Ravinia 2019, Issue 7, Week 15

EUROPEAN GUITAR QUARTET Making its debut in 2012, the European Guitar Quartet comprises two global stars of classical guitar and two outstanding exponents of acous- tic guitar and was enthusiastically embraced by audiences and critics alike, quickly earning in- vitations to major festivals in Scandinavia and Germany, including the Bergen Music Festival and MDR Musiksommer, as well as numerous other venues in Austria, Switzerland, India, and South America. Croatian native Zoran Dukić is one of the most distinguished classical guitar- ists today, equally as a solo recitalist, orchestral soloist, and leader of master classes. During his years of competition he was the most awarded guitarist of the time, and now he is on the fac- ulties of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands and the Catalonia College of Music in Spain, though he still tours the world to give concerts and master classes. Pavel Steidel was born in Czechia and won first prize in the Radio France International Competition in 1982. He has since established himself as a wide- ly celebrated classical guitar soloist, playing both standard and contemporary repertoire, includ- ing his own compositions, around the world in over 40 countries, from the Americas to the Far East to nearly every nation in Europe. Acoustic guitarist Thomas Fellow won several interna- tional competitions for classical guitar before broadening his musical palette to include other styles, leading him to develop a comprehensive guitar program at the Dresden College of Music. He has performed in India, South America, and the United States, and his duo project “Friend & Fellow” has included performances with such artists as Ray Charles, Al Jarreau, and Luther Al- lison. A protégé of Fellow, Reentko Dirks is him- self an acclaimed acoustic guitarist known for his blend of percussive playing techniques and a wide range of styles, making him equally in demand as a classical, world, and pop musician. He has written music for Cirque du Soleil and the Semperoper Ballet, and he has appeared at Ravinia with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova and for a solo concert in 2019. The European Guitar Quartet is making its first return to Ravinia fol- lowing its 2017 debut. STELLA CHEN, violin The grand prize winner of the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition, American violinist Stella Chen has also been the inaugural recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, the top prize winner of the Tibor Varga International Violin Compe- tition, and the youngest-ever prizewinner of the Menuhin Competition. She has been featured with such ensembles as the Belgian and Welsh National Orchestras, Lausanne and London Chamber Orchestras, Brussels and Medellín Philharmonics, and Wallonia Royal Chamber Orchestra, among others, and she has given solo performances at such venues as the Kennedy Center andMetropolitanMuseum of Art, as well as on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago. Other noteworthy ventures include performances in Bhutan, Jordan, Israel, Cuba, and Colombia. Chen has appeared at such festivals as the Perlman Music Program, Music@ Menlo, the Sarasota Music Festival, and Yellow Barn, and she has collaborated with Itzhak Perl- man, Robert Levin, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Miriam Fried, Matthew Lipman, Federico Cortese, and the Silk Road Ensemble, among other notable artists. Chen’s 2019/20 season includes tours of Korea and Japan, multiple European tours, and numerous domestic performances as well as her Kronberg Academy, Salzburg Mozarteum, and Istanbul debuts. Concerto highlights this sea- son include performances with the Luxembourg Philharmonia, Changwon City Orchestra, and Ewha Philharmonic Orchestra, plus her Alice Tully Hall concerto debut with The Juilliard Orchestra, featuring Jörg Widmann’s Concerto No. 2, conducted by the composer. A graduate of the Harvard/NEC Dual Degree Program, Chen earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with honors from Harvard University and a Master of Music from the New England Conservatory. Currently she is a C.V. Starr doctoral candidate at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Li Lin, Donald Weilerstein, and Catherine Cho. Former teachers include Itzhak Perlman and Miriam Fried. Stella Chen was a fellow at Ravin- ia’s Steans Music Institute in 2013 and 2014 and returned to the festival last summer as substitute first violin with the Argus Quartet. JINHEE PARK, piano Pianist Jinhee Park has built an international reputation as a versatile artist of both vocal and instrumental chamber music, as she has given extensive performances in Italy, Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and China. During her cur- rent residency in New York, she has performed in Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Lincoln Center, featuring a wide range of repertoire with such renowned musicians as Bomsori Kim, Stel- la Chen, and Timothy Chooi. Aside from her performing career, she has worked with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Julius Drake, Robert McDonald, Roger Vignoles, Christoph Prégardien, and Craig Rutenberg. During the summer months, Park has given extensive performances at the Aspen Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, and Chautauqua Institution. She cur- rently works as the staff pianist at The Juilliard School and serves as a vocal coach at the Man- hattan School of Music and Chautauqua Insti- tution. Park earned a bachelor’s degree at the Seoul National University and a master’s degree at Juilliard under the tutelage of Jonathan Feld- man, Margo Garrett, Andrew Harley, and Diane Richardson. Recently she earned a Professional Studies Certificate at the Manhattan School of Music with Warren Jones, and she is returning to the Manhattan School of Music as an Artist Diploma candidate this fall. Jinhee Park is mak- ing her Ravinia debut. OCTOBER 5, 2019 – MAY 9, 2020 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 91 NOVEMBER 2, 2019 NOVEMBER 16, 2019