Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan, violin	Hyun Jeong Helen Lee, violin
Sohyun Anh, piano	Jieun Lee, piano
Carlos Audi, cello	Matthew Lewis, cello
John Batchelder, viola	Mallory McHenry, harp
Karen Baumgartner, flute	Mark Miller, violin
Adam Booher, piano	Ute Miller, viola
Boulanger Quintet, strings	Evan Mitchell, piano
Noah de Garmo, piano	Mount Vernon Music
Catalin Dima, piano	Yuri Noh, violin
Alan Dyer, piano	Gwendoline Pannetier, harp
Sing-Yi Feng, violin	Sophia Jieun Park, violin
Angelica Hairston, harp	Vincent Pierce, harp
Brianna Jaeger, piano	Christopher Phillpott, viola da gamba
Gyuwan Kim, piano	Luis Sanchez, piano
Hamin Kim, cello	Leslie Spotz, piano
Kihwa Kim, piano	Texas Flute Society
Mikyung Kim Kwon, violin	Julee Kim Walker, flute
Sebastian Kozub, cello	Caroline Wilkins, harp
Martina Kroll, viola da gamba	Grace Kang Wollett, violin
Min Kyung Kim, piano	Jeongmi Yoon, piano
Hyejin Lee, violin	Performers from Past Seasons

Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan, violin

Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan has played the violin for over 30 years. She was an avid musician throughout her childhood in Kentucky, performing and soloing with local orchestras and chamber music ensembles. She received a degree in violin performance at the University of Louisville in 2000, studying under Peter McHugh. She then shifted paths to pursue a career in medicine, receiving a medical degree from the University of Louisville in 2004. She completed her residency training in Diagnostic Radiology at the Cleveland Clinic in 2009 and a fellowship in Abdominal Radiology at Northwestern Medical Center in 2010.

During her medical training, she continued to play violin with community orchestras and chamber music groups. She performed with the World Doctors Orchestra in 2009 in Cleveland, and with the World Civic Orchestra in 2010 and 2012 in New York. Lakshmi is now a practicing abdominal radiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She is excited for her chance to renew her love of music by performing with the Boulanger Quintet.

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Sohyun Anh, piano

Sohyun Ahn was named the Best Concert of the Year by Eumak-Chunchu, South Korea’s leading classical music journal and has been described as a “an absolute master“ by New York Concert Review. In the States, her performance venues include Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall, Klavierhaus, Dimenna Center, Beethoven Haus, Bechstein Hall, Hubbard Recital Hall, Juilliard School, Hunter College, Concordia College, Union Theological Seminary, Trinity Church, Saint Paul’s Chapel, St.John’s in the Village, InterChurch, Central Presbyterian Church and First Baptist Church in New York City. She has also performed at Rutgers University, St. Elizabeth College, All Saints Episcopal Church, Madison Grace Church, Kirkpatrick Church, NV Hall, Nous Theater in New Jersey, An Die Musik in Baltimore, Bates Recital Hall at the University of Texas at Austin, Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert at Chicago Cultural Center and Dallas Mu Phi Epsilon Public Library Concert Series.

Her performances include appearances with the Queensboro Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Baroque Orchestra, Royal Scottish Academy Orchestra, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Tutti Orchestra and the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra. She was also a guest soloist at the concert honoring the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth at the Sejong Art Center. Her performances and interviews have been broadcast nationally in South Korea on EBS-TV and live broadcast on Chicago’s classical station WFMT. She was invited to perform at the W. Kempf Beethoven Course in Positano, Italy and the Ferrara International Music Festival Concert Series.

Frequently collaborating with NYC based musicians, Sohyun enjoys promoting the works of contemporary composers such as Alan Hovhaness, Michael Kosch, Chanhae Lee, David Loeb, John Musto, Juri Pang and Kyle Werner. Sohyun is also a chamber musician and has performed with renowned instrumentalists such as violist Eunsik Choi and cellist Marion Feldman among others. She worked closely with New York Westside Opera, New Jersey Concert Opera and Pineda Lyric Opera, and performed over twenty complete opera productions from Mozart to Wagner.

Sohyun has taught at Rutgers, New Jersey State University, Concordia College in New York and University of Texas at Austin. Currently Sohyun is a Steinway Educational Partner and a director of Geneva Conservatory of Music in New York City. Dr. Ahn received her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Masters degrees with distinction from the Royal Scottish Conservatory and Tokyo Geidai Academy, and a Professional Studies Degree from Manhattan School of Music.

Her performance credentials are further enhanced through prize winnings in international and national piano competitions, including the RSAMD Bach Competition, the Governor’s Recital Competition, the Daejeon Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the Yongpyung Music Festival Concerto Competition, the New York Trinity Church Concert Audition, the International Asahi-Breweries Music Foundation Competition and the Yewon Music Competition. She was a finalist for the Dudley International Competition and received the semi-finalist award from the Vianna da Motta International Competition. Her Mozart Sonatas CD is released in Classic Art Label and reviewed by New York Concert Review as “a perfectly balanced, crystalline performance.” In 2019, Sohyun will be performing the complete Mozart Piano Sonata Concerts at St. John’s in the Village, New York City.

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Carlos Audi, cello

Dr. Carlos Audi has performed numerous solo and chamber concerts in the United States, Germany, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Argentina, and Brazil. In addition, he has been a member of several orchestras in Brazil and in the United States such as the Orquestra Sinfônica de Santo André, the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório, the Orquestra Sinfônica da Universidade de São Paulo, the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tallahassee, Augusta and Albany Symphony Orchestras, and the Opera Tampa Orchestra.

Dr. Audi was born in Brazil where he started his music studies at the age of seven and currently holds a Doctor of Music degree from the Florida State University. His main cello teachers were Maria Cecília Brucoli, Zigmunt Kubala, Robert Suetholz, Robert Jesselson and Lubomir Georgiev. He also has attended master classes with renowned cellists such as Janos Starker, Alan Harris, Timothy Eddy, Steven Doane, Peter Rejto, Sara Sant’Ambrogio, and Antonio Meneses.

Audi has performed in the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo as a finalist of the Orquestra Experimental de Repertório’s Concerto Competition.

Dr. Audi is on the faculty of Florida College, Hillsborough Community College, and Hillsborough County Public Schools, and is a sought-after master class presenter, adjudicator, and lecturer.

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John Batchelder, viola

Violist John Batchelder has delighted audiences across North and South America as a passionate chamber musician, recitalist and soloist. He has performed as soloist with numerous ensembles including the Hemenway Strings, Worcester Bach Consort and Plano Senior High Symphony Orchestra, and participated in various summer festivals and masterclasses such as the McGill International String Quartet Academy, Banff Centre Masterclasses, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, Meadowmount School of Music, Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and Music from Salem Viola Seminar in Salem, NY.

As a member of the award-winning Julius Quartet, formerly the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at the Meadows School of Music at Southern Methodist University, John has performed in such venerated venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Bargemusic, Moss Arts Center, Shalin Liu Performance Center, and Bing Concert Hall.

John has collaborated with such celebrated artists as Joseph Silverstein, Aaron Boyd, Andrés Cárdenes and members of the St. Lawrence, Shanghai, Baumer, Lydian and Escher Quartets. In 2011, John was a winner of the Kathryn W. Davis Projects for Peace grant for his program designed to help, encourage and teach music to the young children of the favelas of Natal, Brazil. John is a graduate of Boston Conservatory where he studied with Lila Brown, and of the John J. Cali School of Music Graduate Quartet-in-Residence program where he studied with Honggang Li of the Shanghai Quartet. Previously, he served as Artistic Coordinator at the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards (NAHYP), and for the award-winning music education nonprofit Project STEP. Most recently, as part of the Peak Fellowship, John served as an Assistant Chamber Music Coach at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

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Karen Baumgartner, flute

Award winning flutist Karen Baumgartner has given solo performances all across the country from Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis to Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has performed on National Public Radio as well as numerous times on Minnesota Public Radio. Karen has often performed in world premieres and has recently begun commissioning new works for flute. Karen’s first commission was by composer Grant Luhmann. She premiered his Flute Concerto with the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra in Minnesota. The performance was recorded by and aired on Minnesota Public Radio.

Karen was an award winner in Minnesota Orchestra's Young Artist Competition and was previously awarded a $10,000 Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. She has soloed with the Saint Paul Civic Symphony, Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, orchestras at the Eastern Music Festival, and the Century College Orchestra. Karen has performed with Minnesota Opera and has also performed with the Minnesota State Dance Theater for their annual Nutcracker production. Karen has been a finalist in the SVSO Young Artist Competition and twice was a runner-up at Indiana University's Woodwind Concerto Competition. Karen has won the Pellerite Orchestral Excerpt Competition, Schubert Club Competition, and Thursday Musical Competition. During the 25th year of the Laudie Porter Flute Competition Karen became the first flutist to have won each age division of the competition. Karen has been a finalist in the YPSCA Competition and Minnesota Public Radio’s Varsity Competition.

Karen has performed in the Schubert Club, Salon se Lève, and Music at Trinity concert series as well as Thursday Musical's Recital Series and Minnesota Public Radio's Varsity Tour Concert. Karen has also been recorded by Baby Blue Arts and featured on their website. Karen has Flute Performance degrees from Indiana University and The University of Texas at Austin and her teachers include Michele Frisch, Thomas Robertello, and Marianne Gedigian.

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Adam Booher, piano

Pianist Adam Booher’s musicianship has been described as “thrilling,” and “full of emotional energy” (NashvilleArts). Mr. Booher frequently performs as collaborative pianist at Florida College, and in May of 2018, he performed as pianist with the Florida College Chorus in Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall. In an upcoming 2021 tour accompanying the Florida College Chorus, Mr. Booher will perform in Italy. Mr. Booher also performs regularly with cellist Dr. Carlos Audi, with recent and upcoming concerts occurring at universities and recital halls in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Texas. Mr. Booher serves as Professor of Music at Florida College, where he teaches applied piano and music theory. For the past two years, he has received the top-rated activities professor award at Florida College, given to the teacher with the highest overall student ratings in non-lecture courses.

Active in state and local music teachers’ associations, Mr. Booher serves as Vice President of Florida’s MTNA Competitive Events. He regularly adjudicates state and district competitions and the National Federation of Music Clubs Auditions. Mr. Booher also serves as president of the Mid-State Music Teachers Association and treasurer of the Florida State Music Teachers Association District 9. Awards include first place in the Intersection of Jazz and Classical Piano Festival at West Virginia University, first place in the Florida MTNA Young Artist competition, third place in the MTNA Southern Division competition, and first place in the Beethoven Club of Memphis Young Artist Competition. Mr. Booher received the Master’s degree in Piano Performance from Florida State University, where he studied with Dr. Joel Hastings.

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Boulanger Quintet

Sing-Yi Feng, violin; Lakshmi Ananthakrishnan, violin; Shan Su, viola; Matthew Lewis, cello; Noah DeGarmo, piano

The Boulanger Quintet was founded in April 2018 by an emergency physician, a pediatric emergency physician/medical toxicologist, a radiologist, a biomedical engineer and a medical student who all love medicine and music. They chose their name for their group for the early twentieth century French musician sisters - the Boulangers. Lili Boulanger was a talented composer and the first female winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome composition competition. She unfortunately passed away at age 24 from tuberculosis in 1918. Her sister Nadia was a famous composer, pianist, and pedagogue who taught such students as Philip Glass and Daniel Barenboim. We wanted to continue to convey their love of music and education. We are grateful for coachings from Mark Miller of Mount Vernon Music and Matthew Kline. We look forward to sharing our music with you!

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Noah DeGarmo, piano

Noah C. DeGarmo works primarily as an Emergency Medicine Physician, but his primary passion has always been piano. He has studied with Iris Graffman Wenglin, Xak Bjerken, Alan Chow, and currently Matthew Kline. He has played in master classes with Leon Fleischer and Tong-Il Han. Concerto performances include Mozart No. 20, Beethoven No. 3, and Rhapsody in Blue, most recently as finalist in the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition in 2012. After moving to Dallas a few years ago, he competed in the Cliburn Amateur competition as a quarterfinalist in 2016 and received second place later that summer at the Chicago Amateur Piano Competition. Outside of music he enjoys his two golden retrievers, Mayzie and Ella, as well as travel and cooking.

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Catalin Dima, piano

Romanian pianist Catalin Dima performed in many venues throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Among his previous engagements, Catalin has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Preston Bradley Hall (Chicago), the Cosmos Club (Washington D.C.), the International House (D.C. and NYC), the Romanian Cultural Institute (NYC), the Klavierhaus (NYC), the Karura Hall (Tokyo) and the Romanian Athenaeum (Bucharest).

An active chamber musician and recitalist, Catalin participated in international music festivals such as International Keyboard Institute and Festival (NYC), Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany), and International Summer Academy (Austria). His solo appearances include concerts with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra (Bucharest), the Washington Sinfonietta (Washington D.C.), the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (Winchester, VA), the Symphonic Winds (Durant, OK), and the Pitesti Philharmonic Orchestra (Pitesti).

Catalin is a strong proponent of Romanian music, especially classical with folk influences. Together with the Romanian violinist Alex Malaimare, Catalin started a project that includes lectures and promotes Romanian classical and folk music throughout the U.S. Their previous engagements included tours in Indiana, Illinois, D.C., Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas.

An enthusiast of contemporary music, especially by American composers, Catalin collaborated with Pulitzer Prize-winning composers such as David Lang, Jennifer Higdon, and John Corigliano, and performed with distinguished music groups such as Edge Ensemble (Shenandoah Conservatory) and Great Noise Ensemble (Washington D.C.).

Catalin is a laureate and winner of top prizes in several international piano competitions including the Fr. Chopin International Piano Competition (CT), Shenandoah Concerto Competition (VA), Yamaha Piano Competition (Romania), Karl Filtsch International Piano Competition (Romania), and Pro Piano International Competition (Romania).

Catalin Dima currently serves on the music faculty at the Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Shenandoah Conservatory, a Master of Music degree from Mannes School of Music in New York City, and a second Master of Musical Arts degree from University of Music in Bucharest, Romania.

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Alan Dyer, piano

Alan Dyer is a widely respected choral director, performer, and music educator with a passion for nurturing the development of new works and creating engaging and collaborative artistic performances. He is the founder and artistic director of The Texas Voices and the associate director of music at First Unitarian Church of Dallas. He is also a pianist for Texas A&M—Commerce School of Music, where he accompanies choral ensembles and voice students. He also accompanies instrumental soloists from middle school to the professional level.

Throughout his career, Alan has worked with renowned choral directors such as Dr. Lloyd Pfautsch and John Rutter. He has performed with ensembles throughout Dallas, including the Dallas Wind Symphony, Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas, Orpheus Chamber Singers, Plano Civic Chorus, and numerous church and school choirs. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at area colleges, including Texas Woman’s University, Richland College, and Collin College. He earned his master’s degree from Southern Methodist University and his bachelor’s degree from Dallas Baptist University.

Alan is active in the American Choral Directors Association and the Texas Choral Directors Association. He has performed in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including a special organ performance at the Vatican.

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Sing-Yi Feng, violin

Sing-Yi Feng is a pediatric emergency physician and medical toxicologist on faculty at UT Southwestern who rediscovered her love of the violin after a fifteen-year hiatus. She has studied with Rochelle Walton, Carol Amado, and currently, Mark Miller. She was a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and a previous winner of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition and performed Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol with them. In 2014, she participated in the Baltimore Symphony Academy, which resurrected her violin career. Since then, she has been in the Curtis Institute of Music Summerfest Chamber Music for Adults and the Manhattan String Quartet workshops. Dr. Feng is currently a member of the World Doctors Orchestra and has been part of the WDO’s Munich/Salzburg and Dubai tours. She also participated in the WDO’s tenth anniversary celebration in June 2018 with concerts at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin. She also loves cooking and baking for friends and family, learning about fine wines, knitting, traveling, and running.

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Angelica Hairston, harp

Harpist Angelica Hairston is known for her fiery performances and passion for social change. Throughout her career, she has made it a priority to create social impact through the power of the arts. In 2016, she founded the organization Challenge the Stats, a concert series dedicated to empowering artists of color, and sparking dialogue about diversity, inclusion, and equity, both on and off the concert stage.

In addition to her work with CTS, Angelica currently serves as the Artistic Director of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble where she provides free harp instruction to over 90 students at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, GA. She was recently celebrated as one of the youngest recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts & Humanities, an award recognizing individual who have made significant contributions to the state of Georgia’s civic and cultural vitality through excellence and service.

Angelica is a current member of the Sphinx Organization's SphinxLEAD cohort and serves as a Specialist in the area of Education and Equity for NPR’s From the Top and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. She was a keynote speaker at the Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference, was a member of the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials of Orchestra Management, and a panel moderator for SphinxConnect. Angelica holds a Master of Music Industry Leadership from Northeastern University as a 2015 MLK Fellow and a Bachelor of Music from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada where she studied with world-renowned harpist Judy Loman.

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Gyuwan Kim, piano

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Gyuwan Kim began studying piano at the age of seven. At 14, he was chosen as the youngest soloist for the Korean-Canadian Symphony Orchestra’s concert tour in S. Korea and made his debut playing Beethoven’s first piano concerto. He has performed with many orchestras, including the Borodin Orchestra in Moscow, Kyung Hee University Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, Gyeonggi Youth Performing Arts Members, and Seongnam Youth Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, he has been actively engaged in a variety of musical roles as a soloist, chamber musician, and ensemble pianist and has performed across Korea, the United Stated, Russia, and Taiwan at major concert halls, such as Seoul Arts Center, Seoul Sejong Center, and Dallas Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

Not only was Dr. Kim the first-prize winner at the Kyung Hee University Concerto Competition and the gold-prize winner at the Piano Society of Korea Competition, but also he was awarded the prize of excellent academic achievement from Kyung Hee University, an appreciation plaque from the Seongnam Youth Symphony Orchestra, and a certificate of recognition for outstanding performance at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. As a full-time teaching assistant at the University of North Texas, he served as the pianist of the UNT A Capella Choir, Women’s Chorus, and Men’s Chorus. Also, he served as the pianist of the North Texas Wind Symphony, Lone Star Wind Orchestra, and Frisco ISD Elementary Honor Choir. He has performed with the North Texas Wind Symphony on seven recording sessions for the GIA Publications and Naxos label in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Dr. Kim holds his Bachelor of Music (B.M.) degree in piano performance with a minor in violin performance from Kyung Hee University in Seoul, one of the most prestigious private universities in Korea, where he studied piano with Dr. Yung Hae Chun and violin with Professor Juwon Yuk. During his studies, he earned the Music Teacher Certificate and received the Dean’s Award as the valedictorian. After graduating with his Bachelor’s degree, he moved to the United States to attend the University of North Texas where he earned his Master of Music (M.M.) degree in piano performance with a related field in orchestra conducting and his Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree in piano performance with a related field in wind conducting. While at the University of North Texas, he studied piano with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul, wind conducting with Professor Eugene Migliaro Corporon, and orchestra conducting with Dr. Clay Couturiaux.

Dr. Kim is currently on the faculty of the Department of Music as a collaborative pianist at Midwestern State University.

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Hamin Kim, cello

Hamin Kim is an active cellist performing across the globe, has featured on London’s Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, St James, Piccadilly, BBC Radio 3 & 4, TBN, Prague’s Církev československá husitská, Veneto’s Aula Magna del Seminario, Warsaw’s Chopin-Górecki Festival, Daejeon’s Mokwon Chapel, Dallas's Meyerson Center, DC’s Kennedy Center and recently held chamber recitals in Atlanta, Agadir, Charlotte, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Paris, Rabat, Raleigh and Seattle.

Currently, Hamin resides in North Texas, he is an Adjunct Faculty at Dallas College at Cedar Valley Campus and a String Teaching Artist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's Young Musicians Program (El Sistema USA). Also, Hamin is a section cellist of the Las Colinas Symphony and a member of Kim Quartet, comprised of his three sisters and himself that actively tours throughout the world when not in town.

Born in Korea and raised in North Carolina, as a child of two musicians, Hamin was immersed in music from his earliest childhood. He began playing the cello at his age of nine and gave his very first public recital in the same year. In his teenage years, he was proud members of Eastern Music Festival Young Artist Orchestra, North Carolina Honors All State Orchestra, Triangle Youth Philharmonic in North Carolina and NAfME All National Honor Orchestra at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Especially, Hamin played in the Carolina Philharmonic frequently as its youngest member and young artist soloist.

With the Minerva Scholarship from University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Hamin had taken undergraduate coursework in various subjects prior to pursing his intensive music studies in London. The Royal Academy of Music, London awarded Hamin an entrance scholarship to study cello performance and Music. He received his Bachelor's and Master's in Performance degrees from the Academy under Professor Jo Cole and frequent supervisions by Mario Brunello, Colin Carr and Sungwon Yang.

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Kihwa Kim, piano

Pianist Kihwa Kim is an active collaborative pianist. Kim held the position of an orchestra pianist at the City of Mokpo Symphony Orchestra in South Korea, and a staff pianist at Northern Kentucky University. Apart from her numerous experiences as a chamber music musician, Kim has worked as an opera coach for several opera companies (Dayton Opera, First Coast Opera, Chonnam National University, Knoxville Opera, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, and Kangsookja Opera Line) and celebrated music festivals (Music Academy of the West and Opera NEO). In her capacity as a pianist and opera coach, she has prepared and performed a wide range of operatic repertoire, including Così fan tutte, Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte, L’elisir D’amore, Don Pasquale, L’Étoile, Hansel and Gretel, Un ballo in Maschera, Il Trovatore, Falstaff, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Bohème, The Medium, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Little Women, and Trouble in Tahiti. She also was invited as a vocal coach to work for music festivals in Italy such as Lingua e Canto and Mantova National Music.

Kim completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano at The University of Texas at Austin, Butler School of Music with Colette Valentine and Tamara Sanikidze after earning Artist Diploma and Master of Music degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music where she studied with Marie-France Lefebvre and Kenneth Griffiths. Before Kim studied in the United States, she received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance at the Chonnam National University with Hyunok Moon where she was appointed the Honorary Chancellor’s Award as the top graduate of the college.

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Sebastian Kozub, cello

Sebastian Kozub, a native of Lublin, Poland, comes from a musical family. His father is a cellist and his mother a violinist. Sebastian began playing the cello when he was five, studied in the Purcell School of Music in London under Pal Banda and Sir Simon Rattle, and is a current Performance Diploma student of Andres Diaz at the SMU Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas. He is a prize winner of over fifty national and international cello competitions, including First Prize in the VIII. International Cello Competition Antonio Janigro, Croatia; Second Prize in the V.J. Dotzauer International Cello Competition, Germany; First Prize in the FLAME International Cello Competition, Paris; Second Prize in the Liezen International Cello Competition, Austria; Second Prize in the David Popper International Cello Competition, Hungary; Grand Prize in the International Strings Competition Bohdan Warchal, Slovakia.

Sebastian has performed in venues in the United Kingdom and around the world, including Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elisabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Goldsmiths Theatre, Royal Castle Hall in Warsaw, and Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Orchestras he has performed with include the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Sinfonia Varsovia, National Orchestra of China, Kaunas Philharmonic Orchestra, National Chamber Orchestra of Slovakia, Lublin Symphony Orchestra among others. Sebastian is an active chamber musician having performed with artists such as Andrés Cárdenes, Yuja Wang, Teng Li and Aaron Boyd, and is the newest member of the Julius Quartet under the mentorship of Aaron Boyd and the Escher String Quartet.

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Martina Kroll, viola da gamba

Dr. Martina Kroll is a German native, who has been an avid musical amateur since her first recorder lesson at age 6. Piano and violin lessons followed these first steps. She added the treble viol to her piano and violin playing at age 15, performing mostly renaissance consort music such as Schuetz’ “Sieben Worte Jesu am Kreuz” and his “Auferstehungshistorie” as well as mixed consort music with singers and sackbuts touring the local castles and churches. She attended workshops for consort playing as well as renaissance dance while at medical school in Heidelberg, Germany. During her years as practicing physician, she concentrated on the modern violin and the organ, while attending courses for church music in the diocese of Mainz. After a long hiatus she returned to the viola da gamba three years ago and has had regular lessons with Christopher Philpott since that time. Dr. Kroll is currently the science department head at Cistercian Preparatory School in Irving and teaches chemistry and physics.

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Mikyung Kim Kwon, violin

Violinist Mikyung Kim Kwon received her DMA at Rutgers University as a recipient of full scholarship, Master’s Degree at the Juilliard School and Bachelor’s Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Robert Mann, Kyung Sun Lee, and Philipp Quint.

Ms. Kim Kwon has performed numerous recitals and concerts in the past few years across the world, domestically in the New York City metropolitan, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Sarasota and New Brunswick, and internationally, in Austria, China and Korea. In the States, her performances include high profile venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Avery Fischer Hall, Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Paul Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Gordon Auditorium, Severance Hall, Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, among others. She has served as a concertmaster at the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra and Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, and principal player at Oberlin China tour Orchestra. In 2007, she has performed in Liederkranze Hall in NYC as a prize winner of the Joyce Dutka Competition.

Ms. Kim Kwon has served as a leader of New York Classical Symphony Orchestra, section violinist at Symphony in C, Clarion Music society, Ensemble 212, and New York Soloist Ensemble.

Alongside her solo and orchestra work, Ms. Kim has long been interested in chamber music and selected to participate and perform at Kneisel chamber music festival, Norfolk chamber music festival, Sarasota music festival, and Aspen music festival. Furthermore, she performed chamber works with Oberlin Conservatory faculty artists including Kyung Sun Lee, Darret Adkins and Peter Takacs in Cleveland area. Ms. Kim Kwon has also been invited to perform at Adonai Concert Series at Christ St. Stephen Church and Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in New York for 2016-2017 season, and Sonoma County Library Concert Series and Old St. Hilary's Landmark Concert in San Francisco area for 2018-2019 season.

As a dedicated educator, Ms. Kim Kwon has served as an adjunct faculty at the Pre-college division of Brooklyn College and Lucy Moses Music School at Kaufman Center for last 10 years.

Ms. Kim Kwon recently moved to Dallas area and started teaching at Rock Hill High School in Prosper ISD as a violin instructor. Ms. Kim Kwon currently resides in Frisco with her husband, two adorable daughters, and a baby girl expecting in November.

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Min Kyung Kim, piano

Korean Pianist Min Kyung Kim serves on piano faculty at Grayson College and doctoral candidate in Piano Performance and Music & Medicine under Joseph Banowetz and Dr. Kris Chesky at the University of North Texas. She completed her bachelor degree in Piano Performance at the Myongji University in South Korea and Master’s degree in Piano Performance with Joseph Banowetz at UNT. As a pianist, she was recently awarded as a first-prize winner at the 2018 Golden Classical Music Awards International Music Competition and first prize winner at the 2019 IMC International Piano and String Competition. She performed in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2018 and 2019. Ms. Kim and her colleague, Jake Moon has premiered and recorded a Complete Music for Piano Duo and Duet, Volume two of Dmitry Shostakovich for Toccata Classics in London in 2016. Praised by critics as “skillful reading and energized performances… clean articulation … they’re terrific together”, they were described as being “powerful advocates of the music and clearly had a ball…” by MusicWeb International. She is a Toccata Classics Artist.

Ms. Kim has also appeared in performances in the International Keyboard Institute & Festival in New York, United States International Duo Piano Competition in Colorado, and the 250th Anniversary of Mozart in Korea and numerous solo recitals and chamber recitals. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes in Korea and the United States including those held by Music Education News Competition, the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, the Ye Won University Competition, Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. She was recognized as an outstanding student in piano performance while at Myongji University and received the outstanding student scholarships. Throughout her master and doctoral studies, she has been the recipient of the James T. Rhea Scholarship, College of Music/USC Scholarship, Academic Achievement Scholarships and the Raupe Grant. Ms. Kim’s fascination with performing health issues has led her to explore relationships between musicians and their health problems. As a researcher, she is a current student researcher at the Texas Center for Performing Arts Health with Dr. Chesky. She presented a paper on memorizing problems and performance anxiety among pianists at the 2014 Performing Arts Medicine Association in Aspen, Colorado and the 2016 Federation of North Texas Area Universities.

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Hyun Jeong Helen Lee, violin

Hailed as being a "superior” and “excellent" violinist (Flint Journal), Hyun Jeong Helen Lee has captivated audiences throughout the United States, Canada and Asia. Leading into her conservatory studies, she attended the Interlochen Center of Arts in the summer of 2009. While there, she was concertmaster of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra for two terms. As a soloist, she has performed with the Chichibu Festival Orchestra, Royal Oak Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Conservatory String Ensemble as winner of the String Ensemble Concerto Competition. Helen was also a winner of Boston Conservatory's prestigious String Honors Competition.

Helen has performed in masterclasses for artists including Phillipe Quint, Jorja Fleezanis and Joseph Silverstein. She is a graduate of Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Markus Placci. Helen received an Artist Diploma in the John J. Cali School of Music Graduate Quartet-in-Residence program as a student of Weigang Li of the celebrated Shanghai Quartet. Recently, as part of the Peak Fellowship, she served as a Teaching Assistant and Assistant Chamber Music Coach at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.

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Hyejin Lee, violin

Violinist Hyejin Lee is dedicated to her career as both an active performer and a passionate professor. She was born in Daegu, South Korea where she began her musical studies at age eleven.

Hyejin Lee completed her doctoral degree in violin performance and minor in music and medicine at the University of North Texas having been awarded the University Graduate Scholarship, College of Music Scholarship, Anshel Brusilow Scholarship in Orchestral Studies, and The Lupe Murchison Foundation Scholarship. Ms. Lee received the University Graduate Scholarship at the University of Cincinnati where she completed her master’s degree in violin performance. She also received the Suzuki Method Violin Teacher Training Certification in Ohio.

Hyejin is a prize winner in numerous national and international music competitions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and South Korea, including the East Coast International Competition, American Protégé International Music Competition, New York International Competition, London Grand Prize Virtuoso International Competition, IMKA Music International Competition, Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition, Korea and Germany Association Competition, Seoul Shinye New Musician Music Competition, Korean Music Association Competition, Daegu Philharmonic Orchestra Competition, Daegu Catholic University Music Competition, and Daegu Music Association Competition.

She made a debut performance in Weill recital hall at Carnegie hall in 2018. She also was invited to perform in Stern Auditorium and Weill recital hall at Carnegie hall in 2019. Ms. Lee has attended the France Courchevel Music Alp International Festival, Russia Glinka Novosibirsk State Conservatory International Festival, and Italy Spoleto Music International festival.

She was a Teaching Artist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s Young Musicians Program and served as the first violinist at Richardson Symphony Orchestra and Sherman Symphony Orchestra. She also was a violin & viola instructor at Carrollton ISD and Frisco ISD, and a faculty at Music Institute of Texas and China Weihai Music International camp.

Hyejin Lee is currently an Adjunct Professor at Tarrant County College, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwestern Music Academy, and a member of Texas Community College Teachers Association, Texas Music Educators Association, and the American String Teachers Association.

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Jieun Lee, piano

Jieun Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and began piano studies at the age of six. She entered Sunhwa Arts Middle and High School in South Korea and made her orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Gangdong Symphony Orchestra in Seoul. During her undergraduate studies at Chugye University for the Arts, she received an honors scholarship for outstanding academic performance and has performed at the Ewon
Cultural Center, the Seoul Economic Daily Cheju Winter Festival, the J & R Music Festival, the 15th Annual Concert of Chugye University, and the Concertos night of Chugye University.

After moving to the United States in 2013, she won first prize at the Isabel Scionti competition, the Rose Petroff Foundation Piano Competition. In summer 2019, she won first prize at the Golden Classical International Music Competition and also won second prizes and Granados special mention at the IBLA International Competition and Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Competition in Ragusa, Italy. She was a recipient of the Korean American Foundation Scholarship, Academic Achievement scholarship, and
the Dean’s Camerata scholarship from the University of North Texas. She has performed at the Carnegie Hall, the Dallas Public Library, the PianoTexas International Piano Festival in Fort-Worth and International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York. She has also participated in the master classes of Jerome Rose, Victor Rosenbaum, Sean Chen, Tamás Ungár, Andrey Ponochevny, Billy Eidi, Herve Billaut, Massimo Somenzi and the Baumer String Quartet.

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Matthew Lewis, cello

Matthew Allen Lewis, Ph.D. studied mathematical physics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was a member of the University Circle Chamber Orchestra (for non-music majors) and local rock band thieves like us. He received his Ph.D. in Radiological Sciences in 2002 from UT Southwestern Medical Center, where today he serves on the faculty of the Department of Radiology as an image scientist working with emerging medical imaging modalities such as spectral CT and ultrasound tomography. In 2018, he enjoyed playing the liuto cantabile in the mandocello section of the Classical Mandolin Society of America En Masse Orchestra in Santa Rosa, California.

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Mallory McHenry, harp

Mallory McHenry is a Doctoral student at the University of Texas in Austin where she also obtained her Master of Music degree with concentration in Harp Performance in 2018. A member of the class of 2016, Mallory also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oakwood University, an HBCU located in Huntsville, Alabama.
Mallory has a love for premiering new works and has had the opportunity to work with several composers in creating new works for the harp. Offering masterclasses in harp composition, Mallory has appeared as a lecturer and guest artist at Andrews University, The University of Texas at Austin, Oakwood University, the University of Minnesota, The University of Northwestern St. Paul and several academies across the United States.

As an avid performer, Mallory has had the opportunity to be a member of the Omaha Area Youth Symphony, the Eastern Music Festival Orchestras, Oakwood University Symphony Orchestra, The University of Alabama Wind Ensemble, The University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and Harp Ensemble, the Butler Opera Center, as well as the Austin Civic Orchestra. She has made appearances with the Laredo Philharmonic and the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Mallory was also afforded the opportunity to perform on both ‘ABC’ and ‘NBC’ Television programs, as well as teaching and performing at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

Mallory was named a Young Artist in Residence with American Public Media’s program, Performance Today in 2019. She was the first harpist to air on the show. The program was recorded at Minnesota Public Radio and aired on local National Public Radio stations nation-wide. MPR has turned into a second home for Mallory. She will be returning as a founding member of the chamber group, e(L)ement for the academic school year 2020-2021 as a concert artist with their Class Notes series.

Being passionate about increasing diversity in the performing arts, Mallory also had the privilege of being an artist at the non-profit organization Challenge the Stats’ Atlanta Launch in February of 2018. Along these lines, Mallory’s doctoral research is dedicated to the music of African American female composers and their works. She is working to transcribe these beautiful pieces from original form to accommodate harp. She will then publish the transcriptions to be more accessible to the public.

Mallory now operates out of Austin, Texas where she works for the Austin District Music Teachers Association and runs the McHenry Suzuki Studio where she offers both harp and piano lessons and maintains an active performance schedule. She is forever grateful to her previous teachers and mentors, who have shaped her into the musician she is today

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Mark Miller, violin

Concertmaster of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra, violinist Mark Miller also performs with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and other area ensembles. He is a founder and president of Mount Vernon Music Association, a membership-based nonprofit devoted to bringing outstanding performances of classical, cultural and jazz chamber music to underserved audiences in rural Northeast Texas. He also co-directs the chamber series “The Color of Sound” at Texas A&M University – Commerce, where for eleven years he taught and performed as an Artist-in-Residence with his wife, violist Ute Miller, and the ensemble Duo Renard. Following studies at SUNY Purchase, Indiana University - Bloomington and Boston University, he studied with Jürgen Kussmaul in Germany, where he was assistant concertmaster in the Robert Schumann Kammerorchester of Düsseldorf and a member of the Orchester der Beethovenhalle Bonn.

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Ute Miller, viola

Ute Miller is the principal violist of the East Texas Symphony, performs frequently with the Dallas and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestras and has appeared as a soloist with the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. A founder and the Treasurer of Mount Vernon Music Association, Ute performs with her husband Mark in the violin-viola ensemble Duo Renard, which was brought to Texas with a National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residencies chamber music grant. She also produces the Color of Sound series at Texas A&M Commerce, where she was Artist-in-Residence. Ute’s musical studies include the prestigious Konzertexamen diploma from the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, and a year at Boston University as a student of Raphael Hillyer. In addition to playing with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, she served for seven years as assistant principal violist of the Gürzenich Orchester/Cologne Philharmonic, and for eight years as principal violist of the Dallas Opera Orchestra.

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Evan Mitchell, piano

Pianist Evan Mitchell's recent highlights include debuts on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series (Chicago), at Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), and at several major venues in Shanghai. He has played concerti with the symphony orchestras of Dallas and Fort Worth, among others, and collaborated in recital with such major figures as double bassist Gary Karr and clarinetist Corrado Giuffredi. In the 2016-17 season Evan soloing with the Sherman Symphony Orchestra (Brahms - Concerto No. 2), performing on Cliburn at the Modern concerts in both fall and spring, returning to Mount Vernon Music, and much more. Evan’s new recording with bassist Szymon Marciniak is earning rave reviews; most recently, Bass World called their performances “intoxicating,” deeming this “a seminal recording.” Evan is also featured on the 2012 release “Piano de Pampa y Jungla: A Collection of Latin American Piano Music.” Since June 2014 Evan has been a TCA Texas Touring Roster Artist, and over the past four years he has given more than 150 performances for Cliburn in the Classroom. Evan is recently completed his doctorate at Texas Christian University.
Visit his site: www.evanmitchell.net.

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Mount Vernon Music

Mount Vernon Music is a charitable organization that provides outstanding performances of live music to communities in northeast Texas - traditional chamber music, jazz and other styles as well as educational and family concerts.

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Yuri Noh, violin

As an active performer and thoughtful pedagogue, Dr. Yuri Noh has obtained significant experience as a teaching artist, soloist, and chamber and orchestra performer around the world, including Korea, Italy, Germany, and the US. She was born in South Korea, where she began her musical journey with the piano at the age of seven. After playing for three years, she transitioned to the violin. She has also played the viola and Baroque violin. Her first solo debut in South Korea was with the Dae-jin orchestra, where she performed Saint-Saëns's Violin Concerto No. 3.

After moving to the United States in 2012, she expanded her knowledge and artistic experience by participating in numerous music festivals, performances, and competitions in Italy, Germany, and the USA. Dr. Noh has performed at the Giardino del Teatro Olimpico and Teatro Comunale in Italy, and the Charles W. Eisemann Center, Moody Performance Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center, Murchison Performing Arts Center, Murphey Performance Hall, and Paul Voertman Concert Hall in the US. Recently, she performed as a winner of the Golden Classical International Music Competition at Carnegie Hall in New York.

As an orchestra performer, she has had a broad range of experiences. In 2014 and 2018, she served as concert master with the Round Top Festival Orchestra in the US and International Lyric Academy Symphony Orchestra in Italy. Currently, she serves as a sectional violin player with the Lewisville Lake Symphony and substitute violin player for the Abilene Philharmonic, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, Monroe Symphony Orchestra, and San Angelo Symphony Orchestra.

As a dedicated educator, Dr. Noh is passionate about teaching and working with students. She served as adjunct faculty at Dae-jin University in 2010. Currently, she is an instructor and conductor at the Wise Youth String Ensemble and string orchestra director at Immaculate Conception Catholic School. She is also a violin and viola instructor at Lewisville Independent School District in Texas. Many of her students have been accepted to the All-Region Orchestra or Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and received Exemplary and Superior ratings in the Solo and Ensemble Contest. Several students in her studio have also received acceptance letters and scholarships from music schools in Dallas and Iowa.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships throughout her violin career, including the College of Music Anshel Brusilow Scholarship and Academic Achievement Scholarship from Toulouse Graduate School at the University of North Texas (UNT). She is also a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, an American National Music Honor Society. Dr. Noh received a bachelor’s degree from Dae-jin University in South Korea, and a master’s degree from UNT in Violin Performance and Early Music. Recently, she earned a doctoral degree from UNT in Violin Performance and Orchestra Conducting. Under the tutelage of Bok-Hyun Kim, Felix Olschofka, Kyunghee Choi, Jeongkeuk Maeng, Clay Couturiaux, and Cynthia Roberts, as well as in master classes with Jan Dobrzelewski, Kirsten Yon, and Anton Miller, she has molded herself to be an artist, performer, and pedagogue.

Dr. Noh believes in the power of the music. She regards music, both performance and education, to be a worthwhile investment for all people around the world. As a result, she constantly strives to provide the opportunity to learn about and experience music to people of all ages.

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Gwendoline Pannetier, harp

Gwendoline Pannetier is a harpist and DMA student at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. She received her Post-graduate Diploma and Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Université de Montréal. She has studied with numerous international harpists and lecturers, including Heidi Awuy, Wei Lin Lin, Caroline Lizotte and Delaine Leonard.

Born in Lyon, France and growing up overseas, she is frequently involved in participating in various international concerts in Canada, United States, France, Italy, Spain, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Algeria, as a soloist, orchestra and chamber music player. Gwendoline has a particular passion in promoting new music and music from different cultures of the world.

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Sophia Jieun Park, violin

As an active solo violinist, Ms. Park has been awarded top prizes in the “Ohrid Pearls” International Competition for Young Musicians, Sun-Hwa National Competition and Nanpa Competition. She won a concerto competition at the Sofia National Music School, and performed with the Pazarjik Orchestra. As a soloist, she made appearances with other orchestras, including the Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra, Kenwood Symphony Orchestra and the Sofia Academic Orchestra. Furthermore, her performance and interview was introduced to MBC FM radio in Korea and Bearcast Media at the University of Cincinnati.

As a soloist and chamber musician, she performed at Carnegie Hall, Kilbourn Hall, Shanghai Conservatory Hall, Beijing University Hall, Czech Art Center and more.

Ms. Park earned a Bachelor of Music with a prestigious Performer’s Certificate at Eastman School of Music under Prof. Oleh Krysa. In addition, she was the recipient of the Howard Hanson Scholarship and Jemplis Scholarship. Ms. Park holds a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Performance Diploma from Indiana University, under Professor Grigory Kalinovsky. She was a recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award.

Sophia Jieun Park is a doctoral candidate in violin performance as her major and viola performance as a minor at University of Cincinnati-College-Conservatory of Music. Also, she was a member of Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Chapter at CCM.

As a contemporary musician, she participated performing in ensemble “Ossia” which is founded in Eastman School of Music where she performed for a recording of composer Michael Tenzer’s work.

She worked as a section violinist in numerous orchestras- Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, TIMF Orchestra, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic Orchestras, a sublist violinist at Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony Orchestra and more.

Currently, Sophia Jieun Park teaches at Tarleton State University as an adjunct professor of violin.

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Christopher Phillpott, viola da gamba

Praised in the Dallas Morning News for both his solo and accompanimental playing, Christopher Phillpott performs regularly on cello, baroque cello, and viola da gamba while maintaining a thriving studio in North Texas. He has performed with such ensembles as Dallas Bach Society, Lumedia Musicworks, Denton Bach Players, Orchestra of New Spain, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Tallahassee Bach Parley, the Early Music America Young Performer’s Festival Ensemble (Boston, MA), and for special events with the New England chapter of the Viola da Gamba Society of America.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance and a master’s degree in musicology from Texas Christian University, as well as an Early Music Certificate from the Florida State University. During his graduate studies at TCU and FSU, Mr. Phillpott researched and presented extensively on the emerging French cello repertoire of the early 18th century, having earned the Michael Winesanker Musicology Grant which allowed him to travel to and consult the collections of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He has presented for the Society for American Music and national and regional conferences for the American Musicological Society.

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Vincent Pierce, harp

Vincent Pierce teaches harp at the University of Texas - Permian Basin, and Odessa College, and is principal harpist of the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale. Vincent was the director of the harp program for Ector County ISD in Odessa, Texas from 2014-2019. Vincent holds a BME degree from Baylor University and an MM degree in harp performance from UT Austin, where he is currently pursuing a DMA. He is president of the Austin Chapter of the American Harp Society and is the South Central Regional Director and board member for the AHS. He has been a clinician for the Texas Music Educators Association and the American Harp Society.

Vincent has performed in several countries – first in China in 2012 as a member of the Austin based band The Noise Revival Orchestra, and in 2014 throughout Asia and Europe as a member of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble on their world tour, under the direction of Jerry Junkin. He has also been an official South by Southwest artist, performed with the Dallas Winds, and marched in the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Parade. In the summer of 2008, he studied with Jeanne Chalifoux in Alexandria, Virginia, and in the summer of 2018, Vincent studied with Metropolitan Opera principal harpist Emmanuel Ceysson at the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice in the south of France.

He is past-resident and a founding member of the West Texas Harp Society, a chapter of the American Harp Society, Inc. While serving as president of the WTHS he brought several guest artists to Odessa, including Russian harpist Sasha Boldachev and past AHS Concert Artist Abigail Kent, through grants from Odessa Arts and the AHS.

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Luis Sanchez, piano

For over two decades, pianist Luis Sanchez has maintained an active career as soloist, collaborative artist, and teacher. He has appeared in concerts in the United States, South America, Europe, and Asia. He is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Head of Keyboard Studies at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Dr. Sanchez joined the Steinway Artist Roster in 2012.

Praised for his artistry, dazzling technique, and inspiring performances, Luis Sanchez has presented recitals and master classes at Steinway Hall in London, Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), Sala delle Muse at the Teatro Petruzzelli (Bari, Italy), Chiesa di Sant’Agnese in Agnone (Rome, Italy), National Cheng Kung University (Taiwan), the Grieg Academy (Bergen, Norway), the Norwegian Academy of Music (Oslo, Norway), Hangyang University (Seoul, South Korea), the Piano Concert Series International (Louisiana), and throughout the United States. He has also been featured soloist with the Orchestra of New Spain (Dallas), Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ball State Symphony Orchestra, and with the Texas A&M University-Commerce Wind Ensemble.

Luis Sanchez enjoys a successful teaching career. Current and former students have been recipient of prizes at national and state competitions including the Texas Music Teachers Association Performance Contest, the National Young Musicians Showcase Competition, the Muncie Symphony Junior Concerto Competition, the Tuesday Musical Club Young Artist Competition in San Antonio, The UT Arlington Competition Festival, among others. Additionally, his students have been accepted at numerous summer programs including Piano Texas, Chautauqua Piano Program, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, International Masterclasses and Festival in Moulin d’Ande (France). He thoroughly enjoys teaching a diverse group of students from different corners of the United States as well as from Venezuela, Colombia, China, Bulgaria, Russia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Colombia, and South Korea. In 2014 and 2015, he joined the piano faculty of the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival in Germany.

He has been a frequent presenter at the Texas Music Teachers Association Convention, the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society Conclaves, the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities, and national and regional College Music Society Conferences. Dr. Sanchez has served as an adjudicator for numerous competitions and festivals, including the SAI Piano Competition at the Chautauqua Summer Institution, Musicfest Northwest (Spokane, WA), and Music Teachers National Association, among others. In 2009 and 2012, he was served as examiner of the International Piano Performance Examination Committee in Taiwan.

Equally at home with the fortepiano and the modern piano, Dr. Sanchez pursued further studies in fortepiano and XVIII century performance practice with Malcolm Bilson, Andrew Willis, and Liv Glaser (Oslo, Norway). In 2012, he was commissioned to write an article on Phil Belt (American builder of fortepianos) for the New Grove Dictionary of American Music and Early Music America.

In 2012, he was recipient of the Junior Faculty Research Award and the Provost Research Award at Texas A&M University-Commerce. In addition to several career grants and an American Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship, he has received numerous awards, including the Jrimian Young Artist Competition, Centro de Estudios Pianísticos Auditions, Fort Wayne Philharmonic Young Artist Competition, Ball State University Concerto Competition, and Indiana Music Teachers Association. Born in Argentina, Dr. Sanchez holds degrees from the National Conservatory of Music “Carlos López Buchardo” and Ball State University. His teachers include Ana Litovsky-Grunwald, Graciela Beretervide, Robert Palmer, and Rebecca Penneys.

Dr. Sanchez’s CD “A Piano Recital” is available on www.cdbaby.com, www.amazon.com, and can be downloaded on ITunes. For additional information and engagements, follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit www.sanchezpianist.com.

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Leslie Spotz, piano

Leslie Spotz, as Professor of Piano at Tarleton State University, received the 2017 Texas Music Teachers Association “Outstanding Collegiate Teaching Achievement” Award.

As winner of the 2017 TSU College of Liberal and Fine Arts Faculty Excellence in Research and Creative Activities Award, Spotz enjoys an international performing career that spans four continents and four decades, and has included solo performances in Moscow at Tchaikovsky Hall of Moscow University, South Bank Center of London, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the famed Academy of Music in Philadelphia, her highly acclaimed tours of Germany, concerts in Italy at the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute, solo recitals in Taiwan and Brazil, and her performance at the inaugural opening of Philadelphia’s magnificent performance venue, the Kimmel Center.

Recent seasons have included solo recitals throughout Texas, Rio de Janeiro and Il Encontro Internacional de Pianistas de Brazil and performances at the Music by Women Festival at Mississippi University for Women. In 2015 she performed solo recitals in New York City’s Tenri Cultural Institute, Indiana Wesleyan University, Dallas Public Library, and chamber music concerts in Dallas, TX, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, and Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. She returned to New York and the Tenri Cultural Institute with colleague, Heather Hawk, soprano, for the Leschetizky Association Annual Living Composers Concert May, 2016. She returned to Italy in June 2013 for performances at the Conservatorio di Milano and the Ambrosianeum Foundation. Also, in June 2013 she performed in Buenes Aires, Argentina with soprano Marika Kyriakos and returned to London in May 2011. February 2010 included an all-Chopin Bicentennial recital in New York City. December 2010 she returned to Germany in a solo recital at the Heilig–Kreuz–Kirche in Berlin. Hailed by the prestigious Süddeutsche Zeitung of Munich, Spotz’ Beethoven was described thus: “Stripped of veneer, revealing all the edges and corners, Spotz earnestly confronted Beethoven’s tempi and dynamic indications, leaving mediocrity and shallow beauty behind and bringing out truth. In all, a concert of the highest critical standard, further proof of the high carat quality of this series.” Spotz has performed extensively throughout the U.S. from coast to coast. Concert highlights include her 2007 performance at Tarleton as soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony, performances of twenty Beethoven Sonatas at Rutgers University and her recitals for the Bach Festival of Philadelphia.

Receiving a full scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music, Spotz studied for five years with the legendary, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, part of the heritage that is only three musicians-students-teachers away from Beethoven. She completed her doctorate at Rutgers University in 2002. Her appearances as soloist include the Mozart Society of Philadelphia, South Jersey Symphony, Curtis Symphony, Kinhaven Symphony in Vermont, the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra in North Carolina, the Old York Road Symphony in Abington, PA, and the Clear Lake Symphony in Texas. March 2013 she was soloist with the University of Texas – San Antonio Symphony.

Spotz has become an advocate for women musicians through her performances, collaborating with flutist Adeline Tomasone on the critically acclaimed CD Fantasias, and women composers are featured on her solo CD, issued by Leonore Records in 1999. Published recordings also include the three sets of 5 CDs each of solo piano literature, representing the repertoire for 13 graded levels, 2019-2021, 2016-2018 and 2010-2012 for the International Piano Performance Examination Committee (IPPEC) based in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. She has collaborated with violinists: Maria Bachmann, Joseph Genualdi, and Mark Steinberg; flutist Laurel Zucker; David Wetherill, former co-principal horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Frank Kaderabek, former principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra; and Joseph Depasquale, who was longtime principal viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Among the notable international singers for whom Spotz has accompanied are sopranos Heather Hawk, Amanda Squitieri, Julianne Baird, Gwendolyn Bradley, Judith Lovat and Donna Connolly, and tenors Martin Dillon and Robert Guarino. According to the The Philadelphia Inquirer, "Miss Spotz commands the resonant sound and the elegant gesture… playing of great color, boldness, and suavity… most engaging…"

video links: http://www.tarleton.edu/playpiano
http://www.tarleton.edu/singvoice

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Texas Flute Society

The Texas Flute Society is a non-profit organization organized for the purpose and objectives as follows: to further the activities and education of flutists in North Central Texas, to sponsor concerts, workshops, clinics, masterclasses, and festivals at which members and guest artists can perform and disseminate information, and to direct our efforts toward cultural and educational values in and for the general community, striving for activities with a public interest wider than that of members and contributors. The Texas Flute Society is organized exclusively for charitable and educational purposes.

The Texas Flute Society has been serving flutists, their families, and friends in north central Texas for over 30 years. Initially formed as a club of flute teachers working together to provide activities for their students around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, the Texas Flute Society is now nationally known as an outstanding regional flute organization that puts on an annual festival that is larger in size and scope than any other regional flute event in the U.S.

In addition to the annual festival, the Texas Flute Society also sponsors between three and six other events throughout the year. Some are clinics directed towards one level or age-group (e.g., advanced high school students), while others are concerts or master classes that have wide appeal to flutists of all ages and skill levels. The Texas Flute Society publishes several newsletters throughout the year with informative articles and maintains a website that helps keep the members and area flutists informed. For more information, please visit www.texasflutesociety.org, or follow us on Facebook or Instagram @texasflutesoc.

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Julee Kim Walker, flute

A native Houstonian, flutist Julee Kim Walker remains an active performer and pedagogue in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. She is Associate Professor of Flute at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Prior to her appointment, she held teaching positions at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Grayson College, Eastfield College, and the University of North Texas. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her Master’s degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She received the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas. She is Artistic Director of the annual Texas Summer Flute Symposium.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Dallas Asian Wind Ensemble, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Southeastern Symphonic Winds, Texas A&M University-Commerce Wind Ensemble and Banda Sinfônica de Cubatão in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Julee has also performed with notable flutists such as Ian Clarke, Amy Porter, Christina Jennings and Carol Wincenc.

Recent engagements include a Texas tour with the Texas Guitar Quartet, performance at the World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia, and recitals and masterclasses in Shanghai, China and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Overseas, she was flutist for the Austrian American Mozart Academy Opera Festival in Salzburg, Austria for 4 seasons, and also performed as Principal flutist with the Franco-American Vocal Academy Opera Festival in Perigueux, France, and the Red River Lyric Opera Festival in Wichita Falls, TX.

An esteemed teacher, Dr. Walker was the 2016 recipient of the Paul W. Barrus Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, and is sought-after as a clinician, adjudicator, and for masterclasses and lectures all over the world, including University of North Texas, CU Boulder, Florida State University, Shanghai Normal University in China, and the Guri Project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

As an adjudicator, Dr. Walker has adjudicated for the UIL Texas State Solo and Ensemble Competition, Sigma Alpha Iota Triennial, the Mid-South Flute Society, Houston Flute Club, Oklahoma Flute Society, TMTA and MTNA competitions, the Texas Flute Society’s Myrna Brown competition and the National Flute Association’s Professional Flute Choir and Newly Published Music competitions. Dr. Walker currently serves as the President of the Texas Flute Society, and serves on the NFA Diversity and Inclusion Committee.

Dr. Walker has performed with The Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Fort Worth Symphony, Dallas Chamber Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, South Arkansas Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Sherman Symphony, The Dallas Winds, Lyric Stage and Abilene Philharmonic. Her principal teachers include Terri Sundberg, Tim Day, Karl Kraber, Christina Jennings, September Payne, Helen Blackburn, and Elizabeth McNutt.

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Caroline Wilkins, harp

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Grace Kang Wollett, violin

Violinist Grace Kang Wollett is the acting assistant concertmaster of The Dallas Opera Orchestra. Born in South Korea, Grace began her violin studies at the age of eight in Nottingham, England. Grace moved to New York City by herself at the age of fourteen to pursue her dream of becoming a professional violinist. Since then, Grace has performed extensively all over the globe, including venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, Al Hussein Cultural Center, Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall NYC and DFW, Dallas City Performance Hall, The Winspear Opera House, and even The Grand Ol Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Grace received her Bachelor and Master of Music from The Juilliard School under the tutelage of the late Stephen Clapp. Grace currently resides in Plano, TX with her husband Scott and children Jonny and Maddie.

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Jeongmi Yoon, piano

A native of South Korea, Jeongmi Yoon has performed as a soloist with the Chonnam University Orchestra and the Poland Katowice Silesian Philharmonic Orchestra. She has received top prizes in numerous competitions in Korea, including those bestowed by the Kumho Concert,
the Music Teachers Association of Gwangju, the Honam Art Festival, the Gwangju University Competition, and the Chonnam University Concerto Competition.

In 2011, Ms. Yoon was an alternate winner in the MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition in Oregon State, a finalist in the Carmel Music Society Piano Competition in 2013, and Petri Scholarship Competition in 2015. Jeongmi has participated in masterclasses with Richard Goode, Gilbert Kalish, Choong-Mo Kang, Julian Martin, Arnaldo Cohen, and Natalya Antonova.

She received a Master of Music in Piano Performance while serving as a Teaching Assistant for both choral and opera productions at Portland State University, and received a Bachelor of Music from Chonnam National University in Korea. Currently, Ms. Yoon is pursuing a D.M.A in Piano Performance at the University of North Texas under the distinguished tutelage of Professor Joseph Banowetz. In addition to her doctoral studies, Ms. Yoon held a Teaching Assistant position serving as a collaborative pianist under the baton of UNT Choral Director Dr. Allen Hightower in 2018-2020 and currently serves as a Teaching Fellow working with a variety of singers and instrumentalists as part of her collaborative duties.

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Performers from past seasons:

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

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