ENSEMBLE 212 Yoon Jae LEE, Artistic Director Texu KIM, 2014-15 Composer in Residence
Kyunghun KIM, Principal Associate Conductor
Flute / Piccolo Lauren OSAKA Anna URREY
Harp Caroline BEMBIA+
Oboe / English Horn Ellen HINDSON Alexander VVEDENSKIY Clarinet Paul Won Jin CHO* AshleĂŠ MILLER Bassoon Colin MANNES Allison NICOTERA* Horn Steven BEHNKE+ Zach GLAVAN+ Jessica LOMBARDO+ Melissa STERBEN+ Trumpet Lyn SCHOCH Theo VAN DYCK Trombone Adarsh KUMAR+ Jeff SMITH+ Timpani / Percussion Chihiro SHIBAYAMA Sae HASHIMOTO + Mahler only
Violin I Miyun CHUNG*, concertmaster Ann SunHyung KIM* Audrey LO* Isabel ONG Alex SHIOZAKI Violin II Sunyoung LEE, principal David BOUSSO Minji KWON Fedor OUSPENSKY Hanna SHIN Viola Hsin-Yun YANG, principal Daniel LAMAS Adam MATTHES* Laura SACKS Violoncello Zexun Jason SHEN, principal Jung-Hsuan KO Ben LARSEN Jihwon NA Bass Nathaniel CHASE*, principal Chris JOHNSON * denotes core members for 2014-15 Season
School of Music, where he served as an Associate Instructor in music theory as well as the president of Student Composer Association. He holds a master’s and a bachelor’s degree in composition from Seoul National University, where he also earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. In 1998 he was a silver medal winner at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Melbourne, Australia. For more information on Texu Kim and his music, please visit www.texukim.com. Ensemble 212 (two-one-two) is making a tremendous impact in today’s cultural music scene. Led by Artistic Director Yoon Jae Lee & Principal Associate Conductor Kyunghun Kim, the New York based orchestra has been at the forefront of performing several premieres of major works by composers Mohammed Fairouz, Huang Ruo, Daniel Felsenfeld & Ke-Chia Chen. This season, Ensemble 212 will feature the music of composer Texu Kim as their new Composer in Residence. Through its annual Young Artist Competition Series, Ensemble 212 showcases outstanding instrumental and vocal soloists by providing them opportunities to perform as a soloist with a professional orchestra. Ensemble 212 is comprised of New York’s finest young professionals, emerging artists, and freelancers. Since its inception, they have performed nearly fifty concerts featuring an eclectic mix of repertoire from the Baroque era to the 21st century in chamber music, ensemble, and orchestra concerts. Highlights from previous seasons include performances at diverse venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Miller Theatre, New York City Center, John Zorn’s The Stone, collaborations with clarinetist David Krakauer, Nicholas Kitchen & Yeesun Kim of the Borromeo String Quartet on Fairouz’s Double Concerto commissioned by Ensemble 212, Daniel Phillips of the Orion String Quartet, a 10th anniversary memorial concert titled “Remembering 9/11: Memorial, Reflection, Assurance” and “Cultural Convergences”, an innovative presentation with the Michael Mao Dance company combining Huang Ruo’s music and Yoon Jae Lee’s chamber version of Der Abschied from Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with modern dance. Ensemble 212 has been featured on 105.9 FM WQXR’s Q2 Music program and on BBC News Magazine. In recognition for its contribution to excellence in New York's diverse cultural scene, the orchestra was acknowledged by 93.9 FM WNYC & WQXR’s Salute The Arts *STAR* Initiative in 2009 and 2013.
MEET THE ARTISTS Yoon Jae LEE enjoys a multifaceted career as conductor, arranger, pianist, and musical entrepreneur. As Founder & Artistic Director of Ensemble 212, Mo. Lee has built the New York based orchestra into one of today’s finest young ensembles. Together they have received critical acclaim for innovative programming featuring works by living composers, arrangements of Mo. Lee, and exciting interpretations of the standard repertoire. Mo. Lee is a dedicated champion of new music. He has conducted numerous New York and world premieres of works by award-winning composers including Mohammed Fairouz, Huang Ruo,Daniel Felsenfeld and KeChia Chen. This season, he is collaborating with composer Texu Kim as part of Ensemble 212’s Composer in Residence program. His list of appearances as guest conductor include the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Opera on Tap, New England Conservatory and has collaborated with distinguished artists including Nick Canellakis, D’Anna Fortunato, David Krakauer, members of the Attacca, Borromeo, Orion String Quartets, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mo. Lee’s arrangements have been praised by audiences and critics alike. His orchestral transcription of Mendelssohn’s Octet “Incorporated winds and brass.....intelligently”, claimed David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer when performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The New York Times described his chamber version of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony as “Illuminating..... with solos leaping out in unusually bold detail.” He is currently engaged in “The Mahler Chamber Project” to arrange all the symphonies and Das Lied von der Erde for chamber orchestra and is projected to be completed by 2020. A native of New York City, Mo. Lee began musical studies on the violin and piano. At age 17, he began his conducting career, receiving degrees in piano and conducting from the Mannes College of Music where he was awarded the N. T. Milani Memorial Conducting Fellowship and the Peter M. Gross Fund. Mo. Lee also studied at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria. During that time he served as Assistant Conductor to the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie. His conducting mentors include Dennis Russell Davies, David Zinman, Samuel Wong, David Hayes, Michael Charry, Murry Sidlin, and Arkady Leytush. Mo. Lee has participated in Kurt Masur’s conducting masterclass, the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute led by his keen interest in historical performance practice. He currently serves on the faculty at City College of New York (CUNY) where he is Music Director of the City College Symphony Orchestra and will serve as Visiting Instructor of Music at Haverford College in 2014.
Kyunghun KIM is the Music Director of The Doctors Orchestral Society of New York, the Principal Associate Conductor of Ensemble 212 (New York-based orchestra) and the Music Director of Ensemble Con Cuore, a chamber orchestra based in South Korea. He also holds a position as the Orchestra Director and string faculty at Lehman College in New York. Mr. Kim frequently appears as a guest conductor with major Korean orchestras such as the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, the SungNam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Korean Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Kim gave the World Premiere performance of a new chamber reduction of Gustav Mahler’s Second symphony by Yoon Jae Lee with Ensemble 212 and the Young New Yorkers' Chorus was hailed by SoundWordSight as “excellent performance”. Mr. Kim has held positions as Resident Conductor for The Chelsea Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor for both The Greenwich Village Orchestra and The New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. Additionally, he has conducted The Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Queens Symphony Orchestra. Before graduating from The Julliard School in 2011 with a Masters in Orchestral Conducting with James DePriest, Mr. Kim was an assistant conductor of AXIOM, a contemporary music ensemble at the Juilliard School and was a conductor of the same school’s Music Advancement Program (MAP) orchestra during 2009-2011. Prior to this, he earned an Artist Diploma in Conducting in 2007 from The Curtis Institute of Music, under the auspices of Otto-Werner Mueller where he was an assistant conductor for a variety of opera projects. Born in Seoul, Korea, Mr. Kim began studying piano, violin, and composition at the age of five with his mother and later attended and graduated from Sunhwa Arts High School in 1995. While continuing his study in the U.S., his diverse musical interests and skills led him to different positions: pianist for the musical theater at The Boston Conservatory, where he holds a B.M. in viola performance; principal violist of The Boston Conservatory's Orchestra. He has attended numerous festivals, including the Wiener Meisterkurse (with Salvador mas Conde), The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music (with Marin Alsop), and The Pierre Monteux School (with Michael Jinbo). In February of 2012, Mr. Kim was chosen as a participant in a Beethoven masterclass with Kurt Masur at the Manhattan School of Music. In addition to this, Mr. Kim has participated in master classes with Michael Tilson Thomas, Alan Gilbert, John Keenan, and Harold Farberman and he also was chosen as a semi-finalist and participated in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s the Sir. George Solti International Conducting Competition & Apprenticeship in June 2013. Mr. Kim currently lives and works in New York City.
Texu KIM’s works have been performed by Ensemble Modern (Commission, Germany 2012), Ensemble Intercontemporain (France 2012), Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (Colorado, USA 2012), Ensemble Reconsil Vienna (Austria 2013), Alarm Will Sound (Missouri, USA 2014), NOTUS: Contemporary Vocal Ensemble at Indiana University (Ohio and Indiana, USA 2014), Contemporary Directions Ensemble (Michigan, USA 2013), Indiana University Symphonic Choir (Indiana, USA 2013), Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra (Commission, South Korea 2011), Ensemble TIMF (Commission, Korea 2007/13), etc. His music has earned awards and honors from SCI/ASCAP Commission Competition (Winner, New York, New York, USA 2014), Mizzou International Composers Festival (Selected Composer, Missouri, USA 2014), The American Prize (Winner, Danbury, Connecticut, USA 2014), OSSIA NEW MUSIC Composition Competition (First Prize, New York, USA 2014), C4 Commissioning Competition (Finalist, New York, USA 2014), Gamma-UT Conference and Concert (Selected Composer, Texas, USA 2014) Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute (Selected Composer, Minnesota, USA 2012), the Aspen Music Festival and School (Fellowship Recipient, Colorado, USA 2012), Isang Yun International Composition Prize (Special Prize, South Korea 2009), Joong-Ang Music Concours (First prize, Korea 2006), Tongyeong International Music Festival Asian Composers Showcase (Selected Composer, Korea 2013). His upcoming performances include those by Minnesota Orchestra (Minnesota, USA 2015), C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective (New York, USA 2015), Butler University Chorale (Indiana, USA), in Ensemble Reconsil Exploring The World Festival (Austria 2015). Recently, he was appointed Composer in Residence of Ensemble 212 in New York as well as the Korean Symphony Orchestra, which will premiere two of his orchestral pieces in 2015. Along with his contemporary music, Mr. Kim’s arrangement/orchestration works have been commissioned and performed widely, as in the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games (Russia 2014), Insbrook Music Festival (Missouri, USA 2013), in Piece & Piano Festival (Korea 2012), by New York Classical Players (New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, USA 2014) and Ensemble Mode (Illinois, USA 2012), to name some recent examples. His arrangements are featured on three albums of soprano Sumi Jo – “Libera (Deutsche Grammophon-labelled, 2011)”, “Ich Liebe Dich (Decca-labelled, 2010)”, and “Missing You (DG-labelled, 2009)”. He has also participated as an arranger in albums of Harpist Jung Kwak (2011), Daegum (Korean traditional wind instrument) player Jeong-Seung Kim (2011), violinists Suyoen Kim (DG, 2010), Chee-Yun (Decca, 2008), pianist Yeol-Eum Son (2008), to name a few. Additionally, he wrote more than 50 songs for toddlers, which were published by Bicycle Korea (2008). Texu’s principal teachers are Claude Baker, Sven-David Sandström, David Dzubay, Unsuk Chin, and Sangjick Jun. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in composition with minor in electronic music and music theory at the Indiana University Jacobs