Koichiro Harada is currently on the faculty of the Toho School of Music. He founded a chamber music group consisting of the top musicians in Japan. Mr. Harada has performed at many festivals including Spoleto, Kuhmo in Finland, Los Angeles Chamber Music Festival and Banff. He made his debut as a conductor with the New Philharmonic Orchestra in 1988, and has been active as a conductor ever since. He studied at Toho School of Music in Tokyo and then finished his education at the Juilliard School under Paul Makanowitzky, Dorothy DeLay, and Ivan Galamian. Mr. Harada founded the Tokyo String Quartet in 1969 and was its first violinist for twelve years. As a member of the Quartet, he travelled all over the world and was involved in numerous festivals, including those at Edinburgh, Lucerne, South Bank, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart. Mr. Harada has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, CBS, RCA, and Vanguard; his recordings have received the Grand Prix du Disque at Montroux, Switzerland; and he has been nominated for Grammy awards. Stereo and Grammophon magazines awarded him Best Record of the Year on two occasions.

Min Kim is one of the leading concert violinists in Korea today. He is highly respected for his versatility as a concert soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, and educator. Prof. Kim was born in Seoul, a graduate of the Seoul National University and the Staatlische Musikhochschule in Hamburg. Among his teachers were Wilfred Hanke, Thomas Brandis, and Max Rostel. As the Concertmaster and soloist of the Köln Chamber Orchestra, he concertized extensively in successful tours of Europe, the United States, Canada, and Latin America. From 1975 to 1979 he was a member of the N.D.R.(Northern Germany Radio) and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. On his return to Korea in 1979 he was appointed concertmaster of the Korea Philharmonic Orchestra and KBS Symphony Orchestra and professor at the Seoul National University college of music. For the past 17 years he has been an active member of the Bayreuth Wagner Festspielorchester in Germany. Recently in September of 1996 he participated on the jury committee in the Second Tchaikovsky International Competition held in Sendai, Japan. Also he was a vice-chairman of the jury in the Wieniawski International Competition in Poland.

Nam-Yoon Kim’s international career as a soloist began after her studies in Seoul and with Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School and following top awards at numerous music competitions in Europe(e.g. Tibor Varga/Switzerland) and the USA(Washington, New York, Los Angeles). She has performed with major orchestras in Asia(the Seoul City Philharmonic, the KBS Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and Singapore Symphony Orchestra) and Europe(the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, etc.) and given solo recitals at Carnegie Hall and the JFK Center for the Performing Arts/Washington D.C. She has recorded all of the Mozart Violin Concertos with the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra. Nam-Yoon Kim is also devoted to teaching, as a Professor at the Korean National University of Arts, has given master classes and has served on the juries of competitions in Taiwan, Singapore, Tokyo, Sion and Hanover.

Prof. Lin Yao-Ji is at present Head of the Violin Teaching and Research Dept. at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing. Upon graduation from the same conservatory, he took up studies at the Moscow Central Conservatory where he learned with Yankelevich, the great Russia violin educationist, and bore rich fruits. Since 1980, Prof. Lin’s students have been attending every major international violin competition. These included the Sibelius in Finland, the Queen Elizabeth in Belgium, the Menuhin in Britain, the Zino Francescatti in France, the Italian and Australian International Violin Competitions. The young contestants have carried off 33 prizes, of which eleven are the first awards. Prof. Lin is considered to be a great violin educationist by several renowned violin masters of the western countries. To his credit, Prof. Lin has a book entitled “A Collection of Lin Yao-Ji’s Academic Lectures on Violin,” in which his teaching methods are delineated. The same methods, which are at once scientific and artistic, have also been the topic of violin literature by reputable violinists. Prof. Lin often serves as an adjudicator at the prestigious international violin competitions. Recently, he is also invited to conduct master classes in the U.S., Korea, Hong Kong and Europe. He has also won himself the Grand Prize for his distinguished contributions to the violin undertaking in China. At present, Prof. Lin has the membership of the International Council of Carl Flesch International Violin Competition, England.

Born in Dresden, he began his studies at the school attached to the Dresden Staatkapelle at the age of four and went on to the Dresden Academy of Music. Aged 13 he embarked on his first concert tour while he continued his studies at the Salzburg Mozarteum. 1954 he won the Kranichstein Music Prize for performance of Schönberg’s Violin Concerto and was them offered for first performances in Edinburgh, Zürich, Dresden, Stockholm, Paris and London and the record with Brendel and Gielen. Further he played with world known orchestras such as Berlin and London Philharmonia and conductors including Karl Böhm, Paul Hindemith, Sir John Barbirolli. Marschner has conducted many chamber and symphony orchestras, and as composer he always has been interested in contemporary music and has played a lot of works by preference even with own violin concertos. He served on the juries of many prestigious competitions and is founder and president of the International Spohr Violin Competition and the International Chamber Music Competition Max Reger.

Yfrah Neaman who has established himself as one of Britain’s most distinguished violinists, became an internationally acknowledged and appreciated artist in two domains: as a concert violinist and as an outstanding pedagogue. After a solid musical education in Paris and London, Yfrah Neaman made a sensational debut in London and rapidly conquered the great concert houses of the world. An eloquent and tireless champion of twentieth century composers whose works, many written for him, he has introduced far and wide around the world. He is currently Professor of Violin and head of Advanced Solo Studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and graduates of his masterclasses have become internationally active violinists. Yfrah Neaman has been offered guest professorships at colleges of music and conservatories all over the world and gives regular masterclasses in Europe, the USA and the Far East. He has been a member of the jury of all the major international violin competitions.

Gérard Poulet, son of Gaston Poulet the conductor, was a child prodigy: in his eleventh year he was accepted as a student by the Conservatoire of Paris, where he was awarded, exceptionally and by unanimous decision of the jury, a Premier Prix de Violon, at the age of 12. At eighteen he received the Paganini First Prize in Genoa(Italy). Further mastering his art and profession under the guidance of Z. Francescatti, Y. Menuhin, N. Milstein, and above all, of Henrik Szeryng, his mentor, Gérard Poulet is successfully managing a twin career, both as a celebrated soloist of international repute and as a teacher. In addition to his duties as a professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, he travels regularly to China, Korea and Japan, where he gives master classes and concerts. Gérard Poulet plays regularly with many French orchestras. Every year he appears in the most famous festivals. He has a diversified international career and performs regularly in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, the United States, Canada and Czechoslovakia. His numerous recordings have received an impressive quantity of dithyrambic reviews.

She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Ivan Galamian. Ms. Rosenberg has also worked with Szymon Goldberg and, on a Fulbright grant in Paris, with Nadia Boulanger. She lived in London for many years, during which time, in addition to an active concert career, she taught at the Royal College of Music and the University of Surrey. Sylvia Rosenberg, violin, has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad and has played with major orchestras, including the Chicago, National and London Symphonies, the Royal Philharmonic, the Stockholm Philharmonic, the Amsterdam Concert- gebouw, New Philharmonia, Berlin Radio and all of the BBC orchestras. An Aspen Festival faculty member since 1980, Ms. Rosenberg has taught at the Eastman School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory of Music and Indiana University. In addition to her current faculty position at the Manhattan School of Music, she is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Music in London. Ms. Rosenberg concertizes throughout the U.S. and Europe and is often heard on the BBC. She recently appeared as soloist with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies at the St. Magnus Festival.

Born 1951, studied violin in Polen, Germany and Belgium. He won in many international competitions such as Wieniawski Competition ’72 in Posen, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Competition ’76 in Berlin, Paganini Competition ’77 in Genoa, Bartok-Szigeti Competition ’79 in Budapest. He was a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, then the 1st concertmaster of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Köln. He served as professor at the Academy of Music Aachen, as the first time concertmaster of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. Since 1990 he is professor of the National Academy of Music Wien and gives concerts as soloist and member of Chamber Music Ensemble.

(in alphabetical order)
*updated November 1997