Musician Bios

Violin

Adele Anthony, violin, leader
Since her triumph at Denmark's 1996 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition, Adele Anthony has enjoyed an acclaimed and expanding international career. In the United States, Ms. Anthony has performed with the symphony orchestras of Buffalo, Dayton, Ft. Worth, Indianapolis, Long Beach, Milwaukee, Seattle, Virginia and Wichita, among others, and at summer festivals such as Aspen and La Jolla. An avid chamber musician, she also recently performed as a guest on the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center series. Abroad, she has performed with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, Denmark's Aalborg and Aarhus Symphony Orchestras, Finland's Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the NDR Orchestra Hannover, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Adele Anthony is an active recording artist both as a soloist and as a leader of Sejong. Her recording of the Philip Glass Violin Concerto with Takuo Yuasa and the Ulster Orchestra was released by Naxos in 2000. She also recorded an all-Schubert recital disc (Naxos), Aryo Part’s “Tabula-rasa” with Gil Shaham, Neeme Jarvi, and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon), and the Nielsen Violin Concerto with Dorrit Matson and the New York Scandia Symphony (Centaur). Ms. Anthony was born in Tasmania and studied at the Conservatory of the University of Adelaide with Beryl Kimber until 1987 and continued her studies at New York's Juilliard School, where she worked with Dorothy DeLay, Felix Galimir and Hyo Kang. Adele Anthony performs on an Antonio Stradivarius violin, crafted in 1728. She resides in New York City with her husband, Gil Shaham, and son, Elijah.

Frank Huang, violin, leader
Since winning the first prize of the 2003 Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s Violin Competition and the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition, Frank Huang has developed a major career as a violin virtuoso. At the age of eleven, he performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in a nationally broadcast concert and has since performed with orchestras throughout the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, NDR-Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra and the Genoa Orchestra. He has performed on NPR’s Performance Today, Good Morning America and CNN’s American Morning with Paula Zahn. Mr. Huang’s first commercial recording, comprised of Fantasies by Schubert, Ernst, Schoenberg and Waxman, was released to critical acclaim on Naxos in the fall of 2003. He has had great success in competitions since the age of fifteen with top prize awards in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition and the Indianapolis International Violin Competition. He received Gold Medal Awards in the Kingsville International Competition, the Irving M. Klein International Competition and the D’Angelo International Competition. In addition to his solo career, Mr. Huang is deeply committed to chamber music. He has attended the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, The Seattle Chamber Music festival, and the the Caramoor Festival, and also been a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMSII program. He is also the leader and concertmaster of the Sejong Soloists, a conductorless string ensemble based in New York City. Recent performances include concerts in Wigmore Hall, (London) Salle Cortot, (Paris) Kennedy Center, (Washington) and Alice Tully Hall (New York), where he gave the world premiere of Donald Martino's Sonata for Solo Violin.
Higgin Kim, Chairman of Byucksan Engineering Co. Chair

Jaewon Choi, violin
Violinist Jaewon Choi is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in Korea, including the Korea Broadcast System (KBS), Korea Daily Newspaper, Seoul National University, Joong-Ang Daily Newspaper, Dong-A Daily Newspaper, and New World Newspaper competitions. She participated in Master Classes with Dorothy DeLay, Zakar Bron, and James Buswell. She has appeared with Seoul Philharmonic, Korean Baroque Chamber, Bu-Cheon Philharmonic, KBS, Seoul National University Alumni, Seoul National University String, Su-Won Philharmonic orchestras. She won the Young Artist Audition at the Kumho Cultural Foundation and gave a recital concert at Kumho Art Hall. She has also performed in the Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center and in the Stern Hall and the Zankel Hall at the Carnegie Hall. As an active Chamber Musician, she performed in master classes with Juilliard String Quartet and Isaac Stern at the Miyazaki Music Festival. She also participated in the Isaac Stern’s Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall. While she was pursuing Master of Music degree at Juilliard, she studied with Mr. Hyo Kang and studied chamber music with Robert McDonald, Itzhak Perlman, Nicolas Mann, and Joel Smirnoff. Currently a student in Artist Diploma Program at Yale School of Music, Ms. Choi is a student of Hyo Kang.

Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Emilie-Anne Gendron, born in 1984 to Japanese-French Canadian parents, began her violin studies at age four in Wethersfield, Connecticut. At eleven, she entered the Juilliard Pre-College as a student of Won-Bin Yim and the late Dorothy DeLay. As the winner of the 2002 Stulberg International String Competition, Ms. Gendron earned critical praise as "a poised soloist. . .accurate as clockwork. . .[with] lyrical prowess as well as remarkable facility" (Kalamazoo Gazette). Festival credits include Aspen, Salzburg, Yongpyong, and Norfolk, where she was a founding member of the Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble. As a chamber musician, she appears most frequently with pianist Yelena Grinberg as the G-Sharp Duo. Recent concerts include recitals at the Bates College Concert Series and Brooklyn Bargemusic, as well as chamber performances at Miller Theatre and Alice Tully Hall. As part of the Columbia-Juilliard joint program, Ms. Gendron graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia in 2006 with a B.A. in Classics. She is currently completing her second year of the Master of Music program at Juilliard. For the upcoming academic year, Ms. Gendron recently became one of the few people ever to be accepted simultaneously to both of Juilliard's most prestigious and selective degree programs: the Doctor of Musical Arts as well as the Artist Diploma. Currently she is enrolled in the Artist Diploma program at Juiilard where she studies with Hyo Kang and David Chan.

Yu Jeong Lee, violin
Yu Jeong Lee studied at the Seoul National University in Korea and completed her bachelor’s and master’s degree in violin studies at The Juilliard School. She has performed in foremost international venues such as the United Nations, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, The Concert Series at the Korean Cultural Service in Washington D.C, and the Seoul Arts Center as a winner of the Rising Star Concert Series. She has been featured as a soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Korean Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Young Artists Chamber Orchestra, Corelliard Chamber Orchestra and The Juilliard Orchestra, among others. She was the principal violinist of Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea, as well as the concertmaster of the New York Sinfonietta and University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra. Ms.Lee is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland.
Liu Foundation Chair

Yura Lee, violin
Winner of the 2007 Avery Fischer Career Grant, violinist/violist Yura Lee has enjoyed an exceptional career since coming to the United States in 1994. In recent seasons she has appeared with many prestigious orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Tokyo Philharmonic, among others. The 1999-2000 season saw her Carnegie Hall debut with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra, following subscription concerts in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Ms. Lee was the first prize winner in the Leopold Mozart Competition, where she was also awarded the Mozart Prize, Mozart Medal, Jugendjury Prize, and the Public Prize. Also in 2006, Ms. Lee was the fourth prize laureate in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, and 2nd prize winner in the Premio Paganini Competition in Italy. In the 2002-03 season, Ms. Lee was nominated and represented by Carnegie Hall for its ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) series, for which she gave recitals at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and at nine celebrated concert halls in Europe, including Wigmore Hall (London), the Musikverein (Vienna), and the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam). As a chamber musician, Ms. Lee regularly performs at the Verbier, Caramoor, and Salzburg Festivals, among others. During the summers of 2004-2006, Ms. Lee participated at the Marlboro Festival of Music in Vermont. In 1997 Ms. Lee received the Debut Artist of the Year prize at the "Performance Today" awards given by National Public Radio. She has been featured on the "Late Show with David Letterman," CNN/fN, "Fox on Arts," WABC-TV in New York, KBS in South Korea and ZDF Arte in Germany. From 1994 to 2001, Ms. Lee studied at The Juilliard School under the late Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. During the summers of 1995-2000 she was a full scholarship student at the Aspen Music School and has performed many times at the Aspen Music Festival. In 2001 and 2002 she participated at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia. From 2001-2005, Ms. Lee studied with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss at Indiana University, and the New England Conservatory of Music. Yura Lee plays the 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, on loan from the Steans Institute for Young Artists, Ravinia Festival, Chicago.

Emily Popham, violin
Emily Popham was born in Dayton, Ohio and began violin studies in Louisville Ky. She has been a featured soloist with the Louisville Orchestra, the Starling Chamber Orchestra and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Indiana University. Emily has received prizes in the Corpus Christi and ASTA competitions and was recently awarded First Prize in the Balsam Duo Competition with pianist Young-Kyung Hyun. As a chamber musician she has performed at the Ravinia, Taos, and Kneisel Hall festivals, and at the Open Chamber Music Seminar at Prussia Cove. This past summer she was a faculty member at the Summer-trios Music Festival and a member of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Emily completed degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard School where her teachers were Miriam Fried and Robert and Nicholas Mann. Most recently she completed a Professional Studies Diploma at Manhattan School of Music with Sylvia Rosenberg and was honored with the Pablo Casals Award at graduation.

Andrew Wan, violin
In 2007, Canadian violinist Andrew Wan won the grand prize at the 68th Concours Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Juilliard and Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competitions, and the Plowman and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions with The N-E-W Piano Trio. As a result, he has performed with the Montreal, Juilliard, and Aspen Symphonies, under the direction of James DePriest, Michael Stern, and Jean-Francois Rivest. In 2008, he makes his debut with Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony, the Newfoundland Symphony, and returns to the Edmonton Symphony. Mr. Wan has appeared in recital with the Juilliard Quartet, the New Zealand Trio, violinist Cho-Liang Lin, and with pianists Stephan Lemelin and Jane Coop. This season, his piano trio will make their debuts at the Kennedy Center in Washington with Itzhak Perlman, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mr. Wan received his Bachelor of Music Degree from the Juilliard School studying with Masao Kawasaki and is pursuing a Master of Music Degree under the tutelage of Mr. Kawasaki and Ron Copes. He will serve as guest concertmaster of the Vancouver Symphony in February 2008. Mr. Wan is playing a 1731 Guarneri del Gesu violin, "the Mayseder," a generous gift to The Juilliard School from an anonymous donor, lent to him from the Juilliard Rare Instrument Collection.

Ji In Yang, violin
Ji In Yang came to the U.S. in 1995 to study at the Juilliard Pre-College Division. Since then she has received recognition for her outstanding performances in and around New York. She has had many appearances with orchestras including Bucheon Philhamonic Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra, Chuncheon Philhamonic Orchestra, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, and Sarah Lawrence Symphony Orchestra. She had appeared in national Television show “Art Theatre” in Korea as a guest. In 2004, she was invited by Midori to perform in Japan which was televised in NHK. In 2002 she was invited to play J.S. Bach’s Double Concerto with Cho-Liang Lin and Sejong at the Tongyeong International Music Festival. She also performed the Elgar Violin Concerto in B minor to critical acclaim at the Bayer-Benedict Music Tent with the Aspen Young Artists Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival. Since beginning her violin studies at the age of six, she has won numerous awards and competitions including first prize at the 1991 Korean Monthly Music Magazine Competition. Having won the Concerto Competition, she performed the Vieuxtemps Violin Concerto No.4 with the Juilliard-Pre College Orchestra. She recently concluded her studies at the Juilliard School as a student of Hyo Kang. Ms. Yang has been a member of Sejong since 2005 and was appointed as a Samsung Foundation of Culture chair member in 2006.
Samsung Foundation of Culture Chair

VIOLA

CELLO

Ole Akahoshi, cello, principal
German cellist Ole Akahoshi has performed as soloist with orchestras including Orchestra of St. Luke’s under Yehudi Menuhin, Symphonisches Orchester Berlin and Czechoslovakian Radio Orchestra. Winner of competitions including Concertino Praga and Jugend Musiziert, his performances have been featured on CNN, NPR, HR, BR, KBS (Korea), and WQXR. Akahoshi has performed in Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Seoul Arts Center, Wigmore Hall London, Berliner Philharmonie. He recorded for among others the Albany and Naxos Labels. Akahoshi received his BM from Juilliard and MM from Yale (with Aldo Parisot) and the Artist Diploma from Indiana University (with Janos Starker). Akahoshi was teaching assistant for Aldo Parisot and Janos Starker. He also studied with Pierre Fournier. His other mentors in Germany were Georg Donderer and Wolfgang Boettcher. Akahoshi is principal cellist of the Sejong Soloists in New York, as well as member of the Saito Kinen Orchestra and the Opera Nomori Tokyo. He joined the faculty of the Yale School of Music in 1997 and the Manhattan School of Music in 2004.
Aldo Parisot Chair

Ani Aznavoorian, cello
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as a “cellist who shows great sensitivity and great virtuosity at all moments,” Sejong member Ani Aznavoorian has established herself as one of the foremost cellists of her generation. She has been a soloist with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Tokyo, Helsinki, and Indianapolis philharmonics, Finnish Radio, Edmonton, and San Jose symphonies, and Concertante di Chicago. Ms. Aznavoorian has won first prizes in the Illinois Young Performers, Union League Civic and Arts Foundation Music Scholarship, Chicago Cello Society National, Julius Stulberg, and American String Teachers Association competitions. A Presidential Scholar in the Arts, Ms. Aznavoorian was the youngest winning cellist in the history of the Juilliard School’s Concerto Competition. Most recently, she gave the world premiere performance of Lera Auerbach’s Twenty-four Preludes for Cello and Piano live on stage with the Hamburg State Ballet. Ms. Aznavoorian received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard as a student of Aldo Parisot. Currently Ani is on the faculty of University of Illinois. She proudly performs on a cello made by her father, Peter Aznavoorian of Chicago.

Na-Young Baek, cello
Winner of the Philadelphia orchestra competition, cellist Na-Young Baek has made her American Debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2000. She has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras such as Hudson Valley Philharmonic, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, Academy Symphony, World Symphony Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. As an active recitalist, one of the most recent recitals include the Dame Myra Hess concert which was broadcasted live in Chicago. She came to USA to study at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music as a pupil of Orlando Cole. Her study continued at the Yale University for the Mater’s degree with Aldo Parisot who also had taught her for the Artist Diploma program at the Juilliard School. During the study, she won a top prize at the 1st Gyeongnam International Competition(Isang Yun in memoriam), and the first prizes at the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Competition and the Holland-American Society Competition, where she was awarded a use of a Koen Johan Herman Padding cello for a year.

Patrick Jee, cello
Mr. Jee’s solo career has taken him across the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe with engagements and re-engagements by many orchestras including the Buffalo Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and the National Orchestra of Toulouse. As a recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Jee has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Herbst Theatre, the Kennedy Center, the United Nations, and Wigmore Hall. He has also performed on Caramoor’s “Rising Stars” and “Virtuosi” Series in collaboration with Leon Fleisher. Mr. Jee is a member of the Sejong Soloists (EMI) and “Ditto” (Credia), a new chamber group based in S. Korea. Mr. Jee has garnered top prizes in many competitions, most recently being the 5th Carlos Prieto International Cello Competition held in Morelia, Mexico. Others include the Andre Navarra Cello Competition, the Holland-America Music Society Competition, the Irving Klein International String Competition, the Hugo Kauder Cello Competition, and the International Web Concert Hall Competition. He holds a B.M. from the Juilliard School and a M.M. from Yale University School of Music. Currently, Mr. Jee is Assistant Principal Cello of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Principal Cello of the Grant Park Orchestra. He is also on faculty at Roosevelt University Chicago College of Performing Arts.

Kevork Parsamian, cello
Cellist Kevork Parsamian was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He began his cello studies at the age of four. In 1995, Kevork came to the United States, where he completed his bachelor degree at the University of Cincinnati with Yehuda Hanani, his master’s degree at Indiana University with Janos Starker, and an Artist Diploma at Yale University School of Music, with Aldo Parisot. Kevork has received many and prizes, including first prize in the Bulgarian National Music Competition, the Lima Symphony Competition in Lima, OH, and the Cincinnati University concerto competition. Kevork has been featured as guest soloist with the University of Cincinnati, the Indiana Symphony, the Lima Symphony, the Mannes Community, and the Bulgarian National orchestras. In 2005 he performed in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall on the “Treasures of Bulgaria” series. His concerts have been broadcast on Bulgarian radio and television. Kevork is also an active chamber musician. During his stay at Indiana, his string quartet won the prestigious Kutner award. He has worked with such notable artists as the Tokyo String Quartet, Peter Oundjian, Ani Kavafian, Mauricio Fuks, and Paul Biss. In addition, he has been a cello section member in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Lima, OH., Evansville, IN., Sarasota West Coast, and New World Symphony Orchestras. Currently he is on faculty in the preparatory division of Manhattan School of Music, and a member of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.

BASS