2014 Sejong Music Competition Judges

Piano
Primary and Elementary divisions: Luke Norell | Nolan Pearson
Junior and Senior divisions: Amy Briggs | Haysun Kang | Sylvia Wang
Violin
Primary and Elementary divisions: Sang-Kyun Kim | Angelica Lundberg
Junior and Senior divisions: So Young Bae | Jun Kim | Joyce Noh

 

Luke Norell

piano primary and elementary

A native of Minnesota, Luke Norell has concertized internationally as soloist and chamber musician. He recently performed Mozart’s Concerto in C Major, K. 467 with the Maple City Chamber Orchestra, and presented recitals at Saint Paul College and Southwest Minnesota State University. Luke performs frequently with his wife Mary Rose as the Norell Piano Duo, has appeared in collaboration with the Artaria String Quartet, and has performed at the Universität für Musik in Vienna as part of the Chamber Music Vienna festival.

A few of Norell’s appearances as soloist with orchestra include performing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 on harpsichord with the Maple City Chamber Orchestra, and making his orchestral debut in 2001 with the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra. His prizes include first place awards in the Schubert Club Competition, the Minnesota MTNA Competition, and the Third Biennial Lee Piano Competition. He also performed as a semi-finalist in the 2012 Panama International Piano Competition.

Dr. Norell serves as the Piano Program Director for the Goshen College Community School of the Arts, and teaches at the Young Artist World Piano Festival and the University of Northwestern Piano Institute. Norell's students have received first prizes in the Muncie Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Indiana MTNA Competition, the IMTA Hoosier Auditions, and the Society of American Musicians Competition.

Luke studied with André Watts at Indiana University, completing his D.M. and M.M. degrees in Piano Performance, and received his B.M. degree from the University of Northwestern (St. Paul). Other principal teachers include André De Groote, Paul Wirth, Richard Lange, Daniel Rieppel, and Myrna Eppeland. Luke has also studied early keyboard instruments with Elisabeth Wright and Julieta Alvarado.

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Nolan Pearson

piano primary and elementary

Nolan Pearson has been noted by the New York Times as a “high-energy pianist” who “brought beauty and cohesiveness” to his interpretations of new music. He was winner of the 2012 Edes Prize for Emerging Artists and has performed in Asia, Europe and throughout North America.

Particularly active as a chamber musician, Mr. Pearson has recently performed on the CSO Chamber Music Series, the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center, City Hall Theater in Hong Kong, the Chamber Music Society of Louisville, the Dame Myra Hess Series, Friday Evenings at the Rolston in Banff, and with Cho-Liang Lin, Lucy Shelton, Jasmine Choi, the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Cremona Quartet. Under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, he opened the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra’s 2011 season with Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety. He was the original pianist of the New Fromm Players, a group of young contemporary music specialists called “fearlessly accomplished” by the Boston Globe. As soloist, Mr. Pearson has also appeared with conductors including Stefan Asbury, Robert Hasty, Alexander Prior, and Bridget Reischl.

A primary interest is working with young composers, and Mr. Pearson has commissioned many solo piano works. He is also the recipient of major grants and prizes including the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship, Henri Kohn Award, Lindsey Piano Competition, and the Billy Joel Keyboard Fellowship.

Mr. Pearson is a recurring Guest Artist at the Intimacy of Creativity at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a Guest Artist at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at New England Conservatory, and since 2009 has been an Instructor at the Bienen School of Music. He received a Master of Music as a student of Ursula Oppens and James Giles at Northwestern University and degrees in both Piano Performance and Biochemistry at Oberlin College.

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Amy Briggs

piano junior and senior

Amy Briggs has established herself as a leading interpreter of the music of living composers, while also bringing a fresh perspective to music of the past. Based in Chicago, she is a featured soloist and chamber musician on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW series (since 2000), and has played world, US and Chicago premieres of works by Pierre Boulez, Oliver Knussen, Augusta Read Thomas, David Lang, Simon Bainbridge, Tania Léon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, David Rakowski, and others. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Since 2000, Briggs has extensively with Boston-based composer David Rakowski. She has recorded four volumes of his Piano Etudes for Bridge Records to much critical acclaim. In January 2014, she premiered and recorded Rakowski’s 45-minute Piano Concerto No. 2 (written for her) with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project in Jordan Hall. The disc will soon be released on the BMOP Sound label. She also recorded a highly celebrated disc of contemporary solo piano tangos for piano for Ravello Records. The Chicago Tribune has called Briggs “extraordinary” in her “mastery of what lay on the dense, printed page and beyond,” and the Chicago Sun-Times called her a “ferociously talented pianist.” Of Volume One of the Rakowski Etudes, Classics Today says Briggs "does a splendid job projecting the music's wit, and her unflappable virtuosity makes even the densest writing sound effortless... a marvelous disc that piano fanciers should snap up without hesitation.” In addition, the New York Times praised her performance of the Berio Sequenza IV on the New York Philharmonic’s Day of Berio at Lincoln Center for its “live-wire intensity.”

Among numerous awards and honors are a coveted Artist Award from the 3Arts Foundation in Chicago (2008), a stipend prize at the Darmstadt Internationale Fereinkurse für Neue Musik (2000), and prizes in the Joanna Hodges and Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competitions. In 1993, she was selected by the United States Information Agency to tour Africa and South Asia as a United States Artistic Ambassador. Her solo recitals combined traditional repertoire with 20th century American music; today, her programs continue to connect composers from all eras and nationalities.

Amy Briggs has collaborated with many leading musicians and ensembles, including members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, eighth blackbird, pianists Daniel Schlosberg and Amy Williams, Third Coast Percussion Quartet, Callisto Ensemble, the Chicago Contemporary Players, Chicago Pro Musica, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the Empyrean Ensemble. She has also performed as extra keyboardist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Briggs’s live and recorded performances have been featured on radio stations around the United States and Europe. Recent performances include an all-John Cage program on the MITO Festival in Milan, Italy, New York Philharmonic’s Day of Berio in Lincoln Center, solo performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Hubbard Street Dance Company at Symphony Center in Chicago, and performances with Ursula Oppens and the Mark Morris Dance Company in Chicago, Toronto, Washington D.C. and Auckland, New Zealand. In addition to her solo recordings, Amy appears on a disc of multi-piano works of Edgar Varèse and Morton Feldman as well a disc of multi-piano studies of Conlon Nancarrow, for Wergo Records. Briggs earned her Doctor of Music degree at Northwestern University, where she studied with Ursula Oppens. She was appointed Director of Chamber Music and Artist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago in 2009. Ms. Briggs is a Steinway Artist.

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Haysun Kang

piano junior and senior

Internationally acclaimed pianist, Haysun Kang, is recognized for her performances of elegance with a wide palette of colors. The Polish music journal, Ruch Muzyczny, proclaimed her performance with the Philharmonia Sudecka as having “ immaculate technique and flawless dexterity.” The Texas Monitor said of her performance, “… her performance was magnificent and we really were mesmerized…”

Haysun Kang has appeared extensively in solo recitals, chamber music concerts and as the soloist with orchestras at major concert venues such as the Carnegie Hall, Kaufman Center, Donnell Library Center, Chicago Cultural Center, and Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Her performances were broadcasted live on WQXR-FM radio in New York and televised on cable TV. Her performances have taken her throughout America, Europe, and Asia. In the United States, she has been a featured soloist with orchestras such as South Texas Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Youth Symphony Orchestra, Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra, and American Legion Symphonic Band.

A native of Korea, Haysun Kang received her first piano lessons at the age of four and won the Asian Young Artist Piano Competition when she was twelve. She earned her bachelors degree in piano performance from Seoul National University, Korea. In the United States, she received her Master of Music degree from DePaul University where she studied with a Chopin International Competition laureate, Dmitry Paperno. and Doctor of Music degree from Northwestern University under the guidance of the renowned pianist and teacher Dr. David Kaiserman. She also received her musical training from Julian Martin at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and Alexis Golovin at the Academy of Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

Haysun Kang is a laureate of numerous competitions, including the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, the Young Keyboard Artist Association International Piano Competition, the Verna Ross Orndorff Austrian-American Music Award, the Society of American Musicians Competition, the Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation Award, and the Hoverson Piano Award. As an active adjudicator, she has been invited to judge many competitions including Steinway Young Artist Competition, Kankakee Valley Symphony concerto competition, Northwestern University Concerto Competition, and Sorantin International Young Artist Competition. She is currently a faculty member of Loyola University in Chicago, where she serves as the director of applied music. Haysun Kang is a Yamaha Artist.

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Sylvia Wang

piano junior and senior

Sylvia Wang has performed as soloist and collaborative pianist across the U.S., Europe, Asia, Central America, Australia and Argentina. She has also recorded for the Newport Classic, CRI, Boston Records and Northeastern labels and been a winner and finalist for numerous awards and competitions. These include the Royal Overseas Music Festival in London, the AVANTI award leading to a debut in London's Purcell Room, Chamber Music Yellow Springs in Ohio and the J.S. Bach International Piano Competition in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Wang is currently on the faculty at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and has served as adjudicator, guest teacher or clinician for such organizations as the Music Teachers National Association in the U.S., the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China, the Centre for Young Musicians in London, the Chautauqua Institution in New York and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in Australia. She has also taught at the Vianden International Festival in Luxembourg. Her students and former students have won prizes and awards at competitions such as the Tokyo International Piano Duo Competition (Grand Prize and bronze medal), the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Shostakovich Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Carnegie Millennium Book Project and the Concert Artists Guild. Her former students also occupy teaching and accompanying positions at many institutions across the United States.

Her educational background spans 3 continents, starting in Penang, Malaysia, where she was born. At the age of 17, she embarked on formal studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London as a recipient of the prestigious Associated Board scholarship. At the Academy, she earned the highest award in solo performance, the Recital Diploma. Thereafter, she attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she graduated with the M.M. and D.M.A. degrees with top honors.

She is also the recent author of Memorization and Music, published through iTunes, as well as its Kindle counterpart, Memorization and the Pianist.

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Sang-Kyun Kim

violin primary and elementary

Born in Seoul- South Korea.
Studied under the teaching of prof. HeaEun HYUN at Seoul National University.
Received full scholarship from The University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
Entered into the Prof. Rainer Kuechl of Vienna Philharmonic Concertmaster.
Graduated from the Bachelor, Master and Post graduate Course with the highest score.
As member of Anton Webern orchestra played with Pierre Boulez, Leopold Hager, Lajovic. Solo performance from Salzburg Music festival Academy.
Concertmaster performed University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna Orchestra.
Solo Concert at Winner hall, A. Vivaldi hall in Austria(Vienna) and Italia, Germany, Slovenia and Swiss.
Solo performed in Master class which world famous violinist and professor such as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Yair Kless, Vitor Trechyakov, A.Arenkov, Boris Kuschnir, Eugenia Chugaeva.
Solo performed at Presidential Residence of the Republic of South Korea where attended by world famous people such as Hujin Tao ,Condoleezza Rice, Helmut Kohl, Prime Minister of several countries and the King of Northern Europe.
2007~2009 seasons, Concertmaster of Korea National Police Orchestra .
Frequently playing Guest Concertmaster of several city and province orchestra in South-Korea.
2011year studied with Prof.William Preucil(Concertmaster Cleveland Orchestra) as a ArtistDiploma(AD) student at Cleveland institute of music(CIM) .
2012 graduated from (CIM) Artist Diploma with the Highest score. Concertmaster performance CIM orchestra at Severance Hall in Cleveland.
Ohio Philharmonic Guest A.Concertmaster.(Naxos recording) Concertmaster in Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra.(2012~2013) 2012~2013 season Guest Concertmaster in Memphis Symphony in Tennessee.
In 2012,Mr.Kim made his solo debut(Bach concerto) with Internationally renowned conductor Maestro Harry Bicket at Chicago Symphony Hall.
Currently Concertmaster of Esemble Con Cuore (sponsored by Thomastik Infeld string company)

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Angelica Lundberg

violin primary and elementary

Angelica Lundberg is currently an active member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as the Duluth-Superior, Green Bay, and Fox Valley Symphonies. In May of 2014, she was honored to perform with the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra. She has also appeared with such groups as Kansas, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, The Contours, and plays regularly with The Vic Ferrari Band.

Angelica began violin lessons at age 6, inspired by her grandfather, who played the violin among other instruments. She holds a Masters degree in Performance & Literature from the University of Illinois-Champaign/Urbana and a Bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. While at UWO, she won the music department's Concerto Competition in 2004 and 2006. Aside from performing, she also enjoys teaching violin and has coached numerous youth orchestras in Wisconsin and Illinois.

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So Young Bae

violin junior and senior

A native of Busan, South Korea, violinist So Young Bae is an active soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player both in the United States and South Korea. Bae has received numerous awards from competitions including first prize in the Busan Music Association Competition, second prize in the Korea-America National Competition, Gold medal in the Se-Jong University Competition, second prize in the Taegu Broadcasting Competition, and second prize in Nanpa Music Competition. She is also the recipient of various scholarships, including the Joseph Fuchs Scholarship, Knafel Askin Violin Scholarship and Samuel Gardner Grant. As an active soloist, Bae recently won the Stony Brook Concerto Competition, and will be performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in the 2012/13 season.

Bae is an active chamber music musician, and has collaborated with artists such as members of the Emerson Quartet, Colin Carr and Tina Dahl.As an orchestral player, Bae has recently joined Chicago Symphony Orchestra appointed by Music Director Riccardo Muti in July 2012. In the past, she has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra for its 2012 winter season and with New World Symphony Orchestra. She has also toured Europe with the Juilliard Orchestra under the baton of James DePriest in 2005 and China under Xian Zhang in 2008.

Bae has participated in many festivals over the years including the Aspen Music Festival (2008) and Music Academy of the West (2006), where she was a fellowship recipient. She has also attended Kneisal Hall (2007), Sarasota Music Festival (2006, 2007) and the 2007 Juilliard Chamber Fest. In the summers of 2009, 2010 and 2011, Bae was invited to participate in the orchestra of the Verbier Music Festival.

Bae began her studies of the violin at the age of 7. At age 18, she was honored with the rare distinction of early admission at the Seoul National University. She obtained both her Bachelor and Master’s degrees at the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Stephen Clapp and Sylvia Rosenberg. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree as a full-scholarship student and violin teaching assistant at Stony Brook University studying with Soovin Kim and Philip Setzer.

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Jun Kim

violin junior and senior

Dr. Jun Kim is the Director of Orchestral Activities at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and music director of UWM Symphony Orchestra in Milwaukee.

The recent prize winner of 2013 Orquesta de Cordoba Conducting Competition (2nd prize) in Spain and 2012 Black Sea Conducting Competition (3rd prize) in Romania, Jun Kim has conducted extensively in North America and Europe.

Jun Kim has appeared with the orchestras such as the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, the St. Petersburg State Symphony, Moscow Symphony in Russia, Constanta Symphony, Pitesti philharmonic and Bacau Philharmonic in Romania, Lithuanian State Symphony in Lithuania, Radom Chamber Orchestra in Poland, Symphony Orchestra of Elche in Spain, Berlin Sinfonietta in Germany, Winnipeg Symphony in Canada, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony in USA. He has been selected as a Discovery Series Conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival under Maestro Helmuth Rilling.

He has participated at the National Arts Center of Canada Conducting program and was personally selected by Maestro Kurt Masur for the Kurt Masur conducting seminar in New York. In addition, he has worked for the production of Verdi’s La Traviata at National University of Music in Bucharest, Romania and has returned to conduct the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra by musicians’ invitation for their subscription concert.

Most recently, Jun Kim has guest conducted the National Ballet and Opera Orchestra of Constanta in Romania, and has been selected to participate at St. Magnus Festival in U.K. to work with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was also chosen to work with Cincinnati Symphony and the May festival Chorus, and also with Baltimore Symphony with Marin Alsop. His guest conducting engagements in next season include Cordoba Symphony Orchestra in Spain.

Jun Kim has worked with Maestros such as Dumitru Goia, Jorma Panula, Martyn Brabbins, Kenneth Kiesler, Xian Zhang, Colin Metters, Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar.

Active as a violinist and an avid chamber musician, Jun Kim has played numerous recitals and concerts and he has been invited to give violin masterclasses and performances at universities in US and in his native Korea, and served on many competition juries. He has won prizes and awards including the Starling Competition, the CCM Concerto Competition, CIBC Canada National Music Competition and was a recipient of the Aspen Music Festival Fellowship, British Columbia Cultural Scholarship, Bowdoin Festival fellowship, and CCM Spoleto Fellowship, among others. Jun Kim studied violin with Miriam Fried, Victor Danchenko and Won-Bin Yim and played in masterclasses by Cho-liang Lin, Pamela Frank, and Federico Agostini. He has worked chamber music with the members of the Juilliard Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, La Salle Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, and the Peabody Trio.

Jun Kim has received the Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, the Master of Music degree from Indiana University, the Doctor of Musical Arts degree and the Artist Diploma from University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

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Joyce Noh

violin junior and senior

The renowned novelist Pearl S. Buck exhibited a sharp eye for talent and played a significant role in Joyce Noh's career when the popular writer invited the young violinist to come to the United States from her native Seoul, South Korea, to further her music studies under a full scholarship. Joyce started playing the violin at the age of 5, and she went on to win a host of competitions throughout Seoul. Her first teacher was her mother, a member of the Seoul Philharmonic. After arriving in the United States under the auspices of the humanitarian writer, Joyce began studies at the New School of Music in Philadelphia with Jascha Brodsky. She spent a year at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, and from there went to the Juilliard School in New York City, where she became a student of Ivan Galamian. In addition, she studied chamber music repertory with Felix Galimir and Robert Mann. Joyce was a member of the Baltimore Symphony for two years before she was appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Sir Georg Solti in 1979. She was the first Asian woman to be hired into the CSO. In addition to television and radio broadcasts, Joyce has appeared as a soloist with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra on many occasions. She has also performed in numerous recitals and chamber music concerts in the Chicago area, including WFMT live concerts and performances at Northwestern University. In recent years, she has been an active recitalist in addition to making regular appearances with various CSO chamber music groups around the Chicago area. She also devotes her time to teaching and mentoring promising young violinists.

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