Clara Abel

Cello

Born into a family of musicians, cellist Clara Abel found a delight for music at a young age. Her particular love of chamber music led her to study at Juilliard with the legendary cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet, Joel Krosnick. She has performed at chamber music festivals such as Kneisel Hall, Norfolk, Clasclás International Music Festival in Spain, and Thy Chamber Music Festival in Denmark.  

She was recently praised in Danish newspaper Nordjyske for chamber music performances in Thy: “cellisten Clara Abel markerede sig med sin smukke tone og fine solospil” (“cellist Clara Abel distinguished herself with her gorgeous tone and fine solo playing”). String quartets hold a special place in her heart, and as a quartet cellist she has participated in Juilliard's Honors Chamber Music Program and held quartet residencies at Kneisel Hall, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and twice at the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar.

She is profoundly grateful to have been mentored by three generations of Juilliard String Quartet members during her studies. Additionally, she has been fortunate to study under members of the Brentano, Tokyo, Emerson, American and Orion String Quartets, as well as artists such as Natasha Brofsky, Joseph Kalichstein, Paul Neubauer, Itzhak Perlman and Laurie Smukler. She has collaborated in chamber music performances with musicians such as Benjamin Beilman, Guy Braunstein, Catherine Cho, Joseph Lin, Steven Tenenbaum, Alex Gebert, Melvin Chen, and Vadym Kholodenko. 

Clara was one of three finalists in Juilliard's 2019-2020 Concerto Competition, playing Shostakovich's scarcely-performed Cello Concerto No. 2. This fall she appeared as a soloist in Alice Tully Hall, performing Telemann's concerto for Flute, Violin and Cello with Juilliard's period instrument ensemble, J415, under the direction of Masaaki Suzuki. This spring she will be performing Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Centre Symphony Orchestra.

Clara made her New York concerto debut in 2015 playing Dvořák's Cello Concerto, and recently performed both Haydn Cello Concertos with the Arts at All Saints Orchestra. As a young artist competition winner she has performed concertos of Elgar, Lalo, Tchaikovsky, Goltermann and Vivaldi with orchestras throughout the midwest. 

She is a substitute cellist with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and New York Classical Players, and is a member of New York-based chamber music collectives Vista Lirica and Cosmopolitan Chamber Players. The latter ensemble is comprised largely of musicians from her immediate and extended family. As an orchestra player she as toured nationally and internationally as principal cellist of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, and has worked under esteemed conductors such as Valery Gergiev, David Robertson, Pablo Heras-Casado, Itzhak Perlman, Nicholas McGegan, Alan Gilbert, and Masaaki Suzuki. She has performed in solo masterclasses for Tamás Varga and Jonathan Sharp, and her performances as a solo, chamber and orchestral musician have been heard on medici.tv, BBC, CBS, and NPR.

Clara enjoys performing for all types of audiences, and in a variety of settings, ranging from venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and the Kennedy Center to living rooms, museums, schools, and soup kitchens, in an effort to share her belief that music is for everyone. In response to her growing artistic curiosity, Clara plays in a variety of musical languages, including improvisation, crossover and historical performance. She is currently pursuing a second Master's Degree in Baroque Cello as part of Juilliard's Historical Performance program.

Christine Kwak

Violin

Violinist Christine Kwak has been described as “an extraordinary talent who will become one of the best of her generation,” by the late Dorothy DeLay, renowned for producing many of the world’s finest soloists. By the time Christine was 11 years old, she had already made her debut at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall, where her debut with the American Symphony was received with much critical acclaim; “at the tender age of nine, Christine is a complete violinist who would make any violinist envious...” She recorded the complete 24 Caprices by Paganini on a half-size violin at the age of 10, about which Dorothy DeLay has commented, “...one of the most astonishing accomplishments and truly remarkable; one of the best caprices I’ve ever heard.”

Christine has been on the front pages of the New York Times, Daily News, Newsday, and Village Voice, among many others. She has appeared on The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, as well as NBC News and Fox. She also performed for First Lady Hillary Clinton, which was aired on ABC. Over the years, she has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras and in solo recitals in the Metropolitan area and across the country, and continues to do so today.

Christine graduated from Columbia University in May 2007 with an undergraduate diploma in philosophy. She went on to complete her graduate studies at the Juilliard School, where she studied with the late Stephen Clapp and graduated with a Master of Music degree in May 2009. She has also been a pupil of the late Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. Christine taught at Cornell University as a Visiting Lecturer in the music department from 2011 to 2014.

Byung-Kook Kwak

Violin

Described by Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times, “… a distinguished artist, the violinist Byung Kook Kwak brought warm, penetrating sound and tasteful expressivity…”.

Acclaimed as one of the finest violinists of his generation, Byung-Kook Kwak enjoys a multi-faceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and educator. From coast to coast, critics have hailed him as a premier violinist whose musical gifts and technical wizardry are powerful and sensitive. Mr. Kwak has performed with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, Asia, and Scandinavia. Finalist and prize winner of many international competitions, he was featured on PBS Live from Lincoln Center as a member of the renowned Sea Cliff Chamber Players. He has taught at Mannes College for 10 years as an assistant to Aaron Rosand and is currently a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music, Pre-College, Queens College, and Nyack College. In addition, he also performs and gives master classes regularly in Seoul, Korea.

As a founder and artistic director of Solisti Ensemble, he has performed with the Ensemble in Stern Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, among many other performing arts center in east coast.

He has also been active as a choral conductor for over thirty years, and has lead countless performances of Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven 9th Symphony, as well as many of the major choral works with Central Presbyterian Church Choir where he is serving as a music director.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Mr. Kwak was hailed as a child prodigy. He made his orchestral debut at the age of 7 with the Seoul Philharmonic. After earning much accolade and winning prestigious competitions in his native country, Mr. Kwak came to the U.S. and, at age 12, became one of Jascha Heifetz’s youngest students. He earned both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Ivan Galamian and Dorothy DeLay.

Ming-Feng Hsin

Violin

Hailed by the Scotsman as “destined to be one of the giants of the next generation” after winning the first prize at the Glasgow International Violin Competition at age 15, Ming-Feng Hsin has enjoyed a unique and rich journey as a multifaceted musician. He has lived through roles as a child prodigy, soloist, chamber musician, orchestra musician, and conductor. Having experienced a major setback from a career-ending accident at the cusp of a very promising solo career, he later triumphed over such upheaval which brought him the grounding to become a revered artist and an insightful mentor for the next generation.

Ming-Feng Hsin began his musical journey as a child-prodigy national hero in Taiwan. At age 13, he was discovered by his mentor Lord Menuhin with whom he has performed throughout Great Britain, and in Washington D.C. where Ming also starred as soloist playing for President Ford and Queen Elizabeth during America's bicentennial celebrations. Later he soloed with orchestras such as the Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra to rave reviews. After coming to the U.S. to study with Ivan Galamian, Jascha Brodsky at the Curtis Institute of Music, he won top prizes in several competitions including the Montreal International Violin Competition, but was soon sidelined by an injury that took years to heal. After realizing he could not live a life without music and being on stage, he decided to pursue conducting and graduated from the conducting class of Otto Werner Mueller at The Juilliard School. In the 1990’s Ming was the Music Director of the South Shore Symphony of Long Island, while also conducting orchestras throughout the US and Taiwan. As his finger healed gradually, he often led these orchestras as soloist/conductor.

In 1994, despite not being a violinist for 10 years, Ming won a first violin position at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and began his 24-year tenure there. Even with the rigorous schedule at the Met, Ming started to play more and more solo and chamber concerts, as well as still keeping up with conducting, such as full opera productions of Aida, The Flying Dutchman with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, concerts with the Prometheus Chamber Orchestra and Curtis Orchestra at Rockefeller Center. He also guest conducted frequently the top orchestras in Taiwan and worked with many youth and college orchestras in the New York area as well as in Taiwan. In 2018 Ming retired from the Met to spend more time with his children, and to devote his energies to more playing, conducting and teaching. He has recently been appointed a violin faculty member at the Mannes School of Music.

During the 2020-2021 season Ming gave a trio debut in the National Concert Hall in Taipei with his pianist sister Hsing-Chwen Hsin and Swiss based cellist Pi-Chin Chien prior to their trio tour in Germany. While in Taiwan where the pandemic could not penetrate, he was invited to conduct and solo in a series of concerts with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, as well as giving more than 40 masterclasses and workshops at top colleges and music schools. Mr. Hsin is also a founding member of the jury for the biannual Sylvia Lee Violin Competition since its inauguration six years ago.