Chamber Music Artists

CHAMBER MUSIC

THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 7:30

Mendelssohn Songs Without Words
Haydn D Major Piano Sonata Hob:XVI:24
Schumann Fantasiestücke, Op 73
Saint-Saëns Sonata for Violin & Piano, No 1 in D minor, Op 75
Schumann Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op 47

Julian Rhee is quickly gaining recognition as an emerging artist and performer, praised for his "sophisticated, assured tone, superb intonation, and the kind of poise and showmanship that thrills audiences." (The Strad )

An avid soloist, Julian made his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age 8, and has gone on to perform with orchestras such as the Santa Rosa Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Aspen Philharmonic, Eugene Symphony, San Jose Chamber, Madison Symphony, Avanti Symphony, West Suburban Symphony, Wisconsin Philharmonic, Lacrosse Symphony, the Wisconsin Chamber, San Diego Symphony, among others. He has performed in an array of venues including Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall, Heinz Hall, the Overture Center for the Arts, Teatro El Círculo in Rosario, Argentina, The Musikverein in Vienna, Bartok Hall in Hungary, New World Center, and the John F Kennedy Center. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin and the Indianapolis Symphony, Nicholas McGegan and the Eugene Symphony, the Middleton, Bucks County, Brevard, Menomonee Falls, and Fresno Philharmonic Orchestras.

Julian is the Silver Medalist of The 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, winner of Astral Artists’ National Auditions, the first prize winner of the 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Competition, where he was also awarded the special Community Award, the 2018 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, Aspen Festival Concerto Competition and the Aspen Festival's Dorothy DeLay Fellowship. He was selected as a 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholar and received his medal at the White House. Julian is a Young Strings of America Ambassador sponsored by SHAR Music and the winner of the 2023 New England Conservatory (NEC) Concerto Competition.

A passionate chamber musician, Julian's performance on violin and viola earned him first prize in the Fischoff and the M-Prize Chamber Competitions. He has performed at and attended festivals including the Heifetz, Four Seasons, Ravinia Steans Institute, Rockport Music, Pierce Hill Performing Arts, and Northshore Chamber Music Festivals. He has also appeared alongside Time for Three, Jupiter Chamber Players, 98.7 WFMT's Introductions, Milwaukee Public Television, and Wisconsin Public Radio and Television.

Julian studied with Hye -Sun Lee and Almita Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago Academy. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory.

Julian is the recipient of the outstanding 1699 "Lady Tennant" Antonio Stradivari violin on the extended loan through the generosity of the Mary B. Galvin Foundation and the efforts of the Stradivari Society, a division of Bein & Fushi, Inc. The Mary B. Galvin Foundation, Inc. and the Stradivari Society support the very highest level of string playing by loaning precious antique Italian instruments to artists of exceptional talent and ability.

This is Julian's third season at Pierce Hill Performing Arts.

Violist Tabitha Rhee is a member of the New York Philharmonic having won a prestigious position with the orchestra in 2023, and a recent 2023 graduate of the Juilliard School where she received her Master of Music degree studying with Misha Amory as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.

In addition to performing with the New York Philharmonic, Ms. Rhee has performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Death of Classical, Apex Ensemble, and Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players. She has participated in studio recording work and the Michael Buble Christmas Special television show.

Tabitha is the winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition and has soloed with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Peter Oundjian at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. In addition, she has soloed with the Wisconsin Philharmonic, Madison, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, and has performed as a Principal Violist with The Juilliard Orchestra. Tabitha has appeared on the concert stages of Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Overture Hall, The Wiener Musikverein, and Bela Bartok Hall in Budapest. She is a founding member of the Wisconsin Intergenerational Orchestra where she serves as Artistic Assistant when she is
home in Wisconsin.

Ms. Rhee has attended various prestigious music festivals such as the Music@Menlo International Program, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Verbier Festival Academy, Bravo!Vail, Pierce Hill Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. She has worked closely with esteemed artists such as Antoine Tamestit, Nobuko Imai, Roger Tapping, and Lawrence Power. Tabitha is an alumna of the Music Institute of Chicago Academy where she was a student of Almita and Roland Vamos. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at the Juilliard School as a Kovner Fellow studying with Misha Amory and Heidi Castleman.

This is Ms Rhee's third season at Pierce Hill Performing Arts.

Wyatt Sutherland is the former Principal Cellist of the chamber orchestras of Louisville, Oklahoma City, and Baltimore, and has performed with the New Orleans Philharmonic, Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Shreveport Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra, Yamagata Symphony Orchestra (Japan), and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

He became interested in the cello after hearing the legendary cellist Janos Starker solo with the Louisville Orchestra. At age 9 he started cello studies with Guillermo Helguera at the University of Louisville String Academy, and upon graduating high school began studies with Starker at Indiana University's School of Music in Bloomington Indiana. Other inspirational cello mentors include Raya Garbousova, Susanna Onwood, Thaddeus Bryce, and Yoshio Sato.

Wyatt has worked with Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Klaus Tennstedt, Gunther Schuller, David Zinman, Josef Gingold, Menahem Pressler, Louis Krasner, Juilliard String Quartet, and the Tokyo String Quartet. He was a Fellowship recipient at the Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals, and a recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Scholarship, Gustav Golden Award, Mark Allen Everett Foundation Award, and the Phillips Petroleum Foundation Award. Wyatt premiered Yehudi Wyner's "De Novo" for Cello and Chamber Ensemble at Tanglewood's Festival of Contemporary Music.

During the week Wyatt is a Senior Consultant with Industrial Logic, a renowned consultancy specializing in XP/Lean/Agile principles and practices, coaching Fortune 500 companies in advanced techniques to improve product development and delivery - Better Software Sooner.

When Wyatt is not at the cello or coaching software organizations or working on a building project he can be found experimenting in his kitchen whipping up something yummy for family and friends.

With a passion for chamber music and excellence in music, Wyatt and his wife, Monika, founded Pierce Hill Performing Arts, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission of providing scholarships for serious young string players in need of financial support to help them reach their potential.

This is Wyatt's fourth season at Pierce Hill Performing Arts.

Wyatt performs on a Gennaro Gagliano cello, Cremona, Italy, ca. 1750.

Chelsea Wang is praised by the New York Times as an “excellent young pianist,” and has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America in venues including Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, New York’s Merkin Hall, Kimmel Center’s Perelman Hall, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Columbia University’s Miller Theater, Rockefeller University, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Dame Myra Hess Series, and more. She has performed extensively in Europe and Asia, appearing in venues including Konzerthaus Berlin, Munich’s Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, Konzertsaal at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber, Dresden Hochschule fur Musik, Auditori Teulada Moraira in Spain, Chamber Hall of Warsaw Philharmonic, Seoul Arts Center, Taipei National Concert Hall, Kaohsiung Weiwuying Center for the Arts, and Taitung Cultural Performing Arts Center. She is a prizewinner and finalist of many national and international piano competitions including the Seoul International Piano Competition, Washington International Piano Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Schubert Club Scholarship Competition, and many more.

Ms. Wang made her orchestral debut at the age of six and has performed with many orchestras since then, including the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New Orleans Civic Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra and the Fort Dodge Symphony Orchestra, among others. Her festival appearances include the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Institute, Bravo!Vail, Tippet Rise Art Center, Music Academy of the West, Orford, PianoTexas, Fontainebleau, Music from Angel Fire, Four Seasons Winter Workshop, Banff, Amalfi Coast, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals.

Chelsea has collaborated alongside Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, Peter Wiley, Roberto Diaz, Anne-Marie McDermott, Anton Nel, Hsin-Yun Huang, Arnaud Sussmann, Kristin Lee, Matthew Lipman, Yoojin Jang, Dmitri Murrath, Jose Franch-Ballester, and other inspirational mentors. She has also had the honor of working with many notable musicians and chamber groups including Richard Goode, Gary Graffman, Robert McDonald, Seymour Lipkin, Arie Vardi, Aldo Ciccolini, John Perry, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Andre Watts, Jonathan Biss, Miriam Fried, Leonidas Kavakos, eighth blackbird, Emerson Quartet, and Tokyo String Quartet, among others. Radio appearances include “What Makes It Great” with host Rob Kapilow, NPR’s “From the Top”, along with programs on New York’s WQXR, Chicago’s WFMT, Philadelphia’s WHYY Public Radios and other programs in Iowa, Kansas, and Minnesota.

A native of West Des Moines, Iowa, Ms. Wang is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she studied with Meng-Chieh Liu and Ignat Solzhenitsyn and was awarded the prestigious Sergei Rachmaninoff Award upon graduation. She received her Master of Music degree and Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of Leon Fleisher and Yong-Hi Moon, and is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with James Giles. Her other instructors include Ksenia Nosikova, Chiu-Ling Lin, and Damares Alvarez.