2023 Chamber Music Fellows

Looking Glass Brass

Looking Glass Brass was formed in 2021 at the Atlantic Brass Quintet Seminar. The quintet (Alisa Crüger-Cain trumpet  – Sam Friedman trumpet – Lily Judge horn – Alex Russell trombone – Meredith Q. Fuller tuba) quickly bonded over their shared sense of humor and love of chamber music. Each day on the way to rehearsal, they would see their reflections in a large window and wave — thus the name “Looking Glass.” They enjoy challenging the limits of brass music and program repertoire that’s engaging for both performer and audience. While they are scattered across the east coast, Looking Glass Brass finds every opportunity to perform together. They studied at the Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy in 2022 and are thrilled to be a part of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival this summer.   Looking Glass Brass' Instagram

Alisa Crüger-Cain is a junior at Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) studying trumpet with Michael Sachs and Michael Miller. She has placed in numerous competitions including first prize in the CIM concerto competition, first prize in the International Women’s Brass Conference solo trumpet competition, honorable mention in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Fidelity Investments Concerto Competition, and first prize in the Phillips Academy Concerto Competition. Next February she will be soloing with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra for their 2023/24 masterworks series. At home with her family during the summer, she enjoys supervising her family's ever-growing chicken farm while reading a book in the shade. Recently she has been enjoying the genres of magical realism and historical fiction. Mornings, she likes to begin her day by speeding through the scenic roads of central MA on a bike or by foot, and many evenings she watches murder mysteries with friends and family (the Swedish series Wallander is a favorite). Instagram

Sam Friedman is a trumpet player and composer currently working in New York City. He is pursuing an MM in contemporary performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studies with Brandon Ridenour. He holds a BM in composition and trumpet performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied trumpet with Roy Poper and composition with Stephen Hartke, Jesse Jones, Michael Frazier, and Elizabeth Ogonek. He has attended festivals such as Norfolk New Music Workshop, Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy, and Mostly Modern Festival. He has performed in master classes with Mark Gould, Peter Evans, Jack Sutte, Stephen Burns, and Billy Ray Hunter. Friedman is interested in expanding the range of artistic possibilities of the trumpet and is fascinated by the roles that music and sound can play in our relationship to the environment. Facebook | Instagram 

Meredith Q. Fuller (she/her) is a DMA tuba student studying at the Peabody Institute. In addition to working towards her doctorate, she serves as the Adjunct Tuba-Euphonium Professor at Penn State University. Fuller began playing the tuba in fourth grade when she volunteered to make a sound on the instrument. Her elementary band teacher picked her because she was a girl and she was small. The rest is history. In 2017 and 2019, she placed in the IWBC Susan Slaughter Solo Tuba Competition and in 2022, she placed first overall. Fuller has traveled internationally with her quintet, Looking Glass Brass, and performs and teaches in Baltimore Public City Schools with her tuba-euphonium duo, 5'Two. While pursuing a high level of performance, she also values educational outreach and advocacy for marginalized groups in the brass and tuba community. In addition to tuba, Fuller likes to spend time with her cat and do yoga. | Paul and Susan Hawkshaw Scholarship | Website | Instagram

Lily Judge is a recent graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory where she studied horn with Jeff Scott and Roland Pandolfi. She has regularly performed with the Oberlin Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Contemporary Music Ensemble, and Sinfonietta; however, her favorite way to play her horn is in a chamber setting. Judge often spends summers with her quintet Looking Glass Brass and has attended festivals such as the Stockholm Chamber Brass Academy, the Madeline Island Seminar for Advanced Wind Chamber Music, and the Atlantic Brass Quintet Summer Seminar. Lily’s biggest musical inspirations are Sarah Willis, Yuja Wang, and Björk. Outside of music, she’s an avid amateur graphic designer, creative director, and cook, and is passionate about public transit, pomegranates, and frolicking outside.

Alex Russell wanted to be a percussionist on the day they were choosing instruments in 6th-grade band class, but being a shy kid, he ended up at the back of the line and was left with the trombone. Much to the vexation of his neighborhood, he took a liking to the instrument and, with the help of several excellent teachers, including Chris Gagne, Don Lucas, and Ohtae Kwon, began to make sounds that one could reasonably call music. In the fall of 2021, he began studying with Toby Oft at the New England Conservatory. Alex loves the interplay between individuality and collaboration that chamber music brings. He is thrilled to be attending Norfolk this summer, where he can explore the possibilities further and give some relief to his weary neighbors.

Looking Glass Brass' Instagram

Trio Rai

Founded in 2019, Trio Rai is a Boston based piano trio formed at the New England Conservatory. The Trio (Motti Fang-Bentov piano  – Tiffany Chang violin  – Mari Nagahara cello) has studied extensively under the guidance of Miriam Fried, Nicholas Kitchen, Kim Kashkashian, Ayano Ninomiya, Lucy Chapman, Vivian Weilerstein, and Merry Peckham. In 2021, the Trio was awarded the bronze medal at the renowned Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Trio Rai has previously studied at Ravinia’s prestigious Steans Music Institute and will spend the summer 2023 at the Perlman Chamber Workshop and Norfolk Festivals. Named after the Japanese kanji for “trust and reliance,” Trio Rai seeks to build meaningful relationships with audience members and the music they perform while enjoying the process of exploring the great works of the piano trio repertoire. | Louise Willson Scholarship

Trio Rai's Instagram

Born in Arizona, Tiffany Chang began playing violin at the age of three. She is a prize winner of various state and and national competitions, including the Brevard Concerto Competition, Interlochen Concerto Competition, and the 2017 NEC Dorothy Bates Violin Competition. Chang served as concertmaster of the New England Conservatory Philharmonia and Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she has performed at chamber festivals across the country. Chang has performed alongside coveted musicians including Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, Nick Cords, and Melissa Reardon, among others. Chang will pursue her doctoral degree at the CUNY Graduate Center this fall. She plays a 1768 Testore violin on generous loan from the Ravinia Steans Institute. Instagram | YouTube

Born in Beijing, China and raised in Tel-Aviv, Israel, pianist Motti Fang-Bentov owes his artistic palette to a multicultural east-west background. His Israeli teachers, ingrained in him the artistic sensibilities of the rich musical tradition of Israel and Russia. Past performances include appearances as a soloist with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Fang-Bentov is the winner of numerous prizes and competitions including Pnina Zaltsman and Ashdod Piano Competitions. Fang-Bentov previously served in the Israel Defense Forces, completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the New England Conservatory and now pursues a graduate diploma at NEC as a Presidential Scholar. Instagram | YouTube

Japanese-American cellist Mari Nagahara has distinguished herself as a promising young talent. An avid chamber musician, she has spent summers at the Ravinia Steans Institute, Norfolk Festival, and Taos School of Music. Mari has studied with pedagogues Paul Katz, Natasha Brofsky and graduated from the New England Conservatory. She is now pursuing a masters degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln under the tutelage of Gabriel Schwabe and performed as part of l'Académie Studio de l'Orchestre de Paris in 2023. Instagram

Hello! I am Aliceyn Covington and am in the third year pursuing my passion for music education and horn performance at the Eastman School of Music studying with Peter Kurau. I am from Blairsville, GA and love to be outside. I really enjoy hiking, ultimate frisbee, card games, and cats! Instagram  

Duncan Henry was born and raised in Minnesota, finding his love for music and the bassoon quite by accident through his middle school’s band program. He attended St. Olaf College as an undergraduate where he studied bassoon and computer science. This past year he studied with Frank Morelli at the Aaron Copland School of Music. He will study with Fei Xie at the University of Minnesota this next year. Aside from playing the bassoon, Henry enjoys composing music and exercise, having found both to enrich the mind and body. In his spare time, Henry prefers relaxing activities where he can connect with others. This includes taking walks and building tabletop puzzles with other people. | Sponsored by Phillida Rosnick | Facebook

Mickenna Keller is currently a MMA student at the Yale School of Music, studying with Stephen Taylor. She recently received her MM from Yale. In 2020, she received her BM in music performance at the University of Michigan where she studied with Dr. Nancy Ambrose King. In conjunction with oboe, she completed a minor in history of art. Working with arts organizations like the Yale University Art Gallery as a Wurtele Gallery Teacher and the Detroit Civic Youth Ensembles as a mentor, Keller works to synthesize her passion for visual and musical art. She acknowledges that she is a guest on the land of the Mohicans and thanks them for sharing this area with her

Joanne Lee started playing the flute at the age of 10 with Min Park and Brad Garner. She attended Chetham, music school in England, from the ages 12 to 19 studying with Katherine Bryan. During her studies at Chetham, Lee was winner of the annual concerto competition at the age of 12 and recipient of the Leverhulme Scholarship from the National Children’s Orchestra of Great Britain in the same year. She was also a prize winner of the British Flute Society. Lee was in the woodwind final of BBC Young Musician of the Year 2016, which was broadcast live. Lee has performed in renowned halls such as the Bridgewater Hall, Wigmore Hall, and Barber Institute of the Arts. She has performed in the Leeds recital series twice as a soloist. Lee performed as a soloist with the Alderley Edge Symphony Orchestra and has participated in master classes with renowned artists such as Carol Wincenc, Denis Bouriakov, Michael Cox, Paul Edmund Davies, and Robert Winn.

Alice McDonald just completed her second year of undergraduate studies at The Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich. She attended Juilliard’s Pre-College from 2018-2021, where she studied with Alan Kay and previously, she studied with Curt Blood in the Hartt School’s Community Division. McDonald has participated in festivals including the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, and Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program. McDonald has appeared on NPR’s From the Top, was named a National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in classical music, won the Juilliard Pre-College Open Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in Juilliard’s Copland Clarinet Concerto Competition. Recently, McDonald was among a small number of students who traveled to the Royal Academy of Music in London to perform and record an all-Stravinsky program under the direction of Barbara Hannigan. Outside of her musical studies, McDonald enjoys drawing portraits and writing poetry. Instagram

Originally from Lima, Peru, horn player Franco Augusto Ortiz grew up in Miami, Florida before attending the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He graduated from the Yale School of Music in 2003. Ortiz has performed with the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and at the Aspen Music Festival. Throughout his career, Ortiz has studied with Roland Pandolfi, William Purvis, and Geoffrey Pilkington. Instagram
 

Nikki Pet, clarinetist, is a DMA student at the Yale School of Music, studying with David Shifrin. She also holds an MM in clarinet performance from the Yale School of Music and a BA in computer science from Columbia University, where she participated in the Juilliard Exchange program, studying with Alan Kay. Pet has received awards including the Philip Francis Nelson Prize, Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, Yale CCAM Studio Fellowship, Columbia University Performing Arts League Special Project Grant, Columbia University Arts Initiative Student Arts Grant, and Rapaport Prize. A focus of Pet’s musical work is creating multimedia performances dedicated to engaging audiences unfamiliar with classical music, using the help of artificially intelligent technology. Live and digital productions include Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Bach’s Second Violin Partita, and Joan Tower’s Wings. These performances (and more!) can be found on Pet’s website. Pet’s hobbies include following the NHL, crocheting, and bullet journaling. | Sponsored by Sukey Wagner | Website | Instagram | YouTube

Anjali Pillai was born in India and moved to the United States with her family when she was three months old. She resided in Southern California until coming to the east coast to study at the Yale School of Music with Frank Morelli for her master's. Previously, she attended UCLA and obtained her BM in bassoon performance while studying with John Steinmetz. She studied privately with Dr. Carolyn Beck during her gap year and high school years. In her spare time, Pillai enjoys reading, going to concerts, and spending time with her younger siblings. Next year, she will return to Yale to pursue an MMA degree in bassoon performance. She is looking forward to spending the summer at Norfolk!! | Sponsored by Alex and Pat Vance

Flutist Anastasia Samsel, from Guilford, CT, is the Julius Baker Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying under Jeffrey Khaner. This year, Samsel has played in performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra. In March, Samsel was awarded first place in the 2023 Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia Young Artist Competition. Last summer, Samsel enjoyed a fellowship at the Sarasota Music Festival, as well as playing in the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony as a student at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Lauren M. Smith is an oboist and multi-faceted musician from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is a recent honors graduate from the Louisiana State University School of Music and Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College. Smith has performed with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Acadiana Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana State University Symphony Orchestra, and others. She is the founder of Quintet Rouge, a woodwind quintet based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and is an active performer in ensembles and churches throughout the state of Louisiana. Smith will continue her studies at the Eastman School of Music in the fall in pursuit of a master’s degree in oboe performance and literature. Her teachers include Richard Killmer, Johanna Cox Pennington, and Titus Underwood. She also teaches lessons and enjoys conducting and writing.

Armenian-American violinist Samuel Andonian is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein. This fall, Andonian will begin studies as a doctoral fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center. He has been a soloist with orchestras including the Boston Pops Orchestra, has performed at the BSO’s season-opening gala, and on NPR’s From the Top. As a chamber musician, Andonian has participated in NEC’s Honors Chamber Music program, won the junior silver prize in the Fischoff Competition, and has attended festivals such as The Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. Additionally, Andonian has been a concertmaster of the NEC orchestras, the Boston Youth Symphony, and the New York Classical Players. Important to his musical purpose has been working with Music for Food, a musician-led initiative that collects donations from their performances to fight food insecurity in local communities. | Sponsored by David Low | Website

Cellist Elena Ariza is rapidly establishing herself as one of today’s most creative and community-driven cellists. Ariza was recently a featured cellist on Yo-Yo Ma’s groundbreaking Music Art Life project and has been a guest artist on NPR’s national radio show From the Top. She has performed with luminaries such as Itzhak Perlman, Vivian Weilerstein, Christopher O’Riley, and Michael Tilson Thomas. She is fiercely committed to community activism and has organized fundraiser events for the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami, the 2021 Haitian earthquake, and most recently, for those affected by the Russian war in Ukraine. An incoming doctoral student at The Juilliard School, Ariza is currently studying under the tutelage of Astrid Schween and Joel Krosnick. She previously received an Artist Diploma from Juilliard and attended the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange Program, majoring in computer science. She remains active as a coder in her free time. | Aldo and Elizabeth Parisot Scholarship in Memory of Harris Goldsmith | Website | Instagram | YouTube

Lindan Burns earned her BM in viola performance at The Juilliard School and is currently pursuing her MM, studying with Misha Amory and Hsin-Yun Huang. She is a proud recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Fellowship. She has been Principal Violist of the Juilliard Orchestra since 2021, and currently serves as an Ear Training Fellow. Burns has attended numerous music festivals including the Young Artist’s Program National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Castleman Quartet Program, Perlman Music Program (“Littles”), Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Yellow Barn Young Artist’s Program, and Taos School of Music. Passionate about interdisciplinary arts, Burns enjoys collaborating with musicians, composers, and choreographers. She has worked with Nadia Sirota, Mike Block, Miranda Cuckson, Jessica Meyer, Aaron Kernis, and violin/cello duo Arkai. Hobbies outside of music include rock climbing, ballroom dancing, hiking, and horseback riding. Website

Violinist Tong Chen hails from Shanghai and is an avid soloist and chamber musician. Chen has participated in music festivals including Verbier Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Four Seasons Chamber Music Winter Workshop, International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove, and the Perlman Music Program. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Ida Kavafian, Colin Carr, Paul Biss, and Vivian Weilerstein. Chen was also coached by the members of Juilliard String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, and Merry Peckham. Chen received BM and MM degrees and a graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory under Miriam Fried, Paul Biss, and Donald Weilerstein. Other important mentors also include Qing Zheng and Itzhak Perlman. | Sponsored by Mary Ackerly and Michael Sconyers | Instagram

Natalie Clarke is a violist from the Chicago suburbs and is an active solo and chamber performer. She is currently in her first year of master's studies at The Juilliard School studying with Misha Amory. She received her undergraduate degree in 2022 from Juilliard, studying with Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang. She has received gold medals at the Fischoff National Chamber Competition and Rembrandt High School Music Competition. Her chamber group has been featured on WFMT's Introductions and NPR's From the Top. Clarke has also received the silver medal at the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition and has been recognized at Walgreens and DePaul Concerto Competitions. Clarke attended the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in 2022 as a part of the fellowship program, the Aspen Summer Music Festival in 2019 as a New Horizons Fellow and in 2021 as an ACA Fellow. Clarke enjoys traveling and exploring new places, cooking, and playing a variety of sports. | Clement Clarke Moore Scholarship

Violist Sofia Gilchenok holds the Tobe Amsterdam Fellowship as a student of Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory at the Curtis Institute of Music. She grew up on a small farm in eastern CT and attended Juilliard’s Pre-College Program for six years. Gilchenok enjoys cooking and designing jewelry (she owns over 100 pairs of earrings, the majority of which she made herself). From a young age, Gilchenok enjoyed Irish fiddling and in the summer of 2021, brought it back to join the Resonance Festival. In the final concert, she sang an impromptu arrangement of Elvis’ Can’t Help Falling in Love with Time for Three and Peter Dugan. Gilchenok has performed solo with several orchestras and is an avid chamber musician, having attended festivals such as Kneisel Hall and Music@Menlo. She joined the 2022 Artosphere Festival Orchestra with the Dover Quartet and performed Dvořák’s String Quartet Op. 105 with their cellist, Camden Shaw.

Canadian cellist Joan Herget graduated from the New England Conservatory as a Presidential Distinction Award student of Laurence Lesser and will begin her master’s degree at the Curtis Institute of Music this fall. Herget was awarded first place in the 2022 NEC Lower Strings Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with the NEC Philharmonia. She has also performed as a soloist with the Calgary Civic Symphony on two occasions and placed first in the Frank Simpson Concerto Competition and CDA Young Artist Competition. She placed first on two separate occasions in the National Finals of the Canadian Music Competition. Herget attended the Perlman Music Program, the Ashkenasi/Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar at the Heifetz Institute, and Morningside Music Bridge. She recently participated in the IMS Prussia Cove master class series in England and will attend the Open Chamber Music session this fall. Herget is a major foodie, an avid appreciator of architectural and natural beauty, and has a green thumb. | Sponsored by John Garrels | Instagram

Cellist Ayoun Alexandra Kim is an active chamber musician, soloist, and advocate for community engagement through music. In 2022, she became the prize winner of the Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition, Artist Presentation Society Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition. Kim has attended festivals such as Sarasota Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Orford Academy, AlpenKammerMusik, Verão Classico, and Sommerakademie Mozarteum, performing for cellists such as Laurence Lesser, Steven Doane, Myung-Wha Chung, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, and Maria Kliegel. In 2022, she was invited to the Vivace Music Foundation as a junior faculty member. As an orchestral musician, she has been invited to attend the Spoleto Festival in 2023. Kim received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Natasha Brofsky and Astrid Schween. In the fall, she will be continuing her studies at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as an Artist Diploma candidate. | Sponsored by Peter Chaffetz and Andra Moss | Website

Eunseo Laura Lee is a violinist at the Curtis Institute of Music (2017-2023). Growing up in a musician family, Lee began violin at age 4. Lee was awarded first prize in the 2014 Seoul Baroque Competition (South Korea) and first prize in the 2014 Ewah & Kyunghyang String Competition (South Korea). International competitions include second prize in the 2014 Schoenfeld International String Competition (Harbin, China); third prize in the 2015 Zhuhai International Mozart Competition (China); and the Special Prize at the (2016) Young Tchaikovsky International Competition (Novosibirsk, Russia). Lee had her debut recital at the Korea Kumho Art Hall in 2015. As a chamber musician, she participated in the 2021 Daejeon Chamber Music Trio Festival (South Korea, Daejeon), and the 2022 Kneisel Chamber Music Festival. She also participated in the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia (2017-2023) and was the concertmaster of Curtis Symphony Orchestra (2022-2023). Lee's teachers include Ida Kavafian (2017-2023) and Benjamin Beilman (2022-2023). | 2006 Centenary Committee Scholarship | Website

Minji Lee began playing the violin at 6 years old and made her debut with the Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra at 10 years old. She has won numerous competitions including second prize at the Bales Violin Competition and third prize at the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition. She has participated in many festivals including the Taos School of Music and she most recently served as principal 2nd violin of the NYSOS. An avid chamber musician, her quartet was a top prize winner at the 2023 Plowman and Glass City Chamber Music Competitions. Lee completed a BM degree at the New England Conservatory with Soovin Kim and a MM degree at the CIM under Jaime Laredo, Malcolm Lowe, and Jan Sloman. She will pursue her MMA degree at Yale School of Music beginning this fall. In her spare time, she enjoys playing board games with her friends and hanging out with her dog and family. | Sponsored by Nancy and James Remis

Born in Gwangju, South Korea, Sory Park began playing the violin at the age of five, encouraged by her aunt who is also a violinist. After formal musical studies at the Yewon Arts School and Seoul Arts High School in Korea, she continued her studies with Soovin Kim at New England Conservatory. She recently graduated from The Juilliard School where she studied with Ronald Copes, and she will start studying with Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music. She was the top prize winner at several national and international competitions, including the 2019 Stulberg International String Competition in Michigan, and the 2017 Ilona Feher International Violin Competition in Hungary. She has participated in several music festivals including Perlman Music Program, Yellow Barn, Music@Menlo, Heifetz Music Institute, and Bowdoin Music Festival. Park has participated in master classes given by Itzhak Perlman, Aaron Rosand, Ayano Ninomiya, Ian Swensen, Sheryl Staples, the Borromeo String Quartet, and many others. Facebook | Instagram 

Originally from Winnipeg, MB, Emily Rekrut-Pressey just completed her MM degree at the Yale School of Music where she won the Chamber Music Competition for the second consecutive year with her viola, flute, and harp trio. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto and McGill University, Rekrut-Pressey split her time between viola and varsity track and field. While she no longer runs as fast as she can competitively, she runs slower for fun and is always happy to swim, bike, or throw a frisbee. Last summer Rekrut-Pressey participated in the Kneisel Hall Summer Music Program where she most notably consumed 14 pounds of peanut butter in less than 8 weeks. In previous summers she played with The National Youth Orchestra of Canada where she unremarkably ate a regular amount of peanut butter. Ask Rekrut-Pressey about her favorite peanut butter brand or Haydn Quartet today! | Sponsored by Anne-Marie Soullière and Lindsey Kiang

Violinist and violist Miranda Werner, 23, is currently pursuing her MM at the Yale School of Music (YSM), where she is a student of Soovin Kim. Last year she graduated with High Distinction and Music Honors from Indiana University, where she studied violin with Mark Kaplan and viola with Mark Holloway. Werner has spent many summers cultivating her love for chamber music, first at Greenwood Music Camp, and more recently at the Heifetz Institute Chamber Music Seminar and the Taos School of Music. In her spare time, Werner works as a Teaching Artist for YSM's Music in Schools Initiative, helping to foster musical growth for students in New Haven public schools. She also enjoys playing with her cat, getting lost in nature, and trying out new banana bread recipes. Someday she hopes to publish a memoir exploring her non-traditional educational path and the challenges of long-distance childhood friendships. Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Ashley Yoon (19) is violinist and active chamber musician from Charleston, SC. She is a senior studying with Joseph Lin at The Juilliard School for her bachelor’s degree. She is a recipient of the CV Starr and Malino Scholarships. Yoon recently performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is the winner of the American Protégé International Competition. In 2019 she was invited to play at Carnegie Hall. Yoons’s mentors include Juliette Kang and Robert McDonald. She has attended the Taos School of Music (2022), YellowBarn, Great Mountains Festival, Morningside Music Bridge, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. Outside of her musical adventures, Yoon is an avid reader and swimmer, with a deep appreciation of nature and art. She is ruminating on the possibility of pursuing a JD degree one day and is also a food connoisseur. | Sponsored by the Fishman Family Scholarship

Beginning his studies at age 4, cellist Michael Zyzak made his solo debut at age 9 with the Louisville Orchestra. In 2009, Zyzak was unanimously awarded the first prize winner of the David Popper International Cello Competition as well as first prize at the Louisville Young Artist, Fox Valley Young Artist, Rising Star Young Artist Southeast Missouri, and Dayton Philharmonic Concerto Competitions. He was also awarded second prize at the 2016 Eisemann International Young Artists Competition and third prize at the 2016 Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition. At 18, Zyzak won a position as substitute cellist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Zyzak has also appeared as a soloist with the Blue Ash Orchestra, Southeast Missouri Orchestra, and Fox Valley Orchestra. Over the years, he’s had the privilege of playing for distinguished cellists such as Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, and Clive Greensmith. In addition, he has attended the Taos School of Music and the Heifetz Chamber Music Seminar.

Bogang Hwang is a pianist pursuing her MM degree under the tutelage of Fabio Bidini at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where she completed her Artist Diploma. She has won prizes in many competitions such as Eumag Chunchu Competition, Eumyoun Piano Competition, and Korean Liszt Competition. Recently, she was a prize winner of the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Nicholas McGegan. In 2024, she will be performing as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Hwang is one of the founders of Sonarsix, which was appointed as Colburn Artist and prize winner from Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Previously, she studied with Ick-choo Moon at Seoul National University. Besides music, she enjoys watching TV shows and reading mystery novels.

Jieun Park, born in Korea, began playing piano at the age of four. She studied under the tutelage of Jane Hayes in Canada for a year at the age of 7. She made her official recital debut at the age of 12 through the Kumho Prodigy Concert and performed in the US, Canada, France, Spain, Italy, China, and most recently the Bahamas. She distinguished herself by winning top prizes in prestigious competitions, such as the 40th Delia Steinberg International Competition, 5th Marbella International Competition, and Orbetello International Competition. Park is currently studying at the Yale School of Music with Dean Robert Blocker. She previously graduated summa cum laude from Seoul National University studying with Hyoung-Joon Chang, who is now the president of Seoul Arts Center. | Sponsored by Jeremy Barnum and Caitlin Macy | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube