104 / 132
in the
Primrose International Viola Com-
petition and was a prizewinner in the
To-
kyo International Viola Competition, where he
additionally received a special prize for best in-
terpretation. Kuo is an active soloist and cham-
ber musician, having toured Asia with Nobuko
Imai in both capacities, with collaborators also
including Frank Almond, Nai Yuan Hu, Mena-
hem Pressler, and the Arcas Quartet.
CAROL COOK,
viola
Violist Carol Cook made her concerto debut at
age and has appeared as both a soloist and
chamber musician in concert halls worldwide.
Born in Inverness, Scotland, into a musical
family, Cook has been featured with the Chi-
cago Philharmonic, Boston’s Metamorphosen
Chamber Orchestra, Edinburgh Symphony,
Guildhall Symphony, Cambridge Sinfonia, and
Edinburgh Players. She was appointed principal
violist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra
in
, having been a member of the orchestra
since
. Cook has also been a guest principal
violist for numerous international ensembles,
including on tour with the Australian Cham-
ber Orchestra. She performs regularly with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has also
appeared with the New York Philharmonic
and London Symphony Orchestra. As a cham-
ber musician, Cook has played such summer
festivals as Ban , Verbier, Montreal, La Jolla,
Chambermusic Northwest, Mimir, and Cactus
Pear, and she has collaborated with such artist
as Donald Weilerstein, Arnold Steinhardt, and
Claude Frank as a member of the Caramoor
Virtuosi. Cook is a former member of the Appa-
lachia Waltz Trio with the Grammy Award–win-
ning violinist Mark O’Connor.
KATINKA KLEIJN,
cello
Dutch cellist Katinka Kleijn moves comfortably
between classical, experimental, contempo-
rary, improvisatory, folk, and progressive rock
styles, as well as across the elds of solo, cham-
ber, and orchestral performance. A member of
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kleijn is in
frequent demand as soloist, having performed
with the CSO in Penderecki’s Triple Cello Con-
certo and on its MusicNOW series as a soloist
in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s
Kai,
as well as with
e Hague Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta,
Illinois Philharmonic, and the Elmhurst, DuP-
age, and Sheboygan Symphony Orchestras. She
was recently the soloist in the world premiere of
Dai Fujikura’s cello concerto, and as a member
of the International Contemporary Ensemble,
he also gave the US premieres of
Zona
for solo
cello and ensemble by Magnus Lindberg and
Eternal Escape
for solo cello by Dai Fujikura.
An avid chamber musician, Kleijn was a mem-
ber of the Chicago Chamber Musicians from
to
; has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma,
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Christoph Eschenbach,
Richard Goode, and Lynn Harrell; and se has
appeared on the Symphony Center Presents
chamber music series with Jeremy Denk and
Stefan Jackiw.
CALUM COOK,
cello
Cellist Calum Cook was born in Inverness,
Scotland, in
. He studied at St. Mary’s Music
School in Edinburgh and the Yehudi Menuhin
School in Surrey before winning a scholarship to
the Royal College of Music in London, where he
completed a bachelor’s degree. At age , Cook
won a gold medal at the British Federation of
Festivals, and he subsequently reached the tele-
vised String Final of the BBC Young Musicians
competition (
) and won the Skene Award
Audience Prize of the Aberdeen International
Youth Festival (
). Among his concert cred-
its are chamber music appearances at the Fair-
eld Halls, Wigmore Hall, and the Edinburgh
Festival and concerto performances throughout
the UK with the Cardi Bay Chamber Orches-
tra, Dorset County Orchestra, and Saint Ald-
helm’s Symphony Orchestra. For years Cook
was sub-principal cellist of the Bournemouth
Symphony Orchestraand o en guested with
the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony
Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera North,
Scottish Opera, and Welsh National Opera. He
became the principal cellist of the Lyric Opera
of Chicago Orchestra in
.
ROBERT KASSINGER,
double bass
Robert Kassinger was appointed to the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra in
. He was previously
assistant principal bass of the Colorado Sym-
phony and also played with the New Orleans
Symphony. Kassinger grew up in a family of
musicians in Boulder, CO, and began bass stud-
ies at the University of Colorado, later earning
a bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School
of Music and a master’s at e Juilliard School.
He became the principal bassist of the New York
String Orchestra Seminar for two years and also
spent two summers at the Aspen Music Festi-
val. An active chamber musician, Kassinger
performs with the Revolution Ensemble, Orion
Ensemble, Fulcrum Point, Ars Viva, Music of
the Baroque, Callisto Ensemble, and Chicago
Philharmonic Chamber Players. He has also
been a featured guest with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road
Ensemble as well as a featured soloist and clini-
cian at the Arizona Double Bass Conference, In-
ternational Society of Bassists, and Boulder Bass
Festival. In jazz, he worked in the house rhythm
section of Denver’s El Chapultapec club in his
teens, and over the years he has played alongside
Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Kenny Burrell,
the Woody Herman band, Richard Stoltzman,
Gary Burton, Alex Acuna, Bobby Lewis, and
many others.
DAVID TAYLOR,
violin
David Taylor joined the Chicago Symphony Or-
chestra as assistant concertmaster in
. Born
in Canton, OH, he rst studied violin with his
father from the age of , and he continued his
studies with Margaret Randall and Rafael Drui-
an at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Taylor
later studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy
DeLay at e Juilliard School, where he earned
both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He became
a member of the rst violins of the Cleveland
Orchestra in
, and he has also served as act-
ing concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony
Orchestra and concertmaster of the Milwaukee
Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Taylor o en
serves as concertmaster of the Chicago Philhar-
monic. A lover of chamber music, he performs
recitals and solo performances around the Chi-
cago area, including at Ravinia and on WFMT
radio, o en with the Pressenda Trio, formed
with CSO cellist Gary Stucka and pianist Andrea
Swan. Taylor has made numerous solo appear-
ances with the CSO, and he is also a frequent
soloist with the region’s local orchestras.
CORNELIUS CHIU,
violin
Cornelius Chiu joined the Chicago Sympho-
ny Orchestra in
. Born to Chinese parents
in Ithaca, NY, he began violin lessons at age .
Chiu earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees as
well as a performance certi cate from the In-
diana University, where he studied with Josef
Gingold, Franco Gulli, and Yuval Yaron. Addi-
tionally, he was a participant in Ravinia’s Steans
Music Institute in
. Chiu has since been a
soloist with the Indianapolis and Washington
Chamber Symphonies and at the Kennedy Cen-
ter, and he has collaborated with such artists as
Josef Silverstein, Janos Starker, and Menahem
Pressler; he received special recognition from
Isaac Stern following a performance for him.
An avid chamber musician, Chiu frequently ap-
pears on the CSO Chamber Music series, and he
has performed at the Sarasota and Aspen Festi-
vals as well as the Rencontres Musicales Festi-
val in France and the Ensemble Villa Musica in
Germany. Cornelius regularly collaborates with
two pianist family members: his older brother
Frederic and his wife, Inah, with whom he per-
formed as the Corinah Duo for many years.
WEI-TING KUO,
viola
A native of Taiwan, Wei-Ting Kuo has been a
section violist of the Chicago Symphony Or-
chestra since
. He previously served as as-
sistant principal violist of the Milwaukee Sym-
phony Orchestra from
to
. Kuo began
learning the viola at age and came to the Unit-
ed States at age , studying under Paul Coletti,
Hsin-Yun Huang, and Yizhak Schotten. While a
student, he was invited to the Taos Music Festi-
val, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute (
), and
Verbier Festival Academy. Kuo holds an Artist
Diploma from
e Colburn School, an MM
from Mannes College, and a BM from National
Taiwan Normal University, where he minored in
piano performance. He was selected as a nalist
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 20 – AUGUST 26, 2018
102