February 17, 2021
Music Director David Lockington and the Pasadena Symphony announce the 2020/21 Pasadena Presents Spring Season of five online concerts, beginning February 27 through May 22, 2021. The spring series continues the format of the orchestra’s online offering of chamber music with a twist, with each concert featuring a renowned guest artist performing a popular concerto in recital, and Pasadena Symphony musicians performing chamber music masterpieces. The spring season brings larger ensembles to the stage, with Music Director David Lockington now conducting in addition to hosting Insights for each concert, where he shares exclusive behind the music stories, musician interviews and more. All concerts are recorded at the Pasadena Symphony’s home, Ambassador Auditorium, and premiere at 4pm on its broadcast date, available to stream for 48 hours to the general public, or with unlimited on-demand access for members.
Each Pasadena Presents concert is artistically inspired by the previously scheduled symphonic concerts, and will deliver the high quality musical experience patrons have come to expect from the Pasadena Symphony. Lockington kicks off the spring season on February 27th with the return of acclaimed violinist Chee-Yun on Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and members of the orchestra performing Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings. Musicians from the orchestra’s string section take center stage for Bach | Puccini | Mozart on March 13, with Music Director David Lockington also performing on Milhaud’s Sonatine for Violin and Cello.
Award-winning Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez brings Grieg’s hugely popular Piano Concerto on March 27, along with pieces by two British composers – Finzi’s Eclogue and Elgar’s whimsical Serenade. Russian passion meets the French impressionist soundscape as internet sensation Valentina Lisitsa delivers Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 on May 1 along with works by Debussy and Ravel. The Pasadena Symphony continues its legacy of showcasing the stars of tomorrow here today by closing the season with the rare gem of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto performed by three soloists from the Colburn School, with Hye-Jin Kim on violin, James Baik on cello and the dual talent of pianist and violinist Ray Ushikubo on piano.
All Pasadena Presents concerts are free to the general public, premiering on their broadcast date at 4pm and available for 48 hours. Concerts can be viewed at pasadenasymphony-pops.org or on the Pasadena Symphony’s YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/ThePasadenaSymphony. For a minimum donation of $100, Pasadena Presents members receive unlimited on-demand access and other exclusive perks including bonus material and interactive opportunities with artists. For information and ticketing options, please visit https://pasadenasymphony-pops.org/pasadena-presents/ or call (626) 793-7172.
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
February 27 at 4pm
David Lockington, conductor
Chee-Yun, violin
Hsin-I Huang, piano
Musicians from the Pasadena Symphony
Mendelssohn Octet for Strings
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto
Bach | Puccini | Mozart
March 13 at 4pm
David Lockington, conductor & cello
Amy Hershberger, solo violin
Sara Parkins, violin
Aroussiak Baltaian, violin I
Vivian Wolf, violin II
Qiang Wang, viola
Judith Henderson, cello
Mozart Divertimento in D major
Puccini The Chrysanthemums
Milhaud Sonatine for Violin and Cello
Bach Sonata for Violin Solo No. 2
Grieg Piano Concerto
March 27 at 4pm
David Lockington, conductor
Gabriela Martinez, piano
Hsin-I Huang, piano
Musicians from the Pasadena Symphony
Finzi Eclogue for Piano and Strings
Elgar Serenade for Strings
Grieg Piano Concerto
Prokofiev Piano Concert No. 3
May 1 at 4pm
David Lockington, conductor
Valentina Lisitsa, piano
Hsin-I Huang, piano
Musicians from the Pasadena Symphony
Wagner Prelude to Tristan & Isolde
Debussy Danses Sacrée et Profane
Ravel Introduction & Allegro
Prokofiev Piano Concert No. 3
Beethoven Triple
May 22 at 4pm
David Lockington, conductor
Ray Ushikubo, violin
Hye-Jin Kim, piano
James Baik, cello
Musicians from the Pasadena Symphony
Poulenc Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Lockington Offering
Mark Saltzman Meditation for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Beethoven Triple Concerto
The Pasadena Symphony Association
Recent Acclaim for the Pasadena Symphony and POPS:
“The Pasadena Symphony signals a new direction…teeming with vitality…dripping with opulent, sexy emotion.” – Los Angeles Times.
“In his five years leading the PSO, Lockington has taken an ensemble that was already quite good and elevated it into one where excellence is the byword.” – Pasadena Star News.
Formed in 1928, the Pasadena Symphony and POPS is an ensemble of Hollywood’s most talented, sought after musicians. With extensive credits in the film, television, recording and orchestral industry, the artists of Pasadena Symphony and POPS are the most heard in the world.
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS performs in two of the most extraordinary venues in the United States: Ambassador Auditorium, known as the Carnegie Hall of the West, and the luxuriant Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden. Internationally recognized, Grammy-nominated conductor, David Lockington, serves as the Pasadena Symphony Association’s Music Director, with performance-practice specialist Nicholas McGegan serving as Principal Guest Conductor. The multi-platinum-selling, two-time Emmy and five-time Grammy Award-nominated entertainer dubbed “The Ambassador of the Great American Songbook,” Michael Feinstein, is the Principal Pops Conductor, who succeeded Marvin Hamlisch in the newly created Marvin Hamlisch Chair.
A hallmark of its robust education programs, the Pasadena Symphony Association has served the youth of the region for over five decades through the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestras (PYSO), comprised of five performing ensembles with 300 gifted 4th-12th grade students from more than 50 schools all over the Southern California region. The PYSO has toured internationally at prestigious venues in New York, Vienna, and most recently San Jose, Costa Rica. They regularly perform throughout Southern California and have appeared on the popular television show GLEE.
The PSA provides people from all walks of life with powerful access points to the world of symphonic music.
-end-
David Lockington
Music Director
David Lockington began his career as a cellist and was the Principal with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cambridge where he was a choral scholar, Mr. Lockington came to the United States on a scholarship to Yale University where he received his Master’s Degree in cello performance and studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and served as assistant principal cellist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra for three years before turning to conducting.
Over the past thirty years, David Lockington has developed an impressive conducting career in the United States. A native of Great Britain, he served as the Music Director of the Grand Rapids Symphony from January 1999 to May 2015, and is currently the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate. He has held the position of Music Director with the Modesto Symphony since May 2007 and in March 2013, Mr. Lockington was appointed Music Director of the Pasadena Symphony. He has a close relationship with the Orquesta Sinfonica del Principado de Asturias in Spain, where he was the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor from 2012 through 2016, and in the 15/16 season was named one of three Artistic Partners with the Northwest Sinfonietta in Tacoma, Washington.
In addition to his current posts, since his arrival to the United States in 1978 Mr. Lockington has held positions with several other American orchestras, including serving as Assistant Conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra and Opera Colorado, and Assistant and Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In May 1993 he accepted the position of Music Director of the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, assumed the title of Music Director of the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in September 1995 and was Music Director of the Long Island Philharmonic for the 96/97 through 99/2000 seasons.
Mr. Lockington’s guest conducting engagements include appearances with the Saint Louis, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Oregon and Phoenix symphonies; the Rochester and Louisiana Philharmonics; and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has conducted the Northern Sinfonia in Great Britain, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra in Beijing and Taiwan,and led the English Chamber Orchestra on a tour in Asia.
Recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include appearances with the New Jersey, Indianapolis, Utah, Pacific, Colorado, Nashville, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Stamford, Tucson and Kansas City symphonies, the Florida and Louisville Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa and the Buffalo, Calgary and Oklahoma Philharmonics. Mr. Lockington’s summer festival activities include appearances at the Grand Teton, Colorado Music, Interlochen, Chautauqua and Eastern Music festivals.
David Lockington began his career as a cellist and was the Principal with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain for two years. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Cambridge where he was a choral scholar, Mr. Lockington came to the United States on a scholarship to Yale University where he received his Master’s Degree in cello performance and studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller. He was a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and served as assistant principal cellist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra for three years before turning to conducting.
Chee-Yun
Violin
Violinist Chee-Yun’s flawless technique, dazzling tone, and compelling artistry have enraptured audiences on five continents. Charming, charismatic, and deeply passionate about her art, Chee-Yun continues to carve a unique place for herself in the ever-evolving world of classical music.
Chee-Yun has performed with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. Orchestral highlights include her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and Japan with the NHK Symphony, a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national television, and a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Avery Fisher Hall. Chee-Yun has performed with such distinguished conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Jaap van Zweden, Manfred Honeck, Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Giancarlo Guerrero, José Luis Gomez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and Carlos Kalmar. She has appeared with the Toronto, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, and National symphony orchestras, as well as with the Saint Paul and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. Other orchestral engagements include performances with the Orquesta Sinfonia Nacional and the Mobile and Pasadena Symphonies, in addition to appearances with the National Philharmonic, Colorado and Pacific Symphonies, and the Tucson, Detroit, and Pensacola symphony orchestras. A champion of contemporary music, Chee-Yun has performed Christopher Theofanidis’ Violin Concerto conducted by David Alan Miller as part of the Albany Symphony’s American Festival, in addition to performing Kevin Puts’ Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
As a recitalist, Chee-Yun has performed in many major U.S. cities, including New York, Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Career highlights include appearances at the Kennedy Center’s “Salute to Slava” gala honoring Mstislav Rostropovich and with the Mostly Mozart Festival on tour in Japan, as well as a performance with Michael Tilson Thomas in the inaugural season of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the U.S. premiere of Penderecki’s Sonata No. 2 with pianist Barry Douglas. In 2016, Chee-Yun performed as a guest artist for the Secretary General at the United Nations in celebration of Korea’s National Foundation Day and the 25th anniversary of South Korea joining the UN. Other career highlights include recitals in St. Paul, Buffalo, Omaha, Scottsdale, and Washington, D.C., duo recitals with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, a recital tour with pianist Alessio Bax, and a performance at American Ballet Theatre’s fall gala. Firmly committed to chamber music, Chee-Yun has toured with Music from Marlboro and appears frequently with Spoleto USA, a project she has been associated with since its inception. Additional chamber music appearances include performances at the Ravinia, Aspen, Bravo! Vail Valley, La Jolla, Caramoor, Green Music, Santa Fe, Orcas Island, Hawaii Performing Arts, and Bridgehampton festivals in the U.S.; the Great Mountains Music Festival in South Korea; the Clandeboye Festival with Camerata Ireland in Northern Ireland; the Opera Theatre and Music Festival in Lucca, Italy; the Colmar Festival in France; the Beethoven and Penderecki festivals in Poland; and the Kirishima Festival in Japan.
Chee-Yun has received exceptional acclaim as a recording artist since the release of her debut album of virtuoso encore pieces in 1993. Her recording of Penderecki’s Violin Concerto No. 2 on Naxos was acclaimed as “an engrossing, masterly performance” (The Strad) and “a performance of staggering virtuosity and musicality” (American Record Guide). Her releases on the Denon label include Mendelssohn’s E-minor Violin Concerto, Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto No. 5, Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole and Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 with the London Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Lopez-Cobos, and violin sonatas from Debussy, Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Szymanowski, Brahms and Strauss. Two compilation discs, Vocalise d’amour and The Very Best of Chee-Yun, feature highlights of Chee-Yun’s earlier recordings. In 2007, Chee-Yun recorded the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Camerata Ireland, pianist Barry Douglas, and cellist Andrés Diaz for Satirino Records. In 2008, Decca/Korea released Serenata Notturno, an album of light classics that went platinum within six months of its release.
Chee-Yun has performed frequently on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has been featured on KTV, a children’s program on the cable network CNBC, A Prairie Home Companion, Public Radio International, and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the world. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge’s Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Atlanta’s Spivey Hall concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO’s hit series Curb Your Enthusiasm. A short documentary film about Chee-Yun, “Chee- Yun: Seasons on the Road,” premiered in 2017 and is available on YouTube.
Chee-Yun’s first public performance at age eight took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5 in a Young People’s Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and a year later she became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips, and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School.
In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, Chee-Yun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and as Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at the Indiana University School of Music. From 2007 to 2017, she served as Artist-in-Residence and Professor of Violin at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Chee-Yun plays a violin made by Francesco Ruggieri in 1669. It is rumored to have been buried with a previous owner for 200 years and has been profiled by the Washington Post.
Gabriela Martinez
Piano
Versatile, daring and insightful, Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez is establishing a reputation both nationally and internationally for the lyricism of her playing, her compelling interpretations, and her elegant stage presence.
Amplified Soul, her debut solo album released by Delos Records, features a wide-ranging program including works by Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, and Szymanowski. The album also pays homage to acclaimed composers Mason Bates and Dan Visconti, whose title selection Amplified Soul (world premiere recording), was written for Ms. Martinez. She collaborated with Grammy Award-winning producer David Frost on the album. A music video of Visconti’s Amplified Soul can be found on Ms. Martinez’s YouTube Channel.
Since making her orchestral debut at age 7, Ms. Martinez has played with such distinguished orchestras as the San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, New Jersey, Tucson, West Michigan, Pacific and Fort Worth symphonies; Germany’s Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, MDR Rundfunkorchester, Nürnberger Philharmoniker, and MDR Leipzig Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; Canada’s Victoria Symphony Orchestra; the Costa Rica National Symphony; and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela. Recent season highlights include a concerto engagements with the Colorado Music Festival, the Buffalo, Boulder, Dayton and National philharmonic orchestras, and the Jacksonville, Delaware, Akron, La Crosse, Modesto, Rogue Valley, Springfield (MO), Topeka, and Wichita symphony orchestras.
In the 2018-19 season she performed with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Waco Symphony, and ROCO (Houston, TX). Her 2019-20 engagements included the Charlotte, Grand Rapids and Richardson symphonies, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, and the Boise and Dayton philharmonic orchestras. Scheduled for 2020-21 are engagements with the Symphony of Southeast Texas and the Richmond (VA) Symphony.
She has performed with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, James Gaffigan, James Conlon, Marcelo Lehninger and Guillermo Figueroa, among many others, and at such esteemed venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Merkin Hall, and Alice Tully Hall; the Broad Stage in Santa Monica; the El Paso Pro Musica and Kansas City Harriman-Jewell series; Canada’s Glenn Gould Studio; Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus; Dresden’s Semperoper; Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens; and Paris’s Palace of Versailles. Her festival credits include the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Rockport festivals in the United States; Italy’s Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto); Switzerland’s Verbier Festival; the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier; and Japan’s Tokyo International Music Festival.
Her wide-ranging career includes world premieres of new music, live performance broadcasts, and interviews on TV and radio. Ms. Martinez’s performances have been featured on National Public Radio, CNN, PBS, 60 Minutes, ABC, From the Top, Radio France, WQXR and WNYC (New York), MDR Kultur and Deutsche Welle (Germany), NHK (Japan), RAI (Italy), and on numerous television and radio stations in Venezuela.
Ms. Martinez was the First Prize winner of the Anton G. Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden, and a semifinalist at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where she also received the Jury Discretionary Award. She began her piano studies in Caracas with her mother, Alicia Gaggioni, and attended The Juilliard School, where she earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees as a full scholarship student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. Ms. Martinez was a fellow of Carnegie Hall’s The Academy, and a member of Ensemble Connect (formerly known as Ensemble ACJW), while concurrently working on her doctoral studies with Marco Antonio de Almeida in Halle, Germany.
Valentina LisitsaPiano
Ray Ushikubo
Piano
Nineteen-year-old Japanese-American pianist and violinist Ray Ushikubo has performed on the stages of Carnegie Hall and Walt Disney Concert Hall, and appeared on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Since his solo orchestral debut at age ten with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra in Los Angeles’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ushikubo has soloed with the Fort Collins, Hilton Head, Modesto, Pasadena, and San Diego Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Buffalo, Los Angeles, Reno, and Westchester Philharmonic Orchestras. A recipient of the prestigious Davidson Fellow Laureate Award in 2014, Ushikubo was named a Young Steinway Artist and won the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he soloed with the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra.
During the 2020-2021 season, Ushikubo has recorded Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra led by Maestro Rafael Payare, and will be recording Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Maestro JoAnn Falletta. In recent years, Ushikubo has often performed both piano and violin in the same concert. Having worked with renowned conductors such as Paolo Bortolameolli, Laura Jackson, Jeffrey Kahane, Wes Kenney, David Lockington, Sameer Patel, and John Morris Russell, Ushikubo performed and conducted from the piano Bach Keyboard Concerto No. 1 with the Academy Virtuosi Orchestra at the Colburn School. Ushikubo has also collaborated with pianist Lang Lang in Orange County’s Segerstrom Concert Hall and with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet on the international radio broadcast Radio France. Ushikubo was featured as a Young Artist in Residence of the national radio broadcast Performance Today with Host Fred Child, and he has been featured several times on the nationally syndicated radio program From the Top where he was named one of their Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists. He has also been a featured speaker on TEDx Redmond.
Ushikubo loves to perform in a variety of settings. He reunited with the crew of From the Top for a collaboration with Kevin Olusola, member of the Grammy award-winning group Pentatonix. In August 2015, he made a special appearance as piano and violin soloist in a concert presented by Grand Performances in Los Angeles. The program featured Ushikubo performing traditional classical works alongside jazz pianist Alfredo Rodriguez and electronic musician Daedalus, who “remixed” improvised versions of the classical works, crossing the genres of classical, electronic music, and jazz. He has performed as violin soloist in the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2014 Gala “StradFest,” with the New West Symphony as part of their Symphonic Adventures Program, and for the opening concert of the 2017 La Jolla Music Society SummerFest. He performed as piano soloist at the Los Angeles Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) for a peace ceremony honoring Hiroshima atomic bomb victims, which also featured the acclaimed singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. He has appeared as guest artist on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes It Great? series at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, on San Diego’s Mainly Mozart’s series Mozart & the Mind, at the Griffith Observatory as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Immortal Beloved celebration, where he performed Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
A 2014 Davidson Fellow Laureate, Ushikubo was awarded $50,000 by the Davidson Institute for his music project “Circle of Life in Music.” Having won the 2017 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the 2016 Piano Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival and School, he has also won first prize at the 2015 Steinway Concerto Competition, the Young Artists Piano Prize at the 2013 Mondavi Young Artists Competition, and the 2012 Steinway Prize for the best performance of a Beethoven Sonata. Ushikubo studies at the Curtis Institute of Music for his Bachelor’s degree, where he studies piano with Gary Graffman and Robert McDonald and violin with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank. Ushikubo’s hobbies include watching movies, listening to heavy metal, and driving cars.
Hye-Jin Kim
Violin
Praised by critics for her “passionate…polished and expressive” performances, pianist HyeJin Kim is one of South Korea’s most thrilling young classical stars. Born in Seoul, she began playing piano at age five, and later enrolled at the prestigious Yewon Arts School. She furthered her studies in Germany, earning her master of art in musical art as a “Konzertexamen” (highest distinction) from Berlin’s Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler. She recently received an artist diploma at the Colburn School in its Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Fabio Bidini.
Ms. Kim has received numerous awards including prizes at the 2008 Hong Kong International Piano Competition, DAAD Prize, Steinway & Sons Advancement Award Competition, and Toronto International Piano Competition. She has performed and toured with numerous orchestras such as the Russian State Philharmonic, Konzerthaus Orchester, Pacific Symphony Orchestra, Praha Broadcast and Budapest Symphony Orchestras; Bohuslav Martinů, Seoul, Dae-jeon, Pilsen, and Moravian Philharmonic Orchestras; the State Symphony Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Nürnberger Symphoniker, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and the Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester. She has worked with noted conductors including Eliahu Inbal, Carl St. Clair, Christoph Poppen, Achim Fiedler, Yehuda Gilad, Tomáš Hanus, Shi-yeon Sung, Dae Jin Kim, Jiri Malat, and Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
Ms. Kim has been invited to participate in international venues and music festivals including the Konzerthaus of Berlin, Herkulessaal of Munich, Rudolfinum/Dvorak Hall and Smetana Hall of Prague, Seoul Arts Center, Marvão Music Festival, Napa Valley Festival, Klavier Festival Ruhr, Korea Symphony Festival, Cesky Krumlov Festival, Praha Spring Festival, and Kotor Arts Festival, among others. Ms. Kim has participated in master classes with artists such as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jerome Rose, Robert McDonald, Aquiles Delle Vigne, Bernd Geotzke, John O’Connor, Arnold Steinhardt, Clive Greensmith, Martin Beaver, Robert Lipsett and the Opus One Quartet.
Ms. Kim made her major label debut in 2013 with her recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, with the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra led by Eduard Topchjan, on Sony Classical. In 2016, Ms. Kim made her Carnegie Hall recital debut performing music of Scarlatti, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Barber, and Gershwin. She made her west coast debut with George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with MUSE/IQUE.
Hye-Jin Kim is a faculty member of the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts and is a resident artist with the Salastina Music Society.
James Baik
Cello
James Baik is the 2019 First Prize winner of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition. At the start of his senior year James moved to Chicago from Houston to study with Hans Jørgen Jensen and further his cello studies. He now attends New Trier High School in Winnetka IL. James began playing the piano at the age of six, and cello at eight in Houston, TX. He made his solo debut appearance in spring 2015 with the Houston Civic Symphony Orchestra and the Clear Lake Symphony as a winner of their concerto competitions. Later that year, James was featured on the cover of the October issue of Southwestern Musician, and soloed at Lila Crockett Theater during the Texas Music Educators Association conference. Selected as a Houston Young Artist, James frequently performed in community concerts in the Houston area.
In 2017, he was a finalist at the Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition and performed at Meyerson Symphony Hall. He was also a winner of the 2018 DePaul Concerto Competition, subsequently performing with the Oistrakh Symphony. James was a finalist at the 2018 Johansen International Competition in Washington D.C. Most recently, James was named a YoungArts finalist and participated at YoungArts Week in Miami, Florida this past January, and was a finalist in the 2019 Stulberg Competition. He was also awarded the grand prize at the Walgreens National Competition December 2018 with a performance at the Pick Staiger Hall in Northwestern University. James studied at the Meadowmount School of Music 2017 summer program, and in summer 2018, he attended the Aspen School of Music, where he participated in the Finckel Wu Han Chamber Music Program.
During his free time, James loves to eat great food, sleep, and spend time with family.