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AAndrew Byun is a Canadian cellist currently pursuing his Masters of Music with Natasha Brofsky at The Juilliard School. He has appeared in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Jian Wang, Frans Helmerson, and Laurence Lesser among others and has worked closely with the Borromeo, Brentano, Dover, and Emerson Quartets. Andrew has performed solo at Jordan Hall, Weill Recital Hall, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts and has been featured on the WMFT radio station and NPR’s From The Top as a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award. A passionate chamber musician, he has been invited to the Taos School of Music, I-M-S Prussia Cove, and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest. Andrew attended the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music in Philosophy and Cello Performance. He has studied with Hans Jorgen Jensen, Myung-wha Chung, Yeesun Kim.
Justus Friedrich Eichhorn studies with Grigory Gruzman at the Liszt School of Music in Weimar, where he also studies composition and conducting. In 2020, Justus was a pupil of Matti Raekallio at The Juilliard School during his family’s stay abroad for several months. He made his debut at age ten with Haydn’s Concerto in D. Since then, he has given concerts with several orchestras, including Mozart’s Concerto in A K. 414 with the Moscow Soloists, conducted by Yuri Bashmet. Justus has won numerous piano competitions, including First Prize in the Bechstein Competition Berlin. In 2021 he performed at the Elba Festival and was awarded the festival’s Promotional Prize. In 2022 he received the Swiss Charity Award at Tonhalle Zürich and performed Beethoven’s Second Concerto. In 2023 he makes his debut with the Korean Chamber Orchestra at the Seoul Arts Center and later performs Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto in Germany.
Jialin Yao studies with Sergei Babayan at the Juilliard School in New York. In 2021, he graduated from the China Conservatory of Music where he studied with Hong Fu. Since 2020, he has also been under the guidance of Ruoyu Huang. Jialin has performed with orchestras across China, including Orchestra academia China and the Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra. Jialin has been a prizewinner at several competitions, including the 2021 Singapore International Piano Competition, the China International Music Competition, the Steinway Competition in China, and the Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition among others. In 2018, KNS Classical released his first album, Campanella.
Violinist Jaewon Wee recently won the First and Audience Prizes at the 2022 Washington International Competition and the Second and Best Performance of the Commissioned Work Prizes at the 37th Klein International Competition. Last year, she was also awarded the Second & the Special iPalpiti Prizes at the George Enescu International Competition and, in 2019, as a winner of the Juilliard Violin Concerto Competition, she made her New York debut at Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall. Jaewon has appeared as soloist with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of the Republic of Bashkortostan, Italy Palermo Festival Symphony Orchestra and Korean Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, among others. Graduate of the Juilliard’s Master of Music Degree programme, Jaewon continues in a Graduate Diploma programme on full scholarship at the New England Conservatory, studying with Donald Weilerstein.
Canadian pianist Tong Wang explores a variety of genres and mediums to bring creative initiatives to the community. As a soloist, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and Red Deer Symphony Orchestra. She has won awards including the International Chopin Golden Ring Competition, the Canadian Music Competition, and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal of Performing Arts. Among her projects are the interactive performance tours ‘Song of Praise’ and ‘Ghiblilane’, research on the aesthetic of ‘cuteness’ in music, and social entrepreneurship initiatives such as ‘Zenkora Studios’. Tong is a member of the UTAU2, Lincoln Center Stage, and the Global Leaders Cohort. She received BM and MM from the New England Conservatory and McGill University. Tong received grants from the Canada Council and FRQSC for the creation of a new operetta, ‘Labyrinth of Tears’.
Akilan Sankaran is a ninth grade student attending Albuquerque Academy. He has played piano for nearly ten years and has won several piano competitions and awards on both the state and national level. “I love the piano because it allows me to express the full scope of a whole orchestra using only 88 keys,” says Akilan. “There are so many different ways to play the piano— with authentic styles, tones, and textures—that allows each one of my performances to be unique.” In addition to piano, Akilan also plays percussion in his school jazz band. He also teaches a fusion of Indian and classical music to young musicians. Besides piano, he enjoys science, math contests, track and cross country, debating and writing for his school newspaper.
Jack Kessler is a bachelor’s student at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studies viola with Roberto Diaz and Edward Gazouleas. He previously worked with Michael Klotz at Florida International University. Jack performed with fellows of the New World Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas from 2015 to 2019. He was a National YoungArts Foundation finalist in 2019 and has performed for distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Steven Tenenbom, and performed on NPR’s From The Top with Jeremy Denk at Dartmouth College. In recent summers, Jack has studied at Center Stage Strings, Bowdoin International Music Festival, in The Perlman Music Program, and at the Ashkenasi-Kirshbaum Chamber Music Seminar at the Heifetz International Music Institute.
American violist Brian Isaacs attended Yale University, where he received his master’s degree in Viola Performance as a student of Ettore Causa and his bachelor’s degree in Sociology. He will be based in Berlin starting September 2023 as a member of the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker. Brian received several awards while at Yale and won both the School of Music’s Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition (2023) and the College’s William Waite Concerto Competition (2022). He was a semifinalist at the Primrose International Viola Competition (2021) and the Kodály International Music Competition (2022), and was a prizewinner of the Rubinstein International Viola Competition (2019). He has performed in numerous American, Asian and European festivals and academies, including Bowdoin, Gimhae, Heyri, Moritzburg, NUME, NYO-USA, NYSOS, Schiermonnikoog, Taos, Thy and Yanghwajin. He attended the Verbier Festival Academy in 2022. Brian plays on a 2011 Douglas Cox viola, on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation.
Misi Boros started playing piano at age 4. As a child, he won first prizes in all national and international piano competitions he entered. In 2013, he took part in Lang Lang’s first Junior Music Camp in Munich and, a year later, he was the First Prize winner of the Virtuosos Classical Music Talent Show television programme, which has enabled him to perform in more than 30 countries. Misi has performed in several European countries, including Switzerland (Tonhalle Zurich), the United States (Lincoln Center, New York), Brazil, Japan and China. He previously attended the Verbier Festival Academy in 2022, where he was awarded the Tabor Foundation Award for piano. He has released six solo albums: including his disc Inspiration on the Hungaroton label, which received praise from International Piano Magazine and Süddeutsche Zeitung. Misi is currently pursuing his university studies in at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Antti Siirala.
Giovanni Bertolazzi is currently studying with Epifanio Comis. In addition to winning Second Prize and five special awards at the 2021 Franz Liszt International Piano Competiton in Budpest, Giovanni has won more than 40 prizes in international piano competitions. These include First Prizes at the S. Weishaupt Piano Competition and the S. Thalberg Piano Competition, as well as Fourth Prize at the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition. In 2019, he also received the Alkan Award for Piano Virtuosity (Milan). Giovanni has performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Fazioli Concert Hall in Sacile, Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome, at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Steinway Hall in London, among other prestigious venues. Highlights of his career so far include appearances with the Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro la Fenice and Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana.