a soloist with the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the St. Paul JCC Community Orchestra and has performed in masterclasses for the Takács Quartet and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Adam Dorn is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he serves as the Violinist in the Perlman Scholarship Piano Trio.

 

 

Jossalyn Jensen, 24, from Salt Lake City, Utah, began her study of the viola at age 4. Her solo debut with orchestra was at the age of 9 and she has since appeared in concert across the United States and Europe where she has had the opportunity to perform in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and Théâtre du Châtelet as well as on radio shows such as NPR’s From the Top and Performance Today. She has appeared as a fellowship student at the New York String Orchestra Seminar (2012), the Music Academy of the West (2012-2013), the Aspen Music Festival and School (2009-2011, 2014), and the Moritzburg Festival Academy (2015). As a chamber musician, she has performed with members of the Cleveland and Cavani string quartets as well as Jerome Lowenthal, Jorja Fleezanis, David Halen, and Darrett Adkins. In the summer of 2014, she was the first violist to ever participate in the prestigious David Finckel Wu Han Chamber Music Studio at the Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Jensen received her Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she graduated with honors and was presented with the Milhaud Award and the Arnold Award in Viola. She recently finished her Masters degree at The Juilliard School where she was a recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and the Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Artist Award. Ms. Jensen is honored to be a laureate of 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant to study late 20 the century masterworks for solo viola with Jean Sulem in Paris, France.

 

 

Zenas Hsu is a Taiwanese-American violinist based in Boston, MA and member of the Zaffre String Quartet. He is a founding member of Chamber Music by the Bay, a performance and educational series in the San Francisco Bay Area. Zenas is also a founding member and concertmaster of Phoenix, a chamber orchestra ensemble dedicated to bringing uncompromised performances to the modern audience in Boston. He has also performed as a guest member of A Far Cry, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Zenas’s most recent festival appearances include Yellow Barn, the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Banff Chamber Music Residency, Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, and Taos School of Music, among others. A native of California, Zenas received his early studies with Wei He at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while spending musical summers at Music@Menlo Chamber Music Institute, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, and the Hotchkiss Summer Portals. He was accepted at age sixteen to the Curtis Institute of Music to study with Ida Kavafian. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Music degree, Zenas moved to Boston, to receive his Master of Music and Graduate Diploma degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Nicholas Kitchen and Donald Weilerstein. He plays on a Gaspare Lorenzini violin on generous loan from the Chi Mei Museum Violin Collection. Zenas’s artistic endeavors include poetry, recording engineering, and photography. He maintains a strong interest in the productive use of technology in the music world. http://zen.as

 

 

Miran Kim was born in Kansas City and began her violin studies the at the age of four. At ten years old, she was accepted to The Juilliard School of Music’s Pre-College Division under the tutelage of Hyo Kang and Catherine Cho. In 2004, Ms. Kim was awarded the bronze medal at the Stulberg International String Competition. Ms. Kim was also a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Award in 2006 and was featured on NPR’s award-winning show “From the Top”. Miran spent her summers studying at Eastern Music Festival, YellowBarn, Aspen Music Festival, Fontainebleau, the Starling-DeLay Symposium Program, and the Taos School of Music. In 2008, she began her undergraduate studies at the Juilliard School of Music with Joel Smirnoff. She then transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2009 where she completed her undergraduate studies. Ms. Kim completed her first year of the Master’s program at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she studied with Cho-liang Lin. Additionally, she has also studied with Benny Kim, Ida Kavafian, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Paul Kantor. In 2013, Miran was awarded positions in both the Grant Park Festival Orchestra (1st violin section) and the Houston Symphony (2nd violin section). In 2014, Miran joined the 1st violin section of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

 

 

Born in Seoul, Korea in 1988, the violinist YuEun Kim is forging a significant international career. Having earned her Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in violin performance from the prestigious Seoul National University, Ms. Kim is presently working towards her Artist Diploma, as a Starling Fellow on full scholarship at the USC-Thornton School of Music, under the tutelage of world-renowned violinist Midori Goto. Ms. Kim has been a junior member of the Chamber Music Society of Kumho Art Hall since 2010, and she has concertized around the world, including a performance at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. Since moving to Los Angeles in the fall of 2013, she has won first place in USC’s Solo Bach Competition and the Strings Concerto Competition, and was a semi-finalist at the China International Violin Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Ms Kim’s forthcoming engagements include performing at Yellow Barn (Putney, VT), Banff (Canada) and appearing as a soloist with the USC Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Irvine in 2015. She has recently won the auditions for “Beverly Hills National Audition” and “Sundays Live at LACMA” (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), opening doors to numerous programs in the following years. She is also a founding member of the Zaffre String Quartet. YuEun Kim is also a dedicated painter and photographer, whose living space is a virtual darkroom, her various forms of artistic expression deepening each other.

 

 

Jordan Calixto recently received his undergraduate degree at the Juilliard School studying double bass with Albert Laszlo. Before Juilliard, he studied with Helen Stevenson from age five to seventeen at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, then studied with Don Palma (co-founder of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and professor at Yale and New England Conservatory) during his senior year. Jordan attended the Aspen Music Festival under the Vincent Wilkinson scholarship in 2013, the National Orchestral Institute in 2015, the Atlantic Music Festival in 2015, and the Orford Music Festival in 2016. On top of playing in the Juilliard Orchestra, Jordan played with the Lab Orchestra and New Juilliard Ensemble with various conductors including Alan Gilbert, Vladimir Jurowski, and Peter Oundjian. Most recently Jordan performed with a quartet at the White House for President Barack Obama’s last state dinner with the Prime Minister of Singapore on Tuesday, August 2nd. Jordan will be continuing his studies at Yale University’s Graduate Music program with Don Palma.

 

 

Tonya Burton is currently studying at Rice University with James Dunham. She received her Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where her principal teachers were Jeffrey Irvine and Lynne Ramsey. She has been the recipient of the Paula Meredith Mosle Endowed Scholarship, Angela Svendson Memorial Music Scholarship and the Elaine Christian Creative Arts Scholarship. Tonya has participated in music festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Heifetz International Music Institute, Domaine Forget Academy and the Brevard Music Festival. As a chamber musician, she has appeared on the Brecksville Chamber Music Series, the Chamber Music Connection Conservatory Series, and on a Faculty Chamber Recital at CIM. She has had the privilege of collaborating with esteemed artists such as, Donald Weilerstein, Jeffrey Irvine and Mark Kosower.

 

 

Nikita Annenkov has been a Chamber Music Connection participant since 2007, when he moved to Columbus from Uzbekistan. Nikita attended Dublin Scioto High School and Oberlin Conservatory studying with Amir Eldan. Through CMC, Nikita has performed for world renowned chamber ensembles such as Claremont Trio, Cavani Quartet, Jupiter Quartet, and participated in Fischoff and Chicago Young Artists competitions. Nikita is a recipient of Rachel Barton Pine Education Award, Jack Kent Cooke Award and has been featured on NPR’s radio show From the Top. Currently, Nikita is a cello assistant and working on his Master’s Degree at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under Dmitry Kouzov. Nikita plays on a Ernst Henrich Roth cello, generously loaned to him by Carlsen Cello Foundation.

 

 

Michael Chien is currently a Masters of Music candidate at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Ivan Zenaty. Born and raised in Cos Cob, CT, Michael began his violin studies at age 9. The wonderful experiences he had playing in the New York Youth Symphony and studying with Lewis Kaplan in high school led him to pursue a Bachelors in music degree at Vanderbilt University, where he studied Music Performance and economics. Important mentors include Spring Berv, Lewis Kaplan, Connie Heard, Ivan Zenaty, and Bill Preucil. Aside from music, Michael enjoys sports, food, and discovering simple pleasures in life.

 

 

 

Administrative Staff

 

 

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Hinano Ishii graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance. As a performer, she made her concerto debut at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, at the age of 18 and has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall and the United Nations. Hinano has experience in concert production, community engagement, marketing and development having worked with the National Symphony Orchestra at The Kennedy Center, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, UW-Madison School of Music, Overture Center for the Arts and PROJECT Trio. Prior to her family moving to London, Hinano spent her childhood growing up in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York and she often returns to Japan to visit the rest of her family. A proud Wisconsin Badger, Hinano enjoys performing in the community and attending musicals, comedy shows, classical and jazz concerts.

 

Mae Saul joined the Bolz Center for Arts Administration with experience working in both production and administrative capacities.  She spent four years with the Production Department of Seattle Opera working as a Production Assistant in Stage Management and later as the Assistant Manager of the Wig and Makeup Department.  She has also stage managed for the Seattle Fringe Theater Festival.

In addition to her production experience at Seattle Opera, Mae has held administrative positions at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Classical KING FM 98.1, Seattle’s public classical music radio station.  She spent two years as the Community Outreach Manager at Classical KING FM where she managed the station’s community engagement activities.  While at Classical KING FM, she worked to expand partnerships with community arts and cultural organizations and helped develop the station’s free public chamber music series with the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture.  In addition to Classical KING FM’s chamber music series, Mae managed partnerships with over forty arts organizations including Seattle Opera, Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet and the University of Washington’s chamber music and piano performance series.  These partnerships included educational programs, radio broadcasts and promotional support.