Active as a concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist, conductor and educator, James Buswell is one of the most versatile musicians performing today. He has appeared with virtually all of the major orchestras in the United States and Canada, as well as with orchestras in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America, and has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, André Previn, George Szell and Michael Tilson Thomas. In recital, he is noted for adventuresome programming, regularly combining standard masterpieces with works that are less well-known.
James Buswell is as closely associated with new music as he has been with the standard repertoire. World premiere performances include works by Donald Erb, Charles Wuorinen, Gian Carlo Menotti, Ned Rorem, Leon Kirchner, John Harbison, Gunther Schuller, William Bolcom, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Yehudi Wyner. Most recently, Mr. Buswell’s recordings of the Piston and Barber violin concerti were released on the Naxos label, for which the latter received a 2003 Grammy nomination. For many years an artist-member of both the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Bach Aria Group, Mr. Buswell continues to appear as guest artist with many chamber music organizations.
While at the same time pursuing an active concert career, James Buswell received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University with a major in early Renaissance painting and sculpture. Currently a faculty member at the New England Conservatory of Music, he resides in Boston with his wife, cellist Carol Ou. The unanimous praise for his “sensitive, evocative, compelling playing” continues unabated today.
“Buswell has the usual attributes that all fine violinists share….But Ysaÿe’s Ballade and Bach’s Partita No. 2 were made of greater stuff. Both were superlative animations of the written score and bore rich testament to Buswell’s vision.”
Washington Post
“[Buswell] has chops like a great athlete and the technical demands of the Prokofiev [Concerto No. 1] held no apparent terrors for him…”
Boston Herald

Rodney Friend is recognized internationally as one of the most outstanding English born violinists. As a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, director and teacher he has appeared worldwide with the greatest musicians of the last forty five years. He made his London debut playing Sibelius concerto with the Halle Orchestra and his American debut playing Britten concerto with the New York Philharmonic. He has performed extensively as concerto soloist with major orchestras in Europe, North and South America, Scandinavia and the Far East under such conductors as Haitink, Barbirolli, Mehta, Leinsdorf, Solti, Giulini, Davis and Boult. Amongst his many recordings, his performances with the London Philharmonic of the Britten and Bach concertos for EMI received the highest critical acclaim.
In 1991 he formed the Solomon Trio with whom he toured Europe extensively, playing at such venues as La Scala Milan and recording much of the great trio literature for Carlton Records. It is however as a Concertmaster where his experience and reputation is legendary. In 1964 he became the youngest ever leader of the London Philharmonic, working closely with Bernard Haitink, Barenboim, Solti and Giulini. In 1975 he received the unique honour for a British player when he was invited by the New York Philharmonic to be their Concertmaster, playing concerts and recording worldwide with Bernstein, Boulez and Mehta. It is with these two orchestras that he recorded almost the entire orchestral repertoire.
On his return to London he became concertmaster of the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Roszdestvensky and a senior lecturer and consultant of violin at the Royal College of Music, where he formed and directed The RCM String Ensemble, touring and performing regularly with many great artists. Since 1990 he has worked solely in the areas of teaching, solo and chamber music performances, travelling regularly as a professor and jury member at the international violin competitions. His students continue to achieve success in all areas of violin playing.
In 2006 the first two volumes of his books The Orchestral Violinist were published by Boosey and Hawkes, and received universal acclaim as being the most important works so far produced for this discipline. He plays a Joseph Guarnerius violin dated 1696.

An outstanding Russian violinist, soloist of the State Philharmonics in Moscow and Professor of the Moscow Conservatory, Eduard Grach holds the title of the People’s Artist of Russia and USSR. He is a winner of a number of international competitions and a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, in which he studied with Abram Yampolsky, the founder of the Russian School of Violin. One of the most active Russian musicians, he performs extensively in his motherland and abroad the world for more then 60 years, in his repertoire- almost 700 works for the violin. Some of works, Eduard Grach was the first performer. (Some of them: was written specially for him.) He has performed with the conductors like- K.Mazur, E.Svetlanov, K.Kondrashin, G.Rozhdestvensky, K.Zanderling, K.Zekki, M.Shostakovich and etc.
He has recorded around 100 discs. At the same time he does not renounce systematic teaching. Eduard Grach is a Professor and the Head of the Violin Faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. In 1995, 2002 and 2003 “Music Review” magazine found him the best teacher in Russia. Eduard Grach is a member and the chairman of a number of international competitions. In 1996 he found and organized Abram Yampolsky International Violin Competition (he was also appointed its Director in the competition’s second edition in 1999 and in the third edition in 2002 and the forth on the 2006.)
He holds master classes in many countries: Germany, United States, Israel, Great Britain, France, Holland, Hungary, China, Korea, Taiwan and etc.
More than 50 of his students became winners and laureates of many prestigious International Competitions. He also performs as conductor. Eduard Grach is a founder and conductor of the famous Moscovia Chamber Orchestra, where all violinists are his students.
He has been honored many state orders, including ‘Order of merit for country’

Ulf Hoelschers’ first teacher at the age of seven was his father Ferdinand Hoelscher and by the age of ten Bruno Masurat. He later studied with Max Rostal in Cologne, and for three years in the United States with Josef Gingold at the Indiana University and with Paul Makanowitzky and Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. On his return to Europe, he quickly established a reputation as one of the leading violinists of his generation.
Ulf Hoelscher has given concerts in the world’s most important music centers including London, Munich, Hamburg, Paris and Berlin, and has undertaken extensive tours of Europe, Russia, the Far East, Germany(with the Dresden Staatskapelle, Wiener Sinfoniker, Munchner Philharmoniker, Halle Orchestra etc.), Japan and Australia.
His exceptionally broad repertoire is reflected in his award winning recordings a.o. for EMI he recorded the complete works for violin and orchestra of Camille Saint-Saens with the New Philharmonia Orchestra London conduted by Pierre Derveaux, Beethoven
Violinconcerto(Dresdner Staatskapelle), Tripelconcerto with Heinrich Schiff and Christian Zacharias(Masur conducting the Gewandthausorchester Leipzig), Brahms, Korngold, and Otmar Schoeck (English Chamber Orchestra, Howard Griffith). Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Berg and Spohr whose whole work for Violin and Orchestra, Ulf Hoelscher is recording with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin. All the concerti have been issued so far and the Double concerti and some smaller pieces for Violin and Orchestra will complete the huge project in 2001. His recent recordings also include concertos by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Siegfried Wagner and Benjamin Frankel.
Ulf Hoelscher has a strong commitment to the virtuoso concerto repertoire and as a champion to contemporary music he premiered concertos written for him by Volker David Kirchner(1984, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra), Franz Hummel (1987, Baden Baden (TV), 1988 1st live performance St. Petersburg) and Aribert Reimanns Double concerto for Violin and Violoncello(with Wolfgang Boettcher violoncello) 1989 in Hannover with subsequent performances in Amsterdam, New York ,Toulouse, Zurich and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991. He recorded the violin concerto of Alan Petterson with the Mandelring-Quartett for cpo in 1993.
Ulf Hoelscher is also dedicated to chamber music, he partnered Mstislav Rostropowitch and Galina Vishnewskaya in a record of Shostakovitch’s chamber music, this was followed by the Schumann Sonatas with Michel Beroff as well as works by Bartok, Cesar Franck and Szymanowsky, he played all Schubert Sonatas for Violin and Piano with Karl Engel as his partner at the piano. He has recorded the Brahms Trio in b minor with Heinrich Schiff and Christian Zacharia.
As a Duo Partner of Wolfgang Boettcher for more than 20 years, with whom he also redorded the Brahms double concerto under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Duos by Bloch, Ravel, Eissler and other composers. With his own ensemble, the Ulf Hoelscher Ensembles, he premiered the long lost Octet by Max Bruch which also has been released on CD recently.
Future plans include concerts and CD Productions with the excellent young English pianist Ian Fountain and Violinist Ulf Wallin as well as a series of concerts with Argentinian Pianist Carmen Piazzini.

Since winning the First Prize in the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Competition of Belgium in 1985, violinist Nai-Yuan Hu has appeared on many of the world’s stages, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Avery Fisher Hall in New York and major venues in London, Paris, Munich, Tokyo and other cities in Europe, North and South Americas and Asia. In praise of his playing, BBC Music Magazine wrote, “Taiwanese violinist Nai-Yuan Hu is an awesomely capable performer whose technical facility, musical intelligence and unfaltering verve place him among the higher echelons of today’s string virtuosi.”
Mr. Hu’s solo engagements include appearances with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Toronto Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Netherland and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Liège Philharmonic, Orchestra National de Lille in France, Haifa Symphony, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Taipei City Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and others. With the Belgian National Orchestra, he toured throughout Germany in such cities as Munich, Hannover and Dortmund. He has collaborated with such conductors as George Cleve, Adam Fischer, Leon Fleisher, Gunther Herbig, Emmanuel Krivine, Jahja Ling, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Gerard Schwarz, and Maxim Shostakovich, among others.
Mr. Hu has given recitals in such venues as Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall in New York, Cité de la Musique in Pairs, Purcell Room in London, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and Jordan Hall in Boston where he premiered Bright Sheng’s “The Stream Flows” in 1990. Other engagements include appearances in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Dallas, Montreal, Toronto, Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam, The Hague, Toledo(Spain), Bergen(Norway), Seoul, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. In Taiwan, he was the featured soloist in the 1987 Inaugural Concert of the National Concert Hall.
In summer seasons, Mr. Hu has appeared either as a guest soloist or chamber music artist in such festivals as Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, Grand Teton, Waterloo, Seattle, and Newport. A chamber music enthusiast, he has collaborated with such musicians as FouTs’ong, Martha Argerich, and Misha Maisky in the 1999 Beijing Music Festival, and participated in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society concerts and Brooklyn’s Barge music series. Mr. Hu is the music director of Taiwan Connection Music Festival, which he founded in 2004, dedicating to promoting chamber music in his homeland. The newest addition to the festival in 2007 was formation of a string orchestra consisting of young talented Taiwanese musicians.
Mr. Hu’s recording of Goldmark’s Concerto and Bruch’s Concerto No. 2 with Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony on Delos label, garnered “Critics’ Choice” from Gramophone as well as praises from many publications including BBC Music Magazine, The Times of London, and The Washington Post. His solo violin album Unaccompanied… on EMI label(with cover and art work by the popular Taiwanese cartoonist Jimmy) received two Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan for best classical album and best instrumentalist. His Vienna Revisted, containing much beloved music from that fin-de siècle city, was released late in 2003. Mr. Hu has made recordings for Koch and Sunrise.
In 2001, Mr. Hu appeared in a cameo role as the rooftop violinist serenading Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman in the Miramax romantic comedy, Kate & Leopold. In that same year, he collaborated with Lin Hwai-min and his Cloud Gate Dance Theater, performing Taiwanese composer Hsu Tsang-Houei’s Five Preludes for Solo Violin in an outdoor presentation that was attended by over ten thousand people.
Born in Taiwan, Mr. Hu began studying the violin at age five and was soloist with the National Youth Orchestra of Taiwan three years later. He came to the United States in 1972 to continue his studies, first with Broadus Erle and later with Joseph Silverstein. At Indiana University, he studied with Josef Gingold and also served as Gingold’s assistant after graduation. Mr. Hu and his wife June Huang currently live in New York City.

Hailed for his outstanding artistry, musicianship and virtuosity, violinist Dong-Suk Kang has performed on five continents to extraordinary acclaim. Dominic Gill, a London music critic, describes Dong-Suk Kang in his book « The Book of the Violin », as « already one of the world’s great violinists. His flawless technique and perfect bow arm certainly produce one of the most beautiful violin tones to be heard anywhere today ».
Ormandy, Serkin, Menuhin, Francescatti, and other eminent musicians also have praised him as one of the most outstanding violinists of his generation and a musician of the highest order.
Born in Korea, Dong-Suk Kang went to New York in 1967 to study at the Juilliard School and later at the Curtis Institute with Ivan Galamian.
He first came to the attention of the American public in 1971 when he created a sensation by winning both the San Francisco Symphony Foundation Competition and the Merriweather Post Competition in Washington D.C..
Following a debut at the Kennedy Center and an appearance with Seiji Ozawa, he went on to win top prizes in a number of international competitions including the Montreal, the Carl Flesch in London and the Queen Elisabeth in Brussels.
Since then, he has appeared with many great orchestras of the world including those of Philadelphia, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, San Francisco, Baltimore, Washington and Montreal in America, and Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonia, BBC Orchestras, Halle, Birmingham, Scottish National, Munich, Stuttgart, Gewandhaus, French and Belgian National Orchestras, Gothenburg, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Polish National and Rotterdam in Europe.
Tours of Asia have brought performances with the orchestras of NHK, Yomiuri, Tokyo Metropolitan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, KBS and Seoul Philharmonic with whom, he has toured the U.S.A. and Europe.
He also toured extensively in Australia playing with all six orchestras of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The conductors he has worked with include Dutoit, Ozawa, Mazur, Jarvi, Menuhin, Salonen, Slatkin, Chung, Barshai, Jansons, Norrington, Foster, Svetlanov, Berglund, Lazarev and Herbig.
He has performed at major music centers and festivals throughout the world and his concerts, such as London Proms, were frequently televised and broadcast on the radio in many countries. His strong interest in chamber music has resulted in his participation at various chamber music festivals including those in Spoleto, Santa Fe, Kuhmo, Korsholm, Seattle, Vancouver, Newport and Australian Festival of Chamber Music. As a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center he has performed in New York and toured throughout the country.
Dong-Suk Kang’s wide-ranging repertoire includes all the standard works as well as many unusual and neglected works. He has recently given the premier of the violin concerto « Mistral » by Alan Hoddinott in Great Britain which was commissioned by BBC as well as the Asian premier of the the Third Concerto by Isang Yun at the opening concert of « World Music Days » Festival after having performed Isang Yun’s First Concerto earlier.
In the field of recording, in addition to the well-known works, such as Vivaldi Four Seasons (with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields), he has recorded Nielsen and Elgar concertos, complete chamber music of Honegger and Alkan, and Furtwängler Sonata.
His recordings have won critical acclaim and awards among which are the Grand Prix du disque from both the Académie Charles Cros and the Nouvelle Académie du disque. His Walton Concerto CD was chosen as the CD of the month by the Gramophone magazine and nominated for the Gramophone Award 2000.
Dong-Suk Kang is a professor at Yonsei University and Artistic Director of « MusicAlp Festival » in France and « Seoul Spring Festival » in Korea.

Nam Yun Kim’s international career as a soloist began after her studies in Seoul and New York under Felix Garlimir and 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 performed with major orchestras in Asia(for example, the Seoul City Philhamonia, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the KBS Orchestra) and Europe(the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Zagreb radio Orchestra, Bruno Symphony Orchestra(Tzche, Republic) and the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra) and given solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and the JFK Center for the performing Arts/Washington DC. She has recorded all of the Mozart violin concertos with the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra.
Nam Yun Kim is also devoted to teaching, as a Professor at the Korean National University of Arts(Dean of Music Department), has given master classes (Yale University, Beijing Central Conservatory, Manhattan school, Hannover Hochschule, Keshet Eilon/Israel, San Francisco Conservatory, Shanghai, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore) and has served on the juries of competitions in Hannover, K?ln, Queen Elizabeth(Brussel)(2000,2005), Markneukirchen, Taiwan, Paganini(Italy), Tibor Varga(Swiss), Sarasate(Spain), SenDai(Japan) and Tschaikovsky(Russia) (2007). In recognition of her achievements both in Korea and abroad, she has received the OK-KWAN Medal form Government.

Violinist Young Uck Kim, one of the foremost violinists, has had celebrated an international career for over 40 years. He continues to captivate audiences throughout the world as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He has been hailed critiques as “Elegant,” “Passionate” and “Virtuosic.” The New York Times raved that “Mr. Kim wrapped his concerto in the most beautiful of sounds. Who could resist Mr. Kim’s exquisite tone and purity?”
Young Uck Kim has performed across United States, Europe and Japan. He has appeared with virtually every American Orchestra, including those of New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Washington National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony and Pittsburgh Orchestra. Summer seasons have included the Tangle wood Music Festival, Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and Blossom Festival with Cleveland Orchestra.
In Europe, Mr. Kim has performed with such prominent Orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Loyal Philharmonic, the Concertgebouw, NDR, WDR and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra among many others. And, he has appeared at the festivals including Salzburg Festival, Edinboro Festival, the London Proms, Lucerne Festival and South Bank Festival of London.
He has worked with many conductors including Karajan, Berstein, Ormandy, Stokowski, Ozawa, Simone Rattle, Haitink, Eschenbach, Previn, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jansen, Franz Welser Möst, and Yuri Temirkanov.
In addition, he is deeply involved in chamber music as Ax-Kim-Ma Trio. He had been a member of Beaux Arts Trio from 1998 to 2002. He has played chamber music with Rudolph Serkin, Andrea Schiff, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, Isaac Stern, Andre Previn, Christopher Eschenbach and many others. In addition to recital and annual orchestral tour, Young Uck Kim’s schedule regularly includes special project to which he is deeply committed. He has played the premier of Gunther Schuller’s Violin Concerto, Andre Previn’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Tobias Picker’s Sonata for Violin and Piano and Hansvogt Violin Concerto. Those pieces were written for Mr. Kim and on which he collaborated with the composers. Another special project, he has performed with Peter Serkin for the complete cycle of the Mozart Sonatas in New York, in addition to single performances in over 20 cities. The success of that, undertaking inspired Mr. Kim and Mr. Serkin to collaborate in programming the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano with performances in 18 cities throughout the country. He has also played complete Mozart Sonatas with Christopher Eschenbach in New York, Tokyo and London.
He made the recordings of the complete Mozart Violin Concertos with conductor Christopher Eschenbach and the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Pony Canyan Label, chamber music works with Ax-Kim-Ma Trio for Dvorak Piano Trios on Sony Label and complete Schumann and Mozart piano quartet with Andre Previn for BMG. He also recorded with Deutsche Gramophone for his debut recording of Bach Partita in b minor, Beethoven Violin Sonata in Eb Major and Mendelssohn, Bruch Violin Concertos with Banberger Symphony.
Young Uck Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea and attended the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with the legendary Ivan Galamian. In his performances world wide, Young Uck Kim has earned a reputation as “one of the violin Marvels” quoted from San Francisco Examiner. Currently, he is a professor of Violin at Seoul National University, also an artistic director of Seoul Arts Center.

Born on March 5, 1947 in Gda?sk, he studied with Professor Stefan Herman. In 1964 he participated in Nicolo Paganini International Competition in Genua, where he obtained the diploma with special distinction. In 1966 he took the first award in ARD International Music Competition in Munich and with that moment his international career has begun. Since 1967 he performed over 2000 symphonic concerts and recitals in the whole world. He played with such orchestras as Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Minneapolis, London Symphony, Konzertgebau Amsterdam, English Chamber, performed at numerous music festivals such as in Lucerne, Bordeaux, Berlin, Brighton, Prague, Barcelona, Flandres, Warsaw and others. His recording output includes among others the concertos by Vivaldi, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Glazunow, Lalo, Bartok, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Brahms, Karłowicz, Penderecki, Hindemith, Szymanowski, Polish contemporary music (Penderecki, Lutosławski, Knapik, Bloch, Jabło?ski etc.), chamber music and many others. For the two recorded concertos of Szymanowski in 1981 in Paris he was awarded with “Grand Prix du Disque”. He often performs abroad pieces by Polish composers. As the first performer after Stern, he has repeatedly performed the 1st concerto by Krzysztof Penderecki in Europe and North America, mainly conducted by the composer himself. Since 1984 he is a soloist of the National Philharmonic Orchestra in Warsaw – with this ensemble he toured numerous times almost the entire world. Since 1994 he holds the position of a professor at Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw. He has acquired numerous distinctions, among others the awards of the Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, the award of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Commander Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and many others.

Takashi Shimizu was born in Yokosuka. Having started playing the violin at the age of 6, he won a All Japan Student violin competition just 3 years later.
That same year he made his television debut, playing with the NHK Symphony Orchestra for the wedding celebration of H.I.M.Prince Hitachi.
He first became the focus of public attention in his country at the age of 17 when, after winning 3 prizes in national competitions, the year culminated in his winning a scholarship to study under Jascha Heifetz at the University of Southern California.
He also studied with Michèle Auclair and Yfrah Neaman. After winning many top prizes in the international violin competitions such as Jacques Thibaud, Carl Flesch(where he also won the Beethoven Sonata prize) , Granada, and the Queen Elisabeth,
He played chamber music with Argerich, Menuhin, Fou Ts’ong, Gitlis, Rudin, Maisky, and Gililov etc.
He played a piano trio again with Martha Argerich and Misha Myski yesterday.
He has made number of recordings, notably of Brahms, Saint-Saens and Wieniawsky Concertos with The London Symphony Orchestra, also complete Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas, Paganini 24Caplices, Prokofiev 2 violin sonatas, Ysaye Solo Sonatas etc. He is a member of faculty at The Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music.

(in alphabetical order)
*updated April 2009