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has performed in cello master classes with Carter
Brey, Colin Carr, Jonathan Spitz, Peter Wiley,
Steven Isserlis, Ron Leonard and Paul Katz. Chase
currently studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with
Peter Wiley and Carter Brey.
Kyumin Park
, violin
Florence and Lester Cohn
Memorial Fellowship* from
the Cohn Foundation, George
J. Goldstein, Sr. Fellowship*
from Mr. and Mrs. Phillip M.
Goldstein, Benjamin J. Rosenthal
Foundation Fellowship
Kyumin Park is pursuing his Bachelor of music
at the New England Conservatory studying under
Donald Weilerstein. He has reached international
recognition, winning the 2nd prize at International
Music Competition of Harbin, China and 3rd prize at
the Klein International Competition in San Francisco.
In 2013 he won the Thomas and Evon Cooper
International Violin Competition held at Oberlin
where he played with the Cleveland Symphony
Orchestra. Along with his successful international
achievements he made his solo concert début
for the Kumho Prodigy Concert series in 2012
in Seoul. He has given several recitals for the
Holland Music Festival as well as intensive chamber
music performances at the Kneisel Hall Festvial. He
performed with the world known orchestras including
The Cleveland Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony
Orchestra, and Korean Symphony Orchestra.
Jing Peng
, viola
Richard Byron Stevens Memorial
Fellowship
Violist Jing Peng was born in
1995. She is currently pursuing
her bachelor’s degree at the
New England Conservatory,
studying with Kim Kashkashian. In 2008 she began
studies at the Middle School attached to Shanghai
Conservatory of Music with Li Sheng. She took 1st
prize in the 2013 Central Conservatory Chamber
Competition, 2nd prize in the 2012 Shanghai Haydn
Chamber Music Competition, and 1st prize in the
International String Players Competition in Hong
Kong. In 2011, she traveled to Germany for an arts
exchange program. In 2012 and 2013, she received
a full scholarship to participate in Morningside
Music Bridge in Calgary, Canada. Her string quarte
was invited to study at the Sibelius Academy in
Finland and performed in the Helsinki Music Centre
in April 2012. In 2014, she won the NEC’ Honor
Chamber Competition. Her quartet participated in
the Conservatory Project and performed in Kennedy
Center, Chicago and NEC’s Jordan Hall. In 2016,
Jing performed and recorded Kubik’s Concertante as
the viola soloist with the Boston Modern Orchestra
under the direction of Gil Rose in Jordan Hall. Jing
has attended music festivals including the Perlman
Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Yellow
Barn Young Artists Program, New York String
Orchestra Seminar, and Bowdoin Music Festival’s
Kaplan Fellowship Program.
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson
,
viola
Butz Foundation Fellowship,
Elizabeth Ferguson Fellowship*,
Esther G. Klatz Fellowship,
Lester B. Knight Charitable Trust
Fellowship*
Leonid Plashinov-Johnson was a student at the
Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, where he studied
with Lutsia Ibragimova. Since then, he studied with
Andriy Viytovych and currently studies with Kim
Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory. He
has performed as soloist, chamber musician and
orchestral member in many venues across Europe,
Asia, and the United States including Wigmore
Hall, Jordan Hall, Windsor Castle, Musicgebouw,
Marina Bay Sands Theater, Petronas Philharmonic
Hall, Saanen Church, and Solsona Theatre. Leo
received top honors at the International Competition
“Young Virtuosos” held in Sofia, Bulgaria. He
has toured Asia as part of the “Covent Garden
Soloists” Orchestra and recently debuted in the
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, as principal
of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. Other
recent engagements include concerts with the Parker
Quartet. Leo is a founding member of the Alderney
Chamber Music Festival, which debuted in 2017 in
the Channel Islands.
Benjamin Solomonow
, cello
The Goldyne and Herbert
Heyman Memorial Fellowship*
from Susan and Sy Frolichstein,
Judy and Jay Heyman, Gerry and
Steve Keen
Ben Solomonow, 22, is a winner
of several national and international competitions,
such as the Fischoff National Chamber Music
Competition (2012) and the Alexander and Buono
International String Competition (2013). Ben has
been featured on the national radio stations WFMT
and NPR, and has been invited to perform solo and
chamber recitals and concertos in halls across the
country, such as Carnegie Hall and at Ravinia. In
recent years, Ben’s collaborations include those
with Josef Silverstein, Gary Hoffman, Emanuel
Ax, Roberto Diaz, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Martin
Beaver, Meng-Chieh Liu, Rami Solomonow, Vadim
Gluzman, Ilya Kaler, Paul Coletti, members of
the Tokyo, Vermeer, and Pacifica Quartets, and
principal players of the Los Angeles, Chicago,
and Cleveland Orchestras. As an active chamber
musician, he has been invited to play in the Colburn
Chamber Music Society series, and has been a guest
artist at the North Shore Chamber Music Festival,
the Red Rocks Chamber Music Festival, and with
the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Recently, Ben
performed the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the
Pacific Symphony Orchestra with his piano trio,
Faktura Trio, at the SOKA Performing Arts Center.
Currently studying at the Colburn Conservatory of
Music, Ben is a student of Clive Greensmith, and
also studies chamber music intensively with Martin
Beaver and Clive Greensmith (Tokyo Quartet) and
Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet).
Ursula Steele
, viola
Max and Lottie Gerber/Oscar
Gerber Fellowship* from the Max
and Lottie Gerber Foundation,
Inc., Miriam B. Hotchkiss
Memorial Fellowship*, Rosenson
Fellowship* from Mr. and Mrs.
Harold Rosenson, Hav and Lloyd Stone Fellowship*
Ursula Steele, born in Chicago in 1996, is a student
of Atar Arad at the Jacobs School of Music at
Indiana University. She started violin at age four
and switched to viola eight years later. She formerly
studied with Stacia Spencer at Northwestern
University String Academy. She has toured and
performed in cities throughout France, Italy, Spain,
and China with the Northwestern Strings and with
the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has
won and placed in competitions sponsored by the
Chinese Fine Arts Society, the Walgreens National
Concerto Competition, and the Society of American
Musicians. In 2014, during her experiences in the
Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra chamber music
program, her quartet placed first in the Saint Paul
String Quartet Competition. Ursula was also the
violist of Von Quartet for two years, during which
time the quartet held the title of the Kuttner Quartet,
the undergraduate quartet residency at the Jacobs
School of Music. The quartet was honored with
another residency in which they performed Bartok,
Haydn, and Beethoven quartets at the Beethoven-
Haus in Bonn, Germany.
Max Tan
, violin
Starling Foundation Fellowship
Taiwanese-American violinist
Max Tan has performed as soloist
with the Juilliard Orchestra,
Lowell Philharmonic, Longwood
Symphony, Boston Philharmonic
Youth, and Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestras, appearing
on prominent stages in the United States and abroad
in Europe. An avid chamber musician, his many
festival appearances include Yellow Barn, Pacific
Music Festival, White Mountains Festival, Olympic
Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program.
He returns to Ravinia Steans Music Institute for
his second year. Highlights of the 2017-18 season
include recital debuts at the Kennedy Center and
The Perlman Music Program’s Stires-Stark Alumni
Recital Series. He was awarded joint first prize at
the 46th Hudson Valley Philharmonic International
Competition, and joined the roster of the Sarasota
Orchestra. Mr. Tan’s past projects include music
and medicine events hosted by the Harvard Medical
School and collaborations with artists such as Itzhak
Perlman, Roger Tapping, Hsin-Yun Huang, Natalia
Gutman, Paul Katz, and members of the Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra and A Far Cry. A graduate of
Harvard College, Mr. Tan holds a bachelor degree
in human developmental and regenerative biology,
a secondary degree in music, and was awarded
the David McCord Prize. He received his Master’s
degree in May 2017 from Juilliard as a Kovner
Fellowship recipient. Mr. Tan is currently pursuing
his Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School as a
student of Donald Weilerstein and Catherine Cho.
RSMI
PIANO AND STRINGS FELLOWS