Soovin Kim, violin
Romie de Guise Langlois, clarinet
The Old City String Quartet
Bryan Lee, violin
Joel Link, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw,cello
Violinist Soovin Kim is Artistic Director of the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival which is quickly gaining national attention for its innovative programming, educational outreach, and work with young composers. Soovin received first prize at the Paganini International Competition when he was only 20 which launched an international concert career. He later was a recipient of such distinguished prizes as the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, the Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He performs around the world as a concerto soloist and recitalist as well as with the Johannes String Quartet.
Soovin has released nine commercial CD recordings in recent years including Niccolò Paganini's demanding 24 Caprices and a French album of Fauré and Chausson with pianist Jeremy Denk and the Jupiter Quartet. Soovin grew up for much of his childhood in Plattsburgh, NY. He joined the Vermont Youth Orchestra as its then-youngest member at age 10 and later served as its concertmaster for three years. He is often heard in the Champlain Valley through his performances with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, on the Lane Series at the University of Vermont, at Middlebury College, with the Burlington Chamber Orchestra, and on Vermont Public Radio. Soovin is passionate about music education and is a professor at Stony Brook University and a visiting international scholar at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
Praised as “extraordinary” and “a formidable clarinetist” by The New York Times, Romie de Guise-Langlois has appeared as soloist and chamber musician on major concert stages throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia. She has performed as soloist with the Houston Symphony, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ensemble ACJW, at Music@Menlo, and the Banff Center for the Arts. She won Astral Artists’ 2011 National Auditions and was awarded First Prize in the 2009 Houston Symphony Ima Hogg Competition. She also captured the top prize at the Canadian Music Competition, and was the recipient of the Canadian Broadcasting Company award. An avid chamber musician, Ms. de Guise-Langlois joins the roster of Chamber Music Society Two in 2012. She has toured with Musicians from Marlboro, and has appeared on series of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Chamber Music Northwest, Boston Chamber Music Society, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Royal Conservatory, Ravinia Festival and 92ndStreet Y, among many others. Upcoming, she joins pianist Winston Choi and violinist Minghuan Xu for the première season of the Pivot Chamber Soloists. She is also the founding member of Atria Ensemble and Sospiro Winds, which received First Prize at the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the Silver Medal in the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, respectively. She is a member of The Knights, and has performed as principal clarinetist for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and for the New Haven and Stamford symphony orchestras. A native of Montréal, Romie de Guise-Langlois received a Bachelor of Music degree from McGill University. She also holds a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. She recently completed her fellowship at The Academy – A Program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute, and is an adjunct professor of clarinet and concert artist at the Kean University Conservatory of Music.
The Old City String Quartet has won the praise of some of the greatest chamber musicians of our time. Formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, the ensemble draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri String Quartets, but brings a youthful enthusiasm and musical conviction to the repertoire that is truly its own. Joseph Silverstein said of the group: "The Old City String Quartet is one of the finest string quartets I have ever heard. I expect to see the ensemble reach international acclaim." The ensemble's recording of the Mendelssohn and Debussy quartets, released in 2009 by the audiophile label Unipheye Music©, was awarded the Blue Moon award by the highly respected audiophile website 6moons.com. The album's review by David Kan proclaimed that "the maturity in these interpretations is phenomenal and disproportionate to the age [of the group.]" Members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world's finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony and BBC Concert Orchestra. The Old City String Quartet was named Gold Medalist and Grand Prize Winner of the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, was awarded second prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and as an ensemble has attended music festivals such as Artosphere and La Jolla SummerFest. The ensemble worked intensively at the Curtis Institute with such renowned chamber musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein, and Peter Wiley, and is currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Texas.
Bryan Lee has performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Delaware, Lansdowne, and Temple University Symphony Orchestras, among others. Bryan was awarded the Bronze Medal at the 2005 Stulberg International String Competition and won second prize at the 2004 Kingsville International Young Performers Competition. He was featured on America's National Public Radio station on the show “From the Top”, and has attended Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, La Jolla Summerfest, Music from Angel Fire, Encore School for Strings, Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, and the Perlman Music Program. Serving as Associate Concertmaster of both Symphony in C and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and as a substitute for the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bryan has performed under the batons of such renowned conductors as Michael Tilson Thomas, Rossen Milanov, Otto-Werner Mueller, Alan Gilbert, Christoph Eschenbach, and Sir Simon Rattle, and has collaborated in chamber music with Peter Wiley, Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, Carter Brey, and the Tokyo String Quartet. Bryan is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music where he studied with Pamela Frank and Victor Danchenko. His previous studies were with Choong-Jin Chang and Soovin Kim. Bryan is also a member of the Old City String Quartet, Grand Prize and Gold Medal winner of the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and now the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.
Joel Link made his solo orchestral debut with the Gwinnett (Georgia) Philharmonic performing Vieuxtemps’ Concerto No. 5 in 2000. In 2001, Joel was invited to play at the IV VIRTUOSI Music Festival in Pernambuco, Brazil. In 2002, Joel was the National First Place winner of the Music Teachers National Association Junior High Strings Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 2003, Joel was the 2nd place winner of the prestigious Johansen Triennial International Competition in Washington, D. C. He later performed with the Prince George Philharmonic. In 2004, Joel was the First Place winner, as well as the Chamber Prize winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in London, England, and was featured in The Strad June 2004 issue. In 2003, his chamber trio, the Ottava Trio, was awarded the Junior Division Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, Indiana, and was invited to perform on NPR’s From the Top. In 2004, the Ottava String Trio won the Coleman Association “Centennial Award” Grand Prize at the 58th Annual Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition in Pasadena, California. Joel is a member of the Old City String Quartet, who won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2010, as well as a top prize at the Young Concert Artist Auditions in New York City. In 2011, Joel graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he studied with Joseph Silverstein and Pamela Frank. Joel served as concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra during its 2009-2010 season. During the summer of 2009, Joel attended the Steans Institute for Young Artists at The Ravinia Festival. He is also a participating artist since 2010 at the Marlboro Music Festival. Joel is currently studying at Rice University in the Graduate Resident String Quartet Program.
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has appeared as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and has performed recitals and chamber music throughout the country, in Latin America, and in Europe. Her debut recital at London's Wigmore Hall in 2011, was reviewed in the April 2011 Strad Magazine as being "fleet and energetic...powerful and focused" and as having "lyricism that stood out...a silky tone" and "beautiful..supple lines". Milena won 1st prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in 2010, 4th prize at the Tokyo International Viola Competition in 2009, and the 2nd prize in the junior division at the 2006 Sphinx Competition. A violin student of Sergiu Schwartz and Melissa Pierson-Barrett for several years, she began studying viola with Michael Klotz at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2005. She participated in the 2005 New York String Orchestra Seminar and was principal viola in the 2008 seminar, under Jaime Laredo, at Carnegie Hall. Milena has spent summers at the Marlboro, Bowdoin, Sarasota, Strings, and Bravo! Vail Valley music festivals, as well as at Italy's Emilia Romagna Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, La Jolla Summerfest, and the Perlman Music Program. She has served as principal violist of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and as principal violist of Symphony in C in Camden, New Jersey under Rossen Milanov. She has also performed under such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Charles Dutoit, and Otto-Werner Mueller. Milena graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Misha Amory, and Joseph de Pasquale. She is a member of The Old City String Quartet, winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Old City String Quartet is currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.
Camden Shaw entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2006 and studied with Peter Wiley, the renowned cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet. Camden is an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with artists such as Mark O'Connor, Ida and Ani Kavafian, and Yuja Wang. In 2008 Camden Shaw’s solo and chamber music performances took him throughout the United States and England, where he studied with the distinguished English cellist Steven Isserlis at the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove in Cornwall. He was invited to return in 2009 to perform with Steven Isserlis as part of the seminar's chamber music series in September. Before attending Curtis, Camden Shaw won an unprecedented three consecutive festival medals, the highest awards given, from the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival. He was also selected as an emerging artist by the Seattle Chamber Music Society and presented a recital as part of its summer series. Camden is a member of the Old City String Quartet which is now the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the Shepherd School of Rice University.
