2011 Festival Artists

Thursday, July 22 to Saturday, July 30

Jessica Bodner, viola

Violist Jessica Bodner began playing the violin at the age of two, and then switched to the viola at the age of twelve after only wanting to play on the violin's G-string. A native of Houston, Texas, Jessica began playing and loving chamber music from the time she was in elementary school. While in Houston, her primary teacher was Lawrence Wheeler, a teacher who made it possible for Jessica to leave high school a year early in order to have some time at University of Houston's Moores School of Music for intensive musical study. After this year, Jessica spent seven years at the New England Conservatory in Boston, earning a Bachelor and two Masters degrees in Viola and Chamber Music. Her primary teachers were Kim Kashkashian and Martha Strongin Katz, and other mentors included Donald Weilerstein, Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, Miriam Fried, and Lucy Chapman.

Since the formation of the Parker Quartet in 2002, Jessica has performed throughout North and Central America, Europe, Korea, and Australia, and in such venues as Jordan Hall, the Corcoran Gallery, Ravinia's Rising Stars Series, the Gardner Museum, Caramoor, Weill Recital Hall, and the Library of Congress.

Jessica has been practicing yoga since 2001, and also enjoys exploring all of the places she travels to with the quartet. Back to Top

Eugenia Choi, violin

Described by the world’s press as "a sensational force” (La République, France), and "a technical virtuoso" (Berliner Morgenpost, Germany), violinist Eugenia Choi has been attracting international recognition since her solo concerto debut with orchestra at age ten. Miss Choi regularly performs at major performing arts centers such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, Symphony Hall in Boston, Kravis Center in Palm Beach, Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Vienna Saal-Mozarteum in Austria, Teatro Municipale in Santiago, Chile, Tokyo International Forum in Japan, Palais de Fontainebleau in France, and others worldwide.

In recent seasons, Miss Choi has performed as soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, and has an upcoming tour with the National Broadcast Orchestra of Canada in the fall of 2010. Her performances are often heard on BBC, CBC, Canal+, Sender Freies Berlin, Bravo!. An avid supporter of contemporary music, Miss Choi has given the world première performances of new works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Roger Reynolds, a commissioned Canadian work by Allan Gordon Bell, and rediscovered Viennese serialist composer Adolph Loos. A particular highlight has been performances at Lincoln Center for Elliott Carter of his own solo violin works. Constantly expanding her musical milieu, she collaborates with a wide range of artists, including soprano Dawn Upshaw, tap artist Savion Glover, Lincoln Center’s “Great Performances” series, Ondine Musique in Paris, major motion picture recordings for 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures, on tour as guest first violinist of the Borealis String Quartet and currently in the Monte Verdi String Quartet. She has also recorded in collaboration with the American String Project and the Turning Point Ensemble on MSR Classics and ATMA Classique labels.

Dedicated to community outreach through music, Eugenia has represented New York’s Lincoln Center for six years by bringing concerts to urban health-care facilities, and co-founded the ArtsWay Music Ambassadors program to present concerts at hospitals in Canada. Miss Choi is dedicated to bridging music, and art with nature conservation as founding chair of The Nature Conservancy’s Young Professionals Board. Eugenia was recently invited by National Geographic, Aspen Institute, and Lindblad Expeditions to perform concerts as part of an elite American delegation at a climate change summit in Norway alongside leaders in politics, business, and philanthropy including President Carter, Madeleine Albright, Ted Turner, CEOs and founders of Google, DuPont, eBay, and others. Highlights included performing for the Norwegian government in Oslo’s Nobel Peace Prize Hall, a concert on the Arctic ice filmed for National Geographic, and concerts for the dignitaries playing the 1714 Stradivarius “General Kyd” violin.

Born in Canada from Korean parents, Miss Choi began the violin at age three. Her performing career was mentored at an early age by renowned concert violinist Ruggiero Ricci in Austria, and pianist-conductor Philippe Entremont in France, with whom she still collaborates. In 2007, she received a Doctorate degree in music from The Juilliard School as a C.V. Starr Foundation Fellow. Dr. Choi also holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Juilliard and was a Government major at Dartmouth College. In 2004, Dr. Choi was appointed Assistant Professor of Music at the University of British Columbia as one of the youngest members to join in the faculty’s history and in 2010 joined the violin faculty at New York University. Miss Choi performs on a 1694 Stradivari violin and a 1699 Rogeri violin, both generously on loan from a private collector. Back to Top

Daniel Chong, violin

Daniel Chong was born in sunny Southern California where at the age of four a violin was placed in his hands. Although he originally dreamt of being an astronaut, at the age of eleven he fell under the spell of music. When he was twelve, Daniel moved to the east coast where he roamed the halls of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute, and the New England Conservatory where he eventually earned his B.M. and M.M. degrees. His pedagogues were Robert Lipsett, Victor Danchenko, Donald Weilerstein, and Kim Kashkashian. Other mentors of his include Paul Katz, Miriam Fried, Rainer Schmidt, and Roger Tapping.

Since the beginning of the Parker Quartet, Daniel has traveled all over the globe playing in a wide spectrum of venues. Some of his favorite venues include Jordan Hall, Barbés in Brooklyn, and ancient cathedrals scattered across Europe. Outside of the quartet, he enjoys being a versatile musician playing with such groups as ECCO and attending festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival and the Yellow Barn Music Festival.

The Parker Quartet keeps Daniel incredibly busy, but in those few moments where he is liberated he chooses to ambitiously explore the world of film and indie bands. In addition, he has a strong enthusiasm for the sport of soccer and hopes to one day be able to attend the World Cup as a dedicated spectator. Back to Top

Meeka Quan DiLorenzo, cello

Meeka Quan DiLorenzo joined Seattle Symphony in 2009 after five seasons as Associate Principal cellist of The Utah Symphony. She began her cello studies at the age of six in her native city of San Francisco, with Suzuki teacher Beth Goldstein. Other teachers include Julie Feldman, Irene Sharp, Stephan Geber and Richard Aaron.

Meeka has been a prize winner in several national and international competitions. At age 16 she made her orchestral debut with the Dvoř´k Cello Concerto and The Pacific Symphony, under the direction of Carl St. Clair. She was offered a scholarship to The Cleveland Institute of Music's Young Artist Program at the age of 15, where she finished her high school diploma, and then her bachelor's degree in 2002. Her last year in Cleveland she performed the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 with the CIM orchestra under the direction of Wilson Hermanto, Associate Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. Recent concerto appearances include Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with The Utah Symphony under the direction of Keith Lockhart.

As an avid chamber musician, she has participated in many summer festivals, performing with members of the Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets. She has received invitations to Aspen, Ravinia, Taos, Kingston, Sun Valley and Kneisel Hall music festivals.

Meeka lives in Greenlake with her husband, Emmy Award-winning composer and trumpet soloist, Anthony DiLorenzo. They have one son, Luca. She plays a 1908 cello by Stefano Scarampella. Back to Top

Mara Gearman, viola

“A busy violist about town” Mara Gearman is already accomplished in chamber music, orchestral, and solo settings. She regularly performs with the Seattle based mavericks the American String Project and Simple Measures. Upcoming concerts will include the Olympic Music Festival, Methow Music Festival, Eastern Music Festival, and a debut with the Barston String Quartet and pianist Simon Trcepski at Benaroya

Gearman won Principal Viola (at age twenty) with the former Haddonfield Symphony, and recently with the Kansas City Symphony. Previously a tenured member of the Oregon Symphony, Mara has been appointed Third Chair Viola with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra beginning 2009-2010.

As a solo performer Gearman has won awards at the Primrose and Tertis International Viola Competitions and performed solo compositions ranging from American Alan Shulman to Hungarian Miklos Rozca. Mara recently perfomed Bartok Concerto with the New Symphony, BULGARIA, and is featured in Harold in Italy this fall with the Cascade Symphony.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, her primary teachers included Roberto Diaz, Pinchas Zukerman, and Karen Tuttle. Gearman is a recent addition to the faculty of the Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle. Back to Top

Travis Gore, bass

Travis Gore began his study of the contrabass in Atlanta under the tutelage of Michael Kurth. He received a Bachelors of Music from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Music from Rice University. His primary teachers were Albert Laszlo and Tim Pitts. He has attended the Aspen Music Festival as a two time fellowship winner as well as the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

Besides having held positions in the New World, Seattle and San Diego Symphonies, Mr. Gore has performed with numerous other major orchestras in the United States such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony and has served on the faculty of the San Diego State University. While presently serving as a bassist in the Seattle Symphony, he strives to remain an active participant in the promotion of teaching and chamber music in Seattle. Back to Top

Simon James, violin

Australian violinist Simon James performed around the world as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been a member of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Orchestra, and is currently the Second Assistant Concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he serves as concertmaster of the Seattle Chamber Orchestra and has performed as guest concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony and the Bolshoi Theatre’s production of Swan Lake.

Mr. James is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where his teachers include Erick Friedman and Syzmon Goldberg. While attending the Manhattan School he performed in the Master Classes of Henryk Szeryng, Josef Gingold, the Tokyo Quartet, the American Quartet and members of the Beaux Arts Trio.

Mr James has performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony on many occasions, and has acted as Concertmaster on many occasions. He has also led the orchestra of the Seattle Opera in recent productions of “Der Rosenkavalier”, “La boheme”, “Giulio Cesare”, the “Flying Dutchman”, ‘Iphegenie en Tauride”, “I Paggliaci”, “I Puritani” and “Aida”

Mr James is an active teacher with a large studio of gifted students. He is the newest addition to the highly regarded Coleman Studio.

Mr. James is an active recitalist, chamber musician, and recording artist. In addition to countless motion picture sound tracks, he has recorded concerti with the Seattle Symphony, the Premiere of the Richard Englefield violin concerto with the Bratislava Radio Symphony and several acclaimed chamber music albums with Harpist Juliet Stratton and clarinetist Sean Osborn. He is married to Flutist Erin James and is the proud father of Felicity and Bronwyn James. He performs on a violin made by J.B.Vuillaume made in Paris in 1860. Back to Top

Karen Kim, violin

Violinist Karen Kim is a founding member of the Parker Quartet, and has performed internationally as both a soloist and chamber musician. She has presented solo performances at Jordan Hall in Boston, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. and Steinway Hall in New York City. As a member of the Parker Quartet, she has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

Karen received her BM and MM in violin performance, as well as her MM in chamber music, from the New England Conservatory. She studied classical violin with Donald Weilerstein and jazz violin with vocalist Dominique Eade. She has also worked with Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, Martha Strongin Katz, and Lucy Stoltzman. Karen finds herself continually inspired by other realms of music as well as by visual art. When away from her quartet, she can be found painting, exploring museums, and practicing yoga.

Karen plays on a Joseph Rocca violin made in 1852.

Kee-Hyun Kim, violin

A native of Seoul, Korea, Kee-Hyun Kim is active as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He has participated in many prestigious festivals, including the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Kronberg Cello Masterclasses and Festival, the World Cello Congress III, Sarasota Music Festival, and Music Academy of the West, among others.

A winner of numerous competitions both at home and abroad, Kee won top prizes in virtually all of the major competitions in Korea, including the Ehwa, Sae-gae, and Korean Newspaper Competitions, as well as placing second in the Pusan National Competition. He was the recipient of the Landgraf-von-Hessen Prize at the 1999 Kronberg Cello Masterclasses, and won second prize in the Hudson Valley String competition in 2002.

Kee has played at major concert venues in Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, England, Israel, the United States, Canada, and Central and South America, as a soloist, orchestral musician and most recently as a member of the Parker Quartet, of which he is the founding cellist.

Kee started his musical education very early on, starting at the Juilliard pre-college in 1992. Since then, he has attended the preparatory divisions of the Korean National University of the Arts, the New England Conservatory, and the Walnut Hill School. He holds a B.M. from the New England Conservatory, as well as two M.M. from the same institution. Back to Top

Kevin Krentz, Cello

Artistic Director

Cellist Kevin Krentz is an award-winning performer in a wide variety of styles of music including classical, crossover, many popular styles, and amplified on his electric cello.

A native of Atlanta, Georgia, he began his musical life as a cellist at 12, but soon dropped the cello to sing for the rest of his youth. Picking up the cello in college, he has gone on to perform solo, chamber and contemporary music with various groups, bands, and orchestral ensembles across North America and Europe.

A devoted chamber musician, Kevin is Artistic Director of the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival in Washington state. He has been a winner in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition with his trio In Flight 3 and winner in the Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition in Verona, Italy and the Greenlake National Chamber Music Competition with Finisterra Trio. He has played at the Ann Arbor, Seattle, San Juan and Seasons Fall Festivals as well as the Icebreaker IV Festival at On the Boards with the Seattle Chamber Players.

With Finisterra Trio, Kevin is devoted to performing contemporary works as well as the standard repertoire. The trio has commissioned new works by Daron Hagen, Gilda Lyons, Roger Zahab, Beth Wieman, David Rakovski, Daniel Gilliam and others including the chamber opera, “Cradle Song” and Trios 3 and 4 by Daron Hagen which were subsequently recorded for the Naxos label along with Hagen’s Trios 1 and 2. Finisterra Trio are Artists In Residence at the Phoenix Series in New York as well the Seasons Fall Festival in Yakima, Washington where Kevin is also Director of Chamber Music Studies. Finisterra has also collaborated with jazz artists like Chris Brubeck and the Bill Mays Trio including free improvisation with famed jazz drummer Matt Wilson in a performance that was later broadcast nationally on many NPR affiliates. Finisterra Trio has also collaborated with the Florestan Trio in London where they were presented in several concerts.

His teachers have included Florian Kitt and Jontscho Bayrov in Vienna, and Gary Hardie, Owen Carman, and Toby Saks in the US. Masterclass performances include Janos Starker, Matt Haimovitz, Paul Katz, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi. Chamber music studies include the Florestan Trio, Elsa Verdehr, Stephen Shipps, Ron Patterson and Ralph Votapek; masterclasses with Josef Gingold, the Cleveland, Vermeer, and Lark Quartets and the Eroica Trio. Kevin is also inventor of the only technology to actually play the strings of violin family instruments for weeks at a time in order to ‘play them in,’ or bring them to their potential far faster than the normal period of many years. www.Violinplay-in.com

Kevin plays cellos by Robert Brewer Young on models originated by Stradivari and Testore. His bows were made by Robert Morrow and Robert Shallock. Back to Top

Deanne Meek, mezzo-soprano

Lauded by Opera magazine for a mezzo that “is smooth and velvety with a touch of resin in the tone,” Deanne Meek returns to the role of Bianca in Eine florentinische Tragödie in the 2010-11 season in performances at the Teatro Colón. She also returns to the Théâtre du Châtelet as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and joins the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Handel’s Hercules. Last season, her engagements included Charlotte in A Little Night Music with the Théâtre du Châtelet, Amore in Orfeo ed Euridice with Atlanta Opera, Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and Guilhen in d’Indy’s Fervaal with the American Symphony Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall.

Her performances on international stages also include her debut at the Teatro alla Scala reprising the role of Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream which she has previously sung with the Gran Teatre del Liceu (performance released on DVD on Virgin Classics), Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and Opéra de Lyon with the both in France and on tour in Athens. She has sung Ruggiero in Alcina with Richard Hickox conducting at English National Opera, Dorabella in Così fan tutte at Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos and Krista in The Makropolous Case at the Teatro Real, and Rossweisse in Die Walküre at the Théâtre du Châtelet. With England’s Opera North, she has sung Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and Meg Page in Falstaff. Her performances of Hermia in Robert Carsen’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu was recently released as a commercial DVD recording and she has since sung the role with Opéra de Lyon with the company both in France and on tour in Athens as well as at La Monnaie. She has appeared at London’s Grange Festival as Angelina in La cenerentola, the Bregenz Festival as Ines in Il trovatore, Opera Ireland as Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, and Vancouver Opera as Siebel in Faust.

An active recitalist, Ms. Meek has been a fellow at both the Tanglewood and Ravinia Music Festivals in the United States, and has sung solo recitals in the United Kingdom, Paris, New York, Baltimore, Washington D.C., St. Louis and the Pacific Northwest. Back to Top

John Michel, cello

John Michel, in his twentieth year as cello professor at Central Washington University, enjoys his eclectic career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

In addition to regular solo recitals, he has performed the Shostakovich #1, Dvorak, Elgar, Haydn D & C, Tchaikovsky Rococo, Maria Newman, Saint Saëns, Vivaldi E minor, Brahms Double and Beethoven Triple Concertos with various orchestras. More recent appearances were with R. Joseph Scott and the Sammamish Symphony, Ryan Heller and the Southwest Washington Orchestra, Paul-Elliot Cobbs and the Everett Symphony, and Nik Caoile and the Central Washington University Symphony.

In double-series concerts, Mr. Michel has performed all of the six Bach Cello Suites from memory, and regularly appears in the Seattle Bach Suite Marathon.

In 2001, he was one of seven guest artists featured at the First Kobe International Cello Festival in Japan. In addition to a solo recital and masterclass, he performed in grand cello choir concert with 750 other cellists from around the world. At the World Cello Congress III, he premiered the new Solo Cello Sonata "Othmar" by composer Maria Newman. He has published recordings onto CD and for digital distribution including the Dvorak Cello Concerto, Shostakovich Cello Concert #1, Bach Suites G & C, Maria Newman Solo Sonata and numerous live recordings.

Mr. Michel is a member of the Kairos String Quartet, which holds an endowed professorship as the resident ensemble of Central Washington University. For the past fourteen years the Kairos Quartet has been regularly performing and teaching throughout the Northwest. Their last East Coast tour included concerts in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania and a live appearance on Philadelphia's WFLN radio. The Kairos Quartet has recorded the "Birthday of the Infanta" CD featuring works of Kairos violinist Maria Newman on the Raptoria Caam label. He was also the cellist of the CWU "Rainier" Piano Trio that has toured throughout the Northwest.

He is the founder and former director of the Internet Cello Society, a cyber-community of cellists, that shares the knowledge and joy of cello playing with enthusiasts from around the globe. Currently the 12000 ICS members represent 84 different countries.

During the summers, Mr. Michel performs and teaches at the Kairos Chamber Music Festival & Lyceum and the Laughing Horse Youth Orchestra Festival. He also was faculty at Marrowstone and Icicle Creek music festivals. He has given masterclasses for the Banff International Orchestra Festivals; Olympia, Icicle Creek and Tacoma Youth Symphony organizations; the Seattle Cello Society and the Interlochen Arts Camp. He helped develop the "String Pedagogy Reference" website which includes videos of fundamental exercises and activities for string instruction. The American String Teacher Association, Washington chapter, named him Outstanding College String Teacher in 1996.

His formal training includes Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Michigan and the New England Conservatory. Bernard Greenhouse of the Beaux Arts Trio, Jeffrey Solow, Stefan Popov, Ned Johnson, John Lenz and Susan Ladley were his main teachers.

He is married to Kairos violinist Carrie Rehkopf, and father of three young active boys. Back to Top

Yuri Namkung, violin

Violinist Yuri Namkung was born in Seattle, Washington where she made debut appearances with the Northwest Chamber Orchestra at the age of nine and was subsequently and twice invited by Gerard Schwarz to perform with the Seattle Symphony. In 2002, she made her European debut with the Zürich-Tonhalle Orchestra in Switzerland under the direction and invitation of David Zinman. In 2004 and 2005, Violinist Cho-Liang Lin asked her to join him in performances of the Bach Double Concerto with the Seattle Symphony and with the Orchestra of St.Luke’s in Alice Tully Hall in New York. She will make her Latin American debut appearance with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra during the 2009/2010 season in Caracas, Venezuela and with the Städtisches Orchestra in Bremerhaven, Germany.

Festival appearances have included La Jolla Chamber Music Society’s SummerFest, Music@Menlo, Ravinia Festival-Steans Institute, Virginia Arts Festival, Verbier, Salzburg-Mozarteum Academy, Music Mountain, Perlman Music Program, and Ottawa Chamber Music Festivals. A member of the Moët Trio, the trio recently completed a 2-year Professional Piano Trio Residency Program at the New England Conservatory. Recent and upcoming performances include the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, Gardner Museum, New School: Schneider Concert Series, Carnegie Hall’s Neighborhood Series, Virginia Arts Festival, Music on MacDougal, Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society, Gardner Museum, and extensive educational outreach through the Astral Artistic Series in Philadelphia. The San Francisco Classical Voice had this to say of them: “Separately and together, these are musicians you will want to hear repeatedly in coming years.”

Passionate about sharing music throughout the world, she was invited to teach and coach at Music@Menlo by David Finckel and Wu Han, directors of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Music@Menlo. She has begun and maintains a regular relationship with El Sistema in Venezuela and in January 2009, was invited to Panama for the Panama Jazz Festival. At the invitation and guidance of pianist and Unicef Ambassador Danilo Perez, she will continue her work in Panama as educator, performer, and head of the string department through Fundacion Danilo Perez.

In May, 2005, she graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Psychology. As a participant of Columbia’s Joint Program with the Juilliard School, she received her MM from Juilliard the following year where she studied with Cho-Liang Lin and Donald Weilerstein. She completed her studies with Donald Weilerstein and with Miriam Fried in the Graduate Diploma Program at the New England Conservatory in May of 2009. In August of 2009, she was appointed Instructor of Violin at The University of Alabama, and in 2010 she won an appointment to the faculty of the Interlochen Arts Academy. Back to Top

Gale J. Odom, soprano

Coloratura soprano Dr. Gale Odom is a regional artist with frequent opera and concert appearances in Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas. She has performed over 30 opera roles, including Marie in Daughter of the Regiment, Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Micäela in Carmen, and Hanna in The Merry Widow.

Her numerous oratorio and concert appearances include the Mahler 4th Symphony, Mozart’s Great Mass in C and Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder. Musical theater roles have included Johanna in Sweeney Todd and Cinderella in Into the Woods, and she was the Church Singer in the motion picture Steel Magnolias. In December 2010, she appeared as the mother in the Shreveport Opera’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Dr. Odom holds degrees in vocal performance from Indiana University and the University of North Texas. She is Dean of the Hurley School of Music at Centenary College. Back to Top

Elizabeth Joy Roe, piano

elizabethjoyroe.com

Hailed "brilliant" (The New York Times), "an artist to be taken seriously" (The Chicago Tribune), "electrifying" (The Dallas Morning News), "a mature and fascinating interpreter and an artist of intelligence, insight, and a genuine grace" (The Southampton Press), American pianist Elizabeth Joy Roe was featured in the cover story of Symphony Magazine as one of the classical music world's "Six on the Rise: Young Artists to Watch." She has captured universal acclaim from critics and audiences alike for her appearances as orchestral soloist, recitalist, duo pianist, and chamber musician. As the winner of the prestigious William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award, Ms. Roe made her New York solo recital debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2007. She made her New York concerto debut in 2005 under the baton of James Conlon, performing the Britten Piano Concerto at Alice Tully Hall. Two years prior, she stepped in on short notice to replace the late John Browning for subscription performances of the Barber Piano Concerto—a work Browning had premiered in 1962 at the opening of Lincoln Center—with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra; The Delaware News Journal pronounced her pianism as "astonishing" and "stunning." Her 1997 debut with the Chicago Symphony II elicited accolades from John von Rhein of The Chicago Tribune: "Elizabeth Joy Roe supplied scintillation in the Grieg [Concerto]…A lot of pianists play the Grieg but not many adults twice the age of Miss Roe could make this familiar score sing so poetically or with such spontaneity."

Ms. Roe has performed at major venues around the world including Lincoln Center, Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Steinway Hall in New York; the Seoul Arts Center in Korea; Salle Cortot in Paris; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Teatro Argentino in Buenos Aires; the Ravinia Festival in Chicago; the Banff Centre in Canada; the Cliburn Concert Series in Fort Worth; and dozens of summer chamber music festivals nationwide. She was exclusively chosen to perform for the Women for Women Association of the United Nations and for notable events celebrating the centennial year of The Juilliard School at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. She has appeared with the Milwaukee Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra, the Prime Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ars Viva Symphony, and the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, among others. Recent highlights include appearances at the EG (Entertainment Gathering) and Imagine Solutions Conferences, the Carnegie Hall premiere of Messaien's Visions de l'Amen for the composer's centennial celebration, multiple chamber music performances with Ensemble ACJW at Carnegie Hall, a recital on the Rising Stars of Ravinia series, and an artistic residency for the U.S. Embassy in Argentina.

Ms. Roe has attended the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival, the Banff International Keyboard Festival, Pianofest in the Hamptons, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, and Music Academy of the West (as a fellowship recipient). She has worked with a multitude of renowned musicians including Emanuel Ax, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Miriam Fried, Richard Goode, Joseph Kalichstein, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Robert Levin. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with numerous musicians and ensembles. Most notably, she has established a groundbreaking piano duo partnership with Greg Anderson; the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo are perhaps the most thrilling young duo performing today, offering adrenalized concerts, compositions, and music videos that are revolutionizing the piano duo experience for the 21st century.

A Chicago native, Ms. Roe began her piano studies when she was six years old. Prior to matriculating at The Juilliard School in 2000, she studied with Emilio del Rosario, Vladimir Leyetchkiss, and Theodore Edel. At Juilliard she went on to work with Yoheved Kaplinsky. In 2004 and 2006, respectively, she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School under a full scholarship. Ms. Roe's career was launched at the age of 13 with a grand prize victory at the IBLA International Piano Competition in Italy. She has since been honored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the National Association for Professional Asian Women, the Music for Youth Foundation, and the Samsung Foundation of Culture.

Ms. Roe’s wide-ranging career includes world premieres of new music, live performance broadcasts and interviews on TV and radio stations stateside and abroad (including NPR, the BBC, and KBS), and a variety of innovative artistic projects. Committed to arts advocacy, she was one of the inaugural fellows of The Academy—A Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute. As part of this noteworthy fellowship program, she was the resident teaching artist at the Abigail Adams School in Queens, and she co-founded and co-directed the Children's Music Campaign NYC. Her educational and community-engagement work earned her the 2008 McGraw-Hill Companies’ Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach. Engaged in a vast array of pursuits, she is a Soros Fellow and a five-time laureate of the National French Contest. As an undergraduate at Juilliard, she wrote a thesis exploring music in the fiction of Mann, Proust, and Forster, for which she was awarded Scholastic Distinction at her graduation in 2004. In recognition of her artistic and academic achievements, she was invited to attend the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles as a student delegate. She has also directed an interactive performance project featuring Juilliard pianists, given community service concerts, conducted master classes for young musicians throughout the country, served as an adviser to the PianoArts National Competition, and participated in an educational residency program for the Van Cliburn Foundation. In August 2010, Ms. Roe's debut album Images Poetiques was released on the Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon label. A Steinway Artist, she currently holds a fellowship position as Visiting Artist and Lecturer in Piano at Smith College.

Ms. Roe's mission is to connect with others through the inspiration, joy, and essential humanity of music. Back to Top

David Sabee, cello

Winner of the 2011 Grammy for best engineering of a classical composition for his work on the SonoLuminis CD, “Quincy Porter, Complete Viola Works” featuring Cleveland Orchestra violist Eliesha Nelson, David Sabee, cello, began his studies at age five as a pianist, later studying with Miriam Blair and Frank Mannheimer. Gaining an invaluable musical foundation and a great love for the classical and romantic piano repertoire from the respective pedagogical lineages of Rudolf Ganz and Tobias Matthay, David began cello studies began at age seventeen with Johan Lingeman, former solo cellist of the Concertgebouw Orkest, and continued with Paul Olefsky, a dynamic pupil of Feuerman, Piatigorsky and Casals.

After three years as principal cellist of the Austin Symphony, David moved to New York to join the cello studio of Harvey Shapiro. While in New York, he joined the American Composers Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies, performing world premieres of works by composers ranging from Ralph Shapey and David Del Tredici to Laurie Anderson and Keith Jarrett. A founding member of the Naumburg finalist Tafelmusik, which juxtaposed contemporary and early music, he worked with such composers as Lukas Foss, Frederic Rzewski, Charles Wuorinen, Meyer Kupferman and Elliot Carter (coaching his Sonata 1953). Appointed by Lukas Foss to the Milwaukee Symphony, he performed with them in many of the major European concert halls, including the Concertgebouw, Barbican, Gasteig, Bruckner Halle and Vienna’s Grosser Musikvereinsaal.

A member of the Seattle Symphony since 1986, he also serves as principal conductor of the Northwest Sinfonia, working with film composers including BT, Bruce Broughton, Carter Burwell, Elia Cmiral, Jeff Danna, John Debney, Michael Giacchino, Harry Gregson-Williams, Paul Haslinger, Steve Jablonsky, Michael Kaman, Rolfe Kent, John Murphy, David Newman, John Ottman, Basil Poledouris, Trevor Rabin, Ed Shearmur, Brian Tyler, Alex Wurman, Chris Young and Aaron Zigman on the soundtrack recording sessions of hundreds of motion pictures. Recently, he collaborated with composer Gustavo Santaolalla and director Ang Lee on the score to Brokeback Mountain, winner of the Golden Lion (Venice Film Festival), several Golden Globes, and three Oscars including Best Director and Best Original Score.

Sabee has been called “confident and colorful” by The New Yorker, while La Nacion, in San Jose, Costa Rica, characterized his Rachmaninov Cello Sonata performance with pianist Yakov Kasman as “infused with insight and passion.” Back to Top

Craig Sheppard, piano

The Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professor of Piano at the School of Music of the University of Washington in Seattle, pianist Craig Sheppard has maintained a strong and enduring presence in the classical music world for nearly forty years, with his unique combination of ebullience and passionate energy, allied to a technical mastery and scholarly objectivity. In May, 2008, he gave solo recitals and master classes in four major cities in The Peoples' Republic of China - Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Shenzhen. In March, 2008, Sheppard appeared once again in the Hunter Council Chambers of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, performing Book II of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, a work he recorded subsequently in Seattle's Meany Theater in April (for release on Romeo Records, November, 2008). Craig Sheppard has made seven trips to the Far East since June, 2002 - four to Japan, one to Taiwan, and one each to China and to Korea - giving lectures and concerts in major venues and universities in the region. On May 18th, 2004, he wound up a seven-concert series in Seattle's Meany Theater that was dedicated to the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas, a popular series that met with great critical acclaim. In April, 1999, he gave his long-awaited recital debut at the Berlin Philharmonic, also to great critical acclaim. In 1999, he was presented by the Seattle Symphony in a highly acclaimed series of lecture/recitals at the Benaroya Hall. He appeared with the Seattle Symphony in 1998 in their inaugural season at Benaroya, and was also previously featured with the orchestra in the opening concerts of the 1996-97 season at the Opera House, along with the violinist Midori. Sheppard is invited frequently to perform at summer venues such as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and has taught and performed for a number of summers at the Heifetz International Music Institute in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.

Craig Sheppard was born and raised in Philadelphia. Following initial studies with Dr. Lois Hedner and Susan Starr, he attended the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia as a student of Eleanor Sokoloff, and earned both his Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Juilliard School in New York, studying with Sascha Gorodnitzki. In addition to working privately with Claude Frank and Lillian Kallir during summers at Tanglewood, Sheppard studied subsequently with Ilona Kabos, Peter Feuchtwanger, and Sir Clifford Curzon in London, and also worked with Rudolf Serkin and Pablo Casals at the Marlboro Festival.

Following a highly successful New York debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1972, Sheppard won the silver medal that year at the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in England. Moving to London the following year, he quickly established himself through recording and frequent appearances on BBC radio and television as one of the preeminent pianists of his generation, giving cycles of Bach's Klavierbung and the complete solo works of Brahms in London and other musical centers. During the twenty years he lived in England, he also taught at Lancaster University, the Yehudi Menuhin School, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in addition to giving master classes at both Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Sheppard has performed with all the major orchestras in Great Britain, as well as those of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Buffalo and Rochester, among others in the United States, and with such conductors as Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Andrew Davis, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Erich Leinsdorf, Kurt Sanderling, Neeme Jrvi, Hans Vonk, Aaron Copland, David Zinman, Gerard Schwarz and Peter Ers.

Sheppard's repertoire is extensive, encompassing over forty solo recital programs and sixty concerti. In the past several seasons, in addition to the both book of Bach's Well Tempered Clavier and the 32 Beethoven sonatas (in a series entitled Beethoven: A Journey, Sheppard's recital programs have included the complete Ėtudes of Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Debussy, and such major works as the Goldberg and Diabelli Variations, the complete Schumann Novelettes, and Ravel's Miroirs and Gaspard de la Nuit. Over the years, his work with singers such as Victoria de los Angeles, Jos Carreras, and Irina Arkhipova; trumpeter Wynton Marsalis; and ensembles such as the Cleveland, Bartok, and Emerson string quartets, has also constituted an important and ongoing element in his musical life.

Sheppard has recorded on the EMI (Classics for Pleasure), Polygram (Philips), Sony, Chandos and Cirrus labels. Four CDs, all of live performances - including his Berlin performance of the Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's Diabelli Variations plus the Scriabin Fifth Sonata, Chopin and Scriabin Prludes, and Scarlatti Sonatas coupled with the Opus 39 Etudes Tableaux of Rachmaninoff - have recently been issued on the label AT (Annette Tangermann)/Berlin, at-label@gmx.de.

Sheppard has appeared on numerous national and international piano competition juries. He is well known for his broad academic interests, particularly foreign languages. Back to Top

Page Smith, cello

Page Smith is principal cellist of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra. She performs with the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera. In addition to having been the solo cellist of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra for 30 years, she is one of the Washington state region's beloved chamber musicians, performing with the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, Gallery Concerts series, the NWCO's Showcase Chamber Music Series, the Second City Chamber Music Series, the Mostly Nordic series, the Belle Arte series, the Music Northwest series and the Arts Northwest series.

Smith performed for four summers as principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony, performing on tour with them in the Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival and the Kennedy Center's Festival of Festivals. While living in New York, Smith performed as principal cellist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and in the Chelsea Chamber Ensemble. She has been the featured soloist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, the Auburn Symphony, the Federal Way Symphony, the Tudor Choir, Opus 7, Choral Arts Northwest and Seattle Pro Musica.

Her teachers have included Ronald Leonard, Lynn Harrell, Gabor Rejto and in Seattle: Eva Heinitz, Phyllis Allport and Raymond Davis. Back to Top

Jing Wang, violin

Canadian violinist Jing Wang began playing violin at the age of three and made his first public appearance three years later in Marseilles, France. First Prize winner of the 2007 Irving M. Klein International Competition, Canadian Music Competition, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition and the Concertino Praga in Czech Republic, Jing's solo engagements have taken him across North America and Europe.

Since his debut with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra at the age of nine years old, he has performed as soloist with orchestras such as the Czech Radio Philharmonic in Dvorak Hall, Wallonia Royal Chamber Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky Hall, l'Orchestre National de Lorraine, l’Orchestre de Picardie, the I Musici Chamber Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal, Violons du Roy Chamber Orchestra and the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra. Jing has collaborated with conductors such as James DePreist, Claus Peter Flor and Yoav Talmi, Jacques Lacombe, Joseph Rescigno and Anne Manson. In 2003, Jing was awarded the "Young Soloist of the Year" by Les Radios Francophones Publiques, a broadcast network of four countries including France, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium. This award sponsored the release of his first CD album including works by Beethoven, Ravel and Gershwin.

Jing gave solo recitals and chamber music performances at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, the International Festival of Domain Forget, Music Festival Italy & USA in Italy, the Meadowmount Music Festival, the Bowdoin Music Festival, the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival in Seattle, Alice Tully Hall in New York and Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. Since 1995 Jing’s playing has been broadcasted by CBC Radio-Canada.

Jing is currently the Concertmaster for the Dallas Opera under Maestro Graeme Jenkins and has been guest Concertmaster with the Kansas City Symphony under Maestro Micheal Stern. He plays a violin made in 1902 by Enrico Rocca, on loan from Canada Council of Arts Fine Instruments Collection. Back to Top

Parker Quartet

Jessica Bodner, viola | Daniel Chong, violin | Karen Kim, violin | Kee-Hyun Kim, violin

Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009, Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons.

Performance highlights from the quartet’s 2010-11 season include a European tour, with appearances at the Festival De Musique De Menton, Festival du Comminges, Privatmusikverein Nürnberg, and Musikverein in Vienna; Cleveland Quartet Award concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Krannert Center for the Arts, and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society; appearances with violist Kim Kashkashian at the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, and Amherst College; and a Midwest tour with Music Alliance, a new concert series co-presented by The Friends of Chamber Music–Kansas City and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, which included concerts and residencies in five Midwestern cities and drew critical acclaim for the quartet’s performances across the region. Also this season, the quartet partners with Grammy Award-winning producer Judith Sherman to launch HaydnLIVE!, a live recording project featuring a series of all-Haydn performances at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Virginia Arts Festival.

In May 2010, The Parker Quartet finished their second year as Quartet-in-Residence with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO). During the 2009-2010 season, the quartet was also the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and American Public Media (APM).

Successful early concert touring in Europe helped the quartet forge a relationship with Zig-Zag Territoires, which released their debut commercial recording of Bartok’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5 in July 2007. The disc received high praise by numerous critics including Gramophone: “The Parkers’ Bartok spins the illusion of spontaneous improvisation… they have absorbed the language; they have the confidence to play freely with the music and the instinct to bring it off.” The quartet’s second recording, of György Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 and Andante & Allegretto, was released on Naxos in December 2009 to critical acclaim. The Ligeti recording won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The Parker Quartet’s members hold graduate degrees in performance and chamber music from the New England Conservatory of Music and were part of the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program. Back to Top