Born in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1941, Shmuel Ashkenasi attended the Musical Academy of Tel Aviv and gave his first public performance while still very young. He came to the United States on a scholarship to study with Efrem Zimbalist at the Curtis Institute and was known to the world early by winning Queen Elizabeth Competition, Meriwether Post Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition. Ashkenasi has toured the Soviet Union twice and concertizes every year throughout Europe, Israel and the Far East. He performed with world renowned orchestras such as Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Camerata Chicago, Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, orchestras of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Zurich, Rotterdam, Geneva and Stockholm and has been the choice of many of the world’s most distinguished conductors, including Stokowski, Boehm, Kempe, Leinsdorf, Kubelik, Skrowaczewski and Ancerl. As first violinist of the Vermeer Quartet, he has gained a reputation as one of the world’s outstanding chamber musicians and recorded the Mozart 5th Violin concerto with Camerata Chicago and Drostan Hall on the DMD Classics label, had also recorded for Deutche Gramaphone and Naxos.

Violinist Ju-Young Baek has performed at world renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She has performed with the London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Budapest Festival Orchestra, among others. She has participated in the festivals of Marlboro, Ravinia, Casals, Naantali, Aspen, and Salzburg, among others. She is currently the leader of Ensemble Opus and was the leader of Sejong Soloists. She was a laureate of Indianapolis, Paganini, Sibelius, Long-Thibaud, and Queen Elisabeth International Competitions. Her career was launched after winning 1st prize at the YCA Auditions in New York and the Astral Artists of Philadelphia. She has been faculty at the College of Music Seoul National University since she was appointed as the youngest professor ever in the history of the College of Music at Seoul National University in 2005. Ju-Young also became the first Korean violinist who released the complete set of Beethoven violin sonatas in 2020.

Dmitri Berlinsky, professor of violin and artist teacher at the Michigan State University College of Music, has performed in major venues such as Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls. Recent highlights include appearances as a soloist in Berlin Philharmonie Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus. Last season Mr.Berlinsky performed and taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Royal Conservatory and Glen Gould School in Toronto, etc. In high demand as a teacher, Mr.Berlinsky has given Master Classes at the University of South California in Los Angeles, Menuhin School in London, Manhattan School, Temple University in Philhadelphia, DePaul and Roosevelt University in Chicago and served on the jury of Paganini International Competition, Washington International Competition, YCA and Astral Auditions. Mr. Berlinsky is a founder of ‘Dorothy DeLay MasterClass Series’ and Artistic Director of ‘International Chamber Soloists’. He is the co-founder of ‘Juventus ProMusica’ concert series in New York City, providing chamber music experiences for young students alongside distinguished guest artists. Mr. Berlinsky arrived on the International scene as the youngest winner in the history of the Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa, Italy. This victory led to his performance on Nicolo Paganini’s own Guarneri del Gesú instrument, a privilege shared by only a handful of artists in history. Subsequent triumphs at the Montreal International Violin Competition(Grand Prize), the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels, led to appearances with major orchestras in Europe, Russia,
the Far East, North and South America.

Violinist David Bowlin has won critical acclaim for his performances of a wide range of repertoire from the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and many others. First prize winner of the 2003 Washington International Competition, Bowlin has performed internationally as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Among his dozens of premieres are concertos written for him by Marcos Balter and Alexandra Hermentin, performed at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In recent seasons he has appeared as soloist with the Arktisk Sinfonietta, the La Jolla Symphony (California, USA), and at the Aspen Music Festival. Bowlin is a member of the ̒ Oberlin Trio’ and a founding member of the ̒ International Contemporary’ Ensemble. He has performed as a guest with the Juilliard Quartet, with members of the Emerson and Brentano Quartets, and with pianists Mitsuko Uchida, Richard Goode and Robert McDonald. He has made several tours with Musicians from Marlboro and has been a guest artist with many organizations, including the Boston Chamber Music Society, ChamberFest Cleveland, the Banff Centre, and Chamber Music Chicago. Together with his duo partner, pianist Tony Cho, Bowlin has performed in recital across the United States, Europe, and in South Korea. Bowlin currently serves as Professor of Violin and Chair of Strings at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In summer seasons he has been on faculty at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, ARIA, and others. He studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Juilliard School, and Stony Brook University, where his principal teachers were Roland and Almita Vamos, Ronald Copes, Pamela Frank, Philip Setzer, and Ani Kavafian.

Ani Kavafian continues to enjoy a prolific and prestigious career as a soloist, chamber musician and professor. She has performed with major orchestras in the United States. She has appeared at the White House on three separate occasions for three different presidents. Her numerous recital engagements have included performances in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and other major venues across the country. She is in high demand as a visiting professor and has conducted master classes at universities all over the United States as well as at workshops in Korea, Japan and Beijing. She recorded a series of master class videos with the Korean company, LG. She has been a periodic guest concertmaster of the Seattle Symphony and was concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony for 8 years appearing frequently as soloist with both orchestras. Together with cellist, Carter Brey, Ani Kavafian was director of the Mostly Music chamber music series in New Jersey for 25 years. Having taught at Mannes College, Manhattan School of Music she is now a full professor at Yale University. She received the Avery Fisher Career Grant and is the winner of the Young Concert Artist International Auditions. Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Armenian heritage, Ms. Kavafian began piano lessons at the age of three. At age nine, in the United States, she began violin studies with Ara Zerounian and then with Mischa Mischakoff. She went on to study the violin at the Juilliard School with Ivan Galamian receiving a Master of Science degree with highest honors. Ms. Kavafian has consistently appeared in major music festivals such as Santa Fe, Music @Menlo. During the 2022-2023 season, Ms. Kavafian will continue her longtime association as a violinist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing in NYC and on tour. Ms. Kavafian plays a 1736 Stradivarius violin, the 「Muir MacKenzie」.

“Violinist Hyuna Kim has everything: a brilliant, effortless virtuoso technique; a pure, beautiful, expressive tone, even across the instrument, with a large range of color and variety; a sense of style and idiom, a lot of charm, and a winning personality …. New York Concert Review. By age ten, she had already debuted, performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and won numerous prestigious competitions in Korea. Admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, when she was twelve, she studied with Prof. Aaron Rosand and graduated from with a Bachelor of Music degree. She went on to attend and graduated from the Juilliard School with a Masters of Music, studying with Prof. Glenn Dicterow. Ms. Kim has won in numerous competitions, including Philadelphia Orchestra Competition and the Tibor Varga Competition, and has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her solo appearances with orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Seoul Philharmonic, KBS Symphony, Salzburg Kammerphil, St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra, Sejong Soloists, and many other prestigious international orchestras and ensembles. She plays on the 1737 Antonio Stradivarius 「Count D’armaille」. Ms. Kim is currently a violin
professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.

Nicholas Kitchen has performed throughout the world both as soloist and chamber musician and as founding first violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet. He has done extensive projects with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, Performance Today and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He has performed in some of the world’s great concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Zurich Tonhalle, Dvorak Hall in Prague, Wigmore Hall in London, the Opera Bastille in Paris, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai and the Seoul Arts Center in Korea. He is the Artistic Director of the Heifetz International Music Institute and has been teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music since 1992. At both of these institutions the Borromeo Quartet is Faculty Quartet-in-Residence. Nicholas is winner of the Arion Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music in connection with his work on the music of Bach, and the Borromeo Quartet are winners of the Evian International Quartet Competition, the Cleveland Quartet Award, the Martin E. Segal Award and the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Nicholas Kitchen has transcribed for String Quartet many works of J.S. Bach including both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier, and the “Goldberg” Variations and recorded for Naxos, Bridge, Denon and his own Living Archive label.

Dutch Violinist Rudolf Koelman studied the violin with Jan Bor and Herman Krebbers in Amsterdam. From the age of 18 he studied with Jascha Heifetz on a full scholarship granted to him by the University of Southern California. 1996-1999 he was first concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. 2000-2005 Professorship for violin and chamber music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany. Currently (since 1987) he is Professor for violin and chamber music at the “Zürcher Hochschule der Künste” (ZHdK) known as the Zurich University of the Arts in Switzerland where he holds a “chair for life in violin” position and leads the ZHdK Strings chamber orchestra. He is frequently invited as a jury member at international violin competitions and gives masterclasses all around Europe, Asia and Australia. Koelman has performed frequently worldwide as a soloist with a large number of renowned orchestras including Bruckner Orchester Linz, WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Korean Broadcasting System Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. He made numerous TV-, radio- and CD recordings among them a live recording of all 24 Paganini Caprices. In 2010, he performed in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and recorded live both Violin Concertos 1 & 2 by Paganini. These performances were released on Challenge Classics and won the prestigious Edison Award 2010 in The Netherlands. His most recent CD release on Challenge Classics (2017) contains Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto’s 1 & 2.

Mintcho Mintchev’s art is valued with superlatives on four continents. He has played as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Royal Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and many others. He has worked with world-renowned conductors. Mintcho Mintchev’s outstanding artistic career is also connected with the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Kennedy Center in Washington. He has made many recordings at home and abroad for labels as DECCA, Balkanton, Capriccio, Integral and others. He has participated in the jury of a number of prestigious international competitions, including Carl Flesch (Great Britain), Rudolf Lipitzer (Italy), Yfrah Neaman (Germany), Beethoven (Czech Republic), Jugend musiziert (Germany), and others. Since 1993 he has been chairman of the Pancho Vladigerov Foundation and chairman of the violin jury of the International Competition for Pianists and Violinists P. Vladigerov. Since 2002 he has been the artistic director of the International Summer Academy, held annually as a part of the Varna Summer International Music Festival. Since 1990 he has been a professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany. In parallel with his intensive work at the university and active solo work, he leads master classes in different parts of the world. Mintcho Mintchev was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria in 1950. He started playing the violin at the age of four. In 1959 he gave his first solo concert, after which he won a number of awards from prestigious national and international competitions, the largest of which were H. Wieniawski (Poland, 1967), Paganini (Italy, 1970), Carl Flesch (Great Britain, 1972 and 1974). He studied with Prof. Emil Kamilarov, and in the period 1974~1976 he specialized with Prof. Yfrah Neaman in London. Since 1977 he has played Stradivarius 1716 violin 「Baron Wittgenstein」, bought especially for him by the Bulgarian stat.

Since the winning of the Gold Medal at the Second Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis in 1986, Ms. Takezawa has performed as soloist with such prominent ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, etc in United States. Abroad, the London Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, etc. She has collaborated with many distinguished conductors, including Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, etc. She has performed at major venues around the world. In recent season, Ms. Takezawa has made her debut appearance with Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, Orchestre National des pays de la Loire in France, Mito Chamber Orchestra and New Japan Philharmonic. Also she was the jury member of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Menuhin, Concours international Marguerite-Long-Jacques-Thibaud, Sendai Competition, Isangyun Competition, International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition. A highly accomplished chamber music performer, Ms. Takezawa has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, the La Jolla Chamber Music Festival and the Casals Festival in Prades, Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. Also she has been a regular guest for the La Folle Journee Festival and the Beppu Argerich Music Festival in Japan. Ms. Takezawa’s chamber music performances have drawn high praise, and as co-director of the Suntory Festival Soloists of Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She has collaborated with many distinguished artists. A prolific recording artist, she has just released her most recent CD which she performed all Brahms’s Violin Sonatas with pianist Itamar Golan by Sony Music Japan. As an educator she is on the faculty of Toho Music School, Tokyo College of Music and Senzoku Gakuen College of Music. She received the prestigious Idemitsu Award for outstanding musicianship and Aichi Art Cultural Award.