The people behind the music.

"Passionate," "expressive," "bold," and "sensitive": this is how critics described pianist Kayoung An's 2017 performance with the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, and Korea Music Review wrote that "along with elegance, she has fire." A multi-award-winning soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared at Carnegie Hall, SummerStage, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Seoul Arts Center, and the Chicago Cultural Center, with performances broadcast on WFMT Chicago, KBS Classic FM, KBS-TV, and Belfast radio.

She has collaborated with conductors including Gábor Hontvári, Lawrence Golan, and Francis Fortier, and has been a guest soloist at the Bar Harbor Music Festival, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and the Arts on the Lake Recital Series. Her album Kayoung An and Friends Play Bernard Hoffer, recorded with conductor David Gilbert, was released by Albany Records.

Dr. An is a member of the piano and chamber music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division, and her students have won top prizes at the San Francisco, Seattle, and IPPA Conero International Piano Competitions, among many others. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Marc Silverman and Solomon Mikowsky, with earlier degrees from the New England Conservatory, the Colburn Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Clarinetist Sam Boutris leads a diverse career as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. He received the Musica Solis Grand Prize at the 2019 Chamber Music Northwest International Clarinet Competition, has since released his debut album Phases on the Musica Solis label, and has collaborated with the Rolston String Quartet, Attacca Quartet, and musicians at Chamber Music Northwest. He has presented recitals on the Crypt Sessions series in New York City, The Violin Channel, and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts, and performed live on WQXR, WFMT, and WSMR.

Boutris has appeared as soloist with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, Chamber Music Northwest, Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, and Yale Undergraduate Chamber Orchestra, and has served as principal or guest clarinet with the Louisville Orchestra, The Knights, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Committed to mentorship, he maintains a full private studio whose students have won prizes at International Clarinet Association competitions. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Yale School of Music and an Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School.

Violinist Katherine Fong has been a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra since 2000. A native of Amarillo, Texas, she began playing at age four, and today leads a multifaceted life as an orchestral musician, chamber musician, entrepreneur, studio musician, and mother.

Katherine serves as Executive Director, personnel manager, and performing mentor with the Second Ending Ensemble, which pairs symphonic masterworks with brand-new works by emerging composers and combines outstanding Juilliard and New York conservatory students with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and New York Philharmonic. She is also the founder of Luxitune, which designs jeweled fine tuners for string instruments. She received a Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory and a Master of Music from The Juilliard School.

Qianru Elaine He has performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Currently a doctoral candidate at Manhattan School of Music, she holds her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School.

Qianru’s honors include First Prize at the 2023 Naftzger Prize Audition; Second Prize at the 2023 Hellam Young Artists Competition, where she also received the Stephen and Linda Paganini-Brite Award; and Second Prize at the Ann & Charles Eisemann International Competition. She has spent her summers performing at the Verbier Festival, Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Tanglewood Music Center, Music Academy of the West, and Morningside Music Bridge. She has also participated in the DeLay-Starling Violin Symposium, IMS Masterclass at Prussia Cove, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar.

Alongside her commitment to chamber music, Qianru is deeply dedicated to nonprofit music education and community-based music initiatives. She has appeared on the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players concert series and with Orpheus Reflections, an initiative of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra that brings live music to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. Qianru is also a UN Chamber Music Society artist; she has performed at the headquarters of the United Nations and recorded albums for the Closing Ceremony of the Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism and the Concert for Climate Action. She also serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of Overture Music Intensive, and as Director of Operations for its summer education program.

Qianru has performed with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of New York, and Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and has served as concertmaster of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, MSM Symphony, and Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra. An aspiring violin teacher, she has seen her students admitted to the Royal College of Music in the UK, Manhattan School of Music, and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in China.

Praised by Weekly Music magazine for his "impeccably logical and also vivid, emotional playing," cellist Mo Mo has performed with the China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, and others under Tan Dun, Lü Jia, and Yang Yang, at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Jordan Hall, and Fontainebleau Palace. He is a regular guest at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, and Macao Arts Festival.

Passionate about Chinese music culture, he has worked closely with composers including Tan Dun, Chen Qigang, Zhao Jiping, and Zhou Tian, and in 2018 joined Beijing Contemporary Soloists, whose debut album Jade was released on Naxos in 2022. He has collaborated with Mark Kaplan, Ilya Kaler, and Robert Diaz.

Mo Mo began studying at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing at age six and later studied with Aldo Parisot at the Yale School of Music. His honors include top prizes at the 2016 Schoenfeld International String Competition and the 2017 Koussevitzky Young Artist Award, the Aldo Parisot Prize from Yale, and the Karl Zeise Memorial Cello Award from Tanglewood.

Acclaimed by The New York Times as an "extraordinary violist" of "immense flair," Dov Scheindlin is a member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, where he served as Artistic Director from 2013 to 2016, and an associate member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He has been violist of the Arditti, Penderecki, and Chester String Quartets, a career that has taken him to 28 countries and won him the Siemens Prize in 1999. As a member of the Arditti Quartet he gave nearly 100 world premieres and won a 2002 Gramophone Award.

He has appeared as soloist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin, and the Munich Philharmonic, and recorded the viola solos in Strauss's Don Quixote with the Czech National Philharmonic. Raised in New York City, he studied with Samuel Rhodes and William Lincer at The Juilliard School and has taught at Harvard, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Tanglewood. He is a member of Quartet 212 with colleagues from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and plays a 1928 viola by Gaetano Gadda.

Qianwen Shen is a violinist with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Faculty at Mannes Prep, and the Founder, Artistic Director, and Executive Director of Overture Music Intensive (OMI), a New York–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating the next generation of musicians through world-class performance, mentorship, and community engagement.

Since joining The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2019, Ms. Shen has established herself as a distinguished orchestral musician. Prior to her appointment, she performed with several leading orchestras, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Montclair Orchestra. Throughout her career, she has served as concertmaster and principal violin in numerous distinguished ensembles, including the New World Symphony, New England Conservatory Philharmonia, New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Shen is deeply committed to music education. She serves on the faculty of Mannes Prep, where she teaches young violinists, and is the Founder, Artistic Director, and Executive Director of Overture Music Intensive (OMI). Through both roles, she is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of musicians by creating educational experiences that combine artistic excellence, mentorship, collaboration, and meaningful community engagement.

Ms. Shen has performed in many of the world's leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Boston Symphony Hall, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall in Singapore, Hong Kong Arts Centre, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Shanghai Concert Hall, and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

An active chamber musician, Ms. Shen has participated in prestigious festivals including the Yellow Barn Music Festival and the Perlman Music Program. She has collaborated with distinguished artists from the Cleveland Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Takács Quartet, and Peabody Trio.

Born in Bengbu, China, Ms. Shen began studying the violin at the age of four. Her principal teachers include Lei Fang, Donald Weilerstein, and David Chan. She earned a Bachelor of Music from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes School of Music.

Yinfei Wang made his public debut at age seven in the Shanghai Concert Hall and has since performed across China, Singapore, Spain, Australia, and the United States. He is a top prizewinner of the Washington International, Gershwin, Five Towns, Jacob Flier, and Hartford Chopin competitions, and has appeared as soloist with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Feltsman and Philippe Entremont.

A passionate chamber musician, he has been featured at The Perlman Music Program, PianoSummer at New Paltz, and Concerts on the Slope, collaborating with artists including Nai-Yuan Hu, Hsin-Yun Huang, Nicholas Kitchen, Mo Mo, and Qianwen Shen. His students have earned awards at the Bay State, Gershwin, and Hartford Chopin competitions and gone on to Juilliard, NEC, MSM, and Mannes.

He serves on the piano faculty of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School and is Artistic Director of Tutti Music and Arts in New York and Lincoln Music School in Boston. He holds a bachelor's degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and master's and doctoral degrees from the Manhattan School of Music.

Violist Jiawei Yan maintains an active career as an orchestral, chamber, and freelance musician. She performs regularly as a guest violist with Pacific Symphony, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, has held a section position in the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and has served as principal violist of the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Lake George Music Festival Chamber Orchestra, and PRISMA Academy Orchestra, and guest principal of New Jersey Festival Orchestra. She has performed under conductors including Valery Gergiev, Gerard Schwarz, Fabio Luisi, Manfred Honeck, Osmo Vänskä, and Carl St. Clair, at venues from Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Carnegie Hall to the Mariinsky Theatre, Konzerthaus Berlin, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Jiawei gave a solo viola premiere at National Sawdust and has performed with the New Juilliard Ensemble, AXIOM, and Juilliard ChamberFest. She has held an adjunct faculty position at New York University, coached at the Mannes School of Music Prep Division, and was director of chamber music at the Thurnauer School of Music in New Jersey.

Jiawei is pursuing a Doctor of Music degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with Professor Li-Kuo Chang. She earned a master's degree from The Juilliard School as a student of Paul Neubauer, and bachelor's degrees in philosophy from Bard College and in viola performance from the Bard Conservatory of Music, studying with Ira Weller and Michael Tree. She also holds a Professional Studies Diploma from Mannes School of Music and an Artist Diploma from New York University. For three years she was a marketing consultant for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Chinese audience outreach program, which brought more than 2,000 new audience members from Chinese communities in the New York area.

Cellist Ole Akahoshi performs for audiences around the world in solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and as a soloist with orchestras, and his performances have been broadcast internationally on television and radio. He is the leader of the Sejong Soloists chamber orchestra, with violinist Xiao-Dong Wang, with whom he performs extensively in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

At the Yale School of Music, Akahoshi directs the Grammy-nominated Yale Cellos and teaches chamber music and undergraduate cello. He has been featured on the School of Music's Faculty Artist Series and at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, has served on festival faculties in Brazil, Canada, South Korea, and the United States, and gives master classes around the world.

Originally from Germany, at age eleven Akahoshi became the youngest cellist accepted as a student of Pierre Fournier. He later earned a bachelor of music degree from The Juilliard School, a master of music degree from the Yale School of Music with Aldo Parisot, and an artist diploma from Indiana University with Janos Starker, serving as teaching assistant to both. He performs on a Matteo Goffriller cello (Venice, c. 1707), on loan through the Stradivari Society of Chicago and Sejong Soloists.

American-Canadian violinist Benjamin Bowman—praised by The New York Times as a “scene-stealing violin[ist]” with “beautifully singing eloquence,” and hailed by The Toronto Star as “the man with the golden bow”—is Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (since 2017) and a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He previously held concertmaster positions with the American Ballet Theatre Orchestra, The National Ballet of Canada, and served for a decade as Associate Concertmaster of the Canadian Opera Company.

Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral leader, Bowman is admired for his expressive artistry and collaborative spirit. At the Met, he brings a special passion for the operatic repertoire, where the violin’s voice often shares the spotlight with the world’s leading singers.

He has appeared at major festivals and concert halls across Europe and North America. His recordings include a 2017 Grammy nomination with the ARC Ensemble (Chandos) and a 2013 Juno Award with the Amici Chamber Ensemble (ATMA). His discography—spanning Chandos, Sony Masterworks/RCA Red Seal, ATMA Classique, and Innova—reflects a wide versatility, from chamber music and contemporary works to improvisation and cross-genre collaborations with celebrated singer-songwriters.

A dedicated educator, Bowman gives masterclasses worldwide and teaches at the Manhattan School of Music. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, he performs on a 2025 violin by Cremona-based luthier Pierre Flavetta.

Praised for her “silken grace” and “brilliant command” (The Strad), American violinist Stella Chen first gained international recognition as the winner of the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition. In 2023, she was awarded the Gramophone Young Artist of the Year Award for her critically acclaimed debut album Stella x Schubert.

Chen begins her busy 2026–27 season with her return to the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with the Tchaikovsky Concerto conducted by Earl Lee. She then returns to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw with the Antwerp Symphony and Marc Albrecht before making her Taiwan concerto debut with the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and opening the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ London season with the Beethoven Concerto.

Further orchestral engagements this season include her returns to the Minnesota Orchestra and North Carolina Symphony as well as debuts with the Bournemouth, Detroit, Utah, Oregon, Fort Worth, and Kansas City Symphonies, the Danish Philharmonic, and the Sarasota Orchestra. Chamber music and recital highlights include appearances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Dresden Music Festival, Rockport Festival, Cliburn Concerts in Fort Worth, and two national tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Chen also continues her association with the NUME Festival in Italy, where she has been on the artist faculty since 2023.

Chen has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, New Japan Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Baltimore Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others. Recital appearances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Suntory Hall, La Jolla Music Society, and Chamber Music San Francisco. Chen appears frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as well as with her own trio with violist Matthew Lipman and cellist Brannon Cho.

Following her all-Schubert debut album, Chen’s most recent recording features the Beethoven and Barber violin concerti with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by Jean-Jacques Kantorow. Both recordings were produced by the late Adam Abeshouse, to whom the latter is dedicated. Chen records exclusively for Apple’s Platoon.

A dedicated and sought-after teacher, Chen is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and has appeared as a guest in masterclasses and residencies at conservatories around the world, including the San Francisco Conservatory, Perlman Music Program, Sarasota Music Festival, Shenandoah Conservatory, and Tianjin Juilliard.

Chen is the inaugural recipient of the Robert Levin Award from Harvard University, where she was mentored and inspired by Robert Levin. Other mentors include Itzhak Perlman, Li Lin, Donald Weilerstein, Mihaela Martin, Miriam Fried, and Catherine Cho. She received her doctorate from The Juilliard School and was awarded the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Chen performs on the “General Kyd” 1720 Stradivarius, generously on loan from Dr. Ryuji Ueno and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Leonard Fu has established a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, pedagogue, and composer, performing across Europe, North America, and Asia at venues including the Elbphilharmonie, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Het Concertgebouw, Alice Tully Hall, and Jordan Hall. He has appeared as soloist with the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, and Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and as guest concertmaster with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Fu recently joined the Juilliard String Quartet as second violinist and has collaborated with artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, Janine Jansen, and Jörg Widmann. An accomplished composer, he saw the Juilliard String Quartet premiere his Popular Dances at Alice Tully Hall in December 2025. He is a laureate of the Postacchini, Lipizer, Joseph Joachim, and TONALi competitions, among others.

He studied with Donald Weilerstein at New England Conservatory, completed an Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein, and pursued further studies with Antje Weithaas at the Kronberg Academy. He joined the Juilliard faculty in fall 2025, teaching violin and chamber music in the College and Pre-College Divisions, and performs on a 1781 Lorenzo Storioni violin loaned by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Praised by Cleveland Classical as “graceful and lyrical,” Chinese pianist Ying Li has emerged as a distinctive international artist, performing across major stages in the United States and Europe. In 2025, she won the New York Franz Liszt International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. Her other major distinctions include the Premio Internazionale Antonio Mormone in Italy and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, along with first prizes at the Sarasota Artist Series Piano Competition, the Brevard Music Festival solo and concerto competitions, and the International Liszt Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Moscow.

Ying has appeared at many of the world’s distinguished concert venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Konzerthaus Berlin, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, and the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

In the United States, Ying has appeared from coast to coast with orchestras including The Philadelphia Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra. In January 2026, she stepped in on short notice for a four-concert subscription weekend with the Oregon Symphony and music director David Danzmayr, performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto. The acclaimed opening-night performance led to an immediate return invitation from Portland Piano International, where she will appear in recital during the 2026–27 season.

Ying has also cultivated a distinctive and increasingly prominent European profile alongside her U.S. career. Since making her European orchestral debut on tour with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in 2021, she has appeared with leading ensembles across Germany and Italy, including the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Nürnberger Symphoniker, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI in Turin, and Orchestra da Camera di Mantova. These engagements have led to continuing relationships in Europe, including return appearances with the Nürnberger Symphoniker in 2026–27 and the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker in 2027–28.

Her debut album, featuring works by Mozart and Bartók, was released by Universal Music/Decca in the 2022–23 season.

Beyond her solo career, Ying is deeply committed to chamber music and education. She is a founding member of the AYA Piano Trio, formed at the Curtis Institute of Music, and has appeared at festivals including the Verbier Festival, Ravinia, La Jolla SummerFest, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. As a passionate educator, she has given masterclasses and coachings at the State College of Florida, the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of South Carolina, Hamilton College, and The Juilliard School’s Extension Division Summer Symposium. At the heart of this work is her belief in music as a universal language and a way of meeting people where they are—inviting curiosity in young listeners, creating connection across generations and backgrounds, and offering moments of recognition, peace, and joy through shared musical experience.

Ying began her piano studies at age five in China and attended the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before moving to Philadelphia at 14 to study at the Curtis Institute of Music with Seymour Lipkin and Jonathan Biss. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from Curtis and her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert McDonald. She later received Juilliard’s prestigious Artist Diploma as the only pianist in her graduating class and is currently a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York.

Pianist Victoria Mushkatkol has an international reputation as a recitalist, chamber musician, soloist, and pedagogue, appearing with orchestras in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Russia. Critics have called her performances "incendiary," "blazing," and "world-class," praising her "beautiful, deep sound." She has performed and taught at festivals in Spain, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Italy, the Czech Republic, China, and across the United States, and has collaborated with violinists Evgeny Bushkov and Charles Castleman, cellists Karen Buranskas and André Emelianoff, and the Leontovich, Veronika, and Amernet String Quartets.

Formerly on the faculties of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Oberlin Conservatory, she has given master classes throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and many of her students are international prizewinners. A protégé of Vladimir Nielsen at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, from which she graduated with highest honors, she made her debut with the Kiev Philharmonic at age ten. She is on the faculty of The Juilliard School Pre-College Division and has been Founder and Artistic Director of the Vladimir Nielsen Piano Festival in Sag Harbor, New York, since 2007.