Meet the Musicians – Spruce Peak Chamber Music Society October Concert

Photo credit: Dario Acosta 2017

DAVID KAPLAN
Pianist David Kaplan has been called “excellent and adventurous” (NYTimes), and praised for “grace and fire” at the keyboard (Boston Globe). He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican Centre, and this season, makes his concerto debut in Berlin’s Philharmonie. A creative recitalist, he has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, Washington’s National Gallery, Strathmore in Baltimore, and Bargemusic. Kaplan’s New Dances of the League of David, mixing Schumann with 16 new works, was cited in the “Best Classical Music of 2015” by The New York Times.

Kaplan has collaborated with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets, and is a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall. He has appeared the Bard, Seattle Chamber Music, Mostly Mozart, and Chamber Music Northwest festivals, and is an alumnus of Tanglewood, Ravinia-Steans Institute, and the Perlman Music Program. Kaplan has recorded for Naxos, as well as with Timo Andres in the acclaimed disc, Shy and Mighty (2010), for Nonesuch.

Passionate about teaching, Kaplan has served as a visiting Lecturer at UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music from 2016-18, and at Lawrence University in Wisconsin for the winter of 2018. Kaplan’s distinguished mentors over the years include the late Claude Frank, Walter Ponce, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. With a Fulbright Fellowship, he studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, and received his DMA from Yale University in 2014. David is proud to be a Yamaha Artist.

JIA KIM
Korean-American cellist Jia Kim, recipient of the prestigious 2017 career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts, leads a dynamic musical life as a performer, educator, and a passionate advocate for the Arts.  ​She has appeared on stages across the United States, South America, Europe,​ Asia​ and the Middle East​ with performances broadcasted on WQXR, PBS, KMZT​​ Classical, and acclaimed by the New York Time​s. ​ As an alum of the Perlman Music Program,  she joined Itzhak Perlman on a chamber music tour across Toronto, Mexico City, Virginia Beach, Miami and New York City.

Ms. Kim has been invited as Visiting Artist​ at the University of Hawaii​, American Academy of Jordan,​ College of William and Mary, Grand Valley State University, and ​was a Tone Judge for the Violin Society of America’s 2016 International Competition​. ​ Currently ​she ​serves as faculty ​at N​ew York Youth Symphony’s Chamber Music Program​, The Brearley School, and International Music Sessions, a nonprofit organization that brings students from conflict areas around the world​ ​to bridge the gap between cultures through the universal language of music. She is evermore grateful to her mentors and teachers Ronald Leonard, Itzhak & Toby Perlman, and to Joel Krosnick, whom she studied with at the Juilliard School for a Bachelor and Master Degree in Music. Ms. Kim performs on a Testore cello made in 1748.

 

SIWOO KIM
Siwoo Kim is an “incisive” and “compelling” (Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times) violinist who plays with “stylistic sensitivity and generous tonal nuance” (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune). Siwoo performs as soloist and chamber musician and is also the founding co-artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

Siwoo made his New York concerto debut at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium with James DePreist and the Juilliard Orchestra. He made his Walt Disney Concert Hall concerto debut shortly after. In addition, he has given concerto performances with the Columbus, Houston, Johannesburg, Kwazulu-Natal, Seongnam, Springfield (MO), and Tulsa symphony orchestras, among others. Siwoo gave the world premiere performance of Samuel Adler’s violin concerto and will be recording the work in Germany this season to coincide with the composer’s 90th anniversary.

An enthusiastic collaborator, Mr. Kim founded Quartet Senza Misura. Praised for their “whip-smart performances” (Alex Ross, The New Yorker), the string quartet has performed at an array of venues such as Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center, Terrace Theater of The Kennedy Center, Seoul Arts Center, La Fundacion Juan March in Spain, and the Simon Bolivar Conservatory of Music in Venezuela. In recent seasons, Siwoo has been a violinist of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect (ACJW) and the Marlboro Music Festival. He has been featured internationally as guest artist at the Tivoli Festival in Denmark, the Bergen International Festival in Norway, the Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival in South Africa, and with Ensemble DITTO in South Korea. He has performed chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Joyce DiDonato, Jeremy Denk, Kim Kashkashian, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard and Takacs String Quartets.

Siwoo was named the recipient of the 2012 King Award for Young Artists. He took second place at the 2010 Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings, where he was also awarded special prizes for the best performance of solo Bach and violin performance. He has also been named top prizewinner in the California, Chengdu, Crescendo, Hellam, Ima Hogg, Juilliard, Schadt, Sejong, and WAMSO competitions.

Siwoo studied with Roland and Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. He went on to receive both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied with Robert Mann, Donald Weilerstein and Ronald Copes.