Luke Fleming, Founding Artistic Director and Violist
Praised by The Philadelphia Inquirer for his “glowing refinement,” violist Luke Fleming‘s performances have been described by The Strad as “confident and expressive…playing with uncanny precision,” and lauded by Gramophone for their “superlative technical and artistic execution.” Strings Magazine said of a recent performance by Mr. Fleming: “With tender lyrical lines, the viola’s richness suited the music wonderfully…I wished I could put [him] on repeat.” Festival appearances include the Marlboro Music School and Festival, the Steans Institute at Ravinia, Perlman Music Program, the Norfolk and Great Lakes Chamber Music Festivals, the Melbourne Festival, Bravo!Vail, and Festival Mozaic, as well as concerts and residencies across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Formerly the violist of the internationally acclaimed Attacca Quartet, he has served as Artist-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and received the National Federation of Music Clubs Centennial Chamber Music Award. He was awarded First Prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition and top prizes at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition.
In 2015, Mr. Fleming became the Founding Artistic Director of both the Manhattan Chamber Players, a New York-based chamber music collective, and the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival, a mission/outreach-centric festival held annually in his hometown, New Orleans. Mr. Fleming has been featured on a Live from Marlboro CD release on the Archiv Music label, and his recordings with the Attacca Quartet on Azica Records were released to widespread critical acclaim. He has performed as a guest artist with the Pacifica, Solera, Serafin, and Canterbury Quartets, the Eroica Trio, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Sejong Soloists, Ensemble Connect, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the New York Classical Players, and has given masterclasses at UCLA, Louisiana State University, Ithaca College, Columbus State University, Syracuse University, Melbourne University, and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, among others. He has served on the faculties of the Innsbrook Institute, Renova Music Festival and Houston ChamberFest, and Fei Tian College, writes frequently for Strings Magazine, and is Lecturer-in-Residence for the concert series Project: Music Heals Us.
Mr. Fleming holds the degrees of Doctor of Musical Arts, Artist Diploma, and Master of Music from the Juilliard School, a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and a Bachelor of Music summa cum laude from Louisiana State University. He is represented by Arts Global, Inc.
lukefleming.com
Photo credit: Sarah Fleming
David Fung, Pianist
Praised for his “ravishing and simply gorgeous” performances in the The Washington Post, pianist David Fung is widely recognized for interpretations that are elegant and refined, yet intensely poetic and uncommonly expressive. Mr. Fung appears regularly with the world’s premier ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, and with the major orchestras in Australia, including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
In July 2016, Mr. Fung’s highly acclaimed debut with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival was “everything you could wish for” (Cleveland Classical), and he was further praised as an “agile and alert interpreter of Mozart’s crystalline note-spinning” (The Plain Dealer). This season, he has solo recital debuts at the Brussels Piano Festival and the Kennedy Center, presented by Washington Performing Arts, and performances with Orpheus, the Albany Symphony, the Arkansas Symphony, the Israel Camerata, the Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Marin Symphony, the Sun Valley Summer Symphony, and the Vallejo Symphony. He also performs for the first time at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and the Yeosu International Music Festival in Korea, and he returns to Ravinia Festival and Lincoln Center’s Great Performers. Festival highlights include performances at the Aspen Music Festival, Blossom Music Festival, Caramoor, Edinburgh International Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, the Ravinia Festival, and Tippet Rise. At his Edinburgh International Festival debut, The Edinburgh Guide described Mr. Fung as being “impossibly virtuosic, prodigiously talented… and who probably does ten more impossible things daily before breakfast.”
Mr. Fung garnered international attention as a winner in two of the “top five” international piano competitions (the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition in Brussels and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano International Masters Competition in Tel Aviv). In Tel Aviv, he was further distinguished by the Chamber Music and Mozart Prizes, awarded in areas in which Mr. Fung has a particularly passionate interest. Mr. Fung is the first piano graduate of the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles and is a Steinway Artist.
davidfung.com
Photo credit: Daniel Moody
Andrew Janss, Cellist
Hailed by The New York Times for his “muscularity and shimmering lyricism,” “insightful musicianship,” and “sumptuous elegance,” cellist Andrew Janss‘ performances have been enjoyed across five continents in venues including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Sydney Opera House, and the Louvre. Mr. Janss has collaborated in concert with a long list of iconic Classical artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Lynn Harrell, Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, as well as chart-topping performers such as Lana Del Rey, Mary J. Blige, Estelle, Florence + the Machine, Erykah Badu, Kurt Elling, and The Roots. Mr. Janss is cellist of the acclaimed Solera Quartet, winners of the 2017 Pro Musicis International award. Previously, Mr. Janss was the founding cellist of the Escher Quartet, one of the most highly acclaimed string quartets of its generation. With the Escher Quartet he was in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as part of Chamber Music Society Two from 2007-2010.
Mr. Janss has served as Guest Principal Cellist of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and tours extensively with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Highlight performances with the company have included premieres of new choreography in Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Miami, New Orleans, and internationally in China, Italy, and Australia. Mr. Janss tours and records for the groundbreaking band Break of Reality both in the United States and as cultural ambassadors for the US Department of State. Recent tours through American Music Abroad have taken the band to Eastern and Central Asia, Haiti, and Brazil, collaborating with local musicians and composers in each country they visit.
Mr. Janss is the Co-Artistic Director for Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit organization that presents interactive classical music performances to diverse audiences by artists of the highest caliber in order to provide encouragement, education, and healing, with a focus on elderly, disabled, rehabilitating, incarcerated, and homeless populations.
andrewjanss.com
Photo credit: Dario Acosta
Michael Katz, Cellist
Hailed by the press for his “bold, rich sound” (The Strad) and “nuanced musicianship,” (The New York Times), Israeli cellist Michael Katz has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in venues such as Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, Tokyo’s Oji Hall, and Jerusalem’s Henry Crown Auditorium. His musicianship has been recognized with many awards, among them all three prizes at the 2011 Aviv Competition, and First Prizes at the Juilliard School’s 2010 Concerto Competition and the 2005 Turjeman Competition.
High in demand as a chamber musician, Mr. Katz has collaborated and performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Anthony Marwood, Donald Weilerstein, Peter Frankl, Roger Tapping, Charles Neidich, and others. As the cellist of the Lysander Piano Trio, Mr. Katz was a winner of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and was awarded first prize in the 2011 Coleman Competition and 2011 J.C. Arriaga Competition. His festival appearances include performances at Ravinia, Music@Menlo, Lucerne, Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Malaga Clasica, and the Holland Music Sessions. Deeply committed to audience engagement and community outreach, Mr. Katz was a Fellow in Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect from 2014 – 2016
Born in Tel-Aviv, Mr. Katz began his cello studies at age seven, and his early teachers included Zvi Plesser, Hillel Zori and the late Mikhail Khomitzer. Mr. Katz received his Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory as a student of Laurence Lesser and his Master of Music from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Joel Krosnick. He has completed a Doctor of Music degree at SUNY Stony Brook as a student of Colin Carr.
michaelkatzcello.com
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen
Kristin Lee, Violinist
A recipient of the 2015 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a top prizewinner of the 2012 Walter W. Naumburg Competition and the Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions, Kristin Lee is a violinist of remarkable versatility and impeccable technique who enjoys a vibrant career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and educator. “Her technique is flawless, and she has a sense of melodic shaping that reflects an artistic maturity,” writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Strad reports, “She seems entirely comfortable with stylistic diversity, which is one criterion that separates the run-of-the-mill instrumentalists from true artists.” Kristin Lee has appeared as soloist with leading orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, New Mexico Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, the Ural Philharmonic of Russia, the Korean Broadcasting Symphony, the Milwaukee Symphony, the Guiyang Symphony Orchestra of China, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and many others.
An accomplished chamber musician, Lee is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center following her completion of a three-year residency as a CMS Two artist. She has appeared the Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo, La Jolla Festival, Medellín Festicámara of Colombia, the El Sistema Chamber Music festival of Venezuela, the Sarasota Music Festival, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern of Germany, the Hong Kong Chamber Music Festival and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, among many others. Lee is a principal artist with Camerata Pacifica, sitting as The Bernard Gondos Chair. She is also the concertmaster of the groundbreaking Metropolis Ensemble, with whom she premiered Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, written for her, which appears on Fung’s CD Dreamscapes, released on Naxos.
Lee is the co-founder and artistic director of Emerald City Music, a chamber music series that aims to present authentically unique concert experiences and bridge the divide between the highest caliber classical music and the many diverse communities that reside in the Puget Sound region of Washington State. Born in Seoul, Korea, Lee began studying the violin at the age of five, and within one year won First Prize at the prestigious Korea Times Violin Competition. In 1995, she moved to the United States and continued her musical studies under Sonja Foster. Two years later, she became a student of Catherine Cho and Dorothy DeLay in The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division. In January 2000, she was chosen to study with Itzhak Perlman after he heard her perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Juilliard’s Pre-College Symphony Orchestra. Lee holds a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein, and served as an assistant teacher for Perlman’s studio as a Starling Fellow. She is a member of the faculty of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and has served on the faculties of the LG Chamber Music School in Seoul, Korea, El Sistema’s chamber music festival in Caracas, Venezuela, and the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival.
violinistkristinlee.com
Photo credit: Lauren Desberg
Grace Park, Violinist
Grace Park is a dynamic violinist, dedicated chamber musician, and passionate pedagogue. Her diverse career has carried her from the world’s foremost concert halls to universities around the country as a soloist, chamber musician, coach, and educator. As part of a residency at the Carnegie Hall – Ensemble Connect program, Ms. Park pairs her elite musicianship with a fervent commitment to community engagement. As a soloist, Ms. Park has been the featured soloist at The Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Walt Disney Hall, Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Grace Rainey Auditorium in the Metropolitan Museum, The Rudolfinum in Prague, and Glinka Hall in St. Petersburg- with orchestras including North Czech Philharmonia, Russian Chamber Philharmonic, Napoli Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic. Recent engagements include solo Bach performance alongside Yo Yo Ma at New York City Center and a performance with Maxim Vengerov at the Cartegena Music Festival. Upcoming engagements include concerto debuts in Mexico and Poland.
A devoted chamber musician, Ms. Park has performed with a variety of ensembles around the world and has led chamber orchestras from the principal chair. Collaborations include the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Mark Morris Dance Company, members of Silk Road Ensemble, principal dancers of La Scala Ballet Theater, Royal Ballet, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Festival appearances include the Yellow Barn Music Festival, Vail, Music@Menlo, IMS Prussia Cove and the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop. Beyond the concert stage, Ms. Park has demonstrated a strong commitment to teaching and community engagement. She has collaborated to develop and deliver a series of interactive outreach concerts at public schools and community centers all over New York City and has given masterclasses and coached ensembles at Washington and Lee University, North Dakota State University, Skidmore College, Arkansas University, Conservatorio de Musica de Cartagena, Festival Mozaic and The Innsbrook Institute.
Ms. Park plays on a 1799 Nicolas Lupot, generously on loan from a private collection.
graceparkviolin.com
Photo credit: Jon Kim
Brendan Speltz, Violinist
NYC-based violinist Brendan Speltz has toured the globe with groundbreaking ensembles such as Shuffle Concert, the Manhattan Chamber Players, A Far Cry, and the Harlem Quartet. As founder of FeltinFour Productions, Mr. Speltz has produced innovative concert events across the New York City area which have been described by The New Yorker as “Thrilling, poignant, unexpected, and utterly DIY.” Most recently, Mr. Speltz co-created a cross-disciplinary presentation of Steve Reich’s Different Trains with aerial dance troupe ABCirque which was sponsored by Meyer Sound Labs. In NYC he has performed as guest with the New York New Music Ensemble, Mark Morris Dance Group, American Ballet Theatre, the American Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and as a founding member of the conductorless string orchestra Shattered Glass. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and his Master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Speltz plays a 1925 Carl Becker violin.
Photo credit: Sophie Zhai
