Ju-Young Baek is a laureate of Sibelius, Paganini, Indianapolis, Long-Thibaud, and Queen Elisabeth International Competitions, bringing honor to Korea. She has performed at world renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall, etc. She has performed as soloist with the London Philharmonic, Budapest Festival Orchestra, among others. She has also performed at major international festivals such as Marlboro and Aspen and has shown exceptional passion for chamber music as the leader of the Sejong Soloists and Ensemble Opus. After graduating from Yewon School and attending Seoul Arts High School, she went to the United States, where she graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School(graduate program), and completed the highest performance diploma at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. She was appointed as the youngest professor in the history of College of Music at Seoul National University in 2005. Her complete Beethoven violin sonatas recording in 2020 as the first Korean violinist to release them, received critical acclaim, as well as her complete Ysaye Sonatas album released in 2022.

Mr. Beaver served as the First Violinist of the world-renowned Tokyo String Quartet from 2002 until its final concert in 2013. As a member of the quartet, he appeared to critical and public acclaim on the major stages of the world including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Berliner Philharmonie. During this time, he had the privilege of performing on the 1727 Stradivarius violin from the <Paganini Quartet>, generously loaned by the Nippon Music Foundation. His notable recordings with the quartet include the complete Beethoven string quartets on the Harmonia Mundi label. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras such as the San Francisco and Toronto Symphonies and has collaborated in chamber music with eminent artists including Leon Fleisher, Pinchas Zukerman, and Yefim Bronfman. He has released concerto, sonata and chamber music recordings on labels including EMI and Naxos, showcasing a wide-ranging repertoire from Bach to contemporary composers. He is a laureate of the Queen Elisabeth, Montreal and Indianapolis competitions and now serves on the juries of renowned competitions over the world. As a devoted educator, he has held teaching position at the Peabody Conservatory and since 2013, has been a Professor of Violin at the Colburn School.

Praised by audiences and critics alike for his insightful artistry, violinist Ronald Copes has received international acclaim as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Having appeared as a featured performer in the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Bermuda, Cheltenham, Colorado and Olympic music festivals, Mr.Copes has toured extensively with Music. From Marlboro ensembles, the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir Piano Quartets, and, from 1997 to his retirement in 2025, with the Juilliard String Quartet in concerts throughout Europe, Australia, Asia and North America. He has recorded numerous solo and chamber music works for radio and television broadcast as well as for Sony Classical, Orion, CRI, Klavier, New World Records, ECM and the Musical Heritage Society and Deutsche Gramophone. Devoting considerable energy to the development and presentation of contemporary string literature, he has worked closely with composers and has given the first performances of a number of solo and chamber works. Mr. Copes has garnered prizes in several national and international competitions including the Artists’ Advisory Council, the Merriweather Post and the Concours International d’execution Musicale in Geneva. For two decades, he served as Professor of Violin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and, in 1997, joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in New York City, where he serves as chair of the Violin Department. During the summer he is on the artist-faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival.

International critics have compared Augustin Dumay to the great violinists of the 20th century, describing him as a “great classical stylist”. His recordings of Beethoven’s complete sonatas with Maria João Pires and Mozart’s concertos are considered landmark achievements. He was first discovered by the public thanks to his meeting with Herbert von Karajan and his concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker further established his reputation. Since then, he has performed with the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony and Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In parallel to his international career as a violinist, Mr.Dumay is also very active as a conductor. He is regularly invited to conduct orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra and Sinfonia Varsovia. He has served as Music Director of the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra since 2011 and has taught the next generation of musicians at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. His extensive discography of over forty recordings has received numerous prestigious awards. Augustin Dumay plays the 1743 <Guarnerius del Gesu> which was formerly the violin of Leonid Kogan.

Currently the CEO, Artistic Director, and violin faculty of The Tianjin Juilliard School, Wei He leads Juilliard’s only global branch campus in China. Prior to joining Tianjin Juilliard, Mr. He taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as professor of violin for 17 years and served as Chair of the Strings Department. His students have won numerous prizes at international competitions and have been featured as soloists with some of the world’s leading Symphony Orchestras. As an active violinist, his performances have taken him to some of the most prestigious concert venues throughout the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York. He has performed with many renowned artists and ensembles, including members of the Juilliard, Shanghai String Quartets and the San Francisco Symphony. He received his early training at the Affiliated Middle School of the Sichuan Conservatory, completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and earned a master’s degree in chamber music from the San Francisco Conservatory. While in school, he founded the award-winning New China Trio; after graduation, he played in the first violin section of the San Francisco Symphony and later co-founded the Bridge Chamber Virtuosi with its principals. Appointed in 2017 as the inaugural Artistic Director and Dean of The Tianjin Juilliard School, he played a leading role in recruiting a world-class faculty and establishing academic standards, and he now serves as its CEO and Artistic Director, helping expand Juilliard’s innovative educational model across Asia.

Masafumi Hori started playing the violin at the age of 5. After graduating from Kyoto Municipal Horikawa Senior High School of Music, Mr.Hori went to study at the University of Music Freiburg in Germany, graduating with the highest academic achievements in 1973. In 1974, he became the First Concertmaster of Das Staatsorchester Darmstadt. In 1979, he joined the NHK Symphony Orchestra as the Concertmaster, leading the orchestra for 35 years. He received the Arima Prize in 1991 for his contributions and was named Honorary Concertmaster in 2015. As one of Japan’s leading violinists, he continues to perform actively and serve as a juror for numerous prestigious international competitions, including the Geneva International Music Competition, the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition and the Louis Spohr International Violin Competition. Currently, he is a Specially Appointed Professor at Toho Gakuen School of Music.

Hailed for his outstanding artistry and masterful technique, Dong Suk Kang is a world-renowned violinist. Recognized as a child prodigy after giving his first concert at the age of 8 and later winning the Grand Prize at the Dong-A Music Competition at 12, he went on to study under Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music. He gained international fame after winning the San Francisco Symphony Foundation Competition at the age of 17, followed by top prizes at the Montreal, Carl Flesh, and Queen Elisabeth competitions. He has performed with leading orchestras such as the Philadelphia, Royal Philharmonic, and Munich Philharmonic, under the baton of world-class conductors including Dutoit, Ozawa and Myung-Whun Chung. Also, an avid chamber musician, he has participated in numerous festivals and has showcased a wide-ranging repertoire, including premier of concerto by Isang Yun. His recordings, including the Nielsen concertos and the complete chamber works of Honegger, have received critical acclaim and won multiple awards, including the Charles Cros Academy Grand Prix. He is a former professor at Yonsei University, has served as the Artistic Director of the Seoul Spring Festival of Chamber Music since 2006, and was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French government.

Dene Olding is recognised as one of Australia’s most outstanding violinists. He served as the first violinist for the Goldner String Quartet and the Australia Ensemble and is Concertmaster Emeritus of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, he has worked with all of Australia’s symphony and chamber orchestras and performed over forty concertos with world-renowned conductors such as Edo de Waart and Vladimir Ashkenazy. He gave the Australian premiere of violin concertos by Lutostawski, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass and has performed world premieres of works by composers including Carl Vine and Ross Edwards. At the age of fourteen, he attended the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Ivan Galamian and Margaret Pardee and was a Laureate of the 1985 Queen Elisabeth of Belgium International Violin Competition. His recordings have won numerous awards, including the Cannes Classical Award and the A.R.I.A. Award. He has contributed to the development of Australia’s music scene through various artistic advisory and juror roles and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2017.

Praised by The Strad for his ‘rich tone, exceptional technique and beautifully singing vibrato,’ Marco Rizzi gained international recognition by winning top prizes at prestigious competitions such as the Tchaikovsky and the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Recognized as one of Italy’s leading violinists, he has performed at major venues including La Scala and the Lincoln Center, collaborating with conductors like Riccardo Chailly and Vladimir Jurowski, and with orchestras such as the Dresden Staatskapelle and the Indianapolis Symphony. Actively engaged in chamber music, he has performed with artists including Andrea Lucchesini and Mario Brunello and has had works dedicated to him by several contemporary composers. He has released recordings on labels including Deutsche Grammophon, teaches at institutions such as the Reina Sofía School of Music and the Mannheim University of Music, and serves as a juror for major international competitions including the Queen Elisabeth and Paganini Competitions. He plays on the <Baron Knoop> 1743 violin by Pietro Guarneri.

Swedish violinist Ulf Wallin studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Seven Karpe and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Wolfgang Schneiderhan. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Asia, Europe, and the United States, collaborating with eminent conductors such as Jesús López Cobos, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Andrew Manze, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. As a chamber musician, he has shared the stage with Bruno Canino, Barbara Hendricks, Heinz Holliger, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and András Schiff, earning wide acclaim. Wallin has appeared at major festivals including Lucerne and Berlin and performed in the world’s leading venues, from the Berlin Philharmonie to Wigmore Hall. He has also demonstrated a deep commitment to contemporary music, working closely with composers such as Anders Eliasson and Alfred Schnittke. His discography includes over 50 recordings with labels such as BIS, EMI and BMG. He is a professor at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ in Berlin and a visiting professor in Vienna and has served as a juror for major international competitions. He was awarded the Robert Schumann Prize of Zwickau in 2013 and elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 2014. Wallin performs on a violin crafted in 1746 by the Venetian master Domenico Montagnana.