Team

Our Performers

Sory Park

Violin

Violinist Sory Park began to play the violin at the age of 5 under the influence of her aunt who was also a violinist. She won the third prize at Stulberg International String Competition, and won the first prizes at various competitions, including Ewha & Kyunghyang Competition and Strad Competition of Korea. She also received several prizes in Ilona Feher International Violin Competition in Hungary, Korea Herald Music Competition, Segye Times Music Competition. Ms.Park has performed in masterclasses given by Aaron Rosand, Sheryl Staples, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Bella Hristova, Ayano Ninomiya, Mimi Zweig, Ju-young Baek, and Eui-myung Kim, and she has participated in several music festivals including Yellow Barn, [email protected], Heifetz Music Institute and Summit Music festival. Moreover, she has performed recitals through the Kumho Junior Concert Series and the Ujung Prodigy Concert Series, and has appeared as a soloist with the Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed in chamber music concerts sponsored by the Taekwang Group, and the Yewon School Alumni Association. 

Previously, she attended the Yewon Arts School, where she graduated with honors and received the “Jung-gu Council Chairperson Prize”. She subsequently entered the Seoul Arts High School with honors. She is currently studying for her BM at New England Conservatory with Soovin Kim. 

Eleanor Shen

Violin

Eleanor Shen is currently a second year undergraduate student at the Juilliard School where she is studying with Catherine Cho. She has also studied violin under Emil Chudnovsky and Dr. Shu-Ting Yao. She was selected as a 2018 National YoungArts Foundation Merit winner in Classical Music, and was the winner of the Eastern Division Competition of the MTNA National Student Competitions. In 2017, Eleanor won the Landon Symphonette Concerto Competition and was subsequently invited to perform with the Symphonette in 2018.  She was a prizewinner in the Feder Memorial String Competition, the U.S. Army Young Artists Competition, and the Friday Morning Music Club Competition for Strings. She is the violinist of Trio Bellavoce, coached by Claudia Chudacoff. In past summers, Eleanor participated in the Music @ Menlo young artist program, studied with Jennifer Frautschi at Sarasota Music Festival, Paul Kantor at Aspen Summer Music Festival, Aaron Rosand at Summit Music Festival and also Cho-Liang Lin at the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra music festival.

Laura Gamboa

Violin

Laura Gamboa is a Colombian-American violinist from Columbus, Ohio. She has been playing the violin since age 4, and completed a Bachelors’ in Music Theory and Violin Performance, as well as a Eurhythmics minor from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She received a full-fellowship to finish her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance at the University of Michigan, and is currently working on her specialist degree and Chamber Music Masters’ degree there. Gamboa has also attended the Aspen Music Festival and School from 2014-2019. Her main teachers include Aaron Berofsky, Kathryn Votapek, Naoko Tanaka, Joan Kwuon, and David Updegraff. She plays on an 1888 Audinot violin and a Simon bow, both made in Mirecourt, France.

Nicholas Dill

Violin

Nicholas Dill is a soloist and chamber musician from Portland, Oregon currently studying with Charles Castleman. At the age of seventeen, Nicholas is the youngest known violinist to perform all six Ysaye sonatas in a single concert.  After winning First Prize in the Van Buren Soloist’s Competition, Dill subsequently made his concerto debut in his hometown in which the Oregon Register-Guard captioned, “…offering a performance that was bold, assertive and rich in emotional contrast”. Other first prize wins include the Oregon Mozart Players Young Soloist Competition, and the Gilbert Glausiuss Competition. 

In addition to his musical accomplishments, Dill studies mathematics and garnered the attention of the John Hopkins University Study of Exceptional Talent when he attained a perfect score on his SAT (Math) before the age of 13.

Dill has received coaching from many great artists including Vadim Gluzman, Miriam Fried, Ilya Kaler, Tessa Lark, Mayuko Kamio, Almita Vamos, Johannes Moser, Csaba Erdély, and members of the Dover Quartet. Nicholas has performed on several fine violins including a Gaetano Gadda and a 1748 Guadagnini.

Elena Watson-Perry

Violin

Born and raised in Paris, Elena Watson-Perry did the majority of her studies in  France, where she worked under the guidance of amazing artists and pedagogs  such as Sarah Nemtanu, Suzanne Guessner, Stéphanie-Marie Degand, Igor  Volochine, Stéphanie Moraly, Thibaut Vieux, Catherine Montier, Aurelio Perez,  François Salque, Denis Pascal, Claire Désert, the “Debussy” string quartet, etc. 

She graduated from the Paris National Conservatory in 2020 and, looking for a  different approach, started a graduate program at the Cleveland Institute of  Music in Dr and Mr Kaler’s studios. The alliance of the vastly different french  and russian schools of the violin enabled her to become a more accomplished and versatile musician. 

In 2019 Elena co-organized a chamber music concert and carried out a  commentary accompanied by excerpts of the pieces to facilitate musical  appreciation. She is a firm believer that classical music is for everyone and  strives through this type of project to make it more accessible.

Alina Kobialka

Violin

Alina Kobialka has been praised as a remarkable violinist due to her beautiful tone, effortless precision, and musical maturity beyond her years. At age 14, she made her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony for their 100th Anniversary Reunion Concert. Since then, Alina has performed with various orchestras around the world, including the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Colburn Academy Virtuosi Orchestra, and Macau Youth Symphony. 

Recent concert highlights include soloing with world-renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, performing in the Shanghai International Arts Festival gala concert, and making her debut with violinist Vadim Gluzman and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra. She was also awarded second prize at the 2017 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition.

An avid chamber musician, Alina has been an artist at the Marlboro Music Festival for the last few years. During her time there, she has had the great honor of performing with many acclaimed musicians, including pianist Mitsuko Uchida. To learn more about Alina, go visit her website at www.alinakobialka.com. 

Sophia Steger

Violin

Violinist Sophia Steger is a student of Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School. She has been awarded top prizes in numerous competitions–including first prize in the 2019 Adelphi Young Artists Competition–and has performed as soloist with the New York Chamber Players, New York International Chamber Orchestra, Seniors Orchestral Society of New York, New York Concerti Sinfonietta, Manhattan School of Music Precollege Symphony, Face the Music Orchestra, and the Aizuri Quartet. Sophia attended the Online Solo Strings Intensive, Polish Rising Music Stars, Vivace Matera, Sounding Point Academy, Heifetz International Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Castleman Quartet Program. Her ensembles have been mentored by members of the Emerson, Shanghai, Juilliard, and Kronos quartets and performed at venues including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, WQXR’s The Greene Space, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 

Sophia is passionate about community outreach and environmental sustainability. During the pandemic, Sophia recorded performances for a retirement community in Pennsylvania and played weekly Zoom concerts for COVID-19 patients in hospitals around the country. Sophia has led workshops for children and family concerts at community centers in NYC. At Juilliard, Sophia is active in student-led sustainability initiatives and student leadership, and is a Gluck Community Service Fellow.

Suni Norman

Violin

Suni Norman (24) is a recent graduate of the New England Conservatory with a Bachelors in Violin Performance. She has received awards in the Stradivarius Competition, MTNA performance competition, Utah Symphony Salute to Youth and Utah Symphony Youth Guild Recital to name a few. Suni was named Utah’s Best of State Instrumentalist and was a Sterling Scholar recipient. She has participated in New York String Orchestra Seminar, Music Academy of the West, Heifetz International Festival and Talis Chamber Music Festival. Suni was recently the first violinist of Caine Undergraduate Research Quartet at Utah State University where she would perform concert lectures for the university and public. In Suni’s free time, she loves hiking the Rocky Mountains and golfing. 

Michael Chong

Viola

Violist Michael Chong is currently pursuing his Master’s at the University of Maryland where he studies with Katherine Murdock and Daniel Foster under a Graduate Assistantship. He is also a member of The Voyagers, a newly established chamber music organization based out of Honolulu, HI. During his time at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings from where he is a proud graduate, Michael played alongside distinguished faculty in the Fabian Concert Series, recorded an album with members of American rock band R.E.M., and even had the chance to perform alongside faculty and friends at Carnegie Hall. He has played in masterclasses for Roberto Díaz, Dimitri Murrath, Melissa Reardon, and the Borromeo String Quartet. His past teachers include Rebecca Albers, Hsin-Yun Huang, Lawrence Dutton, Megan Yanik, and James Batts.

Leah Glick

Viola

New York-based violist Leah Glick is a passionate and versatile young Israeli musician, performed worldwide as both chamber and soloist musician, and participated in several music festival and workshops such as the ‘Young Israel Philharmonic summer course’, ‘Orford Music Festival’, ‘Classical Tahoe’ and ‘String Insiders’.

Leah has performed worldwide in major concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Tishman Hall, New York; Konzerthaus, Berlin; Menuhin Hall, London; Wiener Konzerthaus and Musikverein Hall, Vienna; Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium and The Jerusalem Music Centre. Leah is a recipient of the America- Israel Cultural Foundation, Ronen Foundation, and President Scholarship.

Leah has played with The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra and Young Musicians European Orchestra.

Leah got her Bachelor of Music from the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance under Michael Gaisler and Roi Shiloah. She graduated in 2019 from the Mannes School of Music with her Master of Music degree under Daniel Panner, received her Graduate Diploma degree from the Juilliard School with Roger Tapping and is currently a student of Ms. Patinka Kopec at the Manhattan School of Music.

Christopher Chan

Cello

Christopher Josin Chan holds a Bachelors of Music in Performance at the University of Toronto studying under Shauna Rolston Shaw and Joseph Johnson with a full-tuition scholarship. Christopher has won numerous competitions such as the Canadian Music Competition, University of Toronto’s Felix Galimir Chamber Music Award, and University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Throughout his university studies, Christopher was selected to participate in masterclasses with Johannes Moser, Lawrence Lesser, St. Lawrence String Quartet, among others. He has given recitals at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio, Weill Recital Hall and has been a soloist with the Canadian Sinfonietta and the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Christopher has been mentored by the Gryphon Trio and Alban Gerhardt. He is a former principal cellist of the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra and is a substitute cellist for the Canadian Sinfonietta. Christopher plays on a David Wiebe cello, generously loaned by Shauna Rolston Shaw.

Lydia Rhea

Cello

Cellist Lydia Rhea is quickly garnering international recognition as a skilled soloist and chamber musician while currently pursuing a BM in Cello Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music studying under Dr. Melissa Kraut. Formerly a scholarship recipient Fellow at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy, Lydia studied with artist faculty member Hans Jørgen Jensen for four years. As a soloist, Lydia has performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and has appeared on NPR’s From the Top with renowned jazz pianist Fred Hersch, where she performed one of his original compositions in Jordan Hall, Boston. Most recently, she was named the Gold Medalist and received the Agnew Prize for Bach at the 2020 Cleveland Cello Society Scholarship Competition. Lydia is currently the cellist in the Almas Quartet and has performed throughout the US and Europe. You can find more information on her website at www.lydia-rhea.com.

Benjamin Richardson

Cello

Ben Richardson is a senior at the Cleveland Institute of Music pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance studying with Melissa Kraut. He has studied under Seattle Symphony members Efe Baltacigil and Walter Gray, and has taken masterclasses with Hans Jensen, Philip Setzer, and Shannon Lee, among others. He is currently a member of the Raphina Quartet, which is currently enrolled in the Advanced String Quartet Program at the institute. 

Ben has been playing the cello since he was three years old and has been playing with orchestras and chamber groups since the age of 10. From 2011 to 2015 he was the principal cellist for the Seattle Youth Symphony, and in 2015 – 2017 he soloed with the Evergreen Philharmonic Orchestra three times. Besides cello, Ben is a competitive curler, and has won silver medals at the 2016 Youth Olympics and the 2017 World Junior Curling Championships. He also had an extensive singing career as a boy soprano, soloing with the Seattle Symphony on multiple occasions, including a Grammy-nominated performance of Dutilleux’s “Shadows of Time” in 2012.

Yi-Mei Templeman

Cello

Cellist Yi-Mei Templeman aims to creatively fuse genres, and to rethink the typical presentation of classical music in order to welcome all audiences into her emotive storytelling. Yi-Mei has performed throughout Asia, South America, Canada, and the U.S.. She spent past summers at Carnegie Hall’s Audience Engagement Institute, Yellow Barn’s YAP and the Tanglewood Institute, where she served as principal cellist. She has also toured with the National Taiwan Youth Symphony and performed in the 2016 Piatigorsky Festival. Currently, Yi-Mei is the cellist of NEC’s next Graduate Piano Trio in Residence, Trio Gaia. Trio Gaia were prizewinners at the 2019 Plowman Competition as well as the 2021 Yellow Springs Competition. For Yi-Mei, generosity is at the heart of music-making – she brought her cello-playing to events for organizations such as TED-Ed and Classics Alive with the goal of providing context for classical music outside of the concert hall. In her free time, she also writes and shares original music on her instagram page, @yimei.cello. Yi-Mei is simultaneously pursuing a B.M. in cello performance with Lluis Claret and an M.M. in chamber music through NEC’s Professional Piano Trio Program.

Tomomi Sato

piano

Japanese pianist Tomomi Sato enjoys a diverse career as a solo and collaborative artist, coach and pedagogue. A prizewinner of Seattle International Piano Competition, she has made appearances in Italy, Brazil, China and throughout the US including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, LACMA and many others. Recent highlights include production of There’s Blood Between Us (Juilliard opera), Lincoln Center Gala, Midwest tour with violinist Kerson Leong, Renee Fleming’s SongStudio where her duo performed with “remarkable sweetness of tone (OperaWire).” Past festival appearances include Tanglewood, Music Academy of the West, Accademia Dino Ciani among others. Tomomi is a DMA candidate in Keyboard Collaborative Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music studying with Kevin Fitz-Gerald; she holds additional graduate degrees from USC and Juilliard. She is currently based in New York City and is a staff pianist at the Juilliard School.

Dominic Cheli

piano

Dominic Cheli was the First Prize winner of the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Competition. In July 2017, he released his debut CD of the music of Clementi on the Naxos label and recently recorded his second Naxos album of the music of Liszt and Schubert. His rapidly advancing career has included notable concerts such as his performance of Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano concerto with Valery Gergiev and the Colburn Orchestra at Walt Disney Hall and his Carnegie Hall recital debut this past Spring.

Mr. Cheli has performed with numerous orchestras across North America and abroad such as the Northwestern German Philharmonic, Virginia Symphony, DuPage Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Princeton Symphony, Great Falls Symphony Orchestra, and the Colburn Orchestra. He has performed at the Mostly Mozart, Ravinia, and Virginia Arts Festivals with upcoming concerts with the San Diego symphony and recitals in Greece. Born in St. Louis, Dominic currently resides in Los Angeles.

Lucas Amory

piano

A music-lover from an early age, the 8-year-old Lucas
Amory was published in the New York Times when he sent
chief critic Anthony Tommasini his personal lists of the ten
greatest composers and his ten favorite ones. Now Lucas is
enrolled in Harvard University and New England
Conservatory’s joint program as a Piano Performance major,
in the studio of Hae-Sun Paik. A 2020 Presidential Scholar of
the Arts Semifinalist and National YoungArts Foundation
Finalist in Classical Music, Lucas is also a past winner of the
Lyra Music Young Artists Competition and the Claudette
Sorel Piano Competition. He has performed at the 92nd St.
Y, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, and multiple times at Alice
Tully Hall. He has collaborated with distinguished artists
such as composer Bruce Adolphe and the Escher Quartet. In
his off time, he likes to conduct, sightread music with
friends, and go on runs.

Andrew Barnwell

piano

As a performer, Andrew finds chamber music most fulfilling and is a founding member of Trio Gaia, an award-winning ensemble dedicated to bringing vitality and equity to classical music through personally relevant performances both inside and outside the concert hall. Aside from his trio, Andrew is excited to have recently joined the roster of Orchestra US, a new organization dedicated to expanding arts access in rural areas across the country.

When not performing, Andrew loves planning events, and as one of the New England Conservatory (NEC) Nova Fellows, Andrew helped produce “In Good (ac)Company,” a 5-day virtual concert series in response to the pandemic that presented 13 randomly paired duos of NEC students and alumni. A Nova Fellow for two years, Andrew developed six mainstage and community engagement events that reached 2,000+ audience members and built partnerships with local musicians, artists, and businesses, including Sofar Sounds and Roxbury’s Immigrant Family Services Institute.

Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner

piano

“Mesmerizing artistry and extraordinary ability to communicate” (The Post-Standard),  “Poetic, electrifying” (Michigan Live), “a gifted virtuoso” (San Francisco Chronicle), “masterful technique and a veritable deluge of sonorities” (La Presse Montreal), describe Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner for performances that have stirred the intellect and humanity  of his audiences on five continents. Selected a Gilmore Young Artist, an honor awarded every two years highlighting the most promising American pianists of the new  generation, it also held deep meaning for him to perform at the White House, and at the Kennedy Center for President Obama’s second Inauguration concert. 

Sanchez-Werner’s multi-faceted artistry has been featured on NPR, PBS, CNN International, the Wall Street Journal, and WDR-Arte. He received the Atlantic Council  Young Global Citizen Award recognizing his dedication to social action through music in such countries as Iraq, Rwanda, France, Canada, and the United States. General Petraeus commended his “courageous humanitarian contributions through the arts…strengthening  the ties that unite our nations.”  

Sanchez-Werner holds Master and Bachelor of Music degrees from Juilliard where he  was awarded the Kovner Fellowship. Principal teachers have included Ilya Itin, Yoheved  Kaplinsky, Robert Durso, and composition with Lowell Liebermann. Sanchez-Werner studied with Boris Berman at the Yale School of Music, where he was awarded the Charles S. Miller Prize in their prestigious Artist Diploma program. 

Richarlita You

piano

24-year-old Taiwanese pianist Xin Hua “Richarlita” You, was awarded Second Prize at the 2019 International Keyboard Oddyssiad and Festival Concerto Competition, and received First Prize at the 2017 International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival Solo Competition. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician both nationally and internationally. Since her piano debut in Taipei at the age of 10, she has performed in remarkable concert venues such as National Concert Hall in Taiwan, Jordan Hall in Boston, and Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City. In her appearance in 2018, she gave a sold-out recital in National Recital Hall in Taipei. 

Richarlita has studied with several world-renowned pianists. During her teenage yeas, Richarlita studied with Gwhyneth Chen, and later with Vivian Hornic Weilerstein at New England Conserva- tory. Recently she received her Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School where she stud- ied with Matti Raekallio. In the summer months, she has studied with Martin Canon (Bowdoin In- ternational Music Festival), Marina Lomazov (Musicfest Perugia), and Anton Nel (Aspen Music Festival).  

Natalie Nedvetsky

piano

Natalie Vargas Nedvetsky is a pianist, poet, and communicator dedicated to the intertwining of words and music through creative mediums. Originally from Chicago, she studied piano performance at The Juilliard School and creative writing at Columbia University in the City of New York and is now obtaining her master’s degree at The Johns Hopkins University/Peabody Institute. She has been a laureate of several international piano competitions, and has performed across the US and Europe in halls such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Concert Noble Brussels, and more. An avid chamber musician, she performed in Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Musica Mundi International Festival, and others. She has studied closely and collaborated with such pedagogues as Menahem Pressler, Joseph Kailchstein, Ivri Gitlis, and Yo-Yo Ma, to name a few. In each of her solo piano performances, she combines poems and piano repertoire, creating a rich and surprising artistic journey for her audience.