YOUNG ARTIST INSTITUTE

Chamber Music Northwest’s Young Artist Institute

Last year, CMNW launched the Young Artist Institute (YAI), a new intensive education program for 16 talented string players from around the world, ages 14-18. This year, the Portland community will once again get to enjoy the amazing virtuosity and precociousness of these musicians around the city.

Held on the University of Portland campus, these young musicians work with YAI faculty for three weeks, and have the unique opportunity to perform in dozens of free performances—on stages, lobbies, and at pop-up engagements—as soloists and in quartets throughout the community. The students will experience tremendous growth performing both solo works and string quartets for audiences large and small.

Institute Young Artists

Julianna Bramble (18) • Viola • Wellington, Florida

Rebecca Beato (16) • Violin • New York City, New York

Fiona Huang (15) • Cello • Saratoga, California*

Serge Kalinovsky (17) • Cello • Bloomington, Indiana

Fiona Khuong-Huu (16) • Violin • New York City, New York

Christy Kim (17) • Violin • Louisville, Kentucky

Joshua Kovác (16) • Cello • Johnson City, Tennessee*

Eleanor Markey (18) • Violin • Wayland, Massachusetts*

George Ng (18) • Viola • Hong Kong, China

Jiyu Oh (17) • Violin • Seoul, South Korea*

Songyeon Oh (17) • Viola • Daejeon, South Korea

Jonathan Okseniuk (17) • Violin • Mesa, Arizona

Kaia Selden (17) • Violin • Portland, Oregon

Minje Seo (17) • Violin • Sunchang-gun, Jeollabuk-do, South Korea

Caleb Sharp (15) • Cello • Wilton, Connecticut

Elijah Zacharia (17) • Viola • Portland, Oregon

*returning YAI student

Institute Faculty

Soovin Kim • Violin, Instructor

Jessica Lee • Violin, Instructor

Hanna Lee • Viola, Instructor

Edward Arron • Cello, Instructor

Alyssa Tong • Institute Manager

Katie Danforth • Resident & Production Assistant

Paul Kim • Resident & Production Assistant

Haig Hovsepian • Production Assistant

The violinists, violists, and cellists selected for the YAI program are among the top high school string players from North America and Asia. Students in the 2023 young artist cohort have been finalists in the most distinguished competitions in the world such as the Menuhin and Sphinx Competitions, and they hail from prestigious preparatory programs at the New England Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Colburn Academy, Juilliard School, Korea National University of the Arts, and Portland’s own Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Hand-in-hand with the YAI program is the CMNW Collaborative Piano Fellowship featuring the talents of two exceptional graduate-level pianists. Selected from major conservatories, Yu-Ting Peng and Kyunga Lee will rehearse, perform, and learn alongside our Young Artist to refine their skills in the challenging art of collaborative performance with a soloist.

“Supporting and educating Young Artist has been at the core of our work at Music@Menlo (where Gloria was institute director), and at the New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music (where Soovin teaches),” said Gloria Chien and Soovin Kim, CMNW Artistic Directors. “This Young Artist Institute is a dream come true, and we know it is going to affect the lives of the extraordinary students and the CMNW audiences. Our hope is to inspire and invigorate the love of chamber music through these bright, shining musical talents!”

Collaborative Piano Fellowship

A critical person in a young string player’s development is the pianist they collaborate with for concertos, sonatas, and other pieces that include piano. The pianist provides the string player with a sense of rhythm, harmony, and texture. We are excited to create the CMNW Collaborative Piano Fellowship that brings two of the finest graduate student pianists to rehearse and perform with the Institute string players.

Sponsored by Yoko Greeney

Collaborative Piano Fellows

Yu-Ting Peng

Piano fellow

Taoyuan, Taiwan

Kyunga Lee

Piano fellow

Suwon, South Korea

CATCH THEIR FREE PERFORMANCES!

Young Artist Institute Performances

• SOLO SHOWCASE: June 23 @ Noon | Community Music Center

• PRE-CONCERT: June 24 @ 6:30pm | Kaul Auditorium, Reed College

• POP-UP DAY: June 27 from 11am-2pm | All over Portland!

• POP-UP: June 29 @ 6pm | BG Food Cartel, Beaverton, near The Reser

• PRE-CONCERT: June 29 @ 6:30pm | Patricia Reser Center for the Arts

• SOLO SHOWCASE: June 30 @ Noon | The Old Church Concert Hall

• PRE-CONCERT: July 1 @ 6:30pm | Kaul Auditorium, Reed College

• POP-UP DAY: July 4* @ 11am-2pm | All over Portland!

• PRE-CONCERT: July 6 @ 6:30pm | Kaul Auditorium, Reed College

• FINALE SHOWCASE: July 7 @ 7pm | Pilot House, University of Portland

• PRE-CONCERT: July 8 @ 6:30pm | Kaul Auditorium, Reed College

*Multiple pop-up performances by YAI students, citywide, at public sites all around Portland and beyond such as: Oregon Zoo, Oaks Park, Powell’s City of Books, OHSU Farmers Market, and so many more. Exact times TBA, visit cmnw.org and our social media channels for details.

Young Artist Institute Circle

We’ve created the Young Artist Institute Circle as an opportunity for people who are passionate about music education to become closely involved in providing a unique training environment that helps prepare exceptionally talented young instrumentalists for a career in music. $10,000 per year is the cost for one student’s lessons, coaching, room and board, and transportation around Portland during the three-week Institute. Together, this group can fully fund student participation in this life-changing experience—everyone is invited to this effort!

Ronni Lacroute

Greg & Betsy Hatton

Carole Alexander

Daniel H. Boyce & Lilla Cabot

Brookby Foundation

Kennett F. Burnes

David Greger

Howard Greisler & Elizabeth Hudson

James Jones & Naomi Cytron

Anne & Ernest Munch

George Rowbottom

Peter & Ann van Bever

Ravi Vedanayagam & Ursula Luckert

Slate & Davida Wilson

Anonymous Friend of CMNW