Soovin Kim, Artistic Director is a violinist who concertizes around the world. His primary
studies
were at the Cleveland
Institute of Music and then the Curtis 
Institute of Music from which he graduated. He received first prize at the Paganini International Competition when he was only 20, and was later named the recipient of the Henryk Szeryng Career Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. He performs regularly as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and as a founding member of the Johannes String Quartet.
Soovin is an artist-in-residence at both Stony Brook University in New York, and Kyung Hee University in Seoul. Soovin released his second recording with Azica Records in the summer of 2008, a French album of Fauré and Chausson with Jeremy Denk and the Jupiter Quartet. His first CD with Azica Records, Niccolò Paganini's demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin, was released in 2006. 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 VYO, the Vermont Symphony, on the Lane Series at the University of Vermont, at Middlebury College, and on Vermont Public Radio. Soovin plays the 1709 “ex-Kempner” Stradivarius.
Composer-in-Residence David Ludwig’s music is performed by today’s leading musicians in some of the world's most prestigious venues. His music has been called “wonderfully satisfying,” and that it “promise
s to speak for the sorrows of this generation,” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The New York Times recognizes it for its “expressive directness” and the Baltimore Sun notes its “yearning, poetic quality.” His works have been performed in such venues in the United States as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Library of Congress, and have been heard on PBS and NPR's Weekend Edition. Ludwig has received commissions from many prominent artists and ensembles, including groups like the Grammy Award-winning “eighth blackbird” ensemble, soloists like violinist Soovin Kim and pianist Jonathan Biss, and orchestras including the Minnesota, Vermont, and Richmond Symphony.
Ludwig has won numerous awards and participated in many residencies with orchestras, summer music festivals, and artist colonies. He holds degrees from Oberlin, The Manhattan School, The Curtis Institute, Juilliard and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Ludwig joined the faculty of Curtis in 2002 where he serves on the composition faculty, as the acting chair of musical studies, and as the artistic director of the 20/21 Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Martha Ming Whitfield, Executive Director, has been with the Lake
Champlain Chamber Music Festival since June 2009. Prior to working with LCCMF, Martha was Ballet Education Manager the Royal Opera House in London, where she was responsible for a range of projects with a focus on the work of The Royal Ballet, including the education components of the company’s Far East Tour in 2008.
Martha has also held positions as Co-Director of Education for the Flynn Center in Burlington, Education Coordinator for the Vermont Arts Council, and Coordinator of Educational Programs for American Repertory Ballet in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In addition to her work with LCCMF Martha serves on the Board of Directors of the Vermont Stage Company, and works as a freelance arts consultant. She recently served as editor for “What’s Special?” a publication of the European Network for Opera and Dance Education.
Martha received her M.Ed. from UVM in Interdisciplinary Studies, and her BS in Business Administration from Ramapo College of New Jersey. She is a 2010 graduate of the Snelling Center for Government's Vermont Leadership Institute.