ARTISTS & ENSEMBLES © KEVIN CONDON
The Balourdet Quartet (string quartet) (Angela Bae and Justin DeFilippis, violins; Benjamin
Zannoni, viola; Russell Houston, cello) was formed in 2018 and is currently in residence at New England Conservatory. The group received the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the top prize awarded in the 2021 Premio Paolo Borciani, the Gold Medal in the 2020 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Gold Medal and Audience Award at the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and Chamber Music America’s 2021 Classical Commissioning Grant. The quartet gets its name from Antoine Balourdet, chef extraordinaire at the Hotel St. Bernard.
Richard Belcher (cello) joined the SPCO in 2019 after a 20-year career as founding cellist of the Grammy-nominated Enso String Quartet. Born in New Zealand, Richard is the Artistic Director of Music on the Hill in Mankato, Minnesota, and since 2008 has been Principal Cellist of River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas. He has taught and performed at many festivals including St. Bart’s, Festival d’Aix en Provence, Prussia Cove, Madeline Island, Campos do Jordao International Winter Festival, SummerFest La Jolla, and the San Miguel de Allende International Chamber Music Festival.
Nick Cassarino (guitar/vocals) has shared the stage, studio, or playbill with such renowned musicians as Allison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Joe Lovano, John Faddis, Michael Ray, Bob Gullotti, Trey Anastasio, Page McConnell, and Mike Gordon, among many others. As bandleader or sideman, he has worked at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Le Passion Rouge, Jacob Javitz Center, and Sullivan Hall in New York City, and also The Venetian Hotel in Macau, China. A Vermont native, Mr. Cassarino twice headlined the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.
© CHRISTOPH KÖSTLIN
© JESSICA GRIFFIN
Choong-Jin (C.J.) Chang (viola) became principal viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2006
after having joined the Orchestra in 1994. He made his performance debut as a 12-year-old violinist with the Seoul Philharmonic as winner of the grand prize in Korea’s Yook Young National Competition. Mr. Chang made his solo debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 2007 and since then has appeared in numerous recitals in the United States and South Korea. As a chamber musician, he performs with the world’s great musicians at festivals throughout the United States and Asia. He is a founding member of the Johannes Quartet.
Seong-Jin Cho (piano) was the youngest-ever winner of Japan’s Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and took Third Prize at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition in 2011. He won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw in 2015 and signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon the following year. An active recitalist, he has also collaborated with conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yuri Temirkanov, and Leonard Slatkin, among others. His 2017 Carnegie Hall main stage concert sold out. Deutsche Grammophon recently released his recording of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Learn more at BravoVail.org or in the Bravo! Vail Music Festival app
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