Raz de Marée/Tidal Wave

Raz-de-Marée plays Québécois jigs, reels and waltzes for veillées Québécoises and contredanses all over North America.   French music from north of the border has long been part of the mix at traditional New England dances, along with English, Irish, and Scottish traditional music. French-speaking people from Québec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia have lived in New England since the earliest days of settlement and came south in great numbers to work in the mills and factories during the second half of the 19th century. They had their own social clubs with music, step dancing, and social square dancing as regular activities. Over the ensuing years French musicians mixed with their Anglo counterparts, exchanging tunes and sometimes dance figures. Québécois traditional music and culture, perceived in Québec=s mainstream media as a somewhat seasonal aesthetic is welcomed and embraced in the American folk scene year-round and New England contradancing has led to today=s lively musical interchange between Québec and New England.

 Sabin Jacques and Rachel Aucoin have performed together for years in the dynamic Québécois trio Domino. The addition of New England contradance stalwart Stuart Kenney on upright bass and banjo and Claudine Arcand on fiddle have propelled them into the limelight of the New England contradance scene. Grounded in traditional Québec rhythms and melodies, the music is innovative and refreshing, with its cross-border personnel and influence proving that music not only transcends national boundaries, but brings people together.

 Raz-de-Marée/Tidal Wave has a brand new self-titled release on the Great Meadows label, with bilingual liner notes. Recently acclaimed by the TRAD Magazine in Europe for the recording, they were given a "BRAVO" by critic Patrick Plouchart:" YEverything is good on this CD, with nothing to cast awayY it is challenging to find meaningful words to express my enthusiasm for so much pleasure provided by this album. I would say to you only one thing: " Hurry up to get your hands on one before the shortage rages Y And long live the free Québécois dance!"

 Claudine Arcand, fiddle

Born in Lachine, Claudine Arcand began violin lessons at age five. She pursued her classical training with Nathalie Cadotte in the music program at Pierre-Laporte high school in Montreal. For five years she played violin and viola with l=Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes Laval-Laurentides.

 In 1992 she discovered the traditional music of Québec through a dance troop from Lachine called Les Éclusiers. At that time, she met Sabin Jacques, Richard Forest and Benoît Bourque, who guided her as she learned to play the beautiful Québécois repertoire by ear. Later on she was a member of several groups, including Réveillons!, La part du quêteux, and les Grondeuses. She also accompanied Les Éclusiers de Lachine on several tours in the United States, France, Spain, and Mexico. She participated in performances given by the storyteller Simon Gauthier and Corne de brume in France, as well as in the show entitled La turlutte des Little-Delisle performed by Monique Jutras and Gilles Plante.  

Claudine now lives in l=Islet-sur-mer where she teaches violin through classical and traditional repertoire and directs her own youth string ensemble. She recently recorded with Montmagny=s own Alexandre Caron, one of the young upcoming accordionists, along with masters Denis Pépi- and Marcel Messervier. You can also hear her fine playing on Raz-de-Marée/Tidal Wave=s debut self-titled album with Sabin Jacques, Rachel Aucoin, Stuart Kenney and guest fiddlers Éric Favreau and André Brunet. This favorite contradance band regularly invites her to join them on tour across North America.

 Sabin Jacques, accordion & feet percussion

Since Sabin Jacques began playing the accordion at age 14, his reputation has grown non stop:  his multiple and diverse musical engagements made him a versatile and accomplished artist. Deeply influenced by such musicians as Simard, Bruneau, Labbé, Messervier and Montmarquette, he sought his originality in his unusual technique which gives him, as a left-handed player, a recognizable signature.   

Sabin was soon invited to play for traditional dance troops; these collaborations offered him many opportunities to travel worldwide. Since age 20, he accompanied the ensembles les Gens de mon Pays, les Danseurs de la Vallée Saint Jean and les Eclusiers de Lachine in Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, France, England, Spain, and Madagascar, where he took part in les jeux de la Francophonie (1997), receiving a bronze medal. In 1995, he was featured as the Québécois artist at the Montmagny Carrefour Mondial de l=Accordéon 

Originally from the beautiful Gaspé peninsula, Sabin made Montreal his home in 1992, in search for work in the electronics field. This greater musical community allowed him to make significant acquaintances with musicians in the popular and commercial music domain. His work with Acadian icon signer Edith Butler remains the most prolific: between 1993 and 2001 he  accompanied her on many tours and played on two of her recordings. Sabin can also be heard with the celebrated Hugues Aufray, as well as on recordings of Jean-Pierre Ferland, Ann-Victor and rap band Kid Fléo. 

Despite these various musical adventures, including prime time television appearances (Gregory Charles=s Mélomaniaques (2005) and Droit au coeur (2006), Sabin remains profoundly attached to his traditional roots and regularly takes part in pedagogical projects, by teaching his heritage at home at l=école des Arts de la Veillée, and at  summer camps such as your own Ashokan (NY), Pinewoods (MA), Augusta (WV), and others abroad. His teaching is said to be practical, uplifting and always inspiring.

 Some of his more traditional recordings include Les pieds qui parlent (1994), Hommage à Alfred Montmarquette (1994), Domino I (1998), Michèle Choinière (2002), Domino Pris au Jeu (2004) and his latest: Raz-de-marée/Tidal Wave (2007), all of these putting a highlight on his stunning dexterity and musicianship while confirming his status as one of Quebec=s leading master accordionists.

 Rachel Aucoin, Piano

After a thorough classical training including two Masters degrees (performance, University of Montreal, 2001 and piano pedagogy, University of Laval, 2003), two first prizes at the prestigious Canadian Music Competition (1997 and 1998) and a solo performance of Beethoven=s Second Concerto with the Orchestre Symphonique de la Montérégie (1997).  Since her first appearance at the Carrefour Mondial de l=Accordéon in 1999, Rachel Aucoin has specialised in folk music accompaniment.

 She never imagined this apparently innocent performance would change her musical destiny.  A window on the world had just opened and showed her the way to her heart=s music, where she would meet with her Acadian ancestors=s spirits, bringing out a family tradition rich with singing, dancing and fiddling kitchen style. She even discovered recently her great-grandfather was certainly one of the first accordion players in Cape Breton Island!

 She first appeared at numerous festivals in Canada, the USA and abroad as the pianist in Domino, giving her a solid experience as a dance back-up musician. In addition, Rachel has recorded with many artists such as American fiddler Laura Risk, Vermont-based signer-songwriter Michèle Choinière, as well as many other Québécois masters (Claude Méthé, Francine Desjardins, Réjean Simard, Jean Duval, Frank Sears). Last year, she recorded on Great Meadows label Raz-de-marée/Tidal Wave=s debut recording, showing her percussive, rich and sensible improvised accompaniment. More recently, Rachel formed a duet with accordionist Christian Laurence, with whom she performed again at the world-renowned Carrefour Mondial de l=Accordeon, in 2005. The duet, from now on called Duo Christel, play, through original compositions, a beautiful symbiosis of meditative flow, folk-inspired, celtic colors and European accents, which naturally lead to the recording of their first production entitled sur un air d=aller.

 Nevertheless, Rachel meets her greatest interest and passion through teaching. Approached by the University of Montreal=s preparatory school in 2005 to create an innovative program for piano students, she is now busy building a bridge between the spontaneity and immersion musicianship of her folk experience and the aesthetic beauty and refinement in the artistry within her classical music education.

 Stuart Kenney, upright bass & 5-string banjo

One of the most in demand upright bass and five-string banjo players on the US contradance circuit, Stuart Kenney=s regional musical interests sweep from Southwest Louisiana to Acadia. Stuart began playing 5-string banjo at age 12, and upright bass at age 18.  He has a long career in many traditional music genres.  

Stuart cut his Cajun teeth with the legendary, late Dewey Balfa, and played with him for many of his northeast appearances. His interest in Québécois music formed through the fiddling of Lisa Ornstein, and performances by La Bottine Souriante.  The inclusion of French-Canadian music into the living tradition of New England contradance music caught his attention early on.  In 1999 Stuart=s path crossed with Sabin Jacques and Rachel Aucoin at Augusta Heritage Traditional Dance and Music week. At that point Stuart invited them to play for contradances in Greenfield, MA and they=ve been playing together ever since.  A tight musical bond was formed. Later these three formed this group, Raz-de-marée/Tidal Wave.

Stuart is a founding member of many great bands including AIRDANCE, Greenfield Dance Band, The Sevens, Tidal Wave, and Undertoe. He spent 14 years touring with the legendary contradance band Wild Asparagus.  He has played on National Public Radio=s All Things Considered (The Sevens), and NPR=s A Prairie Home Companion (Airdance). Stuart has appeared at American Folk Festival, ME (National Council for Tradiational Arts), Ashokan (NY) Fiddle and Dance workshops with Jay Unger and Molly Mason, Augusta (WV), Alaska Traditional Folk Dance Society, City Stages (AL), Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (NY), Fiddle Tunes (WA), Hawaii and St. Croix Dance Vacations, Philadelphia Folk Festival (PA), Sidmouth Folk Festival (UK), and countless others. Stuart is a much-in-demand studio musician as well with over fifty recordings to his credit.

 Stuart=s most recent project, Undertoe, is a musical collaboration with accordionist Karen Tweed (Yorkshire, England), John Dipper (London), and Marko Packard (US). He has composed many original pieces of music featured in their first recording Walking Down Angell Road. 

Although Stuart's music has brought him coast to coast and beyond, his musical home is at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield, MA, where he plays for and hosts the TopHill Music and Dance Series. 

Yaëlle Azoulay,  step-dancer & dance caller

A six-year stint with Laval=s Les Pieds Légers and two-and-a-half years with the Reel et Macadam Dance Company have made it possible for Yaëlle Azoulay to find her place in Québec=s world of traditional dance. She received training from step dancers such as Jean-François Berthiaume, Martine Billette and Pierre Chartrand, resulting in her participation in Chantier and Rapaillé, as well as two performances of the Collectif de folklore urbain Zeugma. As a member of Rapaillé she got the chance to be involved in the fifth Francophone Games, held in Niger in 2005.  For two years she was also the choreographer and performer in a show called Conferencius Gigus. In January 2005 she joined a contemporary step dance company called Fuxi Club founded by Luc Fleury in order to play a role in a film called Ville-Fantôme. In March 2007 she presented her first choreography at Tangente called La Turque‑oise, a mixture of Québécois and Turkish rhythms and movements. In addition to step dancing, Yaëlle also has a tremendous passion for international dance and Acalling@Cthe art of getting people to danceCwhich she learned to perfection from dance-master Gérard Morin. In order to become more directly involved in the traditional dance and music of Quebec, she joined l'Association Québécoise des Loisirs Folkloriques in January 2004 as a development officer. During her two-and-a-half years with the organization she has also worked as assistant editor of Québec Folklore, a magazine where she wrote several columns, including Place aux Jeunes. 

Yaëlle holds a college diploma in arts and literature, with a major in communication from the Collège Montmorency and is presently completing a Bachelor=s program called Histoire et pratiques et interventions culturelles at the University of Quebec in Rimouski. Working in this new environment means that she can give the people of the lower St. Lawrence and the Gaspé a chance to discover Québec=s traditional dance, opening new doors for her artistic endeavors.

Soovin Kim, violin

American violinist Soovin Kim is increasingly sought after for the character, nuance, and excitement of his performances as concerto soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist, both in the U.S. and abroad. Particularly known for his breadth of repertoire, Mr. Kim typically takes on everything from Bach to Paganini to the big romantic concertos to new commissions within a single season. Each season Mr. Kim tours to all corners of the U.S. C  for recitals in the midwest and the eastern seaboard, in concertos of Brahms, Mozart, Prokofiev, Vivaldi, Beethoven, Saint-Saëns, and Sibelius throughout the country, and in performances of chamber music in Boston, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Mr. Kim recently recorded Niccolò Paganini=s demanding 24 Caprices for solo violin, released in February 2006, the first of several CDs he will be making with Azica Records. He performed the Paganini Caprices at the El Paso Pro Musica Festival in January and at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2006.  Also last season Mr. Kim made four trips to Korea, first to tour the country with his ground-breaking piano quartet M.I.K. and subsequently to perform as concerto soloist, chamber musician and solo recitalist in such cities as Busan and Seoul. 

Among Soovin Kim=s recent concerto appearances were performances of works by Vivaldi and Sarasate with the Eurasian Philharmonic in Korea; Mozart with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony; Prokofiev=s violin concerto No.2 with the Duluth Symphony, and the Brahms concerto with the Bucheon Philharmonic. In past seasons Mr. Kim has appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke=s, the North Carolina Symphony, the Florida Philharmonic, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony, the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, the Prague Chamber Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, and the KBS Symphony Orchestra.  

Soovin Kim is a chamber music performer of the first rank and devotes as much time as possible to such collaborations in each concert season. In addition to performances with M.I.K., last season Mr. Kim toured with Charles Wadsworth and Friends (Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott); with the Johannes String Quartet (Athe highest level in quartet playing@ C Philadelphia Inquirer); and with Musicians from Marlboro. In recent seasons he has also been heard in recital at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia, and in prominent concert halls in Seoul, Naples, Rome, and Hamburg. He has given solo performances at festivals across Europe including Colmar, Verbier, Reims, Montpellier, and Schleswig-Holstein. He regularly spends summers at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.

 In 2005 Soovin Kim won the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, a prestigious honor bestowed by judges Leif-Ove Andsnes, Mitsuko Uchida, Thomas Zehetmair, Clemens Hagen, Christian Tetzlaff and others on young artists of exceptional gifts at the threshhold of major international careers. Mr. Kim has also won the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Henryk Szeryng Foundation Career Award, and first prize at the Paganini Competition. In addition to Azica=s recording of the Paganini Caprices, Mr. Kim will be featured in another new recording on Stomp Music to be released in Korea in early 2006: MIK Ensemble, a collection of new works by Solbong Kim, James Ra, Jae-Hyung Jung, and Yiruma, commissioned for and performed with MIK. Last year Mr. Kim made a recording with cellists Janos Starker and Zuill Bailey of string quintets of Boccherini and Schubert released by Delos (DE 3344). Mr. Kim made his first recording with pianist Jeremy Denk for Koch-Discover in duo works by Schubert, Bartók, and Strauss.

Born in the U.S., Soovin Kim started to play the violin at age 4. At 15, he was accepted to the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with David Cerone and Donald Weilerstein; he ultimately moved to the Curtis Institute of Music, where he worked with Victor Danchenko and Jaime Laredo. Mr. Kim recently married and lives in Manhattan with his wife, Joanne. In addition to his concert career, he has teaching appointments at Yale University and Bard College. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and exploring the food, films and concert life of New York City. He plays the 1709 Aex-Kempner@ Stradivarius.For more information about Soovin Kim, call 212-219-2270, and visit these websites: www.kathrynkingmedia.com  www.bbtrust.com  www.williamreinert.com

Helen Huang,  Pianist

At age 25 Helen Huang can already look back on an impressive list of engagements with such orchestras as the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the London Philharmonic. Born in Japan of Chinese parents in October 1982, she moved to the United States with her family in 1985 and began piano lessons two years later. Within a year she had won her first competition and several other victories soon followed. In 1995 she became one of the youngest recipients of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

 Ms. Huang=s first public appearances were with several orchestras in the Philadelphia area. Just after her eighth birthday, she made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra after winning its student concerto competition. Similarly, she won the New York Philharmonic=s Young Performers Auditions and performed with the orchestra, under Music Director Kurt Masur, in December 1992. 

Ms. Huang developed a close association with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, with whom she made her subscription debut in 1995. She joined the orchestra on its 1998 Asian tour for several concerts in Japan and again toured with them during 1999 in North America. In April 2001 she made four appearances with the Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall.  

Highlights of recent seasons include performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, the Colorado Symphony, and the Fort Worth Symphony. Abroad she has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France under Kurt Masur, the Israel Philharmonic, the Israel Chamber Orchestra, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (both in Vienna and on tour in the United States), and the KBS Symphony in Seoul, Korea. In addition Helen frequently appears in recital and chamber music performances in the US, Europe, and Asia, and returns each summer to perform at the Marlboro Music Festival.

Helen Huang=s recordings are available on the Teldec label. She made her debut recording, of Beethoven=s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Mozart=s Piano Concerto No. 23, in live concerts with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic, and later recorded the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 with those forces. She has also recorded a recital album, AFor Children,@ featuring works of Debussy and Schumann. Ms. Huang made her national television debut in a concert with the Boston Pops Orchestra for PBS=s AEvening at Pops@ and was featured in an A&E broadcast from the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico. She also participated in a special concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of the United Nations and with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre.  

Helen Huang received the Arthur Rubinstein Prize upon graduating from the Juilliard School in 2004, where she was a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky at the Juilliard School.  She earlier attended the preparatory division of the Manhattan School of Music, winning its concerto competition in 1992. In 1994 she was selected by the New York Philharmonic to receive Lincoln Center=s Martin E. Segal Award for promising young artists.

 The Biava Quartet

The Biava Quartet is recognized as one of today's most exciting young American quartets. Winner of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and top prizes at the Premio Borciani and London International Competitions, the Quartet has established an enthusiastic following in the United States and abroad, impressing audiences with its sensitive artistry and communicative power. The Quartet takes its name from Maestro Luis Biava, who has been a mentor and inspiration to the Quartet since its inception.

 The members of the Biava Quartet, violinists Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko, violist Mary Persin, and cellist Jason Calloway, hold the Lisa Arnhold Quartet Residency at the Juilliard

School, serving as graduate quartet in residence and teaching assistants to the Juilliard Quartet. The Quartet previously held the same position with the Tokyo Quartet at Yale University and was the first ensemble to complete the Training Program in the Art of the String Quartet at the New England Conservatory of Music under the direction of Paul Katz.

 The Biava Quartet has performed to acclaim in major concert halls throughout North America, Europe and Asia, including Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Baroque Art Hall in Seoul. Other highlights from recent seasons include appearances at the Mostly Mozart and Aspen Music Festivals, Chautauqua Institution, and Pacific Music Festival in Japan. 

Dedicated to the performance of the classical repertoire, the Biava Quartet also maintains a strong commitment to the commissioning and performance of contemporary works. The Quartet has championed the music of American composers Mason Bates, William Bolcom, John Harbison and Ezra Laderman. Working closely with composer Stacy Garrop, the Biava Quartet premiered and recorded her Second String Quartet "Demons and Angels" with CD release in the fall of 2007. Equally, the Quartet has explored interdisciplinary work, including a dramatization of the Dreyfus affair with Ensemble for the Romantic Century at the Kosciuszko Foundation and an investigation into Elgar and Edwardian art at the Yale Center for British Art.

The Biava Quartet is committed to educating and inspiring audiences of all ages and is frequently invited to lead master classes, community, and educational programs at schools and conservatories throughout the country. The Quartet has served as ensemble in residence and faculty members at the Indiana University Summer Strings Academy, the Innsbrook Institute, San Diego Chamber Music Festival, and Heifetz International Music Institute. Recipients of a 2006 Chamber Music America grant in collaboration with the Hill and Hollow Chamber Music Series, the members of the Quartet have invested themselves in the growth of arts in communities. 

The Biava Quartet has recorded on the Naxos and Cedille Record labels and has been heard on London's BBC Radio 3 and numerous national radio broadcasts. The Quartet has been featured in Strings and Strad Magazines and is the subject of an upcoming PBS documentary film. Founded in 1998 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the members of the Biava Quartet hold advanced degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music, University of Southern California, Yale University, and The Juilliard School.  

Austin Hartman, violin

Having an enthusiasm for teaching and performance, violinist Austin Hartman of Columbia, Pennsylvania, enjoys an active career that has featured him in concerts and master classes around the world. As a founding member of the Biava Quartet, Mr. Hartman has most recently been awarded an Artist Diploma from Yale University School of Music where he served as a teaching assistant for the Tokyo Quartet.  

Austin Hartman has also earned recognition as a solo violinist and recitalist. In 1999, Mr. Hartman was awarded first place, the Gold Medal Prize at the Julius and Esther Stulberg International String Competition in Michigan. As the winner of the Albert Greenfield and the Mann Music Center Concerto Competitions, Austin Hartman was featured as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra performing under the baton of Maestro Luis Biava (for whom the quartet is named). Mr. Hartman has also made solo appearances with the Kennett Symphony, the Landsdowne Symphony, the Temple University Orchestra, as well as the Lancaster Symphony and The Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra as winner of the annual concerto competition.

Committed to the performing of the solo violin repertoire, Mr. Hartman has also been featured in recitals, including a performance at the state dinner for former Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. In 1998 he received a first prize scholarship for outstanding musical excellence from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts and most recently he has been awarded a grant from Chamber Music America for continued work in community outreach. Austin Hartman has received degrees from The New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music where he was a student of Donald Weilerstein. His other teachers have included Yumi Scott, Choong-Jin Chang, Ronda Cole, Carolyn Moyer, and the late Jascha Brodsky. Outside of his life in the Biava Quartet, Mr. Hartman also enjoys using his music for community service and outreach. In 2003, he traveled with a group of musicians to share music in Zambia, Africa as part of a missions outreach. Last season Austin Hartman conceived and led a string seminar which brought professional and local community musicians together in an exploration and performance of Vivaldi=s Four Seasons.  This season the project will continue with Mozart=s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

 Hyunsu Ko, violin

Violinist Hyunsu Ko began her violin studies at the age of four in South Korea, her native country. Before transferring to the Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Donald Weilerstein in 1999, Ms. Ko studied at the Seoul National University where she was a student of Min Kim, Dean of the College of Music and Director of the Korea Chamber Ensemble. While residing in Korea, Ms. Ko won numerous musical awards including: the grand prize at the Jeju-Korea Broadcasting System Music Competition, first prize at the Chosun Newspaper Music Competition, second prize at the Ewha Kyounghyang Music Competition, and the gold medal prize at the Hankook Newspaper Music Competition. She also won the grand prize at the Ahn Ik-Tae Music Competition (named in honor of the composer of the Korean National Anthem), resulting in her debut performance with the Seoul City Philharmonic Orchestra at the Sejong Music Hall. In January 2006, Ms. Ko performed at the Seoul Arts Center as a soloist with the Korean Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Ko participated in the Bartok Symphonic Series and performed the Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2. 

Ms. Ko has also performed solo concertos with the Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeju City Symphony Orchestra (five appearances), the Korea Chamber Ensemble, New Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Seoul Arts High School Orchestra. Additionally Ms. Ko has performed numerous solo recitals in Seoul, Cleveland, and Boston. In Seoul, she was featured as a soloist at the Young Musicians Festival and the Korea-Russia Young Musicians Friendship Concert. 

Ms. Ko earned both her Bachelor=s and Master=s Degree studying with Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music and then at the New England Conservatory of Music. Ms. Ko received an Artist Diploma from Yale University in May 2006, where she also served as a teaching assistant to the Tokyo String Quartet from 2004 to 2006.  

Mary Persin, viola

Mary Persin, founding member and violist of the Biava Quartet, has distinguished herself with performances throughout the United States and abroad. A native of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Ms. Persin is a recent Artist Diploma recipient and graduate of Yale University where she also served as a teaching assistant to the Tokyo Quartet. 

Ms. Persin has received numerous awards and was featured in a live radio broadcast on the Performance Pittsburgh Series as winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Major Auditions. She was the winner of the Duquesne University, Westmoreland Symphony, and Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Concerto Competitions, as well as the PADESTA Solo Competition and Duquesne Young Artist Competition. Ms. Persin made her solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Heinz Hall in 1997. In addition, she has also made solo appearances with the Pittsburgh and Westmoreland Youth Symphonies and was most recently invited to solo with the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, performing the Mozart "Sinfonia Concertante" in collaboration with Austin Hartman.

Ms. Persin is the former principal violist of the Westmoreland Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, and Chautauqua Youth Symphony Orchestra. She has performed solo recitals in Cleveland, Boston, and Pittsburgh and has been invited to perform as a guest artist at both Chautauqua Institution and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Ms. Persin has participated as a scholarship recipient at the Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Institution, and Encore School for Strings, where she spent four summers and was twice awarded the Kay Logan Chamber Music Award for excellence in chamber music performance. 

In addition to her international concertizing and teaching as violist of the Biava Quartet, Ms. Persin maintains a keen interest in the business aspect of music and arts advocacy. She serves as the operations coordinator for the Biava Quartet and has been invited to be a guest lecturer and presenter at a variety of schools throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania as a music educator.  

Ms. Persin is a graduate with highest honors from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a student of Robert Vernon, Principal Violist of the Cleveland Orchestra. She attended the New England Conservatory for further studies, earning a Master=s Degree in Chamber Music and Viola Performance as a student of Martha Katz.  Other former teachers and coaches include Thomas Dumm, James Dunham, Jeffrey Irvine, Stephanie Tretick, and Hong-Guang Jia, as well as members of the Emerson, Guarneri, and Juilliard Quartets. 

Jason Calloway, cello

Cellist Jason Calloway has performed to acclaim throughout North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle East as soloist and chamber musician. He has appeared at festivals including Lucerne, Spoleto USA, Darmstadt, Klangspuren (Austria), Acanthes (France), Perpignan, Valencia, Citta= della Pieve (Italy), Jerash (Jordan), Casals (Puerto Rico), Sarasota, Blossom, Music Academy of the West, the New York String Seminar, and Encore. Mr. Calloway has collaborated in chamber music with members of the Curtis, Juilliard, Miami, and Amernet String Quartets and appears across the U.S. as a member of >In Freundschaft,' a duo with trombonist, Steve Parker, and with Animato!, a duo with pianist Christopher Weldon. He gave his Carnegie Hall recital debut under the auspices of Artists International and has also been heard in New York at Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, the Museum of Modern Art, the Kosciuszko Foundation, the 92nd Street Y, and the Polish Consulate; in Los Angeles at Disney Hall, the Bing Theatre, the Skirball Center and Pepperdine University; in San Francisco at Hoover Auditorium; in Philadelphia at the Academy of Music and the Ethical Society; and live on WQXR (NYC), KMZT (Los Angeles), WFLN (Philadelphia), and on RAI television (Italy).