Javier Morales-Martinez, from Los Angeles, CA, is currently pursuing a Masters degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music studying under Yehuda Gilad. Javier has appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and NPR’s nationally broadcast program, From the Top, where he was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.
Javier has also won prizes at the National YoungArts Foundation, Backun International Clarinet Competition, Mondavi Center Young Artists National Competition, Silverstein Global Clarinet Contest, and the International Clarinet Association Solo Competition.
As an orchestral musician, Javier has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Music, Orchestra of the Americas, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, among others.
Duncan McDougall is a 20-year-old violinist from Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada. Duncan is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in violin performance with Martin Beaver at the Colburn Conservatory in Los Angeles, California. Previously, he attended The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists, where he studied with Kelly Parkins-Lindstrom and Jonathan Crow.
As a soloist, Duncan has performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. He has held leadership roles in the Aspen Festival Orchestra, The Colburn Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Morningside Music Bridge String Orchestra, and the Taylor Academy’s conductorless ensemble, the Academy Chamber Orchestra.
A frequent award winner, Duncan was chosen by CBC Music as one of Canada’s top 30 classical musicians under the age of 30. Duncan has completed his ARCT in violin performance and violin pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory of Music, for which he was awarded the National Gold Medal. Duncan was a Grand Prize winner and the recipient of the Canimex Group Scholarship at the 2019 Canadian Music Competition.
A passionate chamber musician, Duncan is a founding member of Trio Azura. He has collaborated with acclaimed artists Tessa Lark, Demarre McGill, Andrew Bain, Clive Greensmith, Tatjana Masurenko, Teng Li, Jonathan Crow, and Yehonatan Berrick, among others. In July, he will be attending the Chigiana Festival in Sienna, Italy, with his piano trio.
Duncan has attended the Aspen Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Saline Royale Academy, Morningside Music Bridge, the Orford Music Academy, and the Domaine Forget International Music Academy. He has performed in master classes for Miriam Fried, Andres Cardenes, Ilya Kaler, Almita Vamos, and James Ehnes, among others. He plays on a 1900 Scarampella violin on generous loan from the Colburn Collection.
Korean-American violinist So Jin Kim has been praised by critics and audiences alike for her “powerful interpretation…[and] flawless sound” (Cuxhavener Nachrichten) and “creating tones of poetry” (The Strad). Following her successful solo debut with the Juilliard Orchestra in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 2006, she has appeared as a soloist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia with ensembles such as the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, I Musici de Montreal, Seoul Chamber Ensemble, and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
Her debut CD recorded in Leipzig Gewandhaus was released worldwide in 2018 under Genuin Classics with raving reviews from publications including Klassik Radio Austria, Klassik Heute, and Das Orchester. Her second album of Mozart Violin Concertos with Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim under Ars Produktion was nominated for the 2020 OPUS KLASSIK award.
An experienced orchestral musician, she was appointed as a concertmaster of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland at the age of 24, a post she held until 2013, and currently serves as the associate concertmaster of Munich Radio Orchestra. From 2014–2020 she served on the faculty of Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover in Germany. Since 2016, she has served as the artistic director of Yeosu International Music Festival & Ensemble in South Korea, of which she is the founder. She currently resides in Southern California and holds the Temianka Endowed Professor of Violin Studies at Chapman University and serves on the faculty at the Colburn School.
She received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, and her Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Rice University. She studied with Cho-Liang Lin, Naoko Tanaka, Hyo Kang, and Donald Weilerstein. She also studied with Krzysztof Wegrzyn at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover as part of the prestigious Solo Klasse program.
Gallia Kastner is a violinist who recently graduated from the Colburn School of Music under Robert Lipsett in Los Angeles, California. She commenced her private violin study at five and a half with Betty Haag-Kuhnke and at age 9, she studied with Almita and Roland Vamos at the Music Institute of Chicago. She currently teaches violin at the Colburn Community School.
Gallia has been the concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony since 2016 and has won numerous local, national, and international competitions, both as a soloist and chamber musician. She is the winner of the Aspen Conducting Academy’s Violin Competition, performing Sibelius Violin Concerto in 2019, the winner of the Dorothy Delay Fellowship for the 2021 Aspen Music Festival, the Cooper International Violin Competition, the Blount Slawson National Concerto Competition in Montgomery, Alabama, the Triennial Johansen International Competition in Washington DC, and the American Youth Symphony Concerto Competition, which included a solo performance with the orchestra in the Fall of 2019. In addition, Gallia was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Scholarship and the Jerome and Elaine Nerenberg Foundation Scholarship from The Musicians Club of Women in Chicago.
An avid chamber musician, Gallia is a current member of the Zelter String Quartet. The Zelter String Quartet was recently awarded Gold Prize in the 2021 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition and was invited to the 2021 Aspen Music Festival String Quartet Intensive Seminar, working with the Pacifica, Escher, and American String Quartets. She was a part of the Alameda String Quartet, who was featured in the Reno Chamber Music Festival performing works by Dvorak, Ravel, and Schulhoff, as well as performing in Siena, Italy for the Chigiana Chamber Music Festival with Clive Greensmith. Kastner was a member of the Lumiére String Quartet that won first place at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and she was also the violinist of Trio Solaris, which collaborated with the Trey McIntyre Project at Jacob’s Pillow. Gallia’s broadcast performances include appearances on WFMT 98.7/Introductions, WTTW Channel 11, WGN Channel 9, and a Today Show appearance with Rachel Barton Pine.
Some of Gallia’s performances with orchestras include The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, The Colburn Orchestra, The American Youth Symphony, The Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, The Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra in Pennsylvania, The Montgomery Symphony, and many others. Other stage appearances include concerts in Chicago’s Millenium Park, Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall and outdoor Pavilion, Lincoln Center, Kloster Schontal and Schwabish Hall Kultursiftung in Germany. She has participated in master classes with Augustin Hadelich, Rachel Barton Pine, Vadim Gluzman, James Ehnes, Joseph Silverstein, Ida Kavafian, Ani Kavafian, Ben Beilman, Ilya Kaler, Milan Vitek, Ivry Gitlis, the Cavani Quartet, the Pacifica Quartet, the Calder Quartet, the Calidore Quartet, the Dover Quartet, and the Ying Quartet. She has shared the stage with artists such as Lynn Harrell, Gil Shaham, Jean-Yves Thibauldet, Eric Whitacre, Robert Chen, Clive Greensmith, Martin Beaver, Scott St. John, and many others.
With his orchestral playing praised as “a rock-solid foundation” and his solo playing described as being “remarkable for both its solid power and its delicacy,” Aaron Tindall is the principal tubist of the Naples Philharmonic and the Sarasota Orchestra. Many of his students have obtained prestigious playing positions with top professional orchestras and premier military bands.
With his orchestral playing praised as “a rock-solid foundation” and his solo playing described as being “remarkable for both its solid power and its delicacy,” Aaron Tindall is the principal tubist of the Naples Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra, and the associate professor of tuba and euphonium at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. In the summers he teaches and performs at the Festival Napa Valley in Napa, CA and at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, NC, where he also serves as Principal Tuba with the EMF Festival Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz.
Mr. Tindall has previously served as the acting principal tubist of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, held the principal tuba position with the Aspen Festival Orchestra where he was an orchestral fellow, and has collaborated as guest tubist with orchestras such as the Teatro alla Scala Opera and Ballet Orchestra (Milan, Italy), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra (Kennedy Center), New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony.
He is a frequent soloist, guest artist/clinician, and orchestral tubist throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has been featured at all of the International Tuba and Euphonium Conferences since 2006, performed in England with the National Champion Grimethorpe Colliery Brass Band, and his solo playing has been heard on NPR’s Performance Today. Mr. Tindall has been a prizewinner of many solo and chamber competitions across the world. He has also been a two-time finalist in the prestigious Concert Artist Guild Competition and released four highly acclaimed solo recordings; Yellowbird (solo tuba and jazz piano trio), Transformations (winner of the International Tuba Euphonium Association’s Roger Bobo Excellence in Recording Award, and winner of two 2017 Global Music Awards), This is My House… (awarded two 2015 Global Music Awards), and Songs of Ascent. His fifth album, At the Ballet, featuring the music of Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky will be recorded and released on the Bridge Record Label in 2023.
Many of Mr. Tindall’s students have obtained prestigious playing positions with the top professional orchestras in the USA and Canada and also in the premier military bands in Washington D.C. His students have won positions with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Florida Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, United States Navy Band, United States Air Force Band and Ceremonial Band, and the West Point Band. They are also frequent prizewinners at various national and international solo and chamber music competitions. His students have won Yamaha Young Performing Artists Awards, the Annual Leonard Falcone Artist Tuba and Euphonium Solo Competition, and the ITEA solo, mock orchestral, and military band competitions.
Mr. Tindall is an International Yamaha Performing Artist and a Denis Wick (London) artist and design specialist, having recently designed their complete Ultra Range AT signature series tuba mouthpieces.
Chinese violinist Yue Qian enjoys music-making, strives to express herself through the violin, and believes that music truly brings people together. As a member of the Beijing Contemporary Soloists, a recent CD “Jade” was released under NAXOS China featuring music by prominent contemporary Chinese composers. Qian has performed worldwide with festival appearances at Verbier Festival in Switzerland, Taos School of Music, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Heifetz International Music Institute, and Beijing Modern Festival. She is a silver medalist of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and a candidate in the Sendai, Tibor Varga, and Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competitions.
Qian is also keen on teaching and community engagements. Together with Midori Goto, she has interacted with local communities in Los Angeles, Mexico, and Sri Lanka. A former chamber music faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School Pre-College division, she is currently an instructor of the music minor/non-major program at USC Thornton of School of Music.
Qian began to play the violin at the age of five, and her early music education includes Shanghai Conservatory Middle School with Binyou Zhou and Interlochen Arts Academy with Yuri Namkung. Under the tutelage of Midori Goto, Qian finished her undergraduate study at USC Thornton School of Music as a Starling Fellow, and she received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School with Ronald Copes and Sylvia Rosenberg. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at USC with Bing Wang.
California native Samuel Grodin is enjoying an increasingly busy career as a solo and collaborative pianist. A prizewinner in the Seattle International Piano Competition and the Ibiza International Piano Competition, he has performed throughout the United States and Europe. As a pianist who prioritizes creative fearlessness and emotional honesty, he captivates and connects with his audiences. Grodin is known for offering programs of diverse repertoire, ranging from Bach to living composers, that weave together a narrative or theme.
Grodin has performed at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, the San Diego Central Library, San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, and Seattle’s Benaroya Hall. He has appeared as soloist with the CSULB and Bellflower Symphony Orchestras and in master classes with Emanuel Ax, Rita Sloan, Blanca Uribe, Dominique Weber, Jeffrey Kahane, and Stephen Hough. A champion of new music, he has also performed with the SFCM New Music Ensemble and the Ensemble Parallèle, which in 2010 presented the West Coast premiere of John Rea’s re-orchestration of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck for chamber ensemble.
Grodin earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he was winner of the Keyboard Department’s award for Outstanding D.M.A. Graduate in Piano. As a graduate teaching assistant at USC, Grodin taught group and applied piano to undergraduate and graduate students and was named Outstanding Keyboard Studies TA. He completed his Master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he was the recipient of the Harold W. Scheeline Piano Scholarship. His principal teachers have included Sharon Mann, Nina Scolnik, Lucinda Carver, Alan Smith, and Craig Richey. His chamber music coaches have included Alan Smith, Jennifer Culp, Timothy Bach, Kurt Muroki, Shun-lin Chou, and Craig Richey. He has also spent several summers at international music festivals, studying with Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Antoinette Perry, Marc Durand, and Joseph Kalichstein.
In addition to his performing career, Grodin is in demand as a teacher and lecturer. He has taught at Los Angeles Pierce College and Fullerton College and is currently a member of the piano faculty at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB. He has a particular teaching and academic interest in injury prevention and the biomechanics of piano technique.
A native of Taiwan, Sheng-Ching Hsu was six years old when she made her first public appearance as both violinist and pianist at the National Cheng- Kung University, Taiwan. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center Stage on Holland America Line, Walt Disney Hall, Teatro Municipal de Santiago (Chile), Remonstrantse Kerk in Alkmaar (The Netherlands), Théâtre de l’Île- Saint-Louis (Paris), and National Recital Hall (Taiwan), among others.
A firm believer in the power of music, Sheng-Ching created “S-C Sidewalk Performance” where she brought live music to the street corners of West LA during the pandemic. “S-C Sidewalk Performance” brought comfort and hope to many people during the time of isolation, and was featured on KTTV Fox 11 Los Angeles.
Sheng-Ching plays with Delirium Musicum, Concerts for Hope, New Asia Chamber Music Society, Landmark Quartet, Solisti, as well as Concerts on the Slope, in which many of her performances were featured on WWFM Classical, NY. She is a member of California Symphony, and has served as principal violinist of Orchestra Santa Monica, Queensboro Symphony Orchestra, Atlantic Festival Orchestra and Manhattan Symphonie Orchestra. Her other orchestral experiences include Pacific Symphony, Corona Symphony, Tainan City Orchestra and the ChiMei Orchestra. Sheng-Ching has given solo recitals in Europe, North America, South America and Asia, and has performed with Ensemble 212 and Old York Road Symphony as a soloist. Her interest in the impact of music on motion picture led Sheng- Ching to perform in the debut of “BBC Frozen Planet Live,” scored by award-winning composer George Fenton. In addition to her busy performing schedule, she serves on the violin faculty at Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach.
When not playing or teaching violin, Sheng-Ching is also a sought-after music arranger. Her latest commissions include the National Anthem for the New York Knicks’ Lunar New Year Game in Madison Square Garden. She arranges a wide variety of music, and has worked with ensembles such as the New Asia Chamber Music Society, the Amphion String Quartet, the Lincoln Center Stage Quintet and the Manhattan Symphonie Orchestra. Her arrangements have been performed at Madison Square Garden, New York Fashion Week, Times Square Flash Mob, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
Sheng-Ching studied in the Juilliard Pre-College Division, where she served as the concertmaster of the Pre-College Orchestra, and studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. Sheng-Ching earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Mannes School of Music, studying with Aaron Rosand and Christina Khimm. She then graduated from The Juilliard School with a Master’s Degree under the instruction of Catherine Cho. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook University, where she studied with Philip Setzer and Arnaud Sussmann. Sheng-Ching’s instruments were generously sponsored by CHIMEI foundation in Taiwan throughout her studies. (www.shengchinghsu.com)
Julianne Papadopoulos, originally from Ridgefield, Connecticut, received her Bachelors of Arts in both Music and Psychology from Elon University in North Carolina. After graduating, she moved to Los Angeles to complete her Masters degree in Community Music at the University of Southern California. Throughout her studies and training, she has enjoyed working with individuals of all ages from toddlers to older adults. Her connection to music is strongly based in community and the belief in using music to facilitate a sense of togetherness and inclusion.
Before coming to Colburn, she trained as an early childhood music facilitator with Music Together in New York City, worked a music teaching mentor for the Thornton Community Engagement Program at the University of Southern California, and co-facilitated a music appreciation group for hard-of-hearing adults at the Bionic Ear Lab within the Keck School of Medicine. She has presented research at conferences in the U.S. and internationally, including the International Society for Music Education and the Society for Music Cognition and Perception, and believes in using her research to inform her music teaching philosophy. In addition to her current work at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, she continues to work as a research assistant and music facilitator for the Bionic Ear Lab.
Evan Kuhlmann was appointed Contrabassoon of the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Gustavo Dudamel in 2018, shortly after completing his twelfth season as Assistant Principal Bassoon and Contrabassoon of the Oregon Symphony. A native Seattleite, he is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School; where he earned a B.M. in Bassoon Performance with Scholastic Distinction as a student of Frank Morelli, and the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Music. Evan previously studied bassoon with Francine Peterson, Barrick Stees, and Eric Stomberg.
Evan has performed with numerous orchestras internationally including the St. Louis, San Diego, and Seattle Symphonies, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, All-Star Orchestra, Grant Park Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. As Principal Bassoon of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, he performed numerous premieres, including works of John Adams, Jennifer Higdon, and George Walker. Evan has appeared as a soloist with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall, the Marrowstone Festival Orchestra, and alongside Jethro Tull with the Oregon Symphony. His chamber music appearances include performances at Chamber Music Northwest, the Lincoln Center Festival, and the Ojai Music Festival.
Evan is also a passionate music educator, having served on the faculty of the Azusa Pacific and Portland State University Schools of Music. In addition, he has given masterclasses at schools including the University of Denver, University of Missouri – Kansas City, and the University of Southern California. Evan is fortunate to have worked with students through programs such as Bassoons Without Borders, BRAVO Youth Orchestras, Filarmónica Joven de Colombia, Marrowstone Music Festival, Metropolitan Youth Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Seattle Youth Symphony, Woodwinds @ Wallowa Lake, and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles.