2013 ARTISTS

David Halen, Artistic Director | violin
Concertmaster of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, David Halen is frequent soloist with many orchestras and festivals around the world. At 19, he became the youngest recipient ever of a Fulbright Scholarship, for study in Germany.
Prior to coming to Saint Louis, he served as assistant concertmaster of the Houston Symphony. Halen’s leadership in the arts brought him an A&E Arts Award in 2002 and appointment to the Missouri Arts Council in 2008.

In addition to teaching at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings in Macon, GA, he is concertmaster and teaches at the Aspen Music Festival. He is the founding Artistic Director of the Innsbrook Institute and also artistic director of Booneville Missouri River Festival of the Arts.

He is a true son of Missouri and musical ambassador to the world.

Jonathan Swartz, Education Director | violin
A native of Toronto, violinist Jonathan Swartz has distinguished himself throughout North America both as a performer and pedagogue. While serving on the faculties at Arizona State University, the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory, and the Domaine Forget Academy, Swartz maintains a prolific performing career. He collaborates often with his sister Jennifer Swartz, principal harpist of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and his wife, American pianist Wendy Chen. Swartz has appeared at the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society, Colorado’s Strings in the Mountains Chamber Festival, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Mooredale Concert Series, and the Artists Series at Roy Thompson Hall, in addition to several venues under the auspices of Les Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. He is also a member of the IRIS Orchestra under conductor Michael Stern, an ensemble that regularly performs with the world’s leading artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Midori, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yefim Bronfman. Sought after as a master clinician, and frequent presenter at the American String Teachers’ Association National Conferences, Swartz was interviewed by STRINGS magazine for an article in the October 2006 issue regarding his approach to bow technique. He has given master classes throughout North America, including at Vanderbilt University, Bowling Green State University, Florida State University, the Interlochen Arts Academy, Stanford University, and the Royal Conservatory of Music/Glenn Gould School in Toronto.

Swartz serves as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, and has previously served on the faculties at the University of Texas at El Paso, the Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Innsbrook Institute. Swartz is the founder and Artistic Director of the Visiting Quartet Residency Program at Arizona State University, a chamber music program that integrates visiting resident artists with a comprehensive chamber music curriculum. Quartets in this residency have included the St. Lawrence, Juilliard, Brentano, Tokyo, and Orion String Quartets. Swartz is also co-founder of the Violinists’ Seminar at Le Domaine Forget in Quebec, Canada – a team-taught intensive training program for advanced violinists. Swartz earned a Bachelor of Music cum laude from Rice University, a Master of Music from the Mannes College of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rice University. His doctoral thesis is titled Perspectives of Violin Pedagogy: A Study of the Treatises of Francesco Geminiani, Pierre Baillot, and Ivan Galamian, and a Working Manual by Jonathan Swartz.

Visit jonathan-swartz.com/Site/bio_.html for more information.

Mike Block | cello
Mike Block is a pioneering multi-genre cellist, composer, and educator living in New York City.  Mike's personal projects include the Mike Block Band and the Triborough Trio. The Band features Mike as singer, cellist and composer, in a mixture of original songs and instrumentals drawing upon multiple genres. The Trio features unique arrangements of traditional and contemporary music from around the world.  Mike is also the Artistic Director and host of GALA NYC: "Global Art - Local Audience:", a concert series held at the Brooklyn Lyceum featuring a diverse array of musicians and artists in unique collaborations. While still studying at the Juilliard School, Mike joined Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and shortly thereafter joined Mark O’Connor’s Appalachia Waltz Trio, which he played in for over three years. Mike has also toured extensively with Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, The Absolute Ensemble, Sirius String Quartet, and The Knights.

A dedicated teacher and clinician, in 2009, Mike founded the Mike Block String Camp in Vero Beach, Florida, with a goal of empowering students to compose, arrange, learn, and perform music by ear, with instruction in multiple non-classical styles. Mike is also the Lead Teaching Artist for Silk Road Connect, a program through which Mike joins musicians/dancers/artists from around the world in presentations to public schools in NYC and Boston area.  Mike has served as Music Director for musicians as diverse as Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrrin (Grammy-winning vocalist), Marcus Printup (trumpeter from Jazz at Lincoln Center), Emalie Savoy (singer at Metropolitan Opera), Lil’ Buck (hip-hop dancer), Damian Woetzel (former Principal at NYC Ballet), Bill Irwin (Comedian/Actor from Sesame Street), the Silk Road Ensemble, and the Knights.  Other musicians Mike has had the honor to perform with include Allison Krauss, Edgar Meyer, Mike Marshall, Zakir Hussain, The National, Bon Iver, My Brightest Diamond, Tim O’Brien, Rachel Barton-Pine, Marcel Khaliffe, Goran Bregovic, Michael Doucet, Kayhan Kalhor, Bruce Molsky, Simone Dinnerstein, Dawn Upshaw, Jan Vogler, and he has recorded with Lenny Kravitz and Joe Zawinul, among many others.

Jacob Braun | cello
A native of Lincoln, Massachusetts, Jacob Braun has been recognized for his expressive, lyrical performances in The United States and abroad. His performances have taken him on concert tours of Italy, France, Korea and China. This past season, Jacob played concerts in Merkin Hall, Roosevelt University with the Chamber Chamber Musicians and Calgary, CA for a UNICEF benefit concert with Canadian prodigy, Jan Lisiecki‏. Jacob joined the Penderecki String Quartet in 2009 and is Artist in residence at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada.  He will begin teaching privately in the fall of 2010. With this ensemble, his schedule is saturated with the great string quartet literature, as well as collaborations with The David Earle Dance Group and multi-media electronic music. Mr. Braun was a founding member of the Biava Quartet for nine years, winning The 2003 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and becoming the youngest ensemble to win this prestigious award.  With Jacob, the quartet won top prizes at The 2003 London String Quartet Competition, The 2005 Premio Paolo Borciani String Quartet Competition, The Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and The Coleman Chamber Music Competition. As a member of the Formosa Quartet he performed a three week tour of the UK including Wigmore Hall and performed at the Library of Congress (Stradivari Anniversary Concert), Wigmore Hall and La Jolla’s Summerfest. Jacob has collaborated with members of the Brentano, Calder, Enso, Jupiter, Miami, Shanghai and Tokyo String Quartets.

Wendy Chen | piano
At the age of fifteen, Wendy Chen debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor André Previn.  In 1990 she became the youngest winner ever of the National Chopin Competition, was one of the inaugural recipients of the Irving S. Gilmore Young Artists Award, and was named a Presidential Scholar by the National Foundation for the Arts.  Over the past decade her career has flourished, adding winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and Washington International Competition to her numerous awards.  

Ms. Chen has garnered critical acclaim for her engagements with leading orchestras and concert halls worldwide, with reviewers exclaiming that “having pianist Wendy Chen on the program is a guarantee that sparks will fly.” Her numerous orchestral appearances have included the New York Chamber Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, the Phoenix Symphony, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Uruguay’s Orquesta Sinfonica del Sodres, New Zealand’s Auckland Philharmonia and Wellington Sinfonia, Montreal’s I Musici and many others.   The Dominion of New Zealand described that “Chen possesses all the qualities of a modern musical star.  Her playing was cuttingly virtuosic, had fantastic clarity and crispness, yet also plenty of sensitivity.”  Ms. Chen has also appeared with the Boston Pops and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in unique programs that also featured musical legends James Taylor and Art Garfunkel, respectively.   Of her performance with the Pops, the Boston Globe wrote “Chen’s performance had stamina, chops, brilliance and sensitivity – a formidable combination.”

Equally sought after as a chamber musician, Ms. Chen has appeared at the Tanglewood, Boston Chamber Society, Montreal, Seattle, Spoleto, Amelia Island, Strings in the Mountains, Cartageña, St. Denis and Montreux music festivals.  
Having studied with legendary pianists Aube Tzerko and Leon Fleisher, Ms. Chen is a dedicated pedagogue, frequently giving master classes throughout the world.  She recently completed a five year residency teaching at the University of Louisville, and has taught at the Innsbrook Institute in Missouri, the Community School of Performing Arts in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the International Festival of Music in Cartageña, Colombia.

Ms. Chen has appeared on St. Paul Sunday Morning, can be heard regularly on NPR’s Performance Today, and serves as panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts.   Her solo recording BOLERO featuring works by Chopin, was released on the RCM label.   American Record Guide acclaimed “it glitters and it is gold.” For more information visit:  www.wendy-chen.com

Grace Fong | piano
Dr. Grace Fong, Christel DeHaan Classical Fellow of the American Pianists Association, is currently the Director of Keyboard Studies at Chapman University, Conservatory of Music in Orange, California. She is also faculty at Claremont Graduate University, teaching and advising Doctoral Candidates of Piano Performance. Dr. Fong performs internationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician and has made appearances at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Hollywood Bowl, Great Hall in Leeds, UK, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Konzerthaus Dortmund, Germany, among others.  She has been a prizewinner of numerous international competitions including the Leeds, the Bosendorfer, the Cleveland, and the San Antonio International Competitions. She has been named a “Presidential Scholar of the United States,” awarded previously by former President Clinton. Dr. Fong can be seen on award-winning C-Music tv, and can be heard on the RED and Heinz labels. For more information, please visit www.pianistgracefong.com

Robert Lipsett | violin
Mr. Robert Lipsett holds the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, California where he has been on the faculty for 25 years. In addition, he taught at the University of Southern California as a tenured professor and CalState University –Northridge. His students have consistently won important competitions including the Julius Stulberg Awards, the Yehudi Menuhin, Irvine M. Klein International Violin Competition, Hannover International Violin Competition and International Tchaikovsky Competition. Several have received highest honors from the National Association for the Advancement of the Arts and have been recognized as Presidential Scholars. This is the highest award the United States government can bestow on a high school student. His students hold principal positions with leading orchestras including Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony, Principal Associate Concertmaster and Assistant Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and Concertmaster of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Lipsett's students have performed as soloists with major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Boston Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra as well as many appearances on national and international television. Mr. Lipsett received his B.A. in Music from California State University-Northridge. Principal teachers included Ivan Galamian, Ruth Lasley, Zelman Brunoff, Melvin Ritter, Endre Granat. He also serves on the faculty at the Aspen Music Festival and has given master classes at major schools around the world. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Teachers Award from the White House Commission for Presidential Scholars. In addition, Mr. Lipsett has been an active solo artist, chamber music performer, orchestral musician and freelance commercial musician in motion pictures, television and recording industry.

Born in Moscow, Natasha began her piano studies at the age of 4 with Nina Malikova at the Andreyev School of Music there. In 1995 she emigrated with her family to the United States and became a US citizen in 2001. She studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music before moving to New York to study with Pavlina Dokovska at Mannes College of Music, from which she graduated in 2007. Her growing list of awards includes the Prix Montblanc 2007, the 2006 Gilmore Young Artist Award, top prize in the 2002 Bronislaw Kaper Awards sponsored by the Los Angeles Philharmonic; top prize in the Young Artists in Carnegie Hall 2000 International Piano Festival, and many others. Natasha made her professional debut at age nine with the El Camino Youth Symphony in California. At the age of 15 she debuted with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and recorded two discs on the Bel Air Music Label with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra under Dmitry Yablonsky, the first featuring Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 4 coupled with Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody and the second featuring all of Chopin's shorter works for piano and orchestra.

Lee-Chin Siow | violin
Praised by the American Record Guide as “a distinguished cultural asset of international stature”, and The Strad as a “trailblazing role model for string players,” Lee-Chin Siow has performed to critical acclaim in over 20 countries on five continents, from Carnegie Hall to Osaka Symphony Hall.

Gold medal winner of the 1994 Henryk Szeryng International Violin Competition, Lee-Chin was awarded the 2012 Fellowship in Music Performance by South Carolina’s Arts Commission in recognition of exceptional artistic excellence. Her collaborations with renowned orchestras include Royal Philharmonic and Daniele Gatti, Houston Symphony and Andreas Delfs, Dallas Symphony and Eduardo Mata, Malaysian Philharmonic and Kees Bakels, Singapore Symphony and Lan Shui. Committed to charitable work, she has soloed in the Royal Philharmonic’s Gala Night to benefit Elton John’s AIDS Foundation. Her performances have been broadcast on CBS, National Public Radio, Voice of America, MediaCorp, and to an estimated 100 million viewers on China Central TV.

Lee-Chin’s CD Songs My Father Taught Me topped HMV’s classical charts and was picked for Fanfare Magazine’s Want List: “This is artistry of the highest level.” Gracing performances at Lincoln Center, Vienna KonzertHaus, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, Hongkong City Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, Royal Albert Hall, she also performed in Canada’s Banff Music Festival, Lucerne’s International Music Festival, Germany’s Ludwigsburger International Music Festival, to Mexico’s Cervantino Festival, Brazil’s VIRTUOSI Festival, and Ukraine’s International Contemporary Music Festival.

A native of Singapore, Lee-Chin retains close ties with home while establishing an illustrious career as international soloist and educator. Winner of the Singapore Youth Award for the Arts and the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award, she recently returned on sabbatical as visiting artist at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory, National University of Singapore.

Passionate about teaching, Lee-Chin has taught at Oberlin Conservatory and was the featured soloist with Oberlin Orchestra’s 2011 Asia Tour. She has given masterclasses from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, Lisbon Academy of Music, Chicago Institute of Music, to University of Chile. In addition to her commitment at College of Charleston as Associate Professor of Violin and Director of Strings, Lee-Chin devotes her energy also to co-directing Charleston Music Fest, which she co-founded.

Lee-Chin began studying violin with her father, Siow Hee-Shun, and is the first Singaporean admitted to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music. Also an alumna of Oberlin and Mannes, her teachers include Roland and Almita Vamos, Felix Galimir, Jascha Brodsky and Aaron Rosand.  

Mark Sparks | flute
Internationally acclaimed for his colorful tone and spirited phrasing, Mark Sparks is a leading American orchestral flutist and teacher. Appointed Principal Flute of the St. Louis Symphony by Maestro Hans Vonk in 2000, he has performed in both solo and ensemble roles in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia with numerous orchestras, including numerous solo appearances with the SLSO, and guest appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Bergen (Norway) Philharmonic, and Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Upcoming solo appearances include performances of the Rouse Flute Concerto with the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, the Aspen Philharmonic, and the St. Louis Symphony. In addition, Mr. Sparks was Associate Principal Flute with the Baltimore Symphony under David Zinman. Prior to that appointment, Mr. Sparks was Principal Flute of the San Antonio Symphony, Memphis Symphony, and Canton Symphony. He began his career in Venezuela with the Caracas Philharmonic.

A frequent guest at summer music festivals and orchestral training programs, this year Mr. Sparks returns to the Aspen Music Festival and School where for 19 summers he has been an artist-faculty member and Co-principal Flute of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and Festival Orchestra. He also looks forward to his 2012 appearances at Missouri's Innsbrook festival, where he will present his third annual Flute Seminar for advanced flute students chosen from a national pool of applicants.

An enthusiastic teacher, Mr. Sparks maintains a private studio in St. Louis. He is a former full-time faculty member of the Peabody Institute, and has presented Master Classes and recitals in the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Sparks can be heard on solo albums for the Summit and AAM labels, as well as on the St. Louis Symphony's recent releases, Public Radio broadcasts, and with other orchestras on the Telarc, Decca, and Sony labels. A new recording of French repertoire is planned for release in 2012. An enthusiastic author, Mr. Sparks is currently writing a series of articles for Flute Talk Magazine He is featured in Windplayer magazine's feature on the nation's top 10 principal flutists, and is included with distinguished colleagues in the book 101 Inspirational Stories from the World's Best Flute Players.

Born in 1960 and raised in Cleveland and St. Louis, Mr. Sparks graduated Pi Kappa Lambda from the Oberlin Conservatory as a student of Robert Willoughby, winning the 1982 Oberlin Concerto Prize. Earlier, he trained in the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He also attended Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival, and Aspen. He lives in St. Louis' historic Benton Park.

Chee-Yun | violin
Violinist Chee-Yun's flawless technique, dazzling tone and compelling artistry have enraptured audiences on five continents. Charming, charismatic and deeply passionate about her art, Chee-Yun continues to carve a unique place for herself in the ever-evolving world of classical music.

Winner of the 1989 Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the 1990 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chee-Yun performs regularly with the world's foremost orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, and the Toronto, Houston, Seattle, Pittsburgh and National symphony orchestras. Additionally, she has appeared with the Atlanta Symphony, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with such distinguished conductors as Hans Graf, James DePriest, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Krzysztof Penderecki, Neeme Järvi, Pinchas Zukerman, Manfred Honeck and Giancarlo Guerrero. Internationally, Chee-Yun has toured with the Haifa Symphony, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Germany's Braunschweig Orchestra and the MDR Radio Leipzig and performed with the St. Petersburg Camerata, the Bamberg Philharmonic, the Bilbao Symphony, the London Festival Orchestra, the Nagoya Philharmonic, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra. Her orchestral highlights include a concert with the Seoul Philharmonic conducted by Myung-Whun Chung that was broadcast on national network television, a benefit for UNESCO with the Orchestra of St. Lukes at Avery Fisher Hall, and her tours of the United States with the San Francisco Symphony (Michael Tilson Thomas conducting), and Japan with the NHK Symphony. Recent and upcoming engagements include return subscription weeks in Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, as well as the Colorado and Austin symphony orchestras and the National Philharmonic.

Chee-Yun has been heard frequently on National Public Radio's Performance Today and on WQXR and WNYC radio in New York City. She has also been featured on KTV, a children's program on the cable network CNBC, Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion", on Public Radio International and numerous syndicated and local radio programs across the United States and abroad. She has appeared on PBS as a special guest on Victor Borge's Then and Now 3, in a live broadcast at Spivey Hall in Atlanta concurrent with the Olympic Games, and on ESPN performing the theme for the X Games. In Fall 2009, she also appeared in an episode of HBO's hit series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

Chee-Yun's first public performance at age 8 took place in her native Seoul after she won the Grand Prize of the Korean Times Competition. At 13, she came to the United States and was invited to perform the Vieuxtemps Concerto No. 5 in a Young People's Concert with the New York Philharmonic. Two years later, she appeared as soloist with the New York String Orchestra under Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1989, she won the Young Concert Artist’s international competition, and a year later became the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. In Korea, Chee-Yun studied with Nam Yun Kim. In the United States, she has worked with Dorothy DeLay, Hyo Kang, Daniel Phillips and Felix Galimir (chamber music) at The Juilliard School.

In addition to her active performance and recording schedule, Chee-Yun is a dedicated and enthusiastic educator. She gives master classes around the world and has held several teaching posts at notable music schools and universities. Her past faculty positions have included serving as the resident Starling Soloist and Adjunct Professor of Violin at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Visiting Professor of Music (Violin) at Indiana University School of Music. In August 2007, she was appointed Artist-in-Residence and Pr